Tribulation of Myriad Races

Three Body Method. Convergence of three bodies.

To collect the past and future was the same as reclaiming one’s essence from the river.

***

”The Three Body Method requires carrier treasures. The carrier treasures are the medium to collect the essence from the river. But with a strong enough body, one can collect the essence directly without a medium.”

Su Yu sank into contemplation. He was already back inside his world. He wondered if he needed carrier treasures to collect his past and future from the river. Was his body strong enough to contain his essence without carrier treasures?

”Carrier treasures are required because most bodies are too weak to contain additional power. I won’t have an issue containing the power of weak past and future bodies, but if these bodies are stronger than expected...”

It was likely that his physical body would not be sufficient.

His physical body was weaker than Hundred Battle’s. Of course, that had probably changed now that Su Yu had taken the physical body dao into his world by feeding on Hundred Battle and Zhou Ji’s physical body dao.

This was worth trying.

Fully merging the three bodies into one would be the best choice. Carrier treasures could help contain the power of the past and future bodies, but this would not result in a full fusion.

”For now, I need to worry about the method I can use to gather the past and future bodies. Will something unexpected happen?”

Numerous thoughts emerged in Su Yu’s mind. Shortly after, he moved his lips a little.

***

Moments later, several individuals appeared.

Great Zhou King, Wan Tiansheng, Royal Consort Qi, and South Heavenly King. He only called these four over. The others wouldn’t be able to help much anyway, so he didn’t bother with them.

The four looked at each other with surprise upon entering the room. Most of the time, Su Yu would only call for them when he was facing a difficult problem.

Before they could say anything, Su Yu asked, ”Are all of you familiar with the Three Body Method?”

”Three Body Method?”

The others looked at each other. Before Great Zhou King could say anything, Royal Consort Qi said, ”Your Majesty, are you referring to the same Three Body Method that was very unpopular back then?”

She clearly knew quite a lot, as she continued her explanation, ”The Three Body Method was relatively unpopular even during the third epoch. But its popularity seemed to have increased significantly after the third epoch.”

She had entered seclusion during the third epoch, but she had also conversed with the others after exiting her seclusion. Thus, she was aware that the Three Body Method had eventually become the mainstream cultivation method.

She added, ”In my view, the Three Body Method is very unique. It grants one two additional lives, and at one point, it became the compulsory path to attain the dao—”

Su Yu cut her off, ”Was the Three Body Method not compulsory during the third epoch?”

Were there no tribulations for other methods in the third epoch? That was why the Three Body Method had become the mainstream method.

Royal Consort Qi explained, ”The tribulations weren’t so serious back then. One would only receive a slight punishment for choosing a different method. But after the third epoch, most would die in the pursuit of the other methods. Things had clearly changed after the third epoch.”

Su Yu thought about it and asked, ”When exactly, did the Three Body Method become the mainstream method?”

Great Zhou King answered, ”After the sixth epoch. Each epoch, the tribulations grew stronger. By the time the sixth epoch ended, the danger of following a different method had grown beyond what most could accept.”

Su Yu frowned, ”The Three Body Method only became mainstream after the sixth epoch. But based on what we know, the laws were placed by the assembly and Human Emperor back then. In other words, these were the ones slowly limiting the paths one could walk in cultivation for everyone. Why?”

He focused on Great Zhou King and asked, ”Do you know why? Why did they force everyone to cultivate the Three Body Method?”

Great Zhou King thought about it and speculated, ”It might be related to the ambient source qi of the world, or it might be related to the increase in the number of Daofuses in the world. Or perhaps the many Masters of Laws were exhausting the world too much. With the Three Body Method, the drain on the world would be much lighter.”

”Don’t you know more?”

Great Zhou King asked doubtfully, ”What do you wish to know, Your Majesty?”

This time, he truly didn’t understand what Su Yu wanted to know.

Su Yu frowned and said, ”With the Three Body Method, one will have three lives. Isn’t this something everyone should focus on?”

”But the Three Body Method is too weak...”

This was such a weak cultivation method. It was the last method anyone would cultivate. So what if one had three lives if one was so weak? Why was Su Yu talking about this method all of a sudden?

With a frown, Su Yu said, ”Is resurrection not enough for it to receive more attention?”

He had neglected this method before, and clearly, everyone had been neglecting this method. But just its ability to return one to life should be enough for it to receive more attention, right?

Ignoring all of them, what about Human Emperor and the others? Why were they neglecting this method as well?

Three bodies, three lives.

Returning from the dead.

Others might not be aware of how impressive that was, but people like Human Emperor and Culture King, who wanted to resurrect Xing Yue, should understand, right? In that case, why had everyone been neglecting this method?

