A Restless Bunch

The crowd had departed, leaving behind a heavy burden. Before Su Yu left, those on the list had to become Rulers of Rules. Anyone who failed would be forced to yield their Dao to someone else. This was an ultimatum, an unbearable pressure, and an undeniable motivation all at once. Following Su Yu around had brought no shortage of benefits. As for casualties... aside from the early days when Su Yu was too weak to control the overall situation—resulting in losses during the battles in the Great Xia Prefecture and the annihilation of the Tianyuan race—practically no one had died in the later stages. In the beginning, experts had indeed fallen in battle, but as Su Yu grew stronger, such tragedies rarely occurred. Even if someone detonated themselves, Su Yu would find a way to help reconstruct their physical body. Now, however, it seemed Su Yu was no longer willing to keep giving everyone chances. He might not send you to your death, but if you could not make the cut, you had to step aside for someone who could. If you hoarded the power of a Great Dao, others would be forced onto unfamiliar paths, even though many people cultivated those same Daos. It was not that they could not walk the same path together; the issue was that Su Yu's world was still too small. If everyone crowded onto a single Dao and thinned out the power, then even if they all reached the Ruler of Rules realm, they would be the trickle-of-piss variety—utterly pointless. …… Inside the main hall, everyone had left. Su Yu leaned back in his chair, taking a brief moment to rest. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, looked at the newcomer, and chuckled softly. "Something to say?" Xia Huyou grinned cheekily, cupping his fists. "Your Majesty, I'm only at the Sun and Moon Realm. I'm a bit too weak." Su Yu chuckled. "You might as well stay in the rear. Those at the front are the ones who must fight to the death." Xia Huyou bared his teeth in a grin. "That's true in theory, but... even staying in the rear requires strength! Without strength, even if you hold down the fort, you have no leverage!" "Look at what happened when Baizhan returned this time. Because I was weak, whatever they wanted to do, I couldn't stop them!" "To put it more bluntly, if everyone on the front lines dies, won't those in the back have to step up anyway?" Those words... were certainly unpleasant to hear. Su Yu was speechless. "Couldn't you say something pleasant for once?" Xia Huyou smiled wide, his teeth on full display. "I call this bitter medicine! Besides, Your Majesty, you have to give the weak a chance too. Every expert started out weak, right? Right now, you're only focusing on Heavenly Kings and Heavenly Venerables. But who's to say we folks at the Sun and Moon Realm won't step into a Dao and become Rulers of Rules in a single day?" Xia Huyou chuckled. "As long as our Dao is compatible, our comprehension deep, and our divine character powerful, stepping into the Ruler of Rules realm in a single day isn't impossible! One character, one Dao..." "You?" Su Yu laughed. "That janitorial divine character of yours can help you become a Ruler of Rules in a single day, and then you'll sweep the floors of the myriad realms?" "Hey, that's not impossible!" Xia Huyou looked thoroughly pleased with himself. Why couldn't it work? "Your Majesty shouldn't look down on this divine character. Sweeping away filth and cleansing the myriad realms in a single day—wouldn't that be immensely powerful too?" Hearing this, Su Yu nodded with a laugh. To be fair, the logic held up. No divine character was inherently weak. A divine character was a rule in itself. For those walking the path of divine characters, if the character truly grew formidable enough, mastering a rule in a single day was not entirely out of the question. And yet... it was nonsense. It was simply too difficult! If one could truly master rules in a single day, the Divine Character Dao would never have been considered notoriously difficult throughout history. Nowadays, most Rulers of Rules still walked the martial path. Among those who became mighty directly through divine characters, very few came to mind. King Dazhou was one, and Wan Tiansheng could be counted as another. Even Lan Tian did not quite fit the bill. "Did you come just to ask for benefits?" Su Yu chuckled. This fellow was truly blunt. Plenty of people wanted benefits, but none dared approach Su Yu directly. Only Xia Huyou had snuck over. A mere Sun and Moon cultivator, yet he was the one growing impatient. Xia Huyou grimaced. How could Su Yu put it like that! He gave a sly laugh. "It's not just about benefits. There's another matter I wanted to discuss with Your Majesty." "Speak." After Su Yu gave permission, Xia Huyou cast shifty glances in every direction. Su Yu watched his performance, exasperated. What was there to look at? Could he be hiding a woman here? Xia Huyou lowered his voice. "Your Majesty, you'll be leading everyone to the upper reaches soon, right?" "Yes." "Does that mean... if we lose, it's completely over?" "More or less." "Then aren't we leaving ourselves with zero backup plans?" Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "At this point, what backup plans could we possibly leave behind?" Where would they even find a contingency plan to leave! There were none left! Xia Huyou grinned. "There is one, Your Majesty!" Su Yu stared at him. Even he didn't know about it, so how could a mere Sun and Moon Realm cultivator possess a backup plan? Xia Huyou whispered, "Your Majesty, have you forgotten about the yin-yang apertures?" "Hmm?" Su Yu looked at him. Xia Huyou reminded him, "The Bai family! Have you forgotten what happened with Old Master Bai? Opening the yang apertures directly, absorbing death qi to strengthen the physical body, and instantly unleashing overwhelming power... It's just that after Your Majesty opened the Heavenly Gate, you stopped paying much attention to it!" "Your Majesty might not care, but we certainly do!" Xia Huyou added hurriedly, "We've been keeping the matter of the yang apertures close to heart!" Su Yu raised an eyebrow, watching him. Xia Huyou continued, "Before, the power of the Physical Body Dao wasn't enough because others were hogging it. Now that Baizhan and his men are dead, part of that power merged into Your Majesty's Dao, while another part returned to the Physical Body Dao!" "And opening the yang apertures is part of the Physical Body Dao!" Xia Huyou said rapidly, "Back then, Your Majesty balanced life and death, absorbing death qi to saturate the yang apertures! Now that Your Majesty has conquered the dead spirit realm, if we undergo the conversion, we can swiftly open our yang apertures, strengthen ourselves, and rely on the power of dead spirits and life-and-death to nourish them!" Su Yu looked at him, his brow furrowing slightly, but said nothing. Xia Huyou pressed on. "The Physical Body Dao is actually a shortcut! That's one of the reasons the human race was so powerful in the past. Perhaps the Physical Body Dao can't grant mastery over a complete rule, but if one opens their yang apertures and frantically absorbs physical body power, what then?" He looked at Su Yu. "Ever since Your Majesty took down Baizhan and his men, I've been wondering... should we train a squad of death warriors like that?" His eyes flickered as he said, "We could even deliberately weed out a few people! Take the thirty-person list for example. In my opinion, Your Majesty could scratch my great-grandfather off the list! He and my father both cultivate the Saber Dao, so there's an inherent conflict. Right now, my father has no choice but to switch to the Shattering Dao, which is similar to the Saber Dao, but it's still not the same..." Su Yu's expression turned strange. "You guys... every single one of you is truly a filial son and grandson!" Utterly shameless! This fellow was actually asking him to intentionally drop King Daxia so his father could take the spot? Was he even human? Xia Huyou bared his teeth. "It's more dangerous if my great-grandfather goes! His comprehension of the Saber Dao isn't as strong as my father's anyway. And since my great-grandfather has commanded troops for years, dropping him would allow him to lead a squad of his own!" "Not only that, but dropping my great-grandfather would establish Your Majesty's authority! It would show everyone that even though my Xia family has always supported Your Majesty, the capable rise while the mediocre step down, with no special favors granted!" Xia Huyou added quickly, "Otherwise, some people will think they're meritorious veterans who can just rest on their laurels, which is unacceptable! Your Majesty, I really think you need to set an example!" "Furthermore, the yang apertures truly offer a way to rapidly elevate people in the short term!" Xia Huyou dropped his playful smirk, his tone turning solemn. "Opening the yang apertures, strengthening the physical body, absorbing death qi... Even if they can't become Rulers of Rules, they will possess the combat power of one! And the yang apertures... can be opened prematurely, even if someone's aptitude falls short!" Bai Feng's grandfather had proven this. It was indeed feasible! One did not need to open all 360 yuan apertures to open the yang apertures. The only issue before had been the immense difficulty of gathering energy; it required endless time to accumulate. But once someone entered symbiosis with a dead spirit, death qi became virtually limitless, allowing them to channel massive amounts of death qi directly into the apertures! That would cause the yang apertures to swell rapidly! After all, the very concept of the yang apertures had been introduced by Su Yu himself. Xia Huyou continued, "That