I Am the Winner

With the God Ancestor slain, the Heavenly Gate was forced into premature revival. At this moment, the River of Time shuddered. Within the Heavenly Gate, an aura of death and extinction churned violently, spreading outward toward the Myriad Realms. The Heavenly Gate Era and the Earth Gate Era were both rapidly merging into the Myriad Realms. With two great eras forcibly revived, a surging power began rolling toward the Myriad Realms from downstream in the River of Time. The waves surged and the long river roiled violently, as if the Human Gate was about to descend as well! Heaven and earth spun! The world quaked, and devouring locusts ran rampant! At this moment, vast swarms of devouring locusts appeared across heaven and earth. The apocalypse was truly at hand. In the distance, Kong and Shi tore through space with desperate frenzy, finally rendezvoused before Su Yu and his companions could overtake them. At that instant, the Heavenly Gate manifested a human form. He was an old man with kind features, white hair, and a white beard, looking every bit the benevolent elder. Beside him stood the two pinnacle experts, Ri and Yue, a man and a woman, shining brilliant as the sun and moon on his left and right. As Kong and Shi arrived gasping for breath, the pinnacle experts within the Heavenly Gate assembled. Five of them! Only five remained: the Heavenly Gate, Kong, Shi, Ri, and Yue. Wen was nowhere to be seen, perhaps because his strength was too meager to come over. Zhou, Tian, Wen, Ming; Ri, Yue, Xing, Chen. Of the eight division chiefs of antiquity, Wen and Ming were the only two Su Yu had never met. They had regrouped! Su Yu, currently forcibly devouring the God Ancestor's Great Dao, rushed over to confront the Heavenly Gate. He looked at the five across from him, expressionless and without regret. Kong and Shi were 36-Dao experts, after all. With the Heavenly Gate forcibly awakening and arriving swiftly, it was only natural that he hadn't managed to finish those two off. A good thing! On this day, both the Heavenly Gate and Earth Gate had been forced into premature revival. By waking prematurely, their combat prowess had not reached its peak, amounting to self-inflicted damage. Forcing both gates to awaken ahead of schedule was already an excellent outcome! At this moment, the old man who was the Heavenly Gate's incarnation sighed. "Su Yu, you are bringing about your own destruction! Had the Earth Gate and I revived normally, our strength would have been intact, giving us far greater certainty in dealing with the Human Gate! "Now, you insisted on forcing us to awaken prematurely. Because of this... both the Earth Gate and I have sustained damage to our strength. The Human Gate was formidable to begin with, and now it will be even more impossible to rival... Su Yu, is this the outcome you wanted?" Su Yu smiled. Looking at them, he let out a chuckle. "No, this isn't the outcome I wanted at all. If I am to deal with the Human Gate, I need several dozen pinnacle Great Daos, and then I will be a hundred percent certain to slay it! So I must ask all of you seniors to yield your Great Daos and heavens for me to devour! For the peace of the Myriad Realms, for world peace, all of you seniors have lived long enough! It is only right that you sacrifice yourselves to fulfill my rise so I can face the Human Gate!" Su Yu's voice boomed grandly across the heavens. "I humbly implore you seniors to yield your Daos! If you refuse, you are cold-blooded and ruthless! If you refuse, you harbor selfish greed! If you refuse, you are seeking your own destruction! If you refuse, you are an enemy of ten thousand generations! If you refuse, you are worse than beasts! If you refuse, you are nothing but bastard dogs!" Su Yu roared with laughter. "Do my words make sense? Isn't this your exact logic? Did you think I couldn't play this game? You bunch of dogs, will you yield your Daos or not? Come on over and line up for me to slaughter!" His laughter rolled across the heavens. As the Heavenly Gate revived, the Heavenly Gate Era was also descending upon the Myriad Realms. At this moment, even the Earth Gate and his faction could hear his words clearly. Their expressions grew somewhat strange. Su Yu was infuriatingly troublesome at times; verbally, he never took a loss. Try to morally kidnap him? Before you could even start, he was already putting the moral noose around your neck! Su Yu's voice rang out again. "You old fellows have lived for countless years—you've lived more than enough! For our future, it falls upon a young man like me to shoulder the heavy burden of confronting the Human Gate! Why haven't you yielded your Daos yet? Has your conscience been