The Great Evacuation of the Human Realm

The Human Realm was in constant turmoil. Over the past few days, the biggest piece of news had been Su Yu's impending evacuation to the Dead Spirit Realm and the possibility that the Human Master from the previous tide six thousand years ago was returning. Massive columns of people began congregating toward specific gathering points. In the Great Xia Prefecture, an exhausted convoy was trudging toward Starfall Mountain. Within the ranks were cultivators capable of soaring through the skies, as well as elderly folks and children on foot, dragging their families along. A squad descended from the sky. Xia Huyou looked at the elderly dragging along their families below. Ignoring the few figures flying midair, he landed on the ground and blocked the path of an old man. "Elderly sir!" With a smile on his chubby face, Xia Huyou stood before the family of several members and said warmly, "Elderly sir, are you all heading to Starfall Mountain?" The old man glanced at him, then at the people who had landed beside him. His expression shifted slightly, and he hastily bowed. "This commoner greets the Mansion Lord!" Saying that, he was about to kneel. Xia Huyou raised a hand and chuckled. "No need for ceremonies. Please, don't stand on ceremony, sir—you're all people of my Great Xia Prefecture." He then continued, "Are you all really heading for Starfall Mountain?" "Yes." Not daring to delay, the old man quickly replied, "Didn't we hear that Emperor Yu is going to the Dead Spirit Realm? Word came down from the prefecture that anyone who wants to go just needs to head to Starfall Mountain..." Xia Huyou frowned slightly. "However... we advised ordinary people not to go. The Dead Spirit Realm is very dangerous after all. Leaving your homeland, leaving the Great Xia Prefecture, and leaving the Human Realm means you might never return for the rest of your lives..." "We know!" The old man was well advanced in years. He had likely cultivated in his youth, but having never reached the Soaring realm, age had sapped his vitality, leaving him far from his peak. Though fatigued, he gathered his spirits to face this newly inaugurated Mansion Lord. The old man gave a bitter smile. "We know everything the Mansion Lord is saying! But... I heard the Xia family is also leaving with Emperor Yu. If the lords are all leaving, what are we supposed to do?" "We've followed the Xia family all our lives. If the Xia family leaves and the Great Xia Prefecture has no master, who knows how this new Hundred Battles King will treat us?" "We fought alongside the Xia family for more than four hundred years. We don't want to leave this home either... but in the future... where are we supposed to go? I... I worry... I worry that the new Human Master, the new Mansion Lord, will target us because our Great Xia Prefecture was the birthplace of Emperor Yu..." Xia Huyou froze and murmured, "Elderly sir, you mean to say that because our Xia family is leaving, the Great Xia Prefecture... Sir, even if we leave, we will arrange everything. Nothing will happen." The old man said uneasily, "It's not the same. We are all people of the Xia family. You are high above, Mansion Lord; I'm afraid you don't know what's in the hearts of the people below... We truly don't want to leave, but... we have to. King Daxia is leaving, Mansion Lord Longwu is leaving, and you, Mansion Lord Huyou, will probably leave too... Once the Xia family is gone, the entire Great Xia Prefecture will no longer be the Great Xia Prefecture!" Xia Huyou stood in a daze. "It won't be like that. I... I will arrange things properly for the Great Xia Prefecture. When the Hundred Battles King arrives, the handover will proceed smoothly." The old man's face was filled with sorrow. "Perhaps. But I can't set my mind at ease. So... exhausting as it is, we would rather keep following the Xia family, following Emperor Yu... Even if the Dead Spirit Realm is perilous, it is better than staying here. The road ahead is murky. For old folks like us, it doesn't matter, but we still have our children and grandchildren!" "My son is a soldier in the Demon Suppression Army. He wrote to us two days ago, telling us to follow along. With the Xia family leaving, many in the Demon Suppression Army are leaving too. Those who stay behind probably won't have an easy time!" "A new monarch brings a new court! When the great figures depart and trouble comes for us small folk... no amount of begging will save us!" "If we follow the Xia family, at least we know the Xia family... won't abandon us!" The old man sighed repeatedly as he spoke. Nobody wanted to leave! Yet the heavens were changing. When Su Yu had inherited the position of Human Master, he was a human of this era. Everyone in the Great Xia Prefecture and across the Human Realm knew him. His father was a soldier, and Su Yu himself had developed and distributed numerous cultivation techniques. Though young, he was someone they recognized. He hailed from the Great Xia Prefecture, from Nanyuan—his roots were completely pure. Regardless of what he did out in the wider world, as far as the human race was concerned, other than eliminating a few hostiles like those from the single divine character faction, Su Yu had not disrupted everyday life since taking power. Life had only improved. Vast troves of resources had been shipped back from the myriad realms. Origin qi liquid, once exceptionally