Chapter 6 - 6

Chapter 347: Expanded Mutual Aid Club (1)

Inside the fragment room, Su Yu was still unaware that his grandteacher was on the way back. He had basically assumed that he had already lost this grandteacher.

Since nobody knew when this grandteacher would be back, he would just pretend that his grandteacher was in seclusion. They had never seen each other so even if they did meet, they wouldn't recognize each other anyway. He was busy cultivating. He was cultivating without rest.

Drop after drop of the five elemental blood essence was used and one aperture after another was opened. However, there wasn't much growth in terms of his willpower. He had already used most of his willpower to temper his apertures, so his willpower had remained at around 70 percent full.

Late on the night of the 7th, Su Yu exhaled deeply. He had finished all his blood essence. The five elemental blood essence he had bought with 3,000 merit points had been used up. It had only been a day and a night.

With 60 drops of blood essence, he had opened 20 apertures. On average, he had opened one aperture with every three drops. The speed was decent, but like what happened when he opened his acupoints, there were a lot of impurities in his apertures, making them look somewhat dim and clogged. He felt like there was a need to purify these apertures.

The clearbright bird blood essence could purify source qi, but it couldn't do so for willpower. Su Yu had no idea what he could do to purify his willpower. He had yet to discover a suitable source or cultural art with such a function. Perhaps he could spend some time going through all the pages he had unlocked to look for one.

The 20 apertures he had opened were still working independently. They had yet to be linked into a single system. However, they were good enough to actively absorb some willpower. Even now, these apertures were slowly growing Su Yu's willpower.

"Things sure feel different with apertures opened."

Su Yu was impressed. With his apertures opened, even his senses were turning sharper. After opening so many acupoints, he was starting to encounter situations where his brain moved slower than the instincts of his physical body.

But with the opening of his apertures, this sense of imbalance had faded considerably. He now felt like he was capable of moving at an even faster speed than before.

And for his Time technique, speed was still its core. To pursue a speed that could give one an illusion of the passage of time. To pursue a speed that could crush Mountainsea cultivators and suppress Sunmoon cultivators.

"Since I'm out of five elemental blood essence, I can only slowly open my other apertures. Maybe I can ask Xia Huyou if he can get me more blood essence..."

The five elemental race was a small race. Generally, killing an Infinite Strength five elemental cultivator would grant one around 10 drops of blood essence. Su Yu had consumed 70 drops of their blood essence in total, which was basically the same as killing seven of their Infinite Strength cultivators.

Of course, Su Yu believed that he had probably caused the deaths of even more mountainbreak bulls. He had probably consumed nearly 1,000 drops of mountainbreak bull blood essence by now. That was basically nearly 100 mountainbreak bulls dying to satisfy his need for blood essence.

At times, he even wondered if the mountainbreak bull race had lost an entire 100-man squad in the Allheaven Battlefield because of him.

"I still need to open more acupoints and cultivate the Soul Devouring Art."

The Soul Devouring Art required 36 acupoints, but many of those acupoints overlapped with what he already opened. Thus, he only needed to open 12 additional acupoints.

...

Prior to meeting Xia Huyou, Su Yu paid a visit to the Prosperous Red Tea House.

Second floor.

This was already a usual meeting place for them.

Hu Zongji was there waiting for Su Yu. The moment the door opened, Hu Zongji smiled, "You have truly turned into a superstar in the academy."

It was already late at night. The tea house was already closed for the day. When Su Yu looked at the stairs curiously, Hu Zongji explained, "I already booked the whole place for us. The shopkeeper is a distant relative of the Hu Family. He looked pretty miserable before this so I found him a job here."

Su Yu nodded, "That's good to hear. I'm not afraid of being recognized, but since too many people know me, you can get implicated easily."

Hu Zongji nodded. He naturally understood that. He wouldn't have gotten the tea house under his control before their meeting otherwise. The two walked into a private room.

Once inside, Su Yu went straight to the point, "Did you find out about something? Is that why you're suddenly asking to meet?"

"Yeah." Hu Zongji nodded, "Yesterday, the single character faction elders were all missing from the academy. Only Faculty Head Zhou is left. Last night, Elder Li returned. He seemed to have sustained some injuries."

"Missing?"

Su Yu was surprised. Missing elders and an injured elder. What was happening? They were not on the battlefield. They were within Great Xia.

Su Yu's face turned solemn as he said, "What do you know? Tell me more."

Hu Zongji whispered, "I don't know the exact details. Not even my second granduncle knows that. But apart from the single character faction elders, some other elders have gone missing as well.

"There are 42 elders in the academy. 36 of them are Mountainsea cultivators. Principal Wan is excluded in that calculation. Eight of these elders are in the Allheaven Battlefield. Including Elder Hong, nine of them are away."

Basically a quarter of the academy elders were in the Allheaven Battlefield. That wasn't a big number.

Hu Zongji continued, "Of the remaining 27 Mountainsea elders, 8 are in seclusion. Only 19 of them are still active in the academy. Including the principal, we have 20 active Mountainsea cultivators in the academy."

Su Yu nodded again. Hu Zongji continued, "Yesterday, at least 6 of the 20 active Mountainsea cultivators departed at the same time. I heard that from my second granduncle. These days, I have been visiting him often. After hearing about something that might be related to you, I decided to stay a while longer when I learned of this."

Six Mountainsea cultivators had left at the same time. Did something major happen? What happened? Was that related to him?

Su Yu shook his head. That was unlikely. How would that be related to him? So many elders were gone. Were they out attacking the Myriad Race Cult?

"Do you know anything else?"

Hu Zongji thought for a bit and said, "I really don't know the exact details, but I know that when they left...no, to be precise, when Elder Li returned injured, my second granduncle heard of it and made one remark, wondering why had that person decided to return and bring chaos..."

"Return?"

Su Yu muttered. Who was returning? Clearly, Hu Youhui knew something and even knew that person. Someone was returning? Who was it?

Hu Zongji said, "This might be related to your faction so I'm letting you know just in case."

Su Yu looked at Hu Zongji with an odd expression. True. If the matter was entirely unrelated to him, there was no need for Hu Zongji to tell him all that.

"It's related to my faction? The multiple character faction?"

"Yeah." Hu Zongji nodded, "I tried to indirectly ask more from my second granduncle. He didn't tell me much, but he did talk about some expelled individuals that are not worth mentioning. When I thought about it, I started suspecting if this is related to the multiple character faction members that were expelled 50 years ago."

Su Yu's face changed. Expelled! That was such a familiar term. Liu Wenyan! Su Yu frowned. Were they talking about Teacher Liu? That shouldn't be the case, right? Teacher Liu had been in Nanyuan. And he didn't recall his Teacher Liu talking about returning. But when he tried calling his Teacher Liu the day before, his call couldn't connect.

At that thought, Su Yu said, "Give me a moment."

He then took out his communicator and called a number.

It was quite late. After a long wait, someone finally answered with a grumpy tone, "Who is this?"

"Uncle Chen!"

Su Yu was relieved. It was fine as long as the call was connected. He said, "Uncle Chen, it's me. Su Yu."

"It's Yu?" Chen Qinghe was roused awake. He hurriedly asked, "Yu, did anything happen?"

Why was Su Yu calling him in the middle of the night?

"Uncle Chen, I tried calling my teacher but the calls haven't been getting through. Since you're in Nanyuan, do you know if he's fine?"

"Are you talking about Instructor Liu?"

"Yes."

"He's fine. But he hasn't been around for the past two days, I think." Chen Qinghe sounded unsure, "Some of my subordinates even told me yesterday that Principal Wang drove his shitty truck out of the city. Instructor Liu was with him as well. I don't know if both of them had left the city."

"Left the city? Do you know where they're going?" Get full chapters from ɴovelfire.net

"I'm not sure. Maybe they went to Tianshui to do some shopping?" Chen Qinghe said, "How about this? I'll ask around for you. I have some friends in the school."

"Thank you very much, Uncle Chen."

"You're welcome."

The call ended. It was late at night, but after thinking about it, Chen Qinghe still decided to make some calls.

...

A few minutes later, Su Yu's communicator rang.

"Yu, I asked around. Both Principal Wang and Instructor Liu have applied for a long leave. All their lessons are being taught by other teachers. Nobody knows what they are doing with the long leave."

"Ok. Got it. Thank you, Uncle Chen. Sorry for the trouble."

After a short chat, Su Yu ended the call. Teacher Liu was no longer in Nanyuan! Su Yu frowned. The single character faction elders had suddenly departed. Someone had even been injured. Clearly, there had been a battle somewhere.

Could it be...that shouldn't be the case, right? Were these people really gutsy enough to make a move inside Great Xia? Teacher Liu was only in the Skysoar Realm. Were these Mountainsea elders going to personally make a move against him? Would they?

Despite all the thoughts running through his mind, Su Yu maintained a calm expression as he said, "Thank you, Zongji. Thank you for this information."

