Chapter 827: Surprised or Not

The era of Xinyu, a new era.

An era unlike that of the Human Emperor!

If all were the Human Emperor's people, they would be but inheritors, glorifiers, not pioneers.

Su Yu, in truth, had few thoughts.

Yet when he learned that the Human Emperor might be failing, on the verge of collapse, he understood that some things indeed required preparation. Since Xia Huyou and the others were bent on madness, Su Yu was willing to join them in that frenzy!

……

While others toiled in cultivation,

In the River of Time, Su Yu was magnanimous. With a wave of his hand, he called out, "Pick whichever catches your eye!"

As if to say, This is all my conquered realm—choose any place to be enfeoffed as king!

He was arrogant, and the others took him seriously.

At that moment, Xia Huyou squinted and smiled: "I want the Human Race's Flesh Path!"

That one was formidable!

Mastering the Flesh Path—dare not claim to become like the Human Ancestor—Su Yu judged that reaching the First Rank would not be difficult. The Human Emperor was First Rank, a First Rank before the Heaven-Opening, but the Dao the Human Emperor himself grasped might not be as mighty as the Human Ancestor's Flesh Path.

This Flesh Path, even now, was the strongest Dao Su Yu had seen.

As for the Heaven-Opening ones, they were a separate matter.

The Human Race's Flesh Path… forget it. The Human Ancestor might not have abandoned it, like King Wen, who cast it aside outright. Perhaps he hadn't abandoned it—it was simply impossible to master that Dao.

Su Yu ignored Xia Huyou's words and continued: "Speaking of powerful Daos, the Brush Dao is truly not weak! Look at the Martial Emperor's case—the Martial Dao he grasped wasn't as strong as the Brush Dao, yet he still reached the Second Rank. If he fully mastered the Brush Dao, he might cross into the First Rank!"

Though Su Yu thought little of the Brush Dao, it was once King Wen's main cultivation path. No one knew if King Wen had opened the heavens, yet it was said King Wen was a First-Rank Rule Master—meaning full mastery of the Brush Dao was indeed the First Rank!

That was terrifying!

Thus, the First Rank as divided by the ancients was merely so.

The Human Ancestor, mastering the Flesh Dao, should have been more than First Rank by that division.

Pity,

The Brush Dao was truly hard to master!

Even Su Yu had spent much effort, refining ninety-nine Divine Patterns, decomposing the Dao, and then merging it, yet he had not reached the point of mastery.

At that time, Su Yu had fused about ninety percent and stopped. And by then, he could already contend with the Heavenly Venerable.

Thinking of this, Su Yu suddenly said, "Elders Wujiang and Yunchen…"

The two looked at him. Su Yu pondered and said, "You both possess many Divine Patterns and are heirs of King Wen… I think… perhaps… you could try cultivating this Dao together!"

Su Yu thought further and added, "The Brush Dao is not weak. One person alone may not master it; even if possible, it would take too long. You two, like me, are King Wen's heirs. Why not cultivate together? For instance, I master these Divine Pattern powers, you master those… Of course, this requires extremely high coordination!"

The Brush Dao was too strong. Even though Su Yu had drawn out much of its power, it might have fully recovered by now.

Nan Wujiang was silent for a moment, then spoke: "You mean that Yunchen and I should together transform into the spirit of the Brush Dao?"

Su Yu nodded: "Yes. If you two can master the Brush Dao, even if only in tandem, you might eventually possess the power of a First-Rank Rule Master. Separately, I think you might perhaps reach the Second Rank!"

Just like the Flesh Dao—many strong ones had become kings through it.

Yunchen's eyes flickered: "If my teacher and I wield it together, can we master the Brush Dao quickly?"

"It should be no problem. You are both King Wen's heirs. King Wen might still retain some control, but sensing your presence, he should not obstruct you!"

Besides, even if he wanted to obstruct, he might not be able to.

King Wen was still inside the Heavenly Gate!

Su Yu suddenly smiled: "It's settled. This Dao suits you well! You have cultivated for years, all in preparation for this path. If you don't mind, you could add Elder Xia Chen—three of you wielding it together. I believe it will be faster!"

Xia Chen, a generation of the Civilization Academy!

The Wen Tombstone was brought out by Xia Chen, and he had also cultivated its Divine Pattern combat techniques. Now resurrected and recovering, Xia Chen was also in the group.

