Tribulation of Myriad Races

The Bai Family was an old family in Great Ming. Their ancestor, Bai Tianhao, was someone who had left his name in the history books as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach who had killed a seventh-stage Mountainsea. There was no way to verify if that feat was due to the source soul acupoint. After all, he had died for many years without leaving behind any words regarding the source soul acupoint.

In truth, some people had seen the notes he left behind. But those notes weren’t too useful. Eventually, those researchers, including Great Ming King, gave up on this research. They could only treat the feat as Bai Tianhao’s eruption of potential before his death.

The Bai Family was based at the eastern district of Tiandu. That was a district where many old and influential families of Great Ming stayed at. The Bai Family wasn’t even the most influential of these families.

Bai Junsheng had been talking non-stop.

“Su Yu, are you visiting to ask about my ancestor? There’s nothing special. My ancestor was greatly talented so he was able to accomplish such a feat. It’s the same as you. You’re strong because of your talent, not the source soul acupoint.

“Recently, there are rumors claiming that my ancestor might have discovered the source soul acupoint. Bullshit. If he really found it, the Bai Family would have gotten rich long ago. I would have known about it long ago as well.”

Su Yu nodded, but he still decided to take a look himself. However, he didn’t place that big of a hope on this visit. Even if Bai Tianhao had left anything useful behind, anything related to the source soul acupoint would have been taken away long ago.

Bai Family.

Several guards were standing in front of the main entrance.

When they saw Bai Junsheng, the greeted him, “Second Young Master!”

“Second Young Master is back!”

Bai Junsheng greeted them with a laugh before stepping through the entrance. Right after entering the estate, Su Yu heard some whistling sounds. That was the sounds of someone practicing their martial techniques. Inside the young courtyard, a little girl of about seven or eight was training.

“Bai Ye, your big brother is back. Come greet your big brother!”

Bai Junsheng turned to look at Su Yu and introduced, “That’s your martial aunt, my cousin’s younger sister. After my cousin left, my second uncle and second aunt were lonely so they produced another child.”

“…”

Su Yu was left speechless. His martial aunt. A brat of seven or eight years old. He started madly telling himself that cultivators did not care about traditional hierachy.

Then again, Bai Feng’s younger sister? Su Yu was quite surprised to hear that his teacher actually had a younger sister.

The girl looked at them, her ponytail swaying about as she turned her head. A curious gaze landed on Su Yu. After a moment, she recognized who he was and asked in excitement, “Are you Su Yu, my big brother’s student?”

Su Yu nodded with a smile, “I’m Teacher Bai Feng’s student.”

“It’s really you!”

Bai Ye might have seen Su Yu before, but this was Su Yu’s first time seeing her. After all, a lot of people had seen him when he broke through in public previously.

Bai Ye asked, “When is my big brother coming back? It has been years since I last saw him…”

Bai Junsheng rolled his eyes and said, “You only met him once when you were a baby. You don’t even remember that meeting anymore. I’m your actual big brother. That guy is a fake big brother.”

“You’re the fake one!”

The girl countered, “You’re a cousin. That’s a big brother. My big brother is amazing. He’s a top expert and a genius cultural researcher. You’re only at the Mental Tempering Stage.”

“…”

Bai Junsheng was used to this so he wasn’t mad. He grinned and said, “I’m a Skysoar and he’s a Skysoar as well. But I’m younger, so of course I’m the bigger genius. Little Ye, you should be worshipping me, do you understand?”

“No way! You always bully me! When my big brother comes back, I’ll get him to beat you up!”

“Hehe, he might not be my match.”

“Impossible.” Bai Ye looked at Su Yu and anxiously said, “Big Brother Su Yu, am I right? Brother Junsheng is not my big brother’s match. Am I right?”

Su Yu nodded, “Of course. Your big brother can win with one move. There is no comparing the two.”

