Published at 24th of October 2026 6:30 am

Chapter 2345: Terrifying Growth (1)

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Su Yu approached the small shoe before him. This might be the real form of the shoe.

Then again, it was more than reasonable for this to be the size of a shoe. How was Culture King supposed to wear a shoe the size of the Sea of Stars?

"With the world here, Culture King has clearly not been using the power of his world. He's only using whatever strength he has in his body."

Just because he wasn't using the power of his world did not mean that he would be weak. Su Yu was a good example of this. He was strong inside or outside his world. So long as his world remained, he would be a tier-two even when he was beyond the reach of his world.

He wouldn't suddenly drop into the level of an ordinary person just because he had traveled far away from his world. But when he was within the range of his world, he would receive a boost in strength.

And the boost for Su Yu was by no means small. He would be boosted from the second tier to the first tier.

"If Culture King's world can be moved around freely, he will definitely be far stronger right now."

Su Yu observed the dao power in Culture King's world. He was looking for the source of this power. As for Su Yu's world, his world had mostly been fueled by chaos conversion and the people he killed.

What about Culture King? Did his world derive its power from the River of Time? But that would result in the creation of a conspicuous hole in the River of Time. The world would have been discovered long ago.

In that case, what was the source of power for Culture King's world? Was Culture King supporting the world himself? But it had been too long since Culture King left. With the Heaven Gate standing between them, there wasn't much he could transmit to his world.

"Perhaps...I can get something here."

Su Yu's eyes flickered. What could he get from here? The method to strengthen his world. Culture King's world had remained powerful in his absence. It was not converting chaos power, and it also wasn't taking from the River of Time.

Power would not appear out of nowhere. This was Su Yu's current problem. The conversion from chaos required too much time for it to be sustainable. How was Culture King doing this? And then, he stepped under the shoe. It was somewhat embarrassing position to be in, but Su Yu wasn't the type to care about something like this.

Culture King had deliberately left his shoe hanging, forcing anyone wishing to enter his world to move under his shoe. The moment Su Yu stepped inside, he shrank in size.

Outside, Great Zhou King and Heavenbridge Marquis blinked. In their vision, Su Yu had shrunk into the size of an ant before entering Culture King's world. And the regular-sized shoe turned into the size of the entire sky in Su Yu's vision the moment he stepped inside.

When Su Yu looked outside, two giants entered his vision.

"Interesting."

Spatial manipulation.

Culture King's world looked small, but it wasn't really small. That was what Su Yu sensed the moment he entered. Also, this world was far more stable than his world, and it was also far stronger. Various strands of dao power swam about in the world.

A carefree and unfettered atmosphere permeated the world.

A brand new world.

That was Su Yu's impression when he looked around. The air was fresh. The soil was fertile. This was the smell of freedom. Su Yu shut his eyes and focused. A certain understanding dawned on him. He finally understood what Culture King's main pursuit was.

Freedom.

Ultimate freedom.

That was Culture King.

His ultimate pursuit was quite similar to Su Yu's. Freedom.

Previously, many claimed that Su Yu resembled Culture King. But after knowing him better, they would say that he did not resemble Culture King. Instead, it was his mask that would resemble Culture King at times. According to Great Zhou King, Su Yu was more similar to Human Emperor instead of Culture King.

As far as Su Yu was concerned, the so-called Human Emperor was basically a Culture King with his freedom removed. That was it.

Su Yu had his own understanding about this. He was perhaps a fusion of Human Emperor and Culture King.

He longed for freedom, but he couldn't obtain freedom so easily. He was not Culture King. During Culture King's time, there was Human Emperor around to take on the burden. He was free to seek freedom.

But Su Yu had to shoulder the burden himself.

"Carefree and unrestrained, going anywhere I want..."

As Su Yu focused on the atmosphere of this world, he understood what Culture King longed for. However, this was not absolute freedom. There was a tiny shackle amid the freedom.

Su Yu could feel it. He found that Culture King had been bound as well. The binding came from many factors.

Humanity, closed ones, friends, comrade-in-arms...

This seemed rather similar to Su Yu. In search for freedom yet restrained.

Su Yu smiled bitterly. Had Human Emperor infected even Culture King? He could sense something familiar in Culture King's world. It only had a tiny presence, but it was undeniably the smell of responsibility.

Suddenly, a sense of helplessness flooded Su Yu as he said bitterly, "So even you aren't immune to this...or perhaps...freedom is impossible before true peace is achieved."

Culture King...

Even the free and unfettered Culture King had been shackled.

That familiar smell of responsibility.

"Human Emperor..." Su Yu sighed, "Why didn't you extract all responsibility from existence and enjoy it yourself?"

Su Yu pursued the same freedom Culture King had. In fact, he had been quite envious of Culture King. Apart from having a little sister who was in trouble, Su Yu envied every fact of Culture King's life. But now, Su Yu came to understand that the very fact that Culture King had remained hidden for so long was a sign of his lost freedom.

