The Common People Dao Opens!

Three madmen pioneering a path! Wielding the massive boulder, Su Yu ran rampant without restraint. "Suppress!" Shouts rang out incessantly. Times were changing. What predecessors had not dared or could not accomplish did not mean they could not do it! Had any predecessor ever been as perverted as Lan Tian? Had any of them seen so many of their own clones perish? Su Yu could clearly see now: this Dao was brutal to walk! Too difficult! Every single time, the one perishing was a true body. Yes, an authentic body. Every Lan Tian was truly himself. None were illusions. If Su Yu were to attempt this, he knew cloning techniques as well, but his clones would be useless—they were merely ordinary clones, nothing more. In this present era, the only person who stood any chance of forging this Common People Dao was likely Lan Tian alone. Su Yu led in front while Lan Tian followed behind, clones perishing in continuous succession. Yet at this moment, Lan Tian was all smiles. "Brother Yu is so magnificent!" "So much more impressive than Brother Tiansheng! Earlier, a single clone could only manage a few paces, but now we've advanced so far. Brother Yu is simply amazing!" "..." Fuck! Su Yu cursed under his breath. If they weren't in the middle of pioneering a Dao right now, would you believe you wouldn't even be seeing my backside anymore? I compliment you a couple of times, and you immediately let it go to your head! With a sense of helplessness, Su Yu ignored him, letting his hearty laughter boom out to drown out Lan Tian's antics. "Prefect, let's see which of us can suppress longer and journey farther! For now, it seems your Human Dao still isn't up to the task!" "Yours is the one that's not up to the task!" Wan Tiansheng was speechless. What sort of nonsense was he spouting? Su Yu was just as speechless. What, still unwilling to admit it? I was speaking the honest truth. You really couldn't keep up—mainly because your Human Lord Seal's suppression effect was inferior to this little boulder. Naturally, Su Yu wouldn't say that part aloud. At this moment, Su Yu surged ahead with tremendous speed, shooting forward. The three of them flattened the turbulent River of Time, paving an ever-extending blood-soaked road! Lan Tian's clones continued to detonate, though the rate had slowed considerably. Gradually, Su Yu began to feel the strain. Suppressing the river felt great. Showing off felt great, too. Yet flattening the River of Time ultimately demanded sheer strength—and not just strength, but profound comprehension of the Great Dao. All three of them ranked among the supreme elites. Even so, Su Yu was genuinely starting to feel outmatched by the strain! He held on by pure willpower. He had just claimed Wan Tiansheng was lacking; how could he fall short himself? He had to endure. As long as one's Dao comprehension was deep enough, nothing was impossible. Not only that, Su Yu suddenly recalled something. Along their route, there were areas where tributary Daos branched off. Now, from within several of those tributaries, book pages materialized. With a thunderous boom, power erupted, flattening the surging waves near those tributaries! Wan Tiansheng watched in utter astonishment. What was this? Up ahead, Su Yu laughed loudly. "He who walks the righteous path finds abundant aid! Indeed, when I, Su Yu, blaze a trail, even the River of Time must make way for me!" At this moment, Wan Tiansheng had no rebuttal. He didn't understand! He had no idea why the waves subsided before Su Yu had even exerted his suppression over there. Could it be... truly as Su Yu claimed? When he forged a path, did even the River of Time grant him face? What monstrous face you possess! Wan Tiansheng felt an instinctive skepticism, yet he could not fathom why the waters ahead smoothed out into calm before they even arrived. Meanwhile, Su Yu let out a quiet breath of relief. The pages he had previously smuggled into various tributary Daos were finally paying off, borrowing the power of ten thousand Daos to quell the fluctuations in the main current. Although a single page could only draw a limited amount of force, the key was that he had planted a great many of them! 1,477 pages! Even if each page snuffed out a single cresting wave, it was enough to carry them forward a substantial distance. Behind them, some tributaries contained pages Su Yu had embedded, while others did not. Where there were none, Su Yu suppressed the waters himself; where they existed, the pages lent their strength to assist in the suppression. This provided Su Yu with a buffer, freeing him from shouldering relentless, crushing pressure without pause. At the same time, the Daos of the myriad races began to vibrate. Certain Eternal and Dao Integration experts could faintly sense it. Yet sensing it accomplished nothing! At this moment, the Great Daos of all the heavens were experiencing tremors. Three madmen were cutting a path through the main riverbed, and blood-red patterns stretched across the void. Any idiot could deduce that the human race was up to something. With the Great Daos trembling, no one could do a thing except endure it. ... Pfft! Having pushed himself to the absolute limit, Su Yu finally could no longer hold it in and sprayed a mouthful of blood. Behind him, Lan Tian's clones had also grown significantly weaker. They were far from