Tribulation of Myriad Races

After thinking about it, Su Yu nodded, “This is merely a guess of mine. But since you wish to join…I need to make things clear. I am the leader. Both of you will be joining as researchers. You do not have any supervisory or management roles.”

“No problem.”

Both nodded in agreement. They were very interested in this subject. They suspected that the moment Su Yu submitted his research topic, he would even attract the attention of some big shots.

Of course, since this required one to open hundreds of acupoints, it was unlikely that anyone else would attempt to do the same research. Firstly, it was too difficult to open so many acupoints. One needed to be a super genius for that.

Secondly, it was too expensive and time consuming. If they started training someone capable of doing so from now, it would take them years or even decades.

Thirdly, even if they could find someone so talented, why should that person keep opening acupoints instead of advancing?

Su Yu…was merely an outlier. He was a lunatic. Nobody knew how he had opened so many acupoints in such a short period of time.

At that thought, Zhao Ming suddenly said, “Su Yu, I think you can recruit one other person. Zhou Hao. He is very fast in acupoint opening as well. He has already opened 144 acupoints. Unfortunately, his Thousand Mountain Art makes it very difficult for him to advance. He will probably be stuck. And since he can’t advance, he can only open more acupoints to gain more strength.”

He smiled, “Hadn’t you worked with him once before? You can totally recruit him and turn him into your test subject. His teacher can pay for his acupoint opening. After all, this topic would definitely attract Xia Yuwen’s attention as well. He would want to get involved. He might not be willing to spend all that money for his student’s acupoint opening before this, but after hearing about your research, this would change.”

Su Yu’s heart thumped. That made a lot of sense! He could use this as an excuse to scam some money from Xia Yuwen!

Also, he held the complete initiative in this research topic as very few people could open as many acupoints as him. Furthermore, he had even opened apertures, something Zhou Hao lacked. Would someone with no opened apertures get the same premonition?

Initially, this source soul acupoint research was only an excuse Su Yu used to scam others. But now, he was truly starting to get interested in it. With such an incredible research topic, he could finally give himself a new label: a genius researcher.

Just look at how interested Zhao Ming and Hu Qiusheng were right after hearing about this research topic?

After thinking for a bit, he asked, “Do any of you have any special abilities? Fighting prowess does not count.”

Zhao Ming rolled his eyes and said, “Does healing ability count? I’m a doctor. You guys would definitely injure yourself a lot during your experiments.”

That made a lot of sense! Su Yu nodded in agreement. What about Jiang Mu? He didn’t know Jiang Mu well, but this person could be considered a part of the neutral faction. Thus, he wouldn’t mind having this person in his research center.

But this person still needed to have a special talent if he wanted to join, right? If his sole talent was fighting…well, as someone below the Skysoar Realm, there would be a limit to that talent of his, even if he was about to enter the Skysoar Realm.

Jiang Mu sank into thought. After a while, he said, “I read a lot of travelogs and memoirs in my free time. Over the years, I’ve read thousands of them. Does that count?”

“…”

Su Yu was stunned. After a while, he nodded, “Yes.”

He had no choice but to agree. Just look at the results of this person’s hobby of reading travelogs and memoirs. The moment he heard about the source soul acupoint, he recalled someone called Bai Tianhao, pointing out that the source soul acupoint might really exist. This was indeed a special talent.

These travelogs also contained numerous unofficial historical records and legends. Su Yu had not read too many of such books as he lacked time. But this Jiang Mu seemed to have a lot of free time in his hands.

At that thought, Su Yu asked curiously, “So my teacher’s family has such a glorious past?”

Yes. That was glorious. A mere Cloudbreach had killed a Mountainsea.

Zhao Ming said, “It’s not surprising. It is very hard for a regular family to produce a genius. That is the truth. The Bai Family isn’t exactly super strong, but they’re decent. They still have a few Cloudbreach cultivators in the family. They only lack a Mountainsea.”

Su Yu was really unaware of that. Bai Feng had never mentioned his family before.

