Tribulation of Myriad Races

Venerable Scrape argued, ”It’s better to be straightforward. What’s the point of pretending to be clueless when everyone knows the truth?”

He looked around and said, ”I’m afraid the six of us have different stances. Do remember that for the human race, we are all outsiders. When they use the term myriad races, they consider themselves separate. For them, there are only the human race and the myriad races. Even the iron devourer race will never be the iron devourer branch of humanity. An iron devourer will forever remain an iron devourer.”

March laughed and said, ”Exactly. That’s why I’ve always been a firm supporter of the Myriad Race Assembly.”

”...”

Venerable Scrape merely smiled at that. He sighed and said, ”Some things are disappointing to know, but I have to admit that the human race is indeed the beloved children of the heavens. Setback after setback, they never fail to return. And they will always grow strong again no matter how low they fall.”

The Torchbearer lineage and the chaos lineage were all humans. According to Su Yu, the Torchbearers and the chaos lineage had been in conflict for a hundred thousand years with the myriad races as the chess pieces. Was that really true?

Perhaps.

Meanwhile, Thunderstorm was frowning in confusion. What was this guy trying to say exactly? Heavenly Fate Marquis was deep in thought as well. He didn’t understand what Venerable Scrape was trying to say. March, too, was in confusion.

Venerable Scrape smiled and stopped there. Instead, he looked at the furious Giant Axe Marquis and said, ”Do you think there is still a chance for us to become Masters of Laws? It is said that Human Emperor’s seal is the reason for the myriad races to be stuck below that level for so many years. Heavenly Fate Marquis, you’re known for your boundless wisdom. What do you think? How should we break through that seal and step into that realm?”

Venerable Moon said, ”I have the same question. We are already at the level of comprehension, but our cultivation simply refuses to budge. Something seems to be blocking the path forward. It’s probably the so-called Human Emperor’s seal. Heavenly Fate Marquis, any idea how we can break through this seal?”

”Human Emperor’s seal?” Heavenly Fate Marquis sank into thought. After a while, he said, ”Why...are you so sure that it was the Human Emperor?”

Venerable Moon laughed, ”Who else could it be?”

After another long contemplation, Heavenly Fate Marquis said, ”That is one possibility. Otherwise, some Masters of Laws should have appeared over a hundred thousand years.” ”But...it might not be a seal. I have been thinking about this over the years. A seal like that wouldn’t have blocked the path forward for humanity as well. I believe that the stronger possibility is the existence of a special dao covering the various realms.

”Someone must have placed down a special power or dao back then to block the advancement into a Master of Law. To break free of this restriction, one might need special opportunities or some special triggers. For example, to affirm one’s dao through a method other than the Three Body Method, one will be punished by the heavens. Perhaps one also needs to survive some sort of punishment from the heavens to become a Master of Law.

”You only need strength to skip the Three Body Method. As for the shackle stopping everyone from becoming Masters of Laws...I believe several steps must be taken. Firstly, the source of the restriction must be found. Then, the daos must be forcefully calmed. And finally, the restriction can be removed.”

Since they were asking, he spoke openly. Since all of them were stuck, he didn’t mind sharing some of his thoughts.

With a pensive look, Venerable Desolate said, ”Source...what do you think the source is?”

Heavenly Fate Marquis thought about it and said, ”It might be an item, or a person, or simply a weapon. It is unlikely to be a public dao. There were so many myriad race Masters of Laws back then. They wouldn’t have allowed the Human Emperor to place such a restriction openly. It must be something secrective for it to work.”

Heavenly Fate Marquis did not elaborate more about his thoughts. He personally believed that the fortune of the entire ancient past itself was related to this restriction. Of course, that was a wild speculation so he didn’t bother to mention it.

Venerable Scrape asked, ”Is the existence of humanity perhaps related to this restriction? What if we wipe out humanity completely and end all their legacies?”

”Yes.” Heavenly Fate Marquis nodded and said, ”There is such a possibility. Thus, you might be able to remove this restriction by eliminating humanity.”

With the eradication of humanity, its fortune would fade into nothingness, giving them the chance to break through the restriction.

Heavenly Fate Marquis asked, ”Are all of you thinking of becoming Masters of Laws?”

Venerable Desolate said, ”Who would say no to that? We are simply stuck.”

Venerable Desolate continued, ”Heavenly Fate, do you think the Torchbearers have the key to remove the restriction for humanity alone?”

