At this moment, Su Yu had not grasped many Great Daos.
Although he possessed some comprehension of various Great Daos, after stepping through the gate he had only mastered ten or twenty of them. Having twenty Daos under his belt did not mean he wielded the strength of a twenty-Dao combatant—one still had to merge them so that the full might of all those Daos could stack together before truly qualifying as such.
For Su Yu, however, merging was inferior to weaving.
Weaving them into a heaven and earth!
That was the most suitable path!
Previously, Su Yu had contemplated waiting a while longer, at least until he mastered enough Great Daos, before attempting to open the heavens. Yet right now, an alternate thought surfaced in his mind.
Open the heavens now!
On the one hand, two first-rank experts were indeed difficult to keep under control. As for killing them... Su Yu still wished to amass martial might and swiftly forge his faction into a major power to secure a firm foothold inside the Heavenly Gate.
On the other hand, this was only the beginning. Once he recruited a larger following, it would quickly disintegrate under pressure; the terrifying prestige of the forbidden grounds was etched deep into everyone's hearts.
Earlier, Su Yu had not fully appreciated this fact.
Today, he understood.
For no other reason than when he impersonated an envoy from Mount Yongsheng—the very faction that had clashed with King Wen and his comrades for years—those two first-rank experts had not dared to question him and promptly caved in. That alone showed just how deeply the dread of the forbidden grounds had rooted itself here!
The forbidden grounds were invincible!
The lords of the forbidden grounds were all the more invincible.
Yet Su Yu's opponents were precisely those forbidden ground masters. If the subordinates he painstakingly gathered had no backbone whatsoever and dared not wage war against the forbidden grounds, why would he waste time and effort rounding up so many people?
It was precisely because he felt the terror the forbidden grounds held over everyone that Su Yu considered opening the heavens at this very moment.
The people here feared death, yet they also did not fear it.
There was no contradiction in that!
In this place, without sufficient benefit, nobody wanted to throw their lives away. But once you dangled an adequate prize before them, they were not afraid of dying. As long as they saw hope and a fighting chance, these butchers who slaughtered without batting an eye would forget the meaning of mortality.
Having seen through this truth, Su Yu grew increasingly confident.
Once his heaven and earth unfolded, he could swiftly rally a band of desperados!
Right now, Lady Xuelong and the Blade Lord looked like complete cowards who dared not even detonate themselves. Yet the moment they glimpsed hope of progressing further as first-rank experts—hope of becoming senior figures within a forbidden ground—they would never hesitate to risk life and limb.
In an instant, Su Yu's mind cleared immensely.
Since he had come here, he had to adapt to local rules.
Forget sentimentality—there was none!
Forget duty—there was none!
And forget emotional attachment. "Attachment" here was Gui abandoning his close friends to die without a second thought just so he could survive.
Here, only profit mattered!
Or rather, for rogue cultivators in this realm, only profit truly existed. Perhaps inside the forbidden grounds, a sliver of sentiment, favors, friendship, and emotion still remained.
As thought after thought flashed through his head, Su Yu surveyed his surroundings.
Where would be an appropriate place to open the heavens?
Would the commotion be too great?
He might not be overwhelmingly powerful yet, but opening a heaven had always triggered massive disturbances in the past. Even when Lan Tian opened his heaven, the entire myriad realms had noticed, even if Su Yu and the others had tried to conceal it.
Fortunately, he had not reached King Wen's caliber.
Otherwise, with King Wen's present strength, attempting to open a heaven here would probably alert the entire world.
What about the Lord of Dead Spirits?
Was Dead Spirit Hell a truly opened heaven and earth, or was it merely forged from a treasure?
With that in mind, Su Yu asked, "Did the Lord of Dead Spirits open a heaven when he arrived back then?"
"He did!"
This time, the Blade Lord responded, looking visibly anxious. "Heimu, I urge you not to try it! When the Lord of Dead Spirits entered this realm back then, he immediately clashed with several forbidden ground masters. The conflict escalated fiercely... In the end, he wanted to carve out Dead Spirit Hell. I caught wind of some of the situation back then: the entire void trembled, and boundless death qi converged toward him. That day... you have no idea. It was terrifying..."
He was so tense he even stammered!
Lady Xuelong nodded with a grave expression. "I saw it with my own eyes that day as well. Dozens of forbidden ground masters navigated their forbidden grounds across the void to stop him from opening a heaven! They even intended to execute him on the spot!"
Su Yu felt puzzled. What happened next?
No one denied the Lord of Dead Spirits was formidable, but under such circumstances, how had he managed to gain a firm footing?
He had even established today's Dead Spirit Hell, with many experts defecting to his side.
How had he pulled that off?