eaten by dogs?" Su Yu scolded indignantly, "Do you have any conscience left? Do you even deserve to be called human? Look around! How many people are displaced and destitute, wallowing in misery, yet you aren't willing to yield your Daos for my success?" Su Yu roared at the top of his lungs, "Myriad Realms of the Heavens, join me in petitioning the Human Ancestor to yield his Dao! Petition the Ancient Beast Ancestor to yield his Dao! Petition all the venerables to yield their Daos!" At this moment, booming roars erupted across heaven and earth: "We petition the venerables to yield their Daos!" Cries echoed throughout the myriad heavens one after another! "We petition the Human Ancestor to yield his Dao!" "We petition the Ancient Beast Ancestor to yield his Dao!" "Fulfill Emperor Yu and restore clarity to heaven and earth!" "..." The clamor resounded in all directions, shaking the River of Time, as an immense, majestic momentum swept across the world! "Everyone, please yield your Daos to me!" The old man who was the incarnation of the Heavenly Gate furrowed his brows tightly, sighed softly, and fell silent. Su Yu played this game far better than them! Before they could even guilt-trip him, Su Yu had strapped the entire Myriad Realms onto his chariot and turned the overwhelming tide of momentum against them! At this moment, Su Yu's aura surged. Looking in every direction, he laughed aloud. "I am deeply grateful for everyone's devotion! If several seniors yield their Daos to me, I will surely slay the Human Gate and bring peace to the Myriad Realms! But if these seniors fear death, refuse to die, and only wish to dominate the world for their selfish ambitions, then by all means, keep your Daos! "What Human Ancestor, what Beast Ancestor, what senior luminaries... all of them are jokes! A true paragon of virtue would abdicate and yield to the worthy right now! "Sacrifice yourselves for me, and I shall shoulder this responsibility!" Su Yu's voice was like a great bell, reverberating across the four quarters. "Who throughout the Myriad Realms does not know that if you are my enemy, I will surely kill you? Fulfill me, and the Human Gate will be my sole enemy—and I will surely destroy it!" "..." In the distance, the Earth Gate remained utterly silent. Fine then. No one should bother trying to talk to Su Yu about joining forces against the Human Gate anymore. This fellow was certainly not the type to swallow a grievance in silence. When it came to swaying hearts and minds, he was not the least bit inferior to them. He was politely asking you to yield your Dao and your heaven. Are you going to yield? If you won't... what right do you have to speak? The Heavenly Gate fell silent as well. The Lord of Dead Spirits and his group beamed as they watched. Trying to guilt-trip Su Yu? Every time these fellows emerged, they loved saying, "Su Yu, you've made a grave mistake; because of you, our strength is damaged and we can't handle the Human Gate..." Well, now Su Yu had completely out-talked them! Su Yu burst into laughter again, declaring loudly, "Back when I was in the Great Ming Prefecture, Director Niu of the Great Ming Academy told me that some people don't know how to speak up. Even though they do good deeds, others end up picking the peaches of their labor while they get condemned by thousands! "I, Su Yu, have campaigned for years and slaughtered in all directions. Who doesn't know my merit towers above heaven and earth? I am the sole savior of this era! You old bastards lost battle after battle—what right do losers have to fight again? The moment you emerge, you slap a grand accusation on me, claiming I disrupted the fight against the Human Gate? Utterly laughable! A bunch of failures barking at a victor, reproaching the savior of the world for not letting you kill him and devour his Yang energy—how thick-skinned can you be to open your mouths!" Su Yu's voice was thunderous, audible to every soul in the Myriad Realms! "I, Su Yu, use schemes too, but mine are open, overt stratagems! Upright and aboveboard! If I say I'll kill you, I kill you; if I say you're my enemy, you're my enemy! Not like you wretched lot, itching to kill me this very instant while pretending to be benevolent saints. Who are you trying to fool? Are the living beings of the Myriad Realms all idiots? Do you think they'll fall for your lies? Everyone knows that when the Three Gates descend, they must devour Yang energy and slaughter every living being in the Myriad Realms to recover! "Take you, Heavenly Gate, the ancestor of the human race! To replenish your Yang energy, if you cannot kill the likes of us, you might have to slaughter tens of billions of living beings! "You bastards would