Looking at Su Yu, who was shrouded in death, Cloud Fire Marquis asked anxiously, "Your Majesty...what now?"

Was he really dead? Was he going to remain a death spirit? Attaining death through life was easy, but it was far harder to do it the other way around. Had Su Yu failed in this attempt? Su Yu did not bother to answer. He gazed at the Origin Land in silence. After a long while, he breathed deeply, releasing a large amount of death qi from his mouth.

"Life and death are mere concepts."

He wasn't too worried. After a short pause, he said, "Let's do it. Channel the powers of life and death over. I'll give it another try."

He looked at Wan Tiansheng and said, "Go. All of you. Go to the Origin Land and keep those sealed fellows on their toes. Warn North Heavenly King and his people to keep a low profile and not mess around. I'll give it another try. If I fail again, so be it. I'll remain a death spirit for a while before thinking of something else."

Wan Tiansheng frowned, but soon, he nodded. "I'll warn North Heavenly King and his people. Senior Fat Ball, you will lead a team and keep an eye on the sealed experts. If they dare to cause trouble, break through the seal and kill them all."

"..."

Fat Ball was rendered speechless. Was this guy being serious?

He wasn't a match for those people!

Sure, sure. Whatever.

Before leaving, Fat Ball turned to look at Su Yu and asked, "You...uhm...I..."

"I saw your master, but it was a meeting between two different dimensions. We were separated by life and death."

Fat Ball blanked out.

Su Yu smiled, "He's not dead. Time Sage was exaggerating. She claimed that they were all dying, but what nonsense. They are alive. Even Martial King was full of vigor when I saw him. He did not look like he would die anytime soon. But they have indeed been injured."

Su Yu did not talk about Time Sage's status specifically. He didn't know the answer, so there was no need for him to say too much and give Fat Ball a fake hope.

Fat Ball's eyes lit up. Su Yu...saw his master! Was that real?

Su Yu said, "Don't bother asking. I'm telling the truth. Culture King said that he misses you. Yeap. He said that."

"You're lying!"

Suddenly, Fat Ball was saddened. He said, "Master never liked me. He liked Soy Bun more..."

"..."

Su Yu was left completely speechless.

To the side, Soy Bun blinked. He did the smart thing and kept his mouth shut or Fat Ball might decide to give him a beating.

Su Yu was left speechless for a moment, but he hurriedly said, "Nope. Not at all. Culture King said that he misses you. You can believe whatever you want. He said that he still can't leave. He needs help. He told you to become a Master of Law as soon as possible and go help him."

"Are you sure?"

"I never lie."

Su Yu nodded.

At that, Fat Ball started wagging his tail again. He asked in excitement, "Is Master really still alive? No wonder! No wonder I smelled his scent!"

The others shook slightly.

Culture King?

Was Su Yu telling the truth?

Why were they finding it hard to trust him?

Su Yu ignored their reactions. This was one of the reasons he had rushed into the Heaven Gate. And sure enough, Culture King was in there. His Heaven Gate could potentially give him even more than this. But now was not the time for him to contemplate on that matter.

He said, "Alright. Go now. I need to start working on my life and death daos."

His domain dao remained incomplete. How was he supposed to go out in public before returning to life? He couldn't even wear his white robes anymore as a death spirit. That was not refined enough for his taste.

Everyone left. Before long, numerous powerful auras surged in the Death Realm, warning the other death spirits off.

***

Somewhere in the death spirit dao, Great Zhou King's expression turned solemn.

He was still working on the tunnel with Marquis Lanshan. Life constantly seeped out of his body. At the same time, death was seeping out of Marquis Lanshan's body. Inside the tunnel they built, black and white were interwoven.

With a pained expression, Marquis Lanshan asked, "Are we still not at the ink dao?"

Behind them, South Heavenly King was busy suppressing the various experts of the river. She said nothing, but she stared ahead to check. Yes. They were still not there.

