Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu was even ready to forge ten thousand carrier treasures into his book, upgrading all his pages into heaven weapons. With this, he was sure his Mark of Civilization would surpass the Book of Time. Ultimately, he would be able to fuse ten thousand daos and recreate a new Myriad Realms. He was a lot more ambitious than even the Time Sage.

In his opinion, since the Time Sage had abandoned the Book of Time, it was likely that she no longer required it. Perhaps he should take it apart and forge it into his book as well. At present, he had grown strong enough to gain a slight control over the Book of Time.

Back then, Time Sage did not have the courage to exterminate the myriad races since there were various Masters of Laws around. She could only hunt them down in secret. Su Yu was different. He had the courage to do anything.

The daos in the Book of Time felt too flimsy. They didn’t feel real. That was not acceptable for him. Su Yu was crazy enough to exterminate every race hostile to him and fill his Mark of Civilization with them.

With a look of resignation, Heavenly Forge King said, “Fine, I accept this mission.”

He could already picture his terrible life in the near future.

Su Yu looked at Zhao Li and Zhao Tianbing before saying, “Teachers, I will be troubling you for this as well. I am too busy to do this myself. It’s too time-consuming.”

No matter how incredible he was, he would only be able to complete around three earth weapons per day. He would take ten whole years to finish this job. In the process, he wouldn’t be able to do anything else.

Zhao Li said, “Don’t worry about it. Just worry about the more important things. We will handle these trivial matters. Don’t worry. I’m now a heaven weaponsmith. With me around, nobody can play any tricks on your weapon. I’ll keep an eye on Heavenly Forge King as well.”

He was as straightforward as ever. He was also saying this to warn Heavenly Forge King against trying anything stupid. Such stupidity would only make things awkward between them.

His warning was understandable. After all, all weaponsmiths had the bad habit of leaving backdoors in their forged weapons. They wouldn’t feel comfortable completing a weapon without leaving a backdoor in it.

Heavenly Forge King smiled bitterly and said, “Zhao Li, even if I have such a habit, I won’t do it on Emperor Yu’s weapon. What is this?”

Zhao Li said, “It’s better to give the warning in advance than to make things ugly later.”

“Don’t worry.”

Heavenly Forge King did not say more. Su Yu merely smiled. With Zhao Li around, he did not need to say everything himself.

It was true that all weaponsmiths had the habit of leaving backdoors in weapons. But as the person requesting the work, it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to give the warning himself. As the requester, he could always cancel the request if he was so worried. This was the main reason he had called Heavenly Forge King over this time.

He said, “Additionally, try to use the blood essence of Eternals for these pages. Or at the very least, use Sunmoon blood essence. Only downgrade further for races without even a Sunmoon. I will inform the soldiers in the battlefield that even the races who have submitted need to provide us with some blood essence.”

The others nodded, but Heavenly Forge King sighed. Eternal blood essence. Such a material would only make the forging process harder.

Suddenly, he recalled something else. Instantly, his mood improved as he said, “Emperor Yu, will Hu Xiansheng be doing his task alone?”

At the very least, he had the help of other weaponsmiths. Meanwhile, Hu Xiansheng would need to cut 9,700 chunks of space alone. That would be a lot more tiring.

Su Yu said, “I’ll visit the spatial beasts later. They are good at space manipulation. I will get them to help with it.”

Instantly, Heavenly Forge King’s improved mood faded. As for Su Yu, he was in a great mood after making the request. He still intended to use the Mark of Civilization as his dao weapon. Culture King’s dao might be powerful, but that still wasn’t his original dao.

After all, he had to be careful lest he somehow turn into Culture King’s enemy in the future, right? He would be completely in Culture King’s mercy if he were still using Culture King’s dao at the time.

Thus, he was essentially planning for the future. Anything could happen. One should not discard any possibility.

He much preferred pursuing his own dao. What was the point of cultivating if he couldn’t even surpass those before him? Furthermore, he had the perfect environment to pursue such a dao. A chance to freely slaughter the myriad races wouldn’t come easily.

