Tribulation of Myriad Races

Heart Paradise Island.

Su Yu started reflecting upon himself. In truth, Niu Baodao’s suggestion was what he had initially planned to do. But he was too furious and disappointed in Great Xia, resulting in a change in his mindset. Eventually, he totally lost sight of his initial goal.

He was still not strong enough to stand against his enemies. Thus, he had to take a tactical approach. Sure, it felt better to deal with them with his own hands. But he didn’t have the strength for it yet.

“I understand.” Su Yu said, “Principal, in your opinion, what type of cultivation method is capable of causing a sensation? A foundation cultural art?”

“Definitely.” Niu Baidao said, “But remember this. A foundation cultural art can only win the hearts of those below the Skysoar Realm. After all, a cultural art below 72 apertures is not too useful for those at the Skysoar Realm and above.”

“What about one with 108 apertures?”

“That…” Niu Baidao was greatly shocked, but he maintained his smile and said, “That will be quite useful. But not everyone is capable of opening that many apertures. Perhaps only a small number of geniuses will be willing to change their cultivation method.

“Kid, don’t be in such a rush. Take it slow. Don’t release everything at once. Do it every now and then or they will seem much less valuable. You can also consider releasing some powerful martial techniques, divine-grade cultivation methods, and so on.”

After thinking for a bit, Niu Baidao said, “It would be even better if you could release a martial technique that one can use without opening too many new acupoints. Do you have something like that?”

“Yes.”

Su Yu nodded. He knew a lot of techniques. And some of these techniques utilized the same acupoints as the commonly seen cultivation methods.

Su Yu said, “I have something capable of calming one’s mind, something capable of healing, something capable of increasing source qi absorption speed…”

“Cough, cough, cough!”

Niu Baidao nearly choked himself due to the shock he received while he was sipping on his liquor. He maintained his smile and said, “Not bad at all. You can release some of these when the time is right. You are already quite famous. Before long, your fame from creating the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art will start showing its usefulness. At that time, you can release a few more cultivation methods and techniques, gaining even more trust from the masses.”

“I understand.”

Niu Baidao said, “Build a brand for your Source Soul Research Center. Build a brand around your name. Let everyone know that Su Yu only produces things of great quality. If you can keep that up, it is only a matter of time before you become a saint. And if a day comes when your cultivation methods become the compulsory cultivation methods of the various academies, you will become a winner in life.”

After a slight hesitation, Su Yu said, “But the creator of the Source Opening Codex isn’t even that well-known…”

“Fool.” Niu Baidao said, “Those people don’t even know their cultivation methods will become so popular so they sold all the rights to the cultivation methods. Thus, who would bother promoting their names when disseminating those cultivation methods? For example, the War God Art. Everyone knows that it was popularized by the War Shrine. There’s also the Myriad Text Sutra that was popularized by the Knowledge Seeking Realm.

“You need to mark your creations. Let everyone know that they come from the Source Soul Research Center. And let everyone know that Su Yu is the core of the Source Soul Research Center. This is what I call branding.”

Su Yu nodded. Fortunately, he had managed to convince Marquis Xia to emphasize that the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art was a product of the Source Soul Research Center. Otherwise, a lot of people would forget this with the passing of time. Eventually, everyone would only remember the Xia Family and forget about Su Yu. Time could erase everything.

“I understand, Principal.”

Niu Baidao nodded. While stroking his beard, he grinned. What a smart kid. Zhu Tiandao better thank him for this. Thanks to him, the brat was going to release some good cultivation methods soon. Now that the kid was in Great Ming, how could they let him leave before getting some good stuff from him? Even better if they could somehow convince him to voluntarily take out those cultivation methods.

Su Yu hesitated and asked, “But is this too conspicuous?”

Niu Baidao said, “It’s fine. As long as it isn’t something that can drive even Invincibles crazy, nobody can touch you even if you take out something that can drive Sunmoons crazy. Great Ming King is no pushover.

“He has nothing to lose. And he is not in need of anything from anyone at the moment. Do you understand? Great Ming King is one of the strongest human Invincibles in existence, yet he does not need anything from anyone. He is different from the other Invincibles. Even the strongest human Invincible, Great Qin King, still needs something from the others. He might be strong, but there are also several ninth-stage Sunmoons in Great Qin waiting for an opportunity to break through.

“Meanwhile, our Prefect Zhu is a fresh ninth-stage Sunmoon. And from how things are looking, he might be stuck at this level forever. Apart from the prefect, we do not have any other ninth-stage Sunmoons. Sigh.”

A lot of regret could be heard in that sigh. He was regretting how weak they were.

Su Yu asked in astonishment, “Are there really so many ninth-stage Sunmoons in the other prefectures?”

“They will have at least one or two ninth-stage Sunmoons. We have one as well if we include the prefect. But our Great Ming King is one of the five strongest human Invincibles. For someone like that to only have a single ninth-stage Sunmoon under him…it’s quite embarrassing.”

Realization dawned on Su Yu. Yeah, Great Ming was really quite weak. In truth, Great Ming was even worse off than some weak prefectures if Great Ming King was excluded. But it was truly embarrassing for the prefecture founded by someone so strong to be this weak.

“But what should we do in the future when it’s time for the prefect to affirm his dao?”

Su Yu wondered what they were planning to do in the future after offending so many people.

Niu Baidao smiled, “Well, we’ll have to think of something or downright give up on the breakthrough. Then again, our prefect might really end up stuck forever, am I right?”

That made sense as well. What a pity that Great Ming King’s eldest son had perished too early. That thought had appeared almost instinctively in Su Yu’s mind. Too many people had been saying the same thing, to the point where even Su Yu was starting to instinctively lament the early loss of Great Ming King’s first son.

