Tribulation of Myriad Races

When Su Yu looked at him, Heavendoom said, “What? The death sovereigns at our places have changed many times. Just the territory under my city has switched ownership five or six times. Some were killed by the other death sovereigns, and some were killed by me for charging out of the tunnel. Even that is not that high a number since it has been a hundred thousand years.”

Grandstar smiled and explained, “Xing Yue knows restraint. She rarely leaves unless it’s under the order of the heavenly laws.”

The truth was very simple. Grandstar was quite satisfied with his obedient death sovereign. Thus, he had never seen the need to kill her.

In fact, he would even help Xing Yue against the roaming aggressive death sovereigns to protect her rule.

Grandstar continued, “Furthermore, I have known Xing Yue for so many years. We are old friends. Am I right, Xing Yue?”

Xing Yue responded with a cold snort. This felt like a provocation! But she had to endure it since she couldn’t beat any of them. What could she do if she was weaker?

Suddenly, she thought of something and ordered coldly, “Su Yu, take them and piss off! I don’t want to see them here.”

Yes. She had remembered that Su Yu was her subordinate.

Su Yu coughed awkwardly and nodded. “Yes, we’re leaving immediately. By the way, where are Senior Xia Chen and the others?”

Even Liu Hong had gone missing. That guy was probably still somewhere in the Death Realm. Was he out to search for Culture King’s Residence? Was he the successor of the ink legacy?

“I don’t know. They left.”

When Xing Yue was the one saying that, Su Yu was very inclined to believe her.

He looked at the others and said, “Shall we start thinking of a way to contact Marquis Lanshan?”

Grandstar said, “Marquis Lanshan is probably staying in the East Heavenly Domain. She won’t be easy to contact.”

“Let’s take a look at the Celestial River of Death first.” Su Yu said, “Perhaps we can contact her there. Since the immortals can contact their marquises, there must be a way for us to do it as well. At worst, we can try to make a death spirit our messenger.”

Hearing his words, Xing Yue’s cold voice rang out, “I can contact her for you. You’re all living beings. You are too easily detected the moment you cross the Celestial River of Death.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “It’s fine, Lord Xing Yue. Just focus on digesting the death imprint.”

He had refused because she was simply too weak. She was only a sixth-degree Eternal. She had been around since the ancient past. How was she still at the sixth degree? Su Yu didn’t even know what to say about her anymore.

Sensing that Su Yu was looking down on her, Xing Yue vanished and returned to her ancient palace with a cold expression.

***

Su Yu and the guardians left without wasting any time.

After a while, Grandstar said, “Xing Yue might have a unique identity. She has been around for a very long time. In fact, she might be as old as the tunnels themselves. She was here before I was even a guardian.”

Heavendoom rolled his eyes and said, “What’s so special about being old?”

Grandstar found the retort both funny and annoying at the same time. He shot back, “What nonsense are you saying? Think! Use your brain! Who were the guardians before us? Back then, the Death Realm had just been pacified. The human kings kept watch personally. Even the likes of Culture King and Martial King were frequent visitors of the Death Realm at that time.

“When you first came, were there any death sovereigns in the area? Death sovereigns are smart enough to know who they shouldn’t provoke. With so many monstrous human kings around, only the dumb lower-level death spirits were around. But when I arrived, Xing Yue and her palace were already here.”

Heavendoom blanked out. “Really? Why did you never speak of this before?”

Grandstar said, “What is there to speak about? No matter how special her identity is, she is dead. What’s the point? She was already at this strength when I first arrived. Even after so many years, she hadn’t grown. If you think about it, that is really weird. Even if she never cultivates, the natural accumulation of death qi over a hundred thousand years should have pushed her to a higher level long ago.”

He shook his head, clearly lacking an answer for that mystery.

To the side, Empyrean Cloud said matter-of-factly, “How is that so complicated? Some big shot must have sealed her cultivation and prevented her from growing.”

“Why?”

