Tribulation of Myriad Races

After a short silence, Su Yu said, “Let them be for now. Just keep an eye on them. We have more important things to do. How surprising. I will have someone monitor them. This matter ends here for you.”

Great Zhou King said, “If they are Torchbearers, they might be here on an important mission. Perhaps they are here to seek help!”

Seeking help?

Su Yu blanked out slightly before recalling something. “Are you saying that due to the danger in the Upper Realm. The Torchbearers can’t wait any longer. Thus, they deployed someone to stir things up in the Lower Realm?”

That way, the attention of the myriad races would end up divided.

Great Zhou King nodded, “That is the only conclusion I can reach. That channel is too dangerous. It’s not worth using for any other reason. Emperor Yu, those newcomers might not be enemies. They might not mean harm. They are probably trying to observe and see if they can get any help from the Lower Realm. Please…don’t kill them hastily.”

He was worried that Su Yu would kill them for no reason. Maybe Su Yu would kill them without even bothering to communicate with them.

Su Yu rubbed his chin and smiled, “Sure. If they are really from the Upper Realm, I will receive them well.”

Instantly, Great Zhou King’s expression changed.

Su Yu rolled his eyes and said, “What is that reaction? I’m serious. I know too little about the Upper Realm. What you know is too outdated. I need to treat them well. As long as they are respectful and truthful to me, I will treat them as important guests. Do you think I’m a bloodthirsty butcher? I’ll kill anyone from the Upper Realm? Am I crazy?”

Great Zhou King looked sheepish, but that was really what he believed. After all, Su Yu had been expressing his satisfaction toward the Upper Realm lately.

Su Yu was all smiles as he said, “Don’t overthink things. I hold no hostility toward the humans in the Upper Realm. I only hate two types of people. Firstly, traitors. Secondly, people here to demand that I listen but are unwilling to listen in return.

“As long as they aren’t traitors, and they aren’t stupid enough to demand my obedience, we can be friends. Is this clear, Great Zhou King? Isn’t this clear enough? As long as they are obedient, they are friends. What are you worried about?”

Great Zhou King said weakly, “I only…”

“In the past, I believed that you were calm and collected. But recently, you have been hesitant and uncertain. Again and again.”

Great Zhou King smiled bitterly and said, “Because I am too worried that you will kill Hundred Battle King.”

“Hmm?”

Great Zhou King finally decided to be honest. With a sigh, he said, “Hundred Battle King isn’t dead. I suspect he’s in the Upper Realm. He is probably under suppression. But he is not dead. This is also a source of hope for the older ones like us. His survival is a good thing. Previously, I was trying to drag the peace out because I was hoping to wait until his return. After all, he was nearly as strong as a Master of Law back then.”

Now that he was already being truthful, Great Zhou King decided to go all out, “Therefore, he is still our hope. Yes, he suffered a defeat in the previous epoch. But so long as he can learn from it, he is strong enough to make a comeback. That is the only reason we are still holding on with hope. Because he is still alive.”

Great Zhou King looked at Su Yu and said, “Emperor Yu, you might not understand this. But he is indeed the final hope for old people like us. Was humanity capable of reversing the situation before your rise?”

Su Yu thought about it and shook his head, “It would be too hard.”

“Yes!” Great Zhou King nodded, “We all know that. Thus, we didn’t flee after the defeat of the previous epoch. Instead, we communicated with each other through a special method and decided to wait for Hundred Battle King’s return. He was the sole hope. He was incomparably powerful. We weren’t fools. We were simply out of options.”

Great Zhou King sighed and said, “I was once hopeful that we might be able to produce an expert like him in this epoch. But you knew what happened in the first few hundred years of the epoch. There was no hope for Great Qin King and the others. Because of Hundred Battle King, they couldn’t even reach Daofuse. Thus, I could only place all my hope on his return.”

The more he spoke, the more bitter he sounded. He said, “After thousands of years of staking my hope on Hundred Battle King, it was hard for me to suddenly change due to your abrupt rise.

“I doubt I’m alone. The survivors up there probably have the same opinion as well. Prior to this, there was no hope apart from him.”

Su Yu listened in silence. After a long while, he nodded, “With this, I can finally understand you somewhat. Hundred Battle King was your hope for countless years. Suddenly, an unstable variable emerged. Adjustment would be hard.”

Great Zhou King exhaled in relief and said, “It’s good that you understand. It’s not that we are stubborn. But it is hard to adjust after thousands of years.”

Hundred Battle King had been their hope for thousands of years. It was hard to change suddenly.

Su Yu smiled and said, “So was he injured or sealed? Or was he simply hiding?”

“Sealed.” Great Zhou King explained, “I didn’t see it myself, but he was indeed sealed. We don’t know the location, but Marquis Minshan once said that the next time the Upper Realm opens, the heavenly laws will shake, and the seal on him will loosen. In fact, each time the laws tremble, it is the best opportunity for him to escape his seal.”

