Chapter 1974: Reward (3)

After looking around for a bit, the white dog approached Soy Bun. The two stared at each other for a bit before Soy Bun asked, "Is my young lad not here?"

Was his young lad left behind again?

In response, Fat Ball merely shook his head. At that, a little furball flew out of his ear. The little furball was sulking. After giving Su Yu a glare, he jumped onto Soy Bun's head. Yummy had changed. How could Yummy reject him when he asked to enter Yummy's sea of willpower?

Su Yu had refused the request because he was storing too many powerful items in his sea of willpower. He was worried of an accident when he carelessly exposed the little furball to these items.

He swept his gaze through the gathered crowd before addressing them with a smile, "A few Daofuses are absent. The death spirits are not called for this meeting. But I have to say that just the sight of all of you is enough to improve my mood.

"During my recent journey to the Upper Realm, I saw numerous Daofuses and a considerable number of heavenly kings among the myriad races. I was feeling quite pressured. But I can now see that our Emperor Yu's Court isn't that weak either."

Lan Tian stepped forth and said with a smile, "You are too modest, Emperor Yu. During the previous battle in the Upper Realm, you killed ten heavenly kings and eight Daofuses, showcasing the might of Emperor Yu's Court."

At present, Lan Tian was talking with the appearance of a solemn, old man. Numerous people were alarmed by his words. Was this a joke? How many people did they kill? They weren't even up there for long.

Su Yu waved his hand and said with a chuckle, "Enough bragging. Bragging about my achievements was necessary when I was weak. But I no longer need that. I might not be the strongest, but I no longer need to fear those old fellows.

"The Upper Realm is filled with powerhouses. You are all familiar with my classification. Above the Daofuse Realm, there are heavenly kings. But during my visit to the Upper Realm, I learned that there is another tier beyond that. Venerables. This was the same level Hundred Battle King was at back then. There are quite a lot of such experts up there.

"There is a gap between them and us. In fact, the gap is quite big. Among us, the strongest are Fat Ball, Grand Dream, Lan Tian, and me. Great Zhou King, Director Wan, Soy Bun, Cloud Fire Marquis, and Fate Pseudo Emperor are still tier-two Daofuses."

Numerous gazes landed on Fate Pseudo Emperor, but he merely smiled nonchalantly without any other reaction.

Su Yu laughed and said, "Fate Pseudo Emperor is not weak. Stop looking at him like that. Some others, like Cloud Water Marquis, Shadow Marquis, Great Qin King, and Great Xia King are a step away from tier two."

Su Yu's voice grew heavy as he said, "This isn't weak. But it is still far from enough. Too far."

Among the crowd, some turned solemn as they listened, while some remained indifferent. Heavendoom, in particular, was rolling his eyes. Was he so weak that he wasn't even worth mentioning?

How...sad.

He was already a Daofuse, but so many stronger experts had joined their ranks that he was no longer worthy of mention. He was greatly saddened.

Su Yu continued, "As for the current situation in the Upper Realm, I believe all of you have learned a lot from Shadow Marquis and the others. After all, it has been a few days since their return. It is worth noting that Control King's lineage, the faction of traitors, is unimaginably powerful. Of the three factions, we are probably the weakest."

At that, Great Zhou King stepped forth and said, "That might not necessarily be the case, Your Majesty. We have our allies. The iron devourer race has agreed to ally with us. March is a Venerable. Great Bamboo Marquis has the strength of a heavenly king. If the fate race is willing to join the alliance as well, we will also have Heavenly Fate Marquis, also a Venerable, on our side. We might not necessarily be the weakest."

Su Yu said, "Yes, but let's not make our plans based on our projected strength. That is too uncertain. It is far better to rely on what we already have to avoid unwanted disappointments.

"The number of Daofuses in our ranks has been increasing steadily, but it is too hard for Daofuses to grow. Everyone lacks dao comprehension and power of laws. Fortunately, I managed to gather a large amount of masterless power of laws from the Upper Realm. I also have Human Emperor's dao painting in my possession.