includes those at the Sun and Moon, Eternal, and Dao Integration realms... They might not have the talent to open all 360 yuan apertures, but they can open their yang apertures. They're already strong!" "Your Majesty could keep a batch of them behind, organize them, and have them all cultivate the Physical Body Dao!" Su Yu fell into deep thought. The Physical Body Dao! Xia Huyou pressed on. "I've heard... the Giant race also walks the Physical Body Dao? And I've heard that identical Daos can merge! Right now, we hold absolute dominance across the myriad realms. Your Majesty, the human race isn't the only one with a Physical Body Dao, is it?" "Can we extract the power of the Physical Body Dao from the various races?" "If we can... then this plan is viable!" Xia Huyou looked at Su Yu. Su Yu had climbed too high; he no longer paid much attention to such lower-level methods. His eyes were focused on becoming a Ruler of Rules and climbing further within that realm. To Xia Huyou, however, the concept of the yang apertures was still fresh in his memory. He remembered it clearly. Su Yu tapped the armrest of his chair. Xia Huyou added, "Your Majesty, the Physical Body Dao doesn't demand high levels of comprehension! It's one of the few paths that can be forced upward rapidly. The yang apertures are a prime opportunity!" Su Yu remained silent, lost in thought. Could they really be elevated like that? There was definitely hope! He could frantically pump the power of the Physical Body Dao into them to strengthen their frames, force open their yang apertures, and then fill them with absorbed death qi, or simply saturate them with pure physical body power. Of course, pure physical body power was excessively violent; neutralizing it with death qi might yield better results. Across the myriad realms, the humans were far from the only race walking the Physical Body Dao. In the past, doing this would have been difficult. Now, he could find ways to drain the physical body power of all the myriad races! Seeing Su Yu's interest piqued, Xia Huyou added, "Also, has Your Majesty forgotten how you rose to power in the first place?" Su Yu's eyes flickered. "What do you mean?" "Your Majesty, the Time Book!" Xia Huyou grinned broadly. "Your Majesty, forge replicas of the Time Book! Borrow the Daos! If we can't seize them by force, borrow them! Create knock-off versions of the Time Book, channel the power of myriad Daos into them, and use the blood essence of the myriad races to trigger explosive bursts of strength!" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "If their strength is insufficient, forcibly borrowing power will kill them!" "They're death warriors!" Xia Huyou sighed with deep emotion. "I know that despite your sharp tongue, you have a soft heart. You've never even entertained such thoughts! You always believe you can carry the entire world on your own shoulders. But you're wrong! Even the Human Sovereign had shadow guards like King Dazhou. What about you?" He looked straight at Su Yu. "Have you... ever left yourself a way out?" Su Yu fell silent. Had he? Hiding his father and the others away—did that count as a way out? Xia Huyou continued, "As a sovereign... you need to leave yourself an escape route. And my Xia family... is willing to become the Yu Sovereign's shadow guards, just like the Human Sovereign's shadow guards of old!" "We will cultivate a squad of shadow guards for Your Majesty—men who fear no death, who dare to die, and who will gladly lay down their lives at a moment's notice!" Xia Huyou's tone grew grave. "Back then, I said the Xia family's blades would fight for Your Majesty! Now, Your Majesty has ascended higher and higher, but the Yu Sovereign Mansion is composed of far too many disparate factions. If Your Majesty falls... the Yu Sovereign Mansion will collapse instantly!" "Forget dying... what if Your Majesty ends up like the Human Sovereign, stranded away from the myriad realms for decades without being able to return? It would probably crumble all the same!" Su Yu's foundation was simply too shallow! Xia Huyou said solemnly, "Your Majesty is also a native of the Great Xia Prefecture. You know that while our Great Xia Prefecture might lack many things, we never lack backbone! The soldiers and civilians of the Great Xia Prefecture never fear death, and Your Majesty is our pride! Yet today, looking at the vast Yu Sovereign Mansion... Your Majesty doesn't even have personal guards!" Su Yu smiled. "I do..." "Are you referring to Lan Tian?" Xia Huyou let out a dry laugh. "That doesn't count! Don't tell me Your Majesty means those regular soldiers? They're far too weak! As the sovereign of the human race and the ruler of the Yu Sovereign Mansion, there are too few people under Your Majesty who can operate from the shadows!" "To be blunt... you don't even have anyone to entrust your legacy to! Who