Tribulation of Myriad Races

Mental Tempering Garden.

Inside a villa, Su Yu and Xia Huyou were drinking tea when Xia Huyou smiled and said, "It's boring to drink only tea. We are both adults. Why don't we drink some liquor?"

"Hmm?"

Su Yu looked at Xia Huyou in surprise. It wasn't that all cultivators would abstain from liquor, but young cultivators tend to avoid drinking to keep their minds sharp. It was more normal for old men to drink some liquor during gatherings.

"So?" Xia Huyou asked again.

Su Yu nodded.

Xia Huyou took out a jar of liquor from his storage ring and said, "I stole this from my second granduncle's secret stash. At first, he thought he lost it. This is an excellent hundred-year liquor. It tastes great."

"Did he not beat you to death for this?"

"He couldn't bring himself to do it. With me dead, who could succeed the Xia Family?"

Xia Huyou removed the cover of the jar, allowing the pleasant fragrance of the liquor to drift out. After pouring Su Yu a glass of liquor, he filled his glass as well. Then, he lifted his glass and clinked it against Su Yu's glass before draining it.

Su Yu emptied his glass without saying anything. Xia Huyou filled his glass again and said, "Brother, tell me the truth. In your eyes, are all Invincible descendants arrogant and domineering bastards who deserve death? Nine out of ten of them were probably deserving of death for one reason or another."

Su Yu said, "Nope. I don't harbor any malice toward the rich or the powerful. I only harbor malice toward those who have targeted me. And I will view those people with hostility regardless of their background."

Su Yu smiled and continued slowly, "I am a petty man. I have been like this since I was a kid. If you never offend me, I can't be bothered to make an enemy out of you. But if you offend me, even if I'm helpless right now, I'll deal with you in the future."

"Hahaha!" Xia Huyou said, "That's very straightforward of you. To be honest, you live a much more comfortable life than us. There are a lot of things people like us can't do even if we want to. For example, I have a lot of things I want to do. And I also have the power to do many of those things. But...I have too many misgivings. I need to take too many things into consideration. So I can't do anything.

"Just take what happened earlier as an example. That damn Zhou Pochong ran his mouth right after arriving. Was he even worthy of running his mouth against the Xia Family? I wanted to get someone to cut him down and get it over with. But no. I had to consider the consequences. Doing that would put the Xia Family in a lot of trouble.

"In the past, people like Zhou Pingsheng and Yu Hong had created numerous troubles. I really wanted to drag them all to the Myriad Race Pit and cut their heads off. But no, we had to consider the consequences. That would bring trouble for Great Xia. These days, not even Invincible families could kill without reason."

Su Yu listened silently.

Xia Huyou downed yet another glass of liquor and sighed, "Brother, do you know why I invited you to drink with me today?"

"I don't know."

Su Yu lifted his glass and took a sip of the liquor within. It was mildly spicy, allowing him to focus better.

Xia Huyou inhaled deeply and said, "I need to get my hands on some things. And I need your help. Can you lend me your support?"

Su Yu raised his brow, "Are you asking for heavenly source qi?"

"Hmm?"

Xia Huyou blanked out. He stared at Su Yu in stupefaction. Was Su Yu capable of providing even something like that?

"..."

Su Yu also blanked out when he saw the reaction. Holy shit. So this fellow wasn't asking for that. Why did he talk like his damn second granduncle then?

The two stared at each other. After a long while, Xia Huyou blinked and madly nodded, "Exactly! That's what I need! How much heavenly source qi can you provide me? I can take all you have! The price won't be a problem!"

Su Yu opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

After a while, he rolled his eyes and said, "Go back to what you were about to say. What do you want?"

"That was what I wanted to say! Heavenly source qi!"

"Stop wasting time."

This was definitely not what he wanted to say earlier.

Xia Huyou laughed awkwardly. His expression returned to normal as he said, "It's nothing much. I only need a few cultivation methods. I don't even know if you have what I need. Firstly, I need something capable of stimulating one's body for a quick advancement with some side effects. There is no helping it since these cultivation methods always come with adverse effects. Secondly, I need some cooperative cultivation methods..."

He stopped to think before continuing, "Uhm...you know the soul devouring bugs, right? You even researched their cultivation method before. But that's not what I need. Rather, I need something that can be used in combination by numerous individuals...do you understand what I'm saying?"

Su Yu nodded, "Like the bugs, they can unleash great strength through quantity alone. When you have enough bugs, you can even kill a dragon. I know what you want."

Xia Huyou exhaled in relief and said, "Exactly. I need something that ten thousand people can use together and stack their strength on top of each other."

Su Yu did not give an answer. He asked, "Do you need anything else?"