rare, was now everywhere, selling for the price of cabbage! Xia Huyou drifted into thought for a moment before speaking softly: "So, elderly sir, you mean that if we all leave, no one in the Human Realm can feel safe?" "How could anyone feel safe?" The old man said bitterly, "When the people running the household are gone, we commoners can only take whatever those above hand down to us. We have no reassurance! What about our food and drink? My son is in the Demon Suppression Army—won't this new Human Master consider him a leftover official of the previous regime and execute him?" "We gave our sweat and blood for Emperor Yu and the Xia family, but now you are all the old masters..." He glanced cautiously at Xia Huyou. "I heard the Mansion Lord is broad-minded. You won't be angry with me for speaking like this, will you?" Xia Huyou smiled. "Of course not. You are all my Xia family's people; how could I be angry with an elder?" He added gently, "Going to the Dead Spirit Realm... isn't necessarily a bad thing. Take care on the road, sir. There is still time, no need to rush! I've arranged military escorts, and there are troops stationed along the way. If anything happens, seek their help immediately." With that, Xia Huyou took to the air. A sizeable contingent followed behind him. Xia Huyou said nothing, flying swiftly in various directions to survey the land. There were people everywhere! Masses of them were on the move. Faint voices could be heard among the crowds: "Let's go! If we don't, we'll be purged! The Xia family is leaving; the Great Xia Prefecture won't be the same... When the new master arrives, we'll just be remnants of the old..." "We're just common folk, surely nothing will happen to us?" "What about common folk? In our Great Xia Prefecture, who doesn't have a soldier within three generations of their family? Every one of us was loyal to the old master!" Xia Huyou flew onward. There were countless convoys like this, with hordes of ordinary people migrating. The more he saw, the more there were. The more he watched, the more bewildered he became. Xia Huyou's expression shifted continuously. After a long while, he turned back to look at Ji Hong and said softly, "Director Ji, tell me... if we leave, will these people be implicated?" "No." Ji Hong responded immediately, "No matter what, Hundred Battles is a Human Master. Even when he arrives, he wouldn't stoop to troubling ordinary mortals. Even if there are purges, they won't target these common civilians." Xia Huyou's expression looked conflicted. "But... they've lost their backbone! They feel there's no one left to speak up for them, no one to back them up! Hundreds of millions of people in the Great Xia Prefecture have followed our Xia family for over four hundred years!" "It's impossible for all of them to leave. If even a tenth or a hundredth can go, that's already remarkable!" His face grew tighter. "Then what about the rest? Without their spiritual pillar, terrified and unsettled, won't chaos break out?" He gritted his teeth. "Generation after generation of my Xia family took root here, while generation after generation of these people went to war for us, fighting across the realm and purging the myriad realms! Director Ji... tell me... if we just walk away, what does that make us?" Ji Hong's face changed slightly. Xia Huyou wore an expression that was half crying and half laughing. "I really never paid attention to this before. Second Grandfather didn't consider it deeply either; he never imagined everyone would be this worried. It turns out the Xia family and the Great Xia Prefecture became one and the same long ago!" "Mansion Lord!" Ji Hong's expression tightened. Xia Huyou spoke with a bitter edge: "I... I want to stay behind! I want to tell everyone not to worry! The Xia family isn't leaving! We will stay right here with you!" "I want to tell the people of the Great Xia Prefecture that someone from the Xia family will always be here!" "If Hundred Battles comes looking for trouble, let him find the Xia family!" "If heads must roll, let them take a head of the Xia family!" "Director, I cannot abandon the hundreds of millions of people of the Great Xia Prefecture... I cannot do this!" His tone grew increasingly bitter. "Damn it all! I was thinking that if I went with Su Yu, our Xia family would remain his staunch supporters. He and I were classmates, old friends. Being a founding minister serving by the dragon's side in the future wouldn't have been bad at all!" "Yet the more I think about it, the more I realize I cannot leave!" Xia Huyou let out a long sigh. "I know that if the Xia family goes to Su Yu's side, we will surely be valued. This time, Su Yu will definitely empower his inner circle..." He understood that this time, Su Yu would never allow his followers to remain weak. All kinds of resources and benefits would be tilted endlessly in their favor. Previously, to rapidly build up the faction's strength, Su Yu had prioritized powerhouses over friends and family, so long as they were reasonably reliable. This time, however, would be different. At this moment, Xia Huyou made up his mind. He no longer sighed, nor did he look bitter. Looking down at the migrating residents of the Great Xia Prefecture, he smiled. "Director, these people are the very foundation that has kept our Xia family standing tall! Our Xia family descends from a Human King. My great-grandfather founded the Great Xia Prefecture