Chapter 2120: Start Of Resurrection, Will Of Death (2) |
At the same time.
Down below, Heavenbridge Marquis was frowning slightly. He sent a voice transmission, "Great Zhou King, Director Wan, some experts are searching for our entrance outside the Celestial Chasm Realm. One of them...seems to be an iron devourer. Wait...is that March?"
He was unsure. However, he could sense two powerful auras outside the realm. Wan Tiansheng's heart thumped. March? March was supposed to be in the Upper Realm. Why was he here? But Wan Tiansheng also knew that March was a Venerable.
Who was the other individual?
After a slight thought, Wan Tiansheng said, "Go see them. Don't be in a rush to let them in. Investigate properly first. Only let them in when necessary."
Wan Tiansheng was worried that their arrival would bring about some unknown variables. Thus, it was better to keep March outside and only let him in when his help was required.
Heavenbridge Marquis instantly understood what Wan Tiansheng was saying. "I understand. When danger arises, I'll teleport them straight toward the danger and have them face the most dangerous of our enemies. What do you think?"
Wan Tiansheng laughed. Heavenbridge Marqui was still as understanding as ever. It also seemed like he had been thinking more instead of talking lately.
"Sure. If danger arises..." Wan Tiansheng said, "It will probably come from the Sealed Region, the Celestial River of Death, or Martial Emperor's location. Await my order before doing anything."
Heavenbridge Marquis nodded. Sure. He knew what to do. In short, he only needed to teleport the two newcomers to the strongest enemy.
The intention of the two newcomers did not matter. He only knew that the two were not in any communication with the Death Realm experts. If they were here with good intentions, it was only natural for them to help with the strongest enemies. If they were here harboring bad intentions, well, those death spirits wouldn't believe they were friends when they were teleported right toward those death spirits either.
With a flicker, Heavenbridge Marquis vanished. Nobody knew where he went. And nobody cared too much since they were already used to his random disappearances.
***
The original location of the Celestial Chasm Realm had turned into a large swath of nothingness.
After spending some time in search, March frowned. "Even the realm entrance is gone. Clearly, they have fully severed their connection with the world of the living."
The entrance was nowhere to be found.
This would be troublesome. How were they supposed to get in contact with Su Yu, then? Su Yu had not left any contact methods behind before leaving. Were they supposed to go to the Human Realm instead? But Hundred Battle King was still there. That was not someone March wanted to meet.
Giant Axe Marquis was flying around as he continued the search. This was troubling. "Should we go to the Human Realm? Even the thirty-six ancient cities are missing. We have no way of contacting the Death Realm."
Just as March was about to nod in agreement, space rippled. Then, a figure appeared before them. Heavenbridge Marquis had arrived.
He smiled and said, "Venerable March and Giant Axe Marquis. It has been a while."
March was relieved. "Heavenbridge, it's good to see you."
Heavenbridge Marquis was a part of Su Yu's group in the Upper Realm, so he knew that Heavenbridge Marquis was on Su Yu's side. Clearly, the entrance was now under Heavenbridge Marquis' control.
March asked, "Is Emperor Yu well?"
Heavenbridge Marquis said, "He's doing decently. Aren't the two of you in the Upper Realm? Why are you here?"
"It's a long story..."
Just as March was about to make the long story short, Heavenbridge Marquis said, "Sure. Tell me about it. I have been quite free lately. I have the time to listen to your long story. Let's have a nice chat since it has been a while since we last met."
March frowned, while Giant Axe Marquis rolled his eyes. "Heavenbridge, what's the point of that? You're too talkative. Nobody has the time to talk. Where's Su Yu? By the way, you lost all your heavenly kings previously. Do you have any heavenly king left down here?"
This was a clear attempt to figure out their strength. Instantly, Heavenbridge Marquis grew suspicious.
He said, "Let's have a chat. I'm in the process of notifying his majesty, but he's currently in seclusion. I can only let the two of you in with his approval. You must be here to see him, but you have arrived at a bad time. I can't allow anyone in without permission. Please understand. Let's chat instead. His Majesty will naturally invite the two of you over the moment he's out of seclusion."
Seclusion?
Hearing that, March nodded. "In that case, let's wait. We are indeed here to see him. He left in a rush previously so we don't know much about him. Giant Axe is actually here to lend his assistance fo Emperor Yu."
He asked worriedly, "Is everyone doing well down there?"
Su Yu had clearly brought a lot of people with him, including the iron devourers. And March was more worried about the iron devourers. Heavenbridge Marquis was unwilling to give any actual information, so he gave a perfunctory answer before switching the topic.
But his reaction only caused March to grow even more anxious. Since he was being so avoidant, were they doing badly?
Thinking that he should prepare the two for the coming battle, Heavenbridge Marquis said, "We're not doing to well down there. A bunch of powerful fellows have been causing trouble for us as of late. It's good that the two of you are here. Would you be willing to help when we encounter trouble?"
"Of course!" March declared, "We will not shirk from our duty!"
Giant Axe Marquis nodded, "We will naturally help when you're in trouble. I doubt the Death Realm can pose much of a challenge to us. Just let me know if you require help."
He couldn't think of any powerful experts in the Death Realm apart from the four heavenly kings. And he could face two or even three of such opponents alone. With March by his side, there was nothing to fear, even if they had to face all four heavenly kings at the same time.
This was no big deal.