"The mundane world creates the mundane heart. And with a mundane heart, one is mundane. Culture King, not even you can run from this."

Su Yu laughed and waved his hand, dissipating the wind of freedom in the air.

"Fake freedom."

Freedom? It did not exist. Culture King, who had learned of the three gates long ago, could no longer taste absolute freedom. If Human Emperor could suppress the Myriad Realms and all three gates, freedom might be possible for Culture King.

Alas, that was not the case. This so-called dao of freedom was merely a shell of freedom. When Su Yu focused further, he was able to discover even more concepts in this world. This was no freedom dao.

"To search?"

Su Yu comprehended in silence. Was it searching? He could sense a different concept from this world. Perhaps this was the real face of Culture King's dao. The freedom was merely a shell. A skin. But it was enough to fool most people.

"The path ahead is long. To search for the truth of existence and comprehend the nature of the great dao..."

A deeper understanding dawned on Su Yu. To search. That was the true essence of Culture King's dao. The search for the truth.

To understand the truth behind reality.

"Researcher?"

A certain term emerged in Su Yu's mind. A term he had not used for a very long time. Was Culture King...a pure researcher, after all?

How interesting. The world seemed to be reacting to Su Yu's comprehension as well. Slowly, a figure manifested in the world.

Under Su Yu's astonished gaze, the figure fully manifested before looking at Su Yu in confusion. "Your Majesty?"

"..."

Su Yu was stunned.

He stared at the old man speechlessly. After a long while, he spoke stiffly, "Why...are you suddenly here?"

"Where is this?"

The old man was still in confusion.

Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He explained, "Senior Book Spirit, don't you know it?"

"What am I supposed to know?"

The book spirit had no idea what was happening.

Su Yu sighed helplessly, "You...you're actually the world spirit of Culture King's world. I never expected this."

The book spirit was stunned.

Su Yu was quite stunned as well. He said helplessly, "I see. I see now. Culture King is a massive scammer."

"..."

The book spirit didn't know what to say. Why was this guy talking badly about his master?

Su Yu grimaced and said, "I actually believed that it was the shoe! But no! The essence is a book! A book!"

He smiled bitterly. Culture King's book was the true essence of his world. The book spirit was actually the world spirit. The moment Su Yu discovered the true essence of Culture King's dao, the search for truth, the truth behind the dao appeared. The book spirit appeared.

Su Yu sighed and cursed, "Fuck!"

The book spirit stared at Su Yu blankly. Why was this guy cursing at him now?

Su Yu wasn't cursing at him. "Culture King is a total asshole. Poor you, Senior Book Spirit..."

"Uh..."

Su Yu asked gloomily, "Can't you feel it? You're supposed to be a book spirit. You should be the most refined and cultured being in existence. Yet your growth has been slow. Why? Because all the power you take in during cultivation has been fed to Culture King's world.

"I had thought that he knew a way to create power out of nothingness. But no. I understand now. He had simply created you and used you as a generator for his world. Shameless! Truly shameless!"

The book spirit was also focusing on the unique sensation around him. After a long time, understanding flickered in his eyes as he muttered, "I seem to be...the spirit of this world...is this world...my real body?"

He looked up and blinked. "This...no, this shouldn't be a shoe. It should be a book."

"Myriad Dao Sutra."

That was his real body. It was said that this was the book with the entirety of Culture King's comprehension. The book spirit had been very helpful for Su Yu in the beginning, but he had been falling behind as of late.

His growth had been too slow, or it would be more accurate to say that there had been no growth. As a book spirit, he should have grown rapidly, but that did not happen. And now, both Su Yu and the book spirit finally understood why.

It wasn't that there was no growth. Instead, all of his efforts had merely been feeding the world, not his cultivation.

Back when the book spirit attempted to fuse with Su Yu's world and failed, Su Yu had assumed that it was because the book spirit was a unique existence. Thus, the book spirit had been excluded from all future battles. At the moment, the book spirit was still a tier-two Daofuse.

That was very far away from a Master of Law. But now, Su Yu knew why. It wasn't that the book spirit couldn't grow more. Rather, he was a world spirit. He was already strong. But his strength had been sealed away by Culture King.

"Culture King is such an asshole for mistreating you like this, Senior."

Su Yu smiled, "Senior, why don't you join my world with Culture King's world in tow?"

At this point, the book spirit already understood his purpose. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. After a long silence, he said, "Forget that. I'm the world spirit of Master. I can't betray Master..."

Then, he asked awkwardly, "Your Majesty, why am I suddenly here?"

"Because I managed to comprehend the essence of Culture King's dao."

Su Yu grinned, "With me touching upon the essence of the world, you have to appear, or I'll be taking over the world. This is the defensive mechanism of the world. It can't be taken over so easily, like how the death spirit dao will manifest a Master of the Perished during an invasion."

"What about Your Majesty's world?"

The book spirit was feeling quite doubtful. Who was the guardian of Su Yu's world?

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