Tribulation of Myriad Races

Seventh level.

Martial Emperor was still floating in the sky in his willpower body. Not far away, a gate appeared and a familiar figure stepped out of it.

Martial Emperor’s expression changed.

Su Yu!

What a terrifying speed of growth. It hadn’t even been that long yet Su Yu’s grasp over the pen dao had reached a rather high level.

“Been a while, Martial Emperor.”

A while? No?

Martial Emperor said nothing. It hadn’t been that long. They last clashed on the day of Lan Tian’s dao pioneering. At the time, he had suffered a minor defeat. Su Yu was simply too overbearing. He had smashed the token down without bothering to say anything.

One could say that Martial Emperor had witnessed Su Yu’s rapid growth with his own eyes. Su Yu had first entered the mansion about a year ago. At the time, even ninth-stage Sunmoons were challenging opponents for him. But now, he had grown to the level of a pseudo king.

Back then, Su Yu had claimed that he wouldn’t fear a free Martial Emperor. Naturally, Martial Emperor viewed that as a stupid claim by a clown.

But after seeing Su Yu again, Martial Emperor could no longer take that claim lightly. He couldn’t help but wonder if Su Yu would really grow enough to contend against him by the time he was free.

“Su Yu!”

Martial Emperor asked, “Did you descend from the ninth level?”

Su Yu answered with a smile, “Yes.”

With a wave of his hand, a table and two chairs appeared.

“Take a seat. Let’s get some tea.” Su Yu asked, “I doubt you’re ready to turn against me so soon, right? Of course, I’m quite busy at the moment as well. I don’t have the time turn against you.”

Martial Emperor’s expression turned cold as he said, “Even if you wish to turn against me, what can you even do? Can you kill me?”

Su Yu shrugged, “Who knows? I can’t kill you, but I can make things unpleasant for you. Am I right? Come on, what’s the point of all this hostility? Take a seat and have a chat. My people are gathering some stuff upstairs, so I have some time to burn. I’ll naturally leave you to your peace when they’re done.”

Martial Emperor snorted before sitting down.

With a chuckle, Su Yu sat down as well. Then, he gave Heavenbridge Marquis a glance. Once again, Heavenbridge Marquis read his mind and ran over to start making tea.

Only then did Su Yu look at Martial Emperor again. With a gentle smile, he said, “Martial Emperor, may I ask some questions?”

Martial Emperor merely stared at Su Yu coldly.

Su Yu said, “I will ask you some questions, but you can ask me some questions as well.”

Martial Emperor sneered and said, “You don’t know anything worthy of my attention.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “What do you mean? Don’t you want to know about the whereabouts of Human Emperor? Martial King? And the others? Are you not curious about the current situation outside and the top powerhouses who are still around?”

He sipped at the tea Heavenbridge Marquis poured him and said, “Martial Emperor, you’re behind times. It has been over a hundred thousand years. How much do you even know? You don’t know everything, right?”

After a short silence, Martial Emperor concurred, “You’re right. Go ahead. Ask me one question. In return, I’ll ask you a question as well.”

He added, “Do not try to lie.”

Su Yu laughed, “Are you really so wary of me?”

Martial Emperor said nothing.

Su Yu did not mind the silence. He asked, “I’ll ask the first question, then. During the primordial past, there were many powerhouses around. Strictly speaking, Culture King and the others were all experts from the late primordial past. Just what is the primordial past?”

Martial Emperor frowned and asked, “Are you asking about the origin?”

Su Yu nodded.

Martial Emperor thought about it and said, “Your so-called primordial past was the era we rose in. That was a chaotic era where the myriad races were still actively fighting each other for power. As for the origin, or the core event marking the start of that era…I suppose it was the appearance of the Death Realm.”

He sounded unclear as he explained, “We did not experience the early part of the era, but there were two prevailing views during that time. From humanity’s perspective, the primordial past began when the Human Ancestor led humanity in its rise to power. From the perspective of the myriad races, the primordial past began when the Death Realm appeared.”

Su Yu’s eyes flickered as he said, “Are you saying that Human Ancestor and the master of the death spirit dao existed in the same era?”

Martial Emperor nodded.

Su Yu wanted to ask more questions, but he was cut off by Martial Emperor. “It’s my turn to ask.”

Su Yu said, “Go ahead.”

“Where’s Tai Shan?”

Su Yu laughed. He knew this was what Martial Emperor would ask. He answered, “Martial King, Culture King, and Time Sage are together. But I don’t know the specific location.”

Martial Emperor’s face turned frosty.

Su Yu said, “Calm down. It’s unhealthy to be angry all the time. The exact location isn’t really that important. More importantly, all three are still fighting some powerful enemies. These enemies are so powerful that Martial King is near death. A few years ago, Time Sage reached her limit. Do you know Time Sage?”

“No.”

Martial Emperor gave a simple answer.

Su Yu explained, “Culture King’s sister, also a supreme powerhouse. In my opinion, you’re not even worthy of cleaning her shoes.”

“…”

Martial Emperor’s expression turned frosty again.

Su Yu laughed and said, “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m speaking the truth. In my eyes, Time Sage is comparable to Human Emperor. She’s even better than the Four Cardinal Kings. Are you going to claim that you’re better than the Four Cardinal Kings?”

Martial Emperor frowned, “Are you serious? Why have I never heard of Culture King’s sister?”

“You are ignorant and uncultured. Of course you don’t know her.”

