Tribulation of Myriad Races

Chaos Mountain.

While the conference was ongoing.

A certain forest could be found in the mountain range, the same forest Su Yu’s search stopped previously. This forest served as the border between the inner and outer region of the forest.

This was a dangerous forest, with a chaos river running through it. Atop a peak beyond the forest, numerous people were gathering. A large cave had been dug on the peak. Inside the cave, numerous figures emitting powerful auras were conversing with each other.

”The Myriad Race Assembly is in session.”

”They will probably reach a consensus this time to act against us.”

”Even the iron devourer, fate, and a few other powerful races are there this time as well. It is certain that they will reach a decision this time.”

”The myriad races are still unaware of our actual strength. They won’t do anything rash. Instead, they will take their time carefully sweeping through this mountain range. They will probably try to set up at the outer range before going further inside. The Chaos Forest will serve as the border between our two sides.”

They were standing around a large sand map as they discussed among themselves. Numerous cities were marked on the map. Even the Dao Origin Land to the far east, the Human Mountain at the center, and the cities of the three major races were included in the map.

The dao centers of the dragons and phoenixes to the north, the dao centers of the nether race to the west, and the dao centers of the iron devourers to the south were included as well.

Clearly, Control King’s lineage had not been completely idle during the past hundred thousand years. After a while, they stopped talking and looked at a middle-aged man with a solemn expression. The middle-aged man was the leader here.

A white-haired old woman coughed and said, ”Yue Hao, things are clear. The ancestor is staying behind to watch over the holy race while you’ll be in charge of all external affairs. What should we do now?”

It was obvious what the myriad races would do next.

Yue Hao said, ”There is no rush. We need to drag another party into this confrontation.”

He paused to manifest a figure in thin air and said, ”There is an unknown third party out there. Let’s call them the Torchbearers for now. They have access to the Lower Realm, and they are trying to observe from the shadows while we fight.”

The others nodded.

Yue Hao continued, ”Assume you’re the Torchbearers. After learning that the myriad races are attacking the Chaos Mountain, would you observe in silence? Or would you interfere and try to gain some control over the coming chaos?”

The others exchanged gazes. The young woman who had addressed Yue Luo as her aunt previously said, ”Uncle Yue Hao, do you mean that the Torchbearers will hide among the myriad races during the battle?”

”Perhaps.” Yue Hao nodded, ”Anything is possible. Since we have been planting our spies among the myriad races, why can’t the Torchbearers do the same? Even though our race has been separated from the human race, we can’t deny that humanity is superior to the myriad races.”

He was willing to acknowledge the strength, talent, and wisdom of humanity. In his eyes, humanity was a much bigger threat than the myriad races. They wouldn’t have bothered to stab Hundred Battle King in the back and caused the deaths of over a hundred human Daofuses back then otherwise.

With the fall of humanity, the myriad races would rise. However, it wouldn’t be so easy for any race to emerge ahead of the others as the new hegemon of the various races.

Yue Hao smiled and said, ”I did my own investigation regarding the Torchbearers. Their surprise attack, assassination, and act of framing us for everything they did were done perfectly. Cleanly. The myriad races wouldn’t have taken us that seriously despite knowing a little about us otherwise.

”Of course, I believe that the three major races would have been wary against us even without what the Torchbearers did. For now, we can set the matter concerning the Torchbearers aside.”

He pointed at the territory of the nethers near Chaos Mountain as his eyes gleamed murderously. ”Yu Xi, since the Torchbearers could make us take the blame for what they did, let us throw more chaos into the mix. Use this as a chance to send a message to the myriad races as well. Lead a team and exterminate the nethers here. Spare no one.”

The expression of the young woman called Yu Xi changed slightly.

Yue Hao smiled and continued, ”The Torchbearers pretended to be us. In that case, let us pretend to be them instead. It doesn’t matter if the myriad races will fully fall for this. We only need to alert them to the existence of a third party.”

This was enough.

With the myriad races worrying over the potential third party, they wouldn’t dare to put everything they had on this expedition.

”Take Zi Shui, You Shen, and Dou Ke with you. Lay down the Heaven Deceiver Formation and wipe them out. This won’t be too hard since that old nether isn’t around.”

With the order given, the people in the cave grinned in excitement. The time had finally arrived for them to show their prowess! Wiping out the nethers!

Yu Xi inhaled deeply and said, ”Uncle Yue Hao, will this backfire and increase the myriad races’ determination to fight us to the death?”

Yue Hao smiled and said, ”Since we have decided to stop hiding this epoch, it is time to end things.”

He sighed and continued, ”A hundred thousand years. We have accumulated enough strength. The myriad races and humanity have weakened each other repeatedly. The ancient past is truly over. A battle to the death is inevitable. A price is required to unify the Myriad Realms.

”Leave some traces behind when you exterminate the nethers. Point the myriad races toward the Torchbearers. It doesn’t matter if they will truly believe what they see. We only need to remind them of the Torchbearers.”

Yu Xi nodded, ”I understand.”

She looked at the three experts assigned to her. There were two men and one woman among them. Including her, there were four of them. All of them were pseudo kings.

They would make for a powerful group. Then again, every single person in the cave was a pseudo king. This was the might of the holy race.

Four pseudo kings would join hands against the nethers. Their targets weren’t protected by any Venerable.

Yu Xi said, ”Uncle, I need ten Daofuses as well. They will be encircling the place to prevent any nether from escaping.”

”That is acceptable.” Yue Hao nodded, ”Go. Finish it and return promptly. The myriad races will enter the Chaos Mountain soon. Do not drag things out. Remember, launch a single decisive strike. Retreat immediately the moment your surprise attack fails.”

