Chapter 2074: Everything Is Ready (1)
Cultivation may be painful, but joy could still be felt if one were not walking this path alone.
Everyone shall suffer together.
Everyone shall accumulate embarrassing moments together. That way, nobody would bother mentioning the embarrassing moments of others. These embarrassing gossips would remain buried in the annals of history.
Perhaps one would only learn about it in some unofficial history books far in the future.
A day in the past, Emperor Yu and a group of powerhouses had wailed for their parents. Of course, those from the future generation might remain doubtful of this claim.
Inside the River of Time.
Everyone was still wailing in pain.
This was probably the very first time a bunch of peak powerhouses comprehended the purest forms of the myriad daos in the River of Time. Slowly, they replenished what they lacked in their previous comprehension.
As for the water leaking out of the hole, it gradually diminished.
Down below, Lan Tian was still working hard at managing the various dao powers. Only Lan Tian and some experts below the Eternal Realm were still left down there. Lan Tian had to stay because he was needed there.
Then again, he didn't need to ascend and allow Su Yu to record an embarrassing moment of him. After all, he was someone with plenty of embarrassing moments.
As the various experts worked on the various daos, they started breaking through one after another. Great Han King and the other founding kings were already near breakthrough prior to this. They only lacked sufficient comprehension to take the final step forward.
Su Yu had given them the chance to deepen their comprehension. These founding kings had all switched their daos not long ago. For example, Great Han King had switched to the dao of strength, something similar to the physical body dao.
With a rumble, he finally broke through his shackles. His aura surged, slowly reaching the level of a Daofuse.
And he was not alone.
Many of the guardians had been stuck for many years. They all walked the weapon fusion path, cultivating the different daos depending on their weapon of choice. One after another, they reached the next level.
Back when Heavendoom and the others broke through, these people were already peak Eternals. Almost all of them were already ninth-stage Eternals after countless years of battle against the various death spirits.
Some had even followed Su Yu to the Upper Realm, further deepening their accumulation. And thus, a few of them broke through not long after entering the River of Time.
At the same time, August was roaring madly. He had been feeling rather distressed at his lack of growth lately. And finally, he roared, "I have finally broken through!"
His mood had been terrible lately. He had been the crown prince for many years. After the death of his father, June had promised that he would be the next in line to inherit the throne. But before he could even inherit the throne, he was turned into the emperor emeritus.
His son had inherited the throne after becoming a Daofuse. But finally, it was his turn to reach the Daofuse Realm. His dao was similar to the physical body dao, a dao focused on the 72-Forged Iron Devourer of the iron devourer race. He roared again and again.
With this, March, April, May, June, August, and September of the iron devourer race were all Daofuses. Giant Bamboo Marquis and Full Moon were also Daofuses. All in all, this race had produced eight Daofuses, making them a rather powerful race.
Six Daofuses in the five elemental race and eight Daofuses in the iron devourer race. The fate race had always been a powerful race. However, not many of them were here. Fate Pseudo Emperor was here alone. Not even the Eternals of his race was present.
While people were breaking through all around him, his aura remained illusive. Nobody could determine if he had broken through, but when Su Yu gazed at him, Su Yu's eyes flickered. Fate Pseudo Emperor had silently reached the level of a heavenly king.
As for the hou race, the Hou Pseudo Emperor had advanced into a tier-three Daofuse. However, he looked dispirited. The Eternals of the hou race had also grown from this event, but not one of them had advanced into the Daofuse Realm.
It felt as though the hou race alone was stagnating while all the other races were growing. Skyeater of the hou race was also growing rapidly. He successfully affirmed his dao before reaching the seventh degree in the blink of an eye. However, that was far from enough. The Hou Pseudo Emperor sighed. The hou race had declined. It was now weaker than even the five elemental race.
Su Yu noticed what was going on. He wasn't too close to the hou race, even if Skyeater had been following him for some time. He actually couldn't tell each hou from the other that well, but there was one hou in particular he could recognize easily.
