Tribulation of Myriad Races

The old turtle was greatly surprised.

He Tu had somehow appeared in the Luminous Domain Mansion. And he was on the lower levels. Even so, he shouldn’t have been able to kill indiscriminately.

All that was pointing toward a certain fact.

He Tu…had not entered the mansion through a normal death tunnel. He had entered the mansion through some other means.

“Wasn’t he away to recruit help against me?”

The old turtle sank into thought. Was that related to He Tu’s appearance in the mansion? Who did that guy recruit?

As the old turtle took his time pondering, the ancient expert asked again, “Brother Grand Dream, is He Tu gone from the tunnel?”

Only then did the old turtle remember that he had a question to answer. He said, “No. He has a tendency to leave randomly. I don’t know where he’s at.”

At that answer, the sky trembled as multiple powerful projections manifested.

One of them asked, “He’s not there? Is he really in the mansion? How did he enter? Even if he did enter, he shouldn’t have appeared on the lower levels. There have been very few deaths on the seventh level. Meanwhile, a disastrous number of people have died on the lower levels.”

If a death sovereign was in the mansion, it wouldn’t be a surprise for some of the people inside to die.

In fact, these Invincibles believed that even more should have died if there was really a death sovereign in there. However, how had He Tu entered the mansion?

“Could it be that…there are entrances to the Luminous Domain Mansion in the Death Realm as well?”

“That’s impossible! If that’s really the case, why has this never happened before? It’s not like the Luminous Domain Mansion has never opened before.”

The manifestation of so many ancient existences caused the very air of the Allheaven Battlefield to turn frigid. Even more of these ancient geezers had revealed themselves. The expressions of the various Invincibles changed drastically. Just how many of these ancient fossils were still alive? Were the nine epochs not enough to kill them all?

***

At the same time.

Great Xia King blanked out before sending a voice transmission, “Old Zhou, since these ancient races have so many surviving old fossils, does the human race have some?”

These fossils were essentially the main characters of the past epochs. Did the human race not have even one of these fossils?

Great Xia King held no hope that any human fossils from the ancient past would still be around. All those people were dead. If they were still around, the myriad races wouldn’t have found the chance to rise in prominence.

But what about the experts that had emerged during the past nine epochs? Were they all dead? The likes of Great Xia King were essentially the experts of the tenth epoch. Would all of them die by the end of this epoch? If they could somehow survive to the next epoch, they would join the ranks of the living fossils.

Great Zhou King answered, “That’s unlikely. Firstly, the human race has a far shorter lifespan. Secondly, the human race does not have an Eternal cultural researcher. The lifespan of warriors has always been shorter in comparison. Most of these fossils are cultivators of both paths. Thirdly, the human race was the main character of the nine epochs. Each time, the epoch would only end after humanity was completely exhausted.”

One could say that the human race had lost nine times in a row. There were several epochs where they had nearly won, but…they had still failed. The fossils would never allow that to happen.

Great Zhou King continued, “Don’t underestimate these fossils just because they have been keeping a low profile. I suspect that they were involved in the defeats of humanity during the past nine epochs.”

Great Xia King nodded as the look in his eyes turned solemn. That was perfectly understandable. These fossils would most certainly not allow the human race to reconquer the Myriad Realms.

They had merely been inactive this epoch because the time had yet to come for them to act. Nobody wanted to be the first to act and shoulder all the losses for the myriad races. In fact, many of these fossils had perished against humanity during the course of the nine epochs.

Since humanity was exceptionally weak during the tenth epoch, the fossils had seen no need to act. After all, the longer one lived, the more one was afraid of death. Thanks to the lessons they had learned in the course of the past nine epochs, they weren’t too keen on fighting the humans unless absolutely necessary. Additionally, the involvement of existences such as these fossils could very well trigger an unexpected change among humanity. Since the myriad races had the upper hand this time, there was no need for them to act.

***

The old turtle ignored everyone and shut his eyes again.

He was more concerned about his disappearing little He Tu. Little He Tu had entered the Luminous Domain Mansion. In that case, there must be a backdoor to the Luminous Domain Mansion in the Death Realm.

“Was that the insurance you guys left for yourself? For you to return one day in the event of a defeat?”

The old turtle didn’t know how to feel about this. The backdoor was most certainly the handiwork of the humans. This signified that even after nine defeats, humanity had yet to fully exhaust all their trump cards from the ancient past. How terrifying.

Upon death, all would enter the Death Realm. It didn’t matter that the death tunnels would be guarded. They had other alternatives, such as the backdoor to the Luminous Domain Mansion. Was this an insurance to allow them to reawaken in the Luminous Domain Mansion and reclaim their authority in the Myriad Realms?

