Breaching an Opening Feels Great

Just the size of a bowl! Su Yu muttered silently to himself. If he dug it too large, he feared he wouldn't even be able to stabilize it. Just look at the Human Sovereign. He had blasted open such an enormous breach that the torrent was terrifyingly fierce, so dangerous that even Celestial Venerables couldn't cross. How perilous was that? Diving into the River of Time, Su Yu sped forward. This time, Wan Tiansheng and the others were all remaining below to comb through the Daos, meaning the task of breaching an opening fell solely upon Su Yu. He pushed on through the waters. In truth, he was mainly relying on the Xingyu Seal. It had to be said that Su Yu now depended on the Xingyu Seal even more than the Time Book. If he hadn't obtained the seal from Xingyue, breaching an opening in the River of Time would have been an excruciating ordeal, as would traveling between the upper and lower realms. Xingyue… At this moment, Su Yu thought of Xingyue once more. Perhaps she didn't care about the Xingyu Seal, or perhaps she had forgotten it entirely, but he still had to remember her favor. That dead spirit monarch who had dealt with him from the very beginning kept an extremely low profile nowadays, continuing to reside in her dead spirit castle. She was rarely seen venturing outside—a bona fide shut-in who could stay indoors for over a hundred thousand years in a single stretch. With these thoughts drifting through his mind, the Xingyu Seal continued to exert its might, smoothing the roaring waves across the River of Time so that Su Yu, whose connection to the Great Dao was currently severed, could still travel great distances. He didn't know how far he had traveled—he was almost past the Brush Dao—when he sensed the aura of the Tianyuan Dao. Soon, a sizable tributary appeared before his eyes. Su Yu studied it closely and judged that this should be where the main branch of the Tianyuan Dao lay. It wasn't particularly formidable. The entire tributary spanned roughly a thousand meters across. Compared to the Brush Dao, it was far weaker. It was inferior even to the Wild Heavenly Beast's Dao, and naturally couldn't hold a candle to the Martial Emperor's Dao. "So Emperor Tianyuan's strength was only of this caliber!" Having gauged it roughly, Su Yu knew digging around here would suffice. However, he had to lock down the exact coordinates to ensure he didn't breach the wrong place. If he dug outside the realm boundary, all his effort would go to waste! Su Yu halted before the tributary, measured the distance, and descended precisely over the corresponding section of the main trunk. The waters surged and roared. These waters were composed of the power of myriad Daos. The power of myriad Daos channeled corresponding Dao power into the respective tributaries, providing them with rule power. That was the operating model of the entire River of Time. Under normal circumstances, even a Celestial Venerable specialized in only a single Dao. If one rashly dove to the riverbed of the River of Time, lingering for even a moment too long would cause the river's forces to batter them to death. The power of myriad Daos encompassed far too much: corrosion, assault, instant death, and countless other rule powers. No one could endure such an onslaught. "I wonder how long the Xingyu Seal can suppress this!" Su Yu wasn't sure either, as his previous attempts had merely skimmed the surface—suppressing the waters for a brief instant before quickly retreating. Digging a breach now… would likely not be easy. The River of Time wasn't so fragile that you could dig a hole through it on a whim. If it were truly that simple, it would have been riddled with holes long ago. "Suppress!" Putting aside further hesitation, Su Yu decided to give it a try. With a furious shout, the Xingyu Seal erupted with dazzling brilliance. For a fleeting instant, the entire River of Time seemed to stall. Su Yu plunged straight to the riverbed, the Xingyu Seal transforming into a protective barrier encircling him. Yet the colossal currents continued to batter Su Yu, threatening his balance. If swept away, he would drift far from the Tianyuan Realm. Within his mind, the Time Book rippled gently. Upon the civilization chronicle, the Great Dao Diagram radiated a faint luminescence. The Human Sovereign's Great Dao Diagram, the Time Master's Time Book, the Xingyu Seal… All of these treasures unleashed formidable power at once. Su Yu continued his descent, feeling the strain. The waters rushed past him on all sides. Su Yu felt the power of myriad Daos—a confluence of forces so potent it was terrifying. He plunged downward for who knew how long until he