Tribulation of Myriad Races

Hong Tan inhaled deeply and said, “Forget it. We don’t seem to have suffered any losses. It’s just that…our people are no longer here. That doesn’t matter. We’ll find them one day. This is fine. Yes. This is fine. I’ll continue maintaining a low profile.”

At that moment, Ji Hong’s voice rang out, “Nonsense. This is no longer the time to be maintaining a low profile. Vice Principal Yuan, why don’t you announce what Elder Hong needs to do next.”

Yuan Qingdong frowned.

After a long pause, he said, “Great Xia Cultural Research Academy has decided to restart the Multiple Character Faculty. Elder Hong Tan shall be the faculty head. This is one of Su Yu’s requests. He wishes to rebuild the multiple character faction. The same request was made to all the prefectures…”

“Su Yu?” Hong Tan laughed, “So he’s capable enough to make such a request? Not bad. Not bad at all. So I’ll be the faculty head? Sure…”

Yuan Qingdong said, “The Character Technique Stele has gone missing. That is the root of the multiple character faction. I hope that Elder Hong can recover the lost stele. That is not a request or an order. But according to the rules, the Multiple Character Faculty can’t be opened without the Character Technique Stele. Additionally, it is rumored that Elder Hong is in possession of a certain skill. This skill is able to help character masters at the Skysoar Realm and beyond reassemble their characters and form a character technique. The academy hopes that you can record this skill down and start teaching it in the academy…”

“Character reassembly?” Hong Tan blanked out for a short moment before smiling, “Is this your idea?”

“No!” Yuan Qingdong frowned and said, “Don’t misunderstand me. That is not my idea.”

This was indeed not his idea. Nevertheless, he was also quite curious. Was this true? Reassemble one’s characters into a character technique? Something that would work even after reaching the Skysoar Realm? Was that bullshit or was that real? If it was real, he couldn’t even imagine how big it would be.

Hong Tan inhaled deeply and looked in the Heart Cultivating Pavilion’s direction before looking toward the direction of the prefect’s manor. Why? Were those old bastards trying to get him killed?

He had been trying very hard to stay low profile. Just look at him! He was silent even after his grandstudent and students were gone. Why were they still trying to push him? Must those old bastards force his hand?

Numerous thoughts appeared in his mind. He had not told too many people about the disassembly method.

Apart from Bai Feng, Su Yu, and Chen Yong, nobody should know about it. Xia Xiao’er and Wan Tiansheng could probably guess the existence of something similar. That was probably the case for Ji Hong. Nobody else should know about it, right?

But now, they were telling him to openly teach this method? Teach his ass! Just what were those bastards trying to do? Didn’t they know that if he really started teaching the disassembly method, it would cause massive trouble?

The scumbags of the world would be gathered in Great Xia, each of them trying to figure out if the disassembly method was the real deal.

Cultists, myriad races, enemies, factional rivals…

Hong Tan blanked out as he realized that he would become the greatest attraction of all scumbags in the world.

“So all those scumbags will be gathered in one place?”

Numerous possibilities rose in his mind. How many would arrive? A lot. Those who wanted to see him dead and those who didn’t want to see the multiple character faction rise to power again would all come.

Just what were those bastards trying to do? Were they trying to turn Great Xia and the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy into a bandit’s lair?

Looking at Yuan Qingdong, Hong Tan smiled, “Vice Principal Yuan, don’t believe any rumor you hear. The so-called disassembly method does not exist.”

Yuan Qingdong said, “But some people are claiming that Bai Feng once used this disassembly method in public.”

“Is that so?” Hong Tan laughed, “Those people must have seen wrongly.”

Yuan Qingdong sank into silence. After a while, he said, “Elder Hong, I do not intend to become your enemy. If the disassembly method exists, it is a very big deal. This is something you can use as the foundation of the new Multiple Character Faculty.”

So did that method exist? Yuan Qingdong was quite nervous. The other elders were quite nervous as well. Did that method exist? Would it really work? Would it really enable someone at the Skysoar Realm and above to form a character technique?

After a long pause, Hong Tan said, “In truth, the method is still immature. For now, it is only useful for some Skysoar geniuses.”

