Tribulation of Myriad Races

Inside the River of Time.

Battle King and Xing Yue appeared.

Battle King gazed into the distance at Su Yu’s group. He was quite surprised as there were quite a lot of them. Did the new human lord come with those who were not Masters of Laws as well?

But...that wouldn’t help here. Sure, there were some below the Master of Law here, but after so many years of battles, most of them were the best of the best. For example, of the eighty or so ancient marquises of humanity, more than half were heavenly kings and Venerables.

They were only stuck because of the limitation of their daos. Many of them were more than capable of becoming Masters of Laws. The rest of these marquises were peak Daofuses. There were no tier-three or tier-four Daofuses among them. These people were essentially the elite of the ancient past.

Battle King started guessing. How many people were in this group? Thirty or so? How many of them were Masters of Laws? Maybe four or five? Or perhaps he could be generous and guess that there were five or six?

Wait...Su Yu wouldn’t be the sole Master of Law in this group, right? That would be too pitiful. It wouldn’t be appropriate for him to scan them with his willpower before a proper meeting. No matter what, this was a human lord. He had to show some respect.

Battle King started moving forward with a friendly smile. But at the same time, a tiny bit of bloodlust leaked out of his body. He was a human king who had battled for countless years. Behold, his impressive self!

Xing Yue felt quite helpless when he saw how spirited Battle King was. This guy should stop feeling so smug. Su Yu was very petty. It was fine if this guy was a humble one, but it was a bad idea to get too smug in Su Yu’s presence.

***

Beside Su Yu, Martial Emperor shifted his appearance slightly to prevent Battle King from recognizing him. Then again, it was likely that Battle King had forgotten about him long ago.

It had been too many years.

As Battle King swept his gaze over the group, the first person he noticed was Su Yu and his white hair. After his creation, he had mostly recovered his lifespan. However, he was already used to having white hair so he did not bother to change its color.

Or the bigger reason was that he found white hair much to be much better with his white robes. Black hair would not look as good on his white robes.

”White robes?”

Battle King blanked out when he noticed the white robes. A cultivator in white robes. This...would there be any surprises here? He had seen a lot of white-robed cultivators in his life. For some reason, a majority of them were schemers and excellent backstabbers.

Thus, he started growing cautious the moment he saw Su Yu’s white hair and white robes. Those in white robes were not to be underestimated. This was a life lesson for him. Of course, with Culture King’s long absence, the reputation of white-robed cultivators had weakened somewhat. Thus, Battle King was only cautious, but not worried.

In any case, they were allies. What was there to fear?

”Hahaha, am I looking at Su Yu?” Battle King laughed heartily and said, ”I serve the imperial court, the king of battles—”

”Audacious!” Heavendoom roared, ”How dare you address our emperor by his name?”

Battle King blinked.

Screw that!

He was Battle King of the ancient imperial court! He was...ranked sixth in that court! Furthermore, shouldn’t these people be showing him some respect on account of his age alone? At his age, was he supposed to call Su Yu big brother or something?

Despite his thoughts, Battle King did not lash out. Instead, he laughed and said, ”Human Lord Su, yes, this should be the correct way to address you. Don’t mind me. I’m getting old.”

He continued walking forward while glancing at Heavendoom. That was a familiar face, but he couldn’t recall the name. Thus, he muttered doubtfully, ”Is this...that big monkey?”

”...”

Heavendoom’s face darkened.

”Did I see you before? I remember seeing a big monkey jumping around all the time in Devote King’s Residence back then.”

He was being truthful here. He wasn’t trying to insult Heavendoom. How was he supposed to remember a nobody general like Heavendoom? He was a top-tier human king. In fact, one could say that Heavendoom already did very well to have his appearance remembered by a human king like that.

However, Heavendoom was displeased. He decided to give this old guy a beating.

***

Meanwhile, Su Yu was observing the Battle King.