Seeing Su Yu's interest piqued, Lady Xuelong took a deep breath. "At the start of that day, the disturbance wasn't that immense. The Lord of Dead Spirits first opened a small patch of heaven and earth, drawing death qi together. Gradually, more and more experts arrived. On that day, forbidden grounds floated in the void above the territory where Dead Spirit Hell sits today, blotting out the sky. Everyone thought the Lord of Dead Spirits was doomed... Yet he feigned weakness at first... Then, while some of them were only putting in halfhearted effort, he struck with overwhelming might, slaying a forbidden ground master and shattering three forbidden grounds! In the end, he forcefully summoned his dead spirit realm from the myriad realms to descend..."
Su Yu was startled!
Lady Xuelong continued in fear, "The moment he briefly overlapped with his heaven and earth from the myriad realms, all four forbidden ground masters besieging him were grievously wounded! Of course, it was only for a fleeting instant before he severed the fusion with the realm outside the gate... But he demonstrated that he had the strength to fight to the death. If they truly insisted on slaying him, several forbidden ground masters would undoubtedly perish alongside him!"
She added, "Talking about it today, it might sound like nothing. But in reality, that battle thoroughly frightened everyone. Combined with the Lord of Dead Spirits' promise not to expand without reason or leave his territory without cause... everyone found a graceful way to back down. They yielded a step to one another, and only then did he take root here."
Su Yu understood, though he was inwardly shaken.
That strong?
More importantly, summoning his heaven and earth to descend!
That was possible?
"How did his heaven and earth descend?"
"Through the Heavenly Gate!"
Lady Xuelong explained, "Back then, his heaven and earth directly pierced through the Heavenly Gate. As a result, whenever he approached the Heavenly Gate later on... it was likely to awaken and target him. That was another reason everyone stopped pressing him later. It will be extraordinarily difficult for him to ever leave the Heavenly Gate!"
Su Yu was taken aback.
The Lord of Dead Spirits had summoned his heaven and earth back then and pierced straight through the Heavenly Gate... Which explained why, when Su Yu summoned the phantom of the Heavenly Gate back then, it had targeted death qi with extreme hostility, forcibly reversing death qi into vitality.
At the time, Su Yu had suspected it might be related to the Lord of Dead Spirits inside the gate.
Yet after entering the Heavenly Gate, Su Yu found so many powerful figures here, and the Lord of Dead Spirits seemed to keep a relatively low profile. There was no apparent reason for the Heavenly Gate to single him out.
Now... Su Yu understood!
The Heavenly Gate had awakened before!
Not only had it awakened, it had actively targeted him. How intriguing!
This indicated that the gate possessed a will of its own, much like Tongtian. It made sense—out of nowhere, you punched a hole right through me; of course I'll hold a grudge against you!
No wonder that when I approached the phantom of the Heavenly Gate with death qi back then, the phantom revealed a glimpse of divine might for the very first time.
Su Yu chuckled. He couldn't replicate such a feat.
The Lord of Dead Spirits was truly a beast; his strength was staggering.
Ordinary people could never imitate that.
Let alone Su Yu, even King Wen would be battered to pieces if he tried what the Lord of Dead Spirits did. Forget facing multiple forbidden ground masters at once—if just one of them went all out against King Wen, King Wen would still come up short.
Su Yu suddenly remarked, "Since the Lord of Dead Spirits is so strong, does that make him the undisputed number one expert within the Heavenly Gate?"
Lady Xuelong did not answer right away. Instead, she asked with some confusion, "Heimu, didn't you live through that era?"
That event had caused a massive uproar back then!
Could Heimu truly be oblivious?
Su Yu laughed. "I am still young. Did you think I was as ancient as you two? I haven't been alive for very long. Strictly speaking, I was born after King Wen and the others arrived!"
"What?"
All three were utterly dumbfounded. So young?
King Wen and his companions had entered far later than the Lord of Dead Spirits!
"King Wen and the rest entered only a few thousand years ago... You're... that young?"
They were thoroughly bewildered, finding it impossible to believe!
Su Yu made a mental calculation. A few thousand years... but a hundred thousand years had passed outside.
However, the interior of the gate was like the upstream reaches of the River of Time: the closer to the myriad realms, the faster time flowed. Currently, one day here equated to roughly three or four days outside.
By that math, King Wen and the others should have entered twenty to thirty thousand years ago.
Yet according to Lady Xuelong, it was only a few thousand years.
This meant that earlier on, time flowed even slower here—one day here might have equaled several years outside.
Su Yu deduced that when the flow of time on both sides aligned completely, the three gates would formally open!
A larger time discrepancy simply signified greater distance!
