Su Yu masih berkutat dengan bukunya.
Palu di tangannya berulang kali menghantam. Menempelkan lukisan Dao ke Marka Peradaban bukanlah tugas yang mudah. Berbeda dengan sebelumnya, ia tidak lagi sekadar mengandalkan kekuatan kasar. Setiap hantaman palunya kini membawa kekuatan serta pemahamannya akan Dao yang berbeda-beda.
Lukisan itu mencerminkan pemahaman Kaisar Manusia akan berbagai Dao, sementara hantaman palu Su Yu mencerminkan pemahamannya sendiri. Ia pernah melintasi Sungai Waktu, ia pernah mencuri dari berbagai Dao, dan ia memiliki interpretasi pribadinya sendiri atas semua itu.
Hantaman palu yang membara. Hantaman yang diselimuti badai kecil. Hantaman yang beriak dengan gelombang spasial. Hantaman yang bergetar hebat. Proses penempaan terus berlanjut.
Saat Su Yu memadukan pemahamannya ke dalam buku itu, lukisan Dao perlahan menyatu dengannya. Raja Zhou Agung dan yang lainnya mendengarkan ritme hantaman palu itu dalam diam. Perlahan, mereka tenggelam dalam pemahaman. Bisa dikatakan, mereka memperoleh manfaat luar biasa dari tingkat kesembilan ini.
Pertama, mereka menerima pelajaran pribadi dari Kaisar Manusia melalui lukisan Dao tersebut, diikuti dengan pelajaran dari pemahaman Su Yu tentang berbagai Dao. Baik Kaisar Manusia maupun Su Yu adalah jenius tertinggi. Su Yu memang jauh di bawah Kaisar Manusia dalam hal kekuatan, namun pemahaman Dao-nya mungkin setara dengan Penguasa Hukum biasa. Lebih penting lagi, ia tidak terpaku pada satu Dao tertentu, melainkan menyebar ke berbagai jenis Dao.
Di antara kelompok itu, Lan Tian adalah yang paling diuntungkan. Ia menempuh Dao segala kehidupan, yang dalam artian tertentu merupakan konvergensi dari berbagai Dao—mirip dengan jalan Kaisar Manusia dan Su Yu. Lan Tian yang tak terhitung jumlahnya muncul dan duduk bersila, membenamkan diri dalam ritme hantaman palu Su Yu.
Sebenarnya, pemahaman Dao Lan Tian juga cukup dalam, namun tetap tak bisa dibandingkan dengan seseorang yang memiliki Gerbang Langit seperti Su Yu. Api berkobar di sekitar buku saat Su Yu memadukan pemahaman Dao api ke dalamnya, disusul dengan Dao tenang.
Ekspresi termenung muncul di wajah Raja Zhou Agung saat ia menyerap pemahaman Su Yu tentang Dao tenang. Itu adalah Dao yang sering digunakan Su Yu, sehingga pemahamannya pun cukup mendalam. Sementara itu, Raja Ming Agung menggerutu dalam hati. Rupanya, Kaisar Yu cukup payah dalam Dao formasi. Pemahaman kecil yang ia miliki bahkan lebih buruk daripada apa yang sudah diketahui Raja Ming Agung. Ia hanya bisa duduk diam dengan pasrah.
Penempaan terus berlanjut. Keringat membanjiri dahi Su Yu. Saat lukisan Dao terus terintegrasi, niat Dao yang kental mulai berputar di sekitar buku. Setelah waktu yang tak tentu, suara gemuruh keras terdengar. Penempaan selesai.
Garis-garis emas mulai muncul pada buku itu, berhenti di garis ke-180. Hal itu menjadikan Marka Peradaban sebagai senjata ilahi tingkat puncak. Semua halaman juga sedikit menguat setelah penempaan.
Mengenai halaman iblis, proyeksi Kekal tingkat dua mulai tumbuh kekuatannya sebelum berhenti di antara tingkat empat dan lima. Kemudian, ia melanjutkan usahanya untuk melahap mayat yang terpaku itu. Sebelumnya, ia tidak bisa melakukan apa pun, namun kini ia mulai perlahan menyedot kekuatan dari mayat tersebut. Su Yu terus menekan mayat itu menggunakan medali Xing Yue sambil meneteskan keringat.
