Published at 9th of August 2026 8:47 am

Chapter 2194: Meeting Martial Emperor Again (1)

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Lan Tian and a few others had broken through one after another. In truth, Su Yu had not expected this. Quite a lot of them had broken through. Almost everyone he expected to break through sometime in the near future had broken through today.

On top of that, his world has also expanded considerably due to the infusion of a large number of chaos beast corpses and Daofuse daos. Somewhere amid chaos, his world slowly grew from the size of a small city to the size of Great Xia City.

Of course, this was still far too small compared to the size of the Myriad Realms and Death Realm. In fact, it was even smaller than the Dao Origin Land. Nevertheless, this was most certainly a good progress.

***

As for others, some had gained something from this cultivation session, and some didn't. Something like dao comprehension relied heavily on one's talent and fortune. Thus, there was no way Su Yu could guarantee growth for everyone.

As Su Yu swept his gaze over his people, he noted that his faction had grown much stronger. This was a good thing, but for many of them, Venerable was perhaps the furthest they could reach. For example, people like March would be hard-pressed to grow beyond a Venerable.

The growth toward a peak Venerable relied more than comprehension alone. The strength of the dao one cultivated played a great role as well. For instance, this could very well be the maximum strength of March's dao. Thus, this would be his limit for the foreseeable future. His only path forward was to actually step into the next realm and become a Master of Law.

This was applicable to Giant Axe and a few others. As Great Zhou King said previously, not every dao could push one to the level of a heavenly king. The same could be said for the level of a Venerable.

As for the daos cultivated by Yue Zhan and a few others, their daos were unique in the first place. Additionally, these were also powerful daos, allowing them to reach a level beyond regular Venerables. Not all Venerables could go that far.

Su Yu looked at March and the others. To grow further, they would probably need to wait for the removal of the restriction before trying to become Masters of Laws. Otherwise, this could very well be their limit for life. They felt rather uncomfortable to be scrutinized by Su Yu like this.

Su Yu's presence had grown a lot more imposing than before. He could put great pressure on someone just by staring.

Before long, Su Yu moved his gaze toward Heavenly Overseer Marquis and said, "At this point, everyone's strength has been exposed. Everyone except Hundred Battle. How strong is his son? That remains an unknown variable.

"The situation in the Myriad Realms will remain clear-cut before the various eras start returning. Only a few unaffiliated powerhouses remain as variables. Martial Emperor, Death Imperator, chaos dragon, and eight-winged tiger.

"Death Imperator will most likely remain stuck in the Death Realm even after breaking free. Even if he can somehow leave the Death Realm, he won't be able to do much unless he can return to life. Thus, he isn't really a concern. We only really need to worry about the other three variables."

Great Zhou King and Wan Tiansheng stood side by side. The two looked so similar that it felt as though they were copies.

Great Zhou King said, "Your Majesty, are you thinking of recruiting the three?"

As for the Death Imperator, they could try recruiting him as well. He didn't even need to do much after joining them. He only needed to watch over the Death Realm for Su Yu and serve as Su Yu's backup. Anyone entering the Death Realm in pursuit of Su Yu would be subjected to his attack. Thus, this would be a great role for him.

However, the others wouldn't be so easy to recruit.

Su Yu laughed and said, "We can ignore the chaos dragon and eight-winged tiger for now. They are fully focused on Yu Qing and the chaos will. They might be targeting even the matron dragon. In a way, our goals still align. Martial Emperor, on the other hand..."

Su Yu sank into thought.

Wan Tiansheng said, "Martial Emperor is too proud. However, he lacks the ability to back up his pride."

Wan Tiansheng was clearly looking down on Martial Emperor. Then again, this wasn't the first time they were doing this.

Wan Tiansheng continued, "Someone like Martial Emperor is easily satisfied. People like him don't have great aspirations. As someone who has opened the Heaven Gate, he is greatly talented. But he's similar to Martial King.

"Do you still remember North Heavenly King's words before his death? He only wished to become the tyrant of his own territory. He was unwilling to submit to anyone, yet he lacked the ability to remain independent."

Su Yu blinked. Yes, that was true!

