Tribulation of Myriad Races

The challenges continued.

Those on Su Yu’s side were using the myriad races to grow their combat experience, strengthen their combat sense, and deepen their dao comprehension. The older powerhouses did not need all that, but the newer powerhouses were greatly lacking in all those aspects.

The challenges offered barely any benefit to the myriad races. They were essentially being forced to help Su Yu’s side grow. However, they had no choice but to play along.

***

Deep inside chaos.

Su Yu was not in the Upper Realm. He was still in his world. Quite a large number of powerhouses were still left in the world.

Seven Venerables had been sent out, but Wan Tiansheng, South Heavenly King, and Grand Dream were still there. Additionally, Royal Consort Qi and Heavenly Fire were also Venerables while inside Su Yu’s world. There were also a few who were near that level.

The ongoing battles before the Human Mountain were being broadcasted live in Su Yu’s world. He knew what was happening. Why? Because Lan Tian was there. Lan Tian was akin to the most reliable and capable communication network. As long as there were no seals or realm barriers involved, he could transmit information instantaneously.

”Great Zhou King...”

Su Yu muttered to himself. To the side, Wan Tiansheng said nonchalantly, ”He might have claimed that what you said was absolute nonsense, but that was merely a remark for him to establish his authority. He didn’t mean it when he said that what you said was absolute nonsense. Don’t mind him when he said that what you said was absolute nonsense, Your Majesty.”

He made sure to repeat the key words, making sure that Su Yu would not forget what Great Zhou King said. Su Yu was left completely speechless. He glanced at Old Wan. Sure enough, this old fox was still as treacherous as ever. He had suffered a minor loss during his previous fight with Great Zhou King. He had been holding a grudge over that until now.

Su Yu couldn’t be bothered to say anything, but he agreed that Great Zhou King needed another beating. As for when it would happen, it depends. As for the single combat, it was indeed Su Yu’s suggestion. But he had said that he didn’t want anyone dead. Great Zhou King had made a slight modification to his order, but he didn’t react to it.

He did not want his people to die. But he also knew that it was normal for people to die in war. Su Yu wasn’t so weak that he couldn’t accept something like that.

He smiled and said, ”Sure enough, Tiangu accepted the proposal.”

Including Heavenly Fate Marquis, they had seven Venerables there. In terms of total strength, they were still weaker than the myriad races. Even so, the myriad races did not dare to fight. That was within Su Yu’s expectations. Why did he expect that? Because Tiangu was there.

Su Yu smiled and said, ”What should I say about Tiangu? He’s smart. He’s also brave. But he thinks too much. It’s not a good idea to be too brutish, but Tiangu is too cautious. He lacks a tiny bit of boldness. If they truly wish to take a leap of faith and try to fight for a better future, they should have attacked.”

Sure, accepting things passively was a viable path forward. But would an opportunity really appear if they could drag things out for three months? There was no guarantee.

Tiangu knew Su Yu, but Su Yu knew Tiangu as well. During their previous clashes, Tiangu had remained extremely prudent. He rarely left the Immortal Realm. Thus, all of Su Yu’s attempts to get him killed had failed.

Being prudent was both a good and a bad thing.

The current situation was one of those situations where his caution was backfiring on him. Su Yu could easily predict that he would agree to the proposal of single combat. If it was up to people like Venerable Dao and Venerable Desolate, the proposal might have been rejected.

Wan Tiansheng thought about it and nodded, ”True. Tiangu is good at scheming, but at times, strength matters more than schemes.”

One should only resort to schemes when one lacked strength. With enough strength, one could simply blast one’s way forward.

Martial Emperor was a tier-three Master of Law. If he were a tier-one Master of Law, no scheme, no plan, would work against him. He only needed to push forward and kill anyone he wanted.

Su Yu nodded. Before long, he set the matter aside. For now, nothing bad would happen there. He only needed to stay slightly cautious and things would be fine. He wasn’t staying behind to feign nonchalance. South Heavenly King and a few others had all been gathered around him.

He said, ”I wish to rapidly pacify the Myriad Realms, but the strength of our side is not enough to defeat the other three parties. The best option is to join hands with one and fight the other two.”

Everyone looked at him silently. He must be thinking of joining hands with the myriad races against the other two, right?

As for Hundred Battle King, they were supposed to already be allies. But since Su Yu was saying something like this now, he clearly lacked trust in Hundred Battle King. It was also very unlikely that Su Yu would join hands with the sinned lineage. Then again, Su Yu was always capable of doing the unexpected, so nobody could be sure.

Su Yu met their gazes and said, ”Don’t overthink. I have never thought of joining hands with the sinned lineage. I am indeed thinking of joining hands with the myriad races for now, but that’s far from enough.”

Everyone continued staring at him. What was he trying to say here?

Su Yu smiled, ”I mean to say that we lack an opportunity. A trigger, to be specific. An excuse for the myriad races to logically work with us.”

South Heavenly King offered, ”Why don’t we all set off and deter them with our strength. The current deployed strength is insufficient for that.”

Seven Venerables were not sufficient. That was not enough to pressure the myriad races.

Su Yu nodded. ”That’s a viable plan, but it won’t be enough. The battle with the myriad races can’t be ended so easily. It would be much better to kill a Venerable or two to give them more pressure. They won’t be willing to listen before losing anyone.”

”Not even all that is enough. I still need to do something.”

Everyone focused on him. What was he going to do?

”Capture the divines, devils, and immortals in secret. Capture all of them.”

