The Plan Begins

On this day, Su Yu entered Mount Guiyun. Unhurried, he began to study how to integrate Daos. *** Likewise, on this very day. King Wen knitted his brows slightly, gazing into the distance with a frown. Beside him, King Wu was somewhat excited, as though he had accomplished some monumental feat. Seeing King Wen frowning toward the horizon, he asked curiously, "What's wrong?" King Wen said nothing. It was nothing much, only that drawing upon the power of his heaven and earth had suddenly become much more difficult... After Su Yu took the boot, King Wen had established a connection with his own heaven and earth. Su Yu's strength had grown substantially, so drawing power from his world had been quite fast. Yet not long ago, when King Wen tried to draw upon it once more, it suddenly felt sluggish. Had something happened to Su Yu? Or had he closed the Heavenly Gate? Had the Myriad Realms run into trouble? Or perhaps... had his Heavenly Gate passively severed the connection to the Myriad Realms? If it was the last possibility... that could only mean one thing: that rascal had entered the Heavenly Gate! King Wen fell into deep thought. Which was it? Whichever it was, King Wen couldn't help sighing. What the hell! I just reconnected to my heaven and earth and barely had time to draw much power before this kid cut me off. Although it wasn't completely severed, the amount he could draw now wasn't much. Even without the power of his heaven and earth, King Wen was an unparalleled expert of the highest tier. Yet only by drawing massive amounts of power from his world was he a true supreme expert. Now that the amount had shrunk and the speed had slowed, it undeniably impacted him. All his joy over the past few days had been for nothing. King Wen felt a headache coming on! He looked in that direction; Gui seemed to have vanished. Had he been lured away and killed by Su Yu? Then had Su Yu entered the Heavenly Gate or not? He should still be weak. Judging by the strength of his Heavenly Gate, he might have reached the first rank, but even if he had, entering the Heavenly Gate now meant far more danger than fortune. "What are you staring at?" King Wu shouted again. "What the hell are you looking at? You've been staring forever!" When King Wen snapped out of his daze, King Wu said excitedly, "Stop staring! Second Brother, do you know? I feel like I'm just a tiny bit away from crossing that threshold!" What threshold? The threshold of a supreme expert! In the true sense, the threshold of stepping from 31 Daos into 32 Daos—the threshold of transcending the first rank. How many had fallen at this very step! Even among the current masters of forbidden lands, some had failed to cross this threshold. Once someone actually crossed it, the gap became glaringly obvious. Only at this stage did one truly possess power that defied heaven. King Wu had been on the receiving end of beatings for years; even joining forces with King Wen, they still took a beating. The one from Eternal Life Mountain had crossed this threshold. In a two-on-one fight, even though they were only short by a single Dao of power, they still couldn't overcome him. King Wen nodded slightly and said softly, "It might seem close, but this step... you might feel you can cross it in an instant, or it might still take a very long time. Don't celebrate too early!" At this point, King Wu might cross it tomorrow, or ten years from now, or perhaps not in a lifetime! King Wu curled his lip, then quickly grinned. "Second Brother, teach me, how exactly do I take this step? I don't feel anything special." King Wen set aside his worries about Su Yu. Thinking too much about it was useless. If Su Yu truly came, based on King Wen's brief impression and deductions, he wasn't someone who could endure obscurity or solitude. Sooner or later, he would cause some commotion, so there was no rush. Taishan taking that step was indeed worthy of serious attention. If he could really do it, their odds against Fa would be much higher. King Wen pondered for a moment before speaking. "The power of 31 Daos and 32 Daos may not seem like a big difference on the surface, but in reality, you've felt it yourself. Both of us possess 31 Daos of power, yet even joining forces, we cannot deal with Fa. The gap of a single Dao is immense!" King Wu nodded. He didn't like using his brain, but he loved listening to others discuss the Dao, especially when King Wen and the Human Sovereign discussed it. Not just them—even when the weak discussed the Dao, King Wu was actually very interested. To have cultivated to this level: because King Wen and the Human Sovereign were around, he couldn't be bothered with scheming, yet he was extraordinarily passionate about comprehending the Great Dao. "Purity in martial arts alone" was not solely a derogatory description. King Wu liked discussing the Dao with others, but he preferred listening; he