Chapter 25 - 25

Chapter 463: A Silly Visitor (3)

Xia Huyou was not the only person who had misunderstood Chen Hao.

Grotto District.

After Xia Huyou showed the token and paid the entry fee of 100 merit points, Chen Hao flashed a silly smile and greeted Old Nie, calling him grandpa. Old Nie couldn't help but laugh.

Where did this silly kid come from?

Was this Su Yu's friend?

When Xia Huyou saw Old Nie's joyful smile, he didn't know what to say. Was this geezer stupid? This was Su Yu's friend. How could he believe that this fellow was a good person?

He couldn't be bothered to say much. After giving Chen Hao a bottle of blood essence, he said, "Try to finish this. There are 100 drops of blood essence here. Su Yu told me to pass this to you."

"What blood essence is this?"

"Mountainbreak bull."

"Oh."

Chen Hao nodded and accepted the bottle. Without asking anything, he stepped through the door with a simple and honest expression.

Xia Huyou was getting more and more exhausted. Was this fellow aware of the value of that little bottle? Even he felt some heartache handing that bottle out just like that.

Chen Hao wasn't exceptionally talented. What was the point of giving him such a good blood essence? It was a waste. That bottle of blood essence was worth 1,000 merit points. Coupled with the entry fee to the grotto, Su Yu had spent 1,100 merit points on this person.

Generally, only top geniuses would spend so much money for their body forging. In their academy, even high-high students would find it difficult to get such a treatment. And Chen Hao was getting the treatment everyone wanted? Su Yu was truly generous.

More importantly, Su Yu had not paid Xia Huyou anything this time. This was essentially a loan from Xia Huyou. Su Yu had exhausted all the money he had scammed previously.

After Chen Hao entered the grotto, Old Nie asked curiously, "Someone from the Martial Dragon War Academy? His talent is ordinary. Su Yu sure is generous."

Xia Huyou nodded, "Elder Nie, what level do you think this fellow could reach during the body forging?"

"Probably around the fourth-stage Great Strength Realm."

Old Nie smiled, "He doesn't need to open a lot of acupoints. He only needs 8 acupoints per stage. With 16 acupoints, he can reach the fourth stage. With 100 drops of mountainbreak blood essence and the fact that he's a warrior, he should be able to reach the fourth stage easily."

Chen Hao's main advantage here was the low number of acupoints he needed to open. Even some cultural research academy geniuses would open more acupoints than him. Generally, most of these geniuses would cultivate a cultivation method with 108 acupoints.

Xia Huyou nodded. That wasn't too far from his guess.

Even some of the students less talented in physical cultivation could advance by two stages after consuming 100 drops of mountainbreak bull blood essence in the grotto. This wasn't really that impressive.

"Fourth-stage Great Strength Realm. The Martial Dragon War Academy is slightly weaker academy compared to the Great Xia War Academy. And he is also a new student. With his new cultivation level, he would probably gain even more support in his academy after this..."

Xia Huyou started thinking. There were two more months before the year ended. Chen Hao would probably be able to reach the fifth or sixth stage by the end of the year.

He could only hope that those fools wouldn't really invite Chen Hao out on a mission with them. The most update n0vels are published on novel{f}ire.net

Otherwise, as a fifth or sixth-stage Great Strength warrior, he would be able to kill them with one hit. After all, he was going to serve as their guard, granting him the chance to easily approach them before attacking. Even if those fellows were Infinite Strength cultivators, they would still be killed easily.

These cultural researchers wouldn't even have the chance to use their willpower.

Done with his business there, Xia Huyou was about to leave when Old Nie said, "That kid reminded me of something. Why don't the Xia Family recruit Su Yu into the Martial Dragon Guards after he reaches the Skysoar Realm?"

Xia Huyou frowned.

Old Nie said, "The Martial Dragon Guards is the private army of the Xia Family. They are in charge of defending the prefecture. Nobody will dare to touch that army. Su Yu himself is a talented individual with a bright future. What do you think?"

Xia Huyou said, "Old Nie, I want to do so as well, but the issue here is he won't agree."

Old Nie nodded. He said, "It's better for him to start keeping a low profile from now on. How about you? Are you not interested in grabbing some attention? The Xia Family has never produced such a low-profile direct descendant before. Do not imitate Marquis Xia."

"Even Marquis Xia himself was not such a low-profile person when he was younger."

Xia Huyou smiled and said, "I'm still too weak. I shouldn't be embarrassing the Xia Family. My sister Xia Chan is impressive enough. She's a ninth-stage Great Strength already. Before long, she will reach the Infinite Strength Realm. I am very optimistic about her future."

"..."

Old Nie shook his head, "Some people should not grab too much attention while it is the other way around for some other people. You are too low-profile. Even if you can ascend to the position of prefect, who in Great Xia would be willing to follow you?"

Xia Huyou grinned, "We don't even know if I'll be the next prefect. Even if that really happens, Great Xia has been ruled by generations of domineering prefects. My great grandpa is domineering. My dad is very domineering as well. It's better for me to be softer. If even the fourth prefect of Great Xia is as domineering as the past prefects, we would probably end up as the priority target of the myriad races."

Xia Huyou smiled, "It's better for me to be slightly cowardly. Perhaps that way, I might end up being pushed to that position without even lifting my finger. Some people are very scared that Cousin Yuwen would try to imitate my dad upon ascending to the position but end up only learning my dad's overbearing nature and nothing else."

For several generations, Great Xia had been ruled by a domineering prefect that would stubbornly fight the myriad races to the death. Even the myriad races found Great Xia troublesome to deal with.

Xia Huyou wondered if even the secret cult agents among humanity would take the initiative to help him ascend to the position. They would be more than happy to see a businessman like him become the new prefect instead of a second Xia Longwu.

Xia Huyou was both weak and incapable of attracting popular support. The cult would be stupid to not support him. And those capable of actually helping him would most definitely be secret agents with high position among humanity.

Hehehe...

Xia Huyou grinned. He was looking forward to the day these big shot agents establish contact with him. He would be able to take that opportunity to eliminate these cult agents from their ranks.

There was no need for him to be running around grabbing everyone's attention. He believed in the saying that wealth originated from peace. He was a businessman. There was no need for him to start acting like Su Yu. What if he got himself assassinated?

Old Nie smiled and said nothing else. The youngest generation of the Xia Family was truly interesting. Xia Yuwen, who was not Xia Longwu's son, was trying very hard to imitate Xia Longwu.

Meanwhile, Xia Huyou, the son of Xia Longwu, was trying very hard to differentiate himself from his father.

"Alright. I understand." Old Nie waved his hand and said, "Time for you to leave. Stop being an eyesore in front of me. There are no good people in the Xia Family."

Xia Huyou did not mind. He bowed before leaving with a smile. There were no good people in the Xia Family? Elder Nie was slandering them!

Elder Nie was unaware that Xia Huyou had recorded their conversation earlier. From now on, Xia Huyou would become a frequent visitor of this place. After all, he would be able to enter for free from today onward. If Elder Nie refused to let him enter for free, he would pass that recording to his second granduncle and have his second granduncle teach Elder Nie a lesson.

His mind shifted to Chen Hao for a short moment before his thoughts returned to Su Yu. Di Feng had actually returned.

The single character faction was being very generous this time. They had decided to expose a cult stronghold that was led by a Skysoar. One ought to know that among all the cult strongholds, the ones led by Skysoars had the highest possibility of baiting out the truly important members of the cult.

"They know about the existence of so many cult strongholds, yet they have not reported any of these strongholds to the authorities. Even after so many years of using these strongholds as bait, they have yet to capture even one important member of the cult..."

Xia Huyou couldn't help but agree that these people were tumors.

He really didn't know what his second granduncle and the others were thinking. And what would Su Yu do after leaving seclusion? After learning about the removal of Di Feng's ban, would he challenge Di Feng in advance to stop Di Feng from entering the grotto?

...

At the same time, Zhou Pingsheng was meeting up with Di Feng. When he saw Di Feng, he clenched his teeth and said, "If Su Yu challenges you, don't accept his challenge. Ignore him. Focus on the grotto."

Di Feng felt sullen, but he still nodded.

"I understand, Teacher."

"Since only one enemy Skysoar was killed, we can only lift the ban on you. The rest of them will not be able to enter the grotto."

After a short pause, Zhou Pingsheng said, "Try to suppress your cultivation. Don't enter the Skysoar Realm. We don't lack any Skysoar cultivators for now, but we do lack an unrivalled student below the Skysoar Realm. We need to dominate the top 100. This is the only way for us to wash away our shame. In any case, you can strengthen your foundation by delaying your advancement."

