Tribulation of Myriad Races

City gate.

The Mountainsea guard blanked out when the door swung open, wondering if he was seeing things. Then, an arm poked out of the door.

“He’s fine?”

How lucky. That human was actually untouched by the death light. How luck. Earlier, he thought that there was no way this human could survive.

“Commander, he’s fine?”

The other guards were just as surprised to see that arm. What a lucky guy. The death light had actually failed to hit him. But this was such a brazen guy. He had just provoked a death spirit not long ago. So soon after that, he was trying to leave again? Then again, such courage was indeed fitting for a genius. But only a naive person would be so excessively brazen.

One of the guards laughed, “This fellow would have been a lot more timid if the death light had actually managed to hit him earlier. He must have been pretty sheltered before this. Nobody with a brain would be so reckless.”

The Mountainsea said nothing. He had been silent ever since he noticed that Su Yu was fine.

The guard beside him continued laughing, “Commander, look at him. Is he thinking of leaving? If he encounters another death spirit without a convenient building to hide in, he will die. Why isn’t he learning from his lesson?”

“I don’t know.”

The Mountainsea shook his head. Who could understand the thoughts of these geniuses? Perhaps that human was Su Yu, after all. Once again, he doubted his conclusion.

The movement technique used by that human resembled what Su Yu used earlier. But it was also very unlikely for Su Yu to have so much difficulty crossing the main gate. The Mountainsea was getting more and more confused.

***

After noting that the death light was gone, Su Yu exhaled in relief and stepped outside. There was no way he was going to stay indoors for an entire night. The street was still as empty as before. The death spirit was nowhere to be seen.

Su Yu starrted walking on the street. Before long, he reached the house where he encountered the elk earlier. The death spirit seemed to have written something on the hanging board in front of the house earlier. Su Yu wanted to see for himself if there were any changes on the board.

Shortly after, he saw something there. The portrait of an elk could be seen on it.

“Hmm?”

But the portrait was incomplete.

Su Yu rubbed his chin pensively. Could it be that the death spirit would spend three days drawing the portrait of the individual trying to become a resident? And the process would be completed upon the completion of the portrait?

So every resident of the city would have their portrait drawn on the board in front of their house? How impressive. So one would receive a free portrait as a gift upon becoming a resident?

Then again, this portrait looked somewhat creepy. It was blood red in color, as though it had been drawn with the blood left on the talisman as the ink.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Su Yu knocked on the door. That damn elk had nearly caused his death. As payback, he decided to scare the elk a little.

“…”

After a while, Su Yu heard someone trembling in the house, but the door remained shut. He smiled in amusement. This sure was fun. It reminded him of how he would pretend to be a ghost and scare the other kids when he was young. Meanwhile, the Mountainsea guard was left completely speechless.

Holy shit!

From how that human was behaving, he was certain that this human was still very young. Instead of actually doing something important, he had actually left his house at night just to scare a random elk? This was absolutely not something a mature person would do. This human was definitely Su Yu. After all, Su Yu was actually very young.

In an ancient city, hearing someone knocking on the door in the middle of the night was indeed terrifying. After all, it was common knowledge in these ancient cities that terrifying existences would roam the streets during the night.

The Mountainsea guard was certain that the elk inside the house was currently terror-stricken. In fact, the elk was probably curled up in a corner while trembling in fear. What an asshole!

This was enough to terrify anyone in the city.

The other guards were also rolling their eyes. One of them said, “This fellow is too brazen. He needs to be careful when he reaches the thirty-fifth ring lest the night patrol take offense to what he does.”

The Mountainsea said nothing. That would be a problem for that human to solve, not him. It had nothing to do with him. But the guards were right. This was such a brazen individual.

***

As for Su Yu, he wasn’t too surprised that the elk was refusing to open the door. If he was in the same position, he wouldn’t open the door either. He was merely doing this to vent some of his anger as the elk’s bloodstained talisman was the reason he had encountered that death spirit.

Moving on, Su Yu continued walking along the street. The doors and windows of the buildings on the two sides of the street were all tightly shut. Some of these buildings did not look like houses. Instead, they looked more like storefronts. Su Yu wondered if they were actually operational. If they were, what were the products one would sell in an ancient city?

