Tribulation of Myriad Races

With the appearance of the old turtle and the retreat of the Dragon Pseudo Emperor, and as the efforts to impede the ancient cities from forming an alliance fell apart, they could no longer afford to provoke Su Yu. At the very least, that was the case for places within the reach of the ancient cities. There, he was harder than even Invincibles to deal with. Such an existence could not be provoked lightly.

Among the crowd that had gathered in the area, there were humans. All of them were experts. They watched in silence with complicated emotions.

When the myriad races threatened to make war on the human race, Su Yu informed them that he only had a father. They could kill his father, but that would also set him free and allow him to go truly wild. That was all.

As for his stance regarding the human race, it was unknown if he had merely said that to fool the myriad races or if he truly believed so. Su Yu was far too fearless compared to any other human. The myriad races might not buy his words entirely, but the price for this gamble was now too high for them to take. There was no need to take such a high risk.

Su Yu started roaring with laughter. He swept his gaze across the gathered ancient cities and announced, “The myriad races no longer have the courage to meddle in our alliance. The dragons have been forced to withdraw. My fellow mayors, does anyone still disagree with the formation of an alliance?”

Nobody said anything.

Su Yu said, “If you agree, I need you to appoint me to an official position in your city. When you find your death qi too much to bear, you may seek help from me. Of course, this does not grant you the license to freely transfer your death qi to me without permission. You still need to bear some of the burden, or you might as well leave the city since you will be essentially useless. If there are no objections, I will consider the Holy City Alliance formally established.”

Many of the mayors were already tempted by his offer, including those backed by the major races. Compared to the backing of the major races, the one thing a mayor could truly rely on was their ancient city.

Tian He said, “Mayor Su, allow me to ask one more question. Do you wipe all the slates clean with the formation of this alliance? After all, some of the mayors here might have conflicted with the human race in the past. Some are even backed by the major races…”

The expressions of some mayors changed.

Tian He laughed and continued, “Regardless of their past, we are the same. We are all pitiful souls abandoned by the rest of existence. Our sole goal is our survival. Many of us are people who have been forced to leave our homelands to eke out a living here. We have nobody to rely on. We don’t have long to live. We lack heavenly source qi. Because of that, we are forced to work with the divines, devils, or some other major races.”

Many of the mayors turned melancholic. They might seem impressive with the power they enjoyed in their cities and the surrounding regions, but in truth, they were nothing but unwanted and abandoned souls. Survival was the only thing they could fight for. At any time, they could be consumed by their death qi before transforming into death spirits. If they hadn’t been so desperate, Xia Longwu wouldn’t have been able to tempt nine of them to face the myriad race Invincibles with only one promise.

True geniuses with the potential to become Invincibles one day would never willingly become the mayors of these ancient cities. Becoming an ancient city mayor was essentially the same as receiving a death sentence.

The divines, devils, immortals, dragons, and other races might send their people to these cities to serve as mayors, but they would never send those they valued. The people they sent were those they considered dispensable. The true geniuses of these races would never agree to such tasks.

Nobody was willing to become an ancient city resident as long as there was still an alternative. Becoming a resident was the same as throwing one’s life away. It was ironic that some had to do precisely this for the sake of survival.

That was why some of these mayors were willingly serving as the chess pieces of the major races. What could the major races give them? Perhaps only a tiny bit of heavenly source qi. Nothing else. It wasn’t like the major races would be willing to give them the rest of what they wanted. For example, they wanted to affirm their dao and break free of these cities. Would the major races assist them with that? Rather than assist some mayors, they would rather assist their own geniuses.

Mayor Tian He earnestly said, “Mayor Su, you’re a human. As for us, some came from minor races while some came from destroyed realms. The human race is one of the overlords of the Myriad Realms. We are willing to fight for this alliance, but we won’t be willing to fight for humanity’s hegemony. We only want to live.

“Some of us might have the blood of humans in our hands. If you intend to take revenge on us for that after the alliance is formed, we won’t agree to form this alliance even if all the guardians agree. We have the right to do so. The laws allow that.”

Naturally, Heavendoom snorted upon hearing those words. But he did not let anyone hear his snort.

Had he forced Tian He to join the alliance?

Hmph!

Hadn’t Tian He agreed to join himself?

In fact, Tian He had been eagerly waiting for Su Yu to replace him. Alas, that ungrateful little shit seemed to have completely forgotten about Heavendoom City! Clearly, Tian He was deliberately saying this to give Su Yu a chance to address the concerns some mayors might have.

Since Heavendoom could see that much, the others could naturally see as much. But Tian He’s words had still managed to resonate with their innermost feelings.

The mayor of Eternal Serenity City, who was still bloodied all over, coughed and said, “Mayor Su, we…wish to live for ourselves as well. But at times, reality does not allow that.”