That was the same hou who had eaten some clearbright birds back then. At the time, Su Yu had informed the hou that the clearbright birds were tasty. As a result, that hou turned the entire Clearbright Bird Realm into his personal farm.
That was also the first hou Su Yu had interacted with. This was also the hou who had welcomed Su Yu alongside Skyeater when he visited the Hou Realm.
Looking at the hou who was busy absorbing a large amount of dao power around him, Su Yu laughed and said, "Martial Cultivator, don't just absorb any random dao power you see."
Yes. His name was Martial Cultivator.
That was quite an odd name.
Hou Pseudo Emperor's father had a high seniority among the myriad races as he was the personal mount of Martial King. Hou Pseudo Emperor himself was also an ancient being, but his aptitude was rather ordinary.
He had been stuck as a tier-four Daofuse for a long time. After this incident, he had finally reached the third tier. Martial Cultivator was basically the grandson of their ancestor, but he was not too strong either. In fact, his name might be related to Martial King.
He was madly absorbing the various dao powers in agitation. When he heard Su Yu's voice, he looked over with a distressed expression. Even the five elemental race had produced six Daofuses. Meanwhile, there was only one Daofuse in the hou race.
The hou race was also very weak in the Upper Realm with only one tier-two Daofuse among them. Thus, he wanted to reach the Daofuse Realm as well. But why was he still stuck?
As the personal mount of Martial King, his grandfather was definitely no weakling. After all, a weakling wouldn't be able to catch Martial King's eyes. But why were they growing weaker with each passing generation?
His grandfather was a Master of Law. His father was a tier-three Daofuse. But he wasn't even a Daofuse. This was a massive decline. Generally, the first generation after the Master of Law could easily reach the level of heavenly kings.
Even those in the second generation could reach that level easily. Or at the very least, they shouldn't be having any difficulty in reaching the Daofuse Realm.
The ancient past was an era with countless super powerhouses. Martial King was one of the Four Cardinal Kings. The personal mount of Martial King was higher in status than even a regular Pseudo Emperor.
In fact, Su Yu had been curious about this as well. As a race that had produced a Master of Law, they shouldn't be so weak. Thus, he had been paying a lot of attention to the hou race today. He noticed that they cultivated the devour dao.
From the name of Skyeater, their ambitions were clear. There was no doubt that Skyeater was not lacking in talent.
But after some observation...Su Yu blanked out.
A certain realization was dawning on him. This race might have been brought astray by Martial King. Martial King might not have done so deliberately, but his nature as a brute had most likely misled the entire hou race. An expert like him, who had even opened the Heaven Gate, shouldn't have misled someone to such an extent. But apparently, he was special enough to do just that.
With his Heaven Gate active, Su Yu looked at the hou race and said, "The hou race is most likely not a race of brutal beasts."
"..."
That caught the attention of Hou Pseudo Emperor, Martial Cultivator, and Skyeater.
No, that caught everyone's attention.
What?
Just look at their brutal appearances. How were they not brutal beasts?
Heavendoom was so shocked that he even forgot his pain. Instead, he roared with laughter. "Old Hou isn't a brutal beast? Are you saying that he's a cute beast?"
The moment Su Yu glared at him, Heavendoom shut his mouth.
Su Yu said, "I believe even the hous believe you're brutal beasts. After all, the first Hou Pseudo Emperor was the mount of Martial King. He must have fought across the Myriad Realms alongside Martial King.
"And with enough time, even the first Hou Pseudo Emperor himself started believing that he was a brutal beast. But when I look at your dao, I don't see anything suggesting that. There is no ferocity in your dao."
Su Yu looked at the distant old turtle and asked, "Senior Grand Dream, have you met the hou race way back then when you were much younger?"
The old turtle sank into thought as he dug through his memories.
He was extremely old. He had been around since the early days after Creation. He was born in the primordial past.
Hou race...