seemed to hit bottom. Su Yu glanced down, his eyes flickering. This was the first time he had ever seen what the riverbed truly consisted of so clearly. A barrier! And what was that barrier made of? "Chaos!" Su Yu murmured. Yes, Chaos! The bottom of the River of Time was Chaos—chaotic power, the merged and mingled power of myriad Daos. "So that's how it is!" "Wrapped in Chaos, opening one's own Dao, stabilizing the River of Time—Chaos on the outside, myriad Daos within!" "Brilliant!" Su Yu marveled inwardly. The Great Dao barrier was actually wrapped in Chaos. This offered him substantial insights for his upcoming Dao opening. Su Yu threw a punch, but the riverbed didn't budge an inch. Indeed, not a trace of movement. Not even a droplet of water splashed! "It doesn't yield to brute force…" Su Yu frowned, soon experiencing a flash of comprehension, followed by a wry curse. "Fuck!" He understood now! Digging a hole wasn't about hacking through by force. It required unraveling the Chaos, opening a breach within Chaos itself—which was equivalent to dissecting the Dao of Chaos. "So digging a hole means you have to comprehend the Great Dao and grasp its principles!" Chaos was a tangled web. What Su Yu needed to do now was comb through this tangled web, extract some of the crucial strands, and cause the mesh to unravel. Only then would a hole be breached. At this moment, Su Yu thought of the Human Sovereign! The fact that the Human Sovereign had opened such a massive breach hadn't been through brute strength either. It was because his comprehension of the Great Dao ran so profound that he had thoroughly analyzed the Dao of Chaos, plucked away the chaotic barrier, and thereby created that colossal opening. "Incredible!" Su Yu sighed in admiration once more. Breaching an opening was truly no simple task. As far as Su Yu knew in this current tide, only he, Lan Tian, and Wan Tiansheng had any hope of opening a breach. The others stood virtually no chance, lacking deep understanding of both myriad Daos and Chaos. "Could Hundred Battles and the others do it?" Hard to say. In any case, digging a breach wasn't manual labor; it was intellectual work. When did digging a hole become something only scholars could accomplish? Su Yu sighed again. When would warriors ever stand tall? If they didn't work harder, they wouldn't even be able to handle manual labor like digging a hole! "Dissecting Chaos… Fortunately, Lan Tian and I have spent the past several days researching this thoroughly. It might just be feasible." Over the past half-month, he had been studying this alongside several dead spirits and Lan Tian. Had this been earlier, Su Yu truly might have had no idea where to begin. "This is fine too; consider it a test before I open my own Dao! If I can't even dissect this, how can I talk about opening a Dao?" The Great Dao was like a machine. If you couldn't even dismantle it, how could you build one? The Dao of Chaos was the synthesis of myriad Daos. Only by dismantling it first would Su Yu stand any chance of constructing his own. Otherwise, the probability of successfully opening a Dao would be laughably low! Su Yu squatted down, ignoring the battering currents outside. The civilization chronicle and the Xingyu Seal hovered above, suppressing the area. In the short term, there was no problem; if swept away after lingering too long, he could simply come back and try again. What was there to fear? "To breach this chaotic barrier, I must first find a loose thread; otherwise, it won't be easy to unravel!" Looking at the barrier, solid as a fortress wall and perfectly smooth, Su Yu felt a headache coming on. Which Dao should he start with? "How do I draw out a thread first?" This really did require peeling the silk from the cocoon—not as a figure of speech, but in literal fact. "Let's start with the Five Elements!" A flame flared in Su Yu's palm, and a gleam of fire mirrored onto the barrier. As Su Yu's flame grew stronger, the Dao of Fire on the barrier also intensified. Su Yu narrowed his focus, sensing carefully and falling into thought. Severing it by force would likely be extremely difficult. "I must counter Dao with Dao!" "Water and fire are incompatible; wood feeds fire. Using the Dao of Wood to fuel the Dao of Fire will strengthen it, and using the Dao of Water to extinguish the Dao of Fire will… sever the thread of Fire!" Thoughts flashed through Su Yu's mind. First, he drew forth the Dao of Fire. Soon, his Wood divine character flared, the Dao of Wood nurturing and swelling that thread of Fire. Gradually, the Dao of Fire upon the barrier grew clearer, faintly protruding outward. Sure enough, it all hinged on Great Dao comprehension; brute