Silence descended. Even though Hong Tan claimed that it was only useful for Skysoars, everyone was still shocked. Sounds of heartbeats could be heard in the area. It was real!

With great difficulty, Yuan Qingdong opened his mouth to ask, “Elder Hong, you mean…you know that method?”

“Not really…” Hong Tan said, “You’re overestimating me. I only tried it once on my student. But I never used it myself. My student, Bai Feng, was the one who had used the method. We never tried fully reassembling a character technique. And for now, it is only effective for Skysoars. I still need more research to perfect this method.”

“But do you have the core knowledge of this method?”

“I wouldn’t call what I know core knowledge. It’s merely some simple experiments.” Hong Tan said, “I will only call it core knowledge if it reaches a point where even Mountainseas and Sunmoons can use it. Right now, it is nothing but a small experiment to test a theory.”

“No…” Yuan Qingdong was greatly alarmed as he said, “There are so many Skysoars in the human race. Many of them have a lot of characters. At the Mental Tempering Stage, it is hard for one to form too many characters. Thus, most people will try to rush the Skysoar Realm. But that is no longer the case for Skysoars…”

The Skysoar Realm was only a single tier above the Mental Tempering Stage, but it changed a lot of things.

In the past, perhaps only one out of ten thousand would have the talent to follow the multiple character faction’s path. With this disassembly method, they could perhaps pick a hundred or a thousand out of ten thousand people to join the multiple character faction. And that was enough to turn the multiple character faction into one of the mainstream paths.

Yuan Qingdong had not imagined that Hong Tan actually knew the disassembly method. This was real. Heavens…it was actually real. Looking at the look of shock and greed in the eyes of all these people, Hong Tan laughed.

Was this…what those old bastards wanted to see? How brazen. They were too crazy. They had actually leaked this secret without a full preparation. Had they gone crazy? That must be the case. Nobody would imagine that they would be crazy enough to do this. Only a true madman who no longer cared about their survival would do something like that.

Hong Tan’s eyes flickered as he said, “This method isn’t anything special. It has a lot of flaws. I still need a lot of time to perfect it. Previously, I had only talked about it with a few of my old friends. Which of those bastards leaked it?”

Wu Yuehua said, “It’s that damn Xia Yuwen. He said that Bai Feng might have the ability to disassemble his character technique to add new characters into the technique.”

“Xia Yuwen?”

Seeing that Hong Tan was blanking out, Wu Yuehua frowned, “You idiot!”

Why did he admit to the existence of that method so easily? This would cause a lot of trouble. Didn’t this fool know how much trouble that method would attract? She had thought that this bastard would be smart enough to deny that the method existed. But instead, the damn idiot had admitted that it existed.

Wu Yuehua was bursting with rage. Did his intelligence drop during his seclusion?

Hong Tan put on the expression of someone who had just realized something as he hurriedly explained, “It’s merely a small trick. It’s still in a very early stage. Bai Feng is already a multiple character faction member with a character technique. This method relies on the foundation built by the character technique. Don’t overestimate it. I’m telling the truth.”

Everyone was still suspicious.

Yuan Qingdong was unsure as well. He said, “Elder Hong, if this method exists, it can expand and strengthen the multiple character faction. It might even cause massive changes in the field of willpower cultivation. So does it exist or not?”

“It exists, but it’s very incomplete.”

Hong Tan solemnly said, “It might not be complete, but I have an idea of what to do with it. If I get three or five years to work on it, I can definitely perfect it. As you know, Bai Feng nearly killed himself trying this method. And he was someone with an existing character technique. If it was anyone else, that person would have died.

“I believe I can remove the side effects in three to five years. Only then can we start getting Skysoars to test this method. And only after that can we consider this a complete method. It’s nowhere near complete right now.”

Hong Tan shook his head and sighed, “Also, Bai Feng is not here, Su Yu ran off, and Chen Yong is missing. I really don’t have the mood to work on research. I’ll put it on hold for now. Perhaps I can consider working on it again in the future.”

Yuan Qingdong’s eyes flickered as he asked, “How about the Multiple Character Faculty? Don’t you want to reopen it?”

