Chapter 1978: Upper Realm Again (1)

Their first foray to the Upper Realm was meant to be a scouting mission. As for the numerous experts they killed, that was truly a coincidence. But for their second foray to the Upper Realm, Su Yu intended to stir trouble. Thus, he would pick more elites with him.

He planned to take all heavenly kings with him. Unfortunately, the old turtle wouldn't be able to join. Furthermore, he also needed to leave some experts behind to watch over the three conquered realms and Heavenly Overseer Marquis.

The Lower Realm was essentially his foundation. He couldn't allow anything to happen to it. Thus, he had worked very hard to come up with a suitable list of people to join his second trip to the Upper Realm.

***

In the blink of an eye, three days passed.

Everyone had been waiting impatiently.

That was especially true for Heavendoom. He had stayed agitated for three days. Yes, yes, he might not be too strong. But he was good at fighting! To prove his strength, he had sparred with Grandstar dozens of times in the span of three days.

And indeed, he was actually quite good at fighting. Despite his lower cultivation level, he was able to prevent Grandstar from gaining a large advantage over him.

Eastrift Valley. Emperor Yu's Court.

A large number of experts were gathered there again. Only three days had passed, but their auras had grown compared to before. The dao painting and the power of laws Su Yu had provided were clearly working.

On top of that, Su Yu had also spent the past three days taking these people on a trip to the River of Time. Cloud Fire Marquis was among them. Great Ming King was among them as well. Even Soy Bun was taken on a trip to the River of Time. Unfortunately, he had not gained much from that.

Su Yu had done all he could for these people. They could only rely on themselves for their future growth. If they could grow rapidly, good. If not, they would need to slowly accumulate their growth or wait for that elusive spark of inspiration.

Of the people gathered in the hall, some really wanted to go to the Upper Realm while some didn't care about it.

On the stage.

Looking at the gathered crowd, Su Yu said, "Director Wan, Lan Tian, Great Zhou King, Fat Ball, and Cloud Fire Marquis. All of you will come with me."

Numerous people gasped in surprise. All of them? Was Cloud Fire Marquis a heavenly king already? Su Yu wouldn't have mentioned him alongside those names otherwise.

Brave Martial General and the others looked at Cloud Fire Marquis. He had been gone for three days, and now, his aura had indeed grown stronger than before. Had he broken through?

Noticing the gazes of his old friends on him, Cloud Fire Marquis sent them a voice transmission, "I managed to take that step forward. I pursue the fire dao. This is a common dao, and my many years of accumulation helped as well."

No matter what, he had lived for so many years. He was already strong enough to fight against heavenly kings at the Divine Fire Mountain. After observing the dao painting, he had also entered the River of Time with Su Yu. Apart from his own dao, he was also shown other fire daos.

As a result, he was able to reach the level of a heavenly king. However, he had fully exhausted his many years of accumulated comprehension doing so. It wouldn't be easy for him to grow further after this. His old friends looked at him with envy.

Cloud Water Marquis had reached the level of a tier-two Daofuse, but she was still quite far away from the level of a heavenly king. She complained through voice transmission, "Emperor Yu...seems prejudiced against women."

She was not weak at all, but Su Yu clearly liked Brave Martial more than her. If Su Yu had given her more rewards, she could probably reach the level of a heavenly king as well. In fact, Su Yu hadn't even bothered to take her on a trip to the River of Time. Thus, she was feeling quite down.

Brave Martial General consoled her, "Don't be discouraged. Cloud Fire was already near that level prior to this. You can't become a heavenly king just by taking a trip to the River of Time. Just look at Soy Bun. Did the trip to the river make him a heavenly king?"

Well, her words worked slightly. Cloud Water did feel slightly better after hearing her words.

Meanwhile, Fat Ball, who was knocking Soy Bun's head absent-mindedly, asked anxiously, "Am I going as well?"

Su Yu smiled, "Of course."

"But..."

"Don't worry." Su Yu said, "I'm leaving the human lord's token behind. The book spirit and tea plant have been sent back as well. With the token, big tree, book spirit, and tea plant together, the residence will remain stable for at least five months. They will help water your flowers as well."

But Fat Ball still looked unhappy. He much preferred to guard his home.

Su Yu said, "It will be hard for you to grow stronger if you don't go. Don't you want to look for your master when you grow strong enough?"

Fat Ball blanked out. Su Yu continued, "The Myriad Realms are still unconquered. In this situation, I don't have the time and energy to search for Culture King and the others. Also, I'm too weak to even start looking for them."

Left with no choice, Fat Ball could only nod.

Fine, fine.

Su Yu smiled. Including Fat Ball and himself, they would have six heavenly kings in the group.

"Soy Bun, Cloud Water Marquis, Shadow Marquis, Great Qin King, Great Xia King, Stable Army Marquis, and Brave Martial General will be coming as well."

These were all tier-two Daofuses.

As for the tier-two Daofuses who were not mentioned here, it signified that Su Yu did not intend to take them with him. Fate Pseudo Emperor was one of them. He was needed in the Fate Realm, so it was understandable that he was left behind.

"As for the tier-three Daofuses, Flatbun, Great Ming King, Heavenbridge Marquis, and Grandstar will be coming."

So far, there were seventeen confirmed members in the group.

While Heavendoom waited expectantly, Su Yu continued, "As for the others, Senior Grand Dream will watch over the Lower Realm. I'll need to trouble the other guardians to help with this as well.

"Fate Pseudo Emperor and the others can keep watch over your respective realms.

