Chapter 32 - 32

Chapter 507: Killing Skysoar (1)

Su Yu started returning to the entrance. While walking, he did not forget to absorb some baleful qi to nourish his characters.

The kill character had reached the second tier long ago so there really wasn't much need to nourish it. Su Yu did not intend to push it to the third tier for now. Doing that at his current level would only increase the burden on him without much benefit.

The blood character had been on the verge of advancement after absorbing some intent from the destroyed Sunmoon characters. And Su Yu had not dared to push the character to the next tier.

After a short walk, he returned to the spot where he had encountered the other student. That person was no longer there.

Su Yu wasn't bothered. At that time, his voice transmission talisman vibrated. When he took a look, he saw that Xia Huyou had sent him a message with information about the Zhang Family.

"Zhang Family, a Skysoar family of the northern suburb..."

That was a family with four Skysoars.

That was absolutely not weak.

The family head was Zhang Wu and his wife was Hu Feng. One was a ninth-stage Skysoar while the other was a seventh-stage Skysoar. The son was Zhang Ming, who was slightly weaker at third-stage Skysoar. But the son's wife was quite impressive. This was the same young woman Su Yu had seen earlier. She was known as Madam Zhang, but her name was Chen Lan, a seventh-stage Skysoar. There was also a grandson, the same boy Su Yu had seen earlier.

These were the main members of the Zhang Family. There were also some other servants and guards in the family. In the northern suburb, a family of four Skysoars was absolutely not weak. And this Zhang Family had been in the area for over 20 years.

After going through the message, Su Yu asked, "Chen Lan is a seventh-stage Skysoar. Why did she marry a third-stage Skysoar?"

Sure, it was normal for married cultivators to have different levels of strength, but the husband would generally be the stronger one. It was quite rare to see the reverse of that.

Xia Huyou's reply came promptly, "I heard back then, Chen Lan was helped by the two elders of the Zhang Family when she was cultivating. Thus, she married their son to thank them."

"The two elders..." Su Yu suddenly recalled the old woman he saw on the way. He asked, "Do you have the picture of Old Madam Zhang? Can you send me the picture?"

"Give me a minute!"

Xia Huyou went silent, most likely contacting someone else. Shortly after, a picture was sent over. After checking the picture, Su Yu saw that the woman in the picture greatly resembled the old woman he saw even though there were some differences. It was likely that they were the same person.

The look in his eyes changed.

Interesting.

If he did not know they were from the Zhang Family, he might not be suspicious. He had actually encountered three members of the Zhang Family on his way here. How interesting.

And there was even a boy who was potentially an adult in disguise.

That made things even more interesting.

Xia Huyou asked, "Are you sure about this? According to the information I gathered, the Zhang Family has been living a considerably honest life. The leader of the family has even killed some enemies in the Allheaven Battlefield before. Su Yu, someone like him is considered a hero in Great Xia and his family is considered a hero's family. Don't mess around."

"He fought on the battlefield before?"

Su Yu started feeling uncertain. In his view, no cultist would have the courage to step onto the battlefield.

"Also, this Zhang Family is related to the Zhang Family of the main city. They are actually a branch family of Zhang Hao's Zhang Family."

Su Yu frowned. Zhang Hao's family? He knew about Zhang Hao's family. That was a family with a ninth-stage Cloudbreach and could be considered a decently powerful family in the main city. They were actually related?

After a short silence, Su Yu sent a message to Zhang Hao, "Is your family related to the Zhang Family of the northern suburb?"

"Are you referring to Zhang Wu's family?"

"Yeah."

"We are related. Back then, my grandpa came to Great Xia for further studies. In truth, my Zhang Family originated from Great Shang. Eventually, my grandpa built up his own family in Great Xia. This Zhang Wu is a distant relative from Great Shang..."

Zhang Hao then asked, "Did something happen?"

"Do you know about that child in his family?"

"Zhang Mo?" Zhang Hao remembered the boy. He said, "Yeah, but I have only met him a few times. He started cultivating too early and damaged his own body. Nowadays, he spends most of his time recuperating at home. He's 12 this year, but he hasn't even entered elementary school."

The boy was not attending school. Was it really due to his so-called injury or was it because he didn't dare to go for fear of exposing himself?

Su Yu said, "Something is suspicious about this family. Brother Zhang, I have a question. If this family did something wrong, would that implicate you?"

"This...Great Xia does not have the habit of implicating the relatives of criminals, but that's not the case when it involves the Myriad Race Cult. If they can prove that my grandpa had accidentally leaked some information before, my family will definitely be implicated."

...

Inside the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, Zhang Hao was starting to feel worried. He asked, "Brother Su, are they really problematic?"

He personally found Su Yu to be a trustworthy person. And Su Yu must have discovered something to suddenly ask about this family.

"I'm not sure. But that child...does not seem like a child. I left the academy today, but on my way, I encountered Hu Feng, Chen Lan, and Zhang Mo in succession. And I actually met them separately."

Zhang Hao asked, "Is it possible that those are coincidences?"

"What do you think?"

Zhang Hao sank into silence.

As someone capable of entering a cultural research academy, he was definitely not a fool.