He was not of this tide, but he was a Xia family member. The Xia family had been part of all this, and Xia Chen had no objections.

At that moment, hearing Su Yu, Xia Chen from behind thought and said, "Your Majesty, after my resurrection, I merged into Your Majesty's world. To separate now… it would be difficult, I fear. I might be rejected. Better to forget it."

Su Yu considered and nodded: "Possible! But not impossible. Perhaps it can be done, but the River of Time might exert some repulsion!"

"Then Your Majesty need not disturb the River of Time for me!"

He looked at Nan Wujiang and said slowly, "Wujiang should be able to!"

Nan Wujiang was his student.

He was the first generation dean, Nan Wujiang the third, yet his student. The second generation dean was a strong one from the Beast Taming Department.

He trusted this student greatly and said, "Wujiang's talent is actually very good. It's just that back then, I was only beginning to encounter the Wen Tombstone and knew little about Divine Patterns—I was feeling my way across the river. That held Wujiang back. In that era, since I accepted Wujiang, I thought his talent was fine and he could inherit King Wen's legacy…"

A pity. At that time, even he did not understand this thing well, teaching only superficially. That Nan Wujiang could cultivate to this level was already exceptional.

Su Yu thought for a while, said no more, and quickly spoke: "Then let's head to the Brush Dao area. Elders Wujiang and Yunchen… this time, true Dao-merging will turn you into spirits. Ordinary merging won't work—you can't quickly master the Dao. Only complete fusion with the Dao will do…"

At the critical moment, Su Yu still reminded them.

This thing—easy to say, but if it were Su Yu, he truly wouldn't do it.

The flesh vanishing, the whole person becoming part of the Dao—how awkward!

Turning into something like Doubao and the others was actually a sad affair. Back then, Bai Feng and Wu Lan wanted to do this, but Su Yu didn't agree. Now Bai Feng was gone, and even Liu Wenyan and the others had been hidden away by Su Yu.

Maoqiu was the guardian Su Yu had prepared.

Going upstream, Su Yu likely wouldn't take Maoqiu.

Left to guard the home!

Nan Wujiang now showed a slight smile: "It's fine. A spirit is a spirit. The flesh… when valued, it's immensely valued; when not, it can be abandoned!"

Yunchen also said softly, "My teacher and I, back then, gave up facing the enemy head-on and chose to hide in the shadows. We already had no face to show. So, this face—we can do without it!"

He had accepted disciples on behalf of his teacher, actually being Wan Tiansheng's teacher, at least in name, the senior brother.

But until now, Wan Tiansheng treated him and Nan Wujiang with politeness, yet without the closeness of old. In that period, they had chosen to feign death, and Wan Tiansheng had been very lost then.

Later, Ye Batian died in battle, and Wan Tiansheng had secretly shouldered the Multi-Pattern Department alone. When Yunchen and Nan Wujiang reappeared, Wan Tiansheng harbored no small resentment, though he rarely mentioned it now.

Su Yu didn't dwell on it, as it was a layer removed from him. Strictly speaking, during Su Yu's time infiltrating the Lietian Pavilion, Nan Wujiang had helped him considerably. But because Old Wan wasn't close, Su Yu hadn't shown much intimacy either.

At this moment, after thinking, he said, "Merging into the Dao, everything starts anew. Death settles all accounts. I'll talk with Dean Wan! You two hid in the shadows only to seek a chance at enlightenment… I won't say much about this matter. It's still different from Baizhan!"

The two said nothing more. Bringing this up now held little meaning.

Soon, Su Yu led them into the Brush Dao region. The Brush Dao, as always, was vast.

Su Yu probed and found that, indeed, most of the power he had drawn before had recovered. His own world also had the Brush Dao, but compared to this, it was a mere drop in the ocean!

At this moment, everyone looked at Su Yu. How was this Dao-merging into a spirit to be done?

Su Yu said solemnly, "Both of you, reveal all your Divine Patterns!"

Quickly, the two manifested many Divine Patterns.

They formed two Divine Pattern combat techniques.

Both of them had no shortage of divine inscriptions; together, they exceeded fifty.

Su Yu probed for a moment, then quickly said, "Fusing the Dao to form a spirit—this is my first time doing it too, but I do have some understanding of Doubao and the others!"

