Black-Hearted Su Yu

On this day, Su Yu unsealed the Martial Emperor, unsealed the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign, and unsealed the God Imperial Concubine. Three Rulers of Rules emerged in a single day! On this day, Su Yu used righteousness to pressure Hundred Battles, cornering him until he agreed to suppress the Prison King lineage. Naturally, Hundred Battles was not necessarily willing. ... The dead spirit realm. Su Yu returned. Tongtian and the others followed behind. Seeing that Su Yu's expression was cold and devoid of joy, Lan Tian could not help but ask, "Is Your Majesty worried that Hundred Battles will break his promise?" Su Yu said in a heavy voice, "No! I'm not worried about him breaking it—he simply won't keep it to begin with!" Su Yu's expression grew solemn. "What in the world is Hundred Battles actually planning?" From Hundred Battles' hesitation, his wavering, and the faint smile on his face at the very end, Su Yu had sensed it. Hundred Battles... likely had no intention of honoring his word. He had been forced by Su Yu to agree to suppress the sin race, but deep down, he remained unwilling. A melon forced off the vine is never sweet! Su Yu frowned. "Even if he reveres the Human Ancestor, I cannot fathom why he insists on welcoming the Human Ancestor first! Unless... there is a crucial factor: the Human Sovereign's return would be detrimental to him! Or perhaps the Human Sovereign and the Human Ancestor share a deep enmity?" If that were the case, it would explain everything. A deep feud between the Human Sovereign and the Human Ancestor! Yet one was from the early Archaic Era, while the other was from the late Archaic Era. Where could such an enmity have come from? Or could it be that the Human Ancestor and the Human Sovereign held different stances and belonged to opposing camps? That was also possible! Judging by Hundred Battles' attitude, he had no intention of going to assist the Human Sovereign in battle. That was unnatural. Hundred Battles definitely knew something. Or perhaps Hundred Battles simply didn't want several ancestors hanging over his head and wanted to be the sole king himself? Was that possible? That was also possible! Su Yu pondered in silence, while Lan Tian frowned slightly and said, "If he doesn't keep his word, at least half of the people under him—if not all—might abandon him! Everything Your Majesty spoke of was for the human race! Even if those people were deserters six thousand years ago... being a deserter doesn't mean they truly don't care about their faith in humanity!" Feelings for one's race existed among most races. Even the God Imperial Concubine was not weak, yet she still cared about her people. The Human Sovereign and his vanguard fought on the front lines and abandoned the Great Daos they had pioneered, all for their race. Being a powerhouse did not mean one ceased to care for their kindred. It was innate! It was faith! As for those deserters from six thousand years ago, many had been dragged along passively—passively fighting, passively dying, and passively fleeing. There were certainly those who had lost all humanity! Yet Lan Tian did not believe that every single one of them had discarded their conscience, especially when they had cultivated all the way to Harmony, Heavenly King, or Heavenly Venerable. A portion of those ancient marquises were disciples, students, or loyal subordinates of ancient Human Kings. Under such circumstances, if Hundred Battles broke his promise, would they still follow him? Wouldn't that be severing their own ties with the human race? Su Yu nodded slightly. "Some will likely defect, but... will Hundred Battles care?" Lan Tian was taken aback. "What does Your Majesty mean?" "Does he truly care about those people?" Su Yu's brow furrowed. "Hundred Battles... King Dazhou claimed he values loyalty and affection, but looking at him now, it seems rather hypocritical!" What did he mean by that? Lan Tian was puzzled. From what they had seen so far, Hundred Battles treated his subordinates quite well. Even when some of them frequently opposed his will, Hundred Battles never seemed to lose his temper. Seeing Lan Tian's confusion, Su Yu explained, "Setting everything else aside, my first impression of Hundred Battles was that even if he wasn't a reckless brute, he was at least a formidable hegemon! Domineering, solitary in his supremacy: 'You kill one of mine, I slaughter your whole family.' Yet today, I severely wounded the Archaic Giant King with a single punch—and that was his father-in-law!" Su Yu said coldly, "If I had a father-in-law and someone critically injured him with a single punch, even if I couldn't beat them—let alone if I could—I would never let it rest! I am a hegemon of a realm. Harming my father-in-law is an irreconcilable blood feud!" Lan Tian nodded slightly, while Marquis Tongtian asked in surprise, "Your Majesty wants to find a father-in-law?" "..." *Damn you!