Tribulation of Myriad Races

“The heavenly king regions used to have numerous Daofuses back then. A lot of the dead Daofuses had awakened in these four regions before being recruited under the banner of the four heavenly kings.”

The old turtle smiled bitterly and continued, “At times, it feels as though destiny is toying with us. In the ancient past, the various races lost more experts than the humans. Thus, the Daofuses in the four territories were mainly from the non-human races. A lot of them were killed by the humans during the conquest. Human Daofuses were greatly outnumbered there. After nine epochs, the number of human Daofuses in the four territories has dropped even further.”

The old turtle sighed and continued, “Based on what I know, there are twelve marquises serving in the East Heavenly Court. Among them, there is only one human marquis. The rest are from the other races. Excluding the two we killed not long ago, there are still nine of them versus only one human. We also have to take the East Heavenly King himself into the equation. He is an incredibly powerful expert that you can’t neglect.

“As for the number of the death sovereigns under their rule, it is even higher. The East Heavenly King is the most active heavenly king in our immediate surroundings as he is the nearest to us. He enjoys the authority from the ancient past, and he would even cross the border every now and then to arrest the newly awakened death spirits.”

“Arrest?” Su Yu frowned and asked, “Why?”

“According to the ancient laws, any death spirit at the seventh-degree Eternal Realm and above awakening within the Spirit Suppression Domain shall report to the four heavenly kings.

“During the ancient past, the imperial court did not intend for there to be too many experts in our territory. As we controlled the connections between the living and the dead, they placed this restriction to limit the ability of the dead to threaten the living.

“Thus, this became their reason to arrest He Tu. Naturally, He Tu would never cooperate. Even Xia Chen falls under their jurisdiction. Unless a death spirit awakens below the seventh degree before growing to that level, nobody can stay here. I kept He Tu here out of my own selfish desires. Thus, the East Heavenly King demanded that I release He Tu several times in the past. I never agreed.”

He Tu shouldn’t have awakened in their territory. Then again, he had awakened directly in the world of the living after dying.

Even so, he still fell under the East Heavenly Domain’s jurisdiction. But the old turtle had broken the rules for his sake and kept him behind. The old turtle said, “I went against the laws first. Thus, my authority to suppress death spirits won’t work if they come to carry out their official duty as stipulated by the laws. The laws will side with them instead. They wouldn’t have been able to cross into my territory so easily otherwise.”

Understanding dawned on Su Yu.

He said matter-of-factly, “Lord, just send He Tu and Senior Xia Chen away. That will directly give you the ability to suppress those people.”

“…”

The old turtle protested adamantly, “No! How can I do that?”

Was that a joke?

“I killed He Tu with my own hands back then. If I allow them to take him away, one death will be all it takes to fully sever Devote King’s line! I owe Devote King a lot! Even killing He Tu is not something I wanted to do! Alas, I was left with no choice.”

Su Yu asked, “With so many dead human kings, why aren’t any of them around in the Death Realm?”

The old turtle said, “I’m unsure. Either they are still sleeping in the Celestial River of Death or they have awakened beyond the territories of the four heavenly kings. In any case, I have never seen any death spirits above the Daofuse Realm in this area.”

After a short pause, he continued, “Perhaps none of them were brought into the Death Realm after dying. I don’t know. Maybe you can try opening a death tunnel in the Human Realm to check what it’s like down there…”

The old turtle explained, “For the most part, the death tunnel opened in each realm will lead toward the dead experts of that race. Perhaps you can find some dead human kings through a death tunnel in the Human Realm.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “Forget it. I’m not interested in doing that for now.”

Su Yu continued, “Lord, forget everything else, but we must pacify the Spirit Suppression Domain and its immediate surroundings. Can you defeat the East Heavenly King? From what I understand, he is the one the myriad races are most connected to.”

The old turtle frowned as he considered the matter and said, “That won’t be easy. They have over ten Daofuses, and I’m not even a match for the East Heavenly King. Perhaps you are the only person in the current Myriad Realms with the potential to grow strong enough to match him.

