Tribulation of Myriad Races

The First Divine Sect master had escaped with Liu Wenyan.

Profound Nine and the other pavilion experts had vanished as well.

Great Xia.

Ziyue City.

This was a populous city to the west of Great Xia.

Inside a certain large building in the city.

This used to be the residence of a cult spy. Naturally, it now belonged to the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. This city wasn’t too far from Nanyuan, but it also wasn’t too near. A group of experts were grinning ear to ear.

Why were they in such a good mood? It was time to split the spoils. This time, they had earned a lot from killing so many Sunmoons. They had looted three thousand heavenly hunt points worth of blood essence and other resources. Converted to the human merit points, they had earned three million points.

Was this a big amount? Not really. Some of the treasures and resources had either been damaged or exhausted during the battle. They could have earned even more otherwise. Nevertheless, this was still a considerable sum of wealth. Split among them, each person was entitled to around 150 heavenly hunt points.

The pavilion had decided to not take any cut from them this time. That was mainly due to the high-risk nature of the operation and the fact that they had not utilized much of the pavilion’s resources. Thus, the eighth elder had been able to apply for them to get the full share of the spoils.

Even those with the lowest share had received around a hundred points each while the top earners had received hundreds of points each.

The standard price for heavenearth profound light was twenty heavenly hunt points per strand. As white masks, they could purchase each strand for only twelve points. As for sunmoon profound yellow liquid, the standard price was fifty points while they could get each drop for thirty points.

In other words, they had earned between three to eight drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid each from this operation alone. It was very rare for anyone to make such a large profit in one go.

Since the pavilion was not taking a cut and they had not suffered much losses, such a large profit was possible even when this wasn’t an operation they had been hired to do. Every single one of them was full of joy.

After splitting the spoils, Su Yu was about to resume his daily cultivation when the eighth elder entered the room and beckoned at him. He stood up and followed the elder out.

Inside a room beside the main hall.

The third elder, who had been gone for quite some time, was there. Su Yu’s heart skipped a beat when he noticed that there was someone else there as well. The third and eighth elders were quite easy to recognize.

The number of golden stripes on their masks was different, indicating the difference in their ranks.

As for the third person, he merely wore a gray mask normally issued to the lowest-ranked members. However, he did not feel like a normal person at all. Furthermore, he was the sole seated individual in the room. The two elders had remained standing.

Su Yu was slightly alarmed.

Invincible? Or was this yet another enforcer elder?

“Head, Profound Nine is here.”

Su Yu was further alarmed upon hearing that. This was really an Invincible.

Not daring to take this lightly, he hurriedly calmed himself and lowered his head before offering his greeting, “Profound Nine greets the head!”

Which head was this?

There were four heads among the four departments. According to the rumors, the head of the Heaven Department would rarely appear. In that case, this was probably the head of one of the other three departments.

The head laughed and said, “Profound Nine?”

He seemed to be sizing up Su Yu as he said, “You are very brazen. The pavilion has always avoided direct confrontations. If we have to fight, we usually stick to assassinations. The two chambers have been complaining that we’re stealing their business.”

Su Yu did not dare to say anything.

The department head laughed again and said, “Naturally, I told them to shut up if they’re so incapable that we can steal their business so easily. Since the four departments are capable of gathering information, trading, making money, and killing, the two chambers and two spires might as well shut down and join us.”

Su Yu’s head remained lowered. He did not know this Invincible too well so he did not dare to risk saying anything.

The eighth elder laughed and said, “You jest, Head. We were only reacting according to the circumstances. Since the First Divine Sect master happened to be there, we decided to take the chance and kill some experts off to remove some future competitors.”

The department head said, “I’m not blaming you. Don’t worry. You did what you did. As for the denouncement of the myriad races…do they have any proof? Profound Nine is right. Just let the First Divine Sect master take all the blame. It doesn’t matter that the sole surviving eighth-stage Sunmoon says.”

The third elder added, “The head is right. None of us are caught. They won’t be able to produce any proof.”

This wasn’t new for them since the four departments would also dabble in assassinations occasionally. For the most part, when an opportunity to kill without alerting anyone presented itself, they would take it. When such an opportunity wasn’t available, well, they naturally wouldn’t do anything that would tarnish their reputation.

Seeing that Su Yu was still saying nothing, the third elder said, “Profound Nine, this is the head of the Yellow Department. His recommendation plays a big role in your selection to participate in the Human Realm operations. Otherwise, it would be quite unlikely for an ancient city resident like you to be picked.”

“And the head’s wisdom has been proved. Profound Nine is indeed capable. Not only has he expanded our operations in the Human Realm, he has also gotten rid of numerous potential enemies. I reckon we have the highest chance at snatching the ruin than the myriad races now.”