* Su Yu cursed inwardly. *I'm discussing serious business! Why the hell are you chiming in out of nowhere, you unreliable door?!* Hearing this, Fat Ball also asked curiously, "Su Yu, who do you want as your father-in-law?" Fat Ball had always called Su Yu by his name or "new Human Lord." Su Yu didn't mind much; the dog only recognized its master and little master. If Su Yu hadn't promised to rescue them, Fat Ball probably wouldn't even have bothered to come out of the mountain. The topic had been completely derailed! Su Yu felt helpless! *I'm talking about serious matters!* He forcefully steered the conversation back on track. "If Hundred Battles truly valued loyalty and affection, he wouldn't have let it go. He may appear to possess the magnanimity of a hegemon, but in truth, it's utter nonsense! Fat Ball's strike humiliated Changmei and made him lose all face. Changmei is a Heavenly Venerable under his command and his mouthpiece! Yet Hundred Battles stood by and let Changmei be beaten. I wanted to test him, and he wanted to gauge the combat strength of the experts beneath me!" "However, Hundred Battles didn't want to fall out with me right now, and perhaps he doesn't want to fall out at all. Otherwise, when he seized Tongtian, he wouldn't have let him off so lightly! He would have paid me back in kind!" "Fat Ball slapping Changmei's face was slapping Hundred Battles' own face. Under normal circumstances, how could a hegemon like Hundred Battles be so spineless? He should have taught Tongtian a lesson to make him lose all face!" Lan Tian raised his eyebrows slightly. "Your Majesty means that Hundred Battles is too soft, and being this soft is precisely what is abnormal! For an expert of his caliber to be trampled upon by Your Majesty, he should have retaliated in kind. Yet he didn't. Excessive weakness only signifies an even greater ambition?" "Yes!" Su Yu nodded. That was precisely the logic. Today's Hundred Battles seemed soft, appeared to be at a disadvantage, and acted modest and polite. In truth, such a temperament suited an advisor, people like King Dazhou, or people like Changqing. It absolutely did not suit a leader of a faction like Hundred Battles! If Hundred Battles were truly that kind of person, he could never have become the revered hegemon of the ninth tide whom everyone looked up to! If he had always been like this, people back then would never have been conquered by his charisma! Therefore, Hundred Battles' reappearance after six thousand years meant he had undergone a massive transformation. His schemes were not small, and everything he did was aimed at avoiding a major clash with Su Yu. "Hundred Battles... has changed!" Su Yu had never known the Hundred Battles from six thousand years ago, but he knew the man had changed. He was different from before! By now, even his own subordinates had begun to oppose him. Marquis Zhennan, who previously had been willing to sacrifice himself and detonate his own physical body without hesitation, had actually taken the initiative to reveal everything about Hundred Battles to Su Yu. And when Marquis Zhennan departed, his solitary silhouette and that complicated demeanor—still willing to fight for Hundred Battles, yet deeply heartbroken—spoke volumes. If Hundred Battles were truly utterly incompetent, Marquis Zhennan would have left long ago, yet he hadn't. What did that mean? It meant Marquis Zhennan actually hoped Hundred Battles could change back to his former self, that Hundred Battles could turn the situation around so his loyalty would not have been in vain. The deeper the love, the harsher the disappointment! Deep down, Marquis Zhennan truly admired Hundred Battles. It was only Hundred Battles' series of recent decisions that had broken his heart, leading to that earlier scene. Su Yu analyzed and weighed every detail. Thus, he reached a conclusion: today's Hundred Battles was different from the one of the past! Completely different! A Hundred Battles who allowed his subordinates to be slapped in the face could never have won the loyalty of so many experts—experts who were even willing to renounce their ancient marquis titles within the Human Sovereign's imperial court for his sake! One person might do so, but fifty-odd individuals? Impossible! Moreover, there had been people willing to yield their Daos to him. Virtually all the veterans of the previous tide had been ready to die for him. "Something is wrong with Hundred Battles!" Su Yu shook his head. Something was deeply wrong! It made him uneasy! Lan Tian also grew serious and nodded. "Judging by Your