Tribulation of Myriad Races

Just then, Marquis Lanshan stabbed her sword through the marquis she had been fighting. The sight of that further dropped the morale of the other marquises.

“Heavenly King, at this rate, we will start losing people. Why don’t we preserve our strength and head to the Origin Land. With enough strength, we will be able to occupy a new territory there.”

“Yes, Heavenly King. We have you around. We also have fourteen Daofuses. We have nothing to fear even in the Origin Land. Previously, we were surrounded. Any attempt to escape might result in losses. But now, they are trying to leave! They are no longer encircling us!”

The marquises couldn’t hold back anymore. Some were even thinking of abandoning the heavenly king if he remained stubborn. Previously, they had no choice but to fight since they were surrounded.

But now that South Heavenly King and the others were trying to leave, why shouldn’t they take this chance to flee? Were they supposed to wait around and die?

“It’s over.”

A sense of bleakness enveloped North Heavenly King. He had not been defeated. His subordinates had not been defeated either. Not one of them had died. He even had a slight advantage over South Heavenly King in the battle. But he knew that it was over.

He couldn’t keep the North Heavenly Domain anymore. He did not know if this was also part of Su Yu’s strategy. The marquises wouldn’t have dared to propose leaving if Su Yu had withdrawn the encirclement for no reason.

But right now, Su Yu had the perfect reason to do so. They could all see his intense battle against those from the river. They knew that Su Yu would be too occupied to give chase to them. Thus, they didn’t want to fight anymore.

What strategy was this?

A battleless victory?

After losing the North Heavenly King, Su Yu would be able to reassign it to someone else. At that point, he could no longer reclaim the domain. The laws here would no longer support him.

Thus, replenishing his subordinates would also be much harder in the future. He would also be forced to stay far away then the tunnels to the world of the living. The more North Heavenly King thought about it, the more miserable he felt. This felt more miserable than an actual defeat in battle.

He had yet to be defeated. Su Yu had yet to even attack. Yet the morale of his subordinates had reached rock bottom. He wanted to shout loudly that they should keep fighting. Su Yu might lose to those from the river without South Heavenly King and the others.

But just as he was about to do so, Su Yu shouted from afar, “Some take my message and summon the Daofuses of the other races as well. Gather an army of millions and flatten this place. I refuse to believe that the living can’t defeat the dead!”

“Understood.”

Then, several death sovereigns left, heading toward the different ancient cities. Hearing that, the subordinates of North Heavenly King grew even warier.

“Lord, let’s leave! This man has gone mad! When the Daofuses of the various races arrive, he can still leave in the event of a defeat. But there is no escape for us. This is our only chance to escape!”

And thus, the morale fell apart. In fact, some of the death sovereigns in the North Heavenly Domain were starting to flee toward the Origin Land. North Heavenly King sighed with boundless sorrow.

Just what was going on? Su Yu had attacked the Celestial River of Death, increasing the number of opponents he had to face. But for some reason, that had destroyed the morale on North Heavenly King’s side.

“Let them go!”

Left with no choice, North Heavenly King could only give the order. He had no choice. South Heavenly King blanked out. Was that for real?

Seriously?

The conversation between North Heavenly King and his subordinates had been conducted through voice transmission. Thus, South Heavenly King couldn’t hear them. She was surprised, and she even suspected that this was a trick. But Marquis Lanshan had no hesitation. Instantly, she shouted, “Head to the river and assist the human lord!”

“Understood.”

With that, all the marquises and death sovereigns left, leaving their opponents behind. After a short hesitation, South Heavenly King left as well. The logic of humanity was too hard to understand. She didn’t even know what to say anymore. Weren’t they supposed to be attacking North Heavenly King here? Why were they attacking the Celestial River of Death now?

But she had no choice but to follow. Nobody stopped them.

When they were gone, a marquis looked at North Heavenly King and said, “Heavenly King, let’s leave.”

North Heavenly King looked down at his North Heavenly Domain bleakly. He had yet to be defeated! This territory was still his! But he had to abandon it! He couldn’t accept this.

However, the marquises did not care about his feelings. They were eager to leave. Were they supposed to wait for Su Yu to finish fighting those in the river and encircle them before fleeing? They were certain that staying was no longer a good idea.

With a sigh, North Heavenly King said, “We leave.”

It was time for them to head to the Origin Land. Those bastards under his command were completely unreliable. No wonder they were killed by the humans in the ancient past. These useless bastards! They were essentially forcing him to retreat, and he had no choice but to do it. Su Yu would probably be more than happy to see him stay alone.