"Don't mention it." Hu Zongji said, "I'm just doing my part. I'm glad the information is helpful for you. Don't be too worried, Su Yu. To speak the truth, with our strength, there's nothing we can do anyway. If something is really happening, it is better for you to stay in the academy. I'm worried that something bad might happen to you if you leave the academy."

With Wan Tiansheng around, Su Yu would be safe as long as he remained in the academy. Outside the academy, things might be fine inside the city. But the moment he left the city, he would only be able to rely on himself.

"I understand." Su Yu nodded, "Help me ask about Di Feng and that Qiu Yi person who is ranked 24th in the ranking."

From the single character faction, there were four students from Zhou Mingren's line in the top 100.

Apart from Huang Qifeng, there were three other students. Di Feng was previously ranked 9th and was the strongest of the bunch. After that was Qiu Yi. Both of them were students of Zhou Pingsheng.

The third person was Hu Wensheng's student and Chen Qi's senior brother. But that person maintained a very low profile and could be hardly seen in the academy.

Chapter 348: Expanded Mutual Aid Club (2)

Hu Zongji asked in astonishment, "Su Yu...don't tell me you're already in the Infinite Strength Realm."

"Nope." Su Yu shook his head, "Just gather some information about them for me. At times, you can't trust the rumors you hear, you know?"

There was nothing much he could do about the events outside the academy. But if something really happened to Teacher Liu, he could still make things really difficult for the single character faction within the academy.

Di Feng, who was ranked 9th, had a combat strength near the level of a Skysoar cultivator. Su Yu still wasn't his match. But that might not be the case for Qiu Yi, who was ranked 24th in the ranking.

With the apertures Su Yu had opened, after opening a few more acupoints and cultivating the Soul Devouring Art, he might really gain enough strength to defeat Qiu Yi.

It was not his wish to implicate anyone with his anger toward the single character faction. But since they were the ones targeting his faction, he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson they couldn't forget.

Within the academy, he feared nothing.

At that thought, Su Yu said, "Do the other elders have any students in the top 100 as well? If there are, gather their information for me as well. Thank you. Some of what I know are probably already outdated. I will be relying on you."

"That won't be an issue."

Hu Zongji nodded. Inwardly, he was actually quite shocked. Su Yu was someone who had joined the academy at the same time as him. But now, Su Yu was already setting his eyes on the top 30 students. What a terrifying individual. This person was growing at a crazy speed.

Su Yu asked, "How is your cultivation of the Pure Source Art?"

"I managed to cultivate it." Hu Zongji nodded, "I only cultivate it as a supplementary cultivation method. My main cultivation method is still the War God Art. I also entered the grotto once to break through into the Great Strength Realm. I now have 18 acupoints opened, but I have also opened a few of the Pure Source Art's acupoints."

With 18 acupoints, he was not even a second-stage Great Strength cultivator. In comparison with Su Yu, he was incomparably weak. But for a new student who hadn't even been in the academy for more than three months, he was actually doing quite well. Not everyone would enter the academy as Great Strength cultivators. And not everyone was Su Yu.

"The acupoint opening is a tad bit too slow..."

Su Yu remarked casually, but Hu Zongji felt awkward hearing that.

Su Yu wasn't saying so to destroy Hu Zongji's confidence. After thinking about it, he said, "In our circle, even if we can't grow strong, we must at least make sure that we aren't too weak. If you are too weak, nobody will attach any importance to you. You won't be able to enter the high-end circles of the academy, resulting in an inability to gather more important information. You can't rely on your second granduncle forever, right?"

Hu Zongji awkwardly said, "I...can't open my acupoints fast enough..."

"That won't be an issue." Su Yu said, "With the Pure Source Art, you'll be able to cleanse your acupoints. Thus, you will be able to increase your cultivation speed by consuming more blood essence. Others might destabilize their foundation after consuming too much blood essence, but you won't face the same problem. You can freely use things like blood essence and pills. It doesn't matter since you have the Pure Source Art."

Hu Zongji nodded in agreement. But he was too ashamed to tell Su Yu that cultivating this way would be too expensive.

"I'll challenge the Top 100 Ranking tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Just look for Xia Huyou and bet on me winning. Bet as much as you can on all matches I'm fighting in. If you trust me, just bet on me..."

Hu Zongji had a helpless smile as he said, "I do trust you, but the others know that you're strong as well. This betting pool won't be able to last long."

"That's the case for the first few matches. But how do you think the others would react if I challenge Qiu Yi? Would people finally stop betting on me?"

"Definitely." Hu Zongji nodded, "But how confident are you?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Hu Zongji nodded, "Fine. I won't ask how confident you are. Just be careful. From what my second granduncle has been saying, things might grow chaotic in the academy as well. Of course, there will be a limit to the chaos in the academy, but things will definitely be slightly turbulent for a while. At times like this, strength is the most important."

"I'll keep that in mind. Remember, use all your winnings on blood essence and pills and cultivate inside the grotto..."

"I can't enter the grotto." Hu Zongji said, "My previous entry was the free chance given when I joined the academy. I don't have enough total earned merit to enter the grotto normally."

"..."

Su Yu felt like cursing. He had nearly forgotten about the total earned merit. Finally, he was reminded of the fact that very few of the new students could actually enter the grotto.

"Grotto..."

Su Yu rubbed his chin. The Source Qi Secret Grotto was very important. At the very least, it was very important for students below the Skysoar Realm. Each time he entered the grotto, his cultivation speed would be 10 times faster than his usual speed outside the grotto.

Even if he cultivated with an endless supply of blood essence, he would still encounter bottlenecks outside the grotto. Only by cultivating within the grotto would he be able to advance endlessly.

"I'll think of something." Su Yu said, "Maybe there is a way to get you some total earned merit and send you into the grotto."

"Su Yu, this..." Hu Zongji was getting somewhat uneasy, "Will that be possible?"

"I'll try."

Su Yu was unsure, but he could give it a try. And if he really managed to do it, he would be able to further impress Hu Zongji.

...

After the meeting was done, Su Yu wasted no time and left the room. Before leaving, Su Yu nodded at the shopkeeper with a friendly smile.

The old shopkeeper was shocked to see how friendly Su Yu was. When Hu Zongji came down, he said, "Second Young Master, that person...seems to possess the grace of a truly important individual."

Hu Zongji smiled, "Third Uncle, don't address me as the young master. You're sounding like a stranger. As for that person, you're actually right. As long as he gets through this obstacle in front of him, he will grow into an important individual. His strength is truly...sigh."

Even now, Hu Zongji was still in disbelief. It was as though Su Yu would turn into an entirely different person each time they met. It had only been a few days yet Su Yu was already considering challenging Qiu Yi. What a terrifying person.

"Third Uncle...do me a favor."

"What do you need, Second Young Master?"

"Like I said, don't call me the young master...forget it. Help me arrange for the sales of my businesses in Tianshui. Tell my mother that her son is in trouble and requires some money to solve the trouble. Get her to let go of the properties and lend me some money..."

"Second Young Master, this..." Hu Zongji said, "I need to take a gamble. Third Uncle, in our home, I am nothing but a wastrel. My elder brother is a genius. What about me? I suppose I have a decent talent as a high-middle student of a cultural research academy. But in the academy, I am nothing."

"If I don't grab any chance I get, what am I going to do with my life? Am I supposed to spend decades here before entering the Skysoar Realm and returning to Tianshui to get appointed as a minor official? What a boring life that would be.

"I'll first earn some money and use the money to push my cultivation up. As for my future, if I really end up doing badly, so be it. But if I end up doing well, I will have no lack of money in the future!"

"I understand." The old man nodded, "Second Young Master, you're actually quite talented. Just look at you. You're already at the Great Strength Realm..."

Hu Zongji didn't feel like saying anything. Great Strength Realm? Was that really so impressive? Sure, he had taken less than three months to reach the Great Strength Realm. He was also not far away from the second stage. But what if he compared himself with Su Yu? He was so far away from even the bottom of the Top 100 Ranking.

There were so many geniuses and talented students in the academy yet Su Yu had picked Hu Zongji. Hu Zongji knew that Su Yu had his own plans and secrets. Su Yu might not be able to keep a stronger student under control, so that was probably one of the reasons he had picked Hu Zongji.

But he still couldn't be too weak. Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before he lost all his value to Su Yu who was continuing to grow rapidly. Dıscover more novels at novel★fire.net

Just look at how Su Yu had reacted when hearing about his cultivation of the first-stage Great Strength Realm earlier. Yes. There was no reaction whatsoever.

Hu Zongji clenched his teeth and vowed to himself that he definitely couldn't lose Su Yu as a backer. This second granduncle of his wasn't exactly his grandfather. Was he supposed to rely on this granduncle for life?

