Tribulation of Myriad Races

“What have the two of you done for the unknown Invincible all these years? Who have you killed?”

Silverwing thought about it and said, “As far as I can remember, we accepted nine tasks from that person. Each task involved killing, and almost all our targets were from the multiple character faction. This includes killing Chen Yong, but we failed at that. Subsequently, we were also tasked to kill Chen Yong again and snatch the Culture Tomb from him.”

Su Yu’s expression remained the same. In fact, he looked completely calm. What was the point of getting angry at someone who was already dead?

“How about the other seven missions? You said almost all of them were multiple character faction members. Were there others who were not from the multiple character faction?”

“Yeah.” Silverwing nodded, “Once, we were tasked to kill Wan Tiansheng instead of someone from the multiple character faction. But he is the principal. He rarely leaves the academy. We weren’t able to find a good chance to do it even after waiting outside Great Xia City for several months. We even killed some students and researchers from the academy, but we still failed to lure him out. Eventually, we gave up.”

Wan Tiansheng? Was that Invincible testing Wan Tiansheng’s strength? Back then, Wan Tiansheng’s tri-life body was present during Ye Batian’s death. Ye Batian was known to be a good friend of Wan Tiansheng. And quite a lot of people were aware of that.

Thus, it was reasonable for one to suspect that the unknown expert by Ye Batian’s side was Wan Tiansheng. That was certainly something Su Yu would do in the same position.

As for Wan Tiansheng’s seeming stagnation in the Mountainsea Realm for so many years…that did not make much sense. Before Ye Batian’s death, there wasn’t a need for Wan Tiansheng to conceal his strength.

Why did Old Wan choose to conceal his strength out of nowhere? Wouldn’t he get more benefits if his strength was known to more people? Wan Tiansheng wasn’t even that well-known in the Allheaven Battlefield. Very few people knew him. When he had entered the Heavendoom City previously, he had moved rapidly. Not many people knew of his history there.

At the time, humanity was still united as one. What was the point of hiding his strength back then? Was he perhaps born as a scheming old fox?

Su Yu thought that if he was the traitor Invincible, he wouldn’t suspect Wan Tiansheng either. After all, Old Wan had been hiding for fifty years.

Meanwhile, his best friend, Ye Batian, was already strong enough to fight Invincibles fifty years ago.

How could someone suspect an opponent if that opponent had been hiding even before one made a move? Of course, it was still necessary to test this potential opponent.

And Wan Tiansheng had probably been tested multiple times over the years.

“Wan Tiansheng…” Su Yu gave it some thought and said, “Eighth Elder, is there anything special about Wan Tiansheng?”

The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion seemed to know a lot, so it wouldn’t hurt to ask.

It was unknown if the eighth elder was checking his database or recalling what he knew, but he took a while before replying, “Wan Tiansheng, sixth principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Due to the excellence of the previous principals, we do know a little about him. He is ninety-nine years old.”

Yes. That was Old Wan’s age. Su Yu was aware of that. When he joined the academy the year before, he read that Wan Tiansheng had been appointed the principal about fifty years ago. At the time, he was forty-eight. At that age, he could be considered supremely talented. In truth, a forty-eight-year-old peak Mountainsea was already very impressive. Very few people would have guessed that Wan Tiansheng was already far stronger back then.

Even Ye Batian was much older than Wan Tiansheng. The two might be close friends, but he was at least a generation older than Wan Tiansheng.

“Peak Mountainsea. It was once speculated that he is already a Sunmoon. He’s hiding to avenge Ye Batian. The two used to be close friends. Wan Tiansheng was born in Great Xia as well. He was the student of the third principal.”

Su Yu exclaimed in surprise, “A student of the third principal? That isn’t right. He’s only ninety-nine while the third principal died long ago. There was a fourth principal before Ye Batian became the fifth principal. Even if we assume that he joined the academy at eighteen, the third principal should be already dead at the time. It was the fourth principal’s era when he joined the academy, right?”

The eighth elder explained, “This is an interesting secret. The first, third, and fifth principals were all from the multiple character faction. And each was the teacher of the next. Xia Chen was the teacher of the third principal. The third principal was Ye Batian’s student. But the third principal had other students as well. The third principal’s first student had taken Wan Tiansheng as his teacher’s student instead of his due to how exceptionally talented Wan Tiansheng was. He acted as Wan Tiansheng’s teacher, but he proclaimed himself the senior brother. To make this easier to understand, just look at Su Yu. He’s Bai Feng’s student in name, but Bai Feng is not qualified to actually teach him anything. He’s more like Hong Tan’s student.”

Su Yu thought about it and said, “You mean Wan Tiansheng was Ye Batian’s junior brother, but his teacher in practice was not the third principal but Ye Batian’s senior brother instead?”

