Tribulation of Myriad Races

September answered after a short contemplation, “Su Yu.”

“Why?”

September said, “He’s terrifying. And the human race was too powerful back then. Even now, they might still have some of their ancient accumulation remaining. The legacies of people like Culture King and Martial King have yet to appear. Su Yu seems to have inherited the legacy of Culture King. The legacy of Culture King alone is already comparable to the total human legacies that had appeared in the previous nine epochs. Also, Su Yu is a very suspicious person. He only trusts himself. If we don’t give him our support now, he might come after us when he has the luxury to do so in the future.”

June nodded. September continued, “Also, he has more trump cards. I saw what he did in the Luminous Domain Mansion with my own eyes.”

September paused, inhaled deeply, and said, “That was an extremely terrifying existence. Just a remnant will. A face. And it easily destroyed dozens of Eternals. I’m worried about that. I don’t even know if that is also a trump card left behind by the ancient humans.”

June smiled and said, “Exactly. Therefore, I decided to fight. If humans win, good. If humans lose, well, there are still many major races left. Divines, devils, immortals, dragons, nethers…we can still pick one to support.”

September said, “You mean…”

June nodded his large head with his trademark silly and innocent expression.

Even at the event of humanity’s defeat, if the iron devourers remained strong enough, they could still make another choice. In the war between the myriad races, eliminating humanity was merely the first step.

After eliminating humanity, the various major races would scramble for power. At that time, the various surviving races could make a choice yet again. Supporting humanity now would grant them the chance to make a second choice when humanity was defeated. But going against humanity now would rob them of a second chance in the event of a human victory.

One choice and two choices.

It was clear which was better.

Of course, the premise for this to work was their survival even after humanity’s defeat.

The two bears flashed each other a silly smile. At that moment, August walked over, slammed his bamboo down on September’s head, and said regretfully, “Grandpa, am I not going to be the Pseudo Emperor anymore?”

It felt as though…he no longer had a chance. The Second Ancestor had picked his son over him. How regretful. He had been skipped over.

June looked at him and said, “You…affirmed your dao too early. I sensed it. Initially, the Second Ancestor considered you. But you have already affirmed your dao. With you, there is a need to worry about the clash of daos. You’re also stronger, so the tribulations for you would have been much stronger. The Second Ancestor’s remnant will was probably aware that the tribulations might be too strong for you to handle.”

Since September had yet to affirm his dao, his tribulations would be much weaker.

Meanwhile, August was already a seventh-degree Eternal. His tribulations might be strong enough to kill even Daofuses. The remnant will wasn’t confident it could handle tribulations of such level.

August looked regretful to hear that. As for the rest of the perfectly identical iron devourers apart from their size, they all nodded pensively.

Fortunately, Su Yu wasn’t around. Otherwise, he would have forced them to line up according to their size before nodding their heads. Currently, September had grown larger than August, ruining the balance. Someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder would most likely find this an uncomfortable scene to behold.

***

Su Yu had a rough idea of what the iron devourers were thinking.

He did not spend too much time there. His second stop was the Hou Realm.

The hous were the last to show their support toward humanity. He understood that they were still wary of this choice. They would have appeared much earlier otherwise.

Nope.

Instead, they had waited until the last moment before appearing. Su Yu was certain that even then, they still found that a difficult decision to make.

The Hou Pseudo Emperor was the son of Martial King’s mount. And being a mount was not something to be proud of. The Hou Pseudo Emperor had not complained about that, but that did not mean that he was happy about that.

Furthermore, the Hou Pseudo Emperor was the sole hou to have participated in the recent battle. None of their Invincibles had participated. That made things clear. They had finally made a choice, but they were still unwilling to go all out with their support.

Their full support wouldn’t be as easy to win.

***

Su Yu’s thoughts were correct.

Hou Realm.

A dusky sky and a desolate landscape.

