Published at 6th of March 2026 5:58 am

Chapter 1881: Scholars Are Growers (3)

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

World of the living.

The crimson path in the sky had faded away.

Everything returned to normal. Countless people were still waiting for a conclusion to whatever it was that was happening.

Where were they? Su Yu seemed to have disappeared. Great Zhou King and the others were waiting with a heavy mood. Where were they? The crimson path was gone, but the three were also nowhere to be seen. Were they dead?

That shouldn't be the case, right? No phenomenon had appeared so far, signifying that the three were still alive. But where were they?

How was Lan Tian?

Just then, a gigantic crimson cloud formed above the Sea of Stars. It wasn't a death phenomenon. Rather, it was a tribulation from the heavenly laws.

Next, an individual appeared in the sky. With a giggle, that individual said, "Would you look at this? A tribulation! Back off, heavenly laws. Why are you punishing me when I haven't done anything wrong?"

After saying that, the individual faded away. But next, the entire sky became filled with Lan Tians.

Countless Lan Tians, blanketing the very heavens.

Some vanished in the various minor realms, some dove into the Sea of Stars, some vanished in the various ancient cities, and some vanished elsewhere. Nobody could keep up with them.

And then, a seductive Lan Tian lured the crimson cloud toward the Eastrift Valley.

Great Zhou King was filled with shock. That Lan Tian was moving way too fast.

After flashing an enchanting smile, Lan Tian asked, "A lightning shower, anyone?"

"..."

Silence descended.

Everyone stared at him silently. No thanks.

Both Great Qin King and Great Xia King were staring at him as well. Great Qin King asked, "Did you succeed?"

"Of course." Lan Tian giggled as he transformed into a little girl. A lollipop appeared in her hand as she roared, "All life, grant me strength! I am one with all of you! Return where you come from!"

Boom!

Out of nowhere, the crimson cloud started scattering, splitting into countless smaller clouds. The tribulation seemed to be confused as to its actual target to punish.

"Go back. Big Brother Yu said that we shouldn't drain the power of the heavenly laws."

With another giggle, Lan Tian jumped into the midst of the clouds and started placating them. And slowly, the clouds faded away without punishing anyone. Everyone merely shivered at the sight of that.

Suddenly, the giggling Lan Tian pointed at someone and asked, "What are you doing?"

She vanished and reappeared before someone. In her current form, she only reached the waist of that person in height. Pointing at the waist with her lollipop, she asked angrily, "What are you doing?"

The person she was pointing at was none other than Junior Zhou King. He was completely dumbfounded. Suddenly, he recalled something and hurriedly explained, "I sent Polong a message, informing him of your safe return..."

"Oh."

Lan Tian stuffed the lollipop back into her mouth before vanishing again. Moments later, she returned, giggled, and said, "Baddie, you are not allowed to call Lan Tian crazy in the future. I'll be angry if you do that! How can you tell your son that Lan Tian the lunatic is back? You are so naughty!"

How terrifying.

Zhou Tianyuan stared at Lan Tian with shock. After flashing him a smile, Lan Tian said, "What are you looking at? I traced the route of your message transmission and intercepted the message. You son won't be receiving the message. You are not allowed to say this about me in the future! I'm a good girl!"

Zhou Tianyuan's jaw dropped. He glanced at Great Zhou King, who was equally shocked. Great Zhou King asked, "You...you can even intercept these message transmissions?"

"What about it?"

Lan Tian giggled and said, "I only need to be fast enough. The Myriad Realms are me. All life is me. I am everyone. I can naturally intercept something like a message transmission. Be good, everyone. Don't talk badly about me anymore. Don't send message randomly anymore. Promise?"

"..."

Everyone shivered. What...what the fuck was this? Did this mean that this lunatic would know the content of every single message they send in the future? This was too scary.

Great Zhou King inhaled deeply and asked, "You're fast enough to do that? Just...what level have you reached?"

"Ah, I'm still very weak." Lan Tian giggled again and said, "But I am good enough to give you a good spank. Do you want a spank?"

"..."

Speechless.

Great Zhou King said, "No thanks. Congratulations."

What a terrifying guy. Just what dao did he open?

"Teehee. So be it."

Great Zhou King asked with a tired voice, "What about Emperor Yu and Director Wan?"

Instantly, Lan Tian sulked and said, "They were gravely injured. They are dying. Emperor Yu is picking a successor for his throne. Great Zhou King, why don't you take his throne?"

