Tribulation of Myriad Races

Deep underwater.

It was deep enough that no light could reach this place.

An ancient city rested silently. There had been no activity in this city for countless years.

Suddenly, the water around the city rippled, breaking the long silence.

“Boss!”

Like an animal out of its cage, Empyrean Cloud was feeling exceptionally excited. In fact, she had intentionally moved slower to extend her time outside. She had only proceeded with her journey to this city after taking a stroll around the Sea of Stars.

Inside the city.

The stone statue opened his eyes and looked at her. After a short pause, he slowly asked in surprise, “You’re out as well?”

Grandstar had visited him not long ago.

Now, it was Empyrean Cloud’s turn.

Were they taking turns going out on trips?

Empyrean Cloud said cheerfully, “Yeah. And I’m not the only one doing this recently. I’m here to suggest you a new mayor, Boss. With him, you will be able to leave your city easily. Like us, you don’t have to endure as much suffering from the death qi anymore. This life of a prisoner will end.”

“Suffering?”

The stone statue thought about it for a long while before continuing, “Is it really suffering? Isn’t it a joy to stay in one place in peace?”

How was this suffering?

These people truly lacked resilience. They only needed to stay at a single place. They only needed to take ten-thousand-year naps. With some naps here and there, time would pass easily.

Empyrean Cloud blanked out. She had the urge to roll her eyes. After a long pause, she said, “True. You’re a grand dream turtle. You are extremely long-lived. With a single nap, a long time will pass. Sigh. You don’t understand our suffering.”

Grand dream turtle.

This was an extremely rare race even during the ancient past. There were probably less than a handful of them in existence back then. At present day, he was probably the only one left.

The bottom of the sea was the home of this race. They spent the majority of their time sleeping. For them, sleeping for ten thousand years was perfectly normal.

Empyrean Cloud felt quite gloomy when she realized that their leader would not be able to understand their suffering. But soon, she smiled again and said, “Boss, do you want this mayor? If not, we will get him to take on a few more holy cities…”

The stone statue asked, “Is this Grandstar’s mayor?”

“Yes.”

The stone statue thought about it and said, “I saw him once. He is capable of reversing death qi. This person…is quite special. With the ability to reverse death qi, he can withstand a lot more death qi. But at this rate, he will need to be careful lest he starts opening new death qi tunnels everywhere by accident…”

“Boss…will…will this be fine?”

Empyrean Cloud was unsure. Would that really happen?

The stone statue said, “That’s hard to say. When the density of death in his body reaches a certain level, he will be a walking tunnel. Wherever he goes, a new tunnel will open. However, he has a very important function. None of you are aware of that yet.”

Empyrean Cloud asked in surprise, “What is this function?”

“Tunnel.”

Seeing that Empyrean Cloud was still confused, the stone statue explained, “He can act as an additional tunnel connecting the thirty-six cities. When the death qi gets too much for all of you to withstand, you can transfer it to him. When it gets too much for him, he can transfer it to me. Or he can help any of the guardians in trouble and transfer the death qi to a different guardian.”

“Back then, that man wanted to do the same. Unfortunately, he ultimately failed. Perhaps a new hope has arrived. I believe a few of you are already reaching your limits, right?”

Empyrean Cloud nodded, “Definitely. At this rate, our petrification will be broken. When that happens, we won’t be able to last much longer. The tunnels will be without guardians.”

The stone statue said, “In that case, this man will be very important. I can still last some time. If he is capable of connecting all of us, you can transfer your death qi to me through him when necessary.”

In short, Su Yu was a good tool. A tool to allow the flow of death qi between different cities. He could share the burden of some of the guardians, and he could also share his burden with some of the guardians. Both parties could benefit from this.

Empyrean Cloud’s eyes flickered as she said, “In that case, he’s a lot more important than I know. But…I doubt he can connect all thirty-six cities. Even if we try our best to hold back, we won’t be able to keep the death qi at a low enough level for him to take on all the holy cities.”