force could never crack this barrier. The Dao of Water manifested! It poured down instantly! With a sizzling hiss, the protruding Dao of Fire extinguished the water in an instant. "No good, I'm too weak." Su Yu grimaced. His own Dao was far too frail. If this continued, it would require painstaking, grinding effort; wearing down a single Dao alone would exhaust massive amounts of his energy. With myriad Daos to sever, how long would that take? "Looks like I still need to borrow power!" In the next instant, a page dedicated to the Dao of Water surfaced within the civilization chronicle. A virtual Dao of Water linked to Su Yu. Immediately after, a surge of water rule power from the Time Book in his mind poured into his body. Su Yu's Dao of Water swelled dramatically, dousing the fire thread on the barrier once more. Sizzle! This time, the effect of the water was vastly superior. Nevertheless, snapping this Dao of Fire would still require considerable time. Su Yu paid it no mind. This was a test of his comprehension of the Great Dao. Even if he couldn't dig an opening this time, it served as an assessment of his foundation. "If a Heaven Opener can't even dig a hole, how can he open the heavens?" "This is somewhat like an examination. Failing it means I lack even the basic qualifications to open a heaven!" Su Yu continued the grinding labor, chipping away at that Dao of Fire. All around, massive volumes of river water surged toward him, and the Xingyu Seal shone with dazzling brilliance. Yet gradually, its light began to dim. The consumption of power was simply too immense! *** At the same time. Deep within the River of Time. A phantom figure materialized once again, suddenly turning its head to gaze into the distance. "The Xingyu Seal…" Murmuring softly, the figure sensed the seal within this very river—perhaps somewhere in the future. Upstream lay the past; downstream lay the future. In the future, someone had brought the Xingyu Seal into the River of Time and was constantly suppressing the currents. What were they doing? The Xingyu Seal's power seemed to be draining rapidly. "Did Xingyue give the Xingyu Seal away?" Laced with doubt, the phantom frowned slightly. Why would it remain stationary in a single place without moving? Strange! Lately, strange occurrences were multiplying. Last time, there had been a bizarre fellow who stubbornly refused to accept his legacy. As he pondered, a figure sped through the void ahead, utterly exhausted, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Your Majesty, they are charging again! The vanguard can barely hold!" The phantom shuddered, having no time to worry about what lay downstream. "Hold them off!" "Your Majesty!" The figure ahead urged desperately, "Let us retreat!" "We cannot retreat!" the phantom barked. "Retreat? If we retreat any further, we will be forced back to the Myriad Realms! Nothing has changed there; no one has broken the seal to become a Ruler of Rules! With no reinforcements arriving, there is nowhere left to fall back to. If we retreat again… the human race will be utterly defeated!" "Your Majesty! Perhaps King Wen and the others have returned…" "Impossible!" The figure snapped, "If they had returned, they would have reinforced us long ago! By my command, the entire army presses forward! What on earth… is the human race in the Myriad Realms doing?!" Those final words were barely audible. Yet he truly wanted to curse aloud. Dammit, how many years had passed? Not a single reliable expert had emerged? Not a single useful person had shown up? Hadn't he left behind plenty of preparations? If they had shown any competence, they would have subjugated the myriad races long ago. Unifying the world should have produced several Rulers of Rules, shouldn't it? He wasn't asking for much; if just eight or ten Rulers of Rules had emerged over all these years, he could have led his forces to counterattack with reliable reinforcements. Yet… not even the seal had been broken. What did that signify? It meant not a single Ruler of Rules had appeared! To hell with this! Fury blazed within the phantom. How could there be so many useless fools? Was the human race truly destined to perish with his generation? Bizarre! The more he thought, the angrier he grew. In the next moment, his voice boomed, "The entire army presses forward! No more retreating! There is no road behind us; we have nowhere to fall back to!" "Understood!" Cries of acknowledgment rang out, and in the distance, battle erupted. Streaks of rule Daos crisscrossed the river, churning its waves violently. In the rear, the phantom suppressed the surges. The tremors were so violent that they disturbed the