154: Chapter 154 Sigh

The end of the first century.

Deep in the Withered Spirit Wasteland, in a spiritual spring Immortal Cave.

Su Yu sat cross-legged on the edge of the spiritual spring, his Soul Transformation Middle Stage Qi circulating steadily like a long river throughout his body.

A century of bitter cultivation.

Not only had he fully healed his original internal injuries, but with the feedback from the wanxiang creation furnace, he had naturally achieved a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Middle Stage.

In front of him, the massive body of the Xuanming Turtle-Snake lay in the spiritual spring.

The shocking, bone-deep Mahayana Stage Dao wounds on its shell were now mostly filled by a layer of newly grown pale golden keratin.

Eighty percent of the dark gray Death Qi had dissipated.

During this century, every month, Su Yu used the wanxiang creation furnace to purge the residual Law power from it once.

Coupled with the various accidents brought by Fortune.

Constant dripping wears away the stone.

The Aura of the Xuanming Turtle-Snake had recovered from its initial withered state to an extremely steady and heavy level.

In its cloudy eyes, when looking at Su Yu, it was no longer a simple exchange of interests.

Instead, there was a hint of extremely deep recognition and awe.

Except for True Monarch Kurong, who was lurking in the extreme darkness.

Of the five aggressive Body Integration powerhouses from back then, some had retreated, and some were crippled.

The open pursuit had completely subsided under the erosion of Heavenly Dao Karma.

Su Yu slowly opened his eyes, his deep black pupils as calm as an ancient well.

He knew that this century of tranquility was merely the final dormancy before the storm.

Once the bait cast by True Monarch Kurong truly fermented.

The next ones to come knocking would be at the Body Integration Late Stage.

Or even... Mahayana Stage!

...

Yuheng Mountain Range, outside Zizhu Peak.

A century of time had passed, and the atmosphere here was no longer what it used to be.

The continuous protective array glowed with heavy purple-gold runes, sealing the thousand-mile radius like an iron barrel.

The foundation of the seventh-grade top-tier Spiritual Vein was fully stimulated, turning into visible waterfalls of Spiritual Qi that poured down from the Nine Heavens into the depths of the mountains.

The totem flags of the Qianlong Su Family fluttered in the wind on every mountain Peak.

The Void Realm rippled violently without warning.

Two figures shattered space and descended out of thin air outside the gate of Zizhu Peak.

One was dressed in green robes, with deep black eyes and a calm expression.

Beside him followed an ancient giant beast whose size had been forcibly compressed to ten zhang, with a tortoise and snake coiled together.

It was Su Yu and the Xuanming Turtle-Snake, who had finally returned safely after crossing the Hunyuan Heavenly Domain for a century.

The dozen or so Golden Core Disciples of the Su Family responsible for patrolling the mountain gate noticed the Void Realm disturbance and instantly formed a sword formation.

Upon seeing the face of the man in green robes, everyone froze in place.

The clanging sound of Magical Artifacts falling to the ground echoed everywhere.

"Old Ancestor!"

"It's the Old Ancestor who has returned!"

The shrill and ecstatic report instantly tore through the tranquility of the early morning on Zizhu Peak.

In less than three breaths.

Deep within Zizhu Peak, several powerful escape lights shot into the sky, tearing through the sea of clouds and heading straight for the mountain gate.

The first to land was a brilliant purple-gold rainbow.

Old Ancestor Tianshu wore simple Daoist robes, and even his hair bun appeared slightly disheveled due to his high-speed flight.

Not seen for a century, this Old Monster who had struggled in the Southern Wasteland for ten thousand years had pushed his cultivation to the Void Refining Late Stage with the vast resources of The Great World!

He took a big step forward, just about to open his mouth to scold this reckless Rebellious Disciple who had disappeared for a century.

His gaze suddenly paused, fixed firmly on the ancient giant beast beside Su Yu.

The Xuanming Turtle-Snake's old eyes lifted slightly, and its heavy Body Integration Middle Stage demonic Aura, even though deliberately restrained, still caused the surrounding space to let out an unbearable groan.

