Tribulation of Myriad Races

At the same time.

Under a certain mountain.

Cloud Fire Marquis’ heart thumped. Shadow Marquis was heading straight in his direction.

How was this happening? How did Shadow Marquis learn of his location? Or was Shadow Marquis merely passing by?

He had been observing Shadow Marquis from afar for fear that Shadow Marquis was a traitor. After noticing that Shadow Marquis had left for a moment to converse with some unknown individuals, he grew even warier. Thus, he was alarmed the moment he noticed Shadow Marquis heading toward him.

Shadow Marquis knew that Cloud Fire Marquis would be wary. Thus, he stopped outside that mountain. Since an expert with a Heaven Gate was saying that Cloud Fire Marquis was here, that must be the case.

He said, “Cloud Fire, calm down and listen to me. Previously, you were encircled. Someone attacked the dragons and killed six of their Daofuses, including Blood Dragon Marquis. The myriad races were distracted, and you were saved. Your savior is here. He is asking you if you’re willing to acknowledge this life debt.”

Cloud Fire Marquis frowned.

A life debt, and six dead Daofuses, including a pseudo king.

Was this real?

But that explained a lot of things. No wonder Bloodbreak Marquis and the others had retreated suddenly.

“Cloud Fire, I know you’re here. Stay calm. If we’re here to attack you, if we’re really colluding with the myriad races, we only need to expose your location to them. Three pseudo kings are more than enough to kill you without casualties. You might be strong here, but you can’t surpass the level of a pseudo king. Your biggest advantage has always been your unknown whereabouts.

“Stable Army, Cloud Water, and Brave Martial have all joined this benefactor of yours. He has a message for you. To repay him for this life debt, he requires your service for three years. Do you agree?”

Under the mountain.

With that, Cloud Fire Marquis became certain that his whereabouts had been exposed. Hearing all those names, he frowned before reappearing outside the mountain. Looking at the distant Shadow Marquis, he said, “Serving him? Who is he? Are you being truthful?”

Shadow Marquis nodded, “Yes. I’m telling the truth. Not long ago, I went looking for Stable Army and asked for their help to rescue you from your predicament. Not long after, they attacked the dragons. Bloodbreak Marquis and the others were forced to cancel the encirclement to deal with this crisis.”

“Who is that man?”

“The current human lord.”

“Human lord?” Cloud Fire Marquis laughed and said, “What joke is this? There is no human lord—”

“From the Lower Realm.”

Cloud Fire Marquis stopped laughing. Su Yu had never mentioned to Shadow Marquis that he came from the Lower Realm, but Shadow Marquis had reached this conclusion himself. Those people came from the Lower Realm. Human lord, pseudo king, and Stable Army Marquis’ submission. These people were definitely from the Lower Realm.

He continued, “He came from the Lower Realm. He already has the support of three of us. He is waiting outside, and he is asking for three years of your service to repay your life debt. What is your answer?”

Cloud Fire Marquis appeared displeased as he said, “Three years? What can we even do with only three years? He came from the Lower Realm? Is the Lower Realm even capable of producing more experts?”

“Yes.”

Cloud Fire Marquis asked, “How strong?”

“Slightly stronger than us, I believe. But the human lord isn’t a pseudo king yet.”

Disappointment covered Cloud Fire Marquis’ face when he heard that. Not even a pseudo king.

“In that case, how did he kill Blood Dragon Marquis?”

“He has a pseudo king serving him.”

“Wait, a pseudo king survived down there?”

“A newly emerged pseudo king of this epoch.”

Cloud Fire Marquis said, “A pseudo king of this epoch, yet the so-called human lord isn’t a pseudo king. Are you playing a joke on me? Even if there’s really a new human lord, shouldn’t the pseudo king be the human lord?”

“I don’t know much about this. Perhaps Stable Army knows more.”

“Where is he?”

Shadow Marquis shook his head, “I don’t know. He’s not here. I only saw Cloud Water and Brave Martial. Oh, there’s also that Zhou Tiansheng guy from back then. The Eternal back then. But I can see that he’s already a peak Daofuse. I’m unsure if he had concealed his strength back then.”

Shadow Marquis was able to instantly recognize Great Zhou King. Very few people knew his ancient past identity, but his identity during the ninth epoch was known to more people.

Cloud Fire Marquis frowned and said, “He’s demanding three years of service from me? Did he say anything else?”

“No.” Shadow Marquis shook his head and said, “This human lord…is very enigmatic. I don’t know what he has in mind. I have only met him once before this. Two hours after that meeting, the dragons were slaughtered. He is decisive and ruthless. Even I was alarmed that day.”

Cloud Fire Marquis frowned and said, “It sounds like you have a hidden meaning behind your words.”

Shadow Marquis sank into silence. After a moment, he said, “I guess so. During that meeting, we didn’t talk much. But he gave me the feeling of…someone incomparably overbearing. He reminded me of some people and some matters. When he wants you to do something, you either do it…or there won’t be any need for you to keep existing anymore.”

Cloud Fire Marquis was alarmed. He asked, “What is the meaning of that? Is he going to kill me if I refuse to serve him?”

“Maybe.” Shadow Marquis said, “That’s very likely. You know Stable Army. He has a terrible temper as well. But the last time I saw him, he was incredibly obedient to this human lord. Also, I saw the pseudo king under him the day before yesterday. He told me to meet all of you, but before I knew it, Cloud Water and Brave Martial were already with him. Clearly, something must have changed. He now requires our service…or perhaps he simply wants to keep us out of his way.

