Tribulation of Myriad Races

Allheaven Battlefield.

Sea of Stars.

Su Yu waited indifferently. Not long after, Great Zhou King returned. Shortly after, the book spirit and tea plant returned as well. The two flanked Su Yu, with the tea plant staring at Great Zhou King curiously in her girl form. This was quite a strong guy.

But they also needed to be wary of him.

Just moments ago, she had received a voice transmission from the book spirit to watch out for any sneak attack this guy might launch toward the human lord. Thus, the tea plant was studying Great Zhou King curiously, wondering if he was a bad guy.

Great Zhou King ignored the two and said to Su Yu, “Emperor Yu, I have failed.”

Su Yu said, “So be it. But why did you lose the record character?”

Great Zhou King sighed and said, “He set a trap in the fragment. I never noticed it before. That was a good chance for us to return it to him. Upon seeing that, the myriad races would start suspecting him. After all, you have never lost anything in your many battles prior to this. Even Heavenly Overseer Marquis himself would be full of suspicion with the record character back in his hand.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “True. But remember to inform me before doing something like this in the future.”

“Understood.”

Great Zhou King did not say more. This was already a very good response from someone as domineering as Su Yu. In truth, he was quite curious. What were Great Qin King and Great Xia King doing?

He understood that the battle with Heavenly Overseer Marquis was merely a cover, not Su Yu’s actual goal. Otherwise, he would have succeeded in taking Heavenly Overseer Marquis down with Great Qin King and Great Xia King.

The myriad races were unaware of their advancement. Both of them were still missing. They had not participated in the battle.

Su Yu stared at the boundless void. That was a space beyond the Allheaven Battlefield, a place frequented by various experts to harvest the heavenearth profound light and sunmoon profound yellow liquid.

One could say that the boundless void was one of the three components of the Myriad Realms apart from the Allheaven Battlefield and the various realms. That was also the location most top experts preferred to carry out their battles at. The place was large enough, making it suitable for pursuit or concealment. But despite its name, there was an end to it.

Su Yu had never been there, but he knew that if one moved in a straight line, one would leave the border, reaching an area that was not part of this world. He only knew that it was extremely far away.

People like Heavenly Overseer Marquis and Bountiful Treasure with no realms to hide in also loved hiding in the boundless void. All along, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion’s headquarters had been set in the boundless void.

After a while, Su Yu said, “Great Zhou King, return to the Human Realm and pass my order. Have Great Zhou King take a trip to Grand Dream City and find a way to suppress all disturbances in the Death Realm.”

Great Zhou King had a thoughtful expression. Grand Dream City. Yes. The old turtle had also been missing.

At that thought, he said, “Okay. I will go now.”

But just as he was about to leave, Su Yu asked, “One question. Do you know Heavenly Seal King’s father?”

Great Zhou King blanked out. He looked at Su Yu and said, “Maybe. But I don’t know if my guess is right. There should be more people in this lineage. I did not get the chance to meet that man before he was killed by Xia Chen.”

Su Yu said nothing and projected the appearance of Heavenly Seal King’s father. That was something he had seen from Heavenly Seal King’s memories. Great Zhou King studied the projection with a frown.

Su Yu said, “Control King’s lineage is filled with traitors. But we’re only aware of this now. Had they ever emerged during the previous nine epochs? Had they helped humanity before?”

Great Zhou King thought about it and said, “I saw this man before. Back then, he appeared once. But at the time, he did not appear as a descendant of Control King. Apart from Radiant King’s lineage with a clear line of inheritance to trace, the other three lineages of the Four Cardinal Kings had vanished without a trace since the collapse of the ancient past.”

Su Yu frowned and asked, “What identity did he use back then?”

“An expert from the Upperr Realm.”

Great Zhou King explained, “He descended in the ninth epoch with an emissary. Not everyone in the Upper Realm are Daofuses. There are some Eternals or even weaker cultivators there as well. After all, the various races have also been propagating up there. At the time, we didn’t pay him much attention as he had seemingly died not long after arriving. At the time, the death of one Eternal was no big deal.”

Su Yu frowned and asked, “Did you not come from the Upper Realm as well?”

“No.” Great Zhou King smiled helplessly and said, “Emperor Yu, that’s really not the case. I am not from the Upper Realm. Those from the Upper Realm can’t stay after the conclusion of the epoch. I have always remained down here. Of course, I knew that guy. We interacted several times before.”

He wasn’t from the Upper Realm.

Su Yu frowned and said, “This isn’t right. You say that he came from the Upper Realm, but you’re also saying that those from the Upper Realm can’t stay after the conclusion of the epoch. How did he avoid the punishment of the laws?”

Great Zhou King explained, “That is proof that he wasn’t a Daofuse. He might have found a suitable place to hide himself after the connection with the Upper Realm was severed. In any case, none of them are allowed to remain in the open during the period when the Allheaven Battlefield is closed.”

Su Yu had a thoughtful look. In that case, both Heavenly Seal King’s father and West Royal Consort must have arrived from the Upper Realm. One of them had most likely stayed in the Death Realm during the closure of the Allheaven Battlefield.

West Royal Consort was powerful enough to remain there. As for Heavenly Seal King’s father, he had hidden himself in a ruin to evade the heavenly punishment. Meanwhile, Great Zhou King had always been in the Myriad Realms. He was not a visitor from the Upper Realm.

“Does Tiangu know you?”

Great Zhou King explained, “In each epoch, some experts will hold back and remain in hiding. They can only reveal themselves when there is a risk of complete extermination. People like us are only around to ensure the continuation of humanity. We are the insurance. I am the hidden expert of the ninth epoch. I never acted prior to this epoch.”

“Never acted? You sure are a patient one. No wonder you pursue the patience dao.”

