Tribulation of Myriad Races

Heart Paradise Island.

A prefect and a principal were lounging lazily while playing with some turtles.

After a while, Zhu Tiandao finally lost interest. The Mountainsea turtle emerged from the lake and stared at him. Noticing the turtle, Zhu Tiandao laughed in amusement and said, “Why are you looking at me like that? I’m playing with your son, not your wife.”

The old turtle gloomily said, “Lord Prefect, the looping turtle race does not lay eggs. We give birth directly.”

“I see.” Zhu Tiandao said, “Old Turtle, I allowed your race to grow big and strong in Great Ming. You should do something for me as gratitude, right?”

“Please state your command.”

The old turtle did not dare to slight Zhu Tiandao. He had known the prefect for centuries. He had never dared to underestimate this seemingly genial prefect.

Zhu Tiandao said, “It’s not a big matter. I only need your little turtles to move around for a bit. I want to see looping turtles in every single lake and river within Great Ming. Also, make sure they hide well and not expose themselves.

“Additionally, I need you to work harder and give birth to more little turtles. Have your little turtles do the same as well. The more you breed, the better it is. Let us test out a new concept: biological invasion. I intend to create a biological surveillance network that can instantly detect any intruder in Great Ming.

“Old Turtle, you have been staying in the Human Realm for over 300 years. Old Niu and I have been treating you well. So don’t be stingy with your little turtles. Be serious in this task.”

“I wouldn’t dare to slack.”

The old turtle was clearly afraid of Zhu Tiandao. He hurriedly said, “The looping turtle race is perfect for snitching. We are the best at hiding our presence. And our little turtles can enter a dormant state in any body of water. And even if they are seen, everyone will believe that they are regular turtles. Nobody will suspect anything.”

This was the special ability of the looping turtle race. They were extremely capable in terms of concealment. Unless one was specifically looking for them, one could very easily overlook their presence.

That was also why very few people knew that there were actually thousands of looping turtles residing in this lake. There was even a Mountainsea in the lake, but all of them were able to remain concealed from the public eye.

“Good. You may leave. Report promptly whenever you notice anything.”

“Alright.”

The old turtle hurriedly vanished into the lake. Next, the surface of the lake started rippling as the little turtles started spreading everywhere through the underground tunnels.

Before long, they settled down all over Great Ming. Humans could very easily be detected when working as spies. But these weak turtles could be overlooked very easily.

Zhu Tiandao said, “Old Niu, the old turtle will serve as my first layer of surveillance. Any news on the super sensory jade I commissioned you to forge previously?”

Niu Baidao had a troubled expression as he said, “Prefect, you asked for a super jade that can supervise the entire city undetected. Something like that is at the same level as the Hundred Dao Pagoda…”

“Cut the crap. Are you done forging it?”

Niu Baidao helplessly said, “No. I still need some time. I have been working on it for 50 years, but I lack a heaven-grade weaponsmith. I only have a few earth-grade weaponsmiths working on it…”

These words were enough to shock the entire Human Realm. Great Xia only had a single earth-grade weaponsmith who was being treated like a god. Even Zhao Li, a peak profound-grade weaponsmith was considered one of the best in Great Xia.

Meanwhile, Niu Baidao had several earth-grade weaponsmiths working under him to forge the so-called super sensory jade. A jade meant to supervise an entire city. With this jade, any expert would be instantly detected upon arrival. It was similar in concept to Su Yu’s Perception Jade.

And Zhu Tiandao was a lot more ambitious than the creator of the Perception Jade. He wanted to create something that could supervise the entire capital city. Great Ming Cultural Research Academy was in charge of forging this jade.

Zhu Tiandao sighed and said, “What a pity that the fourth principal is dead. Otherwise…”

“He’s from Great Xia.”

Niu Baidao reminded. What was the point of talking about someone from a different prefecture?

Zhu Tiandao disagreed, “So what if he’s from Great Xia? It’s not like Great Xia cares about him. The fourth principal’s son, Zhao Li, is quite talented as well. I have been trying to recruit him, but that won’t be easy with Wan Tiansheng around. I heard Su Yu is quite close to him. I wonder if Su Yu can help with this. Do you think he will agree to join us if we promise to help him complete his earth-grade weapon?”

“Have you not tried offering him that before?”

