Tribulation of Myriad Races

Cloud Water Marquis resided at a danger zone known as the Floating River.

The Floating River was massive and covered a wide region. Thus, it was the hardest danger zone to encircle. Furthermore, Cloud Water Marquis was residing somewhere under the river, making it even harder for one to encircle and attack her.

The myriad races had attempted to hunt her down before, but they had never been able to find her. The surface of the river looked calm.

Brave Martial General warned, “Do not underestimate this river just because it looks calm. This place is probably even more dangerous than the Line Gorge. The biggest danger here is the water itself. No willpower can penetrate the water here. Unless one is proficient in water traversal, not even pseudo kings can handle Cloud Water Marquis here.

“Cloud Water Marquis is proficient in water traversal while Cloud Fire Marquis is proficient in fire traversal. Back then, we had several other marquises proficient in the other elements as well, but the others had died.”

Brave Martial General sighed and continued, “Wait here. Do not run around. I’ll look for Cloud Water Marquis.”

“Can you find her?”

Brave Martial General nodded. That was only natural. There weren’t a lot of human survivors in the Upper Realm, but they still had their personal network of friends. As the only two female Daofuses among Upper Realm humans, the two had maintained contact with each other.

Su Yu nodded, “Sure. We’ll wait here.”

Brave Martial General said nothing else and jumped into the river.

With her gone, Great Zhou King sent a voice transmission, “You need to be careful. She is stronger here. If Cloud Water Marquis means you harm and join hands with Brave Martial General…”

Su Yu laughed and asked, “Am I not proficient in water traversal?”

Great Zhou King blanked out. Wait, he had forgotten about that.

Su Yu continued, “Also, very few things can hide from my eyes.”

At that declaration, a tiny gate appeared on his forehead as he looked down at the river again. Previously, all he saw was water. But with the Heaven Gate active, he saw something different.

There were numerous aquatic beasts in the river. These were probably a type of ancient beast as well. Through Brave Martial General’s dao, he saw her moving all over the place underwater, as though she was evading the various dangers in the water.

After a while, he chuckled and pointed somewhere, “There.”

“Hmm?”

Great Zhou King said, “But that’s land.”

Su Yu was pointing somewhere away from the river.

Su Yu nodded, “Truth and falsehood weaved together. Everyone believes that she’s hiding underwater. In that case, why can’t she hide elsewhere?”

Great Zhou King chuckled and said, “These women are indeed good at lying. Even Shadow Marquis and Stable Army Marquis believe that Cloud Water Marquis is residing underwater. Looks like the river is merely bait.”

Su Yu nodded, “Yes, but when danger arrives, she can enter the river easily. After all, she is stronger underwater. At any other time, it won’t be an issue for her to live on land.”

Su Yu was pointing at a marsh near the river. It wasn’t fully dry. It was likely that Cloud Water Marquis was hiding in the swamp. Brave Martial General might know that. Or she might not.

Eventually, Brave Martial General met someone underwater before being guided toward Cloud Water Marquis.

With a smile, Su Yu said, “There must be an underwater tunnel leading straight to Cloud Water Marquis’ place down there.”

Great Zhou King said, “Sure enough, those capable of surviving until now are not to be underestimated. It must have been hard for Stable Army Marquis to survive on luck alone.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “His luck has been decent. Also, he must have survived for so long because the myriad races were trying to prioritize Marquis Minshan. Did you not notice how he was targeted not long after Marquis Minshan’s death? Without us, he would be the next human Daofuse to die after Marquis Minshan.”

“True.”

The two chatted away nonchalantly.

After a short while, Su Yu asked, “Can you reach the level of a heavenly king?”

Great Zhou King had always adjusted his combat strength appropriately depending on the phase they were in. Su Yu wondered if Great Zhou King could adjust himself again and reach the level of a heavenly king.

Great Zhou King turned solemn as he said, “That won’t be easy. Heavenly king…let me put it this way. The various daos differ in strength. With everyone being Daomelds, a heavenly king is merely a heavenly king because their dao is stronger. The same can be said for pseudo kings.

“The patient dao has never been a powerful dao. I have reached the peak of this dao, but my peak isn’t even at the level of a heavenly king.”

He didn’t lack comprehension. He didn’t lack mastery over his dao. Instead, he was restricted by the strength of his dao. Unless he could become a Master of Law, he would never reach the level of a heavenly king.

Su Yu frowned and asked, “Do you have any way to solve this?”

Great Zhou King thought about it and nodded, “Yes.”

He inhaled and continued, “It won’t be appropriate for me to say this, but since you’re asking…I need your advice.”

“Go ahead.”

Great Zhou King said, “These days, the difficulty of becoming a Master of Law is too high. I have reached the end of my patient dao. It is highly unlikely that I can take another step forward through this dao. But I haven’t lived all these years learning nothing new. There is more than one patient daos around.”

“Telling others to be patient is a form of patience. Self-tolerance is also a form of patience. Grand Dream’s stillness is also a form of patience.”

Su Yu nodded.

Great Zhou King continued, “As a secretary under Human Emperor, I learned and heard many things.”

“Are you not hiding your background anymore?”

Great Zhou King smiled bitterly and said, “I never tried to hide anything. I have simply never seen the need to mention these things.”