"I understand."

Di Feng was unhappy, but he still nodded. He wasn't allowed to advance because the single character faction did not lack Skysoars. Instead, they lacked super powerful Mental Tempering Stage students like him.

With nothing else to say, Zhou Pingsheng left.

After Zhou Pingsheng left, Di Feng kicked the table in front of him apart in anger.

Su Yu!

If it wasn't for Su Yu, he would have been allowed to break through during the coming grotto visit. But he was forced to delay his advancement just so they could suppress Su Yu.

His teacher might have come up with nice excuses such as winning glory for the faction and stabilizing his foundation, but the truth was that his teacher still wasn't willing to give up on becoming the new head manager. And as long as he remained below the Skysoar Realm, his teacher would be able to make use of him and kick Chen Yong away.

"Su Yu...Wu JIa..."

At the thought of those two individuals, Di Feng snorted. The multiple character faction was most definitely the culprit behind his punishment for the scandal. He would not let this slide.

Chapter 464: Bad Memory (1)

24th of October.

Up until the day before the opening of the Willpower Grotto, Su Yu was still missing.

A lot of people were looking forward to seeing Su Yu challenge Di Feng before the grotto opening. But after waiting for a few days, Su Yu was nowhere to be seen. They couldn't help but to feel somewhat disappointed.

Was Su Yu in seclusion?

Or was he simply afraid of Di Feng?

After all, Di Feng had returned to the academy as someone who had killed a Skysoar. Su Yu might be strong, but his physical cultivation was only at the Great Strength Realm. Some people believed that Su Yu had opted to avoid Di Feng since he wasn't a match.

They wouldn't even be surprised if that were the case. After all, that was how Su Yu had always behaved. Just look at how he had stopped his challenges previously right after Di Feng's turn arrived.

The masses were only slightly disappointed for not having yet another good show in the academy, but they didn't really feel too strongly about it.

As for those from the single and multiple character factions, some were relieved while some were regretful.

What was there to be regretful about? A lot! Some regret that Di Feng wasn't given a chance to defeat Su Yu and strengthen the single character faction's reputation. Some regret that the two had not fought and injured each other so much that they were forced to give up on entering the grotto to heal up.

...

Su Yu was completely oblivious to everything that was going on.

Inside Zhao Li's research center.

A massive replica with 144 linked red dots could be seen.

Zhao Li inhaled deeply and solemnly said, "This is only a deduction. It might not be correct. After all, we have not tried linking all these apertures for real. We can only conclude that this circuit would be the smoothest one through numerous deductions..."

Zhao Li then looked at Su Yu and said, "You can first learn all these arts and form their respective circuits without linking them together. The deduction of cultivation methods and techniques is a very serious matter. A slight mistake might cause the destruction of your sea of willpower."

After a short pause, Zhao Li continued, "Before reaching the Cloudbreach Realm, there is honestly no need for you to link the separate arts together. And the Cloudbreach Realm is still quite far away for you."

Su Yu's eyes were red from staying awake for several days. Zhao Li looked the same. They had been busy deducing the combination of the five elemental arts for the past few days.

Su Yu nodded at Zhao Li's words. Indeed, this wasn't something he should rush.

He only needed to link the different arts at the ninth-stage Skysoar Realm when he was preparing to enter the Cloudbreach Realm. Prior to that, keeping the arts separate would have no effect on his cultivation progress. Of course, his willpower would still be slightly weaker offensively without combining the five arts.

After a short thought, Zhao Li said, "In truth, you can try combining two of the arts after opening 72 apertures. If it works, the chances of you succeeding with three or more arts will be much higher."

72 apertures!

After making some comparisons, Zhao Li picked two arts with very few overlaps with the Myriad Text Sutra. The two arts had only 8 overlaps with the Myriad Text Sutra, allowing him to open 64 new apertures.

"Apertures are hard to open, but since I've already opened 72 apertures, I probably won't be too slow in opening new apertures. If I'm willing to pay for it, I might even be able to open 1 aperture every 5 days. I would only need a year to open all of them..."

Zhao Li muttered to himself as he started making his plans. Perhaps he could experiment on himself first. He would try to combine these two arts. If it worked, then it would signify that the direction of their deduction was right.

And if it failed, it could only mean that they had taken an entirely wrong direction in their deduction. Mistakes were to be expected since they were only working off a replica instead of the real deal.

One year...that shouldn't be enough time for the kid to reach the Cloudbreach Realm. Yeah, the kid wouldn't be so fast.

At that thought, Zhao Li said, "Just cultivate as usual for now. Remember the combination method. I will try to do more research after this. If it works, I'll update you."

Su Yu was very exhausted from the days of research. He didn't think too much about Zhao Li's words and nodded with a smile, "Teacher, this is good enough. According to our deduction, this method of combination is enough to create a new cycle. If it really doesn't work, I can take my time and slowly test out different combinations in the future." Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Su Yu wasn't too worried. Sure, a problematic cultural art might result in the destabilization or even the collapse of his sea of willpower, but there was a golden book in his sea of willpower.

With that thing there, was his sea of willpower even capable of collapsing?

Impossible.

Thus, he only needed to experiment on himself to figure out if their deduction was right.

Zhao Li exhaled and said, "I will try to cultivate these arts as well. You have no issues with that, right?"

"Nope."

Su Yu smiled, "If you need it, I can even provide you with the fifth art, Teacher."

"Forget it. There are too many apertures to open. Just opening the apertures for these four arts is difficult enough. There is no need to increase the difficulty."

Suddenly, Zhao Li recalled something and asked, "What's the date today?"

Su Yu blanked out slightly before replying after a short thought, "It's the 24th...and it's now..."

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11. When he looked outside the window, it should be 11 in the evening.

Phew.

Su Yu exhaled in relief. He had nearly forgotten about the Willpower Grotto. It would open on the 25th.

He was also curious about Chen Hao. That fellow had only sent him a message about his return after leaving the grotto and said nothing else. He wondered if his friend's cultivation had gone well.

"You're entering the Willpower Grotto tomorrow, right?"

Zhao Li reminded, "Don't go too crazy in the grotto. I'll try to test the combination of these arts and see if it works. For now, go back and take a good rest. This grotto is very rarely opened. Since you need to open more apertures, this is a very good opportunity for you."

Su Yu nodded.

He had not been cultivating during the past few days, but he had still gained a lot.

While deducing the combination method of the elemental arts with Zhao Li, he had gained a lot of new knowledge regarding apertures. His understanding of the 144 apertures had also increased significantly. Even his comprehension of the five elemental arts had risen greatly.

All of that would be very helpful for him in his future cultivation.

Zhao Li said nothing else. After having Su Yu commit the replica to memory, a fireball appeared in his hand and burned the replica to crisp. After doing that, he activated a character of his and turned the ashes into even finer specks of dust.

Then, he gathered all the dust together. While doing so, he said, "I'll deal with this. You need to take note that some experts have unique characters capable of rewinding time. Do not leave anything behind. This is something that will bring you great calamity once it leaks."

Su Yu hurriedly nodded. He was also very cautious about this matter. He wouldn't leave any clues for anyone to discover.

"Alright. You may leave now."

At this moment, a thought appeared in Zhao Li's mind as he took out a golden crystal sheet and tossed it to Su Yu. "Absorb this into your willpower. The moment a monitoring, spying, or detection character is used on you, this anti-spy cultural weapon will switch colors to remind you. Each color represents a different level of strength."

"White represents second-tier characters, blue represents third-tier characters, red represents fourth-tier characters, and purple represents fifth-tier characters. If a fifth-tier character is being used against you, it can only mean that a Sunmoon is spying on you. Thus, the moment you see the color purple, empty your mind. Such an individual can very easily read your thoughts."

Su Yu fiddled with the crystal sheet curiously. This was quite a practical item. And it was most certainly an extremely valuable item. After all, it could even detect the prying of Sunmoons. This item gave Su Yu a sensation that it was comparable to some top-tier profound-grade or even earth-grade cultural weapons in value.

"Teacher, what is the grade of this thing?"

"It's a supportive item, so grade isn't important. It's called the Perception Jade. It can be considered a cultural weapon of sorts, but it only has a sensory function."

Zhao Li looked so nonchalant when speaking about the item, but Su Yu knew that this single function was enough to propel this item into an extremely incredible cultural weapon.

"Teacher, can I sense the willpower monitoring of experts with it?"

"Yes." Zhao Li nodded, "This thing is basically an alarm. And willpower monitoring is naturally something it can detect as well."

