Tribulation of Myriad Races

Chapter 2372: Return (1)

Upstream.

The battle had ended by the time Human Emperor arrived. It was over before anyone knew it. Divine Pseudo Emperor had escaped with the survivors, fleeing further upstream. Could they give chase?

Yes.

But Su Yu's world could not reach that far. That would result in another bitter battle. Furthermore, killing all of them would reduce the suppression on the river. The flow of the river would accelerate, and the three gates would open earlier.

Over thirty Masters of Laws from the myriad races had been killed in the recent battle. Three of them were tier-ones. Divine Pseudo Emperor had escaped with about fifty Masters of Laws and fifty cultivators of lower cultivation levels.

Not long ago, the myriad races still had 125 Masters of Laws. In such a short time, they had lost around half their people.

Su Yu looked around silently. There were losses. Despite his best efforts, there were still losses. Radiant King and Battle King had severed their daos. Originally, Human Emperor had forty-nine Masters of Laws left under him. Twenty-seven had returned to fuse with Human Emperor's world, and the rest stayed to fight.

Only eighteen remained.

Four had died.

Four had died in the previous battle as well. Human Emperor had lost eight Masters of Laws after Su Yu's arrival.

In the latest battle, most of the pressure had been concentrated on the tier-ones. Even so, a few had died. One ought to admit that at times, some people could get really unlucky. In any case, the cooperation between Human Emperor's people and Su Yu's side was still rather poor. That was one of the reasons for the deaths.

And when Su Yu swept his gaze over his people, he blinked.

Someone was missing.

Someone was actually missing!

Initially, there were thirty-five of them here. Subsequently, he had brought King Yue, Great Zhou King, and the book spirit over. Those from the Secret Guard did not count. He should have thirty-eight people here, Xing Yue excluded.

But a few were missing. He looked around. Everyone was injured. The battle had been too intense for him to notice earlier. But now, he was frowning. After a while, he asked softly, "Where are Southbrook and Spacebreak?"

Silence answered him.

After a long while, Wan Tiansheng's weak voice rang out, "Dead in battle."

Su Yu knew that. He only wanted to know how it happened. It shouldn't have happened. Or perhaps he knew why, but he wanted someone to give him a lie he could live with.

After a short pause, Wan Tiansheng said, "Spacebreak was too restricted here. Teleportations are completely useless here. As for Southbrook, he died saving Brave Martial when she encountered a crisis earlier."

Su Yu sank into silence.

After a long while, he said, "Was Southbrook unhappy that I said that he turned on me once? Did he die trying to prove himself?"

Nobody answered.

Su Yu looked at the others and said, "How am I supposed to...deliver this news to Space Devourer?"

Su Yu was unfamiliar with Spacebreak Marquis. That was the Upper Realm leader of the spatial beasts. Also the dao companion of the Spatial Beast Pseudo Emperor in the Lower Realm. During their first meeting, Spacebreak Marquis had given him all their hidden teleportation formations.

Space Devourer had just been sent to join Human Emperor's world since the spatial dao in his world had been taken by Spacebreak. But now, Spacebreak had fallen in battle. What would Space Devourer think after learning about this? Two Masters of Laws on their side had died.

He found it hard to believe due to the sheer advantage they held during the battle. One ought to know that the myriad races had mostly focused on Su Yu. Apart from the tier-ones, the pressure on the others should be quite light.

And in truth, losses were light outside the fights involving the tier-ones. This was applicable to the myriad races as well. The myriad races had lost over thirty Masters of Laws to Su Yu. About fifty of them had escaped. In short, fewer than ten of them had died elsewhere.

Su Yu had yet to properly investigate the matter. If he did, he would find that the number of deaths on the opposing side was the same as the numbers on his side when the fights involving the tier-ones were excluded.

Six for six.

Yes. It was a tie even when humanity's camp had the advantage.

Everyone remained silent.

Six Masters of Laws had died in exchange for over forty Masters of Laws. This was an impressive result. But a large part of the victory involved the fights involving the tier-ones and even the Secret Guard. The other combatants hadn't really contributed that much.

After a short silence, Su Yu said, "I only want to ask if we're really not a match for the myriad races even when both sides are similar in strength."

Human Emperor sighed and said, "That won't be entirely accurate. The weaker combatants of the myriad races had either been injured or killed by you during the previous battle. The ones left fighting were their elites.

"These were the ones who had not bothered to injure themselves to evade combat. Coupled with their desperation, it isn't surprising that they could unleash a formidable combat strength in the battle."

This was the first time Su Yu had fought an enemy to a tie when both sides were similar in strength. For him, a tie was as good as a defeat. Because they actually had the numerical advantage, excluding the ones tied up by Su Yu and the other tier-ones.

Su Yu sank into silence. Since his rise, very few of his subordinates had died. The battle that had left the strongest impression on him was the attack against the Celestial Chasm Realm, where several founding kings died in battle.

That was when Su Yu found that despite their various deficiencies, these founding kings had the courage to fight and even die for humanity. That was the turning point for Su Yu. That was when his stance toward some of the human Eternals grew softer.

