Tribulation of Myriad Races

”Heh. Women.”

Su Yu was chuckling to himself as he flew away. She sure was easy to handle. In truth, he did hear what Culture King said to him at the very end of their previous encounter. He was very curious about Culture King’s reason for telling him to resurrect Xing Yue. Why?

Personal relationship? Or was Xing Yue one of his contingencies as well? It didn’t matter. Su Yu was already planning to do that long ago. It wouldn’t change regardless of what Culture King said.

***

Inside the research center.

He Tu was in the process of being dissected.

Yes Culture King’s students were curiously dissecting him. Su Yu had recently learned of the female death spirit’s name. She was Li Yu, one of the more outstanding students of Culture King back then. She was leading the group of death spirits as they studied He Tu.

When Su Yu arrived, Li Yi asked curiously, ”Emperor Yu, are you really resurecting him?”

Noticing He Tu’s silent cry for help, Su Yu laughed and said, ”Yes. Did you find anything from your research?”

”Death to life...”

Li Yi said, ”This is different than your return from death. Previously, you completed your conversion inside your world. But they are all under death spirit dao’s influence. Resurrecting them is the same as snatching death spirit dao’s control over them. However, the death spirit dao is domineering and independent.”

Independent.

After thinking about it, Su Yu nodded in agreement.

”Yes. It’s very independent.”

Or it would be more accurate to call it a lone ranger. It viewed itself as the only worthy dao. That resembled the personality of its master. Of the myriad daos, only their dao mattered. It didn’t even want tributaries on it. Even the sole tributary on it was something Culture King had forcefully created.

Such a being would most definitely be obsessive with control. And Su Yu was going to snatch those under this being’s control.

Li Yi warned solemnly, ”Emperor Su, be careful if you wish to resurrect them. I believe the dao will be triggered into an active state by your attempt.”

”Active state?” Su Yu frowned and asked, ”You mean...”

”Awakening.” Li Yi explained, ”I believe both the time dao and death spirit dao are in an inactive state, a sort of slumber, if you will. They are currently passive. But the moment their bottom line is triggered, they might awaken.”

Su Yu’s heart thumped. No way...right? The death spirit dao was already terrifyingly powerful. The awakening of such a dao would be troublesome. Was she trying to scare him off?

Li Yi continued, ”Of course, I doubt it can do too much even after awakening. Its master might have died or vanished completely. Without its master, the dao can’t do too much.”

Su Yu nodded. Even so, an awakened death spirit dao could be very terrifying. Su Yu couldn’t help but worry. If this speculation was right, the difficulty of what he was about to attempt would increase considerably.

After making another cut on He Tu, Li Yi sank into thought before saying, ”Ultimately, He Tu is different than us. Let me put it this way. The core of our beings is death qi itself. We might die during the conversion of death qi to life force. But He Tu still has his body.”

She dug He Tu’s dark heart out and said, ”Behold his dark heart.”

”...”

He Tu rolled his eyes. How was he dark-hearted? As a death spirit, it was natural for his heart to have this color. Was he supposed to have a red heart? What?

”He has his heart. It is rotten, but this is actually a sort of miracle.” Li Yi continued, ”By the way, can we dissect this guy as well?”

She pointed at Liu Hong. Liu Hong had an unsightly expression.

When Su Yu looked over curiously, she explained, ”He’s a pseudo death spirit. I believe we can make new discoveries from dissecting him. Just what is a pseudo death spirit and what is a death spirit? And what about a death spirit with his body like He Tu? We can make a comparison between all of them to find more information that can help with your attempt.”

How professional.

Su Yu nodded. Sure enough, a professional researcher was different. Su Yu’s initial plan was akin to testing only one of his ideas during the resurrection. But Li Yi intended to make a more thorough test.

But when Su Yu looked at Liu Hong, Liu Hong’s face fell. Nope! Su Yu himself was a pseudo death spirit as well!

Su Yu coughed and said, ”Teacher Liu, I’m not a pseudo death spirit anymore. I am a full living being. Sigh. How sad. Nobody is even capable of converting me anymore. I could have performed the tests on my own body otherwise.”

Yes. After severing his death qi connection and returning to life, Su Yu had become a full living being again. He was no longer a pseudo death spirit.

Noticing Liu Hong’s dark expression, Su Yu chuckled. ”Teacher Liu, you’re already a Daofuse. Getting your body sliced apart is no big deal.”

”...”

He made it sound so simple. Why didn’t he give it a try, then?

He said flatly, ”I believe there is a need to research the body of the living as well. We need to compare and learn the differences between the living and the dead.”

Li Yi asked doubtfully, ”The living? We all lived before. We studied a lot of living beings back then. All the data is still in our minds. Now that we have regained our memories, there is no need for that.”

”...”

Liu Hong was tired of this. His expression turned helpless. Clearly, there was no dissecting Su Yu anymore.

Su Yu merely grinned at Liu Hong with narrowed eyes.

Seeing that smile, Liu Hong’s heart thumped. He decided to forget about it. The kid was too petty. Since it wouldn’t happen, he shouldn’t be showing his desire to see it happen. Soon, he smiled and said, ”Sure. For the sake of our glorious plan, I will work hard and contribute what I can!”

Then, he climbed onto the experiment table with a sorrowful heart. Alas, he had no choice but to do this. Li Yi and the others did not hesitate. They started cutting him up almost immediately. He was already a Daofuse. He wouldn’t die easily. There was no point in hesitating.

Su Yu was quite curious, so he stayed and watch. Noticing Su Yu’s curious expression, Liu Hong’s face turned even more unsightly. He decided to shut his eyes and forget everything. And thus, Li Yi started cutting Liu Hong up and studying him with the other death spirits.