Old Ancestor Tianshu's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

His old face, which had seen through the changes of the world, was now extremely distorted, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.

"Body Integration Middle Stage... Descendant of an ancient Demon Saint?!"

Old Ancestor Tianshu gasped, his finger pointing at the Xuanming Turtle-Snake trembling.

He looked Su Yu up and down, confirming that this Disciple hadn't lost a single hair, but had instead broken through to the Soul Transformation Middle Stage.

A full century of anxiety and worry turned into an unprecedented sense of absurdity at this moment.

"Hahahaha!"

Old Ancestor Tianshu suddenly burst into thunderous laughter, laughing until tears almost streamed out.

"I was truly worrying for nothing!"

"A Child of Luck, chased by five Body Integration Old Monsters, not only didn't die, but went out for a stroll and picked up a Demon Saint to act as a bodyguard?!"

He slapped his thigh heavily and shook his head repeatedly.

"I'm numb! I'm truly numb!"

Just as Old Ancestor Tianshu was laughing loudly, four beautiful figures had already landed in front of the mountain gate.

Mu Qingxue wore a moon-white dress, her body circulating with extreme cold Qi, and she had actually stepped into the Early Spirit Transformation Stage.

She bit her lower lip hard, her cold eyes filled with bloodshot veins.

A century of time, the day-and-night torment and concern, all turned into a touch of warmth in her eyes the moment she saw Su Yu safe and sound.

Shen Ruyue followed closely behind, also at the Early Spirit Transformation Stage.

Her Sword Intent, which was enough to tear the sky, was now fully restrained, only her slightly trembling fingertips revealing her emotions.

Yun Zhilan and Ji Wushuang stood on either side, one at the Nascent Soul Peak, the other at the Nascent Soul Late Stage.

The four peerless Prodigies who were famous in the Northern Region of the Hunyuan Heavenly Domain were now all gazing foolishly at the man in green robes like ordinary women.

Su Yu's gaze swept over the four, a hint of warmth rising in his deep black eyes.

He stepped forward, without saying much, simply and naturally pulling Mu Qingxue into his arms, then patted Shen Ruyue on the shoulder.

"I'm back."

Five simple words.

They smoothed out the anxiety and unease of Zizhu Peak over the past century.

Ji Wushuang's eyes turned red, and she walked up and punched Su Yu in the chest.

"You heartless man, do you know how many secret agents we sent out to find you all these years? We couldn't even find a scrap of your clothing!"

"The Great World is too big, it took some time to hide my tracks."

Su Yu explained softly, his gaze passing over them to look at the vast number of Su Family members rushing to welcome him from behind.

The state of the Qianlong Su Family was ten times better than it had been a century ago.

This was the foundation he had left for his Bloodline.

...

Zizhu Peak backyard.

Dismissing the Elders who came to pay their respects, only Su Yu's closest Bloodline relatives remained in the courtyard.

A century had passed, and the children who once played around his knees had all grown into powerful Cultivators who could stand on their own.

Su Ziyue, in a purple palace dress, stood quietly by the side of the pavilion.

She was born with the Taiyin Origin Bone, and now she had stepped into the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, even higher in Realm than the other three concubines.

The Northern Region cultivation world knew that the Qianlong Su Family had an extreme cold Sword Cultivator whose sword strikes could seal ten thousand miles.

At this moment, this cold-as-ice eldest daughter walked up to Su Yu.

She didn't have red eyes or shed tears like others, but performed a very respectful bow.

"Father, I hope you are well."

Su Ziyue's voice was cold, and when she stood up, she took out a top-grade cold jade bottle emitting an astonishing medicinal fragrance from her sleeve.

"This is the 'Origin-Protecting Pill'."

She handed the jade bottle to Su Yu, her eyes slightly lowered.

"A century ago, Father lured away the enemy, and Daughter was incompetent and couldn't help."

"Over these hundred years, Daughter searched for the twelve main ingredients in the Far North Ice Plains, and refined them day and night with Taiyin True Fire to create this pill. It can dispel the residual Law poison of the Body Integration Stage."