Majesty's words, it truly is abnormal! Going from a domineering hegemon to a smiling tiger... Hundred Battles must have experienced some monumental upheaval!" After pondering for a moment, he said, "Your Majesty, could it be related to the Giant race, or perhaps to that Zhou Ji?" "How so?" Su Yu grew interested and smiled. "Go on, let's hear it." Lan Tian analyzed, "I suspect Hundred Battles' change didn't happen recently, but rather six thousand years ago, before the final battle! Or perhaps after he had Zhou Ji with the Giant race! Think about it: if Hundred Battles had been like this from the very beginning, no one would have followed him! Those ancient fossils were extraordinarily wary of any Human Lord. On top of that, the Fire Transmission lineage was controlled by an old schemer like King Dazhou. Yet they were actually reeled in, and the Fire Transmission lineage went all out... Could King Dazhou truly have been unable to control it?" Lan Tian chuckled. "So I strongly suspect that Bingku and the others appearing was because King Dazhou placed a heavy bet on him. He believed Hundred Battles could win and fulfill his dreams and goals, so he supported Hundred Battles with everything he had!" "King Dazhou has a very sharp eye; I must admit that much!" "Yet he staked everything on Hundred Battles, which proves that back then, King Dazhou thought there was nothing wrong with him! It was only at the very end that King Dazhou might have noticed something amiss and pulled himself out, saving his own skin, though he was forced to abandon the Fire Transmission lineage!" Lan Tian laughed softly. "To make King Dazhou misjudge someone and suffer such a loss, I think Hundred Battles probably underwent a sudden change of heart during that period, leading to their crushing defeat! If we ask King Dazhou about this, we might get our answer!" Su Yu looked thoughtful and asked, "Why did you think of Zhou Ji?" Lan Tian smiled. "Hundred Battles grew up right under everyone's watchful eyes. The only thing that drifted out of their control was his marriage alliance with the Giant race and fathering Zhou Ji! As for Yueluo's matter, I suspect King Dazhou might have known about that too!" "It was likely only after that point that Hundred Battles began claiming to be of the Human Ancestor's bloodline. Prior to that, he might never have even considered it. What does Your Majesty think?" Su Yu's eyes flickered. That made sense! It made a great deal of sense! He had to admit that Lan Tian's analysis had likely struck the core of the issue. Hundred Battles' transformation was quite possibly tied to Zhou Ji. Su Yu quickly said, "It's enough that we keep it in mind. As for the specifics, perhaps only Hundred Battles himself knows! But Zhou Ji, the Giant race, the Human Ancestor, the Hell Gate... there is likely a connecting thread running through all of them. I just haven't untangled it yet!" Su Yu wasn't omniscient. With so few clues, even wild speculation had its limits. However, as more clues surfaced, he would deduce the truth sooner or later. As they were speaking, Su Yu's expression shifted slightly. The next moment, a figure materialized in front of them. In the darkness, the figure's eyes gleamed brightly—completely unlike ordinary dead spirits, yet the figure was undeniably one! The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign! He had broken his seal! The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign did not draw too close, avoiding any unnecessary conflict. Revealing his true form, at his realm of cultivation, he was hardly distinguishable from a living person. His complexion was slightly sallow, but no longer charred black. Aside from his dense death qi, he resembled a half-dead spirit rather than a full dead spirit. He was slender and carried a scholarly air. In life, he had likely been a man of letters. "Chen greets Sovereign Su!" Su Yu said in surprise, "You... call yourself a subject just like that? You're not going to negotiate any terms?" "..." Awkward! The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign, who had maintained a scholarly poise moments ago, turned thoroughly embarrassed, his demeanor shattered by Su Yu's single remark. Indeed, it was easy to misunderstand. He cleared his throat lightly. "I... my original name is Chen! Chen as in celestial bodies!" Su Yu paused, then nodded. "You people really seem to favor single-character names." The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign could only explain, "It wasn't quite intentional... It's just that in our era, names didn't need to be overly complicated. For instance, the Human Ancestor was named Zhou! And the Dead Spirit Lord was named..." He caught himself mid-sentence, then chuckled self-deprecatingly. "This place