He looked at the two and said solemnly, "Your lives, your Sea of Will, even everything, will merge into the divine inscription battle techniques. Using the divine inscriptions, you will spread across the entire Great Dao, employing the incomplete Dao principles of the divine inscriptions to control the mighty power of the Great Dao. However, in this process, there will be a great danger... you may easily be eroded by the power of the Great Dao, completely turning into a part of the Great Dao. At that point, you will not be spirits of the Great Dao, but... a part of the Great Dao itself, utterly dead!"

"Only if you retain your consciousness and use the weak power of the divine inscriptions to control the Great Dao can you become spirits of the Great Dao!"

"In this process, the two of you must cooperate well. Not only must you cooperate, but you also need an immensely powerful will! Be unyielding—when the power of the Great Dao strikes, you will feel death... in the truest sense. Once you fail, both of you will surely die!"

Beside them, Xia Huyou chuckled, "Your Majesty, don’t scare the two seniors."

Su Yu said nothing. He wasn’t scaring them; everyone understood!

To achieve a sudden leap in strength was no simple matter!

Still, Su Yu added, "This Dao—both I and King Wen have cultivated it. The aura of this Dao recognizes our lineage! That is the only advantage!"

The two exchanged glances. Nan Wujiang smiled and said, "So, if we succeed, we’ll soon have hope of fully mastering the Brush Dao?"

"Yes!"

"The potential of the Brush Dao is greater than that of ordinary Daos, right?"

"Of course!"

Nan Wujiang laughed. "Good! Truly one of our own, truly a member of the Multi-Divine Inscription School. Even now, you’ve picked a good Dao for us! Other Daos—even if mastered—would at best make one a fourth-rank Rule Master, right?"

"Yes!"

Su Yu nodded. That was the truth.

However, the difficulty would be much lower.

The stronger the Dao, the greater the impact on the two.

Nan Wujiang took a deep breath, smiled, and said, "Good! Su Yu, send us into the Brush Dao. We know what to do!"

At this moment, he addressed Su Yu by name.

Su Yu glanced at the two, fell silent for a moment, then reached out and grabbed. The river itself halted in its flow. Beside it, the Brush Dao revealed an opening. Su Yu seized the two and, without further ado, flew with them straight into the Brush Dao!

At the entrance of the Brush Dao, Su Yu set them down and said solemnly, "If you really can’t bear it..."

"No such thing!"

Nan Wujiang laughed. "Xuan Jiu, your grandfather here is no coward! About what happened back then, your grandfather still has a few words to explain!"

At this moment, Nan Wujiang grinned. "Back then, after my master, Xia Chen, fell, the Multi-Divine Inscription School went from prosperity to decline. The myriad races seemed to target us, and even among our own human side—probably the Forbidden Heavenly King—there might have been covert opposition. Great Xia King sensed something unusual and ordered me to lie low. I acted under Great Xia King’s command, so if you want to blame someone, don’t put it on me—let Great Xia King take the fall!"

"That old bastard is now washing his hands of it all. He and Tiansheng served as officials in the same court, and Tiansheng has surpassed him. The old fool feared Tiansheng would come after him, so he kept his mouth shut—a shameless old codger!"

"And Yun Chen too. Yun Chen has also suffered, serving as the Primordial Sect Leader for decades or even centuries... All of this is that bastard Great Xia King’s doing!"

Su Yu laughed. Above, in the river, Xia Huyou and Old Master Xia were grimacing. This... wasn’t appropriate!

Who were you cursing?

Xia Chen also looked bitter, but Nan Wujiang didn’t care. He chuckled, "My teacher, Xia Chen, is Great Xia King’s ancestor. As my teacher’s disciple, I am still Great Xia King’s ancestor! The Xia family’s generational rank is low—calling him grandson is already elevating him! Su Yu, if Yun Chen and I survive, let today’s words be as if unsaid. If we die... tell Tiansheng that he doesn’t have to acknowledge me as his master—I never really taught him anyway. But during that time, Yun Chen truly raised him like a son. Now that Tiansheng is like this, Yun Chen is still very disappointed..."

Yun Chen had taken Wan Tiansheng under his wing from the moment he entered school, when he was just over ten years old, teaching him for many years before disappearing completely.

Now, Wan Tiansheng’s anger toward Yun Chen naturally left Yun Chen feeling disheartened.

Su Yu smiled and nodded, saying nothing.