"Of course." Xia Huyou nodded, "I also need something that can seal one's sea of willpower. Do you understand what I want? I want something that can allow one to completely seal their sea of willpower. They won't be cultivating their sea of willpower anyway. With this cultivation method, they can also be immune to any willpower attacks. Of course, such a cultivation method definitely comes with a lot of shortcomings, but it doesn't matter. I need it as well."

Su Yu thought for a bit and said, "To sum it up, you want something with fast advancement speed, with more strength when used as a team, and strong physical prowess with zero emphasis on willpower. Basically, you want strong meatshields."

"Yes, exactly."

Su Yu laughed and said, "The two holy lands are capable of producing fighters like that, right?"

"That's not enough. Their version is too weak." Xia Huyou shook his head, "I need something that can be cultivated to the Cloudbreach or even the Mountainsea Realm. When used in a team, it needs to be capable of killing Sunmoons. I won't dream of something that can kill Invincibles, but at the very least, it needs to be able to kill Sunmoons."

Su Yu sank into thought as he recalled all the cultivation methods he knew. After a long while, he said, "I have something similar. But it is very expensive to cultivate and comes at a great price. The cultivators of this method will be using their life force to fight. Someone that can live for five hundred years will die at a hundred years old or even earlier after cultivating this method."

"Yes! This is what I need!" Xia Huyou's eyes lit up as he said, "I don't care about the adverse effects!"

Su Yu said, "Your family has the Martial Dragon Guard. Why do you need something like this?"

"Yes, but I also need to build my own army. I also need this army built as soon as possible. As for the lifespan of these people, it doesn't matter. The Xia Family still has a lot of loyalists. I will compensate them enough for this service."

Su Yu frowned and said, "There are millions of soldiers in the Martial Dragon Guard, Devil Subduing Army, and Great Xia Army. Is that not enough for you?"

"Not at all." Xia Huyou gloomily said, "The Great Xia Army might be big, but it is weak. The Martial Dragon Guard is filled with talented youngsters. I don't want to ruin their future. I will be recruiting loyalists that are comparatively older with nothing in life to tie them down."

"Why are you making this sound like you're going to stage a coup?" Su Yu smirked and said, "Do you even have the money to raise an army like that?"

"I'm still quite wealthy."

Xia Huyou laughed. But soon, he raised his brow and said, "Brother, I also need something else. Can you support me? For example, some ability blood essence and heavenly source qi?"

"..."

Su Yu sneered and said, "You sure have a big appetite."

"It's nothing. I'm fat, so of course my appetite is big as well."

Xia Huyou beamed and said, "I can even pay for them. At worst, I'll owe you some money."

Su Yu gave Xia Huyou a deep gaze, emptied his glass, and exhaled before saying, "Is there a need for this?"

"Yes."

Xia Huyou also took some time to drink from his glass before answering, "I want to ensure the continuation of the Xia Family. I want Great Xia to remain forever. I don't want our prefecture to cease existing at my generation. My father, my second granduncle, and my great grandfather are all prepared for it."

Prepared for what? The destruction of Great Xia?

After a short silence, Su Yu nodded, "As long as you're paying, I can easily get this done. But I don't need money. I need blood essence. A large amount of blood essence."

Xia Huyou grimaced and asked, "Do you know some secret technique capable of extracting heavenly source qi from blood essence?"

"Guess." Su Yu smirked, "Do you want to try guessing?"

"Cough, cough. Forget it. I won't guess." Xia Huyou laughed, "I won't bother. It's pointless to guess something like this. I will also be needing these resources as I'll start body forging soon. I will take as much as you can provide. I only hope that I can rapidly forge a powerful private army. At the very least, I want to prevent the fate of having no army to use at the very end. I can even lead my army to go save you in the future when you need it."

"No thanks. I won't be needing that."

"Why are you saying that? With your temper, it's only a matter of time before you get yourself in trouble. At that time, I'll sweep in and save you with my army. Isn't that romantic?"

"..."

Seeing that Su Yu was staring at him silently, Xia Huyou grinned, "Don't look at me like this. I like women."

"Heh."

Su Yu sneered before returning to a serious topic, "Cut the crap. How did you recognize me?"

"It was so easy. The moment someone died in Nanyuan, we guessed that it was you. I knew it was you the moment my second granduncle told me about it. I was simply too lazy to expose you."

"You went looking for Old Zhao right after arriving. How could I not know what you were thinking? With Old Zhao's temper, would he meet just any random person? Looking highly upon the younger generation? What nonsense. He never bothered giving me a second look."

"That's because you're too garbage."

"Sure, sure, whatever you say." Xia Huyou laughed and continued drinking in silence. After a while, he said, "Tomorrow or the day after, the divine and devil beauties will arrive. Do you want me to introduce some to you?"

Su Yu stared at Xia Huyou silently.