Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu was not aware of what Zhu Tiandao was thinking. He was very busy. Apart from the source soul acupoint research and testing the cultivation methods of the myriad races, he also needed to forge his body with heavenly source qi every night.

To prevent the heavenly source qi from leaking, he had to constantly produce shadow barriers with his deceit character. Eventually, the entire cultivation room was covered in shadow barriers, turning into a miniature holy land of heavenly source qi.

Thus far, Su Yu had formed three third-tier characters. They were respectively the blood, lightning, and deceit characters. His willpower had reached high second tier. He needed to continue absorbing willpower to grow his cultivation and expand his apertures.

He had too many things to do. He wasn't exactly working twenty-four hours per day, but he would only get around three to four hours of rest every day. This was a tiring yet fulfilling life. He would spend his days researching and nights cultivating. He would only take a short nap when the sun was about to rise. That was his everyday life.

The others were also living a busy life.

One could say that every single member of his research center was very busy. Even Wu Lan had been assisting the elderly cultivators with their work when she wasn't gathering information.

This was an excellent chance for her to learn more. There was no comparison between self-study and learning from these veteran researchers.

Inside a laboratory.

The only female teacher in the research center, Kong Yuxian, was teaching Wu Lan the steps involved in willpower extraction.

One willpower fragment after another was extracted by her. Beside her, Kong Yuxian smiled and explained, "Source qi liquid can be produced from source qi. Thus, warriors have a far easier time cultivating than us. Willpower is a lot harder to cultivate."

"A long time ago, some people attempted to condense willpower into liquid as well. But nobody succeeded. Eventually, the riversand was discovered at the Luminous Domain Mansion, allowing us to extract willpower to a certain degree. But riversand was too rare."

Wu Lan nodded, "I'm aware of that. At Great Xia, the academy opened the Willpower Grotto once. They used up a lot of riversand for that opening. That is something that not even money can buy."

"Yes." Kong Yuxian nodded, "Apart from riversand, is there anything else we can use to purify and gather willpower?"

Wu Lan thought about it and asked, "Divine characters?"

"Exactly." Kong Yuxian said, "A lot of people have forgotten one thing. Regardless of whether it is the Willpower Grotto or the Hundred Dao Pagoda, what is the reason for the two to be able to provide a large amount of pure willpower? Because both of them are related to characters. The Willpower Grotto was left behind by the first principal. That character was actually a combination of numerous characters, or to be precise, the character technique of the first principal.

"Xia Chen was most well-known for his dense and powerful willpower. Apart from Su Yu, every other member of the multiple character faction has very low endurance despite their prowess in combat. But Xia Chen was an exception. Back then, he was able to spend an entire day fighting a strong enemy without feeling tired.

"In fact, he was also involved in the forging of the Hundred Dao Pagoda. There is a system of characters specializing in extracting and purifying willpower in the pagoda. That was Xia Chen's work.

"Recently, everyone has been busy. In comparison, the two of us have been quite free. Wen Zhong and the others are much more knowledgeable about aperture fusion and deduction of cultivation methods. But that's not the case for us. I specialize in willpower extraction..."

Wu Lan nodded, "Teacher, you are the first human to have noticed the usage of the riversand. The pure willpower laboratories built by all those large families won't be around if not for you."

"Don't call me teacher. Address me as senior sister. Don't you address Wen Zhong and the others as senior brothers?" Kong Yuxian smiled, "I believe you didn't travel all the way here just to sit there and look pretty. As for your current task of information gathering...you will be useless after Su Yu completes his database."

Wu Lan pouted, but she said nothing.

Kong Yuxian said, "As cultural researchers, even if we are not capable enough in some aspects, we still need to prove that we are irreplaceable. There are so many Skysoars and Cloudbreaches in the academy. Why are we the only ones chosen to enter this research center? There are so many experts in the war academy. Why didn't he recruit those warriors instead? Because each cultural researcher specializes in something.