Great Zhou King gnashed his teeth and said, "We're near! Keep going! Remember, don't die. As long as you don't die, there is hope for you to resurrect. Perhaps this will be the era you become Lanshan King."

"Are you sure?"

Marquis Lanshan exclaimed in excitement, "Yes, a promotion sounds very good!"

"Yes!"

Then, Marquis Lanshan laughed and asked, "After I become a king, will you return the military supplies you deducted from me back then?"

"..."

That rendered Great Zhou King speechless. After a long while, he nodded, "Yes, if you survive this. If you die, you won't get anything."

He could see how fast Marquis Lanshan was leaking death qi. A death spirit like Marquis Lanshan would not be able to sustain this for long. She was different from Su Yu and Liu Hong, who were essentially hybrid beings.

Unfortunately, neither could be here. One needed to stay amid chaos to maintain his dao. The other had to keep watch over the ink dao. In any case, Liu Hong wasn't strong enough to take over this task from Marquis Lanshan.

Marquis Lanshan laughed, "Good. Stop looking at me. I won't die easily. In any case, I'm already dead. I'm not scared of dying one more time."

She continued losing death qi. Eventually, her entire body turned translucent. Just as South Heavenly King was about to help, her expression changed as she roared, "Dizhiluo! You're courting death!"

Boom!

A figure emerged from the river. With a smile, he said, "Wang Ziqi, you're the one courting death here. How dare you intrude upon my territory?"

Rumble!

An intense battle erupted.

South Heavenly King had to protect the tunnel as she fought, so she couldn't use her full strength. However, Dizhiluo was restricted as well. After all, he was still sealed. However, this stretch of river was his territory, so he still had a slight advantage here.

***

At the same time.

Not far from the Sealed Region.

Fat Ball saw a rapidly fluctuating pillar of light in the distance. A certain realization dawned on him as he roared furiously, "Audacious! You're courting death!"

Boom!

Then, a gigantic shoe dropped down from the sky.

Dizhiluo ignored the shoe. Or to be precise, he welcomed it. He was more than happy to see the shoe remove the seal on him. But the moment the shoe came in contact with the seal, the seal sensed Culture King's power and flickered. Then, it allowed the shoe to phase through. Boom!

Dizhiluo's pillar of light cracked.

Even Fat Ball himself was surprised. Huh? How did his shoe reach all the way inside so easily? But next, he hurriedly withdrew the shoe in panic. Right at the same time, the power of the Death Imperator seeped out. But before the power could leave, the seal reappeared.

A projection appeared outside Death Imperator's pillar as he said, "Is this...Culture King's shoe?"

"Yes." After putting the shoe away, Fat Ball said with joy, "Radiant King left a backdoor for us! It's over for you! I can come stomp on you whenever I'm free now!"

Only then did Dizhiluo's face appear on his pillar. With a tortured expression, he roared, "Damn you—"

"Stomp!"

Dizhiluo hurriedly erected his defenses, only to see that it was merely an empty threat. Not far away, Fat Ball said happily, "I won't be stomping on you for now. That fellow tried to escape. I can't allow that to happen. I'll only stomp on you if that fellow stops trying to escape."

Death Imperator said nothing to Fat Ball. Instead, he looked at Dizhiluo and said, "Enough. Stop causing trouble."

He could sense what was happening to the dao as well. But they were all still sealed. What was the point of forcing these people into a battle where both sides would suffer? Dizhiluo was creating unnecessary friction with them.

Due to the stomp from Fat Ball, Dizhiluo's projection grew unstable and received a beating from South Heavenly King. Thus, he could only gloomily cease his interference.

***

A short moment later.

Deep inside the Origin Land, Liu Hong's face changed slightly as he sensed his dao trembling. He shouted at Su Yu, "It's coming! Are you ready?"

Su Yu glanced at Liu Hong without answering.

Liu Hong did not have the time to say more. An intense power rippled over as a gigantic tributary appeared in the sky. He roared, "Go!"

