Tribulation of Myriad Races

Even Su Yu had expected Martial Emperor to fight until the very end. But no.

Su Yu looked at Martial Emperor with disappointment and sighed, ”The world has lost its purest brute. You have turned into a cowardly cultivator.”

Martial Emperor grimaced at that.

What nonsense was this fucker saying? Were brutes supposed to not fear death or something? Everyone feared death! Even him! It had only been a few days since he regained his freedom. Was it so surprising that he didn’t want to die yet?

This fucker was too abnormal. He was unlike a regular sovereign. Any sovereign would treat such a powerful warrior with respect. But Su Yu was different. He was really trying to kill. Martial Emperor could feel it. Su Yu was really trying to send him to the afterlife.

In that case, how could he not submit?

Martial Emperor glared furiously, but he said nothing. He had surrendered. Would this guy still want to kill him? He hadn’t even done anything against this guy! He had merely talked about doing something, but he hadn’t even killed a subordinate of this guy. Wasn’t it a tad too excessive for this guy to resort to killing for something so minor?

After letting out a sigh, Su Yu smiled and asked, ”So you want to surrender?”

Martial Emperor glared with his usual ferocious and proud expression.

”I am surrendering!”

He was even shouting as he said that. Yes. He was surrendering. What about it? Could he not?

”But I can see that you’re not far from a tier-two Master of Law. I won’t be a match for you outside my world. How am I supposed to keep someone so strong under control?” Su Yu said, ”I can get you to fuse with my world, but it would be a waste of your strength. Your inclusion can greatly strengthen me, but you will drop to the third or even the fourth tier. That would be such a pity.”

Yes. It would be quite a pity.

Martial Emperor wasn’t far from the second tier, a level that would place him above many. That was a level only the Four Cardinal Kings could reach during the ancient past. It wouldn’t be easy for him to climb back to the same height after severing his dao. Su Yu’s world was still not strong enough for that.

”But keeping you outside my world will be a trouble as well. It isn’t easy to move my world around and you can easily stab me in the back. I can’t stop being wary about you.”

Martial Emperor had an awkward expression. Damn it! Was he wrong for being too strong? What could he do, then? He was feeling quite helpless as well.

Su Yu sighed and said, ”Therefore, I never intended to accept you into my group. Killing is the easiest way to deal with someone so strong.”

Martial Emperor felt terrible. This was why Su Yu had attacked him out of nowhere.

Su Yu laughed and said, ”I originally believed that a brute like you would never submit. You might refuse to even enter the Hell Gate. Thus, I wasn’t even bothered to negotiate anything with you.”

Martial Emperor said nothing, but he was cursing inwardly.

”But now that you’re willing to surrender, I can’t bear to drive you behind the Hell Gate anymore. It would be a loss to me. But I’m too wary of you to keep you around. This is quite a difficult choice.”

Su Yu sighed, ”Your surrender has placed me in a difficult position.”

Martial Emperor grumbled inwardly. Was his surrender making this fellow’s life difficult? These damn scholars were too troublesome. They thought so much that they didn’t even have the courage to accept a surrender anymore.

Right at that moment, Great Zhou King stepped forth, cupped his fists, and said, ”Your Majesty, this old subordinate has a suggestion.”

”Tell me.”

Su Yu gave Great Zhou King a deep gaze. Great Zhou King did not meet the gaze. Instead, he kept his head lowered as he spoke, ”Martial Emperor is strong, and Your Majesty is wary of him. This old subordinate suggests that he separates his spirit and body.”

Su Yu smiled, ”Elaborate. How should we achieve this separation?”

”It’s simple. Separate his sea of willpower and body.” Great Zhou King explained, ”In a sense, it’s also a form of seal.”

Martial Emperor was ashen-faced as he protested, ”I surrender, but I don’t accept being sealed away!”

He would rather die than that! If he had to accept being sealed away again, he would rather fight Su Yu to the very end.