”Torchbearers?” Heavenly Fate Marquis said, ”I doubt so. Otherwise, Bing Ku of the Torchbearers would have advanced back then. However, he was stuck until the very end.”

Venerable Moon argued, ”Bing Ku was merely an outer member. The true core member of the Torchbearers has never appeared. I believe the core member is the leader of this lineage. Someone in this position might know more than the others.”

Heavenly Fate Marquis had no way to argue against that. Thus, he said, ”Maybe. Even if that’s the case, they will never let us know. After all, humanity does not have too many experts capable of reaching that level right now. They won’t remove the restriction before they have people capable of reaching that level.”

Venerable Moon’s eyes flickered as he said, ”True. But when humanity gains some powerhouses capable of becoming Masters of Laws such as this Giant Axe Marquis here, would they consider breaking the restriction and allow everyone else to advance alongside them?”

At this point, he started viewing Giant Axe Marquis’ survival as a positive. Without their own Venerables, humanity would never allow the myriad races to produce Masters of Laws. But with two or three Venerables of their own, humanity might consider taking the risk and allowing everyone to advance together.

Would the Torchbearers take this risk when they found themselves disadvantaged against the chaos lineage? In that situation, the Torchbearers might really be able to do something about the restriction. They greatly longed to finally take that step forward.

Venerable Scrape sent him a voice transmission, ”Venerable Moon, we can consider mentioning this point to the Torchbearers. We can take the chance to observe their reaction and determine if they’re really capable of removing the restriction. I know that your elder brother is still alive.

”Immortals, divines, or devils, we all understand the importance of this since we are Venerables. At worst, we can capture a few human Venerables and trade them to the Torchbearers. With the restriction removed, humanity might gain two or three Masters of Laws, but we’ll gain six or even more of them.”

Venerable Moon replied, ”We shall see. All this is still a speculation. They never bothered to mention this matter during our previous meeting. I don’t know if they were unaware or they were simply trying to keep this a secret. If we’re really cooperating with them, we can talk with them again.”

”This might work since according to them, the chaos lineage has Masters of Laws while we have none. Can we really win without our own Masters of Laws?”

”True.”

Shortly after, they completed their discussion and split up again.

***

Southbrook Marquis helped the seriously injured Giant Axe Marquis up with a sorrowful expression and sighed, ”Giant Axe, looks like we won’t be surviving this.”

Giant Axe Marquis gnashed his teeth and said, ”If I die, so be it. I’m already running out of lifespan anyway. I only entered seclusion to slow that down. But how did humanity decline so much?”

”I don’t know. I just came out as well.” Southbrook Marquis looked around and said, ”Apart from the two of us, only Eastvast Marquis’ corpse was found. Are we the only two humans surviving in the Myriad Realms?”

That was too sad. And that could very well be the case. How would the myriad races be able to do this in the Dao Origin Land otherwise? Even if there were more human survivors, they were probably struggling, hiding here and there like rats.

Giant Axe Marquis continued gnashing his teeth as he glared at the Venerables who were continuing their search.

After a while, he muttered with an odd expression, ”Most of the old fellows they found were either kicked off or suppressed. They aren’t treating us too badly. Are they trying to subdue us? Dream on!”

This was indeed curious. Bloodbreak Marquis and the others were quite harsh, but the Venerables had mostly been ignoring them. None had suggested killing or detaining them somewhere else.

How odd. What were the myriad races trying to do? Nothing was done to them, as though the myriad races had forgotten about them. No matter what, he was an expert near the level of a Master of Law, yet they were letting him be. They hadn’t even been questioned.

At that thought, Giant Axe Marquis spoke with a discouraged tone, ”I’m afraid humanity is really finished. That’s why they see no point in questioning us. They no longer need any information about humanity.”

Southbrook Marquis was of the same opinion. Yes. Humanity was probably finished. Otherwise, the myriad races could have used them to blackmail humanity or trade for some treasures. But instead, these people were ignoring them. The more they thought, the more sorrowful they felt. They grew dispirited. They did not feel like saying anything anymore.

As the sweep continued, more and more hidden experts were found. However, very few humans were found. The third living human was captured when they were almost done searching the depths of the Dao Origin Land.

And instead of being killed, the third human was only sealed before he was tossed aside. Just like that, the three humans were left alone again. Seeing that, the three humans became even more convinced that humanity was finished.