Within the Dead Spirit Dao.
Taking advantage of the Master of the Departed's disappearance, Su Yu swiftly began resurrecting everyone. Thunder erupted in all directions!
Vast amounts of the power of life and death were drawn out by Su Yu, extracted in such quantities that the entire junction between life and death trembled violently.
The second to be resurrected was the Southern King!
The lightning tribulation of the Southern King's revival was unbelievably fierce. Thunderous bolts struck down with such violence that Su Yu felt his very heaven and earth were on the verge of being shattered!
Yet the Southern King endured it!
She recovered from her charred, blackened state.
Once restored, like Marquis Lanshan before her, the Southern King had changed her attire. She no longer bore the visage of a dead spirit. At this moment, her expression remained cold and aloof, vaguely resembling her previous appearance, yet seemingly even more detached.
Remarkably, she appeared even colder than she had been in her dead spirit state.
Her aura surged. Her garments were distinct from the others—neither extravagant nor intricate, just a simple long black silk dress devoid of superfluous adornment...
The Southern King did not appear to be of the human race.
As to which race she actually belonged, Su Yu had not known previously, nor had the Southern King ever mentioned it.
Now, however, Su Yu could vaguely sense something.
The Southern King was indeed not human, nor did she belong to the God, Demon, or Immortal races. Sifting through his perceptions, Su Yu deduced that she likely hailed from a humanoid ancient race that had long since gone extinct.
If not the Soul race, then perhaps the Celestial race that had vanished during the primeval era.
Such formidable clans that had bestrode the primeval and ancient eras had long crumbled into the dust of history. It was no wonder the Southern King never spoke of her origins; she had not forgotten, but her people were simply gone.
The Southern King also selected a Dao, ascending along it directly. Almost in an instant, she exuded the presence of a Celestial Venerable!
It was as though she had commanded this Dao in life and had already attained the Celestial Venerable realm back then.
The Southern King had been a Heavenly King since long ago!
Before her death, she might have been a Heavenly King, or perhaps even a Celestial Venerable, or... if the Celestial Venerable title did not exist in her era, she had been a Ruler of Rules. Of course, Su Yu had never heard of any Ruler of Rules being resurrected, so the exact truth was likely known only to the Southern King herself.
The Dao the Southern King merged with was not chosen by Su Yu, but picked by her own will.
It was a rather rare Dao: the Dao of the Whip.
The Southern King had an affinity for this?
Did she fight with a whip?
That couldn't be right!
The times the Southern King had fought before, she hadn't wielded a whip either.
Well, Su Yu had no time to ponder it.
Right now, he was busy resurrecting the next person. He dared not delay too long; dragging it out might cause the Master of the Departed to awaken again, and he didn't have a second Marquis Longxue to use.
For the third resurrection, Su Yu finally reached Hetu.
Hetu was beside himself with excitement: *At long last, it's my turn!*
This time, however, Hetu's revival proved even more difficult than the others. It wasn't that his revival was inherently hard or that vitality was lacking, but rather the lightning itself. While Lanshan and the Southern King had seemed to resist it with relative ease, the lightning assailing Hetu was also exceptionally fierce. After merging with his origin, Hetu possessed only second-class Dao Integration strength.
Yet the tribulation lightning vaguely reached the level of a Heavenly King.
Earlier, the lightning assailing Lanshan and the Southern King had been potent, but there appeared to be an upper ceiling that did not exceed the Celestial Venerable level, allowing both of them to endure it.
As for Hetu, his revival was swifter since his physical body was already preserved; Su Yu didn't even need to expend much vitality.
And yet, the lightning bolts nearly struck him dead on the spot!
In the end, Hetu pulled through.
However, he was battered and scorched from head to toe, far from the graceful composure of the Southern King and the others after their restoration.
Even after recovering, Hetu remained charred black all over, and it would likely take quite some time before the scorching faded.