As for Su Yu, no matter how hard his life was, he still had the backing of a proper eighth-stage Mountainsea cultivator.

Just the Pure Source Art Su Yu had randomly taken out was already something Hu Zongji could only treat as an invaluable treasure. In fact, this cultivation method would be treasured by any other group as well. After all, apart from those top-tier families, very few people actually had something capable of source qi purification.

...

Su Yu was completely unaware of what Hu Zongji was thinking. As far as Su Yu was concerned, it was already impossible for Hu Zongji to keep up with him. He was already happy enough if Hu Zongji could be helpful for now. For example, Hu Zongji could be the source of some information that Su Yu wouldn't be able to obtain himself.

"I need to recruit even more people."

His network of people was still too small. Only after recruiting someone with access to the higher ups would he be able to ensure that he could always stay updated with the latest ongoings.

...

Half an hour later.

Mental Tempering Garden. Beside a certain rock garden.

Within the darkness, Lin Yao asked curiously, "Brother Su, what are we doing here so late at night?"

He asked in excitement, "Brother Su, my teacher's status has grown in the faction! Even my senior brother and I are basking in the light of my teacher's promotion! We are each getting over 30 merit points per month!"

Su Yu blanked out slightly. Promoted? Don't joke around! Even after what he did, Liu Hong was actually still fine?

Su Yu had nothing to say. He could only admire how truly devious Liu Hong was. That fellow had definitely turned Zhou Pingsheng into the super scapegoat.

Despite his thoughts, Su Yu still smiled and said, "Congratulations. All this is within our expectation, including the injuries of that elder. Hehe, if he hasn't been injured, how would Teacher Liu get the chance to showcase his ability? In fact, even the disturbance I created during the challenge matches was for the sake of giving Teacher Liu a chance to perform."

"I guessed right!" Lin Yao said in excitement, "I knew that was an act by both you and Teacher. You were only saying all those things about Teacher to help win more trust from Faculty Head Zhou for my teacher! I knew it!"

Exactly. Holy shit. Su Yu only needed to come up with the first half of the lie and Lin Yao had already completed the story himself. What an incredible...brain.

Chapter 349: Expanded Mutual Aid Club (3)

"For now, I have to continue maintaining my distance from Teacher Liu..." Su Yu said, "By the way, your grandfather is from the single character faction as well. Will injuring Elder Zheng affect your grandfather..."

"It's fine." Lin Yao said, "We're not from their line. We're actually from Elder Fang's line. Faculty Head Zhou's line is already used to being overbearing in the faction. But since my grandpa is quite close with Faculty Head Zhou, he decided to stay in the middle and not side with anyone in the faction." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ n0velfire.net

"That's good. We don't want to create more conflict between your line and the other lines." Su Yu nodded, "Brother Lin, to speak the truth, Teacher Liu, me, and a lot of people are trying to change something. But since we are still too weak, we can only stay in the shadows for now. Brother Lin, you're a student of Teacher Liu. We have built our friendship from rivalry. I approve of your character. If one day we decide to overturn some of the existing status quo, would you be willing to stand at our side?"

Lin Yao frowned, "Brother Su, you guys aren't trying to overthrow the entire single character faction, right?"

"Of course not. And we're not strong enough to do something like that anyway."

Lin Yao thought about it and said, "I am not a selfless person. As long as my grandfather is fine, I don't really care. As long as my teacher and you are victorious, I honestly don't care about the others."

Su Yu nodded, "In that case, I hereby officially invite you to the Mutual Aid Club. Don't ask me how many members we have. Don't ask me who our members are. I am your sole contact person from the club. Everything else will remain secret."

He then gave Lin Yao a short introduction to the Mutual Aid Club.

Lin Yao asked in excitement, "Is...Teacher a part of this Mutual Aid Club as well?"

"Like I said, don't ask me about the members." Su Yu solemnly said, "This is still a small circle for now. Do not tell anyone about it. Do not speak of this club openly. That applies to Teacher Liu as well. You are not to speak with him about the club. You shouldn't be asking about his membership. He will not be aware of the fact that you're a member of the club."

"The moment you leak anything related to the club, we will have no choice but to kick you."

Lin Yao hurriedly nodded, "I understand. What do I need to do for the club?"

"Information transmission and gathering. Isn't your grandfather a Cloudbreach cultivator? He's quite close to Faculty Head Zhou as well, right? In that case, he definitely knows a lot. You only need to share some information that you think you can share with me.

"Naturally, you won't be working for free. In the Mutual Aid Club, fair exchange is extremely important. We will have someone evaluating the value of every information you bring to the club. With your information, you can trade for the things you need from the club."

"The things I need?" Lin Yao said after some hesitation, "But I don't lack any cultivation resources for now..."

Su Yu shook his head, "Brother Lin, you're too easily satisfied. Where is the Lin Yao who had looked for me for some mountainbreak bull blood essence? Aren't you aiming for the top 100? Are you giving up already? So many of our classmates have managed to enter the top 100. Don't you want to do the same?"

Lin Yao blanked out.

"I feel like after the end of the conflict between us, you seem to have lost all your fighting spirit. If I had known that this would happen, I would have remained as your rival. Brother Lin, don't forget that you're from the single character faction while I'm from the multiple character faction. From today onward, we will be rivals. You should be viewing me with hostility! That is what Lin Yao should be doing!"

Lin Yao blanked out slightly. After a short thought, he nodded and solemnly said, "Thank you for that. I seem to have gotten carried away, thinking that I have nothing to strive for since you are no longer an enemy. But now...I'm aware that I was wrong."

"That's right." Su Yu said, "We have plenty of good stuff in the club, such as a cultivation method capable of purifying source qi, the Soul Devouring Art i mentioned previously, ability blood essence, body-strengthening manuals, numerous willpower texts, and so on. You will definitely be able to find something you want. Only those in the club are allowed to obtain all these things."

Lin Yao swallowed and said, "Do you guys even have the rights to transmit all those things?"

"Why not? All those manuals are created by our fellow club members so we have all the rights for these manuals."

Lin Yao was greatly alarmed to learn that those manuals were actually created by the members of the club. Just how many members did this Mutual Aid Club have? And how many super experts did they have in the club?

It was very likely that a lot of multiple character faction members were already in the club. Some single character faction members were probably in the club as well. How about those from the other factions?

Lin Yao was getting increasingly alarmed. He was more and more confident that his teacher was probably part of the club as well. Some other students had probably joined the club as well. For example, that Xia Huyou fellow from the Xia Family.

Lin Yao had a feeling like he had been invited to an incredible organization. Perhaps an astonishingly powerful organization that not even the prefect knew about was hidden in the academy. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.

Suddenly, Su Yu said, "But Brother Lin, you are still too weak. You have been in the Great Strength Realm since the 1st of September. Even now, you are still at the second-stage. This is too slow."

"Erm..."

Lin Yao looked awkward. But wasn't that actually quite fast?

"The Mutual Aid Club has a cultivation manual called the Pure Source Art. It specializes in clearing the impurities in your source qi. I used it before. You know how strong I am. With this cultivation method, you can grow rapidly by consuming blood essence and pills before cleaning the impurities in your body. Your cultivation speed will increase significantly. You will be able to reach the Infinite Strength Realm quickly."

Lin Yao's eyes lit up, "You're using this cultivation method as well?"

"Yeah."

"How many merit points to get this manual?"

"You can't get it with merit points. You need our internal currency, the mutual aid point. But you can only get these mutual aid points by contributing to the club."

Su Yu was busy making things up when he was suddenly stunned. Damn it. Why did it feel like he was starting a cult? But he hurriedly tossed that thought away. He was not setting himself against humanity. He was only creating this club to protect himself. Nothing else mattered.

"You only need 10 mutual aid points. As a fellow member, you can get the manual at a cheap price. If you're an outsider, you won't be able to get the manual for even 1,000 merit points."

"I only need 10 mutual aid points?"

Lin Yao was astonished. This Mutual Aid Club...was truly incredible. No wonder Su Yu was able to grow so quickly. This was too cheap!

"Can I get mutual aid points with any information?" Lin Yao hurriedly said, "I have some information, but I don't know if I can get any mutual aid points for it."

"What is it about?"

"A few months ago, the Divine Skywing Sect attacked Great Xia. During the attack, their sect master was killed by the prefect. The higher ups of the sect were all defeated, but their treasury remains undiscovered. I heard from my grandpa that even the Martial Dragon Guards had failed to find the treasury.

"My grandpa also said that if they keep searching, they might be able to find it. But the prefect disdains doing so. He left the sect master's corpse in the Myriad Race Pit. According to my grandpa, if you can get a drop of the sect master's blood essence, you will be able to separate the memory imprint in the blood essence and search the sect master's memories. Perhaps you can get the location of the treasury through it. Of course, very few people are actually capable of extracting memory imprints and the few experts that are actually capable of doing so don't really care about the treasury of the sect..."

