Lu Shi’s brow furrowed, his expression full of uncertainty.

River Emperor Winged Dragon sighed. “This is the River of Destiny. No matter how unbelievable it might seem, down here, nothing is truly all that strange.”

Those eyes like twin abysses gazed into the distance. “There’s a saying that’s circulated throughout the River of Destiny since the Primordial Era: everyone is a prisoner of destiny!”

River Emperor Winged Dragon pointed to the ground. “Rumor has it that this place is what remains of a Primordial Era River Ancestor’s heart. A River Ancestor is an existence mighty enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Heavenly Sovereigns of the Eternal Heavens Domain, but he still died here, didn’t he? So much time has passed that his bones have been reduced to the foundation of a city. How tragic is that?”

Lu Shi subtly inclined his head. “Knowing your destiny, yet refusing to accept it is the fundamental meaning of cultivation. All Eternals strive to comprehend Destiny—and to oppose it. Their ultimate goal is to transcend it completely.”

Here, he seemed to lose interest. His figure blurred as he floated off the stele and landed on the ground. Then, he slipped a writing brush out of his sleeve.

The brush was highly distinctive. It looked like a typical brush at a glance, but its tip was as sharp as a sword. The deep blue body was about the same thickness as a chopstick and had a smooth, translucent luster.

Lu Shi gently pressed the tip against one of the stele’s many damaged Dao Markings. An unbelievable scene followed.

A rain of chaos light erupted from the sharp tip, like a flower in bloom, enveloping the marking completely. The light interwove, and the badly damaged marking knit back together.

River Emperor Winged Dragon silently appeared beside him. This wasn’t his first time seeing this miraculous scene of “flowers blooming at the tip of a brush,” but every time he saw it, it astonished him to the core.

Over the past two days, Lu Shi had used this mysterious writing brush to restore the stele’s badly damaged writing. His methods were so wondrous that River Emperor Winged Dragon had sighed over them countless times. He’d once asked about it. Lu Shi told him that the treasure was called the Writing Brush of Genesis. It was apparently a chaos treasure born of the Immortal Realm’s source.

“Fellow Daoist, are you sure that the markings carved on that stone stele are connected to the Key to All Tribulations?” asked River Emperor Winged Dragon.

“Mm,” said Lu Shi. His gaze was focused on the stone stele, his hands waving the brush, producing more and more flowers.

He was moving slowly. Every time he successfully restored a lost marking, he had to pause to rest and recalibrate.

It wasn’t that his cultivation was lacking, but that the Writing Brush of Genesis expended an enormous amount of his heart and soul’s energy. Especially since the stone stele was highly unusual. It had existed since the Primordial Era, and the markings covering its surface were ancient and primeval. Simply restoring their shape wasn’t enough. Lu Shi needed to restore their charm of the Grand Dao, too. Only then could he grasp their secrets.

Over the past two days, Lu Shi had done his utmost, never delaying more than absolutely necessary, but he’d only managed to restore one hundred or so characters. And the stele was fully ten thousand feet tall, while the markings were clustered in more than a dozen places. Lu Shi predicted that there were over a thousand of them in total.

At his current rate, he’d need at least ten more days to fully restore the stele’s text.

But some things couldn’t be rushed.

“I just don’t know where River Empress Peacock is,” River Emperor Winged Dragon said suddenly. “I always get the sense that the bitch is one step ahead of us.”

“Rest assured,” said Lu Shi. “We have one of her feathers, so there’s no way she can escape us. Moreover, I’m absolutely certain that even if she has information regarding the key, she wouldn’t be able to acquire it so easily. If she could, she would have done it a long time ago. There’d have been no need to wait all this time.”

River Emperor Winged Dragon nodded.

Lu Shi said suddenly, “The one we really have to be on guard against is River Emperor Hong Ye. He actually managed to use divination to locate us. He absolutely isn’t simple.”

River Emperor Winged Dragon’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately reached a decision. “I’ll order someone to go figure out what the old codger’s up to. Let’s see if we can uncover anything!”

Lu Shi said no more in response. Instead, he returned his attention to restoring the stele.

......

Su Yi kept walking along the periphery of the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone. He was in no rush to go inside.

In addition to Hong Ye, he ran into several other river denizens, including several River Kings with powerful, imposing auras.

When they saw Su Yi, they merely glanced at him before disregarding him. They made no attempt to disguise their disdain; someone who only dared walk thirty thousand feet away from the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone was in no way worthy of their attention.

Su Yi couldn’t help but find this a pity. In his eyes, the River Kings were just walking true names. If he captured a bunch of them, he might well be able to open the first page of the Book of Destiny completely! He even wished the River Kings would be a bit more unbridled and aggressive. If they could actively make trouble for him, all the better.

Unfortunately, he’d yet to find any satisfactory targets.

Hm? Su Yi’s eyes narrowed as he spotted a River Emperor.

He was a tall man in black imperial robes, and he had purple eyes. This was none other than River Emperor Thousand Hands, one of the Four City Lords of Spirit Treasure Celestial City. He was leading a group of subordinates around the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone, although it was unclear what specifically they were up to.