waters downstream, potentially spelling disaster for the future. From far away, a cold voice drifted over: "It seems the Myriad Realms have yet to produce a Ruler of Rules… Human Sovereign, your wishful thinking has come to naught!" "The hour of our return is not far off!" "Once we return to the Myriad Realms and the human path declines, Your Majesty the Human Sovereign, your road… will be at its end!" The resonant voice echoed along the river, laced with indifference and mockery. So what if they had been barricaded for tens of millions of years? Without your presence, the humans of the Myriad Realms remain trash. Once we break the seal and return, perhaps the myriad races will produce a host of Rulers of Rules. They had already sensed that the myriad races' fortune was far from low! The phantom ignored them. Of course, he couldn't help cursing internally. What a mess the human race had become. The more he reflected, the more sorrowful he felt. Across countless ages, had not a single genius emerged? Heartbreaking! Just as the phantom was thinking this, his heart twitched. He turned his head once more to look downstream. It wasn't that someone had become a Ruler of Rules, but rather… there seemed to be unusual movement where the Xingyu Seal hovered. Faintly… something felt off. What kind of disturbance was it? The distance was too vast for him to sense clearly. Ah, forget it. No matter the disturbance, no Ruler of Rules had emerged. Was the mandate of heaven truly no longer with the human race? *** Meanwhile. At the riverbed. Grind! Su Yu ground away relentlessly. After an unknown amount of time, a sharp crack resounded! The protruding Dao of Fire snapped cleanly! Drenched in sweat, Su Yu felt a mixture of delight and helplessness. Good grief! A single Dao had nearly ground the life out of him. Breaching an opening was far too difficult. He had truly underestimated the task. If this kept up, how long would he have to grind? "I don't necessarily have to sever all of them. If I snap a few of the primary Daos, perhaps the River of Time will wash the hole open on its own!" At that thought, Su Yu grinned. "Severing Fire disrupts the stability of the remaining four elements. Breaking the Five Elements seems like the best place to start!" Just then, within the River of Time, a stream of fire rule power peeled away from the myriad Daos, transforming into fire-attribute water that surged toward Su Yu and plunged straight into the fractured opening. Su Yu's heart stirred. In that instant, the fire power vanished. "Where did it go?" "Could it have… flowed into the Tianyuan Realm?" *** At that very moment. In the Tianyuan Realm. Everyone stood ready, waiting in silence. After an unknown interval, a sheet of flame suddenly cascaded from the heavens, burning with heaven-scorching, earth-annihilating fury! It seemed like a flame of world-ending catastrophe. Burning with reckless abandon, it incinerated vast amounts of death qi. Lan Tian's expression changed. It was too potent; this fire power was raging unchecked, horrifyingly powerful. Wan Tiansheng's face hardened as well. In the next moment, he roared, "Fire Element clan of the Five Elements race, step forward and absorb the flames! All practitioners of the Dao of Fire, hurry, absorb the fire power!" Several cultivators of the Dao of Fire from the Five Elements race swiftly soared into the sky. The pure, unadulterated fire power left them trembling in shock. Several Eternals hurriedly began absorbing the fire power, yet the flames continued to surge wildly. Wan Tiansheng's expression tightened! This wouldn't do; the Dao of Fire cultivators were absorbing far too little. In the next instant, he flicked the pages of his book, and tens of thousands of Fire Element experts emerged, spanning various tiers of strength. These were the ones Su Yu had left behind with him, as Su Yu hadn't dared take everyone into the River of Time. "Fire Element clan, absorb the fire power! Lan Tian, suppress the flame intensity! Everyone else… help me contain the energy!" Wan Tiansheng bellowed repeatedly. Next, his voice echoed into the pages holding fifty million people: "Are there any experts who have comprehended a Fire divine character? Any warriors cultivating the Dao of Fire? If so, step forward immediately!" Relying on just a few Eternals was nowhere near enough to absorb all of this fire power. Wan Tiansheng looked up at the sky with a grave countenance. What was going on? Why was only solitary fire power leaking through? Under such severe imbalance, heaven-scorching flames would eventually reduce the entire Tianyuan Realm to ashes if this continued. Multitudes of fire-attuned experts desperately