Since the decision had been made, North Heavenly King did not hesitate. He reached out and grabbed countless death spirits with his enlarged palm. He would flee, but he would flee with his elite subordinates.

He didn’t even know if there was a way for him to replenish his subordinates in the Origin Land. Each powerhouse would grow from a weakling. This was something he understood. The marquises did the same, grabbing their elite subordinates before leaving. In the blink of an eye, the North Heavenly Domain was emptied.

With boundless fury and sorrow in his eyes, North Heavenly King gave his domain one last look before looking at the intense battle in the Celestial River of Death. With the arrival of South Heavenly King and the others, three more marquises had been killed in no time.

North Heavenly King said, “Go. To the Origin Land.”

And thus, the group of death spirits fled toward the Origin Land. Not a single one of them had died. They should celebrate this. But North Heavenly King couldn’t bring himself to feel happy about it.

At the last moment, he glanced at the Celestial River of Death. He wanted to see Su Yu’s reaction. He wanted to know if this was really a trick by Su Yu. Had Su Yu called South Heavenly King over to destroy the morale on his side?

If that were the case, North Heavenly King would feel better. At least that would be a strategic defeat for him. If not, then he would truly feel miserable about this defeat.

***

In the Celestial River of Death.

Su Yu shouted, “Capture the marquises alive if possible!”

He showed no reaction whatsoever to North Heavenly King’s escape. Wasn’t that completely expected? Even if he didn’t want to flee, the marquises under him would flee. Between fighting to the death with a madman like him or fleeing, the choice was obvious.

This could indeed be considered a strategy on Su Yu’s part. Then again, this wasn’t what he truly wanted. He wanted to conquer the North Heaven Domain and kill North Heavenly King. But he had no choice but to employ a different strategy and settle for killing the death spirits in the river.

His first choice had always been to defeat North Heavenly King without alarming those in the river. His second choice was to have those in the river rise after he defeated North Heavenly King.

But now, he had to opt for the worst choice, handling those in the river and allowing North Heavenly King to flee.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t spare North Heavenly King, but North Heavenly King might be colluding with those outside. He was smart enough to make him a much thornier opponent than the newly awakened death spirits in the river.

For Su Yu, the death spirits in the river weren’t too bright, including the ones at the level of a heavenly king. Just how smart could a death spirit be right after awakening? Were they aware of what had happened for the past hundred thousand years? These people were simply incapable of doing anything to him.

When Marquis Lanshan and the others arrived, Su Yu led them and continued killing and capturing the death spirits in the river. He was clearing the river. And they were doing it all over the river.

Meanwhile, Cangshan Nether was completely dumbstruck. South Heavenly King had arrived as well! Unable to match both South Heavenly King and the old turtle, he attempted to flee. However, the two stuck close to him, making escape impossible.

He couldn’t understand this.

Why?

He had just awakened, and he had just gathered a bunch of experts under his banner. He had yet to even leave the river. Why was this happening? Why did that North Heavenly King flee? Wasn’t he shouting previously that they should join hands?

Cangshan Nether had actually believed those words! He was ready to join hands against the humans! But those people had chosen to flee! With twenty-five Daofuses and twenty-seven guardians coupled with Su Yu, it was as though they were facing forty regular Daofuses.

Cangshan Nether had only gathered around fifteen previously, and six or seven had been killed so far. Yes, more were waking up, but the rate of awakening was far slower than Su Yu’s rate of killing.

Some of the unlucky newly awakened death spirits had connected to the dao instinctively right after awakening, only to expose themselves to Su Yu’s party.

After killing yet another marquis, Great Xia King’s expression changed slightly as he exclaimed, “A human marquis?”

The one they just killed seemed to be humanoid in shape. Did he kill a human marquis accidentally? Sure, a newly awakened death spirit would not view himself as a human. But as a marquis, he would slowly regain his human nature given enough time.

Great Qin King was alarmed as well. He hurriedly studied the remains of the dead marquis before exhaling in relief, “No, I think this is a divine. Old Xia, don’t be too careless. Focus on capturing them alive. Don’t kill any human marquis accidentally.”

“Okay.”

That little episode served as a reminder for Great Xia King. Previously, he had been too engrossed in killing that he had nearly killed the wrong person.

He asked, “Old Qin, isn’t this great?”

Great Qin King replied with a grin.

This was the best kind of feeling.