Su Yu was astonished. What an incredible treasure. This thing would be even more valuable when he was out exploring. The moment someone spied on him, he would notice it. This little thing was basically something that could save his life.

Without this item, it would be very difficult for him to notice anything if an expert was spying on him. He would only notice something if the expert in question was someone with weak willpower or the expert was deliberately exposing themselves.

"Teacher, do you have more of this?"

This wasn't Zhao Li's lifesaving trump card, right?

"What stupid question is that? I forged this myself. I can naturally forge more." Zhao Li's tone turned impatient as he said, "Alright. You can leave. Remember to rest well tonight and return to your peak condition. That way, you would be able to absorb more willpower in the grotto tomorrow."

Su Yu wanted to ask more, but since Zhao Li was asking him to leave, he stopped bothering the old man. He then proceeded to easily absorb the crystal sheet into his sea of willpower.

Zhao Li wasted no time. His willpower rippled out. Immediately, the Perception Jade turned blue. Blue signified that a Cloudbreach was spying on him. Next, Zhao Li's willpower pulsed. Su Yu sensed nothing, but the Perception Jade turned red. Red signified that a Mountainsea was spying on him.

Su Yu knew what was going on. Zhao Li had third-tier characters while his willpower had reached the level of a Mountainsea. Thus, when he used willpower, the Perception Jade turned red, telling him that someone at the level of a Mountainsea was spying on him.

What a magical item.

Its sensory abilities were incredible.

Su Yu was actually quite alarmed as he had not been able to detect anything. If Zhao Li hadn't been very clear about it, he wouldn't have been able to notice anything by himself. Yet the Perception Jade was able to sense Zhao Li's action.

"You still can't get too reliant on the Perception Jade..."

Zhao Li reminded, "For example, some experts only have a single powerful character: their main Divine Character. Their other characters are all left comparatively weak. Thus, the Perception Jade might only turn white when they spy on you with weak second-tier characters. Don't assume that the hidden enemy is a Skysoar just because the color is white. Instead of a Skysoar, that person might be a Mountainsea or even a Sunmoon. They are not weak. Only their spying character is weak. Do you understand?"

Su Yu nodded.

He felt enlightened.

He had completely neglected that factor. It would seem like he couldn't be careless even when the Perception Jade was white. Who knew if the hidden enemy was a Sunmoon who was using a second-tier spying character?

The color white did not necessarily mean that the enemy was a Skysoar, but the color purple definitely signified that his opponent was at least a Sunmoon.

Nobody could form a fifth-tier character below the Sunmoon Realm. Sure, there were exceptions for everything so he couldn't completely write that possibility off. He only needed to be more cautious moving forward.

Chapter 465: Bad Memory (2)

It was late at night when Su Yu walked out of Zhao Li's research center.

The environment was tranquil and peaceful. Standing outside, Su Yu took out his voice transmission talisman and started checking the messages in it. He had received several messages from Xia Huyou, but nothing important was mentioned. Su Yu was already aware of Di Feng's return, but he wasn't too bothered.

Di Feng had killed a Skysoar and might be allowed to enter the Willpower Grotto. So what? That had nothing to do with Su Yu! He was a low-profile person!

It hadn't even crossed his mind to challenge Di Feng before the opening of the grotto. How pointless. There was no guarantee he could win. And even if he could win, he might end up injuring himself and missing out on the grotto. That would be a truly great loss.

It was pointless to deal with people like Di Feng with some beatings. People like that would forget the beating soon after. He had just been punished by the Discipline Hall not long ago. Had he learned a lesson from that? Nope!

Su Yu was in full agreement with Principal Wan! He should either do nothing or go all the way!

As for whether the principal had actually said those words to Su Yu, it no longer mattered. That was Su Yu's takeaway from his meeting with the principal. That alone was enough.

Apart from Xia Huyou, he had also received some messages from a few other people. Su Yu had two voice transmission talismans on him. One for the Mutual Aid Club while the other for his smurf accounts.

The messages from Xia Huyou had also been sent to the Mutual Aid Club talisman. Xia Huyou himself was unaware of the club's existence, but his talisman was actually connected to the club network. Su Yu started checking his other messages.

"List of individuals that are going to be entering the Willpower Grotto..."

This was a message from Lin Yao.

In the message, Su Yu was reminded to be careful as some people might target him in the grotto. They aimed to surround him and absorb all the willpower around him. He was reminded to try to get some help and solve this issue before entering the grotto.

Su Yu raised his brow. Something like that was actually an option?

The single character faction sure was creative.

But he had already opened 44 apertures. Thus, his absorption speed could very well be as fast as actual Skysoar cultivators.

"But I can't be too conspicuous..."

It was fine.

A lot of people would be in the grotto. He could simply stay near Xia Huyou and the others. People like Wan Mingze would be in the grotto as well. Those people were courageous enough to target him, but were they courageous enough to target the junior of the Wan Family?

There was also Xia Chan. What could those people do if he decided to stick close to her?

What a stupid plan.

Su Yu was completely unbothered. A plan like that would never work. He wasn't stupid. Why would he insist on competing against them in terms of absorption power? He could simply stick closely with the students with strong backgrounds. Would those people interrupt Xia Chan's cultivation just to slow his progress? Were they not afraid of being beaten to death by the Xia Family?

Lin Yao had also talked about his senior brother, Yang Sha. At the moment, he was still testing and observing his senior brother. He had yet to invite his senior brother into the club.

"..."

Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Lin Yao sure was taking this very seriously. Sure, Lin Yao. If that was what he wanted to do, fine.

As for the name list, Su Yu saw a few familiar names in it. But among Di Feng's group, Di Feng was the only person to have received the opportunity to enter. Both Huang Qifeng and Qiu Yi were still banned. The death of a single Skysoar was not enough to offset what all three of them had done.

After looking through the messages of the Mutual Aid Club talisman, Su Yu started checking the talisman for the Single Eradication Club. Thus far, only a single talisman connected to the Single Eradication Club's network had been given out. Liu Hong was the lucky sole recipient. A message could be seen in the talisman. And it had just been sent not long ago.

"Yellow99: Newbie reporting in. Seniors, anyone has any guidance for this newbie?"

"Heaven7: Everyone is busy cultivating. Nobody has the time to reply."

"Heaven2: I'm in a meeting with an elder. Don't disturb me."

"..."

Of the few messages in the talisman, Yellow99's message was the sole authentic message. The other messages were basically Su Yu's prerecorded automatic reply.

This would work well for now since there weren't a lot of people with access to this network. Things could be exposed very easily if there were more people. Since Liu Hong was the sole newbie in the network, Su Yu was able to easily deal with him with several smurf accounts and automated replies.

"Yellow99..."

Su Yu was somewhat speechless. What an inconspicuous name.

After thinking about it, Su Yu replied, "Earth8: I have no guidance, but I have a warning. Do not provoke Principal Wan. That's a Sunmoon expert. Be careful lest you get yourself killed."

A short while later, a reply came.

"Yellow99: The principal is a Sunmoon? According to the records I have, he's a peak Mountainsea."

"Earth8: Wow, what a rookie. You actually trust those public records? How dumb are you? The principal has been a Sunmoon for quite a while."

"Earth22: It's normal for newbies to not know about this. Since this newbie is unaware of the principal's cultivation, this guy is probably a weakling. Little newbie, let me tell you a secret as well. Have you cultivated the characters of other races? If you have, destroy those characters as soon as possible. Human characters are the strongest."

"Earth8: 22, don't talk drivel in front of a newbie."

"Earth22: This isn't even a secret among the strong. Anyone can sense the same after reaching the peak Mountainsea Realm."

"..."

The smurf accounts started conversing with each other. Meanwhile, Yellow99, or to be precise, Liu Hong, had a surprised expression.

What was the meaning of that?

He had no idea!

Human characters were the strongest?

Don't joke around!

His heart thumped as he hurriedly asked, "Why?"

"Earth22: Why? You will know when you reach peak Mountainsea Realm and find yourself stuck. Of course, you're probably a small fry. That realm is still too far away for you. Maybe it's a level you will never reach in your life. It doesn't matter what I say. It won't matter to you."

"..."

Liu Hong was speechless. But his heart thumped as he realized something else.

This person...was a peak Mountainsea? Thɪs chapter is updated by n0velfire.net

Was this a joke?

There weren't even that many Mountainsea experts in the academy!

The four vice principals were peak Mountainseas. Hong Tan was also one. The faculty heads were also at the same level. Were there more peak Mountainseas hidden in the academy?