"I am not the type to keep all treasures for myself. I am willing to share. By helping all of you grow, we will have the strength to face stronger opponents without suffering unwanted casualties.

"Since I became the human lord, all our battles have been surprise attacks and rapid battles. We have not fought a single head-on battle of significant scale. I'm not saying that we must fight our enemies head-on, but we can't hide our strength forever.

"A day will come when the myriad races learn of our actual strength. And when that happens, we will be forced into head-on battles. Some of you might die. I can't promise that all of you will survive the coming war. I can only promise to help you grow as strong as possible before facing those enemies.

"Let's stop wasting time. I will be granting you a certain amount of power of laws depending on your contribution. Everyone will be granted a chance to study the dao painting, but those with more contributions will also be taken on a trip to the River of Time to observe your dao. I can even grant you a temporary Heaven Gate to study your dao better.

"I hope more heavenly kings will emerge among us through these efforts. Great Zhou King and Soy Bun. Try to reach that level as soon as possible. As for the rest of you, I look forward to your growth as well."

Su Yu smiled and continued, "If we manage to gain a few new heavenly kings from this, I intend to take another trip to the Upper Realm. This time, I will go up with a stronger group and participate in the coming war at the Chaos Mountain."

"Great Qin King and Great Xia King..." He looked at the two and solemnly said, "If you can't even reach tier two after this, I will consider that heavenly desolate beast corpse wasted on you. Reach tier two as soon as possible. I will take both of you to Chaos Mountain and let you experience the natural environment of the heavenly desolate beast. Perhaps there are more fortuitous encounters waiting for you there. Of course, if you can't reach tier two, I'm afraid you will need to remain down here."

"..."

Great Xia King and Great Qin King had solemn expressions. This was too embarrassing. They felt like students being called out in public for having bad results. The heavenly desolate beast they had devoured was an actual Master of Law. But even now, they were still stuck as tier-three Daofuses. Thus, they felt greatly ashamed after being called out publicly.

Su Yu looked at Cloud Fire Marquis and said, "Cloud Fire, you're a peak tier-two Daofuse. You're not far from a heavenly king. However, you don't have enough contributions to receive a personal trip to the River of Time from me. What you did prior to this was unrelated to me. I will not count those contributions."

Cloud Fire Marquis said solemnly, "I wouldn't dare to ask for rewards without any contribution."

Su Yu nodded, "However, I am in need of capable individuals. It will benefit me to have you become a heavenly king as well. I can allow you to claim the reward for your future contribution in advance. After your advancement, kill a heavenly king as repayment for your reward. Prior to the repayment, none of your other achievements will be recorded."

Cloud Fire Marquis inhaled deeply, stepped forth, and said, "Cloud Fire thanks Emperor Yu. I swear to repay this favor with the head of a heavenly king."

Su Yu nodded and said nothing else to him. He did not say anything to Fate Pseudo Emperor either. He would talk further to them after his meeting with Heavenly Fate Marquis. Fate Pseudo Emperor understood that, so he remained silent as well. He was relatively new in Su Yu's camp, so it was only natural that he had not accumulated enough merit to be rewarded here.

Su Yu continued, "As the captured Daofuses, I will suppress and take them all to the Upper Realm. The three major realms are still sealed. I will leave a small number of Daofuses behind to watch over things. The rest will follow me to the Upper Realm. Naturally, nobody weaker than tier two will be allowed to come. I will prioritize tier-two Daofuses. I won't take you if you're too weak."

"..."

At that, a certain someone by the name of Heavendoom finally lost patience. He shouted, "How about me?"

Su Yu glanced at him and said, "You're still a tier-five Daofuse. That's far too weak. If you manage to reach tier three this time, I'll take you with me. Otherwise, you'll need to stay back and watch our home."

Heavendoom's face turned purple from sheer anxiousness. Was that even possible? Clearly, he was going to be left behind yet again.