Take King Dazhou and the others, for example. In the beginning, one day was a month. Lately, as they drifted downstream, one day might only amount to half a month. Gradually, it would synchronize with the flow of time in the myriad realms.
Still, a few thousand years was not a short span.
Forcefully summoning one's heaven and earth... He doubted whether it could still be done today. The Lord of Dead Spirits had pulled it off once and provoked the Heavenly Gate's wrath, so the trick might no longer work.
While Su Yu pondered, the Blade Lord said in a heavy voice, "Heimu, to think you are the descendant of a rogue cultivator from within the gate. This is unbelievable!"
Su Yu smiled. "What's so unbelievable about that?"
The Blade Lord said solemnly, "As time wore on, some of the initial batch of sealed experts fell in battle, while others died of old age. Cultivation for their descendants has actually grown much harder! It is exceedingly rare for anyone to reach their predecessors' heights again, because... this is a declining world, a sealed era! If the new generation grew stronger and stronger, it wouldn't be called a sealed era!"
A sealed era would only grow progressively weaker.
If not for the older generation holding up the sky, the space behind the gate would barely have any top-tier cultivators among the youth. Even if a few existed within the forbidden grounds, surpassing the old veterans was nearly impossible. The masters of the forbidden grounds from back then were still the masters today; not a single person had broken through the shackles to become a new forbidden ground master.
Yet Su Yu claimed to have been born only recently, leaving them shaken.
Su Yu replied calmly, "There are always anomalies. Besides, no matter how withered an era, there is always a sliver of vitality left for the taking. Perhaps... I am that silver lining!"
The Blade Lord said nothing, nor did he wish to speak further.
It was still within acceptable bounds.
If Su Yu had actually attained the level of a forbidden ground master, that would have been truly shocking and impossible to credit, for no one had ascended to forbidden ground master in countless millennia.
Su Yu chuckled and looked around. "Where do you think it would be safest to open a heaven right now?"
"..."
None of them wanted to say a word.
Su Yu narrowed his eyes. "If I open a heaven recklessly and fail, so be it. But if I succeed, create a massive commotion, get discovered, and end up beaten to death, none of you will escape alive either!"
Exhausting!
The Blade Lord and Lady Xuelong exchanged a glance. His words were not entirely without reason.
Lady Xuelong spoke quickly. "Don't go looking for trouble! I advise you... Forget it, you're young, you probably won't listen anyway! At any rate, you cannot go to Dead Spirit Hell; it's far too perilous there! Mount Yongsheng is the same... The entire Jinduan Gorge is surrounded by four major forbidden grounds, so everywhere is dangerous. Leaving the gorge is equally treacherous, and we aren't very familiar with the outside... If you truly have a death wish, go toward Mount Tianqiong!"
Su Yu paused. "It's safe over there?"
Lady Xuelong nodded. "Over there, even if you kick up some commotion, the Lord of Mount Tianqiong won't show himself or intervene. Apparently, he is keeping watch over a mighty expert from the myriad realms—possibly the Human Sovereign of the myriad realms?"
She didn't know the exact details, but had heard a little. "You're young, so perhaps no one mentioned it. In the west, where Mount Tianqiong lies, rogue cultivator domains are scarce, even fewer than around Dead Spirit Hell."
"In the past, there were plenty of domains there. Later, an expert from the myriad realms who had opened the Heavenly Gate lured and slaughtered them all!"
Speaking of this, Lady Xuelong sighed with helpless wonder. "Later, it was said that he was the Sovereign of the human race who unified the myriad realms! A supreme powerhouse! He kept baiting and killing experts until fewer and fewer remained in that region. Eventually, he seemed to attempt a descent into this realm, only to be discovered by the Lord of Mount Tianqiong. A colossal battle erupted. Ever since, Mount Tianqiong has rarely meddled in external affairs. Everyone knows he has a duty to fulfill, so almost no one actively causes trouble for Mount Tianqiong."
Because that man was blockading a supreme powerhouse!
Su Yu smiled. "I've heard some whispers, but I never knew he had actually crossed swords with the Lord of Mount Tianqiong. Does that mean the Human Sovereign lost?"
"Hard to say!"
Lady Xuelong explained, "The one who descended wasn't his true body, merely a projected avatar. Even so, he was terrifyingly powerful! To this day, nobody dares to recklessly send an avatar over there. In fact, he actively baited the Lord of Mount Tianqiong several times to project an avatar, but I've never heard of anyone actually doing it..."
"How do you know all this?"
Su Yu was surprised. You even know that?
