Published at 7th of November 2025 5:49 am

Chapter 1644: Holy Land Establishment (2)

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Su Yu rubbed his chin and said, "At the very least, that's the case with the earth dao. It is still not under the control of the immortals. As an earth elemental, you might be able to sense it. That was why you had decided to show yourself to the world as Topsoil Spirit, not Topfire Spirit or one of the other elements. You still stand a chance in gaining mastery over the earth dao, becoming an expert beyond Daofuse."

Topsoil Spirit's eyes flickered repeatedly. Finally, he said, "I don't understand anything about most of what you're saying. I only picked the earth dao because it felt much easier to cultivate. My compatibility with it felt higher."

Again and again, Su Yu's words had struck the very bottom of his heart repeatedly.

Su Yu simply knew too much.

Topsoil Spirit felt completely naked before Su Yu, as though Su Yu had dismantled and analyzed him bit by bit.

Su Yu laughed and said, "Topsoil Spirit, you have been a ninth-stage Cloudbreach for a long time. Recently, there were rumors claiming that you were finally a Mountainsea. So are you a Mountainsea already? I doubt so. I believe you are still waiting. Waiting to open the apertures of all five elements. Am I correct? Or perhaps you're trying to deduce the Five Elemental Art and make your advancement with 180 apertures.

"With your talent, I refuse to believe that you have never studied the apertures of the other races. The five elemental race is special since your race lacks source acupoints. Or to be precise, the source acupoints and soul apertures of your race came fused. For your race, source acupoints are soul apertures, and soul apertures are source acupoints.

"I believe you have more than 36 apertures opened. You are probably lacking only one opportunity. An opportunity to unify the five elements...no, you lack a cultivation method. That is what you truly lack since you are already capable of unifying the five elements."

Su Yu paused slightly, shook his head, and said, "No, something isn't right. Since you are capable of unifying the five elements, you should have the ability to freely utilize the five single elemental arts. But why are you still waiting? Is something still missing? Or do you lack mastery in some of the five arts? Or perhaps you have failed to unify the five arts due to the prohibition placed back then?"

"..."

Topsoil Spirit kept his silence. He merely listened as Su Yu talked about his deepest secret.

Su Yu said, "This might also be related to the separation of the Five Elemental Realm's origin. So, Brother Topsoil. Are you interested?"

Topsoil Spirit exhaled and asked, "What do you want? Since you already know everything, just be straightforward."

Su Yu smiled and said, "I only have a simple request. Follow me. Just like how it was back when the Human Emperor alone reigned supreme."

Topsoil Spirit's heart thumped violently.

"Are you trying to subdue the five elemental race?" Topsoil Spirit frowned and said, "Impossible!"

Su Yu said indifferently, "Oh well. So be it."

Seeing that Su Yu was losing interest so easily, Topsoil Spirit hurriedly said, "Brother Su, just list some other demands! We will agree to anything that isn't too excessive!"

Su Yu chuckled and said, "Nope. Apart from the small number of Invincibles in your race, the five elemental race is useless to me. Allow me to be frank. What else can I get from the five elemental race?"

With a toying tone, Su Yu asked, "What do you think?"

Topsoil Spirit solemnly said, "There is a holy land in our realm. There are five elemental fruit trees there. If you are willing to teach us the Five Elemental Art, I can...give you these trees!"

What a bold offer.

He was willing to give up on their elemental trees just for the Five Elemental Art.

Su Yu laughed and said, "Brother Topsoil, you are indeed an important person in your race to make such an offer. I am very curious. Are all five elemental Invincibles aware of your real identity? Do you have the support of every single one of them? Do you have no opposition in your race?"

The five elemental race would have a surprisingly high level of unity if that was really the case. The five elemental trees were incredibly valuable. Was Topsoil Spirit important enough to make this decision?

Such a decision was equivalent to a Cloudbreach who was a Human Emperor successor stepping forth, calling for the unification of humanity, also calling for all human Invincibles to obey him. It was likely that this Cloudbreach would become a corpse in only a few days.

That wouldn't even be surprising.

So what was the actual situation in the five elemental race?

Topsoil Spirit inhaled deeply and said, "The five elemental race is naturally not fully united. But we need to survive! We are not humans! We are not divines, devils, or immortals! We can't dominate the Myriad Realms! A mid-tier race like us can only fight for survival, not domination. We must seek survival in the coming chaos! But we have reached a bottleneck in our growth. All our ninth-degree Eternals are stuck! None can achieve Daofuse! Unlike the other races that can still bet on producing a Daofuse, we can't! It's basically impossible for us in our current state!"

Topsoil Spirit sighed and continued, "Some races can place their hope on their old fossils. But we don't even have any old fossils. After the death of our ancestor, we have stopped producing Daofuses. Without Daofuses, the five elementals can't survive in the world beyond the heavens.

"Even the humans have old fossils to rely upon. These old fossils might be small in number, but they will still be Daofuses. The divines, devils, and immortals have these old fossils to rely upon as well. But the five elementals are different. In the previous nine epochs, we have not encountered a single old fossil of our race.

