Tribulation of Myriad Races

Beifeng City.

Before long, the local Great Xia Army received the report. As of late, Great Xia had been on the hunt for Profound Nine. Thus, the army had been receiving numerous reports on suspicious individuals or incidents as of late.

A Cloudbreach personally headed to the village to perform a deeper investigation.

He did not act rashly. Rather, he stayed a night in the village. After sensing the barely detectable source qi undulations and tasting the spring water, he concluded that this was source qi of incredibly high quality.

The unknown cultivator would not be weaker than the Mountainsea Realm. An unknown Mountainsea expert in the woods. The Cloudbreach immediately thought of Profound Nine. Instead of investigating further, he withdrew from the village and reported the matter to his superiors.

An unknown individual suspected to be at least a Mountainsea had appeared in the woods.

***

Before the end of the day, Yuan Qingdong, who was pretending to be busy in Beifeng, received the report.

He was left quite speechless as he questioned, “Nobody saw this unknown expert with their own eyes. Why are you here telling me that this might be Profound Nine? Are you making this conclusion through some vague source qi undulations? Perhaps it was a beast cultivating in the woods. Perhaps it was a natural phenomenon. Instead of investigating the matter properly, what are you doing here?”

The commander replied, “Vice Principal Yuan, we need to be cautious. If that was really Profound Nine, we might risk alerting him in advance by investigating ourselves. Even if that wasn’t him, it won’t take you long to check the area. In Great Xia, we are required to maintain the highest level of alert for such encounters. We can’t give any enemy the opportunity to escape.”

Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly. Why were they bothering him for such a trivial matter? They didn’t even see the so-called expert with their own eyes. Relying on only the report of a random villager, they were telling a Sunmoon like him to do something? Did they think that he was an errand boy or something?

How annoying.

He felt terrible.

Screw Great Xia! What a terrible prefecture.

Actually finding Profound Nine was the last thing he wanted to do. There was no point in risking himself like this.

But with the commander standing in front of him, he could no longer feign ignorance. Thus, he said, “You guys should investigate further. When you’re certain—”

“Lord, if that was really Profound Nine, nobody here would be his match. You are the only person capable of contending against him. The people we send will die pointlessly and he might flee after noticing that he has been discovered. It won’t be easy to find him again after this.”

Yuan Qingdong was furious, “You can’t be serious. I’m a Sunmoon. Am I supposed to investigate every small matter personally? Is this what you expect of all your Sunmoons?”

“Lord, this is a military operation, not a normal operation. Great Xia considers this a war. For killing a military commander of Great Xia, Profound Nine must die. Please don’t hinder the fulfillment of a military objective.”

Holy shit!

Yuan Qingdong cursed inwardly again. A mere Mountainsea was actually threatening him.

Left with no choice, he coldly said, “Fine. I’ll find some time to go there.”

“Please don’t tarry. Try to be careful when you’re there. Profound Nine was able to escape unscathed after fighting a Sunmoon previously. He is extremely strong. If you do manage to find him, you may contact the Martial Dragon Guard. Their experts can join you and kill the enemy together.”

Yuan Qingdong snorted inwardly. What nonsense. If that was really Profound Nine, he naturally wouldn’t put himself at risk and fight personally. He wasn’t even a citizen of Great Xia.

He would be more than happy to leave the job to the Martial Dragon Guard. Meanwhile, he would continue to look busy without actually trying his best.

***

Finally, Yuan Qingdong departed from Beifeng City.

Naturally, he was very careful when he moved.

First, he went to the army headquarters to ask about the village head. Then, he questioned the Cloudbreach in charge of investigating the village earlier. He even consumed some of the spring water collected from the village. He verified that there was indeed some source qi in the water. Some time had passed since the water was collected so even the little bit of source qi remaining was on the verge of fully dissipating away.

Even so, Yuan Qingdong found nothing suspicious about it. What was so suspicious with some source qi in water? Why were these people so surprised by that?

Wait, was water not supposed to come with source qi?

Yes. Yuan Qingdong was not aware that regular water did not come with source qi.

Someone with his prestigious background lived in a place filled with source qi, including the water there. It wasn’t like he had been completely sheltered all his life. He had tempered himself in the Allheaven Battlefield before as well, but the Allheaven Battlefield was also a place filled with source qi. Thus, the water there was naturally filled with source qi as well.

Only a true commoner would understand that regular water did not come with source qi. This would only happen in places with a high density of ambient source qi. And these remote regions in the Human Realm were naturally not places with high source qi density.

Someone like Yuan Qingdong who had grown up in the Knowledge Seeking Realm would not be aware of this. Apart from the Knowledge Seeking Realm, he had only been to the three major seas of the Human Realm, the major cities, the various grottos, and the Allheaven Battlefield. These were all places with high source qi density.

After all, someone of his status had no reason to visit a place with low source qi density. Even if he had participated in demonic beast hunting missions before, these demonic beasts would only appear in areas with considerable source qi density.

Carrying his doubt, he left the city and set off to the village.

