Tribulation of Myriad Races

Bamboo Mountain.

At present, the Bamboo Mountain was empty. Some peaks had been dug off, and their dao center had been sealed off. Things were looking quite bleak. Even though the iron devourers had not been gone for long, the entire place looked like it had been abandoned for quite a while.

March removed the seal and allowed everyone entry. They didn’t have too many people in their group. Snow Orchid General remained silent and Fat Ball was busy looking around. Heavenbridge Marquis was the busiest of all as he started cleaning the place. He had no choice as he was the weakest here. What else could he do but some odd jobs here and there?

He worked rapidly, cleaning an empty space before building a bamboo residence for Su Yu’s group. For some reason, he seemed to be enjoying it. He was in a great mood since they were finally in the Upper Realm again.

He couldn’t wait to kill Yue Hao and that Ancestor from Control King’s lineage. He would benefit greatly from that. If they were to remain in the Lower Realm, he would need to set his gaze on Martial Emperor to grow himself.

However, Martial Emperor was his neighbor of many years. It would be rude for him to target Martial Emperor. Thus, it was much better for him to target Control King’s lineage.

While Heavenbridge Marquis was busy preparing their accommodation, March asked uncertainly, ”Your Majesty, when will we be making our move? Or do we wait for the myriad races to make the first move?”

”No.” Su Yu said, ”We wait a few days and give Control King’s lineage the time to summon that Master of Law over. Of course, we still need to pressure them slightly to give them a sense of urgency.”

”The eight-winged tiger got it wrong.” Su Yu said, ”Control King’s lineage has no reason to rush things if they aren’t feeling the urgency. We need to give them some pressure. When they feel the pressure, they will accelerate the summoning even if they have to pay a higher price.”

March nodded. ”What about Tea Plant and the others?”

”They can wait as well.” Su Yu said, ”At present, everyone has plenty of free time to overthink. But when the battle starts, everyone will be too busy to overthink. That is the time for Tea Plant and the others to enter the stage. For now, Tiangu and the others are probably still busy thinking about me.”

They would certainly start suspecting something if Tea Plant were to appear now.

Su Yu was in no rush. He could wait for a bit. The moment the battle started and people started dying, they wouldn’t have the time to overthink anymore.

Su Yu was quite good at mental warfare.

Baiting.

And confusing his enemies.

He would make everyone believe that the Tea Plant was a rare opportunity they could only win with great difficulty. In this situation, a little bit of challenge was a good thing. They wouldn’t appreciate an opportunity they received easily.

”What are we doing for now, Your Majesty?”

Giant Axe Marquis sounded confused. Were they going to wait or were they going to give Control King’s lineage some pressure?

Su Yu felt quite helpless.

How tiring.

This time, he had only brought some combatants with him. The smarter ones had all been left behind. His schemers were not with him. March was smart, but he had the habit of considering things from the perspective of the iron devourers. Thus, he might not be too reliable as an advisor.

Su Yu could only rely on himself. It would be great if those good at using their brains like Great Zhou King and Wan Tiansheng were here. Unfortunately, it was rare for one to be accomplished in both martial and scholarly pursuits.

Su Yu said, ”When we fight and kill, we do all that to strengthen ourselves. Do you understand? That is our core pursuit.”

Su Yu started lecturing them, ”We don’t fight and kill just to satisfy ourselves. No. We do that to strengthen ourselves. We have grown massively recently, so it won’t be easy for us to grow more in a short time. Thus, the easiest way for us to keep growing is by having me grow stronger.”

Everyone nodded. Fat Ball nodded. Heavenbridge Marquis, in particular, was nodding in agitation.

”When I grow strong, those who have fused with my dao will also grow. For me to grow strong, there are two paths. To further perfect my dao or to further perfect my world.”

Giant Axe Marquis asked with confusion, ”But aren’t those two the same?”

Su Yu sighed and explained, ”No, they aren’t. The dao is the dao. Sure, the growth of the dao will help the world as well, but the world can also grow independently.”

”How?” Giant Axe Marquis asked.

Su Yu said, ”Good question. There are many ways to do that. First, I can consume chaos essence like what the eight-winged tiger is trying to do. Second, I can consume more chaos beasts. They walk the chaos dao, so killing them can also grow my world. Third, I can also kill some chaos cultivators and snatch their dao power to strengthen myself.”

Giant Axe Marquis said, ”Basically, we only need to kill more people?”

”Yes. You can put it that way.”

Su Yu nodded. Giant Axe Marquis rolled his eyes. Su Yu could have said that directly. Why bother making it sound so complicated?

Su Yu was feeling quite helpless when he noticed the reaction. He said, ”I’m explaining to you why we’re killing. We’re not killing for the sake of killing. You need to understand that.”

Giant Axe Marquis gave an insincere nod. So? They were going to kill, right?

Su Yu had nothing to say anymore. So be it. It was the difference between killing with no goal and killing with a goal. When one did something aimlessly, failure was inevitable. Only with a concrete goal would success be possible.

Fat Ball reached his own conclusion as well. He asked curiously, ”So we can kill anyone to make you stronger?”

”Not necessarily.” Su Yu said, ”After killing them, we need to strip their dao power as well. I won’t get anything if they detonate their dao before dying. What am I to do with a mere corpse? It’s pointless. We need to make sure that their dao essence remains even after dying.”