Lin Yao nervously asked, "Is this information useful enough to get me some mutual aid points? It feels quite useless, but it is still something related to some big shots. Perhaps some other big shots in the club will find this information valuable?"

Meanwhile, Su Yu was blanking out. He had never heard of that before. Also, he was quite surprised to learn that Lin Yao actually believed that there were big shots in the Mutual Aid Club.

"Erm...is extracting memory very difficult?"

He was quite astonished. Was that so hard? Even Bai Feng knew how to do so! And he was also in the process of learning how to do that.

"Yes. It's very difficult." Lin Yao nodded, "According to my grandpa, very few experts in existence are capable of extracting memory fragments. Not even the prefect is proficient in that or he would have done so before tossing the corpse away. The faculty heads in the academy might know how to do it, but it would also be too embarrassing for people of their status to steal a corpse from the Myriad Race Pit for some blood essence..."

Too embarrassing? Su Yu had to disagree. Principal Wan was pretty shameless. Would someone like that feel embarrassed?

There were probably some other misgivings. After all, this involved extracting the blood essence of a human. Even if that human in question was a part of the Myriad Race Cult, it still wouldn't be proper for one to openly extract the blood essence of one such person.

Of course, if Xia Longwu knew how to extract memories, he probably wouldn't have any misgivings in doing so.

"Got it. I'll get someone to evaluate the value of this information. If it proves useful, you will definitely receive what you deserve. I think you can probably get enough to purchase a manual of the Pure Source Art. Of course, even after buying the manual, you won't be allowed to transmit it. Do you understand?"

"Of course. I understand."

Lin Yao nodded solemnly. He naturally knew that he had to keep something like this secret. Cultivation methods could not be lightly transmitted!

Most of these cultivation methods were created by big shots. One could easily get killed by carelessly transmitting these cultivation methods. It wasn't like something like this had never happened before.

...

That night, Su Yu successfully dealt with Lin Yao and obtained a piece of news that he still wasn't sure if it would be helpful. He exhaled in relief. As of now, the Mutual Aid Club had successfully obtained its third member. Not bad at all!

All these members were high-tier students. Even Hu Zongji was a high-middle student. In truth, Hu Zongji was actually quite an impressive student. He only looked weak in comparison to someone like Su Yu.

"Teacher Liu..."

He still couldn't contact Liu Wenyan. The single character faction was probably doing something against Liu Wenyan. Su Yu cursed inwardly and wondered if he should tell his teacher and martial uncle about it. His martial uncle wasn't strong enough and still needed to protect his position in the books depository. If his martial uncle was lured out of the academy...sigh.

Their faction was still too weak. What a pity that his martial uncle still wasn't a Mountainsea cultivator.

"What do people need to reach the Mountainsea Realm from the Cloudbreach Realm? Do they need a new cultivation method or something similar? If it's cultivation method, I might be able to provide some."

Su Yu lacked everything except cultivation methods. And all his cultivation methods were guaranteed to be suitable for human practice. One ought to know that he had already activated over 80 pages so far.

His martial uncle had been stuck in the Cloudbreach Realm for many years. He wondered what the issue was. If his martial uncle could reach the Mountainsea Realm, their faction would be much stronger than before.

After entering the Mountainsea Realm, his martial uncle would be promoted into an elder and gain more weight to his voice inside the academy.

"There's also Teacher Zhao..."

Su Yu exhaled and ran straight toward Xia Huyou. By that time, it was nearly morning. The 8th was coming again so he should get ready to visit his Teacher Zhao again. If possible, he would try to get Teacher Zhao to hammer him a dozen times or so.

He could also try to ask if Teacher Zhao could give him a special privilege when it comes to entering the Source Qi Secret Grotto.

After all, the Source Qi Secret Grotto was something left behind by Teacher Zhao's father. He should have some special prerogative about the grotto, right? It would be a waste to not make use of the special prerogative he had.

Su Yu even started wondering if he should have a talk with Bai Feng and discuss having him officially come under Zhao Li instead. After all, on paper, the multiple character faction no longer existed.

Naturally, he would minor in the multiple character faction instead so they would remain on the same side. Bai Feng would be fine, right? If he did well, he would even share some of his wealth with Bai Feng!

If he really did that, the Source Qi Secret Grotto would be as good as theirs! Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Chapter 350: Just Ask For It! (1)

When Su Yu found Xia Huyou, he had just got out of bed and was still in a daze.

It was too early.

It was almost four in the morning.

Xia Huyou was in a daze because he had just woken up. But that wasn't the case for Su Yu. Just as Su Yu was about to speak, his heart thumped. What did he just see? A thin layer of mist was surrounding Xia Huyou, slowly being absorbed by him. Before long, that thin mist was gone.

"Opened apertures!"

As someone who had just opened 20 apertures, Su Yu was way too familiar with this sight. That thin layer of mist had clearly come from somewhere earlier. Skysoar Realm? Su Yu was alarmed. Was Xia Huyou at the Skysoar Realm? No, that didn't seem to be the case.

If Xia Huyou was a Skysoar cultivator, he would have a full willpower that was already materialized. He would also have a second-tier willpower. He would look slightly different from a regular student. The only exception was if Xia Huyou was already so strong that he could completely conceal his cultivation.

And if Xia Huyou wasn't a Skysoar cultivator, then that could only mean that this fellow had opened some apertures with a cultural art that could be used during the Mental Tempering Stage.

Su Yu was astonished. Wasn't he told that cultural arts suitable for human usage at the Mental Tempering Stage did not exist? No, he was told that such arts existed, but they were monopolized by the great families. So did Xia Huyou know this cultural art because he was an important figure in the Xia Family?

"Su Yu, it's the middle of the night. Can't we talk in the morning?"

Xia Huyou kept yawning. Did Su Yu not require sleep? He wasn't too worried about the tiny bit of willpower surrounding him when he woke up. Su Yu wasn't even a Skysoar cultivator so he was sure that Su Yu wouldn't be able to notice anything. And he only required a short moment to absorb that tiny bit of willpower. Even a Skysoar cultivator could easily miss that if the cultivator wasn't paying close attention.

Su Yu did not talk about what he saw and smiled, "I have too many things to do so I'll have to be troubling you. Huyou, I have a question. Do you sell foundation cultural arts? I'm referring to those arts that can be used during the Mental Tempering Stage."

"No." Xia Huyou said, "How can something like that be sold?"

"So something like that exists? You know more things than me. Can you confirm with me if such cultural arts exist in the Human Realm?"

Xia Huyou scratched his head and said, "Such cultural arts definitely exist, but generally, they are kept secret by their owners. With so many Invincible experts around, some of them must have already come up with a usable cultural art for humans..."

"Since those Invincible experts can create something like that, why haven't they spread these cultural arts like the source arts?"

"It's different." Xia Huyou shook his head, "Simply put, everyone is capable of being a warrior. But only a small minority of people can become cultural researchers. And that small group of people stand at the peak of human society. Those pursuing the path of cultural research are either those from major families or cultural research families.

"Sure, there are some unaffiliated cultural researchers around, but there are very few of them. Even if the cultural arts are made public, the commoners won't be able to get or learn them. In the end, these cultural arts will still end up in the hands of these major families."

At this point, Xia Huyou was finally starting to wake up. He said, "That will only further solidify the position and privilege of those in that special class formed by cultural researchers. At times, not spreading these cultural arts can also be beneficial for the human race. Of course, those people are also keeping these cultural arts private for selfish reasons. They wish to further strengthen their families like how those warrior families have been able to maintain the advantage of their families by keeping their cultivation methods secret."

Xia Huyou smiled, "It is impossible to make all cultivation manuals public. This applies to all races. Even the divines and the devils will keep some of their more powerful cultivation manuals secret from the rest of their population."

Su Yu nodded, "In other words, these cultural arts exist. Am I right?"

"I think so."

Xia Huyou gave an indirect answer.

Su Yu thought about it and asked, "What if someone spread a cultural art like this around?"

Xia Huyou gave it some thought and replied, "The number of cultural researchers will increase. The struggle over resources will intensify. And humanity will face a shortage of willpower texts. Of course, there are also advantages to it. Cultural researchers will be able to reach the Skysoar Realm faster. A cultural researcher can obtain sufficient combat strength in a shorter period of time, shortening the time required for a cultural researcher to reach a high level of cultivation.

"Su Yu, nobody will sell something like this. Stop thinking about it. Also, even if such cultural arts really exist, there definitely won't be a lot of them in existence. Generally, these arts are kept even a secret from those in the same family."

Xia Huyou shook his head, "I'll be honest. For now, it is still impossible to share everything with everyone. Perhaps in the future when the human race is on the brink of extinction, this might be possible since we will be forced to use everything we have against the myriad races. At that time, I suppose all these precious cultivation manuals will no longer seem so precious.