After a long while, Zhang Hao said, "Brother Su, if they are really problematic, please hold your hand. Give me the chance to notify my grandpa. My family must be the one to act against them."

Su Yu replied, "No problem. But I'm not certain yet. How about this? You guys get ready. If they really make a move against me, that will be the strongest proof that they are problematic. If they don't do anything, they have been able to stay here for so many years so we might not be able to find any proof of wrongdoing."

"Then...I'll get my grandpa to assist you in secret..."

"It's fine. I don't want to risk them noticing anything. I only told you this because we are fellow brothers of the Mutual Aid Club. But please keep this to yourself for now. Honestly, your grandpa might not trust a mere student like me even if I have absolute confidence in Grandpa Zhang."

After giving that reply, Su Yu smiled.

As for his trust toward Zhang Hao's grandfather, he was merely being polite. If those fellows did not do anything against him, he wouldn't be bothered to do anything about them unless he had strong proof of their wrongdoings.

Great Xia was powerful enough that a few Skysoars wouldn't be able to do much harm to the prefecture. In fact, not even a ninth-stage Cloudbreach would be able to harm the foundations of the prefecture.

But it wasn't likely that Grandpa Zhang was also problematic. That was a member of the prefectural government, someone working under Administrator Hu. And Administrator Hu would definitely not hire someone before checking their background.

Thus, Su Yu really couldn't be bothered to do anything about this. As long as they stayed away from him, he wouldn't waste his time doing anything to them. It was pointless to him.

Since even Xia Huyou was already aware of them, even if they didn't do anything to him this time, the Xia Family would continue paying close attention to them. And that was enough.

After a short chat with Zhang Hao, Su Yu said to his two protectors, "Stay watchful on our way back."

"Alright."

The water elemental and shadow replied promptly. The two were waiting for a chance to perform a meritorious deed for Su Yu. Thus, they would be more than happy to see an attack happen.

...

Before long, Su Yu met up with Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming again.

The two were in the middle of cultivation. They were both relieved to see Su Yu again. It had been a few hours since Su Yu left. They would start worrying if he stayed in there any longer.

"I'm done with my business." Su Yu smiled, "This place is quite good to nurture characters, but the stench is too unbearable. I truly have troubled the two of you to come to this place with me."

Wang Zhishan hurriedly laughed it off, "What are you saying? We are the ones who have benefited from this trip."

They started walking toward the exit while talking.

Outside, Su Yu saw that the two from the Zhang Family were no longer around.

At the place their earthdragon beast was hitched, he rubbed his pocket and grumbled, "Where's my merit card? Don't tell me I dropped it?"

The moment the guard on duty heard those words, his face turned unsightly as he said, "You are not allowed to leave without paying."

"..."

Su Yu rolled his eyes and said, "I must have dropped it while cultivating. I'll go in and look for it..."

He looked at his two companions and awkwardly said, "We can't withdraw our earthdragon beast. I need to go inside to look for my merit card...Senior Brother Wang, can you lend me five merit points to enter the pit again? I will repay you later..."

Wang Zhishan said, "This is nothing. Don't worry about it. Are you sure you still want to enter the pit? You can always return and apply for a new card."

"I'll try to look for it first."

Su Yu had a helpless tone as he whispered, "That's an unregistered card. I can't lose it or I'll be in trouble. Anyone with the card will be able to take the money inside."

Wang Zhishan had a look of realization.

He had heard of such cards before, but he had never seen one. It wasn't surprising that Su Yu would have one such card. In fact, most geniuses of the academy would probably have these cards in their possession. That way, they could avoid attracting the academy's attention when conducting large transactions.

He nodded, "Sure. We can enter with you as well..."

"No!" Su Yu smiled, "There is no need to trouble you. It's not like the pit is a comfortable place. Chen Ming isn't even at the Mental Tempering Stage yet. He is already pale after the first visit. If he enters again, he will probably remain in his bed for a few days after this."

Chen Ming had an awkward expression. Su Yu was right.

Su Yu said, "In truth, you don't even need to wait for me here. I don't know how long I'll take to find that card. How about this? Rent two cloudrush horses here for your return trip. I'll pay for it later. I only need to borrow five merit points from Senior Brother Wang for a single entry into the pit."

Naturally, Su Yu would be the one to ride the earthdragon beast back later. That concerned his reputation. The reputation of a genius needed to be protected.

And Wang Zhishan was understanding of that. But he still looked embarrassed as he offered, "Why don't Junior Brother Chen return first while I accompany you..."

"It's fine. I will need to go deep into the pit..."

Wang Zhishan could only smile helplessly. If that was the case, he wouldn't be able to follow.

"Fine. Also, forget about the matter of money. In all honesty, neither of us has been of much help to you during this trip. We only need a merit point or two..." Latest content publıshed on novelFirｅ.net

"Senior Brother Wang, are you looking down on me?"

Su Yu's face fell. He was showing the displeased face of someone whose kindness had just been rejected.

Wang Zhishan felt helpless. He nodded and said, "Fine. But it's not cheap to rent cloudrush horses, so we can pay for that ourselves. Please agree to this, Junior Brother Su."

"But...fine!"

With a loan of five merit points, Su Yu returned to the pit. As for Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming, they left on their rented cloudrush horses.

