The Child of Destiny Appears

Having pinpointed the four realms, Su Yu waited for the experts under his command to regroup. Meanwhile, he began taking inventory of the Councilor Tokens. Marquis Xianzhan had given him six. From slaying various experts—those of the Golden-Winged Roc, Spirit, and Tianyuan races having all contributed some, along with those claimed in the prior battle—the tokens collected in the post-battle count had all been turned over to Su Yu, totaling nine. With that, Su Yu possessed a full fifteen tokens. The Iron Eater and allied clans still held their own Councilor Tokens. Su Yu had not demanded them; if he asked, procuring another five or six should not be an issue. Xia Longwu and the others were presently campaigning across the myriad races. Some ancient races might lack Dao Integration experts, but they could still possess Councilor Tokens. He wondered if any could be gathered from them. Once the four realms were destroyed, that would yield at least four more. Some ancient races had held more than one, since many of the ancient ninety-nine races had fallen over time, leaving their Councilor Tokens scattered abroad. Some had been seized by the three great races, while others were strewn across the myriad realms. "Scraping everything together, I can probably amass around thirty or so!" Su Yu mused to himself. In truth, there were far more Councilor Tokens than that; the lower realm could well hold over fifty. Back when Yunxiao violated the rules and Old Turtle forced the myriad races to expend Councilor Tokens to dispel the penalizing force, more than forty had appeared in one go. Add the six from Marquis Xianzhan, and the lower realm definitely held more than fifty. While waiting, having finished counting the tokens, Su Yu turned his attention to observing the Dao of Dead Spirits. In fact, he could walk the Dao of Dead Spirits! This was an accidental discovery of his own. Because he was a half-dead-spirit, Su Yu had realized he might be able to step into the Dao of Dead Spirits to explore. Faintly, he felt an affinity and a growing comprehension toward it. Across countless ages, he might be the very first Human Lord capable of doing so. For he was the sole Human Lord to have ever transformed into a half-dead-spirit. Even up to now, Su Yu found that turning into a half-dead-spirit carried plenty of benefits and practically no drawbacks. "Life and death, yin and yang..." Such thoughts drifted through Su Yu's mind. Perhaps the Great Dao was divided between life and death; the pioneer who forged the Dead Spirit Realm had not been mistaken in his logic. If one could open a realm for living spirits, one could open a realm for dead spirits. Yet why was its creation incomplete? Was it a lack of strength? Why could tributaries not branch out from the Dao of Dead Spirits? Why could one only tread a single path? Thought after thought arose within Su Yu. "Does the Dao of Dead Spirits have an end?" "There should be one!" After all, this was not the River of Time, nor was it as mighty. Su Yu was eager to step inside the Dao of Dead Spirits to see for himself, and while at it, see how King Wen had grafted the sole tributary—the Dao of Ink—onto it! At present, rapid though Su Yu's progress was, he still felt his strength was advancing far too slowly. Fourth-tier Dao Integration—that was Su Yu's self-assessed standing. He divided Dao Integration into six or seven tiers. The fourth tier was not weak; it was comparable to seasoned Dao Integration experts. Yet Su Yu was far from satisfied. It was too weak! With such strength, how could he lead the myriad races? How could he wage war across the heavens? How could he rival figures like the Martial Emperor? In the upper realm, third-tier Dao Integration experts were plentiful, first- and second-tier ones existed, and there were even Quasi-Kings. Quantity was not all that mattered. If the quality was high enough—if ten Heavenly Kings arrived—Su Yu's side might not match them even if they pooled all their might. He gazed toward the Dao of Dead Spirits. At this moment, with his Heavenly Gate open, he could see an immense Dao spanning the Dead Spirit Realm, resembling the River of Time yet devoid of tributaries, its power unified into one. All power was drawn directly from the Dao of Dead Spirits. Thinking of this, Su Yu wondered just how many sealed powerhouses there truly were. Soon, Su Yu spoke up: "Senior Southern King, please watch over things here for me. I'm going into the Great Dao to take a look. If King Dazhou and the others arrive, have them wait a moment!" The Southern King instantly knitted her brows. "Which Great Dao are you going to?" "The Dao of Dead Spirits!" "Too dangerous!" The Southern King said solemnly, "The Dao of Dead Spirits is unlike other Daos. Even the River of Time isn't as dangerous as the Dao of Dead Spirits. The River of Time possesses broad inclusivity, whereas the Dao of Dead Spirits repels outsiders far more fiercely! You are not a true dead spirit after all. It is far too easy for something to go wrong!" Su Yu smiled. "I fear trouble too, but... on the path of cultivation, if one is timid and hesitant, constantly looking over one's shoulder, how can one brave the rapids and surge forward?" His laughter rang hearty and