Tribulation of Myriad Races - Chapter 1960: Dao Painting (1)

Chapter 1960: Dao Painting (1)

Su Yu, who had just left the River of Time, was breathing heavily. It was unlikely that he could have escaped without the little stone. Of course, there probably wouldn’t even be a journey to the Upper Realm without the little stone.

After a short break, Su Yu looked up. His expression changed slightly. He remembered that he had exited the river right above him. In short, the opening to the River of Time was somewhere above him.

He looked around and noted that he was probably inside a cultivation chamber. Where was Human Emperor? At that thought, the Mark of Civilization flickered and released several people from it. He did not know this place, but someone else probably knew this place well.

Sure enough, Great Zhou King blanked out the moment he was out. After a long while, he muttered, “We seem…to be in the Human Emperor’s Palace?”

That caught everyone’s attention, including the ancient humans. In truth, these ancient humans weren’t that familiar with Human Emperor. During the ancient past, humanity had thirty-six kings and four cardinal kings on top of three hundred sixty ancient marquises. Most of them did not have much chance to meet the Human Emperor.

The Human Emperor’s Palace was also not a place one could visit easily. Was this really the Human Emperor’s Palace? Were they inside the Luminous Domain Mansion? All of them blanked out, not knowing how to process the fact that they had reached the Lower Realm.

Great Zhou King continued looking around. After a while, he said, “This place feels familiar, but I can’t guarantee that it’s really the place. However, the layout does resemble Human Emperor’s style.”

They were located inside a rather large room. Su Yu did not notice any unique layout inside the room. He only saw a simplistic layout, with some simple furniture around. There was a large bookshelf in front of him. And next to the bookshelf was a weapon shelf.

A book in one hand and a weapon in the other?

To the corner of the room was a small table and two chairs. Since this was Human Emperor’s cultivation chamber, he would probably host some guests here every now and then.

As for the immediate surroundings of Su Yu’s group, it was rather empty. There was only a cultivation mat on the ground. This was probably Human Emperor’s cultivation spot.

After looking around, Su Yu looked at Great Zhou King and asked, “Have you never visited Human Emperor’s cultivation chamber?”

“No.” Great Zhou King shook his head and said, “A cultivation chamber is a very private place. My job back then was unrelated to this place. But from the layout here and the fact that this is the exit of the River of Time, it is probably the cultivation chamber of his imperial majesty.”

He looked around with a complex expression.

A cultivation chamber of Human Emperor. It had been so many years When would Human Emperor return? Great Zhou King did not serve Hundred Battle King. In fact, that also applied to Bing Ku and Dan Yu. As Torchbearers, they bore the torch of Human Emperor.

They were the subordinates of Human Emperor. They were the most loyal soldiers of Human Emperor. They had remained in the Myriad Realms as a continuation of the ancient imperial court.

Now that Great Zhou King was back here, his emotions turned complicated. He was finally back.

After a hundred thousand years.

After the collapse of the ancient past, nobody had been able to reach the ninth level.

“Human Emperor’s Palace!”

Lan Tian, in the form of a little girl, looked around and said cheerfully, “I see treasures everywhere! But why aren’t there any divine weapons here? Was Human Emperor that poor?”

The decorations and furniture in the room had been steeped in Human Emperor’s aura for a long time, resulting in a qualitative transformation. They had all become dao treasures. It was obvious that these items used to be completely ordinary. Their transformation was purely due to their exposure to Human Emperor’s dao.

Great Zhou King said, “At Human Emperor’s level, treasures and divine weapons are useless. They only use items they enjoy using for their daily life.”

True.

Lan Tian nodded. They were still too far away from Human Emperor’s level. Meanwhile, Cloud Fire Marquis and the others were looking rather stiff. They didn’t dare to look around too much. They didn’t dare to touch anything either.

This was Human Emperor’s residence. Thus, this was essentially a holy land for them.

A true holy land.

Su Yu and Hundred Battle King were nothing compared to Human Emperor. Comparing them with Human Emperor was akin to comparing the moon and the sun. Human Emperor was a supreme powerhouse who had truly conquered the Myriad Realms.

He had kept the myriad races suppressed for tens of thousands of years. He had created the first empire since creation. Even now, many of the strongest powerhouses in existence were actually the survivors of Human Emperor’s era.

Even after a hundred thousand years of disappearance, he was still a subject of awe. These ancient humans could flaunt their seniority around Hundred Battle King and Su Yu. But before Human Emperor, they were merely elite soldiers. Nothing else.

Human Emperor was the true core figure of that era. The Four Cardinal Kings were the high officials, while the thirty-six human kings were the pillars. As for the 360 marquises, they were merely regional officials, separated several layers below the Human Emperor.