Harus diingat bahwa ini adalah mayat seorang Penguasa Hukum. Bahkan setelah bertahun-tahun, kekuatan esensi darahnya masih tersimpan di dalam tubuhnya; ia hanya kehilangan Dao-nya. Aura proyeksi itu terus tumbuh. Tingkat enam. Aura di sekitar mayat mulai melemah. Tingkat tujuh.
Raja Zhou Agung dan yang lainnya menonton dengan terkejut. Senjata Dao Su Yu sangat mengerikan. Aura mayat terus melemah saat proyeksi mencapai tingkat delapan. Pada titik ini, proyeksi itu perlahan berubah menjadi berwujud fisik. Sebuah Dao melilit tubuhnya—proyeksi itu adalah manifestasi dari sebuah Dao.
Jika Su Yu memberikan sedikit kekuatan spiritual, ia mungkin akan mendapatkan kesadaran dan berubah menjadi makhluk seperti Soy Bun. Tentu saja, Su Yu tidak tertarik melakukan itu. Apa gunanya jika ini hanyalah Dao palsu? Itu hanyalah tiruan dari Dao asli. Semua Dao palsunya akan tetap palsu sampai ia berhasil dalam perintis Dao-nya.
Tingkat sembilan. Proyeksi itu terus tumbuh. Dao di sekitar tubuhnya menjadi semakin jelas, melilitnya seperti naga. Setelah waktu yang tak tentu, ketika hampir separuh kekuatan dalam mayat itu tersedot, Su Yu meraung dan menuangkan lebih banyak kekuatan ke halaman iblis. Ia menggunakan kekuatan Dao tanpa tuan yang ia kumpulkan dari sungai Kaisar Manusia.
*Boom!*
"Roar!"
Proyeksi itu seolah telah berubah menjadi iblis primordial. Ia meraung, menjadi semakin berwujud fisik, dan akhirnya auranya meledak. *Boom!* Ekspresi Raja Zhou Agung dan yang lainnya berubah drastis. Peneguh Dao! Proyeksi itu telah mencapai tingkat Peneguh Dao! Su Yu berhasil memelihara roh Peneguh Dao! Tidak, itu bahkan bukan roh yang layak, melainkan semacam roh senjata yang terikat pada satu halaman buku.
Proyeksi itu menjadi jauh lebih detail setelah menjadi Peneguh Dao. Ia bahkan memiliki fitur wajah yang mirip dengan Su Yu, meski terlihat seperti versi dirinya yang suram dan mengerikan. Mereka tidak bisa menahan diri untuk menatap Su Yu. Roh Dao yang suram ini terasa sangat menakutkan. Mereka membayangkan Su Yu akan terlihat seperti itu jika ia berhenti tersenyum.
Su Yu tidak terlalu memikirkan penampilan proyeksi itu. Itu adalah senjata Dao-nya; wajar jika memiliki fitur wajahnya. Ia terlalu sibuk untuk peduli. Hanya separuh kekuatan dalam mayat yang terserap, jadi Su Yu tidak berhenti di situ. Ia melanjutkan penyerapan. Setelah menjadi Peneguh Dao, proyeksi itu mampu menyedot kekuatan lebih cepat.
Auranya terus tumbuh. Seiring berjalannya waktu, mayat itu terus melemah. Tujuh puluh persen, delapan puluh persen...
Raja Zhou Agung mengangkat alisnya dan menatap Grandstar. Menyadari tatapan itu, Grandstar menoleh dan menggerutu, "Kenapa kau menatapku? Aku akan segera menjadi Peneguh Dao tingkat tiga. Proyeksi iblis ini mungkin akan berhenti tumbuh di tingkat empat. Menurutku, ini sudah cukup kuat untuk menghajar Heavendoom. Sangat mengerikan."