clear. "Cultivating the Dao cannot mean spending a lifetime avoiding the unknown! Cultivation is about searching high and low! Among those who opened their own Daos, who among them never experienced this? If I fall midway, that would merely be a lack of fortune or strength, something beyond help!" Su Yu looked toward the crowd. "If I only sought safety, the moment the upper realm opens, we would surely lose!" Though he appeared overflowing with confidence, Su Yu was entirely clear-headed. He sighed softly. "On my side, how many Heavenly Kings can I field? Is there anyone capable of matching a Ruler of Rules? The Dao of the Pen, after all, is not my own Dao. Even if my talent is supreme, can I truly master the Dao of the Pen within five years? What's more, I might not even have five years!" Su Yu murmured, "The myriad races are not fools, nor are the immortals, demons, and gods. When I said five years, they likely estimated that within three years, I, Su Yu, will launch a full-scale assault! If they think three years, then I cannot let them guess my intent: one year!" His gaze was resolute. "Within one year, I will make us capable of resisting the myriad races! Soon it will be Year One of New Yu. I hope to conclude the battles in the lower realm before that inaugural year ends, formally achieving the unification of the myriad heavens and realms!" The crowd was shaken. One year! Was that not... far too brief? Su Yu had already stepped into the Dao Fusion Realm and set foot on the Dao of the Pen, but was Dao Integration truly so simple? Mastering the Dao of the Pen was harder than ascending to heaven! Marquis Lanshan said with adoration, "Your Majesty will surely accomplish this great feat! Back then, His Majesty the Human Sovereign spent a thousand years unifying the heavens. Today, as Your Majesty sweeps across the heavens once more, you will certainly be even faster than His Majesty the Human Sovereign!" Su Yu chuckled wryly. "It's not the same. Back then, every race possessed Rulers of Rules. To conquer the heavens in a thousand years was extraordinary." "Your Majesty will only be stronger!" Marquis Lanshan insisted firmly. Su Yu was simply too gifted, and still so young. Moreover, the myriad races today were not what they were back then. Naturally, the humans were also far from their ancient height, but that too presented an opportunity. Su Yu let out a laugh. "I appreciate the high regard, but enough of such talk. I will take a look inside the Dao of Dead Spirits now. Everyone... though I dislike speaking discouragements, if something truly happens to me, I hope you will unite as one to resist the myriad races. To avoid catastrophic losses, they probably won't dare strike recklessly! If you scatter, death is certain!" "Your Majesty..." Su Yu raised a hand. "Just a precaution against the worst. I am confident and nothing will go wrong! It's merely in case of the unforeseen, so I don't leave without a word!" Su Yu smiled. "I originally planned to take down the four races first, but I worried my strength was lacking and would drag us down! As luck would have it, I've had some fresh insights, so I want to go have a look. That is all. Wait for me a short while, and I shall return!" With that, his Heavenly Gate opened, and Su Yu stepped into the void. Below, the Southern King suddenly called out, "King Wen stepped into this Dao back then as well! He once said... said that although this Dao is powerful, all changes leave the fundamental essence intact—it never broke free from the nature of the Great Dao!" Su Yu paused mid-step, pensive, and turned back. "Did he say anything else?" The Southern King pondered deeply for a long while before saying, "That was roughly it. After all, he was King Wen. When he came to the Dead Spirit Realm back then, because I was a Heavenly King, he visited my manor several times, which led to a few exchanges." Su Yu nodded and said no more. Tearing open the void, he stepped into the Dao of Dead Spirits. Below, the Southern King sighed softly. "Most great human lords are like this. Though my strength exceeds his, my devotion to seeking the Dao falls far short of his!" Seeking the Dao! Searching high and low! Su Yu's resolve in pursuing the Dao was vastly fiercer than hers. Unwilling to settle for the status quo, the moment he glimpsed a new path, he surged forward undaunted. To the Southern King, this was exceedingly rare and precious. Across endless ages, she had seen plenty of living and dead alike, yet few possessed audacity on par with Su Yu's. Marquis Lanshan gazed at the sky and only spoke after a while: "That is why they are commanders, and we are generals! His Majesty will surely restore the ancient glory, perhaps even surpass it!" Surpass it... The others hardly dared entertain the thought. It was too difficult! The glory of the ancient era—over a hundred Rulers of Rules and nearly a thousand ennobled marquises—was simply incomparable to the present age. ... Meanwhile. Stepping into the Dao of Dead Spirits, Su Yu found a vast river surging before him. It was as if he were seeing the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, or perhaps the Great Dao essence of that river, or the Dead Spirit Realm's River of Time! A single, straight Dao of Dead Spirits pierced