“Only two days, and he has won the support of Cloud Water and Brave Martial. That’s not even enough time for me to find them. Do you understand what I’m saying, Cloud Fire?”

“Yes.” Cloud Fire Marquis’ eyes flickered as he said, “You’re saying that he can find and kill me at any time. Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Cloud Fire Marquis frowned and said, “We’re all humans. Even if he’s the current human lord, I’m an ancient marquis.”

“But you owe him a life debt.” Shadow Marquis said, “Not only you. Every single person under you owes him the same life debt. He is asking for repayment of this debt. Are you paying or not?”

Cloud Fire Marquis replied with agitation, “I don’t even know him! Does he not know how to make a polite request? No matter what, I’m a senior of his. He’s demanding me to serve or die. What is the meaning of this?”

He felt disrespected by the new human lord. The human lord had not even bothered to say anything nice to him. Instead, the human lord had made a threat to him directly. He was displeased with this.

Shadow Marquis said, “You know how things are in the Lower Realm. And this is someone capable of killing his way up here. This alone makes many things clear. Do you need me to spell it out to you?”

Cloud Fire Marquis frowned. After a long while, he said, “Are you saying that I should agree and serve him for three years?”

“You can make your own choice.”

At that, Cloud Fire Marquis started cursing again. What was he supposed to decide here?

After spending some time cursing, he said, “I have a bad feeling about this. I would rather Bloodbreak Marquis return and encircle me again. Fine, fine, fine. So be it. Three years? It’s not that long. Give me some time. I’ll get ready. Damn it. This does not seem like an easy person to get along with.”

Shadow Marquis did not say anything else. Before long, Cloud Fire Marquis vanished. He did not intend to take his subordinates with him. The Divine Fire Mountain had been exposed as his hiding place, but this was still a good hiding place for his subordinates. It was far too risky to take them with him to that nonsensical human lord.

***

Su Yu waited outside the Divine Fire Mountain for about two hours.

Only then did he see Shadow Marquis and a red-haired, burly man appear.

From afar, the red-haired man cupped his hand arrogantly and said, “Cloud Fire greets the human lord.”

He directed his greeting to Great Zhou King. It was unknown if this was deliberate on his part. But that was probably the case. After all, he had learned about Great Zhou King from Shadow Marquis earlier.

Before he could even finish his salute, Great Zhou King vanished with a flicker before reappearing a step away. He smiled and said, “Cloud Fire Marquis, you got the wrong person. I am merely Zhou Tianqi, an insignificant servant in charge of the secret guards and attending to the needs of Human Emperor. A lowly servant like me is unworthy of your salute.”

At that, the expressions of the human experts changed.

Everyone stared at Great Zhou King, including Brave Martial General. Cloud Water Marquis exclaimed in shock, “You! It’s you! No wonder you feel familiar. You served the Human Emperor back in the imperial palace?”

Great Zhou King smiled and said, “I am a nobody compared to the marquises here.”

But they still looked at him solemnly.

A nobody?

Even the lowliest servant of a prime minister could rival a middle-rank official in influence.

And this was an attendant of the Human Emperor himself. Even a dog of Culture King was stronger than these ancient marquises. What about a personal attendant of the Human Emperor? A personal attendant was essentially one of those who were closest to the Human Emperor. Someone like that had the trust of the Human Emperor.

Faced with their gazes, Great Zhou King smiled and said, “Allow me to apologize. We met before, but I couldn’t come clean for the sake of my mission. But now, I can be honest since the legacy of the Torchbearers has ended.”

He sighed and continued, “Back then, I once advised Dan Yu and Bing Ku to not invest all our accumulation at once. But they were stubborn. Sigh. I couldn’t change their mind and could only let them be.”

He smiled bitterly and said, “I am perhaps the sole surviving Torchbearer.”

Cloud Fire Marquis said, “According to the rumors, there were three key figures among the Torchbearers. Dan Yu and Bing Ku were two of them. Since you knew them, and you were qualified to advise them…were you the third?

“Back then, Hundred Battle King asked about the identity of the third person. But the two refused to reveal anything. They only claimed that the third person was the actual key person between the three, the final flame of the Torchbearers. Was that you?”

Great Zhou King chuckled and said, “That is too much praise for me. All three of us received Human Emperor’s order together. We led the Torchbearers together. How could I be the actual key person?”

He sighed again and said, “A pity that the accumulation of the Torchbearers was all exhausted during the previous epoch.”

Despite his words, the others were still taking this seriously. The true key person of the Torchbearers. And he wasn’t even a pseudo king. They had always assumed that it would be a pseudo king. But they were wrong.

A key person without being a pseudo king. That could only mean that this was an incredibly impressive individual. It signified the extreme trust Human Emperor had in him back then.

“Dan Yu and Bing Ku were both pseudo kings…” Shadow Marquis muttered.

Great Zhou King laughed and said, “They were more talented than me. I lack talent. Even after living for so many years, I am only a peak Daofuse.”

The others grew awkward upon hearing that. That seemed to be the case for all of them as well. In fact, they might even be weaker than him. Among all of them who were here, Cloud Fire Marquis was probably the only person who was as strong as Great Zhou King. The rest were slightly weaker.

Done with his self-introduction, Great Zhou King said, “Therefore, Cloud Fire Marquis got the wrong person. I’m not the human lord. Emperor Yu is the human lord here. Please do not get the wrong person again.”

Those were thought-provoking words.