Tribulation of Myriad Races

Great Qin King sighed and said, “I know what you mean. We can put them all together and have them share the same fate. They will either live or die together. This will most certainly encourage the Invincibles acting as dao protectors to work harder. But this isn’t a risk humanity can afford to take. By separating them, Xia Longwu, Qin Zhen, and a few others will attract the bulk of the myriad races’ attention. If they happen to fail and die, the others might still succeed. This is the safest path to take.”

He continued, “Xia Longwu, Qin Zhen, and the Zhou brothers will make their attempts separately. The rest can move out in pairs if they want.”

“How shall we prepare for their defenses?”

Great Qin King thought about it and said, “Those whose descendants are making the attempt can protect your respective descendants. Those without can pick someone they wish to protect. Things will definitely get a lot more dangerous around Xia Longwu and Qin Zhen, especially Xia Longwu.”

He looked at Great Xia King and asked, “Old Xia, what do you think?”

“Me?” Great Xia King said, “I have no opinion. I know you’re doing this to produce a few more Invincibles for humanity. But by having everyone make their attempts at the same time and splitting the Invincibles we have everywhere, Longwu’s chance of success will become infinitely lower than before. Am I wrong?”

Great Qin King sank into silence.

After a long while, he nodded, “Yes. If Xia Longwu alone makes the attempt, we can join hands to protect him. He will have a higher chance of success. But I wish to use him to give others a chance as well. I will personally act as his dao protector during the attempt. As for Qin Zhen…”

He looked around before stopping at Silk Destroying King, “Wang Hu, you’ll protect Qin Zhen. If you really have to, you are allowed to give up.”

Silk Destroying King laughed, “Come on, there is no need for this. That’s your own son. You don’t need to lead by example to such an extent. You should watch over Qin Zhen. This isn’t a responsibility I can shoulder. I’ll go with Old Xia. Xia Longwu has a very low chance of succeeding. Old Xia is already prepared to lose Xia Longwu during the attempt so I reckon he won’t blame me if it happens. Am I right, Old Xia?”

Great Xia King looked at Silk Destroying King and said, “You have a foul mouth.”

Silk Destroying King laughed, “Come on, I’m offering to serve as your grandson’s dao protector. You should be thanking me instead.”

Great Xia King didn’t deign to give that a reply. He said, “I’ll go with Wang Hu.”

“That’s not enough.” Great Qin King frowned, “Xia Longwu will be the main target of the myriad races. I need to be there. Heavenly Forge King and Heavenly Seal King will need to come as well. The five of us will act as Xia Longwu’s dao protectors. As for Qin Zhen…”

He looked around before suddenly saying, “Qin Zhen can make his attempt alongside the Zhou brothers. Old Zhou, I’ll have to trouble you for this.”

“…”

Silence descended.

Great Zhou King asked emotionlessly, “Is this appropriate?”

“Yes.”

Great Qin King said, “Old Zhou, you’re second only to me in strength. I have faith in you.”

Great Zhou King sank into contemplation. After some time, he asked, “If Qin Zhen fails while Polong and Potian succeed, what then?”

“Then I only have fate to blame.”

Great Qin King appeared completely calm as he said, “This is the kind of risk he needs to shoulder. If he does not want to take risks, he is free to enter a minor realm and make his attempt there instead. That will be much safer, at the cost of strength and potential.”

Great Zhou King said nothing else. Great Qin King had nothing else to add either. Around them, the other Invincibles were deep in thought. Great Zhou King had been chosen to protect Qin Zhen. There was a traitor among the human Invincibles. And the biggest suspect was Great Zhou King.

He was also the leader of the peace faction. He believed that humanity should ignore everything outside their borders for now. He also believed that humanity should stop producing new Invincibles for now to avoid provoking the myriad races. In his opinion, humanity should focus on building and development until they produce their first Invincible cultural researcher who could then activate the suppression in the Human Realm. Of course, this wouldn’t be an easy task to complete.

***

Allheaven Battlefield.

Liu City.

Xia Longwu had arrived yet again at the crumbling city.

After a short wait, the door of a building swung open. Looking at Liu Wenyan who was stepping out of the building, Xia Longwu frowned, “Peak Mountainsea?”

“Yes.”

“Too weak.”

Liu Wenyan laughed, “There is no rush. I know what’s going on in the Human Realm. The ruin has emerged. The Culture Tomb has appeared. It won’t be appropriate for me to reach the Sunmoon Realm so far away from the ruin.”

“Will you be able to complete your breakthrough there?”

“Yes.” Liu Wenyan stroked his beard and said, “It will happen. Don’t worry. How about you?”

“My preparations are complete.” After a short pause, Xia Longwu continued, “Out here, I won’t be able to interfere in the matter inside the Human Realm. Success or failure, I won’t be able to interfere. My second uncle…I don’t know what he’s thinking. He seems to be planning something more. Watch over him for me.”

“Xiao’er…” Liu Wenyan laughed, “I know. But I doubt I can control what he wants to do. We’ll see.”

Xia Longwu nodded. He hesitated for a bit and continued, “As for my son…no, forget it. He has enjoyed the riches of the family. He shall stand with us during this hard time. Whether he survives or not…that will depend on fate.”

After inhaling deeply, Xia Longwu added, “One more thing. The Liu Family…”

Liu Wenyan waved his hand, “There is no need to talk about that for now. Save that for the future.”

Turning to look at his surroundings, he smiled and said, “This was where I met my teacher for the first time back then. Here, I took my first step out of the city toward the Human Realm. At that time, numerous heroes congregated in Liu City and bore witness to the ceremony at which I was formally accepted as Ye Batian’s student. At the time, my prospects seemed boundless…”

“I have great fame, but I have not done anything of note in my entire life. Even that student of mine has achieved far more than me.”