absorbed this exceptionally pure fire power. It felt like a heavenly reward bestowed by the world. The problem was… there was simply too much of it. So much that it provoked terror, threatening to burst them all apart. Among the Five Elements race, the Fire Element Ancestor felt euphoric at first, but that quickly morphed into panic. Glancing at Foutuling, who was furiously absorbing the power, he yelled in terror, "There's too much, we can't absorb it all!" The greatest joy in life was absorbing endless rule power of one's own attribute. The greatest agony in life was also absorbing endless rule power of one's own attribute—dammit, you couldn't finish it, and you were on the verge of being roasted alive! Foutuling was shivering as well. So much! Torrents of heavenly fire poured down from the sky. What was Su Yu doing up there? Don't just unleash fire! With so much fire causing an energy imbalance, other experts couldn't even step inside to absorb the flames. Just as everyone was absorbing frantically, a deluge of heavenly water suddenly crashed down from above. Wan Tiansheng's expression shifted once more. What on earth? Wasn't he digging a breach? Why was the energy imbalance so severe?! These energies were undeniably pure, but the audience capable of absorbing them was limited. Fortunately, the Five Elements race had plenty of members. In the next instant, he bellowed again, "Lan Tian, separate the water and fire energies! Water Spirit race of the Five Elements race, absorb the water power! All experts cultivating the Dao of Water, enter at once!" In midair, Lan Tian couldn't help swearing, "Do it yourself! Do you think I'm a god or something?" He was ready to curse aloud! Everything was dumped on Lan Tian. Did Lan Tian owe you food or drink? Tiansheng wasn't cute in the slightest anymore! Can't you see I'm already swamped? Wan Tiansheng felt helpless as well. There was no choice; only he and Lan Tian could separate these Great Dao forces. Everyone else fell short. At that thought, Wan Tiansheng suddenly roared, "Marquis Huoyun, are you dead? What are you waiting for! Get over here and absorb it!" He was usually courteous to these seniors, but now he suddenly remembered: wasn't there another fellow on the Dao of Fire? Where was he? In the distance, Marquis Huoyun drifted forward as a phantom, his core of light flickering with resignation. "We don't have physical bodies, and this energy is too fierce. Fellow Daoist Lan Tian, neutralize it a bit, make it gentler…" To hell with you! Lan Tian cursed under his breath. Everyone was treating him like a filter, weren't they? Curse as he might, he swiftly began dampening the fire energy, acting as a living valve to regulate the flow. Seeing this, Wan Tiansheng's eyes lit up. "Lan Tian, head up into the sky and plug the breach! Block that opening and serve as a valve to regulate the release of power!" At this moment, Lan Tian was truly indispensable. Lan Tian couldn't hold back any longer and snapped, "If you want to kill me, just say so! What do you take me for?" "Cut the chatter, are you going or not?" Wan Tiansheng flared up as well. "Can anyone else do it? Look at how many people are here—every one of them is useless! Haven't you heard that the capable must bear more burden?" "…" All around, the crowd of experts felt thoroughly humiliated. Those words… truly cut deep. It wasn't that they didn't want to help! The problem was that they each specialized in a single Dao. Who cultivated as many Daos as you two? With no other choice, Lan Tian flew skyward, let out a furious roar, and transformed into a gigantic octopus, instantly plugging the sky! Then, opening his mouth, he spat out fire power like saliva, followed by another mouthful of water power. Below, everyone's expressions froze. Marquis Huoyun couldn't resist saying, "Fellow Daoist, this… could you perhaps… use a different method?" Spitting it out! That was rather disgusting! Pfft! The octopus let out a loud fart, releasing a massive gust of water power… The crowd was utterly repulsed! Lan Tian, that bastard, had done it on purpose. Yes, he was deliberately being petty. Who told them to make him act as a valve? Take it or leave it! Wan Tiansheng was rendered speechless as well. What a shameless piece of work! Whatever, it wasn't like he had to absorb it anyway. "Don't mind it, everyone. It's pure rule power, not Lan Tian's spit or urine…" If you hadn't mentioned it, fine, but now that you did… Ugh, forget it, back to absorbing. As they spoke—boom! A wave of earth power seeped through. Wan Tiansheng had a rough idea of what was happening and shouted, "Earth Element clan, prepare yourselves! Emperor Yu is releasing rule