Tribulation of Myriad Races

Human Realm.

A certain piece of news was rapidly spreading.

“Liu Wenyan has returned!”

“He’s going to the ruin. He claims that he will step into the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm within one day!”

“Liu Wenyan? Can he really do it?”

“Liu Wenyan is the true number one living genius of the multiple character faction…”

***

Outside Nanyuan.

Inside a newly erected building, a young man muttered doubtfully, “Liu Wenyan? That cripple? General, why are people calling him the number one genius of the multiple character faction? I read his profile before. Yes, he was very talented back then. But at the time, he wasn’t even a Skysoar. Why is everyone overpraising him?”

Of the young geniuses who had gathered near Nanyuan, some were the secret geniuses from the minor realms and some came from the various prefectures. There were warriors and cultural researchers among them.

News of Liu Wenyan’s return was being spread everywhere. Those from the older generation were speaking about Liu Wenyan like he was some sort of legend. Even some Sunmoons were speaking that way.

Someone who wasn’t even a Skysoar and had been crippled for fifty years. Someone who had recently reached the peak Mountainsea Realm by destroying Ye Batian’s characters as the fuel. How could someone like that be considered a genius?

How was that the number one genius of the multiple character faction? In the eyes of many people, the likes of Hong Tan and Zhao Mingyue were much better. They had relied on themselves to reach the Sunmoon Realm. Furthermore, Hong Tan was even younger than Liu Wenyan. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan was an old cripple who had only entered the Mountainsea Realm through external help. How was he the number one genius?

Many couldn’t understand this. They believed that his talent had been gravely overestimated

A Sunmoon smiled upon hearing the question from the young genius and answered, “Isn’t it obvious?”

What?

Some of the youngsters were still confused. How? How was Liu Wenyan number one?

The Sunmoon sighed helplessly. He thought harder before taking a Sunmoon character out. He casually tossed it toward a Cloudbreach young genius and said, “Take it into your sea of willpower.”

“Lord…this…” The Cloudbreach said helplessly, “This character is still active. I can’t do it. If I try, my sea of willpower will burst apart.”

“…”

Right after that, silence descended.

A certain realization dawned on the young geniuses.

Of course, some were still too stupid to understand. One of them continued asking, “General, how is this related to what we asked?”

The Sunmoon was rendered speechless. Where did this idiot come from?

He explained with slight exasperation, “I’m a third-stage Sunmoon.”

“…”

The less intelligent ones still didn’t get it.

A different youngster sighed and said, “We understand, Lord. In that case, it truly is a pity. If Liu Wenyan hadn’t been treated as Ye Batian’s successor back then, he could have entered the Skysoar, Mountainsea, and Sunmoon Realms in no time, right?”

The Sunmoon said, “Exactly. Sure enough, cultural researchers are better at using their brains. Everyone keep saying that he was a mere Mental Tempering cultural researcher. How could he be number one? But think about it. Mental Tempering. Mental Tempering!”

He glanced at the fools who were still confused. Everyone knew that Liu Wenyan had spent a very long time at the Mental Tempering Stage. And what was Ye Batian’s cultivation level? That was a Pseudo Invincible. An existence capable of killing Invincibles. How strong would his characters be?

Even after so many years, Su Yu could kill several fourth and fifth-stage Sunmoons just by detonating some of Ye Batian’s characters. When Liu Wenyan did the same, he was able to kill sixth and seventh-stage Sunmoon death spirits.

And back then, Ye Batian had left quite a number of characters behind. Just how much stronger were the remaining characters? They were probably so strong that not even a regular Sunmoon would have the courage to take into their sea of willpower.

Sure, Liu Wenyan had high compatibility with those characters. But he was still a Mental Tempering cultivator while those were Sunmoon characters. This general was only a third-stage Sunmoon. Yet the Cloudbreach genius didn’t even have the courage to absorb his character.

But what about Liu Wenyan? Anyone with a brain would understand the implications behind what Liu Wenyan did. Those who were still confused were probably too dumb to understand such a concept. Thus, it would be a waste of time to try to explain to them.

One of the youngsters exclaimed with shock, “Lord, in that case…was his sea of willpower already near the level of a Cloudbreach or a Mountainsea even back then?”

The Sunmoon nodded, “That’s very likely. Of course, outsiders like us can only speculate. But there is no denying that the single character faction and the myriad races all fear him. There is no denying his talent. He rose due to the fifth principal. But he also declined due to the fifth principal. Because of the fifth principal, he became known by everyone. Because of the fifth principal, he became a cripple during the prime of his life. But the multiple character faction is willing to wait. Even after fifty years, they are still waiting for his return.”

With a complicated expression, the Sunmoon said, “Fifty years ago, he opted to inherit Ye Batian’s characters instead of walking his own path. A lot of people don’t know how to feel about this. Some believed that he had benefited, and some believed that this was a loss. Perhaps he could have gone even further without Ye Batian’s characters. At the very least, he would already be a middle-stage Sunmoon by now. He’s much more talented than Hong Tan.

