I Want It All!

Within the void, a humanoid figure flickered in and out of view. Across his body, seven hundred and twenty acupoints shone brilliant as stars. Great Daos began to spread outward! They were weak and nascent, yet they possessed a solid foundation, far from rootless duckweed drifting on water! Extending like bamboo shoots springing up after rain, the Great Daos gradually grew. Slowly, they wove themselves into a sphere that enveloped Su Yu. After a moment, the sphere began to warp slightly... and gradually transformed into a gate! Su Yu, who had been nurturing the Great Daos, abruptly snapped his eyes open. His gaze burned like the sun, moon, and stars, filled with sudden shock and blazing splendor. "A gate?" Seven hundred and twenty acupoints could form the Human Gate. Seven hundred and twenty acupoints could form the Heavenly Gate! Of course, those two configurations differed: one was composed entirely of physical acupoints, while the other was split into three hundred and sixty physical acupoints and three hundred and sixty divine acupoints. The Earth Gate did not appear quite so complex. Regardless, seven hundred and twenty acupoints were clearly linked to gates—this was something Su Yu already knew. Yet at this very moment, Su Yu's expression changed drastically. Seven hundred and twenty acupoints, seven hundred and twenty Daos—the Great Daos were weaving together a heaven and earth, naturally threading along their organic course without Su Yu directing them. But now, they were actually beginning to weave themselves into a gateway! Su Yu turned pale with horror! A gate! Acupoints! Great Daos! A heaven and earth! "No... It can't be..." Su Yu murmured softly, his sun-and-moon gaze scanning the void. It made no sense. A gate—a gate that brought an end to an era! *Am I... turning into a gate?* A gate was the beginning of calamity, and the conclusion of calamity. His heaven and earth was actually weaving a gate, one that might differ from the Three Gates. But what on earth were the Heavenly, Earth, and Human Gates themselves? Living creatures? Weapons? Or... people? Had they cultivated to the most natural state, transformed into gates, and become the ones who sealed away their respective eras? "People... gates... the Three Gates..." A complicated look surfaced in Su Yu's eyes. What did all of this truly signify? Did this mean that the Three Gates had actually been formed from three peerless experts? Earlier, Marquis Tongtian had told Su Yu that being able to cultivate a gate meant that gates were likely tied to bloodlines. For instance, Su Yu and the others could manifest the Heavenly Gate, suggesting the Heavenly Gate was related to the bloodline of the human race. The Hundred Battles King could cultivate the Human Gate, suggesting the Human Gate was related to his bloodline. The Prison King lineage could cultivate the Earth Gate, suggesting the Earth Gate was tied to the Prison King or the Yanhuo lineage. What kind of connection was it? A bloodline connection? Were gates people? Just like Doubao, who was an embodiment of a Great Dao—what had Doubao originally been before becoming an incarnation? Doubao had always obsessed over Tiangu. Could Doubao have originally been an expert of the Immortal race during his lifetime, the original master of the Great Dao of Longevity? Perhaps so! King Wen surely knew the truth. Spirits like Doubao might have been humans, Immortals, Demons, or something else in life... Could the gates also be a form of spirit? Humans who had cultivated a heaven and earth, only to take the form of gates? Between his brows, the Dao of Calamity flickered faintly. Su Yu simply watched in silence as the Great Daos grew, gradually weaving themselves into a gateway. "What kind of gate does this count as?" "The Gate of the Universe?" "The Gate of Su Yu?" "Or something else entirely?" "Countless years from now, will it be me or Tongtian who seals this era? Can Tongtian... truly seal this era? No, perhaps... I am the gate of this era!" Su Yu muttered under his breath as stray thoughts and hypotheses began to emerge. *Who will ultimately bring an end to my era?* *And yet, why should I end my own era?* One speculation after another surfaced in his mind. Did someone like him emerge in every era? Did someone transform into a gate at the end of every era? Before the Three Gates appeared—say, during the era of the Heavenly Gate—had the Earth Gate and Human Gate already existed? Was this current era nearing its end, which was why the Three Gates had begun to stir? When the next era opened... if he transformed into a gate and sealed his own era, would that future era see four gates appearing simultaneously? Cycling on and on like this. Bringing an end to the next era time after time! For what purpose? To allow a new era to be born? Because the hierarchy had calcified? Because the previous era had to be overturned in order to usher in the next? At this moment, thousands of thoughts surged through Su Yu's mind. Had things calcified? Perhaps! Take this era, for example: without Su Yu, practically no one could have broken through to reach the level of King Wen or the Human Sovereign. "Could those Three Gates also have been failures who tried to save their eras, only to end up turning into gateways?" "Is a gate sealing an era away, or is it