power bit by bit. Everyone, this is a rare opportunity! If you miss such pure rule power, there might not be another chance!" At the moment of breaching, these energies emerged pure, trickling out incrementally. Later on, they would likely mix together. Right now, the Five Elements race was reaping a colossal windfall. Su Yu was releasing the Five Elements' power above, while Lan Tian regulated its flow below. To them, this was a godsend! It was equivalent to an endless stream of heavenly rewards! Foutuling was also absorbing with abandon. As a Five Elements expert, he could absorb all five attributes, and he was formed from the original source of the Five Elements Ancestor. Strictly speaking, the gap between Foutuling and Doubao wasn't all that large. He could barely be counted as a Great Dao spirit! At this moment, his aura surged exponentially. Drinking in immense amounts of rule power, Foutuling grinned from ear to ear. As expected, following Su Yu always yielded benefits. All around, countless members of the Five Elements race broke through one after another. For the weaker cultivators, having so much rule power flood in at once might leave their foundations slightly unstable, but this was unquestionably the prime opportunity to advance! Cultivators of the Five Elements grew steadily stronger. Marquis Huoyun, a Heavenly King on the Dao of Fire, saw his phantom condense rapidly. Absorbing immense quantities of fire power, he used it to delineate a complete physical form of fire to replace his destroyed body. In the next instant, a weapon materialized within his sea of will. Immediately after, over ten thousand people emerged. Marquis Huoyun bellowed, "Absorb! All of you, absorb it—pure fire rule power!" Those people began absorbing in succession, looking around in bewilderment. Where were they? Wan Tiansheng swept his gaze over them and frowned slightly. Marquis Huoyun offered an awkward laugh and called out, "They're my subordinates, brought down from Divine Fire Mountain! I didn't have time to release them earlier! They're all very strong…" Saying so, he looked toward a fiery-tempered woman and shouted, "Huoyue, hurry and absorb, step into Dao Integration!" The fiery woman was completely bewildered, but she cast doubts aside and absorbed with everything she had! Where did so much fire power come from? There was water power too, and yes, earth power as well. All of them were thoroughly confused. Yet this place possessed power a hundred times purer than Divine Fire Mountain; it was indeed an ideal cultivation ground. Among them, Eternals were plentiful. Back then, Marquis Dingjun's thousand-odd followers had included numerous Eternals. Under Marquis Huoyun, the number of Eternals was even greater. In the distance, Marquis Dingjun and his companions exchanged glances. In the next instant, Marquis Dingjun roared, "Chongming, where are our people? Release them quickly and absorb!" Chongming hurriedly released the subordinates of Marquis Dingjun he had brought along. General Yingwu remained calm, quietly releasing a weapon from her sea of will to deploy over ten thousand people. "Anyone cultivating the Five Elements, absorb it all!" Among the six ancient marquises from the upper realm back then, Shadow had no subordinates, Yunshui had departed, and Su Yu hadn't bothered with Marquis Zhennan's troops, leaving them under Zhennan's own care. Right now, combining the forces of Dingjun, Yingwu, and Huoyun, there were roughly thirty thousand people, including over a hundred Eternals! Countless years of accumulation were displayed to the utmost by these veteran powerhouses. Multitudes of experts began absorbing the Five Elements' power. Particularly on Marquis Huoyun's side, Huoyue's strength climbed without pause. In the blink of an eye—rumble! Her Dao power surged violently, and the aura of Dao Integration soared into the sky! Nearby, General Yingwu let out a soft sigh. What a pity! She didn't pity anyone else, only Marquis Yunshui. If Yunshui were here, she would surely have had a shot at reaching Heavenly King. Moreover, most of Marquis Yunshui's subordinates cultivated the Dao of Water; they might have produced numerous water-attribute experts as well. Advancing to Dao Integration was no mere dream. General Yingwu felt it was a great shame, but that had been Yunshui's own choice. Meanwhile, Marquis Huoyun's grin stretched from ear to ear. Glorious! A Dao Integrator had emerged under his command as well. He laughed uproariously, "Huoyue, keep pushing, keep absorbing! And Huolie, Huobao… you lot, absorb like your lives depend on it! Don't let the Five Elements race take it all! Those Five Elements fellows can't achieve