Tribulation of Myriad Races

"Heavenly Hunt Pavilion?" Hearing Su Yu's question, Consul Liu thought about it and said, "Yes. There is such an organization. It has been around for many years, and nobody has been able to eliminate it. The various races have secretly tried to wipe them out. They even tried baiting the members of this organization out. They did manage to kill some of the members, but...this damn organization is too complicated. It has all sorts of secret members, with some of them being the geniuses of the various races while secretly being the members of this organization."

Su Yu frowned, "Are there any benefits to joining this organization?"

"Benefits?" Consul Liu said, "Nope. But this organization is the perfect scapegoat when killing. For example, humans and immortals are officially allies. You can't be killing them in the open, right? But the moment you put on a mask and hide your aura, you can claim to be a member of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion and kill to your heart's content. That's pretty much how things are. Perhaps the actual Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had been eliminated long ago. But...you understand this, right? A convenient scapegoat is always needed. Thus, it persisted."

Understanding dawned on Su Yu. It was possible that the real Heavenly Hunt Pavilion had long ceased existing. But its name was still very convenient to use. Thus, its name would forever exist.

Anyone could transform into a member of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. As for whether that was a real or fake member, there honestly wasn't any way one could verify.

For example, Su Yu himself could also go out and pretend to be a member. After killing someone, he only needed to claim that he was from the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion to remove all responsibility from himself.

Su Yu did not ask anything else, but Consul Liu continued his explanation, "Junior Brother, you need to be careful. Your name is probably on the Heavenly Hunt Index. Be careful lest someone make you their target."

"Heavenly Hunt Index?"

"Yes. That is essentially a list of people to kill." Consul Liu shook his head and said, "Or to be precise, it is actually a list with the names of all the known geniuses in the Myriad Realms. This list serves as a reference for all members to decide on worthy targets. After all, when you're hunting geniuses, the more talented the genius is, the better the heavenly reward will be. The Heavenly Hunt Index is split into four tiers, heaven, earth, profound, and yellow. Strength is not the only criterion to determine one's position in the list. Talent, aptitude, age, and many other factors are taken into consideration as well."

Su Yu raised his brow and asked, "Do you have a copy of this list?"

"No." Consul Liu shook his head, "I've never paid much attention to this. That's mainly because...this list isn't that big of a threat to Great Ming. I'll get a copy for you. We can check if you're in it. If you are, you need to be very careful when you're out of the city."

As a young pseudo earth weaponsmith who was only thirty-five, the risk of being placed in the list was quite real for him.

As for why Consul Liu had never paid much attention to the index before, that was because Great Ming had not produced too many people worthy of getting into the list. Firstly, one had to enter the Allheaven Battlefield. Secondly, one had to be a top genius. Thirdly, one also had to be someone with the tendency to travel far away. All three criteria had to be met for one to be listed.

And clearly, such individuals were almost nonexistent in Great Ming. Because of that, there was never a need for Consul Liu to care about the index. But since Cui Lang had arrived openly, news of his arrival might have spread. Thus, nobody could say for sure if his name had entered the index.

This wasn't a good index to be listed in. It was better for one to be a hunter of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion than to be listed in its index. After all, any random person could be a hunter of the Heavenly Hunt Pavilion. You never knew if the person beside you was one of them. That was why it was so dangerous to be listed in the index. A lot of the people whose names were listed had suffered miserable deaths.

***

After the talk, Su Yu returned to his residence. That same night, Consul Liu delivered a copy of the Heavenly Hunt Index over. This was a much more comprehensive listing than what Consul Liu had provided earlier.

The index was split into four tiers. They were respectively the Heaven Index, Earth Index, Profound Index, and Yellow Index. Strength, cultivation level, age, talent level, and all sorts of factors were graded objectively before one was listed in one of the four tiers.

For example, someone in the Yellow Index might not necessarily be weaker than someone from the Heaven Index. But the person in the Heaven Index was most definitely someone with more talent and potential. There was no doubting that.

After skimming through the index, Su Yu noted that a lot of these names were completely unknown to him before. But there were also some familiar names in there.

36th on Yellow Index: Wu Qi, third-stage Cloudbreach Realm, citizen of Great Xia, cultural researcher, proficient in killing, twenty-seven years old, human.