The next moment, the two plunged into the Brush Dao. In an instant, their physical bodies shattered directly, merging into the divine inscription battle techniques. The two divine inscription battle techniques shot straight toward the end of the Brush Dao. As they entered, others could not see, but Su Yu opened his Heavenly Gate and saw everything clearly!

A vast amount of Brush Dao power surged against the two divine inscription battle techniques, instantly causing them to begin to scatter!

It was too strong!

The two lacked sufficient strength; forcing this fusion now would only lead to assimilation!

Su Yu took a deep breath. At that moment, his Heavenly Gate suddenly materialized, and he roared, suppressing the Great Dao, "King Wen, lend me your strength to suppress the disturbances of the Brush Dao!"

Boom!

The Heavenly Gate suppressed!

At this moment, within the Brush Dao, a faint phantom emerged. Su Yu snorted coldly, "I knew you were there! Last time, you lied to me, saying there were no traps in the Brush Dao. As a scholar, you left no backdoor in your own Dao? Did you think I’d believe that?"

Earlier, when Su Yu visited King Wen’s mansion, a phantom of King Wen had appeared, telling Su Yu that he had left nothing behind, no backdoors, and that the Brush Dao had no traps. Su Yu had never believed him!

Sure enough, today, when the Brush Dao was suppressed, King Wen’s phantom sensed it and appeared.

This phantom now seemed somewhat mechanical, its back turned to the world. Su Yu couldn’t be bothered with his pretentiousness. Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed, conjuring 99 divine inscriptions, instantly forming an "↑."

"I am the inheritor of the Brush Dao. This Dao belongs to me. Help me suppress the Brush Dao!"

The phantom trembled slightly.

The next moment, laughter emerged: "My successor has arrived. To be able to discover me means you have reached a very high level. In the past, I only worried that you couldn’t control the Brush Dao..."

Clearly, this was still a program!

It was likely a precaution to avoid being discovered by the inheritor of the Brush Dao—a convenient excuse. To hell with it!

Su Yu ignored him further. "Pretentious! I spit on you. You fool. Can you curse me back?"

King Wen’s phantom continued, "To discover me means your mastery of the Brush Dao is already very high. Good, I am very satisfied..."

"Fool!"

"Excellent!"

"Idiot!"

"Worthy of my faith in you!"

"..."

At this moment, what should have been a very serious matter was turned into something laughable by Su Yu. And Su Yu, without any restraint, began recording, curling his lip and saying, "When I meet King Wen later, I’ll show him this—see how embarrassing he is. I curse him, and he still praises me!"

"..."

Please, be human!

Everyone was speechless.

King Wen... how pitiful.

This was King Wen’s phantom, but it was too programmed. Now Su Yu was taking advantage of it.

"It really is just a program. What a shame!"

Su Yu’s Heavenly Gate trembled. With a thunderous crash, he shattered King Wen’s phantom. Forget it—King Wen shouldn’t be in control anymore; it would only cause trouble. With King Wen’s phantom present, Yun Chen and the others would find it harder to merge!

And Su Yu didn’t just destroy King Wen’s phantom. Without a sound, he extracted a phantom from the Brush Dao—his own.

On the river, everyone looked at each other, all grimacing.

This... these scholars really weren’t good people.

Su Yu had cursed King Wen for a while, but then he himself had left a mark in the Brush Dao. Su Yu explained, "I just didn’t want outsiders to take control of the Brush Dao, so I left a small mark to prevent others from taking advantage."

Well, no one said anything.

Don’t curse King Wen anymore—you’re both birds of a feather!

……

At the same moment.

Beyond the Heavenly Gate.

Endless void.

King Wen’s physical form trembled slightly, an eyebrow raised: “What now?”

Hadn’t he opened the heavens himself last time?

He’d abandoned my Way of the Brush, so why the hell was he going to smash its remnant shadow again?

Bored out of his mind?

Beside him, King Wu said, bewildered: “I didn’t do anything!”

“Wasn’t talking to you!”

“Then were you cursing your own father?”

King Wu shot back—if you weren’t talking to me, were you talking about your father?

“……”

King Wen wanted to kill him. This fool had even learned to talk back!

He couldn’t be bothered, shook his white robe, and spoke: “There might be some upheaval in the myriad realms lately!”

“Did that son of yours kick the bucket?”

“……”

Not a single decent word!

