The whole guess about Hundred Battle King was only a speculation, but Su Yu made his plans on the assumption that his guess was the truth.

It didn't matter if his guess ended up wrong. A defeat would still be beneficial for him. Before growing further, and before the final battle, a defeat would not necessarily be a bad thing for him. Everyone on his side was getting too confident that he would win forever.

Blind faith was not a good thing. They were so confident in him that they no longer considered the strength of their opponents. They had also stopped wondering if there would be any traps waiting for them. He did not even have anyone capable of correcting him when he was wrong anymore.

Yes, Su Yu was an overbearing person. But that did not mean that he was unwilling to accept meaningful and good opinions. For example, not a single person had warned him about Hundred Battle King after his escape. Not even people like Great Zhou King, Wan Tiansheng, and Lan Tian.

Perhaps they had simply not suspected him, or perhaps they simply didn't care enough about him. As far as they were concerned, they only needed to put their trust in Su Yu.

Even Su Yu himself had not suspected anything until recently. Fortunately, he had learned a lot more about the previous epochs from Qi Rong and Riversea. If even the third human lord was smart enough to leave some contingencies behind, what about the ninth human lord, the one who was supposed to be the strongest?

***

Human Mountain.

As the migration was still ongoing, things were still chaotic on the Human Mountain. Thus, the security around the mountain was still relatively weak. Time as needed for the myriad races to perfect their security on the mountain.

Su Yu was able to easily return to the third level by transforming into a random iron devourer.

Great Bamboo Marquis was still busy settling his people down when he was summoned by Su Yu. Before long, he was back in the main hall. There, he was rendered speechless when he saw that Su Yu had transformed into a random iron devourer yet again. Su Yu had been disguising himself as random iron devourers frequently, and this might cause some suspicion among the myriad races.

After a short silence, Su Yu said, "One question, Great Bamboo Marquis. Why didn't the iron devourers help Hundred Battle during the ninth epoch?"

"..."

Great Bamboo Marquis gave him a long stare before answering, "July died in battle and Hundred Battle specialized in sending his allies to their death. We didn't dare to help."

"Why did July help him?"

Great Bamboo Marquis chuckled and said, "Hundred Battle was very strong. Humanity was very strong. At the time, many old fossils of humanity had emerged to help Hundred Battle. That was the strongest humanity had ever been. Furthermore, humanity was actually united. Everyone believed that Hundred Battle could win. The truth is that he could have really won if he hadn't been stabbed in the back at the end.

"I can only say that destiny did not stand on his side. If he hadn't been stabbed in the back, and if he had won, the iron devourer race would be reduced into a joke for pulling out when it mattered."

Su Yu nodded and asked, "From the perspective of an observer, what do you think of Hundred Battle?"

Great Bamboo Marquis grew doubtful. Why was Su Yu asking about that guy repeatedly?

After giving it some thought, he replied cautiously, "Incomparable might. Heavenly talent. Loyal and true to his friends, or to be precise, loyal and true to his fellow humans. That did not extend toward the allied races."

Loyal and true.

Great Zhou King had said the same about Hundred Battle King as well.

But someone like that had gone looking for Yue Luo right after his escape, an escape bought to him by South Suppression Marquis' sacrifice. Such a loyal subordinate had self-detonated for him, but he hadn't even bothered to look for South Suppression Marquis after regaining his freedom.

Did he not care about that loyal subordinate of his?

After a short silence, Su Yu asked, "Great Bamboo Marquis, do you think there are Masters of Laws among the current myriad races?"

"Uh..." Great Bamboo Marquis blanked out slightly before answering, "I doubt so? Humanity would have been wiped out long ago if that were the case..."

Su Yu frowned slightly and asked again, "Are you certain?"

"I guess?" Great Bamboo Marquis shook his head and said, "I don't think they have any Masters of Laws. Why are you asking all these questions today, Emperor Yu?"

Su Yu stopped talking and started rapping on the desk lightly. He had some questions. Why was Hundred Battle King so certain that the myriad races were good enough to contend against the chaos lineage?

That was the first question. Secondly, had the ancient fossils who had died for Hundred Battle King really died? A bunch of ancient fossils gladly threw themselves to death just to clear the way for him in the physical body dao. How touching.

The benefit of clearing the way was evident. Hundred Battle King could grow stronger. But the ones who had abandoned their dao for him could always switch their dao, right? Yes! Dao switching!

Su Yu had the ability to do so. Could Hundred Battle King do the same? Did he have the Heaven Gate? If he had the Heaven Gate, he could easily help others switch their daos.

The ancient fossils were domineering enough to force the third human lord to kill his own lover. However, they were so loyal to Hundred Battle King that they had all willingly died for him. That seemed rather uncharacteristic of them.

"Dao switching...dao fusion..."

Numerous thoughts emerged in his mind. After some time, he released Qi Rong again. Qi Rong looked better than before. Instead of being a fully skeletal figure, she looked less frail than before. The moment she was released, she looked at Su Yu doubtfully.

Su Yu said, "I have a question, Royal Consort Qi. Is dao switching possible between real daos?"

To avoid confusion, Su Yu further explained, "For example, can one cultivate the physical body dao and a different dao at the same time before breaking one's physical body dao to create a death phenomenon? Is that possible?"

In Su Yu's opinion, that should be possible. However, he was unsure since he had never done it before. Qi Rong might have an answer since she had researched this topic for so many years.

Qi Rong sank into thought. After a while, she said, "That should be possible, but it won't be easy. Since you are the owner of a Heaven Gate, this should be doable for you."

"So one can do so as long as one has the Heaven Gate?"