After all, the third elder had around ten late-stage Sunmoons in his team. Including Su Yu’s team, the pavilion would be able to muster a terrifyingly powerful force when it was time to fight for the ruin.

This was a force of over thirty Sunmoons, with a large number of them being late-stage Sunmoons and two Pseudo Invincibles. The arrival of a department head’s tri-life body only served to further boost their already terrifying strength.

This tri-life body was strong enough to put up a fight even against a proper Invincible. Of course, the third elder was unsure which tri-life body was this. But this was most likely the future body. It was rare for past bodies to be sent out alone since past bodies were generally weaker.

Head of the Yellow Department!

Faced with an Invincible, Su Yu did not dare to think too much even if he was only facing a tri-life body.

The department head said, “There is no need to praise me that much. That was merely a casual suggestion I made after noticing Profound Nine’s accomplishments in the ancient city.”

His attention returned to Su Yu as he said, “Profound Nine, you did well. You were very decisive. Of course, you did attract some trouble, but no matter. It is normal for trouble to appear where there’s something to gain.”

“The head is too generous.” With his head lowered, Su Yu said, “This subordinate was too rash, creating so many new enemies for the pavilion.”

“It’s normal for everyone to think for themselves.” The department head said, “Don’t worry too much. As for those you offended…it matters not. The myriad races have been trying to destroy us all long ago. So what? They have never been able to do it. They know too little about us to find and remove us. They are also worried that going after our regular members too excessively will result in the assassination of their Eternals by us.”

The department head continued, “None of that is important. Only the Culture Tomb matters. This time, our goal isn’t those carrier treasures, heavenly source qi, sunmoon profound yellow liquid, or the other ancient inheritances. We are only here for the Culture Tomb. As long as the Culture Tomb falls into our hands, nothing else matters.”

The third and eighth elders hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, Head. We will do our best to get the Culture Tomb!”

The department head nodded, “Generally, the pavilion does not participate in fights over ruins. If we need something, we can always buy it. But this is different. Carrier treasures can be found elsewhere, but there is only one Culture Tomb in existence.

“Everyone wants it, but we can’t let them have it. Even if we don’t know how to use it, it doesn’t matter. We must snatch it. If a real Emperor is allowed to emerge, disaster will befall everyone else. Even the pavilion might be endangered by a real Emperor. The Culture Tomb might be useless to us, but we still won’t allow anyone else to use it.”

Su Yu nodded. Inwardly, he was quite alarmed. So that thing was related to the advancement into an Emperor? Was that thing really so amazing?

Su Yu did not dare to think too much for fear of having his thoughts detected by the Invincible.

The department head continued, “I’m not here to help any of you. I’m only here to stop the actions of some people. You will have to rely on yourselves for the ruin. If I get directly involved in the fight for the ruin, the nature of the fight will change completely.”

The third elder hurriedly said, “Please be assured, Head. We are ready.”

“Be assured?” The head said, “That won’t be easy. No amount of preparation can guarantee you victory. The number of experts who have arrived is far higher than you can imagine. Furthermore, this is the territory of the Xia Family. Do not make the mistake of believing them helpless just because Great Xia King and Xia Longwu aren’t around. The Xia Family is clearly intending to make use of this event to force the traitor Invincible out. More and more people are realizing this.”

The head sighed and said, “And if the traitor does appear…the Culture Tomb will definitely be something the traitor covets as well.”

At this point, Su Yu was forced to say something. If he remained silent, it would contradict the persona he had put forth thus far. Carefully, he opened his mouth, “Head, I have some doubts.”

“Tell me about your doubts.”

“Firstly, why did an Invincible of the human race decide to betray the human race? Secondly, you are the head of the Yellow Department. The Yellow Department specializes in information gathering. Are you aware of the traitor’s identity?

“Thirdly, the traitor must be colluding with some powerful races. Back then, the celestial chasm, divine, and devil races had all joined the battle during Ye Batian’s dao affirmation. Which race is the traitor working with?”

Su Yu suspected that some top experts among the myriad races were also aware of the traitor’s identity. To work together, they had to know who each other was, right? Then again, it wasn’t like cooperation wasn’t possible when identities were being hidden.

The interest of the two elders was piqued as well. The eighth elder asked, “Lord, the traitor is already an Invincible. What is the point of betrayal? Is it because the traitor thinks that humanity will ultimately lose?”

It was unlikely that the traitor had been tempted by the prospects of taking one step further in cultivation. After all, that was something even the myriad races were working on. All their Pseudo Emperors were still stuck.