After a while, he noticed the portrait of a wolf in front of a building. So this was the house of an actual resident? The portrait of the elk was incomplete. Meanwhile, this portrait was already complete. In that case, this wolf had completed the process of becoming a resident. Similarly, the portrait was drawn with red ink, looking rather eerie.

“Sigh.”

Su Yu was feeling quite gloomy. Nobody had explained all this to him. The information he received from the masked man from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion only included some basic introduction without any in-depth explanation.

To make things worse, not a single person could be seen on the streets during the night. Even if he wanted to ask someone about the things he was confused about, there was nobody to ask. The attitude of the guards he saw earlier was decent, but they had been sticking close to the gates. Perhaps there were some sort of restrictions on where they could go.

Soon, Su Yu found another unoccupied building. Standing in front of it, he yelled out of nowhere, “Is there anyone alive around here? Come on, let’s have a chat.”

“…”

He was ready to enter the building at the first sign of danger. After all, a death spirit could be very difficult to deal with. Standing in front of an unoccupied building, he could easily escape into safety. That random yell in the middle of the night caused quite a lot of people to jump in fright.

Su Yu did not seem to mind. That was most likely because he was still too ignorant about the city. He really didn’t know where he should even begin to look for the so-called opportunities he could find in ancient cities.

In fact, he would be happy to even see Mo Duona. As long as they didn’t have to fight, he was more than willing to have a chat with Mo Duona.

“Mo Duona, are you here? Come on. Let’s chat.”

Suddenly, a team of ten armored individuals mounted on black horses started heading toward him.

The leader of the team was clad in a set of black armor, revealing only his dark eyes. With a cold glint in his eyes, the leader berated with the common language, “Audacious. Do not make a clamor in the middle of the night. Return to your lodging.”

Su Yu was overjoyed to finally see someone alive. Yes. These people were alive. He was sure because his Perception Jade could detect them. But he was unsure if these were humans or some other races.

“Mountainsea!”

According to his senses, one of them was a Mountainsea while the others were Cloudbreaches. This was quite a strong group of people. There sure were a lot of experts in this city.

“Sir, I’m new here. I don’t know the rules well. May I have a chat with you?” Su Yu smiled, “I won’t make you do it for nothing.”

A profound weapon appeared in his hand. With the same smile on his face, he said, “Sir, can I ask you something?”

Since these people were alive, they naturally had their needs and wants. And wealth could move anyone.

Alas, the armored expert merely gave him a cold glance and said, “Go indoors.”

Su Yu laughed awkwardly and asked, “Sir, are you the city guards?”

“Go in.”

The armored expert berated, “If you dare to make more noise, you will be executed without mercy.”

Su Yu frowned slightly, but he smiled again and said, “Sir, I only wish to ask something. Do you know Mo Duona? I’m his friend…”

Boom!

The armored expert stabbed his spear out. Su Yu reacted instantly, dashing into the building and shutting the door. With a rumble, the spear struck the door. Outside, the armored expert snorted coldly. His eyes continued flickering coldly.

“Since you’re here in Heavendoom City, learn to keep your head down and follow the rules here. How dare you go against the orders of the night patrol?”

Inside the building, Su Yu frowned again. He snorted with dissatisfaction. The door did not suffer any damage, and the guard seemed fine despite having used violence in the city. Perhaps he was exempted since he was a guard.

He was only so arrogant due to his status as a guard of the ancient city. Outside the city, the same guard would merely be an expert of a minor race or perhaps a vagrant of a destroyed realm. But here in the city, he gained the courage to even treat the geniuses of major races with disrespect. What was he without the city?

Su Yu cursed inwardly. Why so arrogant? The city wasn’t even his. The city had been around since time immemorial. These guards were merely guests who had moved in. But Su Yu could only helplessly let the matter slide. This was not his own place. Without knowing more about the city, he shouldn’t provoke more trouble. Wasn’t it just bowing his head? He was very good at that.

He yelled again, “Sir, can I ask you a question? Where is Mo Duona staying at?”

“Shut your mouth. If you keep making a ruckus, you’ll be expelled from the city.”

The commander berated him again.

Hearing that, Su Yu’s expression finally changed. He said, “Commander, even the residents and guards will need to leave the city at times, right? Is there a need to be so unreasonable?”