That was even more so for a titled general like Brave Martial General. During the ancient past, someone like her was far from qualified to meet Human Emperor. Furthermore, these surviving ancient marquises weren’t even high-ranked marquises back then.

The actual high-ranked marquises had all died. Epoch after epoch, these high-ranked marquises would receive the full attention of the myriad races. And after numerous battles, they had all died off, leaving some unimportant individuals behind.

At the moment, the ancient humans looked exceptionally respectful. Even Brave Martial General, who enjoyed cursing Hundred Battle King, was maintaining a respectful attitude. In fact, they had remained slightly bowed since arriving at this place.

Human Emperor’s Palace. A holy land for them.

Su Yu said nothing. After a short break, when he could finally breathe normally, he started observing his surroundings. He had an empty wall to his back and a door to his front. Only a bookshelf, a weapon shelf, a table, and some chairs were present in the room. It was a rather crude arrangement.

In fact, the furniture here did not seem too special for Su Yu anymore. After all, the furniture in Culture King’s Residence was also comparable in quality. Thus, the place did not seem too special for him.

Suddenly, Su Yu sensed something and turned his head to look somewhere. Instantly, he blanked out. A large picture was hanging on the wall. It wasn’t a portrait of Human Emperor. It also wasn’t a landscape picture. Rather, it was a ink painting. The first thing he noticed was that it was an abstract painting. The second thing he noticed was the repressive sensation he felt when looking at it.

The dark ink used on the painting felt like black clouds covering the sky. The white patches on the painting were akin to the rays of light shooting out of the dark clouds. Black and white interweaved, with something unknown hiding amid them.

The moment Su Yu’s gaze landed on the painting, he couldn’t look away. The world around him faded away. The painting alone consumed all his attention. Everyone was paying close attention to Su Yu. When they saw him staring at the painting, they did the same.

For some reason, everyone saw something different in the painting.

When Great Ming King looked at it, he saw a violent storm with dark skies, bleary earth, and a torrential downpour. He could also see an indistinct person amid the storm.

The indistinct person was standing under the torrential rain while gazing upon the sky unyieldingly. Suddenly, he waved his hand, manifesting numerous formation bases around him.

Before long, a massive formation was assembled. With that one formation, the entire world calmed. A look of overwhelming shock covered Great Ming King’s eyes. Formation! What was that? Someone had assembled an unbelievably powerful formation to calm and stabilize the world when the very sky was on the verge of falling.

Grandstar was staring at the painting as well. Dark skies and dark water. That was what he saw. In the water, countless primordial beasts were fighting for domination. One of them was a fish-like being, swimming leisurely in the water while consuming everything around it. Abruptly, a sword shot out of its mouth before slaughtering every living being in its surroundings.

A fight for domination.

A transformation into something greater.

***

As for Lan Tian, he saw something incredibly interesting.

He saw the primal chaos.

It was as though he had returned to the beginning of creation. He saw an incomparably powerful being, tearing the chaos apart, creating a world, bringing light upon the world, releasing a River of Time in that world, and spreading a myriad daos in that world.

The river grew with countless tributaries, slowly spreading over the world like a gigantic tree.

A myriad races appeared in that world.

At the moment, the Myriad Realms were still in an undeveloped state. Subsequently, the myriad races had produced countless experts. Then, the experts started creating their own realms within that world to shelter their own people. With that, the primordial era ended, and the era of the myriad races arrived.

Countless experts, and countless races, were all pioneering their own daos.

That was an era where daos could only be pioneered.

***

Unsurprisingly, Great Zhou King saw something different as well.

A raging storm. A dark world.

An ancient being, walking alone amid the bleak world. The being had a lazy demeanour and was dressed sloppily. Suddenly, a gigantic beast appeared in the distance. The sloppy being merely crouched down and waited patiently for the beast to leave before resuming his journey.

There were countless dangers in that bleak world. However, the sloppy traveller pushed on firmly, with boundless calm and patience. Eventually, a tiny ray of light appeared beneath the sloppy traveller. That ray of light looked incomparably tiny in that world of darkness.

However, even a single spark was capable of starting a fire that could burn the world. As the traveller traversed the world, surviving countless dangers and avoiding countless predators, light bloomed, and darkness dispersed.

Radiance enveloped the world.

The long night had ended.

At first, the tiny spark amid the darkness was too weak. It waited patiently. It started one ember after another. And finally, the darkness was dispersed.

Joy covered Great Zhou King’s eyes, the joy of someone who had finally seen the light.

The traveller had traversed countless places and undergone countless trials. He hid. He begged. He prayed. In the end, he was graced by light. If he had erred even once during his travels, light would not have arrived.