Tribulation of Myriad Races

Death Realm.

Xing Yue’s castle was incredibly ancient. She had awakened a long time ago. And she had done nothing but renovate and decorate her territory. The moment Su Yu stepped inside the castle, he was alarmed.

The castle was well furnished, with meticulous decorations. Did Xing Yue do this herself? There were chairs, tables, and all sorts of furniture.

The castle was also decorated with numerous ash gray flowers and plants. Due to their color, they didn’t look too good. But this castle was definitely one of a kind in the Death Realm.

There were some other death spirits in the castle as well. Some looked like females.

One of them, a slightly sentient female death spirit, was serving as a maid. When Xing Yue arrived, she bowed respectfully and asked, “Sovereign, do you wish to have your meal?”

Xing Yue waved her hand elegantly, sending the maid away.

Behind her, He Tu burst out with laughter. Instantly, Xing Yue turned and glared at him furiously.

He Tu continued laughing. He couldn’t resist it.

He had been to Xing Yue’s territory before, but he had never entered this castle. This was his first time here. When he saw that Xing Yue was about to lose her temper, he hurriedly stopped laughing and said, “Don’t misunderstand me. I am merely having mixed feelings about this. Even after becoming a death spirit, you still maintain a tiny bit of your humanity. This is rare.”

He solemnly said, “Death spirits have no emotions. Laughter? Joy? Everything is an act. A play.”

An act.

Yes. They couldn’t feel real emotions.

Their display of emotion was mostly an act based on their past memories. The only thing they could feel was fury. A desire to kill.

Xing Yue had died and awakened many years ago. Throughout the years, she had regained some of her humanity. He Tu was quite surprised to see that. He had regained a tiny bit of humanity as well, but he was different from Xing Yue. He had awakened in his own body instead of awakening through the Celestial River of Death.

That gave him a higher level of intelligence compared to the other death spirits.

Xing Yue ignored him. An act? A dream? It did not matter. She merely didn’t want to live meaninglessly like all the other death spirits.

As of late, the clarity in her mind had increased significantly. Some of her past memories had returned as well. Her fury had reduced slightly, and her humanity had increased slightly. Thus, she was rational enough to know that it was pointless to waste her time on the arrogant He Tu.

Su Yu merely listened silently without saying anything. He acted like this was his own home and sat down on a random spot. When Xing Yue looked at him, he said, “Lord, the seat of honor is yours. The rest of us can sit down randomly.”

Xing Yue said, “Su Yu, this is my territory!”

“Yes, I know.”

Su Yu stood up, bowed as naturally as he was breathing, and said, “Lord, can you bestow upon me a seat?”

“…”

Speechless.

He Tu was left speechless. How shameless. How similar to…himself?

No. He Tu did not think he could reach such a level of shamelessness. Su Yu was at an entirely different level.

Xing Yue coldly said, “You may sit.”

“Thank you, Lord!”

After cupping his hands and expressing his gratitude, Su Yu flicked his fluttering sleeves to the side and sat down. Then, a cup of tea appeared in his hand as he started sipping tea in a refined manner.

Yes. He had brought tea with him. As a refined and cultured man, how could he go around without tea? He had merely been too busy to sip his tea previously. Xing Yue was tired of his antics. She decided to ignore him and walked to the center of the hall. That was the location of her throne.

With a smile, He Tu sat down opposite Su Yu. Meanwhile, Dummy remained standing with the same blank expression.

After taking a sip of tea, Su Yu said, “Since we’re here, I’m no longer in that much of a rush. This time, I will teach everyone a lesson that I am not someone they can kill so easily.”

He Tu said, “The tallest tree will usually be the first to fall. Su Yu, do you think that the old turtle and the other guardians are unrivalled? Do you think that the myriad races are really helpless against them? It is merely a matter of price. For example, the immortals can totally eliminate all the guardians if they really want to.”

“Yes.” Su Yu nodded, “I understand. If I do too much, I might attract more attention than I need, including the attention of some old fossils.”

“Exactly.” He Tu said, “I believe it is better for you to maintain a low profile. Since you are back early, just pretend you have been in the city all along. The humans can take the pressure for you. Those aware of your presence in the mansion won’t have the courage to say much. Most are dead, while the rest are scared of you. It’s not like they can convince everyone just by saying it without proof.”

That was the situation they were in. Either Su Yu or humanity had to shoulder the pressure of the myriad races this time. By keeping a low profile, Su Yu would be able to buy enough time to grow slowly.

Xing Yue said, “Don’t think that the Death Realm is your final escape route. It’s not that simple. After dying, you will stop being yourself. But without dying, how long can you remain in the Death Realm?”

Both of them were essentially telling him to stop attracting attention. It was time for him to keep a low profile. Just pretend he had been in the city all along. It didn’t matter what the others said. He could deny it. There was no proof that he had been in the mansion. He could insist that he had never left the city.

Su Yu took another sip of tea. After a short silence, he asked, “Lords, do you think humanity can take on this pressure?”

“Yes.” He Tu answered, “They will suffer some casualties, and they will be forced to spend some time licking their wound. That is all. I have a feeling the epochal war of this epoch has yet to arrive. The human race only needs to lose like ten or twenty Invincibles. That will be enough to reduce the wariness of the myriad races. They won’t push further since they are not ready to fight to the death either.”

