Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu thought about it and said, “We’ll continue our search. Liu Wenyan will take a day or two to reach.”

First Profound said, “I’m worried that he won’t even reach. Or he might reach but fail to enter Nanyuan.”

“What do you mean, Elder?”

“Do you think the myriad races and some other humans want to see this number one genius enter the ruin? That’s a cultural researcher ruin. He is astonishingly talented. What if he somehow gains the acknowledgment of the Culture Tomb right after entering, becoming its master?”

Su Yu laughed, “That’s unlikely, right? He was in Nanyuan for fifty years. If the Culture Tomb did not acknowledge him during all that time, why would it happen now?”

“You never know. Perhaps the time wasn’t yet ripe back then.”

Su Yu knew what First Profound was trying to say. It was better if they went over and took a look to prevent any nasty surprises from happening. Liu Wenyan was only accompanied by Uncle Liu during the return trip, and Uncle Liu had only recently returned to the Sunmoon Realm.

He was far from enough to handle the challenges in their way. The traitor Invincible might also have more subordinates to throw their way. There was no promise that Liu Wenyan could only be killed after he completed his advancement in Nanyuan.

Wouldn’t it be much easier to kill him while he was on the way back? Only a fool would wait. It wasn’t like Su Yu hadn’t thought of all that, but as a member of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion, he had no reason to run eagerly to Liu Wenyan’s rescue.

He laughed and said, “No matter what, this is the Human Realm. Will those people really be so brazen? In the past, the cult is around to do something like this. But now, most of the cultists are with us. I reckon the crime rate in the Human Realm has dropped greatly after the cultists joined us.”

The Titanic Strength Sect master snorted with displeasure. Why was Profound Nine talking like they were all massive criminals? Fine, fine, they were indeed criminals. But did Profound Nine have an illusion that he was a good guy? Just look at what Profound Nine had been doing as of late. He was either in the process of killing someone or on the way to killing someone. In fact, they had only stopped spilling blood because they needed to track the First Divine Sect master.

Suddenly, Su Yu blanked out as he said, “This is odd. The index copy on Ji Hong…is moving in Allheaven Prefecture’s direction.”

What was going on?

Su Yu thought of a certain possibility and said, “Let’s go to the Allheaven Prefecture. This might be our chance to see this number one genius for ourselves and capture the First Divine Sect master.”

“Yes.”

They started picking up the pace. Since this was a group fully comprised of Sunmoons, they were able to move rapidly. No Mountainsea had been brought with them for this task. This was also an incredibly powerful group, thanks to the sheer number of Sunmoons in it.

In fact, they were feeling so confident in their strength that they flew openly without bothering to hide themselves. Even the mayors and prefects of the cities they passed by left them alone as long as they did nothing to these cities.

After all, a group of over twenty Sunmoons with several late-stage Sunmoons were probably strong enough to demolish an entire prefecture if a battle broke out. Anyone capable of noticing this group would be able to guess that this was probably the group led by Profound Nine. And most wisely chose not to provoke them for no reason.

Meanwhile, Su Yu was not feeling smug. Rather, he was annoyed. What was up with these prefectures? So what if there were over twenty Sunmoons? These prefectures should put up a fight, especially when these Sunmoons were acting so brazenly right in their territory.

Why were they so timid even when the enemies were right at their doorsteps? Sure enough, these people were a lot softer than the founding kings. Of course, Su Yu had wisely avoided Great Qin or he would have found his journey a lot more eventful.

***

While Su Yu was heading toward Allheaven Prefecture.

Ye Hongyan was in charge of escorting Liu Wenyan back to Nanyuan. Great Xia had nobody to spare. Worried about Liu Wenyan’s safety, Ye Hongyan had volunteered herself for the job. While on the road, Liu Wenyan maintained his calm and refined bearing.

“Martial Grandaunt, it’s fine. There’s no need to trouble you with this.”

Since Ye Hongyan was Ye Batian’s aunt, it was natural that Liu Wenyan would address her as his martial grandaunt.

