Tribulation of Myriad Races

The refined exterior of Death Imperator turned slightly awkward. True. A sudden submission could easily be misunderstood. He coughed and said, ”That...that’s my name. Subject of the stars.” (Stars = Xing Chen)

Su Yu blinked before nodding his head, ”Single-word names seem to be quite popular with you guys.”

Death Imperator explained, ”Not really. That was simply the trend of our era. We used to have very simple names. For example, the Human Ancestor was known as Zhou. The Master of Death was known as—”

Suddenly, he paused and said, ”This is not the right place to mention that name.”

This was the Death Realm.

It would be fine for a regular person to accidentally mention that name in a conversation. Nobody would care. But someone aware of that entity mentioning that name might trigger a reaction from the Celestial River of Death.

Su Yu’s curiosity was piqued. He said, ”Interesting. In short, you’re someone from late Creation Era and the early primordial past. Am I right?”

”Yes.” Death Imperator nodded. ”Thank you for my freedom.”

”That was what I promised you. In any case, I only did it in passing, as part of something else I was already doing.” Su Yu smiled, ”Were you one of the earliest death spirits in the Death Realm?”

”Yes.” Death Imperator nodded, ”In truth, I was there observing the process when the Master of Death attempted his creation.”

He had a self-mocking smile as he continued, ”How funny it is that I eventually became one of the earliest death spirits. I suppose that’s not a bad thing. Without the Master of Death, I wouldn’t have gotten my second chance at life. Before that, those dead would be truly dead. But I managed to live on for many years after my death.”

He did not have strong feelings toward the Master of Death. That was someone who had granted him his second life. But all death spirits were slaves of the Master of Death. After cultivating the death spirit dao for the Master of Death for so many years, the debt between them had long been cleared.

In short, that was an exchange where both parties benefited.

Su Yu asked curiously, ”Wait, are you saying that you were there to observe his creation?”

”Yes.”

Death Imperator said, ”Of course, I did it from very far away. At the time, it created a massive disturbance across the world. Everyone sensed it. Some of us were braver, so we tried to get a closer observation. The Master of Death had the bearing of an extraordinary powerhouse as he did not bother to expel us.”

Su Yu nodded. ”I doubt a Creator minds that too much. Everyone walks a different dao. You can observe all you want, but that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be able to replicate the process. An imitation dao will not be a true pioneered dao. You can only observe and learn from it.”

Interest growing, Su Yu asked again, ”Was there anything special about his creation?”

”Special?”

Death Imperator didn’t know what Su Yu was referring to. He thought about it and said, ”Nothing much. Some chaos beasts were attracted. They attempted to stop the process. Oh, he drained the River of Time of its death qi for his creation. At the time, the River of Time stirred violently, creating some trouble for him.

”However, he was already incredibly powerful so the trouble didn’t manage to do much to him. But after the creation, he said something. I don’t know if that counts as something special.”

Su Yu asked, ”What is it?”

For Death Imperator to remember it so many years after his death, that must have been something very memorable.

Death Imperator sank into recollection as he said, ”He seemed to have said that...he was born too late. That old man wouldn’t have been able to snatch the initiative otherwise.”

Su Yu blanked out. What was the meaning of that? The old man who had snatched the initiative. Who was the Master of Death talking about? Someone he mentioned after his creation wouldn’t be an ordinary person.

”Master of Time?”

Su Yu muttered. Was it the Master of Time?

The Master of Death was overbearing and proud. Very few people could catch his eye. Why was Su Yu so sure that the Master of Death was overbearing? One would know just from observing how the death spirit dao worked. It was a singular dao without any tributaries. The dao was the reflection of the person.

Clearly, Death Imperator had speculated on the matter before as well. Hearing Su Yu’s words, he nodded, ”That was our guess as well. His creation happened after the Master of Time’s creation. As for the snatched initiative, we speculated that it might be an opportunity snatched by the Master of Time.”

Su Yu asked doubtfully, ”Why didn’t I feel anything during my creation?”

He did not feel anything special after his creation. What opportunity was missing? Death Imperator struggled, but he said nothing. To the side, Heavenbridge Marquis had an intense desire to tell Su Yu to look at himself in the mirror.

Su Yu was such a weak creator. What the fuck could he even feel? The Master of Death was a true big shot Creator. Su Yu was merely a baby Creator. He was just like Heavenbridge, the baby gate.

Why did a baby Creator believe that he would feel the same thing as a big shot Creator? Heavenbridge Marquis wanted to tell Su Yu to learn from him. He had never dreamed of eating the proper Heaven Gate or the proper Hell Gate.

Su Yu etched Death Imperator’s words in his mind. The Master of Death might have sensed something after his creation. An opportunity had been monopolized by the Master of Time. As a latecomer, the Master of Death failed to grab that opportunity.

At that thought, Su Yu asked, ”Where did Master of Death go after his creation? Dead? Or sealed away? Do you know anything about the Heaven Gate? Since you survived until the primordial era from the Creation Era, you must have witnessed the end of the Creation Era, right?”