Chapter 508: Killing Skysoar (2)

After the two left, Su Yu exhaled in relief. They were too weak. If an attack really happened, he would be fine, but that might not be the case for them. The source of thɪs content is novel⚑fire.net

He knew that things would look less suspicious if he left with them. He would look completely clueless, allowing him to catch his enemies unaware. But he did not like the thought of using his own people as bait. He still remembered the question Bai Feng asked him previously. How would he feel if his father was used as bait by Xia Yuwen on the battlefield?

He had said that Xia Yuwen deserved to be killed. Thus, he naturally wouldn't do something similar now that he was in a similar position.

Earlier, Su Yu had deliberately dropped his card in the pit. Thus, he spent about half an hour in the pit before retrieving the well-hidden card. He had hidden the card very well in case someone else picked it up. It wouldn't hurt to be prudent. He wouldn't want anyone with his card even if there wasn't much money left in it.

"This is daylight robbery."

Su Yu grumbled as he calculated the amount of money he had spent for this trip.

For the two entries, he had to pay 10 merit points. To hitch his mount, he had to pay 1 merit point. His two companions would be paid 10 merit points. And he also had to pay 1 merit point to rent his mount. In total, he had spent 22 merit points for this trip.

He kept having a feeling that this was an unprofitable trip. Then again, he hadn't returned completely empty-handed. His saber character seemed to have grown slightly stronger after the encounter with Xia Longwu's saber qi.

...

When he stepped out of the Myriad Race Pit again, the sky was already dark.

This was even better!

In the dark of the night, there were fewer pedestrians on the road. Thus, the hidden enemies would be more likely to make a move on him. But he still wasn't sure if his guess about them was right.

Perhaps the entire thing was simply a misunderstanding. It was pointless to keep thinking about it so Su Yu hopped onto his earthdragon beast before setting off.

...

On the way back to the main city.

The Zhang Family had a small villa beside the main road connecting the main city and the Myriad Race Pit. The location of this villa had been very convenient for the Zhang Family when carrying out some of their past operations.

Inside the villa.

They were conversing through voice transmissions while eating. The old man said, "The two students left in advance. Has Su Yu discovered something?"

The young woman said, "I doubt so. When I met him, he showed no reaction. He didn't even have a dao protector. What can he discover?"

"Don't forget that he's a genius." The old man said, "A genius like him will have a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Perhaps he has really discovered something."

"But our Zhang Family has been in the area for decades. Even if he did find something, we have established identities here. What would he suspect?"

After a slight hesitation, the old man said, "Forget about this. Let's give up on the job. Even if we can really capture him, we still need to move away immediately. The reward of 8,000 merit points isn't small, but is it worth abandoning everything we've built here?"

"Hallmaster!" The boy said, "There is no need for that. We only need to clean up well and nobody will know it's us."

"Do not be careless." The old man said, "If we really do make a move, we must move away after that. You can hide from Cloudbreach cultivators, but can you hide from Mountainseas and Sunmoons? Su Yu is a genius. His disappearance might even cause Hong Tan to leave his seclusion early. He will search the area and immediately discover that something is off about you."

"I can just fake death. I have always pretended to be injured anyway..."

The boy was clearly unwilling to give up. The young woman said, "If it's necessary, just give up on this place. In all honesty, capturing Su Yu will save us seven or eight years of hard work. If we leave with our accumulated wealth, we won't lose that much."

They could take their valuables with them and leave everything else behind. The real estate and mines they had were not even worth 100 million dollars. And they had no way of efficiently changing all those things into merit points. They wouldn't be able to get too many merit points out of these things.

The old man looked at the group. There were five of them, and at least three were tempted to make a move. The boy was the greediest of them all. He wanted to both do the job and remain here after. As for the others, they understood the dangers and were inclined to leave after the job.

The old man placed his bowl down and started smoking his water pipe. After a while, he said, "Either we give up or flee right after capturing him. This is the suburbs. We can retreat to the wilderness quickly. There, it will be much harder for Great Xia to find us."

As for the boy's suggestion, none of them considered it. That was basically suicide. One would be naive to believe that Great Xia would not be able to discover anything after a genius was kidnapped.

"Crazy old woman, what do you think? Should we do this?"

The old woman was a late-stage Skysoar and a cultural researcher. Thus, he asked her opinion.

After a slight hesitation, the old woman said, "After coming up with his source soul acupoint theory, would Great Xia start paying close attention to him?"

This was what she was worried about. If even the Myriad Race Cult was interested in the source soul acupoint, would that not be the case for Great Xia? She was quite worried.

The old man nodded. This was also his worry. As for the existence of dao protectors, they had confirmed that Su Yu did not have any.

The young man who had remained silent all along suddenly said, "This is only a short trip to the suburbs. Would the Xia Family dispatch an expert to protect him for such a short trip? It's not like he's going far away to temper himself."

Would the Xia Family dispatch a Mountainsea to protect the kid for such a short trip?

The boy was getting irritated as he asked, "So what's the decision? If we keep waiting, the chance would be gone. After returning to the academy, when would he leave again? Perhaps he would already be a Skysoar the next time he leaves the academy. At that time, we would no longer be able to do anything."

