Tribulation of Myriad Races

Su Yu was indeed playing around. He was playing an expensive game for free.

His fire of civilization was burning.

On the 20th floor, he was starting to have difficulty fully absorbing the teachings of the old man. He had been resetting the level to observe the process multiple times.

For a weaponsmithing trial, it was very easy to reset the level. He only needed to forge a weapon with ten golden stripes to get through the floor. If he wanted to reset it, he only needed to add one golden stripe on top. He could do this all the way to eighteen stripes. With eighteen stripes, a weapon would reach the peak of middle-tier yellow-grade.

Su Yu was constantly forging at the side while observing the old man. He would not stop unless the old man stopped. He was basically mirroring the old man's movements. When the old man slammed his hammer down, he did the same. When the old man adjusted the fire, he did the same as well. At the moment, he was not using any of his characters for the forging. That was something for the future when he further improved.

Again and again, he forged. This place was a massive money saver. He could practice weaponsmithing without using real materials. Then again, he could probably gain even more if he was using real materials.

The process repeated for an indeterminate amount of time. Finally, the old man vanished. Su Yu felt quite regretful as he looked at the fading projection. He wanted to continue learning. Also, after each reset, the weapon forged by the old man would also increase in quality. During the final reset, the weapon had reached eighteen and a half golden stripes.

On paper, a weapon like this was weaker than a high-tier yellow-grade weapon. But it was actually an amazing weapon. One only needed to use enough source qi to power middle-tier weapons to power a weapon that was nearly as strong as a high-tier weapon.

This was similar in effect to the weapon he had received from Zhao Li. Of course, it was worth noting that his weapon was a peak yellow-grade weapon.

"Amazing. Truly amazing. A super grandmaster has personally guided me numerous times on the forging of the same weapon."

Su Yu could only persist due to his robust willpower. If he was an actual Mental Tempering Stage cultivator, he would have reached his limit a long time ago.

An entire day had passed. Thankfully, with 180 apertures, it did not take him long to fully recover. After recovering, he resumed his climb.

Hundred Dao Pagoda. He even thought of trying a hundred different paths on this pagoda if he had the chance.

He climbed with high spirits. His fire of civilization burned as he started digesting some of the things he had learned in the past on top of what he was learning during the climb. Eventually, weaponsmithing started feeling easier and easier to him as his proficiency increased.

25th floor, 30th floor...

On the 30th floor, he easily forged a weapon with nineteen golden stripes. Then, he tried resetting the level. Unfortunately, nothing happened. It would seem like he would have to wait until the 40th floor before doing so.

But on the 40th floor, he would need to forge a peak yellow-grade cultural weapon. Twenty-eight golden stripes were needed for that. That was the general limit of what a Skysoar could reach. That was because most Skysoars wouldn't have enough willpower to proceed further.

But Su Yu was able to easily get through the level. In fact, he had improved so much that the trial didn't even feel challenging. More importantly, his willpower and hammer were powerful enough to support his forging.

At this point, he was no longer forging with only his hammer. For example, he was starting to use his characters and willpower to assist in the forging. After passing the trial, the old man appeared once again to offer him guidance.

***

3rd of April.

This was Su Yu's third day in the pagoda.

He had not appeared in the academy or the Source Soul Research Center for several days. Not even Wu Lan and the others knew that he had entered the Hundred Dao Pagoda.

As nobody would pay close attention to the pagoda all the time, nobody noticed the name Zhou Podao even after it appeared on the 40th floor. The few people who noticed it also didn't think much about it since that wasn't the name of someone they knew.

But at this point, Elder Yun was starting to feel surprised. Just what was Su Yu doing in the pagoda? The pagoda was greatly drained. This time, the exhaustion was unrelated to source qi or willpower. Rather, it was a unique inheritance planted in the pagoda. Something like this had happened in the past.

This was similar to what happened when a few genius pillmakers, weaponsmiths, and talisman masters challenged the pagoda and reset the levels in the past. These people had all received the unique inheritances within the pagoda.

Elder Yun frowned as he sank into thought. Did the kid really start cultivating a support path? Regardless of which path it was, being able to reach the 40th floor proved that his accomplishments on that path were quite high.

If he was a weaponsmith, then that would make him a peak yellow-grade weaponsmith. He might be even better than that since he was able to reset the level so many times. Perhaps he was already a pseudo-profound weaponsmith.

Someone at that level could already be called a grandmaster. Someone like that was basically equivalent in status as a Mountainsea. At the earth-grade, a weaponsmith would be the equivalent of a Sunmoon. Thus, someone capable of forging peak profound-grade cultural weapons like Zhao Li was basically the same as Mountainseas in status.

"Is that kid weaponsmithing?"

If that was the case, the kid would be terrifyingly talented to reach the 40th floor on his first attempt. That signified that the kid had an incredibly solid foundation. But where had he obtained such a solid foundation? Elder Yun couldn't recall the kid focusing on weaponsmithing before.

***

Meanwhile, Su Yu was finding the trials harder and harder.

Nevertheless, the old man and his third-tier fire of civilization were truly the perfect match for each other. He continued working on the weapon he was forging. After using the five elemental characters, he had formed thirty-four golden stripes on the said weapon.

He was only two stripes away from thirty-six stripes, the limit of this floor. But at the thirty-fifth stripe, he was no longer able to continue.