The stone statue argued, “That’s not necessarily the case. He can’t for now, but that might change in the future. I saw him once. At the time, he was reversing his death qi as well. At the time, he couldn’t even withstand the death qi of an entire city, let alone two. It hasn’t even been that long yet he has grown enough to do that. He’s even capable of withstanding my death qi already. You won’t be here if he can’t, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we only need to give him some time to grow. Perhaps…he’ll be able to do it one day.”

Even the old turtle was tempted. He wasn’t too concerned about having Su Yu withstand his death qi. Rather, he was more worried about some of the other guardians.

He said, “I checked all the guardians not long ago. Rainbow Rain Holy City is near its limits. If this human can take on one more city, he should consider Rainbow Rain.”

Empyrean Cloud hurriedly said, “But Heavendoom is getting impatient…”

“Just ignore him.” The stone statue said, “Heavendoom has always lacked patience. He is strong enough to last a while longer. The moment he gets a mayor like this, he will probably go crazy and create trouble everywhere. He will need to wait in line. And that will be quite a long line.”

“Then…should I take him here, Boss?”

“Sure.” The stone statue said, “Send him over. I won’t leave the city unless it is absolutely necessary so for the most part, I will remain absent from all your affairs.”

“Sure.”

Empyrean Cloud nodded. She was happy with this. As for Heavendoom…well, what was the rush? Their boss was right. It wasn’t like Heavendoom was dying. Why was he so impatient? There were other guardians they needed to prioritize helping. Heavendoom should obediently wait in line.

Empyrean Cloud was in no rush to leave after receiving an answer. She asked, “Boss, the ancient past has fallen. Do we really need to keep guarding these tunnels?”

“Yes.”

“But…”

“There are no buts. This is our mission. Such are the laws. This is the only reason we’re still alive. You would have died long ago otherwise.”

“Dying might be better.” Empyrean Cloud grumbled, “Back then, I thought we only needed to do this for three to five thousand years. Who would have thought that everything would change while we were guarding these tunnels? When I awoke from my slumber, the sky above us had changed. The human race has changed as well. The death tunnels allowed us to survive, but they also kept us prisoner, granting us an existence that is worse than death.”

The stone statue said, “You’re making it a bigger fuss than it is. Just sleep. When you wake up from a good sleep, you will stop having these thoughts.”

Just sleep.

Perhaps after a few naps, everything would change yet again. Why so impatient?

“…”

Empyrean Cloud was starting to suspect that her boss had slept so much his brain was starting to slow. Whatever. What was the point of arguing about this with an old turtle? As far as the old turtle was concerned, an eternity was perhaps only the length of a single nap.

“I’ll be bringing Su Yu here. Don’t fall asleep again, Boss.”

“Alright.”

When Empyrean Cloud vanished, the stone statue shut his eyes again. Just then, a crowned death spirit in the tunnel beneath him spoke, “Old Turtle, are you finally picking a new mayor?”

The stone statue ignored him.

The death spirit said, “Old Turtle, are you dreaming of suppressing me with a newcomer?”

The stone statue continued ignoring him.

The death spirit laughed and said, “Sure. I’ll wait and take a good look at this replacement of mine that has finally appeared after so many years…”

Finally, the stone statue spoke, “You’re already a death spirit. Why can’t you forget your obsessions? What is the point? You don’t even have your full memories anymore.”

“I refuse to accept this result!” The death spirit said, “This is not a result I can accept. I don’t want to remain a measly death spirit. I will return to live! I will return to the realm of the living! Old Turtle, I reject your reason to kill me back then! Chaos had yet to befall the Myriad Realms when you killed me! The death spirits are merely a part of the myriad races. Why can’t we conquer the Myriad Realms as well?”

The stone statue shut his eyes again, ignoring the death spirit.

The death spirit said, “Old Turtle, you still have the habit of ignoring what you don’t like to hear. You will see. Nobody will be able to last long as your mayor. I won’t give up easily. Before long, this tunnel will once again become the staging ground for the Death Realm to attack the Myriad Realms!”

“Sure.”

The stone statue remained indifferent. He was still capable of keeping this death spirit suppressed. This death spirit was already dead. Why must he hang on to his past obsession?