Su Yu sipped his tea in silence.

He Tu laughed and said, “Sure enough, the living are still different. I am not like you. At this point, I will only sigh even if humanity goes extinct before my eyes. I was a human as well, but I don’t feel anything toward humanity anymore.”

He sighed. He couldn’t feel any emotions anymore. For example, when Great Qin King was on the verge of being killed earlier, he merely felt that it was a pity. Nothing else. He knew that he used to be a human as well. But that was the previous He Tu. The current He Tu was different.

Su Yu laughed and said, “Perhaps you’re right. When you’re alive, there are many things you can’t help but face. For example, I come from Nanyuan. I can say that Nanyuan is useless. It’s small, weak, cowardly, and poor. But if an outsider says the same, I won’t allow it.”

Su Yu continued, “If anyone dares to humiliate or harm those from Nanyuan, I won’t spare them. Thus, everyone is a hypocrite in a sense. You might act indifferent toward some things, but when it matters, you won’t be able to stay indifferent.”

Su Yu exhaled and said, “If I don’t take off the pressure, Great Qin King and the others will have to bear the brunt of the pressure. After all, there are too many human survivors in the mansion. In the eyes of the myriad races, that itself is a sin. Strictly speaking, I’m at fault for this. I killed too many people in the mansion. Sure, I can ignore humanity. But I don’t want to bear the guilt of getting Great Qin King and the others killed.”

“You…” He Tu laughed, “You care too much. Emotions have no place in the path of kings.”

“Is that really so?” Su Yu laughed, “Where are the kings of the Death Realm? There are no emotions here, right?”

“…”

Silence descended.

Xing Yue looked at Su Yu from her throne and asked, “So you insist on making a move?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu nodded, “But I’m worried…”

After a short pause, he continued, “I’m worried that the guardians won’t be willing to fight for me. Up until now, they have been helping me because our interests alligned. But how do they feel about me? Is there any affection between us? Thus, allow me to be honest. If the guardians are really willing to fight for me, I hope the two of you can keep the region under the ancient cities under control and reduce the pressure on the ancient cities.”

“If the guardians are unwilling to help…” Su Yu said, “I will require you to join hands and attack the ancient cities, putting more pressure on them. That will remind them of my importance.”

Yes. That was his solution. He had to increase his importance. He had to let the ancient cities know that they needed him. To do this, he needed the cooperation of the death sovereigns.

He Tu smiled and said, “What a good plan. It won’t be an issue. I am familiar with most of the death sovereigns in the region. They are unreliable when you need them to do other things, but they can be easily encouraged to attack the death tunnels.”

Su Yu nodded and said, “I don’t want the ancient cities to get too involved, but I also need the ancient cities to have the ability to keep the myriad races in check. Can I trouble you to…call for a meeting or something for a few days?”

“What?”

He Tu blanked out. What was that?

Su Yu said, “Principal Xia Chen is here. The two of you can host a feast here with the nearby death sovereigns.”

Hu Tu said, “That won’t work. Death spirits don’t care about feasts.”

Su Yu said, “If food isn’t sufficient, do something else. Since Principal Xia Chen has awakened, he needs his own territory as well, right? You can hold a meeting with the various death sovereigns and allocate a territory to him. The others won’t agree, but you can talk about this peacefully. Isn’t this better than attacking them directly?”

He Tu finally understood what Su Yu was trying to do. He said, “You plan to become the mayor of the remaining cities after returning. You need us to distract the other death sovereigns to give the guardians the opportunity to move with a reduced death qi burden for a period of time. Is that the case?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu nodded. That was indeed his plan. As far as he was concerned, he would either not do anything or go all the way upon doing something. Thus, he had decided to release all thirty-six guardians from their cities.

“But after that…”

“It will be fine. Normally, the various guardians will be in their own cities. The burden on me won’t be too heavy. I only need to release them when it matters.”

He Tu inhaled in alarm. What an ambitious guy. He was actually planning to release all thirty-six guardians.

“But there is no guarantee that they will fight for you.” He Tu warned, “You need to know that some of the guardians might dislike humans.”

“I know.” Su Yu nodded, “But I can release them. For that, they need to repay me somewhat, right?”

Xing Yue said, “Since you’re worried about the burden, you should lure the death sovereigns over one by one and kill them separately.”

Su Yu said, “Lord, you have been at peace for too long. You have forgotten this. The laws won’t allow this. The moment I kill one, a new death sovereign will arrive to take over the position. The newcomer might even be stronger. Lord He Tu might be more familiar with this. Why would the thirty-six guardians spare all of you otherwise?”

Xing Yue blanked out slightly. Was that really the case?

He Tu stared at Xing Yue speechlessly. After a long while, he said, “Things are peaceful here and you rarely leave your castle so you probably don’t know this. A lot of the death sovereigns under ancient cities have changed. Some were killed, and some left. But the position would not remain empty for long. As long as the tunnel remains, a replacement death sovereign will appear to take over the position. Xing Yue…how…”

How did she survive so long being so clueless? He Tu didn’t know what to say anymore. Even Su Yu knew this. How was Xing Yue unaware of this? Once again, Xing Yue felt humiliated. She glared at them furiously. Then, she snorted and decided to stop talking to them.

What was the big deal about having a brain? One of them was dead while the other could only survive through schemes. What was so great about them?