He wouldn’t say it, but it truly felt amazing. They could kill to their hearts’ content. They had numerous experts on their side, and they were actually pacifying the terrifying Celestial River of Death. A feat like that had only happened during the ancient past.

And now, Su Yu had accomplished the same. Naturally, it felt great. In their recent battles, they had been the ones to encircle and kill others, not the other way around. They were the ones seizing the initiative every single time.

In the past, humanity would be extremely passive in every conflict, and they would always be the ones to be outnumbered. They were always forced to fight with the intention to deal as much damage to their opponents before dying.

But winning felt great! The death spirits could keep waking up, but they could kill even faster. Su Yu was right. As long as they could kill fast enough, what was there to fear? In the past, they had no way of detecting the concealed death spirits. But thanks to Su Yu, they were able to see these death spirits clearly.

The vision granted to them by Su Yu only served to increase their efficiency in killing. As they killed, the number of opposing death spirits dropped.

***

At this time, Su Yu finally reached Cangshan Nether.

Noticing Su Yu’s arrival, South Heavenly King sent a voice transmission, “We can’t keep killing or beings beyond the heavenly king level might awaken. I can already feel it. My strength is growing too quickly.”

Rapid growth was a good thing.

But it also signified that they had killed too many, clearing a large amount of space on the dao. That might result in the awakening of someone at the level of an ancient human king. Even the death sovereigns under Su Yu’s command were growing in strength.

South Heavenly King sent another voice transmission, “We need to stop. Let our people eat the death imprints of those we killed. Have them grow and occupy more space on the dao. Those capable of advancing should do it immediately and fill the space. Have the living beings withdraw. We will keep the remaining death spirits busy, but we need to stop killing for now.”

Killing Cangshan Nether might really result in the emergence of someone at the level of an ancient human king.

Su Yu’s expression changed slightly as he shouted, “Gather up! Living beings, withdraw!”

At that, several guardians arrived, some with captured marquises in hand. But some also approached with only some death imprints. Looking at He Tu, Su Yu said, “Give He Tu the imprints.”

He continued, “He Tu, enter the Daofuse Realm immediately.”

This was a race.

He said, “Lanshan, devour everything and reach the level of a heavenly king!”

Lanshan was simply rather dim. She had devoured East Heavenly King. She had also devoured West Heavenly King partially. Prior to that, she had even devoured many marquises. After all that, she was only stronger than regular marquises, yet not at the level of a heavenly king.

Marquis Lanshan was quite surprised. Her again? She was starting to feel shy. But since his majesty was offering, she would accept it.

He Tu was able to guess what Su Yu was doing. He looked at Su Yu with shock before consuming the death imprints.

While doing so, he said, “That dumb Xia Chen is gone or this would have been a good opportunity for him to become a Daofuse…”

Just then, a large dao trembled from somewhere far away.

Su Yu looked over. Xia Chen?

Daofuse?

Was that Xia Chen?

It seemed to be the case.

***

At the same time.

Somewhere far enough, Xia Chen had advanced inside a building.

It had happened smoothly. He had been cultivating as usual, but progress was surprisingly easy today.

Nearby, Liu Hong looked up in surprise as a powerful aura surged from his body for a split second before withdrawing. He said curiously, “Are they fighting outside again? Why am I feeling like my speed of dao fusion has increased significantly?”

“Is something happening to the death spirit dao?”

Instead of answering, Xia Chen asked, “Just what are you doing here?”

Liu Hong grimaced and said, “I just started my dao fusion. But this ink dao is a tad bit unreliable.”

“Hmm?”

Liu Hong said helplessly, “I’m screwed. The ink dao is a dao meant to consume the death spirit dao. Perhaps that was Culture King’s trump card against the death spirit dao. But how can a weakling like me contend against the powerful death spirit dao?”

He felt terrible. This was so unreliable. Yes, the ink dao was powerful. But it shared the powers of death spirits, and it required him to consume the death spirit dao. Culture King was too unreliable. This so-called legacy was meant to create an opponent for the death spirit dao.

Could Culture King himself defeat the death spirit dao? Why did he expect his successor to do that? Liu Hong didn’t know what to say anymore. If he had known this, he would have given the legacy to Su Yu. Let the madman challenge the death spirit dao instead.

But for some reason, his dao fusion was progressing smoothly today. What happened to the death spirit dao?

Was it Su Yu?

Liu Hong couldn’t think of anyone else who was capable of doing something like this.