Tribulation of Myriad Races

When Chen Yong started making tea for Su Yu, Su Yu hurriedly stood up and took over. He poured a cup of tea for both himself and Chen Yong. To the side, Bai Feng’s face turned stiff as he wondered if his student was ever going to serve him tea.

If Su Yu realized what Bai Feng was thinking, he would swear that he really wasn’t neglecting his teacher intentionally. He had only neglected Bai Feng because Bai Feng had already poured himself a cup of tea.

Bai Feng looked at Su Yu speechlessly. Why was Su Yu never so polite toward him when the two of them were in the research center?

“Senior Brother…”

Chen Yong interrupted Bai Feng with a wave of his hand. He looked at Su Yu and said, “Have your teacher given you a detailed introduction on the multiple character faction?”

Su Yu hurriedly answered, “Yeah. I understand that our multiple character faction only allows our members to advance into the Skysoar Realm after forming 10 or more Divine Characters.”

When Chen Yong heard that, he glared at Bai Feng.

“What an unlearned person.”

“…”

Bai Feng blinked in an aggrieved manner. What was wrong with that?

“Don’t listen to your teacher. He only told you the unimportant stuff.” Chen Yong explained, “You can’t be a true member of the multiple character faction just by forming more than 10 Divine Characters. The defining trait of our faction is the different techniques we cultivated. Divine Characters can also be cultivated similarly to acupoints.

“The combination and fusion of different Divine Characters will create a different battle technique, something we call a character technique. This is the essence of our multiple character faction.

“It doesn’t matter how many Divine Characters you have. If you can’t use them in a systematic manner, you won’t be considered a true multiple character cultivator. Our official name is Multiple Divine Character Fusion Faction. Having multiple characters is merely one of the requirements to be a part of us. The fusion of characters is even more important.”

Realization dawned on Su Yu.

So that was the case!

When he looked at Bai Feng again, he suddenly had a feeling that his teacher was…really not that impressive. His teacher had talked to him about their faction several times, but never once had his teacher told him anything important.

Bai Feng had an ugly expression. He argued, “Senior Brother, I was intending to tell him more at the Mental Tempering Stage. Who knew this brat would…”

He wanted to say that who knew that the brat would reach the Mental Tempering Stage so quickly. He didn’t even get the chance to tell the brat anything.

“Mental Tempering Stage…” Only then did Chen Yong realize something. He looked at Su Yu blankly and asked, “You’ve reached the Mental Tempering Stage?”

“Yes, Martial Uncle.”

“…”

Chen Yong looked at Bai Feng blankly and asked, “A few days ago, you told me that he’ll take some time to reach the Mental Tempering Stage. What happened?”

Bai Feng: “…”

How was he supposed to know that?

Chen Yong shook his head, trying to shake his shock away and said, “No, I should have realized that since you’re here. I nearly overlooked that fact.”

He did not know whether to laugh or cry. It would seem like he was quite slow today.? Since Bai Feng had brought Su Yu to him, wasn’t it clear that Su Yu had reached the Mental Tempering Stage? How could he not realize that earlier?

Evidently, he had stayed in the books depository for too long, to the point even his brain was starting to slow down.

“Good. Very good!”

Chen Yong nodded with a satisfied smile.

He did not waste any time saying anything else. He said, “Your teacher has probably not gotten the chance to tell you all that yet. I know that he has been very busy recently. If you have any questions in the future, feel free to look for me. Comparatively, I have more free time than him. Back when your teacher first joined the academy, I was also the one in charge of teaching him. Your grandteacher…is similar to Bai Feng. He is an absent teacher as well.

“Although your teacher didn’t have the time to teach you the basics yet, he is also better than me in regards to some of the more advanced topics. In terms of character fusion, he is better than both your grandteacher and me.”

Bai Feng feigned humility and said, “Senior Brother is too kind.”

Chen Yong laughed. He continued, “Bai Feng is good at the path of offense. I know that youngsters like you love this. And you should have witnessed his path of offense before. Hu Wensheng is no ordinary ninth-stage Skysoar. He is also one of the geniuses of his generation. But he has been defeated by your teacher with one move.”

“Senior Brother is praising me too much.”

Bai Feng was still acting humble. In his opinion, it wouldn’t be too proper for him to praise himself too much. Good thing he had a good martial brother who knew the right thing to say.

Chen Yong couldn’t even be bothered to entertain Bai Feng. He continued, “Today, your teacher brought you here to determine your future path. Our faction has three main paths: offense, defense, and balanced.

“Don’t think that the balanced path would be the best because it covers both aspects. With that path, you will be average in both offense and defense. You might end up a mediocre cultivator because of your choice.

“Bai Feng walks the path of offense. His combat prowess is incredible, but he can’t last too long during combat. For him, one-hit-kills are very important. If he fails to defeat his opponent promptly, things will get troublesome for him.”

“As for me, I walk the path of defense.” Chen Yong did not care about trying to act humble. He spoke bluntly, “Although I am only a ninth-stage Cloudbreach, even a third-stage Mountainsea would have trouble killing me unless they specialize in offense. Of course, with my lack of offensive capability, I will have a lot of trouble killing my opponent as well. I can only drag the battle out.”

Su Yu blanked out slightly before saying, “Martial Uncle, why do your words sound so familiar? I think I heard the same words from Teacher Zhao before.”

“Who?”

“Zhao Li,” Bai Feng answered. “This brat is minoring in weaponsmithing. He’s Zhao Li’s student.”

“Zhao Li?” Chen Yong was stunned. He hurriedly asked, “Su Yu, you’re Zhao Li’s student?”

“Yeah.”

Su Yu nodded.

Chen Yong looked at Bai Feng and asked, “You made that happen?”