"Yellow99: Seniors, I am a newbie. I beseech you for more advise. Aren't human characters the weakest? Why are they suddenly the strongest? I don't understand."

"Earth22: Call me grandpa and I'll teach you something."

"..."

Liu Hong was furious. Screw you!

But he was getting really curious. Why did they say that?

He was completely clueless.

After some inner struggle, he decided to give in. Nobody knew who Yellow99 was anyway. Su Yu might know, but he had spent a few days observing the chat. He found that there were actually a few other newbies that had joined during the past few days.

Thus, not even Su Yu might know his username! He had only dared to start sending messages after waiting a few days. He gritted his teeth and decided to do it. Nobody knew it was him anyway.

"Yellow99: Grandpa, please bestow your wisdom upon this junior."

"..."

Su Yu was speechless.

Holy shit!

This was definitely Liu Hong! He had most likely not given the talisman to someone else. Would Elder Sun actually do something like calling someone else grandpa?

What a joke!

As for the matter concerning human characters, a lot of people knew about it. Hong Tan had said that this matter had even been brought up in the previous elder meetings.

Su Yu wasted no time to give a reply.

"Earth22: Good grandson. Who's a good boy? Your grandpa shall enlighten you. The characters of the divine and devil races might be strong now, but at the peak Mountainsea Realm when you're attempting a breakthrough, your characters might emit a repelling force that would cause you to fail your breakthrough."

Liu Hong's heart thumped. Was that the case? He was really unaware of that! In that case, the higher ups of the academy were already aware of this matter? He wanted to ask more, but before he could say anything, he received another message.

"Earth22: Good grandson, your grandpa is leaving. Talk to you later."

Liu Hong was feeling very gloomy. Screw your grandson!

But he was also feeling quite helpless. The sole person willing to entertain him was gone while the rest were ignoring him. Forget it. He would try to ask more questions when the chat room was more active. At the very least, he should try to become a regular here.

What a surprise. This was his first time chatting in this room yet he had already received several important pieces of information.

Firstly, the principal was a Sunmoon.

Secondly, the characters of the divines and devils would be an obstacle during the breakthrough to the Sunmoon Realm. But how about the Sunmoon experts of the past? Unfortunately, he wasn't able to ask that question in time.

"Single Eradication Club..."

In his villa, Liu Hong's eyes flickered as he deleted a few messages in the talisman to prevent Elder Sun from discovering some of the messages he had sent.

...

"What a shameless guy."

Su Yu really didn't know what to say.

It was a pity that he still couldn't expose the scam. Otherwise, Liu Hong would probably be too embarrassed to stay alive if what he did was exposed. Or maybe not. Liu Hong was shameless enough that something like that might not faze him.

...

Before long, Su Yu tossed the matter out of his mind. The Single Eradication Club was merely something he had created on a whim. Perhaps he could consider giving out more talismans. It was quite hard to get any important information from Liu Hong alone.

For now, he needed to wait and slowly reel Liu Hong in. The guy might really leak some important information in the future when his interest in the Single Eradication Club grew to a certain level.

When Su Yu returned to the research center, he found that Hong Tan had actually returned.

Hong Tan did not ask Su Yu anything when he saw that the kid was back. He said, "I will be outside the grotto tomorrow as well. I'll be opening the grotto alongside Zhou Mingren and the others. We will work together to keep the grotto open for a longer time. In the grotto, the unspoken rule is that you shouldn't disturb others. But those people might not be willing to follow that rule. Just be careful in the grotto."

"I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Grandteacher."

Su Yu said, "Grandteacher, can I stay in the grotto until the very end?"

"Yeah." Hong Tan nodded, "But there is a limit to the amount of willpower you can absorb. Early on, you will be growing your willpower but toward the end, you will need to focus on nurturing your willpower and characters. Be sure to stop absorbing after reaching your limit. You don't want to stuff your willpower so full that it bursts apart."

"I understand." Su Yu nodded.

Hong Tan said, "A few days would pass before you leave the grotto. A new month will arrive and both your teacher and my senior brother will be leaving Great Xia for the Allheaven Battlefield."

Hong Tan sighed, "I can only hope that they will be fine there. Don't go anywhere after leaving the grotto. Try to find some time to say your farewells to them."

When Su Yu heard that, his mood fell. The Allheaven Battlefield was extremely dangerous. That was even more so for the Vanguard Regiment. Half a year ago, he had sent his father off. And now, both his teachers would also be departing for the Allheaven Battlefield. He really didn't know what to feel.

All the people that were close to him would be in the Allheaven Battlefield. It would be fine if these people had departed after a regular military enlistment, but his teachers were being exiled there. He couldn't help but feel terrible about it.

The single character faction was the cause of all this! Sooner or later, he would have his revenge!

Hong Tan also sank into silence. Both his senior brother and student had been exiled to the Allheaven Battlefield. He was also rather upset about it. Nobody knew if the two would leave the Allheaven Battlefield alive.

He had just returned from the Allheaven Battlefield himself yet those two would be sent off soon.

Wait. Allheaven Battlefield. Had he forgotten something? Yes. He had just returned from the Allheaven Battlefield. Why had he left for the Allheaven Battlefield in the first place?

His expression turned odd.

Holy shit!

He had actually forgotten about it. Was that thing dead?

If that thing was dead, it would be a massive loss for him!

Chapter 466: Entering The Grotto (1)

After Hong Tan recalled what he had forgotten, his willpower undulated.

A short while later, a little furball appeared before Su Yu's eyes.

That was a white furball. Two black dots could be seen on the furball. Those were actually eyes.

Su Yu was stunned. What was this? Why did his grandteacher take out something bizarre like this?

While he was thinking, the little furball opened his eyes and revealed his tiny pink nose. The nose wrinkled as he sniffed around before flying out of Hong Tan's palm straight toward Su Yu.

Su Yu couldn't even react in time. He could only sense the furball rushing toward his sea of willpower.

"Impudent!"

Hong Tan roared furiously and reached out with his hand. With a creak, he grabbed the furball and said, "You're courting death!"

"Ya! Ya! Ya!"

The little furball seemed to be whining in pain. But at the same time, he also seemed to be pleading for mercy.

All the while, he continued staring at Su Yu with his jet-black eyes.

Hong Tan also looked at Su Yu curiously and asked, "Have you formed a unique character? This little fellow is saying that he's smelling something nice and delicious on you."

"..."

Su Yu was speechless. What were they talking about? What was this thing here?

"This is a member of the soul devourer race. I named this race myself."

Hong Tan was relieved to see that the furball was fine. He smiled and said, "I spent several months and a lot of energy capturing this little fellow."

"Soul devourer race?"

Su Yu was surprised. He had never heard of such a race. Bai Feng once told him that a new race had appeared in the Allheaven Battlefield. That was why Hong Tan had spent several months on the battlefield. So his grandteacher was gone for so long just for this little furball?

"Don't look down on him." Hong Tan had a look of heartache as he said, "This thing isn't weak. He specializes in eating characters. He is capable of entering seas of willpower directly to eat the characters inside. Of course, he is still not too strong. His current level is basically the equivalent of a human's Skysoar Realm. He can only consume second-tier characters for now."

His face turned helpless as he said, "In order to capture this little fellow, I had to feed him a few of my characters. Nothing is left of those characters. They were devoured clean."

Soul devourer race!

This race had never appeared in the Allheaven Battlefield before. This was a mysterious and powerful race. This little fellow was capable of consuming characters. He was capable of entering seas of willpower and devouring everything clean. This was a terrifying ability.

Su Yu was greatly shocked.

Holy shit!

When this fellow charged him earlier, he had been able to sense something trying to enter his sea of willpower. So this fellow was actually trying to consume his characters?

That could be very bad for him. The characters he had formed after great difficulty would be gone!

Suddenly, Su Yu thought of something. The little furball was claiming that there was something delicious in his sea of willpower. Was the little fellow aiming for his golden book? Was the little fellow really so sensitive?

Wait, wouldn't that be tantamount to suicide? Su Yu didn't know how powerful the book was, but if it was really a character, then it would be no weaker than an Eternal character. This little furball wouldn't be a mere Skysoar beast if he was capable of devouring Eternal characters.

"Ya! Ya! Ya!"

The little furball continued crying impatiently while staring at Su Yu hungrily. Of course, that was the impression Su Yu got from the pink nose and black eyes of the little furball.

Hong Tan said, "This race has just appeared so this little fellow doesn't know the common language. I don't know their language as well, but I can at least understand the intention behind this little fellow's words."

Su Yu asked, "Grandteacher, you mean that this race has never appeared in the Allheaven Battlefield before?"