Boom!

The powers of life and death rushed out.

Next, Great Zhou King emerged from the river with Marquis Lanshan in tow. His hair had grayed considerably, while Marquis Lanshan's aura had dropped significantly as well. Fortunately, both were still alive.

Su Yu was relieved to see that.

Great Zhou King smiled and said, "Don't worry. I won't allow her to die. I understand what you want."

Su Yu would not let him off if he allowed someone to die for this.

Su Yu glanced at Great Zhou King and said, "You seem to have drained a lot of your life force. You don't have long to live."

Great Zhou King chuckled indifferently, "We're sharing the same fate now, Your Majesty. If you can break the restriction and allow me to advance into a Master of Law, I'll survive. If not, it's fine to die. If even Your Majesty is keeping only ten or so years of lifespan, what's the point of preserving my lifespan?"

Su Yu laughed. "Zhou Tian, are you not waiting for the next human lord?"

"Not anymore." Great Zhou King smiled, "My human lord is already here. The only other person I can wait for now is Human Emperor himself, but I doubt returning is so easy for him. He would have returned long ago otherwise. He has been keeping all those enemies occupied for so many years, probably in wait for reinforcements from humanity."

Yes. He had guessed the truth. It was likely that things weren't going too well on Human Emperor's side either. Otherwise, Human Emperor would have returned long ago.

Su Yu nodded. Right at that moment, a gust of dark power rushed out of Liu Hong's body. He had been staying in the place where life and death interweaved, so he didn't have that big of an issue withstanding this much power.

Slowly, Liu Hong walked toward the edge of the Origin Land and roared, "Stop chatting! Come on! Accept the power!"

Why were they wasting their time with all that talk?

At the same time, Su Yu started approaching the edge of the chaotic space. He smiled and said, "Teacher Liu, I'll forget the issue of you stealing tens of thousands of merit points back then due to your help today."

"..."

Liu Hong was stunned.

Good heavens!

Tens of thousands of merit points. Why was this fellow still harping on that issue?

Good gracious.

How long ago was that?

Also, merit points were nothing to Su Yu anymore. That was something from the time when Su Yu was still at the Mental Tempering Stage. Anyone would have forgotten that issue by the time they reached Su Yu's current level. But Su Yu had clearly been holding onto that grudge.

Liu Hong suddenly felt like crying. Should he cry tears of happiness now that his debt had finally been written off?

"Wow. Thank you so much for that." Liu Hong said with a crying face.

Su Yu nodded seriously, "You're welcome. Don't worry about it."

Screw this! Don't worry his ass!

This was Liu Hong's first-hand experience with Su Yu's pettiness.

Right at that moment, the black and white powers surged into the chaotic space.

With a smile, Su Yu manifested his incomplete dao. The thick dao connected to the two powers. Instantly, a torrential wave of life and death rushed into his dao.

"Life from death. Reborn from death."

Su Yu muttered to himself, "Death. Life. Half alive. Half dead. Nobody should be more familiar with all these concepts than I. The Book of Time had allowed me to experience them countless times. I should know them better than anyone."

His short experience with true death had deepened his comprehension. The two powers started interweaving around his body. A certain understanding dawned on him. He finally understood why he had failed to return to life.

His head snapped in a certain direction as he smiled, "My apologies. I'll need to sever our connection temporarily. So you have been sending me death qi all this time?"

Su Yu had a helpless expression as he said, "I'm not lacking in death qi. I'm lacking in life force. Sure enough, even a dead woman can be unreliable."

Liu Hong and the others looked confused. What was he talking about? Above Su Yu, an incorporeal link suddenly snapped. This link had contributed to the imbalance of life and death within him.

And the moment the link was severed, he finally achieved balance.

Somewhere far away, a figure appeared above an ancient castle. She gazed ahead with a bleak expression before slowly descending back into the castle.

Their connection had been severed.