is unsuitable for mentioning his name!" This was the dead spirit realm, where speaking it was taboo. If ordinary people uttered it unknowingly, it wouldn't matter. But he was a peak expert who knew of that entity's existence; speaking the name might trigger a reaction from the River of Dead Spirits. Su Yu grew intrigued. "Interesting. So that means you are a figure from the late Heaven-Opening Era and early Archaic Era, correct?" "Yes." The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign nodded slightly. "I thank Sovereign Su for assisting in breaking my seal!" "It was just in passing, and I had promised you earlier!" Su Yu smiled. "You must be among the very first batch of dead spirits in this realm, right?" "Yes." The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign nodded slightly. "In fact, when the Dead Spirit Lord opened the heavens back then, I even observed it from afar..." He laughed wryly. "Yet in the end, I became one of the very first dead spirits! Still, without the Dead Spirit Lord, I might not have had a second life at all! Those who fell before me truly perished. At least I gained countless years of existence." He held no deep love or hatred toward the Dead Spirit Lord. Receiving the chance to exist as a dead spirit had been a blessing, but in exchange, the dead spirits had labored for the Dead Spirit Lord across countless ages, which could be considered repayment. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Now, Su Yu became thoroughly interested. "You mean you actually watched him open the heavens?" "Mm." The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign added, "Of course, it was only from across a great distance, not up close. The commotion when he opened the heavens was enormous! Everyone in that era likely felt it. Some of us who were bolder moved slightly closer. The Dead Spirit Lord was magnanimous and didn't drive us away, so we managed to watch from afar!" Su Yu nodded slightly and smiled. "I imagine those who open the heavens wouldn't care much about being watched. Everyone's Dao is different; you can watch, but you might not be able to imitate it. Even if you do, it wouldn't be your own heaven-opening Dao anymore. At best, it offers reference!" Having said that, Su Yu asked with keen interest, "When he opened the heavens, was there anything unusual?" "Unusual?" The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign wasn't sure what Su Yu meant. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "Nothing out of the ordinary, really. Opening the heavens attracted some chaotic ancient beasts who tried to stop him... Oh, he extracted a massive amount of death qi from the River of Time, which caused the river to violently oscillate and gave him some trouble!" "However, he was already unfathomably powerful before opening the heavens, so he didn't suffer any real damage." At this point, the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign paused and added, "Though after opening the heavens, the Dead Spirit Lord suddenly said something. I do not know if that counts as the peculiarity Sovereign Su is asking about." Su Yu smiled. "What did he say?" To remember it after so many years, even after death, it must have left a deep impression. The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign pondered for a moment before answering, "He seemed to say... 'I was born a few years too late; otherwise, that old bastard wouldn't have seized the initiative!'" Su Yu was startled. What kind of remark was that? *Born a few years too late, that old bastard wouldn't have seized the initiative...* Who was the Dead Spirit Lord referring to? To blurt out such words right after opening the heavens, the subject was clearly no ordinary figure. "The Time Lord?" Su Yu murmured. Could it be the Time Lord? The Dead Spirit Lord was tyrannical by nature and looked down on ordinary beings. One could see this from his Dead Spirit Dao, which reigned supreme and tolerated no other paths. The Great Dao reflected one's true nature! The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign had clearly contemplated those words over the years, and hearing Su Yu's murmur, he quickly nodded. "We deduced the same. He was likely speaking of the Time Lord. He opened the heavens later, while the Time Lord opened the heavens first. As for seizing the initiative... we all speculated back then that some great fortune had been claimed by the Time Lord because he opened the heavens earlier!" Su Yu asked in bewilderment, "Then why didn't I feel anything when I opened my heavens?" After opening his own heavens, he hadn't sensed any lost fortune. What kind of opportunity had been snatched away? The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign hesitated, remaining silent. Marquis Tongtian, on the other hand, truly wanted to say: *Do you have no self-awareness at all?!