Fortunately, Su Yu wasn’t around. Otherwise, he would have deliberately called her martial mother in front of Liu Wenyan. After all, she was also Niu Baidao’s wife. It wouldn’t be wrong for him to call her that.

In fact, it wouldn’t even be wrong if Su Yu proclaimed himself someone from Ye Batian’s generation.

And if he went further, he could totally address Wan Tiansheng as his martial nephew. But nominally, Wan Tiansheng was Ye Batian’s junior brother even if he was more a martial nephew in practice. Following this line of thought, Su Yu could totally address Xia Longwu as martial grandson. Of course, that was something he would not have the courage to do. He was crazy, but not that crazy.

Hearing how Liu Wenyan was addressing her, Ye Hongyan couldn’t help but recall the past. She sighed and said, “Back when Batian brought you back, you were still so young. In the blink of an eye, you have grown so much.”

It almost felt like she was a grandmother talking about her grandson. Then again, she was indeed two generations above him.

Liu Wenyan smiled, “You remember me so well because you’re still very young yourself, Martial Grandaunt.”

“You have always been good at sweet-talking.”

Ye Hongyan laughed in amusement, “I suppose this was how you managed to win the favor of those girls…”

Liu Wenyan said, “Martial Grandaunt, they’re not girls anymore. They’re quite old nowadays. Some were married long ago. Even their grandchildren are already adults.”

Ye Hongyan had mixed feelings as she started thinking of the past. She said, “It’s not too late. Batian had died before he was able to leave a descendant behind. But you’re still young. It’s still not too late for you…”

Liu Wenyan merely smiled without saying anything.

Ye Hongyan said, “Don’t worry. This is the Human Realm, not the Allheaven Battlefield. I already notified that old geezer to come back. Why is he trying to affirm his dao at his old age? What a waste of time. I told him to come back and help you fight for the ruin instead. With the two carrier treasures and the Culture Tomb in the ruin, you might be able to advance all the way into a Pseudo Invincible. As for your dao affirmation, you can take it slow. There is no rush.”

“Martial Grandaunt, it won’t be so simple. Tell Principal Niu to not waste his time on me. He should focus on his dao affirmation instead. That’s more important than this.”

Ye Hongyan snorted, “Dao affirmation? He is not lucky enough to achieve such a feat. This is not what fate has intended for him or he would have been the one to affirm his dao instead of Great Ming King all those years ago. If he did not have the fortune to affirm his dao all those years ago when he was young, he most certainly won’t have the fortune to affirm his dao now as an old man.”

It was widely acknowledged that if Niu Baidao had been even a tiny bit luckier, he would have affirmed his dao long ago. Even now, he was still not ready for the attempt. He still lacked a carrier treasure. Without his tri-life bodies, how could he even affirm his dao? More like he would be out there to spectate while the others attempted their dao affirmations.

Quite a number of people had been picked for dao affirmation this time. But some of them didn’t even have enough carrier treasures. It was likely that some would need to wait for the Invincibles to fight and try their luck at getting some carrier treasures from the destroyed tri-life bodies of those Invincibles before they could properly attempt their dao affirmations.

Most people had only obtained their carrier treasures after bitter battles. In fact, it was all but certain that many experts would be present at Nanyuan to fight for the carrier treasures in the ruin. Some might even decide to complete their dao affirmation in the Human Realm itself to avoid further complications.

Suddenly, Ye Hongyan roared, “Audacious! Who are you?”

Her sword unfurled across the sky.

“Kill.”

Ye Hongyan might look like a dainty woman, but she was a decisive and ruthless combatant.

“Wenyan, watch your back.”

After giving that warning, Ye Hongyan vanished into the sky. She knew that this might be an attempt to lure her away. But she had no choice but to leave if she didn’t want to get Liu Wenyan killed by a stray attack from her battle with the unknown attacker.

“Be careful, Martial Grandaunt.”

Liu Wenyan frowned. Beside him, Uncle Liu drew the earth weapon Su Yu had repaired during their previous meeting. With a murderous look in his eyes, he scanned their surroundings cautiously. The Liu Family used to be bandits-cough, cough-used to be vultures.