Meanwhile, Su Yu bellowed, "The rest of you waiting to revive, consider this carefully! This lightning power is beyond my control. It is the final trial before true resurrection! The lightning imparts a spark of vital essence. We could help you deflect it, but... if we do, you will lack sufficient vitality to fully resurrect after having already severed your origins from the Dead Spirit Dao... and that will leave you with only death!"
His discernment was keen. The lightning actually conferred a unique vitality essential for a dead spirit to revive. Intercepting it might directly cause their resurrection to fail; it was best endured on their own.
None of the dead spirits who had already merged with their origins asked to back out.
Having come this far and glimpsed hope, turning back now would be sheer stupidity.
Even if it meant death, they had to take the gamble.
In total, roughly thirty dead spirits had merged their origins. Those who hadn't yet merged were out of chances; Su Yu couldn't allow anyone else to merge now, as doing so would inevitably awaken the Master of the Departed once more.
Marquis Longxue had barely filled that void earlier. Now, unless they tossed in the Dead Spirit Emperor Sovereign himself, no one else could patch the breach!
***
Resurrection followed resurrection without pause.
Su Yu extracted vitality from his own Dao as well as from the depths of the Dead Spirit Dao. Resurrecting these powerhouses imposed an enormous toll.
By the time he came to revive the expert from the Fire God race, Su Yu had nearly drained all the vitality within his Dao, and even the source region had been largely bled dry!
Tianhuo's strength was formidable, and his revival consumed far too much energy, nearly causing Su Yu's attempt to fail.
Tianhuo evidently sensed this as well; upon reviving, he obediently merged into the Dao of Fire without a word.
Su Yu possessed only one Dao of Fire.
Originally, either Marquis Huoyun or an expert of the Fire Spirit race would have merged with it. However, Marquis Huoyun was a Heavenly King and had not joined his Dao. As for the Fire Spirit race, they had surprised Su Yu, because the powerhouses of the Five Elements race all chose to merge into the Dao of the Unified Five Elements.
The exact same choice as Foutuling!
According to their reasoning, their race stood a very slim chance of producing a Ruler of Rules independently, but if they all merged into a single Dao to bolster it, they could enable Foutuling to step into that domain first!
Just like the human race's Dao of the Physical Body, once Foutuling expanded the Dao of the Five Elements, even if they could not become Rulers of Rules themselves, they could still stand like the ancient Human Kings of the physical body. Clearly, the Five Elements race intended to turn their Dao of the Five Elements into something akin to the Dao of the Physical Body in the River of Time.
This was indeed a viable path!
One had to admit it was a wise decision. They might not possess the comprehension required of a Ruler of Rules, but banding together to strengthen a single Dao was far faster than proceeding individually.
With the Five Elements race all merging into the Dao of the Five Elements, that Dao grew stronger than the other Daos within Su Yu's world, and Foutuling would likely soon become a pseudo-Dao Heavenly King.
Of the thirty-two dead spirit powerhouses, six were struck dead by the lightning.
Su Yu had tried having someone help deflect the bolts, but after doing so for a brief moment, that dead spirit simply collapsed. While the lightning lashed them, it also provided the crucial catalyst for their revival.
Removing the lightning before the resurrection was complete actually brought about their collapse.
Su Yu was not overly troubled by the demise of those six dead spirits.
Three of them were completely unfamiliar to him, evidently latecomers who had joined from various quarters. Of the remaining three, two were Dao Integration experts under the Southern King, and one had defected from the River of Dead Spirits later on.
Su Yu wasn't close with any of them.
He wasn't so hypocritical as to pretend otherwise; they were strangers, so death was death.
If they couldn't withstand the lightning, there was nothing Su Yu could do.
***
Having revived these dead spirits, Su Yu soon turned his gaze to Xingyue, who was still merging with her origin.
At this moment, Xingyue's aura finally underwent a breakthrough.
She swiftly stepped into Dao Integration!
In almost the blink of an eye, she progressed from fourth-class Dao Integration to third-class, then second-class, followed immediately by the aura of a Heavenly King, and then faintly reached the aura of a Celestial Venerable.