"Yeah."

Hong Tan said, "The Allheaven Battlefield is actually a unique realm connected to all realms. The inhabitants of each realm are able to establish a connection between their realm and the battlefield. Thus, the Allheaven Battlefield can be considered a hub for all realms. The members of all races can enter the Allheaven Battlefield without being subjected to any suppression.

"Some of these so-called new races are the races that have recently discovered the Allheaven Battlefield while some of them are races that have actually discovered the Allheaven Battlefield long ago but didn't have an expert strong enough to form a connection between their realm and the Allheaven Battlefield.

"Only those at the Mountainsea Realm and above can establish a connection between a realm and the battlefield. Thus, the appearance of each new realm is a sign that the race in that realm has produced someone at the Mountainsea Realm or beyond."

At that point, Hong Tan lifted the little furball and shook the furball around before saying, "This soul devourer race is probably a race that has newly formed a connection between their realm and the battlefield. They have never been seen before. I have only been able to find this little fellow after a lot of effort. This fellow is a very difficult target. He enjoys hiding in seas of willpower and feasting on characters. And his body is actually incorporeal in nature. His body is more similar to cultural weapons than a normal living being."

That was why he had forgotten about this little furball for such a long time. He had been storing the furball in his sea of willpower. He had been too busy recently while the little fellow had been very obedient in his sea of willpower. Thus, he had completely forgotten about the furball.

Su Yu looked at the little furball curiously. The furball was also staring at Su Yu while his pink nose throbbed continuously, as though he had smelled a heavenly fragrance. Even when he was being manhandled by Hong Tan, his gaze remained on Su Yu.

Devouring characters...that was a rather incredible ability.

Since Hong Tan had captured this little furball, it was clear his grandteacher was going to start researching this new species soon.

Suddenly, Hong Tan said, "This little fellow is too hard to imprison. I will forge a unique cage to keep him locked. After that, I'll enter seclusion. You'll need to keep him fed for me. This little fellow eats nothing except divine characters. Just feed him some damaged characters in the fragment room. Don't starve him to death."

"Feeding him with characters?" Su Yu grimaced, "What a picky eater. Where am I supposed to find so many characters? Does he eat willpower as well?"

"Yeah." Hong Tan nodded, "The best way to raise this thing is by throwing him into a pile of corpses. Cultural researcher corpses would work even better. He is also an excellent hidden weapon. Imagine throwing him out against a cultural researcher. The cultural researcher will throw out a second-tier character to lose it instantly. Imagine how amusing it would be."

A large subset of cultural researchers were actually character masters. These people would turn into lambs the moment they lost their characters.

Su Yu rubbed his chin and said, "Grandteacher, since this thing feeds on characters, won't he destroy the sea of willpower while feeding on the characters in it?"

"No. In fact, he can devour characters stealthily. You won't even feel anything."

Su Yu's eyes brightened as he said, "Grandteacher, this thing isn't a weapon. Instead, it is a godly tool for treatment!"

Hong Tan blanked out slightly.

Su Yu explained, "You said that this thing can consume characters without destroying the sea of willpower housing the characters. And some of us are thinking of destroying their existing characters. But doing that will also cause a backlash and damage their seas of willpower."

The moment those words were said, Hong Tan's eyes lit up.

Right!

He had not thought of that before! But that was understandable since prior to this, the last thing anyone wanted was the destruction of their characters. Thus, he had been treating this furball as a weapon.

But now, they knew that non-human characters were problematic. Unfortunately, it was very hard for these people to voluntarily destroy the characters they had painstakingly cultivated.

Apart from the fact that all the effort they had put into growing those characters would go to waste, they were also worried that they would kill themselves doing so. The backlash from the destruction of characters was too large.

But if they could use this furball, couldn't they remove unwanted characters without dealing any damage?

Hong Tan said in excitement, "You're right. This thing could really be used for medical purposes! When consuming characters, he can actually apply some sort of anesthetic. He will cause your sea of willpower to go numb before consuming your character. Thus, we can help people remove their characters without any pain or damage. And doing so will also benefit this little fellow..."

But suddenly, Hong Tan frowned and said, "But he's too weak. He's only a Skysoar. He can only consume second-tier characters. Most of the people thinking of switching their focus to human characters are at the Mountainsea Realm. This fellow still can't swallow the characters that are too powerful."

In fact, that was the situation he was in. His characters were too powerful. Even if he allowed the furball free reign in his sea of willpower, the furball wouldn't be able to do anything.

If he had taken the furball out earlier, Bai Feng wouldn't even need to crush his own characters and suffer from the backlash. He could have used this furball to help Bai Feng with the removal of those characters.

Hong Tan eventually said, "I will spend a few days studying this little fellow before locking him in the prison zone. Don't forget to feed him."

Su Yu laughed dryly and said nothing. His memory wasn't very good. It had been almost a week since he last fed the fellows downstairs. But it wasn't too bad. He reckoned they could wait longer, so he would do exactly that: let them wait.

He would think about feeding them after leaving the Willpower Grotto.

But at that moment, the little furball in Hong Tan's hand started struggling, trying his best to rush toward Su Yu. Hong Tan frowned and tightened his grip.

"Ya! Ya! Ya!"

The little furball started shouting anxiously.

Hong Tan frowned as he listened for a while before deciphering what the little furball was saying. He said, "He seems to be saying that there is a nice smell on your body..."

Su Yu had nothing to say.

Nice smell?

More like the smell of death!

This little fellow couldn't be aiming for his golden book, right?

That was suicidal!

Just look at the little hammer in his head. The hammer was so incredible and domineering, but the moment it sensed the golden book, it instantly turned tail and fled. It didn't even have the courage to approach the golden book.

There was no way this little furball would be able to eat the golden book in his head.

Su Yu smiled, "If we can use this fellow well, he will serve as a powerful pet. Grandteacher, you can study him first, but I'll study him as well when I find some time. Maybe I can get a new character with a devouring ability from this little fellow."

As for keeping this fellow as a mount or something, forget about it. He was afraid that he would lose all his characters to this fellow. That would be terrible.

...

The conversation ended. Hong Tan seemed really interested in the little furball as he went straight to the laboratory after the conversation. Su Yu wondered if his grandteacher would spend the night researching.

Even when being taken away by Hong Tan, the little furball continued trying to charge toward Su Yu. His gaze never left Su Yu. He could smell something good. Something very good. He would definitely turn really amazing and awesome after eating that something.

What a pity that this person named Su Yu couldn't understand him. Even Hong Tan was only able to get a general gist of what he was saying.

...

That night, Su Yu rested and returned to his peak state while awaiting the next day to arrive.

...

25th of October.

Su Yu woke up early.

Today, he wasn't going to leave alone. Chen Yong and Wu Jia had arrived at the research center early in the morning.

At this time, Hong Tan walked out of the laboratory. He appeared to be in a great mood. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to help with the grotto, he would have stayed in the laboratory.

The moment he saw the others, he said in excitement, "Brat, you were right. I tested that thing and found that the little fellow can really numb one's sea of willpower. I'll check with Wu Yuehua later and see if we can extract something out of that little fellow to create some special numbing pills. If we can do that, it would be incredible. We can use the pills both offensively and medically."

When Su Yu thought about it, his grandteacher was right.

That little fellow could consume one's character without causing any pain. It was clear the little fellow could numb one's sea of willpower. And if they could really create these special pills, they would be able to completely freeze the willpower of a cultural researcher.

"Teacher..."

When Chen Yong saw how excited his teacher was, he said, "It's about time. We need to go to the Grotto District."

"Right, right. I nearly forgot that."

Hong Tan was grinning happily. He was in a great mood. This little soul devourer beast was such a useful beast. He felt like this beast was going to be a new source of wealth for him. If he could raise this little fellow to the Mountainsea Realm, the little fellow would basically turn into a tree that could grow money.

At that time, he would be able to use the little fellow to provide a specialized service of removing unwanted characters. He would be able to do it without causing any backlash or damage to the owner of the unwanted characters. What an incredible beast.

Su Yu ignored the two and whispered to Wu Jia instead, "Senior Sister, have you learned the Heaven Shaking Sutra?"

"Yeah..."

"Don't wander off alone after entering the grotto. Just follow Xia Huyou and stay close to him." Su Yu reminded, "We don't want anyone to notice your abnormal absorption speed."

Since Xia Huyou was also someone with opened apertures, his willpower absorption speed would be quite fast as well. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs NoveI(F)ire.net

If Wu Jia stayed close to him, she wouldn't need to worry about exposing her fast absorption speed.

That would only bring them more needless trouble.

