Chapter 5 - 5

Chapter 341: Returning (3)

Wu Yuehua's face changed. She clenched her teeth and said, "So what? Is he not going to take his revenge against that fellow from the divine race? The fifth principal wasn't the one who had killed his father. Does he only have the courage to take out his anger on the multiple character faction? What a joke."

Elder Sun calmly said, "I don't know if he will do so. But I do know that his father had perished helping the fifth principal back then. Prior to his death, the fifth principal had promised a copy of his research data to the Zhou Family. Unfortunately, the data had been swallowed by Liu Wenyan and his fellow apprentices."

Wu Yuehua roared, "Nonsense! There is no such data! Furthermore, during the fifth principal's final moments, he had only said that he was grateful toward everyone who had helped him. He had never promised anything. And he had most certainly not promised the Zhou Family anything."

Elder Sun said, "I wasn't the one claiming that there is such a promise. You need to understand that the Zhou Family is the one saying so."

"So what if it's the Zhou Family?" Wu Yuehua coldly said, "This is Great Xia. Are you serving the Zhou Family? Even Zhou Mingren is only from a branch of a branch family. He is a great peak Mountainsea cultivator. Is he really so eager to be the Zhou Family's dog?"

Elder Sun frowned, "Nobody is serving anyone. But the multiple character faction has declined. In Great Zhou, the multiple character faction no longer exists. Liu Wenyan's return will only restart the old conflict."

"Cut the crap. Since he wants to return, nobody can stop him!"

With a roar, a massive cauldron appeared in the air. The cauldron tore through space itself and created a loud rumble as it pressed down upon Elder Sun.

At the same time, the middle-aged man flickered and reappeared before Yu Hong. With a smile, he said, "Elder Yu, it is better if you don't get involved. None of you can stop Big Brother Liu from returning today."

At the same time, combats were erupting in multiple other locations.

...

Atop a tall mountain.

Xia Huyou curiously asked, "Second granduncle, Liu Wenyan was not even a Skysoar cultivator when he left back then. How is he so well-connected? Why does he have so much prestige that so many people are still waiting for his return? Why have all these people been staying inactive when he was away?"

Marquis Xia lazily said, "Firstly, legitimacy. He is the direct disciple of the fifth principal. He is also the first disciple of the fifth principal. Thus, he is the successor of the fifth principal's will.

"Secondly, his peers from back then had all grown into experts. And back then, all these people were his close friends and fellow comrades.

"Thirdly, this fellow was a true freak. He used to be able to battle Skysoars at the Mental Tempering Stage. During the fifth principal's era, everyone below the Mountainsea Realm in the multiple character faction were basically his little brothers.

"Fourthly, before he was crippled, he was a blockhead. He did not treat the wealth of the multiple character faction as anything important and generously gave the wealth away. But he was lucky since all the wealth he had given out had ended up creating some experts.

"Fifthly, Liu Wenyan is not an orphan. In fact, he came from an influential family, the Liu Family."

"Liu Family?" Xia Huyou blanked out, "Which Liu Family?"

Marquis Xia rolled his eyes, "Which Liu Family can it be? It's the same Liu Family that nearly married their daughter to you back then."

"That Liu Family?" Xia Huyou exclaimed, "Liu Wenyan came from that family? But that Liu Family has already been destroyed..."

"Not all of them are dead." Marquis Xia said, "During that battle 50 years ago, they lost a Sunmoon. During the massive battle 30 years ago, they lost a few Mountainsea cultivators. During a battle 18 years ago, they lost a few more Mountainsea and Sunmoon cultivators. At that point, their family is near extinction. But some still survived. Liu Wenyan is one of them.

"The Liu Family had killed countless enemies and saved countless humans in the Allheaven Battlefeld. Liu Wenyan is one of the few surviving members of the Liu Family. Thus, the gratitude those people felt toward the Liu Family will now be directed toward Liu Wenyan."

Xia Huyou said in astonishment, "So he's actually from the Liu Family...No wonder nobody dares to lay a hand on him all these years..."

Marquis Xia smiled, "Nobody dares to touch him because he's trouble. Touching him is the same as inviting trouble to yourself. Liu Wenyan would be fine if he continues staying in Nanyuan, but now that he has left, the various experts will hear of it. And many of them are unwilling to see the multiple character faction rise again. Do you understand?"

"But why is that the case?" Xia Huyou asked, "Just because of the Zhou Family? They are far away at Great Zhou. This is Great Xia, the territory of the Xia Family. Can the Zhou Family get too arrogant in our place?"

"Bullshit!" Marquis Xia said, "What do you mean by our place? The Xia Family's hands are tied regarding this matter. Back then, Zhou Zhan had indeed perished while helping the fifth principal. The Great Zhou King had stayed silent about that. Because of that, your great grandpa can't get involved in this conflict either. He can only let the youngsters resolve their own conflict.

"In the end, Liu Wenyan crippled himself while Zhou Zhan's son is now on the verge of reaching the Invincible Realm. What else can we do?"

Xia Huyou nodded. He gloomily said, "Yeah, that makes it hard for us to get involved. But the Zhou Family...is really too overbearing. Weren't they told that there is no such data? Why do they insist on bothering the multiple character faction and spend the past 50 years suppressing them?"

"Who knows if the data really exists?" Marquis Xia smiled, "I have been suspecting that the so-called data for a cultural researcher's advancement into the Invincible Realm is not some actual data. Instead, the secret lies in his character. And many people share the same thought. But all of them have too much misgivings to do anything toward Liu Wenyan."

Xia Huyou looked shocked. Chapters fırst released on novel•fire.net

Marquis Xia curled his lips, "Thus, the suppression of the multiple character faction is not the wish of only one group of people. Rather, numerous groups are trying to suppress them, forcing Liu Wenyan to hand over the character. Silly kid, don't only look at things from the surface. The Zhou Family might not really be that overbearing. But everyone has simply decided to do so while pushing the Zhou Family to the front as the scapegoat.

"And the Zhou Family probably covets the character as well so they haven't even bothered trying to explain themselves. Because of that, they somehow turned into the leader of the single character faction."

Xia Huyou nodded in understanding. He had learned something new today. So that was why.

Marquis Xia said, "Liu Wenyan has yet to fully return. The moment he completes his return, that will be a signal that he has given up on his peaceful life in Nanyuan. More trouble will come knocking in the future."

Xia Huyou frowned, "Second granduncle, is it proper to let the internal conflict between fellow humans escalate to such a level? This will only weaken the strength of Great Xia. Just look at how even the elders of the academy are fighting each other."

Marquis Xia inhaled deeply and said, "This...can't be considered a proper internal conflict. It is more like the final battle before the reorganization. The two holy lands are intending to reorganize the various prefectures and unify humanity, forming a single group that could fight together in the Allheaven Battlefield. Thus, such internal fights will persist for a while. Only after a winner has emerged would the reorganization happen smoothly."

"What? That's happening?" Xia Huyou was astonished, "In other words, these intense conflicts are actually being supported by the various prefectures?"

"Of course." Marquis Xia nodded, "This is not only happening in Great Xia. Similar internal conflicts are happening in the other prefectures as well. The winners will be the ones to enjoy more power after the reorganization."

"Can't we come together without something like this?"

"Silly kid, you overestimate the human heart. It is not easy for so many different people to truly come together. Just let me give you an example. If the Xia Family is suddenly told to start obeying the Zhou Family, would you agree?"

"No!" Seeing how decisive Xia Huyou was, Marquis Xia laughed, "There you go."

"In that case, what is our family doing? Why do I feel like we're doing nothing?"

"Our family? Who says we're doing nothing?" Marquis Xia yawned, "Xia Changqing, Xia Yuwen, Xia Yunji...aren't all these members of the Xia Family? Our family is definitely involved in these internal conflicts as well."

"..."

Xia Huyou blinked. Why did he suddenly feel like he was actually Su Yu's enemy as well? Someone from the Xia Family, Xia Yuwen, was trying to snatch Chen Yong's position. After scratching his head, he decided to stop thinking about it. That had nothing to do with him.

Battles were still erupting everywhere. Some were trying to stop Liu Wenyan's return and some were trying to clear the path for him. On that day, a shabby old truck continued heading to the capital.

That day, numerous experts received news of his return. The experts of the various academies packed up and started heading toward Great Xia one after another.

A storm was brewing.

Fifty years ago, the fifth principal had failed. Liu Wenyan, the person once lauded to be the future sixth principal, had also failed and crippled himself.