Once she reached Celestial Venerable, Su Yu could sense that Xingyue had not reached her true limit; she could still advance further, but the rules of the myriad realms exerted their constraints.
In life, Xingyue might very well have been a Ruler of Rules!
Having died once, however, her resurrection was now restricted by the seals laid down by the ancient Human Sovereign.
Otherwise, Xingyue might already command the realm of a Ruler of Rules right now.
Although held at Celestial Venerable, Xingyue's aura continued to surge. Black and white intertwined as the powers of life and death rotated around her. After observing carefully for a moment, Su Yu understood how she had to be resurrected!
A moment later, two Daos were drawn out from the Dao of Ink.
One of life, one of death, alternating between living and dead.
Su Yu looked at Xingyue. She opened her eyes to meet his gaze, an intricate look in them as she suddenly asked, "Are you... sure you want to resurrect me?"
At this point, within the Dead Spirit Dao, only Su Yu and Xingyue remained.
Su Yu smiled. "We've come all this way. Of course I'm resurrecting you!"
Xingyue looked at him, remaining silent for a long while before speaking: "In the Dead Spirit Realm, I have maintained the nature of a dead spirit for over a hundred thousand years. I have always been a dead spirit, not a living soul! I knew neither sorrow nor joy, only serenity."
She had always existed in that state; owing to her limited strength back then, she had never restored her original self.
The fundamental nature of a dead spirit was apathy, slaughter, and fury.
Nothing more!
Only upon reaching Dao Integration did most dead spirits stabilize their core mind and recover their true self, which also tied into the return of their memories. Xingyue, however, had recovered very few of hers.
Su Yu nodded slightly.
Xingyue added, "It was you who made me feel anger and exasperation. You were always bullying me..."
Su Yu laughed. "My Lady, you jest. I'm not that kind of person. When did I ever bully you?"
Ignoring him, Xingyue continued, "So, having arrived at this moment, I actually want to be revived. I want to be human again, to experience different feelings, different emotions..."
Su Yu nodded gently. "As you should!"
"Su Yu!"
Xingyue looked at him, saying sullenly, "So, once I'm resurrected, you'll be a stranger, won't you?"
Su Yu thought about it and nodded. "Sounds fine!"
Xingyue stared at him. Seeing him entirely unperturbed, she finally nodded. "Then... resurrect me!"
Without another word, Su Yu sent the two Daos of Life and Death extending toward Xingyue.
One Dao stretched toward the breach in the River of Time, while the other linked to the Dead Spirit Dao.
Immediately after, Su Yu produced a pill and tossed it to Xingyue. "This is a Longevity Pill; take it! In life, you may have been a Ruler of Rules, but being half-alive and half-dead means the passing of time still affected you. Now that you've only regained Celestial Venerable strength, you might end up dying of old age after reviving!"
Xingyue didn't clearly know what the Longevity Pill did, but she promptly swallowed it.
"Devour the power of the Daos of Life and Death!"
Su Yu instructed, adding, "Once devoured, you will still be half-alive and half-dead... balanced between life and death, neither breaking the equilibrium!"
With that, his Heavenly Gate manifested, and he looked at Xingyue. "After you devour the Daos of Life and Death, attack my Heavenly Gate with the Dao of Death to convert death qi into vital qi!"
Xingyue looked at him. "Attack you?"
"Yes!"
Xingyue fell silent.
Su Yu frowned. "This is the only path to your revival. Your current strength faintly surpasses even mine; even with the Longevity Pill, the vitality on my end isn't enough to sustain your resurrection!"
Giving Xingyue no opening to speak, Su Yu said grimly, "Furthermore, once revived, enter the River of Time immediately to take command of the Dao you once held in the past. This heaven and earth no longer permit newcomers to become Rulers of Rules; you will most likely remain locked at Celestial Venerable!"
Xingyue nodded slightly.
"Never mind. Even if I say more, the flood of recovering memories might wash it all away. Enough talk—begin!"
Xingyue remained silent and began devouring the Daos of Life and Death.