As for Su Yu himself...

He would try to look for a freshly advanced Skysoar from the single character faction. He only needed to stay close to such a person. Stronger Skysoars would be harder to make use of, but new Skysoars would be just nice as these people would probably be even slower than him in willpower absorption.

A Skysoar cultivator would be the perfect cover for his own absorption speed. As for whether that would arouse the suspicion of the Skysoar in question, well, the words of the Skysoar wouldn't really matter. People would only believe that the Skysoar was trying to frame Su Yu unreasonably.

Since the single character faction was already planning to target him in the grotto, he would kindly deliver himself to them. He would take the initiative to approach their people.

Wu Jia nodded in understanding.

Both Chen Yong and Hong Tan smiled while looking at the two. Hong Tan said through voice transmission, "This kid is still quite talented. Are you trying to play matchmaker for him and Jia?"

"I'll just let nature take its course." Chen Yong replied through voice transmission, "Teacher, we should let the youngsters deal with matters of love themselves. But Su Yu's strength is still the same after a few days. His willpower does seem much clearer than before. Did he think things through and stop holding onto his resentment?"

"He did it himself. I don't know what happened."

Hong Tan didn't know what to say. He had no idea how the kid had managed to think things through. This was actually a good thing for Su Yu. And that was all Hong Tan needed to know. There was no need for him to pry into the affairs of the kid too much.

Hong Tan said, "Your martial uncle and junior brother will be leaving soon. I'm worried about them so I'll probably head over to the Allheaven Battlefield as well after reaching the Sunmoon Realm. Why don't you enter the Mountainsea Realm and go to the Allheaven Battlefield instead? I can be the one staying behind to hold the fort..."

Teacher, you should go. Even after entering the Mountainsea Realm, I still won't be that big of a help to them."

Chen Yong shook his head. "The character technique wall, books depository, and Wentan Research Center need a caretaker. The other martial uncles also require help with putting their characters in order. Even if you're not around, I can help them do the same. If all of us end up leaving, it won't be long before our mark is completely erased from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy."

Hong Tan sighed and said nothing else.

After walking a few steps, he suddenly said, "I know you have an unsolved matter, but what's the point of staying at the Cloudbreach Realm?"

Chen Yong said nothing.

"The foundation of your willpower cultivation is too strong after such a long delay, while your physical body is not strong enough. I'm afraid that your physical body will burst apart the moment you advance. At that point, your hope of entering the Invincible Realm in the future through the physical cultivation route would be almost completely lost."

"Teacher, that is still too far from me."

"Far?" Hong Tan chided, "How is it far? Back then, I took you as my student because of your astonishing talent. I even believed that you were the second coming of my senior brother. You would achieve far greater things than me. But it has been 40 years. You have been a Cloudbreach for decades. You would have reached the seventh or eighth-stage Mountainsea by now if you hadn't remained in the Cloudbreach Realm."

"I'll wait a bit longer."

Chen Yong softly said, "It's still not time."

After a slight pause, he said, "Teacher, of the people that had made a move back then, I had dealt with a lot of them. But some of them are still hidden. I'm certain the mastermind was a Mountainsea. After so many years, that person might already be a Sunmoon or near that realm."

"I can help you..."

"There's no need for that. He's aware that I'm waiting for him. With you around, he has remained hidden over the years. It is unfortunate that your recent trip to the Allheaven Battlefield had been too short."

Chen Yong felt regretful. If it wasn't for the crisis, Hong Tan would have been able to stay in the Allheaven Battlefield for a longer time.

With Hong Tan around, the mastermind would not dare to come out of hiding. Over the years, he had killed a lot of people, forcing that person to remain in the dark. Hong Tan's previous departure was actually a great opportunity to lure that person out.

Chen Yong said, "This person might be related to the hidden Invincible. Or perhaps they're related to the single character faction. Teacher, after you revealed your strength, this mastermind would go even deeper into hiding. Thus, the day you leave for the Allheaven Battlefield after your breakthrough is also the day of my breakthrough..."

And that would also be the day he killed his enemy. He would have his revenge.

Hong Tan sighed and stopped persuading. In his opinion, it would be better for this student of his to attempt the advancement in a safe environment. Unfortunately, Chen Yong did not think the same.

Chapter 467: Entering The Grotto (2)

While the group spoke, they arrived at the Grotto District.

Within a building far larger than the building housing the Source Qi Secret Grotto.

Numerous teachers and students who had been picked to enter the grotto had arrived. Zhou Mingren was there as well. The elders of the single character faction and some other presents were also present.

The moment Hong Tan's group arrived, silence descended.

With one look, Su Yu noticed Di Feng.

That look in Di Feng's eyes... was a look of intense hatred.

Su Yu merely lowered his head and ignored Di Feng. A confrontation here would be pointless.

There were a lot of familiar faces in the room. Zhan Hai, Xia Huyou, Wan Mingze, Hu Qiusheng, and Xia Chan were all there. Latest content publıshed on novel⁂fire.net

People like Wu Lan and Liu Ke could also be seen amid the crowd.

Su Yu wasn't surprised to see Wu Lan. But he was quite surprised to see the petite Liu Ke here. She was a student of the pillmaking faction, but the pillmaking faction had not been able to obtain too many slots this time. Thus, Liu Ke must have obtained her slot through sheer talent or her connections.

As for the likes of Zhang Hao from the talisman faction and Lin Yao from the single character faction, Su Yu was not surprised to see them. A majority of the students picked to enter were new students. Very few of them were old students.

Vice Principal Su's junior, Su Meng, Administrator Hu's junior, Hu Qiusheng, Principal Wan's junior, Wan Mingze...

Those with a strong background had been able to obtain a slot without much difficulty.

There was also a girl that looked quite familiar in the crowd. Su Yu remembered that this was the daughter of the Talent Fostering Bureau's director. She looked like a simple and honest person.

When she was queuing up to fight him previously, she had stuck to her words and stopped after winning three willpower texts. The single character faction had avoided paying a lot of students, but she wasn't one of them.

She had been given all three willpower texts she had asked for. And this time, she had also been able to easily obtain a slot even though she didn't have a family member in the academy.

The single character faction had the courage to provoke Hong Tan, but they definitely didn't have the courage to provoke the director of the Talent Fostering Bureau.

"Is everyone here?" Zhou Mingren did not waste his time with a speech. After scanning the crowd, he said, "We have prepared all the materials to open the grotto. We have enough materials to keep the grotto open for three days. I can work with Elder Sun and the others to keep the grotto open for one day. As for the remaining time, we'll be needing some help..."

Hong Tan smiled, "I can keep it open for a day."

Elder Qi said, "I can keep it open for a day as well. We'll try to keep it open for three full days and not waste the riversand we're using to open the grotto."

"Good." With a calm tone, Zhou Mingren said, "This time, 33 Mental Tempering Stage students, 5 Skysoars cultivators, and 3 Cloudbreach cultivators will be entering. The grotto should be able to withstand this level of pressure."

Only 41 people were entering. That was because there were some Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators added into the mix. Each of these people would count for several Mental Tempering Stage students, so they had to reduce the total number of people entering. These people would also increase the pressure on the Mountainseas in charge of keeping the grotto open.

Liu Hong was one of the five Skysoars.

Apart from Liu Hong, there were three men and one woman. All of them were from the single character faction. These were probably the slots that had been split internally among their elders. As for the three Cloudbreach cultivators, Su Yu couldn't see them among the crowd.

Elder Qi asked curiously, "Who are the Cloudbreach cultivators entering?"

"Here."

Suddenly, a figure appeared at the entrance.

It was a calm Xia Yuwen. He had recovered from his injuries, but his face still looked slightly pale. He looked like someone who had just recovered not long ago. Stepping into the room, he indifferently said, "I'm entering."

Everyone looked at him with astonishment. Wasn't Xia Yuwen supposed to be hiding in his room to recover from his injuries? He had actually left his room?

A different voice rang out, "I'm entering as well."

"Hu Wensheng!"

The crowd was initially surprised, but realization soon dawned on them. Hu Wensheng had successfully broken through!

Like Xia Yuwen, he was also someone who had lost all confidence after suffering a defeat in Bai Feng's hands. But Hu Wensheng was in far better condition, as he was still a Skysoar during his defeat. Sure, the defeat was still humiliating, but it was still a fight between Skysoars. He had probably felt quite good after learning about Xia Yuwen's defeat as a Cloudbreach.

Two of the three Cloudbreach cultivators had appeared. Both were geniuses from Bai Feng's generation. What a pity that Bai Feng wasn't around. Otherwise, things would be a lot more interesting today.