protecting that era?" "At the very least, the existence of the gates allowed those eras to be preserved, didn't it?" Wild ideas flitted across his thoughts. Eyes wide open, Su Yu watched the gateway gradually taking shape and chuckled. Fascinating. Truly fascinating. Today, he seemed to have stumbled upon something monumental. The Great Daos continued to extend, draining everything from Su Yu—his willpower and his physical strength. Just like during his previous heaven-opening, he felt once more as though he were about to be sucked dry. The heaven and earth—or rather, the gateway—had yet to fully form. Because Su Yu knew that his tribulation had not yet passed. The Dao of Calamity gleamed brightly. Opening the heavens invariably brought tribulation; this, Su Yu knew well. He gazed into the distance, where the Devouring Locusts were swarming over like an apocalyptic plague of grasshoppers, and fell into thought. Was this the tribulation of his heaven-opening this time? When the Lord of Dead Spirits opened his heaven, he faced a tribulation where countless masters of forbidden grounds charged out to kill him—that had been the ultimate catastrophe. Su Yu was comparatively weaker, but could these Devouring Locusts really do anything to him? He peered into the distance. The swarm blotted out the sky, dense and vast. He could also vaguely sense the auras of several Rulers of Rules among them. There were likely quite a few Rulers of Rules in the horde, making them troublesome indeed. But... if this was all, the heavens were underestimating him! "When I open the heavens, I will possess first-rank combat strength. The incoming tribulation would need to surpass my current realm to truly count as a tribulation!" "Last time, the Chaos Dragon came at the end—a fifth-rank Ruler of Rules, when I only commanded the combat power of a Celestial Venerable at that moment..." Su Yu felt that this tribulation was not strong enough. And an insufficiently strong tribulation usually meant another wave was on the way. Right now, Su Yu could feel his strength surging. It was not the power of his heaven and earth in the myriad realms, but the power of this local heaven and earth growing stronger. Previously, without tapping into the myriad realms' strength, he would have possessed only about fifteen Daos of power here. If he drew upon it, he would approach twenty-one or even twenty-two Daos. Now, having stripped away all connection to his power in the myriad realms, Su Yu felt himself cross that critical threshold, officially stepping into the first rank! He had reached the first rank in this very heaven and earth. Remarkably fast! Such was the benefit of experience! His strength continued to grow, though the pace slowed down. Under the weaving of the Great Daos, the process was nearing its conclusion. Once the gateway fully coalesced, it would signify the completion of his heaven-opening. The difficulty was not high! The hardest part was forming a closed loop, yet this time it posed virtually no challenge for Su Yu. For one, he had done it before. For another, the seven hundred and twenty Daos had been individually selected by him. Furthermore, the power of those seven hundred and twenty Daos was naturally weaving and taking shape through the power of his seven hundred and twenty acupoints. As a result, the most grueling step for any heaven-opener became vastly easier in Su Yu's hands. His speed was also dramatically faster. Otherwise, a first-time heaven-opener would still be struggling to weave their Great Daos at this stage. A sudden smile appeared on Su Yu's face! Now this was interesting! There was always a way out. Take the previous time: he had encountered the Eight-Winged Tiger and the Chaos Dragon midway through opening his heaven before it was finished, facing mortal peril mid-process. But this time, he was opening it so swiftly that he was already nearing the end while the Devouring Locusts had yet to arrive. A time difference! Su Yu grinned. Only such a time difference made things fun! Otherwise, if they arrived while he was still weaving his Daos, it would have spelled deadly peril! Yet now... by the time the Devouring Locusts arrived, Su Yu would have finished advancing and opened his heaven! "Time truly is the most precious thing of all!" A single moment sooner or later could produce entirely different outcomes. He thought of the Lord of Dead Spirits. When the Lord of Dead Spirits opened his heaven here, he had likely relied on his prior experience to seize a similar time difference. Before the forbidden ground experts could fully assemble, he had erupted with power, slain a master of a forbidden ground, and shattered three forbidden grounds, striking fear into the rest and preventing them from uniting. A major reason for that was surely how quickly he had completed his heaven-opening! Having done it once before, he had weathered the crisis. *Boom!