would you entrust it to? Director Wan and the others? They're all out in the open! That won't work! King Dazhou and the others stayed in the shadows back then. Before the Human Sovereign met with disaster, nobody even knew the Fire Spreaders existed!" Su Yu sank into thought. After a long pause, he said, "If I die, none of that will matter..." "And what if you don't die?" Xia Huyou countered, "What if you end up trapped like the Human Sovereign? If Director Wan and the others are trapped alongside you, who will try to rescue you? Who will have the power to do so?" Su Yu looked at him. "Would you come to rescue me?" "Of course!" Xia Huyou said earnestly, "Your Majesty, you need a blade in the dark! All your trump cards have been revealed! Right now, you have nothing left up your sleeve!" Su Yu studied him for a long moment before asking, "Is this your own idea?" Xia Huyou was a smart man; Su Yu knew that well. He was one of the rarest kinds of second-generation martial scions Su Yu had ever met—capable of humbling himself before talent, utterly shameless when necessary, and able to step up and shoulder heavy responsibilities in crucial moments. Many people lived long lives, but they lived them in vain. Age did not always mean wisdom. Every era had its elites, and Xia Huyou was clearly one of them. Back when Su Yu had been nothing more than the son of an ordinary soldier, Xia Huyou had dared to invest in him, running around at his beck and call like an eager servant. That alone was something ordinary people could never have done. Still, for a matter of this scale, Su Yu suspected it was not entirely Xia Huyou's idea alone. Were they worried he would be defeated at the upper reaches? Xia Huyou grinned. "Partly, yes... but my second grandfather and Fatty Zhu also had a hand in it!" "Zhu Tiandao?" "Yes!" "You just call him Fatty Zhu to his face?" "Ahem... we're close!" Xia Huyou looked slightly sheepish. If he didn't call him Fatty Zhu, his second grandfather would beat him half to death. He had simply gotten used to it. *No wonder,* Su Yu thought. *Those two had their fingers in this as well.* Su Yu pondered for a moment before speaking. "So their idea is for me to leave behind a contingency—the so-called death warriors you mentioned?" "Yes!" Xia Huyou nodded. "Right now, Your Majesty has thrown out every single card for the sake of the human race. You have virtually no backup plans left! And when will Your Majesty's world become powerful enough to stand toe-to-toe with all the other factions?" "There's strength in numbers. Even if they can't decide the outcome of high-level battles, they can handle the smaller skirmishes on Your Majesty's behalf!" Su Yu considered it. Yang apertures... Forcibly opening the yang apertures, forcing everyone to absorb death qi and physical body power... Su Yu suddenly said, "If we do that, their future potential might be permanently capped..." Xia Huyou sighed helplessly. "Your Majesty, to be blunt... how much of a future do you think those ancient human kings who reached kinghood through their physical bodies actually had? Unless they changed their Daos, what prospects did they have? Do you think they chose that path entirely by choice? Who knows, maybe they started out as death warriors too!" "A future? Does Your Majesty really have the luxury to worry about the future of death warriors?" "The Human Sovereign might give you the impression of being benevolent and kind... but he was a sovereign, a true and capable ruler. Even after he departed, he ensured the human race survived for a hundred thousand years despite numerous crushing defeats. What about Your Majesty?" Xia Huyou bared his teeth. "If Your Majesty disappears, even without foreign invasions, let alone a hundred thousand years... even saying we'd last a hundred years would be overestimating you!" Did Su Yu think he could outplay the Human Sovereign? What a joke! Just look at his methods: the Fire Spreaders faded into the shadows, propping up one Human Master after another, leading the human race to rise anew with every tide, keeping the flame burning. If the later generations hadn't been so incompetent, the Human Sovereign's arrangements might have produced dozens of Rulers of Rules in the myriad realms! Even so, hadn't they held out long enough for Su Yu to arrive? If Su Yu vanished, there would truly be... nothing left! Xia Huyou added, "It's not that we don't trust Your Majesty. It's just that being prepared for every outcome is always wiser!" Su Yu's eyes flickered slightly. "And from whom do you plan to select these shadow guards?" "Shadow guards don't all have to be muscleheads. Some need brains, and some need specialized skills to ensure our heritage endures!" Xia Huyou said rapidly, "Currently, Rulers of Rules dominate the scene, while the weak are ignored and cannot take the stage! My idea is to select a