Dao Integration, so charge ahead!" He was ecstatic. Seeing him bellowing non-stop, Wan Tiansheng snapped furiously, "Shut your mouth! Huoyun, focus on comprehending the Dao of Fire. This is your only chance to advance to Celestial Venerable!" Why did this old bastard talk so much?! Hurry the hell up and absorb, comprehend the Great Dao's power. Marquis Huoyun had advanced to Heavenly King last time. If he got lucky this time and comprehended the Dao without physical body interference, he might very well step into Celestial Venerable. The Dao of Fire was certainly capable of reaching that level. Such fundamental Daos were immensely powerful, unlike King Dazhou's minor Dao, which might never reach Heavenly King even at its peak. Huoyue and the others were somewhat bewildered. However, seeing Marquis Huoyun obediently settling down to comprehend the Dao, they felt a strange sense of dissonance but held their tongues, quietly absorbing the energy. Why did it feel like their boss held no status around here? Where was this? The lower realm? How could the lower realm have so much rule power? How bizarre. As the fire cultivators grew steadily stronger, metal power manifested in the void once more. At that moment, many cheered, and Wan Tiansheng broke into a smile as well. "Quickly, warriors can comprehend this too! All weapons align with the Dao of Metal! The Dao of Metal is the Dao of Slaughter!" Even if one didn't specialize in this Dao, anyone could glean insights from it! Which cultivator had never touched the Dao of Slaughter? Joy spread across Wan Tiansheng's face. He hadn't expected breaching an opening to be like this. If they could open one every few days… wouldn't everyone strike it rich? "We're striking gold!" "Su Yu knows how to breach openings. If he opens one every three days, everyone can bathe in rule power and comprehend pure rule Daos. We could literally pile up enough power to forge Celestial Venerables!" Pondering this, Wan Tiansheng found it curious. Since the Human Sovereign could do it, why hadn't he opened more back then? Opening one every three days might not have produced Rulers of Rules for the human race, but surely it would have yielded a sea of Dao Integrators? *** At this moment, Su Yu had no idea what Wan Tiansheng was thinking. Otherwise, he would have cursed Old Wan to death. To hell with that! Before even finishing the Five Elements, Su Yu's face had already turned deathly pale. Around him, both the civilization chronicle and the Xingyu Seal were trembling violently! The pressure was simply too immense! As he ground away some of the barrier's Daos, all manner of forces surged into him from all sides. Su Yu had absorbed copious rule power himself, and right now, he felt on the verge of exploding. "So hot!" "So cold!" "It hurts!" "Ah, I'm petrifying!" "…" Since no one was around, Su Yu shouted and cursed at the top of his lungs. I am never breaching an opening again! Once breached, every Dao has to pass through me before leaking out—it's like suffering a thousand cuts! Opening a breach once took half his life away. "What I'm opening is considered weak and small…" "Back then, the Human Sovereign opened such an enormous breach, and with so much Dao power pouring in, he must have been screaming bloody murder too!" Su Yu consoled himself. It wasn't shameful! Surely it wasn't just him. The Human Sovereign must have wailed in agony where no one could see. I opened such a small hole, while you opened such a massive one; even if you were stronger, you'd still be crying your eyes out. "This is a secret among us Heaven Openers, and none of us will ever speak of it. Yes, absolutely!" Su Yu was scorched to tears one moment, frozen into an icicle the next, groaning in relief as wood power revived him, and then coughing blood as metal power shattered his internal organs! Tears and snot flowed freely! No one was watching anyway, so what did it matter? This had to be a shared secret. If the Human Sovereign didn't tell, the master of the Dead Spirit Dao didn't tell, and I don't tell, who would ever know? One by one, the Daos were ground down by him. Each severed Dao brought Su Yu a unique experience. Severing the Demon Dao, Su Yu transformed into a fiend, cackling with sinister glee. Severing the Immortal Dao, Su Yu took on an ethereal, immortal bearing—even while weeping and wailing, he still radiated transcendent grace. At this moment, Su Yu was genuinely coming into contact with the forces of diverse Great Daos, granting him ever-deeper insights. Different Daos brought different experiences. Like a master of roleplay, Su Yu became a man of a thousand faces, teetering between madness and feverish ecstasy.