* A violent tremor resonated through the world! The seven hundred and twenty Great Daos instantly converged into a gateway. In the blink of an eye, the seven hundred and twenty acupoints were pulled back into Su Yu's body. That gateway also imprinted itself onto the location where his Heavenly Gate had originally resided. At this moment, Su Yu's physical body manifested, gradually taking on a golden luster. Su Yu had succeeded! Indeed, he had succeeded with absolute ease. And the tribulation... was still some distance away. He could already see the Devouring Locusts. They were not far off, and in a few dozen seconds, the foremost locust would reach him. It was at the first rank, possessing roughly sixteen Daos of power—not weak at all. Meanwhile, Su Yu, having successfully opened his heaven, took stock of his strength. He wielded roughly eighteen Daos of power from this local heaven and earth. No small enhancement! From fifteen Daos to eighteen Daos—that was the boost the woven Daos had granted him. Some of the seven hundred and twenty Great Daos were quite weak. Under normal circumstances, had he still been struggling to weave them like during his first attempt, he would have had fifteen Daos of power at best. Pitted against a sixteen-Dao first-rank opponent, he would have been in deep trouble! Not to mention, these Devouring Locusts were not alone; they came in an endless swarm. Even if the others were much weaker, they would still have been too much for him to easily withstand. "Time is on my side!" Su Yu's physical frame vibrated, his smile brilliant! The power of seven hundred and twenty Great Daos surged through his body. His flesh gleamed golden, immensely formidable. At this moment, two gates surfaced between Su Yu's brows: one was the phantasmal silhouette of the Heavenly Gate, and the other was the newly formed gateway. "The Gate of Civilization!" Su Yu smiled faintly, bestowing a name upon his gateway. Or perhaps... the Gate of Calamity? In this instant, his Heavenly Gate completely receded inward, and the Gate of Civilization thoroughly enveloped and concealed it. With that, all trace of the myriad realms' aura completely vanished from Su Yu! Only now did Su Yu truly begin to resemble someone native to the realm behind the gate. Prior to this, his Heavenly Gate power had carried a slight tell. The weak could not notice anything, and those weaker than him could not sense it at all, but anyone commanding twenty-five Daos or more might have deduced his identity. If he carried the power of the myriad realms, it suggested he hailed from the myriad realms. Now, however, with the Gate of Civilization blanketing the Heavenly Gate, everything vanished. Furthermore, to conceal his identity, Su Yu showed no hesitation whatsoever. In a flash, he sealed the Heavenly Gate tight, instantly blocking off every channel connected to King Wen's heaven and earth! *Apologies!* *I need to keep a low profile and act like a genuine insider of the gate. King Wen isn't fighting right now anyway, so why should I keep supplying him with world power and increasing the risk of exposing myself?* *Just stay hidden for now!* *** At the same time. In the dark void near Mount Yongsheng, King Wen's expression changed abruptly. The little white shoe beneath his foot instantly turned black, and in a flash, his ability to sense external world power dropped to rock bottom! Fortunately, he possessed his own Heavenly Gate, and the core of his heaven and earth—the boot—was right here with him. Even though it was not the Classic of Ten Thousand Daos, some power could still be channeled through himself. Yet... compared to before, it was far inferior. King Wen's face turned green! *Damn you!* If you were never going to send power in the first place, fine, he could have treated it as though nothing had happened. But that grandson Su Yu had fed him a massive surge of world power, only to cut it off completely now! King Wen was about to lose his mind! His plan was already in motion. Originally, by borrowing world power, he could have reached thirty-two Daos of strength. But now... what was he at? Thirty-one and a half Daos? A half-step transcendent? It was enough to make him cough up blood! King Wen's face was livid. King Wu sensed it and looked at him in curiosity, only for King Wen to suddenly snap, "You bastard! Why did you have to pick this moment of all times to break through? Do you know how much of my time you've wasted?" If not for having to protect this idiot during his breakthrough, he would have carried out his plan long ago! He truly wanted to beat him to death! With Su Yu not around, King Wen had no choice but to vent his frustration on King Wu! King Wu looked completely innocent and could not help saying, "Why are you yelling at me? Did your son cause trouble for you and you sensed it? Don't take it out on me! I need to break through, it's not like I have a choice..." King Wen wanted to weep, but had no tears! Only after a long while did he grit his teeth and say, "Even if you break through, it's useless now!" *Damn it all!* He had originally planned that once King Wu broke through, the two of them would join hands—two transcendent-rank combatants ganging up two-on-one. There was no way they wouldn't finish off that bastard Fa. Yet now that his connection to world power was severed, how were they supposed to kill anyone by relying on King Wu alone? Resisting was one thing, but killing... transcendent combatants were extraordinarily hard to kill! King Wu could fight Fa, and might even win—though that was merely a possibility—but killing a transcendent was completely out of the question! Only King Wen himself had the certainty to slay Fa! At this moment, King Wen felt thoroughly exhausted. He looked off into the distance. *Has Su Yu entered?