Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu had transformed into April, while Lan Tian had transformed into Full Moon. Since the two had decided to do it, September’s protests were ineffective. After a short discussion, they concluded that Wan Tiansheng and the others would remain with the iron devourers while awaiting further orders from Su Yu.

***

March would personally attend the second assembly. Additionally, Su Yu and Lan Tian would go. Great Bamboo Marquis would stay back to watch over the Bamboo Mountain. On the second day after Su Yu’s arrival, the three departed and started heading toward Human Mountain.

***

In the sky.

The three iron devourers looked completely identical apart from a difference in size. Su Yu inwardly thought that it honestly wouldn’t make a difference if Lan Tian took on May’s appearance instead of Full Moon’s. Both looked the same anyway.

Of the three, March was the biggest, followed by Su Yu. Every now and then, March would glance at the two behind him. He was quite surprised at how good the two were at this.

Finally, Su Yu smiled and asked, ”Do you have anything to say, Father?”

March felt greatly uncomfortable to hear that from Su Yu’s mouth. But he had to admit that Su Yu was a professional at this. Even when there were only the three of them, Su Yu was sticking fully to his character.

March hurriedly switched the topic and said, ”What do the two of you know about Human Mountain?”

”Not much.”

March nodded. ”In that case, I’ll give you a short introduction. The territories of the divines, devils, and immortals are located around Human Mountain, forming an encirclement around it.

”Back then, humanity intended to make Human Mountain the imperial palace of humanity. The mountain itself has an impressive background. It wasn’t something that has been there since the beginning.

”Rather, it was a divine mountain moved over from the depths of the Chaos Mountain region by Culture King and a few Masters of Laws. It was said that this mountain had caused the deaths of ancient beasts at the level of Masters of Laws back then.”

March started his story.

After a while, Su Yu asked, ”Are the three major races not occupying the Human Mountain?”

He added, ”Is there anything special about that mountain?”

March nodded, ”Yes. After all, that was a mountain moved over by humanity to serve as the core of Upper Realm. It was a divine mountain that has existed since the creation era. It was filled with the powers of chaos and the myriad daos. It is actually a holy land of cultivation.”

Su Yu listened silently.

Since it was a holy land of cultivation, why did the three major races leave it alone?

Why?

He was confident March knew more.

Sure enough, March continued his explanation, ”There are many reasons for the three major races not to occupy the Human Mountain. Firstly, all three of them want to have it, but it’s not worth going to war over a single mountain.

”Secondly, there is a special effect on that mountain. One can be easily influenced there. That is also the biggest reason for the three major to not occupy the mountain.”

Su Yu asked doubtfully, ”Influence?”

March nodded and said, ”When one stays there for an extended period of time, one will start developing a sense of responsibility toward humanity. Back then, the three major races sent some of their experts to cultivate there. As a result, these people started feeling guilty each time they fought against humanity.”

”...”

Su Yu was left completely speechless. He could guess the reason for that. Human Emperor must have done something to the mountain. That must be Human Emperor’s responsibility dao at work. After all, that mountain was meant for humans in the first place.

Only the elites of the ancient humans would be allowed to stay there. It was only natural that they needed to develop a sense of responsibility toward humanity. In short, the mountain was a brainwashing tool.

After staying there for a while, the elites of humanity would develop a strong sense of responsibility toward humanity. Clearly, Human Emperor was quite a scoundrel. No wonder the three major races had decided to give up on such a valuable place. They would only go there for the assembly.

Su Yu asked, ”Why did they choose to hold the assembly there?”

March explained, ”They can stay there for a short time without issues. By holding the assembly there, they can weaken the influence through the power of the myriad races, keeping the influence from spreading further away from the mountain. The three major races are worried about that since their territories are right beside the mountain.”

Su Yu nodded.

”Furthermore, the Human Mountain is located at the very center of the Upper Realm. It’s simply a convenient location for all races.” March continued, ”Human Lord, try to avoid spying on the others with your Heaven Gate this time. Those Venerables can detect it easily.”

Su Yu nodded, ”Yeah. They discovered me when I spied on them previously.”

But he had also grown stronger since then, so nobody knew what would happen.

Then again, it would still be smarter to not use the Heaven Gate in their presence unless necessary.

Before long, they were near the Human Mountain. They had passed through the territories of several races. Currently, they were inside the devil territory. They had to go through the territory to reach the Human Mountain.

Su Yu could sense a large amount of powerful devil qi in the area. Numerous devil cities stood proudly.

Su Yu asked through voice transmission, ”Senior March, is there no neutral territory between the three territories?”

Was it realistic to expect everyone to actually travel through the territories of the three major races to attend the assembly?

”No.” March said, ”Initially, the territories of the three major races were quite far from each other. But as they grew, they started expanding their territory until their borders touched.”

As they spoke, they arrived before a large city. None of them bothered to hide their arrival. A figure with surging devil qi appeared to meet them.

A Daofuse.

