Tribulation of Myriad Races

Death Realm.

When Su Yu went down again, several Pseudo Invincible death spirits were guarding the tunnel. A few had died earlier, but the one named Xing One by Su Yu was still around.

When Xing One saw Su Yu with Wan Tiansheng and Liu Hong, he hesitated slightly and said, “Chief Commander, this…living beings are not allowed entry…”

Su Yu smiled, “It’s fine. They will leave soon.”

“In that case…please keep this short. The presence of living beings are too obvious. They could easily attract some unwanted troubles if they overstayed.”

“Sure.”

Su Yu did not say much and headed straight to the nearby castle. During the battle, the castle had suffered some damage as well. But the castle seemed to share some similarities with ancient cities as it could self-repair after the battle.

***

Inside the castle.

Xing Yue was inside alone. She sensed Su Yu’s arrival before he was even inside. She coldly said, “Who allowed you to come here with living beings?”

Su Yu tossed Liu Hong to the side and cupped his fists, “Lord, I’m only here for a quick meeting with Dummy. We’ll leave shortly. We won’t bring you any trouble.”

Xing Yue snorted.

Ads by PubRev “He Tu went looking for that guy as well.”

She couldn’t be bothered to say more and turned to leave. Su Yu hurriedly said, “Lord, are all the other death sovereigns gone?”

“Yes.” Xing Yue answered impatiently, “What else? Were they supposed to continue the meeting here? They killed. They feasted. What else could they do but leave? Wait here for the laws to descend upon them?”

“When will Lord He Tu return?”

“I don’t know.”

Just then, Xing Yue’s eyes flickered as she looked outside and said, “He’s back.”

Moments later, Su Yu saw two figures outside the castle. One of them was He Tu, and the other was Dummy, whose aura had weakened slightly. The two landed on the ground.

Dummy, or Xia Chen, to be specific, looked at Su Yu and Wan Tiansheng before focusing on Liu Hong. He spoke with a slightly hoarse voice, “Are you waiting for me?”

“Yes.” Su Yu nodded and cupped his fists, “Lord, are you the first principal, Sir Xia Chen?”

“First principal…” After a short silence, Xia Chen continued, “I am Xia Chen. Are you referring to the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy when you mentioned the first principal?”

Su Yu nodded.

Wan Tiansheng inhaled deeply and bowed slightly as he said, “Sixth principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, Wan Tiansheng, greets the first principal.”

“Sixth principal…”

Seeing the slight confusion in Dummy’s eyes, Su Yu hurriedly said, “Senior Xia Chen, stop thinking or you might lose more memories.”

Dummy laughed and said, “No, it won’t happen so fast. I remember more than before. Culture King’s token is quite useful.”

He pointed at Liu Hong and asked, “Did he provide the Culture King’s token?”

“Yeah.” Su Yu nodded, “Do you know him, Senior Xia Chen?”

“No.” Dummy shook his head and said, “But he must have found some of the things I left behind. I suppose he is also quite loved by luck as well.”

Su Yu nodded and said, “Teacher Liu, time for you to wake up.”

Liu Hong did not react.

Su Yu said nonchalantly, “Guards, eat him.”

“No!”

Instantly, Liu Hong woke up. He looked awkward at first, but his expression was soon replaced by a smile. He hurriedly looked at Xia Chen and said, “Your junior, Liu Hong, greets the first principal. Your legacy has helped me greatly. You are basically both my teacher and father…”

Su Yu said, “Calm down, Teacher. Senior Xia Chen does not know you. It’s pointless to fawn on him.”

Liu Hong had an embarrassed expression. No matter what, he had found some of the treasures left behind by Xia Chen. There should be a tiny bit of relationship between them, right? At the very least, they could be considered master and disciple, right?

He Tu exclaimed in shock, “He’s really Xia Chen?”

He looked at Dummy with surprise and said, “Dummy, did we meet when you were alive?”

Xia Chen thought about it and shook his head, “I don’t remember.”

He Tu sneered. He wouldn’t forget this answer. Wasn’t Xia Chen saying that he was not important enough to remember? But Xia Chen was speaking the truth. He had no recollection of that.

He wasted no time and said, “You must have a lot of questions for me. I left in a hurry back then. I didn’t have the chance to say more, or to be precise, some things couldn’t be mentioned. But now, I have a lot fewer misgivings than before. Ask away while I still have my memories.”

Su Yu thought about it and looked at Wan Tiansheng.

Wan Tiansheng did not hesitate and asked, “Were you a ninth-stage Sunmoon before your death?”

Xia Chen shook his head, “No. I affirmed my dao long ago during the end of the previous epoch. At the time, war raged everywhere. Nobody noticed my advancement in all that chaos. Right after my dao affirmation, the battle ended and the Allheaven Battlefield was shut again. Even the ruins were sealed. I remained in the ruin and only woke up when the Allheaven Battlefield reopened.”

Su Yu asked, “You’re from the ninth epoch?”

“Yeah.” Xia Chen spoke honestly, “But you might not be aware of this. When an epoch ends, the Human Realm will enter a period of restoration. The surviving experts won’t be able to emerge during this time. They can only wait until the next reopening of the Allheaven Battlefield before emerging again.”

Xia Chen explained, “But I am indeed a member of the Xia Family. The Xia Family originated from an ancient human king. Our line was very close to the Culture King. When Culture King vanished, the ancestor of my line built the Culture Tomb for him.”