* In all likelihood, yes! The problem was, where was he? Why had he suddenly cut off all connection to the Heavenly Gate without leaving behind a single channel? That brat should have known he needed it, right? Had his identity been exposed? Or... had he been killed? He couldn't have been killed that easily, could he? Right then, King Wen turned toward the west, frowning slightly. Did it have something to do with that direction? From that distant expanse, he vaguely sensed a faint disturbance. It was not very clear, but the fact that it could travel all the way to him was already terrifying. Just a moment ago, precisely when Su Yu sealed the Heavenly Gate, a peculiar ripple seemed to have propagated from over there as well! "Is Su Yu over that way?" "Near Mount Tianqiong?" At this moment, he felt somewhat puzzled. Su Yu's previous Heavenly Gate projection should have been near Mount Yongsheng and Dead Spirit Hell, yet now he might have appeared near Mount Tianqiong... Was that kid running all over the place, or was he being hunted down? Did that peculiar disturbance have something to do with him? Countless thoughts echoed through King Wen's mind. There was simply too little information right now; brilliant as he was, he could not deduce much. Su Yu had not come looking for him, leaving him completely in the dark. "Sigh!" A sigh escaped him. Sometimes, martialists truly seemed more endearing. Looking at King Wu again, King Wen found him much less annoying. See? Look how obedient he was! Someone like Su Yu... did not listen to anyone! Met with that gaze, King Wu curled his lip and muttered under his breath, barely audible, "Your whole family are martialists!" "..." King Wen looked at him in surprise. King Wu could not be bothered to acknowledge him. Did King Wen think he couldn't read that look? Every time King Wen suffered a setback with scholarly types, he would look at King Wu like that, as if comforting himself, undoubtedly thinking, *Martialists aren't so bad after all.* Sure enough, he had guessed right! King Wu closed his eyes and continued cultivating, ignoring him completely. What was wrong with being a martialist? Once he broke through, he would punch this fellow who looked down on martialists straight into the ground! *** At that exact moment. The instant Su Yu's gateway took shape, a very subtle fluctuation rippled outward. The weak felt nothing, but top-tier experts caught a faint trace of it. For a moment, many were left wondering what had happened. Meanwhile. In the myriad realms. The Earth Gate shuddered faintly! The Human Sovereign materialized before the Earth Gate in an instant, staring at it with suspicion and a strange expression. "Are you awakening? Did a wisp of your will just leak out? Are you about to wake?" The Three Gates had remained dormant all along; even if they stirred, it was merely an instinctive reaction. Yet just now, he seemed to have sensed the Earth Gate tremble, with a faint strand of willpower dispersing outward. He frowned at the Earth Gate. Were the Three Gates about to open? At that moment, the Earth Gate released a faint thread of will. Extremely weak, like a voice echoing from beyond the heavens, it resonated directly inside the Human Sovereign's mind: "The Fourth Gate has appeared... This era... is coming to an end!" The Human Sovereign's expression shifted. Suddenly, he reached out and snatched at the void. Marquis Tongtian tumbled out looking dazed, staring at the Human Sovereign. "What is it? Did I offend you again?" The Human Sovereign frowned at him, remaining silent for a long moment before asking, "What were you doing just now?" "Me?" Marquis Tongtian felt guilty. "I... I wasn't doing anything!" "Speak!" The Human Sovereign's demeanor turned terrifyingly imposing. Left with no choice, Marquis Tongtian whispered, "I really didn't do anything... I... I didn't secretly absorb King Ming's gate power! I was just passing by, saw King Ming cultivating, and decided to stand guard for him!" "..." The Human Sovereign was speechless. He understood now: this fellow had been loitering around King Ming. No wonder he had been scurrying about when captured; he had simply been trying to leech King Ming's gate power. "Get lost!" The Human Sovereign tossed him aside and looked back toward the Earth Gate. The Earth Gate, however, had fallen silent once more, as if that fleeting lucidity had passed, sinking back into slumber. "The Fourth Gate has appeared?" The Human Sovereign frowned. *The era is coming to an end?