probably have to butcher every living soul in the Myriad Realms just to top up your Yang energy! "There are plenty of idiots in the Myriad Realms—like the God Emperor and his clique, who sold out all living beings for their selfish ends, claiming it was to resist human tyranny. Pure rubbish! It was nothing but betrayal! Selling out the interests of the myriad races just so they could be your dogs! God Emperor, isn't that right?" Su Yu's gaze was sharp as a sword as he abruptly glared toward those figures drifting in the distant river! The God Emperor wanted to open his mouth to refute, but before he could speak, a colossal wave of will swept over, completely suppressing him and denying him any chance to utter a word! Refute my ass! If I say you are, then you are! At this moment, the Heavenly Gate sighed and spoke no more. He couldn't outargue Su Yu. Besides, the Myriad Realms was not their home ground right now. Saying more was pointless! Rumble! A tremendous roar echoed through heaven and earth as the Heavenly Gate Era fully descended upon the Myriad Realms! The River of Time was compressed. Deep within the chaos of the Myriad Realms, an extinct world came into contact with the chaos, and with a thunderous rumble, a colossal heaven and earth began bordering the Myriad Realms! The Heavenly Gate Era had arrived! Revived ahead of schedule! Above, the Earth Gate Era was also descending—or rather, it had already bordered the realms and shared the same space. At this moment, along the arching bridge of the River of Time, one end was the descended Heavenly Gate Era, the middle was the descending Earth Gate Era, and only the Human Gate had not arrived or emerged ahead of time. The River of Time was now entwined with an aura of ruin and extinction, stripped of its former brilliance. Right at that instant, with a deafening boom, E Tian roared in fury, "Ji Tian, none of you will win!" Boom! After a prolonged siege, the Earth Gate and Ji Tian finally slew E Tian just as the Heavenly Gate descended! A Great Dao manifested—tremendously powerful, yet somewhat damaged. E Tian had chosen to drag things out to the bitter end, leaving him without the time or opportunity to self-detonate. Still, he had been a 38-Dao powerhouse after all. By now, Ji Tian was panting heavily, and the Earth Gate was gasping for breath as well. The Earth Gate had been thoroughly unlucky; according to the original plan, he shouldn't have revived prematurely, but circumstances had forced his hand. At this moment, his depletion was severe! Over on the other side, Jing Tian and the Prison King were besieging Si Tian, who was rapidly losing her strength to resist. At this point, the Human Sovereign and the others turned to look at Su Yu. Forcing the Heavenly Gate to open had failed to eliminate the two 36-Dao experts, and instead brought forth five pinnacle experts on the Heavenly Gate's side. Adding Ji Tian, the Earth Gate, Jing Tian, and the Prison King, the enemy side now numbered nine mighty experts! In contrast, on Su Yu's side—Su Yu, the Human Sovereign, King Wen, King Wu, the Lord of Dead Spirits, Qiong, and Wen Yu—numbered only seven even by the most generous count! Crucially, the enemy possessed higher overall quality! This was even more troublesome than before! What should they do now? Su Yu said nothing. With a squeeze of his palm, the Human Ancestor in his grip burst apart. A Great Dao extended between heaven and earth as Su Yu forcibly extracted it. The Human Ancestor had also cultivated a Great Dao within the Earth Gate, faintly resembling the embryonic form of a heaven and earth. Evidently, he had also harbored ambitions of opening twin heavens. Of course, Su Yu didn't care about that. Ignoring the Human Ancestor's enraged roars, Su Yu spoke coldly, "Since Yu refuses to yield her Daos, let Zhou contribute his power to the great cause of our human race and the myriad heavens! Qiong has rendered meritorious service to heaven and earth. Qiong, devour Zhou's embryonic heaven! Once you grow stronger, put in more effort for the grand cause of the heavens!" How could Qiong care about any of that? Overjoyed, he blurted out, "Good, good, good..." Who the hell cares about righteous causes? Say whatever you want! All I know is that I have a living Yang Dao to eat! Right at that moment, the Prison King, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly called out, "I'll trade the Heaven-Opening Sword for him!" "..." Silence fell across the four quarters! Ji Tian and his allies turned pale. In that instant, the Prison King reached out and snatched several Great Daos drifting in the void—the Great Daos of Bei Tian, Huo Tian, and Hong Tian—along with a multicolored stone and a small