Tribulation of Myriad Races - Chapter 2021: Cooperation Established (2)

Chapter 2021: Cooperation Established (2)

Chaos Mountain.

Inside a cave deep in the inner region.

Great Zhou King was seated cross-legged in meditation when he suddenly opened his eyes. He looked speechless as he blanked out for a long while before muttering, “How brazen.”

Su Yu was actually trying to cooperate with the myriad races. This had never happened even during the ancient past. Su Yu was indeed full of surprises. He knew that this was a risky game to play, but he had to admit that this was probably their best choice right now.

“Heavenbridge, send my clone to Dao Origin Hill.”

Great Zhou King looked at Great Ming King and said, “Old Zhu, stop messing with Old Qin and Old Xia. If they give you even their bones, their strength will start dropping. They have just reached tier two not long ago. We don’t want to push them down a tier.”

Not far away, Great Xia King and Great Qin King were glaring at them with unsightly expressions.

Great Ming King was an arse! He had been targeting them for the past few days. At one point, it even felt like he was on the verge of skinning them alive.

Great Ming King smiled and said, “No, I’m doing nothing to them. I have merely been discussing with them about donating their body parts.”

He laughed and continued, “I wonder when Wan Tiansheng will return. Will he return empty-handed?”

Wan Tiansheng had gone scouting with one of their mobile formations. They didn’t know if he could find anything. The region they were in was extremely dangerous. The only safe spot in this region was their current hiding place, one that had been prepared by the spatial beasts.

***

Meanwhile, Wan Tiansheng was hiding on a small mountain.

Wan Tiansheng wasn’t alone. He also had the curious Fat Ball with him. Fat Ball was his biggest source of confidence out here. In pure cultivation alone, Fat Ball wasn’t that far ahead of them. But he had too many treasures.

Ignoring everything else, that shoe of Culture King alone was already an impressively powerful item. Thus, Wan Tiansheng felt much safer with Fat Ball’s company.

Nevertheless, he still maintained extreme caution. He knew that Control King’s lineage had the ability to observe daos as well. Thus, he had even cut his connection with his dao and scouted with the strength of a Sunmoon. This was actually extremely dangerous.

One of the reasons he had brought Fat Ball with him was Fat Ball’s ability to spy on the daos to a certain extent as well. When Su Yu first used Fat Ball’s blood essence, he had been able to see the indistinct forms of the various daos.

This was Fat Ball’s unique ability, as he needed to be able to see the daos he wanted to bite.

Fat Ball, who had also cut off his connection to his dao, sniffed the air and said while wagging his tail, “There are many experts in the area. I can smell them. I really want to bite their daos.”

In his vision, there were countless golden beams of light around them. The power of dao was very tempting to him as his unique dao of biting had granted him an innate desire to bite the daos of others.

Wan Tiansheng looked around before focusing on a certain mountain amid a forest. There were many mountains nearby, but he could feel some unique emotions from that mountain.

Human emotions, to be specific.

Any human would have emotions. And he could feel the emotions the people on that mountain were feeling. Emotions were something unmaskable. Unlike daos, emotions would emerge uncontrollably. Nobody could fully suppress or erase their emotions.

After a short observation, Wan Tiansheng sent a voice transmission, “I can sense their joy, excitement, and killing intent. Some experts might be hiding there.”

At a glance, that mountain looked the same as the surrounding mountains. But he was sure that there were experts there. However, he had no way of determining their numbers.

He did not even dare to look at that mountain too much as the senses of top experts were simply too sensitive. He said, “Senior Fat Ball, don’t look at them too much lest you attract their attention.”

At that, Fat Ball stopped looking.

Wan Tiansheng continued, “I doubt this is their main base of operations. The mountain isn’t big enough. They won’t be able to keep too many people here even after hollowing out the mountain. This is also not far enough from the outer region. I suspect this is one of their forward outposts. The ones who had attacked the nether race previously might have departed from this outpost.”

That was Wan Tiansheng’s guess.

If that was the case, this was an outpost that had produced a team capable of killing two heavenly kings. They could not underestimate the people stationed here. Wan Tiansheng slowly pulled back.

He could not look at the mountain too much. He shouldn’t approach the mountain. He did not want to alert them in advance. His scouting mission was already a success after discovering one of their outposts.

Suddenly, Wan Tiansheng frowned. Intense lust erupted from his body as he suddenly pounced on Fat Ball.

The alarmed Fat Ball exclaimed in shock, “What are you doing?”

What was that guy doing? He was a dog! What was this guy trying to do to a dog?

Wan Tiansheng kept his mouth shut as a wave of intense lust swept through the area, affecting the weaker ancient beasts there. Then, Wan Tiansheng hurriedly dragged Fat Ball off.

Not long after their departure, two figures appeared at their previous location.

The two figures had appeared noiselessly. One of them was a man and the other was a woman. They looked around doubtfully. Earlier, Yue Hao had told them to investigate the surrounding are as something felt off.

But they found nothing. The two landed atop the mountain and looked around. Before long, they noticed the surrounding beasts pouncing on each other in excitement.

The woman frowned and asked, “Is it the mating season? These fellows are…”

When she focused, she could even smell a certain stench in the air.

So it was really the mating season.

The woman asked, “Is this what Yue Hao noticed?”

The man had an odd expression as he said, “I…guess?”

He looked at the woman and said, “Yue Hao was in the middle of a meeting with us. Why was he paying attention to…this?”

The two laughed.

Whatever. They decided to not tease Yue Hao about this.

The two continued their search in the area for a bit before leaving. Nothing suspicious was found. It was only some beasts in heat. This was the inner region of the Chaos Mountain. How could their enemies reach this place so easily? Yue Hao was being too paranoid.