was somewhat inarticulate and often couldn't put those feelings into words. "Between 16 and 31 Daos of power, there are differences, but they aren't glaringly distinct. Each Dao is a step, yet a 16-Dao expert killing a 17-Dao, or even an 18-Dao or 19-Dao, is nothing extraordinary!" King Wu nodded again. King Wen continued, "I could be considered someone who defies the heavens, right? Yet here, possessing the power of 31 Daos, can I kill Fa?" King Wu shook his head. No. Just a difference of one Dao of power! Even in a two-on-one fight, and with King Wen being so monstrously gifted—at least in King Wu's eyes, far more miraculous than those forbidden land masters—yet under such circumstances, even King Wen had failed to slay someone above his level! Of course, precisely because King Wen was so formidable, even if he couldn't pull off an upset victory, the enemy had likewise been unable to kill him after all this time. Under normal circumstances, someone might have had their flaws seized and been slain after just a few exchanges! King Wen looked at King Wu, deliberated, and explained in the simplest terms: "For a forbidden land master with the power of 32 Daos, whether they accumulate strength through multiple Daos or cultivate a single Dao to that level, they will undergo a transformation. It is a critical threshold!" King Wu listened intently. King Wen continued, "Once this threshold is crossed and the transformation is complete, several distinct characteristics emerge!" "What characteristics?" King Wu asked in confusion. "I never saw any special characteristics on you or Big Boss. Is there something special?" In the outside world, King Wen had indeed reached this level. The Human Sovereign had as well! Yet King Wu hadn't felt any special trait! King Wen chuckled. "You're just too familiar with us, and since we never fought you, naturally you didn't feel much. But you've fought Fa for so many years. Didn't you sense anything at all?" King Wu thought about it and nodded. "Yes! It feels like he can't be killed, and I can't shake his Dao power!" "Exactly!" King Wen nodded and smiled. "That is the specialty of a forbidden land master, or rather, the specialty of 32 Daos of power. At this stage, put simply, one's Dao can detach from the river!" "Huh?" King Wu was startled. What did that mean? He vaguely understood a bit, but still couldn't grasp the specifics. King Wen smiled. "Put it this way: a master of 32 Daos, even if they aren't a heaven-opener, can practically be regarded as one. If their cultivation focuses on a single Dao, they can detach their Dao from the River of Time at any moment! When you fight Fa, you attack his Dao, but his Dao and body are one! Internalizing the Dao into his body, the Dao is him, and he is the Dao! So let me ask you: if you don't defeat him, how can you strike his Dao power?" King Wu couldn't help saying, "You mean to say that at 32 Daos, everyone becomes a heaven-opener?" "Yes and no!" King Wen explained again. "There is still a distinction. A heaven-opener generally opens a heaven and earth to form a domain—a world domain! Meanwhile, an expert of 32 Daos is an individual! It's the difference between an individual and a collective! A heaven-opener can cover an area with their domain, radiate power in all directions, and turn an entire region into their battlefield. A Dao-opener cannot do that, except against the weak, whereas a heaven-opener can do it regardless of the enemy's strength!" King Wu grew thoughtful, murmuring, "I get it. Internalizing the Dao into the body, Dao and body as one! The Dao is the body, and the body is the Dao. The Great Dao is immensely powerful, so if the Dao is the body, unless you blow apart that entire Dao, you can't kill him at all!" With realization, he said, "No wonder! When I fought Fa, his physical body clearly wasn't that strong, yet when I punched him, his body barely took damage. He practically has no weaknesses!" He had asked King Wen before, but King Wen had never explained in detail. Only today, because King Wu was facing this hurdle, did King Wen explain thoroughly. Looking at King Wen again, he asked, "Why didn't you tell me before?" "If I told you and gave away the secret, you would subconsciously try to force your way toward it, which isn't good!" King Wen chuckled. "It wasn't suitable for you to know. Otherwise, you'd get fixated on dead ends and easily go astray!" King Wu was speechless. He thought for a moment and asked, "Those who follow a single Dao can internalize it into their body. But what about those who cultivate multiple Daos and accumulate 32 Daos of power?" King Wen smiled. "Then multiple Daos fuse together. Do you know of the Five Elements Dao?" "Of course!" King Wu nodded. "Back then, the Five Elements Emperor was quite strong, but someone slaughtered him. Supposedly, the Immortal Emperor did it..." "It wasn't the Immortal Emperor!" King