He absolutely had to maintain his speed.

This was, by far, the most humiliating moment of his life.

He had only survived thanks to a contingency plan laid down long ago by the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization.

What a disgrace!

Just then, a gigantic, ethereal hand snatched the Son of the Desolate Wasteland into the air. He flinched violently, but immediately relaxed. That disembodied hand dragged him across a million miles of space, finally depositing him upon a mountain range—a desolate, isolated range. Within these peaks, the Son of the Desolate Wasteland saw a middle-aged, bald man, bare-chested. This man possessed an indescribable wildness, as if he embodied the very essence of the Great Wasteland. Every inch of skin on his bare torso held a perfection beyond words; there was not a single flaw, rendering him far more perfect than Heaven and Earth itself. The eyes of this bare-chested, middle-aged man were like twin orbs of fire—no, they were like two burning planets, seemingly intent on incinerating everything between heaven and earth. Indescribable, unimaginable.

This was the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization!

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland immediately bowed: "Master, this time it was my oversight; I allowed Lu Yuan to defeat me." The Son of the Desolate Wasteland was the disciple of the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization, and his most deeply potential-filled student.

The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization looked at the Son of the Desolate Wasteland, his gaze intensely serious: "Son of the Desolate Wasteland, this failure is truly mine."

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland quickly interjected: "It was when I was slaying the Kun Peng King that I was first injured by him, and then ambushed by Lu Yuan. Having already sustained severe wounds, it led to the final defeat."

The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization shook his head: "Failure is failure. Whether you were wounded first or ambushed by Lu Yuan, the ultimate result is that you lost. Do not make excuses for defeat. If you failed now, it means you are too weak now. You must grow stronger in the future."

"Yes," the Son of the Desolate Wasteland replied solemnly.

"Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization. It can begin now," said the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization.

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland was momentarily stunned. There was someone else here? It was normal that he hadn't noticed the person beside them; firstly, the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization was simply too dazzling, drawing all attention to himself, and secondly, the person next to him possessed such profound skill in concealing their presence that the Son of the Desolate Wasteland could not detect them.

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland finally saw the other figure.

He was a stooped, white-haired old man, on the verge of decrepitude. The elder’s face was etched with countless wrinkles. Was this the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization? Though this was the first time the Son of the Desolate Wasteland had met this Vice-Lord, he knew this figure was an exceedingly mysterious leader of a civilization, the foremost authority on profound Destiny lore. Fang Zhou, ranked seventh on the Heaven Roll, was his disciple, but in the realm of Destiny, Fang Zhou was worlds apart from the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization.

The stooped, white-haired elder slowly opened his eyes and looked at the Son of the Desolate Wasteland: "Good, very good."

"I have come this time to enhance your Fortune," the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization stated. "To allow you to immediately charge toward the Civilization Realm, overwhelm the Son of Darkness and Lu Yuan, paving the way for the grand scheme ahead." His voice trailed off abruptly.

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland was taken aback. Enhance Fortune? What kind of technique was this? This Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization was rumored to be the most mysterious of all the Vice-Lords. Now, it seemed he truly possessed some exceptional means.

The Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization lifted his hand, and two figures materialized from his sleeve.

One was handsome, with a sunlit countenance.

The other possessed a face of powder-like skin, possessing an unnaturally captivating beauty, with a single red mole between his brows—this was none other than the Son of Demonic Arts.

Both the Son of the Sword and the Son of Demonic Arts appeared simultaneously, though both were magically constrained.

The Son of Demonic Arts roared: "Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization, how dare you capture me! You are courting death! My Master will not let you go!" His master was the Lord of the Demonic Arts Civilization, who also held the status of a Civilization Lord. However, the Son of Demonic Arts immediately noticed the rugged, bare-chested figure of the Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization. The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization chuckled: "Keep shouting."

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland couldn't fathom why the Son of the Sword and the Son of Demonic Arts, these two good-for-nothings, were present.

The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization declared: "Now, we request the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization to enact the Art of Stealing Heaven."

"Agreed," the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization nodded, instantly summoning a colossal compass. This compass was infinitely vast, enveloping all five figures within it. The compass began to spin rapidly. With a gesture from the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization, the Son of the Sword and the Son of Demonic Arts were seized. Before they could react, they let out agonizing screams and died under the hand of the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization.

These two had actually died just like that!

These were two of the Seven Children of Fortune!

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland was also momentarily stunned. Though he often looked down on the Son of the Sword and the Son of Demonic Arts, he never expected these two Children of Fortune to perish so swiftly. The compass spun into action, and the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization roared: "Son of the Desolate Wasteland, unify your spirit now, settle your dantian, and prepare to receive the Fortune of the Son of the Sword and the Son of Demonic Arts." It turned out his Fortune-Seizing technique was a miraculous method of Fortune Transfer, shifting the Fortune of the two fallen into the body of the Son of the Desolate Wasteland. Once the Son of the Desolate Wasteland grasped this, joy surged in his heart; more Fortune was always better. An endless stream of Fortune poured into his body.

