Published at 16th of April 2026 6:05 am

Chapter 1963: Ninth Level Gains (1)

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

Su Yu only needed to push the door open and walk out. The door wasn't hard to open. But the moment Su Yu pushed it open, he blanked out. Great Zhou King and the others were also looking over curiously. All of them blanked out as well.

Rubble.

Yes. The outside had been reduced to rubble.

The glorious Human Emperor's Palace had been reduced to rubble. Collapsed buildings and broken daos could be seen everywhere. The broken daos weren't visible to the others, but they were visible to Su Yu. He could see the broken daos that were tangled together.

And a corpse.

There was actually a corpse there. A corpse was nailed onto the wall by a spear, with a furious expression on its face. Even dead, the corpse was still radiating an incomparably powerful aura. Reality itself warped around the corpse.

Su Yu's face changed. He hurriedly looked around. Signs of combat could be seen everywhere. Heavenbridge Marquis had claimed that the various experts had vanished peacefully from the ninth level. Well, that was clearly nonsense.

Did he not feel the battle back then? Or was he sleeping on his job? The entire ninth level had been reduced to rubble by the intense combat.

Su Yu looked around blankly. The room behind him was the only building still standing on the ninth level. Everything else had been destroyed. The glorious palace was gone. The glorious Culture King's Residence was gone as well.

Nothing was left.

Blood, corpse, and rubble. Nothing else.

Great Zhou King and the others rushed out as well. Suddenly, Cloud Fire Marquis ran into the distance, ignoring the rubble and broken daos around him. He ran toward a collapsed hall.

There, an armored corpse with a punctured head was hanging from the air. Cloud Fire Marquis continued rushing over, ignoring all the wounds appearing on his body due to the broken daos in the air. He did not even notice the wounds on his body.

When he reached the collapsed hall, he stared at the hanging corpse blankly. Then, tears streamed down his face as he dropped to his knees.

"MY KING!"

A wail of boundless sorrow rang out.

He wailed on the ground while saying, "My king, your useless servant is late!"

The prideful and violent Cloud Fire Marquis was weeping like a child. He knew that the ancient past was no more. He had guessed that something like this must have happened. But now, the corpse of his benefactor was right before him.

His benefactor. His king. Nailed to the thin air before the Human Emperor's Palace.

Su Yu's expression changed slightly as he focused on the hanging corpse as well. The corpse looked young. In fact, it was so well-preserved that it even looked alive.

The corpse was emitting an incomparably powerful aura, and the expression on the face was one of boundless arrogance. Clearly, Cloud Fire Marquis had gained his pride from this unknown person.

The golden armor on the corpse was badly damaged. However, not even the terrible state of the armor could hide the overbearing presence of this corpse. The long hair of the corpse continued whipping around in the air, while its body was dyed red with blood. This was an expert who had fought until the final moment.

Faint traces of River of Time fluctuations could be sensed above the corpse.

Instantly, understanding dawned on Su Yu. This was an expert in charge of guarding the rear. Or to be precise, this was an expert tasked to block the path of return. Su Yu could imagine what had happened back then.

A battle erupted, and Human Emperor had forcefully expelled all those Masters of Laws into the River of Time. The entire ninth level was sealed, with only a single opening to the River of Time remaining here.

Some of the human experts had opted to stand guard out here, protecting the Myriad Realms from the enemy Masters of Laws.

However, the myriad races were too strong. Thus, all the experts who had stayed behind fought to their deaths. Cloud Fire Marquis' mournful wail reverberated in the air. This was the actual person he served. As for Hundred Battle King, that was merely someone he had assisted.

With a complicated expression, Great Zhou King sent Su Yu a voice transmission, "That was King Yue. He was an independent warlord before the conquest. When Culture King defeated him, he submitted to Human Emperor. He fought in the conquest alongside Human Emperor, Culture King, and Martial King. Alone, he defeated the Devil Wolf Realm, Spirit Realm, and many other realms.