He spoke helplessly, “We are constantly tortured by death qi. We lack heavenly source qi. There are no holy lands of heavenly source qi in ancient cities. All existing holy lands of heavenly source qi are under the control of the major races. Even survival is hard for us. Dao affirmation is merely a dream for us. Since the major races are willing to provide us with some heavenly source qi to gain us as their dogs, we will naturally serve as their dogs. After so much suffering, we don’t want to die. We want to live.

“Mayor Su, you might look down on us for this. We lack a spine. We are lowly. We are shameless. But some of us…are the final seeds of our races. We have to live to prevent the full extinction of our races. I came from the fellwood race. I am…the sole survivor of my race. When I die, my race will cease to exist. I must live!

“If I have to live with without a spine, if I have to live while bending over, I will do so. The continuation of my race is a burden too heavy for me to shed just for the sake of something like dignity. The Myriad Realms has existed for countless years. Countless races have ceased to exist in its long history. I don’t want my race to become one of them. To become a race that only exists in history.”

“…”

A melancholic silence enveloped the area.

Apart from Su Yu, not a single mayor was someone from a major race. To become a mayor, one had to reach the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm. But no expert of such level would willingly take on such a task. They had plenty of options to better themselves. There was no need for them to do this.

That left only those from the minor races or the destroyed races to serve as mayors. Some of these mayors used to be the leaders of their races in the past. Some were respected seniors of their races.

The dark devil dragon was a rare exception. He had only ran off to become a mayor because of his quarrel with the dragon race. Otherwise, a dragon expert like him wouldn’t deign to become an ancient city mayor.

From how the likes of Dao Cheng and Jiu Xuan had behaved before a ninth-stage Sunmoon like Tian He previously, it was clear these mayors did not have the respect of the major races.

Su Yu looked around and flashed a bright smile, “Everyone, why do you view me as a petty villain that will not let any grievance go unanswered? Am I such a person?”

Yes.

Yeah!

Definitely.

Since his debut in the Allheaven Battlefield, most of the people who had offended him had suffered miserable ends. Was he not such a person?

Tian He broke the awkward silence, “That’s not what I’m trying to say. My point is, we need something we can rally behind. Let’s be open here. With three Pseudo Emperors behind you, none of us will dare to lead the alliance. You are the only candidate to lead us. But you also need to be frank with us to give us the assurance we need before joining.”

Su Yu looked at Tian He thoughtfully. The two of them had known each other for quite a while. Back then, Tian He was the one who had allowed him to meet Heavendoom. He was also somewhat of an ally to Xia Longwu. And now, he was singing a duet with him.

Su Yu said, “Since you’re asking, I won’t be beating around the bush. I will forget everything you have done in the past. The past is the past. It has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t matter if you were backed by the divines or the devils. It doesn’t matter if you used to be the enemies of humanity. Perhaps when all that happened, I wasn’t even born yet. We’re establishing an alliance of holy cities here, not an alliance with humanity. Your issues with humanity do not concern me since you’re not the enemies of my city. I am speaking as Su Yu, the mayor of a holy city. Not Su Yu, a human lord.”

He declared solemnly, “Some of you might have a deep grudge against humanity. Even if you wish to pursue vengeance, I won’t stop you. However, I am still a human. I won’t stay idle as you slaughter weaklings and innocents among the human race. Those worthy of being your enemies are most likely Sunmoons or even Invincibles. You can pursue your vengeance as that is a personal matter, but aim your wrath at the right person. I won’t tolerate the massacre of the weak and innocent.”

He added, “If a day comes when a war breaks out between the alliance and the human race, forget everything I say today. War is war.”

He looked at everyone and said, “My offer does not extend to only the mayors. Including the residents, I will provide what I can. At the very least, I won’t have any issues providing you with the heavenly source qi you need.

“I lack a lot of things, but I have a rather healthy supply of heavenly source qi. I can even purchase more from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion or the Soul Devorer Realm. Heavenly source qi might be extremely rare for you, but not for me. The Soul Devourer Realm lack a lot of things, but it is filled with heavenly source qi.”

He raised the little furball high and announced, “This is the crown prince of the ancient race of soul devourers. That day, a window between the Allheaven Battlefield and the Soul Devourer Realm was open momentarily. I believe everyone saw that massive heavenly source fruit tree in the realm. The crown prince can return as he wishes. Thus, heavenly source qi is not something I lack.”

“…”

The little furball merely listened to the speech in silence. Wow. Yummy sure was good at lying. Did he know how to go back home? Nope.

The little furball started sulking. Why did Dada and Mama not tell him the way back when they were out here? How was he supposed to return as he wished? He didn’t even know where the proper entrance was.

He didn’t know how to return! Of course, he reckoned nobody would believe that. What joke was that? The two Pseudo Emperors had personally killed the tri-life bodies of the Devil Pseudo Emperor for the sake of this crown prince. They obviously cared a lot about this crown prince. If Su Yu said that the crown prince could return at will, nobody would doubt it.

In fact, even the stone statues believed it. After all, this was the sole heir of the soul devourer race. Those two must have tended to this little fellow well prior to this. They must have planted some sort of imprint on the little fellow’s body to pull the little fellow back at any time.