Bai Junsheng felt somewhat gloomy to hear that. How was he that weak? But when he recalled Bai Feng’s accomplishments, he realized that Su Yu might be right. He turned even gloomier than before.

Bai Ye was overjoyed to hear that. She started asking Su Yu numerous questions, as though she already knew him for a very long time. Perhaps that was because in her eyes, Su Yu was already one of them since he was Bai Feng’s student.

Su Yu answered the questions with a smile. Slowly, he understood why Bai Feng had refused to come back. His parents and a little sister were here. Meanwhile, he had joined Great Xia’s multiple character faction.

Bai Feng was previously unaware of the hidden Invincible’s existence, but he still knew that their years of conflict with the single character faction might reach a boiling point sometime in the future.

He didn’t want to drag his family into it. Thus, he had only returned once in ten years. Due to his absence, the people of Bai Family might have slowly grown apathetic to him. And this was probably what he wanted. With a second child, perhaps his parents would care less about him.

Su Yu inhaled deeply. Perhaps…he shouldn’t have visited them, after all. After this visit, he had to keep the Bai Family at a distance as well.

After a short chat, Bai Junsheng brought Su Yu to the back section of the estate. While walking, he said, “My second uncle is out on duty today. My father is probably around. I’ll take you to him.”

The little tail, Bai Ye, hurriedly said, “My father will definitely come back if he knows that Big Brother Su Yu is here! I’ll call him…”

“It’s fine.” Su Yu smiled, “There is no need to trouble him. Little Ye, I’ll meet General Bai in the future.”

“Alright…”

Bai Ye felt slightly regretful, but she recovered almost immediately. “Big Brother Su Yu, has my big brother found me a sister-in-law?”

“Sister-in-law…”

Su Yu shook his head. That was impossible. Bai Feng stayed in the research center almost all the time. How was he supposed to find a wife? Su Yu couldn’t even remember seeing Bai Feng speak to any woman before. No, he had spoken to Wu Qi before. But he had probably lost to Wu Qi once as he would sulk each time he talked about her.

“No? What a pity. I was looking forward to having a sister-in-law. Brother Junsheng is forever-alone as well.”

“What nonsense are you saying?” Bai Junsheng was unhappy. “I’m still young. I’ll eventually get you at least ten sisters-in-law. What’s the rush?”

The first master of the Bai Family, Bai Junsheng’s father, was informed of Su Yu’s visit. Before long, a guard came over and informed them that the first master was waiting at the drawing room.

***

Drawing room.

The first master did not seem quite old. He had a dignified appearance. As a ninth-stage Cloudbreach, he used to be a 10000-men-commander of the Heavenly Dao Army. A few years ago, he was transferred back from the frontlines. He was now the deputy general in the Great Ming Army. Each legion of the Great Ming Army had a hundred thousand soldiers, led by a Mountainsea general and a deputy general that could be a Mountainsea or a Cloudbreach.

Bai Feng’s father was also serving in the Great Ming Army, but he was a 10000-men-commander. Strictly speaking, he was considered someone on active duty while the first master was considered inactive. He would spend most of his time back at home and it didn’t matter if he was absent from the army for a prolonged period of time.

The first master, Bai Zhanyi, was staring blankly ahead as he thought of something. When he heard the sounds of approaching footsteps, he exhaled slightly and returned to his usual expression. That nephew of his had accepted quite an incredible student.

Su Yu and Bai Junsheng stepped into the room. The moment Bai Zhanyi saw Su Yu, he felt as though he was looking at Bai Feng from back then. White, fluttering robes, a faint smile on his face, and a scholarly presence about him. A person like this was very rare within the Bai Family.

Sure, Bai Junsheng loved imitating Bai Feng, but he had never been able to replicate that refined disposition of Bai Feng. Meanwhile, the first impression Su Yu gave everyone was that he was a gentle scholar.