Wen shook his head. "Why would the Immortal Emperor kill him? I thought you knew, but turns out you had no idea!" "..." Speechless, King Wu felt exasperated. Bullshit, how would I know? I thought it was the Immortal Emperor, so I never asked. Didn't you all say it was the Immortal Emperor? King Wen smiled. "It wasn't the Immortal Emperor; it was Yanhuo! Back then, Yanhuo walked the Fire Element Great Dao. Seeing that the Five Elements Dao wasn't weak, he wanted to seize it... Forget it, that's not the point. The point is that the fusion of the Five Elements Dao is an example!" King Wen explained, "When experts walking multiple Daos reach 32 Daos of power, their Daos fuse into a state like the Five Elements Dao, allowing them to internalize the Daos into their body and gain special states that make them exceedingly hard to kill! "For instance, someone who cultivates the Fire Element Dao, upon reaching this level, will transform into a supreme flame. At that point, killing him is extremely difficult unless that flame is extinguished—either by snuffing it out with overwhelming absolute strength, or by countering it with the corresponding method, such as dousing it with the Water Element Great Dao!" King Wu muttered, "You mean... even if I reach 32 Daos, I might not be able to kill Fa? Even if I beat him, once he turns into the essence of his Dao, I won't have any way to finish him off, right?" "Exactly!" King Wen nodded. "At this level, killing them becomes extraordinarily difficult! At least, for you it is. But heaven-openers are actually very special!" King Wen explained, "A heaven-opener is also a special case of multi-Dao fusion. Take the Dead Spirit Lord, for example. Don't assume he only has a single Dao—he doesn't. His Dao encompasses numerous Daos: Nether, Death, Perishing, Ruin, Destruction, Desolation, Extinction, Darkness, Absolute Slay... "A heaven-opener has many Daos and possesses a domain. Even if the opponent is also a 32-Dao expert, it's useless. If you become fire, I can become water! If you are life, I can be death! If you are Yin, I can be Yang!" King Wen chuckled. "A heaven-opener has ways to slay such existences! But for people like you, it is brutally hard. That's why, at the level of forbidden land masters, they don't fear those of the same rank very much, but they fear heaven-openers and peers with counter-attributes, who can easily bring about their downfall!" "Oh!" King Wu nodded, somewhat dispirited. From what King Wen said, even if he reached that level, killing Fa would still be nearly impossible. King Wu asked again, "Then what's the difference between a multi-Dao expert and a heaven-opener? For instance, after I merge my Daos into one, apart from not having a domain, are we basically the same?" King Wen smiled. "That's one aspect. But opening a heaven is much harder than cultivating multiple Daos, demanding far more accumulation and talent. And opening a heaven doesn't come for free. Aside from having multiple Daos and a domain, a key factor is detachment!" "Detachment?" "Complete detachment!" King Wen pondered and explained, "Complete detachment from reliance on the River of Time. In other words, when an era falls, you don't have to be sealed away!" "What kind of benefit is that?" King Wu scoffed. "You're joking! That doesn't seem like much, does it?" King Wen stared at him until King Wu felt awkward. Only then did King Wen say flatly, "What do you know! The Dead Spirit Lord is one of the heaven-openers! When the Heaven-Opening Era was sealed, all the non-heaven-openers, no matter how strong, were suppressed and sealed away! But as for the Dead Spirit Lord, he was just looking for trouble, seeking a chance to break through, which was why he entered the Heavenly Gate voluntarily! Had he not chosen to enter... right now, he could be sleeping peacefully in the Dead Spirit Realm!" What do you know! King Wu was still grumbling. "Really? So... that's all?" He still felt it wasn't impressive enough. Seeing this, King Wen sighed again. "Fine, to put it more bluntly: the power of the gates poses almost no shackle on a heaven-opener. A gate cannot seal a heaven-opener. Understand now?" King Wu froze. The next instant, he couldn't help looking at King Wen. "What do you mean? You're saying... a heaven-opener can freely enter and exit the Three Gates?" Then why haven't I seen you go outside! Seeing his expression, King Wen smiled. "What are you looking at? I am a heaven-opener, yes, but didn't I come here without bringing my heaven and earth? Put simply, if you carry your heaven and earth with you, you can come and go without hindrance. But what normal person runs around carrying their heaven and earth everywhere?" "Wait, wouldn't carrying it be better?" King Wu wasn't a heaven-opener, so he truly had no grasp of this. King Wen had no choice but to explain once more: "Our heaven and earth counts as the present sky. Bringing