Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu was done visiting the spatial beasts, hous, and iron devourers. He did not intend to visit the soul devourers again so soon. As for the primordial giants, he did not bother to visit them either. Since the situation involving them was a lot more complicated, he did not intend to visit before he was strong enough.

He might be brave, but bravery would work better when it was backed by actual strength. The primordial giant race was a powerful race as well. Apart from its king, a Daofuse, it also had more than ten Invincibles. Even Su Yu would find it hard to escape the Primordial Giant Realm once he was trapped inside.

His focus was now on the Luminous Domain Mansion. That was what he should be focusing on right now. To fulfill his dream of attacking the Upper Realm, he had to strengthen himself and his companions, including Heavendoom and the others.

Pacifying the Death Realm was the best way of freeing Heavendoom and the others before replacing them with some weaker Invincibles. These guardians could then attempt to achieve Daofuse.

If he could help Heavendoom and the others achieve Daofuse, they would form an extremely powerful fighting force. That would instantly gain him thirty-six super experts.

***

Grand Dream City.

The city was as empty as ever.

The only difference was the addition of an innocent demonic beast. The same demonic beast was still cultivating in front of the city. It did not dare to enter the city, but it would cultivate in front of the city anytime the city was around.

Su Yu’s arrival alarmed the young demonic beast. That was a super expert!

Su Yu glanced at the young demonic beast and smiled. This was his second time seeing this demonic beast. Thus, he tossed a chunk of dragon flesh over. Then, he stepped into the city.

The young demonic beast was fearful, but it couldn’t suppress its curiosity. Carefully, it swam toward the chunk of flesh. At the moment, that chunk of flesh was emitting the aura of a powerful expert, and its fragrance was spreading everywhere.

When the young demonic beast approached the chunk of flesh, its entire body started hurting. The power emitted by the chunk of flesh was a tad bit too strong.

Inside the city, the old turtle laughed and said, “Don’t randomly toss Eternal flesh around. This is nothing for you, but it’s powerful enough to kill the tiny demonic beast.”

Su Yu said, “It’s not that bad. Also, this is a good opportunity for the little fellow to learn how to avoid a crisis. I don’t pity anyone stupid enough to be killed by their greed.”

“How cold-blooded.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “You misunderstand me, Lord. This is my second meeting with it. Since fate has allowed us to meet twice, I naturally have to grant it something. How is this being cold-blooded?”

The old turtle chuckled and said nothing else. In the rear court of the mayor’s residence, a tea table appeared.

The old turtle said, “I can already smell the fragrance of a good tea.”

“You have a good nose, Lord.”

Several tea leaves floated out of Su Yu before landing inside the transparent cups in front of the old turtle. With a wave of the old turtle’s hand, drop after drop of water essence appeared before dropping into the cups.

A refreshing fragrance started spreading.

The old turtle sniffed the tea and said, “Excellent flavor. I can smell the power of dao in this tea. Are these the tea leaves from that tea spirit? I am truly honored. Not everyone can have the opportunity to taste the tea leaves from a Daofuse tea spirit. I reckon an experience like this is rare for even Great Dao experts.”

That was true. The tea plant’s tea leaves were not something just anyone could enjoy.

Su Yu sat down opposite the old turtle and said, “You jest, Lord. The tea plant is kind. She gave me a few tea leaves as a gift. Since you love tea so much, I decided to come here with some.”

“You…” The old turtle said, “You are already the human lord. In the ancient past, you would be the Human Emperor. There is no need for you to address me as lord anymore.”

“You jest, Lord.” Su Yu said, “The wise are always worthy of respect. I am only where I am today because of the holy cities. Without being the leader of the holy cities, the human race would never have picked me as the leader.”

The old turtle laughed and said, “You would have still risen in power without us. It’s only a matter of time.”

“That’s what you say, but you never know.”

Su Yu sat down and waited for the tea to finish brewing. When the old turtle was done, he lifted the cup and took a sip. After a short pause, he smiled and said, “A good tea will always remain a good tea even after drinking it many times.”

The old turtle took a sip as well. After a short pause, he sighed.

“What is it, Lord?”

“This is a good tea. Unfortunately, no tea will taste good anymore after this. Not even Heavenly Overseer Marquis’ Profound Heaven Tea can compare.”

Su Yu asked, “Previously, you mentioned that the Profound Heaven Tea came from the eighth level. Is that the case?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu continued, “Lord, is the guard on the eighth level a living being or a manifestation of law?”

“What difference does it make?” The old turtle asked, “What do you think?”

Su Yu thought about it and said, “That might be…the Gatewatcher Marquis?”

“…”

The old turtle chuckled and said, “Why are you naming people randomly? There was no such title in the ancient past. If I’m not wrong, the person guarding the gate is the Heavenbridge Marquis.”

“So that’s really a living being?”

“Not really.” The old turtle explained, “The eighth level leads to the Myriad Race Assembly. In the ancient past, there was a gate there. The gate was known as the Heavenbridge Gate. If someone is really still on the eighth level, it can only be the spirit of that gate. The Heavenbridge Gate. The Heavenbridge Marquis affirmed his dao during the ancient past before achieving Daofuse. Eventually, he was appointed a marquis. He is the only person who can remain in the mansion until now, guarding the gate to the ninth level.”

The old turtle had never mentioned this before. Clearly, he had changed his mind alongside Su Yu’s change of status. After all, some information would be pointless before one was strong enough.

Su Yu asked, “Lord, are there any other living beings on the eighth level?”