Su Yu held the jade bottle that still carried warmth, his gaze falling on his eldest daughter's fingertips, which were originally as white as jade but now showed faint burn marks.

Refining pills with Taiyin True Fire was an act of burning one's own Soul that went against the Origin.

This girl had been refining for a full hundred years.

"You have a heart."

Su Yu put the jade bottle into his storage ring and reached out to rub Su Ziyue's hair.

The cold Sword Cultivator felt a faint flush at her earlobes, and she obediently retreated behind Mu Qingxue.

"Dad!"

A fiery red figure rushed into the pavilion like an arrow leaving the bow.

The second daughter, Su Qinghan, wore red battle armor, and her Golden Core Peak fire-attribute Qi surged around her.

Her eyes were red, and she held onto Su Yu's arm tightly, with surprising strength.

"I wasn't worried about you! I've been in closed-door cultivation for the past century, mastering fire control techniques, I didn't have time to think about you at all!"

Su Qinghan turned her face away, her tone stiff, but her hands clutching Su Yu's sleeve were trembling violently.

Su Yu laughed dumbly and flicked her on her smooth forehead.

"Yes, yes, you are the most diligent."

Before the words faded, a fragrant breeze struck.

The third daughter, Su Muxue, jumped up from the stone table, like an agile bird, and landed firmly on Su Yu's back.

"Dad, you're finally back!"

Su Muxue's Golden Core Middle Stage cultivation was all used on movement techniques, her arms tightly wrapped around Su Yu's neck, chattering non-stop.

"In the hundred years you were gone, Great Grandpa blew up the spirit lake behind the mountain, Second Uncle married his eighteenth concubine, and that young master of the Heavenly Sword Valley came to propose to Big Sister, only to be frozen into an ice sculpture by Big Sister and thrown down the mountain..."

Su Yu listened to the little girl on his back spilling gossip like beans, the smile in his eyes growing richer.

This was the true feeling of being alive.

"Father."

A clear and extremely restrained voice sounded.

Shen Ruyue's son, Su Chen.

He wore plain white sword robes, carried a blunted heavy sword on his back, and his cultivation had reached the Golden Core.

The youth was taciturn, standing there like an peerless divine blade about to be unsheathed.

He wasn't clingy like the daughters, but walked to three steps away and knelt down respectfully.

"Father, I hope you are well."

Short and powerful.

The backbone of a Sword Cultivator was all in this one bow.

Su Yu nodded slightly, his gaze showing undisguised appreciation.

"Your sword heart is becoming clearer, neither arrogant nor impatient, very good. Come to my Immortal Cave tomorrow, I will teach you a set of ancient sword formations."

A flash of brilliance erupted in Su Chen's eyes, and he kowtowed heavily: "Thank you, Father!"

"Dad! Dad, you're biased!"

Ji Wushuang's son, Su Kuang.

This kid had messy hair, and his Golden Core Early Stage cultivation couldn't contain his untamed, flamboyant Demonic Path Aura.

He sprang forward a few steps, stepped on a stone stool, full of unwillingness.

"Why only teach Brother Chen and not me? Dad, next time you go running off to trick Body Integration Old Monsters, can you take me with you?"

Su Kuang's eyes were full of fanaticism.

"I also want to taste what it's like to beat up a Body Integration Stage old man!"

Ji Wushuang's face turned dark, and she slapped the back of her son's head hard.

"You brat! Your father went through life and death, you think it's like going to a temple fair? Get out of here and go to the quiet room to reflect for three years!"

Su Kuang covered the back of his head and hid behind Su Yu, feeling aggrieved.

Su Yu laughed out loud at the mother and son.

Turning his gaze.

Yun Zhilan's twin daughters, Su Ling and Su Xin, were hiding behind their mother's skirt.

The two little girls were carved from jade, their bodies carrying a natural herbal scent.

They didn't dare to be as presumptuous as their older siblings, just poking out half their heads, peeking at this legendary, omnipotent father with their big blinking eyes.

Su Yu squatted down, took out two longevity fruits he had accidentally obtained in the depths of the Withered Spirit Wasteland from his storage ring, and handed them to the two little girls.