through heaven and earth. On either flank, there were no tributaries. The waters of death qi rules lashed against the banks, raising monumental waves. The powerhouse who had forged this Dao in antiquity had been terrifying to the extreme. The moment Su Yu stepped in, he felt the death qi blanket and invade him, swiftly corroding his physical body and sea of will. The overwhelming death qi instantly suppressed the life qi within Su Yu's body, threatening to transform him completely into a dead spirit! "Stabilize my Dao!" With a low shout, his Heavenly Gate opened. Su Yu raised his brush to write character after character, and barriers manifested across the Heavenly Gate to block the encroaching death qi. Anchor my true heart! Simultaneously, the civilization chronicle appeared. In an instant, the other pages vanished, leaving only a single page visible—the Dead Spirit page! This page was also of Heaven armament grade. Su Yu had absorbed many dead spirits. At this moment, the sheet bore some text alongside blank patches, and within its internal space, a miniature Dao of Dead Spirits could faintly be seen gestating. Yet it was exceedingly faint! Now, Su Yu took up his brush to write, inscribing cultivation methods of the dead spirits—in truth, the method of reversing acupoints—to flesh out this page. Characters gradually multiplied across the Dead Spirit page. Having written the acupoint-reversal method, Su Yu swiftly wielded his brush to trace and copy, capturing the Dao of Dead Spirits. He intended to copy this very Dao! At the same time, a divine character surfaced: "Death"! The divine character appeared, though it was quite feeble; vast amounts of rule power had been drawn away by the Dao of the Pen. Right now, Su Yu's divine characters had not shattered, but they were exceptionally weak. At this juncture, Su Yu gritted his teeth and actually fused the "Death" character into the Dead Spirit page! Just as he had previously merged "Civilization" into the civilization chronicle, Su Yu now directly merged "Death" into it. Not only that, he crushed several hairs belonging to the Martial Emperor and fused them into the page as well. The page, which had nearly fractured under the lashing of the Dead Spirit river waters, erupted in dazzling black radiance in the blink of an eye, strengthening rapidly! Upon the page, a dark shadow surfaced. That was the phantom of a dead spirit expert, stemming from the blood essence Su Yu had integrated previously. However, Su Yu gave a soft grunt and shattered the phantom with a punch. The next moment, a drop of his own blood essence dripped into it. In the blink of an eye, another phantom manifested, resembling Su Yu himself. "Integrating into a Dao, forging a Dao—forge my own Dao, integrate into my own Dao! Someone else's, no matter how strong, belongs to someone else!" Su Yu had experienced many insights recently. He no longer relied on others' blood essence, instead infusing his own blood essence as the core for the phantom. A single drop of blood essence cost a great deal. Losing too much blood essence would harm one's foundation, but so long as one was alive, it could be replenished. Back then, Hong Tan and the others had sold blood essence, and those great demons had survived for decades without dying. Through this process, the black page radiated an immense brilliance as gold markings continuously surfaced. From an entry-level Heaven armament, it advanced in an instant to mid-grade, and the phantom climbed from the peak of the Sun Moon Realm until it faintly possessed Quasi-Eternal power. At this stage, Su Yu still could not produce an Eternal from a single drop of blood essence. "Absorb!" Su Yu tossed out the page, which immediately began greedily devouring the encroaching death qi, causing the miniature, illusory Dao inside to gradually strengthen. Su Yu smiled. If this page were tossed out and someone picked it up, they could treat it just like the Time Record—fuse a drop of dead spirit blood essence into it and begin automatically comprehending the Dead Spirit race's cultivation techniques, even borrowing the Dao of Dead Spirits. Of course, this Dao of Dead Spirits was still illusory and lacked sufficient strength. After all, it had only been constructed from the death qi and dead spirit blood essence Su Yu had absorbed himself. It might not yet be as powerful as the Time Record. Yet in the future, the Time Record might not be able to match Su Yu's civilization chronicle. Having finished this, Su Yu felt far more at ease, no longer troubled by the feeling of relentless death qi surging in to transform him into a dead spirit. Su Yu began walking forward along the Great Dao. The surging waters of the Dead Spirit river washed toward him, wave upon wave. Su Yu, however, closed his Heavenly Gate and quietly perceived the surroundings as he walked against the current. Gradually, understanding dawned. He looked down at the rushing waters and murmured, "So that's how it is!" Opening his Heavenly Gate once more, the scene beneath his feet changed completely! Below him, the river waters seemed to transform into countless human figures floating in the stream. Su Yu muttered, "So the Dao of Dead Spirits doesn't branch out into tributaries; it fuses directly into the main