Tribulation of Myriad Races

By the time Su Yu was back at the research center, it was late afternoon. The monthly examination was going to be held on the 30th, the day after tomorrow. Today, there was no afternoon class. Thus, the moment Su Yu was back, he prepared to go upstairs to cultivate. Bai Feng admired that, but he still stopped Su Yu.

“Don’t tire yourself out too much in the coming two days. Remember to get enough rest. I checked your willpower. It is near the Mental Tempering Stage. That is the equivalent of a warrior’s Infinite Strength Realm. But most cultural researchers have no combat strength at that stage. They can’t even beat Great Strength cultivators…

“Why is that? Because these students lack a lot of things at the Mental Tempering Stage. A proper Mental Tempering Stage cultivator is capable of fighting an Infinite Strength warrior or even facing a Skysoar cultivator.

“During the early stages, I’ll allow you to grow by yourself. But the moment you reach the Mental Tempering Stage, you will find yourself busier than now. Treasure the free time you still have. As for your spars, just treat them as entertainment to loosen up amid your bitter cultivation. You don’t have to treat them too seriously.”

Su Yu nodded. He didn’t really mind being busy. How much busier could he be? There were only 24 hours per day. Would he be so busy that he had to work 25 hours per day?

That reminded Su Yu of something. He said, “Teacher, you mentioned before that the war academies will have some visiting students. But why are there no news about that?”

“The new semester has just started and everyone is still busy cultivating. Nobody has the time to visit. You need to give them some time to grow first. Before visiting, you need their geniuses to enter the Great Strength or even the Infinite Strength Realm first, right? Why? Are you looking forward to getting beaten up already? Don’t get too confident after reaching the third-stage Great Strength Realm. In the previous years, their visitors had always been at the Infinite Strength Realm.”

Su Yu was astonished, “Infinite Strength Realm? Their cultivation speed is way too fast.”

“That’s normal. They don’t have to waste their time with willpower. Some of their geniuses were already at the Great Strength Realm before entering the academy. It’s not surprising for them to reach the Infinite Strength Realm.”

“I see.”

After a short chat, the two parted and resumed their busy life.

…

Third underground floor, laboratory.

Bai Feng sighed. Su Yu’s growth was too fast. He had thought that Su Yu would need at least three more months to reach the Mental Tempering Stage, but it was evident it would take Su Yu no more than ten more days.

And unfortunately, his martial brother had encountered some troubles too. Because of that, some of his plans were disrupted.

“That bastard Liu Hong is entering seclusion at such a bad timing…”

Bai Feng cursed and called someone with his communicator. A short while later, he changed into a new set of clothes and left the laboratory.

…

Books depository.

That was one of the more important locations in the academy. In fact, its importance was comparable to the Grotto District.

Top floor. Inside an office.

Bai Feng opened the door and walked through it. Inside, a refined man had a pained look when he laid his eyes on Bai Feng. “Look at you. Have you been busy with research again recently? Are you not afraid of breaking yourself from exhaustion?”

“I’m fine.”

Bai Feng replied nonchalantly. He was very comfortable in front of his senior brother, Chen Yong. When he first joined the academy, Chen Yong was the first person to notice him. And he had nearly ended up as Chen Yong’s student.

Bai Feng sat down and started pouring tea for himself like he was at home. Chen Yong smiled looking at Bai Feng’s antics, but his expression soon turned helpless as he said, “Did you sell Teacher’s stuff?”

“Nope.” Bai Feng denied. But he soon grinned and said, “Yes, I did. They are actually quite valuable! Senior Brother, how big is the remaining hole?”

“Around 5,000 merit points.”

“There’s still such a big hole?” Bai Feng frowned, “If we really have no choice, I’ll visit the Allheaven Battlefield and kill some Skysoar enemies…”

“Don’t mess around.” Chen Yong shook his head, “Even if we manage to plug the hole, it is still very unlikely for me to preserve my position. We had taken the original texts out of the depository. Even if we pay up with merit points, they can still find an excuse to get us in trouble since those original texts are not around anymore.”

Chen Yong smiled, “Therefore, I have not used the merit points you gave me before. I still have all of them. Try to push your student to the Mental Tempering Stage while I’m still here. He can then come and read more original texts for free. Since I’m going to lose this position anyway, I might as well make use of it to the fullest before leaving.”

“Senior Brother.” Bai Feng was indignant, “They are basically trying to pull our roots out. Everyone knows what the others are doing at the books depository. They have been using it for their own benefits as well. If they’re really going to mess with us, we’ll make things difficult for them too. We might as well use the remaining time you have here to shut the entire depository down and stop everyone from using it.”

“Don’t mess around.” Chen Yong chided, “The academy is here to nurture talents. If you don’t allow the geniuses to enter the depository, that is the same as disrupting their cultivation. The entire academy, Great Xia, or even humanity might suffer because of that…”

Bai Feng furiously said, “We are having a hard time even taking care of ourselves. Why do we need to care about others? I’m not the selfish one here. They are the ones who are refusing to even give us a small breathing space. If they really want to escalate the conflict, bring it on! Am I supposed to be afraid of them?”

Chen Yong said, “Escalate? How? They have countless geniuses and experts. How about us? There are only five of us. If you’re a regular student, would you choose the single character faction or the multiple character faction?”

“Is that Wan guy really going to ignore all this?”

Chen Yong smiled, “I understand Principal Wan’s thoughts. If the multiple character faction can continue surviving despite its struggles, then there would naturally be a need for it to continue existing. If it ended up eliminated, well, that’s natural selection at work. That can only mean that the multiple character faction is no longer suitable for the current times.”