to protect all living beings... It wasn't about becoming strong for the sake of strength, but to guard these people!" He smiled brilliantly. "So be it. I'll stay! If Hundred Battles wants to pick a fight, let him come to me! Even if he doesn't, I want to use my abilities to help the people of the Great Xia Prefecture live a better life!" Saying that, he chuckled again. "As for the others planning to leave... Director, I want to contact some people. Let's stay behind together! We will guard the human race, guard the prefectures, and guard our foundation!" "After so many years since the founding of the prefectures, the human race may have had internal strife, but we are our own people. Even if the meat rots in the pot, it stays in our own family! Those people with Hundred Battles belong to the previous tide, or even earlier!" "They are not the same as us!" They truly were not the same! At this moment, Xia Huyou had firmly made up his mind. Not only would he stay, he would also reach out to others and urge them to stay. They had to plant themselves here like an iron nail! If there was to be a purge, let it fall on them. That way, Hundred Battles wouldn't fly into a rage and vent his fury on the common folk if everyone fled. Ji Hong's expression shifted drastically. "Mansion Lord! You are Emperor Yu's direct subordinate. When Emperor Yu took the throne, to put it bluntly... the Xia family and the Zhu family were his staunchest supporters. But the stronger the support, the harder it will be under the new dynasty!" "Others might be fine if they stay. If Hundred Battles is an enlightened lord, he won't make trouble for them... but the Xia family is different!" "Emperor Yu can be considered an enlightened master, but you've seen how he treats those who aren't part of his inner circle!" "A new monarch brings a new court!" "That saying has truth to it. In any era, no matter how wise a Human Master or emperor is, they will never allow figures of the previous dynasty to retain influence! Especially... when Emperor Yu is still alive!" If Su Yu were dead, it might still be manageable. The crux of the matter was that he was still alive. If Xia Huyou remained behind, the implications were heavy. With a bit of paranoia, Hundred Battles might think this was an informant Su Yu had left behind to work against him. The Xia family was Su Yu's most loyal supporter. There was no question of them betraying Su Yu! The only remaining interpretation was that of a planted thorn! Xia Huyou smiled. "I know. But... Su Yu being alive is also a good thing! If Hundred Battles doesn't want to completely burn all bridges, at least he won't kill me... Killing me would mean forming a blood feud! As for anything else, I can endure it!" Xia Huyou chuckled. "Director, what do you think?" Ji Hong's heart was heavy. "If Emperor Yu cannot fight his way back... we..." "It's just me!" "No, it's us!" Ji Hong said in a deep voice. "If the Mansion Lord stays, we will all stay! If the Xia family doesn't leave, how could we depart?" Xia Huyou frowned. "My great-grandfather, my father, and Second Grandfather will all leave. Only I will stay behind..." "It makes no difference!" Ji Hong stated firmly. "As long as a member of the Xia family remains Mansion Lord, I am a director serving the Xia family. How could I abandon my post?" If Xia Huyou did not leave, he would not leave either. Behind him, several generals called out in low voices, "We follow you unto death!" So long as a single person of the Xia family remained, none of them would go. They would stay and defend this land! Xia Huyou took a long look at them, then chuckled self-deprecatingly. "To think that on ordinary days, you lot looked down on me and never treated me as a true Mansion Lord, yet today... you fellows are showing your loyalty. How bloody annoying!" Ji Hong smiled, and the others began laughing as well. Since the Mansion Lord was staying, everyone would stay together. Normally, his father and the rest were still around, so who would take him seriously? Now, the elders would definitely depart. The direct descendants at the Eternity realm had no choice but to leave, for their presence carried a completely different weight. Xia Huyou would likely be the only member of the Xia family to remain in the Human Realm. From now on, he was their master. ... From that day on, Xia Huyou began contacting various figures. From the Zhu family, he reached out to Zhu Guangshen, Zhu Tiandao's eldest son. From the Qin family, he reached out to Qin Hao, the second son of the Qin family. He also reached out to the Great Tang Prefecture, the Great Han Prefecture... For all these powerhouse figures from the great prefectures who were poised to evacuate alongside Su Yu, Xia Huyou hoped at least one person, one lineage, would remain behind to guard this pure land. The future was unknown. Staying behind offered no clear path. Yet they would do so without looking back! They had to stay; otherwise, who would stand up for the people who had followed them for centuries? ... Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. More and more people were gathering. Far more than expected, exceeding all prior projections. And this was already after countless attempts to pacify and dissuade them; otherwise, the numbers would have been even greater. The people gathered at Starfall Mountain. Those willing to depart from the various prefectures arrived under military escort, where they would be teleported away in successive waves. Starfall Mountain. Masses of people had assembled. Powerhouses from the prefectures, founding lords, and current mansion lords arrived one after another. Su Yu was due to arrive shortly to take away everyone willing to follow him. The entire Starfall Mountain was a sea of people. Everyone was anxious and fearful of an uncertain future. ... At this moment, Su Yu returned to the Human Realm. Looking visibly exhausted, he stepped back into the realm. Half a month had passed; everyone should have made their decision. When he returned and felt the dense concentration of auras around Starfall Mountain, Su Yu was momentarily taken aback. There were so many people. Judging by the auras alone, there had to be at least thirty to fifty million! Why so many? Compared to the entire population of the Human Realm, it wasn't an overwhelming fraction, but he was going to the Dead Spirit Realm, not on a leisurely tour. It had been clearly stated that ordinary people should avoid going, and anyone below the Soaring realm was strongly discouraged from tagging along. The human race didn't even possess thirty to fifty million cultivators at the Soaring realm! Su Yu frowned slightly, feeling there were far too many people. Of course, the Tianyuan Realm could accommodate this many—not just thirty to fifty million, but ten times that number could easily fit. But... why would all these people choose to leave their homeland behind? Su Yu couldn't quite understand it! Feeling exasperated, he turned to the Great Han King beside him and asked with a slight furrow of his brows, "Just how many people have gathered at Starfall Mountain?" The Great Han King shook his head; he did not know. Beside them, Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "Roughly fifty million or so." "That's far too many!" Su Yu was speechless. Zhu Tiandao smiled. "Everyone trusts Emperor Yu, which is why there are so many. We've actually been trying to dissuade them all along, or else there would be far more! If we hadn't kept pacifying them, let alone fifty million, even five hundred million wouldn't have been the limit!" Su Yu frowned and said no more. Fifty million was comparable to the entire population of the Upper Realm. Without further words, the group soon arrived at Starfall Mountain. The perimeter of Starfall Mountain was completely surrounded by military forces. For this evacuation, the military personnel involved probably numbered no fewer than ten million. Almost all the elite armies of the Human Realm were gathered here. ... "Greetings, Your Majesty Emperor Yu!" When Su Yu's figure appeared, a deafening roar like a tsunami rose from below, shaking heaven and earth! Su Yu's brow furrowed slightly, his face clouded with worry, though he quickly masked it. So many people! He truly hadn't wanted to take this many, especially with so many elderly and children among them. Why join in the commotion? Although he planned to assimilate the Tianyuan Realm into the Dead Spirit Realm while shielding it from death qi, there were no guarantees. Could these ordinary mortals hold out if they went? Wasn't this just asking for trouble? In the crowd, the inhabitants of the thirty-six prefectures were arrayed according to their regions, circling and completely occupying Starfall Mountain. Never mind! Since they were here, he would take them along. Su Yu swept his gaze across the surroundings. There truly were many people. Those who were supposed to come had arrived, and those he thought shouldn't have followed had also come. It was quite strange—had these people all had a change of heart? Pressed for time, Su Yu didn't dwell on it and called out directly, "Everyone, enter through the gates in an orderly fashion. Do not panic. I will first gather you into the weapon space, and once we reach our destination, I will release you!" With that, the civilization chronicle floated into the air. Pages unfurled, revealing luminous gateways. Over a thousand pages spread across all directions. Su Yu called out, "Enter in succession. Do not crowd; there is ample room. Since you have chosen to migrate with me, I, Su, will not mistreat you..." He spoke in standard, official tones. At that exact moment, someone suddenly called out loudly, "Your Majesty Emperor Yu!" Su Yu glanced over. It was King Dashang. Su Yu frowned slightly. What was he playing at? Go if you want, stay if you don't! He had never held much goodwill toward King Dashang; back then, he had clashed with Shang Tianjiao, a descendant of the Shang family. Paying no heed to Su Yu's expression, King Dashang spoke loudly: "Your Majesty, I wish to ask a question. Can Your Majesty give me an answer?" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "What do you want to ask?" "I ask Your Majesty: on what day may we return?" Su Yu frowned. "The road ahead is unknown..." "No!" King Dashang shouted loudly, "I do not wish to hear such an answer, nor do my people wish to hear it! Neither the fifty million departing today nor the ten billion remaining in the Human Realm want to hear that answer!" "We want to know: will Emperor Yu return to the Human Realm?" He raised his voice. "We wish to ask, what is truly in Your Majesty's heart? Have you abandoned the human race, or haven't you? If you haven't, and if Your Majesty still intends to fight your way back, then no matter the trials and perils ahead, we are willing to follow!" "Hundred Battles, after all, is not a human of our tide. We do not know what he thinks!" "We only know that Emperor Yu hails from the human race, from the Great Xia Prefecture. We watched you rise step by step to become the Human Master!" "Now, Your Majesty asks us to go to the Dead Spirit Realm. We are willing to follow, but we only ask for one answer from Your Majesty... will you ever come back?" "Will you return to this homeland?" "No matter how beautiful a foreign land is, it is not our home! Falling leaves return to their roots; we hope... to be buried in this earth! We hope our souls may return to our homeland, rather than dying in an alien domain!" King Dashang's voice was high and impassioned as he roared, "I ask Your Majesty, will you fight your way back or not? Even if we must lie low for thousands or tens of thousands of years, so long as Your Majesty is willing to fight back, we will follow you!" "If Your Majesty has no intention of returning... then let us stay here and live or die alongside the Human Realm!" Su Yu's expression shifted repeatedly. He said in a low voice, "Hundred Battles is also human..." "No!" King Dashang roared fiercely, "Even if he is human, he is not the human we know! He is the Hundred Battles King, a human from six thousand years ago! Do you expect a human from six thousand years ago to fight for the lives of ordinary folk? Do you expect them to garrison the Eastern Rift Valley and fight down to the last soldier?" "If the tide of battle turns even slightly against them, does Your Majesty believe they won't abandon the human race just as they did six thousand years ago, hiding in a foreign land to bide their time?" "Will they fight for the human race until their last drop of blood is spent?" King Dashang bellowed angrily, "Answer me, Your Majesty—will they?" Su Yu remained silent. King Dashang roared, "If Your Majesty does not wish to fight back, but merely wants to flee the Human Realm, discarding the burden of our people to travel light... then we shall fulfill Your Majesty's wish! Today, we can elect another Human Master. We may yield to Hundred Battles, but our hearts will never belong to him! We may stand beside Hundred Battles, but we will never recognize him as our Human Master! This old man lacks talent, but if no one else is willing to serve as this Human Master... then I shall take up the mantle myself!" He volunteered himself to become the Human Master. Not to seize power, but simply to tell Su Yu: if you do not intend to fight back, we will not leave with you! Su Yu said nothing. He looked out at the tens of millions of pairs of longing eyes. He saw it. He saw the yearning within them. They... wanted to fight their way back! On the perimeter, over ten million soldiers suddenly dropped to their knees in unison. A powerhouse at the peak of the Sun Moon realm took to the sky and bellowed, "Your Majesty Emperor Yu, this old official is Wu Ji! If Your Majesty does not intend to return... we shall stay in the Human Realm and continue fighting on all fronts! Our human race conquered the myriad realms and brought them to heel. When Hundred Battles returns, will he continue the fight? Will he choose to lie low? Or will he do something else?" "The grudges remain unsettled, and the myriad races remain unyielding. If Hundred Battles leaves... will the tragedy of the myriad races besieging mankind repeat itself?" "Over four hundred years ago, when the myriad races invaded, our human race paid in blood to drive them out... Today, we refuse to let history repeat itself!" "Your Majesty, will you fight your way back?" "Will you come back?" Roar after roar echoed through heaven and earth. *Will you come back?* *If you will not... we are not leaving!* *This is our home, our ancestral soil.* Su Yu looked around, suddenly at a loss. *Will I... come back?* *I abandoned the Human Realm simply to cast off the burden. I thought that taking these people with me would be enough—they wouldn't lack food or clothes, nor would they lack cultivation resources. Following me, I wouldn't let them suffer.* *Yet... everyone is asking me: will you come back?* Su Yu remained silent for a moment before speaking softly: "I am not taking everyone directly into the Dead Spirit Realm, but settling into the Tianyuan Realm. The remodeled Tianyuan Realm is actually similar to the Human Realm; it won't be like the legends, dealing constantly with dead spirits." "It is still not our homeland!" King Dashang shouted, "If we had been willing back then, we could have taken our people and evacuated to other realms! Yet for over four hundred years, we never did, no matter how dangerous the Human Realm became!" "Because this is the land that gave birth to us and raised us!" "We were all fighting for this land! We were fighting for the people of this land!" "Generation after generation of our ancestors lived here. This is our home, our roots!" King Dashang said in a deep voice, "Since ancient times, not a single race that abandoned its ancestral realm has ever met a good end! Drifting from place to place, losing their foundation and their roots, losing their cohesion and racial honor... after decades and centuries, will we still be human? Will we become a new Tianyuan race?" "That is not the outcome we desire!" "Perhaps Your Majesty thinks this old official is picking a fight... You are right, I am picking a fight!" His beard and hair bristled. "I only want to ask: Your