Published at 3rd of October 2026 6:14 am

Chapter 2303: Fake Smile (1)

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An amicable conversation was ongoing between Su Yu and Human Emperor.

In truth, Su Yu still had many questions. But after some consideration, he decided that there was no rush. Thus, he moved back to the main topic, "With us here, the myriad races might find the motivation to unify again after finding out about us. Your Imperial Majesty, do you have any plans against them?"

After so many years of standoff, Human Emperor must have thought of something. Su Yu refused to believe otherwise. Since Human Emperor had been waiting so many years for reinforcements, what was his next step now that his reinforcements were here?

At that, Human Emperor sighed, "If I were at my peak, this would be the best chance to charge forth and kill a few tier-ones among them. There are naturally cowardly people among them as well. Not everyone is fearless and unyielding. They will be much easier to handle with a few tier-ones dead."

Unfortunately, he was no longer at his peak.

Human Emperor continued, "When fighting the myriad races, you have to hold back. Otherwise, they might decide to ruin things for everyone in their desperation. We don't have the time to recover from the desperate blow they might deal us. The three gates will open soon."

Thus, they had to win without many losses. They were essentially fighting about 120 or so Masters of Laws with 80 or so. Such a battle would only result in a pyrrhic victory for the victor.

If the victor survived with ten or twenty Masters of Laws, their doom would still arrive the moment the three gates opened. There were quite a lot of powerhouses behind those gates.

At present, the powerhouses gathered in this battlefield were those from the primordial past, the ancient past, and the New Domain Era. Strictly speaking, all of them belonged to the same era.

In that case, how many powerhouses were there behind the three gates? After all, each gate sealed an era.

At that thought, Su Yu asked, "What era is sealed behind the Human Gate? I know that the Heaven Gate sealed the Creation Era. The Hell Gate sealed the Chaos Era. I know that as well. But I'm curious about the Human Gate. What era is sealed behind it?"

Su Yu was indeed quite curious about that. The Human Gate seemed related to Human Ancestor, yet it also seemed related to the Master of Time. It might be related at the one end of the river.

"Human Gate..." After a short hesitation, Human Emperor said, "The Master of Time grew powerful during the Chaos Era. That is a logical conclusion, right?"

Su Yu nodded. Yes.

"Take yourself as an example. You grew to power in this era. Would you seal this era away after growing strong enough?"

Su Yu blinked. No, right? Why would he seal his era away when he grew strong? His eyes flickered.

Human Emperor smiled, "That's the logic. The Human Gate was probably one of the origins of Master of Time's Creation. It has probably sealed the era before the Chaos Era."

Su Yu gasped, "In that case...how did Hundred Battle and his people cultivate the Human Gate?"

"That might be related to Human Ancestor. Human Ancestor might have entered the Human Gate before." Sure enough, Human Emperor knew a lot. With a smile, he said, "There are cycles to the Myriad Realms. In truth, the era behind the Human Gate was probably once a glorious era as well. That might be the first era in existence. Master of Time probably originated from that era, but he only grew strong during the Chaos Era.

"I don't know the exact reason for the creation of his time dao. But it has the Human Gate and Heaven Gate at the two ends, with the Earth Gate sealed in the middle. Don't you feel like his dao itself seems more like a seal?"

Su Yu's heart thumped.

Human Emperor said, "Exactly. A seal. Perhaps the Master of Time only proceeded with creation to seal all these things away. With the Creation Era sealed behind the Heaven Gate, the Master of Time should have vanished as well. But who knows the truth?

"Creating the Myriad Realms and allowing its inhabitants to cultivate? That was merely for the sake of strengthening the seal. The more cultivators the Myriad Realms produce, the stronger the seal will be.

"We are all strengthening the River of Time and its sealing power. That's the logic. But for some reason, the three gates are on the verge of opening. Some variables might have appeared. Some people might be deliberately weakening the river."

At that, Su Yu's eyes flickered as he asked, "Your Majesty, are you familiar with the Three Body Method?"

"Three Body Method..."

After a short silence, Human Emperor asked, "You noticed?"

"Yes."

Human Emperor laughed and said, "That is probably one of the methods used to weaken the river. Someone spread it long ago for the purpose of weakening the river. However, I suppressed its spread previously."

Su Yu's eyes flickered again. Human Emperor...suppressed its spread.

Seemingly having guessed that Su Yu had utilized the method, Human Emperor sighed and said, "Yes, extracting our essence will help us grow stronger. But the river will weaken. Of course, it doesn't matter anymore since the three gates are already on the verge of opening."

He sighed and continued, "In any case, it's not like you're the first to do it. I did it as well."

He said helplessly, "I knew something was wrong the moment I extracted my essence. Thus, I suppressed its spread during my time. But ultimately, it was still spread. The only way to fully suppress its cultivation was to kill everyone who had cultivated it. Otherwise, it would be impossible."

"Just where did the method come from?" Su Yu asked doubtfully.

According to Human Emperor, he knew about the method and its threat. Clearly, he knew a lot. At the very least, he knew almost everything Su Yu knew as well. What a nightmarish being.

If even someone so incredible was reduced to such a sorry state, the person scheming against him was clearly no pushover either. The Three Body Method must have originated from one of the gates.

And sure enough, Human Emperor answered, "The method definitely came from one of the gates. I don't know which and who in specific, and it is too hard to investigate after so long. In any case, the method has been around even before my time.