Wan Tiansheng continued his analysis, "Martial Emperor has opened the Heaven Gate, but he refuses to explore or pioneer a new dao. Instead, he has been sticking to the same dao. In short, he is conservative and stubborn.

"He knew that Culture King and the others were stronger, but he was too proud to join them. Ultimately, he was defeated and sealed by Martial King. I doubt he was sealed because he killed some innocents. Rather, he was suppressed because at the time, humanity required someone to make an example of."

If humanity couldn't even unify internally, how could it attempt to conquer the Myriad Realms? Thus, Martial Emperor, the master of a Heaven Gate, was picked as the victim to be used in Human Emperor's demonstration of power.

Wan Tiansheng continued, "According to what you said previously, Culture King was aware of this. He agreed to it tacitly. Martial King was the one to first raise the issue of Martial Emperor, but I doubt he had the brains for that. Thus, he had most likely done so through Human Emperor's guidance.

"Human Emperor wished to act against Martial Emperor. However, Martial Emperor had not done any wrong. Thus, he was sealed instead of killed. However, they announced his death after sealing him away to maximize their gains after defeating him."

Had Martial Emperor done any wrong back then? Nobody could say for sure. For example, could one say for certain that the North Heavenly King was wrong in wanting to preserve his independence?

He only wanted to be free. He only cared about that tiny territory of his. But he existed in an era of strife. In such an era, longing for freedom without the ability to maintain one's freedom was in itself a form of wrong.

Therefore, North Heavenly King died. He died in the hands of Dragonblood Marquis. In fact, he had barely fought Su Yu. His fate was merely a small representation of how the current era worked. Martial Emperor was one such small representation as well.

Su Yu nodded, "Yes. You make a lot of sense. I understand all that. However, Martial Emperor was humiliated after he was sealed away. Why? What was the point of that? Why did Martial King go that far?"

For Martial Emperor, being sealed away or even having his body forged into the Luminous Domain Mansion was not that big of a deal. However, he had been planted to the ground in a humiliating position. For an esteemed powerhouse like him, such a humiliation was enough to turn into a blood feud.

Nobody had an answer to that.

When Wan Tiansheng looked at Great Zhou King for an answer, Great Zhou King shook his head. "I only started following His Majesty toward the end of the conquest. Martial Emperor's incident happened early on. I don't know much about that."

Heh.

Wan Tiansheng gave up and said, "Your Majesty, based on my analysis, Martial Emperor is someone who cares a lot about face. Even when he's scared, he wouldn't admit to it. As long as you show him enough face and provide an appropriate excuse to join you, it isn't impossible to recruit him.

"Brute force might be the least effective method to recruit him. Otherwise, people like Human Emperor and Culture King would have recruited him back then."

Su Yu nodded. "True. Also, he could have been too proud to join them back then. But things have changed after a hundred thousand years of imprisonment. He's not stupid. He knows very well that his era is over."

No matter how stupid Martial Emperor was, a hundred thousand years of imprisonment should be enough to teach him that.

Lan Tian laughed and said, "Martial Emperor's greatest resentment is Martial King's attack. As long as you give him hope that he can defeat Martial King when they meet in the future, or you can even point out the possibility of doing the same to Martial King, he will be tempted."

Marquis Lanshan couldn't resist interrupting, "That won't be proper, right? Lord Martial King..."

That was her former master. As far as she was concerned, it wasn't appropriate to use Martial King as the bargaining chip to recruit Martial Emperor.

But for the others, this didn't matter. They weren't all too familiar with Martial King. Thus, they were quite willing to recruit a premier powerhouse like Martial Emperor if an empty promise was all it took.

Lan Tian said, "His Majesty isn't going to promise that he will act against Martial King personally, right? We can promise to help Martial Emperor grow stronger. As for his vengeance, he will have to handle it himself. His Majesty will only be in charge of keeping Culture King, Human Emperor, and the others busy and grant him a fair fight against Martial King.

"Senior Lanshan, we live in a different era. His Majesty needs all the help he can get. Martial King was already stronger than Martial Emperor back then. Martial Emperor has been sealed away for over a hundred thousand years while Martial King has been free. As a warrior, he shouldn't fear a fair confrontation against such an opponent as that would only serve to destroy his confidence as a cultivator.