Today, he was returning.

With his return, numerous people decided to visit Great Xia again, to once again set their eyes on the person called Liu Wenyan, to wait for that person one more time.

Chapter 342: Trouble Is Coming (1)

Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.

Wentan Research Center.

While things were getting intense and chaotic outside, it was peaceful and calm inside the research center.

While staying within the academy, Su Yu did not feel much threat. At the very least, there were rules in the academy. And the rules were very important for Wan Tiansheng. Even when he tried snatching Zheng Yunhui's blood essence previously, he had only done so in accordance with the rules. After all, the blood essence was used in an illegal transaction. It was well within his rights to snatch it.

Naturally, his act of breaking through Hong Tan's defenses to directly communicate with Su Yu was in a gray area of rules.

At present, Su Yu had entered the prison zone yet again.

...

Underground.

The creatures were already used to being starved. Thus, when they sensed Su Yu's arrival, they were even overjoyed at his early arrival. It had only been seven days! Normally, he would only come after ten days!

They were supposed to be fed once every three days, but that had been reduced into a beautiful dream. None of them believed that Su Yu would actually feed them so frequently.

While Su Yu walked down the stairs, the creatures all started moving in excitement. They had no choice but to move. The fire crow had remained still during Su Yu's previous visit and he still regretted it now. He had been fed one less time than all the other creatures.

The moment Su Yu arrived, the white civet said, "Little Brother Su Yu, did you manage to get any merit points from the cultivation methods I gave you?"

Su Yu slapped his forehead and laughed, "I completely forgot about that! I have been too busy conducting research with my teacher. I have completely forgotten to submit the cultivation methods. I'll do it next time."

The white civet turned dispirited. He forgot! She had been looking forward to getting more source qi liquid, but Su Yu had actually forgotten about it. This kid really had a terrible memory. It really wasn't so surprising anymore that he would often forget to feed them.

Su Yu did not waste his time saying anything. He fed the creatures a drop of source qi liquid each. Then, he looked at the cage housing the water elemental.

"Number one, do you want to have a chat?"

The water elemental assumed a faceless humanoid body and said, "What do you wish to talk about?"

"Water Path Art." Su Yu went straight to the point, "The research center is trying to come out with a foundation cultural art suitable for the human race. I'm talking about something those in the Mental Tempering Stage can use.

"The five elemental race seems to be quite proficient in this subject. Your Water Path Art is one such foundation cultural art that requires soul apertures instead of acupoints. You are aware of that, right?"

The water elemental replied, "Like I said, we know these cultivation methods innately. Our apertures are innately open. Thus, we don't really know much about those apertures.

"Furthermore, the seas of willpower of different races can be different as well. This method might be able to open more of my apertures, but it might not work for humans. You humans have killed a lot of five elementals before so you should be aware of this."

Su Yu nodded, "I understand. But I still wish to give it a try. This is how a true cultural researcher should be like. Who would be willing to give up without trying? The moment I succeed, this will be an accomplishment that will leave my name in the annals of history. Wealth, status, and fame will all come toward me."

The water elemental sank into silence.

After a while, he said, "Are you trying to get me to teach you the secrets of Water Path Art?"

"Not really." Su Yu smiled, "I don't need you to tell me about the aperture opening process. Just tell me how you feel about the art or something more vague. I am someone who enjoys reverse deduction. Perhaps your story might give me some new inspiration."

The creatures felt like laughing upon hearing that. This was only a Mental Tempering Stage student. How confident. He was actually trying to derive the cultural art of the five elemental race?

One ought to know that even Invincibles might have a hard time deriving something like that. If it was so easy, the cultivation methods of the myriad races would have been spread everywhere long ago.

Different races had a different body, and because of that, the cultivation methods of different races could be very different from each other as well. Not even the water elemental himself might know all 36 of the apertures required by a human cultivating the Water Path Art.

As this involved the sea of willpower, they had to be extremely cautious. Any carelessness might result in the collapse of the sea of willpower.

The sea of willpower was an extremely powerful existence. But at the same time, it was also quite frail. Opening the wrong aperture would be the same as drilling a hole through a bottle, causing leakage. Thus, soul apertures were much harder to open than acupoints. And it was also much more dangerous.

Otherwise, the Myriad Text Sutra wouldn't have been able to remain the sole cultural art for those in the Skysoar Realm even after so many years. These creatures had to resist the urge to laugh and sneer at Su Yu.

The suanni was the one with the worst temper among the group. In the past, he would have started throwing insults at Su Yu. But today, he was incredibly obedient. He remained silent and stealthily laughed when nobody was noticing.

What was he laughing at? He was laughing at Su Yu for being overconfident. He was laughing at Su Yu for being too ambitious.

Su Yu didn't really care. He needed more vague descriptions of this cultivation method. For example, things like the water elemental's personal understanding of the cultivation method, his personal experiences, and so on. With all these things, Su Yu would be able to write a proper cultivation manual instead of one that only pointed one to the apertures one needed to open.

At present, he didn't even know the actual reason for opening those apertures and the benefits of opening those apertures. During the past few days, he had read a lot of books and checked a lot of cultivation manuals. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ N0veI.Fiɾe.net

He believed that he was already knowledgeable enough to write a decent template of a cultivation manual, but he still lacked the comprehension of an actual five elemental race member in his manual. Such a manual looked too fake and a true expert could very easily see some of his secrets through this manual. As for now, the water elemental was the perfect tutor for him.

One should never transmit cultivation methods too easily, but some manner of transmission was still required. Su Yu was already prepared to transmit some of his cultivation methods. The main issue he needed to be concerned with was the manner of transmission, the benefits he could gain, and staying safe after transmitting the cultivation methods. When the water elemental saw that Su Yu seemed really interested, he smiled. He didn't mind saying more.

"The sea of willpower is actually the same as the physical body. Both apertures and acupoints are merely the tunnels connecting you with the natural world. The more of these tunnels you open, the faster your cultivation will be.

"Why can't humans in the Mental Tempering Stage cultivate the Myriad Text Sutra? Because their sea of willpower is still too weak at that level. At that level, the sea of willpower of a human is actually weaker than the sea of willpower of someone from the five elemental race with the same cultivation level. Thus, humans might not be able to start opening apertures at the Mental Tempering Stage even if we can do so.

"The apertures opened by the Myriad Text Sutra are only usable for those in the Skysoar Realm. Different apertures are different from each other. Some are very hard to discover, some have an intense opening process, some would even destabilize your sea of willpower during the opening process..."

The water elemental did not mind chatting with Su Yu about these unimportant topics. Perhaps Su Yu might give him more source qi liquid if he enjoyed the talk enough. The water elemental was not worried that he would starve to death, but with more source qi liquid, he would be able to gather more strength.

Slowly, Su Yu developed a clear concept of the cultivation method in his mind. He took out a notebook and started writing his findings down. He looked like an obedient student with the water elemental being the teacher.

With Su Yu seriously writing and asking some questions every now and then, the prison zone looked more like a classroom than a prison.

"If we name the apertures of the Water Path Art into water aperture 1 through 36, how would you describe your feeling when opening water aperture 1?"

The water elemental paused slightly and said, "When opening the first aperture, nothing is more important than stabilizing your sea of willpower. Generally, the opening of the first aperture will also cause a destabilization of your sea of willpower. At that time, you will start feeling slight pain after absorbing some ambient willpower in the air."

"You can start absorbing willpower after opening the first aperture?"

"Yes. But it is still a passive absorption. It's basically the same as the Source Opening Realm where you can only passively absorb source qi. The aperture will only increase the speed of that passive absorption."

Su Yu nodded and continued asking more questions. The water elemental answered patiently.

After a long while, Su Yu tossed a drop of source qi liquid into the cage and said, "Thank you. If I have anything I don't understand in the future, I'll come look for you again. I will remember your contribution after completing the Water Path Art that is suitable for human practice."

...

The water elemental didn't even feel like entertaining that remark. If this kid could really come out with the cultural art so easily, he...would be willing to start living as waste water from now on!

Su Yu was about to leave when the mountaindrill bull hurriedly said, "Su Yu, you haven't fed me!"

Su Yu turned around and glared at the bull. This bull looked honest, but he was actually quite treacherous.

"You're getting nothing. I'm starving you for a month." Su Yu said, "I asked someone. Your blood essence is problematic. The royalties of the mountaindrill bull are capable of attaching some willpower and life force to their blood essence and regrowing themselves from a drop of blood. And you had not said anything about that. Were you trying to plot against me? Do you take me for a fool? Even if I know nothing, I can ask others."