Itu baru satu halaman. Su Yu masih memiliki banyak halaman lain yang menunggu untuk diselesaikan. Tak satu pun dari mereka bisa membayangkan betapa kuatnya buku itu saat selesai nanti. Namun, halaman lain tidak akan mudah tumbuh sekuat ini karena halaman ini telah melahap seorang Penguasa Hukum. Bahkan Penguasa Hukum yang mati tidak bisa diremehkan.
Akhirnya, mayat itu mulai menghilang. Saat sisa kekuatan terakhir tersedot, mayat itu lenyap menjadi ketiadaan. Aura proyeksi iblis melonjak lagi, mencapai tingkat Peneguh Dao tingkat tiga.
Su Yu sedikit mengernyit sebelum alisnya kembali rileks. "Yah, ini adalah Penguasa Hukum yang mati dengan Dao yang rusak, jadi ini sudah diduga. Kurasa aku bisa puas dengan proyeksi Peneguh Dao tingkat tiga."
Itu tidak terlalu buruk. Saat ini, seluruh Marka Peradaban tertutup qi iblis yang pekat. Namun sebelum qi iblis itu bocor lebih jauh, ia dilahap oleh sampul baru yang berputar hitam dan putih. Qi iblis itu berhasil ditekan.
"Selamat, Kaisar Yu."
Itu adalah Raja Zhou Agung. Senjata Dao Su Yu telah tumbuh secara signifikan kali ini.
Su Yu tersenyum dan berkata, "Aku baru menyelesaikan sebagian kecil dari buku ini. Masih jauh dari selesai. Tapi benda ini semakin mahal untuk ditempa. Aku tidak tahu apakah aku bisa menyelesaikannya."
Su Yu menggelengkan kepala. Ia memutuskan bahwa ia tidak perlu setiap halaman mencapai tingkat Peneguh Dao. Ia hanya perlu semua Dao palsu mencapai penyelesaian. Itu sudah cukup baginya untuk mencoba perintis Dao-nya.
"Kurasa itu saja untuk saat ini. Kita tidak punya urusan lain di sini. Lihatlah sekeliling dan bersiaplah untuk pergi. Kita akan meninggalkan Raja Yue untuk tugas jaga dan melihat ke lantai bawah."
Ia sudah familiar dengan tingkat kedelapan. Dari sana, ia bisa pergi dengan bebas. Yang lain mengangguk. Marquis Cloud Fire tampak enggan pergi, namun ia mengalah. Ia akan lebih sedih jika harus tinggal di sini dan menatap mayat itu sepanjang hari. Mereka mulai menyisir tingkat kesembilan.
Senjata yang rusak, darah di seluruh lantai, dan beberapa harta karun yang tertinggal dikumpulkan. Beberapa benda ini cukup tahan lama untuk dijadikan harta penampung.
Setelah memeriksa waktu, Su Yu mencatat bahwa sudah hampir dua hari sejak ia keluar dari sungai. Ia bertanya-tanya apa yang terjadi di Alam Atas. Karena Xia Longwu dan yang lainnya masih di atas sana, ia harus kembali. Ia telah memperoleh banyak hal dari tingkat kesembilan. Tatapannya tertuju pada lubang kecil di atas Raja Yue. Itu kemungkinan besar adalah bagian terpenting dari tingkat kesembilan. Mungkin di situlah Kaisar Manusia dan semua ahli kuno lainnya pergi.
Jika ia masuk dan bergerak ke hulu, akankah ia bisa menemukan Kaisar Manusia dan yang lainnya? Bagaimana dengan Raja Budaya dan yang lainnya? Di mana mereka?
Berbagai pemikiran muncul di benak Su Yu. Ia memutuskan sudah waktunya baginya untuk berurusan dengan Berbagai Alam. Ia tidak tahu apa yang akan terjadi ketika para ahli kuno kembali. Mungkin berbagai ras akan kembali dengan kemenangan. Itu pasti akan menjadi bencana baginya.
Su Yu was still working on the book.
His hammer dropped repeatedly.
Attaching the dao painting to the Mark of Civilization was not an easy task. Unlike the past, he was no longer hammering with brute strength alone. Rather, each hammer strike carried the power and his comprehension of a different dao.