Her aura grew ever stronger, yet it remained unable to breach that ultimate threshold.
Su Yu didn't mind. It might not help right now, but once the seal broke and the limitation on Rulers of Rules was lifted, Xingyue would swiftly take another step forward along the Dao of a Ruler of Rules.
The benefits would come sooner or later.
As the power of life and death was swallowed, Xingyue's aura soared until it eclipsed Su Yu's in the blink of an eye!
*Rumble!*
At that moment, the Dead Spirit Dao shook once more, and at the junction, the Dao of Time trembled as well.
Two colossal forces collided!
Su Yu watched quietly. It wasn't enough. He yelled, "Swallow the Longevity Pill!"
Xingyue quickly swallowed it.
Her vitality strengthened slightly, but the Longevity Pill wasn't an instant burst pill; its effects unfolded over time, so the temporary surge of vitality still fell short.
Su Yu's Heavenly Gate manifested as he barked, "Invert life and death—direct all your death force in an attack against me!"
Xingyue looked toward Su Yu. His expression shifted sharply as he shouted, "Hurry! I didn't pay such a steep price for you to hesitate. Faster!"
Xingyue grew irritated. "You..."
Su Yu was always this tyrannical!
Filled with grievance, she rapidly inverted the powers of life and death, releasing vast quantities of death qi. The next moment, a formidable blast of death force struck the Heavenly Gate. The gate shuddered, and a burst of vital qi erupted, instantly blanketing the death qi and transmuting it into vitality.
Yet Su Yu frowned and shouted again, "Did you not eat today? Useless! I said ALL your death force, not just a fraction of it! Hurry up! Do you want to drag this out until the Master of the Departed revives again, or until some entity in the Dao of Time wakes up?"
Fuming, Xingyue snapped, "Could you stop constantly ordering me around?!"
Su Yu glared at her. "Shut up! Do exactly as I say!"
Why so much pointless chatter?
Seething with rage and helplessness, Xingyue dared not delay any further. She had only held back out of concern that unleashing everything might severely injure Su Yu.
*Fine! It’d serve this bastard right if I beat him to death!*
The next instant, a terrifying blast of death force erupted from her body. With a low cry, Xingyue unleashed every shred of death force, striking a palm toward the Heavenly Gate!
Atop the Heavenly Gate, faint traces of will emerged—will belonging to the gate itself.
*Did the Master of Dead Spirits intend to strike from within and without to shatter the Heavenly Gate?*
Such, perhaps, was the Heavenly Gate's conjecture.
In the very next breath, an extraordinarily concentrated surge of vital force reversed the death qi. No sooner had Xingyue's death qi surged out than it was swiftly inverted into vital qi. To an ordinary dead spirit, such an inversion was catastrophic!
For Xingyue, however, the rapid reversal turned the death qi that had once comprised half her being into vital qi.
The vitality within her instantly seized absolute dominance!
At this moment, from the breach in the River of Time, the power of a Dao surged forward, as if welcoming its master. The Dao she had once commanded seemed to sense her awakening!
Carried by this titanic clash of life and death, Su Yu was flung backward several thousand meters. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, he knitted his brows and looked toward the junction of life and death.
There, vitality erupted from Xingyue's body!
Through the opening carved out by the Master of Dead Spirits, a distinct fluctuation of power rippled through. Su Yu couldn't tell precisely which Dao it was, but it was presumably the Dao Xingyue had wielded in life.
At this juncture, Xingyue's aura shifted repeatedly. In her black-and-white form, the white power abruptly overpowered the black.
From all directions, currents of Dao power bearing hostile intent surged to attack her!
The power of the River of Dead Spirits lashed out at her as well!
It seemed intent on halting her resurrection!
Yet right then, the Star Yu Seal Su Yu had handed to Xingyue earlier abruptly released tremendous power, instantly suppressing the encroaching assaults of the surrounding Daos.
Su Yu glanced over and chuckled.
