Tribulation of Myriad Races

“I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

According to Su Yu’s estimation, he could probably surpass 1.7 million acupoints after completing seventy-two body forgings. He wondered if the yang acupoint would still double his strength at that time. If it would, he would have the strength of more than three million acupoints.

At the Cloudbreach Realm of his physical cultivation, he could fight seventh or eighth-stage Sunmoons. That would be when he finally had the combat strength he had demonstrated with blood essence during the recent conflict.

It wouldn’t take him long to complete his remaining body forgings. However, he was unsatisfied with that after witnessing so many Invincibles and Pseudo Emperors in action. Even upon reaching the Cloudbreach Realm in physical cultivation, he wouldn’t be a match for ninth-stage Sunmoons. But if he could complete more source qi transformations…

Su Yu was confident he would have no problem defeating ninth-stage Sunmoons when he was a peak Cloudbreach. But he had to find a way to deal with his yang acupoint. It was a ticking time bomb. It had been absorbing so much death qi that Su Yu felt like he was going to turn into a death spirit soon.

After he was done thinking about his recent gains, he recalled many people.

Wan Tiansheng, Liu Wenyan, Xia Family, Lan Tian, Zhu Tiandao…

In the recent conflict, Niu Baidao had completed his dao affirmation, granting Great Ming its third Invincible. Great Xia had suffered heavy losses, but Xia Longwu had completed his dao affirmation. With two powerful Invincibles, Great Xia would be able to maintain a relatively decent level of strength.

Nan Wujiang had affirmed his dao as well.

First Profound…

Su Yu sighed. He much preferred the masked First Profound to the current Nan Wujiang.

His feelings were mixed when he learned that First Profound was Nan Wujiang.

Ye Batian’s teacher.

Liu Wenyan’s grandteacher.

If First Profound were any other human, Su Yu would be filled with admiration for his wits.

He had received quite a lot of help from First Profound. In fact, First Profound had most likely recruited him into the pavilion to protect him.

But after learning that First Profound was Nan Wujiang, Su Yu didn’t know what to feel anymore. Zhu Tianfang and Zhou Tianyuan had even risen to department heads in the pavilion. Su Yu was quite impressed wih them, but that was mostly because they were complete outsiders.

Yes. He admired even Zhou Tianyuan. He did not blame them for feigning their deaths. Anyone could live the way they wanted. As long as they didn’t betray humanity, he wouldn’t care.

As Wan Tiansheng said, it was normal to be selfish. Just like how Niu Baidao had not blamed Great Ming King for keeping a ruin for his son instead of Niu Baidao.

But Nan Wujiang…

The more Su Yu thought about it, the more he didn’t know what to feel. Was Nan Wujiang really unaware of the multiple character faction’s plight all these years? That wasn’t possible. He was definitely aware.

But he had remained in hiding. As a Pseudo Invincible, his return alone would be enough to greatly improve the situation the multiple character faction was in. Two Pseudo Invincibles of the multiple character faction had gone into hiding while the faction suffered.

Su Yu did not begrudge the Xia Family for hiding their strength all these years. But those two were actual multiple character faction members. Thus, he didn’t know what to feel about them.

He knew that hiding was the smarter thing to do. It had allowed them to kill the traitor during the recent conflict. It had even allowed the multiple character faction to produce its first Invincible.

This was actually a good thing for them. But he was Liu Wenyan’s grandteacher. It was inappropriate for him to sit back and watch while Liu Wenyan suffered for decades. He had done nothing even when Teacher Liu’s family was destroyed.

“Nan Wujiang…”

Su Yu would rather Nan Wujiang remain as First Profound. At this point, his thought reached the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. Suddenly, he grinned and put his mask back on.

Then, he took his Heavenly Hunt Directory out. Currently, both his direct superior and the superior of his direct superior were gone. Would he be under the supervision of anyone else?

If not, could he continue using this identity? After all, nobody could track his location anymore.

“Calling the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.”

***

Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.

Things had been quiet in the headquarters.

The two heads had betrayed them, killing dozens of elders and white masks in the process. The four departments had nearly fallen apart because of them. The pavilion was in the process of licking its wounds.

With the heads of the two spires, chambers, and departments remaining, they were left with six Invincibles. No, seven, counting the grand elder of the Enforcement Unit. That was an Invincible as well.

Of the nine elders in the unit, two had died, leaving them with seven. Seven Invincibles and six Pseudo Invincibles. Those were the high-end combatants left in the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.

However, the heads of the Heaven Department and East Spire had remained in slumber for a very long time.

Eleven of them were gathered in the main hall of the headquarters.

Five Invincibles and six Pseudo Invincibles.

After a long silence, a voice rang out from outside the hall, “Lords…we have just…received words from Profound Nine.”

“Profound Nine?”

Someone snorted coldly, “More like Su Yu.”

The person outside did not dare to say anything.

Soon, an aged voice rang out, “Noted. Forward the call here.”

“Yes!”

The head of the South Spire said, “Let’s see what he has to say. He…is not weak anymore. The pavilion has suffered heavy losses this time, but we did manage to achieve some of our goals. At the very least, we are one step closer to a world in chaos.”