The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization shouted: "Now, let's complete the final step toward charging into the Civilization Realm!" Clearly, the Ancient Desolate Civilization was about to expend all its power to elevate the Son of the Desolate Wasteland to the Civilization Realm. The Son of the Desolate Wasteland inwardly laughed maniacally. He was truly the Child of the Epoch; even though he occasionally suffered unexpected defeats at Lu Yuan's hands, his Fortune would immediately explode, his strength would rise, and an entire Ancient Civilization was exerting itself to help him ascend to the Civilization Realm. Lu Yuan, you simply cannot compare; I am a Super Civilization Second Generation, while you are merely a base-born nobody.

The Son of the Desolate Wasteland grinned menacingly, "Lu Yuan, the next time we meet, I will surely be in the Civilization Realm, and you will be crushed by my hand."

The Lord of the Ancient Desolate Civilization and the Vice-Lord of the Destiny Civilization began conferring in low whispers.

......

On the Heaven Roll Jade Tablet.

Lu Yuan’s divine sense was still inside his newly formed Sword World, preparing to depart.

"Wait a moment," called out Shi Feixian. Lu Yuan paused.

"I have always been independent. Feixian dislikes owing anyone favors, even Senior Brother Lu. But this time, Feixian owes you too much," Shi Feixian said to Lu Yuan with utter composure. "However, I am currently at the Chaos Grotto Realm, and you are at the peak of the World Realm, about to break through to the Civilization Realm. Feixian likely has nothing substantial to repay you with, so I can only offer two-tenths of my Civilization Divine Essence."

Lu Yuan shook his head: "That's not necessary. I saved you because you are a cultivator of the Sword Dao, and you are my junior sister."

"Feixian does not have the habit of being indebted," Shi Feixian replied coolly. Hearing this, Lu Yuan pondered briefly in his mind: "Very well. If you give me your two-tenths of Civilization Divine Essence today, when you are ready to challenge the Civilization Realm, I will do my utmost to find various resources to help you achieve it, thus repaying today's aid."

Shi Feixian tossed her dark hair aside, exposing a section of her jade-like neck. Lu Yuan placed his hand upon it, feeling the tender smoothness. Lu Yuan was not overly polite, drawing out the Civilization Divine Essence from within her body. Her essence was fundamentally similar to that within Wanwan’s body—a crystal radiating brilliant light, shaped in a hexagon, strikingly beautiful, with each facet imbued with boundless Heavenly Dao.

Lu Yuan mused briefly. He now had a significant degree of certainty about breaking through to the Civilization Realm. For instance, the Civilization Divine Essences contributed by Shi Feixian and Wanwan combined could increase his chance of reaching the Civilization Realm by two-tenths. The Civilization Disk could boost it by one-tenth. The Civilization Scroll by one-fiftieth. The Hundred Defeats True Scripture, which he had practiced slightly more than halfway, probably added a chance of just over one-fiftieth. Thus, relying on external objects, his current probability of breaking through to the Civilization Realm totaled just over three-tenths, shy of four-tenths. This probability was quite high, nevertheless.

Alternatively, perhaps he should consider attempting the breakthrough to the Civilization Realm right now. Lu Yuan sat down cross-legged, silently channeling his divine abilities to perceive the mystical mechanisms of Heaven’s Will. This induction revealed that if he attempted the breakthrough now, he would almost certainly fail. It seemed this was not the opportune moment for the Civilization Realm; he needed to postpone it slightly.

In this Heaven Roll competition, he had actually gained substantial benefits. He had forcibly increased his possibility of reaching the Civilization Realm by two-tenths and had brought both of these supreme Civilization Bodies under his banner. These two possessed a high probability of reaching the Civilization Realm themselves; in the future revival of the Sword Dao, they would add two major experts.

Lu Yuan noticed that Shi Feixian and Wanwan were still facing off. This confrontation seemed to have become a habit between the two. Lu Yuan briefly organized the cultivation techniques he had acquired from those he had slain, like the Jade Emperor and Fang Tu. With a sweep of his hand, a massive library instantly materialized. Lu Yuan announced, "You two can visit the library to study various cultivation methods whenever you wish."

With another wave, Lu Yuan conjured several clearings. These areas contained numerous strange beasts, creatures conjured casually by Lu Yuan, varying in strength and employing diverse combat styles. "You can also seek out these monstrous beasts to hone your combat prowess in the future."

Lu Yuan’s current divine powers were boundless and incomparably vast, far exceeding the ordinary.

Creating mountains and seas was no difficult task for him.

He created these resources now to help these two highly talented individuals advance. After all, a single Civilization could not rely on just one Civilization Realm expert; he needed to cultivate successors early. Just as the Kun Peng King’s Kun Peng World contained many World-level avian demons, the King had clearly made similar preparations. Lu Yuan starting his preparations now was, in fact, starting too late.

After arranging all this, Lu Yuan leisurely emerged and stood once more upon the Heaven Roll Jade Tablet.

On the tablet, Lu Yuan’s name was ranked second. First was Gu Shi Tu Ming Tu Mie, who could transform into a Civilization Realm expert and depart at any moment.

Lu Yuan was always poised to seize the first seat on the Heaven Roll at any time! (To be continued)