Meanwhile, Wan Tiansheng was rapidly fleeing with Fat Ball. Inwardly, his heart was pounding madly. He was certain that there were super experts on that mountain. There might even be a Venerable there.

Earlier, something had triggered his danger sense out of nowhere. Thus, he had retreated promptly. Hopefully, no trace of his presence had been left behind. It certainly wouldn’t benefit them for Control King’s lineage to realize that someone was already in the inner region so early.

***

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Outer region of the Chaos Mountain.

Dao Origin Hill.

The clones of Su Yu and Great Zhou King had arrived long ago. Both were waiting leisurely inside the cave while reading. Some of the rare books from North Pacifying Marquis’ collection were still left in the cave so they had been reading these books while waiting.

Su Yu guessed that the Venerables had arrived as well, but they had been keeping their presence hidden. He was unsure if they would arrive in their actual bodies or clones.

Suddenly, laughter rang out as someone spoke, “You seem quite relaxed. Am I actually looking at two different individuals or the same person?”

Su Yu smiled and said, “I am Zhou Tiandao. We met previously.”

One figure after another flickered into existence outside the cave.

With a nonchalant smile, Su Yu said, “Allow me to make an introduction. This here is the leader of the Torchbearers. He goes by Zhou. Perhaps this is someone you know.”

Nine individuals stood at the cave entrance.

Nine Venerables were here.

Clearly, they were taking this seriously. They had all arrived with their clones.

Su Yu even saw March among them, but he did not let his gaze linger on March for long. But as he thought of something, he smiled and said, “Fellow Daoist March, Fellow Daoist Heavenly Fate, and Fellow Daoist Thunderstorm. Been a while.”

“…”

The three stared at him silently. Thunderstorm said, “I don’t recall meeting you before.”

Su Yu chuckled and said, “Sure. If you say so.”

He did not elaborate. Great Zhou King, who remained seated, looked up at the newcomers with a complicated expression on his face. After a short silence, he said, “Friends, it has been a while. All nine of you are incredibly talented cultivators. A pity that the collapse of the ancient past has blocked all of you from taking that step forward.”

The moment those words were said, Venerable Moon started studying him.

Venerable Dao, who was the eldest among them, was doing the same. After a while, he asked, “Have we met before?”

Great Zhou King nodded and said, “Yes. Let’s see…yes, it has truly been too long. About a hundred and twenty years ago, I think? His imperial majesty invited everyone to a banquet back then. That day, you arrived with Holy Immortal Marquis, Roaring Dao Marquis. Holy Immortal Marquis was drunk, and he even got into an argument with someone during the banquet.

“Holy Immortal Marquis was already a Master of Law back then, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to be punished. Fortunately, you were there to serve as the scapegoat. I was the one who had arrested and punished you back then with a hundred lashes. I still remember your weeps during the punishment. Have you forgotten, Roaring Dao Marquis?”

At that, Venerable Dao’s expression changed. He focused even more on Great Zhou King, lamenting that he was only here with his clone. But he was indeed recalling something.

After a long while, he exclaimed, “It’s you!”

Great Zhou King smiled, “Do you remember now?”

He continued, “You’re the only one with a tiny bit of misunderstanding with me back then. I hope you will be generous and forget about the past.”

Everyone focused on Venerable Dao. Did that really happen? They had no idea.

Venerable Dao inhaled deeply to calm himself and said, “I know who you are now.”

He continued with a solemn voice, “I even investigated you after that incident. You are the secretary of Human Emperor during his time in the Human Realm. You were in charge of writing the imperial edicts back then. Eventually, Culture King rose to power and you became a regular attendant in charge of miscellaneous tasks in the imperial palace.”

Great Zhou King said, “You’re right to a certain extent. I was too untalented to become a Master of Law. Culture King was wise and strong. With him around, I can only contribute through some unimportant tasks.”

He smiled and said, “Please forgive me for what happened back then, Roaring Dao Marquis. I was only doing my job back then.”

Venerable Dao gave Great Zhou King a deep stare before saying, “I finally understand why you’re the true, undisuputed leader of the Torchbearers. You were the closest person to Human Emperor. Bing Ku and the others were too insignificant compared to you.”

Great Zhou King chuckled and said, “Not at all. I am nobody important. Bing Ku and Dan Yu were the true cores of the Torchbearers. I am merely a humble logistics officer.”

The Venerables had odd expressions. By now, they had all recalled who this person was. This was a close attendant of Human Emperor, someone who had followed Human Emperor even before humanity’s conquest.

“How are you not dead?” Venerable Dao, “You’re quite old, right? How are you not out of lifespan? You don’t even look like someone who has awakened from a deep slumber.”

Great Zhou King said, “Well, I was lucky enough to serve under Human Emperor for many years. Back when Culture King killed Eminent Long Life of the immortal race, he refined three Long Life Pills from the blood essence of Eminent Long Life and gave them all to Human Emperor. Due to my old age and my poor talent in cultivation, Human Emperor granted me one of the pills. Thanks to that pill, I don’t need to worry about my lifespan.”

Venerable Desolate roared furiously, “You’re courting death!”

Great Zhou King said, “I’m merely telling the truth. During Culture King’s rampage, he shattered several daos of the immortal race. Eminent Long Life was one of his victims. This has never been a secret. Face history bravely. What’s the point of denying history? My race was glorious, and we have now declined. This is also the truth. I am not denying that.”

He carried himself with the bearing of an unfathomable super expert. Even Su Yu was staring at him blankly as he talked and talked.

Incredible.

This absolute calm Great Zhou King was maintaining was truly impressive. It was as though nothing in existence could disturb his calm.