* He suddenly snorted coldly. "What a joke! This era has only just begun! If you want to end this era, let's see whether your Three Gates have the strength to do it! So what if a Fourth Gate has appeared?" What did this Fourth Gate refer to? Tongtian, or something else? For the moment, the Human Sovereign could not be sure. Yet whether it appeared or not, what did it matter? The Human Sovereign's aura abruptly surged, shaking the myriad realms! Man could surely conquer heaven! He would never allow this era to end like this. Never! He had no desire to see this era sealed away—there was no reason for it to be sealed. Perhaps he himself had lived long enough, but so many others had only just begun their lives. He refused to let this era end this way, only to become a thorn in the side of the next era like those beings trapped inside the Heavenly and Earth Gates! The Human Sovereign murmured softly, "Perhaps you want us to make way for the newcomers... but let me tell you, the succession of eras is not meant to happen like this! The decline of eras is not meant to happen like this! Forcing us into being sealed through such a succession, through such decline... I refuse!" "I can be overthrown, I can be destroyed, but... I will not accept being sealed away, neither human nor ghost. I refuse to accept it!" The Human Sovereign's aura grew increasingly formidable! He would not accept such an outcome! Was this the will of the Time Master? Perhaps! Yet even if it was yours, I still will not accept it! "Eradicate the Three Gates and sweep across the heavens. As for that so-called destruction... are you going to step forward and strike personally?" The Human Sovereign looked up toward the sky and snorted coldly. In that case, come in person before speaking! Otherwise, this era would remain eternal! *** At this moment, Su Yu was unaware of the ripples spreading from the Three Gates. Even if he knew, he would not care much. A Fourth Gate? Who cared! Sealing an era... Forget it, he would never accept that! Living in an environment like the realm behind the Heavenly Gate was something Su Yu would never do. Rather than that, he would prefer destruction! At this moment, Su Yu's aura shook the surroundings! The heaven-opening was complete, and his heaven and earth had receded inward. His body forged the heaven; the heaven and earth was him, and he was the heaven and earth! Su Yu materialized before the Devouring Locusts in an instant. These creatures possessed little intellect, driven solely by a singular instinct: devour and destroy! Annihilation! Su Yu could sense it. This was his first time encountering such formidable Devouring Locusts; they were utterly chaotic, far more chaotic than the ancient chaos beasts. "The Dao of Destruction?" Su Yu grinned! Good stuff! He loved this kind of power—or rather, this was the power of calamity. At this moment, a flame surfaced between his brows, resembling a world-ending blaze! These Devouring Locusts were a tribulation! And he happened to need the power of calamity! Su Yu had always been fond of the Dao of Calamity. Back when he was weak, it had helped him navigate countless crises. Now, he found that these Devouring Locusts were the ultimate nourishment for the Dao of Calamity! He rarely encountered such power, yet today he had stumbled upon it! A sensation of grand annihilation, of impending doom! Moreover, these creatures lacked any real intellect, which was Su Yu's favorite trait in an enemy. He loved taking advantage of fools. The ancient chaos beasts were a bit foolish, but these Devouring Locusts were even dumber. The instant they saw Su Yu, regardless of the disparity in strength, an eruption of devouring power and destructive might exploded outward as they surged toward him to consume and eradicate him! "Come to papa, my little darlings!" Su Yu chuckled mischievously. The power of a Great Dao manifested instantly, spreading in all directions as Su Yu transformed into a giant! An acupoint opened, scooping up all the Devouring Locusts beneath the first rank into its depths! At that moment, the power of seven hundred and twenty Great Daos converged, exploding inside the acupoint with a deafening boom. Vast numbers of Devouring Locusts were obliterated by Su Yu, and the acupoint that had consumed them rapidly siphoned out their power of destruction and calamity, feeding it directly into the acupoint between his brows! Within that central acupoint, the Dao of Calamity grew by leaps and bounds. In high spirits, Su Yu clashed head-on with the first-rank Devouring Locust. Their brutal collision sent the powerful locust flying backward repeatedly, yet the creature cared nothing for life, death, or injury, continuing to lunge fearlessly at Su Yu again and again. This thing resembled a locust, but bore an extraordinarily sharp proboscis akin to a mosquito's mouthpart. Once it pierced its target, it could drain away even the power of a Great Dao! Su Yu traded blows with the first-rank locust as endless swarms continued to surge around them, seemingly without end! *** Meanwhile. In the distance. Three figures were swiftly approaching: two men and one woman. Suddenly, the white-haired elder leading them remarked in surprise, "Someone is ahead!" Someone was fighting the Devouring Locusts! In this wretched place, unless the locusts invaded one's territory, rarely did anyone bother with them, and actively hunting them was even rarer. Of course, certain experts who cultivated Daos of destruction, ruin, or devouring would occasionally kill some to refine their own Daos. However, absorbing the power of Devouring Locusts easily drove one mad and brought about unspeakable calamities! This was common knowledge to many. Thus, by now, even cultivators of destruction and ruin rarely hunted Devouring Locusts, leaving only the forbidden grounds to periodically clear them out to prevent the swarms from growing too large. The old man was somewhat perplexed. There were no territories left in this vicinity. Because of the Human Sovereign, the experts near here had either been slain or had migrated away. The area surrounding Mount Tianqiong had the fewest rogue territories. Yet right now, an expert was actively slaying Devouring Locusts here. Filled with doubt, the old man sensed the area briefly before quickly saying, "Let's go take a look!" The two behind him, a man and a woman, appeared young on the surface but were actually ancient. Nodding, they flew forward alongside the old man, having sensed the disturbance as well! *** At this moment, as Su Yu fought the locust, he sighed with a light laugh. A tribulation! The second wave! *Thank goodness!