Chapter 421 - 173: The Source of the Calamity! Fighting 2 Heavens Alone, So What?

As Gu Tianyun spoke, his expression softened somewhat:

"Fortunately, I had my sworn brothers with me. In the end, it wasn’t a complete waste."

"Your final attempt was creating the Yin Department Divine System?"

Su Bai asked.

"That’s right."

Gu Tianyun nodded. "Though my attempts repeatedly failed, they were not without merit. I managed to suppress the Seven Heroes and Three Li, and those ten Elder Demons became the cornerstones for establishing my Yin Department Divine System."

"But in a way, the Yin Department system failed, too."

Su Bai sighed.

A system that had fallen apart without the Netherworld Venerable Master to hold it in place could hardly be called a success.

To say nothing of the fact that the Seven Heroes and Three Li were on the verge of escaping.

"I had reached the very pinnacle of the Human Dao, but alas, even that was not enough to bear all the Yin Sha Resentment Qi of the past, present, and future."

"My Inner Heaven and Earth was destroyed by endless Yin Sha. Though I eventually created the Netherworld and absorbed immense amounts of Yin Sha Qi, it still could not be considered a success."

"As time marches on, Yin Sha Qi will inevitably be born anew. It was a treatment for the symptoms, not the root cause."

As Gu Tianyun spoke, his expression lost some of its casualness and grew three parts more serious.

"So, you wanted to annihilate the source of it all?"

Su Bai said.

The fall of the Netherworld, the collapse of the Yin Department Divine System, even the disappearance of Reincarnation and the chaos of the Celestial Secret—it all stemmed from that one idea of Gu Tianyun’s.

However, if he were in Gu Tianyun’s shoes...

...this step would have been imperative.

Treating the symptoms instead of the root cause—suppressing the problem day after day—would only lead to a more terrifying and violent eruption in the end.

Only by annihilating every hidden danger at its source was there any hope for a permanent solution!

"That’s right."

Gu Tianyun nodded.

"I could certainly suppress those ten Elder Demons for ten thousand, a hundred thousand, or even a million years!"

"But no matter how powerful I became, I could not be eternally Immortal. If I were to die, who else could reign over the world and suppress those ten Elder Demons?"

His gaze swept over the two children beside him, the ancient book on the table, the large man across from him, the ox and horse outside the door, the flatbed cart...

He let out a long sigh.

"Unfortunately, I still failed. I have wronged my brothers, and I have wronged Xiaojiu..."

"He should have inherited my path and become the new Netherworld Venerable Master..."

The price of failure was steep. Very steep...

The sealing of the Netherworld, the collapse of Reincarnation, the shattering of the Yin Department Divine System.

And, his own demise!

Su Bai fell silent at his words.

Gu Tianyun’s strength was undeniable. From a lone Yin Spirit of white bones, he ascended step by step to become the most powerful in the world, dominating all under heaven. He suppressed the Seven Heroes and Three Li, vanquished countless fiends, and established the Netherworld to contain all the Yin Sha Resentment Qi between Heaven and Earth.

He then established Reincarnation to reduce the world’s evils, created the Yin Department Divine System to command the ghosts and gods of the world, supported the Dayu Immortal Dynasty, and unified the Thirteen Provinces.

How could this be anything less than a feat of boundless Merit?

Anyone who had accomplished even one of these things would have their name echo through the ages, let alone the fact that he had done them all himself.

He was just one step away from severing the source of all calamities at its very root.

Had he succeeded.

He would undoubtedly have become the single greatest figure of this world, for all of time—past, present, and future!

He would have become a monument of Immortality.

But even without taking that final step, the principles he put into practice across the entire world already made him a sage, a Saint.

"One wrong move, and the entire game is lost!"

Gu Tianyun drank alone, emptying his wine jug and finishing the side dishes. He then looked to Su Bai, a complex emotion stirring in his eyes:

"You are stronger than I am."

Meeting Gu Tianyun’s gaze, Su Bai already understood the reason for his failure. He could only shake his head and sigh, "This world is poison!"

At this point, how could he not understand?

He understood exactly where Gu Tianyun’s failure lay.

For a moment, he was overcome with emotion.

’He did everything he possibly could, to the absolute best of his ability. Who would have thought he would fall because of something as common and insignificant as nature’s spiritual energy?’

When Gu Tianyun said he was stronger, he wasn’t referring to Su Bai’s combat power. It was because Su Bai had created the *Fist Scripture* and carved out his own path, one that no longer required him to rely on nature’s spiritual energy to wield his immense power.

Moreover, he had cultivated Divine Techniques and Cultivation Techniques that surpassed the limits of this world, completely shattering its restrictions!

The so-called nature’s spiritual energy could no longer suppress or restrain him.

"’This world is poison’... That description is quite apt."

Gu Tianyun was silent for a moment.

By the time he had forged his own sinews, bones, and flesh, he already knew the Spiritual Qi was poisonous. Unfortunately, he had entered this world as a Yin Spirit without a physical body and had drifted in a daze for ten years, leaving him no opportunity to choose.

He had already been thoroughly corrupted by It.

Even though Gu Tianyun immediately sensed that something was wrong, it was already too late to turn back.

After ten years of corruption, the poison of the Spiritual Qi was branded onto the deepest part of his Divine Spirit.

Even after he cultivated to the level of a Spirit Immortal, mastered the Celestial Mandate, and finally completed his Great Dao to become a True Immortal...

...it could not be undone.

"This was not a failure of your own making."

Su Bai felt conflicted as well.

’Gu Tianyun was truly a heaven-sent genius. To cultivate against the world’s order as a Yin Spirit and become practically invincible in this realm... and yet...’

’If I had been in his position back then, I doubt I could have done any better.’

It was truly a matter of timing and fate.

Gu Tianyun simply shook his head.

"My death is of no great consequence. It is a pity, however, that I dragged the entire world down into ruin with me."

"One mountain cannot hold two tigers. A nation cannot have two masters. And a world, naturally, cannot have two Heavens."

Su Bai shook his head slightly.

The enemy was Heaven.

However, it was not the Heaven of this world.

It was the Heaven Beyond Heaven.

Su Bai had already sensed this, but hearing Gu Tianyun say it aloud still stirred something within him.