Chapter 2081: Dao Pioneering Begins (2)
Su Yu laughed and said, "You, the guy way back there. Do you understand how a loose tongue may cause a lot of trouble? This lackey of yours is quite troublesome. It's not smart to provoke a petty scholar for no good reason."
Hearing that, Dizhuluo opened his mouth to continue provoking Su Yu. He welcomed an attack as that would be his chance to break free. But right at that moment, an unimaginably delicate face appeared on the biggest pillar of light.
In a way, that face even looked pretty. And it looked like it was alive instead of dead. Every other death spirit would have a withered face, regardless of their strength. But this face looked fully alive.
"Dizhiluo."
That face merely needed to mention Dizhiluo's name softly for Dizhiluo to shut his mouth in fear.
Then, the face looked at Su Yu with a smile and said, "Are you Su Yu, the current human lord?"
Su Yu smiled, "You can say so."
He asked curiously, "Are you strong enough to fight Masters of Laws?"
"Are you so curious about that?"
The face spoke with a warm tone, as though they were merely conversing with a friend.
Su Yu nodded, "Yes. Between you and Martial Emperor, who's the stronger one? In case you don't know who that is, that was the crazy guy who was shouting earlier. Are you stronger than him?"
The face answered, "Martial Emperor is slightly stronger than me. Even among Masters of Laws, some stand out from the rest. The Four Cardinal Kings stood in a league of their own. People like Battle King came after. Martial Emperor was comparable to people like Battle King in strength, but things might have changed since too many years have passed."
Back then, Martial Emperor was a top-tier Master of Law. However, he had been sealed for more than a hundred thousand years, while the rest had fought and grown over the years. Thus, the gap between him and his peers might have grown.
Back then, Culture King still used the pen dao. But he had long abandoned that dao. Back then, Human Emperor probably used a different dao as well. But he had eventually pioneered his own dao.
Su Yu realized that he had been measuring things based on the standards of the ancient past. But that was wrong. Perhaps some of the surviving Masters of Laws today were already as powerful as the Four Cardinal Kings back then.
"What's your name?"
The face answered, "A name is merely an empty title I used prior to my death. After my death, people started calling me the Death Imperator."
Su Yu laughed, "Imperator. An impressive title."
"Where are you going?"
Death Imperator looked at the people behind Su Yu and said, "Are you going into the chaotic space?"
He did not think that Su Yu was here to attack. An attack would only free him, and that certainly wouldn't be beneficial for Su Yu.
Su Yu nodded. "Yes. You're clearly smarter than Martial Emperor. Am not so free to pick a fight with him out of nowhere. By the way, are you lonely trapped here? Do you want Martial Emperor here to keep you company?"
Death Imperator asked, "Can you really call him over?"
Su Yu said, "I'm not sure. But you're probably the only Master of Law he can see. Like him, you're sealed as well. I suppose the two of you could get together and talk about life or something."
After cracking a quick joke, Su Yu said, "Fifteen super experts here. This is quite a powerful force. If you can recruit some Daofuses as well, your faction will already be comparable with Hundred Battle's faction, or you might even be stronger. Looks like my faction is really the weakest.
"You're strong and old. I'm curious. Are you from the primordial past? Or are you from the Creation Era? Did you live through the Creation of the death spirit dao? Were you the first death spirit ever?"
The face on the pillar remained silent instead of answering.
Su Yu continued, "The oldest death spirits probably came into existence during the early days of the death spirit dao. And the death spirit dao must have been pioneered near the end of the Creation Era. You are either someone from the late Creation Era or primordial past. Am I right?"
The Death Realm had a shorter history than the Myriad Realms. These ancient fellows were strong enough to have recovered a decent amount of memories. South Heavenly King was ancient as well, but she was probably not as old as this person. In any case, Su Yu rarely asked South Heavenly King about her past.
Seeing that the face on the pillar was remaining silent, Su Yu laughed and said, "Fine. Looks like you're not interested in answering that question. No matter. I have another question. Are you familiar with the primordial giant race?"
Death Imperator had no issue answering this question. He said, "Are you talking about the giant race?"
He knew the primordial giant race as the giant race.
Su Yu nodded, "Yes. The giant race."
"I know a little about them." Death Imperator said, "The giant race rose to power during the primordial past. Initially, they were weak, but they grew rapidly. They dominated the Myriad Realms for a period of time."
"I heard that they are the descendants of Human Ancestor. Is that true?"
After a long silence, Death Imperator answered, "Perhaps. The giant race was known for their great similarity to the human race, apart from its size. But their size might be a result of their powerful physical bodies."
"Have you met the Human Ancestor before?"
Meanwhile, the people around them were rendered quite speechless. Were the two really conversing like old friends? Just like that?
After some thought, Death Imperator said, "I saw him from afar once. However, he was already a supreme expert at the time, while I was a nobody."
Su Yu exclaimed in shock, "No way! In that case, you're truly quite ancient! Do you know how the Creation Era ended? Did Human Ancestor cause the end? Or was it the Master of Death?"
Those two probably existed in the same era.
Death Imperator said, "As I told you, I was a weakling. A mere spectator to the events of that era. How am I supposed to know something like that? You overestimate me."