"You misunderstand me!"

The mountaindrill bull wailed miserably. One month! Everything was over. He would really starve to death.

"I am only a Skysoar! How am I supposed to do something like regrowing from a drop of blood? Su Yu, that is not an ability I have!"

"Stop talking nonsense." Su Yu said, "The more honest one looks, the more treacherous one actually is. You're even worse than the suanni. Although the suanni hasn't been too honest either, he has at least given me a heaven-grade technique."

The suanni had nothing to say. How had he been dishonest? He had been extremely honest and obedient lately! He had even stopped roaring recently! He had only been obediently waiting for Su Yu to feed him!

Su Yu did not waste his time and left after he was done in the prison zone.

Silence descended.

After a while, the water elemental smiled, "Silly bull, it's your loss."

The bull didn't even feel like talking.

The shadow said, "He might not be too knowledgeable, but he was right. He can ask others. This Su Yu...isn't stupid. Also, have you noticed? He seems to have grown a lot in strength."

"Are you sure?" The suanni questioned, "From my observation, his physical body still isn't absorbing source qi too quickly. I can't directly scan him, but I can see that he is probably still at the middle-stage Great Strength Realm."

"Middle-stage Great Strength Realm?" The shadow said, "I doubt so. The water elemental must have sensed this as well. Su Yu seems to be hiding some of his opened acupoints. That is probably an effect of a Divine Character. It works similarly to the characters of our shadow race. Thus, his real strength is definitely higher."

The water elemental had turned into a puddle of water as he said, "Exactly. He is probably at the late-stage."

The other creatures sank into silence. That kid was growing too fast. With his heaven-grade technique, he could very well be one of the strongest Great Strength cultivators in the area. He was also extremely talented.

"Has he really been asking so much about cultural arts today because he's trying to make one?"

The shadow was still doubtful. That would be an extremely difficult task. In fact, even the Knowledge Seeking Realm had a group of experts focusing on this topic of research. Or to be precise, this was a topic of research the various academies were also engaged in.

Was Su Yu thinking of getting involved as well? Was he not worried about wasting too much time instead? But none of them had an answer. None of them knew what Su Yu was thinking.

Chapter 343: Trouble Is Coming (2)

While Su Yu was getting ready for his next phase of cultivation.

Heart Cultivating Pavilion.

Inside Zhou Mingren's residence.

Liu Hong was sweating profusely as he explained, "Faculty Head, it was my fault. I reported the price of 82,000 merit points to Senior Brother Zhou. In truth, the price is only 80,000 merit points. I took some of the money for myself."

Acting like he was unable to withstand the pressure of being stared at by Zhou Mingren, Liu Hong decided to "come clean".

"80,000 merit points..."

Zhou Mingren reached his own conclusion. That was most likely the correct figure. Su Yu might not be fully trusted either. The issue here was that Zhou Pingsheng had reported a price of 100,000 merit points to them.

Zhou Mingren sighed inwardly. He came to the conclusion that his beloved student had swallowed 18,000 merit points all by himself.

How audacious.

How greedy.

That was a lot of money. What gave Zhou Pingsheng so much courage?

One ought to know that even a Cloudbreach cultivator would probably receive only around 1,000 merit points per year as salary without any additional income. Meanwhile, Zhou Pingsheng alone had swallowed over 10,000 merit points from a single transaction. If the other elders learned of this, things would get very troublesome.

Not letting any of his thoughts show, Zhou Mingren indifferently said, "It is understandable that you try to take care of your own benefits when carrying out a task for the faction. 2,000 merit points is actually a decent amount of money. I can forgive you for that. But I need to know if the data is real."

Liu Hong was still sweating profusely, "Faculty Head, I really have no idea. Back then, Senior Brother Zhou was present for everything. He is also much more knowledgeable than me. Furthermore, even Xia Xinyi from the Xia Family was present that day. Since Xia Xinyi had also tried to purchase the data, he had clearly believed that the data was real as well."

Xia Xinyi was Marquis Xia's son and Xia Chan's father. He was also a ninth-stage Cloudbreach expert. Additionally, he also had the identity of a member of the Xia Trade Company. If even someone like him believed that the data was real, was it possible that the data was fake?

Zhou Mingren rubbed his temple and said, "We'll continue studying the data. But if this whole thing is a plot by Su Yu, then it is very unlikely that the data would be real."

It was very likely that the data was fake. In truth, they were already more or less sure that the data was fake. Right now, they were merely grasping at straws, hoping that the data was actually real.

And Zhou Mingren couldn't directly declare that the data was fake either. After all, Zhou Pingsheng was the one in charge of the transaction. Doing so would only bring more trouble his way. The other elders would not let this rest. After all, around 100,000 merit points were involved here.

And that was not the only trouble waiting for them to solve. A bunch of people were still waiting for them to give out the promised willpower texts. They could renege on the debt to some people, but there were also some people that they absolutely must not renege their debt on. Su Yu had single-handedly thrown a pile of trouble their way.

At that thought, Zhou Mingren said, "I don't know if this is Su Yu's idea or if this is the plot of Chen Yong and Bai Feng. Or maybe it's Liu Wenyan teaching them from the shadows. No matter what, Su Yu had successfully humiliated the single character faction this time. We won't be able to maintain our prestige if we don't punish him sternly."

Liu Hong hurriedly said, "Faculty Head, he is still in the Mental Tempering Stage. And he's not even in the top 100 anymore. It would be too hard for us to do anything to him."

Zhou Mingren asked, "Can't you think of anything? Are all of you completely helpless against a single kid?"

Liu Hong's expression turned awkward as he said, "I actually have an idea...but I'm afraid that it might sound too crazy."

"What is it?"

"Allow him to enter the Skysoar Realm. It's too hard to stump him at the Mental Tempering Stage. But things will be different at the Skysoar Realm. We have plenty of teaching assistants in the Skysoar Realm. And as a Skysoar cultivator, he is no longer a student. There will be fewer restrictions as to what we can do to him. At worst, we can simply send him over to the Allheaven Battlefield.

"By the way, I believe it would be even better if we allow him to enter the Willpower Grotto as well. How many characters have he formed so far? It would be really funny if he accidentally enters the Skysoar Realm before forming enough characters. At that time, will the multiple character faction kick him out or keep him with them?

"For their faction, anyone entering the Skysoar Realm before completing their character technique can't be considered a true member of the faction. When Su Yu reaches the peak Mental Tempering Stage, can he resist the temptations of breakthrough? And once he breaks through, will they kick him out? If they keep him around, is the multiple character faction still the multiple character faction? They will turn into a joke."

Liu Hong seemed to be on a roll as he continued, "Su Yu has gotten used to rapid growth. Is he willing to be stuck at the peak Mental Tempering Stage for years or even a dozen years? Perhaps he might even turn hostile toward Bai Feng for forbidding him from breaking through."

Zhou Mingren frowned, "What if he is really so patient?"

"Faculty Head, he will also take some time to form Divine Characters..."

"Divine Characters..."

Zhou Mingren recalled something. Wan Tiansheng once suggested that Su Yu should focus on cultivating human characters. If Su Yu really did so, his cultivation speed would definitely drop. Walking this path, even if he managed to form other characters, he would have to shatter those characters. Thus, it would probably be very hard for Su Yu to actually form over 10 Divine Characters.

"Do you know the number of characters his character technique requires?"

Liu Hong shook his head, "No. But he feels even more talented than Bai Feng, so I suspect 12 or more. Just look at how even a turtle like Chen Yong is starting to move for his sake. This kid is definitely quite a talented one."

Zhou Mingren nodded. That was reasonable. To push that kid into the Skysoar Realm...what an interesting idea.

Liu Hong said, "Faculty Head, in truth, our current target shouldn't be Su Yu. His combat strength relative to his cultivation level is too high. His senior sister, Wu Jia, is the weak point. And to be honest, neither of the kids are our actual targets. Chen Yong is our true target. His position as the head manager of the books depository has been our target since the beginning."

Yes. Chen Yong was their true target. No matter how strong Wu Jia and Su Yu were, neither of them were even in the Skysoar Realm yet.

Zhou Mingren exhaled lightly and nodded, "You're right. We need Chen Yong to vacate his position. Xia Yuwen has already entered Great Zhou. In about a month or so, he will be here."

"Xia Yuwen is returning?"

