Tribulation of Myriad Races

Hu Qi looked at the others and said, "I wish to teach Su Yu some weaponsmithing techniques. Can you give us some privacy?"

Zhu Tiandao grinned and said, "What's the rush, Teacher Hu? You have plenty of time to teach Su Yu in the future. He won't be going anywhere. Am I right, Su Yu?"

Su Yu nodded.

Hu Qi smiled, "To be born, to grow old, to get sick, and to die. This is the way of life. There is no need for you to act like this. I have lived for five hundred years. Back then, countless humans were killed. All my friends and family were gone. My close childhood friends were all dead before they were twenty. Meanwhile, I have lived until now. I have no regrets."

Niu Baidao said, "The myriad races invaded four hundred years ago. You were already an old lady back then. Even if your childhood friends weren't killed by the invaders, they would be dead at nearly one hundred years old. You can lament about your life, but don't lie."

"..."

Silence descended.

The myriad races invaded around four hundred years ago. After decades of war, the era of prefectures began. Meanwhile, Hu Qi was five hundred years old. She was already old during the start of the invasion.

Hu Qi stared at Niu Baidao. After a while, she coughed violently and said, "I-I'm going to die soon. Why are you provoking me?"

Niu Baidao smiled, "We need to be honest. Don't think all those useless thoughts. You won't die. I still have one life extending fruit with me. I'll send it over later..."

"No thanks." Hu Qi had an unhappy expression.

Niu Baidao smiled, "Just take it. It's fine. I'm not going to use it anyway. Old Wang has been asking for it but I have never agreed to let him have it. I'm waiting for him to die, after all. But you can't die. I still need you to forge me a heaven-grade cultural weapon."

"I know myself. Even with that fruit, I won't be able to live much longer. It's a waste on me."

At this point, Su Yu cautiously asked, "Senior Hu, seniors, it is reasonable to say that at the Sunmoon Realm, one won't die so easily. Us humans might not have the lifespan of divines and devils, but our Sunmoons should have no problem living for a thousand years. Why is Senior Hu..."

Hu Qi explained, "My physical body has decayed while my sea of willpower is still suffering from my old injuries. Because of that, my vitality is starting to decline."

Su Yu asked, "What if you regrow your body? With the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art and Source Soul Acupoint Opening Art, you can regrow your body quickly with earthly source fruits. Before long, your body will reach the Mountainsea or even the Sunmoon Realm. With the body of a Sunmoon, you won't have an issue living for a thousand years, right?"

"You're still too young." Hu Qi laughed, "No matter how fast it is, cultivating from scratch and reaching the Sunmoon Realm will still take me decades, right? I don't have that much time. But the others here can give that a try. Cultural researchers have a habit of neglecting their bodies when they were young. But the decline of the body can actually effect a cultural researcher greatly. The same applies to the warriors. Their willpower will start declining at a certain age while their bodies have also declined due to the various battles they fought. In truth, a lot more warriors are dying to old age compared to cultural researchers."

"What if...you open some apertures?" Su Yu suggested, "Will opening new apertures expand your sea of willpower and replenish your vitality?"

"Us Sunmoons have long fused all our apertures into one. Opening a new aperture is too difficult for us. Furthermore, doing that might hasten the collapse of the sea of willpower instead. At my state, my sea of willpower might not be able to withstand the pressure of opening a new aperture."

Su Yu said, "How about life extending cultivation methods? Yes, this might work! Just look at how long-lived turtles are! The looping turtle race, for example, are very long-lived. That might be due to their cultivation method. The acupoints and apertures of humanity also possess unique abilities. There must be some combination that can extend lifespan and increase vitality.

"This will work! Senior Hu, I am a specialist in researching new cultivation methods. If you can last a bit longer, I can think of something. There must be a solution out there!"

He solemnly said, "Of the myriad races, the human race has the shortest lifespan. Some races can easily live for ten thousand years at the Sunmoon Realm. Meanwhile, us humans can only live for a thousand years. Even if I can't find any life extending arts, I can also try to find some youth returning arts or healing arts. They can be useful as well.

"I never bothered with these types of cultivation methods before. But if I really want to do it, I won't take long. I will be able to produce something in a few months. Just try to last until then, Senior. You're an earth-grade weaponsmith. You are capable of contributing more to Great Ming and humanity. It is too much of a waste for you to just die like this."

Zhu Tiandao hurriedly said, "Exactly! Teacher, that's right! That was why I brought Su Yu here. Nothing is certain in life. How are you sure that there are no life extending arts out there? Something like that definitely exits. Your existence is too important for Great Ming."

"I will give Su Yu my full support in this research. Even if you don't care about yourself, you need to think for Vice Principal Wang and the others, right? They are quite old as well. They will probably die soon. You can serve as a test subject for these people and see if this life extending method is feasible."

Nearby, Vice Principal Wang and the others were left somewhat speechless. What was wrong with this world? Why did they feel like everyone wanted them to die? Vice Principal Wang had a feeling that he would be fully stripped of his characters right after dying.

Hu Qi was about to speak when Zhu Tiandao anxiously said, "Teacher, you can still hang on for a bit, right? Give Su Yu some time. He is able to create something like a foundation cultural art and fusion art. There is no need to doubt his ability. With his 360 acupoints, he can easily test any cultivation method he comes up with."

Su Yu nodded. He personally didn't want to see these seniors dying just like that as well. These were the heroes who had fought the myriad races for the future of humanity back then. And strictly speaking, Hu Qi had fought a Sunmoon not long ago because of him.