Hearing Su Yu’s words, the others blanked out. Three bodies and three lives. Yes, this was indeed something worthy of attention. But...Great Zhou King argued, ”This method is too weak. The so-called three lives aren’t too useful anyway...”

That was so rude. How were three lives not useful? Three body cultivators would be much better at life preservation than others.

Su Yu sank into contemplation. After a while, he said, ”So everyone is neglecting this method because it feels useless?”

This wasn’t even in line with the nature of these people.

Generally, Su Yu would investigate more even if he believed that it was worthless. But prior to this, he had completely neglected the method.

One possibility emerged in his mind: the influence of the laws.

He was only starting to pay more attention to this method because he had created his own world, breaking free from the influence of the laws in the Myriad Realms. Was that the case? Like the complete Grand Cycle Method, the very laws prevent the perfect dissemination of this method.

Did someone leave such an arrangement among the laws back then? This was clearly an important method, yet everyone had been conveniently ignoring it.

During Human Emperor’s era, the method was new and few cultivated it. Thus, it was understandable that the method was neglected in that era. But according to Great Zhou King, that method only became the mainstream method after the sixth epoch.

Su Yu couldn’t understand why.

Great Zhou King and the others sank into thought as well. After a long while, Wan Tiansheng said, ”Your Majesty, did you discover something special about the Three Body Method? Is this why you’re suddenly talking about it? I personally experienced coming back to life through this method before. But it’s also true that the cultivator of this method is weaker.”

Su Yu laughed and said, ”That’s only applicable to the regular version of the method. What will happen when people like us gather our three bodies as well?”

Wan Tiansheng blinked. People like them? They no longer cultivated the Three Body Method. Could they still gather their three bodies? If possible, that would naturally grant them a boost in strength.

Great Zhou King exclaimed with shock, ”Your Majesty, do you mean that it’s still possible for us to gather our three bodies?”

That shouldn’t be possible.

Su Yu said, ”We can try. From what I can see, the Three Body Method is merely a way to reclaim one’s essence from the river. It’s the same as resurrecting death spirits. By reclaiming one’s essence from the river, one can grow stronger.

”Of course, by doing this, we’re taking from the River of Time. If the Master of Time is the same type of person as the Master of Death...well, we’ll all suffer for it. Then again, nobody knows if the Master of Time is dead or simply unbothered. There have been so many three body cultivators over the past few epochs. Everyone has been taking from the river, but the river never reacted.”

Even Su Yu couldn’t be sure about Master of Time’s current status.

He only knew that the Master of Time never seemed to care about the people gathering their past and future from the river. In fact, the Master of Time never bothered to obstruct the process. That was quite a curious matter.

The eyes of the others flickered. If Su Yu were right, they would be able to grow further in a short time.

Great Zhou King said, ”Your Majesty, the Three Body Method allows one to gather the past and future, but it is meant for peak Sunmoons who are just getting in contact with the River of Time. Is that still possible for us?”

Wan Tiansheng chimed in, ”We have all fused into your world. Can we still gather the essence from the River of Time?”

This was a good question.

Su Yu thought about it and said, ”Let’s try. From my previous observation, we have left our mark in the Myriad Realms after spending so many years living in it. This so-called mark is our essence.

”I only gathered you here to further improve the collection method. You can also help determine if this method is suited for everyone. Also, I need to figure out the way to enter the...alternate River of Time.”

Everyone blanked out. Alternate River of Time?

Su Yu said, ”Have all of you forgotten that when we first entered the River of Time, things were different? The current River of Time no longer contains our memories. But the river we enter through the Three Body Method is a river of memories...”

South Heavenly King and Royal Consort Qi blanked out. Royal Consort Qi exclaimed in astonishment, ”What are you talking about?”

Next, it was Great Zhou King’s turn to exclaim in astonishment, ”Have the two of you never seen that version of the river?”

”...”

Everyone was stunned.

Su Yu was relatively calm as he said, ”I have never entered such a river myself as well. Every time I open a path into the river, I’ll go straight to the main branch. It feels like I can’t access the alternate version without the Three Body Method.”

Su Yu had entered the alternate version before, thanks to Wan Tiansheng.

Wan Tiansheng said, ”Wait, is the river different for everyone?”

Things were getting way too odd. He had always assumed that the river of memories was what everyone would first access.

Su Yu looked at Great Zhou King and asked, ”When you fused with your dao in the past, did you enter the main branch or the river of memories?”

Great Zhou King thought about it and explained, ”I never opened a path into the river of memories myself, but someone brought me into it before. I have always assumed that I’m different because I fused with a dao long ago. I only know that those cultivating the Three Body Method can enter this version of the river.

”Since South Heavenly King is unaware of this version of the river, does that mean that this version of the river was a complete unknown in the past?”

How odd. He even tried to think of anything from the ancient past, but this cultivation method was too unpopular at the time. He couldn’t think of anyone.