Hu Wensheng had not arrived alone. He had brought two of his students, Chen Qi and Guo Shengquan, as well.

Nobody was surprised to see Chen Qi here since he had been given a slot. As for Guo Shengquan...

Elder Sun had an odd expression. Guo Shengquan might be one of the stronger students in the faction, but he had not been given a slot.

"Wensheng..." Elder Sun started speaking while looking at Guo Shengquan.

Before Elder Sun could pose his question, Guo Shengquan respectfully replied, "I am entering under Elder Hu's recommendation. Elder Sun, I am not the type to snatch someone else's slot."

When Elder Sun heard those words, his face turned unsightly. Zhou Mingren also frowned slightly. The so-called Elder Hu was a very low-profile elder in the academy. And this Elder Hu was someone from the so-called neutral faction. They had given him a slot as well. Surprisingly, he had used his slot on Guo Shengquan.

Elder Qi couldn't be bothered to say anything about that. He asked, "Two of the three are here. Where's the last Cloudbreach?"

"Here." Amid the crowd, Zhou Pingsheng, who everyone had been ignoring, suddenly spoke.

The moment he said that, a lot of people looked at him with odd expressions.

Elder Qi frowned and said, "Manager Zhou is already a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. You don't need the grotto, right? Firstly, you won't be able to grow too much with your cultivation level. You might as well give a newcomer the chance. Secondly, you will give the grotto and the Mountainseas in charge of activating the grotto a much bigger pressure. Manager Zhou, without you, we can squeeze five more Mental Tempering Stage students into the grotto."

They had not seen this coming. None of them had expected that Zhou Pingsheng would be the one to enter.

One ought to know that he was already a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. He could be considered one of the higher ups of the academy. He was basically snatching the opportunity of several newcomers by entering himself.

It was understandable for people like Xia Yuwen and Hu Wensheng to enter since those two were still young. As for Zhou Pingsheng, he needed to be really shameless to enter as well.

Zhou Mingren indifferently said, "I gave him the permission to enter. Don't forget that some of the materials we're using to open the grotto have been contributed by him. Back then, he had also seized a decent amount of riversand at the Luminous Domain Mansion. Without him, we might not even have enough materials to open this grotto."

Back in the days, Zhou Pingsheng was also a genius student. He wouldn't have been accepted as Zhou Mingren's student otherwise. He had been to the Luminous Domain Mansion as well. There, he had seized a decent amount of riversand. That was the core material of opening the grotto. Clearly, Zhou Pingsheng was not going to give up on entering the grotto.

Hong Tan also frowned. He said nothing, but he transmitted his voice to Su Yu, "Be careful. That fellow might be targeting you."

Su Yu nodded. That was true. The grotto wouldn't be of much help to Zhou Pingsheng. Since that person was insisting to enter, to the point they were willing to reduce the number of people on their side from entering, Su Yu might be their target.

While Su Yu was thinking, Hong Tan spoke, "In my opinion, to give these students a better chance, we should activate the Big Dipper Teleportation Formation and scatter everyone randomly in the grotto. That way, the students will be able to cultivate without disturbance."

"Also, the Willpower Grotto is not a dangerous place. I don't wish to see any accidents happening to any student. Otherwise..."

He gave Zhou Pingsheng a deep look and continued, "There is no escaping death if one is caught murdering a student. And the murderer will not die alone. Their family, teachers, and students will all be implicated as well. Am I right, Old Zhou?"

Zhou Mingren nonchalantly said, "Yes."

"Good." Hong Tan smiled, "Shall we activate the Big Dipper Teleportation Formation as well?"

At the same time, he transmitted his voice to Su Yu, "Forget about the first day. On the second day, I'll be the person in charge of maintaining the grotto. I'll set things up for you and move that fellow far away from you. Just follow the marks I create. I'll prepare a nice spot with a high purity of willpower for you to cultivate."

Essentially, he was telling Su Yu to lay low on the first day to avoid any untoward incidents from happening.

"Is there a need for this?" Zhou Mingren asked, "The grotto is quite small. Why waste our energy doing something so pointless?"

Hong Tan smiled, "I disagree. I'm not worried about the Mental Tempering Stage students. But things will get troublesome if those Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators end up disturbing someone in the midst of advancement. The students don't have good eyes. They might accidentally intrude upon the area of these Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators and bring trouble for both parties. Am I right?"

He looked at Su Yu and said, "Don't roam around randomly. Some people will use this chance to break through. If you foolishly intrude upon their area during their advancement, they might not dare to kill or seriously injure you, but it would still be very troublesome."

Su Yu assumed a simple and honest expression as he said, "I understand, Grandteacher. I'll be careful."

His grandteacher was essentially telling him that the moment Zhou Pingsheng tried disturbing his cultivation, he should forget about cultivating and focus on ruining the cultivation of others.

Let's see who would be the one to suffer a bigger loss from this!

Zhou Mingren frowned slightly before saying, "Fine."

Zhou Pingsheng was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. It wouldn't be too hard for him to locate Su Yu in the grotto. If the people inside were allowed to gather together and Su Yu really started disturbing the others once he was disturbed himself, then they would have opened this grotto for nothing.

Zhou Mingren wasted no time and took out countless materials before saying, "Let's begin. Remember, do not disturb the cultivation of others for no reason."

He gave Su Yu a glance when saying that. Then, he gazed at Zhou Pingsheng, saying with his eyes that Zhou Pingsheng should forget about cultivating and focus on disturbing Su Yu in the grotto.

"Alright."

Zhou Pingsheng replied with a smile.

The others had odd expressions. There was no need for anyone to say anything. Everyone knew what would happen inside the grotto.

The single character faction had actually sent a seventh-stage Cloudbreach into the grotto just to disturb Su Yu's cultivation. That was a costly endeavor as they had sacrificed several students for the sake of this plan.

Of course, the fact that Su Yu had crippled many of their top students had probably played a big role in helping them reach that decision. Those students were still recovering from their injuries. They wouldn't be able to make use of the grotto anyway, so the slots might as well be given to Zhou Pingsheng.

Hong Tan said nothing. He had already given up on the first day. During the second day, he would naturally deal with this issue. One day would be enough for Su Yu.

Nobody had anything else to say. Before long, a portal opened in the room. The Mountainseas sent out their willpower, keeping the portal open.

"Enter."

With that command, everyone streamed toward the portal. Su Yu had not entered together with Wu Jia. He waited for Wu Jia to enter first. Zhou Pingsheng remained outside, clearly waiting for Su Yu to enter first.

Su Yu said nothing.

Eventually, when a certain group of students was entering, he squeezed into the group and entered with them.

Xia Chan.

That was Xia Chan's group.

Zhou Pingsheng cursed inwardly before hurriedly following them. Suddenly, Hong Tan sneezed. With one sneeze, the portal trembled, blocking Zhou Pingsheng's entrance.

Zhou Mingren looked at Hong Tan with a frown. Hong Tan laughed dryly and said, "I'm feeling unwell. Someone must be cursing me in their heart. My apologies. Let us continue. I'm really sorry."

"..."

Nobody said anything. Everyone with a brain could see what he was doing.

But they couldn't help but admit that he was really very strong. With a single sneeze, he had momentarily frozen the portal maintained by several Mountainseas.

Zhou Pingsheng only dared to curse inwardly while his mouth remained silent. When the portal stabilized again, he stepped through it.

Chapter 468: Whack-A-Mole (1)

Su Yu was unaware of what was happening outside the grotto.

After stepping through the grotto, his vision blurred before he arrived at a new place.

Not far away, Xia Chan was looking at him with a frown. The two had been transmitted to the same area. After all, they had entered at the same time. Su Yu flashed her a simple and honest smile.

The willpower in the grotto was dense, but the density level wasnt too high. Since not everyone had entered, the grotto was not fully activated yet. The willpower he was seeing was merely what the grotto had accumulated passively.

Ignoring Xia Chan, Su Yu started looking around. The place was quite big. At the very least, it was big enough that he couldn't see the end of the grotto with his naked eyes.

Apart from Xia Chan, he saw nobody in their immediate surroundings. He wondered how big the grotto was. The Source Qi Secret Grotto was quite big. Even after entering so many times, he had only stayed around the Great Strength and Infinite Strength zones.

After looking around for a short while, Su Yu started walking away.

Xia Chan frowned and hollered at him, "You followed me because you were afraid of Zhou Pingsheng. Why are you leaving now?"

"I'll take a look around. I don't want to disturb your cultivation, fellow student."