It was simply too rare to see Su Yu leave the academy.

The boy clenched his teeth and said, "If necessary, we can get the higher ups to help with this. At worst, we only need to get a smaller reward for it."

The old man knocked on the table with his pipe and said, "I wonder if anyone else is eyeing the kid as well. After all, we are not the only ones hiding in the capital. Su Yu is a fat lamb. Are we the only ones interested in this fat lamb?"

They all sank into silence. Was that possible? Probably. That was a fat lamb worth 8,000 merit points. They were probably not the only ones interested. Would anyone else be making a move?

The boy said, "Even if they are tempted, they might not have the ability to capture the kid. We are different. The five of us have been working together for so many years. The others do not have the level of cooperation we have."

"How are you so sure of that?"

"Hallmaster, just be honest. Are you actually planning on giving up?"

The boy was getting unhappy. If they were going to worry about everything, they might as well give up on the job.

While rapping on the table, the old man said, "I am merely trying to avoid getting all of us killed. We have reached this level after decades of hard work. If we do this, we will need to abandon this base of operations, resulting in an uncertain future. Secondly, we will most definitely die if we're caught..."

The boy unhappily said, "Just give up, then."

The old man had too many excuses. Ultimately, he was simply unwilling to do it.

"Why are you so impatient?" The old man frowned and slowly said, "I am more afraid of some other parties targeting him as well and ruining our plan."

He thought for a bit and said, "If we want to do it, we need to make thorough preparations. Boy, you're good at disguise. Help disguise us as Martial Dragon Guards."

The old man's eyes flickered as he said, "We will go out openly and offer to escort Su Yu back. If there are really other parties targeting Su Yu, they will retreat after seeing the Martial Dragon Guards. Even if there is an expert protecting him in secret, the crime of pretending to be Martial Dragon Guards is not punishable by death. At worst, we will be exiled to the Allheaven Battlefield."

Yes, he was already preparing for the worst. If they were really caught, they would not admit to being members of the Myriad Race Cult. They would simply claim that they were common criminals acting out of greed.

At the very least, they could still try to survive at the Allheaven Battlefield. On the other hand, they would definitely be executed if they admitted to being a part of the Myriad Race Cult.

"If we are really caught, will they even believe our words?"

The young woman asked with worry. The old man was somewhat speechless. He said, "When I wanted to give up, you guys were unwilling. Now that I'm planning to make a move, you are saying something demoralizing before even making a move. That is only the worst case scenario. If there isn't a Mountainsea around, nobody will notice us. And if there is a Mountainsea around, we will be caught the moment we appear. If that happens, we might as well seek life in death."

They needed a lot of courage to pretend to be the soldiers of the Martial Dragon Guards. In Great Xia, very few people had the courage to do so.

"But if we end up captured, the boy will definitely be exposed. Nobody will trust our words..."

The old man said, "Just say that he has been in disguise all along and we are bandits. It's not like we haven't prepared for this eventuality. We are bandits that have been kidnapping the traveling merchants in the area. That crime is not punishable by death. This has always been our backup identities. If we are captured, just expose that we are bandits. We will only be sent to the Vanguard Regiment. There, we can still try to stay alive. Make your choice. Do you want to do this?"

It was necessary for them to have several fake identities. And they had even performed some robberies with their identities as bandits before. Great Xia would probably stop the investigation upon discovering that they were bandits. After all, they were mere nobodies and weren't worth further investigation.

Bandits who had not killed too many people would be sent to the Vanguard Regiment. This had always been Great Xia's policy. That way, they wouldn't put any manpower to waste. Even if a criminal needed to die, the criminal would have to kill a few enemies before dying.

The old man was well prepared for the possibility of getting caught. At the very least, they needed to ensure their survival when that happened.

At this point, the others nodded in agreement. They were going to do it. The reward of this one job would be the equivalent of seven to eight years of hard work. It was a risk worth taking.

...

The earthdragon beast was running rapidly.

The sky had turned completely dark.

This late, very few pedestrians could be seen on the road. Su Yu had been paying close attention to his Perception Jade. Suddenly, the jade changed color. Ahead of him, a small team of Martial Dragon Guards appeared.

"Halt! Who is this?"

One of them questioned. Su Yu hurriedly answered, "Su Yu, a new student of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy."

Inwardly, he was astonished. Why were the Martial Dragon Guards here? Was this a regular patrol? Or were these fellows sent by Xia Huyou? But there was no need for this, right? Didn't he say that he wanted to set a trap for the attackers?

Was this a coincidence?

While Su Yu was thinking, the water elemental's voice rang out in his ear, "Be careful. This water composition...is similar to the boy we saw earlier..."

People could change their appearance, their body shape, their aura, and their outfit, but nobody would think of expelling some water from their body.

The only exception if one was one of those lunatics from the transformation faction. Those people were absolutely capable of transforming themselves into something completely alien.

Su Yu was shocked. Holy shit. These fellows were truly courageous.

Was this for real?

In truth, the first thing he felt after seeing the Martial Dragon Guards was a sense of reassurance. Even if they weren't too strong, their sheer presence was enough deterrence for many people.

In fact, any local of Great Xia would react similarly.