"I believe so." Qi Rong nodded. "With the Heaven Gate, one has the ability to see the very nature of the various daos. It shouldn't be too difficult for someone with a Heaven Gate. Cultivating two daos before breaking one of them won't be any different from someone cultivating only one dao and breaking that one dao. The phenomenon is harder to fake in the Lower Realm since there is a proper phenomenon down there. But in the Upper Realm, the effect of a broken dao is the sole sign one can take as a death phenomenon."

Su Yu's eyes flickered as he looked at Great Bamboo Marquis and asked, "Where did the ancient fossils who had abandoned their dao for Hundred Battle King die back then? Did they die in the Upper Realm or the Lower Realm?"

Why would that matter?

That was Great Bamboo Marquis' first thought. But when he thought back to what Su Yu was saying before this, his eyes flickered as he said, "Some died in the Upper Realm and some died in the Lower Realm. Back then, communication between the Lower and Upper Realms was smooth as the fate race served as the middleman for everyone."

Su Yu rubbed his chin and asked, "Do you know anything about the primordial giant race?"

"What?"

Great Bamboo Marquis was confused. Why were they suddenly talking about the primordial giants?

Not understanding the question, he forced himself to give an answer, "The primordial giant race is a race of giants from the primordial past, one of the hegemons back then. What about them?"

"No, I mean to ask about their previous relationship with humanity."

"Decent, I suppose."

Su Yu nodded, "But why are they perfectly fine even after nearly all allied races of humanity are gone? If you ask me, they're doing better than even the iron devourers. The myriad races are not as prejudiced against them."

Great Bamboo Marquis exhaled in relief. So this was what Su Yu was trying to ask.

He answered, "The iron devourer race has always been a close ally of humanity. But the primordial giant race was an enemy of humanity during the ninth epoch."

That reminded Su Yu of something he had heard.

Yes.

They used to be enemies!

Previously, the primordial giant race had helped them under Great Zhou King's invitation. And their king had arrived personally to help. Because of them, Su Yu grew curious about them. Eventually, he discovered that the primordial giant race wasn't neutral during the ninth epoch. Rather, they stood against humanity.

But that did not make sense. Since they joined the war on the opposite side of humanity, how did they produce a descendant with Hundred Battle King?

Great Zhou King was clearly aware of that. Su Yu thought about it and said, "Were you aware of Hundred Battle King's descendant with the primordial giant race before this?"

"How was I supposed to know that?" Great Bamboo Marquis said, "Nobody would have expected that. As I said, Hundred Battle was very friendly toward humanity, but he was completely indifferent about the other races. And he was a very arrogant leader. He cared a lot about bloodlines. Someone like that shouldn't have produced a descendant with a non-human. Did he perhaps believe that the primordial giant race had the superior version of human bloodline?"

Great Bamboo Marquis thought about it and continued, "I believe that the primordial giant race is the closest race to humanity, or to be precise, the most similar race to humanity. If you ignore the fact that they are calling themselves the primordial giant race because of their origin, they are essentially giants. An upsized humanity. Apart from their size, they are almost the same as the human race.

"According to the legends, the primordial giant race descended from the Human Ancestor as well. They hailed from a different branch than the current human race. But that is merely a legend."

"A branch of Human Ancestor?" Su Yu looked at Qi Rong.

Noticing Su Yu's gaze on her, she explained, "Yes, there is such a legend floating around. According to the legend, the Human Ancestor was related to the start of the primordial past. Human Emperor was a hegemon of that era.

"And the primordial giant race was also a hegemon of that era. Some believed that the Human Ancestor was actually the Primordial Giant Emperor.

"The primordial giant race has never appointed an emperor, even during the primordial past. This persisted through the ancient past, and lasted until now."

Su Yu frowned. Yes. That was the case. The primordial giant race had never appointed an emperor for their own race. They had always been led by a king, not an emperor.

Qi Rong continued, "But that was too far in the past. We don't know much apart from the fact that this is a legend. I believe the oldest being currently in existence is Grand Dream. But even Grand Dream was born after the creation era. Even if he was already around during Human Ancestor's time, he was too weak to know much about such experts back then."

Grand Dream. The oldest being in the Myriad Realms.

Alas, he was too lazy. He had spent the majority of his time sleeping. Even if he hadn't been sleeping, there was no promise that he would know about something from so long ago. At the time, he was still too weak to learn about all those experts.

Numerous thoughts emerged in Su Yu's mind. The primordial giant race was an enemy of the human race during the ninth epoch. But such a race had produced a descendant with Hundred Battle King.

How did Great Zhou King learn about that? Great Zhou King had not explained much, and he had claimed that very few people knew about the matter. But Su Yu did not recall anyone knowing the matter apart from Great Zhou King. Very few were different from only one. Not even people like Stable Army Marquis knew about that.

"Great Zhou King?"

Su Yu's eyes flickered. Did Great Zhou King know more? Was he truly the sole survivor of the Torchbearers? Who could he truly trust? And who were merely making use of him? Who was he even fighting for?

Countless thoughts filled his mind. Hundred Battle King did not seem to have any subordinates left in the Upper Realm. But what about the Lower Realm?

The primordial giant race was mysterious and powerful. Yet they had been keeping a low profile. Even in the Upper Realm, everyone viewed the iron devourer race as a human ally. As for the fate race, it was viewed as a neutral race that wouldn't help humanity. The primordial giant race was never in anyone's sight.

"Human Ancestor's bloodline..."

Even more thoughts appeared in Su Yu's mind. According to Martial Emperor, the physical body dao of humanity was created by Human Ancestor. And that was indeed a powerful dao. Hundred Battle King had risen to power through the physical body dao. He was the strongest physical body dao cultivator in a hundred thousand years.