Tribulation of Myriad Races

Not long after Xia Longwu and the others left, Su Yu left the Dao Origin Hill as well. That was the smallest hill in the area. Around it, there were several tall peaks over ten thousand meters in height. And this was only the outer region of the mountain range.

Su Yu headed toward the nearest peak that was over ten thousand meters in height with his Heaven Gate open. He could see that there was an expert residing on that peak. All the experts here were somewhat connected with the chaos power, with their projections revealed in the sky. Others couldn’t see it, but Su Yu could.

The beast residing here was a beast with two long fangs. Su Yu did not know the name of this beast. The two sharp fangs were its most distinct characteristic. They looked like the tusks of elephants, but they were straighter.

***

Before long, Su Yu was near that peak.

He observed it from afar. No other projections could be seen there, but there were several hills nearby. Perhaps there were weaker beasts there as well. However, only Daofuse beasts could create such projections in the sky. Regular beasts would not dare to approach the territory of Daofuse beasts.

After some observation, Su Yu noticed a gray beam of light at the peak. When he focused further, he noted that the beam was a flow of energy created by the absorption of chaos power.

“So they’re staying on these peaks to absorb the chaos power easier.”

After focusing even more, Su Yu was able to see the beast itself. It was right at the very tip of the peak. It was massive, and its aura was powerful. Unlike regular cultivators who would emanate the power of daos, this beast emanated a chaotic power all over its body.

“Ancient beast…dao…River of Time…chaos power…”

As Su Yu focused, he noted that this beast followed the generic path of physical strengthening. Could this be considered a different form of physical body dao?

“What’s the difference between this chaotic physical body dao and humanity’s physical body dao? What’s the advantage? What’s the disadvantage?”

Su Yu sank into thought. The heavenly desolate beast cultivated the physical body dao as well, but that dao was connected to the River of Time. Meanwhile, that was not the case for this beast. Since it was possible to cultivate outside the River of Time, why did the heavenly desolate beast bother with the river?

Numerous questions emerged in Su Yu’s mind. In this journey to the Upper Realm, he had gained countless questions in the Chaos Mountain. But this was also the place where he had gained the most. He hadn’t been here for long, but this place had allowed him to witness an entirely different cultivation system.

A system outside the River of Time.

This was an extremely important experience for Su Yu.

He pondered from afar without approaching the peak. He needed further observation before deciding what to do.

***

Atop the peak.

The fanged beast was in deep sleep while absorbing the chaos power in the air.

Its two long fangs glinted with a sharp gleam.

At the moment, the two fangs were flickering slightly. Suddenly, the eyes of the gigantic beast opened slightly. Out of nowhere, one of the two fangs shot out. Space shattered as it shot forward, moving so fast it looked as though the fang was teleporting.

***

Boom!

The moment the rumble rang out, Su Yu moved aside to evade the incoming fang. But upon noticing that it was unavoidable, he threw a punch. He did not bother to use the power of his dao. Rather, he used only his physical strength.

After that one punch, he fled.

Inwardly, he was greatly shocked.

How sharp.

Here, his many concealment methods had reduced in efficacy. And the powers of outside daos were too conspicuous here. Thus, Su Yu did not dare to expose the pen dao here. He could only use his physical strength.

Boom!

Crack!

The fang was stopped slightly by the punch, but in mere moments, it broke through and pierced through Su Yu’s arm.

With a groan, Su Yu stabbed his pen out. Finally, the fang was sent flying. Then, he vanished far away with a flicker. If he were to use all his strength, he could probably win. But the moment he used his pen dao, he could sense the projections atop the nearby hills reacting. Evidently, these beasts had sensed the arrival of an outsider.

If he continued fighting with the pen dao, he would be faced with even more beasts after killing the fanged beast.

***

A few minutes later.

Su Yu had concealed his aura again as he hid amid a certain ravine with an unsightly expression.

How sharp.

That fanged beast might not have discovered him for real. Instead, it might have felt a weak sense of crisis or someone spying on it. And with that alone, it reacted.

“What a sharp fang. From the power behind it, it is as powerful as the attack of a tier-five Daofuse. And this is only one fang. The beast itself is probably a tier-four or even a tier-three Daofuse.”

Su Yu’s so-called tier-three Daofuse was essentially someone at the level of an ancient marquis such as Fallen Star Marquis, Stable Army Marquis, and Devilroil Marquis.

A tier-four Daofuse would be someone similar to the Ape Pseudo Emperor of the Lower Realm.

A tier-five Daofuse would be a regular Daofuse.

A tier-six Daofuse would be a weak Daofuse who had either newly advanced or advanced through the Three Body Method.

One ought to remember that this was merely a beast at the outer region of the mountain range.

“Then again, these beasts have lived for a very long time. It’s not too surprising for them to be so strong after living for so long.”

Many of the beasts here had been around since the primordial time. It wasn’t too surprising for them to be strong. Su Yu looked down at his pierced arm. Even his bones inside had been shattered. The fang was quite large. It had nearly severed his arm.

Su Yu’s physical body was stronger than that of many Daofuses. But his body was quite weak compared to these beings that had cultivated the physical body dao exclusively.