“I would need the help of another Daofuse to suppress him. Excluding the sole human marquis, there are nine hostile Daofuses there as well. We will need eleven Daofuses to barely match them. With Lanshan’s help, we will need ten Daofuses.

“They also have a large number of death sovereigns. Without at least five Daofuses, forget about pacifying the East Heavenly Domain. You also need to be wary of the other three heavenly king domains. You have to win the battle before they can interfere. And to do so, you need at least twenty Daofuses.”

Su Yu grimaced, “Twenty Daofuses?”

“Yes!”

Su Yu said, “That is probably the grand total of all Daofuses currently in the Myriad Realms, including our enemies. If I could gather many Daofuses, I would have conquered the Myriad Realms first.”

He stopped slightly and asked, “Lord, is there really no other method?”

The old turtle sank into thought. After a while, he said, “What is your main goal for pacifying the Death Realm?”

“Liberating the guardians.” Su Yu said, “I also want to make the Death Realm my final trump card. Just imagine it. In a desperate battle, I will open a death tunnel to release a bunch of allies instead of enemies. I don’t want a marquis to appear out of nowhere to challenge me at the most inconvenient times.”

“It’s too hard.” The old turtle repeated himself solemnly, “Su Yu, this really isn’t an easy task.”

Su Yu nodded. His expression turned solemn as well. “I know. For now, I plan to first pacify the Death Realm and put it under my control. Then, I will attack the myriad races and kill all their Daofuses. And finally, I will gather my forces and attack the Upper Realm.”

“What?” The old turtle exclaimed in alarm, “Are you sure?”

“Of course.” Su Yu answered with the same solemn expression, “I’m not joking around. Why must we wait around to be attacked? No. I will be the attacker. Seizing the initiative is far better than staying passive.

“I will catch them by surprise and kill ten or so Daofuses before anyone can react. I will terrorize them enough that some will give up on becoming my enemy. That will break their current unofficial alliance against humanity. Without the support of the other races, what can the divines, devils, and immortals do? They might be strong, but as long as I can remove them, the other races will fall in line.

“If I do wait around, the three races might be able to muster thirty Daofuses while the remaining races might be able to muster the same number as well. I will have to face sixty or even seventy of them at once. But by being the attacker, I can pick my targets and greatly reduce the number of Daofuses I face at any given time. First, I’ll wipe out a few races and teach them to fear me.”

“…”

The old turtle inhaled deeply and said, “You are truly ruthless.”

“Not at all.” Su Yu said, “This is an act of self-defense. Those above and down here all want me dead. In that case, I shall survive. I shall terrorize them so much that they shake at the mere mention of my name. Since I can’t win their respect, I shall earn their fear.”

The old turtle sank into thought.

After a long time, he muttered, “Attacking the Death Realm, liberating Heavendoom and the others, helping them achieve Daofuse, defeating the Myriad Realms, before taking the war to the Upper Realm…”

Su Yu nodded. Yes. That would be his best course of action. And first, he must liberate the strength of the ancient guardians. Without them, he wouldn’t be able to proceed with the other parts of his plan.

Allow the current deadlock to continue? Was this a joke? If he waited long enough, the thousand-year limit would arrive. Those from the Upper and Lower Realms would join hands against him. At the same time, those in the Death Realm would start causing trouble again. That would spell his defeat.

The old turtle sank into contemplation again. After a long silence, he said the same words as before, “Hard. That’s too hard. However, it’s not completely impossible to pacify the Spirit Suppression Domain and its immediate surroundings.”

That caught Su Yu’s attention. The old turtle said, “We can send He Tu and Xia Chen away first. With them gone, those fellows will no longer have the authority to freely cross into my territory. But that will put the two in great danger.”

He did not want to let He Tu leave his supervision as something unexpected could happen way too easily.

Su Yu tapped at the table lightly and said with a smile, “Lord, is it possible to lure those fellows in the East Heavenly Domain, including the heavenly king himself, into the Luminous Domain Mansion? Perhaps I can get them all killed there. Then, we can rule the East Heavenly Domain through his Heavenly King Seal.”