sword! At present, E Tian's Dao was with Ji Tian, while Qing Tian's Dao was in Shi's hands. Clutching the three Great Daos and the two supreme treasures, the Prison King looked toward Su Yu and deep into the chaos, shouting, "Su Yu, I'll exchange the Heaven-Opening Sword for him! Stop at once!" At this moment, her heaven shook; the heaven and earth she had just opened shuddered violently. Her heaven had a primary core—not the Dao of Ten Thousand Laws, nor the Dao of Seven Emotions and Six Desires, but the Dao of Law! The Dao of Law was stern and impartial! Fair and just! Yet now, by handing these over in exchange for the Human Ancestor's life, she was being partial! Her core Dao was in conflict—this was the true catastrophe! Ji Tian couldn't help but want to curse! Damn it, Yu had faltered after all! The moment Su Yu truly moved to kill the Human Ancestor, she cracked! Yu shouted again, "Furthermore, pull Lan Tian back, and the Ten Thousand Daos Stone is yours!" She intended to use the Ten Thousand Daos Stone and the Heaven-Opening Sword to trade for the lives of her parents. The Prison King's voice boomed, "These three Great Daos do not belong to me alone; I cannot trade them to you... Su Yu, if you do not agree, then forget it!" At this moment, the Prison King's heaven began to crumble. Her core Dao was destabilized! To the side, Jing Tian was both shocked and furious. "Yu, how dare you..." Damn it! He roared in anger, "Zhou and Tian only treated you as a puppet! There was never any parental affection between you! You..." You, Yu, were stripped of emotion and desire, and Zhou and Tian treated you as nothing more than a tool. Why would you do this? The Prison King regained her composure. Watching the chaotic mess of newly formed Daos in her heaven collapsing one after another—especially the collapse of her core Dao—she couldn't help but sigh softly. "Since I am human... even if wicked, how could I... ever be truly emotionless!" In an instant, everyone was struck dumb! It was over! The Prison King's action would nullify many of their previous calculations, and could even cause her heaven to collapse entirely! Yet the Prison King remained calm. "It is not that I am full of sentiment. It is just that none of you ever considered... I spent tens of thousands of years alongside Xingyu and the others, and tens of thousands of years alongside Yan Huo..." She gave a self-deprecating smile. Emotionless, heartless! Yes, she was indeed colder and more ruthless than others, but one had to understand—this wasn't a matter of a day or two, but of ten-thousand-year spans! She had entered the Earth Gate a hundred thousand years ago, spending ten thousand years inside it. For ten thousand years, Yan Huo had obeyed her every command, talking day and night about life and ideals, chatting and laughing—for a full ten thousand years! In the end, he had died for her without looking back, even knowing he had been used! Or perhaps, he had understood from the very beginning! A Dao wasn't shattered in a single day. It was the steady accretion of day after day! Zhou and Tian had indeed only birthed her without fulfilling parental duties, even using her as a tool against the Human Gate. Yet they were her parents in the end. What was more, though Zhou had raised her to be unfeeling, just a moment ago he hadn't begged her for help; instead, he had told her not to worry about him... and that had shaken the Prison King all the more. And Tian's agonizing, wretched screams shook her mind even further. Lan Tian was far too perverse; if things continued like this, Tian's fate would be too miserable to bear. Even if she survived in the end, she would be a madwoman with a shattered, chaotic mind. When she saw that Su Yu truly intended to slaughter her father and let Qiong devour him alive, her Dao finally wavered! Yu looked toward the others with a sigh. "I, my father, and my mother have all sacrificed much for you all! Must I watch them die with my own eyes at this moment?" Ji Tian was thoroughly exasperated. Holding his blood-stained longsword with a grim, annoyed expression, he said in a deep voice, "Do you have any idea what giving the Heaven-Opening Sword to Qiong will mean..." The Prison King replied calmly, "If he devours my father, would the boost to his strength be any different from obtaining the Heaven-Opening Sword? If he eats him, we will lose a powerful combatant. Saving my father gains us one more expert. Isn't that right, Ji Tian?" At this moment, the Prison King was suddenly articulate, whereas earlier she hadn't uttered a peep. Yet when her Great Dao began collapsing, something inside had broken! She could no longer maintain her prior state! Ji Tian's eyes grew cold