“The chaos power is also slightly corrosive in nature.”

With the power left in his wound, Su Yu could sense its numerous attributes clearly.

“It even feels similar to death qi.”

Su Yu continued studying his wound and concluded that chaos power was indeed slightly similar to death qi. How interesting. Death qi was also a part of the unique, chaotic power here. Sure enough, death was part of the myriad daos.

The death spirit dao originated from the myriad daos. And all paths led to the same destination. Ultimately, the two rivers shared the same essence.

“Our new neighbor doesn’t look too friendly.”

Su Yu shook his head. To fool someone, that someone needed to be someone he could communicate with.

Opponents who would attack without bothering to communicate were more troublesome to handle. This was an application of Bai Feng’s style. It didn’t matter how good his opponent was at mind games. He only needed to react with violence. That alone was enough to make his opponent suffer.

“Sure enough, violence is the best countermeasure to scammers.”

Su Yu laughed and continued muttering to himself, “The attack must be due to my pen dao. Even after concealing my dao, there are still traces of the dao left on me.

“The formation of Control King’s lineage is capable of fully hiding such fluctuations, allowing one to fight at full strength without worrying about the reaction of the other beasts. Or perhaps I can simply cultivate the dao of chaos.”

The path he followed with the Mark of Civilization was essentially the act of bringing chaos back to order before creating his own system.

In that case, could he try cultivating the chaos dao as well?

“The mix of various daos will result in a chaotic dao. An orderly chaotic dao will become the myriad daos. Perhaps Lan Tian can give this path a try. And if it works for him, I can try for myself.”

At that thought, Su Yu called out into thin air, “Lan Tian?”

He was merely trying his luck. Would Lan Tian be nearby? In truth, even Su Yu would find it hard to notice Lan Tian unless he could use his dao. Of course, he could do so easily with his Heaven Gate if Lan Tian was keeping his power of dao active. But Lan Tian was not foolish enough to make such a simple mistake.

“Lan Tian?”

Su Yu called out again. When nobody replied, he said, “Come out. I have something to say.”

At that, a pair of eyes appeared on a stone less than a kilometer away. With an innocent expression, the stone asked, “Yes, Emperor Yu?”

“…”

Su Yu stared at the stone, resisting the urge to curse. So that lunatic was really nearby!

A pair of legs sprouted from the stone. Then, it ran toward Su Yu while maintaining a weak aura. When it reached Su Yu, it asked, “Yes, Emperor Yu?”

Su Yu asked speechlessly, “You really planted such a clone here?”

A stone clone?

How impressive.

“I’m only trying my luck. Since the chaos here repels the other daos, I am comprehending the chaos instead. I deployed many clones for this task. This is better than comprehending alone.”

Fine, fine. That was a perfectly reasonable excuse.

Su Yu asked, “Can your all-life dao encompass such a power as well?”

The stone Lan Tian replied, “Not yet. The so-called chaos dao is essentially the myriad daos mixed together. But my dao is also an ordered dao. To cultivate the chaos dao, I need to make my dao chaotic as well. But that might cause a clash of powers inside myself, destroying the clones making such an attempt.”

Lan Tian continued, “Some study is needed. The volume of each dao in the chaos dao is probably different. You can try to study the composition of the chaos dao with your Heaven Gate to create something similar to the chaos power.”

The stone Lan Tian continued with the same innocent expression, “All paths lead to the same destination. All daos share the same essence. Everything comes from chaos. In that case, everything can naturally return to chaos.”

Su Yu nodded pensively, “You’re right.”

Lan Tian continued, “The chaos power isn’t necessarily a good thing. Don’t assume that this is a powerful dao. There must be a reason for those before us to introduce order to chaos. The ordered daos can return to chaos at any time, but the chaos dao can’t be easily ordered into the myriad daos at any time.

“The cultivation of chaos dao signifies that one lacks enough comprehension about the dao, resulting in a lack of order. These barbaric beasts might seem strong, but they’re not very smart. They are only strong because they are so old.”

Su Yu nodded.

Lan Tian added, “I personally believe that the process matters more. Introducing order to chaos before returning order to chaos. This can also be a process of growth. But someone only focusing on the chaotic part of the dao is most likely someone without enough understanding of the dao.”

Su Yu nodded again and said with a smile, “Fellow Daoist Lan Tian, your attainment in the dao is indeed admirable.”

Su Yu naturally understood what Lan Tian was trying to say. Returning the myriad daos to their original chaotic form signified one’s ability. But the ability to utilize the power of chaos alone did not mean much. It most likely signified that one was merely a brute without much understanding of the dao.

As for those only capable of utilizing the myriad daos, that would be the same as over-specialization at the expense of other aspects of the daos. There was a limit to how high such an individual could reach.

“Studying the composition of the chaos power…” Su Yu lamented, “I’m actually not very good at researching things like this, but I suppose I can only rely on myself now. Fellow Daoist Lan Tian, you should be quite familiar with such research due to your background as a member of the transformation faction, right?”

“Of course.” Lan Tian smiled and said, “I have been researching this for the past few days, but my understanding can only be applied by myself due to my unique nature. Can you even put my theories to use?”