Liu Hong was greatly alarmed to hear that, but he did not let his shock show on his face. He hesitated slightly and said, "Faculty Head, he is not a part of our faction. Are we really working with him?"

"He is very likely to be the next prefect. And in Great Xia, the Xia Family is the true ruler. Only by helping him become the prefect would the single character faction be able to grow even further."

Liu Hong had nothing else to say so he nodded, "I understand. Faculty Head, do we take strict precautions against Wu Jia to prevent her from returning to the top 100 next?"

"Yes. Cancel the previous mission. Have all the single character faction students focus on stopping Wu Jia from entering the ranking instead. If our students can't do so, then all their benefits for next year will be canceled."

They were finally going to threaten the benefits of their own students. Those incapable of carrying out their tasks would be penalized. After all, if these members couldn't contribute when required, what was the point of spending so much resources to nurture them?

Liu Hong cautiously said, "Faculty Head, I'll also submit the 2,000 merit points I took back to the faction as well later...But can you help explain this to the other elders? I really didn't take that much. The transaction is really worth 80,000 merit points. Su Yu was clearly framing me."

"I'm not that stupid."

Zhou Mingren waved his hand, looking dignified and stern. Was he the type of person who would believe anything Su Yu said? He only needed to check with Zhou Pingsheng to know if Liu Hong was really telling the truth.

But at the thought of Zhou Pingsheng, Zhou Mingren's head started aching. This student of his was too greedy. He actually asked for 100,000 merit points from the faction. If the other elders really pursued the matter, things could really get troublesome. That was especially true since they were trying to push Zhou Pingsheng into the position of the head manager. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel·fire·net

As for the 2,000 merit points Liu Hong had misappropriated, that was really nothing for a Mountainsea cultivator. Liu Hong's share of benefits in the single character faction had always been lower than the others, so he didn't mind letting Liu Hong earn this little benefit this time.

A lot of trouble was really coming their way. A loss of 100,000 merit points, the return of Liu Wenyan, the willpower texts the students were waiting for, and Zheng Yuming's heavy injuries.

Zhou Mingren felt greatly troubled. He had been planning to enter seclusion and try his luck at the Sunmoon Realm. But after all these disturbances, how could he still enter seclusion? He wouldn't even have the time for that.

While rapping on the table, Zhou Mingren said, "Keep an eye on Bai Feng and Su Yu. As for your students, they are decently talented. And their seniors are from our faction as well. Remember to not be too stingy and put more effort in nurturing them..."

Liu Hong had an awkward expression as he said, "Faculty Head...I really can't afford to raise them. Just my little brother alone has exhausted a lot of my resources. And I need to enter the Cloudbreach Realm as well. I really can't spare any effort on them..."

"You!"

Zhou Mingren was finding this issue troublesome. If the researchers of his faction were so poor that they could no longer raise their own students, then what would be the point for those students to come under these teachers?

If this continued, would the students of the academy still have any trust toward the single character faction? Zhou Mingren even started wondering if he had been too stingy with Liu Hong all these years.

In Zhou Mingren's opinion, Liu Hong's student, Yang Sha, was quite promising. This was a student with the hope to enter the top 100 and the Skysoar Realm. As for the new student, Lin Yao, he was quite good as well. Furthermore, Lin Yao's grandfather was a Cloudbreach cultivator of their faction. Thus, he was already one of them.

"From now on, your students will receive 30 merit points each on a monthly basis. Don't even think of trying to take from your own students."

"I won't!"

Liu Hong was very surprised. That was actually a decent amount of money.

Even those in the Skysoar Realm would probably get only around that much in salary. One ought to know that even Chen Yong was only paid around 50 merit points per month. And he was a head manager and a ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivator.

Of course, Chen Yong was only receiving the basic salary instead of other benefits. Generally, a Cloudbreach cultivator would not be as poor as he was.

Zhou Mingren exhaled lightly and grew even more agitated.

A lot of trouble was knocking. In truth, he had not been getting involved in all these affairs after entering the peak Mountainsea Realm. Previously, Zheng Yuming was the one who had been handling all these affairs.

Suddenly, he was forced to deal with all these troubles. To make things worse, he didn't even have a suitable candidate to replace Zheng Yuming as the faction master.

"By the way, how is Xia Chan doing recently?"

"Very good."

Zhou Mingren gave it some thought and said, "Tell Xia Chan to prepare herself. She will be allowed to enter the Willpower Grotto next month as well."

"Faculty Head, Xia Chan's line is different from Xia Yuwen's line. Would Xia Yuwen..."

"Don't worry." Zhou Mingren waved his hand, "We are diversifying our investment. Both of them are from the Xia Family. Nothing will really happen to the losers of the struggle. Even if Xia Yuwen ends up victorious, he still wouldn't dare to touch the losers. It's not like the Great Xia King and the current prefect can't live without him."

Even if Xia Chan's line lost during the struggle, they would still be perfectly fine.

Zhou Mingren knew that very well. It didn't matter how strong Xia Yuwen was. Even if he was already an Invincible, would he really dare to kill Xia Chan? Her grandfather was Marquis Xia. Her great grandfather was the Great Xia King. She hailed from the direct lineage of the Great Xia King. Was Xia Yuwen suicidal?

Liu Hong nodded, "Sure. I'll notify her. By the way, is Senior Brother Wensheng entering as well? He is only a step away from the Cloudbreach Realm. If he gets to enter this time, he might really be able to enter the Cloudbreach Realm. I'll have to congratulate him in advance."

At the mention of Hu Wensheng, Zhou Mingren couldn't help but to think about Bai Feng who had defeated Hu Wensheng with one hit. His headache returned. Why did he feel like nothing was going smoothly for him?

"We'll see. He's still in his seclusion." He said, "After two days, I'll be leaving the academy for a bit. If you have an emergency and no other elders are around, you can get help from Vice Principal Xia."

"Alright." Liu Hong nodded.

Inwardly, he was suspicious. Where was Zhou Mingren going? Since Zheng Yuming was still recuperating in the academy, there was no reason for Zhou Mingren to leave. Also, a few other elders seemed to be missing today as well. Where were they? He also kept having a feeling that Zhou Mingren was being rather agitated and uneasy today.

Was Zhou Mingren planning to leave with Zheng Yuming? Numerous guesses appeared in Liu Hong's mind, but since he lacked more information, he wasn't able to figure out the truth. He only felt like Zhou Mingren seemed to have lost his calm.

"Faculty Head, without you around, if some other people come after us..."

He was referring to the students who were still waiting for their willpower texts. Those capable of collecting this debt would definitely be no pushovers.

"Just try your best to delay them until we return."

Liu Hong was helpless, but he could only agree, "Sure. I understand."

He was only a Skysoar. Why did he feel like Zhou Mingren was using him like he was the faction master already? Was Zhou Mingren really thinking of making him the faction master? But he couldn't handle that position. He wasn't even a Cloudbreach yet. And the single character faction still had plenty of Cloudbreach cultivators. And he wasn't even from Zhou Mingren's line in the faction.

Seeing that Zhou Mingren had no other orders to give, Liu Hong carefully retreated. He heaved a breath of relief. Things were not as bad as he thought it would be. He had been able to turn Zhou Pingsheng into the main scapegoat.

That fellow had misappropriated a lot of money. However, he was also Zhou Mingren's student. With Zheng Yuming's condition, Zhou Pingsheng would become the sole pride of Zhou Mingren. Thus, this wasn't a good time to punish him.

Otherwise, Zhou Mingren would only further embarrass himself. Liu Hong sneered inwardly. He already expected this to happen. With Zhou Pingsheng as the scapegoat, no problem would be too big of a problem. Zhou Mingren would be there waiting to sweep all the trouble under the rug.

While walking, Liu Hong started thinking. Zheng Yuming had been crippled while Hu Wensheng was in seclusion. Meanwhile, Zhou Pingsheng was busy leading their research project. Thus, all the Cloudbreach cultivators directly under Zhou Mingren were no longer available for the faction master position.

The new faction master would probably be picked from one of the ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivators in the faction. His little brother, Liu He, was also the student of a ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivator. And this cultivator could potentially become the new faction master.

"What a pity that I'm not a ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivator or I can probably try fighting for the position as well. Now that they are running out of manpower, they finally remember my students..."

Liu Hong shook his head. The single character was powerful and large. But they had been too busy competing against each other over the years. As a result, there was no unity whatsoever among fellow members. Even the elders themselves were engaged in all sorts of indirect conflicts against each other. Because of that, Zhou Mingren couldn't even put any trust into the students of the other elders.

