Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu exhaled and said, “I’m worried that he won’t return to his domain after leaving. Instead, he will head toward the other domains.”

Everyone frowned upon hearing that. True. Things would get troublesome if East Heavenly King decided to not return and seek help from the other heavenly kings instead. For now, the other heavenly kings were probably still oblivious to what was happening.

It would be too late if they found out after East Heavenly King’s death. At that point, there would only be three of them left, with one of them being a friend of humanity. The old turtle could also handle a heavenly king by himself. Thus, a balance would be formed and they would have to accept East Heavenly King’s death.

However, things would be very different if East Heavenly King was allowed to leave this place. Once again, Su Yu looked up at the sky and cursed inwardly.

Heavenbridge Marquis!

That damn bastard had ruined his plan!

He was supposed to call Old Zhou right outside the entrance to the next level. Clearly, that wasn’t feasible anymore. Furthermore, his main goal here was to get the cultivation method from Old Zhou.

How was he supposed to start converting his techniques and abilities to characters without that cultivation method? Leaving would cause his main mission to end in failure.

“Martial Emperor…is someone I need to face sooner or later.”

Perhaps he had to keep betting with his life.

Things would still be extremely dangerous for him if he couldn’t communicate with Old Zhou. He stood no chance against the experts of the Upper Realm. Leaving would be the same as delaying the inevitable.

With that in mind, Su Yu reached a decision. He would wait for East Heavenly King’s group to arrive before shouting Tai Shan’s name. He would decide what to do next based on Old Zhou’s reaction.

Marquis Lanshan and the others looked at Su Yu, awaiting his decision. Would they be standing their ground? Or would they do battle here? Winning here would grant them three Daofuses. Losing here would…end everything.

After a short silence, Su Yu said, “Be ready to withdraw at any moment. Since the eighth level entrance is missing, I will wake Martial Emperor up later. If East Heavenly King and the others are injured enough, we will kill them. If not, we give up. I will return alone in the future.”

The moment Heavendoom heard that, he sneered and said, “Are you looking down on us? Are you worried that we would die here?”

“No.” Su Yu said, “I’m simply worried that Lord Grand Dream couldn’t suppress so many death tunnels alone. If you were to die here, the other guardians would be troubled. I need more time to arrange for your replacements.”

Su Yu waved his hand and said, “That’s the new plan. My original plan was much better, but the gate went missing by itself. How unfortunate.”

It was true that not everything would always go according to plan. Previously, the gate had also vanished shortly. But he did not expect the gate to vanish yet again. He could only conclude that luck truly worked in mysterious ways. It would not side with him all the time. Just then, a concentration of auras surged from the entrance to the seventh level.

Su Yu inhaled deeply and roared, “Tai Shan!”

“Little Bug!”

Instead of the furious roars he was expecting, a calm voice rang out in Su Yu’s ears, “You have been using Tai Shan’s name to provoke me repeatedly. Do you take me for a fool? I am not a tool for you to use repeatedly. I can feel it. Your enemies are here. They are quite strong, and they are here to kill you. Little Bug, you’re dead. Don’t even dream of making use of me.”

But suddenly, Martial Emperor raised his voice in fury, “For making me eat those disgusting bugs, you will be the first I kill if I’m killing anyone!”

He had awakened.

Su Yu didn’t know if he should cry or laugh. This was the worst-case scenario.

Old Zhou was finally capable of proper communication.

But Old Zhou was also hostile toward him.

Old Zhou did not rage or attack. Su Yu was unsure if that was because Old Zhou couldn’t control his body properly, or perhaps attacking would cause Old Zhou to lose his mind again. But he knew that his plan to kill East Heavenly King with Old Zhou had failed completely.

It was time for him to withdraw. Leaving was the only thing he could do at this point. He could think of a way to communicate with Old Zhou in the future. With the ability to activate the entrances, he could come in again next time.

Just then, Old Zhou’s voice rang out in his ears again, “Little Bug, you’re dead! Do you know that! You have angered me! Are you thinking of leaving through the death tunnel? Dream on! I might lose control when I attack, so I won’t do anything. But…you should still die here!”

Instantly, the power of laws around the death tunnel shook. With a rumble, the entrance to the tunnel was sealed.

Su Yu’s heart thumped in alarm. Things had completely gone out of control.

Old Zhou’s proud voice rang out in his ears, “It’s over for you! How dare they build this tunnel on my body! Damn them all! Since it’s on my body, who can stop me from shutting it?”

The death tunnel was shut. Everyone else sensed it as well. They all looked over only to see a thin barrier covering the entrance.

Su Yu reached out…and met resistance.

As East Heavenly King’s aura surged from afar, Su Yu hurriedly said, “Senior Martial Emperor, this junior was too rude for daring to dream of using you. Senior, please allow the guardians to leave, at least. They are in charge of suppressing the Death Realm. The world of the living will sink into turmoil and countless lives will be lost if the death spirits are allowed to run wild. I can stay here with you…”

Old Zhou had regained his clarity of mind. With his clarity of mind, he had opted to shut the death tunnel. The entrance to the eighth level was also missing. The plan to hide in the realm barrier wouldn’t work anymore.

Su Yu had planned well, but he had underestimated the ways with which a plan could go wrong. But this wasn’t too surprising. Not everything would always go according to the plan. Su Yu was not an almighty god who could control everything. He could only do his best with the cards in his hands.

This was a bad result…but it wasn’t really a situation he had never considered before.

Such was fate.

Su Yu did not feel too regretful about himself. He only wanted to send Heavendoom and the others out first. However, he doubted it would work.

Sure enough, Martial Emperor replied, “Forget it. I would have killed you myself if I weren’t afraid of losing control, Little Bug!”