Su Yu nodded. No wonder. How patient. A Daofuse like him was actually able to resist acting even during the ninth epoch’s defeat. Su Yu would most likely not be as patient as that. In fact, not even Great Xia King and Great Qin King would be so patient.

Su Yu asked, “Were you born in the ninth epoch? Or an earlier era?”

After a short silence, Great Zhou King said, “An earlier era.”

“Truly patient.” Su Yu laughed and said, “Don’t tell me that you have been patiently waiting since the ancient past. That would truly be impressive. A hundred thousand years…wait, are you an ancient marquis?”

Great Zhou King shook his head. But he offered no further explanation either.

Su Yu laughed again and said, “One more question. Are there more of you? Or are you all alone? You said yourself. Multiple individuals would remain hidden per epoch. Were you the only hidden expert of the ninth epoch?”

Great Zhou King said, “I was the sole hidden expert in the Myriad Realms. Xia Chen was an accident. But there were probably one or two individuals like me in the Upper Realm. Continuation must be ensured not only down here, but up there as well. None of us knows who the others are. All will hide and await a suitable opportunity to emerge.”

“Who assigned you to this task?”

Su Yu asked again.

Great Zhou King sank into silence. But ultimately, he answered, “I can’t say.”

“You can’t say?”

Great Zhou King nodded and said, “I can only say what I am allowed to say. We are known as the Torchbearers. There were probably more of us in the very beginning. Some would appear to follow their chosen human lord each epoch. With their support, these chosen ones would eventually ascend to the position of human lord of that epoch.

“For example, I could have informed Hundred Battle King about my identity as a Torchbearer if he had been my chosen one. But at the time, a different Torchbearer emerged to support him. Thus, there was no longer any need for me to emerge. I merely existed as an unremarkable Eternal of the human race until the very end of the ninth epoch.”

Su Yu chuckled, “How interesting. Torchbearers? Truly interesting. I don’t even need to ask more to guess that this was the handiwork of either the Human Emperor or the Cardinal Human Kings. Culture King was probably too busy to do this. Martial King was not smart enough to leave such an arrangement behind. Control King was a traitor. In that case, it would either be Human Emperor or Radiant King.

“It might be Radiant King, but he might not be aware of Human Emperor’s decision to end the ancient past in advance. He might not have the time to leave any arrangements behind. I see…Human Emperor?”

Su Yu smiled, “The low-profile Human Emperor. Generation after generation of human lord had risen in power under the support of Human Emperor’s Torchbearers. How curious. Why were there no Masters of Laws among them? Was the Human Emperor so weak that he could only leave some Daofuses behind?”

Great Zhou King gave Su Yu a long, silent stare. After a long while, he said, “There was a fixed number of Masters of Laws. Daofuses were easier to hide.”

He neither denied nor accepted Su Yu’s theory. He only said that the Masters of Laws were fixed in number. All the human Masters of Laws were already known.

As for Culture King’s trump cards, Martial Emperor wasn’t someone he had defeated. The heavenly desolate beast was dead. The ink and book daos were probably unrelated to Masters of Laws as well. Even if they were, the two were likely only related to dead Masters of Laws.

However, Human Emperor’s arrangement was the reason why humanity had survived the nine epochs. This was the power of accumulation. Torchbearer after Torchbearer, generation after generation, they ensured the continuity of humanity.

This was why the myriad races had always claimed that humanity was merely enjoying the accumulation of its ancestors. Humanity had enjoyed the accumulation of its ancestors for nine epochs. Even so, the accumulation was still not fully exhausted.

As of that moment, Su Yu’s interest on the Human Emperor grew massively.

The Human Emperor was the most inconspicuous of the ancient legends. But his arrangements were far more reliable than Culture King’s. Without his arrangements, humanity would have been exterminated long ago.

Torchbearers like Great Zhou King had worked hard behind the scenes to ensure the survival of humanity. Not even the Torchbearers knew who the other Torchbearers were. Any of them could step forth if they found a human lord they found worth supporting. None would know if there were more Torchbearers hidden in the shadows.

Su Yu flashed Great Zhou King a wide smile.

“Are you a disciple, a descendant, or a first-generation Torchbearer?”

It would be truly interesting if he were a first-generation.

Great Zhou King did not answer. He said, “First generation Torchbearer…a decent term. The first generation Torchbearers are the ones you can trust most. They are also the most elite among the Torchbearers. They were not marquises. They might not even have any titles. The myriad races were unaware of their existence. Borrowing a modern term, you can consider them death soldiers or secret soldiers.”

He was indirectly informing Su Yu that the first generation Torchbearers might all be the secret soldiers of Human Emperor. Each Master of Law was known to everyone. But those below could still hide from the myriad races.

There were countless daos in existence. These Torchbearers only needed to fuse with some random daos. The myriad races wouldn’t be able to guess their identities so easily. An accumulation lasting over a hundred thousand years.

Su Yu said, “Truly curious. Nine epochs and nine human lords. Coupled with these Torchbearers, how did humanity lose every single time? Were the myriad races really so powerful?”

Great Zhou King sighed and said, “That’s not surprising. There are countless races among them. Humanity is only one race. The top powerhouses of humanity might be strong, but not every human are so strong. Even the strongest humans could only barely suppress the myriad races. Even in the ancient past, a victory was never guaranteed. That was why the strongest humans had ultimately vanished alongside those assembly members.”

The ancient humans were incredibly powerful. But humanity was only a single race. They could suppress all the other races, but not completely eliminate them. As for the result of an all-out clash? The disappearance of all the top experts.

They might have perished. Or they might have been sealed. Or perhaps they were still fighting somewhere unknown. Even after a hundred thousand years, neither side could emerge victorious.