Tribulation of Myriad Races

Zhu Hongliang smiled and said, “Eighth Sister, stop arguing. It’s fine if Grandpa stays calm. Since he’s angry, everyone should just settle down. You don’t want to anger Grandpa so much that you get locked in the dark room for a few months, right? The boredom will drive anyone crazy.”

“Shut your mouth.”

Zhu Qingyan was feeling very distressed. Even Zhu Hongliang was nagging at her.

Zhu Hongwen said, “Alright, stop bickering. But there is no denying that Grandpa is placing a lot of importance on Su Yu. Hongliang, you have met Su Yu multiple times. What is your opinion on him?”

Zhu Hongliang said, “I don’t really know him that well, but he’s a very cautious person. At the same time, he is also so courageous it’s crazy. Grandpa was right. He had the courage to lure a few Sunmoons out with himself as bait during his travel from Great Xia to Great Ming. None of us would have the courage to do the same.

“He’s also ruthless and heavy-handed when he decides to make a move. If you check his records, you will probably break out in cold sweat. He deliberately killed Di Feng to anger Zhou Pingsheng. He then exposed his Mountainsea protectors and brought the myriad race students harboring ulterior motives toward him out with him before killing them all.

“Tsk tsk. Those students sure were unlucky for making the choice of leaving with Su Yu. They all probably believed that they could profit off Su Yu. However, all of them ended up dead. Their races are being attacked by the Devil Subduing Army and Martial Dragon Guards as we speak. Not even the divines and devils have grounds to protest this since nobody will tolerate an attempt by minor races to assassinate the genius of a major race. Everything would be fine if they could hide it, but they were all caught red-handed. They won’t be able to survive unless the divines and devils are willing to stand up for them.

“From his profile, you can clearly see that he is no pushover. After all, he is someone who had created numerous troubles at Great Xia before safely withdrawing into Great Ming. I’ll be honest, Eighth Sister. You might not even catch his eye. That Wu Lan is a young miss of the Wu Family. And even after coming so far to follow him, nothing happened between the two of them. I don’t think Su Yu is someone you can get close to so easily. So don’t worry about your marriage. He won’t accept you.”

“You damn fatty, are you saying that I’m not good enough for Su Yu?” Zhu Qingyan was furious.

Zhu Hongliang shrugged. Wasn’t that obvious?

“Eighth Sister, don’t provoke Su Yu. If he really decides to retaliate, our grandpa might really ignore you.”

“Hmph. Do you think I’m stupid?” Zhu Qingyan was feeling very gloomy. Just what had she done? Why was everyone thinking that she was going to provoke Su Yu? Fine, she would try to stay far away from him after this.

***

At the same time.

Instead of meeting Su Yu in the main hall, Zhu Tiandao decided to set the meeting place in the back garden. Seated on a stone bench, he invited Su Yu and Wen Zhong to sit down. With a smile, he said, “You arrived at a good time. I just received some nice pastries from a friend. Come, let’s give it a try. Old Wen, I heard you’ve joined the Source Soul Research Center as well?”

“Yes, Prefect.”

“Don’t be so stiff. Make yourself comfortable.” Zhu Tiandao said, “Come on, grab something to eat. Have you eaten your dinner? Do you want to have your dinner here?”

“It’s fine.” Su Yu said, “You’re too courteous, Prefect.”

“Don’t be so reserved. Just treat this place as your home.” Zhu Tiandao said, “Just earlier, Qingyan said that she wanted to see you since you’re visiting. From her tone and expression, I can see how eager she was to see you. Kid, did you do anything to my Qingyan?”

“…”

Su Yu was completely speechless. What did he do? He hadn’t even seen her after that first encounter.

Zhu Tiandao said, “I’m warning you, kid. You can interact with her as a friend, but don’t go and produce some Su juniors out of nowhere. The Zhu Family is a respectable family. We can’t allow that. If you really like her, just propose for a marriage with her. It’s not like I’ll disagree.”

Su Yu felt both helpless and awkward. He wanted to say that he really wasn’t that close with the prefect’s granddaughter.

After teasing Su Yu for a bit, Zhu Tiandao smiled and said, “Fine, fine, I won’t get involved in the affairs of youngsters. Qingyan is a proud girl. She has been saying provocative words to attract your attention. That’s her way of expressing her interest. Don’t be so slow-witted.”

Was that the case? Su Yu asked himself. Really? No wonder Zhu Qingyan would act so unreasonably during their first meeting, acting as though Su Yu was the one trying to attract her attention. So that was why? Had she perhaps fallen for him at first sight?

Was she simply trying to attract his attention? How terrifying. All women were truly obstacles in the path of cultivation. He had nearly fallen for that crafty trick of hers. He had innocently believed that she was uninterested in him. Truly terrifying.

Su Yu decided that he needed to keep a distance from her in the future.

He went straight to the point and said, “Prefect, I have a foundation cultural art called the Source Soul Art. It has 72 apertures. I believe this cultivation method can be quite useful to the cultural researchers of the Human Realm. Will there be any issue if I start disseminating this cultivation method?”

