Tribulation of Myriad Races

It didn’t take long before Grandstar City’s whereabouts were found. It had entered the sea and connected with Grand Dream City.

Hearing about that, many people started speculating that Su Yu must have been injured too heavily. Not even Grandstar could help with his injuries and he was forced to seek help from Grand Dream.

Clearly, Su Yu was in a bad shape.

Su Yu’s strongest aspect was his physical body. With a destroyed body, he was much less scary than before. Sure, he still had his willpower cultivation, but his willpower was only at the level of a Mountainsea.

***

Grand Dream City.

Su Yu sealed the city after entering. The city was empty in the first place, but he still sealed it to prevent anyone from entering.

Inner hall.

The old turtle seemed to enjoy a lot more freedom than Grandstar and the others. The other stone statues seemed to have been fully sealed. Meanwhile, the old turtle could send his clone around and converse with Su Yu in a humanoid form.

When he saw Su Yu, he studied Su Yu up and down.

With a complicated expression, he said, “I might have erred in judgment. What a surprise. You must have received the legacy of the Time Sage. Am I right?”

Su Yu shook his head, “I don’t know. I don’t even know what the Time Sage is. I never intend to hide anything from you.”

“True. You won’t know.” The old turtle sighed and continued, “I had thought that this legacy had been fully severed. No, everyone believed the same. But reality proved that I was wrong. This legacy…has not been severed.”

Su Yu asked doubtfully, “Lord, can you tell me more?”

“Time Sage…” The old turtle sighed again. With a look of melancholy, he said, “Would you believe me if I say that I don’t know that much either?”

“Yes.”

The old turtle laughed. He sat down, manifested two cups of tea out of thin air, and handed one to Su Yu. While sipping on his cup of tea, he explained, “This is a matter of a very long time ago. The legacy of the Time Sage had vanished a long time ago. I have never seen a Time Sage. Or to be precise, very few people in the Myriad Realms have seen one. This is a very unique line. There would only be one per era. Or perhaps it had been the same person all along. I don’t know the truth.”

Su Yu was surprised, “You mean…”

The old turtle said, “Very few people had met a Time Sage before. Those who had met one all believed that the version they met was different. Thus, nobody could be sure whether the Time Sage was a single person or whether it was merely a legacy passed down to one person per generation. Time Sage. Do you know the origin of this title?”

“No.”

The old turtle said, “A Time Sage was someone who would always be traversing the River of Time, akin to an observer of the myriad civilizations. Very few people know about them. Very few people have seen them before. Most of the people aware of them have only learned about them through rumors, like me.”

“I have only heard about them. I don’t know what they are. Are they normal living beings? Are they gods? Are they fiends? I only know that…a Time Sage might be evil…or not.”

Su Yu asked in surprise, “What do you mean?”

The old turtle said, “I mean them literally. Nobody knows if they are evil or not. Nobody knows what they want. However, a Time Sage was an existence feared by numerous experts during the ancient past.”

“Feared?”

“Yes.”

The old turtle had a blank expression as he sank into reminiscence. After a long while, he continued, “They feared the Time Sage greatly. During that era, all the super experts…excluding me. Yes, excluding me. At that era, I was nothing. The super experts I’m talking about…were extremely strong. Yet even such supreme experts feared the Time Sage. I don’t know why. I only know that once, an incredibly important person received a message from the Time Sage that his lifespan was over. The Time Sage would arrive to record his civilization soon…”

The old turtle sighed and continued, “And next…there was no next. That was the end of the story for that supreme expert. He died not long after. He disappeared in the River of Time, never to appear again. The Time Sage was an existence feared by all during that era.”

Understanding dawned on Su Yu.

Time Sage!

Did the Time Sage kill that super expert before turning the super expert into a specimen in the book? A supreme expert…how strong would such a person be if even the old turtle considered him supreme?

Time Sage. A corpse collector. This…seemed to have coincided with Su Yu’s idea. More importantly, that Time Sage was incomparably strong. Yet such a person had settled for such a job.

Su Yu asked, “Did you hear more about the Time Sage after that event?”

“A few times.”

The old turtle said, “But they were all rumors. Firstly, the Time Sage had been eliminated. The elimination of the final Time Sage seemed to have something to do with the Myriad Race Assembly. It was said that the legislators had joined hands to kill the Time Sage. From then on, the legacy of the Time Sage was severed.”

He stared at Su Yu and spoke slowly, “Secondly, there were rumors claiming that the Time Sage was merely a disguise of the Human Emperor. That was a persona the Human Emperor had assumed to slaughter the experts of the myriad races. The legacy of the Time Sage had been severed alongside the disappearance of the Human Emperor.

“Thirdly, some claimed that the Time Sage was someone else–the owner of the Culture Tomb. With that person’s death, the legacy was severed. Three versions of the story, all pointing to the elimination of the Time Sage.”

The old turtle continued, “Since all three versions agreed that the Time Sage had been eliminated, that must be the truth. Thus, everyone believed that the legacy of the Time Sage was no more. But…recent events have suggested that the legacy has survived.”

Su Yu was greatly shocked by what he heard.

After a long while, he asked, “Why do you believe that I am a successor of the Time Sage? Is there a special trademark unique only to this line?”

“I believe so because…” After a long pause, the old turtle finished, “…of that book of yours.”