But Bai Zhanyi knew that Su Yu was definitely no gentle scholar. This was someone who had killed a lot of people. In fact, his journey to Great Ming had been paved in blood.

“Student Su Yu greets General Bai.”

That greeting pulled Bai Zhanyi from his thoughts as he said, “Make yourself at home. Take a seat. Since you’re Little Feng’s student, you will be related to the Bai Family in one way or another. As of late, you have been very busy. We have been very busy as well. Thus, we didn’t send anyone over to meet you as we didn’t want to waste your time.”

Su Yu hurriedly said, “I should’ve visited long ago.”

“There is no need for these polite but empty words.” Bai Zhanyi smiled and gestured at Su Yu to sit down as he said, “The Bai Family is a family of warriors. We prefer to speak in a straightforward manner.

“I know that you’re researching the source soul acupoint. Not long ago, the prefect summoned me over and asked about this. But the Bai Family doesn’t know about this acupoint. Otherwise, we would have informed the prefect long ago.

“Our ancestor did leave behind some information, but there is no mention of the source soul acupoint. The notes of our ancestor have been shown to some experts before. That is the only thing we can do if we want to be left alone.”

Su Yu nodded understandingly. Bai Tianhao had killed a seventh-stage Mountainsea as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. A lot of people must have investigated this matter after his death.

Su Yu was quite surprised to see how straightforward the first master was. He decided to be straightforward as well, “General Bai, I greatly admire Senior Bai Tianhao. I once guessed that he might have mastered the source soul acupoint as well, and it is possible that he might not have left any information about it behind. The whole thing might have happened purely by chance, so he might not have enough time to record it down.”

Bai Zhanyi nodded. That was possible. Perhaps their ancestor had suddenly comprehended something after encountering a powerful enemy. But before he could record anything, he was already dead.

Bai Zhanyi said, “The belongings of our ancestor are kept in our library. If you’re interested, you may go to the library and take a look at any time.”

“About Bai Feng, I heard about the request you made. You wished to help him return to Great Ming. I’m thankful for that, but it is unlikely that he will return.”

Su Yu blanked out. Why? But he soon recalled something. As if to verify his thought, Bai Zhanyi said, “Hong Tan is out of seclusion. Things might be fine with him in seclusion, but his reappearance can bring a lot of trouble. He will probably be tossed into the eye of the storm again. With Bai Feng’s temper, even if he was planning to return to Great Ming, he would change his mind because of Hong Tan.”

Su Yu sank into silence. After a while, he gloomily said, “My teacher won’t be of much help. It’s better for him to return to Great Ming.”

“He might not share that thought.” Bai Zhanyi shook his head, “Unlike the others in the Bai Family, he is not a warrior. But he did inherit the temper of the Bai Family. He won’t abandon Hong Tan at such a moment, even if there are countless dangers ahead of him.”

Once again, Su Yu sank into silence. That was very likely to happen. He might agree to come to Great Ming if Hong Tan was still in seclusion. But with Hong Tan out of seclusion and the coming trouble, would Bai Feng return to Great Xia or Great Ming? The answer came easily to Su Yu. Bai Feng would pick Great Xia.

With a sigh, Bai Zhanyi said, “Let’s not mention him anymore. That brat has always been stubborn. He won’t listen to anyone. Back then, when he insisted on following the fifth principal’s footsteps, he refused to listen to us as well.

“You’re his student. I can only hope that you will care for him in the future. He might be your teacher, but he might not be as mature as you. He has lived a good childhood, so he can still be quite childish at times…

“Alright. I’ll stop wasting your time. Junsheng, take Su Yu to the library. Su Yu, feel free to take anything you need with you. I only ask that you leave a copy back in our library.”

“Thank you, General.” Su Yu had not expected that he would be able to get what he wanted so easily. He had been planning to trade for the notes, but now, he was too embarrassed to speak his offer. Forget it. He would just give Bai Junsheng what he had planned to use for the trade later.