"Thus, we will only be offering Martial Emperor good feelings. When he does fight Martial King, Culture King and the others will be unlikely to interfere. Not even Martial King himself will allow them to interfere. As a warrior yourself, can't you understand this, Marquis Lanshan? Will you refuse an opponent you once defeated when the opponent returns for a second round?"

Marquis Lanshan thought about it and shook her head.

No.

A defeated foe who had not been able to grow as much as her. Why should she reject a fair fight against such an opponent?

Lan Tian smiled, "Therefore, this won't be an issue. The promises we give won't harm Martial Emperor and Martial King. Yet these promises will give Martial Emperor the excuse he needs to join us."

Clearly, everyone had agreed that they should try recruiting Martial Emperor.

No, not everyone. Suddenly, South Heavenly King spoke, "But all this is assuming that there is a willingness to join on Martial Emperor's part. If there's no such willingness, he might attack His Majesty once he regains his freedom. What should we do, then?

"He's strong enough that he might end up as the strongest being of this era after breaking free. Will the strongest being really be willing to bow to someone else? You can promise him everything, but that will only work if he actually cares about all that. What if he doesn't care at all? Do not be too optimistic."

Everyone's enthusiasm dimmed.

Su Yu's longing for more powerhouses was understandable. After all, the first Master of Law had emerged. He was likely feeling the pressure. But the more hope he placed on Martial Emperor's submission, the more disappointed he might feel upon failure.

Su Yu nodded. That was reasonable as well.

Wan Tiansheng smiled and said, "That's a good reminder, South Heavenly King. However, there is no harm in trying.

"Your Majesty, Martial Emperor is proud and arrogant. He looks down on most people. To recruit him, you must do it personally."

From how Martial Emperor referred to everyone as bugs, one could only imagine how prideful he was. Even after so many years of imprisonment, he still looked down on weaklings.

Su Yu was the only one capable of subduing him.

Great Zhou King said, "That is true. Your Majesty is the only person who stands a chance at recruiting him. As for the rest of us, we can try talking to the chaos dragon and eight-winged tiger. We don't necessarily need to recruit them, but we can try to form a temporary pact with them. After all, Yu Qing is their priority target. We can offer to help against this opponent."

Su Yu thought about it and nodded. Yes. That was worth trying.

He sank into contemplation. After a short moment, he said, "For now, the sinned lineage and the myriad races will be our priority targets. We can set Hundred Battle aside for now. I am still curious about one thing. What was his ultimate goal when he kept Yue Luo as his spy among the sinned lineage? The lineage itself or the Hell Gate?"

Prior to this, he might have been wary of both the sinned lineage and myriad races. But much of that fear should be gone by now. Yet he was still biding his time.

Very few people knew about Yu Qing's summoning prior to her arrival, but Yue Luo was most definitely one of the few aware of it. At the time, Hundred Battle King could have continued pretending to be stupid and doing something while Su Yu was attacking Yue Qin. After all, even the myriad races had been dragged into that battle. Coupled with a sudden betrayal by Yue Luo, Hundred Battle King could have defeated the sinned lineage then and there.

With the sinned lineage out of the picture, he could focus on the myriad races after a short reorganization. But he had done nothing. In that case, what was his goal, exactly? Was it rally the sinned lineage? Or was it the Hell Gate? Was he strong enough to handle the beings behind the gate?

Nobody had an answer to that question. After some thought, Great Zhou King said, "Hundred Battle has the bloodline of Human Ancestor. In that case, his ultimate goal might be related to Human Ancestor. It is even possible that he's trying to summon Human Ancestor back.

"Assuming Human Ancestor isn't dead, where can he be? Behind the Heaven Gate? Or behind the Hell Gate?

"We don't know. And this won't be an easy guess. Human Ancestor was last sighted during the early primordial era. At the time, the Heaven Gate might have already appeared. But he cultivated the physical body dao. He would be more interested in the Chaos Era since the chaos dao is more powerful in terms of physical strength."

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