"But the truth is that the human race is still one of the stronger races. We are not in that good of a position, but we are still doing quite well in the Allheaven Battlefield. It is basically impossible for humanity to start sharing all these cultivation manuals at this time."

"Are we really doing well?" Su Yu coldly said, "If we're really doing well, the Devil Subduing Army would not have been forced to recall the retired soldiers several times in the past few years. My father wouldn't have returned to the battlefield at the age of fifty."

Xia Huyou coughed awkwardly and said, "The Devil Subduing Army is different. That is mainly because they have been involved in too many wars early on. You know that the Great Xia Prefecture is very warlike. My-our Prefect Xia is a very stern person that is unwilling to compromise. As long as anyone dares to provoke us, he will answer with his army. That results in disastrous losses among the Devil Subduing Army, forcing us to keep recruiting retired veterans back into the army."

Su Yu asked, "In that case, the other prefectures have actually not suffered as many casualties in all these wars?"

"Yeah." Xia Huyou said, "The other prefectures do fight in wars, but strictly speaking, they are mostly fighting the weaker races. Only our Great Xia Prefecture focuses on the powerful races like the divines and the devils."

"Why?" Xia Huyou sighed, "Why else? It's due to the Great Xia King. He is the kind of person that enjoys doing something nobody else dares to do. For example, he will insist on defending the locations nobody dares to defend. He will also insist on fighting in conflicts nobody dares to get involved in. For a few generations, that is the type of prefect we have been getting. Because of that, our army keeps going deeper and deeper into the Allheaven Battlefield. As a result, the enemies we encounter become stronger and stronger as well."

"Are the other Invincibles not doing anything about this?"

"Yes, they are. But the Invincible cultivators are only involved in the battles of Invincible cultivators. As for the battles below their level, they wouldn't get involved."

When Xia Huyou saw Su Yu's doubtful expression, he explained, "Of course, it is not necessarily a bad thing to be involved in more battles. By engaging in more battles, we have been able to produce more experts as well. The Great Xia is basically raising experts through slaughter..."

He didn't try to hide anything, "Survival of the fittest. Of the various prefectures, Great Xia is the prefecture with the highest rate of experts produced. We are actually among the strongest prefectures in the Human Realm. Of the 36 prefectures of the Human Realm, Great Xia is actually one of the three strongest prefectures."

"36 prefectures?" Su Yu frowned, "Why are there only 36 prefectures? The books say that there are 38 prefectures."

Xia Huyou scratched his head, "I'm referring to the major prefectures. Apart from the major prefectures, there are two small prefectures. The books aren't too clear about it, but one of the two is the Allheaven Prefecture. That is the prefecture with the tunnel leading to the Allheaven Battlefield. The other small prefecture is the Dual Holy Prefecture. That is the core of the Human Realm, the place where the two holy lands of humanity can be found. Both the War Shrine and the Knowledge Seeking Realm is located within that prefecture."

Su Yu nodded and said, "I know about all that. So you're excluding those two when you rank the prefectures? I was confused when you said that we're a top three prefecture. Doesn't that make us the strongest behind the Dual Holy Prefecture?"

Xia Huyou shrugged, "It's not like we're that far off. Ignoring everything else, in terms of military strength and the numbers of experts alone, we are at the top in the Human Realm. There is one other prefecture that is as strong as us, the Great Zhou Prefecture. They are much better at plundering the Allheaven Battlefield for resources. Thanks to their wealth, they have been able to produce a lot of experts as well."

"Apart from Great Xia and Great Zhou, which prefecture is in the top three?"

"Great Qin." Xia Huyou unhesitatingly said, "They are very strong as well. The Great Qin King is standing at the very top even among the Invincible experts."

Su Yu said, "In that case, there are actually 36 Invincible cultivators in the two holy lands?"

"I don't know." Xia Huyou smiled, "Apart from the Invincible cultivators themselves, nobody really knows. Firstly, some of them might have perished but the news has been hidden from the public. Some new experts might have broken through into the Invincible Realm without publicizing the news of the breakthrough. And not all Invincible cultivators will actually start their own prefecture...

"If you check the history books, you should be aware that over 300 years ago, the various prefectures have only been founded out of desperation. Some myriad race experts had entered the Human Realm to create chaos everywhere. Left with no choice, some human Invincibles stepped forth and established the various prefectures to protect the humans living within those territories."

Su Yu nodded. He was aware of that. Of course, the history books were not detailed enough in their description of the events. In truth, history has not given any explanations for a lot of issues.

For example, the matter concerning the advancement of the first batch of human Invincibles over 300 years ago. How did that group of humans break through? Where did they come from? Where had they learned what they knew? Were there any human experts before them?

All these things were only mentioned passingly in the history books. Basically, anything involving the Invincible cultivators would be left ambiguous in the history books.

Su Yu did not push for more answers. He only needed to have a clearer idea of some topics instead of knowing everything. After hearing Xia Huyou's words, he was starting to suspect that this Xia Huyou could very well be Xia Longwu's son.

What a pity. Xia Longwu used to be Su Yu's idol. That was someone who would always look dignified and imposing on television. With one order, he would cause countless heads to fall. He was someone who had planted fear in the hearts of the Myriad Race Cult members. A person so noble and imposing would actually have a son like this? Su Yu found it hard to believe.

Naturally, Su Yu had no intention of exposing Xia Huyou even though he was already 80 percent sure of Xia Huyou's identity. It was fine to know about it, but there was no need to reveal the truth. Strictly speaking, this Xia Huyou was the crown prince of Great Xia. After exposing the truth, was he supposed to start saluting this crown prince each time they meet in the future?

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Chapter 351: Just Ask For It! (1)

"Alright, let's stop talking about all that. You still owe me around 4,000 merit points. I told you to gather some blood essence for me. Have you done so?"

"I did. I got you 100 drops of late-stage Infinite Strength mountainbreak bull blood essence for 2,000 merit points. I also got you 500 drops of Great Strength soul devouring bug blood essence for 1,500 merit points. With the remaining 500 merit points, I got you 10 drops of fire elemental blood essence."

Just like that, all the money he had earned through Xia Huyou was gone. Su Yu was feeling rather helpless. This fatty was truly quite efficient in helping him spend his money. Each time, this fellow would buy just enough for him to finish spending all his money. Just like that, his pocket was emptied yet again.

"Are the mountainbreak bulls in the battlefield not going crazy from all the blood essence we are gathering?"

Xia Huyou smiled, "What are you thinking? It's only some blood essence. We haven't even killed that many of them. The mountainbreak bull is only a top 100 race. Don't overestimate them. The human race is a top 10 race yet we still have so many people dying each year. The lives of the mountainbreak bulls are definitely not comparable to the lives of humans.

"In truth, there aren't a lot of mountainbreak bulls in the battlefield. But they are born at the Great Strength Realm. In the early stages, they are stronger than the human race. After all, we still need to go through the Source Opening Realm. In fact, many of the stronger races do not need to even go through the Source Opening Realm."

Su Yu did not have anything to say about that. He only knew that he had finished spending the money he had recently earned.

After thinking about it, he said, "My teacher told me that at the Skysoar Realm, I can cultivate the Myriad Text Sutra and start opening my soul apertures. But by absorbing willpower, my apertures will be filled with impurities like what would happen to my acupoints after consuming blood essence. Since you know so much, do you know of a way to purify willpower?"

"You asked the right person!" Xia Huyou smiled, "There are a lot of ways you can purify your willpower."

"Firstly, pills. The pillmaking faction has a special pill capable of purifying willpower called the Soul Congealing Pill. It is split into several grades. The second grade corresponds to the Skysoar Realm, but it is very expensive at 100 merit points per pill. Its effect is decent as you can purify around three to five apertures with one pill.

"Secondly, talismans. The talisman faction has a type of purification talisman. These talismans are one-off talismans that can be used to cleanse your apertures. Its price is similar to the Soul Congealing Pill.

"Thirdly, cleansing your willpower with a different willpower of high purity.

"Fourthly, some rare natural treasures can also be used to purify your willpower.

"Fifthly, cultivation methods..."

"Cultivation methods?" This was what Su Yu have been waiting for, "There are actually cultivation methods capable of solving this issue as well?"

"Yes." Xia Huyou said, "Naturally, I don't have this cultivation method. And I can't even get my hands on one. But I'm sure that something like this exists out there. It is rumored that the Great Ming King has one such cultivation method. Those from the main branch of Great Ming's Zhu Family are probably all taught this cultivation method. Those from their family are known for their pure apertures."

Great Ming King...Su Yu decided to forget about it. This was the cultivation method of a family with an Invincible expert. There was no way this cultivation method would leak.

"How about the myriad races? Are there such cultivation methods among the myriad races?"

"There probably are some out there, but I'm really not sure. Some of those races specializing in willpower probably have these cultivation methods. Maybe the five elemental race has one such cultivation method. I don't know..."