it into the Three Gates is actually bad! It can easily be eroded and corrupted! However, if our era is sealed away, Big Boss Xing and I can avoid being sealed. If we wished, we could live into the next era and keep sleeping soundly. You can't; you would be sealed away! "To put it simply, heaven-openers are immortal and imperishable, eternal and unaging—true monsters!" He looked at King Wu and chuckled. "Understand now?" "Understood!" King Wu nodded, but added, "Still feels kind of useless. What's the point of living that long? Look at the Dead Spirit Lord. He lived so long, and isn't he still the same pathetic mess?" "..." Pointless? Perhaps so! King Wen didn't argue, but said with a smile, "Actually, there's another crucial point: a heaven-opener has boundless potential. A heaven and earth can be expanded indefinitely, and one day, one could still reach the realm of the Lord of Time. But if you open a Dao on the River of Time, can you reach that? If you reach it, you'd be the Lord of Time! When it comes to potential, heaven-openers have vastly more. Got it?" This time, King Wu finally showed envy and yearning. "Really? Then opening a heaven really is great. I feel like I'll never have hope of reaching that realm in my entire life!" After a moment of anticipation, King Wu continued, "You still haven't said how I can reach the point of internalizing the Dao into my body!" I'm just a step away! King Wen exhaled and said, "This depends on the individual. Even I can't give you too much guidance! When your Dao feels like ripe fruit falling from the vine, when you feel you can pull your Dao away at any time and internalize it into your body, you will have succeeded! At that point, you can even turn into a part of the River of Time. Killing you would feel like trying to strangle the River of Time! When that time comes, you will be a true transcendent-rank expert!" King Wen smiled. "At that stage, you'll be extremely hard to kill!" "But you said earlier that Big Boss might have been heavily injured by someone!" King Wu suddenly said. "Those fellows in the Myriad Realms couldn't possibly deal with Big Boss, right?" He suddenly remembered this. King Wen shook his head. "Big Boss wasn't injured by those fellows in the Myriad Realms. He was probably plotted against by some old fogies. It might have been when he fused the origins back then—flaws in the origin were seized upon, forcing him into a period of weakness prematurely! "The old fogies in the Three Gates have all been plotting against him. A tall tree catches the wind; it was inevitable!" King Wen sighed. "Back when Wen Yu met with mishap, I knew someone had set their sights on us. Big Boss's ambitions were too grand, and everyone could tell: he wanted to unite the power of the Myriad Realms to proactively invade the Three Gates. The Three Gates supported plenty of pawns; it wasn't as if they couldn't sense it. They merely struck first!" King Wu gritted his teeth. "Fa must be one of the ringleaders!" King Wen nodded. An existence of Fa's level was definitely privy to the inside story and was likely one of the key shot-callers. Whether he conspired with others across the Three Gates or if the Heavenly Gate alone spearheaded it was still unclear. King Wen looked at King Wu, thought it over, and said, "Your difficulty in internalizing the Dao into your body might be greater than most. After all, your Dao is outside. Although using rule power isn't greatly impacted, your foundation remains out there!" King Wu scratched his head. Then what should he do? King Wen looked at him and said, "Previously, I repeatedly told you not to fuse with the Dao power here. That was all in preparation for this moment!" King Wu was puzzled. King Wen smiled. "Borrow the force of fusing Daos to break through the final step! You cultivate the Dao of Ten Thousand Martial Arts: sabers, spears, swords, halberds, battleaxes, hatchets, hooks, forks—all close-combat Daos can be fused by you. By fusing powerful Daos, Yin and Yang can harmonize, instantly shattering this shackle. Connecting Yin and Yang will draw in your Dao from the Myriad Realms, and under the union of Yin and Yang, your opportunity for a breakthrough will arrive!" King Wu was excited at first, then frowned. "Can that work? Here, I feel an estrangement from the Daos. Can I fuse with them? The Daos here don't seem capable of merging into mine!" King Wen chuckled. "Of course you can't, but who am I? To such a simple problem, I already had an idea right when I first arrived, but I kept stopping you and never told you, simply to wait for this day. Otherwise, had you fused too much early on, you would lack that immense explosive force of instantaneous union now, and it would be hard to break through into the transcendent rank!" King Wu grinned broadly. Second Brother really was reliable! Sticking with Second Brother meant never going hungry. He hurriedly