Tribulation of Myriad Races

Hou Pingshao had not arrogantly challenged someone in the Heaven Index or even the Profound Index. Instead, he had merely challenged someone ranked at the bottom of the Yellow Index. And he had even picked someone from a minor race to challenge. Even so, he had still suffered such a disastrous defeat.

One ought to remember that this was an opponent at the same cultivation level. Those from the multiple character faction had always been known to be undefeatable in the same cultivation level. That had clearly been proven wrong today.

The look in the eyes of the surrounding human geniuses also changed. Hou Pingshao was one the strongest among them. Yet even someone like him had been defeated so badly.

The youth finally spoke, “I’m a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. Are you going to fight me?”

The wolf transformed back to his human form before flashing a blood-thirsty grin, “Ninth-stage Cloudbreach of the multiple character faction. Someone like this is too strong for me. But I can find you a suitable opponent if you’re interested.”

The youth’s expression changed slightly as he asked, “Are you not willing to accept my challenge?”

Botai merely sneered, “I’ve just finished a battle. Since I’m quite tired, I shall spare you once. Brother Huokong, are you interested in having some fun with this guy?”

A devil with a clump of flame on his forehead stepped out of the crowd with a sneer on his face.

“Huokong of the earthfire devil race, ninth-stage Cloudbreach and fourteenth on Yellow Index. Human, why don’t we have some fun?”

The youth’s expression turned even more solemn than before.

Huokong spoke again, “Come on. We’re not even getting the likes of Mo Duona to fight. I’m only someone from the Yellow Index. Am I not good enough for you? Where is the enthusiasm you showed when you were interfering with the fight previously?”

Huokong grinned, “Multiple character faction? Undefeatable in the same cultivation level? Come on. Kill me and you’ll enter the Yellow Index. As a genius from the multiple character faction, are you incapable of entering even the Yellow Index? Do you only have the courage to fight someone in the seventh stage as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach? That won’t be good enough to get you on the Yellow Index, you know?”

“A genius should have the ability to punch above his level. Or at the very least, he needs to be able to contend against those on the same level. Am I right?”

After saying that, Huokong roared with laughter. The youth remained silent. Behind him, the expressions of the young geniuses became incomparably solemn. Yellow Index…Botai was only someone over a hundred in rank. Meanwhile, this devil was ranked in the top twenty of the Yellow Index.

And the Yellow Index was merely the weakest of the four indexes. Thanks to Mo Duona’s demonstration not long ago, all these secret geniuses were made aware of how strong those on the Heaven Index were. But surprisingly, even those from the Yellow Index were so terrifyingly strong.

The other myriad race geniuses started heckling as well, “Go on! Fight already! Beat Huokong to death and enter Su Yu’s house! You can benefit a lot from this!”

“Do it! Do it! Kill Huokong! Don’t worry, if the devils try to stop you, all of us will stand against them!”

“Hahaha, we’re not like those cowards from Great Shang where we will get our Sunmoons to act when we lose a fight. Don’t worry. We will be more than happy to see Huokong dead. Things are getting boring with all the familiar faces on the index. It will be a lot more interesting to have some new faces around.”

The myriad race geniuses continued roaring with laughter as they mocked the humans.

Huokong did not seem offended at all. Instead, he grinned and said, “So? You are free to kill me if you can. Don’t worry. I won’t get the experts from my race to interfere. And we’re not as crazzy as those blood fire fellows. If I can’t even prevail over a nobody from the same cultivation level, dying is the least I can do.”

Ultimately, the youth decided to withdraw instead of accepting the challenge.

***

“Trash.”

A white mask beside Su Yu sneered.

Su Yu said nothing. He disagreed. What was the point of blindly throwing one’s life away? He could see that the human youth’s cultivation base was slightly unstable. This shouldn’t be that much of an issue against regular ninth-stage Cloudbreaches, but facing a devil at the top of the Yellow Index with unstable cultivation was tantamount to suicide.

Were those in the Yellow Index weak? Well, Su Yu would say that they were absolute weaklings.

But one should never forget that of the countless geniuses the myriad races had to offer, only 630 of them could enter the Heavenly Hunt Index. If any random human could defeat an index genius, humanity could have conquered the Myriad Realms long ago.

As for Su Yu…he was an anomaly. His strength far surpassed the level of what his cultivation level should have granted.

With a smile, Su Yu said, “I disagree. I call that a strategic retreat. That’s the smart thing to do. Why die when you can live?”

A different white mask said, “Lord, looks like these so-called secret geniuses of humanity are nothing special, after all.”

Su Yu said, “Be fair. Who knows? Maybe some of them are hiding their strength. It’s not like they are stupid. Do you think the truly strong ones among them wish to be the second Su Yu? Is it fun to attract the fear of the myriad races and receive the same treatment as Su Yu? I’m confident some of them are still hiding their strength even now.”