Instead, someone who had been completely removed from the power struggles like Liu Hong was the one to start winning Zhou Mingren's trust instead.

Back when he found Liu He a teacher, he had also found him someone from the faction who was unaffiliated with any line. That was a ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivator who was not the student of the few elders of the faction. In their current situation, someone without a backer like him might really stand a higher chance at being appointed the new faction master.

Suddenly, Liu Hong thought of Su Yu. He immediately felt like laughing. All these troubles plaguing Zhou Mingren had originated from Su Yu. Without Su Yu, Zheng Yuming would still be perfectly fine. And with Zheng Yuming around, nobody could hope to become the faction master.

"Bai Feng is truly useless. After so many years, he has not managed to do anything. Su Yu is still the better troublemaker. But things would be even more fun if he can enter the Skysoar Realm.

"Willpower Grotto...I need to get that kid in it. Things would be a lot more fun if the kid can enter the Skysoar Realm in advance. I need to make sure they are aware of this opportunity."

He needed to notify Su Yu about it. As for whether Su Yu could ultimately win entry into the grotto, that would rely on himself. In any case, Liu Hong would not lose anything by leaking that information to Su Yu.

"Xia Yuwen is returning..."

Liu Hong then recalled that person who had been reigning above everyone from his generation. That was a troublesome individual, but fortunately, he wasn't a member of the single character faction. They merely had a cooperative relationship for now.

...

At the same time.

Some of the Myriad Race Cult hideouts within Great Xia had received some news.

Su Yu, a student of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator and middle Mental Tempering Stage with the combat strength of an Infinite Strength cultivator. He once defeated a ranked 38th student in the academy's top 100.

Mission: Kill Su Yu.

Reward: 500 merit points

500 merit points. This was enough reward to get even a Skysoar cultivator killed. Thus, the cult members within Great Xia were all shocked to learn about the reward. Then again, this was understandable. This was still a student who had yet to graduate.

And this was far from enough money to motivate someone to actually enter an academy to assassinate someone. That was basically a suicidal mission. However, would Su Yu remain in the academy forever? 500 merit points were actually a lot of money.

The mission was only open to those at the Skysoar Realm and above. Thus, many Skysoar cultivators were tempted by the reward. Just what had this Su Yu

done to receive such a bounty from the higher ups?

Furthermore, there was an additional clause to the mission stating that one would get extra rewards for capturing him alive. But capturing someone alive was much more difficult than simply assassinating someone. After all, escaping alone was very different from escaping with an unwilling companion.

Chapter 344: Grandteacher Is On His Way (1)

A storm was brewing in Great Xia.

Su Yu was merely a tiny drop of water within the ocean that was Great Xia. Any random wave was enough to obliterate him. He was not bothered with what was happening. His main focus should still be his cultivation.

As for all those plots and schemes, all those were only for the sake of getting stronger. If one couldn't grow strong, it didn't matter how good one was at scheming. It would still take only a single slap to end one's life.

HIs current priority was the foundation cultural art. Although he had yet to receive the rest of the five elemental blood essence from Xia Huyou, he had still received 60 drops so far. That much should be enough for him for now.

Inside the fragment room.

Su Yu had decided to restore his attitude to how it was when he first joined the academy. He had to work even harder on his cultivation. As far as he was concerned, his growth was still not fast enough. He found it unreasonable that he still couldn't defeat the top 30 students.

As for the fact that he had only entered the academy for two months...well, that did not matter. The only thing that mattered was the fact that he had offended even a peak Mountainsea cultivator. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the NoveIꜰire.net

...

Inside his sea of willpower, the power of a drop of blood essence was being absorbed. 36 temporary soul apertures were opened. These apertures joined up into a complete system that started taking in the ambient willpower within the room like they were breathing.

"The willpower here is somewhat impure..."

That was Su Yu's first impression. The ambient willpower in this room was chaotic and impure. Because of that, absorption was hard. Even with 36 apertures opened, the absorption speed was still slow.

"But it's actually quite decent."

Su Yu was not too picky. Instead of strengthening his willpower, he utilized the absorbed willpower to temper his apertures. From the first aperture, he started the long process of aperture opening. He would be able to actively cultivate his willpower after opening 36 apertures. The absorption speed was still very slow right now.

Soul apertures were much harder to open than physical acupoints. Prior to this, Su Yu had already tried several times but he had not been able to open any. This time, he was trying to use the power of blood essence to absorb the willpower he required.

Gradually, the first aperture started showing signs of opening. The aperture initially looked quite dim as it had only been opened temporarily with blood essence, but it was slowly turning bright.

Finally, the power of the first drop of blood essence was fully exhausted. Su Yu wasted no time and consumed the second drop. By the time the power of the second drop was exhausted, the aperture was already incomparably bright.

Next, it trembled and created a rumbling sound in Su Yu's mind. As of that moment, he felt as though his soul had been separated from his physical body. It was as though he had arrived at a vast world. His soul, or to be precise, his willpower, was roaming this world. He had opened his very first soul aperture!

Su Yu was looking at his own body from a third party perspective, as though he was having an out-of-body experience. Out-of-body experience! He held that thought. Yes. Opening an aperture was basically the same as opening an acupoint of his soul. In a way, willpower was the same as soul.

"Willpower materialization...willpower acupoint opening..."

In his daze, Su Yu seemed to have reached a certain understanding. Why were humans only able to open apertures after willpower materialization? Because only then would a human cultivator be able to truly sense the existence of their willpower. Only then would they be able to locate their apertures. Was that why?

Without any prior experience, one would not know the location of those apertures. And one wasn't even able to sense those apertures.

"Thus, even if I can come out with a proper cultural art, without prior experience, this will still be something extremely difficult to cultivate. One will need to spend a lot of time and energy on it..."

With a thought from Su Yu, his soul returned to his body. And when he opened his eyes again, the world around him had changed completely. Before this, he was unable to see willpower. For him, willpower was similar to air. He knew that it existed, but he couldn't see it.

But now, he was able to see something else around him. Something misty could be seen surrounding him. That was willpower.

That was something he previously could only sense with his willpower. Now, he could see the mist with his eyes as well. Normally, a cultivator would only gain this ability at the Skysoar Realm.

It was no wonder that only those at the Skysoar Realm could properly see a student's willpower percentage. Because they could see willpower with their naked eye.

Su Yu was overjoyed. The clumps of mist were currently approaching him. For some reason, these clumps of mist gave him a dirty and impure impression.

"Is there no clean or pure willpower around?"

Suddenly, Su Yu thought of a place. Bai Feng's laboratory! That place was filled with purified willpower. Would the willpower in there feel different? At that thought, Su Yu stood up. He had decided to take a look. He wanted to see the difference between purified willpower and regular willpower.

...

Third underground floor.

Bai Feng had returned to his research on the assembly of characters of different races. He was completely focused on his research and was ignoring everything else. No outsider was able to enter this laboratory.

Those capable of entering would either be someone from his own side or an incomparably powerful enemy that could kill him with one slap. Thus, he didn't even need to be on alert against outsiders while doing his research. If an enemy could really go this deep into their research center, that enemy would be able to slap him to death no matter how alert he was.

While busy with his research, he sensed someone entering. He assumed that it was Su Yu and couldn't be bothered to double check. He continued focusing on his research.

What was Su Yu doing? He was salivating. Milky white. Yes. In his eyes, the laboratory was filled with a milky white mist that seemed really tasty. The willpower here was extremely pure.

The willpower here was basically as pure as his source qi. If the willpower in the fragment room was akin to his source qi before purification, then the willpower here was akin to his source qi after purification. It was incomparably pure. His sole opened aperture started slowly absorbing the milky white mist in the air.

Su Yu trembled. He was trembling from bliss. He felt so comfortable he nearly moaned. Holy shit. The difference was too big. When he was absorbing willpower earlier, he even felt disgusted. But here, the experience was incredible.

Since he only had one opened aperture, he wasn't able to absorb much. He looked at his teacher guiltily. His teacher wouldn't notice anything, right? He was only trying out the flavor of pure willpower! He was only doing this to learn the difference between chaotic willpower and purified willpower. And he could conclude that the difference was indeed very big.

...

Bai Feng was not paying any attention to the willpower in the air. As far as he was concerned, Su Yu couldn't even actively absorb willpower yet, so why should he bother?

But he did notice that Su Yu was remaining in the area. He assumed that Su Yu was here to check out his research, so he felt gratified. Finally, the kid had learned to worry about his teacher's research.

