Tribulation of Myriad Races

When Thunderstorm and March were gone, Venerable Desolate snorted and said, ”Both of them are definitely colluding with the humans.”

That was very obvious.

Venerable Dao laughed, ”So be it. I’m more curious about Su Yu and Hundred Battle. How are they going to coexist down there? All of us have learned about Su Yu’s past from Celestial Dragon Marquis. That’s a domineering leader. He will definitely not serve someone. Hundred Battle is the same.

”March refused to pick Hundred Battle during the previous epoch, but he has gotten involved with Su Yu this epoch. In that case, who will he side with? Su Yu? Or Hundred Battle? Things will only get more interesting with both of them down there.

”The humans have been fighting among themselves for a long time. Perhaps they will start fighting again without any effort from us. Humanity has been the main character since the ancient past. Even now, the fortune of humanity as a whole is still incredibly powerful. We’re lucky they’re busy fighting among themsevels.”

Venerable Dao lamented, ”Hundred Battle King, Su Yu, and Control King’s lineage. All three are human factions. If they were to work together, no, even if Hundred Battle King and Control King’s lineage were willing to work together during the last epoch, we could have been defeated then and there.

”Therefore, it might not be a bad thing for us that they’re too strong. With them split into three factions, we have the chance to still survive. Do not be discouraged by this. Humanity had suppressed us for over a hundred thousand years while we have only been suppressing humanity for six thousand years. We shouldn’t be the ones to feel discouraged about this.”

Everyone else nodded.

True.

Strictly speaking, humanity was still the dominant force. Thus, the myriad races should actually celebrate the fact that they had dominated the past six thousand years. Even back during the ancient past, humanity had prevailed over the various Masters of Laws of the myriad races.

If Culture King and the others had remained, humanity would have continued reigning over the myriad races.

Venerable Dao said, ”At present, the restriction should be our priority. We need to become Masters of Laws as soon as possible. Humanity might have many experts, but this is their current limit. That Ancestor of Control King’s lineage walks the chaos dao while Hundred Battle walks the physical body dao. The removal of the restriction won’t be too helpful to them.

”As for that dog under Su Yu, he’s not a Venerable. He won’t grow too much from the removal of the restriction either. Meanwhile, we will gain a dozen or so Masters of Laws the moment the restriction is gone.

”As for the five Venerables of Control King’s lineage, three of them follow the chaos dao. They won’t benefit as much from the removal of the restriction either. Thus, nobody wants to see the restriction gone more than us.”

Once again, everyone nodded.

Venerable Dao concluded, ”Humanity is too difficult to exterminate. It’s far better for us to find a way to remove the restriction. Su Yu might not have been entirely truthful during our previous meeting, but this might not be such a hopeless task. Martial Emperor? King Yue’s corpse? Both avenues are worth trying.”

The others nodded. It was about time they started focusing on this.

Venerable Moon said, ”In that case, I’ll meet the two ancient beasts with Heavenly Fate. As for the tunnel to the Lower Realm, it will be for the best if they can really find it. If not, we can always force our way down when necessary.”

The tribulations within the tunnel had weakened considerably. Thus, forcing their way through was possible. After a while, they ended the discussion and scattered. They still needed to fight the chaos lineage, but that was on the premise that no variable would appear while they were doing that.

***

At the same time.

March and Thunderstorm were moving in silence.

After a long while, Thunderstorm finally spoke. ”Fellow Daoist March, the human race and the iron devourer ace have been allies for many years, right?”

March flashed his usual innocent smile and said, ”You can say so.”

”Hundred Battle...” Before Thunderstorm could say more, March said, ”I don’t know him too well. I only know that he caused July’s death.”

”...”

Thunderstorm felt greatly regretful.

However, he still pushed forth with his persuasion. ”But you saw what happened to Su Yu. Do you really think he can rise again? He was too rash. That battle could have been avoided.”

March said nothing.

Great Bamboo Marquis had informed him that Su Yu might not have suffered much proper losses from that battle. But March himself had been paying close attention to all that had happened.

This visit to the Lower Realm might also be an opportunity for him. He needed to see Su Yu and verify if Su Yu really had more trump cards left. If it was true that Su Yu only had Fat Ball left on his side, March would need to start considering the future of the iron devourer race.

Hundred Battle King might not have killed July personally, but that was not the type of leader March could acknowledge. As for Control King’s lineage, that was an even more unlikely side for them to pick. After all, March’s father was killed by Control King.

Meanwhile, the myriad races were already certain that the iron devourers were colluding with humanity. Of the three human factions, March preferred Su Yu. He could only hope that Su Yu would bring him a pleasant surprise.

”Thunderstorm, do whatever you need first. I’ll try to search around for the tunnel.”

March left alone. He still needed to find Giant Axe Marquis. He also needed to collect the frozen Snow Orchid General before leaving. As for his fellow iron devourers, he had no hope of taking them away with him. But it wouldn’t be an issue for him to take a human away.

At present, the myriad races would be more than happy to see these humans piss off instead of staying and bringing them more trouble during their confrontation against Control King’s lineage.

Giant Axe Marquis and Snow Orchid General were potential subordinates for Su Yu. With them on his side, Su Yu would be able to put up a much better fight against the other factions.

With March himself, Giant Axe Marquis, and Fat Ball, they would have three Venerables on their side. And if Su Yu could become a Venerable as well, they would have four Venerables. This would be quite a powerful force.

”I can only hope that Su Yu is fine. I can only hope that Su Yu has not lost too many of his people...”