The old man vanished.

He was feeling regretful as he had failed to reset this level to its limit. He was sure that thirty-six stripes were the limit of this floor. Back then, Zhao Li had said that very few people could reach thirty-six and seventy-two stripes. After all, both could only be reached by those at the very peak of their grade.

Even someone capable of forging profound-grade weapons might not be able to forge yellow-grade weapons with thirty-six golden stripes. Su Yu shut his eyes and started resting. He had exhausted a lot of his willpower. After a short rest, he was brought to the 41st floor.

From this floor onward, he would need to start forging profound-grade cultural weapons to keep climbing. He had three attempts per floor. He failed his first attempt. He failed his second attempt as well. And eventually, the third attempt failed.

With a flicker, he reappeared outside the Hundred Dao Pagoda.

Elder Yun was about to say something when Su Yu said, "I can challenge the pagoda for free three times each month. I still have two free attempts."

Right after that, he stepped into the pagoda again. This time, he started his climb on the 41st floor instead of starting from the bottom. Outside the pagoda, Elder Yun was completely speechless. He wasn't even given the chance to ask the kid anything. After a few hours, Su Yu reappeared outside.

"Third free attempt!"

He stepped into the pagoda again.

A few hours later, he reappeared outside. He immediately asked, "What's the price for each attempt?"

Elder Yun replied instinctively, "For members of our academy, a Mental Tempering Stage can enter for a hundred merit points, a Skysoar can enter for two hundred merit points..."

"I'll pay two thousand points in advance."

Su Yu hastily paid before entering the pagoda.

"..."

Elder Yun did not know what to say. This kid sure was generous when spending money.

Two thousand merit points. That was not bad. Su Yu had been the one squeezing them dry all along. Finally, it was their turn to squeeze the kid somewhat. Only then did Elder Yun remember that he had forgotten to ask about what the kid was doing inside again.

Next, he started seeing Su Yu coming out of the pagoda. In a single day, Su Yu had left the pagoda around seven or eight times. He would spend around three hours inside the pagoda per entry.

But when Su Yu was on the verge of using up all the attempts he had purchased with two thousand merit points, he stopped leaving. He had finally reached the 41st floor.

That signified that he had successfully forged a profound weapon. But Elder Yun didn't know if it was a martial or a cultural weapon. The difficulty level was similar, with the cultural weapon on the higher side due to the many additional steps one had to take to fully complete the weapon.

Nobody else knew that Su Yu was now capable of forging profound weapons. One ought to remember that even Great Xia had only a single earth-grade weaponsmiths and about twenty weaponsmiths capable of forging profound weapons.

Thus, in a sense, Su Yu was already a grandmaster weaponsmith. Of course, it would seem somewhat shameless if he called himself that since he was so new. It was more appropriate to call someone like Zhao Li a grandmaster.

Day after day passed as Su Yu continued his climb in the pagoda. At the same time, he was also recovering from his injuries. The process of weaponsmithing was a form of cultivation as well. Each time one completed a weapon, one would receive a certain level of enlightenment and boost in cultivation.

That effect was especially prominent when Su Yu first advanced into a profound weaponsmith. His willpower had directly grown to the peak of the second tier. He was finally a proper peak Skysoar. He had fulfilled the requirements for that level in his characters, willpower, and number of apertures. He was no longer a discount ninth-stage Skysoar cultural researcher.

***

As far as the public knew, Su Yu was healing in seclusion. Zhou Polong was also in seclusion. And Shan Xiong had just arrived at Great Zhou. All of a sudden, the Human Realm seemed to have calmed down.

Things were calm in both Great Zhou and Great Ming. Great Xia was the sole exception. With Bai Feng's return and the reopening of the Multiple Character Faculty, Great Xia once again became the center of attention.

A new semester was going to start soon. This time, Great Xia would accept students of many major races. A lot of people were worried. Was that a good thing? The Multiple Character Faculty would also officially reopen in the next semester.

A lot of students from the major families were preparing to join the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy to enter the Multiple Character Faculty. How could the multiple character faction of any other academy compare with its place of origin in Great Xia?

Furthermore, there was even a Sunmoon multiple character cultivator like Hong Tan in Great Xia. No other place had as many expert multiple character cultivators. Perhaps Zhou Polong of Great Zhou was one, but he had entered seclusion. Furthermore, he seemed to be in a lot more danger than Hong Tan, so very few people would choose Great Zhou over Great Xia.

This continued all the way until the end of April.

A month had passed since the match between Su Yu and Shan Xiong. Sufficient time had been given for everyone to react to the various rumors spreading in the Human Realm. At the end of the month, Su Yu finally left the Hundred Dao Pagoda. He went straight back to the Source Soul Research Center.

After he left, Elder Yun stealthily checked the records.

Zhou Podao, 51st floor.

After spending around a month in the pagoda and spending over twenty thousand merit points to enter the pagoda more than a hundred times, Su Yu finally stopped. Elder Yun was relived to see that.

This kid sure was rich. More importantly, he didn't know if Su Yu had climbed to the 51st floor through brute strength or other paths of cultivation. If the kid had reached that floor through a support path, it would be even more terrifying. That would place the kid in the middle-tier profound grade. Whether one was a pillmaker, weaponsmith, or a talisman master, that level was enough to place one above many others.

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