”All of them?”

Everyone was stunned.

Su Yu nodded, ”Yes. We have plenty of weapon spaces to store them. We will capture all their people. They believe that we won’t really wipe their races out.”

Su Yu’s voice turned frosty as he said, ”But I will. If they refuse to listen, I’ll exterminate them. If they listen, I can hand their people over. They can enter the Hell Gate with their people. Their survival in there will be up to their own efforts and luck.”

”Of course, I will give them more hope before that.” Su Yu said, ”The moment they agree to this cooperation, I will break the restriction.”

Breaking the restriction.

At that, many of them looked at the distant Lan Tian. Was Su Yu planning to break the restriction and help the myriad races produce more Masters of Laws as long as they agreed to work with him?

Wan Tiansheng asked solemnly, ”With the restriction gone, they might believe that they can make a comeback with a few new Masters of Laws in their ranks. They might change their mind and stay instead. What should we do in that situation?”

Su Yu laughed. ”Are a few Masters of Laws that big of a deal? What can that even do? We will be gaining our own Masters of Laws as well. I’m only making this offer to give them hope of surviving behind the gate. I want them to believe that they have a high chance of surviving behind the gate.”

Wan Tiansheng frowned, ”That’s the best case scenario, but I worry that...”

Su Yu laughed. ”There is, of course, a caveat to this. For example, I might require them to kill Yu Qing and the matron dragon before removing the restriction for them.”

The others gave it more thought and nodded.

Su Yu continued, ”By capturing their people, they will stop hoping that they might get lucky. This will leave them with only one path forward. They have to take it regardless of what they want. All along, they have been believing that we won’t dare to touch their people since their Pseudo Emperors are still alive. We will use their people to threaten and drive them all away.”

South Heavenly King said, ”But with this, we will be breaking the unwritten rules. Any war in the future might lead to the kidnapping of the common people to threaten the powerhouses.”

That was an unwritten rule. It had never been mentioned specifically, but everyone had been following it. And Su Yu was proposing to break the unwritten rule. This could result in unwanted consequences in the future.

Su Yu nodded. ”I know that. But we can only worry about the future in the future. For now, nothing will happen.

”In fact, this is a trivial matter. Hundred Battle King’s plan has been in the works for six thousand years. He won’t change his plan so easily. People like Extreme Martial have been deployed, but Hundred Battle himself is waiting in the Human Realm. What is he doing there?

”It is unlikely that he will openly turn against me. But we never know what he will do in the dark. We need to stay wary of him. In fact, we need to think of more ways to deal with him. I’m not sure what he will do, but we can’t go wrong by preparing against him.

”There’s also Thunderstorm to worry about. He knows a bit about my world. He is still in the Upper Realm, but he will have a way to inform Hundred Battle about it.”

Wan Tiansheng frowned, ”Why did you reveal your world to him previously?”

”Deterrent.” Su Yu said, ”It’s actually not a bad thing for Thunderstorm to tell Hundred Battle about my world. I am a Creator. That might be enough to change his mind. Or that might be enough to give him pause since the strength of a Creator is too unpredictable. Without such a trump card, he will have zero fear toward us.

”Even if Thunderstorm decides not to tell him about it, it’s not a bad thing for us. Hundred Battle might really be thinking of making a move against me, but he will be clueless about my world. He will be making his plan without taking my trump card into consideration. There are two possibilities there, and we have plans in place to deal with both possibilities.”

This was a multiple-choice question Su Yu prepared for both Hundred Battle King and Thunderstorm. Thunderstorm could decide to tell or not tell Hundred Battle King. And Hundred Battle King could decide to attack or not attack.

The others nodded.

Wan Tiansheng looked regretful as he said, ”In that case, our plan to lure people over with Tea Plant will be scrapped.”

It was quite a pity as that was quite a good plan.

Su Yu laughed, ”That won’t necessarily be the case.”

But they never knew.

Su Yu stood up and said, ”Therefore, I have a few things to do. First, I’ll capture some people through the Death Realm. We will enter their realms undetected like we did previously.

”Second, search for the chaos dragon and eight-winged tiger in chaos and deal with the two variables. We can either capture or kill them, but they must be dealt with.”

He did not like having unpredictable variables floating out of his control. Such variables could potentially mess with his plans.

”Third...” After a short silence, Su Yu said, ”I will investigate the physical body daos of humanity and the giants. I need to check if there is a connection between the two. I can observe the two daos through my Heaven Gate, but Hundred Battle might notice something. A fight might break out when he notices. Be ready for that.”

”Fourth...”

Su Yu looked at the others, focused on Wan Tiansheng and a few, and said, ”Originally, I did not intend to let everyone fuse into my world too early. Or to be precise, I wished to offer everyone more options. But if something unforeseen happens, I hope that the heavenly kings and Venerables can fuse into my world and strengthen my dao. I will grow strong, and everyone else will also grow alongside me.”

Wan Tiansheng laughed and said, ”That won’t be an issue. In fact, that will be an opportunity for us. If you need it, we can even do it now.”

Su Yu laughed as well, ”We’re not in that much of a rush. Take this chance to milk the River of Time more. That river is still too plump.”

Su Yu muttered, ”The River of Time is so powerful it’s inconceivable. It feels as though it has been so powerful since the very beginning.”

The Creator of the River of Time was already excessively powerful right after the creation. In that case, how strong was the Master of Time prior to creation? What a nightmarish being. Perhaps he was already the strongest even before his creation.