Tribulation of Myriad Races

It was only natural that Su Yu wouldn’t release Qi Rong.

Even ignoring her ability to repair and fuse daos, her strength as a heavenly king was enough for Su Yu to not set her free. Who could guarantee that she wouldn’t turn into an enemy after he set her free?

Qi Rong naturally didn’t expect to be released either.

She said, ”Human Lord, this was why I was against killing the fake dao cultivators previously. We can strip the fake daos from their cultivators. The stripped fake daos are very useful. Since fake daos can devour real daos, it is reasonable to assume that real daos can devour fake daos as well.”

Su Yu blanked out slightly and nodded, ”You mean a real dao cultivator can also grow stronger by devouring a fake dao cultivator cultivating a similar dao.”

”Yes.” Qi Rong answered, ”I believe this was the reason why Human Emperor had created the Dao Origin Land back then. I doubt he was interested in controlling some fake cultivators. Rather, he intended to help his subordinates grow stronger.”

In short, the Dao Origin Land was supposed to be a place where one could strengthen one’s dao. It was pointless for Human Emperor to put so much work into controlling some weak cultivators.

Qi Rong said, ”Furthermore, I also believe that when enough people cultivate the fake daos, it might even help Human Emperor return. The Dao Origin Land is basically a lighthouse. However, the lighthouse is currently not visible to the Human Emperor. Thus, he can’t find his way back. But when the dao there grows strong enough, he might be able to find his way back directly.”

Evidently, Qi Rong had done a lot of research on this subject.

Su Yu rubbed his chin and sank into thought. The fake daos could be used to strengthen the real daos. He was already aware of that, as he had given Great Ming King and the others the masterless daos he had harvested from the river previously. However, he had never attempted to have them consume the fake daos that were already being cultivated by someone else.

He had only killed the fake dao cultivators he encountered instead of stripping their daos. And now, he was starting to consider if he could strengthen real dao cultivators through what he learned from Qi Rong.

”So if I have an Eternal under me who is cultivating a fire dao, I can have him consume a fake fire Daofuse to turn him into a Daofuse?”

Qi Rong thought about it and said, ”If the gap is too big, the efficiency will be lower. Some of the power will go to waste instead. The efficiency will be much higher when the gap is smaller.

”A Daofuse might be able to consume a fake Daofuse without any loss of power. This will also widen and strengthen the dao of the real dao cultivator, further increasing their potential.”

That reminded Su Yu of what Great Zhou King did with two different daos. Slowly, understanding dawned on Su Yu.

”You’re right. I shouldn’t have killed those fake dao cultivators. I have killed quite a lot of fake dao heavenly kings...”

Su Yu grimaced as he said, ”I seem to have lost a lot. I could have fed all those heavenly kings to my people to create many new heavenly kings on my side. Or at the very least, I could have created more peak Daofuses.”

This was a massive loss. In short, all these fake dao cultivators were the same as Dragonblood Marquis of the Death Realm. They were free food. And he had wasted all of them.

Su Yu’s eyes flickered as he said, ”Take Six-Winged as the example. He probably cultivates a speed-related dao. Junior Zhou King’s dao is actually speed-related as well. An extreme type of speed. Can we feed Six-Winged to Junior Zhou King?”

Even if that wasn’t possible, he was sure he could find cultivators of similar daos among the people under him.

After some thought, Su Yu asked, ”Royal Consort Qi, what dao do you cultivate?”

The expression of Qi Rong changed as she heard that question. After a long silence, she said, ”Human Lord...”

Su Yu laughed and said, ”Don’t misunderstand me. I’m only asking out of curiosity. Also, if I know your dao, I might be able to find you a real dao cultivator to devour.”

Qi Rong didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know if she should be honest about it, but she also knew that she couldn’t hide it forever.

Finally, she said, ”I cultivate the dao of petrification. It’s similar to the dao of sealing, but works differently. In combat, I can directly turn a weaker opponent into stone.”

A dao with sealing capabilities, but Su Yu couldn’t help but muse that this would be a good dao for construction. Wouldn’t instant petrification be great for that? He didn’t have such an expert among his people. Sealing daos were simply too rare, even if Control King’s lineage specialized in that dao.

Su Yu smiled and said, ”Not bad at all. I don’t have anyone good at sealing under me. You will be helpful in making up for what we lack. Try to regain your strength as soon as possible, Royal Consort. For me, each heavenly king is extremely helpful.”

Qi Rong nodded as she exhaled in relief. She was definitely not a kind person. But she felt like her ruthlessness was nothing compared to what Su Yu was capable of. This was someone who had detonated heavenly kings like they were nothing. In fact, he had been smiling the entire time. Someone this ruthless was definitely not someone to be provoked lightly.

There weren’t a lot of ancient fossils left in the current human race, but there was no doubt that he had two pseudo kings under him. The two pseudo kings were not necessarily weaker than him, but they were both quite obedient. Thus, his control over humanity was not to be underestimated.

