Published at 6th of May 2026 6:24 am

Chapter 2003: First Self Detonation (2)

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Su Yu smiled and said, "The question has been asked. We only want to know about the number of humans still in seclusion in the Dao Origin Land. That is all. Are you supposed to ask you about the return of Human Emperor and Culture King instead?"

The skeletal figure had nothing to say to that.

He sank into thought. After a long while, he said, "There might be some. Back before I entered deep seclusion, there were rumors about someone cultivating deep inside the Dao Origin Land. But at the time, humanity and the myriad races were equal in power. Nobody bothered to search for these hidden experts to avoid rocking the status quo."

In short, he knew nothing.

Just as Su Yu was about to store the skeletal figure in the book again, the skeletal figure said, "Can you allow me to stay here for a bit longer? You can put me away when you're about to fight."

He wanted to spend more time outside. It had been too long. To the point where the world felt completely alien to him. Su Yu smiled. He was fine with this request. So be it. No matter what, this was a heavenly king. He would also try to help this fellow recover. If that was possible, he only hoped that this would be an obedient expert. That was all.

Once again, Su Yu looked toward the depths of the Dao Origin Land. An indistinct Heaven Gate flickered on his forehead. He was keeping it partially manifested to avoid the detection of the experts deep inside the Dao Origin Land.

Things weren't too dangerous for him here since March was also among the Venerables. There were also the two bombs he had buried for the Venerables. An interesting show would ensue when the two bombs were found.

***

Deep inside the Dao Origin Land.

The six Venerables were split into three pairs.

March was partnered with Venerable Scrape, Heavenly Fate Marquis was partnered with Venerable Desolate, and Thunderstorm was partnered with Venerable Moon. Each pair was also followed by a group of Daofuses.

Beside Venerable Scrape, March was scanning the area with a bored look. After a while, Venerable Scrape frowned and said, "Brother March, do not miss anything. Scan even the underground. Some of these fellows have been in deep slumber for too many years. They can be missed too easily."

March flashed his trademark innocent smile and said, "Don't worry. There are so many of us. Nobody can escape our detection."

Venerable Scrape said nothing and continued his search with his devil qi. Anything standing in the way of his scan would be crushed. The other Venerables were not sparing any efforts either.

With a stomp by Venerable Desolate, the ground shook, the shockwaves spreading deep underground. The moment a resistance was encountered, someone would go deeper to investigate the abnormality.

The Dao Origin Land had been around for too long. Thus, this wasn't the first time a search had been performed here. Thus, the underground was the most likely place for more undiscovered slumbering experts to exist. There was no longer such a place above ground.

The Venerables also had multiple towers helping them with the search. Like a gigantic searchlight, the tower started scanning the ground. These were the Myriad Power Towers. Similar in function to Great Ming's Super Sensory Jade, they were capable of detecting any concentration of power of laws or source qi.

With the Myriad Power Towers, no nook was left unsearched. One could see just how determined the myriad races were at fully searching the Upper Realm this time.

Before long, bright red erupted from the top of one of these towers. Instantly, Venerable Scrape arrived at the marked spot and brought his palm down. "Venerable Scrape of the Myriad Race Assembly here. Identify yourself!"

As the ground split apart, a weak aura surged. Slowly, it grew stronger before stopping at the level of a tier-two Daofuse. Next, a gigantic ape emanating a rotting aura emerged from the ground.

Fear and confusion filled his eyes. And when he looked around, he grew even more alarmed. There were so many experts around him!

Noticing the surging killing intent of Venerable Scrape, he hurriedly answered despite his confusion, "It's me! Venerable Scrape, it's me!"

When Venerable Scrape focused, he frowned, "Battle Spirit Marquis? You're not dead?"

The ape exhaled in relief. He explained, "I was in deep seclusion. What is happening?"

"The Myriad Race Assembly has been reestablished. All races have been called to the Myriad Race Mountain."

After a short explanation, Venerable Scrape said, "Stay with us for now. We will be continuing our search. Your race is already at the Myriad Race Mountain. Since you have just emerged from seclusion, you must be confused. Don't do anything stupid."

The ape nodded as he continued looking around with shock. How did the three major races gain control over this place? Also, where were the humans? He had entered seclusion about ten thousand years ago. At the time, humanity was still the dominant force in the Dao Origin Land.

He was confused, but he did not dare to resist. There were simply too many experts around him.

***

Further away.

Su Yu raised his brow, "A second-tier Daofuse was forced out. It hasn't even been long since the start of the search. Well, looks like there are really quite a lot of people hiding around and pretending to be dead."

Lan Tian said, "That's normal. It has been too many years. There is enough time for a large number of people to reach the end of their lifespan and enter deep slumber."

The Dao Origin Land was the perfect place for one to enter deep slumber. Or to be precise, it was the only suitable place as any other place would lack the power of laws to support the needs of these experts.

Lan Tian asked, "Are we going to just watch? These fellows are taking it slow. I reckon they will need more than five days to finish searching the Dao Origin Land."

With six Venerables on the job, they would take at least five days to complete this job. That alone was enough to showcase just how meticulous they were being. Someone at their level could have finished a basic scan over the entire Dao Origin Land in only half an hour.

Su Yu laughed and asked, "Do you have somewhere to be?"