Hong Tan thought that this was such a stupid question. Without the faculty, how was he supposed to lure all the scumbags of humanity over? Wan Tiansheng and Xia Xiao’er wanted to play, right?

Sure. Let’s play.

Let’s make it big.

Hong Tan gnashed his teeth furiously. Since they wanted to make his life difficult, he would play along and drag them down as well.

Thus, he hesitated slightly and shook his head, “I lack the funds to do so. The multiple character faction is very expensive to run. Including what we need for our research, I’ll need at least a million merit points. Furthermore, I will also be strict when accepting students. Each student must pay a tuition fee of at least ten thousand merit points to be considered. And they will have to support their cultivation themselves after joining.

“I’m also afraid of history repeating itself. I don’t want to see another Bai Feng, Chen Yong, or Su Yu. Thus, the new students must be those with strong backgrounds. Otherwise, they might fail to withstand the pressure and leave before even learning anything. I’m not going to try protecting every single one of them. That’s too troublesome and tiring. I’m not in the mood to do something like that anyway.”

Numerous thoughts appeared in the minds of the others. At this time, Yuan Qingdong said, “I believe a lot of people will be willing to support you if you intend to work on this research, Elder Hong.”

“That’s too much work.” Hong Tan said, “I’ll think about it in the future. Also, some things might invite disaster after being spread. I’ll pretend we didn’t speak of this today. Don’t be stupid and court trouble.”

He started walking away while sighing, “Both my students are gone, with Chen Yong missing. Without him around, I really don’t have any mood to conduct any research. I won’t be able to benefit my students with my research anyway. Instead, I’ll only benefit outsiders. Sigh.”

Hong Tan walked away in a bleak and lonesome manner. None of the experts said anything. Zhou Mingren was frowning deeply. The disassembly of character techniques. He was very shocked to hear about this. The method was still incomplete, but it could be completed in five years? Was that true?

They all understood what Hong Tan left unsaid. He was basically saying that he would be in the mood to work on the research if Chen Yong was back. Was he telling the truth or was this a lie to help his student?

Or perhaps he was treating this method as the chance to revive the multiple character faction?

***

As Hong Tan walked away from the crowd, his eyes slowly turned cold and sharp. They wanted to play, right? Sure. Just wait. Let’s play. They better not fail to take care of things when the game reached climax. That would result in a massive loss of lives.

After thinking about it, this might not be a bad course of action. At this point, he no longer had any misgivings. Bai Feng was too weak, so it was good that he was no longer around. As for Chen Yong…it would be hard for him to escape danger. And it was also a good thing that Su Yu was gone.

As for Wu Jia…it would be better for her to stay uninvolved. Hong Tan decided to look for a chance to send her away.

“But with Xia Longwu around, some people might not have the courage to come. Would they be happy with catching some shrimps?”

Hong Tan was feeling rather doubtful. With Xia Longwu around, this plan might fail.

Right at that moment, he heard some people whispering nearby, “Did you hear? Our prefect sneaked out of the capital to kill someone! Traces of the Sky Sunder Saber were found in the wilderness. An unfortunate Mountainsea cultist was instantly cut into two by that blade…”

“Out perfect is away?”

“That was what I heard. But I don’t know if the information is reliable. Isn’t our prefect in seclusion to affirm his dao?”

“That must be a false rumor.”

“A lot of people know the Sky Sundering Saber…”

“Are you dumb? Only a few individuals are capable of killing a Mountainsea with one slash. All of them are the direct descendants of the Xia Family. Xia Xiao’er is in the capital. Great Xia King is in the Allheaven Battlefield. Who else could it be if not the prefect?”

Hong Tan was stunned. Holy shit. Even that final obstacle was gone? Xia Longwu was away? Was that a coincidence or was that premeditated? Without Xia Longwu and Great Xia King around, Great Xia would turn into a defenseless whale for many people.

Sure, Great Xia was strong. But those two were the ones with the ability to keep the entire prefecture stable.

Things…were really getting interesting.

Hong Tan laughed. How crazy. The Xia Family and Wan Tiansheng had gone mad.

Fine. Let’s go crazy together.