"Is combat strength the only way to measure one's worth? If that is the case, cultural researchers would have stopped existing long ago. After all, cultural researchers are much harder to raise than warriors."

As Wu Lan nodded, Kong Yuxian continued, "Since we have some free time, let's talk about my main research subject over the past few decades. I have been researching willpower extraction and purification, the source of willpower, and the usage of willpower fragments. My specialty also includes the restoration of divine characters, the destruction of seas of willpower, and sea of willpower simulation."

Wu Lan's eyes widened in shock.

Kong Yuxian smiled and said, "I've lived for a long time so I did a lot of research on these topics. Back then, I even visited the Knowledge Seeking Realm, Great Zhou, and Great Han to learn more about these topics. Today, I'll be mainly talking about willpower extraction."

Kong Yuxian inhaled deeply and continued, "It was not too bad previously, but with the release of the Source Soul Cultural Art, what is everyone's biggest concern?"

Wu Lan hurriedly answered, "The lack of willpower to open apertures. Willpower texts are too expensive and the willpower obtained this way is not pure enough."

She knew very well as she was also suffering from the same thing. If even a member of an influential family like her was suffering from such an issue, one could only imagine how much more difficult it was for others. This was a big problem. To extract more willpower, one required riversand. But riversand was extremely rare.

Kong Yuxian nodded, "Thus, this is an era where solving this issue will grant one wealth, power, and fame."

Wu Lan nodded, "I know that. But Senior Sister, I don't know too much about this topic. Are you thinking of having me help you with this research?"

"Yes." Kong Yuxian, "I already have an idea of what to do, but I need your help."

"Me?"

Wu Lan was flabbergasted. What could she help with? She knew nothing about this topic.

"Look for Su Yu." Kong Yuxian said, "It is inappropriate for me to look for Su Yu for everything. I need your help with that. Get a complete character technique from him capable of filtering willpower. You are not a Skysoar yet. I hope you can form such a character technique.

"The Character Technique Steles of the other multiple character faction branches do not have enough character techniques. Only the one from Great Xia is filled with countless character techniques. I hope you can form the character technique required for this research.

"Of course, you might need to sacrifice a lot to do this. For many cultural researchers, they only join the multiple character faction for combat strength. Most of them prefer weapon character techniques, such as swords, sabers, or other weapons. This applies to Su Yu as well.

"But I hope that you won't take the same route. I need you to pick a character technique capable of purifying, extracting, and filtering willpower. It would be even better if you could form the same character technique used by Xia Chen back then. For this undertaking, you will have to sacrifice the combat power that you might have in the future.

"Xia Chen was the founder of the multiple character faction and the expert from the same generation as Great Xia King. He once obtained a ruin inheritance as well. If he hadn't walked the path of multiple character faction and focused so much on his willpower character, he might have survived and grown into someone with greater accomplishments than even the fifth principal.

"Xia Chen was extremely talented. But he had sacrificed too much for the multiple character faction. Ultimately, he perished in the Allheaven Battlefield. And I am asking for you to walk the same path..."

Wu Lan blinked, "Character technique? Learning from Su Yu?"

"Yes. I believe he has the Character Technique Stele." Kong Yuxian said, "Everyone has the same guess, but it's inappropriate for any of us to say it. You can give it a try. If you manage to form such a character technique, your future path will be fixed. You can only assume a supporting role. A multiple character faction member specializing in support."

The multiple character faction was known for its combat prowess. Thus, those with supportive roles weren't too popular in the faction. This was a very big deal for Wu Lan as it concerned her future.

"Senior Sister, even with such a character technique, I won't be that much of a help to humanity, right?"

"Silly girl." Kong Yuxian said, "If you can turn into a mobile willpower grotto like the first principal, everyone will require your help after the dissemination of Su Yu's cultural art.

"Child, a chaotic era is ahead of us. In this chaotic era, without the ability to protect yourself, you will only turn into cannon fodder. But if you can become a supplier of pure willpower, you will become the most precious friend of everyone."