Bai Feng was speechless. He said, “That has nothing to do with me. The brat did it himself. That Zhao Li has been trying to snatch my student.”

Chen Yong sank into silence.

Meanwhile, Bai Feng looked at him in confusion.

After a short silence, Chen Yong slowly said, “Su Yu, you should walk the path of offense. Don’t bother with the defensive or balanced approach. Of course, there is a premise for this choice. You better…uhm…better…”

“What are you trying to say, Senior Brother?”

Bai Feng was flabbergasted. What was his senior brother doing?

Chen Yong took a deep breath and said, “Zhao Li! You’re truly ignorant! Do you need me to spell everything out for you? Don’t you know who the fourth principal was?”

“Of course I know.”

Bai Feng rolled his eyes, “Principal Zhao Yunchuan. After he was killed in battle, he left the source character behind. How can I not know him? He fell in battle 115 years ago. Of course I know him.”

“Zhao Li is the fourth principal’s son.”

“…”

Bai Feng was stunned. “Impossible! Zhao Li isn’t that old, right?”

“He’s almost 120 years old.”

“…”

Su Yu was dumbstruck. Bai Feng was dumbstruck as well. He asked, “He’s 120 yet he’s only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach?”

Chen Yong glared at his junior brother and said, “He doesn’t like to cultivate his Divine Characters. He focuses fully on weaponsmithing. Because of that, his cultivation speed is rather slow.”

“But…why haven’t I heard of that?”

“That’s why I said that you are ignorant. If you have been paying attention, you should be aware of this,” said Chen Yong. “Zhao Li is the son of the fourth principal. The fourth principal was known for his robust and thick willpower. That is related to his source character and his special cultivation method.”

“With the source character as the base, the fourth principal had created a cultivation method called the Soul Expanding Art.”

Chen Yong looked at Su Yu and solemnly said, “For the path of offense, the biggest weakness is the drain on your willpower. You can easily find yourself in a weakened state after attacking, opening yourself up to be killed by your enemies. Because of that, some of us choose to walk the path of defense. But with the Soul Expanding Art, the drain will no longer be an issue.”

Bai Feng asked dazedly, “Is that true? Why had nobody told me about that before?”

That was something very important. Why had nobody told him about that?

Su Yu looked at his own teacher with pity. So it turned out that his teacher knew nothing as well. Poor guy.

Bai Feng sensed his student’s gaze and rolled his eyes. What was that brat thinking about?

He, Bai Feng, was still a youngster as well! He wasn’t even 30! And he had only been in the academy for 9 years. Wasn’t it normal that there were things he didn’t know?

Chen Yong laughed with amusement when he saw the antics of the two. He said, “It’s pointless to tell you this anyway. Zhao Li is an eccentric. After the fourth principal’s death, the Soul Expanding Art almost went extinct. He alone repaired the incomplete copy left behind by his father. When his father passed away, he was still a child.”

Chen Yong explained, “Strictly speaking, the current Soul Expanding Art is basically a creation of Zhao Li as the original version has been mostly lost. And he is too eccentric. Even though he had accepted a few students, he would not teach them the Soul Expanding Art if he believed that they were unsuitable for that cultivation method. The outsiders say that he is too stingy with knowledge, but he doesn’t care.

“In truth, Teacher looked for him a few years ago for his Soul Expanding Art. But after taking one look at you…he said that you were a piece of trash that was unworthy of his Soul Expanding Art. Teacher had no choice but to give up…”

“…”

Bai Feng was stunned. Him? A piece of trash? That was the very first time someone had ever called him that. Was his senior brother serious?

Chen Yong ignored Bai Feng. He looked at Su Yu and said, “Since you’ve caught Zhao Li’s attention, you might be able to get the Soul Expanding Art from him as well. With that, you would be able to solve the issue of willpower exhaustion. At that time, you will truly become an expert on the offensive path. With the ability to attack continuously, your opponent won’t be able to defend against your attacks forever.”

The more Chen Yong spoke, the more excited he became. “I never paid too much attention to that, but it is quite a surprise that Zhao Li has actually accepted you as a student. I only realized that after you said that my words sounded familiar. Zhao Li must have mentioned his Soul Expanding Art to you before, telling you about his endurance in combat, right?”

“Yes.” Su Yu nodded, “He didn’t mention any specific cultivation method, but he did mention that he can last long in combat. Even Mountainsea experts might not be able to outlast him.”

“He’s right.” Chen Yong smiled, “Since he has told you that much, it is clear he has the intention to teach you the Soul Expanding Art as well. But the fact that you’re only minoring in weaponsmithing is holding him back. He might be thinking that it’s not worth teaching his trump card to someone who isn’t his main student.”

Chen Yong sternly said, “Grab this opportunity! Since you have caught his attention, it proves that you have the aptitude to learn what he has to teach. There must be some limitations to the Soul Expanding Art, making it something not everyone can learn. Zhao Li is eccentric, but I believe he’s definitely not someone stingy with knowledge.

“There must be a reason as to why he had not taught anyone that method. Even Bai Feng failed to catch his eyes back then. This is a good opportunity for you. Su Yu, you need to visit Zhao Li more. If you manage to learn that method, you would be able to grow into the strongest attacker of the multiple character faction. The strongest defense is offense. Everlasting offense.”

Listening to all that, Su Yu was starting to get excited. Meanwhile, Bai Feng was getting the urge to sit in the corner by himself.

What was the meaning of this? Why did his senior brother insist on comparing him against his student? He was a piece of trash? That old fart was truly a bastard.

“Path of offense! Soul Expanding Art!”

Su Yu’s excitement did not last long as his mood turned somewhat downcast soon after. Teacher Zhao had made it clear that he wouldn’t teach someone who wasn’t his main student his trump card. In Su Yu’s opinion, Chen Yong had overestimated his importance.