In fact, Su Yu could see that there were some who were far stronger among the secret geniuses. But all these people had refrained from doing anything. He was right. As multiple character cultivators, they certainly didn’t want to demonstrate their talent too much lest they receive the same treatment as those from the fifth principal’s line.

First Profound said, “If they’re going to keep hiding their strength, why are they even here? They might as well remain in their minor realms.”

Su Yu laughed, “Be understanding. The prefectures intend to have them broaden their horizons. Through this, they will finally understand how big the world is and how strong some people are. With this experience, they will know what to expect the next time they leave their minor realms.”

First Profound nodded and switched to voice transmission, “Why are you being so generous toward them? Shouldn’t you hate them instead?”

Su Yu looked at the elder with astonishment and replied, “An orphan lives in an orphanage with many other orphans. For some reason, that orphan is disliked by the adults running the orphanage. Because of that, he suffers from neglect. The fault lies in the adults. What’s the point of blaming the other orphans? When the orphan boy finally grows into a powerful man, will he deign to take reprisals against the other orphans from his childhood? Rather than the clueless orphans, the adults are naturally the ones who should suffer his wrath.”

“…”

First Profound was left quite speechless. After a while, he asked, “But normally, a powerful individual won’t even deign to lift a hand against those adults either. Something like petty revenge is beneath the truly powerful ones.”

Su Yu smiled and said, “Yes, that’s how it would go normally. But there’s more to the story. Once, a bunch of thugs picked a fight with the orphanage. But only the neglected orphan boy was beaten. Meanwhile, the adults merely watched indifferently. They consoled themselves saying that the father of the orphan boy used to be a bad man. These thugs were only there because of the bad father. The orphan boy deserved it. What then? Isn’t it only fair for the orphan boy to hold a grudge against the adults?”

This seemed to be a difficult question for First Profound. After thinking about it for a while, he said, “But…those adults were never obligated to protect the orphan boy, right?”

“Yes, that’s a valid argument. But there’s more to the story. At the time, an adult stepped forth to protect the boy. As a result, all the other adults started boycotting and suppressing that one adult. Some even thought of killing that adult. Do they not deserve the wrath of the boy?”

“Are you talking about the Xia Family?”

Only the Xia Family had stepped forth to make a stand for the multiple character faction.

Su Yu laughed and said, “Inaction is acceptable. As an orphan, it is only fair that the boy relies only on himself. Oh, the adults don’t want to feed him? So be it. The adults don’t want to protect him? So be it. But why are they targeting the one adult who has decided to help the boy? Should the boy not release his retribution toward these adults?”

Once again, First Profound was rendered speechless. This time, he said nothing else.

Su Yu did not continue the conversation either. As he said, it was understandable that they would suffer due to what the fifth principal had done. What could they do but blame their bad luck for having such a person in their line?

But when the Xia Family stepped forth to help the multiple character faction, the other factions started targeting them as well. The many years of so-called conflict between the single and multiple character factions was one way of targeting the Xia Family.

The act of taking Xia Longwu’s dao affirmation hostage was another way of targeting the Xia Family.

And that…was not acceptable.

After a long silence, First Profound suddenly spoke again, “Those thugs are too powerful for the other adults to handle. When the thugs threaten to kill all the other orphans unless that one orphan boy is surrendered to them, what should they do? What would you do in their position?”

Su Yu gave it some thought and answered, “Those thugs are also slightly fearful of those adults. In the same position, I would notify that boy secretly even if I lacked the will to fight for the boy. That would give the boy a chance to flee. Sending the boy to his death would never be the right thing to do regardless of the circumstances. That alone is enough to perhaps earn a tiny bit of gratitude from the boy.”

At that, First Profound inhaled deeply and sank into silence again. Perhaps Su Yu was right. His feelings about this topic were mixed. The boy returning with vengeance to bring retribution toward all those adults was not the sight he wanted to see. Perhaps…he simply couldn’t understand this because he had not experienced what the boy had experienced.

He also realized that perhaps Hong Tan and the others also shared Su Yu’s opinion. This time, the conversation did not resume.

The battle between the young geniuses did not resume.

Bored with the lack of action, Su Yu sent a voice transmission to everyone in the group, “Everyone, think of a way to lure these people away from the others. We’ll kill them all and frame the Xia Family for it.”

“Yes, Lord.”

The others grew excited at the thought of sowing more chaos.

It felt amazing to work with Profound Nine. Their group was decently strong and they could kill without worrying about reprisals. This was a good feeling to have, especially for the former cultists. They had never been able to act so brazenly before.

Now, they could finally let loose.