As Qi Rong nodded, Su Yu said, ”Royal Consort, please enter the Mark of Civilization for a bit. The Upper Realm will be chaotic in the coming days. We have to hide you lest our enemies discover you. This is fine with you, right?”

Nope. Not at all. Qi Rong hated staying in a small, enclosed space. She was tired of it after so many years of seclusion.

But she knew that it wasn’t up to her. Thus, she said, ”I’m fine with this. I’m honored to stay by your side, Human Lord.”

”What are you saying?” Su Yu said, ”You’re the royal consort, the dao companion of a human lord. Senior Yue Gang is my role model—cough, I will treat you well, Royal Consort.”

He decided to remove the part where Yue Gang was his role model. That was a human lord who couldn’t even protect his dao companion. How could someone like that serve as anyone’s role model?

Qi Rong said nothing else and entered the Mark of Civilization by herself after Su Yu took it out again. Inside, Su Yu had prepared a pile of treasures for her to recover with.

***

With Qi Rong gone, Su Yu laughed and said, ”I’m wondering about something...”

Everyone looked at him.

”Is Hundred Battle really that stupid? Or has everything been an act?”

Everyone looked doubtful. Lan Tian asked, ”What are you trying to say, Emperor Yu?”

”The previous human lords were all miserable puppets, but strictly speaking, Hundred Battle wasn’t a puppet. So many people died to create space for him in the physical body dao. Even Torchbearers were willing to face death for him. All those old fellows were willing to listen to him. And even after being sealed for so many years, so many old fellows are still waiting for his return. Can someone like that be truly stupid?”

Su Yu narrowed his eyes and said, ”Did he perhaps lose the battle deliberately to get rid of the old fossils? After all, there were too many of them around.”

Lan Tian shook his head, ”I doubt so. As you said, the old fellows were willing to obey him. In that case, why would he deliberately cause their deaths? I’m inclined to believe that he’s stupid. He only did better than Yue Gang because he was too strong.

”He could even get involved with the primordial giant race without being accused of colluding with outsiders. Imagine Yue Gang doing the same. I believe the old fossils did not treat everyone the same. Their attitude depended on who they faced. For them, one would be forever right as long as one was strong enough.”

Su Yu laughed, ”That makes sense. I’m overthinking. Speaking of, why did Hundred Battle go silent after entering the Chaos Mountain? Is he dead or something?”

”I doubt so. If he were dead, Great Tang King, Great Han King, and the others would have advanced to the Daofuse Realm straight away.” Lan Tian said, ”I suspect he got back together with Yue Luo after a short fight. What a pity that I don’t know what Yue Luo looks like and her behavioral traits. Otherwise, I would have been able to sample Hundred Battle myself...”

”...”

Su Yu choked on himself after hearing that. He grimaced and said, ”Piss off!”

Lan Tian gave him a sullen look.

Su Yu said, ”Go. Give me some space.”

With an unhappy look, Lan Tian transformed into a seductive woman and swaggered away.

With Lan Tian gone, Su Yu exhaled in relief. Holy shit. Why would Lan Tian think of something like that? Sampling Hundred Battle? What was that?

Screw that!

As of late, Lan Tian had been relatively normal. Thus, Su Yu had nearly forgotten his past. Now, all those memories returned to him as he decided to start keeping some distance between him and Lan Tian again.

Even Great Bamboo Marquis and April were shivering to the side.

Lunatics.

All these subordinates of Emperor Yu were lunatics.

***

The migration was still ongoing.

More and more people arrived at the Human Mountain.

At the same time, the sweep continued.

***

Dao Origin Land.

A day after Su Yu’s departure.

One slumbering expert after another was dug out during the sweep. Additionally, some rotten corpses were found as well. Evidently, some of these experts had died in their seclusion. Since their dao power had faded to nothingness even before their death, they didn’t even create a phenomenon when they died.

At this moment, March’s group had just discovered a corpse. This corpse, in particular, still looked lifelike. However, there was no life in the body.

After a look at it, March sighed and said, ”This seems to be Eastvast Marquis. He died from old age. A pity.”

Venerable Scrape recognized the corpse as well. That was one of the stronger marquises among the 360 human marquises. His seniority was comparable to Minshan’s, but he had vanished many years ago. And now, his corpse had finally been found.

That was the second human expert they found after a day of searching through the Dao Origin Land. As for the first human expert they found, the expert was currently being detained by the group behind them.

The detained human, an old man whose beard and hair were long enough to reach the ground, had a sorrowful expression when he saw the corpse. Yet another one of his old friends was gone. Such an illustrious expert had died silently, forgotten.

If it wasn’t for the sweep, the corpse would probably remain underground for even longer until far in the future when it was discovered accidentally. Perhaps at the time, this ancient expert would already be completely forgotten.

A heavenly king smiled and said, ”Venerables, this fellow might be dead, but the corpse is still very powerful. Why don’t we refine the corpse into blood essence? Our juniors could use some powerful blood essence in their cultivation...”

March glanced at the heavenly king, but he remained silent.