Tribulation of Myriad Races

Zhu Tiandao did not care about what they think. He said, "In that case, hand over the notes now, everyone. With me here, you can save the effort of delivering the notes over to Great Ming. Looks like we have settled the matter perfectly. Like I said, this is a minor issue. There is no need to bicker endlessly."

Who was the one bickering endlessly here? Everyone was speechless. Zhu Tiandao was the one throwing a tantrum there today.

The family heads did not say anything and took out a notebook each. As the notes floated toward Zhu Tiandao, the Mountainseas present looked on enviously. Great Han King smiled and nonchalantly took out a notebook as well.

Suddenly, Zhu Tiandao slapped his forehead as though he had just remembered something. He turned around and said, "Silk Destroying King, Su Yu is half a student of yours as well. Can you write a note about the Time technique for him?"

Silk Destroying King blanked out. So it was really that kid?

The Sunmoons and Mountainseas in the room were astonished to hear that.

Time technique?

Great Han King was surprised as well. He looked at Silk Destroying King.

Zhu Tiandao smiled and said, "Half a student is still a student, right? Of course, Silk Destroying King is definitely uninterested in formally acknowledging this student. It's fine. Su Yu is quite an arrogant kid as well. He might not be willing-cough, cough. My apologies. I should watch my words. Silk Destroying King, please don't mind me..."

"..."

A sudden silence descended while Zhu Tiandao's face twitched. Silk Destroying King cleared his throat awkwardly. That was a mistake. This was a formal setting, not a private setting where he could call Zhu Tiandao whatever he wanted.

This was a prefect. It was improper to call him that in a formal setting.

Realizing his mistake, Silk Destroying King moved on with the topic and said, "So Su Yu has learned the Time technique. How interesting. So be it. I'll give him a book with my own understanding over the years. I hope it won't go to waste in his hands."

He then tossed a notebook out.

Zhu Tiandao accepted the book and ignored the fact that he had just been called a little fatty. If it wasn't for the fact that he wasn't a match for Silk Destroying King, he would have Silk Destroying King experience coming out of someone's rear yet again.

Silk Destroying King seemed to have sensed that thought so he shot Zhu Tiandao a toying gaze.

Immediately, Zhu Tiandao's confidence left him so he avoided Silk Destroying King's gaze. It was time for him to run! He had done all he was here to do. What else should he do now if not run? He had reaped quite a bountiful harvest this time.

He even managed to increase Su Yu's influence by officially turning him into Silk Destroying King's half student and someone under Great Han King's protection. With two Invincibles behind him, everyone would need to think twice before trying anything against him.

As for whether Silk Destroying King would acknowledge that fact, Zhu Tiandao didn't care. How could one ever be sure if Silk Destroying King cared about this student or not?

What a great harvest.

Time to say goodbye!

He was just about to take his leave when Great Han King said, "You have received the things and promise you want. It's time for the sky devouring ants to leave the Dual Holy Prefecture, right? You guys should really stop bickering. Us Invincibles are here to take a break from the front lines, not here to deal with these pointless troubles. The front lines aren't as peaceful as you think. The first divine and original devil ancestors are showing signs of leaving their seclusion. Do you guys really want to start a civil war among humanity?"

Silk Destroying King said, "That's right. In fact, even the Eternals of the various other races have been stirring recently. You cultural researchers should stop creating trouble. The two of us are reasonable people, but that's not the case for all Invincibles. If you kick up enough fuss to attract Great Qin King's attention...For the sake of our old friend, we won't say much about what you do here. But Great Qin King is different from us. It's not like he has never killed even his own Sunmoons to enforce discipline before."

Essentially, the two Invincibles were saying that they were nice old men. They had more misgivings to consider before doing anything. But that wasn't the case for all Invincibles.

If these people managed to create enough fuss to drag Great Qin King back from the battlefield, he wouldn't care if they were the descendants of Invincibles. He would simply kill all troublemakers. In short, his return would escalate everything to extreme levels.

Those words shocked the crowd.

Zhu Tiandao was just about to grin with joy when Silk Destroying King said, "If he returns, he probably won't be happy to see those ants in the Dual Holy Prefecture."

Silence descended.

Zhu Tiandao had an awkward expression. He was quite afraid of Great Qin King. In fact, everyone was afraid of Great Qin King.

He wasn't strong enough to unify the Human Realm and suppress all Invincibles. But he was more than strong enough to suppress several Invincibles. If he was enraged by the descendants of Invincibles, even those Invincibles might not dare to protect their descendants.

"I understand. Great Ming will remove the ants as soon as possible." Zhu Tiandao smiled, "It will be over soon. Alright, since we're done here, I need to return. I still have a lot of work to do back home. We have suffered great losses this time. I need to go back and rebuild Great Ming. Lords and friends, farewell."

He turned and left unhesitatingly. There was nothing else for him to do here.