Ignoring the outburst, Great Zhou King continued, ”I might be calling it a seal here, but strictly speaking, it’s also not a seal. It is merely the separation of one person into two parts. Martial Emperor’s body can be kept in the human lord’s token while he can move about with an incarnation formed of his sea of willpower.

”He will remain powerful even without his body, but not as strong. If he’s already a second tier now, he might drop into the third tier with only his sea of willpower. That won’t be a level of strength Your Majesty needs to be too worried about.

”With this, Martial Emperor can continue enjoying his freedom. You can return his physical body during a major battle for him to instantly regain his original strength. Or you can do so when you feel confident enough in your ability to keep him in line.”

Martial Emperor glared and said, ”The separation of body and spirit? It is doable, and it will be more complicated for the body to be summoned toward the sea of willpower. However, the sea of willpower can be summoned back to the body at any time.”

Great Zhou King smiled, ”Senior Martial Emperor knows a lot, it seems. That’s true. Thus, we can produce a barrier to prevent that from happening. To do this, we will require the assistance of Your Majesty’s Heaven Gate to produce such a barrier in the River of Time itself.”

Su Yu nodded, ”This might be feasible. Did you perhaps... do this before?”

Su Yu flashed Great Zhou King a deep smile before returning his gaze to Martial Emperor. ”Martial Emperor, what do you think of this plan?”

Martial Emperor’s expression changed repeatedly. A pseudo seal. That was essentially what they were suggesting.

Only his body would be sealed away while his sea of willpower and dao would remain free. He gnashed his teeth and asked, ”How long do you intend to keep me sealed for?”

After a short thought, Su Yu said, ”Until I’m strong enough to kill you outside my world.”

Martial Emperor thought about it. In short, he had to wait until Su Yu was as strong as a tier-two Master of Law outside his world.

”How long would that take?”

After another short pause, Su Yu smiled, ”Moving forward, I won’t have that many opportunities for rapid growth. I have exhausted almost everything I could get my hands on. Even now, I’m only an average or a weaker tier-two inside my world. I need at least one major opportunity to grow strong enough for that.”

Su Yu beamed as he said, ”In short, that will happen when I encounter such an opportunity. But I can’t give you a definitive time.”

”No problem.”

Martial Emperor agreed easily. While Su Yu was thinking, he had been thinking as well. Su Yu had taken only...one year to grow from a Sunmoon to this level.

Only one year.

Holy shit. He had been neglecting the matter most of the time. But when he thought about it...how utterly terrifying. Basically, he would only remain sealed for three or five months. In any case, it wouldn’t be longer than a year.

Fine.

No longer than a year, and his willpower would still be able to move around freely during that time. He could simply pretend he was still inside the mansion. According to the original timeline, he would be free in about a year anyway. With that reasoning, Martial Emperor felt a lot more comfortable with this idea.

Then again, he had no choice but to accept this arrangement. He knew that Su Yu would really kill him if he were to refuse.

Despite his acceptance, Martial Emperor still tried to argue, ”I won’t move against you so long as you don’t try to seal me off again. I’m a man of my word.”

Su Yu replied calmly, ”A man of your word? If I were only Su Yu, I wouldn’t mind putting my trust in your word. But I’m not only Su Yu.”

It was that simple.

If he were only Su Yu, he wouldn’t be bothered. Martial Emperor could do whatever. But he was the human lord. He was also the new emperor of humanity. He spoke with perfect calm, but many sighed inwardly upon hearing those words. The expressions of Wan Tiansheng and a few others turned complicated.

If he were only Su Yu...

He was Su Yu, but not only Su Yu.

If Su Yu only had himself to worry about, he wouldn’t have cared about Martial Emperor. But he was the human lord. He was also the master of Emperor Yu’s Court. Just like Human Emperor, he was shackled the moment he ascended to the position of human lord.

For premier powerhouses, power and fame could be chains and shackles. It was likely that Su Yu would much prefer to dedicate himself to the dao than all these mundane affairs. It was the same case for Human Emperor.