King Wen was utterly speechless, then snapped: “Shut up!”

He said gravely: “Can’t tell yet whether it’s good or bad, but after all these years, no one’s come to find us… that means things aren’t looking good. All thanks to your foolishness!”

“Tch, if I hadn’t come to save you, you’d have croaked long ago!”

King Wen had no reply. He stopped and said quickly: “Enough of that. The state of the myriad realms is unclear now. Last time that kid came, things didn’t seem too good either. Let’s not count on anyone to rescue us… it’d be a blessing if the myriad realms don’t need our rescue! I’m worried Wenyu can’t hold out much longer…”

At these words, King Wu grew somber.

“Then… shall we go save her now?”

“Yes! We must hurry. That girl has held on this long—it’s already been hard. My injuries have mostly healed…”

“Keep bragging!”

King Wu taunted, then quickly said: “Is there any way to make that kid from last time open the Heavenly Gate again? Forget everything else—do you think there’s a chance he could move your heaven and earth in here?”

“No chance, unless we find the Heavenly Gate itself, but that’s extremely difficult. Still, we can project power through the Heavenly Gate’s phantom!”

King Wen smiled: “Just a slight drop in strength. Besides, we can’t contact that kid now anyway.”

“Even you can’t? Not even through the Heavenly Gate’s phantom?”

“No, it’s too hard. Unless his Heavenly Gate has grown strong enough, but that’s obviously impossible. Last time I saw him, he might not even have reached the level of a Rule Master…”

After a while, King Wen quickly said: “Enough of that. That kid’s gone over to my Way of the Brush again. What’s he up to? Did he fail to open the heavens and go to inherit the Way of the Brush instead?”

He shook his head and sighed.

Probably so!

What a pity!

Failed to open the heavens, so he had to inherit the Way of the Brush. Looks like that kid has no hope of becoming a supreme.

King Wu wasn’t surprised, just shook his head: “That kid was so arrogant last time, I thought he’d succeed in opening the heavens for sure. But he failed. If we ever meet him again, I’ll mock him to death!”

Arrogant my ass!

Still ended up screwed!

King Wen said no more. The phantom of the Way of the Brush had been shattered; he couldn’t sense what was happening now.

……

Su Yu paid no attention to all that.

Having shattered King Wen’s phantom and drawn out his own residual imprint, he soon stabilized the river with his Heavenly Gate. A phantom of a great seal emerged, then fell into the river with a thunderous crash, continuing to suppress the Way of the Brush!

Within the Way of the Brush, the two divine-word battle techniques were nearly shattered completely.

Vaguely, two figures could be seen, also broken and battered.

Su Yu frowned slightly. There was still no sign of spiritualization, meaning these two hadn’t yet grasped even a shred of the Way of the Brush. At this rate, they were nine-tenths certain to fail!

Once the figures shattered entirely, even if they did spiritualize, all memory would be lost.

Then they’d become another Doubao or Chuibing!

The Way of the Brush still trembled violently!

Su Yu was silent for a moment. This wouldn’t do. No choice—I’ll have to use the big move!

The next moment, Su Yu tore through the long river and vanished instantly, his voice echoing: “Hold on a bit longer—I’ll be right back!”

As soon as he disappeared, the others’ smiles faded.

Marquis Xia said grimly: “Trouble!”

The first step wasn’t going smoothly.

Su Yu wasn’t strong enough yet to suppress the Way of the Brush, nor to suppress the River of Time. If this continued, Nan Wujiang and Yun Chen would be dead for good.

But soon, Su Yu returned!

This time, he carried a mountain on his back.

With a deafening crash, the mountain fell into the River of Time, turning into a dam that blocked its flow. Su Yu, seeing this, brightened and quickly dove into the Way of the Brush!

Boom!

His aura exploded, suppressing the Way of the Brush. The Heavenly Gate appeared again, pressing down!

Seeing the Way of the Brush much steadier, Su Yu shouted: “Quick! Take the chance to suppress it!”

The two phantoms trembled. The Way of the Brush… had been imprisoned!

Was Su Yu that powerful?

Well, no time to think—first, suppress the Way of the Brush!

……

At the same time.

Within Su Yu’s heaven and earth.

Great Zhou King suddenly opened his eyes, quickly scanned the surroundings, then gaped in horror and let out a piercing howl.

Soon, someone arrived. Wan Tiansheng said gravely: “What’s wrong?”