asked, "Tell me, how do I fuse them? All these years, I never felt there was a good way. How did you figure it out?" "This is called wisdom!" King Wen smiled brightly. Taishan's comprehension of the Great Dao wasn't weak, and he liked to listen and study, but much of the time he couldn't see the crux. His wits were just a bit lacking; how could he compare to me? He soon began explaining, leaving King Wu utterly dumbfounded. *** At the same time. Mount Guiyun. A wave of death qi permeated heaven and earth, veiling the first tier. On this tier, many people had fallen unconscious. To outside eyes, their chances of survival looked exceedingly bleak; the death qi was extraordinarily thick. At this moment, with flecks of blood on his hands, Su Yu stripped away another strand of Dao power. His eyes flickered. "So it's this simple! And here I thought it would be difficult!" Su Yu smiled and shook his head, sighing with emotion. "A single leaf blinds the eye. It seems simple, and in fact it truly isn't hard at all... How fortunate!" Su Yu's smile broadened. At that very moment, a figure stepped out from his body. Very small! A tiny tot, a young child—the six-year-old Su Yu, the little Su Yu he had beaten to death back then and fused into his body. In truth, this child was merely a manifestation of his past origin. Su Yu sighed with emotion. "Fortunately, I cultivated the three-body art and fused some past origin. So all it takes is for the past origin to merge into this place's River of Time? If someone hasn't cultivated the three-body art, would they have no way around it?" Having said that, Su Yu grinned. Whatever, anyway I've fused the three bodies! That was enough! Now, this little Su Yu, the six-year-old Su Yu—in reality, the incarnation of his past origin—rose into the air under Su Yu's watchful gaze. Invisible to others, a black river emerged in the sky: the River of Time of this realm. And little Su Yu plunged into the River of Time in an instant, merging the past origin into this realm. All at once, Su Yu felt his connection to this heaven and earth tighten immensely. That previous sense of estrangement vanished in an instant. Su Yu bared his teeth in a grin! Too simple! He had thought it would be difficult, but it was actually this easy. If he had thought about it more beforehand, he might have reached the answer without even experimenting. Su Yu grinned ear to ear! Fascinating! Just like that, the barrier was broken. As for his past origin merging into the river here... would it affect him? Whatever, who cares! He could discard that origin if he wanted; it wasn't indispensable. As a heaven-opener, the spirit of his own heaven and earth, Su Yu did not rely on such origins to live. "So now it's time to disguise myself and cultivate a Dao!" Having figured out the rules and workings of this place, Su Yu quickly smiled. Whenever he arrived in a new place, studying and thoroughly grasping the local rules was something he had always done. He had done so when going to the academy, and again on the All-Heavens Battlefield, though for a long time now, he hadn't needed to do so. Now, it felt a bit like old times. Be cautious and prudent! Figure out the rules. When you thoroughly understand rules, there are only benefits and no downsides. For example, right now, he could integrate fully into this place and pass himself off as a local. "Fuse rules... and beat up King Wen!" Su Yu stroked his chin. A fine choice! Yes, that was exactly what he would do! "I have a little idea, though I don't know if it's feasible. "With the Heavenly Gate about to open, I want to play the big boss for once too." Thoughts surfaced in Su Yu's mind one after another. Soon, a Yin Death Dao emerged. In the world behind the gate, Daos were not divided by race and lay clustered together. Any masterless Dao could be cultivated, and just like in the Myriad Realms, there were many of the same type. Su Yu's heaven and earth was unique; he only established one of each type of Dao. Otherwise, he could have split the flesh Dao into many, but that would be meaningless—ultimately, those Daos would still have to converge into one. Because Su Yu knew that Daos would inevitably unite. If someone cultivating the same type of Dao reached immense strength, they would certainly want to subdue other similar Daos, and that would become a battle of Daos! A contest between identical Daos! That encouraged cultivators of the same Dao in his world to slaughter one another. That might be suitable in certain times, but it was currently unsuitable for Su Yu. "The Yin Death Dao... counts as a branch of the Death Dao, a minor subcategory. But logically, all of these are the Dead Spirit Lord's dish. That fellow founded a forbidden land with no good intentions—his heart is truly pitch-black!" Su Yu chuckled. The next moment, the Dao vibrated. In the blink of an eye, Su Yu's comprehension of the Dao