Furthermore, Hu Qi's intention to teach him about weaponsmithing was a favor he had to acknowledge. So was there something like a life extending cultivation method out there?

Su Yu didn't know, but he could try looking for one. He was confident that there must be a long-lived race out there with a relevant cultivation method or racial ability. Even if the divines and devils did not have such a cultivation method, that might not be the case for the other races. This was worth trying.

Niu Baidao persuaded, "Just give it a try. This is not only for your sake. A lot of people are nearing the end of their lifespans. And there are even more people like this if you include the entire Human Realm. You saw what happened when Little Zhu was at the Knowledge Seeking Realm not long ago. Even speaking was very hard for Wang Chonghuan. He's probably going to die soon as well. There are a lot of geezers like this. Try to last a bit longer. If Su Yu succeeds, it will benefit all of you."

Wang Chonghuan was the old man who had questioned Great Han King when Zhu Tiandao was throwing a tantrum there. There were actually a lot of surviving seniors from the early years of the various prefectures. But due to their injuries, most of them were already nearing the end of their lifespans.

Finally, Hu Qi wavered. She was already prepared to face death. She looked at Su Yu, wondering if this kid was really capable helping them with their lifespans. Noticing her gaze, Su Yu said, "Senior Hu, please trust me. I can do it. For now, don't do anything to exhaust your energy and vitality. So what if you can forge a powerful earth-grade cultural weapon this time? If you stay alive, you can forge ten powerful cultural weapons in the future. Or you can even aim for a heaven-grade cultural weapon. Wouldn't that be much better?"

Su Yu flashed a wide smile and said, "Furthermore, I also intend to use this as an opportunity to fulfill a selfish desire of mine. From your conversation earlier, there are a lot of seniors at the end of their lifespans around. And you are aware of my current situation. I need more support and allies. Thus, if I really manage to create something that can extend one's lifespan, perhaps I can use it to rope in a bunch of seniors as my backers. These seniors are not weak at all. There are probably quite a lot of Sunmoons among them.

"And these people are probably quite dependable. Most of them have been in seclusion for many years due to their injuries. They are mostly unrelated to the incident fifty years ago. These are the experts who once fought side by side with the Invincibles. They are basically the old friends of these Invincibles. If one of them doesn't work, I can get three or five of them to talk in front of those Invincibles on my behalf. At that time, I will have nothing to fear anymore.

"But to accomplish all that, I need someone to serve as a demonstration of what I can do. And you're the most suitable person for that, Senior Hu. If I can help even you, nobody will doubt me. The ones who know gratitude will definitely remember my favor of saving their lives. Even the ungrateful ones will probably feel embarassed to stand against me, right? After all, they might need my help again sometime in the future. Who knows?"

Hu Qi blanked out. She stared at Su Yu for a long while before she smiled, "Looks like I really can't die. I need to wait for you to come out with something that can extend my lifespan."

Su Yu nodded, "You will serve as the best product ambassador. When the time comes, you can promote it for me. That will shock the world. You're about to die, but suddenly, you're alive and well. If you could even advance into a heaven-grade weaponsmith or an Invincible after, the promotion would be even more effective."

The others nodded. Vice Principal Wang laughed heartily and said, "Kid, if you can really create something like this, I will personally drag a few old bastards out of the Knowledge Seeking Realm for you. These people used to be excellent killers back in the days. Each of them have their own specialty. For example, that Wang Chonghuan. He is actually related to me. That old fellow is not weak at all. He's great at creating talismans. Once, he used 188 Mountainsea talismans to kill a fourth-stage Sunmoon."

Niu Baidao said, "I know a lot of geezers as well. Some of them aren't too strong in combat, but they have a lot of unique abilities and tricks. For example, there's a geezer in Great Song who is great at producing poisonous pills. He has only ever produced poisonous pills in his life. He is only a third-stage Sunmoon, but he once poisoned a seventh-stage Sunmoon to death. Unfortunately, he has greatly harmed himself with poison as well. He is now living a miserable life with his sea of willpower withering away due to poison. If you can help him, he will definitely become your backer. At that time, anyone thinking of touching you will have to first worry about losing their entire family to poison...

"Even Great Song King owes him a favor. Over the years, Great Song King has personally extended his lifespan several times. If you manage to get him on your side, you might be able to get Great Song King on your side as well. At the very least, he won't have a problem getting Great Song King to make one move for you."

The geezers spoke one after another. Before long, Hu Qi joined in as well. The stale atmosphere in the room instantly turned lively. Before long, their conversation led to a more technical direction.

"I believe there are two main categories of life extending methods. Some people have short lifespans due to the decline of their bodies while others have short lifespans due to the decline of their sea of willpower. As these people are not at the end of their theoretical lifespans, their vitality is fine. The main issue is the old injuries suppressing their vitality."

"The life extending method should be something that can heal injuries. By removing those injuries, it might allow one's vitality to recover by itself."

"It would be even better if there is a cultivation method capable of stabilizing the sea of willpower. A lot of people have injuries that can actually be treated, but their willpower was too weak for them to receive treatment. For example, some injuries can be easily removed by Invincibles, but the willpower of these people might collapse during the process before their injuries were fully removed."

"The Soul Expanding Art won't work. It's too rough. It is useful for youngsters like you, but for geezers like us with seas of willpower that are on the verge of collapse, a few hammer strikes are enough to send us to the afterlife."

"..."

In that manner, they started discussing enthusiastically. Even Hu Qi had completely forgotten the fact that she was going to die soon as she discussed with the others in excitement.