Great Zhou King opened his mouth, then gave a dry laugh and roared: “Throat’s itchy—just yelling a bit! Aaaah!”

He let out a harrowing roar!

Where is the Human Mountain?

Ahhh!

How could the Human Mountain be gone?

Where did Su Yu take the Human Mountain?

"You're insane!"

Wan Tiansheng was speechless—had Su Yu driven him mad?

No reason for him to suddenly lose his mind!

But the Great Zhou King paid no heed, screaming endlessly, looking around wildly, and bellowing, "Where is His Majesty? I must see him!"

"I don't know. Probably went to the River of Time to draw some power."

"The River of Time?"

The Great Zhou King's face shifted. Damn it, was he using the Human Mountain to suppress the river?

Could he act like a human... please?

And also, this guy... had he guessed?

His expression flickered for a moment, then he let out another piercing scream: "Ah, how beautiful the sky is today!"

"Crazy!"

Wan Tiansheng was exasperated. What a lunatic!

He glanced at him suspiciously, looking around. What was wrong with the Great Zhou King?

No reason to suddenly go mad!

But the Great Zhou King, after wailing for a while, saw him looking around and suddenly burst into laughter: "Wan Tiansheng, His Majesty isn't here? Haha, you're doomed!"

Boom!

He hurled a silent god-text and threw a punch. I can't take it anymore—I need someone to vent on. Wan Tiansheng is perfect. I'm a Rule Master; he's not.

I'll beat this bastard to death!

I'll beat this treacherous minister to death!

Rumble, a deafening crash drew countless onlookers, all seeing Wan Tiansheng beaten miserably, each wearing a strange expression. What madness had seized the Great Zhou King?

Suddenly attacking Wan Tiansheng, not fearing Su Yu's retribution?

How bizarre!

The Great Zhou King didn't care. I have to beat him for a while. If I don't, I'll die of rage!

...

At that moment, Su Yu had no mind for that. Even if his own realm trembled, he sensed it but ignored it. Likely the Great Zhou King had discovered the Human Mountain was missing!

Scare you, old man!

But honestly, the Human Mountain was formidable—far more so than the Star Universe Seal. Suppressing the river, it stood unmoving like a mountain. Impressive!

The Brush Dao, too, had been suppressed separately by Su Yu.

After a while, the Brush Dao trembled violently. Before long, with a crash, it shuddered and stilled. Then, from within the Brush Dao, two ghost-like figures drifted out.

Nan Wujiang said, puzzled, "It feels... not too hard to manifest as spirits?"

Su Yu let out a cold laugh!

Not hard?

I'm a Realm Opener, a second-class Rule Master, and even I alone couldn't manage it. Do you know the price paid to manifest you now?

Forget it, no need to mention it!

I need to hurry, or the Great Zhou King will go mad!

Su Yu said quickly, "You've just merged with the Dao and manifested. Familiarize yourselves. I'll take the others onward! Also, as Devourers, I think the fluffball form suits you. Don't take human shape—it's terrifying, like ghosts!"

The crowd was speechless. Could a ghost scare you?

Turning into fluffballs... how embarrassing.

...

Su Yu paid no heed. Without pause, he took those willing to manifest to do so.

Pick any Dao you want!

Whichever you choose, go for it!

Even if it's claimed, it doesn't matter. A claimed Dao is hard to manifest from. If you succeed, it means the owner's control is weak, and you might even trip them up.

Besides manifesting, there were those merging with the Dao and drawing power from it...

Su Yu, regardless of consequences, forcibly helped them merge or drained most of the Dao's power before stuffing them in. At this point, no one cared about the aftermath!

A bunch of madmen, coercing Su Yu, the sane one, to empower them. Su Yu was helpless. As for the Human Mountain, he now used it like the Star Universe Seal, and it worked even better!

...

After finishing the manifesting and merging, Su Yu forcibly opened the Yang Apertures for others.

Once done, he rushed to the Dead Spirit Realm to help Liu Hong move his Dao. Naturally, he took the Human Mountain along to suppress the Dead Spirit Dao—otherwise, it wouldn't work!

Indeed, the Human Mountain's effect was outstanding!

It could even suppress the River of Time, let alone the Dead Spirit Dao.

...

In the Dead Spirit Realm, Su Yu panted from exhaustion, finally moving Liu Hong's Ink Dao to the intersection.