After Zhu Tiandao left, Silk Destroying King laughed, "This fellow...Little Song, how bad are the losses?"

The so-called Little Song was a Sunmoon from Great Song who had arrived with Zhu Tiandao earlier. He was about to leave as well. When he heard the question, his face turned awkward.

Wait, so these people had no idea? He thought that everyone here already knew the truth.

Since an Invincible was asking him, he didn't dare to stay silent. He awkwardly said, "Uhm...the losses...are quite...quite heavy..."

"Quite heavy?"

"They lost a Teleportation Door...and...nine lives..."

"Sunmoon?"

Nine Sunmoons were dead? Silk Destroying King was slightly alarmed.

"No...cough, cough. All of them are regular civilians. The strongest among them is an Infinite Strength cultivator..."

"..."

A terrifying silence engulfed the room. The silence was suffocating.

Nine dead.

Great Ming was on the verge of being destroyed.

He was returning to rebuild Great Ming.

Right at this moment, Zhu Tiandao's roar sounded outside the room, "30,000 Strength Guard soldiers, come with me! Come on, move faster! You guys are coming with me to guard Great Ming!"

"..."

Finally, someone asked, "Are we really sending 30,000 soldiers to Great Ming?"

Fuck!

After losing nine civilians, that bastard claimed that Great Ming was on the verge of destruction.

They all knew that Zhu Tiandao was probably exaggerating things, but they had all assumed that Great Ming must have lost a few Sunmoons in the process of killing nine Sunmoons and over a dozen Mountainseas.

When they heard that nine had died, they immediately thought that these were all experts. But these were actually civilians? Even the strongest among them was only an Infinite Strength cultivator.

Silence.

Great Han King stood up and said, "The meeting is adjourned. Also, don't forget my words. I am not the actual leader of the Knowledge Seeking Realm, so there are some matters that I am not willing to get involved with. But if you continue creating trouble during this period of time, don't blame me for disregarding our previous relationship after I leave seclusion."

Leaving that warning behind, he flickered and vanished into thin air.

Silk Destroying King laughed and said, "Things are so messy. I don't know what to say about you cultural researchers anymore. Little Hu, don't forget to take 50,000 Strength Guard soldiers with you back to Great Xia. War Shrine's treasury is getting empty recently so this request of yours came at the perfect time. Take those soldiers with you and raise them on our behalf."

He also vanished into thin air. With his departure, the two halls separated from each other again.

Administrator Hu's expression changed repeatedly. Should he...take those soldiers with him?

Right at that moment, Silk Destroying King's voice rang out, "The Strength Guard can't be allocated to just anyone. As Great Han King said earlier, only those who have contributed greatly like killing nine enemy Sunmoons can enjoy this privilege. Don't do anything stupid with these soldiers. Know your limits."

With that, Silk Destroying King was finally gone for real. Administrator Hu had an unsightly expression. They would need to spend tens of millions of merit points per year to support 50,000 Strength Guard soldiers. He felt like he was going to die the moment he returned.

Great Xia was currently trying to reduce the conflicts they were in. Were they supposed to use the 50,000 soldiers to only deal with the Myriad Race Cult? Otherwise, they would be paying those soldiers to do nothing. But if the Strength Guard was sent to deal with the cult, what was the Martial Dragon Guard supposed to do?

Admistrator Hu was getting anxious. He deeply regretted what he said earlier.

He would probably suffer after returning.

***

Meanwhile, Zhu Tiandao was happily gathering 30,000 Strength Guard soldiers.

These soldiers were mostly Skysoars. There were also some Cloudbreaches and three early Mountainseas among them. These soldiers were definitely not weak, but individually, they also weren't spectacularly strong. That was mainly due to their limited potential.

Most of them had only reached their level through the use of herbs, pills, and special techniques. But Zhu Tiandao did not mind. With their numbers, even if they were weak individually, they could still put up a fight against the other armies that were comprised mainly of Infinite Strength cultivators. For him, the money spent on these soldiers was worth it.

"Let's depart."

With a roar, the golden dragon soared into the sky.

Up in the sky, Zhu Tiandao turned to look at the two halls again. The two halls had separated and the Invincibles had left. With a smile, he raised his middle finger at some of the people who were leaving the Knowledge Seeking Hall. His lips moved soundless as he mouthed out these words, "If you dare to create trouble at Great Ming again, I'll be sure to mess all of you up!"

"..."

The expressions of those experts changed when they saw that.

Zhu Tiandao laughed heartily and said, "Send my regards to Old He. Losing a leg is no big deal. I'll personally welcome him if he wishes to visit Great Ming again. By the way, the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy still lacks a vice principal. Feel free to send anyone you want over to fill the position. We'll be waiting. Hahaha!"

The golden dragon flew away, dragging the chariot behind him.