* *When you opened the heavens... you were so weak, what the hell did you expect to sense? Those were supreme behemoths opening the heavens! You're probably the weakest heaven-opener in history, just like me being the weakest among the gate clan! Current weakest member of the group, what right do you have to covet such things?* *Look at me; I never covet anything.* *I never dream of devouring the Heavenly Gate or the Hell Gate.* Su Yu committed the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign's words to memory. After opening the heavens, the Dead Spirit Lord had likely sensed something—a fortune seized by the Time Lord because he had arrived later and couldn't compete. With that thought, Su Yu asked again, "Where did the Dead Spirit Lord eventually go? Did he die? Was he sealed? Do you know about the Heavenly Gate? Since you lived until the Archaic Era, you must have witnessed the end of the Heaven-Opening Era, right?" The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign shook his head. "That is beyond my knowledge; it belongs to a level far too exalted. However..." He hesitated briefly before continuing, "However, to my knowledge, not long after opening the heavens and creating the dead spirit realm, the Dead Spirit Lord ceased to appear in the world! That could be considered the mark of the Heaven-Opening Era's end!" He explained further, "In truth, not long after he opened the heavens, I perished! I don't even know whether I should be considered someone of the Archaic Era. Perhaps... the tail end of the Heaven-Opening Era! After all, in our era, no one bothered to categorize things as Heaven-Opening or Archaic. Those are designations coined by later generations!" Fair enough! That made sense. For example, in the current era, who knew how future generations would name or divide their time periods? That was the business of those who came after. No contemporary would go around declaring, *I live in the ancient or archaic era.* Seeing that he didn't know much more—and though he had witnessed the Dead Spirit Lord opening the heavens, Su Yu hadn't seen it with his own eyes, so asking was pointless—Su Yu got straight to the point: "Is the Imperial Sovereign interested in becoming a Dead Spirit King?" The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign fell silent for a moment. In truth, after breaking his seal, he had no other choices. Now that Su Yu had brought it up, he knew it was merely a polite formality; he truly had no other option! The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign bowed slightly. "It would be my utmost honor! If Your Majesty does not disdain me, then Chen is willing to accept this title of Dead Spirit King!" Su Yu glanced at him and suddenly sighed with emotion. "I wonder if I am leaving behind hidden perils for future generations." The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign felt a slight tremor in his heart. Su Yu sighed again. "Back then, you were unwilling to submit to the ancient court, leaving them no choice but to seal you! Yet today, you submitted to me with such ease... In truth, this does not match my expectations!" Su Yu laughed self-deprecatingly! "I mock King Wen and the others for being soft-hearted, mock them for leaving hidden dangers for posterity... but standing where I am now, looking at things from their perspective: you haven't offended me, and you're willing to submit. Am I supposed to kill you without cause? So I can only confer a title upon you. But... are you a good person?" The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign looked somewhat embarrassed. Su Yu sighed once more. "If you were a good person, you would have served the ancient court long ago. Why would you serve me? You simply thought the ancient experts were too numerous, leaving you no hope of turning the tables, so you'd rather be sealed... whereas I could die at any moment, so you might as well humor me for now! Isn't that what you're thinking?" "Your Majesty... misunderstands!" The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign said awkwardly, "Your Majesty is a heaven-opener..." "The Human Sovereign and King Wen opened heavens too, so what?" Su Yu sneered. "Forget it. If it leaves hidden dangers, so be it!" Su Yu said calmly, "That will be a problem for after I'm dead. I don't ask about matters after death, nor do I care about them! Once I'm dead, why should I care about so much? But while I'm alive, don't even dream of turning the tables!" With those words, Su Yu raised his hand, and the great seal of heaven and earth manifested once more. The next moment, Su Yu held the seal aloft in his right hand while his left reached into the chaos. In an instant, strands of Great Dao power surged through, followed by a Dead Spirit Dao erupting with immense death qi that reflected onto the great seal. "By imperial decree of the Imperial Palace of Yu: Chen is hereby invested to oversee the dead spirit realm and conferred the title of Dead Spirit King!" A few concise words, woven from the rules of myriad Daos, instantly manifested in the void. In an instant, the void turned into paper, spontaneously generating a golden register upon which Su Yu stamped his seal! *Boom!