Zhao Ming said, “The Bai Family isn’t a part of Great Xia. Instead, they are from Great Ming. Bai Feng has joined the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy…because of the fifth principal. The fifth principal was too famous. Back then, Bai Feng had joined the academy due to his admiration for the fifth principal. He even joined the multiple character faction unhesitatingly even if the multiple character faction had already declined.”

Su Yu raised his brow. Was this real?

He had never felt that his teacher was a fan of the fifth principal. Then again, perhaps his teacher was after the profound research topics the multiple character faction was engaged in. That much was obvious from the sheer amount of time Bai Feng spent cooped up in the research center.

That fellow was basically a research nerd. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, he would not take a single step out of the research center.

“The Bai Family still has a few Cloudbreach cultivators…In that case, my teacher’s exile…”

Su Yu stopped without finishing his sentence.

Zhao Ming understood what Su Yu was trying to convey. With a smile, he said, “The Bai Family…how should I put it? By joining the multiple character faction, Bai Feng had involved himself in the struggle. But the Bai Family is not a part of the struggle. This is a good thing. They won’t be dragged down. But the Bai Family has never removed him from their family registry. They are basically adopting a wait-and-see attitude.”

“Are the parents of my teacher still around?”

Zhao Ming was somewhat speechless. “You truly know nothing about your own faction. You seem completely clueless about your teacher.”

What a stupid question. Su Yu rolled his eyes. Who would ask their teacher about their teacher’s family? Would your student ask you if your parents were dead out of nowhere?

“Yes. They are still alive. His father is a Cloudbreach expert, the little brother of the family head. He is currently a 10000-man-commander in the Great Ming Army, so you can say that he is quite an important person.”

Su Yu did not ask any other questions. He had actually gained himself two members here. This was quite an unexpected harvest. With this, he already had enough members and a suitable topic. It was time for him to submit his application.

…

6th of November, afternoon. Su Yu submitted his application to start a research center.

His intended research topic was submitted as well. Zhao Ming would serve as the teacher of the research center. Su Yu, Hu Qiusheng, Wu Jia, Jiang Mu, and Xia Huyou were the students of the research center.

The moment the application was submitted, it created a sensation, attracting the attention of numerous big shots.

…

Great Xia City, capital of Great Xia.

Main hall of the prefect’s manor.

Marquis Xia had just received a report regarding the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Prior to this, he had already received a similar report. This time, the report was sent by Xia Huyou.

“Source soul acupoint…”

Marquis Xia muttered to himself. He couldn’t help but to agree that the multiple character faction was truly filled with creative individuals. This concept of source soul acupoint had given him numerous new ideas.

“Old Hu!” Marquis Xia said, “Check if the War Shrine and Knowledge Seeking Realm have conducted any research on this topic over the years.”

Administrator Hu had already been updated on this matter as Hu Qiusheng had learned of it as well.

Upon hearing that, he stroked his beard and said, “320 years ago, they performed their first venture into this topic. But they failed without anything to show for it. 180 years ago, someone from Great Qin revived the topic. They even had some people experiment on this theory, but the research ended in failure as well. 80 years ago, Great Xia King brought up the topic again.”

“What?”

Marquis Xia blanked out. His father? Why was he unaware of that?

Administrator Hu said, “In truth, Master Xia had experimented on himself. But after opening 180 acupoints, he was stuck. So he gave up. Just like that, the research ended.”

“My big brother tried it before?”

Marquis Xia was surprised. He was really unaware of that. At the time, he had yet to be born.

“Yeah. But it ended in failure.” Administrator Hu said, “Of course, they hadn’t mentioned something like the source soul acupoint. They were only working on a vague hypothesis, but there was no result. A lot of similar projects had failed over the years so nobody cared that yet another research had failed.”

“So do you think Su Yu would be successful?”

“Who knows?” Administrator Hu said, “He is the newcomer with the highest number of opened acupoints in recent years. Barely anyone has ever succeeded in opening more than 300 acupoints. Even those capable of doing so wouldn’t do it. They might as well go for the Infinite Strength Realm or even the Skysoar Realm.”