Su Yu himself was not too sure. He only knew the foundation cultural art and racial ability of the five elemental race. But that didn't mean that he knew everything about the five elemental race.

After all, he could only activate the foundation cultural art and racial abilities with blood essence. The other cultivation methods and techniques they cultivated would not be activated. The book in his head would be way too scary if it was capable of activating even the additional methods and techniques cultivated by the myriad races.

Su Yu did not ask further. He would try to look for more information himself or check with Bai Feng later. He was in no rush. Even though he might accumulate impurities in his apertures, he was still nowhere near breakthrough so that wasn't something he needed to worry about for now.

After thinking for a bit, Su Yu said, "Huyou, if I want to enter the Infinite Strength Realm, what do you think can help increase the speed of my advancement?"

"You're preparing to enter the Infinite Strength Realm already?"

Xia Huyou was astonished. But his surprise did not last long. Since Su Yu was already at the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm, it wasn't too surprising that he would start planning for his breakthrough.

"You're already aware of this. The advancement into the Infinite Strength Realm is essentially the process of acupoint fusion. But only if you fuse 10 or more acupoints would you be considered a true Infinite Strength cultivator. The number of acupoints fused will have a very big effect on your combat strength.

"The best option is to fuse the maximum number of acupoints required by your cultivation method. For example, the War God Art allows you to fuse up to 12 acupoints for the first stage. It would definitely be much better if you can do so. That way, when you're attacking, your source qi will flow smoothly. Things like clogged source qi circulation will not happen."

Xia Huyou did not elaborate too much as Su Yu himself was already aware of all that. After the short introduction, Xia Huyou continued, "The best item to help someone enter the Infinite Strength Realm is something called the lapis fruit."

"Lapis fruit?"

Su Yu couldn't recall hearing about this fruit before. Compared to those from the major families, he still knew too little. It was simply impossible for him to know everything from reading alone.

"Yes. It is a fruit that can make your body as pure as a precious stone. After consuming this fruit, your acupoints will undergo a certain level of materialization. During this period of time, the repelling force between your acupoints will be at its weakest, making it the best opportunity for you to fuse your acupoints."

"Reducing the repelling force between acupoints..." With a pensive look, Su Yu said, "When fusing acupoints, the acupoints will repel each other. Is it possible to replace the lapis fruit with Divine Characters or other methods capable of weakening the repelling force to help with the fusion?"

"Yeah." Xia Huyou nodded, "If you have a Divine Character with such an ability, you can naturally use it to help with your breakthrough. The issue is more on actually obtaining such a Divine Character."

"I understand." Su Yu did not say anything else. When he saw that the sun was going to rise soon, he said, "I won't be taking the blood essence from you right now. Just deliver it to the research center for me. Too many people are paying close attention to me recently so I need to take precautions against robbery."

"Sure."

Xia Huyou readily agreed. He was in a good mood after finalizing yet another deal with Su Yu. And as far as he was aware, Su Yu still had a decent amount of money left. Thus, he would be able to do even more business with Su Yu.

After Su Yu left, Xia Huyou muttered to himself.

"Infinite Strength Realm..."

This fellow was clearly a cultural researcher yet he was cultivating his physical body like he was a warrior. Was he not afraid of affecting his willpower cultivation by focusing too much on his physical cultivation?

...

As dawn arrived, Su Yu slowly walked through the academy.

Xia Huyou was most likely Xia Longwu's son. He wouldn't have possessed a cultural art usable at the Mental Tempering Stage otherwise. Of course, there was always the possibility that Xia Huyou was already a Skysoar cultivator. If that was really the case, then Su Yu would really have nothing to say about it.

But if Xia Huyou was really a Skysoar cultivator, then he was a freak among freaks. That would make it even likelier that he was Xia Longwu's son.

"Sure enough, those from the big families are all very good at hiding themselves." Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by n0velfire.net

Regardless of Xia Huyou's cultivation level, the true strength of his willpower was definitely higher than what he had displayed. Su Yu had no way of determining Xia Huyou's actual strength. Perhaps Xia Huyou was even stronger than Wan Mingze. Su Yu even wondered if he was actually Xia Huyou's match.

"Just what are all these people doing? Why are all of them hiding their strength?"

Su Yu started grumbling about all these mysterious students. There were a few other students in his class who were just as mysterious. He had no way of accurately judging their strength. Those people hadn't even participated in the top 100 challenges. Su Yu really couldn't understand why they were insisting on hiding their strength.

But when he thought about it, he decided to stop worrying about the secrets of others. After all, he was hiding plenty of secrets himself. For example, nobody knew that he had actually opened 20 soul apertures. After roaming randomly in the academy, the sky was finally bright. Su Yu started heading toward Zhao Li's research center.

...

"Ahhh, what a rare visitor you are."

Zhao Li teased with a smile when he saw Su Yu visiting.

Su Yu looked awkward. it was true that he would only be here when he was in need of help. He might be minoring in the Weaponsmithing Faculty, but in truth, he hadn't even been attending their basic classes.

"Teacher, I..."

"It's fine." Zhao Li did not mind, "If you still have time to attend our classes, then I'll have no choice but to admire you. You need to cultivate, form Divine Characters, grow your willpower, and even challenge the top 100. And you have only been in the academy for two months."

He was really fine with Su Yu's absence. Everyone would understand how busy Su Yu was. That was especially true now that Su Yu had also been participating in some research projects. With how busy he was, it was already very impressive that he could continue progressing his cultivation at such a rapid pace.

If Su Yu could also find some time to focus on weaponsmithing on top of all that, then he would be more than a human. He would be a deity.

Zhao Li shut the door and walked while asking, "So why are you here today? Do you need to reforge your cultural weapon? There is no rush. You have probably only formed a few Divine Characters, right? After our previous forging session, your weapon should be good enough until you have more than 10 Divine Characters."

"Teacher..." Su Yu hesitated slightly and said, "I'm here to ask you about a way to enter the Source Qi Secret Grotto without enough total earned merit."

"You have enough total earned merit, right?" Zhao Li asked in astonishment, "Even I am aware of that. Kid, are you trying to enter for free?"

Su Yu smiled bashfully, "Well, if you can really help me enter for free, I'll gladly accept your help."

Chapter 352: Just Ask For It! (2)

"Kid..." For a moment, Zhao Li was speechless. He said, "You must have learned about something. I'll be frank, my father was the fourth principal. I have been ignoring that Divine Character he left behind. Why? Because he had grown thanks to the support of the academy. He represented the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.

"Of course, strictly speaking, that grotto should be mine. If I refuse to acknowledge that, some Invincible families would probably have some issues with me for being the one to renounce the benefits brought by my seniors. For these people, what is the point of being the descendents of an expert if they can't enjoy the benefits brought by their seniors?

"You only need to pay 100 merit points per entry. That is actually very cheap. You need to know that the academy needs to spend money maintaining the grotto as well. The academy is earning some money from running the grotto, but in truth, the profit is negligible."

Su Yu nodded, "Teacher, it doesn't matter if I can't enter for free. I only wish to gain the right of entry for a few of my close friends. We can pay for their visits, but they don't have enough total earned merit. You know this. It is too hard for someone to earn total earned merit before reaching the Skysoar Realm."

"Looking at you, it doesn't seem difficult at all." Zhao Li joked. "Sure. The payment is for the sake of ensuring the operation of the grotto. As long as they are willing to pay the entrance fee, I don't mind giving you a special treatment when it comes to the required total earned merit."

He then searched a shabby couch in the room. After a while, he fished out a black token and said, "With this, you can send the people you want inside. Little Huang and Little Nie who are in charge of guarding the grotto will know what to do after seeing this token."

Little Huang...and Little Nie. Su Yu felt incredibly awkward hearing how Zhao Li was addressing the two seniors. Little Nie was still somewhat acceptable, but Little Huang reminded him of the dog of a grandpa next door back at Nanyuan.

"Thank you, Teacher."

Su Yu hurriedly accepted the token with a joyous expression. This was a great gift! With this token, he would be able to send his friends into the grotto. They would still need to pay, but this token would still save them a lot of trouble.

People like Hu Zongji and Lin Yao would probably take a very long time to gather enough total earned merit. After all, these were the people who couldn't get top 10 in the monthly examinations, couldn't get into the Top 100 Ranking, and were unqualified to even accept the regular missions of the academy.

The token felt somewhat cold to touch. The surface of the token only had a single hammer and the character "Zhao" on it.

Su Yu thanked happily, "Sorry for troubling you, Teacher. By the way, I found that my willpower has grown greatly after being hammered by you previously. When I tested my willpower, I found that it has reached the peak of the first tier."

"Peak first-tier?" Zhao Li nodded, "Not bad. But my hammer isn't that magical. It's thanks to yourself. Your willpower was already well-tempered before that. I only further solidified your willpower."

"Teacher, was that the effect of the Soul Expanding Art?"