as formidable as before. How far had they traveled? No one knew. At any rate, they had passed the Brush Dao and the Human Dao, advancing far beyond them. The blood-red thread continued to lengthen, showing no sign of reaching an end. Both Wan Tiansheng and Su Yu had shattered past their personal limits. They had exceeded the furthest stretches they had ever navigated along the River of Time. As Su Yu coughed up blood, Wan Tiansheng swiftly flew forward from behind, shouting, "I'll take over! Go recover!" Su Yu immediately fell back. From the rear, Lan Tian chuckled. "Both my big brothers are so incredible! Keep it up!" Neither Su Yu nor Wan Tiansheng paid him any mind. In truth, Lan Tian's consumption far surpassed theirs. Without exaggerating, seven to eight thousand of his clones had already exploded! Lan Tian was now finding every step a struggle! The luster upon the Heaven Hunting Ranking was also dimming. Looking down at the ranking, Lan Tian let out a soft laugh. "This Record of Ten Thousand Laws possesses the power to shroud heaven. Once its power is exhausted, the River of Time will actively repel me and forbid me from continuing to pioneer this Dao! If my clones are wiped out entirely, or if this record exhausts its strength, this endeavor ends in failure!" Lan Tian chuckled cheerfully. "Brothers, let's talk as we go! Record everything I have learned, perceived, and comprehended! If I fail, I hope someone in the future will inherit my mantle!" A clone shattered, and another emerged to replace it without the slightest change in expression. Lan Tian continued, "My name is Lan Tian, born in Year 275 of the Anping Calendar..." "A fine date!" Su Yu called out. Lan Tian giggled coquettishly. "Hmph, annoying! Let me finish speaking!" Alright. Su Yu immediately clamped his mouth shut. You win! "By my count, I am seventy-eight years old this year. I joined the Great Xia Civilization Academy at eighteen. Back then, it was still under the stewardship of the fifth-generation prefect, Ye Batian." "I belonged to the same generation as Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan, just a few years their senior." "I lived through the glorious zenith of the fifth generation, yet ultimately, he could not escape death..." "After the fifth-generation prefect died, I felt that cultivating within the academy, being mere researchers working in isolation behind closed doors, could never save the world... I, too, possessed lofty ideals." Lan Tian laughed softly. "Back then, Tiansheng needed someone to infiltrate the myriad races, to infiltrate the All-Races Cult. That was when I chose to leave. During that period, I felt a profound helplessness. The more I understood the myriad races, the more despair I felt. I despaired over why our era had to be so wretchedly humble! I despaired over the fact that the myriad races chose not to wipe out humanity solely because humanity still held practical value to them..." Lan Tian recounted his history, his past, his entire life. He even touched upon his turning points. Why had he chosen this path? Because he saw no hope! The deeper his understanding of the myriad races grew, the deeper his despair became. What did a few Eternals amount to? The myriad races had far too many! The few dozen Eternals among the humans were nowhere near enough to save their race. Thus, amidst his despair, he chose a path he had contemplated before but had never dared to walk. I want my clones to number in the millions! To defeat the myriad races, one had to comprehend them to the core. I am Lan Tian, and I am also the myriad races. At first, he had done so merely to study their vulnerabilities, yet he constantly felt an underlying detachment. Even with clones, they could not function as real, living people. "Later, I realized this wouldn't do!" "So I chose to take things a step further. I completely transformed my clones. I severed my sea of will—and remarkably, I didn't die!" Lan Tian smiled brightly, yet listening to him sent a chill straight through Su Yu's heart. Severing the sea of will! And surviving? This man was truly a monster! Lan Tian said with a smile, "The first time I attempted to sever my sea of will, the pain was excruciating! Beyond agony! I thought I was going to die, but then I discovered I lived! Why did I survive? This must be recorded clearly: it was willpower, spirit, a brand of obsession and profound self-identification!" Lan Tian turned solemn. "Identification! The first time I severed my sea of will, it was to transform into a demon. At that moment, I firmly believed I was a demon! I mastered everything of the Demon race, even replicating their internal anatomy. Every trace of me belonged to the Demon race. Therefore, the severed portion of my sea of will was a genuine demon!" Su Yu fell into deep thought. Up ahead, Wan Tiansheng coughed blood and asked, "Willpower and spirit are indeed vital, but by all logic, severing the sea of will should cause both halves to collapse. No matter how immense your willpower is, it should disintegrate. Why didn't yours?" "Fool!" Lan Tian smiled coquettishly. "Anything is possible! Just because you cannot achieve it doesn't mean we cannot! Brother Yu can try it out: sever your sea of will in half, and then immediately repair it. As long as you possess a sufficiently powerful restorative divine character, the chances are remarkably