During the past nine epochs, ancient human experts had emerged to guide humanity. In fact, some true ancient past human experts had even appeared during the first three epochs.

It was now the tenth epoch. Not one of those people remained. If they had indeed become death spirits, would they still consider themselves humans? At the very least, He Tu did not seem to care about the fact that he used to be a human.

He was a descendant of a human king. Even someone like him had stopped caring about humanity after becoming a death spirit. After becoming a death spirit, he had essentially transformed into a different race. He was no longer a human. His past memories were akin to the memories of someone else. The visions of his past were more akin to a work of fiction to him. He no longer considered himself a human.

While the old turtle was deep in thought, someone spoke, “Brother Grand Dream, since you are in charge of suppressing the Death Realm, could we trouble you to investigate the Death Realm for any recent changes?”

The old turtle said, “I don’t have the time for that. I don’t feel like doing it either. If you’re really so interested, you are welcome to suppress this city for me. I have the authority to appoint new guardians. After becoming a new guardian, I won’t stop you from taking a look inside the Death Realm.”

“…”

Silence descended.

What joke was that? They were most certainly not interested in becoming guardians.

This was no longer the ancient past. During the ancient past, with the Human Emperor and the Myriad Race Assembly around, the guardians could rotate out of the job. But the masters of the heavenly laws were no longer around. The heavenly laws would remain the same for eternity. The moment one became a guardian, one would remain one forever.

Things would remain so until a new supreme expert emerged to surpass the Human Emperor and shatter the heavenly laws, replacing them with a new set of heavenly laws.

Otherwise, one would still be helpless against the heavenly laws even if one managed to conquer the Myriad Realms. One needed to have the power to surpass the heavenly laws enough to change how things worked in the Myriad Realms.

If one decided to ignore the heavenly laws upon conquering the Myriad Realms, the heavenly laws would promptly teach one some humility.

The old turtle continued, “If you’re unwilling, so be it. I’m too busy to investigate the Death Realm. How about this? You guys can take this chance to enter through my death tunnel while He Tu is absent. Of course, I won’t promise you’ll be able to leave the Death Realm alive after entering.”

Yes. Living beings were not prohibited from entering. But there was no guarantee that one would be able to leave after entering. For example, Xia Longwu had once entered the Death Realm. However, he hadn’t strayed far from the tunnel. He had also departed in a timely manner. Otherwise, not even someone like Xia Longwu would be able to leave the Death Realm alive.

The presence of living beings would be too eyecatching to those in the Death Realm. Before long, one would catch the attention of countless death spirits.

After a short silence, an ancient fossil spoke, “Brother Grand Dream, you’re still as funny as ever—”

“I never joke.” The old turtle said, “I am nobody’s subordinate. Do not question me. This includes you, Heavenly Overseer Marquis. Just stick to your own business. If anyone believes you can replace me as the Spirit Suppression General, I welcome you to try.”

He was way too lazy to do them this favor. They should be thankful he was kind enough to even respond to their questions.

Ever the chaos lover, Heavendoom shouted, “Tsk. You, you bastard! How dare you provoke us? I remember you! You used to be an untitled general under the Flatearth General. Do you think you’re a hotshot now that you have achieved Daofuse? Do you want to have a taste of my staff?”

“…”

The ancient fossil didn’t even know how to respond to that. How should one respond to the words of a lunatic? He had merely asked a question. Why was that guy escalating this into a fight?

He remained calm and said, “Brother Heavendoom, you used to be an untitled general as well. Who are you trying to insult here?”

Heavendoom’s voice dripped with contempt as he replied, “Even so, I am different. We’re here to guard the tunnels alongside our boss. Back then, I was promised the title Spirit Battling General at the end of my term. I was also promised the title Spirit Battling Marquis after achieving Daofuse. Alas, the damn ancient past collapsed only a thousand years after the start of my tenure. What could I do about this?”

Heavendoom started cursing furiously, “How can a garbage untitled general like you compare against me? What are you before me?”

“…”

Everyone ignored Heavendoom’s outburst, including the other guardians. None of them felt like talking. Why? Because they were also untitled generals. They were all nobodies.

Heavendoom was different. He had indeed been promised a promotion. Alas, the ancient past had collapsed before he could receive his promotion. Everything had changed. Heavendoom was still a guardian while some of the juniors from back then had achieved Daofuse.

Noticing the awkward silence, Heavendoom continued swearing to hide his awkwardness, “Bountiful Treasure, you’re truly useless. How did a garbage untitled general achieve Daofuse before you? At least I have an excuse for my stagnation since I was stuck as a guardian. What excuse do you have?”

Bountiful Treasure was a titled general.

How could he be so useless?

How was he still not a Daofuse?