spread out, and almost instantaneously, he took control of the Dao. In his heaven and earth, the Death Dao held by Xingyue had already reached the second rank. Comprehending it posed virtually no difficulty for him. In a single breath, his Dao power reached the fourth rank. Later, if he wanted to strengthen it through forced expansion or devouring similar Daos, he could quickly become a second-rank expert, or even peak second-rank. Reaching the first rank, however, would be quite difficult. After all, in Su Yu's own heaven and earth, his Dead Spirit Dao hadn't even reached the first rank. "Has King Wen not fused any of the Daos here over all these years?" Su Yu figured that since he had discovered the method so quickly and easily, it shouldn't have taken King Wen long either. Had King Wen lacked the time to fuse the local Daos all these years? Or did he feel that fusing them offered little enhancement while tangling him with this realm's river, making him reluctant? Su Yu stroked his chin. Whatever! Soon, Su Yu continued fusing Daos. This time, he didn't stick to a single Dao. After some thought, he began fusing several more—the more, the better. If a single Dao suddenly shot up to the second rank, people would be suspicious. However, if multiple third- and fourth-rank Daos combined together to accumulate the power of the second rank, no one would pay it much mind. At this moment, Su Yu's insights flowed along his Dao power, spreading into the River of Time of this realm. Rule after rule was swiftly mastered by Su Yu! The masterless Daos here were frighteningly numerous. Su Yu suspected that back then, Dao-openers had been countless, and later, a massive number of them must have died! Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many rule Daos lying around. The death qi on Su Yu grew heavier and heavier. As for the commotion of seizing control of the Daos, he suppressed it with ease. Su Yu realized that behind this gate was a treasure trove! Even if he simply stripped away all these Daos and left right now, he would have made a huge profit! No wonder those inside the gate wanted out, and those outside wanted in. Opening the Heavenly Gate was basically handing out benefits—a VIP pass that ordinary people weren't even qualified to receive! "What a pity for the Human Sovereign... If his sense of responsibility hadn't been so heavy back then, he could have just entered in his true body... Maybe he could have reaped a fortune. King Wen had rotten luck; otherwise, he might have reaped a fortune too!" Su Yu chuckled. King Wen had been watched; he had probably been targeted the moment he entered. But I am different. Right now, no one is watching me. As Dao after Dao gathered, Su Yu's aura gradually transformed completely. He was originally the spirit of heaven and earth. Even after leaving his world, he still carried a massive amount of world power. Now, however, Su Yu channeled all that power into the phantom of his Heavenly Gate, then wrapped the Heavenly Gate phantom in the local Daos, thoroughly concealing all power from the Myriad Realms. That way, unless an opponent detected the existence of his Heavenly Gate, they wouldn't be able to discover anything. Su Yu was primarily guarding against the Dead Spirit Lord. He had to prevent the Dead Spirit Lord from noticing anything! He continued fusing Daos, one after another. Gradually, roughly 12 Daos of power manifested around him, matching Luoyun's previous estimate. Su Yu smiled; that was about enough. His comprehension of the Great Dao was profound, so boosting his strength was quick. Below the first rank, there was little difficulty; the challenge lay in entering the first rank, where his prior comprehension would be exhausted, making further advancement difficult. With a wave of his hand, all the death qi in the area dispersed. In an instant, Luoyun appeared, looking at Su Yu with a trace of uncertainty. Seeing the numerous weaklings lying on the ground, none of whom appeared to be dead, he asked in surprise, "Brother, what is this..." He didn't kill anyone? Su Yu smiled. He had no interest in killing these pathetic wretches at the bottom. It was meaningless, so why stain his hands with blood? Su Yu smiled and said, "There was no need. I merely wanted to comprehend some death power. I crafted dreams for them to experience death repeatedly. Every death was a unique sensation, and the results were quite good. Fellow Daoist, you can try it sometime as well." Luoyun's eyes flickered, but he soon shook his head. "That requires a profound grasp of illusions. I can't do that; my Dao is singular. Could it be that Fellow Daoist... also dabbles in the Dao of Illusions?" Surprised, he asked, "Fellow Daoist does not cultivate a single Dao exclusively?" Su Yu smiled and nodded. "No, though I primarily cultivate the Yin Death Dao!" Luoyun said admiringly, "Cultivating multiple Daos is actually