“Cough, cough, cough…”

Zhu Tiandao was so shocked he nearly choked on his own saliva. Holy shit. Was the return for his help coming so soon? Was money starting to walk into his pocket already?

“Is this your betrothal gift?”

“…”

Su Yu was getting tired. He said, “Prefect, I’m being serious.”

Zhu Tiandao turned solemn as he asked, “You’re not joking?”

“No.” Zhu Tiandao stood up and started pacing around the garden. He sternly said, “You can disseminate it. This is very important. A 72-aperture foundation cultural art can shake the entire world. It will shock all cultural researchers in existence.

“It can cut the time one needs to enter the Cloudbreach Realm by 10 years. But it also allows one to start cultivating a few years in advance. Thus, in the future, our Cloudbreaches will probably be around 20 years younger than our current Cloudbreaches.”

According to the data compiled not long ago, most human cultural researchers would reach the Cloudbreach Realm at around 60 years old. And generally, these were all geniuses as someone of mediocre talent wouldn’t be able to reach the Cloudbreach Realm.

Thus, the average age of Cloudbreach cultural researchers was 60 years old. But with this new cultivation method, the average age would be reduced to 40 years old. And that was merely the average. Some of the geniuses could probably enter the Cloudbreach Realm around 20 or 30. At that point, the Human Realm would basically be producing people like Wu Qi and Liu Hong en-masse.

The future geniuses would be comparable to the current freaks. As for the future freaks, they would reach the Cloudbreach Realm in their early twenties. This was a cultivation method that would change a lot of things.

Zhu Tiandao’s expression changed as he said, “Firstly, you will definitely catch the attention of the cult after releasing this cultivation method. Your bounty will probably reach 100,000 merit points or more.

“Secondly, your level of importance will be increased from the Mountainsea Realm to the Sunmoon Realm.

“Thirdly, the level of danger you need to face will increase as well. The ruin you might have will generate even more greed, including some Invincibles. Do you understand? Are you sure you want to disseminate this cultivation method openly instead of privately?”

“Yes.” Su Yu solemnly said, “Who shall suffer for the masses if not me? For the sake of humanity, and for the future of all cultural researchers, I am willing to take this risk. I only hope that every human will have the chance to become a cultural researcher. Of course, I also need all humanity to know the risk I’m taking here. I need them to know that I have the courage to fight for the masses.”

In short, Su Yu was saying that to get this cultivation method of his, they needed to let the entire human race know how much he had sacrificed for them. They even needed to exaggerate the degree of his sacrifice.

Su Yu was even planning to get some people to spread rumors of assassination attempts on him every now and then, claiming that he had only survived after sustaining heavy injuries. He learned this from Principal Niu! According to Principal Niu, if he wanted to do something good, he had to promote it to everyone!

Doing something good without letting everyone know about it was the same as doing nothing. He would let everyone know that for everyone’s sake, he was now faced with assassinations every other day.

Why had he not thought of this when he produced the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art previously? What a waste of opportunity.

After the release of the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art, he had gained the acknowledgment of many people. But the masses only saw how much money he earned from the new cultivation method. Nobody was aware of the amount of danger he had faced after releasing that cultivation method.

Su Yu wanted to change that. He wanted to show everyone how difficult his life was. In short, he was going to advertise his hardship.

Zhu Tiandao’s face turned stiff. Could this kid stop acting in front of him? For the sake of humanity? Wow. The kid was truly selfless.

“What are your conditions?”

Su Yu replied, “I have no conditions. Just follow the established rules. The academy can get 10 percent, the prefecture can get 30 percent, and so on.”

“Additionally, reduce the price of this cultivation method. It is meant for Mental Tempering Stage cultivators. They won’t be able to afford a high price. I suggest that we split the cultivation method into two parts. Each first part will offer 36 apertures at 50 merit points. With that, the complete version will only cost 100 merit points. Most families focusing on cultural research can afford such a price.

“Even those from the poorer families can afford 50 merit points after some work. After all, I did earn a decent sum of money even during my time as a secondary school student.”

As long as the student was willing to work hard, even a common family would be afford at least one part of this cultivation method.

“…”

Zhu Tiandao didn’t know what to say. Su Yu continued, “Also, I’m only selling this to the prefectures where the multiple character faction still exists. I hope you will help me enforce the rules against anyone daring to disseminate this cultivation method illegally. Those without the multiple character faction in their prefectures will need to reestablish the faction if they want this cultivation method. And I’ll only acknowledge it if they have at least a Skysoar in the faction. Also, they need to have at least 10 members in the faction…”

“Oh, right, we’re not selling to Great Xia.”

Instantly, Zhu Tiandao’s expression changed as he said, “You’re going to make a fool out of everyone in Great Xia. Su Yu, this isn’t a good idea.”

Su Yu gnashed his teeth and said, “I would rather offend all cultural researchers in Great Xia than change my mind.”

“You–”

Sigh.

Sure, Su Yu would feel great doing this. But a lot of trouble would follow. This kid was too good at holding a grudge.