“Yes.”

The eighth elder nodded, “But not many people know about this. Strictly speaking, Ye Batian could be considered his martial uncle. But the humans don’t care about such hierarchy too much. For example, Su Yu considers Liu Wenyan his teacher yet Hong Tan is his grandteacher. Among the myriad races, this is not acceptable. But this doesn’t matter too much among the humans.”

Hearing that, Su Yu’s interest in the third principal grew. The third principal was Ye Batian, but he was also Wan Tiansheng’s teacher in name. The third principal had died and left only the Devil Battling Field behind. That wasn’t a grotto Su Yu had visited before.

Su Yu knew that Xia Chen was the first principal.

The second principal had left the white dragon before.

The fourth principal was Zhao Li’s father.

The fifth principal was Ye Batian.

The sixth principal was Wan Tiansheng.

Meanwhile, the third principal was relatively unknown. However, he had two super freaks under him, even if Wan Tiansheng was only his student in name.

The eighth elder continued, “After the death of Wan Tiansheng’s eldest senior brother, he entered the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Subsequently, Ye Batian became the fifth principal. He would frequently visit Wan Tiansheng, his junior brother in name. He would constantly offer pointers to Wan Tiansheng. It is said that the two frequently talked about the dao, but that is probably an overestimation of Wan Tiansheng’s ability back then. It is more likely that Ye Batian was there to instruct him.”

“After Ye Batian’s death, Wan Tiansheng left the Knowledge Seeking Realm and became the next principal. Over the years, his inaction had played a large part in multiple character faction’s decline. Some people believe that he has been secretly protecting the multiple character faction after the miserable death Ye Batian suffered. Their decline is his way of protecting them in an indirect method. After all, due to Ye Batian, this line will forever remain a thorn in the myriad races’ eye.”

Su Yu frowned and said, “So Wan Tiansheng is actually from the multiple character faction as well?”

“Technically, yes. But according to what we know, he was already a Skysoar when he was accepted as their student. Thus, he did not inherit any character technique from them. According to the rumors, he is a single character cultivator.”

Su Yu was very shocked to hear that. Wan Tiansheng was already a Skysoar before joining the academy? What a monster!

No wonder the third principal’s first student felt unqualified to be Wan Tiansheng’s teacher. That was someone who had reached the Skysoar Realm at around seventeen or eighteen years old.

Su Yu frowned and asked, “In that case, why hasn’t the myriad races been targetting him as well?”

“Well, he never leaves the academy.”

The eighth elder rolled his eyes and said, “After becoming the principal, he has left the academy no more than three times in the span of fifty-one years. And he would return quickly each time. Even if the myriad races wanted to target him, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.”

“…”

Basically, an old, super shut-in?

No!

Rather, Old Wan was too strong. He had simply been able to leave completely undetected. Everyone believed that he was a super shut-in, but everyone was wrong. In actuality, he would frequently go outside.

Only now did Su Yu know that Wan Tiansheng was actually Ye Batian’s junior brother and the student of the third principal. Things in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy sure were complicated.

No wonder Hong Tan had trusted Wan Tiansheng since the very beginning. He had told Su Yu several times to look for Wan Tiansheng if he encountered any trouble. Clearly, Hong Tan knew about Wan Tiansheng’s background. But that might not be the case for Bai Feng.

That was understandable since this was something that had happened over seventy or eighty years ago. Without being told about it, Su Yu and the others would naturally not be aware of it.

After the death of his eldest senior brother, Wan Tiansheng had entered the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Thus, many actually believed that he came from the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Very few people were aware that he was actually from Great Xia.

“Xia Longwu is Wan Tiansheng’s student. And strictly speaking, Wan Tiansheng is considered someone in Teacher Liu’s generation. And if I count myself as Teacher Liu’s student…I’m actually Xia Longwu’s junior brother?”

Su Yu was rendered completely speechless. Wow. He had somehow established a relationship with Prefect Xia. They were fellow martial brothers!

Then again, the hierarchy was a tad bit too messy. Wan Tiansheng was from both Ye Batian and Liu Wenyan’s generation. Meanwhile, Su Yu was the student of both Bai Feng and Liu Wenyan.

Anyway, he could probably call Xia Longwu his elder brother and he…wouldn’t be wrong. Yeap. Strictly speaking, it wouldn’t be wrong for him to call Xia Longwu that.

Su Yu sighed with regret. If he had known this earlier, he would have been much more brazen during his time in Great Xia. After all, his senior brother was the prefect!

Great Xia practically belonged to his family!

Even the top dog was from his faction!

Strictly speaking, even Xia Huyou needed to call him Uncle Su!

While Su Yu was busy thinking about all those random thoughts, the eighth elder thought he was in contemplation about something important. Thus, the elder wisely left him alone.