Tribulation of Myriad Races

Nine days had passed since the visit.

Bamboo Mountain.

Inside the gigantic bamboo palace.

May looked at September and said, “It has been nine days.”

Was this guy still so sure that everything was fine with Su Yu’s group?

Where were they?

Where was everyone?

Yes, killing three Daofuses wasn’t an easy task. But it was not completely hopeless. Had Su Yu given up on it?

With his usual innocent expression, September said, “It’s only the ninth day.”

They had one more day. What was the rush? May looked at the darkening sky outside.

“The tenth day will arrive shortly.”

May said, “Apart from the very beginning, when something happened, it was as though they had vanished completely after that.”

In the beginning, Stable Army Marquis had appeared several times and killed some people. But subsequently, even Stable Army Marquis had vanished.

“If things are calm, then it’s definitely the calm before the storm.”

September knew Su Yu well. Since even Stable Army Marquis had vanished, he had likely followed Su Yu away in preparation to do something big. Su Yu had gathered all his people.

As the two spoke, Great Bamboo Marquis was leisurely eating to the side, completely ignoring the conversation.

Noticing his silence, April said, “Great Bamboo Marquis, if nothing happens when the time is up, what do we do?”

Instead of answering directly, Great Bamboo Marquis continued eating. After a while, he burped, wiped his oily lips, and said, “The food here is much better. The food in the Dao Origin Land is terrible.”

“…”

The others stared at him silently. Was this the only reason he was back?

He chuckled and said, “What’s the rush? There’s one more day, right? If nothing happens after the time is up, so be it.”

He shook his head and said, “Even a lack of result is an indication that they’re not too stupid. Losing his own people just to kill three Daofuses is simply stupid. Perhaps they lack confidence. Perhaps they’re still waiting for the perfect timing to act. We wait. If he can’t complete the task, we won’t have the obligation to help him. We will stay flexible and adjust our actions based on the circumstances.”

He didn’t feel like it would be wrong for Su Yu to not do anything. It would be stupid to harm himself doing something he couldn’t. He had only given the task to see what the new human lord was capable of. If the new human lord was not capable enough to his liking, so be it.

At that point, the sky had darkened fully.

While yawning, Great Bamboo Marquis said, “If nothing happens before tomorrow night, September and June can continue working with them. As for the rest of us, forget it for now. We won’t deepen our cooperation with them.”

Since June and September were already working with them, he wouldn’t stop it. But he did not intend to let the rest of the iron devourers work with Su Yu as well. It was simply too risky. The continuation of their entire race was at risk.

To the side, Sepember muttered, “Just watch.”

Everything would be fine. Three Daofuses weren’t even that hard to kill. Su Yu was definitely planning something bigger.

***

Outside the Dao Origin Land.

The tenth day was finally here.

Great Ming King and Grandstar had both returned to the group. Their auras felt stronger than before, but they still didn’t feel any better than tier-four Daofuses. Their growth was decent, but not fast enough for Su Yu’s liking.

By the time everyone was gathered around him, Su Yu transformed into a dark-robed individual. A tiny gust of chaos qi swirled around his body. He kept it weak as West Royal Consort did not really specialize in the chaos dao. He was only letting a tiny bit of chaos qi out for show.

Slowly, his entire presence turned hazy. He also had a hood over his head and a mask over his face.

Looking at the others, he said, “Get into black robes as well.”

The others said nothing and did as told. Rather than changing, all of them were merely transforming their clothes. As top experts, their clothes were treasures as well. Instantly, eleven black-robed individuals replaced the original group.

“Where are we from?”

“Chaos Mountain.”

Su Yu asked, and they answered.

“What is our mission?”

“Free Hundred Battle King!”

“Who is the leader of this mission?”

“Zi Yan!”

They had spent several days imprinting these words into their minds. Thus, they were able to answer these questions smoothly.

Then, the Mark of Civilization flipped open. A door appeared atop an empty page as Su Yu said, “Enter.”

Lan Tian, Great Zhou King, and those from the Lower Realm entered with smiling faces. The others looked at each other before entering as well.

“Start killing the moment you’re out.”

“Yes!”

Everyone answered.

“Great Ming King, you have an even more important mission.”

With a heavy tone, Su Yu said, “The longer the combat fluctuations are hidden, the longer we get to fight. If you can keep it hidden for a minute, we can fight for three minutes. If you can keep it hidden for three minutes, we can perhaps fight for five minutes. We must leave within two minutes after the formation goes down. I won’t hesitate to abandon anyone I can’t take with me in time. I won’t stay for any of you.”

Upon hearing that, the others turned solemn as well. Great Ming King breathed heavily, sensing the heavy burden on him. He had absorbed a lot of power during the past few days, but there was more to cultivation than that.

He would determine how long Su Yu and the others had to fight. Otherwise, they would need to flee within two minutes. Great Ming King felt so pressured that he started panting. A heavy sense of responsibility enveloped him.

He was not strong. But he would play a key role in determining the fate of his companions in the coming battle.

“Don’t worry, Emperor Yu. I won’t let you down.” Great Ming King gnashed his teeth and said, “I will try to keep the formation up for at least three minutes, and I’ll try to push it to five minutes.”

He did not give an unrealistic promise as that would be simply irresponsible. But if he could keep the formation up for at least three minutes, the others would have at least five minutes to fight. It was still unknown how many enemies they could kill this time.

