Chapter 1178, First Encounter with the Human Race

Translator: Silavin

  

“Utterly outrageous. It was already bad enough that Lei Jiuchun seized the opportunity to kill Jin Mi. Now, they dare come knocking at our door like this?”

 

“Ancestor, even if we have to throw everything on the line, we must teach the Thunder Beast Race a lesson they will not forget!”

 

“Exactly. I have been displeased with them for a long time!”

 

The hall erupted, with its several important figures one after another turning red in the face with fury.

 

The Golden Flame Race and the Thunder Beast Race had long been at odds with one another. Moreover, the Thunder Beast Race had accumulated many enemies. Were it not for the fact that the Thunder Beast Race’s strength was genuinely somewhat overwhelming, and the various opposing Races held each other in check, they would likely have been swallowed up long ago by the combined weight of their enemies.

 

“Throw everything on the line? How exactly do you propose to do that?”

 

Yet faced with their indignation, the old man at the seat of honour not only refused to agree, he raised his voice sharply and rebuked them. “Who among our allies would dare stand with us right now? Relying solely on the strength of our own people, how do we go head-to-head against the Thunder Beast Race? And do you truly believe it is only the Thunder Beast Race that is growing restless?”

 

At the old man’s rebuke, the expressions of the four fell flat, and the hall fell quiet.

 

What Jin Mi had provoked was a Divine Tier Race. Such a spectacularly foolish act would inevitably cause every Race that coveted their position to itch with opportunity. Even certain other Top Tier Races would be perfectly happy to claim a share of the spoils.

 

In all likelihood, at this very moment within the Thunder Beast Race, many Races had already gathered, prepared to move against the Golden Flame Race at any time.

 

It could be said that because of Jin Mi’s actions, the Golden Flame Race had been backed into a corner from which there was no clean way forward.

 

“Summon all members at once and activate the Race Sealing Array.”

 

In the end, the old man closed his eyes and spoke with some reluctance.

 

At those words, the expressions of the others present shifted abruptly.

 

The Golden Flame Race had weathered countless crises. Yet relying on their deep foundations, they had always emerged from every one of them without suffering any truly irreversible loss.

 

The Race Sealing Array meant relinquishing everything beyond their ancestral ground, every resource that generations of Golden Flame Race Ancestors had fought bitterly to acquire.

 

Once the Race Sealing Array was activated, it would represent an enormous loss for their Race.

 

Yet given their present circumstances, it appeared there was no other course of action available to them.

 

Better to surrender resources than to have the entire Race wiped out.

 

…

 

At that same moment, within the Heaven Devouring Green Marten Race, the Giant Elephant Race, and several others, the mood was the polar opposite.

 

These Races were awash in a joy so great it practically radiated from every surface, an atmosphere livelier even than if one of their own had been selected as Mo Sheng’s Disciple.

 

Because the person whom Qing Luan, Xiang Linzi, and the rest had befriended on a whim had turned out to be from a Divine Tier Race.

 

Such extraordinarily good fortune fell upon these Races like something beyond what even the sweetest of dreams could offer.

 

Without delay, the important figures of those Races personally issued orders, directing their people to spare no effort in nurturing good relations with Qin Yichen.

 

So long as those ties were maintained, when Qin Yichen eventually concluded his tempering journey and returned to his Race, these several mighty Races would surely soar to new heights of prosperity.

 

Though what their reactions might be upon learning Qin Yichen’s true identity, one could only wonder.

 

…

 

A grand ceremony for the Supreme Expert’s acceptance of a Disciple drew countless experts from every Major Force, all flocking to Myriad Beasts City to offer their congratulations.

 

In the span of just a few short months, Myriad Beasts City had already gathered an enormous number of experts from every Major Race. And these were not the youth who had come to compete in the earlier trial. Every last one of them was an important figure of considerable standing within their respective Race.

 

The moment Qin Yichen returned to Myriad Beasts City, he was personally received by the Saint Mo Yao and escorted into the innermost precincts of the city.

 

The sheer scale of that reception drew endless sighs of admiration from the surrounding experts.

 

After news of Qin Yichen’s identity had spread far and wide, the many Forces that had previously harboured ambitions toward the Soaring Joy Chamber Of Commerce quietly set those thoughts aside.

 

Whether it was the formidable presence of a Divine Tier Race, or the fact of being taken as a Disciple by one of the foremost experts in the Myriad Beasts Domain, either alone was sufficient to make countless people think twice before acting.

 

During this period, countless people poured into the Soaring Joy Chamber Of Commerce as well, scrambling over each other to invite them to establish branches within their own territories. Some had even arranged everything in advance, ready for Qin Yichen to move in the moment he gave his nod of approval.

 

However, Qin Yichen did not immediately agree to it. Instead, he had Mei Ler go about purchasing what he privately referred to as ‘provisions’, which is to say, members of the Human Race.

 

Outside the protection of Saints Heavenly City, the Myriad Races still harboured countless enslaved Humans, kept by the various Races as living supplements to be consumed at Will.

 

Qin Yichen made no attempt to disguise what he was doing. His large-scale purchasing naturally drew the attention of countless Races.

 

Yet upon learning that Qin Yichen merely intended to cultivate some of these Humans as Alchemy assistants, the various Races completely relaxed.

 

It made sense, after all. Qin Yichen had ventured out alone on his tempering journey. Even if he possessed a Technique to clone himself, it was simply impossible for him to supply Pills to all Races by himself.

 

As for how he intended to train them, that was beyond the knowledge of any other Race. No one suspected anything either, for in their view, with the foundations of a Divine Tier Race, there was almost nothing that was not possible.

 

Under Mei Ler’s arrangements, Qin Yichen finally met the first group of Humans on the continent within a secret hall of the Soaring Joy Chamber Of Commerce.

 

The moment he set eyes on them, had it not been for the unmistakable purity of their aura, he would have found it almost impossible to believe these were members of the Human Race.

 

Before him, over a hundred Humans knelt upon the ground. Every face among them was written with blank bewilderment and terror. There was not the faintest trace of the proud spirit that belonged to the chosen of all creation.

 

“Sir…”

 

The moment they caught sight of Qin Yichen, all hundred-odd Humans dropped their heads at once. Not even the corner of an eye dared stray in his direction.

 

Some among them were trembling so violently from fright that they could barely hold themselves still.

 

“All of you can go back.” Qin Yichen dismissed the Foreign Race experts from the hall with a word, then fixed his gaze. It was filled with a deep and painful sorrow.

 

Among those kneeling in the hall there were men and women, the elderly and the young. Yet without exception, every last one of them had both knees pressed to the ground, without even a flicker of defiance in their eyes.

 

Watching this group of people, whose every last trace of dignity had been extinguished, a tide of overwhelming fury rose within Qin Yichen’s chest. Just what has happened to have reduced these people to a state where they possessed not a single shred of self-worth, treated themselves as nothing better than livestock!?

 

“All of you, rise.”

 

Qin Yichen suppressed the thunder building within him and spoke in as gentle a voice as he could manage.

 

Yet at those words, the group shifted very slightly, and not a single person dared to stand.

 

Endless ages of enslavement. The habit of venerating those of Foreign Races, the acceptance of being consumed without excessive resistance, these beliefs had been so thoroughly ingrained within these Humans that even when Qin Yichen bid them stand, not one among them had the courage to defy that deep-rooted conditioning and rise to their feet.