Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu sighed, “The dao of Human Emperor. I understand now. It must have tried to lead me to the Human Emperor’s dao, but the dao is too far while the token is too weak. Is that the case?”

The token shook slightly, as though it was telling him that he was right. Walking on the River of Time, Su Yu could sense the growing pressure on him.

As he walked, he noticed something else as well. All along, a branch, or a tributary of the river could be seen to the side. It seemed to stretch on endlessly. After staring at the tributary for a long time, he muttered, “I see. The dao of physical body. Humanity’s dao of physical body.”

“This dao is located near the spot all humans would enter the river from. Thus, all humans would accidentally step onto this dao when exploring the river. Different race will probably enter the river from different spots.

“Each race has a specific region on the river local to them. The nearest tributaries to them would also be the major daos they followed. This was not an option. They could only do this. The Three Body Method is merely a bridge. The so-called past and future is the act of borrowing the power from two different directions of the river and stepping into the tributary with this borrowed power.”

He had gained a deeper understanding on the essence of the Three Body Method. At this moment, the method itself wasn’t the biggest issue.

The tribulations were the biggest issue. The laws had forced the people of the Myriad Realms to walk only the Three Body Method. Su Yu speculated that some supreme experts must have blocked parts of the river, forcing most people to only explore the river through one method.

“No wonder. The white dog claimed that Culture King’s Residence is a lawless land, yet that is also a place one can advance into the Eternal Realm. The so-called lawless land is merely a region with no tributaries. The river was still there, and one could still open new tributaries there. That is essentially the inner region of the river.”

Understanding dawned on Su Yu. When one was deep inside the river, the tributaries surrounding the river would wane in influence. Thus, the various laws could not interfere with the affairs there.

Culture King must have cut off a section of the river and used it as his own residence. What an incredible feat. More and more, Su Yu realized just how powerful and terrifying Culture King was. That was why the white dog and the others could freely open their own daos without disturbance.

“Impressive. The white dog and the others are all walking their original daos instead of following existing tributaries. What about this river? Is it a product of nature? Or did someone make it?”

If it were a creation of someone else…he couldn’t even begin to imagine how powerful that person would be. After all, the river alone carried the myriad daos of the Myriad Realms.

Of the countless beings in the Myriad Realms, some pursued a different path. Time Sage was one. The creator of the Death Realm was one. Those were the two Su Yu knew for now. He was still uncertain about the paths of Culture King and the others.

If Culture King and the others did not have the same plan, it could only mean that Time Sage was far more talented than even Culture King. Naturally, she had likely failed. She was most likely still an Eternal instead of a Master of Law. Her laws were still kept in her Book of Time. She had yet to create her own River of Time.

“Why am I feeling like Time Sage is far more impressive than Culture King?”

No matter how many daos Culture King mastered, those were mere tributaries of the River of Time. Meanwhile, Time Sage wanted to create a new River of Time. That was an impressive ambition. Seemingly having sensed his praise, the Book of Time in his mind jolted in joy.

Yeap, yeap. Time Sage was impressive indeed.

Sensing that, Su Yu chuckled. Inside his sea of willpower, the Mark of Civilization was shaking as well, seemingly telling Su Yu to walk the same impressive path as well.

“That’s too difficult.”

Only now did Su Yu understand just how hard that would be.

Standing atop the River of Time, and looking at the torrential river, he had a bitter expression. Creating something like this? It would be unimaginably difficult. He even admired his past self, who was ambitious enough to forge the Mark of Civilization. Creating a completely original dao instead of latching onto the River of Time? Was that even possible?

“I’ll think about it.”

He sighed. He was still too far away from accomplishing something like that.

“Culture King…and removing a dao…”

Su Yu recalled that Culture King had relinquished his control over several daos. Did he do that in preparation for creating his own original dao as well? If that were the case, Culture King would most certainly be an unimaginably terrifying individual as well.

Boom!

Noticing an approaching wave, Su Yu smiled and withdrew from the River of Time. This wasn’t a place he could stay for long. He was still too weak to open a new dao. But he knew that if he wanted, he could step onto the tributary beside him and officially become an Eternal. Becoming something known as an Invincible to humans.

Alas, that tributary, the dao of physical body, was too worn out. Too many people had pursued it, and it had even suffered damage. Thus, he would only pick that dao if he lacked a brain.

“Only someone without enough understanding of the various daos will pick this shitty dao.”

Before leaving, Su Yu gave the wide tributary one last glance. On the expansive tributary, he felt as though he could see the footsteps of many. These were most likely the various seniors of the human race. It was likely that if one followed this tributary, one would reach a damaged region.

With too many people pursuing the same dao, competition would be stiff, and progress would be difficult. The possibility of the path ahead being a dead end was also high. In the ninth epoch, many experts died, allowing Hundred Battle King to take over the abandoned parts of the dao from all these deaths.

However, the death of someone who had occupied such a large portion of the dao like Hundred Battle King could very well result in the fracture of this dao. Even if he was still alive, the path ahead would still be a dead end as he had occupied the entirety of the path forward. This was a path without a future.