“Yeah…” Zhu Tiandao spoke bluntly, “But he ignored me. However, things have changed. Isn’t Su Yu with us now? If even Zhao Tianbing was made to help Su Yu, he is clearly close to Su Yu. There is still hope.”

If they could complete the cultural weapon for Zhao Li, he would probably be able to advance into an earth-grade weaponsmith. And an extra earth-grade weaponsmith would be a great help to them.

Moreover, with Zhao Li here, they could even try poaching Zhao Tianbing. That was someone who had truly inherited the fourth principal’s legacy. He was a top-tier earth-grade weaponsmith, someone capable of forging peak earth-grade cultural weapons.

In the entire Human Realm, only a single individual was capable of forging heaven-grade cultural weapons alone. And that person was an Invincible.

Zhao Tianbing was treated very well in Great Zhou. Otherwise, an outsider like him wouldn’t have been able to become a principal there. That was something that had never happened before.

Niu Baidao was left speechless. This prefect sure was ambitious. He had been dreaming bigger and bigger. After poaching Su Yu, he wanted to poach Zhao Li. And after poaching Zhao Li, he wanted to poach Zhao Tianbing. What a beautiful dream.

Little did he know, Zhu Tiandao was an even bigger dreamer. The prefect started muttering to himself, “There is one more person I can poach. Wu Yuehua! An expert pillmaker! Even the lass from the Wu Family is here because of Su Yu. If we manage to poach Wu Yuehua, her mother might decide to come with her as well. She’s also an expert pillmaker. There’s also Wu Qi, a super genius…A single Su Yu can be used to poach a lot more people. Apart from a troublemaker like Liu Wenyan, we can take in all of them! As for Liu Wenyan himself, Great Xia can have him.”

Liu Wenyan was too troublesome. They could easily attract the attention of Invincibles if they decided to involve themselves with him. But they could totally try poaching the others. Apart from the troubles that Liu Wenyan could court, Zhu Tiandao was afraid of nothing. And Su Yu would serve as the crux of all that.

At that thought, Zhu Tiandao grinned widely. Perhaps this might really work! He might as well give it a try. There was no harm in trying. Even a single success would be a massive win.

“Old Niu, keep getting people to work on the super sensory jade. Even if you can’t cover the entire city with it, try to have it cover the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy first. I want to see which brazen fool will dare to sneak into the academy.”

Anyone wanting to sneak into Tiandu needed to first get through the Zhu Family. Did they really think that Great Ming was weak? The Zhu Family specialized in nurturing cultural researchers, giving their cultural researchers the best treatment they could afford. How could cultural researchers raised with so much money be completely useless?

These cultural researchers had been granted the luxury of skipping all their wars. All that was for the sake of allowing them to grow into slackers—cough—to accumulate strength until they were needed.

“Alright, I’ll get them to make some adjustments and complete a simplified version first.”

Niu Baidao said, “Do we continue creating trouble in the Knowledge Seeking Realm?”

“Of course. If we stay silent, they will think that we’re scared. This is the time for us to be brazen and arrogant. Let everyone know that since I’m not going to affirm my dao anytime soon, I fear nobody. Instead, the ones wishing to affirm their dao are the ones who need to fawn on us. Just look at Great Zhou. Do they have the guts to provoke me?”

Zhu Tiandao was daring them to provoke him. If they tried, their Zhou Polong and Zhou Potian could forget about advancement. They could also forget about getting the help of his father.

And if his father decided to persuade a few friends to not help as well, the Zhou brothers would be in a lot of trouble.

Zhu Tiandao was incomparably arrogant. Yet he was also maintaining a low profile. He was able to fully embrace the two contrasting themes easily. He did not like to cause trouble, but that did not mean that he was afraid of trouble. He would only remain low-profile as long as he wasn’t provoked. The moment he was provoked, he would be so high-profile that everyone would be afraid of him.

“Continue pressuring them to pay up. Tell them to shut up and pay. How dare they test the patience of Great Ming? They need to be punished for this. Great Han King has left seclusion, right? Get my old man to go crying and complain about those people. How dare they meddle in our turf?”

Niu Baidao merely smiled and nodded. He did not say anything else. Zhu Tiandao had grown up before his very own eyes. This was a very interesting individual.

After thinking for a bit, he said, “You can tell Su Yu to distribute some of his cultivation methods in Great Ming for a bit before releasing them to the other prefectures. This will allow us to build an advantage over the other prefectures.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

Zhu Tiandao nodded. That was a simple matter.