harder than cultivating just one! We also know that cultivating multiple Daos gives a better shot at breaking through bottlenecks and increasing Dao power. But abruptly switching Daos and starting over... that's truly not something an ordinary person can do!" Admiringly, he asked, "Fellow Daoist's Dao power has exceeded 10 Daos, hasn't it?" Su Yu smiled and nodded. "Yes. However... I'm still a bit short of 16 Daos. What a pity!" Su Yu sighed. "Otherwise, I would have just established a domain of my own!" Saying that, Su Yu laughed. "Forget it, no matter." At this point, Su Yu frowned. "I've been in seclusion for some time now. Have the lords replied?" "Not yet!" Luoyun frowned slightly and shook his head. "We don't know where they went. Fellow Daoist, if the Tianmu Domain truly cannot hold out, we can only abandon it. With Fellow Daoist's strength, you can establish a foothold anywhere!" Yet Su Yu frowned and shook his head. "You don't understand! With the Heavenly Gate about to open, how can one establish a foothold without an expert of 16 Daos or more? When the time comes, it's hard to say if you'll even have the chance to leave through the Heavenly Gate!" Luoyun felt helpless too, shaking his head. "There's nothing we can do about that. We haven't reached that level, after all." Su Yu knitted his brows. "We have no idea where Lord Mu and the others went! Could something have happened to them?" Luoyun was slightly startled. Surely it wouldn't come to that? "No, the lord's Dao power is still intact..." Intact, my ass! Su Yu could already tell that Gui's Dao power was weakening, which meant it was being steadily fused by the Martial Emperor. Once it was completely fused, these people would know whether things were normal or not. Those cultivating Gui's Dao would either die or explode from the clash of Yin and Yang; those with good luck might survive, but the unlucky would all perish! And that wouldn't take long! Thoughts surged through Su Yu's mind. After a long while, he said, "I hope so. I'm actually very worried... If something really happened, without a 16-Dao expert holding the fort, it will be hard to maintain a foothold in this world! As for forbidden lands, they won't accept us; and if we go to other 16-Dao lords' domains, they'll fear us seizing power. Alas!" Luoyun felt a pang of resonance at his words, but still said, "I think Fellow Daoist is worrying too much. The lords are all very formidable, and a total of six experts left together this time..." "Who knows!" Su Yu said flatly. "In any case, I can find a way to head to Dead Spirit Hell. If something really goes wrong, I can only go there!" Now, Luoyun grew unsettled. Could something really have happened to the lords? He glanced toward the experts on the mountain who cultivated the flesh Dao. Originally, he hadn't noticed anything amiss, but now, he faintly sensed something was off. He abruptly turned to Su Yu. Su Yu looked back at him, eyes flickering meaningfully, and said softly, "I thought you had noticed already. Did you only just realize? Something isn't right... Lord Gui's Dao power seems to be dissipating... It feels... somewhat like it's being devoured by someone!" "..." Luoyun's face changed drastically! Indeed, he had sensed something too, but hadn't dared voice it. Now that Su Yu mentioned it, his heart shook violently! The lord... was dead? The reason there was no massive commotion was that his Dao was being devoured by someone! Su Yu said faintly, "Without the slightest disturbance, an entire Dao was directly stripped away. That's the only reason it would be like this, devoured bit by bit... Was it done by a forbidden land master? A forbidden land master of the flesh Dao?" Guided by Su Yu, Luoyun immediately thought of this possibility as well, and terror instantly showed on his face. Su Yu added, "Not just Lord Gui—Lord Mu might have met with mishap too, and Lord Yu as well... Actually, if we go check Lord Yu's domain, we might find out. If it's the same there... that means they've all met with disaster, their Daos stripped away instantly and being swallowed little by little. Could it be a forbidden land expert who cultivates multiple Daos?" Luoyun swallowed hard, looking at Su Yu in terror, suddenly at a complete loss! Surely not? Su Yu sighed softly. "If all else fails, let's check Lord Yu's domain. I wonder how strong the inspector over there is? If he has over 8 Daos of power as well... the three of us together, while not comparable to before, could still hold up a domain. At the very least, we can't let our years of accumulated savings be snatched away by others! "While no one knows yet, we should find a chance to reach 16 Daos early. Otherwise... it could mean big trouble. Of course, my best option is still to head to Dead Spirit Hell..." Luoyun's expression changed instantly, and he blurted out, "Don't! Dead Spirit Hell is far too dangerous! Brother