Grandstar wasn’t buying that. What was the point?

Empyrean Cloud snorted and said, “Are you stupid? See, it’s true that all males are brainless. Why are you asking me something so stupid? Because some big shot wanted to resurrect her. And it’s far easier to resurrect a weaker death spirit. Just look at He Tu. His cultivation has been stuck for so long as well. Does that look normal to you? He’s stuck because Boss is keeping his cultivation suppressed, ensuring that the difficulty of resurrecting him doesn’t grow too high.”

That was a shocking explanation for Su Yu to hear, but it made a lot of sense. Yes. The stronger a death spirit was, the harder it would be for them to resurrect. That was perfectly logical. He Tu was already near Daofuse almost a hundred thousand years ago. Yet he had remained at the seventh degree for nine epochs.

Su Yu also knew that He Tu had consumed a lot of death imprints. Even so, his growth remained stunted. So…that was because of the old turtle’s suppression?

Su Yu inhaled deeply. That could very well be the case.

Empyrean Cloud continued, “An unknown big shot must have sealed her growth, but all those big shots had died before they could resurrect her. Since she couldn’t remove the seal herself, she has remained stuck for so many years.”

Grandstar nodded and said, “Empyrean Cloud, you sure know a lot. I have never considered this matter. I have always assumed that Xing Yue is simply lazy.”

He looked at Su Yu and said, “This might really be the truth. But we can observe her again later. If her strength remains in the sixth degree by the time we return, we can confirm that her growth has indeed been sealed.”

After all, Xing Yue had been given the death imprint of a marquis. In fact, a sixth-degree Eternal should have reached the seventh degree many times over by simply sleeping through a hundred thousand years.

It was completely unnatural for one to be stuck for so long.

Su Yu asked curiously, “So, which big shot is she related to? She seems to know a lot. Also, what was her race prior to her death? Was she a human?”

He was unsure if Xing Yue was a human. It was very hard to determine the original race of a death spirit unless the death spirit was exposing some special characteristics unique to a specific race. But Xing Yue had shown nothing like that.

“A human, I guess?” Grandstar said uncertainly, “Most likely. A death sovereign of any other race would have revealed some special characteristics of their race the moment they regained their memories. But her form has remained the same all along.”

Fine. Fine.

Su Yu did not ask more. It wasn’t that important. He was more curious about something else. Back then, Culture King had entered the Death Realm to resurrect someone. Alas, he had failed.

And Xing Yue was a death spirit whose growth had been sealed by a big shot. That must have been done for the sake of resurrecting her. In that case, was Xing Yue the person Culture King had attempted to resurrect back then?

Xing Yue had been a death spirit for so long that it was unlikely for her to be the Time Sage. If Xing Yue was really Culture King’s target…could it be that…Xing Yue was Culture King’s…wife?

Hehehe.

No way…right?

The ancient past sure was complicated.

That reminded Su Yu of something else. He said curiously, “I heard that back then, the Sea of Stars was not a floating sea. Eventually, a big shot raised it into the sky to please his wife. Does any you know who this big shot was?”

The Sea of Stars was so large it might as well be boundless. In fact, it occupied half the Allheaven Battlefield. Raising something so high from the ground and keeping it in the sky would most certainly require the power of laws. That was the only answer. The culprit was most certainly a Master of Law.

Or to be precise, it would be an extraordinary Master of Law. Even in the tenth epoch, there were countless battles between the various experts. Something like that must have happened in the ancient past as well, yet all the battles had failed to strike the sea down from the sky.

At that question, Grandstar looked at Heavendoom. Noticing the gaze, Heavendoom rolled his eyes and said, “Why are you looking at me? Do you think I’m strong enough to hang this sea in the sky?”

He looked at Su Yu and said, “I’m unsure. This sea has been up in the sky for as long as we remember. According to the rumors, Radiant King did it. But I can’t be sure. In any case, only a few people had the strength to pull this off.

