Myriad Races Atlas

Outside the registration office.

Su Yu took a few steps, then suddenly turned around in surprise. "Why are you still following me?"

Chen Hao looked blank. "Aren't we going to class?"

"I'm not going."

"Not going... then where are you going?"

Chen Hao felt wronged. You just said you were going to class—why had you changed your mind again?

"The library."

Su Yu answered calmly, "I don't need to attend any of the other classes. The instructors agreed to it; it doesn't matter if I don't go. But if you don't go... are you planning to have your parents summoned right now?"

"..."

That cut straight to the heart!

Chen Hao covered his face and fled. Right, Su Yu could skip class—the instructors had given him special permission. He couldn't.

As for cultivation classes, Su Yu was already at Kaiyuan Three Stages. The teachers had never thought he would apply to the War Academy, so naturally no one urged him to cultivate.

Watching Chen Hao leave, Su Yu shook his head with a laugh.

Chen Hao's father was an old friend of Su Yu's father. They were classmates too, close enough to be called sworn buddies, but Chen Hao was so boisterous that being around him gave Su Yu a headache.

The library.

The librarian knew Su Yu well. Su Yu often came here to read, spending half a day at a time. After several years, it would have been impossible for them not to become familiar.

"Su Yu, you've already mastered more than a dozen Myriad Races Languages. Aren't you going to relax a little at a time like this? Still studying so hard?"

The librarian teased him. Su Yu was something of a minor celebrity at Nanyuan Middle Academy.

Most students had no energy to learn any languages beyond the three they were required to master: Immortal-Demon Language, Demon Race language, and the Common Tongue. Su Yu, on the other hand, had learned quite a few obscure languages as well.

Su Yu responded with a smile and said nothing more.

He entered the library and headed straight for the third floor.

It was class time, and the library was deserted. Aside from a few teachers reading or looking up materials, there were almost no students.

Most students would rather cultivate bitterly than stare at all kinds of ghostly scribbles every day. If a problem could be settled with force, these teenagers could not be bothered to use their brains.

The few teachers reading glanced at Su Yu, but no one greeted him.

Everyone was used to silence, immersed in their own worlds.

Su Yu did not greet anyone either. Familiar with the place, he walked to the bookshelf he visited most often, looked through it, and quickly pulled out a thick volume:

—"Liyu"

This was a volume of the Myriad Races Atlas. Humanity recorded and compiled information on races that had appeared or been discovered, creating books for all humans to study and understand.

Of course, this was merely one volume among them.

The Myriad Races Atlas was not a single book, but an entire series. Su Yu did not know exactly how many volumes there were. Some were classified, supplied exclusively to certain people.

Nanyuan Middle Academy possessed only thirty-nine volumes, covering thirty-nine races.

These atlases contained many things, including the other race's appearance, habits, customs, language, even certain special cultivation methods, fighting styles, killing strategies... all were described.

What Su Yu wanted to learn about now was not any of that. He flipped to the title page instead. Every volume of the Myriad Races Atlas had an illustration of that race on its title page.

Liyu sounded like a type of fish, but it actually was not.

Opening the atlas, Su Yu stared at the illustration for a while. It was a species that looked like a cow.

Of course, it did not look entirely like one. Its tail resembled a snake's, and it had an extra pair of wings compared to a cow.

As for why it was called Liyu, it was said that this creature was an amphibious race, able to live in water or the sea. Its strength in aquatic combat surpassed its strength on land.

Having wings did not mean a Liyu could fly. They were more like chicken wings—it could flap them a few times, but taking flight was out of the question.

"Liyu flesh, when consumed, can expel poison. A sacred antidote!"

"They dwell in the Dishan Realm, a world filled with hills and waters. Liyu hibernate in winter and awaken in summer. If entering the Dishan Realm during summer, exercise utmost caution. Their danger level is extremely high!"

"Their stance in the Battlefields of the Heavens is neutral. They must not be killed without cause..."

Su Yu skimmed through it. He had read these materials before, of course, though he had not learned the Liyu language. This race's language was difficult and too obscure; the Dishan Realm was not ruled by the Liyu race.

That was not what he was looking at either. His focus remained on the illustration.

"Liyu..."

Su Yu murmured, recalling last night's nightmare.

Had the creature chasing him last night... been a Liyu?

When he had nightmares as a child, he had not given them much thought. But after having them so often, and growing older, he had begun trying to analyze them and look through relevant materials.

What exactly were those monsters chasing him in his dreams?

Did they truly exist in reality?

Over the years, everyone had thought him a genius, willing to put in the hard work to learn the languages of the Myriad Races of the Heavens. He had learned eighteen of them, and his diligence put others to shame.

But that was not actually the case. Su Yu simply paid more attention to the Myriad Races of the Heavens because of his dreams.

He had spent years examining all sorts of information. To learn more, he had worked hard to study the languages and writing systems of various races.

"The dream was too blurry. I can't be sure it was a Liyu, but that monster really did seem to have wings, and its cry sounded much like a cow's..."