After a while, when Bai Feng was almost done with his research for the day, he turned around to look at Su Yu. And he was faced with a Su Yu who was smiling while staring blankly ahead.

"What are you doing?"

Bai Feng's question roused Su Yu from his daze.

Su Yu exhaled in relief. Fortunately, he had only been digesting the tiny bit of pure willpower he had absorbed and had not been absorbing more. If his teacher caught him absorbing the pure willpower here, he would get in trouble.

He did not dare to tell his teacher the truth. Instead, he flashed a silly smile and said, "My willpower feels very comfortable staying here. Can I cultivate faster by staying here?"

"Nonsense." Bai Feng said, "Of course you feel good here. And your cultivation will definitely be slightly faster here. But you are not allowed to cultivate here. If you study willpower texts here, the impure willpower will spread from your cultivation and taint the pure willpower in this room. This will make it harder for us to preserve Divine Characters in this room."

"Alright." Su Yu nodded and curiously asked, "Teacher, where can I find some pure willpower?"

Bai Feng looked at Su Yu with an odd gaze and said, "It's not like you can actively absorb willpower right now so why ask? It's the same wherever you cultivate since you can't absorb anything. Cultivating through a clash of willpower is enough for you."

"Teacher, I'm only asking because I'm curious. Don't keep telling me that I don't need to know."

That was true. Bai Feng nodded in agreement. As a teacher, it was his job to dispel the doubts of his student.

"Pure willpower can't be found anywhere. It can only be created through a purification process. Of course, different environments will still have willpower of different purity. For example, the willpower in our fragment room is slightly purer than the willpower in the books depository. As for the willpower in the books depository, it is better than the willpower in the shitty library.

"If we assign a percentage to the purity level, then our fragment room has a purity of 50 percent, the books depository has a purity of 40 percent, and the library has a purity of 30 percent. Meanwhile, this lab would have a purity of 100 percent. Naturally, the academy has a Willpower Grotto with a purity of 80 percent. That is actually quite a good place."

"Willpower Grotto?"

"Yeah." Bai Feng explained, "That can be considered a high-end grotto. It was left behind by the first principal. The first principal was also from the multiple character faction. And the Willpower Grotto is quite a special grotto. Instead of being formed by a single character, it was formed by multiple characters.

"One could even say that the Willpower Grotto is the first principal's sea of willpower. Due to the high number of characters in it, this grotto is very difficult to open. Each opening is also extremely expensive."

Su Yu nodded and asked expectantly, "So can we enter?"

"Sure." Bai Feng replied, "As long as you have the money, you can enter as you wish. For each entry...hmm...you'll need around 70,000 or 80,000 merit points. Yeap. It's not that expensive. Each time this grotto is opened, around 50 people can enter. Thus, you can charge all these people for around 1,000 merit points each and you will have enough to activate the grotto once. Yeap. You can give it a try."

Su Yu was speechless. Teacher, stop messing around.

Bai Feng then sneered, "Enter? Dream on. Apart from being expensive to activate, this grotto also requires several Mountainsea cultivators to keep activated. Do you think you can activate it so easily? Money alone won't be enough. Stop dreaming."

Su Yu turned gloomy. Why was his teacher so mean? He was just asking.

"Teacher, is purifying willpower hard?"

Bai Feng glanced at Su Yu and said, "Don't bite off more than you can chew. Purifying willpower isn't hard. You only need money. For example, you only need to destroy hundreds of willpower texts, extract the willpower within, and remove the impurities from the willpower repeatedly. After this process, you will obtain a tiny bit of pure willpower."

Su Yu was stunned. That sounded so luxurious. Was that also the origin of the pure willpower in this room? This was too expensive!

"Teacher, have you opened the apertures of the Myriad Text Sutra?"

Bai Feng was starting to have the urge to throw a bunch of insults at his student. The kid wasn't even at the Skysoar Realm yet. What was the point of asking all these questions? What was the kid trying to do?

Nevertheless, Bai Feng still patiently explained, "The Myriad Text Sutra requires 72 apertures. Apertures are hard to open. Generally, we only need 36 apertures at the Skysoar Realm to form a full cycle. At the Cloudbreach Realm, we can open the remaining 36 apertures and form a larger cycle."

"So 36 apertures are enough?" Su Yu asked in astonishment, "How about the stages of cultural researchers in the Skysoar Realm? Are the stages determined by the opened apertures as well?"

"More or less. The grade of one's willpower will be measured as well." Bai Feng explained, "For example, you have four opened apertures. That will give you a low-grade second-tier willpower. If you also have a second-tier Divine Character, that will make you a standard first-stage Skysoar Realm cultural researcher."

Su Yu blinked. Just that?

"Do I count as a first-stage Skysoar Realm cultivator if I fulfill all that without achieving willpower materialization?"

"Bullshit!" Bai Feng scolded, "Without materialization, how can you be considered a cultural researcher? Without materialization, your willpower won't be able to reach the second tier. Your apertures also can't be opened. Without all that, how can you be considered a proper cultural researcher?"

Chapter 345: Grandteacher Is On His Way (2)

Bai Feng was starting to wonder if someone had replaced his student. His student wasn't supposed to be so stupid. In that case, why was the kid asking him all these stupid questions?

Su Yu could only helplessly say, "But I have a feeling that my willpower is very strong. I feel like I'm already at the peak of the first tier. I also have second-tier characters. The only thing I lack now is an opened aperture. So would I be considered a Skysoar after opening my first aperture?"

"Open my ass." Bai Feng rolled his eyes, "If you can really push your willpower to the second tier, then your willpower would already be strong enough for willpower materialization..."

Su Yu blanked out slightly before asking, "Teacher, would that really make me a Skysoar? But I have yet to finish forming my Divine Characters! What should I do if my willpower accidentally reaches the second tier before I finish forming my characters?"

Bai Feng was also stunned when he heard that question. True. This kid's willpower was actually quite powerful.

But he soon shook his head and said, "Impossible. You have yet to fill your sea of willpower so your willpower won't overflow and achieve willpower materialization accidentally. At most, you will only have a willpower as powerful as second-tier willpower. However, your willpower will still be stuck below the second tier. Only when your willpower overflows will you be considered a true Skysoar cultivator that has achieved willpower materialization."

Su Yu exhaled in relief. That was good to hear. Bai Feng was somewhat speechless. Why did it sound like this kid was actually worried of accidentally reaching the Skysoar Realm? Was the kid thinking straight? With that tiny bit of willpower...

Suddenly, Bai Feng blanked out. He asked, "What's wrong with you? Why...has your willpower percentage increased suddenly?"

Su Yu flashed his trademark honest smile and said, "I cultivated a bit in the fragment room earlier and made some progress there."

He then assumed an enigmatic tone and said, "Teacher, I have been talking to the water elemental in the prison zone recently. The cultivation method of the five elemental race is actually capable of opening apertures at the Mental Tempering Stage. What if you can learn that cultivation method? Wouldn't that be amazing?"

...

All these questions were starting to drive Bai Feng crazy. He said, "Learn my ass. Everyone knows about the five elemental race's cultivation method. I know that as well. I even have a copy of the Water Path Art. The academy has some willpower texts of the Water Path Art and the other elemental arts as well. Why don't you try and learn these arts? If you really manage to cultivate them, you can be my teacher instead. How about that?"

What a load of nonsense. Piss off! This kid had been getting overconfident. He spent all his time dreaming instead of cultivating.

But suddenly, Bai Feng thought of something and blanked out. He asked, "Did you learn the racial ability of the five elemental race and open some acupoints from it? Is this why you believe that you can derive their cultivation method from their racial ability?"

It was necessary for Su Yu to slowly build a logical origin for his cultivation manual. Thus, he nodded, "I consumed some five elemental blood essence before. Their racial abilities are very unique, such as turning into water, metal, and so on. It is very difficult for humans to use these abilities. Relying on the flesh alone, we will never be able to use these abilities. But our willpower can actually be turned into the different elements in accordance with these racial abilities."

Su Yu continued speaking in an enigmatic tone as he whispered, "Thus, I wondered if I can derive the five elemental cultivation method through these racial abilities? Do you think it's possible, teacher?"

"Stop whispering."

Bai Feng was speechless. What was the kid doing? He was acting like a thief!