"We have also survived nine epochs. We can be considered an ancient race as well. But unlike the other ancient races, we have no Daofuse! Thus, we would tremble in fear and act with utmost caution every single epoch. We might appear strong with more than ten Invincibles, but what are we compared to the other ancient races? We are only slightly strong here, but we have no backer in the world beyond!"

He shook his head, laughed in a self-mocking manner, and said, "Because of our difficult position, we are quite united even if we are not fully united. The elders are aware that we will need to move aside and bow the moment Daofuses start fighting. The other races, such as the dragons, phoenixes, celestial chasms, fates...every single one of them will welcome the arrival of their Daofuses during each epochal war. The five elemental race is the sole exception. Nine epochal wars, not one Daofuse!"

Understanding dawned on Su Yu. He was quite surprised, but it all sounded very reasonable as well. The five elementals were without a backer beyond the heavens.

The older five elementals who had survived the previous epochs knew how dangerous it was to not have a Daofuse. Thus, they placed all their hope on Topsoil Spirit. He was their sole hope at unifying the five elements. He was their sole hope at producing a Daofuse. The five elementals longed for a Daofuse more than any other race.

Topsoil Spirit said, "Therefore, our race will not side with any race easily! Even when we were forced to do so, we would be very conservative with our support. We might even split our race into factions to ensure the survival of our race. For example, I could be split alongside some earth elementals. When I lost, the earth elementals would suffer the consequences while the others would survive."

He looked into Su Yu's eyes and said, "I can't allow the five elemental to pick a side so rashly! This could result in the complete destruction of the five elemental race!"

Su Yu smiled and asked, "What is your opinion about the tenth epoch? Would the tenth epochal war be more intense than the past epochal wars? Or would it be milder? Would there even be an eleventh epoch after this?"

"I don't know." Topsoil Spirit shook his head and said, "Humanity is too weak in this epoch. Thus, the myriad races have been quite relaxed when dealing with humanity this epoch. The divines, devils, and immortals have not bothered to join hands against humanity. If humanity were as strong as the previous nine epochs, a major war to eliminate humanity would have erupted by now."

This time, humanity was far weaker. But there were advantages to being weak. Due to their weakness, the myriad races had not been as intense when dealing with them.

Su Yu nodded. He agreed. For example, the previous human-immortal alliance only happened because the immortals didn't want to see humanity defeated before they could reap the benefits. At the time, Tiangu was still in deep slumber. They needed Tiangu if they were to maximize the benefits they could gain from humanity's defeat.

Su Yu thought about it and said, "How about this? I won't ask for much. I will teach the five elemental race. I only need no less than three five elemental Invincibles to fight to the death for me once."

Topsoil Spirit considered the proposal and nodded, "That is agreeable."

Su Yu added, "Also, I can't promise that all five elementals can open so many apertures while cultivating the Five Elemental Art. You will also face the heavenly tribulations when cultivating it. I can resist the tribulations for your race, but I won't be doing it for free."

"You?" Topsoil Spirit frowned and asked, "Are you sure? Heavenly tribulations will grow stronger when a third party attempts to interfere. It also won't fade away so easily just because you are strong."

Su Yu's assistance would only strengthen the tribulations.

Su Yu said, "I'm aware of that. But I am also somewhat familiar with the laws. Strictly speaking, as the one imparting the Five Elemental Art, I share your karma as well. The tribulations will see me as one of the culprits, not a third party."

Topsoil Spirit asked in surprise, "Why would you study something like that?"

Su Yu grinned and said, "Knowing the laws well can only help me resist the tribulations of others better. But before that, I have a question. Most five elementals will only open thirty-six apertures. It won't be easy for your people to open so many new apertures out of nowhere. I can teach them, but how many of them are even talented enough to cultivate the Five Elemental Art?"

Topsoil Spirit said, "Those who are younger and lacking in talent will find it difficult. But a lot of our seniors have opened more than thirty-six apertures. They have simply been unable to unite all those apertures. We can probably...produce hundreds of cultivators capable of cultivating this art at once."

A few hundred. Was that a big number?

Not at all.

For example, most humans wouldn't open more than 144 acupoints. But if Su Yu wanted to, he could still easily gather a relatively large number of people with 144 acupoints open. And among the seniors, a lot had opened more than that.

Of course, opening too many acupoints would be quite pointless without a cultivation method to utilize these acupoints. The same applied to the five elementals.

Thirty-six apertures were useful for them as they had the cultivation methods to utilize these apertures. Opening more than that would be pointless as they had no way of maximizing the strength of these apertures. Most would only open more when they were stuck in cultivation with nothing else to do.

Topsoil Spirit asked, "What do you need from us to resist the tribulations for us?"

Su Yu said, "Well, it's simple. Ten tribulations...for each ten tribulations, for every ten successful five elemental cultivators, one of your Invincibles must fight once for me. Is that agreeable?

