Tribulation of Myriad Races

After a short chat, Consul Liu said, "Junior Brother, I'll hold a welcome feast for you later. It's rare to see you here."

"No thanks. I'm tired from the long journey here." Su Yu shook his head, "I need to rest and recover. I also need to meet some people. I'm here for my advancement into the earth grade. I also need to gather some materials for my personal cultural weapon. I was so envious when I saw Teacher Zhao Li's weapon. That's an embryonic heaven weapon!"

"Sure. No worries." Consul Liu said, "Do you need me to stop the stream of guests that will be coming to see you? They're all broke so they won't be able to pay much for your services."

"No, don't do that. I will try to ask them for the materials I need." Su Yu said, "Don't look down on anyone. Some prefectures might be poor in cash, but they probably have a lot of treasures in their pockets. After all, these prefectures are a lot more active in wars."

"True." Consul Liu nodded as he listened. He was a Mountainsea expert, but he was incredibly humble. It was understandable as Cui Lang was currently extremely famous. And the moment he completed his advancement, not even Consul Liu would be qualified to act tough in front of him.

Consul Liu said, "Our very own Heavenly Dao Army and Iron Cavalry might come to see you as well. It would be awkward to say no to them since they're from Great Ming as well. Do you want me to deal with them for you?"

"It's fine. I'll decide when I see them since we're from the same place."

"Alright. Enjoy your rest, Junior Brother."

He brought Su Yu to a massive three-story building surrounded by flowers. There was even an elegant lake beside the building. Outside the building, he grinned and said, "Junior Brother, I don't have any divine beauties here, but I can get some beauties from other races for you. Are you interested? It would still be a new experience."

Su Yu had a look of disdain as he said, "Forget it. I am not interested in something like this."

"True. Only the geniuses from the divine, devil, and immortal races are worthy of you, Junior Brother."

He might be saying that, but he was cursing inwardly. Holy shit! When Cui Lang visited a few years ago, he was not as picky. But he seemed to have gotten picky after the elevation of his status.

What a lucky kid. How did he even manage to become a pseudo earth weaponsmith?

If he wasn't a pseudo earth weaponsmith, there wouldn't be a need to fawn at him like this. Sigh. It was indeed true that specializing in one thing and being good at it was better than being average at everything.

After a short chat, Su Yu entered the building while Consul Liu left. After entering the building, Su Yu couldn't help but shake his head. He had thought that he would need to suffer a lot of hardships on the Allheaven Battlefield, but look at this living environment. This place was even better than some high-class villas in Great Xia.

Consul Liu wasn't good at anything else, but he was excellent at running this consulate. The only weak point was the lack of solemnity and the excessive opulence.

"That Chen Long from the Devil Subduing Army will come again, right?"

Su Yu was unsure. He wanted to say yes right away, but it was unfortunate that he couldn't do so. That would only bring suspicion to his disguise. After all, he was a pseudo earth weaponsmith. He couldn't be so agreeable.

"Could I come across my old man through Chen Long?"

Su Yu had no answer. His father would only be a Skysoar at maximum. Meanwhile, Chen Long was a Mountainsea. It was possible that the two didn't even know each other. He might not get the chance to meet his father even if he went to the Devil Subduing Army.

This was too difficult. He really hoped that he could see his father. It had been more than a year. He was really starting to miss his father.

***

While Su Yu was worrying over his father.

Great Xia Consulate.

This place was incomparable to the Great Ming Consulate. It was small, with only several small and dilapidated buildings in the compound. Then again, the people of Great Xia didn't really mind. They only needed a place to rest. They didn't care too much about anything else.

Su Long had an independent building all for himself. At around a hundred square meters in size, it wasn't too big. He only had a building for himself due to his unique identity. Otherwise, even Mountainseas would find it hard to get an entire building for themselves here.

Suddenly, someone pushed the door open. Chen Long walked in and laughed, "Big Brother, are you cooking? What are you having for dinner?"