Heavenbridge Marquis smiled. "In that case, I'll be troubling the two of you. I'll teleport the two of you straight toward our enemies when something happens, but I will only do that for emergencies. We'll be relying on the two of you."
March asked with a frown, "Are they already fighting down there?"
"Nope." Heavenbridge Marquis said, "I'm only saying this as a precaution. Too many things have changed recently. Don't worry, I'm speaking the truth. I'm not a gate that lies."
In a way, he was telling the truth. The battle had yet to break out down there.
March nodded. This was reasonable. Heavenbridge Marquis wouldn't have the leisure to chat with them here if there was really an ongoing battle down there. By the way, was this guy saying this to find a topic for them to chat about?
Fine, fine. So be it.
And thus, the three continued their chat.
***
Celestial River of Death.
The river was still stirring with towering waves. Su Yu continued forcing his way through.
After some time, He Tu said, "Your Majesty, my dao essence is still quite far ahead. We need to go further to reach the dao essence of Daofuses."
Su Yu nodded. They would reach Dragonblood Marquis' dao essence soon.
Since He Tu was weaker, his dao essence should be elsewhere.
They continued ahead. After a while, He Tu's eyes flickered as he exclaimed, "Your Majesty, it should be nearby."
He couldn't pinpoint the exact location, but he knew they were already in the area. The waves around them were too violent for him to accurately pinpoint his dao essence. With a roar, Su Yu released the power of the token and suppressed the berserk waves.
A large drop of water was partially revealed from the river. Within that drop of water, He Tu's image could be seen. His essence was found.
Su Yu looked at the essence before looking at He Tu. "Try taking it into your body."
Taking it inside?
He Tu thought about it and nodded. He dove into the water, but the moment he did that, he started wailing in pain. A large amount of death qi was corroding his body. Even as a death spirit, this was too much for him to bear.
Seeing that, Su Yu frowned slightly and stomped his foot down, scattering the death qi and water away from He Tu. Relieved, He Tu hurriedly grabbed his essence. The moment the drop of water entered his palm, the river shook. It was as though the river had sensed something happening to it.
This was not supposed to happen. This was forbidden. Death spirits were forbidden from collecting their own essence.
With the drop of water in his hand, He Tu groaned with a pained expression and said, "Your Majesty, this essence...is rejecting me."
Su Yu gave the essence a short scan before saying with a frown, "It's the dao. Ignore it and try taking it in forcefully."
"Okay."
He Tu did as told and absorbed the essence into his body. BOOM! A gigantic wave rose from afar before rushing toward them.
Boom!
Not even Xing Yu's token was enough to suppress this wave. Thus, Su Yu was forced to release an additional suppression force with his own strength.
"Down!"
Done with suppressing the wave, Su Yu looked around with a deep frown. They had barely started yet the river was already reacting so strongly. This was not a good sign.
Boom!
More waves rose around them.
As for He Tu, he started extracting the power in his essence as quickly as possible. As he did that, his aura started growing. Prior to this, he was a tier-four Daofuse. He had been given the chance to observe the great dao several times alongside the others before this, but his cultivation had remained stuck.
Now that his essence had returned to him, he started growing rapidly. In the blink of an eye, he reached the third tier. Even then, he was still continuing to grow.
As a large amount of power poured into his body, he roared, "Your Majesty, the death spirit dao is drawing a part of our power all along. Now, I am snatching my power back."
Understanding dawned on Su Yu. This was the power the dao was extracting from the various death spirits. The death spirit dao was different from the time dao. As the Master of Death was a lot more overbearing, he had opted to draw from the power of death spirits to support the operation of his dao.
After all, the River of Time alone might not be enough to support the massive Celestial River of Death. Thus, He Tu was essentially competing for this power against the death spirit dao itself. The resistance was expected.
"Lock!"
With a roar, Su Yu released numerous different powers to lock down the waves around him. Even so, his frown grew deeper. This was getting troublesome. If the river was reacting so strongly to the resurrection of He Tu alone, how would the river react when it was South Heavenly King and the others?
A resistance of this level was still manageable for Su Yu. But at this rate, would the river really awaken? Even now, the river was already showing signs of awakening. In fact, would this somehow summon the Master of Death back? Or would it trigger the contingencies buried in the river?
Su Yu sank into hesitation. Should he get started with the resurrection of South Heavenly King and the others? Or should he focus on He Tu first?
"I'm worried that there won't be a second chance. But doing it for all of them together will be the same as staking everything on a single attempt."
Su Yu couldn't make up his mind. Furthermore, doing it for more people at once would also increase the difficulty significantly.
"Can anyone tell me what the correct choice is?"
Su Yu kept asking himself inwardly. As a leader, he had to constantly show a calm and confident appearance. But in truth, he was finding this a hard choice to make. Should he try it with He Tu alone? That was lower in risk, but the potential gain was also much lower.
"Damn it! This is so annoying."
He might seem confident, but losing He Tu, South Heavenly King, Lanshan, and Xing Yue was not something he could accept. He couldn't even show his hesitation to the others. He was even starting to wish that someone would step forth to stop him and tell him to try it with He Tu first.
But nobody was doing that. Things did not seem that desperate yet.
Su Yu inhaled deeply. After a short while, he finally reached a decision. "Those wishing to resurrect, come to me. The risk is high. You will most likely die from this attempt. Think it through before coming to me."