The painting corresponded to Human Emperor's understanding of the myriad daos. The hammer strikes corresponded to Su Yu's understanding of the myriad daos. He had traversed the River of Time before. He had stolen from the myriad daos before.
He also had his own interpretation of the myriad daos.
A fiery hammer strike. A hammer strike wrapped in a miniature gale. A hammer strike rippling with spatial undulations. A rapidly vibrating hammer strike.
The tempering continued.
As Su Yu hammered his comprehension into the book, the dao painting slowly became one with the book. Great Zhou King and the others listened to the rhythm of the hammer-strikes in silence.
Slowly, they sank into a state of comprehension. One could say that they had benefited massively from the ninth level.
First, they received something amounting to a personal lesson from Human Emperor through the dao painting. That was followed by a lesson of Su Yu's comprehension on the myriad daos.
Both Human Emperor and Su Yu were supreme geniuses. Su Yu was far below Human Emperor in strength, but his dao comprehension was probably comparable to that of a regular Master of Law. More importantly, he did not specialize in any specific dao. Rather, his comprehension was spread across a variety of daos.
Among the group, Lan Tian was the one to benefit the most from the two lessons. He walked the all-life dao. In a way, it was also a convergence of the myriad daos. That was similar to the path of Human Emperor and Su Yu. Countless Lan Tians appeared and sat down cross-legged as they immersed themselves in the rhythm of Su Yu's hammer-strikes.
In truth, Lan Tian's dao comprehension was rather deep as well. However, there was still no comparison between him and someone with a Heaven Gate like Su Yu. Flame raged around the book as Su Yu hammered his comprehension of the fire dao into the book. That was followed by his comprehension of the calm dao.
A pensive expression appeared on Great Zhou King as he took in Su Yu's comprehension of the calm down. That was a dao Su Yu used frequently, so his comprehension of it was rather deep as well.
Meanwhile, Great Ming King was cursing inwardly. Apparently, Emperor Yu was rather bad at the formation dao. The tiny bit of comprehension he had was worse than what Great Ming King already knew. Great Ming King could only sit back and wait helplessly.
The hammering continued.
Beads of sweat filled Su Yu's forehead. As the dao painting continued its integration with the book, thick dao intent started swirling around the book. After an indeterminate amount of time, a loud rumble rang out.
The forging was complete.
Golden stripes started appearing on the book.
They stopped at the 180th stripe.
That made the Mark of Civilization a peak divine weapon.
All the pages had also strengthened somewhat after the forging.
As for the devil page, the second-degree Eternal projection started growing in strength before stopping somewhere between the fourth and the fifth degree. Then, it resumed its attempt to consume the nailed corpse.
Previously, it was unable to do anything to the corpse. Now, it was able to start draining the power in the corpse slowly. As the projection worked, Su Yu kept the corpse suppressed using Xing Yue's token. As he did that, beads of sweat continued dripping down his face.
One ought to remember that this was the corpse of a Master of Law. Even after so many years, the power of its blood essence was still contained within its body. It had merely lost its dao.
The aura of the projection continued growing.
Sixth degree.
The aura around the corpse started weakening.
Seventh degree.
Great Zhou King and the others were watching in shock.
Su Yu's dao weapon was incredibly terrifying. The aura of the corpse continued weakening as the projection reached the eighth degree. At this point, it felt as though the projection was slowly turning corporeal. A dao was wrapped around its body. One could say that the projection was the manifestation of a dao.
If Su Yu were to grant the projection some spiritial power, it might gain sentience and turn into a being similar to Soy Bun. Naturally, Su Yu was uninterested in doing something like that. What was the point when this was a fake dao?
It was merely an imitation of a real dao. All his fake daos would remain fake until he succeeded in his dao pioneering.
Ninth degree.
The projection continued its growth. The dao around its body became clearer and clearer. It coiled around the projection like a dragon.
After an indeterminate amount of them, when almost half the power within the corpse was drained, Su Yu roared and poured more power into the devil page. He was using the masterless dao power he had gathered from Human Emperor's river.
Boom!
A rumble rang out.