Su Yu thought about it and nodded, “True. Even Martial Emperor is waiting for the same thing. Looks like the opening of the Upper Realm will be the best time to remove all sorts of seals. So if Hundred Battle King can regain his freedom then, there is hope for a reversal. Is this what you have been believing?”

“Exactly.”

Su Yu laughed and asked, “Have you ever considered that when he was sealed back then, the people doing the sealing would have seen this coming as well?”

“It was a bet.” Great Zhou King said, “We had no choice.”

“So be it. Looks like he will definitely return one day. But things might get even more troublesome after his return. Well, I don’t care about him.”

Great Zhou King gnashed his teeth and said, “If…if you help with the removal of the seal, he…might opt to assist you, Emperor Yu! He is very strong! Some of the ancient fossils up there are very strong. In fact, some of them didn’t even bother to fight in the ninth epoch.”

“Let’s worry about this later.”

Su Yu did not want to harp on the issue too much. Before long, he reached the Starfall Mountain. Noticing that Great Zhou King was still beside him, he said, “Okay. I understand now. If you want, you can take your people with you and reunite with those from the Upper Realm. You can work on freeing him yourself. And you can follow him after that. I am not that rigid. If you don’t cause trouble for me, I don’t care what you do. But be sure those you take with you repay what they have received from me. That is all.

“Great Zhou King, before his return, you’d better not get out of line. Don’t think those unnecessary thoughts all day long. I don’t want to waste any effort on you guys before even handling the myriad races. If you annoy me too much, I will handle you first instead.

“This is the end of the matter concerning Hundred Battle King for me. I don’t want to talk about him anymore, and I don’t care about his help. You can do what you want. Don’t interfere in the matter involving the four newcomers. I will have someone monitor them. Now, you are still Great Zhou King. Do what Great Zhou King should do. I will be making a move tomorrow. You will be joining. That is all.”

Great Zhou King nodded, “I won’t cause trouble for you.”

“Good.” Su Yu smiled and said, “You may return now. Hundred Battle King? It’s a small matter. A loser who couldn’t even defeat the myriad races. What can he do to me? If you do meet him in the future, remind him to behave himself. Don’t force me to withdraw my mercy toward him. That’s all. I have a meeting with Fat Ball. Go and do your stuff.”

Great Zhou King could only leave with resignation.

But right before leaving, he hesitated slightly and said, “If I…were to say that I trust you more…you…”

“There is no need for that.” Su Yu said indifferently, “You can trust what you want. Am I supposed to feel all touched because an old man like you has faith in me? Is this a joke? I am Su Yu. I rose from nothing. All my people were recruited by me personally. I trained them all with my own hands. To be honest, I don’t quite like followers like you.”

“…”

Silence descended.

Great Zhou King smiled bitterly and said, “Even when Hundred Battle King returns, I will continue standing on humanity’s side. I will follow the human sentiment. I won’t follow him blindly just because he’s the hope. Even if I do leave, I hereby swear that I will leave alone. I won’t take a single person away. Even my son will fight for you.”

“Your son is quite weak, but sure.”

Once again, Great Zhou King was stabbed in his heart.

With a helpless tone, Great Zhou King said, “In that case…I’ll be taking my leave.”

He left.

Su Yu chuckled. He could understand Great Zhou King’s sentiments. Su Yu might believe that he was better and more suitable than Hundred Battle King, but for some of the antiques in the Upper Realm, Hundred Battle King was probably better.

Great Zhou King wished to act as the bridge, but Su Yu couldn’t care less. They were unfamiliar with him. Why would they put their trust in a random twenty-one-year-old youngster? It was perfectly understandable.

Su Yu did not care about their support. Even Great Zhou King himself was aware of that. But he was also worried that Su Yu would really kill some of those antiques. Thus, he was trying his best to prevent conflict between the two sides.

“He is earnest, but unfortunately, they might not accept this gesture. He’s only creating trouble for himself. Doing this, he will offend both sides.”

That was Su Yu’s conclusion. He tossed the matter out of his mind and stepped through the waterfall. So what was the treasure Xing Yue had buried here?

***

Su Yu was filled with curiosity. Fat Ball was also curious. The little furball took the chance to escape the big tree and rested atop Su Yu’s head again. He looked curious as well, but his curiosity was fake. He was only trying to skip class.

Rear courtyard.

Su Yu saw the three blue flowers.

Fat Ball asked curiously, “Is there a treasure here? I have no idea. I have been watering the plants here, but I never dig the ground. Who buried it? That must be a long time ago, way before I gained my sentience.”