Su Yu also stepped forth to see if there was any difference between Liu Hong and him as pseudo death spirits.

After a while, he frowned slightly. ”Teacher Liu’s power composition is more balanced than what I had back then. Life and death is well-balanced within him.”

At that thought, Su Yu’s eyes flickered. He knew a cultivation method. The reversal method. Through the method, life could be converted to death, and death could be converted to life.

That was a unique cultivation method. It had nothing to do with any daos. In fact, Su Yu had tried turning it into a dao, but it didn’t work. He couldn’t even turn it into a character. He could only treat it as a unique technique.

He said, ”I know a reversal method. With 360 acupoints, I can convert life force to death qi. Would this be useful?”

At that question, Li Yi sank into thought. After a while, she said, ”Can you still do so, Emperor Yu?”

Su Yu was quite curious as well. It had been a while since he last used the method. His acupoints had all transformed into the Heaven Gate. He was unsure if he could still use it. He tried using the method. The Heaven Gate appeared, and suddenly, a burst of death qi appeared inside the gate.

Su Yu looked pleased as he nodded. But right at that moment, a powerful life force erupted from the Heaven Gate as well before blasting the death qi apart. That caught Su Yu by surprise.

He hurriedly checked his Heaven Gate. It was full of life inside, and the death qi was being pushed back rapidly.

Su Yu’s eyes flickered doubtfully. Suddenly, he called out, ”Heavenbridge!”

Moments later, a figure flickered into existence.

Heavenbridge Marquis asked in confusion, ”Yes?”

Why was he being called out of nowhere?

How curious.

Su Yu said, ”Take a look.”

Only then did Heavenbridge Marquis looked at the Heaven Gate. The moment he looked over, his face flickered. He finally understood why he was called. After some thought, he said with hesitation, ”Did...you utilize death qi inside the Heaven Gate?”

Su Yu nodded, ”Yes. It was fine when I used death qi even with the Heaven Gate previously. But when I tried reversing life to death earlier, the gate scattered my death qi.”

Heavenbridge Marquis sank into thought. After a long while, ”I...can’t think of an explanation. Perhaps the gate wasn’t triggered previously...”

”Bullshit.” Su Yu said, ”I used death qi with my Heaven Gate manifested before as well. Back then, it worked.”

Heavenbridge Marquis was unsure as well. He said, ”Perhaps...something has changed. The biggest difference being this is a rebuilt Heaven Gate. You shattered your gate once.”

Su Yu remained silent. What changed?

Heavenbridge Marquis continued, ”Therefore, I suspect the destruction has made your Heaven Gate more active than before. Or to be precise, you have caught the attention of the gate race.”

Su Yu frowned. What, exactly, was the meaning of that? He caught the attention of the gate race? The proper Heaven Gate itself?

Heavenbridge Marquis continued his explanation, ”The Heaven Gate sealed the Creation Era behind it. Many believed that Creation Era was sealed by either the Master of Death or Human Ancestor.

”Did the Human Ancestor seal the Master of Death away while sealing the era?” He continued, ”That’s quite likely. I have never seen a non-human with a Heaven Gate. There were rumors claiming that the myriad races could open such a gate as well, but I have never seen it.

”Therefore, I suspect that Human Ancestor had really sealed the Master of Gate. After sensing your death qi, the Heaven Gate reacted because it believed that the Master of Death was trying to return.

”Or perhaps it suspected that the death spirit race was trying to free the Master of Death.”

”...”

Hearing the speculation, Su Yu frowned again. That was quite likely. Was Human Ancestor really the one who had constructed the Heaven Gate? Or was it a natural treasure Human Ancestor found. Through it, humanity sealed the Creation Era away.

Su Yu was aware of just how powerful Human Ancestor’s physical body dao was. Had Human Ancestor pioneered a dao as well? Was the physical body dao merely his former dao? Numerous thoughts emerged in Su Yu’s mind.

Soon, he inhaled deeply and stopped overthinking. It was far too complicated to worry about for now. He said, ”In short, my Heaven Gate can no longer get in contact with death qi. No, this isn’t right. The more death qi I summon, the more life force it will turn into.”

Su Yu’s eyes lit up. ”This might not be a bad thing!”

Indeed. Any death qi in his Heaven Gate would now be converted into life force. This was a function he wasn’t aware of before. Suddenly, he looked at He Tu. Facing Su Yu’s gaze, He Tu grimaced. Clearly, he was going to be used as a lab rat again.

Fine, fine.

Su Yu grinned, ”He Tu, death qi can transform into life force.”

This was a good thing. The helpless He Tu could only release a small amount of death qi. Su Yu opened the Heaven Gate, and sure enough, the death qi instantly transformed into life force. With a rumble, the life force was fed back into He Tu’s body, causing him to groan.

As a death spirit, life force was actually harmful for him. That single feedback was enough to injure him.

However, Su Yu’s eyes were brightly lit. He could sense that the tiny amount of life force had survived a long time in He Tu’s body before his death qi was able to suppress it. The more Su Yu thought of it, the more excited he grew. This could prove very helpful for his coming attempt.

***

The death spirits continued their research. A pseudo death spirit was still very different from a proper death spirit. A pseudo death spirit was an existence between life and death. But a pure death spirit would not have life inside them. Thus, they had to figure out a way to allow life and death to coexist within a death spirit.

They continued the research, completely ignoring what was happening outside. Even Su Yu was fully immersed in the research. Nothing would be able to distract him from this apart from something major like the escape of the sealed death spirits.