Myriad Races Atlas

Outside the registration office.

Su Yu took a few steps, then suddenly turned back, startled: "Why are you still following me?"

Chen Hao looked blank, "Aren't we going to school?"

"I'm not going."

"Not going... then what are you doing?"

Chen Hao felt wronged. You just said you were going to school, why change your mind now?

"Library."

Su Yu said calmly, "I don't need to attend any other classes. The teaching instructor agreed—it's fine if I skip. But you... do you want to get your parents called in right now?"

"..."

That stung!

Chen Hao covered his face and fled. Right, Su Yu could skip class, specially permitted by the instructor. He couldn't.

As for training courses, Su Yu was already at Kaiyuan Three Stages, enough. The teachers never thought he'd aim for the War Academy, so no one pushed him to train.

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

Chen Hao's father was an old friend of his own father. The guy was also his classmate, practically a best friend. But he was so loud and excitable, hanging out with him gave Su Yu a headache.

Library.

The librarian knew Su Yu well. He came often to read, spending half a day at a time. Over the years, they'd gotten familiar.

"Su Yu, you've already mastered over a dozen languages of the myriad races. Why not relax a bit instead of grinding away?"

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

Most students, aside from the three required languages—Immortal-Demon, Demon Race, and Common Tongue—had no energy left for others. But Su Yu had picked up quite a few niche ones.

Su Yu smiled in response, saying nothing more.

He stepped into the library and headed straight for the third floor.

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

Most students would rather train hard than stare at all kinds of cryptic symbols day in and day out. Teenagers preferred solving problems with force over using their brains.

The few teachers reading saw Su Yu but didn't greet him.

Everyone was used to the quiet, immersed in their own worlds.

Su Yu didn't greet anyone either. He walked familiarly to the bookshelf he visited most often, scanned it, and soon pulled out a hefty volume:

— Liyu

This was part of the Myriad Races Atlas, a compilation of data on races that humanity had encountered or discovered, edited into volumes for study and understanding across the human race.

Of course, this was just one volume.

The Myriad Races Atlas wasn't a single book but a series. Su Yu didn't know exactly how many volumes existed—some were classified, reserved for a select few.

Nanyuan Middle Academy only had 39 volumes, covering 39 races.

These atlases contained a wealth of information: appearance, habits, customs, language, even special techniques, combat methods, and kill strategies.

But Su Yu wasn't looking for that now. He flipped to the title page. Every volume of the Myriad Races Atlas had an illustration of the race on that page.

Liyu—sounded like a fish, but it wasn't.

Opening the atlas, Su Yu stared at the illustration for a while. It depicted a creature that looked like an ox.

Well, not entirely. Its tail was like a snake's, and it had a pair of wings, unlike an ox.

As for why it was called Liyu, legend had it that this creature was amphibious, able to survive in water or sea, and was stronger in aquatic combat than on land.

The wings didn't mean Liyu could fly, though. They were more like chicken wings—good for a few flaps, but not for actual flight.

"Liyu meat, when consumed, can expel toxins—a supreme antidote!"

"Dwells in the Dishan Realm, a region of hills and waters. Liyu hibernates in winter and awakens in summer. Entering the Dishan Realm in summer requires extreme caution—danger level is very high!"

"Stance on the Battlefields of the Heavens: neutral. Unauthorized killing is prohibited..."

Su Yu skimmed through it. He'd actually read this material before. Of course, he hadn't learned the Liyu race's language—it was too difficult and niche, since the Dishan Realm wasn't ruled by the Liyu.

That wasn't what he was looking at, anyway. It was mainly the illustration.

"Liyu..."

Su Yu murmured, thinking of last night's nightmare.

Was what chased him last night... a Liyu?

When he was a kid, he didn't overthink his dreams. But as the dreams piled up and he got older, he tried to analyze them, to look up information.

What exactly were those monsters chasing him in his dreams?

Did it really exist in reality?

Over the years, everyone thought he was a genius, willing to put in the hard work to study the languages of the Myriad Races of the Heavens, mastering eighteen of them—a level of diligence that put others to shame.

But that wasn't the real story. Su Yu only paid extra attention to the Myriad Races of the Heavens because of his dreams.

He spent years poring over all kinds of records, putting in tremendous effort to learn the languages and scripts of various races just to understand more.

"The dream is too blurry. I'm not sure if it was a Liyu, but the monster in the dream did seem to have wings, and its cry was about the same as an ox..."

Su Yu muttered to himself. Because the dream was hazy, he couldn't be certain.