* A colossal roar shook heaven and earth. A map of the dead spirit realm surfaced on the Human Lord Seal, and in the blink of an eye, a wave of karmic providence surged forth. Su Yu laughed. "You... are the very first being under my command to be crowned a king! I promised several people kingship in the past but never formally invested them. I promised Hetu and Lanshan, yet the Dead Spirit King has seized the initiative... I wonder if that is a blessing or a curse!" Taking the golden register, the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign felt its unique properties and instantly understood everything. He bowed his head. "Chen of the dead spirit realm expresses his deepest gratitude to Your Majesty!" Su Yu waved his hand. "No need! Of course, your current kingship is somewhat hollow. I am not an existence on the level of the Human Sovereign, after all! In the ancient era, this king title of yours would be roughly equivalent to a marquisate." Su Yu smiled. "Guard the dead spirit realm well. Unless I summon you, you are not permitted to leave the dead spirit realm!" "This subject understands!" A wise man submits to circumstances! That was all Su Yu could say about him; this Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign was exceedingly practical! Yet being so clever, why hadn't he submitted to the ancient court back then? Complicated! Su Yu didn't dwell on it. If the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign truly intended to rebel, he would simply kill him; otherwise, this was the only arrangement to make for now. "Go meet your subordinates. The commotion just now wasn't small, so the others probably know by now!" Su Yu had no interest in introducing the dead spirits to him; he barely knew any of them himself. Besides, with the Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign's immense strength, suppressing the dead spirits would be child's play. The Dead Spirit Imperial Sovereign bowed once more and swiftly flew toward the territory of the former Eastern King's estate! At this moment, his own thoughts were also complicated. ... Only after he departed did Marquis Tongtian speak up: "Your Majesty, you conferred a kingship just like that? Furthermore, Your Majesty once promised to make me a king as well, yet Your Majesty didn't even mention me just now!" "Did I?" Su Yu chuckled, and Marquis Tongtian said helplessly, "You did! Your Majesty, you couldn't have forgotten, could you?" He truly had! Su Yu smiled. "Really? As I recall, you were the one begging me for it, claiming that after I die, you could brag about your status to future generations... but I don't believe I ever agreed, did I?" Marquis Tongtian was speechless. *Was that so?* *But I clearly remember you agreeing!* One of them had to be remembering incorrectly. Of course, Su Yu didn't care about that and smiled. "Let's just say I did! On the condition that you become more reliable and speak less. Otherwise, if I ever confer a title on you, I'll name you the King of Farts!" Marquis Tongtian was completely struck dumb. *Is that really necessary?* *That title sounds atrocious!* "I will definitely speak less!" Marquis Tongtian nodded solemnly. Fine, he would simply talk less from now on. In any case, he had nothing left to say right now. Su Yu chuckled helplessly and walked toward the exterior of the chaos. He wasn't going to waste time bantering with Tongtian; he still had plenty of matters to attend to. Su Yu had been terribly busy lately! Hundred Battles and his people, on the other hand, had it easy. *Unfortunately, I was born with the fate of a workhorse,* Su Yu muttered to himself. ... Within Su Yu's heaven and earth. When Su Yu returned, King Dazhou came out to greet him. Seeing Su Yu, he sighed with emotion and said softly, "Today, Your Majesty has displayed your might across the myriad realms, even intimidating Hundred Battles. Your Majesty is truly worthy of being called the strongest Human Lord!" "Did you decide that?" Su Yu smiled faintly. "Is whether I'm the strongest or not something you get to decide?" King Dazhou wasn't embarrassed at all and smiled brilliantly. "It is the will of the people, decided by the human race! Your Majesty is the Sovereign, while