Tribulation of Myriad Races

Done with the conversation with the two, Su Yu left the inner hall.

Thus far, he had completed sixty-nine body forgings. He was three forgings away from the Cloudbreach Realm. The yang acupoint was an issue he must handle. Furthermore, he could probably try contacting Bai Feng’s grandpa. No matter what, that person could be considered one of his.

With several ancient cities under his control, perhaps he could grant the old man control over one of them. Of course, he would need to convert into a living dead for that. Then again, even being a living dead would be an improvement to his current state.

As for properly shutting the yang acupoint, that was still not on the table. If Su Yu couldn’t even do that for himself, how was he supposed to do that for Old Man Bai? That might require the opening of 360 apertures and the yin aperture. The old man was already so old. He might die before he could open all those apertures. In that case, he might as well convert into a living dead and extend his lifespan for a bit.

“I guess it’s time to contact Teacher.”

Su Yu was very supportive of the idea of converting Bai Feng’s grandfather into a living dead. For him, being a living dead was no big deal at all.

With the yang acupoint open, Old Man Bai would grow even stronger after converting. Then again, he was only a Mountainsea. Even with the boost of the yang acupoint, he would only be as strong as a Sunmoon. And that was no longer sufficient to impress Su Yu. Thus, this would only be a charity case, not something that could actually help him in any meaningful manner.

As he walked about, he contacted the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. At the moment, he was still a white mask since First Profound’s mask was still on Nan Wujiang.

Through the Heavenly Hunt Directory, he asked, “I need to purchase some blood essence. Do you have any for sale?”

“What blood essence do you need?”

“The blood essence of cultural researchers, regardless of race. Make sure the blood essence is above the Skysoar Realm, but not too strong as well.”

“Cultural researcher…”

The person paused, either thinking about the request or checking the available stock.

After a while, a reply came, “Cultural researchers are rare regardless of race. And they rarely participate in battles. We only have some human blood essence with us. Do you need it?”

“Fuck off.”

Su Yu was left speechless. Sure enough, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion couldn’t be relied upon.

“Don’t you have any other blood essence?”

“We do, but according to the head’s order, we can only proceed with this deal after we finalize our cooperation agreement.”

Screw that! Su Yu snorted. Clearly, the pavilion was trying to blackmail him. Did the order come from the Heaven Department head? Wasn’t that fellow supposed to be in slumber? Clearly, he had awakened. Was he going to start running the pavilion himself?

Then again, that was understandable. There were simply too many spies in their organization. It was about time for them to start putting their house in order.

“Sure, we can talk about our cooperation. But before that, give me a bottle of blood essence for free if you want me to agree to the talk. Don’t bother blackmailing me with this. I’m still an elder of the pavilion. You need to show me some respect. Are you from the Yellow Department? Do you know your head? Zhu Tianfang, your head, is my relative. Do you know First Yellow? That’s Hollow, my old friend. I also have a lot of other friends in the Yellow Department. Be careful lest I get your direct superior to make life hell for you.”

Su Yu started throwing his weight around. How dare the pavilion blackmail him when it was so badly infiltrated?

Su Yu wasn’t too bothered about how the pavilion would react to his threat. If they refused to provide him with blood essence, so be it. He would think of something. No matter what, he had to deal with the issue of his yang acupoint. Otherwise, he would be forever bound to Xing Yue. But for now, he had to keep Xing Yue safe. She was too important for him.

***

While Su Yu was trying to deal with his yang acupoint.

Human territory.

Eastrift Valley.

A certain piece of news started spreading out of nowhere.

The nine-leaf skylotus might appear in the seventh level of the Luminous Domain Mansion in the coming opening. That was a level the modern humans had never reached. In fact, they didn’t even know what the skylotus was.

However, their ignorance did not last long. They soon found out that the skylotus was an incredible treasure capable of helping an Invincible become a Pseudo Emperor. It was invaluable.

It could be used to strengthen one’s tri-life bodies to the point where one could enter the Pseudo Emperor Realm. The number one expert of humanity, Great Qin King, was known to be capable of contending against Pseudo Emperors.

But that was not exactly true. Back then, he had joined hands with Great Zhou King, and Great Xia King to only fight a Pseudo Emperor to a standstill. One could say that the human race still lacked a combatant at the highest tier of strength.