“Nonsense!” Bai Feng cursed furiously. After a while, he said, “This isn’t a good time for me to ask for this, but since things are already this bad, I guess there is no point in hesitating. Su Yu is progressing quickly. He’s going to reach the Mental Tempering Stage soon. At that time, I’ll formally allow him to start cultivating multiple Divine Characters…”

“Near Mental Tempering Stage?” Chen Yong was surprised. He said, “I thought he’s…”

“That kid has been spending all his time in the fragment room. He’s cultivating like his life depends on it so his progress is fast. I’m worried about his cultivation. Which system should he cultivate? Should he cultivate the dragon slaying system like me or cultivate a balanced path of offense and defense like Teacher?”

Chen Yong smiled, “Why can’t he learn from me and cultivate the defensive path?”

“…”

Bai Feng glanced at his senior brother. He couldn’t bring himself to say his true thoughts. After a long while, he said, “Uhm…I think it’s better if he can at least fight back. The turtle path…cough, cough, the defensive path is not good for morale.”

Chen Yong glared at Bai Feng. This fellow sure had a lot of nonsense to say!

“Ask for his own opinion. Don’t make his choice for him. Each path has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, you’re good at attacking and nothing else. If we’re at the same cultivation level, if you fail to defeat me in three moves, I’ll definitely win.”

Bai Feng helplessly said, “True. I have no way of breaking through your turtle shell…”

“What did you just say?”

Bai Feng laughed awkwardly and said, “Fine. I’ll ask him when the time is right. I still hope he can walk my path. What’s the point of defending nowadays? Look at you. Your combat style is so passive. Unless others take the initiative to attack you, it’s like you’re tickling others when you attack…”

“Shut up!” Chen Yong was getting furious. “Are you here to ask about sending him here? No problem. Send him here after he reaches the Mental Tempering Stage. We’re only going to use up a few more original texts. It no longer matters.”

“Good. I’ve been worrying about this.”

Bai Feng was relieved. But he was still upset. His senior brother sounded fine, but it was clear his senior brother was prepared to give up on this position.

At that thought, he asked, “How’s Wu Jia?”

“She’s recovering fine. She will probably recover fully in three months. But her cultivation will be delayed because of this.”

Bai Feng was furious, “Those people are pushing it too far. This is Wu Jia’s golden period of cultivation. Delaying her by three months while all the other top 100 students are growing is too cruel. Even after recovering, it would be hard for her to get back into the Top 100 Ranking.

“Back when we were competing against them, I won countless times. But most of the time, I left them with only minor injuries. Heavy injuries would only happen if the fight was so intense that we couldn’t hold back. But look at what they are doing to us. Is this still a normal competition?”

Bai Feng stood up angrily, “What are they trying to do? Are they trying to eliminate us completely?”

Chen Yong waved his hand, telling Bai Feng to calm down.

When Bai Feng sat back down, Chen Yong said, “You have to blame yourself for that. You have been showing off too much recently. Since you’ve been holding back for so many years, why defeat Hu Wensheng in one move this time? Because of that, they’re starting to feel pressured…”

Bai Feng clenched his teeth, “Yes, I was too rash! But my initial goal was to teach Su Yu that our multiple character faction is strong. Otherwise, that kid might really run off to be a weaponsmith instead. It has been a few years since we’ve gotten any new blood. If it wasn’t for all the pressure they’re heaping on us, is there a need for me to demonstrate my strength?”

Chen Yong said, “Jia’s opponent wasn’t able to hold back in time and ended up injuring her badly. You know how stubborn she is. She’s not the kind to admit defeat easily. We can’t say anything since she was injured because of her stubbornness.”

Bai Feng rolled his eyes and said, “Senior Brother, can you stop being so gentle? Why must you find an excuse for everything they do? Are you on our side or not? This has always been how they are. The kinder you are, the more excessive they become. I understand the multiple character faction shouldn’t grow too big, but our cultivation is still suitable for the freaks and high-high students. Is it so hard for them to give us a few students? They’re simply afraid that we would rise to prominence again and snatch the power they now enjoy.”

Bai Feng snorted, “The competition in the academy is no longer as pure as it used to be. Back then, they could say that they were doing all that for humanity, Great Xia, and the academy. But now…their intentions are no longer so pure.

“During Grandteacher’s time, the multiple character faction had a lot of members, right? Sure, most of them failed and ended up switching to cultivating the single character path, but there is no denying that we once stood at the top as well. If it wasn’t for the deaths of Grandteacher and a few other elders of that generation, how would our faction decline so badly?”

“And we’re not the same as Martial Uncle…” Bai Feng sighed at the mention of Liu Wenyan. “Their generation was crippled. But that was because they all pursued something different. They were aiming for a much higher height. But if we only look at the Cloudbreach and Mountainsea Realms, we are definitely the better choice.”

Liu Wenyan’s generation had not been crippled just because they had cultivated too many Divine Characters.

“As long as we don’t follow Martial Uncle’s path, if we focus on only multiple Divine Characters, things would be the same as how it was during the peak of our faction. How can they say that our path would hinder the students?

“The decline of the multiple character faction was merely an accident. It wasn’t an inevitability. As long as we set higher recruiting standards, the regular students would have other choices instead of entering our faction. The other factions would still be able to get students. They can’t seal us off just because we’re stronger than others in the same realm.”

In fact, Bai Feng found that laughable. That was the excuse the single character faction had been using to suppress them. The single character faction claimed that if the multiple character faction grew too strong, they might end up leading more students astray with their path.

What a load of nonsense! Bai Feng had never believed in that excuse.

Of course, the single character faction had a strong reason to use that excuse. The tragedy 50 years ago was the clear proof that they were right. And they had been using the crippled generation as an example again and again. But to be truth, that was merely a special case.

That generation was simply too exceptional prior to their crippling. And there was no denying that a massive number of students had dedicated themselves to the path of multiple characters because of their yearning toward that golden generation.