With an uncertain tone, the old turtle said, “A book is a unique choice for a weapon. Very few people would use a book as a weapon. With the appearance of a weaponized book and the blood tribulation of the Myriad Race Assembly, I can’t help but see a connection between you and the Time Sage. According to the rumors, the Time Sage was a cultural researcher who would always travel around with a book in hand. Someone once said that each time a Time Sage was seen, they would be reading a book. With a book in hand, the Time Sage would wander the River of Time, coming from the past or future to collect corpses.”

“…”

Su Yu said nothing, but he could see a scene in his mind. A youth clad in white robes. With a book in hand, the youth sailed lazily on the River of Time.

In a refined yet overbearing manner, the youth pointed at an expert and smiled, “Your lifespan is at an end. I am here to record your civilization. Please take a trip in my book.”

The expert refused, but the book descended and killed him before he could react. With the corpse in the book, the Time Sage sailed away to collect the next corpse. Su Yu became absent-minded as scene after scene appeared in his mind. He felt as though this was a future he had imagined for himself. A free and unrestrained life.

Life as a Time Sage. Wandering the River of Time, past and future, nobody could escape being recorded in his book. After a while, he woke up from his reverie.

The old turtle was sipping tea in front of him. Seeing that he had awakened, the old turtle smiled and asked, “What’s on your mind?”

Su Yu coughed awkwardly and said, “I was thinking that you might have misunderstood something. I’m no Time Sage. I don’t even know what a Time Sage is. Tiangu has issued a kill order against me for no reason. Damn that bastard. He’s too annoying.”

“Tiangu…” The old turtle said, “It’s not surprising that he wants to kill you. Among the more ancient races, some records about the Time Sage must have survived until today. The records likely include information about the blood tribulation of the assembly as well. They must have decided to kill you after the appearance of the assembly’s tribulation. The initial tribulations you encountered were normal blood tribulations. But the final blood tribulation was abnormal. You were not supposed to survive, yet you survived. That surprised a lot of people. Give me more time to think about this. Perhaps the final tribulation wasn’t the assembly’s tribulation, after all.”

Su Yu said, “I don’t know any of that. What exactly is that Myriad Race Assembly?”

The old turtle did not give a clear answer, “Let me put it this way. During the ancient past, humanity conquered the various realms. However, the myriad races weren’t weak. While prostrating before humanity, they continued fighting for their rights. As a result, the Myriad Race Assembly was established. It was an organization meant to counter the Human Emperor. There were many laws in the ancient past. Some were established by the Human Emperor, while some were established by the assembly. The laws have persisted throughout time. At that era, the Human Emperor served as the speaker of the assembly.”

After a slight pause, he continued, “The laws set by the Human Emperor might clash against the laws of the assembly at times. This is normal. Most tribulations meant to punish were set by the assembly. As for the Human Emperor, he was the one who had established most of the laws related to heavenly rewards and the Allheaven Battlefield.”

Su Yu frowned, “Laws. Lord, you have been mentioning the laws repeatedly. Just what are the laws?”

The old turtle smiled, “Power. Incomparably strong power. You will naturally understand when you reach that level. At a certain level, one’s very words can turn into laws. For example, you’re the Human Emperor. When you declare that all murderers are to be judged, your words will be upheld across past and future, becoming the laws of all existence. From then on, all murderers will receive the judgment of your laws. At the same time, the laws will always leave a way out. Take your blood tribulation as an example. If you fail to survive, you die. If you manage to survive, you live. The laws will merely teach you a lesson not to repeat your mistakes.”

Su Yu said in realization, “So these so-called heavenly laws are essentially established by the experts whose influence had spread from the past to the future. When certain conditions are triggered, these laws will act to reward or punish the person who has triggered the laws. Is that the case?”

“Yes.”

“Are the laws smart?”

“…”

The old turtle laughed and answered, “The laws are dead. They don’t exist so long as no conditions are triggered.”

Su Yu asked again, “Where did the rewards come from?”

“Left behind by the ones who had established the laws.”

“Where are they stored?”

“…”

The old turtle gave Su Yu a deep gaze and said, “You’re very brazen.”

Su Yu smiled stiffly and said, “Lord, you must be misunderstanding something. I’m only asking out of curiosity.”

The old turtle was rendered speechless.

After a long while, he finally spoke again, “They are probably stored in the Luminous Domain Mansion. The ninth level I warned you against going to might be where they are stored. I’m certain there’s a River of Time there. I didn’t tell you this before because I was afraid that you wouldn’t be able to resist going. And now, I’m even more worried. Don’t be stupid. Stay away from the ninth level. The River of Time is a unique existence. There, you might encounter some ancient experts. They might have died. Or they might still be alive. However, the River of Time might have recorded a certain day of their lives. It will only be a projection, but a projection is enough to guarantee your death.”

Realization dawned on Su Yu.

Understood!

How terrifying.

If a projection of an ancient expert was truly recorded there, that wouldn’t be an existence Su Yu would dare to provoke. After all, even the old turtle needed to be respectful before such an expert. What a terrifying era. Even more terrifying was the fact that such a terrifying era had declined.

Assembly…legislators…

So that was the ancient past.

Humanity ruled the Myriad Realms, but the myriad races were unwilling to fully bow before humanity. As a result, an assembly was established to share some of the authority enjoyed by humanity.