"With this, your Invincibles only need to fight ten times for me for every hundred successes. You can have the same Invincible fight ten times for me, or you can send ten Invincibles to fight for me. It doesn't matter. Who knows? If you have a lucky Invincible that can survive the battles again and again, you can use the same Invincible to repay me repeatedly. It's such a worthwhile deal for you!"

Topsoil Spirit sighed and said, "Any fight involving someone like you won't be a small fight. Just look at your recent battles. Which of them wasn't an incredibly dangerous battle?"

Surviving ten battles?

Ten battles involving Su Yu would be enough to wipe out all the Invincibles in the five elemental race. That was what Topsoil Spirit believed.

Su Yu said, "Well, you need to pay the price if you want something, right? Brother Topsoil, you're a smart guy. Nothing is free. Do you really expect me to help you unconditionally?"

Topsoil Spirit smiled bitterly and said, "I understand that. But...getting involved with you might cause the extinction of my race."

Su Yu laughed and said, "Such a threat is always there, even if you don't get involved with me. But I know one thing. With the Five Elemental Art, or upon inheriting the true legacy of the Five Elemental Ancestor, your race will gain the ability to deal with this threat."

Su Yu's tone turned impatient as he said, "You're a smart guy. Make your choice. Perhaps you are confident enough to not require my help. You can derive your lost art without me. You can resist the tribulations without me. You can restore the origin without me. If you believe so, you are free to do as you wish."

Topsoil Spirit's breathing intensified.

This was too difficult a choice.

Suddenly, he looked up at Su Yu again and asked, "I have one last question."

"Ask."

"If the divines, devils, immortals, nethers, and other races were to join hands and keep all your backers, including those Daofuses occupied, could you survive the attack of one enemy Daofuse? How confident are you?"

"Without a single backer?" Su Yu raised his brow.

Topsoil Spirit nodded, "Yes. Without a single backer. Not even Great Zhou King and the others could help. And only one Daofuse would be sent your way. Could you survive this scenario?"

Su Yu thought about it, smiled, and said, "In such a situation, my survival chance would be very low."

Topsoil Spirit sighed and said, "So you're aware of that. The Myriad Races already have enough Daofuses to kill you. It is only a matter of time before they join hands. How can you ensure our survival in such a situation? How can we feel safe cooperating with you?"

A sense of security. That was what they needed. But that was precisely what they would lack if they were to follow Su Yu.

Su Yu asked, "Why would I care about the five elemental race if I were strong enough to easily survive a Daofuse? Brother Topsoil, understand that a trump card is something you need to work toward to get. This discussion between us is also a process of accumulating more trump cards for myself. I wouldn't have bothered to seek your cooperation if I already had enough trump cards to handle my enemies. What a laughable question. Allow me to ask you a question as well, then. Are the five elementals capable of surviving a Daofuse?"

Topsoil Spirit thought about it and nodded.

Su Yu grinned, "There you have it. You believe that I will die facing a Daofuse. Everyone else believes so. In such a situation, the five elemental race can jump out and eliminate that Daofuse. This will catch everyone by surprise, right?

"This is what a real trump card looks like. Therefore, I am currently working hard to accumulate trump cards. Trump cards won't appear out of thin air. Someone as smart as you must understand this, Brother Topsoil. Do you not understand the difference between sending charcoal in snowy weather and adding flowers to a basket of flowers?"

Topsoil Spirit sank into thought. After a while, he said, "You're right. Allow me to ask you one more question. Are you confident you can become the leader of humanity? You will be weakened greatly without humanity. And I can see that the human Invincibles don't all support you. How many of them are willing to support your claim to the leadership of humanity? If you can't even keep your home ground under control, how am I supposed to put my trust in you?"

"When you wish to accomplish great things, you need to go forward one step at a time. For now, I already have the support of a large number of human Invincibles. After becoming the nominal leader of the new holy land, I naturally won't wait too long before I start making use of that position."

Topsoil Spirit thought about it and said, "Your conference will continue tomorrow. If you can get yourself appointed as the holy land leader during the conference, I will return and persuade the elders of my race. To recruit allies, you require strength as well. Not everyone has the courage to take such a large bet."

Su Yu beamed and said, "You're talking as if I'm asking you to place your bet for free. You are clearly trying to weaken the impact of my help with the Five Elemental Art and heavenly tribulations. Do you think I can't see that?"

Su Yu sneered and said, "Topsoil Spirit, you already have an answer. Am I right? That's why you're trying to weaken the impact of my help. You're trying to make it look like you're the one doing me a favor here. Isn't that the case?"

Topsoil Spirit grimaced, but he hurriedly turned that into a smile, revealing his brown teeth and said, "Not at all. I can't make the decision for my race. Don't forget this, Brother Su. I don't represent my race. The elders of my race will require more assurance before making their bet."

"You have terrible teeth."

Topsoil Spirit chuckled and turned his brown teeth into shiny, golden teeth, representing the metal element. He asked, "Is this better?"

Then, his teeth turned green, before turning transparent, before finally turning blazing red.

He was showcasing his mastery over the five elements.

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