Tribulation of Myriad Races

Outside the city, some of the young human geniuses from the minor realms appeared hesitant, but some were also eager.

Su Yu didn’t really feel any hatred toward these people. But he didn’t have a good opinion of them either. For him, they were mere strangers. Rather, most of his displeasure had landed on the people who had been instigating these young geniuses against the Xia Family. In fact, he was greatly displeased with this.

This was not a regular internal conflict between fellow humans. Here, various races had congregated. Yet these humans were the ones busy going after their fellow humans in front of the other races before the other races even had the chance to do anything. The entire human race had been rendered into a joke in front of the myriad races. Furthermore, Su Yu was still someone who had grown up in Great Xia. He would naturally be somewhat biased toward Great Xia.

As Su Yu was giving out his orders, a human genius made a move.

That was a youth in his twenties with long hair cascading down his shoulders. After receiving a voice transmission from a Sunmoon, he sighed and stepped forth. After giving the surrounding myriad race geniuses a gaze, he spoke softly, “Hou Pingshao of Great Shang, a seventh-stage Cloudbreach…”

He paused and looked around again. When his gaze landed on one of the myriad race geniuses in the crowd, he continued, “Botai, are you interested in a spar?”

Botai was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach, 137th on the Yellow Index and a member of the mooneater wolf race. This was not a top 100 race, and it was quite rare to see a young genius from outside the top 100 race in the index.

The mooneater wolf race was ranked in the top 300 with a Pseudo Invincible in the race. It wasn’t exactly that weak of a race. It was also a vassal race of the devil race. In fact, this young genius was here under the orders of the devil race.

Hearing Hou Pingshao’s challenge, Botai smiled and stepped forth without saying anything. With the same smile on his face, a tiny red glint flickered in his eyes. He did not waste his time with words. He saw no need in that.

His feat of entering the index as someone from a minor race was enough to speak about his abilities. The major races had more resources, stronger talent, cultivation methods, and weapons. But so what? He had entered the index through sheer talent.

“Die!”

There wasn’t even a need for a referee. With a shout, the fight began. In the blink of an eye, Botai transformed back into his original form, a demonic wolf with sharp claws. Shooting forward like a bolt of lightning, he swiped his claws at Hou Pingshao.

Hou Pingshao was also an experienced combatant due to the many battles he had participated in during his time in the minor realm. He instantly manifested his characters while stepping back.

One character after another appeared.

Suppression.

Overwhelming force.

Seas of flame.

All sorts of abilities erupted from his many characters.

Quite a lot of people stepped forth to get a better look at the battle. Since both combatants were Cloudbreaches, the human genius must be a rather talented one to have the courage to challenge an index genius.

Even Bai Feng and Hong Tan stepped out of Su Yu’s house to watch the battle. From the look in their eyes, their feelings toward the other multiple character cultivators were quite complicated.

Just how good were the multiple character cultivators trained in secret by the other prefectures? They wanted to see this for themselves.

The various prefectures had pushed the fifth principal’s line to the forefront to distract the myriad races while they trained their own multiple character cultivators in secret. After so many years, they were finally ready to show these secret geniuses. Thus, those from the Xia Family weren’t the only ones interested in taking a look at them. A lot of people were interested in these secret geniuses.

Su Yu was paying attention as well. Just how good were these people? A majority of humanity had given up on Great Xia’s multiple character faction because they believed that they had other options to produce an Invincible cultural researcher. Instead of relying on the Xia Family, they could also train their own people for the task.

After a while, Su Yu concluded that these people were probably not that bad. Hou Pingshao had formed his character technique and a decent number of characters. A majority of his characters were also at the third tier. It might even be possible that all his characters were at that level.

His character technique assumed the form of a sword. It was safe to assume that he specialized in offense.

He wasn’t astonishingly strong, but he was by no means weak either. He was even quite experienced in combat. Evidently, he hadn’t been wasting his time in the minor realm. He was quite different from the cultural researchers who had only grown through meditation in seclusion, which was what Su Yu had expected him to be in the beginning.

One man and one wolf battled in the sky. The shockwaves generated from their clashes were stronger than even what some late-stage Cloudbreaches could produce. Clearly, Hou Pingshao had a reason to be confident in himself.

***

“Teacher, what do you think?”

Bai Feng looked at Hong Tan and inquired.

After a short silence, Hong Tan nodded, “The various prefectures are no fools. He’s not trash. He’s actually good. But he’s not outstanding.”

This was a favorable review, but it was not exactly a glowing review. After all, a genius needed to be more than good. A genius needed to be outstanding.

From what Hong Tan could see, Hou Pingshao had only been demonstrating the regular combat strength of a multiple character cultivator. He had been relying on the sheer number of characters he had and the many abilities of these characters to give him a slight edge over Botai.