Majesty, are you truly giving up on our homeland?" At this moment, Su Yu was unable to answer. He could have slapped this man to death for causing trouble, yet... he couldn't bring himself to strike. His expression shifted erratically as he remained silent. Just then, in the distance, Xia Huyou rose into the air. He looked at Su Yu with a complex gaze. "Xia Huyou of the Great Xia Prefecture wishes to remain behind in the Great Xia Prefecture to consolidate the realm for our Emperor! No matter how strong Hundred Battles is, he is not our Emperor! The humans of six thousand years ago... may serve as generals, commanders, vanguards, or honored guests... but they cannot be our master!" "We are willing to remain behind to guard the human realm!" At that moment, dozens of powerhouses took to the air one after another. They roared in unison! They were willing to stay behind and guard the human race! Even if it was dangerous, even if they faced purges! Su Yu remained silent. Beside him, Zhu Tiandao's eyes flickered, while the Great Han King wore a conflicted expression. An instant later, the Great Han King snapped in a low voice, "Nonsense! King Dashang, what are you trying to do?" "Nothing!" King Dashang said coldly, "We only want an answer! Even... even if Emperor Yu deceives us with a lie, saying he is willing to fight back in a thousand or ten thousand years, we are willing to wait!" "We just don't want... to simply give up!" "Hundred Battles has returned, so are we just supposed to hand over the human race we fought desperately to defend?" King Dashang roared, "Where were they over four hundred years ago?" "When my comrades-in-arms died on the battlefield, where were they?" "Now they've returned, but are the humans of six thousand years ago still the same as the humans of today?" "They have no family, no friends, and no brothers here! They are merely passersby! They stand alone!" "The chasm between the ninth tide and the tenth tide is too deep!" King Dashang bellowed, "Unlike the first nine tides, where inheritance was unbroken and bloodlines flowed continuously! During the first nine tides, countless powerhouses, ancient experts, and figures from the preceding tides were still present! Those first nine tides were truly one body! Masters and disciples passed down teachings through generations, fathers and sons carried on their bloodlines without interruption. Aside from losing a Human Master, there was no difference at all!" "Are we the same?" His hair stood on end with fury. "We are not! Why must Your Majesty deceive yourself? It is completely different! To us, they are no different from a foreign race or strangers! In the eyes of Hundred Battles, the human race consists of subjects, but other races might be as well... People say Hundred Battles loves his people like his own children, but the people he loved were those who fought alongside him six thousand years ago! Among them were his teachers, his students, his brothers, his lovers, his comrades, and his children... What does he have among the humans of today?" "Nothing at all!" He roared and raged. When Su Yu became Human Master, everyone had accepted it, albeit grudgingly at first. Su Yu's father was here, along with his teachers, friends, elders, classmates, and confidants! They were all human! They were all humans of this tide! Su Yu's ties to the human race were unbreakable. Could he abandon the Great Xia Prefecture? He couldn't! Could he discard the Great Ming Prefecture? He couldn't either! Could he stand by and watch the Great Qin Prefecture fall to ruin? He couldn't do that either! Thus, he could be the Human Master. Even if some were not fully convinced by him, and even if people felt he didn't look the part of a Human Master, everyone could still accept him. As for Hundred Battles... anyone who thought things through would never accept him. Who would accept a figure with no kin, no friends, no family, no teachers, and no comrades-in-arms to guard this human race? It was impossible! Once a great war erupted, what did the life or death of the human race matter to Hundred Battles? Perhaps in his eyes, among tens of billions of humans, even if 9.9 billion died, the rest would still be enough to repopulate! As long as they didn't go completely extinct, that was enough! One powerhouse after another turned to look at Su Yu. *Will we return?* Countless eyes looked toward Su Yu. *Will we ever go home?* If the situation was dire, they were willing to evacuate; after all, no one remained undefeated throughout their life. Yet they wanted to return home. ... Midair. Su Yu wanted to speak. He wanted to say: *I'm not coming back!* *Is this place really that great?* *Just dump it on Hundred Battles. That was my plan all along. Once I cast you off, I felt light and unburdened.* *Without shackles, I felt great!* *Yet... yet he seemed to have overlooked something. Would Hundred Battles truly treat the humans of this tide well?* *Would he treat these people as his own kin?* *Would he sit atop the peaks of the Eastern Rift like King Daqin and the others, guarding against formidable foes from all directions?* *Would he keep enemies outside the borders and forbid the myriad races from taking a single step into the human realm?* *Hundred Battles seemed to place more trust in the Archaic Giant race, didn't he?