"Yeah."

Zhao Li wasn't surprised that Su Yu would know about this. He would be a fool to still be clueness after all this time.

He smiled, "Do you regret your option? If you had decided to major in the weaponsmithing faction, I would have taught you the Soul Expanding Art. You will be enjoying the benefits of being hammered at all times. You need to know that after cultivating the Soul Expanding Art, your sea of willpower will be able to form a hammer by itself. You can use the hammer to temper your sea of willpower every single day."

Su Yu looked at Zhao Li with an odd gaze. Did this mean that...Teacher Zhao spent every single day hammering himself?

Zhao Li was somewhat speechless when he saw Su Yu's gaze. He said, "What are you looking at? Only a sea of willpower that has gone through countless temperings can be considered a true sea of willpower. Not even those at the Mountainsea Realm can hope to destroy my sea of willpower. This is the benefit of cultivating the Soul Expanding Art.

"Willpower can be split into tiers. Those at the Mental Tempering Stage have first-tier willpower, those at the Skysoar Realm have second-tier willpower, those at the Cloudbreach Realm have third-tier willpower, those at the Mountainsea Realm have fourth-tier willpower, and those at the Sunmoon have fifth-tier willpower. Currently, the highest tier a human can reach is the peak of the fifth tier. I might be a Cloudbreach cultivator, but my willpower has long reached the fourth-tier."

Su Yu asked in astonishment, "Why are you not in the Mountainsea Realm already?"

"Mountainsea..." Zhao Li shook his head and sighed, "It has been a while since you entered the academy so you should be aware of some things. To advance into the Mountainsea Realm, one's willpower, Divine Characters, and apertures need to reach a certain level. Back then, I had failed to forge an earth-grade weapon. Because of that, my main Divine Character was stuck at peak third-tier. Back then, in order to step into the Mountainsea Realm in one fell swoop, I had even fused my main Divine Character into that weapon. Since I had failed the forging of that weapon...I am probably stuck below the Mountainsea Realm for life."

In truth, there was still hope for him to advance, but the hope was too small. But he was no longer too bothered about it. A few years ago, he would still feel sad whenever he thought of this. But now, he was happy with letting everything happen naturally.

Perhaps one day, that weapon would suddenly finish its advancement. He would then be able to borrow that momentum to push his main Divine Character into the next tier and step into the Mountainsea Realm.

Su Yu finally understood why Zhao Li was still below the Mountainsea Realm. What a courageous option. Zhao Li had actually decided to fuse his main Divine Character into his cultural weapon. No wonder. It was no wonder that at the age of 120-cough, cough. It was no wonder that he was still stuck.

"But why aren't you at the ninth-stage Cloudbreach Realm, Teacher?"

Zhao Li replied, "It's because of the Soul Expanding Art. I was already at the ninth-stage, but after my failed advancement, I can't keep enlarging my sea of willpower. However, my Soul Expanding Art has been continuously tempering my sea of willpower and compressing it. Eventually, my cultivation dropped to the seventh-stage due to the compression of my willpower."

Su Yu finally understood.

So this person was actually a ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivator previously. But after his failed breakthrough, he had been compressing his willpower so much that his cultivation dropped to the seventh-stage Cloudbreach Realm.

"Will...you keep lowering your cultivation?"

"Nope." Zhao Li smiled, "There is a limit to everything. If I keep compressing my willpower, it will probably turn completely solid. This is probably my limit."

Su Yu was curiously, "After compressing your willpower so much, wouldn't you be a super expert among those in the Mountainsea Realm right after entering that realm?"

"That is unlikely..." Zhao Li laughed, "But in terms of willpower strength alone, not even a regular third-stage Mountainsea cultivator will be my match after I enter the Mountainsea Realm. As for the middle-stage Mountainsea Realm, that is an entirely different level."

"Teacher, what happened to your weapon? Why did the forging fail?"

Seeing that Zhao Li was quite talkative today, Su Yu took the chance to ask more questions.

Zhao Li sank into contemplation. After a while, he said, "Back then, I ran out of energy during the forging process. Supposedly, an earth-grade weapon requires 73 golden veins. I was capable of forging a weapon with 73 golden veins. But I was too ambitious and greedy. I believed that I could forge a weapon with more golden veins."

Zhao Li shook his head and sighed, "I was too arrogant. I used the best materials I could find to build the foundation for my weapon's future advancement into the heaven-grade. Because of that, the difficulty of forging increased. And after I fused my main Divine Character into the weapon, I further increased the difficulty of the forging. At the 72nd golden vein, I ran out of steam. I failed to produce the 73rd vein and my weapon failed to break through. And because the materials used were too strong, my main Divine Character ended up stuck in the weapon after that..."

Zhao Li exhaled deeply, "The only way to get my main Divine Character back is by destroying the weapon, but destroying the weapon will also heavily damage my character. I am also unwilling to do so to this weapon, so I have been nourishing the weapon all these years. Perhaps I would get lucky one day and the weapon would complete the advancement by itself."

"..."

Su Yu scratched his head and asked, "Teacher, can't you reforge your weapon?"

"Of course I can." Zhao Li glanced at Su Yu and said, "But I am even weaker than I used to be. You have witnessed the process of reforging golden veins previously. You know how hard it is. I can only do so if I receive help. In Great Xia, there is that one fellow with the ability to help me..."

"The sole earth-grade weaponsmith in Great Xia?"

Zhao Li curled his lips, "Yes. But I can't be bothered to waste my time talking to him. That fellow has been coveting my main Divine Character and Soul Expanding Art. I would rather be stuck in this realm forever than to seek his help."

Zhao Li looked at Su Yu regretfully, "Kid, you have a powerful willpower. If you cultivate the Soul Expanding Art, you might be strong enough to help me after reaching the Cloudbreach Realm. Why don't you join us after your multiple character faction is destroyed?"

"..."

Su Yu smiled awkwardly. That was...really straightforward. Destroyed? How destroyed would the faction need to be?

Su Yu scratched his head and said, "Teacher, why don't you teach me the Soul Expanding Art? I promise that I will help you reforge your weapon after reaching the Cloudbreach Realm. I can cultivate very fast. I will be at the Cloudbreach Realm in no time!"

Zhao Li looked at Su Yu stupefaction. Holy shit! This kid...was truly shameless.

Su Yu gave a hollow laugh, "Don't look at me like this, Teacher. I'm being serious. I can cultivate really fast!"

"Fuck off." Zhao Li said, "You're not even my direct student. What am I supposed to teach my final student if I teach you my secret technique?"

Su Yu smiled, "Teacher, I don't see you accepting a new student anytime soon. You might as well consider me as a temporary final student. Officially, the multiple character faction no longer exists. Technically, I am already majoring in the weaponsmithing faction. Are you not aware of this?"

"..."

Zhao Li was completely dumbfounded. Was that the case? So this kid was now a member of the weaponsmithing faction? That...seemed to make sense? After all, the multiple character faction no longer existed. In the academy records, Su Yu was actually registered as a member of the weaponsmithing faction even though he was still a student of the Character Faculty.

Zhao Li grabbed his white hair in confusion. Did this count? Was the kid already a member of the weaponsmithing faction instead of the multiple character faction? But why did that logic feel so off?

Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs novel✦fire.net

Chapter 353: The Powerful Soul Expanding Art (1)

Zhao Li had not expected Su Yu to be so shameless. This was too straightforward. He had thought that Su Yu would beat around the bush and try to obtain the inheritance indirectly. He had even thought of the tricks Su Yu could use.

For example, Su Yu could visit him more, learn more about weaponsmithing, and even spend some time fawning on him by cleaning the place and doing odd jobs for him. But instead of all that...this little bastard was directly asking for it without sacrificing anything! Zhao Li stared at Su Yu who was maintaining a simple and honest expression.

"Teacher, do my words make sense?"

"..."

"Sense my ass! Screw your sense!"

Zhao Li was getting really speechless.

He made his final struggle, "But you're not talented in weaponsmithing."

Teaching this kid would basically sever the Zhao Family's weaponsmithing legacy.

"Teacher, I believe I am still quite talented in weaponsmithing. I am capable of forming a lot of characters so I only need to dedicate a few of my characters to weaponsmithing and I'll be able to become a weaponsmith."

"..."

That...actually made sense. But Old Zhao still struggled with himself. Deep inside, he wanted to teach Su Yu as well. He would have chased Su Yu off otherwise. But he just couldn't accept the fact that he was going to teach someone who wasn't his direct student.

"You might not even be able to learn it. And advancement has never been easy for you as a member of the multiple character faction. After learning my cultivation method, you will be tempering your sea of willpower every single day. I reckon you can forget about entering the Skysoar Realm anymore. How are you supposed to help me complete my weapon?"

Su Yu smiled, "Teacher, I can do it. I'm very smart. As for the compression of my willpower, it doesn't matter. I only need to grow faster than the speed of compression."