***

Near the mountain.

Yuan Qingdong withdrew his presence. Instead of rushing into the woods rashly, he stayed outside and sensed the air around him.

Then, he took a jade talisman out and tossed it into the sky.

After a series of investigations, he frowned.

The flow of source qi in the air was indeed rather chaotic. This aligned with what would happen after someone cultivated in the area.

“Is there really an expert here?”

Yuan Qingdong cursed. How unlucky of him.

Why must he be the one to discover Profound Nine?

“Profound Nine…someone capable of fighting Sunmonns, exact cultivation level unknown. He might actually be a Sunmoon.”

Profound Nine had not shown any common signatures of Sunmoons during his previous combat such as manifesting suns and moons in the sky. But that did not mean that he was not a Sunmoon.

Yuan Qingdong sank into thought. Should he proceed with the investigation? Would Great Xia actually make things difficult for him if he refused?

At that thought, he took a voice transmission talisman out and sent a message, “Profound Nine might be hidden here. I require reinforcements.”

After a moment, he received a reply, “Wait there. Director Ji Hong will be there shortly.”

Yuan Qingdong exhaled in relief.

Good. Ji Hong might be a new Sunmoon, but he had already broken through into the second stage. With Ji Hong around, he no longer had anything to worry about. With another Sunmoon by his side, his safety would be much more guaranteed.

***

Yuan Qingdong proceeded to wait instead of heading into the woods.

Meanwhile, the white masks were waiting in a random cave.

Bored, Su Yu started speaking through voice transmission, “Lord Rainbow One, please hurry over when Yuan Qingdong arrives.”

“Of course.”

The reply was short and concise.

Moments later, Rainbow One, who was waiting somewhere else, received a message from the two chambers.

“Lord, there seem to be some movements in Great Xia. Director Ji Hong of the Talent Fostering Bureau has departed the bureau not long ago.”

“Ji Hong?”

Rainbow One frowned. Did Profound Nine get it right? Was Yuan Qingdong really so cowardly that he asked for reinforcements before he saw an enemy? Rainbow One didn’t even know what to say anymore. That was a Sunmoon. And an Invincible descendant. How could he be so cowardly?

“Ji Hong is likely a second-stage Sunmoon. There is…nothing to fear if I have to deal with both him and Yuan Qingdong at the same time.”

Then again, things had gotten a lot more dangerous for Profound Nine and the others who were acting as bait. After thinking about it, Rainbow One decided to stick with the plan. Nor did he warn them about it.

He was actually looking forward to kill even Ji Hong as well. Recently, the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had received a request with a massive reward promised for completion. The reward had not been made to any of the branches. Rather, it was a request made directly to their headquarters. The reward for killing Ji Hong was unbelievably generous.

After checking his database, Rainbow One found the records pertaining to Ji Hong.

“A hundred drops of profound yellow liquid!”

Rainbow One was very tempted. Previously, he had not paid much attention to this request. It was actually made quite recently. Just who did Ji Hong offend to get such a massive bounty placed on him?

How could Rainbow One miss out on such a handsome reward? As a fifth-stage Sunmoon, he shouldn’t have much issue killing a second-stage Sunmoon.

Nevertheless, he still decided to be prudent. Thus, he sent a message, “Black One, I need your help. If nothing happens, so be it. If something happens, I’ll owe you a favor for this.”

After a short while, a reply came, “Where?”

“Near Great Xia’s Beifeng City. Be careful on your way.”

“Sure. Did you encounter a big fish, Rainbow One?”

“I’ll tell you more later.”

“Alright.”

***

Su Yu was completely unaware that both parties were asking for reinforcements at the same time. Apart from the four of them, four Sunmoons would also arrive at this nameless mountain soon.

***

At the same time.

In Heart Cultivating Pavilion, Wan Tiansheng was smiling with satisfaction. Sure enough, Su Yu was a lot more reliable when it came to completing tasks.

Ji Hong was already on his way. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion might deploy more people as well. Good. All eyes should converge on Great Xia. What could be more interesting than Great Xia? He had to lure even the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion experts over to achieve this goal.

“If I can attract dozens of Sunmoons into Great Xia, things will become even more interesting. Their deaths will be the best opening for the coming show.”

As for Su Yu…Wan Tiansheng was certain that kid would not die. A bastard like that would always live a long life.

Wan Tiansheng started humming an unknown song as his mood improved.

He had been worried about the issue of attracting more attention to Great Xia. But after this, several Knowledge Seeking Realm Sunmoons would come. The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion would also send more of their Sunmoons over. He could then try to lure even more Sunmoons into Great Xia. It would be great if he could gather over a hundred of them.

He had been inactive for fifty years. Now that he was finally going to make a move, how could he settle with killing only some small fries?

“Ji Hong…”

Wan Tiansheng laughed with amusement. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to teach that fellow a lesson. That fellow needed to understand that not everyone could be investigated without repercussion.

A hundred drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid as a bounty. That would be enough to etch that lesson into his head.