Past accomplishments: Killing a seventh-stage Cloudbreach

For Su Yu, this was not an impressive accomplishment. No matter what, Wu Qi was a top genius of Great Xia. She should be at least capable of that. Then again, the seventh-stage Cloudbreach she killed might not be one of those weak Cloudbreaches. You never knew.

One could say that in Great Xia, she was almost an equal to Huang Teng. But someone like her was only ranked 36th in the Yellow Index. Clearly, this index did not only measure one's strength. Instead, it had a more comprehensive method of determining one's position.

Su Yu started searching for the names of Huang Teng and others. Soon, he found them.

1st on Earth Index: Huang Teng, fifth-stage Cloudbreach Realm, citizen of Great Xia, warrior, proficient at Sky Sundering Saber, twenty-eight years old, human.

Past accomplishments: Killing a second-stage Mountainsea

First on the Earth Index!

Su Yu was not surprised because the rank was too high. On the contrary, he was surprised because the rank was too low. This was only the Earth Index. In all honesty, killing a Mountainsea as a Cloudbreach was an extremely terrifying feat. But someone like that was only in the Earth Index?

Huang Teng, who humanity had bragged about like he was on the Heaven Index, was only in the Earth Index? How was the ranking in this index decided? Next, he found Qin Fang's name.

There were only eighteen names in the Heaven Index. Qin Fang was last on the list. He was a sixth-stage Cloudbreach, and he killed a third-stage Mountainsea before. He was slightly stronger than Huang Teng.

As for the names above Qin Fang, Su Yu had never even heard of them. But after reading about their past accomplishments, he sank into a long silence.

1st on Heaven Index: Mo Duona, original devil race, seventh-stage Cloudbreach

Past accomplishments: Killing a seventh-stage Mountainsea

The introduction was short, but it was enough to amaze Su Yu.

The human race had only produced one such expert before. It was Bai Tianhao, someone who had killed a seventh-stage Mountainsea as a ninth-stage Cloudbreach before. That was the only human Cloudbreach to have killed a high-stage Mountainsea in recent centuries.

Meanwhile, one such genius could currently be found among the devil race. Someone from the original devil race! And this person was only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. No high-stage Mountainsea was a weakling. But Mo Duona had skipped an entire realm to kill such an opponent.

His age was not mentioned, but the divines and devils calculated their age differently than the human race. For the human race, there were 360 days in a year. Meanwhile, the divine race based its calendar around the growth cycle of heavenly source fruits. Each maturation cycle was considered one year for them. In that case, one divine year was equivalent to one human year.

2nd on Heaven Index: Zhan Wushuang, first divine race, eighth-stage Mountainsea

Past accomplishments: Killing a first-stage Sunmoon

This was an extremely powerful individual. And he was most likely a young genius as well. But his rank was actually lower than Mo Duona's despite his much higher strength. Su Yu was getting even more confused at how these ranks were decided.

Perhaps he was older than Mo Duona, or perhaps he did not manage to punch high enough above his class. But killing a Sunmoon as a Mountainsea was much harder than killing a Mountainsea as a Cloudbreach.

After a while, Su Yu shook his head. The Myriad Realms were truly filled with geniuses. And this wasn't even a complete list. The Heavenly Hunt Index did not include the individuals who had never stepped into the Allheaven Battlefield. Additionally, someone who had not achieved any impressive combat feats before would rarely be listed.

As for Cui Lang, his name was not in the index. Perhaps that was because he had yet to perform any impressive combat feats before. As for his weaponsmithing skills, he had never forged any impressive weapons in the Allheaven Battlefield before. Thus, his name was not in the index.

As for Su Yu's own name, he wasn't in the index as well. It didn't matter how impressive his combat feats in the Human Realm were. He would only win true acknowledgment after entering the Allheaven Battlefield.

In short, the Heavenly Hunt Index could be used to measure the trend and find out about the current top geniuses of the various races.

The actual ranks of the individuals in the index weren't too informative. After all, it was possible that the person ranked second in the Heaven Index could kill the first-ranked individual with one move. It was more useful to use the index as a reference to know the more profitable targets if one wished to kill for heavenly rewards.

After going through the index, Su Yu moved on and read about some other stuff, such as maps, danger zones, entrances to minor realms, and so on. He also read about the latest battlefields and chaotic lands in the Allheaven Battlefield.

He also read about the unique areas of the Allheaven Battlefield. There were places where only geniuses could survive. There were also places where people with high cultivation levels couldn't enter.