An ancient human king shouldn’t be so tactless or rude. This was most likely a form of test toward Su Yu. He wanted to test the character of the tenth human lord. Was the tenth human lord arrogant and despotic? Restrained and calm? Or kind and gentle?

In any case, he wasn’t Human Emperor. It didn’t matter if he left a bad impression of himself in Su Yu’s mind. This was Su Yu’s conclusion.

Battle King was sent here by Human Emperor to test him. It was unlikely that Human Emperor would send a pure brute to welcome him. The Xias were all the same. They appeared brutish, but they were actually quite shrewd.

While Battle King was testing Su Yu, Su Yu also wanted to test Human Emperor’s attitude and tolerance toward him. But due to their identities, it wouldn’t be appropriate for them to test the limits themselves. Thus, their subordinates would need to take on the task.

As long as the highest commanders were at peace with each other, things would remain under control. Therefore, Su Yu merely smiled without saying anything.

Seeing that, Heavendoom was overjoyed. He roared, ”You dare, Battle King? We waged war across the Myriad Realms and dominated all opposition. After learning about the difficult situation Human Emperor was in, we decided to help. How dare you answer our help with insults?”

”Difficult situation?”

It was Battle King’s turn to be displeased. He glanced at Su Yu, and noting Su Yu’s silence, his displeasure grew.

Human Emperor in a difficult situation?

Here to help?

Human Emperor was guarding the front lines for them! They needed to understand that!

Battle King grew furious. His battle intent raged, and his bloodlust surged. However, he still kept his bloodlust relatively suppressed as he said, ”You dare, monkey? His Majesty spent countless years holding the enemies back in the front lines. How dare you insult His Majesty!”

Heavendoom shot back, ”Battle King, how dare you release your aura in front of His Majesty! This is disrespect! You are offending your superiors! Take him down!”

Battle King almost laughed at how ridiculous those words were. Taking him down? He could probably cut them down with a single swing of his blade. If they weren’t allies, he would have cut the damn monkey down just for shouting at him like that.

How gutsy!

Just as Battle King was about to say something, three people flew out from the opposite group. He blanked out slightly...before understanding dawned on him. He glanced at Su Yu, noting Su Yu’s calm expression.

At that, he narrowed his eyes slightly. This...was not someone easy to get along with. Was this a test for him? Or was this a test for his majesty? Was this guy trying to check how his majesty viewed him?

But he was one of the highest-ranked ancient human kings. It would be more appropriate for the new guy to test a weaker king like Peace King instead of him. He would need to hold back from doing any lasting damage here, but he still wasn’t a pushover.

With that in mind, Battle King snorted, ”Offending my superior? I am Battle King. In hierarchy, I rank the same as a human lord. You are the one offending your superior, Monkey. Watch as I tear your mouth apart!”

Both sides knew that the other side was testing them. And both sides were filled with confidence. In the blink of an eye, a battle erupted between the four. All of them were holding back. In fact, they weren’t even using their dao powers. They had a tacit understanding to pull their punches.

After all, utilizing their daos might attract the attention of the myriad races. Thus, they were fighting with exclusively their physical prowess alone. Regardless of the dao one cultivated, one’s body would grow the stronger one was. This was an undeniable fact.

Boom!

Battle King charged forth confidently. He intended to use only half his strength to send three flying before focusing on the monkey. They were definitely no weaklings for daring to fight him, even knowing who he was. They were most likely Masters of Laws.

But Battle King believed that they would either be at the fifth or the fourth tier. There was nothing for him to worry about.

And then...they clashed.

First, Battle King clashed against Martial Emperor, sending Martial Emperor back more than ten steps away while stepping back four or five steps himself. Before he could even feel shocked by the strength of that opponent, a gigantic bamboo stick descended upon him. He met the bamboo with his punch, only to be assaulted by intense pain after the clash.

Once again, his expression changed. He took another step back when suddenly, hundreds of stars rained down upon him. That was Death Spirit King.

