Tribulation of Myriad Races

Return was feeling quite helpless. This was quite a tricky person to deal with.

After some thought, he explained, ”You see, I have some affairs to handle here as well. The world inside the Heaven Gate is also a busy world. I need to deal with my affairs, so I can only maintain half of the strength you’re currently receiving from me...”

Su Yu frowned, ”What nonsense. That will pull me down from the second tier to the third tier. How am I supposed to handle that bastard with a drop in strength? Can a tier-three even handle a peak tier-two?

”In that case, you can leave now. I’ll remove your brand and sever our connection fully. The Heaven Gate projection is mine. You won’t be able to send anything over without my cooperation.”

As the one who had cultivated this Heaven Gate projection, he had that much control over it. Without his permission, nobody could send their power through it. Otherwise, the ones inside the Heaven Gate would have forced their way into the Myriad Realms long ago.

Return clearly knew this as well. However, that was merely an excuse for what he was about to suggest next. Hearing the expected response from Su Yu, he said, ”But I really need to handle those affairs. What about this? I have some subordinates here. I can get them to lend you their strength...”

Su Yu frowned, ”Subordinates? Are you trying to send your subordinates over as well? Whatever. I don’t care. But too many contributors will mess with the purity of the power I’m receiving. A chaotic mess of power is different from pure physical body power.”

Return blinked.

Good heavens!

Su Yu did not actually care about having more people. He only cared about the purity of the power being sent over. This was not something Return had expected. He had thought that Su Yu would keep negotiating or even reject the suggestion outright.

But nope. Su Yu only cared about the purity of the power he was receiving. And now, it was Return’s turn to hesitate. Was Su Yu completely unaware of his plan, or did Su Yu simply not care?

Seemingly having guessed his thought, Su Yu sneered and said, ”Doesn’t everyone inside the Heaven Gate dream of coming out? The gate is going to open naturally soon. People like you who are trying to come out in advance are probably weaklings. Do you think I don’t know that? Also, why should I care? As long as I can benefit from it, so what if you leave the gate in advance? I only need to keep fighting. Why does it matter if I’m fighting only one person or fighting an entire group of people?”

Su Yu was as overbearing as usual. ”Even if I’m no match for you guys, I’ll go upstream and look for Human Emperor. Can you defeat Human Emperor? Of course, I need enough benefits to allow that to happen. Otherwise, you can stop dreaming of coming out earlier.”

Return blanked out. This Su Yu...was truly interesting. He seemed to have guessed a lot of things. But he did not care one bit. He only cared about the benefits he could gain. Was he trying to grow as much as possible while he could?

Next, Su Yu said, ”I know that chaos will engulf the Myriad Realms soon. Not long ago, the Hell Gate stirred. Some chaos beasts emerged. I even killed a Master of Law among them. Things are getting more and more tense. All sorts of people are emerging. That enemy of mine has the Human Gate cultivated. He seems related to the Human Gate. He might be an agent of those within the Human Gate. I need enough help from the Heaven Gate...”

Once again, Return blanked out. He asked with surprise, ”Your enemy cultivates the Human Gate?”

”Yes!”

Understanding dawned on Return. ”No wonder. So that’s a Human Gate cultivator. In that case, this person must be receiving help and guidance from someone inside the Human Gate. Otherwise...it will be very difficult for someone from your era to reach the second tier.”

Inwardly, Su Yu was rolling his eyes. Difficult? Nope. It was easy. Very easy. But he found something new. He found that Return was in even more of a rush than he was. He was in a rush to enter the gate, while Return was in a rush to leave. And he wasn’t even satisfied with leaving alone. He was worried that he couldn’t handle the Myriad Realms alone, so he was even seeking help.

Su Yu resisted the urge to laugh.

Good.

He had been annoyed at the limited support Return could give him. But with this, he would be able to milk more from them.

Despite his thoughts, Su Yu remained cold as he said, ”I don’t care about all that. All three gates are stirring. Everyone is trying to come out. Control King’s lineage has also been trying to release Control King from the gate. Human Ancestor, Human Emperor, the various ancestors of the myriad races...everyone is coming back. Why does it matter if you’re added to the mix as well?

”However, I need to grow as much as possible before then. I need enough strength to participate in the coming struggle.”

Su Yu said, ”I am no fool. I am not crazy. I know exactly what you’re thinking. Return, you wish to come out in advance. I don’t mind that. But I know that you can only rely on me. Thus, be frank and tell me what you have to offer. I only care about that.”

Return was quite surprised to hear that. After a long while, he offered, ”I can protect you when I’m out...”

”Piss off.” Su Yu said, ”Do I look like I’m three or something? Protecting me? Do I need something like that? What a joke. Only a fool will place their fate in the hands of someone like you.”

Return found it hard to think of a good offer. He said, ”But I can’t emerge yet. The only thing I can give you for now is some power. I can’t send anything else over.”

As for guidance, Su Yu was already a Master of Law. His guidance wouldn’t be too helpful anymore. If Su Yu were merely an Eternal or even a Daofuse, he would have a lot to offer. But Su Yu wasn’t so weak that he could be satisfied so easily. That was the biggest issue here. He had nothing he could offer.