"..."

With the same tired voice, Great Zhou King said, "No thanks. I'll wait for them to return."

Bullshit!

This bastard was trying to entrap him!

Lan Tian had grown even crazier than before. No, that was beside the point. More importantly, he had grown much scarier than before. He had grown strong enough to intercept even message transmissions.

Just what manner of dao did he open? Why was he so excessively strong? The others were deep in thought as well. They all agreed that the part where Su Yu was dying was pure bullshit. They wouldn't take it seriously.

But since Lan Tian was refusing to tell the truth, it wouldn't be appropriate for them to push. In any case, it was perfectly normal for powerful experts to go into seclusion for days or even months. Not long ago, Su Yu had vanished for months. And he had returned after that. Thus, they weren't too worried.

***

At the moment, Su Yu was busy healing himself.

Instead of returning to the Human Realm, both he and Wan Tiansheng had remained in Grand Dream City to recuperate.

Both had indeed suffered heavy injuries. However, these were not core injuries. The worst was the damage on Su Yu's lifespan. In fact, Grand Dream was greatly shocked to see him with his white hair.

However, Su Yu appeared completely indifferent. After recovering from some of his external injuries, he sipped tea in a relaxed manner. Noticing Grand Dream stealing glances at him, he chuckled and said, "This is no big deal. I still have over a hundred years to live. This is enough for me to finish the war. And after the conquest, lifespan will no longer be an issue. At that point, I'll have the strength of a Master of Law. With that strength, I can easily live for over a hundred thousand years."

"But..." The old turtle couldn't calm down from his shock. He asked, "Is this worth it?"

"What?"

"Is this really worth it?" Grand Dream asked, "No matter how strong Lan Tian gets, it's his strength, not yours."

Su Yu laughed and said, "What are you saying?"

He took a sip of tea and continued, "This is an era of strife. Countless experts will emerge. I wish to witness all that the Myriad Realms have to offer. I also hope to see someone standing by my side at the very end, fighting beside me."

Su Yu said without a care, "Helping him with his dao is the same as further completing my own dao. I am too young. I lack experience. I need to see more and grow more. Am I supposed to imagine my dao out of nothing? I actually learned a lot from this experience. This is not an experience you can get by cultivating in seclusion."

"The taller you stand, the further you see. I might be able to start pioneering my own dao after a few more experiences like this." Su Yu said, "In truth, I didn't sacrifice that much. You believe my sacrifice is too big. But for me, a hundred years is more than enough."

Grand Dream was rendered speechless.

After a long silence, he lifted his teacup and said, "Allow me to give you a toast with this tea."

"You're too polite."

Su Yu laughed and drained his cup of tea. Looking up at the sky, he laughed and said, "Recently, you have improved your dao comprehension considerably. But...something is missing. You need a suitable opponent to challenge your limits."

Grand Dream nodded in agreement.

Su Yu suggested, "Perhaps you should have some fun in the Celestial River of Death. Drive all the awakened death spirits there into the Origin Land. Kill all who are stubbornly remaining in the river."

Grand Dream said, "But the moment they gather in the Origin Land, or even submit to North Heavenly King..."

They would be a lot more dangerous if that happened.

Su Yu said, "It will be fine. Even after gathering enough power to contend against us, he won't be returning anytime soon. Instead, chaos will erupt among themselves as they pick a new leader."

"A new leader?"

The old turtle contemplated that statement. Instead of asking more, he nodded, "Sure. I'll clean up the river."

Su Yu smiled and continued sipping his tea. After some thought, he said, "Openmountain and the others are already Daofuses, but many of them are also still stuck at the ninth stage. It will be very hard for them to continue growing in the Lower Realm. I'll find a chance to enter the Upper Realm. If possible, I'll take them with me and experience some battle. Perhaps that will help them grow. With everyone locked in their own realms down here, it's much harder for them to find proper opponents here."

"Do you have a way to go up?"

"I can try." Su Yu said, "A few visitors arrived from the Upper Realm not long ago. All humans. And they are only Eternals. With me around, it won't be hard for us to find a way through. We can take this chance to find out the actual situation up there as well."

"In that case, be careful when you go. I doubt I can join. As a guardian, I can't leave the Lower Realm unless it's the Death Realm."

Su Yu nodded. He had never considered taking the old turtle with him.