Bai Feng thought about it and shook his head, "It's different. But sure, if you're interested, give it a try. Even if you really manage to come out with their cultivation method, you might not be able to actually open an aperture with it. I'm warning you. Don't mess around about this. Cultural arts involve the sea of willpower. The sea of willpower is much harder to recover than the physical body once injured.

"Just look at your senior sister. She has been suffering from a willpower injury for several months. You don't want to waste several months of your time recovering from an injury, right?"

Su Yu nodded obediently and said, "Teacher, if I really manage to derive the cultivation method, can I teach it to Senior Sister?"

"No!" Bai Feng answered unhesitatingly, "Teach my ass. If you really manage to come up with something like this, you need to keep it secret. That might not be a bad thing. In fact, spreading this cultivation method might not necessarily be a good thing for you. You need to know that the myriad races have even more Mental Tempering Stage cultivators than humanity. What if the myriad races learn of it? Hehe...Your life would be over."

"How about the Soul Devouring Art?"

That was also a powerful cultivation method.

Bai Feng shook his head, "It's different. Your Soul Devouring Art is a martial cultivation method. It relies on the acupoints of the human body..."

"But that's the case for a cultural art, right? It will rely on the apertures of the human body..."

Bai Feng scratched his head and said, "Yeah, but it is still different since it involves the sea of willpower. Just remember that you can't spread it rashly if you manage to come out with it."

But suddenly, Bai Feng blanked out. The kid had yet to even come out with the cultivation method. Why was he answering all these questions? It was as though he was sure his student would be able to come out with that cultivation method. Was he the teacher here or was his student the teacher here? What the hell?

Bai Feng shook his head and rearranged his thoughts, "Cut the crap. If you can really come out with it, don't spread it rashly. Of course, if you're sure that you can withstand all the troubles and pressure that might arise after spreading the cultivation method, you are free to do whatever you want with it."

Su Yu had an awkward look. Forget it. He was definitely incapable of withstanding the consequences of spreading such a cultivation method around.

He had a look of regret as he said, "That would be a pity. I believe that the human race definitely has some powerful cultivation manuals that have been hidden away from the public for various reasons."

"It's not that bad." Bai Feng smiled, "When you reach a level where you finally start needing those manuals, someone will naturally appear to teach you. It depends on your performance. For example, our multiple character faction has a rather powerful cultivation manual as well. But it is still not time to teach it to you."

"What cultivation manual?"

Su Yu was curious.

"Soul Gathering Art. This is a manual specializing in nurturing Divine Characters. Without this manual, how are we supposed to grow our characters when we need to form so many of them? But forget about learning it for now. Focus on forming all your required Divine Characters first. If you learn it now, you will probably push all your existing characters into the second tier instead of focusing on forming more characters. Do you still want to complete your character technique or not?"

Su Yu was actually getting excited. So there existed a cultivation manual capable of nurturing Divine Characters?

"Teacher, Wan Mingze has three second-tier characters. He has more second-tier characters than me."

"Three?"

Bai Feng blanked out slightly. He said, "Three second-tier characters...Wan Mingze...someone from the principal's family?" ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ noᴠelfire.net

"I think he's the grandson of the principal's elder brother."

Bai Feng frowned, "There are examples of people forming a second-tier character at the Mental Tempering Stage. There are also examples of people forming two, such as you. As for three second-tier characters...You need to relax and stay far away from him."

"Why?"

"He might be one of those treacherous snakes. Since he is capable of nurturing three second-tier characters, his willpower is clearly strong enough to reach the Skysoar Realm. To suppress himself, he has used his willpower to nurture his characters instead.

"Someone like this is either aiming to be the strongest in the same level or is simply scheming against someone. It's pretty pointless to do so much to become the strongest in the Mental Tempering Stage. Sure, there is always a possibility that this kid has some grand ambitions. But it is more likely that he's scheming against someone with his suppressed cultivation."

"So who is he scheming against?"

"You," Bai Feng said confidently. "You're not at the Skysoar Realm yet so none of those in the Skysoar Realm can touch you. But he can since he's also still below the Skysoar Realm. Be careful. People like him are mostly nurtured for the specific purpose of targeting those below the Skysoar Realm. He might be a hidden arrow prepared by the principal, waiting to be unleashed against someone."

"Even so, I might not be the target, right?"

"Who knows?" Once again, Bai Feng spoke in an irresponsible manner, "If not you, is it those kids from the war academy or those bastards from the myriad races? In any case, that Wan something kid is definitely scheming against someone. He would have reached the Skysoar Realm already otherwise."

Su Yu found himself speechless. So there was such a thing? Wan Mingze was actually good enough to enter the next realm, but he had not advanced because he had spent all his willpower nurturing his characters into the second tier?

Bai Feng said, "There are too many weird individuals in your batch. What an abnormal batch. That Jia something guy is also very weird. Also, that Zheng kid is not a pushover either. He might be hiding something as well. Then there's also the Xia Family..."

Bai Feng suspiciously said, "I had thought that Xia Chan was Zhou Mingren's weapon against you, but she doesn't look like one anymore. I saw her once. Her strength is decent, but it's nothing special. The Xia Family actually doesn't have a super freak in this batch..."

Bai Feng then shook his head and decided to forget about the Xia Family. Who knew what they were planning? But Su Yu couldn't help but to think of Xia Huyou. For some reason, Xia Huyou felt even stronger than Xia Chan. That was the feeling he had.

"Teacher, have you heard of Xia Huyou?"

"Nope."

"Is there such a person in the Xia Family?"

"How am I supposed to know that? It's not like I know the Xia Family that well. I only know Xia Longwu, Xia Changqing, Xia Xinyi, and Xia Yuwen..."

Well. That was a waste of time.

"Does the prefect have any children?"

"I think he has a son." Bai Feng said with an uncertain tone, "He's a big shot. Your grandteacher might know more about him. I never cared about that. The Xia Family is quite good at hiding those from their main branch to avoid assassinations. After all, those who couldn't defeat the prefect wouldn't mind targeting the prefect's son instead. Generally, only those at the Mountainsea Realm will know more, but your teacher isn't a Mountainsea."

Su Yu nodded. Inwardly, he was wondering if Xia Huyou was Xia Longwu's son. But that seemed unlikely. Xia Longwu was wise, strong, bold, powerful, stern, and persistent. Would he have a son like Xia Huyou? Su Yu would not believe that!

After a short chat, Su Yu left his teacher and returned to his cultivation. He was going to focus on opening more soul apertures.

Apart from opening his apertures, he also needed to open more acupoints. For example, the acupoints required by the Soul Devouring Art. If he had already opened those acupoints, he would have been able to defeat Wang He much easier during his previous match.

With the unique burning source qi, he would be able to first cause his opponent to wail in pain before taking the chance to finish off his opponent with a kick.

After his previous matches, a lot of people were already aware of his strength. If people started targeting him, his future matches would definitely be much harder. Thus, he had to further strengthen himself.

He aimed to get himself a new trump card each time he disappeared from the public eye. Thus, anyone daring to target him based on his past performance would die a terrible death.

Chapter 346: Grandteacher Is On His Way (3)

"As long as I can grow fast enough, it won't even matter if you guys can keep gathering my information. Xia Huyou still owes me about 4,000 merit points while Martial Uncle will transfer me 5,000 merit points later. I can get 9,000 merit points in total."

Su Yu started considering entering the grotto again. In the grotto, he could open both acupoints and apertures. After opening some more acupoints, he would probably need to start considering acupoint fusion and breaking through into the Infinite Strength Realm.

"In terms of martial techniques, I have the Time, Skybreak Technique, and Lightning Source Blade. But I don't have any willpower techniques."

He might need to get himself a willpower technique as well. If he relied on only his Divine Characters, he didn't have a lot of ways he could gain an upper hand during willpower combat.

"After activating so many pages, there must be at least one willpower ability among them, right? I might be able to use one of them after opening enough acupoints. With willpower techniques, my offensive prowess will probably increase sharply."

But the more Su Yu thought, the more troubled he was. He kept feeling like he didn't have enough time. There were too many things for him to do.

In recent days, he had even started skipping his classes. He wondered if he could continue receiving the merit points for his position as the class monitor next month. It would be a pity to give up on that. Three merit points were still worth something, after all.

"Also, I need to do something about my willpower cultivation. I doubt my sea of willpower can withstand the pressure of 99 Divine Characters even after filling my sea of willpower up. So I need to consider the Soul Expanding Art..."

Su Yu wondered if he should pay Zhao Li a visit and get hammered a dozen or so times? He kept having a feeling that after the previous hammering session, his willpower had grown stronger and much more tenacious than before. Even its offensive strength had increased.