After a short silence, Su Yu said, ”No, there is something you can offer.”

”What do you want?”

Su Yu answered, ”Dao powers.”

”What?”

Return was slightly confused. That was a rather vague answer.

Su Yu smiled and added, ”All sorts of dao powers, law fragments, or even dao comprehension. Return, you’re not weak. Why don’t you kill some Masters of Laws, strip their daos, and send them over?”

First, Return blinked. But next, his heart chilled. Was this fellow...trying to entice him into doing something else? This felt like a reverse of their roles.

He was the stronger one here. He should be the one dictating things in this interaction. But instead, this guy was inciting him to go out and commit mass murder before delivering all the gains over.

Return calmed himself and said, ”You cultivate the physical body dao. It’s pointless for you to gather so many different powers—”

”Are you dumb? I have subordinates as well.” Su Yu said, ”The restriction of the Myriad Realms has just been lifted. My subordinates need to grow as well.”

”But the powers inside and outside the gates are different.” Return explained, ”Let me put it this way. Say all these powers are split into the yin and the yang. The powers outside are the yang while the powers inside are the yin. Even the same dao is actually different.”

Su Yu said, ”Yes, I know that. But does it matter? Don’t bother. Who knows? Maybe the unity of yin and yang can result in something better. Isn’t this why everyone inside the gates are trying to come out?”

Return sank into thought. After a while, he said, ”This really isn’t something I can do. Masters of Laws aren’t so easy to kill. You don’t understand, Su Yu—”

Boom!

A rumble rang out and the gate projection started shaking. Su Yu nonchalantly said, ”Forget it. You’re showing zero sincerity. I agreed to your requests easily, but you kept hesitating and refusing my request. I look down on indecisive people like you. Comparable to Human Emperor? What nonsense. It’s pointless to cooperate with someone like you. You might kill me with your incompetence alone. This is all for us. I will stop accepting your power. You can fully focus on your affairs in there.”

”Wait, Su Yu—”

Boom!

As Su Yu severed the flow of dao power, his cold voice rang out, ”I know where your brand is. Just wait. It will be removed before long. I am the lord of humanity. You’re trying to take advantage of me without paying the price. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Rumble!

Return’s urgent voice rang out, ”Su Yu! Stop! Without my support, you’ll be in trouble as well! Your enemy is very strong...”

”Are you stupid? At worst, I’ll go upstream to look for Human Emperor. It’s not like I must stay here. I have only been hesitating because I don’t like to beg for help.”

With a final rumble, everything was severed.

***

Inside the gate.

Return was staring blankly. This was not a part of the plan! Their negotiation had proceeded smoothly. Su Yu had even agreed to allow him to bring in some helpers. Why did Su Yu turn against him just like that? Everything had been severed without any hesitation.

The Heaven Gate projection belonged to Su Yu. Thus, he held absolute control over the connection. Return could still send some of his willpower over with his brand out there. He could probably send a willpower clone around tier-four in strength.

But what could that even achieve? His actual goal was to have his main body leave. Sending a tiny bit of willpower out there was pointless, just like how the one who had connected with the sixth human lord back then had failed to accomplish anything.

”This guy...”

Return was feeling quite helpless. That guy was too smart. And smart people were very annoying to deal with. More importantly, that guy seemed to be both smart and mad. They were still in the middle of a friendly discussion when he suddenly ended everything just because of a tiny bit of hesitation.

”He’s going to remove my brand as well...”

Return felt like shouting at someone. After so much effort, he had finally left a brand there. The moment the brand was removed, all his previous hard work would go to waste.

”He wants the dao powers and fragments in here...”

Return frowned. Strengthening his subordinates? Separation of yin and yang. Unity of yin and yang. In fact, Su Yu was somewhat correct.

However, the truth was that Su Yu did not care about the power he received. He could digest anything thanks to the myriad of daos in his world. As for the daos that were absent from his world, he could always cultivate them like new pages of his book and further perfect his dao.

His dao of cosmic civilization was vast enough to encompass everything. Thus, he was willing to accept anything Return could give. And power happened to be the only thing Return could send over right now.

Meanwhile, Return was greatly troubled. Su Yu had really severed their connection without any hesitation. And without the connection, Return even needed to worry about Su Yu’s safety without his support. The enemy was a powerhouse who had cultivated the Human Gate.

”Are the beings inside the Human Gate making arrangements outside as well?

”The ones in the Earth Gate are also trying to leave...

”The Heaven Gate is different. There are too few Heaven Gate cultivators out there. It is too hard to cultivate the Heaven Gate.”

Just then, Return’s eyes flickered. He could sense it. Su Yu had discovered his brand, and Su Yu was in the process of removing it.

”Madman.”

Return cursed. Did Su Yu think that he couldn’t send his willpower over and kill Su Yu right this moment? That guy was only a tier-four. A willpower clone of his would also be a tier-four or even stronger!

But sending a willpower clone now would fully turn them against each other. Return was exasperated. He had supported Su Yu with all his strength for some time. Was he supposed to end up with zero gains after all that hard work?