”How are we supposed to do that?” Fat Ball said, ”Their dao will start dispersing when they die. How are we supposed to preserve it?”

”Therefore, we need to be fast and accurate.” Su Yu smiled, ”Speed is very important. Be so fast that they can’t react or even use much of their dao power before dying. Be so fast that their corpse and dao are still intact. That will give us the chance to strip their dao before the dao can disperse.”

Understood.

Finally, Heavenbridge Marquis reached his own conclusion. He said, ”Your Majesty, are you teaching us how to kill? We can’t kill like a barbarian. We need to be classy when killing. Killing is an art. Is that what you’re trying to say?”

Su Yu: ”...”

What was he supposed to say to that? That was correct, but at the same time, that wasn’t what he was saying. Fine, fine. That was more or less what he was trying to say.

Heavenbridge Marquis reached another conclusion, ”I see. You dislike how barbaric Giant Axe and Fat Ball are when they kill people. They tend to ruin the corpses of those they kill. Right, March is the same. He always turns his victims into mincemeat with his bamboo stick. They are not classy enough when killing. Is that so?”

Su Yu said nothing.

Heavenbridge Marquis continued, ”I understand now. You prefer someone like Snow Orchid who can kill by freezing people over. Is that so?”

His eyes lit up with excitement at having understood what Su Yu was getting at.

After a slight hesitation, Su Yu nodded.

Damn t!

Yes, that was more or less correct, but for some reason, it also felt like Heavenbridge Marquis had twisted his words.

With that explanation, understanding dawned on Giant Axe Marquis. He said helplessly, ”But this is all we know.”

Heavenbridge Marquis said, ”If you ask me, Snow Orchid and Royal Consort Qi are very good at killing with class. I must say that women are very good at killing in a cultured manner. One is good at freezing people over, and the other is good at petrifying people. Yes, they are indeed very artsy.”

Su Yu couldn’t be bothered to say more to Heavenbridge Marquis. He said, ”The number of people we kill doesn’t matter. But it is true that we need to preserve the corpses of those we kill. Moving on, we need to prioritize our gains when killing, not the number of people we kill. We can’t have our efforts go to waste.

”We need to create a sense of urgency for both the myriad races and Control King’s lineage. Without pressure, they won’t understand how crazy we are. They won’t willingly hand the iron devourers over.”

”So what should we be doing now?” Giant Axe Marquis asked.

Su Yu smiled and said, ”First, build the Bamboo Mountain up into a reliable headquarters. Then, move the entire mountain to the front line. There, we will start our mad revenge against Control King’s lineage. Remember, vengeance will be our slogan there. When we encounter smaller groups of people from Control King’s lineage, we wipe them out. When bigger groups appear, we withdraw toward the Human Mountain.”

The others looked at each other. Were they really going to go so crazy?

Were they really fighting so soon after arriving at the Upper Realm?

”What if the chaos beasts interfere?”

”Kill them as well.” Su Yu said, ”Only a small number of these beasts are capable of thought. Most of them are mindless. Ignore them if they’re not doing anything to us. The eight-winged tiger and chaos dragon will handle these beasts. They still need these beasts around to serve as cannon fodder against that Master of Law.”

Su Yu laughed and concluded, ”In short, we will only have one persona moving forward: brash.”

Persona was something they could build. The myriad races were free to get all suspicious. They would remain brash. That was how they had acted during their previous foray into the Upper Realm. And that would remain the same.

”For now, focus on our migration. Build up our headquarters and get the iron devourers back from the myriad races. When Great Bamboo Marquis and the others are back, we can even have them train the iron devourers for a bit.”

Fine.

They understood now. First, they had to move.

So be it.

Before long, they started moving with the entire Bamboo Mountain. They would move the mountain near the Human Mountain as Su Yu intended to settle down here.

***

That day, the top powerhouses of Human Mountain saw a group of experts moving while carrying the Bamboo Mountain. The myriad races had yet to even fully digest all they had learned.

Before they could react, Su Yu had become their neighbor. That was not all. Once the Bamboo Mountain was in place, Su Yu moved into the outskirts of the Chaos Mountain and moved even more mountains toward the Bamboo Mountain. He was going to build himself a defensive stronghold.

In truth, he was only doing this to make sure everyone knew where he was.

***

Peak of Human Mountain.

A group of experts was staring at the Bamboo Mountain that was less than a hundred kilometers away. Clearly, Su Yu was going to start his campaign against Control King’s lineage soon.

Someone said, ”When do you think he will start negotiating with us? What conditions will he propose? Or the better question is, how should we make use of him?”

”It’s hard to say. He might come knocking in three or five days.”

The Venerables started conversing among themselves. Suddenly, Su Yu and his people soared into the sky and shot straight into the Chaos Mountain, their auras rippling everywhere.

With boundless fury and madness, Su Yu’s voice rang out, ”Get your ass out here, Yue Hao! For killing my people, I won’t rest until you’re dead!”

Su Yu roared, ”How dare you resist when I tried to kill you? How dare you kill my people when I attacked you? I’m giving you a chance of redemption, Yue Hao. Commit suicide and kill that Yu Xi fellow and I’ll forgive you.”

Boom!