Prior to that, he only had resentment toward them. He resented them for not helping the multiple character faction. He resented them for allowing the internal struggle of humanity to continue. He resented their descendants for not having the courage to fight. He resented them for many reasons. But after that battle, he found that these kings actually deserved some respect as well. When it mattered, they dared to fight.

Yet the deaths today...sank him into silence.

As the number of powerhouses among his subordinates grew, he had started growing overconfident. He believed that with him handling the strongest of the enemies, everyone else should survive.

But now, he was taught that in war, mishaps could always happen. Not everything would always proceed according to his plan.

Six Masters of Laws.

Coupled with the four deaths in the previous battle, they had lost ten so far.

Su Yu had always been prejudiced against Southbrook. He had even mentioned Southbrook by name once. But now, Southbrook had died saving Brave Martial.

Su Yu looked at Brave Martial. The usually heroic and carefree woman was looking down silently.

Previously, the ancient marquises had split into two factions. One had followed Su Yu while the other had followed Hundred Battle. Brave Martial had spent quite a lot of time grumbling about Cloud Water Marquis, Shadow Marquis, and the others.

After Su Yu killed Cloud Water and Shadow, Southbrook and the others joined him. Even then, Brave Martial had not forgiven them.

But today, when she was in danger of dying, Southbrook rushed over to save her. This wasn't even in line with Su Yu's order. Su Yu had ordered them to mind their own business. They were not supposed to trade their lives for the lives of others.

If Southbrook was capable of saving Brave Martial without dying, it wouldn't matter. But that wasn't the case. He had opted to trade his life for Brave Martial's. Extreme Martial, Redmoon, South Suppression, and the others had their heads lowered as well.

This was a massive victory. But some had died. This was a considerable blow for those under Su Yu. They were used to winning with zero casualties. They had blind faith in Su Yu. And today, this legend had been broken.

Human Emperor stared at Su Yu silently, but he offered no consolation. As far as he was concerned, deaths were unavoidable in wars. The way he saw it, Su Yu was still too young. He would grieve the deaths of his old brothers, but he wouldn't show his emotions in public.

This was war.

Of the thirty-six original human kings, fewer than half were still around. The rest had died over the years. Fewer and fewer of his old brothers remained. Human Emperor had to show indifference toward these deaths. Not because he was heartless. But because...he was the emperor.

Suddenly, Human Emperor laughed, "A major victory."

His laughter spread everywhere.

A major victory.

A victory that could be celebrated for eternity.

In one battle, the myriad races had lost three tier-ones, including their core leaders like Immortal Pseudo Emperor and Devil Pseudo Emperor. One could say that this was the prelude for the absolute victory of humanity.

Su Yu looked over without much sadness on his face. He said calmly, "There is no need to shift the topic, Human Emperor. I have experienced countless setbacks before. I won't fall apart just because of a few deaths. I am only displeased at the fact that I didn't do well enough. How could someone from my side die in a battle I was directly involved with? That is the biggest issue here."

Was he sad?

Slightly. But his strongest emotion was self-blame. Yes. Self-blame. He only ever pursued perfection. The six deaths signified that he had not planned things well enough. Human Emperor had a helpless smile. A major victory.

All in all, ten Masters of Laws had died on their side since Su Yu's arrival. In exchange, over seventy opposing Masters of Laws had died. And Su Yu was still dissatisfied. Human Emperor even started wondering if he had been wasting his life away.

Su Yu continued, "And this is only the surface loss. Our real loss is far heavier. It is unlikely that Radiant King will be able to recover from this. There might be hope for Battle King. My injuries are very heavy as well."

Yes, his injuries were actually very heavy. He had merely been ignoring it. Pain? He was already used to it. For him, pain was something that could keep him clear-headed so long as he could get used to it.

His world was in a mess.

It had been greatly damaged by the detonations of those Masters of Laws. Over a hundred daos had broken apart. Su Yu had withdrawn Zhu Tiandao's group at the last moment, but their daos had still broken slightly as well. For dao spirits like them, having their daos broken apart was equivalent to death.

Fortunately, Su Yu had withdrawn them in time. Otherwise, the Secret Guard would probably reach its end right after its debut. In short, Su Yu was heavily injured, Radiant King had dropped a tier, Culture King might have been exposed, and Great Zhou King had severed a few of his daos as well.

These were the unseen losses. And there were more. Su Yu could see that Human Emperor was only a tier-two. It was likely that he would only be a tier-one within his own world. Their overall strength had declined massively.

Compared to Human Emperor's previous strength, he could basically be considered a cripple right now.

Hearing those words, Human Emperor turned melancholic as well. But next, he smiled again as he said, "But still, it's a victory. Isn't it?"

Only then did Su Yu smile as well, "Yes. It's a victory. We won without your help, Human Emperor."

"..."

And why was he making this so clear? Human Emperor was left speechless. Was this guy trying to emphasize that his help was not needed? Then again, that was true. But Radiant King and the others were his subordinates. Had Su Yu forgotten about that?