high..." Saying that, he adopted a flirtatious tone once more. "Tiansheng is so silly. You could actually try it as well. You possess a replication divine character. Although its power isn't overwhelmingly formidable, you could try severing half of your sea of will, replicating the other half, and then, weaving truth and falsehood together, attempt to fuse them! Once you push through the initial hurdle and let them slowly merge, the fake can become real!" Wan Tiansheng's heart stirred. Suddenly, a smile broke across his face. "That makes sense!" With that, he quickly asked, "How many clones do you have left?" "A little over a thousand." Wan Tiansheng frowned, then immediately said, "No matter. Continue severing your sea of will to manufacture clones. I'll help you try to replicate them. If that fails, we'll do as you suggested—half real and half fake!" He feared the clones would run out! In truth, running out was almost a certainty. Up to this point, they had not seen the slightest glimmer of success in pioneering the Dao, yet seven to eight thousand of Lan Tian's clones had already perished! From the rear, Su Yu's eyes flickered. "This could work. Prefect, you handle the replication to bolster his clone count! I will handle strengthening and healing his clones!" With that, Su Yu let out a low shout. A divine character blazed to life—*Heal*! Restore! The injuries upon Lan Tian's battered clone instantly knit together slightly. Joy leaped into Su Yu's heart. He had nearly forgotten—we are Civilization Masters! I possess countless divine characters! I command the power of countless Great Daos! Why did we have to force our way through purely on brute endurance? Wan Tiansheng's replication divine character also flared with power. In an instant, another Lan Tian clone appeared, looking indistinguishable from the real thing. However, Lan Tian quickly frowned and said, "Wait, don't replicate the entire person! When my clone takes damage, replicate arms, legs, and the like to patch it up. That way, we can delay the injuries and prolong the time before detonation!" "That works too!" Wan Tiansheng nodded, his spirits lifting. In reality, both Su Yu and Wan Tiansheng understood this was drinking poison to quench a thirst! Igniting divine characters consumed their own energy as well. Holding back the colossal waves was already an arduous struggle. Now having to divert power to restore Lan Tian's clones would only compound their burden. Yet neither brought it up. At the very least, they yearned to see a glimmer of hope, a sliver of possibility that this Dao could be successfully pioneered! This path was simply too difficult. ... Heal, replicate. Wan Tiansheng could barely hold on any longer, coughing blood continuously. Behind him, Lan Tian wore a smile. The interval between his clones exploding had shortened again, and the blood-red Dao stretched ever further. "Tiansheng, you two should leave!" He smiled softly. "Truly, turn back! I have said everything I needed to say. I want to try this on my own. I want to see if this Dao can truly be forged!" Lan Tian's smile was extraordinarily radiant. "You have already done everything within your power. From antiquity to the present, probably no one has ever required two supreme experts to protect and blaze a trail for them while pioneering a Dao. My life has been worth it! I have lived madly and brilliantly. To have the Human Sovereign and the master of the Human Dao personally forge a path for me in this era... is my supreme honor!" At this moment, he seemed to return entirely to normal. Wan Tiansheng smiled, his robes soaked crimson with blood. "You want to see it, and so do I—to see whether this Dao can truly succeed!" Behind them, Su Yu soared into the air, swinging his giant boulder to once again stand at the vanguard, suppressing the massive waves. Calmly, he said, "Enough, let's keep moving! We haven't reached a hopeless dead end yet!" "I'm afraid... you won't be able to make it back!" Lan Tian sighed softly. They had ventured too far. So far that if these two didn't reserve some strength, they very likely wouldn't be able to return. "I was being too willful. If Tiansheng wishes to stay with me... then so be it. Su Yu, you must go back!" Lan Tian added with a bitter tone, "His death here won't shatter the overall situation. But if you die here... then every ounce of effort we've expended will be brought to ruin!" Su Yu could not die here! Wan Tiansheng also said in a grave voice, "Go back!" If Su Yu continued further, he would lack the strength to return. Once completely lost within the River of Time, even if he survived, he might be swept into some tributary and sealed away, perhaps never to emerge again! Su Yu snorted coldly. "Looking down on me?" With those words, Su Yu shouted, "Come forth!" Boom! At that exact instant, the Time Record trembled within his mind. A formidable wave of power swept forward, flattening all the surging waters along the path ahead. Su Yu's face turned pale, and among his dark hair, a single white strand appeared! "Time belongs to me; across the universe and time itself, heaven and earth unite as one!" Divine characters surfaced one after another. I command time! Time and space, above and below. All four directions of heaven and earth, all belong to my domain! The Time Record trembled faintly. Strands of snow-white hair emerged