But suddenly, he had a vague sense that something wasn’t right. Why did everyone believe that a ninth-stage Sunmoon like Zhu Tiandao was incomparable to a Great Strength who had died at nine? Just when did he start thinking that way as well? Was it because of the books he had read? Or was it because of the people around him who had constantly echoed that sentiment?

Even Zhu Tiandao himself had acknowledged that and Great Ming King had been complaining about that everywhere. What…was going on here?

“One more question, Principal. Is there anything in Great Ming that is helpful when it comes to growing willpower?”

“We have a lot of options.” Niu Baidao asked in astonishment, “Don’t you know?”

Su Yu was speechless. Yes. He had no idea.

“Drinking, eating, reading, listening to music…”

Niu Baidao said, “All those activities can increase your willpower. When a person fully focuses on a single subject, that subject is essentially a hobby, also a way to temper one’s willpower. That is a process of self-enlightenment. If you work hard enough, anything can be a means of increasing your willpower. Don’t tell me that you truly believe that the saying that the myriad arts can all be used to affirm your dao is merely a fairytale? Soaring in the skies in one day, breaking through mountains and seas in three days, catching a glimpse of the sun and the moon in ten days, and achieving eternity after that. This is both a legend and not a legend.”

Su Yu blanked out slightly.

“Where did your natural characters come from?” Niu Baidao stood up. With his ethereal appearance, he almost looked like a hermit sage.

He continued, “Self-enlightenment. Since you are someone capable of forming natural characters, was there ever a point in your life where your mind felt exceptionally clear, resulting in a sudden growth of willpower?”

“Yes.” Su Yu nodded. That was how his fire character had advanced to the next tier. There was also the deceit character, but Su Yu considered that a complete fluke.

“That’s right.” Niu Baidao said, “Everything we do is a dao in itself. As cultural researchers, we cultivate our minds. Ask Wen Zhong. Ask them if they tend to let nature take its course in cultivation. They never force anything to happen, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t cultivators. I can confidently say that Great Ming’s path is the correct path. It’s a pity that our people are too lazy.”

He did not deny that their people were too lazy. Even though the cultural researchers of Great Ming were different from everyone else, Niu Baidao still believed that they were walking on the right path.

“If that isn’t the case, why had the founders of the various academies split the academies into various faculties back then? Why should we even separate ourselves from the warriors? Or perhaps we can simply call ourselves character masters instead. Why bother with beast taming, pill making, and everything else?”

Niu Baidao said, “Su Yu, don’t make the mistake of believing that only Great Xia is right. You need to change your mentality.”

“Su Yu understands.”

That night, Su Yu and Niu Baidao talked about various topics. This principal might look like a simple man, but he was not simple at all.

He was too old. He was basically older than even the oldest prefecture. He was someone from the same generation as the Invincibles who had founded the various human prefectures. At his age, he was probably one of the oldest humans alive.

***

Eventually, Su Yu left in a satisfied and assured manner.

Not long after his departure, the old turtle emerged from the lake. Looking at Niu Baidao who was having fun dancing to the music, he asked, “Old Niu, is this another one of your scams?”

“Nonsense!” Niu Baidao grinned and said, “Old Turtle, come dance with me. I’m going to get rich soon. This calls for a celebration!”

“You’re getting rich?”

“Yeah. No matter what, Su Yu is a member of the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy. Thus, the academy is entitled to ten percent of the profits he can get from his cultivation methods. He must know this already, right?”

“…”

The old turtle returned to the lake. Clearly, this old man had been scamming again.

Niu Baidao did not mind. He said, “This is the rule here. This is how it has been for hundreds of years. I personally set this rule during the founding of the academy. We only need to produce a single genius to support our expenses for many years to come. Old Turtle, when I get rich, I’ll buy you a beautiful female turtle.”

“Forget it.”

“How about five female turtles?”

“…”

After a long while, the turtle emerged from the lake again and said, “I only accept looping turtles.”

“Sure.”

“You can’t break your promise.”

Right after that, one turtle after another emerged from the lake. Their strength varied from the Great Strength Realm to the Mountainsea Realm. This was an astonishing scene. It almost felt like the entire lake was filled with turtles.

One of the female turtles furiously said, “Old bastard, how dare you instigate my old turtle to accept more concubines?”

Niu Baidao laughed and said, “What do you mean? How am I instigating him? If he doesn’t enjoy this, none of you would be here. Just look at you guys. There are almost a thousand of you here. And I have been paying for all your expenses. Have I ever complained? You must be the eighth wife of Old Turtle. Tsk tsk, I can see that you’re getting quite old. No wonder Old Turtle is thinking of accepting new concubines…”

“Damn you!”

The female turtle was furious, but Niu Baidao merely laughed and said, “Don’t be mad. By the way, if possible, just provide that kid with a few drops of blood essence. Old Turtle, why did you act like you’re all alone here?”

The old turtle said, “He won’t treasure something he can get easily. Forget it. If needed, I’ll give him a drop of my blood essence. It’s not a bad idea to let him owe me a favor.”

“True.” Niu Baidao said, “Looks like you have learned something from me after all these years. By the way, I’m going to dig a moat around Su Yu’s research center. Just let some of your kids move there.”

“Alright!”

The old turtle agreed readily. The lake was already starting to get overcrowded, so he was more than happy to send some of his kids away. His kids only needed to serve as Su Yu’s beast protectors. It wasn’t a hard job. He had plenty of little turtles to spare.

With that, Niu Baidao returned to his dancing while all the turtles vanished into the lake again. The moment they submerged, even their auras were gone, as though they never existed.