The old turtle exclaimed in shock, “Are you really trying to kill him?”

“Of course.” Su Yu asked, “Is he not capable of dying?”

“Luminous Domain Mansion…Luminous Domain Mansion…” The old turtle’s eyes widened as he said, “You are truly brazen! To be honest, I have never even thought of killing the East Heavenly King in all my years here! Because I know that I am not his match!”

Su Yu grinned and said, “The ancient humans managed to subdue the Death Realm. Why can’t we repeat the same feat? Yes, we are weak. But that guy in the mansion is by no means weak. As long as we can lure them in, getting them killed will stop being such an impossible task.”

Su Yu asked, “Lord, what if I enter the mansion with He Tu and Xia Chen? Will that be tempting enough to lure them all in?”

“It’s too hard.”

The old turtle said, “There’s no way the East Heavenly King will enter the Luminous Domain Mansion personally just to capture He Tu. He’s not stupid. Also, he has been in contact with those outside, including the immortals, divines, and devils. He’s not completely clueless about the events of the outside world.”

Hearing that, Su Yu frowned and asked, “How are they staying in contact? The thirty-six tunnels are under our control. Celestial Chasm Realm has been sealed by Great Zhou King. How else are they staying in contact?”

The old turtle asked, “How do you open new death tunnels?”

“With enough death qi…”

“There you have it.” The old turtle asked, “Do you think that these old fellows have lived for so long without gathering even a tiny bit of death qi? Death qi is annoying to handle, but they are strong enough to do so. With enough death qi, they only need to open a small death tunnel and keep it under control. In such a situation, not even the laws will punish them.”

Understanding dawned on Su Yu. So that was the case.

The old turtle continued, “Of course, they won’t dare to do so lightly. This is something to be done when truly necessary. After all, the risk of losing control is always present…”

The old turtle laughed and said, “Losing control will invite the punishment of the laws. Of course, we, as the guardians, will naturally be punished alongside them. Therefore, they are not that helpless against us. If they are desperate enough, they can open death tunnels everywhere and get everyone to die together.

“Then again, I doubt anyone below the Daofuse Realm can actually open a death tunnel. Anyone weaker won’t be able to handle that much death qi. They can simply open seven or eight death tunnels and let them run wild to keep us busy with the heavenly tribulations. Naturally, they will have to sacrifice seven or eight Daofuses to achieve such an effect so it’s a mutually-assured destruction.

“Therefore, we’re not too worried that they will do this as long as we don’t push things too far. At worst, we will sacrifice our lives to drag seven or eight Daofuses down with us.”

Su Yu said, “That won’t do. That won’t be a worthy trade at all. How can seven or eight Daofuses be more important than you and the others?”

The old turtle smiled. Flattery was something everyone would love.

Su Yu said, “In that case, the death spirits are probably aware of the danger in the Luminous Domain Mansion. But do you think they know about the mansion entrances?”

The old turtle asked, “You mean…”

“The death spirits won’t knowingly enter the death tunnel leading into the Luminous Domain Mansion. But what about the other entrances? Nobody in the Myriad Realms knows about these alternative entrances. Not even Tiangu. They know that Tiangu had previously started climbing from the first level, but they had no idea how he entered. They even suspected that He Tu’s presence was a trap by me. Lord, what if I take them to the entrances before activating these entrances suddenly? Can they escape the entrances in time?”

The old turtle’s eyes flickered.

“But the entrances are located within the Spirit Suppression Domain. I doubt the East Heavenly King and his people have the courage to enter my territory rashly.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “Are you sure about that? Weren’t they here not long ago?”

“That’s different. The East Heavenly King was still furious over Marquis Qishan’s death. Even so, he did not cross the border personally. By the way, that Marquis Lanshan of your race participated in the previous battle as well. She returned to the East Heavenly Domain after the battle.”

Su Yu frowned and asked, “Will the East Heavenly King make things hard for her?”