Death Imperator shook his head and said, ”I don’t know about that. This information is too high-level for me to know.”

After a short hesitation, he added, ”But according to what I know, the Master of Death disappeared not long after creating the Death Realm. That can be considered one of the key events at the end of the Creation Era.

”In truth, I died not long after his creation. I don’t know if I should consider myself someone of the primordial past or the Creation Era. Perhaps I’m someone from the late Creation Era. After all, there was no such classification at the time.”

Fine.

That was fair. Take the current era as an example. Nobody knew what the future generation would call this era. This was a matter for the future. Those in the existing era would not assign labels or names to the era they were still living in.

Death Imperator had witnessed Master of Death’s creation, but he didn’t know much. However, Su Yu was uninterested in what Death Imperator saw since Death Imperator had only caught a glimpse from afar. It was pointless to ask more about that. Thus, he asked something else, ”Are you interested in becoming the Death Spirit King?”

Death Imperator sank into silence. In truth, it wasn’t like he had a different option. He knew that Su Yu was only asking out of politeness, but refusal was never an option.

Thus, he bowed slightly and said, ”It would be an honor for me. If Your Majesty wishes for it, Chen shall take on this position.”

Suddenly, Su Yu lamented, ”I wonder if I’m also planting a disaster for the future generation by doing this.”

Death Imperator’s heart thumped.

Su Yu sighed again and said, ”Back then, you were unwilling to submit to the imperial court. That was why they sealed you off. But now, you’re submitting so easily. This isn’t in line with my expectations.”

Su Yu laughed at himself.

”I sneered at Culture King and the others for being soft-hearted. I sneered at them for not finishing the job and leaving so many disasters for the future generation. But now that I’m in the position to completely remove a potential future disaster, I’m thinking that I shouldn’t kill you since you never acted against me and are willing to submit. I can only grant you a title. But are you really a good person as far as humanity is concerned?”

Death Imperator had an awkward expression.

Su Yu said, ”You would have joined the imperial court long ago if that were the case. Why would you wait until now? You refused to join the imperial court because it had too many powerhouses. You had zero chance of turning things around. You would rather remain in a seal. But I might die at any time. Thus, you can placate me and accept the position for now. Is this what you’re thinking?”

”You misunderstand me, Your Majesty.”

Death Imperator said awkwardly, ”You’re a Creator...”

”Human Emperor and Culture King were Creators as well. So what?” Su Yu sneered and said, ”So be it. This is something that will only happen after my death. Why should I care about the world after I’m dead? Why bother? In any case, you have no hope of turning things around as long as I’m still around.”

With a wave of Su Yu’s hand, a massive token appeared in the sky.

Grabbing the token with his right hand and reaching out with his left hand, streams of dao power rushed over. Then, a death dao released a large amount of death qi before leaving an imprint on the token.

”Chen is hereby appointed the Death Spirit King, with the Death Realm as his fief. As ordered by Emperor Yu’s Court.”

The powers of the myriad daos swirled in the sky before turning into a piece of golden paper. Then, the token stamped down.

Boom!

With a rumble, the world shook as the map of the Death Realm appeared on the human lord’s token. At the same time, the power of fortune surrounding it grew.

Su Yu laughed and said, ”You are the first king under me. I once promised several people kinghoods, but none of them have been appointed so far. He Tu and Lanshan have both received my promise, but you somehow skipped the queue. I wonder if this is a good thing.”

Death Imperator accepted the golden paper. Sensing how extraordinary that piece of paper was, a certain understanding dawned on him. He lowered his head and said, ”Chen of the Death Realm thanks His Majesty.”

Su Yu waved his hand, ”There is no need for you to thank me. This title of yours does not have much weight to it. After all, I am no Human Emperor. Your current status is probably equivalent to an ancient marquis.”

Su Yu smiled, ”Watch over the Death Realm well. Do not leave the Death Realm without my approval.”

”This subject understands.”

A wise person knew when to yield. That was Su Yu’s only thought. Death Imperator was way too wise. But why did someone so wise refuse to submit to the imperial court back then? There must be a complicated story to it.

Su Yu couldn’t be bothered to speculate. If Death Imperator were to betray him, he only needed to kill Death Imperator. This arrangement should be sufficient for now.

”Go meet your subordinates. Your appointment created quite a disturbance. I believe they are all aware of your appointment by now.”

Su Yu was uninterested in introducing Death Imperator to the death spirits under him. After all, he didn’t know all of them either. Death Imperator was strong enough to get them all under control without his help.

After another bow, Death Imperator left in the direction of the East Heavenly Palace. He, too, was feeling very complicated about all this.

***

With Death Imperator gone, Heavenbridge Marquis asked, ”Your Majesty, are you really making him a king so easily? You promised to make me a king as well! But you didn’t mention me earlier!”

”Did I make such a promise?”

Looking at Su Yu’s smiling face, Heavenbridge Marquis answered helplessly, ”Yes. Did you forget, Your Majesty?”

He wasn’t lying!