During Culture King’s era, Time Sage became the public enemy of the myriad races even when she was doing it stealthily. Meanwhile, Su Yu had the option to do it openly.

Su Yu was very ambitious. He wanted to create another River of Time. With the existence of the physical body dao, the Celestial River of Death, and Time Sage’s path, he couldn’t help but aim to surpass all these predecessors.

After all, they were all people who had opened the Heaven Gate. Why must he be worse than them?

Also, since Time Sage was begging for help, her enemy was clearly unimaginably powerful. Would Su Yu be able to handle such an enemy as Time Sage the second or Culture King the second? He had promised the white dog to help.

He knew himself well. He was treacherous, selfish, and paranoid. He had a lot of faults. But he was not one to forget favors. He would not let his benefactor suffer losses.

In fact, he had shown leniency to even Liu Hong. If he wanted, he could have prevented Liu Hong from entering the Death Realm for the ink dao. But Liu Hong had once helped him with Culture King’s token. Thus, he had allowed Liu Hong’s departure.

Since he had received so many benefits from Time Sage and Culture King, and he had also promised the white dog, he naturally wouldn’t go back on his word. Even if this were a dangerous pursuit, he wouldn’t give up.

Su Yu smiled and said, “We’re done here. Teachers, you may return.”

Before long, Heavenly Forge King and Zhao Tianbing left. As for Zhao Li, he stopped at the entrance and turned around to look at his student again. His student had the usual genial smile, but he could see a trace of exhaustion behind that smile.

He frowned and said, “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself. You are not the reason for humanity’s decline. Our predecessors were the culprit. As for the Upper Realm, fight if you can win. If not, just flee. You are strong enough to do that much.

“We are plagued by internal and external issues. You have grown too quickly for people like us to help. Those by your side are old foxes like Great Zhou King. You might not have their true loyalty. But you have done well. Nobody else could have done better. Don’t forget that.”

Zhao Li was very serious. This student of his owed humanity nothing. Everyone complained that he was overbearing and cruel. What a joke. If he weren’t overbearing and cruel, would these human Invincibles even submit to him?

Would they submit to kindness alone? How was humanity supposed to face the external enemies without first solving the internal issues? Su Yu had worked and fought untiringly since he left Great Xia. He had never rested. Zhao Li had been paying attention. And he had taken note of everything Su Yu had experienced.

Su Yu had danced at the edge of life and death repeatedly. He was the first human lord who was also a pseudo death spirit. If given a choice, would Su Yu even want to turn himself into a pseudo death spirit?

He had merely done so out of desperation. But after his success, some people were starting to think that it wasn’t bad to be a pseudo death spirit. But why had nobody pursued this path before him?

“Teacher, I’m fine.”

Looking at Su Yu’s smile, Zhao Li said, “You can maintain your look of confidence in front of others. But don’t bother doing that before me. I heard that there are more than a hundred Daofuses in the Upper Realm. You can make all these plans, but will humanity be able to gather enough Daofuses to face such a force? Just leave if you can’t win. I believe you can at least guarantee your own survival.”

Zhao Li said, “Everyone says that you’re cold-blooded. But for me, your blood is hot. Too hot. You are truly stupid for accepting this mess. It doesn’t benefit you whatsoever. Instead, it only serves to drag you into an endless abyss.”

Zhao Li sneered and said, “Great Zhou King and the others seem so capable. Why didn’t they pacify the myriad races? Even now, there are still people saying that you are disrespectful toward the Eternals. They say that you have grown arrogant after achieving success at a young age. Don’t worry. I already handed the names of all these people to Xia Longwu. These people will be sent to war against the myriad races. If they survive, they can count themselves lucky. If they die, they deserve it.

“Since you’re insisting on remaining a leader of humanity, there is no need to bear all the infamy. Summon Wan Tiansheng back. Have him act as your blade. Cut down all opposing voices. He’s a veteran at this. As the leader, preserve your reputation. There is no need to dirty your own hand.