Outside, the commander was stunned. Did this person just threaten him? How surprising. Someone actually dared to threaten the night patrol inside an ancient city.

With a cold snort, the commander said, “Human, you don’t want to anger me. Do you think you will be safe hiding in a building? The night patrol has the duty to search the city for criminals. Thus, I can submit an application to unlock your lodging at any time. Are you courting death?”

“…”

Holy shit! Was this for real? Then again, Su Yu was not afraid of this commander. Sure, the commander was a Mountainsea. But from the commander’s aura, he was most likely a first or second-stage Mountainsea. Su Yu did not fear a Mountainsea of this level.

But there was a mayor who was a ninth-stage Sunmoon. Su Yu did not want to risk provoking the mayor. That would be troublesome. He felt extremely sullen. He only wanted to ask some questions. Why was this commander being so unreasonable? What was the source of his arrogance? He looked down on even a profound weapon?

So be it. Su Yu still needed to bow when circumstances called for it. Perhaps he could deal with that fellow after learning more about the city. For example, he could assassinate that fellow right as he was about to leave the city.

Numerous thoughts surfaced in Su Yu’s mind as he timidly said, “Please calm your anger, Sir. I’m new here. I know nothing. Please be generous and forgive my ignorance.”

He added, “Treat my profound weapon as an apology gift to soothe your anger.”

He opened the door and tossed a profound weapon out before shutting the door again.

The commander caught the weapon and studied it with shining eyes. Noting that the quality was decent, he dropped the matter and gave a flat reminder, “Do not cause any ruckus in the city. Divines, devils, or humans, all should learn to behave in this city.”

“Yes, yes, definitely.”

Next, the night patrol moved away, with crisp clatter of hooves filling the empty streets.

Su Yu cursed inwardly. Just wait. His profound weapon was not the kind of gift one could take easily. With the weapon, Su Yu could track the commander at all times. Just wait, asshole.

Finally, he turned around to study his new lodging. It was much bigger than the previous house he was in. If he had to, he didn’t mind taking a rest in this place. Dawn was arriving. He wouldn’t need to wait for long before he could leave and ask some people about the city.

He felt quite dispirited. This city…was truly an unusual place. So be it. He would waste the night away. What else could he do? Perhaps this would be an opportunity for him to further stabilize his cultivation.

He could always learn more during the next day. He could probably find some humans in the city. He still remembered that the grandpa he encountered near the gate previously had not left the city.

Having reached a decision, Su Yu sat down on a random chair. Right at that moment, his tribulation character pulsed. He looked around in stupefaction. Was there danger inside the building?

No way…right? He looked around, but he found nothing. Completely unknown to him, faint traces of death qi were slowly converging on his position from all directions. After a short while, Su Yu decided to start cultivating. The moment he took out some heavenly source qi, hissing sounds rang out all around him.

He was greatly alarmed. Only then did he notice that something was off with his environment.

Holy shit!

He was surrounded by death qi. The death qi was so thin that he didn’t even notice anything. Thankfully, he was able to notice the death qi when it started clashing against his heavenly source qi.

“Leave within three days…”

A certain realization dawned on him. That was an alarming realization. All visitors must leave within three days. Why was that the case? Because death qi would unknowingly taint the bodies of all visitors. These buildings were no safe houses. Rather, these were fatal traps.

But some people must have noticed the issue and concluded that one must leave within three days. In short, the death qi would not be too much of an issue if one left within three days. After three days, the death qi might increase in intensity. No wonder some people had died for no apparent reason in these ancient cities.

“How scary. Wouldn’t I be completely clueless without heavenly source qi?”

While he was thinking about all that, his skin suddenly shone. Several shining spheres emerged from within his body and removed some of the death qi around him.

Su Yu blanked out. What was that?

After a while, he muttered, “Is this the reward for entering through the main gate?”

Through his observation, there were nine shining spheres in total. The first sphere was starting to grow dim. As it continued to withstand the death qi in the area, it continued weakening. There were nine shining spheres.

“Is this why one could stay longer in the city by entering through the main gate?”

Numerous thoughts rose in his mind. At this moment, when he looked at the house he was in again, it looked more like a coffin than a house.

Yes. Coffin.

That eerie thought had appeared in his mind out of nowhere. This was such an unsettling city.