Lady Xuelong explained, "This isn't a secret in some forbidden grounds! The Human Sovereign, Xingyu, is quite famous. In the earlier years, you could even hear his voice in that region. He would often transmit his voice to bewitch people into sending avatars across, spouting all sorts of nonsense... like, 'Once you come over, we're all brothers, conquering the realm together! We're all on the same side, no need to ruin harmony! Let's open the three gates together and achieve grand unification for the myriad realms, we're all family...'"
Su Yu was dumbstruck.
Damn!
He actually pulled that?
What a shame I never got to hear it.
Lady Xuelong chuckled and added, "Though he probably doesn't dare anymore! I don't recall the exact time... sometime after King Wen and the others descended. He seemed to have been ambushed by several forbidden ground masters. Reportedly, at a critical moment in his battle, several forbidden ground masters suddenly launched a forceful probe to locate his Heavenly Gate projection and violently attacked it... He nearly perished as a result. That's why news of him has grown sparse lately."
The Human Sovereign enjoyed considerable fame here; everyone knew of his existence because he was a formidable monster.
Yet being too flamboyant was never a good thing.
Su Yu had a rough idea now!
The Human Sovereign's grievous injuries back then were tied to this. When he said his Heavenly Gate shook, Su Yu had originally thought the genuine gate had trembled. Now it appeared someone had locked onto his Heavenly Gate projection coordinates and launched a forceful assault, attempting to descend and grievously damaging his Heavenly Gate, which in turn allowed the myriad clans to severely wound him!
He had definitely been schemed against!
Su Yu reflected that it couldn't have been a mere coincidence.
Under normal circumstances, even if three to five forbidden ground masters projected their avatars—mere first-rank clones—the mighty Human Sovereign wouldn't have been unable to handle them.
Yet that incident had coincided precisely with his period of weakness, right while he was battling the Immortal Emperor and the others...
Far too many factors had aligned.
Someone had undoubtedly passed information to the powerhouses inside the Heavenly Gate.
"The Lord of Mount Yongsheng moved against the Time Master to tie down King Wen and King Wu... while the Human Sovereign was schemed against, his Heavenly Gate shaken, leaving him grievously wounded..."
Back then, the Human Sovereign and King Wen, who had resolved to conquer the three gates, had been torn apart like this.
Both strikes had been fatal!
His sister was King Wen's fatal weakness.
Responsibility was the Human Sovereign's fatal weakness!
Both had been seized upon!
The mastermind behind this had planned with immaculate precision. Both King Wen and the Human Sovereign were calculating figures who advanced step by step, possessing immense power... yet the person in the shadows had accurately predicted that they would walk right into the trap!
"The Human Gate!"
At this moment, a thought struck Su Yu: the Human Gate was the most insidious of all!
Those had been the Immortal Emperor's dying words.
Back then, the Human Sovereign had met with mishap precisely while trying to slay the Immortal Emperor first. In that case... the Immortal Emperor might have been part of the scheme. Whether he knew it or not, Su Yu suspected he was privy to some details.
The Human Gate colluded with powerhouses in the Heavenly Gate, intervened in the myriad realms, and even laid arrangements within the Earthly Gate.
Strictly speaking, King Wen and his allies were warring against all three gates and matching wits with the Human Gate, only for the Human Sovereign's side to lose!
Feigning nonchalance, Su Yu asked curiously, "Who launched that assault on the Human Sovereign's Heavenly Gate back then?"
Lady Xuelong paid it no mind and replied casually, "The Valley Master of Luohun Valley, the Immortal Ancestor of Changshengtian... As for the rest, I'm not too clear."
Changshengtian!
Su Yu was surprised. The Immortal Ancestor?
Immortal?
Last time, Su Yu had wondered whether the Lord of Mount Yongsheng was the Immortal Ancestor, but Mu had said no, citing the nomenclature of Mount Yongsheng!
Now Su Yu understood: it truly wasn't!
Because there was actually another forbidden ground named Changshengtian!
It wasn't strange that Su Yu hadn't known. Without hiding his curiosity, he asked, "Where is this Changshengtian and the Immortal Ancestor?"
Lady Xuelong replied indifferently, "It's normal that you don't know. Jinduan Gorge alone is vast enough to occupy us for a lifetime! The four major forbidden grounds are enough for us to pursue our entire lives! Going elsewhere is meaningless. Changshengtian lies further east from Dead Spirit Hell, extremely far away—at least a hundred diyuan units of distance."
Was that far?
In truth, a fourth-rank Ruler of Rules traveling at full speed could reach it in a hundred days. For these Rulers of Rules with boundless lifespans, a hundred days was negligible.
Yet... who the hell dared to travel like that?
What about the devouring locusts along the way?
What about the void beasts on the prowl?
What about the powerful figures from domains and forbidden grounds one might encounter?
Under normal circumstances, anyone who didn't want to die wouldn't travel so far unless they possessed supreme strength, a massive background, and an urge to wander.