* He understood now: the Devouring Locusts were merely the first wave of his heaven-opening tribulation, while the three incoming experts represented the second wave. Had his heaven-opening progressed a bit slower, even if he managed to kill the locusts at the cost of his vitality, these three would have arrived right in the middle of it. During the heaven-opening process, others could easily detect the clues. One look, and they would see someone opening the heavens. A stranger they didn't recognize, at that... How would they react? Following the customs of the gate realm, they would naturally slaughter him! Or capture him to present to the master of their forbidden ground! "They arrived so fast!" Su Yu could not help marveling. His heaven-opening had not taken long at all, yet the other side had arrived with astonishing speed. Either they had already been nearby, or... the master of Mount Tianqiong had sensed something the moment he opened the heavens and dispatched people immediately. This place was still five diyuan away from Mount Tianqiong. A fourth-rank Ruler of Rules would need five days of flight to cross that distance! The newcomers might have even warped through space. Whether that was an ability granted by the forbidden ground or something else, he wasn't sure; otherwise, he should have sensed a cultivator of the Space Dao. From the moment Su Yu began opening the heavens until now, barely any time had passed—strictly speaking, perhaps only an hour. That speed was breathtaking. For them to arrive within an hour, even if they were all first-rank, was remarkably swift! Su Yu had deliberately chosen a location farther away from Mount Tianqiong. *It's possible that within the forbidden ground's radius of influence, they can teleport... Mount Tianqiong commands a vast range, so they might have teleported directly to the edge of that perimeter before flying the rest of the way!* Su Yu analyzed the situation and felt his guess was spot-on! *Three first-ranks... terrifying indeed. The might of a forbidden ground exceeds imagination. Two appear to be newly stepped into the first rank, but one of them possesses no less than twenty Daos of power, perhaps even more!* Opening the heavens was truly fraught with danger. Even after completing his heaven-opening, Su Yu commanded only eighteen Daos of power. Yet the second wave of tribulation brought three first-ranks, including one surpassing twenty Daos! Any normal person attempting to open the heavens would have died without question! Of course, no normal person could open the heavens to begin with. Right at that moment, an aged shout rang out from ahead: "Which fellow Daoist is clearing the Devouring Locusts up ahead?" Su Yu's eyes flickered slightly. The power within him shifted, displaying a mix of death qi, devouring energy, and destructive might. Raising his voice, Su Yu called out, "Heimu, Grand Commander of Mount Liufang!" *** "Heimu?" In the distance, the old man paused briefly. Mount Liufang... He glanced back at his two companions. The young man thought for a moment before speaking up: "I've heard of it. Mount Liufang is a faction established just a few days ago near Dead Spirit Hell and Mount Yongsheng! Founded by several sixteen-Dao experts!" The young man added, "Heimu... yes, I've heard of him as well. The Grand Commander of Mount Liufang, formerly an inspector of the Heavenly Tomb Domain, an expert at the peak of fifteen Daos!" The young man was well-informed on such matters. As experts of a forbidden ground, they kept tabs on the surrounding areas, especially the major factions within the Severed Gorge. If they didn't even know that much, the forbidden ground would have been utterly useless. The old man simply didn't oversee that domain, so he hadn't paid it any mind. Yet now, the old man frowned. "Peak of fifteen Daos?" Who was he trying to fool! He could clearly sense that the person ahead was exceedingly strong, commanding at least eighteen Daos of power—a world of difference from fifteen Daos! The young man could also sense that the leader of the Devouring Locusts was formidable, likely on par with himself, yet it was being suppressed by Heimu. Clearly, this Heimu was extraordinarily potent! At this, the young man had no choice but to say, "He must have concealed his strength previously and only revealed it today. Rumor has it that this Heimu swept through the northeastern region a few days ago. Mount Liufang seems intent on becoming the hegemon of the northeast, likely because they learned about the exit quotas!" The old man nodded slightly, gaining a general understanding. Soon, his voice carried forward: "Fellow Daoist Heimu, these Devouring Locusts..." Su Yu's voice echoed back swiftly: "The esteemed experts ahead hail from Mount Tianqiong, I presume? I came here