"Dinner my ass." Su Long looked out of the kitchen beside the courtyard and frowned, "Are you so free? Why are you here every few days?"

"What are you talking about?" Chen Long grinned and said, "I'm here for serious business. Great Qin King personally gave me my award. Hehehe. Big Brother, am I amazing? If everything goes smoothly, I will take over the second legion after I return to the army."

He was the deputy general of the second legion in the Devil Subduing Army. After accumulating enough contributions, he was in line for a promotion. The Devil Subduing Army was currently in the middle of reorganization. It had five legions, with a hundred thousand soldiers in each legion.

Previously, the Devil Subduing Army was only a second-tier army. A Skysoar could become a 1000-man commander, a Cloudbreach could become a 10000-man commander, and a Mountainsea could lead a legion. Chen Long was also a Mountainsea. With the ongoing reorganization, it was very likely that he would be promoted to the top leadership position in the second legion.

That would make him a general.

"Great Qin King..." Su Long looked surprised. He said, "You? Awarded by Great Qin King?"

"Yes!" Chen Long said, "Big Brother, I'm a Mountainsea. With enough contributions, what's so surprising about me receiving an award from Great Qin King?"

Su Long said nothing and returned to the kitchen. He was feeling slightly envious. Damn it. A little brother of his from back then was going to become a general soon. This little brother had even received an award from Great Qin King himself. Meanwhile, he was here doing nothing but cooking for himself.

If he knew this was going to happen, he might as well return and cook for his son instead. After spending more than a dozen years serving as the chef of his son, he was reduced to a chef here in the Allheaven Battlefield as well. Su Long felt quite gloomy when he thought about that.

Chen Long was aware of what Su Long was thinking. He said, "Big Brother, stop being jealous. When I become the general, I can appoint you as my deputy general."

"Piss off." Su Long cursed, "What am I? A beggar?"

But he looked up and asked curiously, "Are you even qualified to appoint a deputy general?"

"..."

Chen Long laughed awkwardly and said, "It was a joke. Don't take me seriously. I can't do anything about your position."

"Piss off! Scram!"

Su Long lost his patience. Damn this fellow! If he couldn't, why mention it? This little rascal was getting more and more annoying lately. Was this bastard not aware of how troubled he was recently?

After spending some time cursing, he asked, "Do you have any news about that little bastard of mine?"

"No. He has been in seclusion after his fight with Shan Xiong. That nephew of mine seems to have sustained a serious injury."

"What bullshit are you saying?" Su Lang shouted, "He's definitely fine. He's only in seclusion to break through."

"Yes, yes, yes. You're right, Big Brother." Chen Long nodded and said, "By the way, a youngster came from Great Ming recently. He goes by Cui Lang or something like that. I heard that he's a student of Principal Niu of Great Ming Cultural Research Academy. And that nephew of mine is also in the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy, right? Maybe they know each other."

"Great Ming?" Su Long's eyes lit up. He ignored the dish he was cooking and ran out of the kitchen. After wiping his hands on his apron, he asked, "Where is he? Can I meet him? He knows my son?"

"Big Brother, that is only a possibility. I just grabbed a set of information about that youngster from the consul. Let's study the information together. This fellow is not a nobody. He's a pseudo earth weaponsmith. He's a big deal. In fact, he's a bigger deal than me unless I can become a general. He might completely ignore me if I contact him without doing proper research."

"A big deal? Isn’t he a youngster?"

"He's in his thirties, so he can be considered young."

"My kid will definitely be better at the same age."

Chen Long laughed and said, "Of course. In fact, he's already comparable to that Cui Lang fellow now. Isn't my nephew an honorary elder? His status is just as high as Cui Lang. Of course, he's definitely weaker since Cui Lang is already a Cloudbreach."

Su Long said with an envious tone, "My kid will be there soon!"

"Yes, yes, yes. Definitely!"