Lan Tian grinned and said, "Most of the myriad race experts are either here or at the west, while the various races are busy migrating to the west. Things are in chaos. This might be a good opportunity for me to sneak some people into their ranks."

Was he going to produce more clones?

Su Yu nodded, "Sure. Give it a try."

This could only benefit them.

After giving the skeletal figure a glance, Lan Tian said, "Sure. I'll get busy. Be careful of this fellow. He might be a human, but we don't know his background. Don't allow him to recover too well."

With a nod from Su Yu, Lan Tian vanished with a flicker. Since the search was proceeding slowly, and since the various races were on the move, this was indeed the best chance for Lan Tian to do his thing.

With Lan Tian gone, Su Yu was left alone with the skeletal figure. Then again, he wasn't completely alone. Soy Bun and Flatbun were both sleeping in his Mark of Civilization. He had noticed that the two were pretty good at sleeping. They seemed capable of sleeping everywhere.

After a glance in the direction Lan Tian had disappeared at, the skeletal figure said, "His dao seems quite unique."

Su Yu smiled, "It's decent, I suppose."

"Your status seems quite high. He has been following your every command."

The skeletal figure looked at Su Yu with his turbid eyes and said, "You never bothered to ask me for my name. Do you not care about my identity at all?"

The skeletal figure was very curious. Generally, one would be curious after discovering an old fossil that had been in slumber for so long, even if that old fossil was on the verge of death. Also, he would be quite strong after recovering. However, the two did not seem interested.

With a smile, Su Yu asked, "Oh. What is your name, then?"

"..."

The skeletal figure stared at Su Yu silently. After a long while, he said, "Can you tell me about the current situation of humanity?"

"Humanity is almost extinct in the Upper Realm, but there are quite a lot of us in the Lower Realm." Su Yu asked a different question, "Why did you cultivate a fake dao?"

"Fake dao?"

A certain understanding dawned on the skeletal figure as he said, "A fake dao? I see. I somewhat disagree with that term. I once suggested that we have more people cultivate what you call fake daos. This...might summon the Human Emperor back."

Su Yu raised his brow, "Summoning the Human Emperor back?"

"Yes."

The skeletal figure explained, "Since you know that these are fake daos, you probably know more. With more people cultivating these fake daos, they will grow strong, providing the main branch with enough power. The increased power might help his majesty with his return."

Su Yu sank into thought. Would having more people cultivate these fake daos really help with Human Emperor's return? It was true that the main branch belonged to Human Emperor. Would growing the main branch be helpful to Human Emperor?

Nobody could say for sure. Not even Su Yu had an answer to that. This was quite a creative idea, and it could very well work.

"You seem to know a lot." Su Yu said, "You must be aware that the so-called River of Time here is actually Human Emperor's dao."

The skeletal figure was greatly shocked to hear that. He exclaimed, "You...know that as well?"

Su Yu smiled. "Nothing can remain a secret to me for long. Furthermore, too many years have passed since your time. Some of your secrets might no longer remain secrets."

There was a time limit to the importance of information. With enough time, even the most important of information would be rendered useless. Thus, Su Yu had never expected to learn anything important from these old fossils.

It wasn't like there weren't any survivors from the ancient past around. For example, Great Zhou King had always been around. He probably knew more than these people. Su Yu was surprised to hear that the skeletal figure was also aware that the river here was Human Emperor's dao. But that was all. His interest on the skeletal figure ended there.

Ignoring the skeletal figure, Su Yu looked toward the depths of the Dao Origin Land again. The sweep was progressing slowly. After checking the trajectory of the three groups, Su Yu noted that the bird-shaped bomb he left behind would probably be found by March's group.

Venerable Moon and Thunderstorm would be the ones to find the other bomb. These Venerables should be able to survive the mad heavenly kings fine. Su Yu's gaze landed on the experts manipulating the towers behind the Venerables. Well, those people were far more vulnerable than the Venerables.

Any expert killed here would be one less expert he needed to face in the future.

***

In that manner, both Su Yu and the skeletal figure observed in silence.

Boom!

Three hours later, a loud explosion erupted.

A gigantic golden bird had surged into the sky. This was not the fake dao cultivator Su Yu had found previously. Rather, it was a different bird, a real dao cultivator with three claws.

"Golden crow."

Su Yu was quite surprised. An expert from the golden crow race.

The golden bird's aura surged rapidly as a sea of flames raged around him. He roared in fury, "Eclipse Moon Marquis, what is the meaning of this? This is my place of cultivation. What are you doing?"

The golden crow's aura was powerful, but inwardly, he was quite alarmed. Why were there so many experts around him? Just what was going on? The so-called Eclipse Moon Marquis was Venerable Moon. It had been many years since these Venerables were addressed by their original titles.

Both Venerable Moon and Thunderstorm frowned. Venerable Moon, in particular, was surprised to see that this golden crow was still alive.

But soon, he unfurrowed his brows and smiled, "What a surprise, Golden Fire Marquis. It has been thirty thousand years since you were last seen. I thought you died during the sixth epoch."

Golden Fire Marquis was a powerful expert as well. He might not be a Venerable, but he wasn't far from one. In fact, he was among the strongest heavenly kings in existence.

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