The two little girls shyly took them, chirped a "Thank you, Daddy," and then shyly shrank back.

Inside and outside the pavilion, laughter filled the air.

Five lifetimes of Reincarnation, a thousand years of time.

Su Yu looked at his Bloodline relatives all over the courtyard, and in his abyss-like black eyes, there flowed an unprecedented peace.

This kind of Family happiness was exactly the beauty he had been looking forward to.

...

Night fell, and the moonlight was like water.

The welcome home banquet in the backyard dispersed, and the offspring had all returned to their Immortal Caves to practice.

Zizhu Peak returned to tranquility.

Su Yu walked out of the courtyard alone, followed the winding stone steps, and reached the edge of the cliff at the highest point of Zizhu Peak.

He stood with his hands behind his back, the mountain wind lifting his green robes.

Beneath his feet was the Qianlong Su Family territory, stretching for a hundred thousand miles and brightly lit.

The whispers of patrolling Disciples, the hissing of Spirit Beasts, and the faint humming when the Pill Furnace opened, wove into a vivid picture of cultivation.

He looked up at the cold, bright moon in the Hunyuan Heavenly Domain, which was several times larger than in the Lower Realm.

In five lifetimes.

This weary Soul, having experienced the Peak of martial arts, the destruction of his Family and flight, sitting in death-seclusion, and sacrificing to save the world.

For the first time, in the unknown darkness of the night.

He let out a sigh that was extremely faint, yet as heavy as a mountain.

"Sigh..."

This sigh had nothing to do with fear, nothing to do with exhaustion.

It was just an extremely clear realization of his own fate and the Karma of this world.

The Dao is simple, and things turn into their opposites when they reach an extreme.

This is the iron rule imprinted at the very bottom of the cultivation world.

He knew very well what kind of unsolvable deadlock he was facing now.

More than five thousand points of Heaven-Defying Fortune, with the Opportunity of the Southern Wasteland boundary being completed, had been forcibly doubled, breaking the ten thousand mark.

Ten thousand and seventy-two points of Fortune!

The greater the Luck, the greater the Opportunity, and the more outrageous the ability to turn danger into safety.

This seemed like a great thing.

But everything in the world follows conservation.

Those Old Monsters who had gone completely mad in order to resist the Heavenly Tribulation, to break through to Mahayana, or even to Undergoing Tribulation and Ascension.

Would surely swarm over like sharks smelling blood.

Mahayana Stage.

Undergoing Tribulation Stage.

Existence at that level had completely mastered the extreme of a certain Law of Heaven and Earth.

They didn't need to chase him around the world like the Body Integration Stage.

They only needed a single thought to forcibly strip and refine the entire Yuheng Mountain Range, along with the surrounding million miles of Void Realm, from this Great World!

In the face of absolute power disparity.

Could the "accidents" and "coincidences" triggered by Fortune really stop the fatal strikes of giants above the Mahayana Stage?

Su Yu dared not bet.

Nor was he worthy of betting.

"This lifetime..."

Su Yu stared into the abyss, making the final verdict in his heart with extreme calmness.

"I'm afraid I won't make it to the day of dying of old age."

This was not pessimism; this was the most thorough deduction of the Law of Karma.

But he did not reveal this premonition of certain death to anyone around him.

Tell Old Ancestor Tianshu? Tell Mu Qingxue?

Other than increasing their panic and Heart Demon, it had no meaning.

The night wind grew colder.

Su Yu slowly turned around, his gaze falling again on the brilliantly lit Su Family foundation below.

That was his flesh and blood, the big tree he had planted with his own hands in this cruel world.

At the corner of his lips, a very faint smile appeared naturally.

No complaining about heaven and others, no giving up on himself.

Since his fate was destined to be burned out in the raging fire of this lifetime.

Then in this last period of time.

Squeeze out every bit of value from these ten thousand points of Fortune.

Go to the abyss to snatch, go into the Heavenly Tribulation to seize.

For the people behind him, for the thousands of generations of the Qianlong Su Family.

Pave that path to the heavens.

Make it wider, harder, and further.