“Culture, Martial, Radiant, Control, and Human Emperor. These were the five strongest humans back then. The Human Emperor ruled, but the four major human kings were also incomparably powerful. These five were the core firepower during humanity’s conquest.”

A human again? Su Yu was left quite speechless. Were the ancient humans so free that they would do all these weird things? Radiant King…that was Great Ming King’s ancestor. If that was really the case, then he must have been terrifyingly strong.

“How much do you know about Control King?”

“Control King?”

They shook their heads. Empyrean Cloud said, “We don’t know much. Su Yu, don’t overestimate us. We were mere nobodies back then. We might not be at the very bottom, but we were certainly not that highly ranked either.”

“During the ancient past, only Daofuses were qualified to stand at the top. Only the likes of marquises and kings could get in contact with someone at Control King’s level.”

Grandstar added, “We were merely a part of the Spirit Suppression Army. Our boss might have met these top experts before, but the most important expert we have ever met was Devote King. We might know a little more about him, but not the other human kings and assembly members. They were too important for us to come in contact with.”

Su Yu nodded. Recalling the Heavenly Seal King, he asked, “Can any of you remember seeing a female expert after the Allheaven Battlefield was shut off the previous epoch? A female who had remained in the Allheaven Battlefield…”

As he spoke, he drew a woman with a frosty expression in the air. It felt as though she only had one expression as that was the sole expression she carried each time he saw her in Heavenly Seal King’s memories.

Since these guardians wouldn’t leave the Allheaven Battlefield during the sealed period, they might have seen her before. The three looked at the portrait. Grandstar shook his head directly.

Empyrean Cloud shook her head as well. Su Yu started feeling doubtful. This seemed unlikely. A super expert would not appear out of nowhere, unless that super expert was in a similar situation as the book spirit and tea plant.

Before Su Yu could say anything, Heavendoom’s doubtful voice rang out, “This face…looks familiar.”

“Have you seen her before?” Su Yu was surprised.

With an uncertain tone, Heavendoom answered, “I’m not sure if it’s the same person. After the end of the previous epoch, there was a woman in black robes left in the Allheaven Battlefield. I saw her roaming around frequently, so I paid some attention to her, thinking that she was a celestial chasm. But upon further observation, I found that she wasn’t.”

“When was the last time you saw her, Lord?”

“About five hundred years ago?”

Heavendoom thought about it and said, “Not long after the connection between the Allheaven Battlefield and the Human Realm was restored.”

Su Yu frowned and asked, “That was the last time? What was she doing roaming around? Do you have any idea?”

“No, not really…”

But suddenly, Heavendoom recalled something. He said, “Speaking of…that fellow might have been searching for a way to the Death Realm.”

Su Yu asked, “Why so?”

“I’m not sure, but I remember that fellow coming to my place to gather some death qi.” Heavendoom grinned and said, “Naturally, I wouldn’t refuse someone willingly reducing my burden of death qi. During the sealed period, I had to rely on myself. There wouldn’t even be a mayor around to help.

“Since she wasn’t weak, she could gather a lot of death qi. Thus, I was quite happy to let her do it. She came several times, and each time, she would gather a large amount. That was quite a relaxed period for me.

“She must have been trying to open a death tunnel herself. Since she went missing not long after, she must have entered the Death Realm. But it has been five hundred years. She must have died after so long in the Death Realm.”

Heavendoom looked at Su Yu and asked, “Are you looking for her? Is this a friend or an enemy?”

“An enemy. There is a son-killing feud between us.”

“Wait! You had a son?”

“…”

Su Yu rolled his eyes. How did Heavendoom reach that conclusion? That was someone who had vanished for hundreds of years. Wasn’t the answer clear? Su Yu did not bother to explain himself.

Before long, they reached the Celestial River of Death. According to the old turtle, the Celestial River of Death formed a circle around the territory governed by Devote King and the old turtle. Beyond the river were the territories of the four heavenly kings. The area directly under the old turtle’s city was nearest to the East Heavenly Domain.