* *During the last tide, he had faked his defeat. Back then, if the Upper Realm and the Allhead Battlefield had closed just a bit slower, and without King Dazhou and Xia Chen, could the human race have fended off the invasion of the myriad races at the start of this tide?* *Did Hundred Battles... ever truly abandon them?* Su Yu seemed to have overlooked this question. If he could abandon them in the previous tide, what about this one? Su Yu was at a loss. How was he supposed to answer them? Even Xia Huyou, whom he was certain would follow him, had stepped forward at this moment to declare that he would stay and defend the human race, choosing to live or die with his people! He did not acknowledge that Hundred Battles! He saw Qin Hao, the second son of King Daqin—that usually thick-headed fellow now had a solemn expression. He wasn't leaving either; he wanted to defend this land and shelter the people here! He saw the usually playful Zhu Guangshen, who also stated he would not leave. He wanted to stay behind, worried that Hundred Battles would not treat the human race with genuine care. No one had ever questioned Su Yu on this matter, because everyone knew Su Yu could not let go. Su Yu's expression shifted continuously. He turned to look at Marquis Xia and the others, and then at Zhu Tiandao, who had supported him all along. At this moment, Zhu Tiandao still wore a smile. Meeting Su Yu's gaze, he chuckled, "Your Majesty, we... will fight our way back, won't we?" Temporarily losing ground was nothing. If a stronghold was lost, they could always take it back. Even if the hope was slim, they... needed a spiritual pillar. Su Yu looked around. Among the crowd were elderly folk looking on with anticipation, as though saying: *As long as you are willing to fight back, no matter how much bitterness we must endure, even if we must enter the Dead Spirit Realm, it doesn't matter!* *Otherwise, even if we go to enjoy peace and prosperity... our hearts won't be at peace, nor will we be resigned to it!* Humans held a deep attachment to their land and their homes! It was hard to part from one's native soil! "Do you all... truly want to fight your way back?" Su Yu murmured. "Yes!" At that moment, someone answered him. Marquis Xia. His smile was gone as he nodded. "We want to fight back! Emperor Yu, this is our home! Today, we can yield it, but we must return! If our generation cannot do it, then the next generation will! If the next generation cannot, then the one after that!" "Our only fear is that Emperor Yu has no such intention, and from this day forward, we will never have the chance to return home!" Further off, Liu Wenyan's expression was equally complex. "We all want to return! Yet we are also willing to leave with you! Leaving with you is born of our trust in you, while wishing to return is our spiritual pillar! A person away from home is cheapened. This isn't moving from the Great Ming Prefecture to the Great Xia Prefecture... this is leaving the Human Realm for another realm entirely!" Moving within the Human Realm was one thing, but today they were leaving for another realm! That place would no longer be their home. It was not the same sky, nor the same earth. Su Yu closed his eyes, falling into deep contemplation. *What about me?* *Did I ever think about returning?* Just as he fell into thought, a figure suddenly stepped out from the crowd, took off his hat, and revealed his true appearance. Su Long stepped forward through the air, looking at Su Yu and shouting, "Did you never think about coming back? Did you truly treat the human race as a burden? If so... leave on your own! This is our home! Turn around and look—that is Nanyuan! Years ago, I chose to re-enlist, not to fight for the Xia family, but for my home, and for my son!" "Su Yu, the human race is not a burden! You can choose not to care, and you can run if you cannot win, but... you cannot take everyone away and never bring them back!" "Tens of millions of people trust you, follow you, and are willing to advance and retreat with you... but they are human beings!" Su Long shouted angrily, "I ask you, have you ever considered whether you will return? If you haven't... leave by yourself! Whoever wants to go with you can go! We are staying! Decades or centuries from now, we don't want someone asking us: *Do you know what the human race was? Do you know where the Human Realm used to be?*" Su Yu looked at his father. He had known his father was here all along, assuming he would evacuate alongside him. Yet at this moment, his father had stepped forward to tell him: *If you want to leave, then leave on your own!* At this moment, Su Yu was somewhat dazed. *So... what I envisioned was different from what everyone else wanted.* *I thought I would lead you into a new era, though not necessarily in the Human Realm.* *I would give you the finest resources and the best treatment, keeping you away from battles so you could live out your days in peace...* *Yet... you don't want that?