and harsh. Trouble! The Prison King's emotionless Dao had cracked, and her Dao of Law was no longer incorruptible. This meant that even if he refused, the Prison King would still make the trade. Furthermore, if he objected and Zhou was saved anyway, he would end up with two more enemies! It wasn't that Su Yu had broken the Prison King's Dao; rather, it was the steady buildup over countless years that, at the critical moment of Zhou's impending death, made it impossible for her to sustain her Dao of Law! What now? The Prison King still held three Great Daos in her grasp. Earlier, to bait Su Yu and his people, all the best treasures had been tossed over to the Prison King. What was more, with the Prison King abruptly stopping her fight, the difficulty for Jing Tian to kill Si Tian on his own surged. Ji Tian and the Earth Gate wanted to go over, but the Prison King fixed them with an icy glare, clearly worried they would forcefully seize the Great Daos and treasures! She still needed them to trade for the lives of Zhou and Tian! At this moment, the Heavenly Gate sighed as well. "Earth Gate, forget it. If Yu wants to trade, let her trade! Su Yu, release Zhou!" Zhou's supposed betrayal back then had merely been an elaborate act! Among the eight division leaders of the human race, no one had truly turned traitor. Back then, knowing they were no match for the Human Gate, the Heavenly Gate had simply chosen to lie low. In the distance, the Earth Gate said nothing. Zhou had an extraordinary relationship with the Heavenly Gate, after all. If he and Ji Tian refused, the Human Ancestor, Zhou, was their intermediary. Without him... their cooperation might unravel. Zhou was vital: he was not only the middleman between the Earth Gate and the Heavenly Gate, but also the link connecting Ji Tian and Jing Tian to the rest of the alliance. Without Zhou, future collaboration might run into serious trouble. ... They were wavering, struggling internally. Yet Su Yu ignored them entirely and continued peeling away the embryonic heaven. The others hadn't paid close attention before, but now the Heavenly Gate's brow furrowed. "Su Yu!" We're talking about exchanging hostages! What more do you want? Su Yu wore an astonished expression as he looked around. "Did I agree? Who told you the Heaven-Opening Sword and the Ten Thousand Daos Stone would be enough? What strange fellows! Did I say I'd accept? Am I an idiot? For just those two items, I should release a 36-Dao expert so he can turn around and kill me? Sometimes, life is worth more—don't you get that?" Su Yu continued calmly, "Those two items can be traded, sure, but only in exchange for Zhou becoming a 1-Dao cultivator. In fact, I'm prepared to integrate Zhou into my heaven! Generous enough, aren't I? I'm sparing his life!" "..." Everyone was incensed! Bullshit! If Zhou truly became a 1-Dao cultivator, what point would there be in saving him? "What do you want?" the Prison King asked, her tone freezing cold! Su Yu smiled. "Nothing much. Aside from Si Tian, who isn't dead yet, you hold five Great Daos. Just hand them all over to me! Oh right, when you kill Si Tian, you can keep her Great Dao. I'm a generous man; I won't demand everything!" "You're dreaming!" Ji Tian said chillingly. "Su Yu, do you truly think we will agree to that?" Su Yu shook his head. "Of course you won't! But... what does that matter? I've broken Yu's Dao and made her resent you. I doubt you'll dare trust her or let her devour the Daos now! In that case, who will devour them? You, Ji Tian? Does anyone trust you? And if not, you won't be able to manufacture an expert who can rival the Human Gate. If that happens, we're finished... and you're dead too! The end result is that we all die together!" Su Yu laughed merrily. "Dying together puts me at a slight disadvantage since I haven't lived as long, but whatever, I'll let you have the bargain! Of course, if Zhou is saved, I can hand him over for you to guard... Although Yu showed selfish concern, once Zhou is rescued, perhaps she can still be salvaged. By controlling Zhou, you can continue to use her... At this point, you might as well treat a dead horse as a living one and give it a shot!" Su Yu laughed heartily and unrestrainedly. "Don't threaten me with death; it's useless! If I, Su Yu, feared death, I wouldn't have made it to where I am today! Of course, you can try threatening Old Dead and the others—go ahead, test it! See if they backstab me!" Su Yu wore a playful smirk! Ji Tian stared chillingly at Su Yu. Su Yu didn't care in the least and returned his gaze with a smile. "What are you looking at? Old classmate, you spent plenty of time in the Myriad Realms—don't you know my personality by now?" Ji