Just then, a voice transmission arrived from Grandstar, "Don't doubt it. I will definitely be included in the group. I was already tier four. Not long ago, I studied the dao painting and comprehended even more. I will be a tier three before long. Heavendoom, looks like you will remain behind me forever."

"..."

Heavendoom had the urge to swing his staff at Grandstar. Heavendoom was losing his mind. He felt terrible. He couldn't accept it! He felt as though he would always be behind Grandstar. Grandstar was the first to get Su Yu as a mayor. He was among the first to follow Su Yu to the Upper Realm. And now, Grandstar was going to surpass him in strength as well. He felt terrible.

Then again, there was no denying that Grandstar had benefited greatly from his venture into the Upper Realm. He received a large amount of power of laws, he received the opportunity to study the dao painting, and he had even participated in several battles involving heavenly kings. In short, he had gained far more than those who had remained behind.

It wouldn't be easy for Heavendoom to catch up.

Grandstar was feeling very smug as he continued showing off, "Be good and stay behind. Watch over our home. I'll make sure to record the scene of me killing powerful enemies and share the recordings with you. Don't worry, I'll allow you to enjoy some secondhand joy through me."

Just die already!

Heavendoom was losing his mind.

At this point, Su Yu was done talking. Numerous strands of power of laws shot out toward the various Daofuses. Naturally, those who had followed him to the Upper Realm previously was excluded from this round of rewards.

June, Soy Bun, and Grand Dream were clearly receiving larger portions compared to the others. This was also the case for Great Qin King and Great Xia King. The other guardians received larger portions as well, with Heavendoom receiving an even larger portion than the other guardians.

Done with the distribution, Su Yu manifested his Mark of Civilization and faced the crowd with the dao painting.

With a wave of his hand, black and white flooded the room.

"Observe."

Su Yu's voice rang out in the air, "The dao comprehension of both Human Emperor and I can be found here. With enough comprehension and power of laws, you will be able to grow rapidly. This time, only the Daofuses will be rewarded. Those below will be rewarded in the future."

Then, Su Yu floated out of the room, leaving a bunch of engrossed experts inside the room.

Human Emperor's dao painting was something not even Daofuses were qualified to see during the ancient past. It was likely that only a select number of Masters of Laws were lucky enough to receive that privilege.

Thus, this was most certainly a massive fortuitous encounter for all these people.

***

Outside the hall, Su Yu exhaled before looking back at the hall. He could only hope that they could benefit from this. In truth, he was feeling rather pressured. The situation in the Upper Realm might change, and war might be forced upon them.

After this, he needed to personally take some of his people on a trip to the River of Time. That wouldn't be possible once he returned to the Upper Realm.

Beside him, a smiling Lan Tian appeared. At this point, Lan Tian had transformed from an old man into a young girl. With a smile, Lan Tian said, "Big Brother Emperor Yu, what do you think about Big Brother Tiansheng? Can he reach the level of a heavenly king this time?"

At this point, Su Yu was already used to Lan Tian's antics. He said, "It's hard to say. He follows the human dao. Recently, I noticed him comprehending the dao of death. I guess it ultimately depends on his luck."

Wan Tiansheng was indeed a monstrous talent. The human dao he walked was a powerful dao. Unfortunately, he lacked accumulation. Thus, it was hard to predict whether he could reach the level of a heavenly king this time.

Lan Tian said, "I believe in Big Brother Tiansheng. He is a freak. And a freak is always better."

"..."

Su Yu didn't know what to say about that.

Instead, he looked at the nearby Great Zhou King and said, "Come on, Great Zhou King. Let's take a trip to the River of Time. Let's see if it's really possible to bring two tributaries together. If that's not possible, you will be stuck below the level of a heavenly king. Your importance will start declining in the future."

Great Zhou King understood that, so he nodded solemnly.

That was very important.

He had to advance into a heavenly king.

There were simply too many freaks in this era. Even if he wanted to become a pure strategist, he would have plenty of competitors. He could not allow anyone to replace him.

A rift appeared midair, and the two stepped through it.