* Su Yu said softly, "Fighting our way back... fighting our way back might require going to war, and countless people will die! The fifty million people here, if you follow me, Su Yu, will never starve as long as I have a bite to eat. You can safely watch the myriad races battle it out... No one will die, or at least, not many." King Dashang roared angrily, "Do you think we fear sacrifice? Of those who rose in rebellion with me back then, barely any are left alive today! If they had feared death, or if they had been willing to drag out an ignoble existence, they could have hidden in any minor realm and survived!" "We harbor selfish motives, we are petty, we crave power, we seek vanity, and we intrigue against one another... but we have never shrunk back! If you take an inch of our realm, we will take it back!" At this moment, Su Yu felt an emptiness inside. Staring blankly for a long while, he let out a soft sigh. "So that's how it is! Do all of you... truly want to fight back?" "Indeed!" Su Yu gave a wry smile. "I simply thought that since Hundred Battles is also human, he wouldn't treat everyone too harshly. I didn't mean that if the human race were wiped out, I wouldn't even look back. I just... I just felt..." Su Long cursed, "That's just what you felt! Hundred Battles... who the hell even knows Hundred Battles? I certainly don't! I only know you! You're my son, and you're the Human Master everyone chose together! Even if you're unreliable, your old man is right here, and your teachers are all here! Even if you have no conscience, you wouldn't abandon your own father! But that Hundred Battles fellow—do you think he'd care about any of that?" Su Long scolded, "Your father is asking you right now in front of everyone: after you leave, will you fight your way back or not? If you won't, then get lost on your own!" Su Yu chuckled wryly, then suddenly flashed a brilliant grin. "So what you're saying is that everyone actually finds me more dependable than Hundred Battles, right?" "..." That was a hard remark to answer, but Zhu Tiandao soon laughed. "Of course! No matter what, you are someone we watched rise step by step—our kin, our comrade, our fellow soldier! During the battle of Nanyuan, you poured your heart and soul into the fight! In the Star Residence Mansion, you risked exposure just to save King Daqin! When you slaughtered the myriad races across the heavens, we never saw you turning your blade on humans; when you slaughtered the Dao Integration experts of the myriad races, we never saw you slaying human Dao Integration experts..." Su Yu laughed. "How bloody amusing! I thought that with my departure, everyone would be leaping for joy! Thinking you'd finally sent away this jinx and welcomed the benevolent Hundred Battles! And yet... you want me to fight my way back this badly!" "Naturally!" Marquis Xia said loudly, "This is our realm, our territory, our world. How could we yield it to outsiders?" "Emperor Yu might feel he hasn't done much, but... you are wrong! With Emperor Yu's emergence, our human race has dominated the myriad realms! We avenged our past grievances—those races that humiliated us back then were either exterminated or brought to their knees! Even the three great powerhouse races must obediently act like docile grandsons today! We might not be the strongest, but we are willing to bask in this glory!" Su Yu took a deep breath, looked at the powerhouses from all sides, and after a moment, laughed heartily: "You lot... are truly gluttons for punishment! Instead of enjoying peaceful days, you insist on fighting your way back, hellbent on shedding rivers of blood?" Before anyone could reply, Su Yu suddenly roared, "Still, I like that stubborn spirit of yours! Perhaps I was wrong. Yes, I previously thought that losing the Human Realm was no big deal!" "Yet you are right. This territory was conquered by me!" "No, maybe you conquered it first, but right now, it's mine!" Su Yu shouted at the top of his lungs: "A share of this realm belongs to me, and a share belongs to you! You're right—why should we surrender it to someone else? But right now, I can't beat Hundred Battles, and I refuse to play grandson to him, so we will cede this realm for now!" "It doesn't matter! Once I grow powerful enough, we will come back!" "If Hundred Battles surrenders it willingly, so be it; if he doesn't... we'll beat the living daylights out of him!" Su Yu roared, "All humans, listen well! When Hundred Battles arrives, acknowledge him for now. If he dares mistreat you, once I'm strong enough, I will hammer him to death!" "Endure it for now, and don't resist!" "If he treats you decently, ignore him; if he treats you poorly... I'll find an opportunity to end him!" Su Yu's voice thundered, shaking heaven and earth. Directing his voice toward a specific point, he roared fiercely, "I will definitely lead everyone back to the Human Realm! We will endure him for a time, but not for a lifetime! If you truly cannot bear it any longer, send someone to inform me... and I will return to settle the score for you!" "At worst, we'll fight to the bitter end!" At this moment, a sound like a mountainous tidal wave suddenly echoed throughout the Human Realm. "Fight our way back!" "Fight our way back!" The roars shook the heavens! Su Yu suddenly felt the human race's fortune surging, leaving him somewhat speechless. He even felt a pang of pity for Hundred Battles—poor bastard, he hadn't even arrived yet and had already been rejected to this pathetic extent. *I didn't slander you!* *Lately, to ensure a smooth transition, I deliberately had people speak well of you, saying you loved your people like children... As expected, the people have sharp eyes!* *Everyone could tell you were no good!* Su Yu suddenly smiled, his expression radiant. "Let's go! We are conducting a strategic withdrawal. This place... will soon be ours again!" Morale soared, completely washing away the previous dejection. Move out! They would leave today, and return in the days to come.