Heimu, I think it's better for us to hold down a territory of our own. Dealing with those forbidden land masters is far too perilous!" At this moment, his attitude shifted completely! He couldn't let Su Yu leave! Otherwise, this place would very likely become easy meat for others. Su Yu looked at him with a frown. "What do you mean?" Luoyun swallowed, then gritted his teeth. "Brother Heimu, I think... we should check the domains of the other lords. Maybe nothing happened to them. The lords were all close friends; even if something happened, if even one survives, we can rely on them... If all... if all of them met with disaster, then we... we can join forces! At worst, we can find a way to merge our domains, which is still better than submitting to outsiders! "In this day and age, Fellow Daoist surely knows how ruthless others can be. Relying on strangers will lead to disaster sooner or later!" Su Yu laughed. "Fellow Daoist Luoyun, you and I don't know each other well either." "It's different!" Luoyun said hurriedly. "It's truly different! Our domain lords were close friends. Though you and I don't know each other well, right now, we are comrades in the same boat! Moreover, the territories we occupy are all in this vicinity, not too far apart... Merging our domains is a natural opportunity!" Su Yu frowned. "That won't be easy to pull off..." "Brother Heimu!" Luoyun said in a deep voice. "Let's first check the domains of the other lords. Perhaps we're mistaken. Maybe... maybe Lord Gui is breaking through?" Even he didn't believe his own words! At this moment, he was flustered. In his panic, the only thing on his mind was that he had to keep Su Yu here. This man was stronger than him; with him around, there was at least a fighting chance. Su Yu hesitated for a moment, then nodded with apparent reluctance. Inwardly, however, he was rapidly calculating everything, and soon a faint smile appeared on his lips. Excellent! There was no need for him to prove his identity; Luoyun would naturally vouch for him. As for the Tianmu Domain, barely a ghost remained there. Besides, the swarm of devourer locusts passing through was a real event—Mu had said so himself, though he had planned never to return anyway and hadn't bothered to fight a 15-Dao devourer locust and risk injury. By now, the Tianmu Domain might be completely wiped out! This way, he had integrated into this realm flawlessly. What's more, he might even get to play the top boss! Indeed—how suspicious would it look if some unknown nobody suddenly rose to prominence? Yet if the chief lieutenant of a domain rose to power, that was completely normal! New figures were always rising to power, weren't they? Nodding, Su Yu let out a sigh and said softly, "I'm afraid I'm still some distance from 16 Daos. Even if we truly merged our domains, not having a single 16-Dao expert is still a problem... Becoming a 16-Dao expert will probably take some time." Luoyun's heart jolted. "Fellow Daoist... just how many Daos do you have?" Su Yu looked at him and smiled. "Fifteen Daos of power, roughly comparable to that devourer locust leader. But... two fists can't fight four hands!" Luoyun was stunned at first, then overjoyed! What great news! If so, even if something really happened to Gui and the others, it wouldn't be a disaster! This man might even step into 16 Daos! Even if he couldn't, a peak second-rank expert with 15 Daos was still considered a top-tier existence within the gate. Among the experts who left earlier, three of them were 15-Dao experts. Not all of them had reached the first rank! "Fellow Daoist... no, Lord Heimu, you should have said so earlier! Knowing this brings so much peace of mind!" Luoyun breathed a sigh of relief, visibly relaxing. He had truly been terrified that if Gui was finished, Mount Guiyun would be targeted. But if it was Heimu... well, Heimu was at least half an acquaintance. Although it was only their bosses who were familiar with each other, it was close enough. At this moment, Su Yu truly smiled. The law of the jungle was that stark! Compared to an unfamiliar expert, Luoyun's willingness to accept him was clearly much higher. Excellent. This way, he could swiftly become the boss here, and then... maybe gather people to attack King Wen? Su Yu laughed inwardly! Vaguely, a plan began to take shape. Now that he, Su Yu, had entered, making enemies of everyone would be far too difficult. But making an enemy of King Wen... as an outsider from the Myriad Realms, King Wen was someone everyone had the right to execute, and King Wen wouldn't have time to cause trouble for him. That was just perfect! Right, he needed to come up with a slogan! Execute King Wen, shatter the Myriad Realms, slay the Human Sovereign, or something along those lines... In an instant, countless ideas surfaced in Su Yu's mind. The thought made his mood brighten considerably. The plan would begin right here!