Why should they be waiting for the myriad races to attack them? Assuming a purely defensive position?

That was not how humanity did things. From the ancient past until now, humanity had rarely remained purely defensive. Those of the holy race no longer considered themselves humans, and they considered themselves superior to the regular humans. They would naturally do better.

Yu Xi nodded and said, ”We will be back shortly.”

She shot the others another glance before vanishing with a flicker. The three chosen experts said nothing and vanished as well. Outside, ten Daofuses were gathered. In moments, fourteen experts departed with their auras concealed.

Great Ming King was proficient in formations, but he had learned a lot of what he knew from Zi Yan. And Zi Yan was only a member of Control King’s lineage, one that wasn’t even a specialist in formations. Meanwhile, someone in Yu Xi’s group named You Zhen was an actual formation specialist.

They were able to move through the Chaos Mountain while carrying mobile formations on them to prevent the chaos dao from reacting to their presence. These formations were identical to the formation Su Yu had found at the Dao Origin Hill previously, but they were smaller for ease of carrying. A few other individuals remained in the cave after Yu Xi’s departure.

The same old woman from before said, ”Yue Hao, how are things with Hundred Battle King?”

”Him?” Yue Hao raised his brow, ”Yue Luo has lured him deep into the Chaos Mountain. We can ignore him for now. Yue Luo might not be able to take him down, but she’s good enough to keep him occupied. Since he’s already deep in Chaos Mountain, he won’t be able to leave so easily.”

The others nodded. They had all sensed the movements of Yue Luo and Hundred Battle King. With this, they could forget about Hundred Battle King temporarily.

Yue Hao said, ”I’m more curious about the Torchbearers. If they are really hiding among the myriad races, who could these people be? This would be the smartest thing for them to do. Would they pick the obvious targets such as the iron devourers and primordial giants? Or would they do the unexpected and pick the fate race instead?”

Yue Hao laughed and said, ”Gather all the ancient beasts of the outer region in one place. Have these beasts fight the myriad races and drain their strength.”

”Yue Hao, will the deaths of so many ancient beasts cause the Hell Gate to stir?”

Yue Hao answered, ”There is no worry. The outer region is jut that, an outer region. Times have changed. The Holy King has reinforced the gate several times. We don’t need to worry about the gate for now.

”I’m more curious about the passage of the Torchbearers. They are most definitely moving between the Lower and Upper Realms through that passage. If we can locate the entrance to that passage, we can set up an ambush there to take some of their people down.”

For them, the Torchbearers were still shrouded in mystery. This might be a large faction, but this was also a faction hailing directly from Human Emperor himself. A lot of them had perished over the past hundred thousand years, but there were some survivors. And this wouldn’t be a faction one could infiltrate easily.

***

At the same time.

Yu Xi was crossing the Chaos Forest with her group. They all looked excited as they crossed the forest. In the past, they had all been forbidden from going further than the Chaos Forest without orders.

Naturally, some would sneak out every now and then, but most had to keep a low profile while doing so to avoid punishments. The fourteen moved noiselessly. A mountain with a Daofuse beast was nearby, but the beast was completely oblivious of their presence.

”Nether race...”

Yu Xi muttered to herself for a bit before sending a voice transmission with a smile, ”Everyone, this is our debut battle in the open. Fast and clean. That will be our goal today. The myriad races will learn of our might today.”

”Yes, Lord.”

They moved rapidly. Before long, they were out of the Chaos Mountain. The surroundings of the mountain were not empty. The various races had stationed some people around the mountain to keep an eye on it.

But only three of them were Daofuses. The rest were mostly Eternals. They didn’t even dare to step into Chaos Mountain proper.

”Do we kill?”

One of the four pseudo kings of the group, Dou Ke, was a burly man with a blackish gold body. He was licking his lips with excitement as he looked down at the myriad races experts around the mountain.

He was an exceptionally murderous individual due to his upbringing. He had grown up fighting ancient beasts. Those from the Control King’s lineage had not fought the myriad races much, but that did not mean that they relied on meditation alone to grow. They had also grown through numerous battles.

Some of their strongest experts had even experienced entering the Hell Gate to temper themselves against the stronger beasts in there. That was how this lineage had produced so many experts. Naturally, the casualty for such a method of training was rather high.

However, this was a lineage with its own ancient fossils. And these ancient fossils knew that prolonged isolation would result in eventual destruction. Thus, they had to keep tempering their people and refreshing their ranks to keep their lineage strong. They had been fighting somewhere out of sight for countless years. They were not flowers raised in a greenhouse.

At that question, Yu Xi looked down. At the moment, they were floating right above a group of people. However, the people below were completely unaware of their presence. A faint barrier enveloped all of them, perfectly concealing their presence from the people below.

Noticing the surging killing intent of Dou Ke, Yu Xi said, ”Do not alarm them in advance. We need to go straight to the nether race. Remember to follow my orders for this mission, everyone. Uncle and Ancestor will not be happy to hear about disobedience.”

Slowly, Dou Ke withdrew his killing intent. A slight trace of fear flickered in his eyes as he shut his mouth. Yu Xi said nothing else and continued moving with the group. Before long, they were through the area watched over by the myriad race experts. And shortly after, they reached the nether territory.

Seven large dao centers were arranged in a circle in the territory. The moment they arrived, Yu Xi roared and formed numerous seals with her hands. A tiny gate appeared on her forehead. At the sight of that gate, envy and fear appeared on the faces of the others.

This was not a Heaven Gate. But it was rather similar. At the same time, it resembled the Hell Gate in appearance, a gate that was blacker than black.