Wan Tiansheng asked with some hesitation, “Which human king?”

“Battle King.” Xia Chen said, “You don’t know this, but during the ancient past, the Battle King was one of the higher-ranked human kings. Xia Wushen…is a junior dozens of generations behind me. But due to the great defeat of humanity during the ninth epoch, I never dared to admit my origin. I could only sneak into the Xia Family and activated the ruins for Xia Wushen.”

Xia Chen continued, “I thought everything was over after the defeat of the ninth epoch. Surprisingly, the tenth epoch began. Unfortunately, humanity was too weak when the tenth epoch started. Humanity had never started an epoch so weak before.”

Xia Chen said bitterly, “During the previous epochs, there were always some survivors from earlier epochs around to guide humanity. A lot of legacies were still around. But the Hundred Battle King died during the ninth epoch. Alongside him, almost all human Eternals died. Then, the Allheaven Battlefield shut down for five thousand years. During that period, the surviving Sunmoons had mostly died from age or illness. I was lucky enough to affirm my dao at the last moment or I wouldn’t have survived so long either.”

In short, the humanity of the previous epochs had enjoyed the guidance of their seniors. The various human legacies were still relatively intact. But humanity had lost everything during the ninth epoch. The various legacies were severed. Thus, humanity started the tenth epoch in an unprecedentedly weak state.

Su Yu was not too interested about all that. He went straight to the point and asked, “Senior Xia, was the multiple character faction founded during the tenth epoch?”

“Yes.” Xia Chen said, “But also no. Multiple character cultivation existed prior to this, but those legacies did not come from the Culture King. Only the character techniques from the Culture Tomb could be considered proper Culture King teachings. That was why I emerged from the ruin. To pass on the teachings of the Culture King.”

“Why is the Culture Tomb inauspicious?”

The moment that was mentioned, Xia Chen started struggling. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to explain, but an intense headache assaulted him the moment he thought of that topic.

Nevertheless, he was able to force himself to answer, “The emergence of the Culture Tomb signifies that the legacy of Culture King has returned. And some people have been targeting this inheritance since the ancient past. In order to protect it, the Xia Family had fought generation after generation. Countless people had died in the process of protecting this legacy, including me. Thus…it is an inauspicious object.”

Done with the explanation, he gasped heavily and said, “Do not ask such questions. I must have sealed my memories before this. If you ask such questions, I can easily lose control of myself. Ask simpler questions and leave the top secrets, especially those involving the ancient past, to the end. That way, I could tell you more before losing control.”

“Is Great Wei King the traitor?”

“Traitor?” Xia Chen shook his head and said, “No. He merely saw something he shouldn’t, so he was killed. At the time, I fought that man. Great Wei King saw it and attempted to flee, but he was killed by that man.”

“Who is that man?”

Xia Chen said bitterly, “An expert near Daofuse, a half-human. You don’t know him. I managed to kill him, but I suffered grave injuries from that battle. I couldn’t leave too many things behind before succumbing to my injuries and dying.”

Su Yu frowned and asked, “Half-human? Did he have the bloodline of the Control King?”

“Hmm?” Xia Chen looked at Su Yu in surprise and said, “You know more than I thought. Yes. He descended from Control King’s bloodline.”

“Did he leave any descendants behind?”

“Most likely, but I don’t know more.”

“Had the descendant achieved dao affirmation at the time?”

“No.” Xia Chen answered confidently, “I know of every single human dao affirmation during the early period of the tenth epoch. I can easily judge if anyone has the bloodline of an ancient king. Nobody from that bloodline had achieved dao affirmation before my death.”

Xia Chen added, “After my death, the multiple character faction started being targeted, right?”

“Yes.” Su Yu nodded, “Thus, I suspect that the person you killed had left a descendant behind. That descendant had subsequently achieved dao affirmation and continued targeting the multiple character faction.”

“That’s not surprising.” Xia Chen said, “That man was a spy left behind by an ancient enemy of Culture King. As for the identity of the enemy, I have no idea since it might be related to the secrets of Culture King. But I am certain that someone has been targeting the Culture Tomb. This person might be related to the Control King. During the ancient past, the Control King was once punished heavily by the Culture King. It won’t be surprising for the enemy to be someone of Control King’s bloodline.”

“So nobody from that bloodline had achieved dao affirmation when you were around.”

“Yes.”

Su Yu looked at Wan Tiansheng and said, “In that case, the traitor is definitely not a founding king. Instead, the traitor would be someone who had achieved dao affirmation between year 320 and now. This greatly reduces the number of suspects we need to investigate.”

Wan Tiansheng inhaled deeply and said, “Yes. The number has been greatly reduced. Only a few are left.”

With the scope greatly reduced, the number of suspects would drop significantly as well. Only a small number of people had achieved dao affirmation since the founding of the various prefectures.

“Zhu Tianfang, Zhou Tianyuan, Heavenly Seal King, Heavenly Forge King, Silk Destroying King…”

Wan Tiansheng exhaled and said, “That’s all.”

Su Yu sank into silence. He had not said much about this to Wan Tiansheng, but clearly, Wan Tiansheng was aware that there was another traitor among humanity as well.

Xia Chen said, “That’s most likely the correct list. I don’t know them well. The ones I know don’t have Control King’s bloodline in them. Did you discover the bloodline symbol of the Control King?”

“Yes.”