batch from the Dao Integration Realm, another from the Eternal Realm, another from the Sun and Moon Realm, and finally, a group of promising seedlings... to cultivate them in secret!" "Right now, Your Majesty enjoys unprecedented fortune, having established sole dominance over the myriad realms!" "It's fair to say no era has ever been better than the one Your Majesty created!" After speaking, Xia Huyou paused briefly before grinning. "Once their strength is sufficient... we could send a batch into the Hell Gate to scout ahead for Your Majesty and temper themselves through slaughter, ensuring their combat instincts remain sharp!" "We need numbers. Survival of the fittest. If one out of ten thousand survives, then out of a million, we'll still get a hundred capable fighters!" Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "That's your selection process?" "Yes!" Xia Huyou nodded. "Your Majesty doesn't need to concern yourself with the details; you just need to offer them occasional encouragement. As for instilling loyalty, we can handle that!" Su Yu rubbed his chin. "To be honest, I'm not sure how useful this will be. If I win, the war will be decided within a few years. If I lose, they won't have enough time to become a decisive force anyway." "Nothing is ever set in stone!" Xia Huyou chuckled. "Your Majesty, look at how quickly some people have grown to where they are today. This era is different!" "If we can cultivate a squad with the combat power of Rulers of Rules—even if they're only fifth-tier—one or two might be useless, but what about dozens or hundreds? Even Your Majesty couldn't withstand dozens or hundreds of them, right?" Su Yu scoffed. "Inside my world, I'd slaughter every last one." Of course, encountering them outside would be a different story. He could suppress them inside his own world, but outside, facing that many would be lethal even for him. Still, his interest was subtly piqued. Xia Huyou added, "If we convert them all into half-dead spirits, we could even toss them directly into the dead spirit realm for tempering. The powerful myriad races have all retreated, leaving few worthy opponents, but there are still plenty of dead spirits in the River of Dead Spirits. They're perfect for training troops!" At that moment, Su Yu nodded. "Perhaps... it could serve as a retreat plan." Xia Huyou grinned slyly. "A retreat plan? Your Majesty, don't underestimate the power of death warriors. If they develop rapidly, they'll soon become a viable fighting force capable of turning the tide in critical moments!" "Furthermore, while everyone might be sacrificing their future for now... Your Majesty has successfully opened a world. As long as you give them a glimmer of hope—that if they survive to the end, they'll have the chance to sever their Daos and merge into your world—they can start anew!" Xia Huyou smiled. "Your Majesty possesses an advantage that even the Human Sovereign couldn't match. The Human Sovereign's world was incomplete, barely started, whereas Your Majesty's world is already taking solid shape!" Under such circumstances, Su Yu could offer them far greater hope. Give the shadow guards hope, and even if they burned their bridges now, it wouldn't matter in the slightest! Su Yu nodded. "Who do you think you need to assist you?" "Dingjun!" Xia Huyou named Marquis Dingjun first. Su Yu's eyes flickered, but Xia Huyou ignored it and pressed on. "Yunxiao, Xinghong, Liu Hong, my great-grandfather... Actually, it would be best to include Lan Tian as well!" He calculated for a moment and added, "Plus my second grandfather, Fatty Zhu, King Tianzhu..." "Who?" "King Tianzhu. We need a master weapon-forger, ideally someone to craft a massive number of Time Books—knock-off versions capable of unleashing the might of a Ruler of Rules as long as there's enough blood essence!" Su Yu drew a sharp breath. This fellow certainly didn't lack ambition! Weapon-forgers, brawlers, strategists, intelligence gatherers, schemers, logisticians... Xia Huyou continued, "Those of us doing this will sacrifice all future prospects. Once total victory is achieved, Your Majesty can reward us accordingly! Until then, we are fully prepared to sacrifice everything—lifespan, future, everything—for a single goal: gaining strength! Unlimited strength!" "After Your Majesty departs, we will help monitor the myriad realms, watching the Hell Gate and any other portals that might appear!" Pausing briefly, Xia Huyou added, "Also... didn't Your Majesty use a special method on the Dragon Blood Marquis earlier to make him grow stronger rapidly?" Su Yu nodded. "My book pages..." "I knew it!" Xia Huyou beamed. "Give us a few as well!" Su Yu frowned. "Those things... are completely false Daos. They carry not a shred of a genuine Dao! Everything you perceive through them is fake..." "Yet the strength is real!" Xia Huyou snickered. "That stuff