Su Yu said uncertainly, “I don’t know what it is. I don’t even know if it’s really here. But since there are really three blue flowers here even after so many years, there might really be a treasure here.”

He looked at Fat Ball and asked, “Do we dig the flowers out?”

“…”

Fat Ball struggled. He really didn’t want to do it. These flowers were very pretty.

“Can we skip that?”

Su Yu chuckled and said, “They won’t necessarily wither after that. We can plant them back down after searching for the treasure.”

“That…”

After a short hesitation, the white dog sprawled down on his belly and said sadly, “Fine, fine. Don’t kill the flowers! Why did they bury something under the flowers? This is so stupid!”

Su Yu wanted to say that this was a question he should ask Xing Yue. He didn’t know the answer either. And his curiosity was killing him. He couldn’t wait any longer. Before long, all three flowers were dug out. Then, he started digging straight downward. The soil here was quite special as well, but he was too impatient to spare any thought for the soil.

After digging a few meters down, when they were about to reach the River of Time on the other side, his eyes lit up. The little furball and Fat Ball looked down curiously as well.

Su Yu hurriedly picked up the hidden case and said with excitement, “It’s really! Xing Yue really buried something here! Fat Ball, what do you think it is? Is it some sort of supreme treasure?”

Fat Ball said, “A supreme treasure? Here?”

He was doubtful.

“Maybe it’s a pair of shoes?” Fat Ball started guessing, “A hair clip? Hair ribbon?”

“Even those things can be treasures.” Su Yu said, “Only supreme treasures can last from the ancient past until now without breaking down. Just this case alone is already a supreme treasure.”

He climbed out of the hole before filling the hole back. With a smile, he said, “Let’s see. Perhaps there are some pills in here?”

The case was sealed tightly. He carried the case and headed to the front courtyard before placing it on the stone table. Even the tree in the yard looked over curiously. Just what manner of treasure could it be?

And thus, Su Yu opened the case. There was no blinding radiance. The world did not shake. Nothing whatsoever happened. There was only a tiny piece of stone in it.

Su Yu, Fat Ball, and the others were stunned.

What was the meaning of that?

A stone?

Was this a joke?

When Su Yu looked at Fat Ball, Fat Ball shook his head and said, “Don’t look at me. This is just a normal piece of stone. I have no answer. You dug it out yourself! I did not swap the treasure!”

Su Yu’s mouth twitched. Was this a joke by Xing Yue?

Holy shit!

He picked the stone up. It was quite heavy, but it looked perfectly normal. He didn’t know what to say.

With a frown, Su Yu attempted to crush the stone only to fail. He said, “It seems quite solid. Fat Ball, give it a try.”

When Fat Ball clawed at it, the stone remained perfectly fine, without even a scratch on it.

Fat Ball exclaimed, “How durable!”

Su Yu was surprised. Was this a treasure, after all?

Something not even Fat Ball could leave a scratch on wouldn’t be something simple. It could already serve as a heaven weapon.

He studied it for a while, but he still couldn’t find anything. He said, “Fine. I’ll need to ask Xing Yue about this. I’ll be taking it with me.”

“Okay.” Fat Ball said, “Let me know if you need my help.”

“Sure.”

Su Yu left the residence with the stone. The little furball tried to sneak away as well, but Su Yu merely tossed him back at Fat Ball. The little furball needed to study more before leaving! That little fellow should stop messing around and study seriously.

The little furball was greatly saddened, but Su Yu did not care. In no time, he was gone again. He was too busy to stay here for long. As for the stone, well, he would simply treat it like a regular piece of stone.

***

Not long after Su Yu’s departure.

The entire Culture King’s Residence shook violently. Fat Ball hurriedly released his power to calm the entire place down. The big tree also spread its branches and roots out to stabilize the place.

After a while, calm returned. Fat Ball looked around in confusion. Finally, he said with the face of someone in a funeral, “Shit! That thing…is the foundation to keep this place stable!”

He had always thought that the place had remained stable in the River of Time for so many years because the house itself was stable. But he now knew that it was wrong. Something had happened right after the stone was taken away.

Clearly, that stone itself was more important than even the residence itself. Fat Ball’s expression turned sullen. Shit! Shit! How could he get the stone back? It seemed to be a treasure meant to stabilize the River of Time.

Fat Ball had a sorrowful expression. Su Yu did not seem like the type to return something he had taken.

Suddenly, he looked at the little furball and said threateningly, “Don’t tell him anything. I will ask for the stone back the next time I see him. I’ll tell him it’s useless!”

The little furball blinked before nodding.

No way!

He vowed to stealthily tell Yummy that it was a treasure!

That stone alone seemed more important than the entire residence! That was a jackpot!

Perhaps Yummy would finally take him away after learning this important information!

As for Fat Ball, he had a look of despair on his face. This was bad! He had failed in his guard duty!