"Cloud Fire Marquis was a general under King Yue, a general who had served him even before he submitted to Human Emperor. The imperial court operated in a sort of feudal system. Thus, Cloud Fire Marquis only considered King Yue his lord. Cloud Fire Marquis only served the imperial court because King Yue served the imperial court. His loyalty would be entirely dependent on King Yue."

Great Zhou King didn't know what to feel about this. A supreme expert had died here, unknown to the world. His corpse was left hanging in the air for a hundred thousand years.

"My king, this lowly servant...is useless!"

While wailing, Cloud Fire Marquis looked up and crawled forth on his knees. He wanted to give his lord a deserved rest.

King Yue and the others had vanished a hundred thousand years ago.

At the time, everyone speculated that they were dead. Cloud Fire Marquis had mourned his lord back then. But since he had not seen the corpse of his lord, he still held some hope that his lord was somewhere out there.

But now, after seeing the corpse of his lord with his own eyes, he couldn't hold his sorrow back anymore. At the same time, the other ancient humans started looking around anxiously, seemingly worried that they would see something they didn't want to see. This was how the ancient past worked. A single supreme expert would be the ruler of a region.

Those serving these experts would only be loyal to them. Their loyalty to the imperial court was entirely dependent on the stance of the lords they served. Grand Dream served Devote King. Stable Army Marquis served Peace King. Marquis Lanshan served Martial King. They had their own masters.

Thus, these ancient humans couldn't help but start feeling anxious. Yes, their lords had vanished for a hundred thousand years, but all of them were still holding onto a tiny bit of hope.

They did not want to see the corpses of their lords here as well. For them, their lords were undefeatable. How could their lords die? However, they couldn't help but reconsider that view since King Yue's corpse was right before them.

Suddenly, Su Yu stepped forth and stopped before Cloud Fire Marquis. In his fury, Cloud Fire Marquis demanded, "What are you doing?"

Intense killing intent surged from his body. What was this person trying to do? The corpse of a Master of Law was very valuable. Cloud Fire Marquis summoned his spear and glared at Su Yu with fury. He knew that Su Yu was too strong for him, but he remained unyielding.

The situation grew incredibly tense. He would attack with all his strength at the slightest of provocations. At the same time, numerous Lan Tians appeared around him. All of them were staring at him with a frown.

Su Yu waved the clones off and said calmly, "Do not approach. King Yue died in battle. His final attack was still held inside his body. The moment you get in touch with the body, you will die."

Cloud Fire Marquis blanked out slightly, but he didn't fully believe that.

Su Yu ignored Cloud Fire Marquis and turned to look at the hanging corpse before looking at the corpse nailed onto the wall not far away, the first corpse he noticed after coming out of Human Emperor's cultivation chamber. He said, "King Yue managed to kill this person, but a moment later, he succumbed to his heavy injuries as his dao broke apart."

The corpses of the other dead combatants were not visible, but there were some bloodstains and broken limbs left all over the place. The two hanging corpses were the only preserved corpses here.

Looking at King Yue's corpse, Su Yu could picture the scene of the final battle.

King Yue had stayed behind to block the way back, while an enemy was attempting to flee the river. Human Emperor and the others were already fighting further upstream, leaving King Yue alone to block the way back. Perhaps more than one enemy had attempted to flee, and he had killed them all or pushed them all back.

When he was done with all of them, a final opponent arrived. The badly injured King Yue was able to kill the final opponent. But he had also died after completing his final task. Only his corpse remained, hanging in the air to guard the opening for eternity.

Su Yu sighed and bowed slightly. This was an admirable warrior. For the sake of humanity, Human Emperor had dragged all the existing Masters of Laws into the River of Time, even if humanity was outnumbered by about two to one. He had also brought a large number of marquises with him. Of the 720 myriad race marquises, less than a third were left in the Myriad Realms.