Martial Dragon Guards. Number one army of Great Xia.

With them standing, Great Xia would remain.

Thus, he had instinctively viewed them with trust. If it wasn't for the water elemental's reminder, he wouldn't even start suspecting them.

Chapter 509: Killing Skysoar (3)

Su Yu's heart thumped. He realized that...he was still not cautious enough. Even after knowing that some people might be making a move on him, he still did not suspect these strangers just because of their uniform. This was too careless of him.

While Su Yu was feeling some lingering fear from his own carelessness, the fake soldiers approached him. When they approached, Su Yu saw that they looked nothing like the individuals he had encountered earlier.

There were five of them, three men and two women. It wasn't too surprising for women to be present in the Martial Dragon Guards. After all, there were a lot of female cultivators out there.

All five of them looked young.

They stopped in front of Su Yu. From the uniform, the leader of this group was a 100-man commander. Xia Bing of Nanyuan was only a 10-man commander as an early-stage Skysoar. Su Yu guessed that this leader was probably the leader of that Zhang Family.

A ninth-stage Skysoar?

While he was thinking, the leader asked, "A student? Don't run around so late at night. Su Yu...are you that famous strongest new student of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy?"

"Yeah..."

Su Yu played along. He couldn't help but admire the guts of these people.

They actually dared to pretend to be Martial Dragon Guards. How incredible.

The leader looked around before frowning, "You're traveling without a dao protector? Are you tired of living? A genius student like you is definitely on the bounty list of the Myriad Race Cult. They will not spare you when they encounter you. Sure, the suburbs are relatively safe, but there is no guarantee that you will receive prompt assistance in the event of an attack."

"Thank you for the reminder, Sir."

Su Yu knew what the man was doing. The man was trying to fish for information about any hidden dao protectors.

"Since it's only a trip to the suburbs, I didn't let my martial uncle escort me. After all, I'm still within the capital itself..."

Su Yu flashed a simple smile and said, "With the Martial Dragon Guards around, how would those shady individuals dare to try anything? The main city isn't even that far away. I'll reach there soon."

"Do you have your student ID with you?"

With a smile, Su Yu hopped off his mount and took out his student identification and said, "Sir, this is my student ID."

As he said that, he handed his student identification over.

"Fifth Brother, check it."

At that, a man stepped forth. According to the water elemental, this might be the boy they had encountered earlier.

After checking the student ID with a serious expression, the boy said, "Lord, it's real."

"This place is not too far away from the main city, but you're a genius student. Why are you traveling alone so late at night? Forget it. We'll escort you back..."

With a strict expression, the leader said, "Remember, don't travel alone when you're leaving the main city in the future. It's not easy being a genius. You need to be on constant alert."

The old man deliberately nagged Su Yu so that they would stay there longer. With their presence, even if there were others who were targeting Su Yu around, those people would promptly retreat.

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Little did they know, a Mountainsea was observing them high in the sky. After staring at the soldiers for a while, he rubbed his temple and lamented that he was really getting old. Initially, he had not noticed anything.

He had thought that this was truly a coincidence. But he eventually realized something. Weren't these fellows...the same people from the Zhang Family?

"Age is truly catching up with me!"

The middle-aged man sighed. If these people were slightly better at disguise and were Cloudbreach cultivators, he would probably fail to detect anything off about them. This was too embarrassing!

"No, I have known about them all along. I discovered them the moment they appeared. I was merely waiting to test Su Yu's reaction. I am merely giving him the opportunity to learn about how complicated the real world is..."

Yeap. He was making excuses for himself.

But shortly after, his expression turned awkward again. He saw that as Su Yu walked forward, the shadow under him was slowly merging into Zhang Wu's shadow.

Evidently, Su Yu had seen through these fake soldiers.

How awkward.

The hell?

That kid had actually seen through these people before him. He was a Mountainsea! This was too embarrassing!

But since Su Yu already knew the truth, he was in no rush to make a move. He would wait and see. With the two beast protectors, these people wouldn't be able to do anything to Su Yu anyway.

...

On the ground.

The shadow was starting to move, but Su Yu was in no rush. This was his very first time encountering opponents who were good at acting. He was having too much fun. This was the perfect opportunity for him to learn something new!

"Uhm, this isn't proper, right? I don't want to trouble you..."

Zhang Wu coldly chided, "Stop wasting time. If you're not a genius student of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, who would have bothered with trying to help you? We still have a mission to carry out. Hurry up. After escorting you to the gate, we will need to leave for the mission."

With an awkward expression, Su Yu said, "In that case, I'll be in your care."

Su Yu turned around to get back on his earthdragon beast. At this time, the boy was about to knock him unconscious when he suddenly turned back to face them again and asked, "By the way, what are your names?"

With a grateful tone, Su Yu said, "You might not care about this, but we might be future comrades. Thus, can I know your names?"

The boy was getting impatient. He wanted to attack directly, but Zhang Wu stopped him with a cough and said, "Zhang Wen..."

Su Yu gave the leader a polite bow. The others also introduced themselves regardless of the annoyance they were feeling.

They were waiting for him to turn around so that they could knock him unconscious and get this over with. They had already stayed here long enough. Any other hidden parties would have left by now.