A Pseudo Emperor had the strength to contend against seven or eight Invincibles at once. Alone, a regular Invincible would find even escaping from a Pseudo Emperor hard. The fight between the old turtle of Grand Dream City with the dragon king not long ago was an example of this.

Meanwhile, Great Qin King was not yet capable of killing regular Invincibles easily. He lacked the ability to prevent Invincibles from escaping. Humanity was greatly shaken upon hearing about what the skylotus could do.

***

Vanguard Regiment.

Qin Zhen, who had recently completed his dao affirmation, looked at Great Qin King in shock and asked, “Father…nine-leaf skylotus in the seventh level. Is this information accurate?”

Great Qin King frowned.

After a long while, he said, “The person who had started this rumor did not do it out of kindness. Peace has just returned to humanity. The spread of this news will change things. The myriad races will further strengthen their suppression of humanity. They will not allow the skylotus to fall into the hands of humanity.

“I doubt the rumor came from the divines or devils. They will be more than happy to see us remain ignorant. I believe some people are trying to create chaos and benefit from it. The culprit is most likely the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.”

Qin Zhen said, “Father, it doesn’t matter. Since there is hope, we must fight for it. After becoming a Pseudo Emperor, you will be able to unify humanity. Those people will be forced to stop their habit of pretending to be helpful without actually doing anything meaningful.”

“You’re being too wishful.”

Great Qin King shook his head. He had been standing guard in the Eastrift Valley for hundreds of years. He knew how those human Invincibles were.

He said, “They are trying to create trouble for me. I naturally won’t reject a chance to become a Pseudo Emperor. But Old Zhou, Old Xia, Old Zhu, and the others will also fight for this hope. Everyone wants to be a Pseudo Emperor. I’m worried that the crack among humanity will widen before we get the skylotus.

“Things have just calmed down in the human race. Rather than seeing the crack widen, I would rather see a new Pseudo Emperor emerging from a different race. It would be even better for the skylotus to fall into the hands of the Blood Fire Devil King.”

“But…” Qin Zhen said, “If you can break through, humanity might achieve true unity. Under the lead of Great Qin, the entire humanity can resist the myriad races together instead of wasting our efforts in internal struggles.”

“You’re still too young.” Great Qin King shook his head and sighed, “This isn’t a good thing at all. With the spread of this rumor, I’m worried that…forget it. Since the rumor has been spread, we can only let it be. Seventh level…Skysoars and Cloudbreaches will mainly roam the first three levels. Cloudbreaches and Mountainseas will mainly roam the middle three levels. As for the final three levels, it will be hard to reach unless you’re a Sunmoon. Are they trying to force humanity to send Sunmoons into the mansion? Or perhaps even Eternals?”

“I’m willing to enter and get this treasure for you, Father.” Qin Zhen declared solemnly, “Father, I volunteer!”

“…”

Great Qin King’s mood sank. This was perhaps what the person who had spread the rumor wanted to see. Since Qin Zhen was behaving this way, it was clear the other Invincibles would also behave similarly.

Would Zhu Tianfang go?

What about Liu Wushen?

What about the Zhou Family?

The coming opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion would be a troublesome one.

Nine-leaf skylotus…was there a deeper conspiracy? Or was this simply an attempt to sow chaos?

Great Qin King sighed. So what if he could become a Pseudo Emperor? Was that even enough to unite humanity? Things wouldn’t be so simple. Perhaps humanity needed something other than a Pseudo Emperor. Great Qin King couldn’t think of what he could do as a Pseudo Emperor. Was he supposed to fight and kill his old comrades to unify humanity by force?

What humanity needed was a super expert who was both ruthless and unfamiliar with the others.

Someone like…Su Yu?

Suddenly, that name emerged in Great Qin King’s head. But he shook his head. No. Su Yu did not have much affection for the human race. He was too young and hot-blooded. He only remembered his grudges. He only cared for his own people, not humanity as a whole.

That was not his fault. He was who he was because of the environment he grew up in.

Great Qin King sighed, “The end…might be near.”

For some reason, the Luminous Domain Mansion was starting to feel like a bearer of dark tidings for the future of humanity.