Su Yu muttered to himself. The dream was too indistinct for him to be certain.

Yet over the years, he had gradually found some materials. At times, he could identify traits in those dream monsters that actually corresponded to the Myriad Races of the Heavens.

Following that line of thought, Su Yu felt he had not been wrong. The things chasing him in his dreams were the Myriad Races of the Heavens!

For more than ten years, across four or five thousand nights, he had dreamed of at least several thousand different monsters.

If they were not monsters from the Myriad Races of the Heavens, could there really be so many unknown creatures in the world?

"You really think highly of me, having the Myriad Races of the Heavens chase me in my dreams..."

Su Yu laughed bitterly to himself. They were giving him far too much face.

He was just a nobody. Was it really necessary for the Myriad Races of the Heavens to hunt him down in his dreams?

Soon, Su Yu gritted his teeth. I don't even know you. I've never met you. Was it really necessary to kill me?

Was tormenting an ordinary person that much fun?

"But... why did I have dreams like this in the first place?"

Su Yu still did not understand. If he had met those races or had some contact with them, he could have accepted it.

But he had never left Nanyuan City. At most, he had seen information about some races in books. Why had he become connected to these monsters?

Having roughly determined what last night's dream monster was, Su Yu returned the book to its original place.

There were some matters he could not investigate too deeply right now.

Soon, Su Yu left that bookshelf. He had not come to the library solely to confirm the matter of the Liyu; he had other business as well.

A moment later, Su Yu reached another section—the Kaiyuan section.

The books in this area all discussed matters related to cultivating in the Kaiyuan Realm.

When humanity first began cultivating, the primary method was the "Kaiyuan Jue."

Although one could not sense origin qi without Opening Nine Apertures, origin qi was everywhere. One could absorb traces of it to temper the body, gradually open the nine apertures, and thereby enter the Qianjun Realm to cultivate the fleshly body.

The process of Opening Nine Apertures was relatively long. Humans began cultivating the "Kaiyuan Jue" from a young age. It was a gradual process, and also a process where the strong rose while the weak were cast aside.

Geniuses could rapidly rise during this stage.

Those with stronger cultivation aptitude naturally advanced faster than others.

Su Yu was not an ignoramus when it came to cultivation. He had read many of these books and knew that the Kaiyuan Realm was mainly about letting nature take its course. It was not a realm one could break through quickly simply by cultivating bitterly.

But today, Su Yu still wanted to see whether there was some way to cultivate faster.

After searching through the shelves, Su Yu still failed to find the book he wanted.

He frowned slightly. Was there really nothing here on the subject?

If that was the case, then his hopes of reaching Kaiyuan Fourth Stage before the assessment were slim.

"Su Yu, what are you looking for?"

At that moment, a short-haired girl beside him, who had been reading all along, could not help asking.

She had been there for quite some time, reading earlier.

She knew Su Yu too. They were not in the same class, but there were only so many regular visitors to the library. After enough time, people naturally came to know a little about one another.

Su Yu looked apologetic. He had disturbed her reading.

"I was looking for records about accelerating cultivation in the Kaiyuan Realm, but I couldn't find any."

"Accelerating cultivation?"

The short-haired girl pondered briefly before saying, "There are methods to accelerate cultivation, but humanity does not recommend using Outer Dao methods to speed up cultivation in the Kaiyuan Realm. The Kaiyuan Realm is the foundation—the process of Opening Nine Apertures and laying one's base. Stability should come first at this time. After all, Kaiyuan means opening the origin of cultivation!"

"Su Yu, aren't you applying to the Civilization Academy? These things won't be tested. You're looking for this... don't tell me you want to speed up your cultivation?"

The girl looked somewhat worried. "You can't be careless when laying your foundation, or accidents can easily happen. Even if you successfully reach Kaiyuan, it will greatly affect your future."

Su Yu smiled. "I know. I'm not stupid. I just wanted to see if there was a safer method. If there isn't, then forget it."

"Is that so..."

After thinking for a moment, the girl pointed to the lowest shelf in the corner. "There are a few books over there on the subject, but some of the methods are extreme. Su Yu, you'd better not try them. Otherwise, it could become truly troublesome—even get people killed."

"During the era when the Anping Calendar began, some human experts did try them. Back then, time waited for no one, and they had no choice. But those seniors never ultimately walked the path to invincibility. Instead, because they had mishandled their Kaiyuan foundations in their early years, they fell prematurely."

"Thank you. I understand."

Su Yu smiled and nodded. This girl was Liu Yue, a student from Preparatory Examination Class One.

Su Yu did not know much about her, but she often came to the library to read. He had heard that she had mastered many Myriad Races Languages as well, though he did not know exactly how many. He had never liked prying into such things.

Barring any surprises, she would likely apply to the Civilization Academy, so she did not care much about advancing her Kaiyuan cultivation.

Without saying much more to Liu Yue, Su Yu quickly found the books she had mentioned in the corner.

"Methods of Accelerating the Kaiyuan Realm," "My Views on Kaiyuan," "On the Importance of Laying Foundations"...