stream! In this way, the Dao of Dead Spirits grows ever stronger, yet it also strips these dead spirits of any chance to forge other Daos!" Su Yu shook his head. It was hard to say whether this was good or bad. However, whether through a flaw during creation or deliberate design, the master of the Dao of Dead Spirits had made it so that the Dead Spirit Realm likely could never produce another true Ruler of Rules. They could only continuously integrate into this single Dao—truly merging into one great path! "Was this to empower himself?" Su Yu pondered. Done this way, it did offer an advantage: the master of the Dao of Dead Spirits maintained absolute control over the entire Dead Spirit Realm. "Could it be that I should also integrate into the Dao of Dead Spirits?" Su Yu thought about it and shook his head. No, doing so would make it difficult to ever extract himself later! Because once you merged into the main Dao, peeling yourself away was no simple matter. King Wen could detach the Dao of the Pen, but had he walked the Dao of Dead Spirits, withdrawing from it would have been arduous. "Revival, resurrection—they likely require stripping these dead spirits' Daos out of the river!" "Then could I find Xingyue's Dao?" In this river, every drop of water was a Dao; a single drop could represent a dead spirit. It was terrifying! Could he find Xingyue's Dao? If he found it, perhaps he could study how to detach her Great Dao. Among the four Daos of pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, though Su Yu only controlled one, certain elements could be substituted. For instance, the Desolate Sky Beast's physical body Dao was simply a matter of life force; a Dao of Life should yield even better results. The Dao of Paper likely had the effect of concealing heavenly secrets; a similar Dao should suffice as well. The Dao of Ink, on the other hand, could play a tremendous role in suppressing the Dao of Dead Spirits, allowing him the opportunity to sever and extract hers. With these thoughts in mind, Su Yu was not in a hurry to find Xingyue's Dao. With a low shout, thick death qi welled up over his hands, and he scooped downward into the river. A single drop of water was caught in his grasp, thrashing violently! It began corroding Su Yu! Mighty as Su Yu's hands were, they now began to crack under the corrosion. Ignoring the pain, Su Yu gripped the droplet and sent his willpower probing inside. The next moment, he let out a muffled grunt as blood leaked from his seven apertures, yet his eyes flickered with recognition. This was the Dao of a dead spirit monarch! One that should still be alive! However, Su Yu did not recognize it. Though the dead spirit monarchs under his command looked largely alike, Su Yu could still tell them apart. "Not one of my people..." At those words, Su Yu suddenly detonated his "Life" divine character, pouring massive amounts of living spirit qi into the droplet. "Ahhh!" A shrill, agonizing shriek abruptly erupted somewhere in the Dead Spirit Realm! Su Yu could faintly hear it, and he watched as a burst of death qi exploded from the droplet. Life qi and death qi collided, swiftly blending—not in union, but in mutual melting and cancellation! The entire Dao of Dead Spirits seemed to reject Su Yu. With a deafening rumble, massive torrents of river water battered against him. Boom! Boom! Su Yu stumbled back repeatedly, blood dripping from his body drop by drop. With a bang, the droplet of river water in his hand suddenly burst! The life qi and death qi had completely cancelled each other out. And the result was: this Dao had shattered! Without needing to look, Su Yu knew the outcome: in the Dead Spirit Realm, nine times out of ten, a dead spirit monarch had just perished! "A fine way to kill, but unfortunately, not very practical!" Su Yu spat a mouthful of blood. It was impractical; with his strength, killing a dead spirit monarch would normally leave him unscathed. Yet here, detonating life qi to melt away their Dao had killed them, but the backlash from the entire Great Dao had wounded him severely. And that had only been a monarch. If it had been a dead spirit marquis, Su Yu might have suffered critical injuries from the rebound or even fallen. "The loss outweighs the gain!" Su Yu shook his head, feeling a faint trace of disappointment. Forcible revival was a dead end! Back then, he had thought that if his life qi overwhelmed the death qi, he might revive Xingyue. Looking at it now, that was impossible; if he truly attempted that, Xingyue would die without a doubt! "As expected, if it were that simple, King Wen would have revived her long ago!" "What an intriguing Dao of Dead Spirits..." At this moment, Su Yu noticed something. The droplet that had just burst turned into death qi, and that death qi power flowed upstream against the current, seemingly absorbed by force. Su Yu raised an eyebrow and continued upstream. Meanwhile, his Dead Spirit page was also absorbing some of the shattered death qi—pure death qi rules—allowing Su Yu to further refine his Dead Spirit page. ... Outside the Great Dao. The Southern King and the others looked toward the Dead Spirit Heavenly River. Just moments ago, a monarch seemed to have fallen—inexplicably and out of nowhere. The Southern King swept