Tian said slowly, "You have loved ones too..." Su Yu nodded. "Then let everything perish together!" Su Yu chuckled. "From the looks of it right now, I have no hope of victory. In that case, since I have the leverage to make you despair as well, I'll fight you all to the very end!" The Earth Gate spoke up: "Su Yu, why must you do this? I told you, our common enemy is the Human Gate! There was clearly a chance to cooperate... As for the deficiency of Yang energy, I already said we would find another way to resolve it!" Su Yu ignored him, merely talking to himself: "You're all formidable now, while I have no way out. So my only option is to kill Zhou, collapse Yu's Great Dao, and then gather our people together, staying put and waiting for you to come. When you attack, we'll take down as many of you as we can... Let's see how much strength you have left to fight the Human Gate!" Su Yu chuckled slyly. "I love this tripartite standoff! If you want to kill me, you have to weigh the price. Old Dead is still plenty formidable—at thirty-nine Daos, you two revived early, so your strength is probably roughly on par with his! Once Qiong devours Zhou, he'll rival Ji Tian! As for me, I can manage against Jing Tian! King Wen, you folks will have to work a bit harder to deal with Shi, Kong, and the others... If you can't beat them, just self-detonate! At your level, self-detonating will still do some damage... and then summon the Human Gate out... Heh heh... we can mutually destroy each other and let the Human Gate reap the spoils!" Silence descended over the surroundings once more. On the side of the Heavenly Gate and Earth Gate, because both had revived prematurely, their strength had fallen, leaving them without the power to overwhelm Su Yu and his side. Su Yu's premature cracking of the Heavenly Gate and Earth Gate had caused massive trouble, yet it had also granted everyone a fighting chance. Otherwise, the Lord of Dead Spirits wouldn't have been a match for even one of them. But now, if a 39-Dao Lord of Dead Spirits fought with his life on the line, one of those two would likely perish. Most likely the Earth Gate, whose depletion was too severe! At this moment, the Heavenly Gate sighed softly. "We are all humans..." Su Yu yawned. "The Human Gate might be human too; otherwise, how did you cultivate a Human Gate? The Lord of Time might have been human as well. So what, just because we're human, everyone should sacrifice for you? Why don't you sacrifice for me? Heavenly Gate, you're an old senior! Don't be so childish, alright? Do your grand righteous causes mean anything to me? If they did, I would've committed suicide to fulfill you long ago!" Saying that, Su Yu smiled again. "Besides, the Earth Gate isn't human! Shi and Kong aren't either. You're right, Heavenly Gate—we're all humans! How about we join hands? I'm far more reliable than the Earth Gate, aren't I? What does the Earth Gate amount to? He's all by himself now—isn't my side far stronger than him?" Su Yu suddenly grew animated. "Where's Wen? He's my ancestor! And hey, I cultivated a Heavenly Gate too. Heavenly Gate, maybe we're all your descendants! We're the real family here! Right, I almost forgot—we're one family! Why should our own people fight each other? Let's ally! You beat Shi and Kong to death, I'll devour their Daos and become stronger, let's cooperate!" "..." The Heavenly Gate was speechless. Su Yu urged impatiently, "Cooperation won't do? Didn't you just say you wanted to cooperate? I agree! Let's beat the foreign races to death and cooperate!" "..." The Heavenly Gate fell silent once more. Beside him, Shi and Kong grew wary, drifting slightly away. At this moment, both were deeply apprehensive—could the Heavenly Gate actually turn around and strike them? That would be terrifying! The Heavenly Gate sighed. "Cooperation is impossible." Su Yu roared with laughter. "Doesn't that sting your face? Weren't you clamoring for cooperation just a moment ago? Why is it suddenly impossible now? Tch!" Su Yu gave a sneer of contempt. The Heavenly Gate didn't mind it, instead turning to the Lord of Dead Spirits and asking calmly, "Yin, do you truly intend to keep playing the madman with him?" Su Yu blinked and looked at the Lord of Dead Spirits. The Lord of Dead Spirits frowned slightly. Su Yu looked stunned. "What did he call you?" "..." The Lord of Dead Spirits glared at Su Yu, irritated. "What? Is there a problem?" "No, wait, what did he just call you?" The Lord of Dead Spirits was speechless. "Are you out of your mind?" What was wrong with Yin? Back then, he had cultivated the Dao of Yin-Death before fully converting to the Dao of Death. In antiquity, many people had no names at first; once