So be it.

What was the big deal about that? She had been wanting to do that for a long while!

"Hmph!"

With a rumble, the gate of the castle swung shut. The death spirits of the area sank into silence in fear. They could feel the anger of their lord. This was the worst time to disturb their lord.

***

At the same time, Su Yu chuckled, "She must be pissed."

Probably.

But he had to do it. Xing Yue had no idea what he was doing. She had been working very hard to supply him with death qi when she sensed his lack of energy. He wouldn't be able to return to life without severing that link.

"I'll deal with this later."

Su Yu was in no rush. Life and death had achieved balance within him as death qi started leaving his body, replaced by life force. But soon after, the imbalance returned as life exceeded death.

"Meld!"

With a roar, the life and death daos started shining blindingly.

The chaotic space itself started shaking.

Boom!

And then, a gigantic river unfurled into the distance, fusing all the chaos power around it away.

Chaos retreated.

A world was thus created.

Amid chaos, a sky appeared.

The sky grew, and wherever it reached, the new world reached.

The Death Realm shook as well, followed by the death spirit dao, as though it had sensed something special happening as well.

That was not all. Even the time dao in the Myriad Realms was reacting.

Up in the Upper Realm, Human Emperor's dao was shaking as well.

After so many years, yet another world was born.

Su Yu's new world still looked wild. It was different from the Death Realm. It was also different from Human Emperor's dao. Rather, it was quite similar to the time dao. But unlike the time dao, life and death were present as well.

Su Yu's aura surged.

Boom!

The various realms shook slightly. Chaos itself shook. However, the shaking wasn't too intense since Su Yu's world was too small.

However small it was, a world was still a world.

The multicolored dao continued extending. A thousand meters. Ten thousand meters. And finally, it stopped.

Su Yu sighed, "Weak."

Still too weak.

Human Emperor's dao was still incomplete, but it was still enough to cover an area as massive as the Dao Origin Land. And the size of a dao was an accurate measurement of a dao's strength.

Su Yu's world was only about ten thousand meters wide. Was a world this small still a world? Well, strictly speaking, it was. The chaotic space continued shaking as the newly created world started settling down.

Su Yu's aura continued surging.

"Let's name this the cosmic civilization dao for now."

That was a grand name for such a weak dao. However, it bore Su Yu's hope that one day, it would grow to a height befitting its name. So what if it was only ten thousand meters wide right now? A day would come when it grew beyond the size of the Myriad Realms.

Su Yu released his life force and roared with laughter. "Martial Emperor, let's have some fun."

Boom!

An intensely powerful aura surged as Su Yu vanished with a flicker. He needed someone to test his new strength on.

***

At the same time.

Deep inside the time dao.

A weak fluctuation was spreading.

It continued spreading to the other end of the river.

Finally, a projection appeared with an astonished expression. What was it this time?

What the fuck?

Just what was going on in the Myriad Realms recently?

Suddenly, a rumble rang out.

The entire river started shaking violently.

The confused projection muttered, "Did another Master of Law die?"

Heavens!

Just what was going on? He couldn't spread his senses too far away. Since he had attributed the previous shaking to Martial Emperor's death, what was it this time? Did Martial Emperor die again?

What in the world? Or was it some other Master of Law?

"Your Majesty, what is it this time?"

Someone asked doubtfully.

After a long silence, the projection answered matter-of-factly, "Someone killed Martial Emperor."

"..."

Numerous odd gazes landed on the projection.

Wait...

Wasn't Martial Emperor killed not long ago?

Was he killed again? What?

Noticing that his words weren't too convincing, the projection added, "Previously, his dao snapped. And now, his sea of willpower has finally been destroyed. He's dead for real now."

Yeap. That definitely made a lot of sense.

After all, it hadn't even been that long since the last time the river reacted like this. This was the only explanation he could think of. Nobody said anything.

Fine, fine. Whatever. They decided to accept that explanation.