her gaze across the expanse, her brows slightly furrowed as she looked up. Was that Su Yu's doing? If so, Su Yu might have uncovered something remarkable. Killing across space! That was truly terrifying! ... At the same time. In the sealed grounds. The powerhouses within the black pillars of light did not dwell on it too much, merely recognizing that another Dao-integrated monarch had died. A mosquito's leg was still meat. Though not a dead spirit marquis, absorbing even a bit of rule power was welcome. The expert named Dizhiluo spoke again, chuckling faintly. "It seems the humans are still slaughtering? Slay away! The more you kill, the faster our seals unravel. Sooner or later, all supreme might shall converge into one!" At that moment, someone from another pillar of light murmured, "Converge into one? Dizhiluo, do you have a death wish? If all supreme might converges into one, you and I will probably both die!" "If I die, so be it, so long as it completes the Sovereign! If the Sovereign can become the sole master of the Great Dao, then even if the ancient Human Sovereign and his peers reappear, they will be no match for the Sovereign!" Behind them, the largest pillar of light remained silent. All supreme might converging into one! This was a theory, and a speculation. Back in the day, the humans had considered this very possibility. Sealing them rather than executing them was rooted in the fear that if all those powerhouses were slain, someone might emerge capable of fully wielding the Dao of Dead Spirits. At that time, the humans had even contemplated nurturing a dead spirit powerhouse of their own to become the supreme being. Unfortunately, not just any dead spirit could endlessly absorb dead spirit power. Marquis Lanshan was a prime example: her strength was formidable and she was already an ennobled marquis, yet despite devouring countless dead spirits, she had never reached the Heavenly King level. Thus, in that era, they chose to seal these figures rather than kill them. ... Inside the Dao of Dead Spirits. Su Yu walked and stopped by turns, recovering his vitality amid immense consumption. As he pressed forward, his understanding of the Dao of Dead Spirits deepened. And as he walked, Su Yu seemed to discover something extraordinary. Up ahead, a fork actually appeared! A miniature tributary presented itself before his eyes! "The Dao of Ink!" Su Yu was thoroughly astonished. The Dao of Ink was right here! It was located deep within the path. He swiftly moved forward, his Heavenly Gate open, and peered at that tiny tributary—a pitch-black path that appeared to have been artificially carved out, the only tributary Su Yu had seen so far! At this moment, that tributary was also stealthily siphoning off traces of dead spirit power. Within the Dao of Dead Spirits, Su Yu observed countless seals ringing the tributary, strongly resembling King Wen's handiwork from before! Su Yu examined them carefully: on one hand, they concealed all traces from being detected by the Great Dao; on the other hand, they stabilized the tributary. Su Yu noticed that this tributary was like a hole forcibly punched through a wall. All around it, the walls of the Dao of Dead Spirits were attempting to self-heal and close the hole, only to be held back by an opposing force! "Is this King Wen's arrangement?" Su Yu inhaled sharply. "The more I learn, the more I realize just how terrifyingly strong King Wen was!" He could see now that King Wen had also explored the Dao of Dead Spirits back then and ultimately chose this spot to forcibly carve out a small path. Tributaries carved from the River of Time never healed. Yet the Dao of Dead Spirits possessed self-healing capabilities. Under such conditions, opening a Dao was practically impossible! Yet King Wen had accomplished it. He had opened this Dao, and it was actively stealing power from the Dao of Dead Spirits. "So this is the Dao of Ink?" Su Yu approached the tributary. River water incessantly lashed against it, attempting to shatter the sealing power so the Great Dao could heal itself. This Dao of Ink behaved like a parasite, leeching off its host. Su Yu observed it closely, opening his Heavenly Gate to its limit, and faintly discerned a figure lingering within the tributary. "Liu Hong?" Su Yu's heart stirred, and he soon smiled. In the next instant, he reached out and scooped up some river water devoid of figures. With a low shout, death qi erupted, swiftly transforming the water into lines of large characters. Immediately afterward, he let out a low roar and hurled the characters forged of death qi water straight into the tributary. Just as King Wen's barrier began to surface, Su Yu tapped forward with his brush, releasing power of the same origin to stall the barrier for a fraction of a second. The next moment, the characters formed of river water were drawn into the tributary. ... At that exact moment. Along the bank of the Dead Spirit Heavenly River, Liu Hong, who was sneaking around attempting to hunt down a dead spirit monarch, suddenly saw his vision blur. A momentary daze washed over him, and a sentence seemed to manifest in his mind: "Liu Hong, call Su Yu Grandpa, or heavenly punishment shall strike!" "Cough, cough, cough!" Liu Hong choked and coughed violently, his