across Su Yu's head. At this moment, Su Yu was unfathomably formidable, utterly indifferent. "What are you staring at? Did you think I was like you two, having zero tricks up my sleeve when trouble strikes?" "You..." Wan Tiansheng's brow furrowed tightly. "Have you lost your mind?! Lan Tian isn't worth you doing this!" Lan Tian rolled his eyes at him, then looked toward Su Yu, his expression turning bitter. "He speaks the truth. I am not worth this!" "Ignorant!" Su Yu sneered coldly. "Though both of you are my elders, you are foolish! In three to five years, the Upper Realm will inevitably open! What good is living for tens of thousands of years? If I am defeated, I will not drag out a dishonorable existence. I will not turn into some ancient fossil stripped of ambition and hope! If I am defeated, then I die having lived twenty-five years! So what? Throughout all eternity, who could compare to my life?" He was burning his lifespan! What did that matter? Su Yu didn't care! Wielding the Time Record was still slightly beyond his current cultivation; every activation drained his lifespan. It didn't matter! With Su Yu's strength, living a hundred thousand years would have been effortless. Plenty of ancient antiques had survived. Either I will only live to twenty-five, or... I will crush the myriad races and reign as the hegemon of all heavens! When that time comes, I can naturally restore it slowly! The future? Who knew what would happen across the next hundred thousand years! I look only at the present, never at the distant future. I know only that if Lan Tian succeeds, humanity will gain another supreme Dao Integration powerhouse, perhaps even a Heavenly King, or... someone even stronger! "Move!" Holding the boulder in his left hand and supporting the faintly shimmering Time Record with his right, Su Yu barked, "What are you standing around for?" Wan Tiansheng's expression shifted slightly. Lan Tian also let out a sigh, then promptly smiled. "Lan Tian... offers his deepest gratitude!" Taking a stride forward, he left a long trail of blood behind him. At this moment, Lan Tian was no longer flamboyant, no longer nauseating. There was only pure resolve: I will forge this Dao! A sovereign was opening the way for him. Burning his very lifespan for his sake! If I fail to succeed, how could heaven and earth ever face me? Every time they covered a distance, Su Yu's Time Record vibrated, smoothing out the crashing waves, and a few more white strands surfaced in his hair. White robes, white hair. At this moment, in Wan Tiansheng's eyes, Su Yu had shed all traces of his past youthfulness, no longer showing any immaturity. Wan Tiansheng felt deeply bitter. This kid... always defies my expectations. I can never anticipate what he'll do next! Suppress! Unceasing suppression. The colossal waves were suppressed, and the tributary fluctuations were brought to heel. Yet Su Yu's aura only grew increasingly formidable, thoroughly aloof, his white hair dancing in the wind. How much lifespan can you truly burn through? Can you make me live until twenty-five? If you can, I have nothing to fear! If you can't, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Right at that moment, a tributary Dao manifested before Su Yu's eyes. Su Yu hadn't paid it any mind at first, but suddenly, a figure seemed to materialize upon that tributary. To think a silhouette existed at such profound depths! That silhouette was likewise filled with utter terror! "No... Su Yu... impossible..." The Martial Emperor! Su Yu's heart jolted. He looked quickly. It was an exceptionally powerful Dao. If the Brush Dao was five to six thousand meters wide and the Wild Celestial Beast's Dao was two to three thousand meters, this Dao was noticeably stronger than the Wild Celestial Beast's! The Martial Emperor was stronger than the Wild Celestial Beast! Its width approached nearly four thousand meters—at least from Su Yu's vantage point. This was the strongest Dao Su Yu had witnessed thus far, second only to the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits, the Flesh Body Dao, and the Brush Dao. The Five Elements Dao and the Wild Celestial Beast's Dao paled in comparison, while Wan Tiansheng had only just opened his Dao. "It's impossible for you to have penetrated this deep..." The Martial Emperor was shaken to his core. This was his territory! The next instant, he roared in fury, "You want to pass? Impossible!" Boom! At that exact instant, a massive seal suddenly erupted with thunderous force, smashing down and instantly obliterating his phantasmal form. That was an incomparably formidable seal—the Holy Transformation Seal! This was the first time Su Yu had deployed the Holy Transformation Seal at full power! Under that single strike, a crack appeared on the Holy Transformation Seal. Yet the Martial Emperor's phantom shattered instantaneously. Su Yu glared coldly ahead as the Martial Emperor's voice cut off. "Noisy!" Su Yu barked a cold reprimand. The next instant, he hurled the small stone toward that Great Dao while the Time Record surged with power. The strike sent the tributary into a violent uproar. Su Yu bellowed, "Dare to obstruct my path? Martial Emperor, let alone the fact that your seal hasn't even been broken, even if you broke free, I would still slay you without fail! Do not provoke my wrath!" The Martial Emperor actually dared to