Hong Tan added, “But this won’t work if it goes on for much longer. A cultural researcher utilizes a lot of willpower during combat, especially a multiple character cultivator. Most multiple character cultivators will have a strong momentum at the start of battle before losing momentum during the course of battle. Meanwhile, Botai is a warrior. He might seem suppressed at the moment, but the injuries you see on him are not that serious. He has plenty of source qi to spare. If Hou Pingshao can’t end this in thirty moves, he will suffer a defeat.”

Bai Feng nodded. This was applicable for most cultural researchers and was especially pronounced for multiple character cultivators. Endurance was most certainly an area they were weak at.

Not everyone was Su Yu. With Zhao Li’s Soul Expanding Art, he was able to forge a sea of willpower that was as durable as a Mountainsea’s.

Even Bai Feng himself would always try to avoid prolonged fights if he could help it. Most of the time, he would use all his strength right as the battle started. After a few moves, he would decide whether he should press on or flee.

As a fresh Cloudbreach, Bai Feng shared his own analysis, “He seems to be quite experienced with combat. In fact, it feels like he has more experience in combat than me. But…he does not have a firm grasp on the essence of multiple character cultivation.”

Hong Tan laughed and asked, “Essence? What are you referring to?”

Bai Feng thought about it and said, “Ferocity. He is too proper. He fights as if he is ticking a checklist of everything he has learned from a textbook. It almost feels like he’s eagerly trying to show everything he knows to prove that he’s really a multiple character cultivator with his many characters and abilities…” “But some abilities are only effective in specific scenarios. He should have pulled his character technique out and fought ferociously before deciding if he should push on or flee.”

Hong Tan said nothing to that. He continued observing the battle for a while before saying, “The teacher of this young man is probably Shang Yunshao of Shang Family. He must be the main person in charge of training the secret geniuses of Great Shang. He used to be a researcher in Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Forty-two years ago, he left and returned to Great Shang. He came from the same generation as your grandteacher. When he left, he was a peak Mountainsea. That was also the time when the suppression of the multiple character faction was at its highest. I had always believed that he had left because he couldn’t withstand the suppression. Seems like he had simply received a new task to train some secret geniuses for Great Shang instead.”

Bai Feng nodded. He still knew a bit about these seniors of the multiple character faction. After the fifth principal’s death, Liu Wenyan was exiled while Hong Tan was too young. Because of that, the multiple character faction lost a core personage everyone could rally around. Before long, the remaining experts who were not locals of Great Xia started leaving one after another.

Strictly speaking, these people weren’t from the direct line of the fifth principal. Nevertheless, they had still enjoyed his teachings and guidance when he was around. Back then, the multiple character faction was quite big.

Thus, many of these secret geniuses were actually taught by former members of Great Xia’s multiple character faction.

Suddenly, a Sunmoon from Great Shang ordered, “Concede and withdraw yourself.”

As a Sunmoon, he was still good enough to see how the battle was going. Prior to this, the wolf had been the one to endure a beating from the human. But right as those words were spoken, the wolf howled, sending massive shockwaves all over the area.

“Awooo!”

The shockwaves washed over Hou Pingshao’s body. For a split second, the look in his eyes slackened. And right at that moment, the bloodied wolf swiped his claws forward at a speed that was slightly faster than before.

Alarmed, the Sunmoon from Great Shang reached out in an attempt to rescue the young genius. Alas, a devil appeared before him and punched his palm.

“We’re not here for games.” The devil sneered and said, “Since the challenge has been issued, adults should refrain from interfering in the fight of children.”

Boom!

The Sunmoon from Great Shang was sent flying. At the same time, Hou Pingshao recovered from his short daze. With a furious roar, he formed his character technique with fourteen characters and attacked with all his strength.

Whoosh!

The sword managed to stab through the incoming paw, but not before the claws on the paw turned Hou Pingshao’s head into mincemeat.

Botai pushed his victory and clawed at the floating sea of willpower in front of him. Even as that happened, he had an amused look in his eyes. He had merely been treating this challenge as a game and his opponent as a toy.

This human was decently strong…but he fought more like a performer than a fighter. Sure, multiple character cultivators were known for their flashy and abundant abilities. But most of the time, these flashy abilities would only serve to waste more energy than necessary. Such a fighting style would only work against weaker opponents, not someone equal or stronger.

While Botai’s claws were shooting toward the floating sea of willpower, a youth shot out of the crowd. Moving at a rapid speed, multiple characters manifested around him before linking together into a net around the sea of willpower. With a slight pull, the sea of willpower vanished. Meanwhile, the devil merely smiled and did nothing to interfere.

After putting the sea of willpower away, the youth landed on the ground and looked at the wolf. The wolf also looked at the youth. With a murderous gleam in his eyes, he asked, “Are you here to throw your life away as well?”

Hou Pingshao had yet to die. He had merely lost his physical body, the same fate Shan Xiong had suffered previously. Even so, this was still an absolute defeat for him. If it wasn’t for this youth, he would have been dead by now.

The youth frowned solemnly as he muttered, “Yellow Index…”

He looked incomparably solemn.