they achieved success in their Daos, some named themselves after their Daos. Is there a problem with that? Su Yu hastily shook his head. "No problem at all, Yin!" To hell with your ancestors! The Lord of Dead Spirits was almost amused by his anger. "At a time like this, you still dare provoke me?" Right now, if he didn't stand with Su Yu—if Su Yu's side lost him—they would be completely finished! You little brat, you still dare mock me now? "Grandpa!" "..." The Lord of Dead Spirits choked on his words instantly. Staring at Su Yu, he was once again treated to the depths of Su Yu's shamelessness! For a long time, he couldn't squeeze out a single word! To the side, the Human Sovereign and the others chuckled. At this moment, everyone smiled heartily. When Su Yu chose to be shameless, he truly discarded all shame! Seeing that Su Yu was still stripping away Zhou's Great Dao, the Heavenly Gate had no choice but to speak: "Su Yu, release Zhou! The Heaven-Opening Sword, the Ten Thousand Daos Stone, and the Dao of Anger will be given to you. As for the rest, nothing can be done! You must understand, Yu and I may wish to save him... but that does not mean everyone else is willing!" Su Yu smiled. "Fine! How about this: bring over the Heaven-Opening Sword and the Ten Thousand Daos Stone first. I'll let the Human Sovereign reach thirty-six Daos with the Ten Thousand Daos Stone, and let Qiong reach thirty-seven or thirty-eight Daos with the Heaven-Opening Sword. Then I'll release Zhou, and you give me the Dao of Anger!" Do you take us for fools? At this point, seeing that both the Heavenly Gate and Yu leaned this way, and noting the Earth Gate's silence, Ji Tian understood their intentions. Right now, neither of the two gates had recovered to their peak. Clearly, neither of the two was willing to wage an all-out war against Su Yu's faction right now. Yet Ji Tian knew full well that Su Yu could not be given more time. Looking at the others, he said gravely, "Everyone, handing those items over to Su Yu's group and making them stronger will only invite greater trouble! By the time the two of you have healed your injuries, Su Yu and his people might... no longer be containable!" Su Yu drawled lazily, "Tch! Do you think the Heavenly Gate and the Earth Gate are willing to fight us to the death before reaching their peak? If they die while weakened, their guts would turn green with regret! Ji Tian, old classmate, you know me—you know I'm not bluffing. If a fight really breaks out, I'll hone in on the Earth Gate and beat him to death first... Do you think the Earth Gate is willing to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you right now?" Su Yu sneered, "I saw through you all long ago! No matter how you cooperate, you're united in appearance only while harboring divergent hearts!" Ji Tian said in a low voice, "Su Yu, you speak as if discord exists only on our side. What about Qiong on your side? What about the Lord of Dead Spirits? "If we target only you..." Before he could finish, Su Yu sighed and cut him off: "Are you stupid? None of the partners I chose are overly clever—they're the martialist type through and through! Only clever people overthink things! I'm downright fond of Qiong!" "..." Qiong's eyes widened as he stared at Su Yu, unable to say a word for a long time! The myriad heavens fell dead silent! The Lord of Dead Spirits and the others twitched their lips, remaining speechless. For a moment, Ji Tian had no idea what to say. He understood! Su Yu's logic was exceedingly simple: I am not afraid because the people I teamed up with are all brutes who don't plot behind each other's backs, so I have little to worry about. But as for you—the Heavenly Gate, the Earth Gate, Ji Tian, the Human Ancestor—not one of you is a harmless lamb! When there are too many conspirators gathered together, endless problems are bound to arise! Yet Ji Tian couldn't refute it, managing only a cold remark: "Lord of Dead Spirits, Qiong, you heard him as well..." Su Yu turned around, smiling sweetly at the Lord of Dead Spirits. "Grandpa!" The Lord of Dead Spirits grimaced awkwardly. Fuck! He was utterly rendered speechless! Qiong showed a bit of indignation, but Su Yu bared his teeth with a grin: "Brother Qiong, I'm bargaining for benefits on your behalf!" "..." Qiong was left at a loss for words and stayed quiet. For a time, the silence across the heavens was frightening. Su Yu chuckled. "Old classmate, what else do you have to say? Come on, keep trying to sow discord! See if you can drive the Human Sovereign away. The Human Sovereign and I have been on bad terms for ages; I said we should kill Yu long ago, but he kept getting in the way. Why don't you pull the Human