block their Dao! Su Yu was infuriated. He was also intimidating the Martial Emperor: the man had yet to unseal himself and was not yet a Ruler of Rules. Believe it or not, I will pay the price right now to inflict damage upon your Great Dao! At this point, the Martial Emperor's voice fell silent, vanished completely. ... Inside the Star Residence Mansion. The Martial Emperor abruptly opened his eyes. Pfft! On the first floor, blood erupted from his mouth like molten lava. His face darkened, soon settling into deep gravity. That madman was decisive to an absurd degree! Not only that, he was overwhelmingly... domineering! I only happened upon him by chance and made a passing remark, yet fuck, that bastard smashed a seal down on me without a second thought! He didn't even grant me time to react! "Those bastards actually made it all the way there..." The Martial Emperor still could not conceal his shock; he was genuinely shaken. He seemed to have sensed certain things. Su Yu... appeared to be frantically burning his lifespan. His hair had turned entirely white. Has that lunatic lost his mind? Su Yu was vastly stronger than when they had last met! He even showed faint signs of marching toward peak Dao Integration. "Gambling it all on a single throw?" A boundless tempest raged within the Martial Emperor's heart. Gambling everything on this single chance! Su Yu possessed supreme talent, running rampant across the myriad realms, yet he refused to seek a steady future, willing to wager everything on one gamble. If he lost, that was the end; if he won, lifespan meant nothing to him! "Why?" the Martial Emperor murmured. Why on earth?! With Su Yu's monstrous talent, even if he suffered defeat this time, he could completely follow the example of the Hundred Battles King—fleeing or going into hiding. He wouldn't necessarily die! If he endured for a few hundred or thousand years, Su Yu would inevitably become a Ruler of Rules! What in the world was he thinking? At this moment, the Martial Emperor found himself utterly unable to comprehend, unable to accept it. Because Su Yu was no petty worm; he was an unprecedented genius who had opened the Heavenly Gate. Nowadays, the Martial Emperor rarely referred to Su Yu as a little bug unless he was consumed by rage. Because in the Martial Emperor's eyes, only Su Yu in this entire era was worthy of being compared to him. "What exactly are you pursuing?" the Martial Emperor muttered in a daze. Suddenly, he calmed down, his face reflecting contemplation mixed with a touch of bewilderment. He had no idea what Su Yu was pursuing. Then what about me... what am I pursuing? Vengeance? Or something else? "Three people. Su Yu is acting as a protector, while another is pioneering a Dao—that Lan Tian... the one who shared an affinity with me back then. What kind of Dao is he... forging?" The Martial Emperor's heart trembled once again. As for Wan Tiansheng, anyone capable of walking all the way to the vicinity of his own Dao was undoubtedly an exceptional figure. This tide had produced far too many monstrous freaks. "Has a great era truly arrived?" Antiquity had been a great era! Was this age about to give rise to figures like King Wen? At this moment, the Martial Emperor's emotions were a tangled mess. Even though Su Yu's seal strike had rattled his Dao and increased the difficulty of breaking his seal, he no longer cared. Nor did he materialize again to intercept them. He, too, wanted to see... just how far they could go! Madmen! To venture so deep into the River of Time was suicidal. Su Yu, you possess peerless talent, yet you risk everything to protect another's path. If you die in this River of Time, will you... be worthy of that supreme gift? ... "Who was that just now?" "The Martial Emperor?" Back within the River of Time, Wan Tiansheng was also visibly shaken. Su Yu chuckled. "It was him! A man blessed with empty talent yet devoid of scholarship! He understands nothing of Dao, nothing of pursuit, nothing of dreams, nothing of what his heart truly desires!" Su Yu sneered in disdain. "He opened the Heavenly Gate before King Wen and the others! Yet the power of his Great Dao is barely superior to that of a dim-witted Wild Celestial Beast. Such a human is nothing more than a barbarian, a crude brute!" Wan Tiansheng nodded. "Opening the Heavenly Gate only to end up sealed—he truly is... somewhat weak. In my view, opening the Heavenly Gate represents peerless talent, enabling one to master Daos at a mere glance. For such a being to fall short of the Four Directional Heavenly Kings is an outright disgrace!" Lan Tian sighed with emotion as well. "It is indeed a pity. Back when I visited the Star Residence Mansion, I felt he was still formidable. Seeing him today... compared to the geniuses of his era, he falls terribly short! Opening the Heavenly Gate might not guarantee surpassing King Wen, but he shouldn't have trailed so far behind, should he?" All three shook their heads simultaneously, mocking in unison, "Barbarian, crude brute!" Utterly dismissive! To squander supreme talent without knowing how to wield it was truly tragic. The trio continued their advance. As for the Martial Emperor, they gave him no further thought. Why waste breath on him? His obstruction had failed, and Su Yu had sent him flying with a single seal. Talking about him was a waste of energy. Still, Su Yu now