When Su Yu arrived, two experts emerged to welcome him. One was the hou he encountered outside the Clearbright Bird Realm previously, and the other was Skyeater, seventh on the Dao Affirmation Ranking.

The hou he had encountered outside the Clearbright Bird Realm was extremely powerful. He had treated the entire realm as his personal farm. That was also Skyeater’s father. This wasn’t a big race. In fact, their numbers were even lower than those of the iron devourers. The moment Su Yu stepped into their realm, he saw the desolate environment.

There, the hou sighed and said, “How surprising that you’re now the human lord. Mayor Su, I did not expect you to grow this fast during our previous meeting.”

“That day, when you answered Great Zhou King what you would do as king, I thought you would never return.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “I’m surprised as well.”

Skyeater, the smaller hou, said, “Mayor Su, there aren’t a lot of us around. In this whole realm, there are fewer than a thousand of us. We were all very surprised when our Emperor joined the fight previously.”

There was indeed too little of them around. With fewer than a thousand of them around, one could say that they were at risk of extinction. Thus, they were very surprised to see their Pseudo Emperor joining the battle.

Su Yu nodded and said, “I was surprised as well. At the time, I did not expect anyone else to appear. I was planning to have the book spirit and tea plant fight while dealing with a Daofuse personally. We should still be able to kill a Daofuse or two, but the result wouldn’t have been as impressive without the Hou Pseudo Emperor’s participation.”

Without the Hou Pseudo Emperor around, Su Yu would still be able to kill the golden peng. But he would probably not have the chance to kill the Dragon Pseudo Emperor and Spirit Pseudo Emperor. He also probably would be able to get the Soldier King killed.

The Hou Pseudo Emperor had kept the Ape Pseudo Emperor occupied for the entire battle. The two hous felt rather uncomfortable hearing this from Su Yu.

He was talking about killing Daofuses like it was a walk in the park. The entire hou race had only one Daofuse. Thus, they were very wary of joining a major war like that. The death of their sole Pseudo Emperor would instantly cause their extinction.

Before long, they arrived before an ancient palace. The architectural style of the palace was rather wild, and it looked more like something carved out of a large piece of rock.

The moment Su Yu arrived, a voice rang out from inside, “Forgive me for not welcoming you personally, Human Lord. I am still recuperating from my injuries.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Su Yu smiled and said, “It is no big deal. Earlier, the entire iron devourer race welcomed me. I was quite embarrassed, so I had to gift them ten carrier treasures and the Dragon Pseudo Emperor’s tail to thank them. In public, I care a lot about appearances. But in truth, my heart was hurting when I gave them those gifts. I even helped September reach the ninth-degree Eternal Realm. I reckon he will achieve Daofuse in a few days or months. Sigh. My heart is bleeding.”

“…”

Silence descended.

Nobody said anything.

After a while, Skyeater asked, “September…ninth-degree Eternal?”

He couldn’t believe this. How was this possible? Was this nonsense? Did Su Yu remember things wrongly?

Su Yu smiled and said, “Yes. September is now a ninth-degree Eternal. Brother Skyeater, both of you are from the Dao Affirmation Ranking. You need to work hard. Of the people on the ranking, Principal Wan and Lan Tian are both walking their own daos. Heavencurse has been killed by me. Hollow has affirmed his dao. The rest will die sooner or later if they remain my enemies. Brother Skyeater, you need to affirm your dao as soon as possible.”

Hearing those words, Skyeater had a surprised look on his face. But he said nothing.

A gigantic hou appeared outside the ancient palace. Looking at Su Yu with a surprised expression, he asked, “How did you do that, Human Lord?”

Su Yu explained with a smile, “The iron devourers have a sealed dao. I removed the dao and handed it to September. Through that dao, he instantly became a ninth-degree Eternal. I believe as a Daofuse, he will be stronger than the average Daofuse as long as he’s not dumb.”

Because he enjoyed the monopoly of an entire dao.