It seemed he didn't need to do anything more. The ancient Human Sovereign had likely arranged everything back then; all that was needed was a unique power of life and death to stimulate Xingyue's revival, letting the power of life overpower the power of death.
Over on Xingyue's side, her memories appeared to be resurfacing, and a look of agony crossed her face!
With a few muffled groans, her aura grew increasingly potent.
Even so, it remained constrained within that threshold.
From the River of Time, an immense pulling force seemed to emanate, seeking to welcome her return, while her own Dao's power tugged at her, as if striving to drag her back from her dead spirit state!
Seeing this, Su Yu shouted, "Go back!"
Xingyue's eyes snapped open and fixed on Su Yu, the vitality in them overwhelming the death qi!
At this moment, waves of powerful suction pulled from the opening behind her. Looking at Su Yu, her gaze was no longer the same as before; memories were continually flooding back. Struggling as vitality spilled around her, she said word by word, "My... memories... are surging..."
Su Yu nodded.
"I... fear... I might forget you..."
Su Yu smiled. "That's fine!"
Xingyue looked at him, an imperceptible flash of irritation crossing her expression. "Do you... not feel... the slightest regret?"
Su Yu chuckled. "Don't flatter yourself. Hurry up, will you?"
A sense of loss washed over Xingyue, and she let out a sigh. "Then... I must go!"
She looked at Su Yu with conflicted eyes. "If I fully recover... I will likely... have to go upstream!"
Su Yu furrowed his brow slightly.
Her expression was troubled. The violent assault of returning memories swept over her once more; knowing she could barely hold out, she quickly spoke: "My... my brother is upstream... in peril! He... seems to be wounded! I... I have to go... I command healing power and specialize in the Dao of Vitality. Here, I can only remain at the Celestial Venerable realm, but upstream, I can restore myself to a Ruler of Rules!"
The memories of her time as a dead spirit were battered again by her ancient past!
She had no choice but to speed up, transmitting her voice directly through willpower: *You said I loved planting flowers... that I taught the Time Master how to plant flowers... It wasn't actually about planting flowers... but an application of vitality...*
*Upstream, the others are likely wounded as well. My brother hasn't returned because he probably cannot return right now... That's why I must go heal their injuries, so they can hold out longer... I am not running away... I only hope to buy more time up ahead... Su Yu... you must become stronger... otherwise, once they return... you won't stand a chance!*
Su Yu frowned slightly. "You're going to join the battle of the Rulers of Rules?"
Going upstream!
That was a battlefield of Rulers of Rules—not just one or two, but dozens or even hundreds!
He had originally thought that even if Xingyue remembered nothing after reviving, it wouldn't matter much.
Within the myriad realms, the danger was limited.
If she headed upstream, however, she could perish at any moment.
Xingyue's sea of will roared incessantly as massive swathes of memory battered her mind. Her tone grew urgent, her willpower rippling with agitation: "I am a healer; I must go... to restore them! Too many years have passed; their injuries are likely severe..."
Su Yu frowned again. A healer?
Suddenly, he chuckled. "You're a physician who treated herself to death—doesn't that make you a quack?"
Xingyue had wondered what profound parting words he might offer, but hearing this, she couldn't take it anymore and flared up: "Did you even listen to a word I said?! I am not a quack! My death was... only an accident! I was targeted because certain powerhouses feared my mastery of the Dao of Life... *Cough, cough, cough...*"
She coughed repeatedly, utterly enraged.
Su Yu's focus was always different from everyone else's!
Xingyue quickly looked back over her shoulder and urged, "I must leave now. If I go now, I can still draw upon a vast amount of vitality. Any later, and it will be difficult to take advantage of this to leave. I must harness this newly awakened power and use the Star Yu Seal to suppress the ripples as I make for the upstream..."
She was heading upstream to fight!
Su Yu said nothing more. The ancient Human Sovereign... the Human Sovereign was probably her brother.
In these myriad realms, it was either the brother rescuing the sister or the sister rescuing the brother. Sure enough, being an only child was best. With too many siblings, one had to keep rescuing them over and over—how pitiful. Yet Su Yu considered it for a moment: having a sister to rescue didn't sound too bad either.