Otherwise, a single Jinduan Gorge was more than enough!
Su Yu understood. "That really is quite far! By the way, forbidden grounds can traverse the void, right?"
"Of course!"
Lady Xuelong smiled. "Otherwise, how could they assemble so quickly? When the Lord of Dead Spirits opened his heaven back then, the forbidden grounds tore directly through the void to arrive! However, moving a forbidden ground carries a steep price each time, so without a matter of utmost importance, they won't relocate!"
Su Yu nodded in understanding.
He had broadened his horizons!
Changshengtian... The Immortal race truly seemed present everywhere. But now it had reached the Immortal Ancestor. Apart from the progenitor of the Immortal race, there couldn't be anyone higher, right?
Was the Immortal Ancestor... human?
Quite possibly!
According to certain accounts, the human race was the progenitor. The Time Master might have been human. Back then, humans were the first to migrate from the chaos into the myriad realms. Later, certain experts among humanity cultivated different techniques and walked distinct paths, pioneering new systems.
Thus, the Immortal, Demon, and God races were born. Naturally humanoid beings were almost all offshoots of humanity, separated by countless millions of years with no lingering kinship.
That divergence had happened in the Heaven-Opening Era. The Giant race had split off during the Primordial Era, and there was no kinship to speak of today either. Come to think of it, if the Prison King's lineage had endured, their Sacred Race had split off in modern times, yet not a shred of kinship remained there either.
At this moment, Su Yu's curiosity was thoroughly satisfied!
Not bad!
A modest harvest.
Changshengtian, Mount Yongsheng, Luohun Valley... these factions might all share ties with the Human Gate.
And the Human Sovereign's move against the Immortal Emperor should have been a top-secret operation. Apart from the human race, no one should have known beforehand that the Human Sovereign planned to strike.
How had the intelligence leaked, leading to the Human Sovereign being ambushed?
"A traitor?"
Su Yu considered this. If someone beside the Human Sovereign who could open the Heavenly Gate was able to swiftly transmit information, who would be under suspicion? King Ming?
If so, King Ming was the sole suspect!
Yet the Human Sovereign was no fool. If Su Yu could think of King Ming immediately, the Human Sovereign would have thought of him as well. If that were the case, King Ming would have been executed long ago; how could he have survived until now?
King Ming knew about the Human Sovereign's severe injuries, and over these years, they had relied on King Ming and his consort—two first-rank experts—to hold the line.
"Could it not be King Ming... How did the information leak out then?"
They were upstream along the River of Time, where ordinary people couldn't gather intelligence.
The myriad clans wouldn't have known the Human Sovereign's plans in advance either.
"I didn't know the exact details back then, so I didn't think too deeply about it... Was there a traitor among the surviving humans? Or has a powerhouse been watching the Human Sovereign all along?"
A traitor... If there truly were one, the Human Sovereign wouldn't have shown zero reaction across so many years.
The man was no idiot.
Which meant the Human Sovereign might have been under surveillance!
Were they still watching him now?
Furthermore, there was another matter that puzzled Su Yu: Xing. That fellow had chased the Time Record out through the Heavenly Gate, likely as a projection. His strength probably wasn't great; after all, a fellow who called seven-Dao cultivators "supreme powerhouses" bore the typical habits of a second-rank.
Second-rank experts loved to flatter seven- or eight-Dao figures as "supreme powerhouses" just to elevate their own standing.
Take Luoyun, who loved calling Gui an "exalted sovereign"!
Damn it, a fellow who had just entered the first rank was an "exalted sovereign" in his mouth!
Seven Daos was merely the peak of the third rank.
An ordinary second-rank might refer to them as supreme powerhouses simply to raise their own value!
If Xing was merely second-rank... by what right could he keep pace with the Time Record and traverse out from the Heavenly Gate?
Also, why was he looking for the Human Sovereign?
Judging by his words, he had ventured out hoping to meet the Human Sovereign, only to be deeply disappointed when he didn't find him.
Could it be that because he knew the Human Sovereign was powerful and his own descendant, he wanted to bask in the reflected glory?
After all, the Human Sovereign was indeed Xing's descendant from some distant generation.
Xing... The Human Sovereign himself didn't care much, having remarked that one must guard against the beings behind the gate; belonging to different eras, they were no longer the same people.
Additionally, it was said that Wen, the ancestor of King Wen, might also reside within the Heavenly Gate.
Of course, Su Yu—or rather, the original inhabitants of Nanyuan City—might all be Wen's descendants, though separated by countless generations, their blood ties had long grown thin.
King Wen had been here for years; did this Wen know that a peerless figure like King Wen had emerged among his descendants?