had a general grasp of things. The Martial Emperor's Dao was actually located here. The Brush Dao and the Human Dao were both back before this point. In that case, a Dao was not necessarily better simply because it lay deeper. Or perhaps because the Martial Emperor was still alive, his Dao sat further out, whereas the Brush Dao had no master to steer it, allowing it to drift? He didn't quite understand. Forget it, no point dwelling on it! Unfortunately, his civilization chronicle was out of blank pages. Otherwise, during the moment the Martial Emperor was struck, he might have smuggled a page into his Dao. Never mind—the Martial Emperor was alive and would likely have noticed. No regrets! By now, Su Yu was entirely cloaked in white. White robes, white hair, white brows. Yet his face remained as young as ever, his appearance unchanged, endowed with three extra parts of dashing elegance and unrestrained grace. The Time Record continued to pulse, and the trio pushed forward. His lifespan continued to burn: one thousand years, ten thousand years, twenty thousand years... Su Yu believed he could easily live a hundred thousand years! This was nothing! Burn, keep burning! Behind them, that blood-red path had now cut through the heavens. Stretching endlessly toward the infinite void! ... Time had no meaning within the River of Time. After an indeterminable period, Su Yu abruptly halted. Behind him, Wan Tiansheng's aura was feeble and frail. Over a thousand more of Lan Tian's clones had detonated, and the Heaven Hunting Ranking had grown completely dull. Lan Tian felt a hollow pang of loss, chuckling softly. "This time, go back! I have already witnessed scenery I had never seen before! In this life, I have no regrets! My thanks to both fellow Daoists for seeking the Dao on my behalf!" Fellow Daoists! Companions who shared the same path. In this world, nothing was harder to find than a companion on the same path—walking side by side, ensuring one's path was never lonely. The three of them had traveled tens of millions of li together, traversing time and space. Emperor Yu had burned tens of thousands of years of lifespan for him; Sage King Wan had covered himself in wounds for his sake... It was enough. If they pressed on any further, none of the three would ever return! Su Yu also felt a lingering melancholy. I... did my utmost! This Dao had no visible end. I truly gave it everything! At this point, if Lan Tian failed to open this Dao, he was ruined. Millions of clones wiped out in a single breath, countless portions of his sea of will transformed into a trail of blood stretching across this River of Time. Even if he returned, he would be nothing more than a cripple. This path was hard, as difficult as ascending to heaven! Succeed, or die! Wan Tiansheng swayed on his feet, his eyes carrying a hint of finality. A failure. We cannot see the end of this Great Dao. "Where is the end of this Dao?!" Su Yu roared, thick with indignation! We blazed a trail across tens of millions of li! What other Dao was so agonizingly difficult to attain?! Could anyone in existence ever attain this Dao? Two supreme Dao Integration experts, wielding the Time Record, the Heaven Hunting Ranking, and the suppression stone, protecting a Sun Moon cultivator over tens of millions of li, yet they still couldn't see the end. Could anyone in heaven and earth truly forge such a Dao? Not even a Ruler of Rules could do it! Their Dao comprehension might not even match the depth of these three. Focusing on a single Dao meant that being a Ruler of Rules didn't automatically qualify someone to protect another's path. How monstrous were the three of them, traversing all ten thousand Daos together, yet they couldn't even help one person pioneer his path! Unreconciled! Lan Tian smiled. "Go back! Having perceived this Dao, I can die at dusk without regret. It is enough. I carry no regrets, only gratitude. This Dao has left me with zero remorse!" He had no regrets! Only a trace of sorrow lingered: he had failed to see its end, costing two supreme powerhouses substantial portions of their lifespans. Su Yu had paid an immense price, yet in the end, it had still concluded in failure. Up ahead, Su Yu's long hair whipped about wildly, full of rage and reluctance. Ultimately, it dissolved into a heavy sigh. They could go no further! If he pressed on, he would die. "I'm sorry!" Su Yu sighed, not daring to look back. He had stepped onto this path full of supreme confidence, leading them forward. Three had set out together, yet only two could return. Lan Tian chuckled. "Are you saying that to me? You truly... leave one at a loss for words!" "Go!" He let out a laugh. "I'll walk a little further on my own. I still have three clones left. With these three bodies, I will behold even more beautiful sights! On this journey, I have gained immense enlightenment. My thanks to you both!" Even an escort of thousands of li must eventually part! One could not afford to be willful! Bitterness filled Su Yu's heart. I must leave. Wan Tiansheng watched silently as Lan Tian pressed forward, his clones beginning to crumble. In his eyes lay profound disappointment and sorrow. Another fellow traveler on my path is gone. We set out brimming with confidence, yet arriving at this moment, nothing remained but sorrow. Seven emotions and six desires—in the end, I could not escape them. To