The head of Earth Department spoke next, “Let’s stop talking about that for now. The matter concerning Su Yu isn’t that big. A single Profound Nine does not mean much to us. I only want to know the fate of the true heads of Yellow and Profound Departments. What happened to them?”

“I suspect Zhu Tianfang has infiltrated the pavilion about a hundred years ago. It won’t be easy to investigate. As for Zhou Tianyuan, he has only been in the pavilion for about fifty years. At the time, there was already a Profound Department head around…”

At that, numerous gazes settled on the head of the South Chamber. Hierarchically, the two heads in slumber occupied the highest position in the pavilion, with the head of the South Chamber ranked just below them.

That was followed by the West Spire head, North Chamber head, Earth Department head, and grand elder of the Enforcement Unit.

After a short silence, the South Chamber head said, “I was aware of Zhou Tianyuan’s arrival.”

Nobody said anything. They had guessed as much.

“Back then, humanity had claimed that Ye Batian had died due to the information we provided. They menaced us for a long time, killing many of our members. Do you still remember that?”

Everyone else nodded.

“Then, the Heaven Department head woke up from his slumber. After a secret batle with Great Zhou King, our conflict with the humans ended. But that gave Zhou Tianyuan an opportunity to join the Profound Department.”

The Earth Department head asked coldly, “What happened to the original Profound Department head?”

The South Chamber head sank into silence. After a long while, he said, “He’s still alive. We received his agreement for this arrangement. He has been secluding himself in the place the two heads are slumbering. I kept silent about that, but Zhou Tianyuan was not the one who had acted against our people. Zhu Tianfang was the one who had killed our people ruthlessly.”

Nobody could deny Zhu Tianfang’s ruthlessness.

“How did Zhu Tianfang infiltrate us?”

The South Chamber head shook his head, “I have no idea. The previous Yellow Department head joined the pavilion about eight hundred years ago. I have no knowledge of his replacement. Perhaps…only the two slumbering heads have that knowledge.”

At that moment, someone entered the hall noiselessly.

The heads attacked instantly.

The newcomer hurriedly explained, “I’m the Profound Department head!”

“Zhou Tianyuan, you’re courting death!”

The newcomer explained helplessly, “I’m the real head. Zhou Tianyuan’s reappearance has put an end to our previous agreement. The Heaven Department head can bear witness that I’m not lying.”

At that, a silhouette appeared in the hall. The silhouette spoke, “Enough. He is the real head. Zhou Tianyuan is no longer a member of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.”

“Greetings, Head.”

Everyone greeted the silhouette respectfully.

The silhouette and the East Spire head were the two cores of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion.

The Heaven Department head had not arrived in person. Rather, he only manifested a projection in the hall as he said, “Zhu Tianfang’s infiltration might be related to Great Ming King. It is likely that Great Ming King had killed the previous Yellow Department head before replacing him with Zhu Tianfang.”

Everyone was surprised to hear that. They found it quite unlikely. The death of an Invincible would produce a phenomenon.

The Heaven Department head said, “Perhaps he was killed in a ruin. Maybe it was even the second ruin Great Ming King was rumored to have.”

“The Yellow Department head might have entered the Human Realm over four hundred years ago without informing any of us. There, he was killed while he was trying to steal the ruin. Somehow, his mask survived. Perhaps Great Ming King had acted as the new Yellow Department head for a time before passing the position to his son.”

Everyone was rendered speechless.

Great Ming King!

“That damn Zhu Family has been scheming and hiding since the founding of their prefecture. Hmph! Serve them right for having their secrets exposed during the recent conflict. Zhu Tiandao was actually strong enough to kill four Eternals…speaking off, does anyone know anything about that?”

“I’m suspicious of that claim. He might not be the actual killer…” The Heaven Department head said, “Three of those Invincibles had died near a tunnel entrance. And that entrance was near the Soul Devourer Realm. Perhaps those two were involved…”

The others nodded. They found it hard to believe as well.

Then again, they wouldn’t be able to ascertain anything. Who would have the courage to question the two soul devourers?

The Heaven Department head said, “The Yellow Department will remain without a head for now. Why did Su Yu contact the pavilion?”

The newly returned Profound Department head smiled and said, “Let me have a chat with him.”

Suddenly, the grand elder of the Enforcement Unit asked, “Head, are there more hidden humans in the pavilion?”

The Heaven Department head laughed, “It doesn’t matter. I don’t care where our members come from. Any of you might do the same when your race is in trouble. I only hope that…you don’t take Zhu Tianfang’s example in the process of helping your race. He was…too ruthless.”

They did not consider what Zhou Tianyuan did a betrayal. They only considered that a return to his previous identity.

As for Zhu Tianfang, they considered him a traitor. Firstly, he had obtained his position in an illegitimate manner. His father had likely killed the previous department head.

The room sank into silence. They sighed and said no more.

The Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had always been an organization with an extremely complicated composition. Would they do the same when their races were in trouble? Nobody could say for sure.