Just as he finished, Liu Hong shamelessly pressed further: "Your Majesty, since you've moved it, why not widen my Dao a bit?"

"..."

Go to hell!

Su Yu didn't bother to reply. Soon, he ran to the River of Time to draw power from the Flesh Dao, strengthening those whose Yang Apertures he'd opened.

For now, this strength was negligible. Even Nan Wujiang and Yun Chen, who had merged with the Brush Dao, were only beginning to integrate, unable to wield much of its power.

But given time, soon these manifested and aperture-opened ones would become strong!

...

This time, Su Yu spent quite a while.

Three days later, exhausted, he carried the Human Mountain back to his realm. In those three days, the Great Zhou King, like a madman, had challenged everyone to duels—perhaps fighting more in three days than in his entire life!

When Su Yu returned, he saw the Great Zhou King pinned down by seven or eight Rule Masters, being brutally beaten!

Around them, a crowd, bruised and swollen, still hadn't recovered, cheering him on!

"Kill him!"

"Kill this bastard!"

"Good heavens, the Emperor's only been gone three days, and he's already plotting rebellion—kill him!"

"..."

A bunch of bruised and battered fellows gnashed their teeth in fury!

Infuriating!

That Great Zhou King, picking a fight for no reason, now he's pinned to the ground and beaten, isn't he?

It wasn't until Su Yu tossed the Human Mountain aside with a thunderous crash that shook heaven and earth that everyone finally simmered down. The Great Zhou King, beaten black and blue, his eyes swollen shut, only relaxed when he saw the Human Mountain land. He looked toward Su Yu approaching from afar, trying to say something.

Before he could speak, someone tattled: "Your Majesty, the moment you left, the Great Zhou King rebelled and nearly beat the Academy Master to death!"

Su Yu squinted, smiled, and looked at the Great Zhou King, saying cheerfully, "Great Zhou King, I've only just left, and what are you up to now? Never mind, I won't hold it against you—I'm not unreasonable. When you see the Human Emperor later, just put in a good word for me!"

"..."

The Great Zhou King bared his teeth. What kind of "good word" do you want?

Right now, I'd love to beat you to death!

Su Yu beamed, ignoring him. Scared you, didn't I, old man? You probably got a real fright this time—serves you right!

Without another word, Su Yu quickly said, "Alright, everyone disperse! Get back to training. You're all too idle, aren't you? If you're really that bored, I'll call the War Emperor back to spar with you!"

In an instant, the place emptied, everyone fleeing.

Forget it!

Who wants to fight the War Emperor? That's just asking for death!

Su Yu, still chuckling, glanced at the Great Zhou King and vanished quickly. The Great Zhou King waited a moment, then casually glanced at the Human Mountain. When he saw the pockmarked surface, his face turned pale.

Damn it!

What had he been up to?

This... this was erosion from the Waters of Time!

That bastard Su Yu had taken the Human Mountain for a soak in the River of Time?

And not just a short one!

Faintly, on the Human Mountain, a glimmer of golden light could be seen. The Great Zhou King's face went white, and he hurriedly flew toward the mountain. Soon, he disappeared into it, and the golden light on the mountain faded away.

...

In the distance.

Su Yu's figure reappeared, chuckling softly.

Was that thrilling enough?

It should be!

But this time, it wasn't intentional. Without the Human Mountain, he couldn't have solved the problem—just a coincidence!

"Now that I've drawn out a bit more Dao power to strengthen the world, I need to find a way to first understand the battle situation at the front lines!"

He had once thought that bringing over a dozen Rule Masters to rescue people would shock the Human Emperor. Now... forget it. Whether the Human Emperor is shocked or not doesn't matter. What matters is being careful not to shock the myriad races so badly that they fight to the death!

"In the eyes of the myriad races' experts, this time some Rule Masters were born among them and didn't die—that could be a point of entry!"

Su Yu quickly calculated in his mind. Impersonate them?

That wouldn't be easy!

The Human Emperor and his forces were blocking the front!

It wasn't like he could encounter the myriad races' experts first!

Never mind. He'd find a way to summon Xingyue again later and ask about the situation. Of course, summoning her too often might draw the attention of the myriad races—that would be trouble.

PS: A bit tired. Nearly 260,000 words in nine days. The transition period is tough to write, but I'll get through it quickly and start a new journey!