feel neither grief nor sorrow belonged to saints. I am not one; I am Wan Tiansheng, not a saint. "I only hope that in your next life, I may guide you once more..." Wan Tiansheng murmured. Guide you onto this path, and escort you again. I believe you will walk forward to take in even more breathtaking sights! "This life holds no regrets!" Up ahead, a clone shattered. Lan Tian's second clone manifested, smiling as he turned his back to Su Yu and Wan Tiansheng. "Return. When the heavens shatter and the earth transforms, do not forget that deep within this River of Time, there remains a fellow traveler of yours!" Watching him stride past, advancing step by step as his second clone began to crumble, Su Yu couldn't help but feel a surge of grief. Fuck! Why couldn't it work? Why couldn't this Dao be opened! Did it truly require forging all the way to the very end of the river? That was impossible! The Human Sovereign and his peers might well be at that very end. How could I possibly guide Lan Tian all the way there?! "This is a dead end, a Dao no living soul can ever forge..." Su Yu sighed inwardly. The next instant, he looked forward. Faintly, certain Great Daos could be glimpsed—perhaps the Daos of peerless powerhouses. Alas, Su Yu had zero interest in them right now. Ahead, darkness faintly loomed. Su Yu could not see where the end lay. He stood watch, silently observing, helplessly witnessing Lan Tian's second clone crumble into dust as the third clone emerged. Once this body shattered, Lan Tian would cease to exist in this world. Death qi began to radiate from Lan Tian's body. He was about to die! Su Yu felt a pang of sorrow. Even death qi had begun to emerge... Even death qi had emerged? Death qi! Boom! It felt like five bolts of lightning striking his skull! Death qi? Fuck! This was the River of Time—where could death qi possibly come from?! Don't joke around! The Great Dao of the Dead Spirits and the River of Time were not the same Dao! Where on earth did death qi come from?! Su Yu's scalp went completely numb as he recalled the Southern King's earlier words: *Ten thousand changes never stray from the root origin!* The Great Dao of the Dead Spirits received and guided fallen experts... Right now, it seemed to be receiving and guiding Lan Tian. Yet how could death qi suddenly emerge here of all places? Impossible! At this moment, Su Yu roared at the top of his lungs, "Wait! Let me through!" With a furious shout, Su Yu shot forward. Wan Tiansheng was startled, and Lan Tian also whipped his head around, yelling, "Don't!" "Idiot, death qi!" Su Yu bellowed. Death qi! A realization struck him like madness. "Born from death! Yes, seeking life through death! Up ahead lies a tributary of the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits—there must be one! No, not a tributary, the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits itself! It must intersect with the River of Time up ahead!" It had to! He understood how the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits had been established: its master had also been siphoning power from the River of Time. That was none of Su Yu's concern! Su Yu knew only that there might be hope! He surged forward frantically, the Time Record pulsing once again as he shouted, "Don't fear the expenditure! We can return via the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits, which will take far less effort than our journey here! Prefect Wan, get over here immediately!" "Lan Tian, do you have a dead spirit clone?" "No..." "Create one right now!" Su Yu barked, "Unite life and death, seeking life through death! Among the ten thousand Daos, you are still lacking the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits! Your Dao is incomplete; if you keep walking like this for an eternity, you might never forge your Common People Dao!" Something was missing! The Dao of Dead Spirits! Lan Tian went dazed for an instant. My Dao is still missing something! Missing the Dao of Dead Spirits! So that was it! In this instant, enlightenment seemed to dawn upon him. Behind them, Wan Tiansheng was also ecstatic, shouting wildly, "Quick, manufacture a dead spirit clone right now! Head forward, search for the river of dead spirits!" Both he and Su Yu cast all caution to the wind. Previously, they had held back some strength to ensure their return. Now, they abandoned all restraint. They bombarded the path ahead with wild abandon, suppressing the titanic waves! Colossal waves surged toward the heavens! Su Yu's hair was snowy white. The Great Dao of the Dead Spirits wasn't far—it couldn't be far, otherwise death qi would never have manifested on Lan Tian's body. Blazing a trail by sheer force, Su Yu was suddenly overwhelmed with wild joy the very next second. He sensed it! He sensed the seed of the dead spirit page! He truly sensed it! In this stretch of the River of Time, a place where the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits should have been an utter impossibility, he had found it. It was completely unbelievable! Su Yu sprinted forward, and soon, he laid eyes upon it! Nothing—pure blank space! To any observer, nothing could be seen. Even Su Yu, having opened the Heavenly Gate, couldn't perceive it with his eyes, but he could sense its existence. The master of the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits was terrifying beyond