“Back then, Liu Wenyan was ranked first, Xia Yunji was ranked second, Zhao Mingyue was ranked third, Hu Ping was ranked fourth, and Marquis Xia was ranked fifth. This was the top 100 ranking of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy back then.”

“What?” Someone exclaimed in surprise, “Marquis Xia?”

“Yes.” The Sunmoon said with a look of recollection, “At the time, Great Xia Cultural Research Academy enjoyed its golden age, enjoying the attention of the Myriad Realms. A genius of the academy was a genius of the Myriad Realms. When the fifth principal was around, all these people were the brightest stars of the Myriad Realms. As the fifth principal approached his dao affirmation, many believed that the future of the academy would only be brighter.

“Are the likes of Xia Yunji strong? Of course. They wouldn’t have been able to inherit all those Sunmoon characters otherwise. Hong Tan has been calling himself trash. He’s not being modest. Back then, he was indeed a piece of trash compared to all the far brighter peers around him. In fact, a lot of people were surprised to see Hong Tan being accepted as the fifth principal’s student alongside all those super geniuses. But ultimately, everyone understood why. He was a lot more patient than all of them…”

The Sunmoon was immersed in his recollection of the past while all the youngsters processed what they heard in shock. Hong Tan…was a piece of trash? Marquis Xia was only ranked fifth, but even someone like him was already an eighth-stage Sunmoon.

Meanwhile, those ranked above him had only reached the Sunmoon Realm recently. As for Liu Wenyan, the number one student back then, he wasn’t even a Sunmoon. What did that signify?

Sure, Marquis Xia had relied on his physical cultivation to reach the eighth-stage Sunmoon Realm. He also had the backing of the Xia Family. But one should remember that if Ye Batian had succeeded, the multiple character faction would gain an Invincible of their own as well. Furthermore, Xia Yunji was also a member of the Xia Family.

If they had not been crippled all those years ago, some of them might have reached the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm by now. At this point, almost all the youngsters understood why Liu Wenyan was called the number one genius.

The Sunmoon said, “This is why everyone is calling Liu Wenyan the number one genius. A genius is a genius. That is not a title one can gain through exaggeration. If you have the ability to absorb a peak Sunmoon character as a Mental Tempering cultivator, you too, will be called a super genius.”

Even a Sunmoon like him couldn’t deny Liu Wenyan’s genius. Liu Wenyan was a much bigger genius than him and many others. He couldn’t deny that if it wasn’t for the incident fifty years ago, Liu Wenyan would have grown strong enough to easily defeat someone like him by now.

Even someone as young as Xia Longwu was already a Pseudo Invincible. Meanwhile, Liu Wenyan was someone whose fame eclipsed even Xia Longwu’s back then.

Great Xia King had not protected Liu Wenyan in Nanyuan for so many years because of Ye Batian’s character. Rather, he did that because of Liu Wenyan. If he only cared about Ye Batian’s characters, he could always withdraw his protection and retrieve the characters when Liu Wenyan was inevitably killed by someone else.

Liu Wenyan alone could very well be more valuable than all those characters.

***

“Number one genius of the multiple character faction?”

Su Yu, who was busy looking for the First Divine Sect master, heard about Liu Wenyan’s return as well. He laughed and said, “A mere Mountainsea is enough to take the number one spot? How low has the multiple character faction fallen?”

First Profound glanced at him and said nothing.

Beside him, the Titanic Strength Sect master said, “But that’s reasonable, right? As a Mental Tempering cultivator, he absorbed multiple peak Sunmoon characters. That’s not something even you can do, right?”

Su Yu said nothing. But inwardly, he grumbled that he would love to give that a try.

Alas, there was no Sunmoon character laying around for him to inherit when he was still at the Mental Tempering Stage. Otherwise, he could have absorbed even more than his Teacher Liu. Furthermore, he suspected that the golden book in his sea of willpower was probably an Invincible character. Was that not impressive enough?

And the book had been in his head since he was a boy! He wasn’t even a Mental Tempering cultivator back then! Fine, fine. He decided to stop feeling jealous. His Teacher Liu’s sea of willpower was indeed powerful. After all, he had visited that sea of willpower himself. It was massive and sturdy, comparable to even a Sunmoon’s.

Thus, it was truly an impressive feat for his Teacher Liu to inherit all those characters back then. But Su Yu also suspected that the fifth principal had something to do with the successful absorption.

Teacher Liu might be talented, but he wasn’t so talented that he could cultivate a sea of willpower at the level of a Sunmoon at such a young age. Perhaps the fifth principal had helped strengthen his sea of willpower. But speculating was pointless so Su Yu decided to simply ask his teacher about this later if he wanted to know.

While Su Yu was deep in thought, the Titanic Strength Sect master thought that he had finally won an argument against Profound Nine. That thought greatly pleased him. How dare a mere early-stage Sunmoon speak in such a boastful manner?

This damn early-stage Sunmoon had been ordering them around like servants. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was new to the pavilion, he would have slapped Profound Nine apart long ago.

First Profound said, “Profound Nine, if we can’t find him, let’s return to Nanyuan first. Liu Wenyan is returning. The moment he completes his advancement…or perhaps even before that, Nanyuan will fully fall into chaos.”