With a roar, Battle King punched numerous stars apart. Just as he was about to launch a counterattack, Martial Emperor sneered and rammed into him, forcing a collision. Battle King was forced several steps back, only to be met with another descending bamboo stick.

By this point, his heart was already thumping in alarm. He finally had a good sense of what their strength was.

Second tier.

The guy ramming into him was at the same cultivation level as him, albeit slightly weaker. The other two were tier-threes. One tier-two and two tier-threes.

”Martial Emperor?”

Finally, Battle King recalled who one of them was. He was alarmed. Assuming that Battle King was shocked that he was still alive, Martial Emperor sneered, ”Your grandpa isn’t dead.”

He was higher than Battle King in terms of seniority. And indeed, Battle King was shocked that Martial Emperor wasn’t dead, but for a completely different reason.

Human Emperor had been claiming that Martial Emperor was dead repeatedly, to the point everyone was starting to use it as a joke. Even so, they still believed that Martial Emperor was probably dead. But no. He was alive, and he was even serving under Su Yu.

Battle King was greatly shocked. His shock deepened when he looked at his other opponent. ”Which month are you?”

It had always been hard for him to tell these iron devourers apart. But he was sure that this came from the lineage of months. This was a tier-three as well. As for the user of stars, that was also a tier-three. Who was that?

Both March and Death Spirit King had been able to utilize most of their strength even when they were out of range from Su Yu’s world. Prior to leaving, Su Yu had stuffed their daos full with dao power, ensuring that they would maintain a relatively high level of combat strength outside. The three were able to push Battle King back repeatedly.

With a roar, Battle King finally drew his blade. He was greatly shocked to see that Su Yu had three premier powerhouses serving under him.

Good heavens!

This was far stronger than expected! In his mind, Su Yu wouldn’t even have a single tier-three in his camp. At most, he would have some tier-fives and tier-fours.

”Hmph!”

Battle King was alarmed, but this wasn’t enough to make him feel fear. He sneered and said, ”Just you? Not enough. I guess I need to show some of my strength to teach you that we haven’t been wasting our years doing nothing. I’ll pluck your tongues out and teach you a lesson for wagging your tongues recklessly!”

The battle resumed.

While ramming against Martial Emperor, Battle King unleashed a verbal assault, ”How dare a defeated foe of Martial King stand before me?”

At that, Martial Emperor’s face fell. Was this guy asking for a beating?

Fine! He asked for it!

Instantly, Martial Emperor’s body swelled as he rammed into Battle King again. Then, he took out his spear and roared, ”Little Fatty, you have successfully angered me. I’ll be sure to kill you!”

Boom!

As spear clashed against saber, a bamboo stick dropped down from the sky. Out of nowhere, Battle King’s heart palpitated. What? What was this sensation? At the same time, countless stars manifested around Battle King before ramming into him, forcing him to step back again and again.

Despite how the battle looked, Battle King was indeed powerful. None of them was utilizing the strength of a Master of Law properly, yet he was only slightly disadvantaged against his three opponents.

One ought to know that the three were among the strongest in Su Yu’s camp. Meanwhile, Battle King wasn’t even part of the strongest in Human Emperor’s current camp. After all, Radiant King was still around.

After a while, Su Yu raised his brow, impressed. Not weak at all. Or to be precise, Battle King was very strong.

Su Yu himself would probably be similar in strength without the support of his world. No, he might even be slightly weaker. Of course, things could change entirely in a battle to the death. This judgment would only be applicable in a spar.

Nevertheless, Battle King’s strength was enough for Su Yu to turn solemn.

Battle King alone was stronger than almost all the people in his camp. And someone like that wasn’t even among the strongest in Human Emperor’s camp. Yet they were the ones disadvantaged against the myriad races.

Clearly, there were a considerable number of tier-twos among the myriad races as well. There might even be tier-ones among them.