At this point, Su Yu also recognized the power being channeled down from the River of Time: it was vitality!
The Dao of Life!
Now this was intriguing. The Emperor of the Immortal race seemed to command a similar type of Dao, though it wasn't quite identical.
Xingyue had mentioned that she was targeted back then.
So she had been assassinated?
At that time, the Human Sovereign might not have been the Human Sovereign yet, but merely the Human Master.
Thoughts flickered through his mind. Su Yu looked at her and asked swiftly, "So you're leaving right now?"
"Yes... I... I cannot stay. If I miss this chance, I won't be able to head upstream again. Then they will return soon, perhaps in defeat... That would be a catastrophe for the myriad realms, and a catastrophe for you..."
If the Human Sovereign and his vanguard fell back in defeat, Su Yu, as a human, would suffer as well.
The logic held.
Still, Su Yu couldn't resist retorting, "Leave me out of this. You're going to rescue your brother, but the way you put it makes it sound like you're going upstream just to save me. I'm completely innocent here!"
Exhaustion weighed on Xingyue's heart. Countless memories awakened, violently crashing through her sea of will.
A moment later, Xingyue let out a cry—*boom!*
A unique aura burst forth.
Her death qi had now almost entirely dissipated. When she looked at Su Yu again, her expression shifted slightly, tinged with estrangement, and she regarded him with a touch of hesitation.
Su Yu looked back at her and smiled. "Hey there, Xingyue!"
Xingyue seemed to recall something, yet simultaneously seemed not to remember. Knitting her brows slightly, she abruptly turned toward the breach in the River of Time. Holding the Star Yu Seal, which radiated an altered glow, she strode toward the gap without looking back!
Exceedingly powerful and bearing the Star Yu Seal, Xingyue stepped through the breach with absolute ease. Looking back once more toward Su Yu, her gaze was cool and distant, her voice altered and carrying an icy detachment: "I still remember you, Su Yu! However, what you owed me has been paid in full today. Neither of us owes the other anything anymore; I once saved you as well!"
Su Yu chuckled and nodded. "Of course!"
Xingyue gave him an indifferent look. At her feet, a Dao of Vitality materialized. Stepping into the River of Time across the divide between life and death, she looked at Su Yu one last time as her voice drifted faintly across: "You are exceptionally gifted. Yet compared to certain figures, you may not necessarily be stronger. Take care of yourself!"
With those words, her figure vanished into the breach, and boundless vitality erupted within the River of Time.
*Take care of myself?*
Su Yu curled his lip. Women were truly merciless. Just moments ago she had looked reluctant to part, and in the blink of an eye she had turned into a completely different person.
Su Yu gave a wry smile. Changed or not, so be it!
It was fine!
Since he had revived her, their debts were settled.
***
Within the River of Time.
A dense wave of vital power erupted. Xingyue vaguely threatened to shatter the seals; she genuinely possessed the potential to break through!
Yet right then, she furrowed her brow.
Break the seal?
If she broke the seal, she could indeed become a Ruler of Rules, but it might trigger a chain reaction, allowing all the Celestial Venerables to seize the opportunity and advance alongside her!
Hesitating, she looked back at the gap, which was now submerged beneath the river waters. Xingyue suddenly let out a cold snort: "Bastard!"
Not a single pleasant word from him.
*Serves you right to stay single for the rest of your life!*
She looked upstream once more, worry surfacing in her eyes. Upstream, she could already sense that her brother's condition was dire. Linked by blood, she could feel that the distance wasn't exceedingly far, but her brother was likely gravely wounded.
Right now, the surging vitality was spreading upstream, giving her the chance to travel with it.
Glancing downstream, she could no longer see Su Yu.
Even so, she could still picture his face—his nonchalance, his complete lack of concern.
"Jerk!"
She cursed again. She had intended to proceed directly upstream, but then seemed to recall something. Abruptly pivoting, she forced her way downstream at tremendous speed.