He said, "I won't be taking too many experts with me or those down here might notice something. People like Tiangu won't stay silent."

After draining another cup of tea, Su Yu said, "I'll be walking my pen dao again. After my recent gains, I might be able to improve more. This feels great. Just yesterday, I advanced massively on that dao. And now, the time for another spurt of growth has arrived. Sure enough, experiencing the risk of death is the fastest way to grow."

Yes. His most recent growth spurt was only a day ago. He had just walked the pen dao the day before. And now, the time to walk it again had arrived. He had gained a lot from his time as Lan Tian's dao protector. Old Wan had also gained significantly from that experience.

***

After a short rest, Su Yu stepped into the River of Time.

In the past, he would struggle slightly to reach the pen dao. But now, he no longer felt anything. After traversing so far for Lan Tian's dao, the pen dao's distance was nothing. After finding the pen dao, he easily stepped into it.

And instantly, countless comprehensions emerged in his mind. The pen dao was good at attacking and sealing. In truth, this might not be the most suitable dao for Su Yu. But he had the ambition of comprehending the myriad daos. Thus, he could use even a dao he was incompatible with well.

"Even the pen dao is a name Culture King insisted on using. It would be wrong to truly see it as a pen. It is much better to view it as an advancement. Relentless advancement. Something like contains countless meanings."

Having gained his own understanding of this dao, he had finally broken free from Culture King's line of thought. Culture King claimed that this dao was good at attacking and sealing. But was that really the case?

Not necessarily.

With his own set of understanding, Su Yu started walking forward. The entire tributary roiled, seemingly cheering his arrival in joy.

Su Yu had finally started to break free from Culture King's influence. He came to realize that even the great Culture King was but a human. Culture King's thoughts might not necessarily align with his.

Strictly speaking, Su Yu couldn't even be considered Culture King's successor. He was more like Time Sage's successor. With his own unique understanding, his progress in this dao was incomparably smooth. He was able to cover roughly seventy-five percent of the dao.

His understanding of the law had deepened considerably.

His understanding probably differed from Culture King's, but it didn't matter. All paths would ultimately lead to the same destination. He could simply consider this a reinterpretation of this dao.

When Su Yu appeared outside again, the old turtle blanked out. He felt as though...Su Yu had reached a terrifying level. Su Yu had yet to surpass the old turtle, but he was rapidly catching up.

Su Yu could clearly feel that he might have reached the level of a tier-two Daofuse.

Old turtle, Tiangu, Great Zhou King, Heavenly Overseer Marquis...

This was the tier these people were in. Of course, by now, the old turtle, Heavenly Overseer Marquis, and even Tiangu might have left this level to slowly approach the level of a heavenly king.

Nevertheless, that did not change the fact that Su Yu was catching up rapidly.

Slowly but surely, he was overtaking all the experts in the Lower Realm.

"I reckon I'm already comparable with Soy Bun, right?"

Su Yu couldn't help but wonder about that. Or maybe he was slightly weaker? Whatever.

In any case, he felt like he was probably slightly stronger than Great Qin King after his recent growth. Sure enough, brutes would remain slow. They couldn't compare to scholars. Just by gaining some knowledge, a scholar would be able to grow massively.

With a smile, Su Yu met the gaze of Wan Tiansheng, who had just exited seclusion as well. The two smiled at each other. This time, both had gained significantly. Su Yu couldn't see just how much Old Wan had gained, but from Old Wan's sly smile, he reckoned Old Wan had gained a lot.

It was perfectly normal for scholars like them to hide their gains. Then, the two started returning to the Human Realm.

p>Su Yu was ready to start exploring the path to the Upper Realm.

***

At that moment.

Amid the boundless darkness.

The eyes of an expert in white robes flickered with astonishment. What was that?

Why did he feel like the pen dao successor had rapidly improved just moments ago before rapidly improving again?

"Is the pen dao...so easy to comprehend?"

The expert in white robes started doubting his own senses. Yeah, he must have sensed wrongly. After all, he was too far away to sense accurately. With a sigh, he smiled. Perhaps his senses had dulled due to his exhaustion.

Far away, a rumble rang out.

With a carefree smile, the robed individual charged forth. It was time for him to rejoin the fight.

These damn bastards. Since he wasn't allowed to live comfortably, he wouldn't allow anyone to live comfortably either.

On that sinister note, the expert in white robes vanished.

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