But in that era, he had no choice but to take on the responsibility of humanity. Culture King was unwilling. Martial King was unreliable. Control King was unfathomable. Radiant King lacked the strength. And thus, Human Emperor was forced to halt his pursuit of dao to shoulder the responsibility of humanity.

In the eyes of many, Human Emperor was a supreme being. But it was likely that Human Emperor would rather be in Culture King’s position, enjoying his free and unconstrained life. And now, Su Yu was in the same position as Human Emperor.

Wan Tiansheng and a few others could understand him very well. They were the ones who had witnessed Su Yu’s journey to the top. They were his teachers and his friends, and they were the ones who had forced him to shoulder this heavy burden.

Thus, this was the only choice he could make. He longed for freedom. He longed for an unrestrained and fearless life. But ultimately, he was pressed down to earth by the burden of responsibility. He had yet to reach Human Emperor’s level, but he was steadily progressing to the same level.

Martial Emperor couldn’t quite understand his thoughts, but he could sense a tiny bit of what Su Yu was thinking from those words. He could sense something different about this vision of Su Yu. This was different than the previous Su Yu, one who was unrestrained and free.

He was not only Su Yu. Thus, he couldn’t accept Martial Emperor’s request.

Great Zhou King smiled and said, ”Senior Martial Emperor, with His Majesty’s speed of growth, I believe it won’t be long before your body and willpower can reunite. In any case, your freedom won’t be restricted. You will only be letting your physical body rest for a short time.

”After being sealed away for so many years, your body has yet to recover to its peak condition. We’re not even sealing it away. We’re giving it the chance to rest and fully recuperate from its old injuries. The day of your reunification with your body will be the day you step into the second tier. I firmly believe in that.”

Was that the case?

That made a lot of sense.

As Martial Emperor considered the matter, Su Yu asked, ”Is this acceptable for you? If not, I suggest you self-detonate.”

”...”

Martial Emperor cursed inwardly. Even if he refused the arrangement, could this guy not chase him behind the Hell Gate or something?

Why was this guy talking about something as drastic as a self-detonation?

He felt quite helpless, but he maintained his ferocious expression as he replied, ”Since I’ll be resting my body...it is an acceptable arrangement. My body is indeed suffering from some old injuries. It’s all the fault of that Tai Shan bastard. I will not forgive him for what he did! Fine, I can rest my body in your human lord’s token temporarily.”

Impressive.

He was able to twist an imprisonment into something like recuperation, and he even sounded like this was an offer he could barely accept as a compromise.

Su Yu said, ”You promised to kill five Masters of Laws for me. Prior to this, you did not exactly promise to kill three for me, so I didn’t care too much about that. But now that you have made a new promise after your defeat, I will hold you to it. It is no longer negotiable. It is now your mission.”

Su Yu’s eyes turned cold as he continued, ”Kill five Masters of Laws or prepare to die in my hands one day.”

Once again, Martial Emperor cursed inwardly.

How annoying.

”Sure.”

Su Yu nodded, ”Time to separate your body and sea of willpower. If you’re willing to abandon your physical body, you’re free to leave right after this. I will pretend you don’t exist anymore. But if you still wish to regain your body, be sure to present yourself whenever I call for you.”

Martial Emperor was tired of this. He had spent his early life unrestrained before spending a large chunk of his life in imprisonment. And now, he was going to live the life of a lackey. Nonetheless, he would still have his dignity even when he was surrendering. He was the Martial Emperor!

He snorted, and just as everyone thought that he was about to go crazy, an illusory version of him phased out of his physical body.

The second Martial Emperor declared arrogantly, ”I will be storing this body here temporarily. Since I still have matters to attend to, I’ll be taking my leave. Call for me when you need me, but don’t bother me for no reason.”

Boom!

And then, he fled.

He fled at an incredible speed. He did not want to spend more time around someone as annoying as Su Yu. He didn’t really have anything to handle. That was merely an excuse for him to live. He simply didn’t want to stay. To be precise, he was too embarrassed to stay.