Tribulation of Myriad Races

Inside the twentieth ring of Heavendoom City was a massive manor. This was the headquarters of the mystic armor race in the city. Those of their race who had converted into a permanent resident would all stay here.

Those who had yet to turn into a permanent resident would leave every three days and return after one day. A lot of races had been doing the same thing. They would station some of their people in their chosen ancient cities to help them explore the cities better.

This manor could be considered one of the best one could find in the outer rings. It was large and its environment was good. Furthermore, its surroundings were quite open as well since there weren’t a lot of buildings nearby.

The manor still looked mostly the same as before the mystic armors moved in, with the signboard hanging above the main entrance being the exception. That was the only thing that looked relatively new in this place.

On the board, the following words were written: Mystic Armor

Those words were written in the mystic armor language. They seemed rather confident in their strength. Even the main entrance was left open. This was an oddity as most of the doors in the city would remain shut.

A shut door signified that not everyone could enter the building. This was done for one’s safety. One could try to break the door, but that would also attract the death spirits. Thus, the safest choice was to keep one’s door shut. A constant flow of people could be seen entering and leaving the manor. Due to their confidence and arrogance, they had left their door open.

Four mystic amors were standing guard outside the entrance. In truth, they wouldn’t even need these guards if the door was kept shut. But as a top 100 race, they had a reputation to uphold. In fact, most of the races with permanent headquarters in the city were doing the same.

The sky was slowly turning dark.

More and more armored warriors were gathered in the area. Not only the mystic armors were here, but those from some other races could be seen as well. The mystic armor race was a top 100 race that had been operating here for many years. Thus, they had also recruited some minor race experts without a home to return to.

The composition of Red Armor’s party was the best example of this. Apart from the mystic armors, there were also some servants from other races in the team. Right opposite the manor was a row of abandoned shophouses. As the mystic armors had taken over the area, no people dared to move into the shophouses just opposite them.

On the roof of a certain shophouse was an unassuming piece of rock. That was Su Yu. He was waiting patiently.

The night was arriving. As the sky turned dark, the pedestrians on the streets started decreasing in number. Death spirits would roam the streets at night while the living would all remain indoors until the next day.

“Mystic armor race…”

Su Yu was hiding about a kilometer away from the manor. He could see numerous dots of light on his Perception Jade. After Hu Qi’s modification, the Perception Jade’s range had increased. And from passively detecting those who were scanning him, it had also obtained the ability to actively scan his surroundings.

Unfortunately, the range was still quite limited at only a kilometer. Furthermore, the jade was also having a much harder time scanning its surroundings in the city due to the unique design of the buildings in the city.

Su Yu was only able to determine the strength of the people walking outside the manor. His Perception Jade was unable to extend its detection inside the building.

“They sure have a lot of people here.”

Su Yu was quite impressed. It was quite easy to know if someone was a resident or not. Previously, he was still completely clueless. But after spending a day outside, he learned something new.

The people that were seemingly shrouded in death were most likely the residents. Perhaps that was due to the effect of the death qi in the city. Those with a lower amount of death qi on them were either new residents or temporary visitors.

Killing visitors and killing residents would bear different results. When a resident was killed, the resulting death spirit would be much stronger.

“Are the immortals not around? Why can’t I see them? Are they still outside the city?”

Su Yu had always been a petty person who would not let even the smallest of grievances go unanswered. If someone wanted to kill him and that was someone he had the strength to kill as well, he would definitely kill that person even if he had to suffer some losses doing so.

When he was younger, he had Chen Hao acting as his thug to beat up those who had offended him. Nowadays, he could only fight himself.

He waited silently. Patience was something he still had.

The previous night, he did not feel this too strongly. But now, as the sky turned dark, he could clearly sense the death qi on the streets growing thicker. But since he was not using any heavenly source qi, he couldn’t estimate just how much thicker the death qi had grown.

Nevertheless, he could still feel the tiny traces of death qi entering his body. He also noted that the amount of invading death qi was actually lower indoors.

“So these buildings are not coffins, but safe havens?”

During the previous night, he was only able to clearly sense the death qi after using heavenly source qi. But outside, he was able to feel the death qi just by focusing. No wonder everyone would stay indoors at night. Not only were there death spirits roaming the streets at night, but even the death qi would be thicker outdoors.

“I won’t be unlucky enough to encounter a death spirit, right?”

Su Yu was very wary. Not even his Perception Jade could detect those abnormal existences. Suddenly, a large number of armored warriors walked out of the manor. There were at least thirty of them, including the experts from the other races they had recruited. Almost all of them were clad in armor.

“Three Mountainseas? They’re not weak at all.”

That might not be an impressive number, but the mystic armor race was probably only as strong as one of the larger human prefectures. Even in a place like Great Xia, only great events would call for the deployment of three Mountainseas at once. And this was only an ancient city, not the Mystic Armor Realm.