"Roar!"
It was as though the projection had transformed into a primordial devil. It roared, turning more and more corporeal, and finally, its aura erupted.
Boom!
The expressions of Great Zhou King and the others changed even more. Daofuse! The projection had reached the level of a Daofuse! Su Yu had successfully nurtured a Daofuse spirit! No, it wasn't even a proper spirit. It was a sort of weapon spirit, one tied to only a page of the book.
The projection became a lot more detailed after becoming a Daofuse. It even gained some facial features, granting it a face similar to Su Yu's, albeit one that looked like a grim, ghastly version of him.
They couldn't resist staring at Su Yu. This grim dao spirit felt rather terrifying. They reckoned Su Yu would look like that if he stopped smiling. They wondered if he would find that version of him good-looking.
As for Su Yu, he did not place much thought into the appearance of the projection. That was his dao weapon. It was normal for the projection to have his facial features. He was too busy to care.
Only half of the power in the nailed corpse had been absorbed. Naturally, Su Yu would not stop there. He continued the absorption. After becoming a Daofuse, the projection was able to drain the power within the corpse at a faster rate than before.
Its aura continued growing. As time passed, the corpse continued weakening. Seventy percent, eighty percent...
Great Zhou King raised his brow and looked at Grandstar. Noticing the gaze on him, Grandstar looked over and grumbled, "Why are you looking at me? I'll be a tier-three Daofuse soon. This devil projection will probably stop growing at tier four. If you ask me, it's already strong enough to give Heavendoom a beating. How terrifying."
That was only one page. And Su Yu had far more pages waiting to be completed. None of them could imagine just how powerful the book would be upon completion. Then again, it wouldn't be so easy for the other pages to grow this powerful either. After all, this was a page that had devoured a Master of Law.
Even a dead Master of Law couldn't be underestimated. Eventually, the corpse started dissipating. When the final bit of power in the corpse was drained, the corpse faded into nothingness. The aura of the devil projection surged yet again, reaching the level of a tier-three Daofuse.
Su Yu frowned slightly before unfurrowing his brows. "Well, this is a dead Master of Law with a broken dao, so I suppose this is expected. I guess I can settle with a tier-three Daofuse projection."
It wasn't too bad. At the moment, the entire Mark of Civilization was covered in dense devil qi. But before the devil qi could leak further from the book, it was devoured by the new cover with swirling black and white on it. The devil qi was being suppressed.
"Congratulations, Emperor Yu."
That was Great Zhou King. Su Yu's dao weapon had grown significantly this time.
Su Yu smiled and said, "I have merely completed a small part of the book. It is far from completion. But this thing is getting more and more expensive to forge. I don't know if I can even complete it."
Su Yu shook his head. He decided that he didn't need every page to reach the level of a Daofuse. He only needed all the fake daos to reach completion. That would be enough for him to attempt his dao pioneering.
"I guess that's all for now. We have nothing else to do here. Take a look around and get ready to leave. We will leave King Yue to his guard duty and take a look downstairs."
He was familiar with the eighth level. From there, he could leave freely. The others nodded. Cloud Fire Marquis seemed reluctant to leave, but he relented. He would be even sadder if he had to stay here and stare at the corpse all day long. They started sweeping through the ninth level.
The damaged weapons, the blood all over the level, and some treasures left on the level were gathered. Some of these things were durable enough to serve as carrier treasures.
After checking the time, Su Yu noted that it had been nearly two days since he was out of the river. He wondered what was happening in the Upper Realm. Since Xia Longwu and the others were still up there, he had to return.
He had gained a lot from the ninth level. His gaze landed on the tiny opening above King Yue. That was most likely the most important part of the ninth level. That was probably where Human Emperor and all the other ancient experts had departed from.
If he were to enter and move upstream, would he be able to find Human Emperor and the others? What about Culture King and the others? Where were they?
Numerous thoughts emerged on Su Yu's mind. He decided that it was time for him to deal with the Myriad Realms. He didn't know what would happen when the ancient experts returned. Perhaps the myriad races would return victorious. That would certainly be disastrous for him.
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