others can only be kings!" Su Yu sneered disdainfully. "The Martial Emperor is an emperor too!" What was the use of a title? He had still been thoroughly beaten by King Wu! And beaten brutally at that! So brutally it defied all humanity. Speaking of which, Su Yu was genuinely curious. He suddenly asked, "What kind of grudge did King Wu actually have against the Martial Emperor? Sealing him was one thing, but he broke his legs and planted him upside down in the dirt. That's no small grudge. What exactly happened?" Before King Dazhou could speak, Su Yu snapped, "Tell the truth. I want gossip! Hundred Battles ruined my mood today; if I don't get any good gossip, I'll manufacture some myself—and my target will be you, King Dazhou!" *Fuck!* King Dazhou cursed inwardly. *Isn't that an outright threat?!* Yes, an absolute threat! "Manufacturing gossip" plainly meant Su Yu was going to make his life miserable! He felt utterly helpless. *You won a massive victory today, yet your mood is still bad? Then shouldn't Hundred Battles just drop dead?* Thinking of this, King Dazhou felt even more helpless and could only hesitate, saying, "Let me think... I seem to have heard some gossip back then. Of course, whether it's true or not, I cannot say!" King Dazhou appeared to be reminiscing, but Su Yu strongly suspected he was faking it! This old fox knew all along; he just didn't want to speak unless pressed. Su Yu was indeed curious. What kind of massive grudge existed between the Martial Emperor and King Wu? Humiliation... was usually unnecessary, wasn't it? Peerless experts rarely went out of their way to humiliate other experts. Humiliating the weak was even more pointless. King Dazhou recalled for a moment before finally saying, "It is said... this is only hearsay, mind you! The Martial Emperor and King Wu did indeed share an enmity! This enmity... is rather difficult to speak of openly, so the outside world isn't very clear on it either. I only overheard someone mention it once..." Su Yu snapped in annoyance, "Cut the crap. Yes, you only heard it from others; nobody said you were involved!" King Dazhou was speechless. There were hidden thorns in those words! Forget it, he would pretend he hadn't heard them. He quickly said, "I heard people say that the Martial Emperor might have slept with King Wu's woman." "..." Su Yu was stunned. "For real?" "*Cough, cough!*" King Dazhou said awkwardly, "I only heard rumors; whether it's true, I cannot say. Even the Martial Emperor himself might not know! This matter was quite secretive and rather complicated! I heard that during the early period before the ancient unification, when King Wu was still weak, he had a childhood sweetheart... betrothed since infancy, something like that! Later, King Wu left home to study the Dao, befriended King Wen and the others, and went on to fight across the realms... not returning for many years!" "When King Wu achieved fame and success, feeling that he finally had a future, he returned home in glory to find his childhood sweetheart—only to learn that she had been abducted by the Martial Emperor's men! Though 'abducted'... might not be the right word; it's hard to say!" "Back then, the Martial Emperor was an absolute hegemon, ranked among the top three in the human race, and possessed a vast harem. King Wu's childhood sweetheart was... was presented to the Martial Emperor by the local authorities... So the Martial Emperor might not even have known about it, and King Wu's childhood sweetheart might not have known that her childhood partner had become King Wu... In any case, that was the situation." "After taking down the Martial Emperor, King Wu discovered that his childhood sweetheart seemed to have already passed away. He vented his fury on the Martial Emperor, and after defeating him, subjected him to ruthless humiliation!" Su Yu was taken aback and deeply shocked. After a long while, he finally said, "Wait... King Wu's taste in women... is said—only said, mind you—to be just like Marquis Giant Axe's! Did the Martial Emperor share the exact same taste?" Now this gossip was spicy! King Dazhou chuckled dryly. "How should I put it? In that era, a frail woman who couldn't fight or battle was often seen as someone who was purely decorative and useless. Therefore, the aesthetic standards of that era were quite different from today!" *Alright, I understand!* Su Yu muttered, "If it was the grudge of having his woman stolen, that explains everything. If it were me, I'd want to slaughter the Martial Emperor outright; why bother just sealing him!" King Dazhou said faintly, "That requires having a wife in the first place. Your Majesty, you probably won't ever share such a grudge with anyone!" *Bang!