Su Yu said, “I’ll tell you what I know. The three are probably together. Time Sage must have discovered something dangerous related to the River of Time. She was an explorer of the River of Time, so she must have discovered something during her travels. Then, she encountered danger. Culture King and Martial King left to rescue her.”

He smiled and asked, “How do you feel about this? Three supreme experts who are trapped and maybe even dead. What can you do even if you know their location?”

Martial Emperor blanked out. Three supreme experts. According to Su Yu, Martial King was the weakest among them. Time Sage was stronger than even Culture King. And the three had encountered a danger that had probably killed them. In that case, what could he do even if he knew the location?

Su Yu asked, “What is the era before the primordial past?”

“Creation era.” Martial Emperor regained some of his calm and explained, “Following the explanation of humanity, the eras of the Myriad Realms can be split into the creation era, the primordial past, the ancient past, and the present day. During the creation era, the various realms did not exist. Everyone was still living in the desolate wilderness. At the time, ancient beasts reigned supreme while the myriad races struggled to survive.

“During the primordial past, the myriad races rose in power, pacified the ancient beasts, and created the various realms. During the ancient past, Human Emperor conquered the various realms.”

Su Yu nodded and said, “In that case—”

“My turn.” Martial Emperor asked impatiently, “Where are Human Emperor and the others?”

“…”

Didn’t this guy claim that he was uninterested earlier?

Su Yu answered anyway, “Somewhere in the River of Time. Probably somewhere upstream. You have the Heaven Gate as well so you should understand. There will be time dilation when you travel upstream. Perhaps for them, it has only been hundreds of years. For us, it has been a hundred thousand years. Of course, they could return at any time. I believe that they will all return in the not-so-distant future.”

“Hmm?” Martial Emperor looked shocked, “Return?”

Su Yu said, “They can’t keep existing in a different timeline forever. Slowly but surely, they were realigning back with this timeline. The various races have battled each other for a hundred thousand years. We have all exhausted our trump cards. It is time for those ancient monsters to get on the stage.”

Su Yu smiled and said, “Three years? Five? Or maybe ten? Who knows? But they will be back soon.”

Martial Emperor inhaled deeply and asked, “Do you not know the exact time of return?”

“What a stupid question. If I knew the exact time, I could have delayed things and waited for them to return instead of working so hard.”

Su Yu smiled, “My turn. Do you remember any experts capable of threatening experts at the level of Culture King and the others? Also, did Human Ancestor cultivate the physical body dao? Where is he? You previously said that the death spirit dao is an incomplete dao. Where is the master?”

Martial Emperor frowned, “Are you sure that’s one question?”

Was this guy taking him for a fool?

Su Yu laughed and said, “Answer first. I doubt you have all the answers. You can ask me more questions as well.”

Martial Emperor frowned, but he still answered, “Human Ancestor was probably the pioneer of the physical body dao. He was the reason for humanity’s rise. Through the physical body dao, humanity produced a large number of top experts in a short time, building a foundation for future humans to explore their own daos. As for the master of the death spirit dao, he was a legend during that era. Much of him was unknown. I don’t know if he’s dead or missing. As for the experts capable of threatening Culture King and the others…”

He thought about it and said, “I can’t remember any. The cooperation of several Masters of Laws, or having people like the Immortal Pseudo Emperor, Devil Pseudo Emperor, and a few others fight to the death might pose a threat to them. But I doubt any of those people could defeat even Tai Shan when fighting alone.”

Su Yu frowned. Was that really the case? In that case, what manner of danger did Culture King and the others encounter?

Su Yu exhaled deeply as he sank into thought, but Martial Emperor did not give him the chance to think too much. “Tell me about the current situation out there. Are there any Masters of Laws left among the myriad races?”

Su Yu said, “I don’t know for sure, but they have some Venerables. I have not heard of any active Masters of Laws.”

“Venerables?”

“The strongest of Daofuses. People with dao comprehension of Masters of Laws yet stuck below that realm.”

Martial Emperor looked thoughtful as he heard that.

Su Yu continued, “I went up there not long ago. It was quite fun. Do you know Control King?”

What a redundant question.

Su Yu grinned and continued, “This is an interesting lineage. They founded their own race up there and produced countless experts. I suspect they have Masters of Laws among them.”

Martial Emperor asked, “Isn’t further advancement impossible now? Were these the survivors from the past?”

“No.” Su Yu shook his head and said, “I’m not talking about their cultivation realm. It’s their combat strength. Do you understand me?”

“Like those pursuing the physical body dao?” Martial Emperor understood immediately.

Su Yu said, “But they don’t pursue the physical body dao. They pursue the chaos dao. Normal cultivators like us are all stuck below the Master of Law because Human Emperor did something to the myriad daos. But Human Emperor couldn’t do anything to the chaos dao.

“Control King’s lineage resides in a chaos region and walks the same dao as the ancient beasts. Thus, the restriction might not be applicable to them. They can probably keep growing until they have the combat strength of Masters of Laws.”

“Chaos dao?” Martial Emperor might be a brute, but he was still a genius who had opened the Heaven Gate. He was quite knowledgeable as well. He frowned and said, “Yes, that’s possible. If they walk the chaos dao, with enough talent and a hundred thousand years, they can indeed reach the level of human kings walking the physical body dao.”

They were strong yet not Masters of Laws, similar to the human kings who had walked the physical body dao back then.

Su Yu grinned and asked, “Are you interested in having some fun up there?”

Martial Emperor sneered and said, “Are you trying to make me a free weapon against them?”

Dream on!