In the blink of an eye, she reached the vicinity of a tributary—a tributary of immense power.
At that moment, someone seemed to be inside the tributary. Suddenly, a figure opened his eyes and flew out from within.
The Hundred Battles King was shaken: *Who is this?*
*Boom!*
Before he could speak, a brutally powerful force erupted. A palm crashed down with a deafening roar, sending the Hundred Battles King staggering so hard he nearly tumbled over.
Xingyue reached out, and a figure materialized. The Warden of Heaven appeared somewhat dazed, but in the next instant, his jaw dropped. Caught in Xingyue's grasp, he was suddenly unraveled into tens of millions of threads, instantly enveloping the Hundred Battles King.
Xingyue's voice rang out cool and clear: "You embody the fortune of my dynasty, making you my subject! Suppress him for a moment, or I shall sever your fortune!"
With this sharp command, the Warden of Heaven, entirely against his will, was transformed into an inescapable net that clamped over the Hundred Battles King.
The Hundred Battles King frowned.
Just as he prepared to erupt with power, he hesitated, opting not to shatter the Warden of Heaven in a fight to the death against this mysterious woman.
Down in the tributary, figure after figure emerged.
Changqing and the others were shocked. Who was this?
"Traitorous ministers!"
Xingyue snorted coldly and reached out to grasp them. Just as they were about to resist, waves of suppressive power bore down on them. The next moment, the Star Yu Seal materialized and crashed down with a boom, suppressing those ancient court officials!
This was entirely different from when the seal was in Su Yu's hands!
When Su Yu held the Star Yu Seal, it did not possess the power to suppress these ancient court ministers.
In Xingyue's grasp, however, it exerted that exact authority.
Changqing and his companions paled, their expressions shifting drastically. This... this was one of the rulers of the Imperial Court!
Who was she?
What was she trying to do?
Xingyue wasted no breath. She reached out toward them once more, and at that moment, everyone realized what she was doing!
Vast amounts of vitality and physical strength were torn out and extracted from each expert!
Farther away, the Hundred Battles King's expression darkened, and he barked, "Insolence!"
*Boom!*
His aura surged by thirty percent, instantly shattering the Warden of Heaven's binding. Right at that moment, Xingyue's aura shifted. She seized the Warden of Heaven into her hand again, shaping him into a longsword that she pointed straight at the Hundred Battles King. "Stay where you are! Do you wish to force me into shattering the seal right now, letting every faction advance to Ruler of Rules?"
The Hundred Battles King furrowed his brow slightly. "You are human! What do you want? Even if everyone advances, while unforeseen changes would occur, it is not something I cannot endure!"
Xingyue considered this. That was likely true.
Dropping that point, she pointed toward Changqing and the others. "They were retainers of my clan who betrayed my Imperial Court! I am extracting half their physical power and half their vitality; with that, their crime of betrayal is wiped clean! Hundred Battles, you wouldn't want your men to bear the name of traitors forever, would you?"
The Hundred Battles King narrowed his eyes. "Whom can you represent?"
"I represent the Human Sovereign!"
Holding the Star Yu Seal to suppress the ministers while brandishing the Warden Sword, Xingyue stated coldly, "I represent the Imperial Court!
"Submit to my extraction, and I shall pardon their rebellion!"
The Hundred Battles King's expression fluctuated. He was exceptionally formidable; if he truly went all out, he had no reason to fear this woman. Staggering earlier had merely been the result of emerging without expecting her to strike immediately.
He looked toward Changqing and the others. At this moment, their faces were filled with complex emotions.
The crime of treason!
Did it count?
Perhaps... it did!
Xingyue said coldly, "Do not waste my time. Be quick about it!"
Within the group, Xueying and several others sighed and bowed their heads. "Take it, then... Once it is drawn, our relationship as subjects of the ancient Imperial Court... will come to an absolute end!"