Soon his ass! That kid had just entered the Skysoar Realm not long ago. Then again, that kid was truly impressive. He probably had the combat strength of a Cloudbreach.

Chen Long grumbled inwardly before flashing Su Long a smile, "Big Brother, you need to get back to your dish. It's going to burn. Let's continue our conversation over dinner. We can take this chance to go over his information. We can visit the Great Ming Consulate either later tonight or tomorrow."

"Can I go as well?"

"Why not?" Chen Long said, "It will be fine. You're not leaving the city, right? You're not a prisoner. They are only restricting your freedom for your safety. A visit to the Great Ming Consulate will be fine. Perhaps we can even take this chance to form a relationship with him. I only hope that he doesn't have a bad relationship with my nephew. That would be troublesome."

"My kid is a good kid. He never makes enemies."

Su Long was full of confidence as he made that declaration. What nonsense. His son was not one to deliberately make someone his enemy. On the rare occasions that he did manage to get some enemies, he had mostly taken his revenge on those people. Since Cui Lang was still alive, it was very likely that this was not an enemy of his son.

Chen Long responded with a laugh. When Su Long was done cooking, the two sat down and ate while checking the information about Cui Lang.

After a while, Su Long cursed, "What a bastard. Shameless. He ran and hid himself after sleeping with the lady! A man like this should be castrated!"

Chen Long was somewhat speechless. He said, "Big Brother, it's fine to be saying this here, but don't say it outside. Eight out of ten people from Great Ming are like this. According to your requirements, we would need to castrate half of the people in Great Ming. Also, that's not the main point here."

"This is the main point." Su Long said, "My son is definitely not a friend of garbage like this."

"It's hard to say. Perhaps that nephew of mine has also learned from Great Ming."

Su Long thought about it and nodded, "It won't be bad if he gets himself three or five wives."

"..."

Chen Long decided to shut his mouth. Amazing. It would be fine if it was his son. What double standards. This was too much.

They continued reading the information. Chen Long suddenly laughed and said, "This fellow is quite amazing. And his background is quite strong. He has a seventh-stage Sunmoon as a teacher and a ninth-stage Sunmoon as a grandfather-in-law. He's also a pseudo earth weaponsmith himself. This...will be a hard person to deal with. According to the information, he does know my nephew. He himself made that claim not long ago."

"He really knows Little Yu?" Su Long was overjoyed. He stopped complaining about Cui Lang's character and said, "Let's meet him!"

Chen Long said, "Don't be in such a rush, Big Brother. It's dinner time. We can go after the meal. This is so difficult. If I could get a pseudo earth weaponsmith for the second legion, my chances at promotion would be much higher. But I don't know if I can pay the price required to recruit him."

Su Long also had an anxious look as he said, "It depends on how close he is with Little Yu. Maybe we can use Little Yu as an excuse to build a relationship with him. Everyone is saying that Little Yu is very important for Great Ming, right?"

"Let me see if that's true. If he's really so important to them, even as a pseudo earth weaponsmith, Cui Lang needs to show my kid some respect. I'm only afraid that the rumors are fake. Maybe they are all keeping my son prisoner and treating him as a golden goose."

He was no fool. He had merely been trying to not think about some possibilities. Was Great Ming really treating his son well or was Great Ming imprisoning his son? Who could be sure about that? Perhaps he could make his judgment through Cui Lang's attitude.

"Big Brother is wise." Chen Long laughed, "Sure. Let's visit him later. That fellow is very proud. When I told him I'm from Devil Subduing Army, he didn't even give me a second look. Sigh. We might have barely advanced into a first-rate army recently, but everyone still views us as a second-rate army. The gap between us and those old first-rate armies is still too big."

Su Long rolled his eyes, "Just be content with your situation. You're already a Mountainsea at a young age. What can you complain about? As a young Mountainsea, others will still show you a certain level of respect."

Chen Long had just reached forty. He was a few years younger than Su Long. In the military, he was quite popular as a young expert.