At the same time, a large number of human marquises had departed with Human Emperor as well. All these super experts had departed alongside Human Emperor. With numerous thoughts in his mind, Su Yu gave the corpse a bow. If nothing, a warrior fighting fearlessly, even knowing that the result was death, was worthy of respect.

"Do not touch King Yue." Su Yu said, "As I said, the corpse is holding his final attack. Even now, he is carrying out his duty faithfully, here to launch a fatal attack against anyone stepping out of that opening."

King Yue was dead. His dao was broken. But he had gathered all his remaining strength inside his body to prepare a final attack. Anyone stepping out of the opening would be subjected to the attack he had gathered with the rest of his strength. That was the final attack of a powerful human king. It was not something Cloud Fire Marquis could resist. Not even Su Yu could resist it.

Cloud Fire Marquis' expression changed again. At this time, Great Zhou King walked over, bowed at the hanging corpse, and said with a sigh, "Trust Emperor Yu. He has no reason to lie." "King Yue was blocking the path with his very life. He was loyal and righteous. As a subordinate of his, do not ruin his final wish."

At that, Cloud Fire Marquis' aura started calming down. Cloud Water Marquis and the others walked over as well. All of them bowed at the hanging corpse with complicated expressions.

Brave Martial General wasn't very good with her words, but she still tried to say something, "I think...I think we shouldn't move King Yue. He might...wish to wait for Human Emperor's return here..."

With a mournful look, Cloud Fire Marquis said, "My king's corpse was left unburied for a hundred thousand years. I wanted to..."

He didn't know what to say anymore. He wanted to lay his king to rest, but Su Yu and the others were advising against it. King Yue was still guarding the opening with one final attack within him.

As Cloud Fire Marquis looked at the corpse, his sorrow deepened.

Dead.

This was the sole ancient human king whose death had been confirmed. After all, the rest were still missing. As long as they weren't confirmed to be dead, there was still hope. However tiny the hope was, they were willing to cling to it.

However, there was no longer such a hope for King Yue.

Great Zhou King asked, "Emperor Yu, King Yue has died so many years ago. Is there a possibility that he would...return in the Death Realm?"

At that, Cloud Fire Marquis' eyes lit up.

Su Yu shook his head and said, "There are two possibilities. Firstly, he might still be slumbering deep under the Celestial River of Death. The available power of the death spirit dao is not sufficient to support the awakening of a Master of Law. Secondly, beings at this level might be beyond the death spirit's dao to collect."

Cloud Fire Marquis' eyes dimmed again.

Su Yu said, "If he were really in a deep slumber under the river, awakening is not impossible. As long as enough death spirits were killed, he could potentially wake up."

Cloud Fire Marquis asked, his voice hopeful, "Emperor Yu, is there hope...for my king to return?"

Su Yu said, "I can't promise you anything. I can only say that the possibility isn't zero."

Su Yu did not break the final bit of hope Cloud Fire Marquis was holding onto, but it was truly quite unlikely. Could the death spirit dao even collect a dead being of this level?

Unlikely.

Strictly speaking, the death spirit dao was a dao as well. A larger dao, but still a single dao. And a Master of Law was the master of a single dao. Both were supposed to be existences of the same tier. Could the death spirit dao collect someone at the same level as the dao itself?

Su Yu did not think too much about it. It was fine to let Cloud Fire Marquis keep this final gleam of hope.

He looked at King Yue's corpse regretfully. This was the first human king's corpse he had ever seen. Evidently, Human Emperor's departure hadn't been as easy as imagined.

Then again, that was understandable. There were numerous Masters of Laws among the myriad races, with people like Immortal Pseudo Emperor and the others who were only a step below people like Culture King. They were probably comparable to Martial King in strength.

They would not depart from the Myriad Realms willingly. Thus, they could only be forced to leave. Forced to go upstream and spent eons in battle. Two corpses of Masters of Laws were left here.

Share