"Su Yu, you're making it sound so simple, but prior to the Skysoar Realm, willpower can only grow slowly."

"Not at all." Su Yu said, "Teacher, look at me. I'm already at 70 percent willpower. After you hammered me previously, I dropped back to 50 percent but now, I'm back at 70 percent again. I feel like I'm growing too fast. I have been worrying about accidentally entering the Skysoar Realm before forming enough characters. Just look at me! I have grown by 20 percent in less than a month! Teacher, your hammering was too weak!"

Zhao Li's face changed. Only then did he realize something. Last month. Was it the 18th? On that day, Su Yu visited. At that time, he had hammered the kid, pushing the kid all the way back to the bottom of the Mental Tempering Stage. It had been 20 days since then.

In 20 days, the kid had grown his willpower by 20 percent? This was his growth after having his willpower compressed? Only then did Zhao Li start to realize something extremely important. Looking at Su Yu, his willpower spread over toward Su Yu. His powerful willpower wrapped around Su Yu and started charging Su Yu's willpower. Su Yu's willpower started counter-attacking and defending automatically.

Zhao Li maintained the pressure on Su Yu's willpower. He gradually increased the pressure, and eventually, Su Yu was drenched with sweat. At that moment, a layer of shadow that had been covering Su Yu's apertures finally dissipated. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel{f}ire.net

When the first aperture appeared and revealed a weak absorptive force, Zhao Li instantly withdrew his willpower. He stared at Su Yu silently. Su Yu said nothing either.

After a long while, Zhao Li asked, "Have you swore fealty to the Xia Family?"

But he answered his own question, "No, that won't give you something like that. Are you Xia Longwu's illegitimate child?"

"..."

Su Yu didn't know what to say.

Clearly, Old Zhao had discovered something. And that something might be his opened apertures. Zhao Li had not performed a deep scan on Su Yu, but he knew that even in the entirety of Human Realm, there were very few cultural arts capable of opening apertures at the Mental Tempering Stage. Even the Xia Family of Great Xia would probably only have one such cultural art. In that case, where had Su Yu learned his cultural art?

Zhao Li stared at Su Yu for a while and asked, "You have an Invincible ancestor?"

Su Yu shook his head.

"You know an Invincible?"

Su Yu shook his head again.

"You're from the Myriad Race Cult...no, wait. Not even the Myriad Race Cult has something like this. The divines and devils will definitely not be willing to share such cultivation methods with their human worshippers."

He rejected that possibility. After exhaling lightly, he asked, "Is this your own fortuitous encounter?"

Su Yu said nothing.

"I'll consider that a yes." Zhao Li did not keep asking. He said, "If you want to learn the Soul Expanding Art, I can teach you. But...I won't acknowledge you as my direct student."

"Why, Teacher?"

Su Yu could not understand that decision. Hadn't Old Zhao been trying to get him as a student?

Zhao Li said, "I am not blind. I can see the conflict between the single and multiple character factions. Even 50 years ago, I was already an old man. If that person is still alive, he would be as old as me..."

Su Yu knew that Zhao Li was speaking about the fifth principal.

"I have known that fellow for many years. My father had even taught him before. I am very familiar with all his students. People like Liu Wenyan and Hong Tan are no fools. And they are definitely not weak.

"The multiple character faction has been forced to such desperate straits because they have not counterattacked instead of failing in their counterattack.

"Hong Tan is not a pedantic bookworm. Back then, Liu Wenyan was determined to walk the path of character inheritance. Hong Tan had the chance to walk the same path as one of the Sunmoon experts had picked Hong Tan as the successor. However, Hong Tan rejected the offer.

"I was present when that happened. I was the one who had stripped that expert's character from his destroyed weapon. He wanted to transmit his character to Hong Tan, but Hong Tan said that he wasn't going to walk this path. Since Liu Wenyan had decided to walk that path, the multiple character faction would still require someone to hold the fort in case Liu Wenyan failed.

"Not long after Liu Wenyan left, Hong Tan entered the Skysoar Realm. He is very young. He isn't even 70 this year. He entered the Cloudbreach Realm at 30, reached the Mountainsea Realm at 45, and stepped into the seventh-stage Mountainsea Realm at 60. Now, he is a peak eighth-stage Mountainsea cultivator...

"In fact, he is of similar age to Xia Longwu. They are actually from Xia Longwu's generation. In the eyes of the public, there is a misconception that Hong Tan is very old. Many even think that he is older than me."

Su Yu blanked out. Yeah. Even Su Yu himself had the same misconception. Hong Tan was very old. But if he actually thought about it, Hong Tan wasn't that old. He wasn't even 70!

Zhao Li said, "He has been able to remain patient for 50 years. All by himself, he has focused on only his research. So is he a sage or a pedantic fool? Or is he something else entirely?"

Su Yu did not say anything.

Zhao Li continued, "Therefore, what is the multiple charater faction waiting for? What are they afraid of? I am an old man, so I like to think more. Since you insist on remaining with the multiple character faction, I can still teach you, but I definitely won't acknowledge you as my direct student. I don't want to drag the weaponsmithing faction into the path of destruction."

"Teacher, I...I'm not learning anymore..."

"Why not?" Zhao Li smiled, "What's wrong with teaching a cultivation method? I even have some cultivation methods of Invincible experts. Are people going to make me a target of their anger just because of who I choose to teach? It's not that complicated. As long as the students I teach aren't my direct students, it doesn't matter who I teach. But remember this. Do not drag the weaponsmithing faction into your conflicts."

Su Yu did not know what to say.

Zhao Li exhaled and said, "It's fine. I can teach you the Soul Expanding Art right now if you want. I am only reminding you that you shouldn't assume that you are the only capable member of the multiple character faction. Don't think that you can change everything. You are just a weakling. You're not even a Skysoar cultivator. Don't think too much. People like Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan have been remaining patient for decades. People like Xia Yunji, Hu Ping, and Zhao Mingyue are still alive. The multiple character faction won't be destroyed so easily.

"If it really is going to be destroyed, they will definitely be able to shine one last time and dazzle the world before their destruction. The multiple character faction will only be truly destroyed when all these people are dead. As long as one of them is still around, then there is still a chance for the multiple character faction to rise again. If you don't see anyone doing anything, it can only mean that they are still patiently waiting for something."

Su Yu nodded and sank into deep thought. True. He had overestimated himself and underestimated those seniors. Even Teacher Liu was a Skysoar cultivator who was far stronger than him.

"I understand, Teacher."

"Good." Zhao Li exhaled, "Come with me."

He then stood up and went deeper into the building.

...

A few minutes later, Su Yu and Zhao Li arrived in an underground room. Su Yu had not expected that this research center would have such a large underground room under it. He was quite surprised. He had thought that Zhao Li's research center was built entirely above ground.

"The Soul Expanding Art is quite simple. You saw it in action before. It is essentially a hammer."

Hammer! Su Yu was inwardly rolling his eyes at the term. What a poor naming sense. It was totally uncool.

"Focus!"

Suddenly, a massive, shiny hammer appeared in front of Zhao Li.

"This is the foundation of the Soul Expanding Art. You need to forge a large hammer in your sea of willpower. With this hammer, you will be able to temper your willpower and strengthen your sea of willpower.

"A regular hammer won't work. It's not as simple as getting a cultural weapon in the form of a hammer. This hammer needs to achieve resonance with your sea of willpower. Only then can it temper your sea of willpower instead of damaging it when you hammer yourself..."

Zhao Li spent a long time giving a long explanation, but Su Yu still looked confused.

When Zhao Li saw that, he had a regretful expression as he said, "Forget it. You're too dumb. You're a little clever, but you lack wisdom. Fine, fine. I will stop talking. I'll split a small hammer out of my large hammer and give it to you. You can simply use my hammer and nurture it with your willpower. It is only a matter of time before it grows strong and large..."

Su Yu's mouth was agape. Had he been insulted? Teacher Zhao believed that he was too stupid to learn the cultivation method and had decided to simply give him a small hammer instead?

So was this little hammer an idiot-proof method of cultivating the Soul Expanding Art? Was learning this cultivation method so easy?

"Teacher, is this really fine?"

"Yeah." Zhao Li wasn't too worried, "As a weaponsmith, I am very proficient in splitting a single tool into multiple tools. You only need to adjust the frequency of the little hammer and ensure that it can resonate with your sea of willpower. It is actually very simple. After I split the little hammer out, you only need to take it into your sea of willpower and adjust the frequency in a direction that you feel comfortable with. I will teach you the adjustment method. And then, you only need to keep adjusting the frequency until you feel good. That is when you know that you have achieved resonance.

"Simply put, you need to reach a state where your sea of willpower will feel comfortable instead of suffering when hammering yourself. The tempo of hammering must feel as natural as breathing."

Su Yu nodded. He finally understood.