measure. Where had he forged his Great Dao of the Dead Spirits? Why couldn't I see it? Yet I can undeniably sense its presence! The next instant, Su Yu's eyes gleamed with brilliant light. Suddenly, he smashed the boulder downward into the riverbed. Towering waves churned wildly, yet Su Yu was delirious with joy. "Madman! That bastard was a madman too! He carved his conduit directly into the riverbed of the River of Time! Fuck, no wonder I couldn't see it!" Tributaries were all situated on the flanks. Who in their right mind carved a Dao directly into the riverbed?! The master of the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits... Su Yu had to hand it to him; the man was astonishingly ingenious. Concealed, secure, undetectable by anyone. And capable of stealing power without anyone ever noticing! No wonder the Great Dao of the Dead Spirits was immensely powerful! That lunatic had drilled a hole straight into the River of Time. You had no choice but to admire him! Under Su Yu's relentless barrage, an opening gradually revealed itself at the riverbed. By this point, Lan Tian and Wan Tiansheng had caught up. Both clearly perceived the presence of death qi. As Su Yu blasted through the river current, exposing the breach, both felt it with immense clarity. Death qi abruptly poured from Lan Tian's body. Gradually, Lan Tian seemed to grasp something, and a smile broke across his face. "I... sense the Dao of Dead Spirits!" "So that's how it is... seeking life through death, so that's how it is!" Slowly, his final clone began to transform into a dead spirit. Lan Tian laughed uproariously. "I... see hope! I see this brand-new world!" "Hahahahaha!" At this moment, all three of them burst into wild laughter! Heaven never seals off every path! At their most despairing moment, they had glimpsed vitality, glimpsed hope. Boom! Lan Tian's single clone instantly transformed into a dead spirit, radiating death qi that battered against heaven and earth. Simultaneously, the blood-red path behind them suddenly interwove life and death! The once-dim blood-red path abruptly erupted with radiant beams of light! This light illuminated the entire River of Time! Rumble! Countless powers of rules swept inward. Behind them, upon that blood-red road, figures of Lan Tian suddenly emerged, one after another. Every Lan Tian that had previously exploded materialized along the blood-soaked path. Stretching all the way to the end of the river! Countless Lan Tians roared with laughter. "Life and death... yin and yang... ten thousand Daos... common people!" "The Common People Dao!" How could the common people exist without dead spirits?! I was far too narrow-minded! At this moment, countless Lan Tians laughed hysterically. "My darling dead spirits, I love you all! Daddy loves you! You, too, are part of the common people! Hahahahaha!" With madness and overwhelming delight, Lan Tian's clones swiftly merged together, uniting into one. The Common People Dao was forged! Rumble! With every clone that merged, his aura surged stronger. Starting from the entrance, they merged one by one: Wanshi, Skysoar, Lingyun, Shanhai, Sun Moon... Gradually, it reached Eternal! Eternal First Stage, Second Stage, Third Stage... That aura climbed relentlessly. Countless Lan Tians began uniting into one: Seventh Stage, Eighth Stage, Ninth Stage! By the time Su Yu and the others saw a formidable Lan Tian stride toward them, he already radiated the aura of Dao Integration! And he had not even finished merging all of his clones. The powerful clone continued forward along the blood-red road, absorbing more clones. His aura continued to climb higher within the Dao Integration realm. Lan Tian laughed wildly! "My little darlings, you're all back!" "I love you all to death!" "Jie-jie, Tiansheng, my big darling, I love you to death!" "Hee-hee-hee, little brother Emperor Yu, I like you from now on; I don't like little brother Tiansheng anymore..." Rumble! His aura grew increasingly terrifying. When the final dead spirit clone fused into him, a deafening boom rang out, and the sheer pressure of his aura forced Su Yu and Wan Tiansheng to stumble back several paces! Su Yu stared blankly, and Wan Tiansheng was equally dumbfounded. The next instant, the two exchanged a glance, suddenly cursing with utter outrage, "Fuck! Peak Dao Integration, or Heavenly King?!" Refusing to accept it! Fuck! This wasn't supposed to happen! This grandson seemed to have surpassed them both; they refused to accept it! "Hahahahaha!" "Shut up!" "Hahahahahahaha!" Lan Tian's wild laughter shook heaven and earth. I succeeded! Utterly exhilarating! The Dao was formed—the Common People Dao! ... At this moment, at the far reaches of the River of Time, a monstrous wave surged, rolling toward the deepest recesses! The previous time Wan Tiansheng opened his Dao, faint tremors had produced colossal pillars of light. Today, they surfaced once more. A phantom figure abruptly turned to look behind him, suddenly gasping in shock, "Fuck!" What in the world was going on? Had a Ruler of Rules emerged? A single Ruler of Rules was nothing extraordinary, but... what was truly terrifying wasn't the emergence of a Ruler of Rules; it was the fact that this damn thing wasn't even a Ruler of Rules! What... was this situation? At this moment, the phantom figure fluctuated violently, filled with sheer disbelief!