"I feel great today! Ninth-stage Sunmoon is such a nice cultivation level to have. It is way too lonely to be an Invincible. I pity Xia Longwu for insisting on becoming an Invincible. If I were in his position, I would have given up and killed whoever I wanted. That would feel so good."

"..."

Zhu Tiandao's smug voice reverberated in the air. He was not planning to affirm his dao. Nobody would be able to threaten him with that. He would throw all caution to the wind and go wild against anyone trying to threaten him.

An old man sighed, "Since when did something like being stuck below the Invincible become an advantage?"

How lamentable.

Meanwhile, below the ninety-nine steps in front of the hall, a chubby middle-aged man was busy building a house. When he noticed some people looking at him, he flashed an honest smile and said, "My dad told me to build a house here. I will be on standby to beat the drum whenever anything happens. Please take care of me in the future, friends. I'll be setting up a farm to plant some vegetables and fruits as well. If you guys are interested, feel free to enjoy them with me."

The Zhu Family had decided to start a farmhouse right in front of the Dragonrise Drum.

One of the people there cursed, "How boorish."

The chubby middle-aged man, who was the eldest son of Zhu Tiandao, said, "My grandpa used to be a farmer. And he is indeed quite boorish as a person. Don't worry, Lord. I'll be sure to pass your words to him when he returns. How is someone like him worthy of being called Great Ming King? How embarrassing."

"..."

Fuck!

They cursed. This was yet another madman.

The Zhu Family was filled with bastards like this.

Zhu Tiandao's eldest son said, "By the way, my dad told me to stay in the Knowledge Seeking Realm from now on. In that case, my branch of the family will settle down here. Everyone, talk among yourselves and assign a territory to us. Right, I also need an official position here. If that's not possible, it doesn't matter. I can simply stay here as a guard of the Dragonrise Drum. As for the council of eight families, it will now turn into the council of nine families. After all, the Zhu Family is now here.

"The Knowledge Seeking Realm still has 270,000 Strength Guard soldiers left. Since I'm going to be one of the nine family heads, I'll be entitled to command thirty thousand of them. Don't forget to assign those soldiers to me later. Also, each of the families running the holy land is entitled to one additional heavenly source fruit every nine years. Don't forget my share. My branch of the family is too poor. My dad did not give me that much of a starting fund.

"Since the Strength Guard soldiers have nothing to do anyway, they might as well come and help me till the land. For the common people, nothing matters more than food. You can absolutely get rich farming."

The chubby middle-aged man had a bright smile as he started calculating the amount of money he could earn with 30,000 farmers under him.

A Sunmoon frowned and said, "Zhu Guangshen, are you serious or is this a joke?"

The chubby middle-aged man replied, "I'm being serious. Of course, I'm serious. The Zhu Family needs to start taking part in the affairs here. My dad said that I'm going to be shadowing you guys. Remember to notify me for every meeting you hold in the future. If you don't do that, I'll beat the Dragonrise Drum. Also, notify me of every single decision you make. Otherwise, I'll beat the Dragonrise Drum.

"My dad said that some people will want to take a mile if you give an inch. They think that the Zhu Family is easy to bully. We need to constantly teach these people their place. My dad said that a good man will be bullied, just like how a good horse will be ridden. My dad also said that the Zhu Family is not a family of scholars. When we need to, we are more than willing to pull our blades out and fight for ourselves. There is nothing to fear as we will profit greatly in the event of victory while Grandpa will flee with us if we end up losing.

"My dad also said to screw the eight or nine ruling families. We only need to care about ourselves. If our benefits are assured, all is fine. If our benefits are threatened, pull our blades out. My dad also said that the correct way of life is one of shamelessness. Who cares about face? Without a sense of shame, he can refuse to affirm his dao. And because of that, we have the freedom to beat up anyone we want. My dad also said that he is glad my first uncle is dead. Otherwise, if he's still alive, he might want to affirm his dao as well. That will force us to start fawning upon the others as well. My dad also said that..."

The surrounding experts were completely stunned.

Those from the Zhu Family were basically lunatics with nothing to lose. Who was the idiot who had provoked them? They had enough strength, status, and shamelessness to make them extremely annoying to deal with. Why provoke them?

This was crazy.

After saying all that, Zhu Guangshen continued building his farmhouse while humming a song. He looked completely relaxed, but the guards around the Dragonrise Drum had stiff expressions.

Was this fellow really staying here from now on? Were they really going to be neighbors? Damn it! Should they quit their job here? If they remained here, they would probably end up infuriated to death one day.

As for the eight family heads, they left silently. None of them had the intention to provoke the Zhu Family.

When they sent Old He over previously, that was merely a test. Who would know that a single test would be like poking a hornet's nest? Now, they could no longer get rid of the Zhu Family even if they wanted to.

This was so troublesome.

They didn't even have an excuse to reject the Zhu Family. With the Zhu Family establishing a branch in the holy land, things would become a lot more troublesome in the future.