Considering the fact that the job scope of a vulture involved looting from the dead in the Allheaven Battlefield, no vulture was a pushover. This applied to Liu Wenyan, who had grown up looting corpses in the Eastrift Valley. The cultured and refined bearing he maintained at all times was nothing but an act. Deep inside, he was still a vulture.

Left as the sole dao protector of Liu Wenyan, Uncle Liu said, “Go. We need to reach Nanyuan as soon as possible. We don’t have anyone from the Xia Family as dao protectors this time.”

Great Xia was not deliberately neglecting them. Rather, Great Xia had nobody to spare. They had to protect both the prefecture and face the numerous experts gathered around Nanyuan. They couldn’t afford to send anyone away.

This journey back would be a lot harder than they had imagined. With a nod, Liu Wenyan stopped wasting time and flew off at his top speed.

Whoosh!

Abruptly, an axe appeared in the sky and dropped down at him. Lifting his saber, Uncle Liu met the incoming axe.

“Liu Hao, you won’t be able to stop this. You might yet survive if you leave alone. Liu Wenyan will die.”

A devil appeared in the sky. A non-human had arrived to kill Liu Wenyan.

Uncle Liu’s eyes turned red as he roared, “You!”

The devil replied coldly, “Yes. Me.”

“Kill.”

Boom!

A massive battle erupted. Not far away, Ye Hongyan was also roaring madly as she engaged her opponent in an intense battle.

Amid the numerous explosions, Liu Wenyan pushed on silently.

“No passage for you here.”

As a different voice rang out, a palm appeared ahead of Liu Wenyan.

“Break!”

Instead of an axe, Liu Wenyan countered with a sword, leaving a bloody wound on the palm.

“Hmm?”

A Sunmoon revealed himself and coldly said, “The top genius of the multiple character faction is indeed extraordinary. You’re only a Mountainsea, yet you’re capable of leaving a wound on me.”

Liu Wenyan laughed, “Mere Mountainsea? You sure are confident.”

“Kill.”

He roared aggressively, but he retreated instead of advancing. With a special character of his, he tore space apart and instantly appeared a kilometer away.

“Can you escape death? We’re not the only ones trying to take your life.”

The Sunmoon sneered. They were not the only ones after Liu Wenyan. Even his fellow humans wanted him dead. Inheriting the ruin in Nanyuan? Dream on. That would never happen.

“Die!”

Right at that moment, Ye Hongyan killed the seventh-stage Sunmoon she was facing.

A moon fell from the sky. Ye Hongyan was soaked in blood. Even as blood was still pouring out of her mouth, she rushed in Liu Wenyan’s direction while roaring furiously, “You dare? Back then, you killed my nephew. Today, you’re not killing his student before stepping over my dead body!”

His nephew, the sole successor of the Ye Family, had been killed.

Because of this, she had been depressed for many years. And now, some people were trying to kill the successor of her nephew while he was returning to Nanyuan. This was happening within the Human Realm. She would not allow this.

Countless people were alarmed. Ye Hongyan…killing a seventh-stage Sunmoon? Even if she had suffered heavy injuries in the process, the speed with which she had done so was still enough to shock countless people.

Too strong. Since when was she so strong? Seeing the approaching Ye Hongyan, the Sunmoon who had attacked Liu Wenyan previously fled without any hesitation.

Even with the opponent gone, Ye Hongyan did not calm down. Rather, she howled, madness in her voice as she ignited a drop of her own blood essence.

The unknown Sunmoon was evidently not very impressive in terms of strength if he couldn’t even stop Liu Wenyan from escaping. After igniting a drop of her own blood essence, Ye Hongyan was able to kill him with a single sword strike.

Rumble!

Yet another moon fell from the sky. Ignoring her injuries, Ye Hongyan rushed off again, trying her very best to reach Liu Wenyan. At this point, Liu Wenyan was already wounded all over from his fight with a fourth-stage Sunmoon. Thanks to Ye Batian’s characters, he was still able to put up a fight. When the Sunmoon noticed Ye Hongyan approaching, he hurriedly fled.