The Daofuse was not alone. Moments later, several Eternals rose up to join him.

When the devil Daofuse realized who he was looking at, surprise flickered in his eyes. But soon, he smiled and said, ”Friends from the iron devourer race. Honestly, I thought that you wouldn’t be attending the assembly this time.”

He added, ”Please wait a moment, Venerable March. I will notify Senior Celestial Devil about your arrival. He will be here to welcome you personally.”

March replied lazily, ”It’s fine. I can go myself.”

”Please do wait, Venerable. We don’t want to have some ignorant fools down there offend you due to their ignorance, right?”

March glanced at the devil before him. Noticing that the devil wasn’t about to move aside, and noticing the surging Daofuses auras from the surrounding cities, he rolled his eyes and said, ”So be it. Is Heavenly Fate here yet?”

The devil Daofuse answered with a smile, ”I won’t know unless he passes through the devil territory as well. Maybe he’s passing through a different territory. Anyway, we won’t know for now.”

March did not ask more. He did not bother to talk more to the devil either. He simply couldn’t be bothered to waste much of his time on someone so much weaker than him.

Daofuses stood at the very top of the Lower Realm, but for someone like March, only Venerables were worthy of his attention. They were all people who would have become Masters of Laws if they had been born earlier.

Su Yu remained silent. March would be their leader temporarily. Instead, he observed in silence. He was paying close attention to the devil territory and the number of experts in it. He even started simulating an escape from the Human Mountain in his mind. What would be the fastest way of escape? What would be the best retreat route? And which Daofuse would he encounter when using this route?

After a short wait, a devil with an intense aura emerged out of thin air. He had a slightly stooped posture, and even his smile looked gloomy. ”What a surprise to see you here, Fellow Daoist March. I did not expect you to come.”

March, with his gigantic body, looked much more majestic than the devil.

With a lazy tone, March said, ”I suppose you’ll be there to invite me personally if I’m not here. Am I right, Fellow Daoist Celestial Devil.”

”You jest, my friend.” He glanced at Su Yu and Lan Tian, but he did not pay them much attention. He smiled and asked, ”Is Fellow Daoist Great Bamboo not coming?”

”He has to watch over our home.”

March yawned and said, ”We need to keep someone home lest some assholes decide to try something during my absence.”

Celestial Devil smiled without saying anything else. It wasn’t a bad thing that March was here.

”Brother March, allow me to escort you to the Human Mountain. Almost everyone is already there. We’re only missing a few fellows.”

March did not reject the offer. With one step, he moved beside Celestial Devil.

Su Yu and Lan Tian followed behind them. While moving forward, March said, ”You fought Hundred Battle not long ago. How did it feel?”

”He was quite strong.” Celestial Devil said, ”He was as strong as a Venerable even when he was partially sealed. I believe he’ll be as strong as three or so Venerables once he’s fully free. I have to admit that Hundred Battle is truly an extraordinarily talented youngster. If he had been born in the ancient past, he would be appointed a human king not long after reaching this level.”

Suddenly, he asked, ”You left your mountain the other day. Why did you turn back after that?”

March grinned and said, ”I noticed that you guys were dealing with Hundred Battle easily, so I decided that my help was unneeded.”

”I see. I thought you were there to help Hundred Battle, to be honest.”

”I don’t even know him that well.”

March said, ”My race wasn’t even involved in the war of the ninth epoch. June thought of joining the war, but July died in only a few days. As a result, we stayed completely neutral after that.”

Celestial Devil smiled.

That wasn’t a secret.

During the ninth epoch, the iron devourer race intended to join the war. But after July’s death, they withdrew their support.

”That was a good thing for your race.” Celestial Devil said, ”If your race did participate in that war...things would be very different for your race right now.”

March did not bother to reply to that.

Celestial Devil did not mind the silence. They passed by one city after another as he observed the three iron devourers traveling with him. Before long, the outline of a large mountain appeared ahead of them.

Suddenly, Celestial Devil said, ”Fellow Daoist April, there are rumors saying that the Lower Realm iron devourers might have gotten involved with the humans. Fellow Daoist March has never concerned himself with these mundane affairs, but are you aware of this?”

Su Yu flashed an innocent smile and said, ”I have no idea. We have never approached the passage between the two realms. Not enough iron devourers have died down there for us to sense anything either.”

Celestial Devil nodded and said, ”I heard this from some people under me, but nobody knows more since the connection has yet to be restored. Your race is under June’s control in the Lower Realm, right? Is he stupid enough to get involved with the humans?”

Su Yu said, ”We can only figure out more when the connection is restored. If June did something wrong, we would punish him.”

”There is no hope for humanity.” Celestial Devil said, ”Hundred Battle is the current strongest expert of humanity. Even during the height of his power, when he had over a hundred Daofuses following him, he lost miserably.

”He is no longer at his peak strength, and there are barely any human Daofuses left out there. Meanwhile, the various races have grown significantly during the past six thousand years. Times have changed.”