In that manner, Su Yu's mind continued roaming randomly while he cultivated. He needed the combat strength of a top 30 student. It would be even better if he could grow as strong as a top 10 student as such a student was already strong enough to fight Skysoar cultivators.

As for the Skysoar Realm...it was still too early for him to think about that. He still needed to form 99 Divine Characters. And he had not been forming any characters recently. It would seem like he needed to start spending more time to study more willpower texts as well. He had bought quite a lot of them. It would be a waste if he kept them around without reading them.

...

The night passed uneventfully.

In the blink of an eye, it was the 7th of October.

A shabby truck was slowly heading toward the Great Xia City.

...

At the same time.

Allheaven Battlefield, entrance to the Human Realm.

Hong Tan was walking over in excitement. At the entrance, he showed his identity card before preparing to leave. Right that moment, a Mountainsea cultivator in charge of guarding the entrance said, "Is this Senior Researcher Hong Tan from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy?"

Hong Tan glanced at the guard. That was not someone he knew. He assumed that this person was here to relieve the previous guard so he didn't think much about it. He merely nodded at the question.

"A massive battle has erupted in the celestial eye race's region. According to the existing military command, you need to head there and assist our side in the battle..."

Hong Tan asked in astonishment, "The celestial eye race's region? Isn't the Great Zhou in charge of that area? I am a researcher from Great Xia..."

"This is the order from the front line. All Mountainsea cultivators are required to head over and help."

Hong Tan scratched his head. This was a military command. He had no choice but to go. If he dared to disobey a military command, one of those Invincible fossils guarding the front line would slap him to death.

"Fine. By the way, check if there are any messages for me from the Great Xia..."

"There are no messages..." Official source ıs noⅴelfire.net

Hong Tan blanked out right after that person answered. Had that person even checked before answering?

The Mountainsea cultivator calmly said, "I have been here since the beginning so there is no need for me to check to know."

Hong Tan frowned. Suddenly, he asked, "Where is the military token for your so-called military command?"

The Mountainsea cultivator did not hesitate to take out a military token.

But when Hong Tan saw the token, he cursed, "Damn you! This isn't even the token of an Invincible. This is the token of the Great Zhou Army. Why the fuck should I follow the military order of the Great Zhou Army? What is the meaning of this? If the Devil Subduing Army summons a Mountainsea cultivator from Great Zhou, should the cultivator answer the summon?"

Hong Tan was furious. He had been worried for nothing. He had thought that this was an order from an Invincible. But it was merely the order of the Great Zhou Army. That army had nothing to do with him. The various prefectures had their own command system. Only the Invincible cultivators could order all humans around in the battlefield.

As for the military order from the Great Zhou Army, well, he could follow it if he was feeling like it since they were fellow humans. But if he refused to follow the order, nobody could do anything.

Hong Tan glared at the Mountainsea cultivator and snorted, "Don't try to mess with me. Are you trying to give me an order with a military token from the Great Zhou Army? Tell that fellow to enter the Invincible Realm first if he wants to order me around. Are you guys trying to pick a fight with me?"

The Mountainsea cultivator avoided answering the question and calmly said, "Even if this is not the order of an Invincible, are you intending to not help while your fellow humans are dying, Researcher Hong?"

"Take your moral high ground and shove it up your ass."

Something like this wouldn't work on Hong Tan. In fact, he was starting to wonder if something had really happened in Great Xia.

"Where is Great Xia's representative?"

Hong Tan roared loudly. Before long, someone else arrived.

Hong Tan glanced at the newcomer and said, "Ma, so you're actually here. I thought you were dead. Are you aware that Great Zhou is trying to order me around? You are an embarrassment to Great Xia. I'll be sure to file an official complaint on you after returning. Is Zhou Mingren playing one of his tricks again and you guys are trying to delay my return?"

The Mountainsea cultivator called Ma smiled and said, "How is that possible? Great Zhou has indeed encountered some trouble and your help is required. You should have more sympathy for your fellow humans."

"Fuck off. You look very happy. I suspect you are taking joy in the bad thing that is happening to someone else."

Hong Tan couldn't even be bothered to waste more time here. This person was an elder of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, but he was someone from the single character faction. They had never gotten along well with each other. Hong Tan decided to just leave.

Elder Ma smiled and said, "Hong Tan, the tunnel connecting to the Human Realm is under repair. You need to wait a few days for it to be reopened. Since you don't have anything to do anyway, you might as well check the request for reinforcements out. Maybe you can get some positive karma by saving some lives there..."

Bang!

Hong Tan slapped out.

With a rumble, Elder Ma was crushed into the ground by a massive mountain. No matter how he struggled, he couldn't get back on his feet. The disturbance caused numerous Mountainsea cultivators to show up, but none said anything.

Hong Tan furiously said, "Do you think that I'm a pushover? Repair my ass. Do you think I'm stupid? I can't do much to that Zhou bastard, but do you think I'm helpless against you as well? Do you really think an eighth-stage Mountainsea cultivator like me is a pushover? Do you want me to find an Invincible and get an answer for this? You guys actually dare to stop me from returning to the Human Realm? Are you tired of living?"

He then sent Elder Ma flying with a kick.

He glanced at the other person and said, "Don't push it too far, people from Great Zhou. Or else, I'll just go look for Great Xia King at the War Shrine. You guys have been bullying us for so many years. Don't cross the line. I haven't been bothered to do anything all these years but you guys are actually getting used to bullying us? For the sake of the past friendship of our seniors, I have been unwilling to quarrel with you guys. But are you guys going to keep pushing it?"

Hong Tan was furious.

"I'm warning you. If I go back to find that something has happened to my students, I won't spare any of you. There's also my senior brother. Don't even think of scheming against him. Face is still very important for those Invincibles. The Liu Family had saved so many people in the past. No matter what, some Invincibles still remembered their favor. They can stay indifferent as long as my senior brother remains fine. But if something really happens to him, I am going to throw all caution to the wind and make sure the entire humanity finds out about ungrateful scoundrels like you people who have actually schemed against the hero of humanity because of your greed over the belongings of my dead teacher."

Suddenly, a loud bang rang out. Hong Tan had vanished. He had actually been slapped all the way into the tunnel leading to the Human Realm. Then, another large palm descended from the sky. The Mountainsea cultivator who had tried to send Hong Tan away was slapped into pieces. Another palm appeared and descended, crushing Elder Ma's body as well.

"This is the Allheaven Battlefield. What are all of you doing here? If this happens again, the Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy can stop existing."

A cold snort resounded in the area.

A short while later, a voice rang out, "Great Zhou King, get your people under control. If the trouble behind the front line keeps spreading to the battlefield, you can pull all the armies from your Great Zhou back. The Great Zhou will be sealed for 100 years as punishment."

The moment those words were said, everyone sank into silence. Nobody dared to make a noise. Sealing a prefecture for 100 years was basically severing the prefecture of any external resources. That was the same as destroying the prefecture.

"Alright."

A sigh rang out. The two Mountainsea cultivators regrew their bodies, revealing their pale expressions. Another palm appeared and grabbed the two before tossing them deep into the Allheaven Battlefield.

"Kill a Mountainsea enemy to make up for your wrongdoing today."

Calm returned to the area. Only a group of Mountainsea and Sunmoon cultivators with looks of admiration were left behind.

Those were Invincible cultivators. They were the people in the Eternal Realm. As for the two Mountainsea cultivators who had just been tossed into the Vanguard Regiment, nobody cared about them.

It was normal that the two were punished. If Hong Tan had remained silent, the two would probably remain fine. But the moment Hong Tan started making a ruckus, there was no way the two would be able to get away with it.

This was the Allheaven Battlefield, not the Great Zhou Prefecture. This was a place where a random Invincible cultivator might pass by at any time. When someone created trouble here, the Invincible cultivators wouldn't even be bothered to smooth things over.

Their favorite solution for all issues was to toss everyone to the front line. If one could survive the experience, all wrongdoings would be forgiven. If one ended up dying, then nothing mattered anymore.

That fellow from the Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy wasn't even an Invincible yet. Even if he was, he still couldn't do as he wished here in the front line. But Hong Tan's actions today were rather surprising. Wasn't he known as an honest and simple man?

Why was his temper so terrible today? He even had the guts to drag Invincibles into his argument. Fortunately for him, the Invincible that had caught their argument had decided to put all the blame on the two Mountainsea cultivators instead of him.