Xingyue said impassively, "In past years, you served the Imperial Court; now you have turned traitor. I take your vitality and physical power to pardon you on behalf of the Imperial Court! The Human Sovereign never abandoned you; he remains at the front lines holding back mighty foes! This was not the Human Sovereign forsaking you—it was you who betrayed him!"
The Human Sovereign had never abandoned them, nor had the other Human Kings; they had been fighting on the front lines all along!
Therefore, these people were traitors!
It was not that the sovereign refused to fight; the sovereign had been defending against enemies beyond their borders the entire time!
Xingyue offered no further explanation. She swiftly drew forth massive quantities of vitality and physical strength, quickly retrieved the Star Yu Seal holding them down, tossed the Warden of Heaven aside, and vanished from the spot.
The Hundred Battles King's expression shifted, and he asked in a low voice, "May I ask what relation you bear to the Human Sovereign?"
Speeding into the distance, Xingyue paid him no heed.
She was busy!
She had no time for the Hundred Battles King. As for the powerhouses under his command, losing half their vitality and half their physical strength wouldn't kill them. While their vitality could not easily be replenished, their physical strength could be recovered.
With the Hundred Battles King commanding the Dao of the Physical Body, he could restore their physical power sooner or later.
Xingyue surged forward, swiftly leaving the Hundred Battles King and his cohort far behind.
On her forehead, a gateway materialized.
Scanning her surroundings, she quickly crossed several Daos, arriving at a tributary moments later.
"Is this the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast?"
She sensed it and assessed the aura; it should be.
In the next breath, she poured all the vitality and physical strength she had just extracted into the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast, promptly sealing the Dao.
Having done all this, she looked ahead. Time was running out; she had to leave.
She hurried forward along the trail of vitality until she returned to the location of the previous breach. Looking down, she saw that the waters had already submerged the gap.
She considered the matter: that idiot Su Yu might not tap into the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast any time soon.
Although she had heard him mention several times that he intended to sever the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast to help the others repair their physical bodies, he seemed prone to forgetting things.
The Star Yu Seal flared again, instantly suppressing the river currents. With a palm strike, Xingyue parted the waters, exposing the breach beneath, where she caught a faint glimpse of Su Yu once more.
At this moment, Su Yu seemed occupied with some task and was about to leave the Dead Spirit Dao.
Suddenly, he looked ahead with a strange expression. *Why did you come back?*
Meeting his gaze across the divide, Xingyue said coldly, "The Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast!"
*What the heck?*
Dazed, Su Yu asked, "Speak human!"
Annoyed, Xingyue huffed, *Drop dead!*
She swiftly sealed the breach and vanished in the blink of an eye.
This time, Su Yu rubbed his chin and chuckled. Suddenly, he wriggled through the breach, catching sight of Xingyue just as she flew swiftly upstream.
It wasn't that he couldn't squeeze through; without the Star Yu Seal, it was simply significantly harder.
Watching Xingyue fly rapidly upstream against the current, Su Yu watched her and shouted, "Remember: brothers are meant to be scammed, not rescued! Don't get yourself killed! When I have time, I'll drop by and have some fun with your brother!"
Without looking back, Xingyue's steps stiffened slightly. This guy never seemed capable of being serious.
Su Yu roared with laughter. "Take care! Just don't hold a grudge! Xingyue, when you reach the upstream, tell your brother you have a mighty subordinate who'll soon fight his way up there and make your brother's jaw hit the floor, hahaha!
"Remember, don't leak any details about me! If I meet the Human Sovereign and miss out on seeing his jaw drop, I'll be sorely disappointed!"
What twisted humor!
Without looking back, Xingyue sped off into the distance. That bastard Su Yu was eternally incorrigible!
Waving his hand with a grin, Su Yu soon sighed.
*Fight my way up my foot! In the short term, there's no way I can fight all the way up there!*
*Just boasting a little—don't take it seriously!*
With this, everyone had been revived. As for whether Xingyue still retained any memories, Su Yu didn't bother asking. In truth, he guessed she had retained quite a few. Well, he would find out once he inspected the Dao of the Wild Heavenly Beast later.
Chapter 798