is fantastic! If I remember correctly, people said the Dragon Blood Marquis reached the Ruler of Rules realm in practically no time." "A pseudo-realm. It doesn't count as a true Ruler of Rules." "That's more than enough!" Xia Huyou said excitedly, "Your Majesty possesses so many methods, so why obsess over everyone's future? Nobody knows which day will be their last, so who cares about the future? As long as we can increase our strength, why should that matter?" "Your Majesty, many Daos among the myriad races currently lie masterless. As long as Your Majesty can plant book pages into them... I know Your Majesty might be reluctant to slaughter certain people, but we don't care!" "We'll slaughter them ourselves to strengthen those Daos and make ourselves rapidly stronger!" "We can even find ways to usurp the Dead Spirit Dao. Half-dead spirits, full dead spirits—none of it matters!" The fellow spoke with utter nonchalance, leaving Su Yu somewhat astonished. "When you get ruthless, you're even more vicious than I am." "Not at all... Your Majesty and we were probably raised on different philosophies! To tell the truth... we don't care how many people we sacrifice to achieve our goals!" Su Yu chuckled softly. "You guys... just can't stand being sidelined, can't stand staying in the shadows, can you?" "Exactly!" Xia Huyou smiled brightly. "Your Majesty, this era belongs to us. But what do we see now? It's filled with ancient relics, with only Your Majesty standing alone at the pinnacle. Isn't that lonely? Of course we refuse to accept it! We're supposed to be the protagonists of this era! Yet right now, it looks like Your Majesty intends to lead those old fossils into battle while we fade into obscurity in the rear. Does Your Majesty really think we're content with that?" "The humans born in the Tenth Tide grew up fighting from childhood, with no one to rely on. The Great Xia Prefecture fights wars year after year. Did Your Majesty really think we fear death?" He shook his head. "We don't fear death... what we fear... is peace!" Su Yu narrowed his eyes. "Yes, peace! We shout about peace, but if we're truly forced to put our weapons away and retire to the rear, we're not that old yet! The ones who are truly old are those ancient relics!" With that, he smiled. "Is Your Majesty willing to take a trip with me?" Su Yu looked at him and nodded. Xia Huyou named a location, and in the next instant, Su Yu blurred and vanished with him from the Yu Sovereign Mansion. …… Great Xia Civilization Academy. When Su Yu appeared, quite a crowd had already gathered in the modest academy. Once prominent figures, they could hardly be considered big shots today. Among them were Zhu Tiandao and his peers! A gathering of Eternal Realm cultivators, none of whom had even reached Dao Integration. Seeing Su Yu appear, Marquis Xia chuckled. "What did I tell you? My grandson has a way with words. His Majesty came after all!" Zhu Tiandao also chuckled. "Your Majesty, the little fatty from the Xia family has said everything that needed to be said, and our stance is simple! We don't want to sit out this era, so we're willing to give up everything—future prospects, lifespan, whether a Dao suits us... none of that matters! We want to become strong... we want to be rulers of this era, not pawns ruled by others!" "King Dazhou and the rest are old. Of course, being old means they're powerful, so we can't compete with them right now!" Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "If Your Majesty has a way to make us improve rapidly, even if it leaves us with only three to five years to live, it won't matter at all!" Su Yu scanned the crowd and spotted plenty of familiar faces! Yun Chen, Nan Wujiang, and even Qin Zhen were present. They were not particularly powerful—some were at the Eternal Realm, some had barely scraped into the Dao Integration Realm, and some were still at the Sun and Moon Realm. He even saw past geniuses like Qin Fang and Huang Teng. There were even individuals from the Great Zhou Prefecture, such as Shan Xiong! Even Liu Hong, that slippery schemer, was standing nearby with a broad smile. Noticing Su Yu's gaze, Liu Hong chuckled. "Your Majesty, give us a chance, and we can stir up mighty waves too! Your Majesty's current subordinates are all ancient relics. Calling this the New Yu Era hardly fits the name!" Su Yu laughed. "A shifty fellow like you—are you actually willing to become a shadow guard?" Liu Hong snickered. "King Dazhou isn't exactly an honest man either, yet he's the chief of the shadow guards! If one is too honest, how can the shadow guards operate from the shadows, right?" Su Yu burst out laughing! There was truth in that. Whether death warriors or shadow guards, raw strength alone was not enough; they needed sharp minds and vicious cunning! Otherwise, King Dazhou's faction would have been wiped out by Baizhan