“A sealed dao…”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor stared at Su Yu for a long while before asking, “Human Lord, is there a sealed dao here as well?”

“I don’t know.” Su Yu said, “I have never killed a single hou before. And it’s hard for me to know without killing some.”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor stared at him silently, unamused.

Su Yu chuckled and said, “Don’t misunderstand me. I don’t hold any hostility toward the races friendly to me. But do you know what the myriad races fear most?”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor said, “Please enlighten me.”

Su Yu grinned and said, “Someone who will go whichever way the wind blows. Today, they help you. Tomorrow, they will help me. The day after, they will help someone else. Everyone is wary of such people. It’s better to be firm with whatever decision you make or you might easily invite the annoyance of both sides. Or you can learn from the fate race and remain neutral no matter what and save the trouble for when someone finally wins.”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor was no fool. He understood what Su Yu was trying to say. He sighed and said, “You are right, Human Lord. I do not intend to play both sides. I wouldn’t have participated in the previous battle otherwise.”

Su Yu said, “But why do you look a lot colder toward me than before?”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor looked around and said, “Human Lord, please come in.”

“Thank you.”

Su Yu did not hesitate to step into the large palace. Inside his sea of willpower, his Dragon Pseudo Emperor blood essence was on standby. He was wary due to the cold attitude of the hou race. One could never be too careful.

The palace was rather empty. There wasn’t even a seat. Su Yu did not mind. He pulled a chair out and sat down before looking at the Hou Pseudo Emperor.

The Hou Pseudo Emperor did not have a seat either. Staying in his original form, he stepped onto the platform before sitting down. Skyeater and his father sat down on both sides of the Pseudo Emperor.

After a short silence, the Hou Pseudo Emperor said, “I shouldn’t have been so reluctant. Since I have joined the battle previously, I should have been more straightforward about my choice. But a Daofuse of my race in the Upper Realm might have died. Previously, we had two Daofuses up there. But not long ago, I sensed the great dao of my race shaking. One must have died. I don’t know if that’s related to my participation in the previous battle, but my support toward you is no longer as firm. I don’t know if this is the right choice.”

With both helplessness and pain in his eyes, he said, “We only have one Daofus left up there. If he dies as well…my race might cease to exist in the coming battle. Originally, I joined the battle thinking that my race would endure even if everyone down here dies. After all, we still have some people up there. But things have changed…”

Understanding dawned on Su Yu.

So that was why.

No wonder the Hou Pseudo Emperor looked so bleak this time. Previously, he had two Daofuses to entrust his race to. But now, one had died. He didn’t know if that was related to his choice. Thus, he wavered.

Su Yu thought about it and asked, “What do you have in mind now, Hou Pseudo Emperor?”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor said, “I don’t intend to renege on my word. I already fought once. There is no return from that. But I hope that I’m the only hou fighting in your war. The others should hide somewhere instead. If you can provide a safe shelter for us, I will keep fighting for the human race.”

“No, not the human race.” Su Yu said, “If you fight, you fight for me alone. I hope you understand what I’m saying.”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor’s eyes flickered as he said, “I understand. I am willing to fight for Emperor Yu.”

The premise of that was the safety of his race. Su Yu sank into thought. A safe shelter? What could serve as this safe shelter? The Culture King’s Residence or Luminous Domain Mansion?

“I have a safe place, but I still can’t take anyone in there yet. Also, that isn’t a place I want too many people to enter. You can pick three to five hous to act as the seeds of your race. But make sure they can behave themselves when they are there. I can understand your desire to protect your race. But gaining strength through the participation of one or two hous is quite unrealistic. What do you think?”

The Hou Pseudo Emperor nodded and said, “Yes, I’m asking for too much. But I have witnessed the extinction of too many races. Over a hundred ancient races have perished while fighting for humanity during the past nine epochs. Meanwhile, the human race is still around. I…am worried.”