As for Su Yu himself... he had no interest in bothering with an ancient ancestor like Wen. Separated by five or six generations, people already grew distant, let alone an ancestor from hundreds of thousands of years ago!
Unless one wanted to cozy up for connections, who would care?
Even if those people were still alive, they probably weren't that strong.
First-rank or second-rank at best.
As for being forbidden ground masters... unlikely.
After all, forbidden ground masters were figures who had founded entire lineages back then. Wen and Xing were merely tribal chieftains in those days, far inferior to the Human Ancestor and his peers, and mere juniors compared to the Immortal Ancestor and the rest—figures from the later stages of the Heaven-Opening Era.
Su Yu couldn't afford to worry about whether there was a traitor beside the Human Sovereign right now. Taking advantage of their breakneck flight toward Mount Tianqiong, he spoke again: "Lady Xuelong, Blade Lord, I seem to be of the human race... Are there any human gathering grounds within the forbidden grounds?"
"The human race?"
Lady Xuelong gave him an odd look. "Of course. The Lord of Dead Spirits is human, the Lord of Mount Yongsheng is likely human, the Lord of Mount Tianqiong might be human, and the Immortal Ancestor of Changshengtian is actually human as well... Do you want to go pledge allegiance to them?"
This youngster truly made a fuss over nothing!
The Blade Lord couldn't help chiming in, "My bloodline is somewhat mixed, counting as human from the middle-to-late Heaven-Opening Era, but the master of my Blade Domain is also human... Human gathering grounds are everywhere, what about it?"
He couldn't help laughing. "Do you think this is the myriad realms? When heaven-opening concluded back then and the Time Master departed, there were only two kinds of beings in the chaos! Those in human form were collectively called the human race! Those not in human form were collectively called the Chaos race! Finer distinctions only came later! Youngsters truly don't understand these things! Anyone you see whose true form is humanoid counts as human... Back then, classifications weren't so detailed. Even the Immortals, Demons, and Gods of today's myriad realms were merely named after their tribal chieftains in that era; the concept of distinct races came only later!"
Su Yu nodded, unbothered by their disdain. He smiled faintly. "I know. I was only asking if there are any gathering grounds that still insist on calling themselves the human race today. You know, like the myriad realms outside the gate, where racial distinctions are clear-cut. Didn't distinct races emerge in the late Heaven-Opening Era?"
That was true enough!
Lady Xuelong pondered briefly before answering, "There might be, but even if there are, they wouldn't be strong! Perhaps in some remote corner there's a domain? Who knows! We only understand Jinduan Gorge, and even Jinduan Gorge is vast. Who would pay excessive attention to such things?"
Su Yu nodded and asked no further.
Xing and his peers had no renown here, meaning they weren't major figures. It made sense; they weren't even second-rank, let alone first-rank.
What puzzled Su Yu was how Xing had become entangled with the Time Master.
Could it be related to Wen?
Had they sent Xing out because Xing knew the Human Sovereign was the boss out there, so they dispatched this ancestor of the Human Sovereign back?
In that case, Xing, Wen, and the others might be banding together for mutual warmth!
Lady Xuelong and the Blade Lord didn't know simply because their horizons were too limited.
Su Yu ceased questioning. Through his exchanges with these two first-rank experts, he had learned a great deal about the overall situation inside the gate. Gui and his ilk were useless, genuine rogue cultivators, whereas these two knew much more thanks to the forbidden grounds backing them!
Su Yu sped westward toward Mount Tianqiong.
Opening a heaven here might not produce too massive a disturbance or draw the attention of supreme powerhouses, but it was better to be cautious. The main reason was that this area was close to Dead Spirit Hell and Mount Yongsheng, both of which held grudges against Su Yu.
As for Mount Tianqiong, it had a grudge with the Human Sovereign, which by extension meant a grudge with Su Yu... but the master there was fixated on the Human Sovereign. A minor disturbance might not even catch his eye.
Su Yu streaked through the sky at blinding speed.
...
Meanwhile, among the experts he had bound, the Blade Lord felt deeply depressed and sent a mental transmission: "Has this fellow lost his mind? It looks like he's genuinely heading toward Mount Tianqiong. Does he truly intend to open a heaven?"
"It seems genuine!"
Lady Xuelong felt equally helpless. "If he wants to open a heaven and ends up killing himself in the process, that's his business. I'm just afraid he'll drag us down with him! Of course..."
She chuckled. "If he actually manages to pull it off... that would be something!"
The Blade Lord was speechless. Nonsense!
What do you think?
The forbidden grounds had endured forever, for countless ages... Fine, the Lord of Dead Spirits had slain one master, but across countless millennia, only that single master had fallen, and no other forbidden grounds had ever risen!