The boy was the person standing the closest to Su Yu. When the boy gave his name impatiently, Su Yu bowed again...

And a hammer instantly flew toward the boy's head. At the same time, a cultural weapon shrouded in a thin layer of fire appeared.

Fast.

Incomparably fast.

The Sky Sundering Saber was used while the fire crow's lifebound fire sealed on the weapon was unleashed. Su Yu wanted to see if he could kill a Skysoar with a sudden attack. As for the consequences of his action...with his two beast protectors, what was there to fear?

The boy's sea of willpower trembled. His vision blurred, and before he could recover, Su Yu, who was standing right in front of him, was already stabbing a flaming saber at his heart.

High in the sky, the Mountainsea's face twitched.

The saying was true. A dog that bites would not bark!

How ruthless.

At the very least, these fellows were clad in the uniforms of the Martial Dragon Guards. Was the kid even sure that these were enemies? He was actually attacking to kill without any hesitation?

"Soul Expanding Art...Sky Sundering Saber...and fire crow race's lifebound fire..."

The Mountainsea was astonished. And none of that was the issue. The issue was that hammer. Wasn't it a tad bit too ferocious? And wasn't that kid's willpower a tad bit too strong?

With one hammer strike, he had actually stunned a fifth-stage Skysoar cultural researcher? The kid was only at the Mental Tempering Stage! Were the newbies these days so terrifying?

...

Su Yu was extremely ruthless the moment he decided to act.

The saber stabbed right through the boy's heart.

The boy's body burned, and at the same time, a blast of lightning erupted within the boy's body. As a cultural researcher, the boy's body wasn't too strong. His body was instantly blown into pieces.

As a cultural researcher, with his willpower restricted by the sneak attack, he became completely helpless against Su Yu.

With a frosty look in his eyes, Su Yu did not even give the boy a second look before sending his hammer toward the other youth in the group. As for the other three, he was clear that he wouldn't be able to kill them. Those were all late-stage Skysoars.

Zhang Wu's eyes widened. Everything had happened too quickly. He had not expected that Su Yu would actually attack. He was just about to make his move when his shadow moved, crushing both his legs. That was not the end as the shadow actually started creeping up his legs.

Zhang Wu had a look of despair. What was that?

At the same time, the two women were kept busy by two clumps of water.

Su Yu smiled and said, "Let me give it a try."

According to the information he had received, this young man was Zhang Wu's son, a third-stage Skysoar. Instead of letting the water elemental fight, he wanted to see if he was capable of killing this person.

This would be a confrontation between a genius of the academy and a lackluster talent of the cult. Could he kill this opponent? Zhan Hai would probably be able to easily kill such an opponent. He wouldn't have been known as a genius among geniuses otherwise.

The so-called unrivaled within the same level was generally only a term used when talking about those who were similarly geniuses. As for a garbage cultivator like this, a freak like Su Yu should be able to skip a level and kill him instead.

With a roar, the young man's body lit up as he activated his acupoints.

Warrior.

With a sneer, Su Yu said, "Garbage. A piece of trash with only 60 acupoints..."

With only 60 acupoints, even a Skysoar wouldn't be too impressive.

"Die!"

The hammer descended upon the young man. Instead of attacking, the young man was actually trying to turn around and flee. But instantly, he froze. But immediately after, his life force surged and forcefully pushed the hammer back. Nevertheless, he was still experiencing slight dizziness.

He was just about to start fleeing again when his vision blurred and Su Yu appeared in front of him.

The young man was alarmed. When did Su Yu get in front of him?

But he immediately realized something and roared, "Break!"

His source qi surged and broke through the illusion. His guess was confirmed. This was indeed an illusion. Alas, he was still too slow.

Behind him, with a cultural weapon in hand and 300 bright acupoints, Su Yu swung his saber, unleashing a torrential wave of saber qi. The young man turned around and faced the attack with his saber in fury.

Boom!

The two sabers collided loudly.

Under control of Su Yu's willpower, the hammer reappeared. At the same time, his killing intent and battle intent surged out.

The young man was so shocked that he actually took a step back. How was this a Great Strength cultivator?

The hell?

Great Strength?

This was too strong to be a Great Strength cultivator!

The young man was just about to charge forward again when Su Yu retrieved the saber with a sneer. Then, eight characters came together, forming a small saber in his sea of willpower.

Character technique!

This was his first time using his character technique. This was a perfect opportunity for him to test its might. And this was also his first time using the disassembly method, allowing him to use his character technique with only eight characters.

Skybreak Technique!

The cultural weapon fused with the character technique, instantly growing sharply in strength. At the same time, Su Yu's willpower drained rapidly.

With eight characters, his character technique appeared incredibly powerful. In fact, it felt almost as strong as the character techniques of some of the multiple character faction's past Skysoar cultivators. That was understandable, as Su Yu had multiple second-tier characters.

And his willpower was also as strong as the willpower of a Skysoar. Thus, this attack of his was akin to the attack of a multiple character faction's Skysoar cultivator.

"Kill!"

When he was a few meters away from his opponent, he swung his saber. WIth a roar, the young man also swung his saber to meet the incoming attack. But at that moment, his vision blurred, causing him to miss it completely.