“With my strength, I might still fail to achieve anything after returning to the Human Realm this time. But the time has come for us to collect our debt. Hopefully, this won’t be our last meeting. If I survive and you die, I can at least deliver your remains back home. If you survive and I die, I hope you can deliver my remains back here. After all…this is my home.”

Xia Longwu nodded silently. No words were needed.

Looking at his uncle who had walked up to them silently, Liu Wenyan laughed and asked, “Uncle, are you staying here or coming with me?”

“I’ll go with you.”

Xia Longwu wanted to say something, but he hesitated. Noticing that, Liu Wenyan said, “I guess that’s not a bad idea. If I die, my uncle will have nobody left. It is much crueler to have him stay here alone.”

Uncle Liu nodded.

The Liu Family…was no more.

Xia Longwu nodded. Liu Wenyan said, “As for that so-called martial uncle of mine, I don’t even know how much we can trust him. Does the Xia Family have any backup plans?”

He was naturally talking about Wan Tiansheng.

“Yes.” Xia Longwu nodded, “Don’t worry. We have contingency plans. Even if my teacher can’t be relied upon, we will still be able to drag that person out of hiding. We might fail to kill him, but he will definitely be exposed after this.”

“That’s good to hear. I’m not even hoping that we can kill him this time. I only want to fully confirm who he is. This seed of doubt is too dangerous to remain among humanity. It must be removed.”

Liu Wenyan said, “They are all comrade-in-arms who had fought side by side for so many years. But now, there is so much distrust among them. If this continues, morale will probably drop so low that humanity loses all power to keep fighting before the Pseudo Emperors even finish their advancements. For now, Great Qin King is still somewhat capable of forcing everyone together. But when even he is no longer sufficient, humanity will meet its end.”

Xia Longwu nodded silently.

He said, “Therefore, we will drag him out of hiding.”

Liu Wenyan smiled, “Don’t speak in absolutes. If he doesn’t feel threatened enough, he might remain in hiding. That will render everything we have done pointless.”

“He will come out.” Xia Longwu said, “You will make him come out. Right?”

Liu Wenyan thought about it and said, “I hope so. If he still refuses to come out after so many preparations, then I suppose there is nothing else we can do. I’ll first complete my advancement into the Sunmoon Realm after returning. Then, I’ll do a few more things. If he remains hiding…so be it. He won’t be able to keep this up for long. He knows this himself.”

At that, Xia Longwu smiled. Liu Wenyan smiled as well. After patting each other on their shoulders, Xia Longwu vanished.

Liu Wenyan turned around and smiled at his uncle, “Uncle, let’s go. It’s time for us to have our vengeance.”

Uncle Liu grinned.

Vengeance!

For the destruction of Liu Family, for the crippling of Liu Wenyan, and for the fall of the multiple character faction. It was time for them to collect their debt.

***

That day, Liu Wenyan started his return trip.

When he reached the realm entrance, he suddenly turned around and roared, “I’m back! I’m going to the ruin! I will enter the Sunmoon Realm. I will step into the ninth stage in one day. I will affirm my dao. I will have my revenge. I will find you! I’ll be waiting for you in the Human Realm!”

His voice reverberated in the area. His aura surged, revealing the aura of a peak Mountainsea yet powerful enough to surpass even the auras of Sunmoons. As of that moment, he was as brilliant as a sun.

***

Eastrift Valley.

Silence descended.

The various Invincibles said nothing.

After a long time, someone finally spoke, “I hope…it won’t come to that. I don’t want it to come to that. We are all comrade-in-arms who had fought side by side all those years ago. Very few of our old friends are still around.”

A different Invincible spoke, “Repent and return to the right path. Focus on your task as a dao protector. The past is in the past. We should look to the future. Help our juniors grow. That is our job. How much longer can we live?”

They knew what was happening.

All the Invincibles knew that as more and more multiple character cultivators made their advancement, including Liu Wenyan, who might even step into the Invincible Realm…that person might finally lose his composure.

A different voice rang out, “Consider this carefully. If you step forth right now, there might still be a chance that you will be let off lightly. But if you’re exposed through other means, mercy might no longer be on the table.”

Great Xia King did not spare any of the Invincibles a glance. He merely stared into the distance. After a long while, he said, “My family is there. My home is there. The multiple character faction is there. Everything is in Great Xia, including Ye Batian’s final character, including everything else. If you make another move, one of us will die. This will not end before then.”

His declaration was met with silence. This was an open conspiracy. If the traitor remained inactive, the multiple character faction would keep growing. With the ruin, some of them might even succeed in dao affirmation. The myriad races would try to stop that. But they would only make a move during the dao affirmation attempt.

For now, the myriad races were still not ready to invade the Human Realm. The traitor was perhaps the only Invincible capable of stopping the multiple character faction from obtaining the ruin in the first place.

Great Qin King watched on coldly. After a long time, he said, “Stop the discussion. If nothing happens, it can only mean that this entire thing is a misunderstanding. There is no traitor. Do not allow the myriad races to create internal strife among humanity.”

“Great Qin King is right. Perhaps this whole thing is a scheme. Do not fall for that. Relax, everyone.”

“We’re better off talking about the coming dao affirmations. We’re getting old. We need some new blood to carry the torch. We should focus on completing our coming task successfully instead.”

At that moment, they all started joking and laughing with each other. It almost felt like they had returned to the past.

This was how they were over four hundred years ago. Together, they battled the myriad races. Together, they attacked the various realms. They fought together. They bled together. Without them, humanity would have ceased existing long ago.