Returning to the topic, Great Zhou King continued, “Back then, I was there during one of the discussions between Culture King and Human Emperor. They talked about the various daos, talking about the compatibility of different daos of a similar category.”

“For example, the daos of saber. Long saber dao, short saber dao, great saber dao, thin saber dao…all these are compatible. Fusion is possible. They share the same essence. They also won’t be too far from each other as generally, each section of the river will be more suitable for a specific category of daos.”

Su Yu nodded.

Great Zhou King continued, “The same can be said for my patient dao. I have been comprehending other similar daos. I wish to cultivate another patient dao and reaching Daofuse through that dao as well. Then, I can try to connect the two. That will probably push my dao to the level of a more powerful dao, pushing me to the level of a pseudo king.

“I lack the ability to pioneer a new dao on the River of Time. But perhaps I can create a small brook connecting two tributaries. Maybe I can do that much.”

He looked at Su Yu and said, “Emperor Yu, I seem to recall that you have yet to take me on a trip to the River of Time. If that happens…I believe I can succeed in this.”

Su Yu smiled and said, “I didn’t trust you. Thus, I never bothered to take you to the river.”

Great Zhou King smiled bitterly and said, “I’m not an enemy. I am merely loyal to my ideals as a Torchbearer. I follow the will of Human Emperor. I am here to ensure the continuation of humanity, not to serve any human lord in particular.”

“Has that changed?”

Great Zhou King sighed and said, “I am starting to waver. Perhaps…this epoch is truly our final chance. Thus, I hope I can grow stronger and do more for you.”

Su Yu asked, “Are you being honest?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu chuckled and said, “Whatever. It does’t matter anymore. You have helped me a lot. When we find the River of Time up here, or when we return to the Lower Realm, I’ll take you on a trip. Connecting two tributaries. I have never seen something like this. Perhaps…there is something I can learn from this as well.”

Two similar daos could be connected. This was Su Yu’s first time hearing this.

Great Zhou King’s patient dao was very unique, but clearly, the creator of this dao wasn’t too strong, resulting in a relatively weak dao. With this dao, Great Zhou King wasn’t able to reach the level of a heavenly king. His strength would only grow further upon becoming a Master of Law.

“Thank you, Emperor Yu.”

Great Zhou King exhaled in relief. He could clearly see that his current strength was no longer sufficient for this era. Unless he could reach the level of a heavenly king, he would be slowly left behind. The potential of his patient dao was too low. If he did not try something different, he might end up stuck at this level forever.

Suddenly, the water before them rippled.

Then, two women emerged.

Brave Martial General was her usual heroic self. As for the woman beside her, she looked much gentler. In fact, she felt as gentle as water itself. Brave Martial General said, “Cloud Water, this is Su Yu, the current human lord. He’s very pitiful. They’re making him a puppet. But he’s young. And he earnestly wishes to restore the power of humanity. Unfortunately, he does not have enough supporters. The two of us won’t be enough to suppress Hundred Battle’s faction, but at the very least, we can help him gain more power. We can push him closer to becoming a true human lord instead of a puppet.”

In short, they were here to restore order and return power to the rightful holder.

Then, Brave Martial General looked at Su Yu and said, “Human Lord, this is Cloud Water Marquis. With our help, your situation will be slightly less hopeless.”

Brave Martial General sighed and continued, “However, we can’t promise anything. To break free from your status as a puppet, you ultimately need to rely on yourself.”

Sigh.

This wouldn’t be an easy task. They could only try hard and hope for the best.

As for Cloud Water Marquis, she first looked at Su Yu before looking at Great Zhou King. Doubt flickered in her eyes. According to Brave Martial, this was a pitiful human lord.

He was too young, so Zhou Tiansheng and the other old foxes were using him as a puppet. But the instant they emerged, she saw how respectful Zhou Tiansheng was toward Su Yu. She could sense his genuine respect for the human lord.

With that doubt in mind, she bowed slightly and said, “Cloud Water greets the human lord.”

Su Yu smiled, “You are too polite. With your support, we have a greater chance of success than before.”

Cloud Water Marquis said, “You praise me too much, Human Lord. Humanity has been in decline for too long. It is only natural that we unite against external enemies. We are not against Hundred Battle’s leadership for no reason. He could be a powerful general. Humanity would benefit from his service in the front lines. But he was bad at strategic planning. Unfortunately, he was also so strong that he was unwilling to listen to people like us.

“Humanity lost most of its power in the defeat six thousand years ago. We don’t want to see a similar disaster. Even when he returns, we will still be willing to fight against the myriad races. We are simply unwilling to follow his orders.”

Su Yu laughed and said, “That is only natural.”

That wouldn’t be a hard wish to grant. But since the two were underestimating him, so be it. He couldn’t be bothered to explain. After some time, they would naturally learn about the truth. It was pointless to explain too much for now.

They might even think that he was trying too hard to bluff if he were to explain now. Beside him, Great Zhou King was sighing inwardly. Clearly, Hundred Battle wasn’t popular with women. The only two female Daofuses of humanity were firmly against him. Poor guy.

Su Yu said, “Let’s stop wasting time and visit Cloud Fire Marquis and South Suppression Marquis as well. After dealing with the two as well, we’ll be done with our human troubles.”

With a satisfied smile, Su Yu left with the group.