"I'm a cultural researcher, idiot."

With a pale face, Su Yu snorted. His cultural weapon vanished. When the weapon reappeared, it had already penetrated the young man's neck. Instantly, the young man's sea of willpower broke apart.

As a Skysoar, the young man had a decently powerful willpower even if he was only a warrior. With the destruction of his sea of willpower, darkness started covering his vision. Before he fully succumbed to eternal darkness, his head dropped to the ground, showing him the sight of a headless body with a saber in hand.

"So weak."

Su Yu curled his lips. Was this really a Skysoar?

The hell?

He had overestimated the Skysoar Realm!

Was he actually this amazing?

Why was he not aware of this before now?

Chapter 510: Money Is So Easy To Earn (1)

Killing two Skysoars in succession.

First, he launched a sneak attack against the fifth-stage boy. Then, he killed the young man with a frontal attack. Thus, he had killed a third-stage Skysoar without relying on any trickery.

This was the difference between the Skysoars inside and outside the academy. If it was a Skysoar from the academy, even if it was a first-stage Skysoar, Su Yu might not be able to kill them. But the Skysoars outside the academy could actually be killed so easily.

The gap between people at the same cultivation level could still be very big. The academies were where the elites converged. The only place similar to the academies was the military, a place similarly filled with experts.

...

Up in the sky.

The Mountainsea was shocked.

What did he just see?

Character tecnique?

Was he hallucinating?

Just what happened?

Had Su Yu completed his character technique?

The Mountainsea sank into thought. Something was off about this. Su Yu's speed wasn't too surprising, but there were too few characters in the character technique. The character technique was too weak with too few characters in it.

Sure, it wasn't exactly weak considering Su Yu's cultivation level, but with so many second-tier characters, it was clear that he had not formed too many characters. Just like that, the character technique had been completed?

"Impossible. It is impossible that Su Yu has a character technique with only a few characters...Just what is it? What changed with the multiple character technique?"

The Mountainsea's expression changed repeatedly. For him, the character technique was much more shocking than Su Yu's feat of killing Skysoars. And he couldn't help but recall what happened with Bai Feng's multiple Dragon Slaying Swords.

Eventually, the middle-aged man guessed something.

No way...right?

If that was really the case...massive changes would occur in the world of cultural researchers.

The multiple character faction suddenly seemed a lot more mysterious than before.

He hurriedly informed Administrator Hu about his guess. Administrator Hu remained silent for a long while. Clearly, he was deep in thought. None of them was shocked that Su Yu had killed Skysoars. They were more shocked about the character technique.

...

Down below.

Su Yu looked around before saying, "I would like to thank the senior protecting me in the dark. But I also hope that you won't leak any of this."

Someone who would protect him at this time would either be from the Xia Family or from Wan Tiansheng's side.

He wasn't too worrried about exposing some of his secrets to these two parties. Perhaps he could even gain more benefits from them. The Mountainsea's heart thumped. Was the kid talking to him? No, right? This was impossible. How could the kid possibly discover him?

He was a Mountainsea. He was the sole Mountainsea in the area. So was the kid really talking to him? Or was the kid trying his luck and talking to empty air out of suspicion?

Su Yu continued speaking, "Senior, I might need to take another trip after a while. At that time, there might be Mountainseas acting against me. If you're worried, Senior, you can try to ask your superior if they want someone else to take over the job instead."

"..."

The Mountainsea grimaced. The kid was not talking to him, right?

Right?

Definitely!

He refused to admit that the kid had discovered him. That would be too embarassing.

He decided to maintain his silence.

Inwardly, he grumbled endlessly. What was the meaning of this? The kid was going to take another trip in the future, but before the trip itself, the kid was already aware that someone would try killing him?

There would be Mountainseas?

Was this kid a prophet?

Was this a joke?

...

Su Yu did not say anything else.

He already did his part by giving that reminder.

How had he discovered this hidden expert? Well, how could he not? The Perception Jade had changed colors so many times. He would be stupid if he didn't know that there was a hidden expert around him.

In fact, he had already noticed that there was a hidden expert while he was in the main city. But at the time, he was still unsure if this expert was there to protect him.

But now, he was certain.

This hidden expert was brave enough to fly in the main city and had not attacked him or left during the battle. It would be odd if this person was here for any other reason than to protect him.

If this was an enemy, they would have attacked long ago.

Su Yu couldn't help but admit that this Perception Jade given to him by Zhao Li was truly useful. With this Perception Jade, Su Yu felt like his eyes had been opened wide, allowing him to see a lot of things he couldn't see before.

He was sure that if a grade was assigned to this Perception Jade, then it might be an earth-grade treasure. It was probably not something Zhao Li had forged. Instead, it had been forged by someone stronger and given to Zhao Li, who had ultimately given it to Su Yu.

Su Yu tossed the matter out of his mind. He was certain that the next time he left the academy, he would encounter a Mountainsea enemy. And he had done his part by giving his hidden protector a warning in advance.

It was now up to the hidden protector to decide if they were good enough to handle such enemies.

Meanwhile, the other three Skysoars had all been captured.