Sovereign over to your side?" Su Yu took a glance at the current situation and smiled again. "Alright, Shi and Kong are still completely baffled right now. If I hadn't been hunting them down, do you think they'd even bother with you, let alone help you? Do you really think you've got us pinned? How about a truce? Send over some good stuff, let's both recover and recuperate, and we can fight it out later?" They felt thoroughly stifled! This time, they hadn't really lost anything, yet having to yield the spoils they obtained to Su Yu left them feeling deeply suffocated. The one that had truly suffered grievous losses was the Human Gate! It just felt awful! Deeply irritating! In truth, most of their plan had been accomplished this time. Once Si Tian died, all six Great Saints of the Human Gate would be completely wiped out. Yet the spoils of victory had to be conceded to Su Yu! This was almost unbearable for Ji Tian and his circle! In the end, had they just been doing free labor for Su Yu? Su Yu was in no rush. He continued stripping away the power of the Great Dao as muffled groans constantly escaped the Human Ancestor. Across from him, the Heavenly Gate frowned slightly. "Either strike now to slay Su Yu and his people, or... make the exchange!" He carried a trace of anger now! Make a choice immediately! Because of Ji Tian's dawdling, Su Yu had been steadily siphoning Dao power, to the point where Zhou was on the verge of falling below thirty-six Daos. He knew what Ji Tian was aiming for, but right now neither he nor the Earth Gate was prepared for an all-out war. One thing Su Yu said was true: dying during a weakened state rather than at their peak was something none of them could accept! Ji Tian let out a heavy sigh. "Su Yu, you win again!" Su Yu had gotten his way! They had no choice but to make the exchange! He was deeply reluctant. He knew this was aiding the enemy—and not by a small amount. Yet neither the Heavenly Gate nor the Earth Gate was willing to fight to the death right now, so what use was his willingness alone? If he kept objecting, their alliance would crumble! An alliance originally thought to be rock-solid, formed to take down the Human Gate, had been stirred by Su Yu to the brink of collapse before the Human Gate had even emerged. After fighting desperately for so long, most of the spoils were being carted off by Su Yu and his people... How deeply unwilling they felt! Thoroughly humiliated and stifled! And Su Yu poured oil onto the flames, saying with a broad smile, "Ji Tian, shouldn't I thank you for my win? If you hadn't jabbered on and on without end, would I ever have guessed you were all in cahoots? Would I have figured out that you and the Human Ancestor were partners? You had no reason to stay at the Human Ancestor's Mount Bihua without leaving, yet he didn't kill you, and earlier you even revealed the Human Gate to me... Say, did you do it on purpose?" "..." Dead silence! Ji Tian felt so suffocated he could burst. Nonsense! It wasn't that he insisted on staying at Mount Bihua; he had needed the Human Ancestor to strengthen his physical body. Leaving back then would only have drawn more suspicion! Yet from Su Yu's mouth, it sounded as if he had exposed everything himself! Su Yu laughed again. "Still, I have to give you credit—your endless jabbering bought me a ton of time! Truly worthy of being Manor Head Wan's grandson, my old classmate, who helped me enter thirty-six Daos! And now you've been chattering away with me again—look, I've almost stripped the Human Ancestor down to thirty-five Daos... "The fact that I've reaped such a bounty this time is all thanks to you, old classmate. I'll treat you to a meal when we're done!" "..." Ji Tian's aura roiled violently, feeling so choked with grievance that he wanted to spit blood! In the next moment, he roared, "Exchange! Hand over the hostage with one hand, hand over the treasures with the other!" They couldn't delay any longer! Any further delay and this alliance really would shatter. Most critically, that lunatic Su Yu was still stripping away the Great Dao; if this went on, his gains would only grow larger! Ji Tian felt deeply powerless. I know we shouldn't trade; everyone knows it. But everyone has no choice but to trade! The Earth Gate and the Heavenly Gate didn't want to fight right now, and exchanging hostages was merely a means to avoid immediate bloodshed. Yu was doing it to save her parents, and she insisted on trading at all costs. At this point, his objections were useless. Su Yu had won again! Forcibly breaking the Heavenly Gate to make it unseal ahead of time had seemed to make the enemy stronger, but in reality, it widened their rifts. Su Yu had won his gamble!