"True. You wouldn't have died and risen as a death spirit otherwise."
"..."
To the side, South Heavenly King and the other death spirits stared at Su Yu silently. Was he insulting them? Were they all dead because they were weaklings?
Su Yu coughed awkwardly and said something else instead. "Like Martial Emperor, you guys will be free the moment the Upper Realm opens and the power of laws starts stirring. Am I right?"
"More or less."
Su Yu said, "Can I ask about your future plan?"
Su Yu's voice was filled with sincerity as he asked, "Are you joining and serving me or are you going to fight over the Death Realm with me?"
Before Death Imperator could reply, Dizhiluo roared in fury, "How laughable! The day we regain our freedom is the day you die!"
Su Yu laughed and said, "That guy is too brash. Some people love brutes, but some dislike them. There's nothing I can do about the brutes on my side, but there is no need for me to tolerate the brutes of others. This is even more so for someone with his mouth. Death Imperator, remember to kill him and prove your loyalty with his death imprint if you wish to join me. Only then will I consider accepting you."
Silence descended.
This was Death Imperator's first interaction with Su Yu, but he could clearly feel Su Yu's arrogance.
Truly arrogant.
Was he being so arrogant because they were still sealed?
Su Yu took a step forward and touched the chains before him. A powerful force erupted from the chains.
After focusing on the chains for a bit, he stepped back and smiled. "Interesting. This doesn't feel like Control King's work. Rather, it feels like Culture King's work...no, there are some familiarities, but that doesn't seem to be the case as well. Who did this?"
"Radiant King." Death Imperator answered, "His sealing formation."
Su Yu nodded, "I see. So it was Radiant King."
He asked again, "By the way, is the Human Realm above this place?"
"I think so." Death Imperator said, "We never opened a tunnel here, so we're not sure. Why don't you give it a try?"
Su Yu said, "Not now. Maybe I'll try when I find the time in the future. By the way, an expert as strong as you will arrive at the Human Realm soon. Maybe I can drag him down here to have some fun with you when I find the chance?
"This is truly a difficult era. Everything is returning. You guys are going to be free. Martial Emperor will be free as well. Control King's lineage is emerging. Should I consider myself lucky to be born in this era?
"Alright. That's all for today. I'll visit you again when I'm free. Maybe I'll find a way to release you before the Upper Realm is even open."
Dizhiluo sneered, "You?"
Su Yu continued speaking with Death Imperator, "By the way, that guy will be the first to die after I remove the seal here. I hope you won't mind that, Death Imperator. I am very petty. Dizhiluo. I will remember this name. Be proud. I don't usually remember names."
Then again, it wasn't like he could do anything apart from remembering this name for now.
"Later, everyone."
Shortly after, Su Yu left with his entourage. There were hundreds of them, but nobody said anything. However, some shot Dizhiluo indifferent gazes as they flew through. As far as they were concerned, his fate was already sealed.
Dizhiluo was greatly annoyed by those gazes.
When they were gone, he sneered, "A bunch of cowards. Why entertain them at all, Imperator?"
Death Imperator glanced at him and spoke with the same soft voice, "What's the point? That is someone capable of gaining the loyalty of hundreds of experts, including Yu Ziqi. Why offend him before you're even free?"
With a sigh, the face vanished from the pillar.
Why bother?
A pushover wouldn't have been able to amass such a large number of experts under him.
There was no quarrel before them. At the very least, that was the case before they were unsealed. But Dizhiluo had truly offended Su Yu. Was Dizhiluo so sure that he would be able to handle Su Yu after he was unsealed?
Dizhiluo had essentially created a powerful enemy for himself unnecessarily. Dizhiluo frowned slightly, but soon, he sneered. He had nothing to fear!
***
Not far ahead.
South Heavenly King frowned and said, "I did not expect Death Imperator to still be around. I thought he had died long ago."
Su Yu did not seem to care. "It doesn't matter. However, there are indeed quite a lot of sealed experts there. There are four other Venerables there as well. I suspect the ancient humans had spared them because they were worried that killing these death spirits would spawn a being at the level of Martial Emperor or the Four Cardinal Kings."
From what Su Yu could see, the gap between different Masters of Laws could be very big. He understood why the ancient humans had sealed these death spirits away early on. But he couldn't understand why the ancient humans had left these sealed death spirits alone even after stabilizing their position in the Myriad Realms.
He shook his head and said, "I can understand why they didn't kill these death spirits early after the conquest. But the ancient imperial court lasted tens of thousands of years. Why had they not done anything about these death spirits during that time? Even if killing these death spirits could potentially spawn someone at the level of the Four Cardinal Kings, they were strong enough to kill someone like that.
"They could keep killing until there were no more death spirits. What? Would continued killing spawn the Master of Death or somethi—"
Suddenly, Su Yu blanked out. Nobody could say for sure. Perhaps the ancient humans were really worried about that. What if the Celestial River of Death ended up spawning someone incomparably powerful at the very end? What if that someone was the Master of Death?
Su Yu shook his head and tossed the matter to the back of his mind. He continued ahead, and after some time, he started sensing chaos power in the air. Sure enough, he could reach the chaotic space if he moved far enough.