eyes widening in sheer horror. What kind of ghost trick was this? He was normally someone who kept his cool, but right now, he was utterly baffled! What the hell? Why did this thought suddenly pop into his head? No, it wasn't a sudden thought—it was the influence of the Great Dao! He seemed to be influenced by the Great Dao, and the Great Dao... was telling him to call Su Yu Grandpa? Holy shit! How was that possible?! This was the Great Dao left behind by King Wen! King Wen had disappeared over a hundred thousand years ago—how could he have left something in the Great Dao? Even if he had left something, there was no way it would be these words! Utterly terrified, Liu Hong scanned the surroundings. Was Su Yu nearby? Was he influencing him? In the distance, the dead spirit monarch stared blankly at the shrieking Liu Hong, then sank into the Dead Spirit Heavenly River and swiftly vanished. Liu Hong wanted to pursue, but quickly abandoned the idea, his face etched with unease. What in the world was going on? At that very instant, another sentence popped into his head: "Call it out quickly! Shout it loud, or heavenly punishment will surely descend!" Call your ancestors! Liu Hong cursed madly in his heart. It had to be Su Yu messing with him. Was that bastard nearby? This guy was terrifying. He could influence my Great Dao? If I can't afford to provoke him, can't I at least hide? Run! Just as he prepared to flee, a thunderous crash erupted in his mind, rumbling with the terrifying imagery of world-ending destruction. Liu Hong's face went pale, and he blurted out, "Bro! I'll call you Bro! Stop messing with me!" Yet all fell silent; there was no further response. ... Inside the Dao of Dead Spirits. Su Yu had hurled characters several times, followed by an illusion, which were all sucked into that tributary. Su Yu chuckled. He did not know whether Liu Hong had received the messages, but it had been fun. Forget it, no need to keep playing with him; the consumption was too heavy and unnecessary. However, seeing this Dao gave him several new ideas. Could he also open a Dao here? "No, I don't possess the capability to open a Dao yet, but..." Holding the Dead Spirit page, Su Yu's eyes gleamed. "I can place this Dead Spirit page into the Great Dao to steal power! Steal power from the Dao of Dead Spirits! It's terrifyingly vast anyway; siphoning a little won't even be noticed, so long as it isn't discovered and destroyed! "Use an illusory Dao to absorb dead spirit power, and thereby substitute it! "King Wen forged a Dao to siphon power. I can pass off the fake as real and use this illusory Dao to steal power! "No, the best way would actually be to parasitize a powerhouse's Dao!" Su Yu's eyes flashed with calculation. Parasitize! Yes, take his Dead Spirit page and attach it like a parasite to the Dao integrated by an enemy powerhouse! He could even induce them to actively use his illusory Dao to draw power, making them believe they were growing infinitely stronger, and then he could reclaim it at any moment! "This way, I can have someone help me nurture the Dead Spirit page!" Countless ideas blossomed in Su Yu's mind. He pressed on, eager to understand the Dao of Dead Spirits better. Now that this supreme powerhouse's Dao lay open before him, Su Yu wanted to see how that creator had detached from the River of Time to form an independent Great Dao. "This requires unfathomable power. What sustains it from depleting?" "And what did King Wen mean when he said all changes leave the fundamental essence intact?" Harboring question after question, Su Yu pushed forward. It grew harder and harder! Beneath his feet, Su Yu glimpsed more water droplets bearing human silhouettes. One drop, one Dao integrated by a dead spirit. Some were extraordinarily mighty, some seemed dormant, while others openly radiated their aura. "Accumulating across endless ages, the Dead Spirit Realm truly holds so many experts." Su Yu sighed inwardly. It was only because the master of the Dao of Dead Spirits was no longer around; otherwise, unifying the Dead Spirit Realm in a flash and awakening all the slumbering beings would make the realm terrifyingly potent! "The key is to strengthen myself!" Regardless of how strong that ancient master was, all Su Yu cared about was making himself stronger. Finding someone to nurture his Dead Spirit page was an excellent choice. However, doing so silently without being noticed by the target was still quite challenging. "Perhaps I can do this with other Daos as well!" Su Yu's eyes glittered. He could actually split up the pages of the civilization chronicle to siphon power from all sorts of Great Daos. Have others nurture his pages for him! "Right now, there are no Rulers of Rules, and no one can freely swim the River of Time. What would they know?" This was an opportunity! Without Rulers of Rules and without anyone opening the Heavenly Gate, it would be nearly impossible for them to notice. "I could even substitute fake Daos for real Daos and have the myriad races integrate into my fake Daos!" Integrate into the fake Daos within my civilization chronicle! Even Su Yu drew in a breath. Am I too wicked? This would screw over every cultivator of the myriad races! This venture into the Dao of Dead Spirits had given him