Opening a heaven? The young truly knew no fear!
Heimu was hardly some renowned genius.
True geniuses were all inside the forbidden grounds.
Any that appeared outside were quickly recruited by them. Heimu had only gained a tiny bit of fame in the northeastern sector of Jinduan Gorge over the past few days.
...
This time, Su Yu moved with astonishing speed. Even with his first-rank strength, it took an entire day to reach the Mount Tianqiong region.
This was already the second day!
According to his earlier decree, tomorrow was the third day, and three days from then—the day after tomorrow—masses of experts would assemble at Mount Liufang!
Su Yu was pressed for time. Exhaling a breath of turbid air, he muttered, "Open the heaven today, return tomorrow, and strive to make it back by the time everyone gathers the day after!"
"..."
Good grief. Lady Xuelong and the other two were completely speechless. Were you treating heaven-opening like child's play?
Calculating the time so tightly!
Open the heaven today, return tomorrow... They had no words left!
Su Yu continued, "I understand both the Blade Dao and the Dao of Glacial Sealing. If heaven-opening succeeds, my current strength won't be weak. Upon success, I might become slightly stronger, though not by too much. At the beginning of heaven-opening, the boost isn't huge..."
The captives were rendered speechless once more. You talk as if you've succeeded before and speak from experience.
To hell with you!
Talking to yourself, entertaining yourself, putting on airs for yourself—is it really that fun?
"So at that time, if you're interested, you can join my heaven and earth. If you refuse, I'll just slaughter you all to fill the heaven and earth directly!"
"..."
The three remained silent.
After a moment of silence, Lady Xuelong chuckled, "Of course, if you truly succeed in opening a heaven, Heimu, your potential will be boundless, surpassing even those forbidden ground masters... How could we refuse to pledge allegiance?"
Her tone held a trace of veiled mockery!
Yet Su Yu was deadly serious: "In that case, with two sixteen-Dao experts and one fifteen-Dao expert merging in... frankly, I'd instantly possess considerable strength. The boost wouldn't be small at all. Opening a heaven truly is a massive help!"
"..."
Please, stop acting!
The three felt thoroughly exhausted in spirit!
Ignoring them, Su Yu scouted the surroundings. Furthermore, he flew outward for a distance; being too close to the domain wouldn't do, nor would being too close to Mount Tianqiong.
He needed to keep a proper distance!
Moreover, Su Yu constantly evaluated whether using himself as the foundation to open a heaven this time was truly viable. If it was, would it cause negative side effects?
Yet he genuinely had no other treasures to spare.
Only himself—a spirit of heaven and earth—could count as a treasure!
"Perhaps it is feasible, using the acupoints as the foundation..."
Su Yu murmured softly.
He thought of Baizhan, of the Human Ancestor's lineage who had opened 720 acupoints, and of the Human Ancestor who was said to have fought the Lord of Dead Spirits to a draw... Could the Human Ancestor... have done something similar to what he was doing now?
Not opening a conventional heaven, but using the 720 acupoints as a foundation to open a physical heaven?
That was genuinely plausible!
In that case, doing this meant he was somewhat imitating the Human Ancestor?
Whom he imitated didn't matter, so long as it made him stronger. The Human Ancestor was indisputably formidable!
Having opened a heaven once before, weaving Great Daos held no mystery for Su Yu. He was well-versed in the craft: he had woven Daos for Lan Tian, stabilized the heaven and earth for the Human Sovereign, and stepped inside King Wen's heaven...
One could say Su Yu had seen more heavens than almost anyone. Don't forget, he frequently visited the dead spirit realm, and the myriad realms counted as a heaven and earth as well.
Su Yu had even controlled a heaven and earth for a time, serving as its spirit...
Other issues were not issues at all.
"The key is, how do the Great Daos connect with the acupoints? One acupoint, one Dao; one acupoint, one martial skill; one acupoint, one divine character..."
Divine characters were Daos, and martial skills were Daos!
Back then, in order to cultivate the Brush Dao, Su Yu had practiced countless martial skills, sketching them into divine characters that transformed into Daos. He was intimately familiar with this process.
And Baizhan had also possessed one Dao per acupoint, one martial skill per acupoint.
"Therefore, there's no need to overthink it. Following the acupoint martial skills I cultivated back then, I'll sketch them into divine characters, and the Great Daos will naturally connect to my body..."
"Then weaving the Daos together... is essentially fusing the acupoints..."
As thoughts flickered through his mind, Su Yu wasted no time. In an instant, he placed a thorough seal upon Lady Xuelong and the others, preventing them from watching. These people didn't deserve to observe; they weren't his confidants, so why let them witness his heaven-opening?