"Tian Yue and Chong Ming. The two of you aren't strong enough, but things are calm down here. The two of you will watch over the Human Realm. Notify Fate Pseudo Emperor and Senior Grand Dream promptly if you encounter any trouble.

"If you wish to contact me for an emergency, it won't be too hard either."

Su Yu tossed a few pages from his book out and said, "Tear a page apart when you need to contact me. The Mark of Civilization will be able to sense it. Only do this for something truly urgent."

Heavendoom hurriedly asked, "Emperor Yu, is that all? Don't you have anything else to say?"

Su Yu looked at him silently.

Heavendoom asked, "How about those below tier three? I'm already a tier four, but my combat strength is comparable to tier-three Daofuses!"

Su Yu laughed and said, "You're too rash. I'm worried that you will stir up too much trouble up there."

"I won't!" Heavendoom promised earnestly, "Take me with you! I'll follow your orders well!"

Su Yu said, "We're not going on vacation. Why are you so desperate to come with us?"

He paused slightly and added, "Well, I guess we can take you with us. All in all, we will have eighteen Daofuses in the group. That's enough. September is still up there. And we can't remove too many Daofuses from the Lower Realm or things might get dangerous down here."

Almost all the top experts on their side would be going with him this time.

Wan Tiansheng said, "Emperor Yu, with so many of our top experts gone, General Grand Dream will need to watch over both the living and the dead. Tiangu, Heavenly Overseer Marquis, and the others might attack together when something unexpected happens in the Death Realm. Things might get very dangerous in such a situation."

Very few Daofuses were left behind. Most of them were the former guardians and some allied Daofuses. Tian Yue and Chong Ming were the only human Daofuses remaining behind. The number of experts watching over their home was too low.

It was likely that Heavenly Overseer Marquis had reached the level of a heavenly king. As for Tiangu's status, it was still unknown. Jiwu and Mo Ji were no weaklings either. There was also the Consort Emeritus of the divines. They had to be wary of her, even if there was no guarantee that she could actually fight outside the Divine Realm.

With the majority of their experts gone, they might not be able to return in time if something were to happen down here.

Great Zhou King suggested, "Your Majesty, why don't we leave a heavenly king behind to watch over things?"

Grand Dream was strong, but he might be too occupied to do much.

Su Yu considered the suggestion and shook his head, "No. The probability of a major conflict breaking out down here is too low. Meanwhile, the situation is very tense up there. Things are also much more dangerous in the Upper Realm."

"As for the Lower Realm..."

After a slight pause, Su Yu said, "Fate Pseudo Emperor is around, right?"

At that, the others looked at Fate Pseudo Emperor. Distrust was evident in their eyes. Yes. He was strong. But how could they trust him to act in humanity's interest?

Noticing all the gazes on him, Fate Pseudo Emperor bowed slightly and said, "Fateless will do his best."

Su Yu smiled and said, "General Grand Dream will mainly be keeping an eye on Heavenly Overseer Marquis. As for you, keep an eye on the three major realms. When something happens, notify me. I believe you have a way to contact those in the Upper Realm."

Su Yu exhaled deeply and said, "We can only do this since we still lack experts. Without enough people, we might not be able to do much during the coming war at the Chaos Mountain."

With that, everyone understood what Su Yu was trying to do. He wanted to participate in the coming war. And clearly, he intended to do something big this time. With six heavenly kings, seven peak Daofuses, and four tier-three Daofuses, they were strong enough to match ten heavenly kings.

Su Yu looked toward a certain individual and called out, "Bountiful Treasure."

"Here!"

Bountiful Treasure General looked nervous. Why was this guy calling his name? He was too weak to participate in the coming battle! Also, he wasn't even a human.

Su Yu asked, "How many assembly tokens have you gathered so far?"

"E-eleven!"

He hurriedly handed the tokens over. With this, Su Yu had gathered a total of thirty-eight assembly tokens.

The three major races and the primordial giant race were still not under his control. He believed that they had a large number of tokens as well. Between the four races, they could probably put twenty tokens together.

If he gathered their tokens as well, he would gain control over more than half of the total number of assembly tokens in existence.

"Not bad."

"Thank you for the kind praise, Emperor Yu!"

While Bountiful Treasure was exhaling in relief, Su Yu said, "Apart from the realms that have been sealed, I doubt there are more assembly tokens to be found in the Lower Realm."

Su Yu thought about it and said, "You're not too strong, but you seem quite lucky. I have a new mission for you, Bountiful Treasure."

𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Bountiful Treasure was nervous to hear that, but he could only brace himself and agree, "Please give me your order, Emperor Yu."

"The experts I leave behind are enough to defend our possessions in the Lower Realm, but they might not be enough if Heavenly Overseer Marquis decides to do something. You will handle him. Keep him occupied. Do not retreat before my return."

"..."

Bountiful Treasure was dumbfounded. Was this a joke? This must be a joke, right? Him? Stopping Heavenly Overseer Marquis? What joke was this?

Su Yu laughed and said, "Don't worry. I can see your prosperous fortune. You will survive well. If you were to die even with your immense fortune, it would only prove that Heavenly Overseer Marquis was ready to throw everything to the wind. His determination was enough to overcome your destiny. From your current fortune, I can see that you shouldn't be dying anytime soon."

Was this for real?

Bountiful Treasure was suspicious of that claim, but what could he do but agree? "This subordinate understands."

"Good. That is all. We will be departing in two days." Su Yu looked at the others and said, "Wrap up your affairs down here in two days. This will be your final bit of peace for a while. A busy future is ahead of us."

"Yes!"

With that, everyone started leaving. Before long, the hall was empty.