That day, Su Yu did a lot of reading. While reading, he completed his twelfth body forging. It had been a few days since he entered the Allheaven Battlefield.

In a flash, it was the 25th of June.

Inside the Human Realm, the various prefectures were probably starting to get ready for the academy entrance examinations. A month later, a new semester would start.

Su Yu wanted to visit Heavenly Forge King as well. As for the consequence of exposing his disguise, that was something out of control. After all, visiting Heavenly Forge King was the excuse he had used to enter the Allheaven Battlefield.

Unfortunately, Heavenly Forge King had been away for quite a while. He did not force it. Since the king wasn't around, so be it. He started getting ready to leave.

He didn't know if leaving as Cui Lang would create some unforeseen troubles in the future. If a new genius emerged in the Allheaven Battlefield right after Cui Lang left the human headquarters, would the more imaginative individuals find a connection between the two?

Su Yu did not dare to underestimate anyone. It wasn't like nobody had ever used a fake identity before. Of course, very few people managed to keep their fake identity until the very end. A lot of people had unique abilities suitable for disguise, but maintaining the disguise long-term was too difficult.

Take Su Yu as an example. A decent number of people had already seen through his disguise.

***

On the 26th of June, Su Yu finished his twelfth body forging. He decided it was time for him to leave since he had nothing else to do here.

These days, he had learned as much as he could about the Allheaven Battlefield. As for everything else, he would just go out and act according to the circumstances. It was pointless to keep staying indoors and reading. The fastest way to learn was to actually go out.

After going through all the information he gathered and reading about the various geniuses, he believed that he wasn't worse than any of these geniuses. During this period of time, neither Su Long nor Chen Long had visited him.

As for Su Yu, he had remained indoors during the entire time with the excuse that he needed to stabilize his cultivation.

Night of the 26th.

Su Yu had Consul Liu prepare an earthdragon mount for him. He was going to depart.

Inside the consulate, Consul Liu was seeing him off while reminding repeatedly, "Junior Brother, I'm not trying to scare you, but remember to never step further than the frontlines. The lands beyond the Vanguard Regiment are no different than a mass graveyard.

"Behind the Vanguard Regiment, things are comparatively safer. Also, don't even dream about visiting the Sea of Stars. That place has been terrifyingly scary as of late. It has turned into the jaws of a beast, and it will remain so until after the next opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion.

"Junior Brother, you're the beloved student of Principal Niu. You're also a weaponsmith. If something happens to you, Great Ming will go crazy. Please do be careful..."

He was very long-winded today, but Su Yu did not mind it. He said, "Don't worry, Senior Brother. Do I look like someone who enjoys courting death? I'm only out to take a breather. Perhaps I'd return tomorrow. Wouldn't that be embarrassing after all the reminders you gave me?"

"Hahaha, true. But embarrassment is nothing. Don't ever worry about something so trivial. Nothing is more important than your life."

Su Yu nodded, "I understand. I am not someone who will regard my reputation as something more important than my life. I will definitely run at the first sign of trouble."

"Fine. I wish you a pleasant journey, Junior Brother. May you stumble upon a heavenly reward right after stepping out. May you stumble upon an Invincible ruin just by walking..."

Su Yu laughed in amusement. After expressing his gratitude, he hopped onto the earthdragon and rode toward the city gate in an unhurried manner. On the way, he passed by the Great Xia Consulate.

He did not stop and continued riding forward. Inside the consulate, Su Long was training with a saber. It was a common saber technique in the military, a technique filled with killing intent. Again and again, he swung his saber, flooding the courtyard with saber qi and killing intent.

The experts in charge of protecting him in secret were confused. Why was he going crazy all of a sudden? He had spent the entire day practicing his saber. In fact, he was on the verge of fainting from exhaustion.

"Fuck you!"

Accompanied by a curse, his final swing crushed a stone table in the courtyard. Then, he lay paralyzed on the ground. Nobody knew if the beads on his face were sweat or tears. He continued cursing, but nobody knew who he was cursing. That continued for a very long time.

The hidden experts hurriedly scanned his body and concluded that he was in no danger. He was merely too exhausted. What provoked him to act like this? Did he grow depressed after staying away from the frontlines for a long time?

They couldn't understand, but they all remained hidden, not wishing to get involved with whatever issue Su Long was having.