Su Yu promptly lay back in the void. His physical body rapidly expanded, and in the blink of an eye, his form seemed to transform into heaven and earth. His sea of will floated outward, and 360 bodily apertures alongside 360 divine apertures radiated brilliant light.
This place seemed to transform into a starry sky!
Seven hundred and twenty colossal stars blazed with illumination in unison.
"Planting Daos in the acupoints!"
Su Yu thought of the Martial Emperor, who had planted flowers on his buttocks, and his own backside also contained a Tongtian aperture... What divine character should he plant in the Tongtian aperture, and what Great Dao should he sketch there?
Su Yu pushed those thoughts aside. No one was watching, so there was no need to care.
Who cared about that!
"The Tongtian aperture was pioneered by the Immortal race; perhaps planting a Dao of Life would be fitting!"
At this moment, Su Yu felt like a tree. Acupoint after acupoint vibrated as he prepared to plant Great Daos within them. In an instant, divine characters emerged one after another!
Those were the embryonic forms of Great Daos!
The Sun and Moon divine characters appeared, instantly entering his dual eyes—the eye apertures becoming the sun and moon!
The divine characters for Probe and Peek materialized, sinking into his ears—the ear apertures observing the four directions and listening to all sides.
The divine characters for Smell and Scent surfaced, entering his nasal apertures—the nose sensing heaven and earth.
Soon, another divine character emerged.
Tribulation!
Su Yu fell into contemplation. The character for Tribulation represented the Dao of Calamity. Which acupoint should this Dao match?
Pondering briefly, a tiny portal suddenly appeared on his forehead.
The glabella aperture was also an acupoint.
Pioneered by the Demon race!
When the demonic heart awakens, a great calamity befalls heaven and earth!
If I open a demonic heart, that shall be the inception of tribulation!
At this moment, the divine character for "Tribulation" settled into his glabella aperture!
A blossom of flame bloomed between his brows, mesmerizing and eerie!
When this Dao opens and this aperture unlocks, tribulation must follow!
The world has a Demon race, yet no true demon; I shall become that true demon!
One divine character after another continually emerged, and soon, Su Yu had planted the foundation of a Great Dao into every single aperture!
I forge heaven with my own body!
Open a heaven and earth within the gate!
Gradually, currents of Great Dao power welled up from within Su Yu. His physical body began to nurture the Great Daos, yet his flesh also began to wither rapidly!
Each divine character grew swiftly in strength!
If any expert witnessed this scene now, they would be struck with terror!
For at this moment, Su Yu resembled a massive tree... no, a hedgehog! Across his body, strands of Great Daos were siphoning his flesh and blood, drawing upon his Great Dao rules, consuming everything he had to swell the power of the Great Daos!
Using his body as the foundation, he opened a second heaven and earth!
Rumble!
Faint traces of thunder surfaced all around.
In the distance, devouring locusts gradually emerged, surging directly out of the River of Time as if catching a scent.
In this declining era, this sealed era, this heaven and earth destined for an end, no one was supposed to open a heaven anymore!
Thus, heaven and earth would send down calamity!
Just like the last time Su Yu opened a heaven and the ancient chaos clans came to disrupt him!
Today was no different.
Those apocalyptic devouring locusts began to converge toward this location!
...
At the same exact time.
In the far distance.
Upon an unimaginably colossal mountain, the Lord of Mount Tianqiong had long since relocated Mount Tianqiong near the Human Sovereign's Heavenly Gate projection—or rather, used Mount Tianqiong to directly suppress that phantom!
Right now, he abruptly opened his eyes, brow arching slightly as he gazed into the distance.
Strange!
The River of Time seemed to be fluctuating, and devouring locusts were appearing in massive droves.
"An omen of apocalypse?"
He sighed softly. The Heavenly Gate was approaching its opening, which was a good thing; if it didn't open soon, this withered, desolate world would perish sooner or later!
Fighting their way out of the Heavenly Gate was an absolute necessity!
"There seems to be... something else..."
The Lord of Mount Tianqiong frowned slightly. Should he go take a look?
Yet... if he left and Xingyu sensed an opening and barged straight through, this was his home base of Mount Tianqiong. What if that fellow wrecked it?
The next moment, he transmitted his voice into the distance: "Go check the east. A massive horde of devouring locusts has appeared. Be careful, and slaughter as many of them as possible!"
"Understood!"
Instantly, several powerful figures rose into the air and vanished from the spot.
The Lord of Mount Tianqiong gave a glance and paid it no further heed.
Lately, Xingyu seemed eager to force his way in. The Lord of Mount Tianqiong gave a cold sneer. If you dare to come out, all the better. Try stepping in and see what happens!
Chapter 890