"As I rose to power, I suppressed the influence of the method to the lowest extent. But by now, it might have risen from its grave."

Su Yu nodded, "No, more than that. By the sixth epoch, the Three Body Method became the mainstream method. Those not cultivating this method would all be erased by the laws."

Human Emperor's eyes flickered, "Erased by the laws? Xing Yue did not mention that. In short, someone must have modified the laws around that time..."

"The sixth epoch..."

He thought about it and said, "A powerhouse must have left one of the gates during that time. The gate might have opened temporarily, or the powerhouse must have left through some sort of power leverage. The sixth epoch..."

He asked, "Did anything special happen during that epoch?"

Su Yu shook his head. He was unsure about this. But next, his gaze settled on the group nearby. These people might know more. Thus, he called out, "Heavenly Fate, come here."

Heavenly Fate Marquis had stayed awake over the epochs. He might know more.

Before long, Heavenly Fate Marquis flew over. After giving Human Emperor a slight bow, he looked at Su Yu. "Your Majesty."

Su Yu asked, "Do you remember anything different happening in the sixth epoch?"

"Something different?" Heavenly Fate Marquis spent a long time thinking before answering, "Yes, a few. First, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion stopped siding with humanity in that era. Instead, Heavenly Overseer opted to become a neutral party.

"Second, the human lord of that epoch was very powerful. At the time, he even won against the myriad races. He wasn't as strong as Your Majesty, but he was a Venerable or even as strong as a tier-five Master of Law. But after humanity's victory, he somehow died during a cultivation session, forcing the sixth epoch to end prematurely.

"Third, the human lord stopped appearing in public as much at the end of the sixth epoch. At the time, he was in no rush to finish the war against the myriad races. Instead, he was entirely focused on his cultivation. Isn't that odd?"

These were the only things he could think of.

Human Emperor asked, "Heavenly Fate, did the sixth human lord cultivate any of the three gates?"

"Hmm?"

Heavenly Fate Marquis shook his head, "Your Imperial Majesty, I don't know that. After all, I'm not a human."

True. Then again, one might not know even if one were a human.

Su Yu waved his hand, "Alright. I understand. You may return to the group."

"Yes."

With Heavenly Fate Marquis gone, Human Emperor spoke again, "The sixth human lord might have cultivated one of the three gates, triggering a change. Ultimately, someone exited one of the gates and killed him before altering the laws, forcing everyone to cultivate the Three Body Method."

Human Emperor smiled, "Thus, the opening of the three gates was brought forward. Otherwise, they could have remained sealed for a longer time."

He was able to deduce so much from some simple information. "The being from the gate might be quite strong, or even stronger than Zhou Tian. Zhou Tian shouldn't be completely clueless otherwise. Since he hadn't mentioned this to you, he must have been unaware."

Su Yu raised his brow, "You can never be sure with him. That fellow has a habit of lying to me. You sure picked a good commander for your secret guard. Apart from you, he does not acknowledge anyone."

Human Emperor laughed.

Instead of bickering about that, he continued, "The beings behind the three gates want the Three Body Method to spread. And we...also wish to strengthen ourselves through the Three Body Method. There's no helping it."

Su Yu nodded. Yes, they could still benefit from the Three Body Method. Furthermore, it was quite a cheap method to cultivate. It mainly sourced its strength from the essence in the River of Time. In short, one was saving cultivation resources by taking from the river.

Meanwhile, Human Emperor had concluded that the River of Time was a seal to seal the three gates. The countless beings cultivating the river were merely tools to help strengthen the seal.

In that case, was the Human Gate stronger or the Heaven Gate stronger? What was Human Ancestor's position?

At that thought, Su Yu asked, "Your Majesty, I heard that back then, Control King wanted to open the Earth Gate and release Human Ancestor. However, you refused. Is that the case? Did Human Ancestor decide to turn against humanity?"

"Human Ancestor?" Human Emperor said, "Control...It's hard for me to judge Control. I don't necessarily think that releasing Human Ancestor is bad for us. But that wasn't the time. Opening the Earth Gate might trigger the opening of all the other gates as well. That was a bad time for us to open all three gates."

"Was Control not aware of that?" Su Yu asked, "Why betray humanity?"

As one of the Four Cardinal Kings, and knowing the danger of the three gates, why did Control King insist on going down that path? Was Human Ancestor important enough to warrant a betrayal of humanity?

What joke was that? As one of the Four Cardinal Kings, Control King was a peak tier-two or perhaps even tier-one at the time. Would someone like that place all hope on Human Ancestor like Hundred Battle King?

Even now, Su Yu couldn't make sense of Control King's betrayal. What was the point? Furthermore, Human Emperor knew the truth. And Human Emperor had probably shared the truth. But Control King still persisted down the path of betrayal.

"Control..." At the mention of his old comrade-in-arms, Human Emperor sank into silence. After a while, he said, "Control had her own beliefs and pursuits. Human Ancestor was merely an excuse. Perhaps the Earth Gate wasn't even her goal. Perhaps her target was a different gate. The Earth Gate was merely a tool to make that happen."

"I once asked her about it, but she refused to answer. At the time, I didn't push to preserve our relationship. Back then, Culture King advised her to stop, but she ignored him. He was furious, and right at the same time, a crack appeared on the Earth Gate. He took that chance to send her against the beings from behind the gate in the hope of severing her path."

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