“Nobody knows.” The old turtle asked, “Are you thinking of entering the Luminous Domain Mansion again?”

“Yes.” Su Yu said, “If possible, I hope you can come with me as well.”

“Not me.” The old turtle shook his head and said, “The East Heavenly King might cause trouble when I’m gone. But you can take Heavendoom and a few others with you. I can help suppress their tunnels in the meantime.”

Su Yu nodded and said, “Lord, if I find a few Eternals to suppress these tunnels on their behalf, will it work?”

“They need to be at least high-degree Eternals.” The old turtle said, “Anyone weaker will have an extremely hard time completing this task. Also, the petrification method is lost. That was Devote King’s method, and nobody below the Great Dao Realm can use it. Back then, the guardians could use the petrification method to withstand the death qi. Without such a method, any replacement you find won’t last for more than thirty or perhaps fifty years.”

Su Yu nodded and asked, “What if we pacify the Death Realm?”

“Impossible!” The old turtle shook his head and said, “That is an impossible task. Even if you kill all thirty-six of the death sovereigns down there, the power of laws will transfer new death sovereigns over.”

Su Yu asked again, “What if we suppress them? Suppress all thirty-six death sovereigns instead of killing them. The laws won’t be able to replace them that way, right?”

The old turtle sank into thought.

Su Yu added, “I need the various lords to leave seclusion and help me. I need them to be at their full strength.”

The stone statues still couldn’t fight at their full strength right now.

The old turtle said, “That won’t be easy. Without the ancient cities, the tunnels will be even harder to suppress. For now, Heavendoom and the others are still strong enough to suppress the tunnels. But without their weapons, nobody below the ninth-degree Eternal Realm stands a chance.”

Su Yu gave it some thought and said, “Lord, I believe we need to do something about the Death Realm. We can’t keep them stuck with the tunnels forever. It has been a hundred thousand years. How much longer can they stand this?”

Su Yu said, “I refuse to believe that there are endless death sovereigns down there. We can try suppressing the thirty-six death sovereigns first. If that doesn’t work, we kill. When the laws transfer new sovereigns over, we continue killing. We kill until there is no sovereign left. If not even that works, we build our own force of death spirits down there. We will build our own death kingdom.”

He looked at the old turtle and asked, “After a hundred thousand years here, have you not established your own force down there?”

“…”

The old turtle looked around before answering without meeting Su Yu’s eyes, “That’s pointless.”

Su Yu sighed and said, “I understand now. For the past hundred thousand years, you were too busy. Too busy sleeping. You didn’t have the time to do so. Am I right?”

“…”

At times, honesty was a form of rudeness.

The old turtle coughed and said, “That’s not all. Let me put it this way. Before reaching the Daofuse Realm, it’s very hard for a death sovereign to have a stable mental state. Without a stable mental state, a death sovereign can submit to you today only to rebel tomorrow. I tried back then, but the results were…sigh. The death sovereigns I subdued forgot me soon after before doing as they wished. What am I to do about that?”

For the old turtle, this wasn’t possible.

He continued, “I even supported He Tu. He did recruit a decent number of death sovereigns, but it did nothing. Only the East Heavenly King can control these death spirits with his Heavenly King Seal. With that seal, he has the authority over the laws in the region. And through the laws, he can forcefully control these death spirits. That is why he has the ability to rule a region in the Death Realm but not me. I am only a Spirit Suppression General. I can suppress the death spirits, but not rule them.”

“East Heavenly King…” Su Yu raised his brow and said, “Lord, can you tell me more about the East Heavenly King?”

The old turtle paused slightly to organize his thoughts before explaining, “In the Death Realm, there are four heavenly kings. Each of them is a peak Daofuse. A true peak Daofuse. Back then, no living being was willing to be stationed in the Death Realm. Thus, the Human Emperor recruited four Daofuse death spirits to assist him in ruling the Death Realm.”

“Recruited?”

“Subdued through beating. The old turtle laughed and said, “Back then, several human kings were involved in the conquest of the Death Realm. Radiant King, Battle King, and Martial King had all fought in the Death Realm. They beat everyone up, subduing all the death spirits before laying down their own laws to put the Death Realm under imperial rule. Four heavenly kings were installed in the four cardinal directions. Several exits were left behind as well. These exits are the current thirty-six tunnels. The exits were left in accordance to the way of nature. A way out must always be provided in all circumstances. No truly hopeless situation must exist.

“The territory under my suppression includes the area under the Luminous Domain Mansion. But this whole territory is located within the region under the East Heavenly King’s rule. Or to be precise, this territory is a neutral zone within his territory. The Celestial River of Death acts as the border between our respective territories. Our territory is special in the sense that the river forms a loop around it. On our side of the river, Devote King and I held supremacy. On the other side, they ruled. That was how things were. They are the legitimate rulers of these territories.”

“…”

The old turtle was taking the initiative to tell Su Yu more about the Death Realm. This wasn’t something he would do before.

According to the old turtle, the territory jointly managed by him and Devote King was basically surrounded by a circle formed by the Celestial River of Death. Their authority only covered the inside of the circle.

Outside the circle, the four peak Daofuses ruled. Each of them was incomparably powerful. Even someone as strong as the old turtle wasn’t a match for the East Heavenly King. The East Heavenly King’s territory was the nearest to the old turtle’s territory.

As for the area under the mansion, which was supposed to be under the Devote King’s jurisdiction, it was nearer to the West Heavenly King.