He might lose his mind after attacking. And that would give this crafty bug the chance to manipulate him again. He did not remember much of the things that had happened during his slumber, but he still had a vague impression of some events.

Thus, he decided to not attack. Attacking might only benefit this annoying person. After all, he might go crazy and kill the approaching death spirits, helping this annoying bug to escape. He most certainly didn’t want to do that.

Su Yu smiled. So be it. He looked at the others and said, “My apologies. I won’t say much more. Let’s follow our previous plan. I will do my best to keep East Heavenly King busy. Lord Grandstar and Lord Empyrean Cloud, do your best to kill. If you fail, we all die here. I don’t regret this. I hope you won’t regret this either. We shall…meet again as death spirits!”

He looked at Marquis Lanshan, smiled, and asked, “Do you regret following my order?”

Marquis Lanshan solemnly said, “What is there to regret? It’s just a battle.”

“True.”

Su Yu inhaled deeply. Inside his sea of willpower, the white dog’s blood essence floated out. Far away, East Heavenly King’s was flying in their direction.

East Heavenly King looked alert. Instead of attacking directly, he focused on scanning his surroundings. As he did that, his expression turned odd as he muttered, “This tunnel has been sealed by some powerful laws.”

Then, he looked up. However, the entrance to the eighth level was nowhere to be seen. He might not be familiar with this place, but he knew there was supposed to be an entrance to the next level here.

The marquises beside him looked around as well. Suddenly, Divine Peace Marquis laughed and said, “Heavenly King, the Heavenbridge Marquis must have fled. That’s the only explanation for the disappearance of the eighth level entrance.”

“Heavenbridge Marquis…”

East Heavenly King nodded. That was a name he knew as well. In that case, the entrance to the eighth level would not be available as well.

He looked at Su Yu and asked, “Su Yu, is this part of your plan as well?”

Su Yu said, “Of course. Now that you’re trapped here, you won’t be able to escape the fate of being killed by us.”

East Heavenly King laughed and said, “But why do I feel like something has gone wrong with your plan? I sensed an intense fury bubbling earlier. This tunnel must be recently sealed, right? Su Yu, it would seem like you have successfully courted death.”

He laughed with amusement. Understanding was dawning on him. That terrifying being wasn’t Su Yu’s backer. Rather, that was merely a tool Su Yu had manipulated to kill his enemies. But he screwed up somewhere.

Su Yu said, “Even if you kill all of us, you won’t be able to leave this place. You will be trapped here forever.”

“No, not at all.” East Heavenly King said, “Don’t think that I’m really so clueless. The seal on that tunnel won’t last long. After killing you, we can retreat to a lower level and wait for a while. Eventually, that terrifying being will return to slumber, allowing us to leave. Am I right, Su Yu?”

As a super expert, it did not take him long to figure out what was happening. He laughed and said, “Looks like it’s a blunder on your part, Human Lord. You must have planned to kill me with that terrifying being. A decent plan. It could truly put me in great danger.”

“Why are you wasting your breath here?”

With a roar, Su Yu consumed the white dog’s blood essence. Instantly, his aura surged.

Boom!

Great daos clashed.

The dao of the death spirits manifested in the sky. Above Su Yu, a dog appeared. But this time, something different happened. When the dog bit down at the gigantic dao, it wasn’t able to damage the dao.

East Heavenly King, who was walking that dao, shook slightly. Then, he released a burst of death qi from his body and said, “What a powerful dao. The master of this dao is probably capable of contending against me. Unfortunately for you, this is borrowed power.”

“Kill!”

With a roar from Su Yu, Heavendoom and the others charged toward their respective opponents. At this point, it was useless to say more. In fact, East Heavenly King had only said all those words to destroy Su Yu’s confidence.

An intense battle erupted.

While Su Yu was handling the East Heavenly King, Heavendoom charged toward an uninjured marquis.

As for Marquis Lanshan, she roared and charged toward a different uninjured marquis. After exchanging glances with each other, Empyrean Cloud sent Grandstar a voice transmission, “Grandstar, you’re slightly stronger than me. I’ll try to deal a sudden heavy damage to him while you find an opportunity to kill him and achieve Daofuse. If any of you survives this battle, kill Han Xiang for me!”

Grandstar said nothing.

All three of them were already ready to die before following Su Yu into the Death Realm. He could plan well, but not everything would always go according to plan. And sure enough, everything had gone wrong. But they didn’t feel too bad about it. This was an era where they would either die in battle or go mad in their cities.

In that case, they might as well fight with all their strength and allow the people of this epoch to witness their brilliance before dying.

“Kill!”

The two charged toward the injured marquis.

Rumble!

Not long after the battle started, Su Yu was sent flying while coughing blood. The dog in the sky was madly biting the gigantic dao, but it only caused the East Heavenly King to shake slightly.

East Heavenly King smiled.

“Su Yu, it’s my victory.”

He sent a gigantic palm toward Su Yu, who vanished after transforming into a gust of wind. A storm of five elements raged while a gigantic book flipped open in the sky. One character after another activated, displaying one ability after another. Su Yu was using everything he had to fight the East Heavenly King.

His Heaven Gate was opened wide. His Culture Tomb had transformed into a saber. And his human lord’s token was applying a suppressive effect onto the area around him. What was there to regret? He only needed to fight as hard as he could.

He only had his own strength to blame for the failure of his plan. After all, there would be no need for all these schemes if he was strong enough.

***

Up in the sky, a faint concentration of willpower appeared. That was Martial Emperor. He was observing the battle with surprise.

“So he’s really the human lord. But why…is the human lord so weak?”

Old Zhou was confused. What year was this? How could the mighty human race produce such a weak human lord? He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. How would Tai Shan and the others agree to this nonsense?

He sank into deep thought.