boundless ideas. Continuing forward for a while, Su Yu spotted a relatively potent droplet of river water with a figure floating within it. That was the Dao of a dead spirit marquis. Su Yu's eyes flickered. A dead spirit marquis! This did not seem to be one under his command. Could it be... someone under the North King? He examined it closely. Even though dead spirits all looked vaguely the same, he could still make out the general contours. Perhaps... it truly was a marquis under the North King. "Let's test it out!" Su Yu reached toward the droplet. That droplet was extraordinarily powerful; it abruptly spewed an immense torrent of death qi to corrode Su Yu. A single drop battered him into an instant retreat! ... Right as Su Yu moved to capture this expert's Dao. In the Land of Guixu. The North King had established a temporary palace here. Inside this newly established palace, a dead spirit marquis snapped his eyes open, Dao power erupting violently. Soon, several dead spirit marquises rushed over, highly vigilant. The North King arrived shortly after, barking, "Marquis Longxue, what happened?" Marquis Longxue knitted his brows slightly. Sitting cross-legged as his Dao power continued to surge, he said gravely, "There seems to be danger. I felt my Dao power colliding with the Dao power of another expert!" The North King was taken aback, then asked solemnly, "Could a powerhouse be attempting to strike you down across space using Dao power?" He swiftly resonated his own Dao power, sweeping across the surroundings, yet detected nothing. Furrowing his brow, he asked, "Is it at the source of the Great Dao?" "Likely so," Marquis Longxue said after sensing it, feeling the same. The North King frowned and took a moment before speaking. "It might be a collision of Daos. Someone wants to raise their strength and is squeezing your domain within the Great Dao. Resist with all your might! Several dead spirit marquises and Heavenly Kings have fallen recently, and some fellows want to seize more Dao power. They can easily take over those who have died, but it is very difficult to take from the living! As long as you resist with everything you have and they fail to breach your defense, they will naturally give up!" Marquis Longxue nodded. "Who could it be? To encroach on territory within the Dao of Dead Spirits—could it be a Heavenly King? The Southern King?" "Possible!" The North King pondered, then glanced deeper into the depths. Aside from the Southern King, there might be others. Those sealed fellows were not easy to deal with either. He said hurriedly, "Be careful. As long as you remain alive, it is virtually impossible for someone to seize your Dao territory! After all, achieving Dao Integration means you have already claimed that region as your own! You might even be able to inflict a backlash on them. Stop talking and counterattack with all your might! They are intruding from across space to invade your Dao; even a Heavenly King could suffer a backlash from you!" Marquis Longxue's heart stirred. I can devour them in return? He quickly mobilized his Dao power, unleashing a furious surge. ... Meanwhile, inside the Dao of Dead Spirits, Su Yu was being driven back step after step. Baring his teeth, he grimaced. "Sure enough, trying to kill a marquis here isn't easy at all. It's much simpler to kill them in reality! They hold the initiative, this is their home turf, and I'm just an outsider!" Su Yu quickly backed away. Tough nut to crack; if this didn't work, he would switch to another monarch. Just as he had that thought, the illusory dead spirit figure within the Dao suddenly lunged toward him, intent on devouring Su Yu. "Detected me and launching a counterattack?" Su Yu assessed the situation. Just as he was about to dodge, his eyes flickered. The next moment, a phantom manifested upon his Dead Spirit page, formed from his own blood essence. At this moment, this Dead Spirit Su Yu held an illusory, miniature Dead Spirit river in his hands! Su Yu manipulated the Dead Spirit page. That Dead Spirit Su Yu charged toward the marquis with the miniature river, while the marquis's phantom lunged forward with fierce momentum, opening its maw wide to devour Su Yu's phantom! Su Yu hardly fought back, letting the opponent swallow away. His page, his phantom, and the illusory Dao of the Dead Spirit river were all gradually consumed! The phantom of Marquis Longxue grew noticeably stronger. After a while, with a rumble, the entire Dead Spirit page vanished. Su Yu could faintly discern that the page had manifested inside the water droplet encasing Marquis Longxue's phantom. His illusory Dao had been swallowed whole! Su Yu retreated rapidly, his eyes twinkling as he grinned. "You swallowed it yourself? Not everything is meant to be eaten, you know!" Having devoured the phantom, Marquis Longxue's shadow circled for a bit. Sensing no further danger, it soon turned back into a droplet of water and rejoined the river. Its aura, however, had grown noticeably stronger. ... In the Land of Guixu. Marquis Longxue's Dao power surged for a time. A moment later, his aura suddenly grew stronger, before gradually settling down. Yet Marquis Longxue's heart was trembling! The counterattack had succeeded! Not only had it succeeded, but he had