When he sensed Su Yi’s gaze, a River King with long red hair bellowed, “What the hell are you looking at? Hurry up and scram!”

Su Yi smiled, thinking nothing of it, then turned to leave.

He’d gathered a fair bit of information earlier, back in the city, including portraits of prominent experts. These included the Four City Lords, as well as some noteworthy River Kings.

The red-haired River King was one of them. His title was Wan Liu, and he was one of River Emperor Thousand Hands’s generals. Later, should the opportunity arise, Su Yi would naturally love to learn River King Wan Liu’s true name.

Not long after Su Yi left, River Emperor Thousand Hands received a secret message. River King Mo Sang was dead! And it looked like the killer was River King Whistling Moon! River King Purple Tiger had confirmed this personally.

After reading the message, River Emperor Thousand Hands almost dared not believe it. But Whistling Moon is Winged Dragon's subordinate, and we're allies. Why would Whistling Moon kill Mo Sang?

“Send someone to investigate further. Investigate everyone involved. Don’t overlook a single one of them!” River Emperor Thousand Hands ordered.

He refused to believe that Whistling Moon had killed Mo Sang!

River Emperor Thousand Hands ordered River King Purple Tiger’s manor to be completely surrounded. River King Purple Tiger was so terrified that he explained everything that had happened in full detail, not daring to leave anything out.

Eventually, the search of River Emperor Thousand Hands’s subordinates led them to Wei E.

Pitiful Wei E had only just left the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone, and he was just about to find a brothel and let loose when someone intercepted him. Before long, he found himself standing before River Emperor Thousand Hands.

He was, after all, the one who’d interacted with the culprit the longest, as well as the one who’d led him to River King Purple Tiger’s manor.

There was no need for an interrogation. Wei E broke the moment he saw River Emperor Thousand Hands. He recounted the whole tale, tears and snot dripping down his cheeks as he decried Wang Zhiwu’s despicable, shameless behavior.

“Is this the man you speak of?” River Emperor Thousand Hands took out a portrait of Wang Zhiwu. River King Purple Tiger had provided it.

“That’s right!” Wei E nodded repeatedly, his head bobbing like a chicken eating grains of rice.

In truth, he’d kept some of the truth hidden. For instance, he neglected to mention that the Wang Zhiwu he spoke of was an imposter, or that the imposter had since taken on an altogether different appearance. But since River Emperor Thousand Hands hadn’t asked, Wei E naturally felt no need to volunteer that information!

“Master, this humble one saw Wang Zhiwu earlier!” Suddenly, the red-headed River King Wan Liu said, “He went north several hours ago.”

River Emperor Thousand Hands thought briefly, then said without hesitation, “Come on, let’s go find him. No matter his reasoning, he must explain himself!”

His eyes shone with sinister murderous intent. Wang Zhiwu dared to slay my subordinate in the Spirit Treasure Celestial City. Is he sick of living?

“Master, what should we do with him?” River King Wan Liu gestured to Wei E.

Wei E had long since collapsed out of sheer terror. His heart was on tenterhooks. Inwardly, he decided that if his life were really in peril, he’d just sell the fake Wang Zhiwu out. After all, he couldn’t abide dying for the fake Wang Zhiwu, especially not when the fake would get off scot free.

They were brothers, so they ought to face adversity together!

“Bring him with us. We’re going to find Wang Zhiwu!” said River Emperor Thousand Hands. “If we can’t find Wang Zhiwu, we’ll put that useless wretch to death.”

He looked at Wei E. “If we find our target, we’ll leave you a path to life.”

Wei E instantly felt the urge to betray Su Yi. Survival came first. He could figure the rest out later!

The Thousand-Handed River King and company set off, Wei E in tow, all of them seething with murderous intent.

Meanwhile, just as Su Yi was considering whether or not to enter the Abhorrent Evil Origin Zone, he froze, stunned. A figure was approaching from afar. He was dressed in gray, with handsome pictures and the air of a dandy. He looked utterly unbridled and unaffected.

When the young man saw Su Yi, he was unwittingly stunned, too.

“Wang Zhiwu?”

“Lu Shi?”

Su Yi and Wang Zhiwu spoke at the same time.

Su Yi was the first to calm down. He remembered that he was still disguised as Lu Shi. “What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” Wang Zhiwu frowned.

Lu Shi was a highly mysterious figure. They said he was backed by a Heavenly Sovereign, but there were also rumors that he was backed by a transcendent Daoist faction. No one knew if the rumors were true, though.

When Wang Zhiwu went to the God Domain, he saw how Lu Shi, Di E, and the others joined forces to defeat Su Yi.

And although Su Yi and Wang Zhiwu had once clashed, they’d bonded in the process. Wang Zhiwu naturally had no fondness for Lu Shi.

“I’m here for the Key to Endless Tribulations, of course,” Su Yi said forthrightly. “Aren’t you here for it too?”

Wang Zhiwu said coldly, “Don’t fucking smile at me! Since when were we friends?”