After losing a Sunmoon, they were still able to deploy three Mountainseas. This was truly quite a strong race. Those experts walked outside and stood there silently. After a few minutes, a few more individuals walked out.

There were three of them. One of them was a mystic armor. That was the same peak Mountainsea who had fled into the city after Zheng Ping arrived previously.

“Four Mountainseas.”

Su Yu was not looking directly at them. Rather, he kept his gaze on his Perception Jade. According to the jade, there were four Mountainseas. One of them was at the ninth stage, one was at the sixth stage, one was at the third stage, and one was an early Mountainsea.

One could see the level of importance the mystic armors placed on this city. After all, they had actually stationed one Sunmoon and four Mountainseas in the city. As for the two humanoids clad in black robes, not even the jade could sense them properly. Occasionally, the jade indicated that they were Cloudbreaches. Occasionally, they would change into Mountainseas. In fact, this was quite common for any young genius he tried using his Perception Jade on.

***

While Su Yu was still hiding.

In front of the manor, Dao Cheng looked around and said, “Jiu Xuan, do you feel anything?”

Beside him, Jiu Xuan shook her head and smiled, “Death spirits? Or death qi? Big Brother Dao Cheng, let’s leave this place as soon as possible. It feels so uncomfortable here.”

The immortal race, in particular, greatly disliked ancient cities. Death qi was too dense in these cities while the immortal race was a race with vigorous life force. Thus, they could feel the death qi much better than any other race. And it felt highly uncomfortable for them.

Dao Cheng said nothing. But after some thought, he moved his hand slightly. Numerous characters appeared above his palm. After a slight hesitation, he produced a drop of blood from his finger.

“Stop!” The peak Mountainsea shouted furiously, “Don’t spill any blood. That will attract the death spirits!”

This was infuriating.

Dao Cheng knew what would happen, but he insisted, “I need to make a divination for this operation. The thick death qi in the city is interfering with my divination, so I have to use my blood.”

But at this point, the peak Mountainsea could no longer pay the immortals any attention. That was because a dark figure had appeared out of thin air at the end of the street. Slowly, the dark figure approached them.

Death spirit!

The leader of the mystic armors was furious, yet he had no choice but to deal with the death spirit. Fortunately, it was only a drop of blood. The death spirit it spawned was probably not too powerful. Looking at the early Mountainsea, he commanded, “Go. Lure it away with your medallion.”

The early Mountainsea did as told and flew over with an ancient city medallion in hand. The death spirit paused and started hesitating. Then, the early Mountainsea flew away from the area. After some hesitation, the death spirit moved away following the early Mountainsea.

The mystic armor leader exhaled in relief. Fortunately, he was right. This death spirit wasn’t a particularly powerful one. It was still moving based on its instincts alone. If it was one of the stronger ones, a low-level medallion would not be able to affect it.

He looked at Dao Cheng again as his eyes turned frosty. “Envoy of the immortals, please do not do anything so rash anymore.”

Dao Cheng smiled, “Don’t worry. I won’t. The mystic armor race is indeed impressive.”

After giving them a casual praise and a light apology, he shifted his focus away from the Mountainsea. Since stepping out of the manor, he had been feeling ill at ease. Thus, he had decided to perform a divination regarding their coming operation.

Stained with his blood, his characters started spinning above his palm. A short while later, Dao Cheng’s eyes flickered as he studied the result. No clear image was visible. Only a boundless red could be seen.

His expression changed as he solemnly said, “Everyone, we need to be careful. The result is inauspicious. Some variables might appear during this operation. There will be danger.”

Jiu Xuan hurriedly asked, “Big Brother Dao Cheng, where will the danger come from?”

“That…remains unclear.”

Dao Cheng shook his head. The art of divination was merely a way to deduce the future. It couldn’t read the actual future itself. He was only told about the existence of danger, but not the nature of the danger itself. However, there was no denying that this was an inauspicious result.

The peak Mountainsea did not dare to be careless about it. The divination skills of this Dao Cheng were actually quite popular. Thus, he frowned and asked, “Danger…an ancient city is always filled with countless dangers. If that’s all we know, there’s little we can do.”

Were they supposed to cancel the operation tonight? He hesitated. He spoke the truth. One could encounter all sorts of danger in an ancient city. For example, the death spirits or any random danger that might arise when unlocking the doors of the buildings in the city.

Dao Cheng scanned their surroundings and inhaled deeply, “Just remain on alert. Perhaps our environment is the reason for the danger. Just keep in mind to hide inside a random unoccupied building the moment you encounter danger.”

“Do we cancel the operation tonight?”

The mystic armor leader asked, “If it’s really going to get too dangerous, there is no rush. If Su Yu is really here, he will remain for at least three days. Only a day has passed.”