long ago! How else could he have orchestrated the dawn of the Tenth Tide? As Su Yu's laughter faded, his expression grew serious. "If you truly don't care about the consequences, then to be frank, there are quite a few methods to boost your strength!" Su Yu narrowed his eyes. "First: modify your bloodlines and integrate into the Daos of foreign races. Once I eliminate their Rulers of Rules, you'll have a chance to take their place! Second: forge replicas of the Time Book to temporarily unleash formidable combat strength! Third: walk the Chaos Dao. Cultivating the Chaos Dao is slow only because people lack a deep understanding of chaos, but as a world-creator, my understanding is far deeper than anyone else's!" "Fourth: seize masterless Daos belonging to the myriad races! Fifth: I can forge more pages from the Book of Civilization and fuse them into your bodies, turning you into puppets similar to the Dragon Blood Marquis! Sixth..." "Keep going!" Just as everyone was listening with rapt attention, Su Yu abruptly stopped, sending a wave of impatience through the crowd. None of them had imagined Su Yu possessed so many secret methods. Su Yu narrowed his eyes. "The sixth... is actually even simpler, but I'm afraid none of you will be able to accept it." "Just say it!" "Become members of the God-Devouring race!" Everyone froze. Su Yu narrowed his eyes and said, "Right now, many people overlook the true nature of Doubao and the others, but fundamentally, they are spirits born from Daos! I could effectively kill all of you... ahem, discard your physical bodies and attach your spirits to a Great Dao, forcibly fusing them. At that point, the Dao becomes you, and you become the Dao... Of course, there's a massive drawback!" "Back then, my teacher, Bai Feng, and the others suggested walking this path, but I rejected it. If you discard your flesh and turn directly into Dao spirits... would you still be considered human? Would you even still be people? Doubao and Chubing were created by accident... whereas I would be deliberately manufacturing such beings." Their eyes flickered. Xia Huyou asked quickly, "If we do that, will we become Rulers of Rules quickly?" "Very quickly!" Su Yu nodded. "Doubao and Chubing likely gained consciousness only after death; they weren't deliberately engineered! Because of that, they had no memories, no knowledge of anything! They cultivated and comprehended in complete ignorance, without even knowing what their own Daos were!" "However, I can find a way to preserve your memories and fuse you directly into a Dao. With your memories intact, you'll know exactly what Dao you've merged with, allowing you to master it swiftly since the Dao itself is brimming with insights..." Su Yu continued, "Still, there are difficulties. First, it's easy to be assimilated by the Dao, becoming completely absorbed into it. Second, it carries the risk of absolute death, where not even I could save you!" The crowd exchanged glances. Zhu Tiandao could not help asking, "You had so many methods, so why didn't you mention them earlier?" "Because they're scorched-earth methods that leave no future!" Su Yu shook his head. "Though I enjoy deploying underhanded and vicious schemes, turning my own people into grotesque abominations that are neither human nor ghost is not something I ever wanted to see! Yet looking at you all, none of you are willing to fade into obscurity. Since you've spoken so candidly and don't care about the costs, keeping secrets would just make me look hypocritical, wouldn't it?" Su Yu smiled. "If you're willing, any method is on the table. I can guarantee that all of you will grow powerful in short order! Dao Integration, Heavenly Kings, Rulers of Rules... none of it will take long!" Su Yu licked his lips. "I suspect King Wen might have considered this path too, though he never carried it out. I suspect the God-Devouring race was created by him... As for Doubao, I've often wondered if he was originally a Ruler of Rules from the immortal race! After King Wen killed him, King Wen might have manufactured him on a whim. Otherwise, Doubao wouldn't fixate on Tiangu so much... Could he be the former master of the Longevity Dao or the Immortal Emperor Dao?" Whatever the truth was, it hardly mattered! Su Yu did not dwell on it. A creature like Doubao was essentially someone who had died and whose remains gave birth to a spirit; it had little connection to its past life. The master of the Immortal Emperor Dao was still alive—the current Immortal Emperor—so Doubao was more likely born from the remnants of a similar path, the master of the Longevity Dao. Su Yu remembered that King Wen had once slain such an expert of the immortal race; he had suppressed the immortal race, severed several of their Daos, and refined Longevity Pills. Perhaps that was the karmic grievance between Doubao and Tiangu—merely an attraction