“Wan Tiansheng will gladly agree to help. For now, he does not have a reason to return. Use war as the pretext to call him back. He will be a reliable supporter. No matter what, Old Wan is a senior of your lineage. Even Yun Chen and Nan Wujiang can be counted on. Ignore the opinion of others. Try to show them some favors…”

Zhao Li gave Su Yu numerous advice. He could see the exhaustion and helplessness behind that smile of his student. The Upper Realm was filled with Daofuses. Would that be a place one could attack so easily?

Some gaps couldn’t be closed through only schemes.

How many Daofused could humanity even produce? Apart from worrying about the enemy races, humanity also needed to maintain enough strength to ensure the loyalty of their allies. Even an ally as reliable as the iron devourer race might choose to do something drastic when the very survival of their race was on the line.

Su Yu’s prestige among them would not matter. For each race, nothing would be more important than the survival of that race.

Even the old turtle, someone so supportive of Su Yu, wasn’t ready to go all the way with him. That was why Heavendoom advised him to be decisive. Why? Because there was a chance that the old turtle might not stand all the way with Su Yu. In fact, Su Yu himself was aware of this.

That was why he had been trying to avoid losses. He did not want to remind these allied races of Hundred Battle King. One could say that Hundred Battle King was the culprit for Su Yu’s current difficult position. Due to him, the ancient races were incredibly wary of humanity. And now, Su Yu was left to deal with the aftermath.

That was why Su Yu would always curse at Hundred Battle King whenever he got the chance.

***

After a while, Zhao Li left.

Su Yu sat alone on his throne as he blanked out. After a long while, he chuckled. He was not truly alone in this world. These people had been helping him since the very beginning. Even now, they were still supporting him.

“A monarch is lonely…”

That was a quote Su Yu recalled, a quote he had read somewhere before. Why the loneliness? Because nobody would understand the monarch. Before long, he would leave again. He didn’t know when he would return again. He didn’t know if he could even return again.

Every departure could be an eternal farewell. Pacifying the Death Realm, defeating the North Heavenly King, and attacking the various realms. Any carelessness might result in his death.

“How tiring…”

Su Yu muttered to himself. But soon, his smile returned. With the usual confident smile, he stepped forth and left the holy land. Outsiders could only see his strong and confident self.

***

Allheaven Battlefield.

Xia Longwu frowned slightly, but soon, his expression returned to normal. They had just finished their conquest of a minor realm. They were resting and preparing for the next battle.

Martial Dragon Guard.

This was the elite army of Great Xia. Of course, all the armies were now grouped together. They were no longer split by prefectures. Thus, the Martial Dragon Guard was now one of the more elite groups among this great army of humanity.

Inside the camp of a thousand-man commander.

Chen Hao was busy arranging the battle assignments when his vision blurred. All the hundred-man commanders around him stopped moving, as though time had stopped. Noticing that, Chen Hao’s expression changed as he drew his blade. But after a moment, his eyes flickered and he flashed a silly smile as he asked, “Why are you here?”

“You’re a thousand-man commander now?”

Su Yu smiled as he walked out of the darkness with his fluttering white robes.

With the same silly smile, Chen Hao said, “Yeah. Those above look highly upon me. With my advancement to the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm, they gave me this position. It’s not bad at all.”

Su Yu smiled and sat down before focusing on Chen Hao. This was his childhood friend, someone who was just as young as him. But now, his childhood friend had grown a beard, giving himself a mature look.

He looked just as simple and honest as always…which was, of course, a lie.

Su Yu said, “Already a seventh-stage Cloudbreach? Quite a fast growth.”

“I’m doing decently. I received some rewards after killing a few experts.”

After pouring Su Yu a cup of tea, Chen Hao asked, “So why are you here?”

“I’m passing by.”

Chen Hao nodded. Looking at his childhood friend, he asked, “Tired?”

“Not too bad.”

“A pity I can’t be of much help. Otherwise, I would beat up anyone you point at.” Chen Hao said, “In the past, my old man always told me that I wouldn’t go wrong by following your words. I want to do so, but that is no longer possible. Yu, you can only bear this burden yourself.”

For some reason, Su Yu nearly teared up upon hearing those words.

But soon, he calmed his emotions and said, “It’s fine. I can bear this much burden. I am undefeatable. But you…why didn’t you look for me?”