taken a bite out of his attacker, devouring a substantial amount of their dead spirit rule power! At this moment, he faintly sensed that he had touched upon something miraculous. In his mind, a miniature river faintly surfaced. "What is this?" Shaken to his core, Marquis Longxue wondered, Did I just obtain a monumental opportunity? He sensed it carefully, myriad thoughts racing through his mind, until he vaguely grasped what it was. "Incredible... This is... the seed of the Dao of Dead Spirits!" Marquis Longxue's heart pounded with overwhelming shock. In that battle just now, he seemed to have obtained an immense stroke of fortune—he had touched the fundamental essence of the Dao of Dead Spirits! According to his comprehension, this illusory river in his mind appeared to be a seed of the Dao of Dead Spirits—or to put it bluntly, the son of the Dao of Dead Spirits, a miniature Dao of Dead Spirits! If he mastered this and strengthened his Dao power, one day he might become the Lord of Dead Spirits! The master of the entire Dead Spirit Realm! Marquis Longxue was shaken to the bone. Just what had he swallowed? Whoever had invaded him had been slain or repelled, and even this marvelous thing had been stripped away and claimed by him! Inconceivable! Seeing that he had regained his composure, the North King quickly asked, "How is it?" Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, Marquis Longxue promptly answered, "I have repelled them. The intruder retreated, and even if they aren't dead, I believe they suffered severe injuries. I even swallowed a portion of their dead spirit rule power and grew somewhat stronger!" Hearing this, the North King smiled. "Normal enough. Battles of the Great Dao are the most perilous of all! To encroach upon the Dao territory of a living dead spirit marquis—unless they were a Ruler of Rules, escaping unscathed is nearly impossible! Therefore, within the Dead Spirit Realm, it is best not to fight battles of the Great Dao. Everyone walks the same path, so rule suppression rarely occurs!" Marquis Longxue nodded and smiled. "Perhaps it was an expert newly awakened in the Dead Spirit Heavenly River whose head wasn't quite clear." Hearing this, the others agreed. One of them chuckled, "Marquis Longxue has good luck, coming out ahead like that. Next time some newly awakened fool tries to swallow me, I'd like to try inflicting a Dao backlash on them too!" Laughter broke out among the group. Marquis Longxue smiled along, though the tempest in his heart raged unabated. I... I seem to have become the Child of the Realm for the Dead Spirit Realm! The Dao of Dead Spirits left behind a seed, waiting for me to inherit it! "I must continuously devour the Dao power of others!" Marquis Longxue thought to himself. Suddenly, an uncontrollable urge seized him—he truly wanted to slaughter all these fellows to perfect his miniature Dao of Dead Spirits! Perhaps he could swiftly become a Heavenly King, even a Quasi-King, or even... a Ruler of Rules! "A heaven-sent opportunity! No, I understand now!" Marquis Longxue's heart quaked again. It made sense: with the Human Realm invading once more, the Dao of Dead Spirits was mounting a counterattack! Thus, a Child of the Realm had been born—destiny's chosen! "The Great Dao has a spirit! The Dao of Dead Spirits is actually nurturing an existence capable of rivaling Su Yu, isn't it?" Thought after thought cascaded through his mind, leaving Marquis Longxue bathed in pure euphoria. I have been chosen as the spokesman for the Dao of Dead Spirits! Heavenly King, Ruler of Rules... Grand ambitions flashed continuously before him. Glancing out of the corner of his eye at the others, seeing that none of them paid him any mind, he began calculating silently: find an opportunity to slip out, kill several powerhouses, and devour their Dao power. Perhaps he could rise in no time! "And the sealed grounds—so many powerhouses! If I devour them all... and then devour these fellows here, all supreme might will belong to me alone!" His ambition instantly ballooned to the extreme! Yet in a place beyond his sight, above his head within the Great Dao, a miniature river loomed faintly. Within that river, a phantom sat cross-legged, continuously chanting: "Devour all! I am destiny! Unify the heavens, sole sovereign over the myriad races!" A subtle, imperceptible influence! This was precisely the result Su Yu had aimed for. He wanted to run an experiment. To test whether he could borrow a hen to hatch his egg—letting this fellow who had swallowed his Dead Spirit page go around assassinating others and devouring them, ultimately making wedding garments for Su Yu! If this succeeded, Su Yu could follow the same pattern and make similar arrangements with the other pages. This would save far more time and effort than endlessly strengthening them on his own! ... At this moment, within the Dao of Dead Spirits, Su Yu was substantially injured. Though he wished to press farther ahead to explore, after weighing the matter, he chose to withdraw. Head back first! He also wanted to see if the fellow who had seized his page would make any moves soon. Moreover, this had prompted Su Yu to ponder even deeper implications. A terrifying hypothesis—one he hardly dared pursue to its conclusion.