March wasn’t in a good mood. He could only pray that everything was fine. As for the tunnel to the Lower Realm, well, he naturally knew its location. As for whether Thunderstorm knew it, that was none of his business. He never intended to descend alongside Thunderstorm. He was fine with making the journey alone.

Before long, March found the frozen Snow Orchid General. He couldn’t be bothered to free Snow Orchid General and left directly after picking the general up.

***

Not long later.

Near the Chaos Mountain.

Giant Axe Marquis, who was looking around sneakily, whispered, ”March?”

Shortly after, March appeared before him.

After sneaking a few glances around, Giant Axe Marquis exhaled in relief before cursing, ”That damn Yue Luo is not weak at all. She might be ugly, but her strength is not to be underestimated. I was injured quite heavily from my previous battle with her.”

He sounded rather helpless as he said that. He had received a terrible beating from her. Sure enough, personal insult was an easy method to create a feud. Previously, Yue Luo had chased after him like she had gone mad, giving him a terrible beating.

March laughed. ”You were quite brave back then, Brother Giant Axe.”

”That was my only option since I wasn’t strong enough to do more.” Giant Axe Marquis laughed as well. ”Do you have any business with me, Brother March?”

”I wish to take a trip to the Lower Realm.” March explained, ”After Su Yu’s previous defeat, we don’t know his current situation. Hundred Battle might have gone down as well. It’s unlikely that two human lords can coexist peacefully. Cloud Water and the others have defected from Su Yu to continue following Hundred Battle. Since Su Yu saved you previously, I might need your help to speak for him if we found him suppressed by Hundred Battle down there.”

Giant Axe Marquis frowned, ”Hundred Battle won’t go that far, right?”

”Who knows?” March asked, ”Are you willing to come with me, Brother Giant Axe? Are you willing to lend Su Yu a hand if needed?”

Giant Axe Marquis answered with a frown, ”If Su Yu is so weak that he’s completely helpless against Hundred Battle, I suggest he enjoy his retirement. Hundred Battle might not be reliable, but he’s certainly strong. Of course, I’ll do something if Hundred Battle really tries to kill Su Yu. I won’t allow him to do something like that.”

”What if Su Yu’s side is actually quite strong as well?”

Giant Axe Marquis said, ”Quite strong? But he lost almost all his people from the previous battle. Even with your help, what can he do? I doubt he can do much even if he has the support of the entire iron devourer race.”

After all, this was an internal conflict between fellow humans. Furthermore, they still had many powerful external enemies as well.

March said, ”If he’s still strong, are you willing to give him a hand?”

Giant Axe Marquis was troubled by that question. ”I can only decide after further observation. Firstly, I will certainly do what I believe is the best for humanity.

”If Su Yu insists on fighting Hundred Battle out without the strength to back his ambitions, I can protect his life from Hundred Battle. But it won’t make sense for me to go against Hundred Battle for his ambition if he’s way weaker, right? That will only weaken humanity as a whole.”

March nodded. ”In that case, how strong is strong enough for you, Brother Giant Axe?”

”Su Yu himself needs to be a heavenly king, right?” Giant Axe answered awkwardly. ”I heard that he detonated his pen dao. Cough, uhm, he has fallen to the Sunmoon Realm. Well...cough. He needs to be a peak Daofuse at the very least, right? Fine, fine, I can even reduce the requirement to a regular Daofuse. Yes! That’s it! I only need him to recover to a regular Daofuse.

”Wait, he only has a dog under him. Without ten or twenty Daofuses on top of three to five heavenly kings, it will be hard for him to compete.”

That was not enough even if he had the support of the iron devourer race. However, that would be enough strength for him to not remain too helpless. If Su Yu were too weak, there wasn’t much Giant Axe Marquis could do to help.

March thought about it. Su Yu should be able to recover to his previous strength. But not even March was sure that Su Yu would still have three or five heavenly kings under him.

After a slight hesitation, March proposed, ”How about this? If Su Yu manages to regain his previous strength, and if there are still three heavenly kings under him, you will help him. After all, Fat Ball is still with him. If he were too weak, I woudn’t gamble the fate of my entire race on him either.”

Giant Axe Marquis considered the proposal. Finally, he gnashed his teeth and nodded, ”If he has three heavenly kings including Fat Ball, coupled with you and me, we will have a decent force on our side. He saved me yet I failed to kill Yue Hao and the others. Consider this my repayment for his favor.”

More importantly, did Su Yu still have three heavenly kings? According to the rumors, almost all his subordinates had died. However, March had already taken Grand Dream into consideration when he made that proposal. Fat Ball was still around.

And Giant Axe Marquis had not exclued the support of the death spirits. According to what March knew, South Heavenly King had joined Su Yu as well. That would be enough to make up the numbers, right?

Yeap. He had successfully trappd Giant Axe Marquis with a promise. With this, they could still build a force of considerable strength. As for Giant Axe Marquis, he considered March, Fat Ball, and himself enough to contend against Hundred Battle King.

And if Su Yu had more surviving heavenly kings than that, their side would surpass Hundred Battle King’s side. Thus, he saw no reason to refuse his support. This might be a good chance for him to negotiate peace between the two.

Giant Axe Marquis was actually quite confident in his negotiation skills. Yes! He would be the peacemaker!

Both March and Giant Axe Marquis were deep in thought, and each was flashing the other an innocent smile. It was unknown who was the actual innocent one between the human and bear.