Su Yu nodded. He tore a page off his Mark of Civilization and gave it to Great Ming King. “When you run out of power, absorb more of the power stored in here. I have some fake formation daos stored here so their power will be compatible with your dao power.”

Next, he tore a few other pages out and handed them to the rest of the combatants. They received a page each.

Su Yu said, “This is my dao weapon. Now, I am sharing parts of my dao weapon with you. Don’t lose them. When you run out of power, or if your exhaustion is too high, absorb the power inside these pages.”

Everyone focused and noted that these pages were stuffed to the brim with dao power.

Then, Su Yu looked at everyone solemnly and said, “Some of you have fought many battles with me. I have no doubt you will follow my orders. As for the rest of you, we don’t know each other too well. It’s not my style to have people like you fight alongside me. In the Lower Realm, when experts I’m not familiar with submit to me, I will take a long time testing them before putting them to use.

“I don’t have the time to test all of you. And I do need your help here. Thus, I can only fight alongside you. This is a big risk, even riskier than the act of killing heavenly kings. I am prejudiced against the survivors of the ninth epoch. That is unavoidable.

“Blame yourselves for that. There is a reason for my prejudice. I don’t know if you were simply dumb or if things were simply out of your control back then. But for this battle, I only have one request to all of you. Follow my orders.

“At present, you are all generals under my command. Kill everyone I tell you to kill. Do not ask questions. Do not hesitate. I am the only person with the authority of command during a battle.

“Even when Hundred Battle is only a step away from freedom, even if he only needs the assistance of only one person to be free, if you dare disobey my order during battle, death is the punishment.”

Su Yu warned them repeatedly. He couldn’t trust these people. He was worried that they wouldn’t listen. He was worried that they would change their mind during a critical moment and prioritize saving Hundred Battle King instead. That could potentially ruin the entire battle for them.

Would that happen?

Likely.

Su Yu said, “In this battle, do not think. Do not assume that we will win with Hundred Battle free. Do not think that Hundred Battle alone can kill three or even five heavenly kings. I don’t need you to think during this battle. Obey. That is all you need to do forthis battle.”

Su Yu raised his voice, “Can you do this?”

His baleful aura pressed down upon the ancient experts, stunning them slightly.

Stable Army Marquis hurriedly answered, “I will naturally obey! Only one voice is needed on the battlefield. Military commands are absolute. We all understand this!”

Brave Martial General solemnly said, “We were military officials who had fought across the Myriad Realms as well. We know the importance of following military commands.”

Su Yu met their gaze one by one. When his gaze landed on Cloud Fire Marquis, the marquis frowned slightly and nodded, “I am a military leader as well. I understand. Don’t worry, Human Lord.”

Su Yu’s gaze landed on Shadow Marquis.

Shadow Marquis said, “I will obey.”

Finally, Su Yu’s gaze landed on Cloud Water Marquis. Before she could say anything, Su Yu said, “Cloud Water Marquis, you are the smartest among them. I hope that you won’t do anything stupid. Smart people tend to overthink. I don’t care what idea you have or what opinion you have. I only need you to obey.

“Even when Brave Martial is in grave danger, you are not allowed to save her without my order. The same applies to the others. Nobody is allowed to abandon their position to save someone else without my order. You have all been around for over a hundred thousand years. If you don’t even understand the reason for this, just leave and save us the trouble.”

Cloud Water Marquis’ expression turned slightly bitter as she asked, “Human Lord, are you worried about me?”

Su Yu merely stared at her silently.

Cloud Water Marquis sighed and said, “I will obey. Do not worry, Human Lord.”

She added, “Human Lord, you are too prejudiced toward women. This is inappropriate.”

To the side, Brave Martial General raised her brow. Why couldn’t she feel that? Nope. Cloud Water Marquis must be overthinking again. She didn’t feel any prejudice.

Cloud Water Marquis did not bother to explain herself. Brave Martial couldn’t feel the prejudice because the human lord was clearly not viewing her as a woman.

Su Yu couldn’t be bothered to say more. He shut his Mark of Civilization. It was only natural for him to hold some prejudice. She had been acting soft and gentle since their very first meeting. He was very wary of that.

As for Brave Martial, well, she was the same as a man. It wasn’t that he didn’t have any women under his command. But none of them were soft and gentle. During his first meeting with Marquis Lanshan, she had fought an intense battle, showcasing her incredible valor. South Heavenly King was a tyrant of a region. Empyrean Cloud was a bloodthirsty killer thinking of killing Han Xiang all day long.

Cloud Water was the sole exception. Among them all, she was the only one to feel like an actual woman. Thus, he was terrified of her. He had to be very wary of her.

***

With everyone in the Mark of Civilization, Great Zhou King used his calm character to conceal everyone’s presence. On top of that, Great Ming King placed a concealment formation right inside the page. As for Su Yu, he placed a concealment barrier outside the Mark of Civilization.

When an expert approached another expert, their daos might encounter each other accidentally and react through fluctuations, making it easier for both parties to notice each other.

But with Su Yu’s Heaven Gate, he could easily see the movement of the daos in the sky. Thus, he was able to fully avoid these fluctuations. He transformed into a dark figure and blended into the darkness of the night. Then, he returned to the Dao Origin Land.