“Great Qin King and the others are pursuing a dao without a future.”

***

Finally, Su Yu withdrew from the River of Time.

The sky above was clear, and the air was fresh. Everything had vanished. Both the tribulation and reward were no more. Something had also changed within him. The world now appeared much clearer to his senses.

As he stepped down from the sky, the others rushed over. Ever the impatient one, Heavendoom hurriedly asked, “Did you affirm your dao? I saw you walking the River of Time! Did you catch your tri-life bodies?”

“No.” Su Yu smiled and said, “The Three Body Method is too weak. Just moments ago, I saw through this method. It essentially relies on two carrier treasures as the stepping stone to reach the dao of your choice. The so-called tri-life bodies, the past and future, are merely stepping stones.

“As for the Weapon Fusion Method, only a single stepping stone is required. However, this stepping stone is much more powerful in comparison. With more strength, it can bear more power, extracting more power from the River of Time.”

“…”

They all stared at him blankly. What was he talking about? His words sounded impressive, but they couldn’t understand much. But that did not stop them from realizing that he was speaking about something unfathomable.

There was an exception among them. The gate hurriedly said, “Yes, yes! Stepping stone…no, no, wrong! That’s not it. I remember Culture King talking about this in the past. According to him, the Three Body Method, the Weapon Fusion Method, or any other method is merely a bridge. A path. One leading toward the dao.

“However, I am special. I don’t require a bridge. As a gate, I can directly connect my gate to my chosen dao and step right on it. Thus, Culture King claimed that I have a bright future.”

Su Yu blanked out slightly before saying with a chuckle, “Indeed. You have a bright future. That’s basically identical to what I said. In short, we need to cross the river to reach our daos in the tributaries. The carrier treasures, or weapons, or the bodies of the spirits, are all essentially the vessels meant to carry us through the river.

“As a powerful gate, your body itself is the same as a carrier treasure. You can bear the power of the laws with your body alone.”

Suddenly, Su Yu paused and said with a frown, “However, your chosen dao might be quite weak. You should have grown much stronger by now. Considering the quality of your body, you are too weak.”

“…”

Everyone looked at him. Was Heavenbridge Marquis really weak? Not at all. He might not reign at the top of all Daofuses, but he definitely ranked among the middle tier. Su Yu was truly arrogant. Why was he calling someone like Heavenbridge Marquis weak?

To their surprise, Heavenbridge Marquis nodded and said, “Yes! Exactly! Culture King said the same thing! He said that I was too ignorant when selecting my dao. I picked the first dao I found. That was wrong. I should have selected a stronger dao or opened my own dao.”

He asked with a shocked expression, “Human Lord, are you Culture King incarnate? Why are you saying the exact same thing he told me back then?”

Su Yu laughed and said, “When you understand the true nature of things, you will naturally reach a similar conclusion. If you were to ask the Human Emperor, he would probably give you a similar answer as well.”

The gate reached his own conclusion as he said, “Explaining is the same as covering up. I see now. You are really the incarnation of Culture King.”

Su Yu’s gaze turned sharp. Instantly, the gate shut his mouth. He was reminded that he shouldn’t be so talkative. Inwardly, he was wary and scared. The return of Culture King? The real Culture King?

He gave Su Yu a deep stare before sending a voice transmission to the others, “He’s really Culture King! See, there’s a tiny gate on his forehead! And he wears white robes! He talks like Culture King! And he uses the penblade! Also, also, he entered Culture King’s Residence earlier! He calls himself a scholar! He also…”

As he rambled on, the gazes of the others turned odd as well. Yes. The resemblance was uncanny. Su Yu stared at them, realizing that the damn gate was most likely making up another story. He couldn’t even be bothered to explain himself anymore.

Culture King? Human Emperor? Upon understanding the nature of certain things, it would be natural for one to reach the same conclusion. One would even start to view the world similarly. As for the fact that he was saying the same things…what was the big deal about that? Anyone with the same understanding of the various daos would say the same things. These people were ignorant. Thus, they could only fabricate their versions of truth.

However, Heavendoom held no interest in this matter. He asked, “So do we continue looting the place?”

The laws around them had calmed down.

At that question, Su Yu looked up with his Heaven Gate. He saw countless powers of laws, all preparing to launch destructive bolts of lightning at a moment’s notice. The density of the power of laws in each area differed.

Seeing that, Su Yu smiled and said, “We continue. We’ll only retreat when I deem the time has arrived.”

“Okay.”

They resumed their plunder in excitement. Before long, the power of laws started converging around them again. As the converging power increased in strength, it even transformed into a saber. One that was capable of cutting all of them down with one strike.

The moment Su Yu noticed the saber, he roared, “Stop! Leave!”

Heavenbridge Marquis hurriedly opened the entrance, and they all stepped through it. In the blink of an eye, they were all gone. And right after they left…

Boom!

A saber dropped down from the sky, but it hit nothing. The power of laws in the entire eighth level roiled. It was as though the various laws were furious at losing their target of punishment.