solely to slay some Devouring Locusts to refine my Daos of Destruction and Devouring. I harbor no hostility..." The old man naturally was not worried about hostility. What a joke—an eighteen-Dao cultivator swallowed Mount Tianqiong? Preposterous. He smiled faintly and said, "This old man bears no ill intent. I merely wished to remind you, Fellow Daoist, that absorbing too much power from these Devouring Locusts... may endanger your life. Are you aware of this?" Su Yu's voice rang out again: "I am aware, yet I also know that strength is the foundation of everything! The quotas will soon be allocated. If Mount Liufang cannot secure a substantial share, we will be nothing more than cannon fodder once we step outside the Heavenly Gate!" Su Yu's tone was hearty and laced with laughter. "Since that's the case... who cares what the future holds!" Hearing this, the old man understood Su Yu's mindset. Indeed, it was a desperate gamble! As for tribulations and hazards, those were problems for later. Growing strong took precedence over all else! Soon, the three flew forward. Dense swarms of Devouring Locusts were swiftly cut down by the trio! Three first-rank combatants! Anywhere they went, they were top-tier experts. When acting together, anyone below twenty-five Daos would find them nearly impossible to match. Su Yu did not dare probe the old man too deeply, but observing how he struck down the locusts, he formed a rough estimate in his mind. *Of the three, the white-haired elder commands around twenty-two Daos of power and cultivates the Sword Dao!* *The man has sixteen Daos and cultivates... the Space Dao?* Su Yu deduced easily enough: it was indeed the Space Dao, as every strike severed the void with spatial slicing. No wonder they had arrived so quickly. As for the third person, the woman also commanded sixteen Daos of power and wielded a rather peculiar weapon: a massive white net. The net swept across the heavens, dragging countless locusts into its weave, reducing them to ashes in the blink of an eye. That net... Su Yu estimated it contained at least two Great Dao powers: first, restriction; second, destruction. Cultivating two Daos and merging them—she was quite formidable as well. The three of them... Su Yu weighed his options rapidly. If he made a move, unleashing the full world power within his Heavenly Gate to combine the two, he would command at least twenty-six Daos of power! He could kill them! However, the commotion would be immense. If the disturbance grew too large, disaster would follow. The Master of Mount Tianqiong might sense it... and against a powerhouse of thirty-two Daos charging over... Su Yu stood no chance of matching him! At least not right now. Abandon the thought! This was essentially a hidden tribulation. Had his heaven-opening still been underway, even if he managed to crush these three... good grief, their boss would have stepped in personally, and his heaven-opening would have ended right then and there. That would have left him no way out at all! Now, however, the problem was moot. He had succeeded! Success was the ultimate solution. He had brought the tribulation of opening the heavens to an early close! Before the three could reach him, Su Yu's eyes shifted. He suddenly let out a thunderous roar as lightning energy violently erupted, shattering the carapace of the Devouring Locust before him with a deafening crash! Condensing a Sword of Destruction in his hand, Su Yu roared and cleaved downward! Lacking the wit to dodge, the locust was sliced clean in two by the blow! Reaching out, Su Yu unleashed the Dao of Death Qi, corroding the corpse until it dissolved into thick liquid in an instant! Next, Su Yu's acupoints opened, devouring a surge of calamity energy! The entire sequence was executed with fluid perfection! At that moment, the three finished clearing the locusts blocking their path and wiped out the surrounding swarm, just in time to witness Su Yu execute the sixteen-Dao locust. A flicker of surprise crossed the old man's eyes, quickly followed by a smile: "Fellow Daoist Heimu possesses formidable strength. Truly admirable!" It was no exaggeration; he was genuinely powerful, extraordinarily adept at combat. His battle experience and methods were absolutely top-tier! A sixteen-Dao Devouring Locust certainly lacked intelligence, but even without wit, it still wielded the power of sixteen Daos! Yet it had been dispatched so effortlessly by this eighteen-Dao Heimu! Of course, the instant the three arrived, a sudden wave of revulsion had welled up in their chests. It was as if this Heimu before them was inherently repulsive, sparking an impulse to strike him down... Yet they quickly dismissed the feeling. They realized it was likely caused by the burst of energy released when the locust died and was absorbed by Heimu, creating an illusion. That was only natural—everyone inside the gate detested Devouring Locusts! Every time anyone saw a locust, disgust was the standard reaction! Meanwhile, Su Yu used the Dao of Calamity to devour every scrap of tribulation energy, swiftly concealing all anomalies while radiating the Dao of Benevolence and the Dao of the Sage throughout his body. *I am a good person!* *A benevolent soul!