Still, over the years, he had gradually found some materials. Sometimes he could match features of the monsters in his dreams to the Myriad Races of the Heavens.

By that logic, Su Yu felt he hadn't guessed wrong. The ones chasing him in his dreams were indeed the Myriad Races of the Heavens!

For over a decade, four or five thousand nights, he had dreamed of at least several thousand different monsters.

If they weren't monsters from the Myriad Races of the Heavens, did that many unknown creatures even exist in the world?

"You really flatter me, chasing me through the Myriad Races of the Heavens in my dreams..."

Su Yu laughed bitterly inside. Too much flattery.

I'm just a nobody. Why bother having the Myriad Races of the Heavens hunt me in my dreams?

Soon, Su Yu gritted his teeth. I don't even know you, I've never seen you—why do you have to kill me?

Does tormenting an ordinary person like me bring you joy?

"But... why do I have these dreams in the first place?"

Su Yu still couldn't understand. If he had seen those races or had contact with them, he could accept it.

But he had never left Nanyuan City. At most, he'd read about some races in books. How did he end up connected to these monsters?

Having roughly identified the monster from last night's dream, Su Yu returned the book to its place.

Some things, he couldn't dig into deeply right now.

Soon, Su Yu left that bookshelf. This trip to the library wasn't just to confirm the Liyu matter—there was something else.

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

The books in this area all dealt with cultivation issues in the Kaiyuan Realm.

When humans first began cultivation, they mainly practiced the "Kaiyuan Jue."

Though they hadn't opened the nine apertures and couldn't sense primal energy, primal energy was everywhere. They could absorb a trace of it to temper the body, gradually opening the nine apertures, and then step into the Qianjun Realm for physical cultivation.

The process of opening the nine apertures was lengthy. Humans started practicing the "Kaiyuan Jue" at a young age. It was a gradual process, and also one of survival of the fittest.

Geniuses could rise quickly at this stage.

Those with strong cultivation talent naturally outpaced others.

Su Yu wasn't an idiot when it came to cultivation. He had read many of these books and knew that the Kaiyuan Realm was mainly about going with the flow—it wasn't something you could break through quickly just by hard training.

But today, Su Yu still wanted to check if there was a way to cultivate faster.

After searching through everything, Su Yu couldn't find the book he wanted.

He frowned slightly. Was there really no content on this?

If so, his hope of reaching the Kaiyuan Fourth Stage before the assessment was slim.

"Su Yu, what are you looking for?"

Just then, a short-haired girl who had been reading nearby couldn't help asking.

She had been there for a while, reading all along.

She knew Su Yu too. Though they weren't in the same class, the regulars at the library were just these people. After enough time, you got to know each other a bit.

Su Yu showed an apologetic expression. He had disturbed her reading.

"I'm looking for records on accelerating cultivation in the Kaiyuan Realm, but I can't find any."

"Accelerating cultivation?"

The short-haired girl thought for a moment, then said, "There are methods for accelerating cultivation, but humans don't recommend using external means to speed things up in the Kaiyuan Realm. The Kaiyuan Realm is the foundation—opening the nine apertures, the process of laying the groundwork. Stability is key at this stage. After all, Kaiyuan means opening the origin of cultivation!"

"Su Yu, aren't you applying to the Civilization Academy? This won't be on the exam. You're looking for this—are you trying to speed up your cultivation?"

The girl said with some concern, "You can't mess with the foundation. It's easy to cause trouble. Even if you successfully open the apertures, it'll have a big impact later."

Su Yu smiled. "I know. I'm not stupid. I just wanted to see if there's a safe method. If not, I'll drop it."

"I see..."

The girl thought for a moment, then pointed to the bottom shelf in the corner. "There are a few books on that topic over there, but some methods are very extreme. Su Yu, you'd better not try them. Otherwise, it'll be really troublesome—you could even die."

"Back in the early days of the Anping Calendar, some human experts tried them. Because time was against them, they had no choice. But those predecessors never walked the path of invincibility. Instead, because of improper foundation-building in their early years, they fell early."

"Thanks, I understand."

Su Yu nodded with a smile. This girl was called Liu Yue, a student from the first preparatory class.

Su Yu didn't know much about her, but she often came to the library to read. He'd heard she knew many racial languages too. How many exactly, Su Yu didn't know, and he wasn't one to pry.

Barring any surprises, she would probably apply to the Civilization Academy, so she didn't care much about improving her Kaiyuan Realm.

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

"Methods for Accelerating the Kaiyuan Realm," "My Views on Kaiyuan," "On the Importance of Foundation-Building"...