Nobody would waste their time and energy opening 300 acupoints at the Great Strength Realm. Marquis Xia couldn’t understand why Su Yu would do something like this.

Perhaps the kid was simply too talented. He had merely been opening random acupoints with his free time. Before he knew it, he had opened over 300 acupoints. Yeah, this was Marquis Xia’s conclusion.

After a short silence, Marquis Xia said, “This is a very interesting topic. The War Shrine, Knowledge Seeking Realm, Great Qin, and Great Xia have all researched the same topic before. That can only mean that the Invincibles are actually paying attention to this topic as well. This must be due to Bai Tianhao’s feat back then, right?”

“I think so.”

“Notify the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy to quickly approve this application. Tell the single character faction to stop creating trouble for me.” Marquis Xia lazily said, “Su Yu might be the closest person to this source soul acupoint. We should let him try it. If this acupoint really exists, from now on, the human race would no longer need to go through the passive cultivation stage of the Source Opening Realm. This will cut every newcomer’s cultivation time by five to eight years. This is not a small matter.”

Administrator Hu nodded, “Do we need to get some people to protect him in secret?”

Marquis Xia thought about it and said, “Do it. But keep it a secret from him. If anyone really tries something, kill them and eliminate all witnesses. Do not let anyone know that we are protecting the kid.”

“Alright.” Administrator Hu then asked, “Are you investing in this research center?”

“Forget it.” Marquis Xia curled his lips, “There are no signs that this kid will be successful. Also, I have a feeling that the kid is merely boasting. In truth, he probably knows nothing as well.”

Administrator Hu nodded.

Marquis Xia moved to the next topic and asked, “What is the update on Liu Wenyan and the others?”

“The journey has been smooth. There were some troublemakers during the journey, but most of these people were only testing our defenses. The Myriad Race Cult also joined in, but after a few Cloudbreach cultivators were killed, everything calmed down.”

“How many days before they reach the Allheaven Battlefield?”

“Around ten.”

“Continue watching over them. Get the Martial Dragon Guards to be on standby. Notify the various prefectures to clear the path Liu Wenyan’s group is taking of all cultists. If these prefectures can’t clear the cultists from their own lands, Great Xia will personally dispatch our soldiers to assist them with it.

“If they can’t even maintain the security within their own borders, is there a need for them to keep existing? Tell them that if we notice an increase in cult activity, we will have to conclude that the Human Realm is destabilizing. In that case, we will have no choice but to dispatch our soldiers to their lands and help them with security.

“Our soldiers have been pretty free lately after pulling back from the battlefield. Since these prefectures clearly lack the soldiers to maintain the security of their own lands, we shall send our Devil Subduing Army over and help them with it.”

Administrator Hu smiled and nodded, “Sure. With this, the various prefectures will no longer be able to keep evading their responsibilities.”

Marquis Xia sneered.

With a disdainful tone, he said, “All of them are waiting for Great Xia to get into more conflict. Some of these people also have their eyes on the fifth principal’s character. Dream on!”

After saying that, Marquis Xia chased Administrator Hu away before returning to his own room to rest.

…

At the same time.

Su Yu’s research topic was slowly spreading in the circle of experts.

Source soul acupoint.

This was the very first time some people had heard this name. And this was also the first time many of them heard of this concept. They were quite surprised. Some were skeptical, thinking that Su Yu was daydreaming.

Regardless of what they believed, they couldn’t help but give Su Yu a new label for his idea: research genius.

Instead of using his talent to cultivate and advance to the next realm, he had been using his time and talent to open over 300 acupoints. One ought to admit that an abundance of talent had indeed given him the qualification to go crazy.

Some people could hardly open even a dozen acupoints. Meanwhile, this bastard had casually opened 300 acupoints. Life could truly be unfair at times.

The source soul acupoint theory started spreading far and wide. Similar theories had emerged in the past, but this was the very first time a new cultivator had brought up this theory. And this new cultivator might also be the person with the highest number of opened acupoints in many years.