* Su Yu understood that as his second wave of tribulation, these people were bound to feel instinctively repulsed by him. Even without knowing why, conflict could easily arise due to the influence of the Great Daos. There was no avoiding that innate reaction. However, he could deflect it. Right now, crossing the forbidden grounds was unwise. Otherwise, he would instantly become a second Human Sovereign or a second King Wen, relentlessly targeted and monitored, unable to accomplish anything! Killing the locust so decisively just now had also served to divert their attention. Sure enough, the revulsion in their eyes flickered for only an instant before fading away. Su Yu laughed inwardly. *They really thought it was caused by the locust, didn't they?* *Excellent!* *Killing that locust at that precise second was well worth it!* "Senior praises me too highly!" Having slain the locust, Su Yu offered an easy smile. "Compared to the experts of the forbidden grounds, I fall far short!" The old man chuckled. "You overestimate the experts of the forbidden grounds, Fellow Daoist. We are all cultivators; there is no absolute distinction between strong and weak. You rogue cultivators have a harder path out there and are far more skilled in mortal combat. Take that locust leader just now—even for me, slaying it would have taken some effort, yet you cut it down as smoothly as flowing water. Remarkable skill!" Su Yu laughed heartily. "Senior must be joking!" He then looked at the three with a radiant smile. "Now that I've slain this locust, I hope the three esteemed experts from the forbidden ground don't feel I've stolen your spoils? If you mind... I can find a way to lure another sixteen-Dao locust from elsewhere... I was indeed careless earlier; this place isn't too far from Mount Tianqiong, though I thought there were still five diyuan between us... I never expected you esteemed seniors to arrive so swiftly... It's quite embarrassing for me!" The old man burst into laughter. "A Devouring Locust counts as spoils? I'd be thrilled if you killed more of them!" Pausing, he smiled and asked, "Fellow Daoist Heimu hails from Mount Liufang?" Su Yu looked sheepish and gave a dry cough. "Yes... though... Mount Liufang is merely a figurehead name. Truth be told, I am the only cultivator above sixteen Daos there. As for Fellow Daoists Gui and Mu, no one knows where they've gone; they may have met with misfortune... Fearing I could not hold my own against enemies on all sides, I deliberately hoisted the banner of Mount Liufang!" The old man paused, and the two behind him were visibly startled as well. The next instant, all three burst into laughter! The old man could not help chuckling. "So that's how it is! Fellow Daoist, that is supposed to be a secret. How could you... blurt it out the moment we meet?" He suddenly found this Heimu quite endearing! Su Yu acted self-conscious. "Before experts of a forbidden ground... even if Mount Liufang truly had multiple sixteen-Dao experts, what would it matter? Rather than having the forbidden ground discover the truth on its own, I might as well come clean voluntarily. That way, Senior won't think I'm deceitful. If you discovered an anomaly later... wouldn't I have offended the forbidden ground for nothing?" "You truly are..." The old man smiled brightly. Fascinating! Thoroughly sensible! For a brief second earlier, he had felt a twinge of dislike toward this Heimu, but now he found him exceptionally sharp and remarkably decisive—and filled with deep reverence for the forbidden grounds! Mount Liufang? A facade? Did that matter? Not in the slightest! Because the Heimu before him was an eighteen-Dao powerhouse, and that alone was more than enough! Even if the faction was fabricated, Mount Liufang remained a major power among the rogue cultivators! In that single moment, countless thoughts flashed through the old man's mind. The hegemon of the northeastern region, an eighteen-Dao expert... meanwhile, the rogue domains near Mount Tianqiong were nearly extinct, their cultivators either dead or fled. Over countless years, Mount Tianqiong had focused solely on battling the Human Sovereign! The Mountain Master didn't care about such matters, but now that the Heavenly Gate was about to open, perhaps Mount Tianqiong ought to cultivate some peripheral factions of its own. This Heimu... was very intriguing! However, he seemed to cultivate the Dao of Death Qi! Could he have some connection to Dead Spirit Hell? Countless considerations surfaced in the old man's mind. Should he have a deeper talk with this Heimu? *** Meanwhile, Su Yu wore an innocent smile, his gaze pure and clear. Internally, however, he was chanting: *Are you going to recruit me or what?* *I have eighteen Daos!* *I excel at killing!* *I'm in the middle of unifying the northeastern region and will soon become its hegemon!* *Aren't you going to recruit me, shower me with benefits, and take me on as a vassal?* *I'll swallow the benefits, but as for being a vassal... forget about me risking my neck!* Not just them—Su Yu was already entertaining grander schemes. *I'm going to be the lackey for all four factions! Yes, all four forbidden grounds—whichever one comes, I'll play their lapdog. I want it all!* Who would broadcast their vassal recruitment to the entire world anyway? Su Yu smiled brilliantly. *Hurry up and recruit me! I'll play hard to get for a moment, then jump right into your camp!*