The old turtle was too old, so he had to take some time to sort through his memories. After a while, he said uncertainly, "I think so. Long ago, the first Hou Pseudo Emperor was very powerful. I remember that Culture King was the one who had suggested that Martial King made him a mount. At the time, Culture King said that Martial King was too brash. With the Hou Pseudo Emperor by his side, Martial King might change his ways."
Su Yu smiled, "Exactly. The dao of the hou race is clear and gentle. It is not brutal, and it is not ferocious. Why are all of you pursuing such ferocious paths when your dao is so gentle? Devouring the heavens, devouring the earth, devouring everything. Something isn't right.
"I doubt Culture King made that suggestion just to let Martial King recruit a heavy-hitter. No, the hou race was meant to serve as the balance for Martial King's brashness. The hous were supposed to be wise despite their brutal appearance. You are clearly sagely beasts, not brutal beasts."
The Hou Pseudo Emperor felt his worldview collapsing around him. Was that a joke? Sagely beasts? With how they looked? What nonsense was that? They were the devourers of everything. They devoured the dragons, the phoenixes, and everything. And now, Su Yu was telling them that they were supposed to be sagely beasts?
This must be a joke.
Su Yu said, "That's the truth. The first Hou Pseudo Emperor was meant to serve as Martial King's advisor. That was Culture King's way of managing Martial King's lack of brain. But I suspect even the first Hou Pseudo Emperor was brought astray by Martial King."
An expert at Martial King's level was definitely someone with his unique charm. And thus, instead of influencing Martial King, the first Hou Pseudo Emperor ended up being influenced by Martial King instead. From an advisor, he turned into a ferocious and brutal beast.
As a result, the misunderstanding persisted across the descendants of the first Hou Pseudo Emperor. All of them believed that they were brutal beasts.
Everyone was stunned to hear that.
The first Hou Pseudo Emperor? An advisor?
Was that a joke?
Su Yu continued, "This is only a speculation, but it is a speculation I made after observing your dao. Your dao is definitely not the brutish kind. Following a brutish part might not take you as far as you want.
"Hou Pseudo Emperor, you are one of the older Daofuses around, yet you are still stuck. You're barely at the third tier. Why don't you try pursuing an alternative path? Try to mix some softness into your brutish methods."
The hous were still staring blankly.
They had been brutish for so many years.
Eating and devouring were all they knew.
And thus, Hou Pseudo Emperor asked, "Emperor Yu, how do we go soft?"
He had no idea.
They were used to eating everything they could get their hands on in the most brutish manner. And now, they were being told to be soft. Be gentle. How were they supposed to do that?
Su Yu was troubled by that question as well. This was a deep-rooted habit. It couldn't be changed so easily. When cultivating the dao, there wasn't a rule saying that one could only follow the path of one's predecessor.
After some thought, Su Yu suggested, "If you really can't do it, consider switching your dao. You are hous, so it's not too hard for you to cultivate the first Hou Pseudo Emperor's dao. But in truth, there is no compatibility between you and this dao. Since you have believed yourself to be devourers, just cultivate a proper devour dao instead."
Su Yu said, "There are several options for you. Firstly, you can cultivate September's dao, but September will definitely become a Master of Law in the future. I also won't recommend you to compete against him and weaken each other.
"Secondly, you can follow Senior Flatbun's dao. But the result will probably be the same. Senior Flatbun is a dao incarnate, so her dao can probably produce another Master of Law apart from herself. But I'm not too sure about it.
"Thirdly, I can find a different devour dao for the hou race. There are numerous daos in existence, but many of them overlap in function. Thus, it is only natural for there to be multiple devour daos out there. With my current comprehension of the myriad daos, it shouldn't be too hard for me to find another devour dao for you. But I can't promise if this dao already has a master. Think this through. I suspect you will all be stuck below the level of heavenly kings forever without switching dao."
As the son of a Master of Law, he wasn't even a heavenly king. Su Yu's words were harsh, but that was indeed his conclusion based on what he could see.