between similar Daos. These methods were all one-way tickets. Once they took this step, there would be virtually no turning back. Unlike others who advanced through orthodox means and retained tremendous future potential—even being able to detach from Su Yu's world and return to the River of Time—this was entirely different. When Su Yu said it was like manufacturing puppets, that was precisely what he meant. It was treating people as expendable tools, plain and simple! As a world-creator, he certainly did not lack methods. In the present myriad realms, Su Yu was arguably the sole true world-creator. The Human Sovereign didn't truly qualify; he had barely started his world before being forced to abandon it, leaving no time to explore its intricacies. Marquis Xia was already grinning from ear to ear. "Your Majesty should have said so earlier! Why wouldn't we accept such a good thing? What's so terrible about unorthodox methods? Let me ask Your Majesty: if Your Majesty ultimately succeeds in creating your world and reaches the level of the Master of Time, can we still be saved?" "Yes!" "Then what's there to worry about!" Marquis Xia chuckled. "Let's do it! This is far better than what we anticipated. By Your Majesty's logic, once you and the others head to the upper reaches and nobody is paying attention to us, we might produce even more Rulers of Rules than we currently have!" "When that time comes, even if Your Majesty suffers a setback and has to fall back... ha! We can suddenly unleash dozens or even a hundred Rulers of Rules! Regardless of their tier, we'll scare the daylights out of the enemy!" Liu Hong also chuckled. "Your Majesty, switching Daos might be difficult for me, but since I wield the Ink Dao, I could use a little help from Your Majesty." "Speak!" Liu Hong suddenly took on a greasy, wheedling tone. "Could Your Majesty nudge my Ink Dao... just a tiny bit? Shift it toward the junction between the River of Time and the Dead Spirit Dao. That way, I can alter the Ink Dao into a Dao of Life and Death, reaping benefits from both sides! Right now, I can't manage that on my own!" Su Yu was so exasperated he nearly laughed. "Do you think shifting a Dao is that simple?" "Your Majesty can do it!" Liu Hong chuckled slyly. "Your Majesty, the Lord of the Undead was certainly troublesome last time, but as long as Your Majesty doesn't resurrect dead spirits, it won't matter! I'm not a dead spirit, so I don't need resurrecting—it's just shifting a Dao! Back when King Wen opened the Ink Dao in secret, he might not have been as powerful as Your Majesty is now!" Su Yu rolled his eyes. *Get lost!* It wasn't that simple! This scoundrel was actually scheming along those lines. As expected, he had never been an honest person. Zhu Tiandao chimed in as well. "Your Majesty, let's give it a try! If we succeed... it will form a terrifying force! Your Majesty has far more tricks than those ancient experts. A world-creator's methods are bound to be incredible!" Su Yu considered it, then nodded. "We'll give it a try! While everyone is cultivating over the next few days striving to become Rulers of Rules, I'll take you along the River of Time to see which Daos catch your eye. Pick whatever you like!" "As long as the Master of the River of Time doesn't return, no one can restrain me. But let me make one thing clear: if he does return... you're all finished, and none of you will escape!" Nobody took the warning seriously. What nonsense! If that entity returned, they would be snuffed out like candles anyway, so what difference did it make! Seeing that no one had any objections, Su Yu felt helpless. These lunatics... Su Yu had assumed they would give up or cultivate quietly while waiting for an opportunity. To think they all refused to accept being left behind! They cared about nothing anymore, desiring only to burn brightly in this era! Indeed, practically no one born in the Tenth Tide was normal! At this moment, Su Yu suddenly felt that he was the only normal one among them; every single one of these fellows was deranged. Shouldn't normal people be waiting peacefully in the rear for the titans to settle the war? Meanwhile, throughout the academy, bursts of eerie chuckles, sinister cackles, and boisterous laughter echoed non-stop. Lie low? Wait? What was that? They were the masters of the Tenth Tide; they refused to fade into the background! Su Yu spoke grandly about this being a new era, yet nearly all his subordinates were ancient relics. Aside from Wan Tiansheng and Lan Tian, there were barely any newcomers, and even they were not the core fighting force. That hardly matched the spirit of a New Yu Era! And so, this group unwilling to be left behind sought out Su Yu, determined to take control of their own fate. As for Su Yu, he couldn't be bothered to stop them anymore. If they were willing, he would let them have their way!