* Su Yu abruptly punched him in the eye, instantly blackening King Dazhou's eye until he looked just like San Yue. Su Yu snorted. "Are you mocking me or what?" King Dazhou felt utterly exhausted! *You just wanted an excuse to hit me, didn't you?!* *I saw through you all along!* He didn't bother complaining, quickly changing the subject: "Your Majesty, where is the Martial Emperor?" As for the black eye, so be it! It would fade away shortly anyway! However, seeing Su Yu take out a crystal to record it, King Dazhou felt thoroughly drained. *You truly aren't human! You hit me, and then you record it? Do you have any shame at all?!* Su Yu couldn't care less; he had just heard some sensational gossip! His mood instantly brightened! Of course, this matter still needed verification and might not be true. However, he would rather it be true. Only such gossip was spicy and melodramatic enough! If it were some boring excuse like the Martial Emperor killing King Wu's brother or having humiliated him in battle... that would be utterly uninteresting! Only melodrama made for good gossip! In high spirits, Su Yu walked deeper into his heaven and earth, saying as he walked, "He was imprisoned for so many years; he's probably run off who knows where by now! Imprisoned even longer than Tianmie and the others—the moment he was let out, he vanished like a dog off its leash! But once he's had his fun, he'll likely come looking for me. He still owes me three Rulers of Rules!" King Dazhou nodded, then asked, "Does Your Majesty truly intend to move against the myriad races? If we attack them, then helping the God Imperial Concubine reconnect her Dao today was essentially creating trouble for ourselves." That was cultivating a formidable enemy! "The myriad races must be fought, but there are strategies to fighting them!" Su Yu smiled. "As for the God Imperial Concubine, I have my own arrangements! I said I wouldn't attack the sin race, but did I say the myriad races wouldn't attack the sin race? That is their business and has nothing to do with me, right?" King Dazhou's heart stirred! Su Yu smiled faintly. "I also stated that I will no longer accept surrenders or defections from the myriad races. That is the truth. The hatred between us cannot be resolved! How many of our human race have died in battle over these past five hundred years? I believe King Dazhou knows far better than I do!" King Dazhou fell silent for a moment, then nodded. "A great many have died!" Countless lives! A blood feud as deep as the sea! Su Yu continued, "Those words of mine have actually severed the myriad races' retreat. They can only fight to the death! When it comes to fighting, it will be a fight to the death! But there is a difference in whom they fight to the death! Will they fight to the death against me, or against the sin race—charging into the Hell Gate to seek an opportunity and then finding a chance to fight their way back out?" King Dazhou's heart shook violently! Su Yu narrowed his eyes, saying softly, "Do you think I am harder to deal with, or the sin race? The sin race can enter the Hell Gate; can the myriad races do so as well? They probably can! Once inside, is the danger greater, or is the danger greater staying outside to be besieged and slaughtered by me?" Su Yu chuckled. "Of course, that depends on their own judgment! Perhaps they'll decide I am easier to deal with and choose to fight me to the death. I certainly wouldn't mind!" King Dazhou now completely understood Su Yu's intentions! Su Yu wanted to drive the wolf to devour the tiger! The crux was that the difficulty remained immense. Moreover, the Hell Gate was perilously dangerous. Would the myriad races choose to slaughter the sin race to force their way into the Hell Gate for a slim chance at survival, or would they fight Su Yu to the bitter end? Even Su Yu himself could not be certain. "But didn't Your Majesty say that you wouldn't allow the myriad races to interfere with Hundred Battles fighting the sin race?" "Of course!" Su Yu smiled. "The myriad races won't be harassing Hundred Battles; they will be dealing with the sin race! That doesn't conflict with what I said, does it?" King Dazhou thought about it and nodded. Su Yu added, "Dog eat dog—are we supposed to pull the dogs apart? Wouldn't that just be looking for unnecessary trouble? Hundred Battles should even thank me for lending him a hand!" King Dazhou didn't know whether Hundred Battles would thank him, but he was certain that if Hundred Battles did, he would probably be thanking Su Yu's entire ancestry! Su Yu was preparing to be completely inhumane again! He specialized in screwing over the righteous and unsuspecting! Looking back at Hundred Battles now, the man truly seemed far kinder and gentler by comparison. Su Yu was genuinely black-hearted to the core!