Su Yu replied with his trademark honest expression before running off. This was merely a smokescreen. He wasn't going to cultivate with her. Instead, he would look for his own spot.

Suddenly, he turned his head and hollered, "Student Xia, you won't betray my whereabouts, right? Brother Huyou is my brother! We're basically family!"

Xia Chan snorted. She didn't even deign to give him a response.

Su Yu smiled and vanished into the distance.

...

When he was far enough away that Xia Chan couldn't see him anymore, he switched directions and continued running. He did the same several times while cautiously avoiding anyone he saw. He was also paying close attention to his Perception Jade, constantly on guard over any spying attempt on him.

He took out a voice transmission talisman and said, "Brother Zhang, can you do me a favor?"

"What favor?"

"Where are you? I hope to hide behind you while I cultivate. I'll pay you for your service with mutual aid points. What do you think about 500 points? That's enough for you to purchase the locations of five apertures from the club."

"..."

Zhang Hao replied without any hesitation, "Sure."

Su Yu exhaled in relief. The members of his Mutual Aid Club were still quite reliable.

Zhang Hao was a genius of the talisman faction. Not even Zhou Pingsheng would dare to needlessly investigate him as that would create unwanted misunderstandings.

As for people like Xia Huyou, forget it. That was probably the first person Zhou Pingsheng would look for while searching for him.

Maybe Zhou Pingsheng was already lying in wait there.

Zhang Hao was the better choice as those people were unaware of his relationship with Zhang Hao.

...

About five minutes later, he met Zhang Hao.

There were no obstructions in the grotto. Even the ground had some sort of cloud-like texture, making it impossible for someone to dig themselves an underground hiding place.

But there were also several small hills in the grotto. Using these hills as the landmarks, the two were able to link up with each other.

At that point, the willpower in the grotto was growing thicker and thicker.

The willpower was also extremely pure. After meeting Zhang Hao, Su Yu checked his Perception Jade again. Fortunately, its color remained the same. Nobody had noticed him.

"Brother Zhang!"

Su Yu cupped his hands and wasted no time. He took out a jade talisman and tossed it over, "The methods of opening the five apertures. You can take this chance to open it right inside the grotto." Follow current novᴇls on novel-fire.ɴet

"Thank you!"

Zhang Hao had a wide smile on his face.

How lucky.

This was only a small favor. In exchange, he was given the methods of opening five apertures. He was very pleased with this exchange.

Looking at the small hill behind them, Su Yu said, "Brother Zhang, I'll be hiding under your robe to cultivate. You should claim this hill for yourself. I'm afraid you'll have to play the villain for once."

"Don't worry about it." Zhang Hao smiled, "This place is big and there aren't a lot of us. Everyone will be able to find their own cultivation spots. If anyone really wants to pick a fight with me, I'm also not a pushover. But I'm afraid this won't feel good for you, Brother Su. Are you sure you're going to hide under my robe?"

"I have no choice. That fellow is targeting me. He will definitely look for me after entering."

While speaking, the two walked toward the hill.

It was time for the long robe commonly worn by cultural researchers to shine.

Zhang Hao sat down cross-legged and spread his robe around him. Su Yu hid under the robe and stuck his body close to Zhang Hao's back.

Zhang Hao was slightly uncomfortable with that. At this time, Su Yu said, "Brother Zhang, I'll be pulling over a large amount of willpower so don't mind this. You should focus on opening more apertures."

Zhang Hao's heart thumped. True. Su Yu had definitely opened a decent number of apertures. He would benefit greatly if Su Yu left some of the willpower untouched after pulling a large amount over.

"I understand. Don't worry. Not even Cloudbreach cultivators would dare to spy on me for no reason."

After saying that, his vitality surged while his willpower erupted.

A small pillar of power formed around him, telling anyone in the area that he had laid claim to this spot. A challenge to his claim would be the same as starting a feud.

Su Yu promptly opened his apertures and pulled over a large amount of willpower toward them.

Zhang Hao was shocked. Just how many apertures had Su Yu opened?

He hurriedly started cultivating. While doing so, he whispered, "Try to be faster and gather more willpower around us. That way, if someone suspects anything, we can claim that this is a place with a higher natural density of willpower."

"Sure!"

Su Yu put all 44 of his apertures to work as he gathered more and more willpower around them.

While absorbing the willpower around them, Su Yu took note to leave some for Zhang Hao.

At the moment, Zhang Hao was still in the process of opening his first aperture. He had obtained the location of the first aperture from Su Yu previously. With the five newly obtained aperture locations, he would be able to leave the grotto with six opened apertures if everything proceeded smoothly.

The willpower around them grew denser and denser. A few minutes later, Su Yu poked Zhang Hao's back.

Zhang Hao's heart thumped as he hurriedly shouted, "This place is taken. The grotto is big enough for everyone. Don't disturb my cultivation. I am Zhang Hao of the talisman faction. Don't needlessly escalate this into a feud."

A figure could be seen approaching them from afar. It was Hu Wensheng. He had a frown on his face as he studied the area while floating in the air. He had only come this way after sensing a higher density of willpower in the area. He did not expect to see someone else here.

Zhang Hao? This was a new student.

Hu Wensheng was still thinking when Zhang Hao yelled, "Teaching Assistant Hu, I found this place first. This is a place where willpower naturally converges. Are you going to snatch this place from me?"

Hu Wensheng said nothing and turned around with a frown.

It was improper for a teaching assistant to take from a student. Zhang Hao was also the student of an elder and the grandson of a ninth-stage Cloudbreach. This was not someone he wanted to provoke.

After Hu Wensheng left, Zhang Hao exhaled in relief.

Inwardly, he was alarmed. Just what was up with Su Yu? How had Su Yu sensed Hu Wensheng? Was it a character or something else?

He couldn't be bothered to think too much about it and returned to his cultivation. The willpower density around them had reached a terrifyingly high level. In the blink of an eye, the aperture he had spent several days opening was fully opened.

Boom!

Similar to what Su Yu had experienced, he heard a loud rumble in his head before getting an out-of-body experience.

That only lasted for a split second before his senses returned to normal. He was overjoyed. This was really working! The aperture was real!

Prior to this, he was still slightly worried that he had been given false information. But now, he no longer doubted the information Su Yu gave him.

The two continued absorbing the dense willpower around them even as more willpower continued converging around them.

...

At the same time.

One after another, the people in the grotto settled down and started cultivating. Floating in the air, Zhou Pingsheng was scanning his surroundings.

Shortly after, he landed on the ground.

Not far ahead of him, Xia Huyou was busy cultivating. When Xia Huyou saw Zhou Pingsheng, he frowned and said, "Don't provoke me! I'm from the Xia Family! If you mess with my cultivation, the Xia Family will fuck you up!"

Zhou Pingsheng said nothing and looked around. Su Yu was nowhere to be seen. He frowned slightly before flying away. Right after he left, Xia Huyou mumbled to himself. This was such a waste of time on the single character faction's part.

But Su Yu was probably in trouble. The grotto wasn't small, but it wasn't exactly big. If Zhou Pingsheng continued his search, it would only be a matter of time before Su Yu was found. And the moment he was found, he could forget about cultivating.

Zhou Pingsheng was a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. Even someone like him would be able to improve slightly while cultivating in the grotto. But he had clearly given up on cultivating just to ruin Su Yu's cultivation.

...

Shortly later, Zhou Pingsheng arrived somewhere else.

A few people were there.

Wu Jia was one of them. Less than five meters from her was Wan Mingze. When she saw Zhou Pingsheng, she snorted before shutting her eyes to focus on her cultivation.

Her junior brother had told her to ignore these people. If this fellow dared to disturb her cultivation, she would walk up to Wan Mingze and sit down right beside him.

She had just started to open her first aperture anyway. She still didn't need that much willpower yet. Even with some disturbance from cultivating so near someone else, it wouldn't affect her too badly.

When Wan Mingze opened his eyes and saw Zhou Pingsheng, he frowned slightly. But the frown was quickly replaced by a smile as he said, "Teacher Zhou, since you're in the grotto, you should treasure this opportunity and absorb more willpower. You should strive to reach the Mountainsea Realm as soon as possible..."

Zhou Pingsheng had a sharp look in his eyes as he said, "There is no need for you to worry about me, Student Wan."

He then flew away.

As for Wu Jia, he might dislike her as well, but she wasn't important. If it wasn't for the sake of dealing with Chen Yong, he wouldn't have bothered to pay her any attention.

Su Yu was the person he truly hated. And that kid was too terrifyingly talented. If Su Yu was allowed to absorb more willpower, he would turn into an even bigger trouble.