The shadow was wrapped completely around Zhang Wu's body. At the moment, Zhang Wu's eyes were filled with terror. Finally, he screeched in fear, "I surrender! I admit that I acted out of greed! I wanted to rob you! Su Yu, I surrender. You can hand me to either the Martial Dragon Guards or the Great Xia Army. I won't object."

Su Yu did not say anything.

He took out his voice transmission talisman and sent a message.

A short while later, two figures flew over.

To be precise, it was an old man flying over with Zhang Hao in hand.

After taking a look at the scene on the ground, he sighed.

But abruptly, he raised his head to look above him. High in the sky, the middle-aged Mountainsea cursed before vanishing.

...

The old man with Zhang Hao exhaled in relief before transmitting his voice to an unknown person. Before long, he looked at Su Yu and the two dead Skysoars on the ground. His expression changed slightly.

He wasted no time and said, "I am Zhang Zhonghe. Thank you for the notification, young friend."

Looking at the three captured individuals, he said, "Please hand the three of them to me. All the spoils of war are yours. You can also get 100 merit points for each low-stage Skysoar enemy killed and 300 merit points for each high-stage Skysoar enemy killed. And everything we get after raiding this Zhang Family will be yours as well. Additionally, to thank you for your contribution and show our appreciation for your talent, I will personally give you a gift of 5,000 merit points."

Su Yu looked at the old man and smiled, "Grandpa Zhang is too courteous."

Zhang Wu shouted with desperation, "Big Brother Zhonghe, I got greedy and set my eyes on Su Yu! I admit my mistakes! I am willing to accept punishment. Big Brother Zhonghe, please spare my life on account of our relationship."

Zhang Wu was terrified.

He was no fool.

The moment Zhang Zhonghe arrived, he realized that he might really die.

Su Yu had actually contacted Zhang Zhonghe.

In order to clear himself of all responsibilities, Zhang Zhonghe would not spare Zhang Wu.

In Zhang Zhonghe's hands, Zhang Wu would not survive.

Su Yu was aware of that as well. Thus, he accepted the 5,000 merit points offered by Zhang Zhonghe. This was a trade. Zhang Zhonghe would get these people while he would get the rewards. In any case, he was uninterested in being the one to decide the fate of these people.

After handing these people to Zhang Zhonghe, whatever happened to them would have nothing to do with Su Yu anymore.

Zhang Zhonghe could silence them. He could dig out more evidence about the cult so that he could make up for his mistake of trusting these people in the past. In any case, it would not be Su Yu's business anymore.

Su Yu was happy with his gains. Not only had he been rewarded monetarily, he also managed to get the Zhang Family to owe him a favor.

This was a family with a ninth-stage Cloudbreach, so a favor from such a family was quite worthwhile to have.

Zhang Zhonghe was relieved to see Su Yu's reaction. He gave Su Yu a deep look before sealing the three Skysoars with his character, not giving Zhang Wu a chance to say anything else.

He would not care about the excuses of these people.

As far as he was concerned, these people were from the Myriad Race Cult.

It didn't matter if he was sure about that or not. That was the only truth he could accept.

Regardless of whether these people were killed or interrogated, he would need to take the lead to keep the initiative in his hands. Great Xia was a peaceful place, but competition existed everywhere. If someone else got their hands on these people, they might be used a weapon against him. That would bring him a lot of trouble.

Fortunately, the person in the sky could be considered someone from his faction...

He looked at Su Yu again with an odd expression.

That person was actually protecting Su Yu in secret.

Was he acting on Administrator Hu's order? Or was this the Xia Family's order?

Regardless of whose intention this was, the value of Su Yu had increased greatly in his eyes.

And from this interaction, he also became certain that Su Yu was a very smart individual.

The moment he appeared, Su Yu had agreed to let him handle these people without asking anything. That was a wise action.

Even the fact that he had given Su Yu 5,000 merit points and ended up owing Su Yu a favor for this couldn't discount the fact that Su Yu had made a very smart choice here.

Looking at the two corpses, Zhang Zhonghe was even more shocked.

Killing Skysoars.

A Mental Tempering Stage student killing Skysoars.

This was already a feat comparable to what Liu Wenyan had done back in the day.

The newest successor of the multiple character faction was too strong. And this new successor had been maintaining a very low profile in comparison to Liu Wenyan in the past. At this age, this showed just how dependable this youngster was.

Then again, Liu Wenyan's arrogance was a product of his environment.

At the time, the entire multiple character faction was viewing him as the next leader of the faction.

As for Su Yu, he had been born in the wrong era. If he had been born during the golden age of the multiple character faction, numerous Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators would be at his beck and call based on the talent he had shown. He would receive full support from those people to be the next leader of the faction.

It had taken only a short instant for all those thoughts to cross Zhang Zhonghe's mind.

He smiled and said, "If you need anything in the future, feel free to get Zhang Hao to contact me. If I can help, I will be willing to help."

Zhang Hao's expression changed upon hearing that.

Those words made this matter look truly serious.

It was clear to him that the favor they owed Su Yu was definitely not small.

Su Yu smiled, "Grandpa Zhang is too courteous. Brother Zhang is a brother of mine. This is just a small help."

Zhang Zhonghe smiled and nodded before grabbing the three sealed individuals and the two corpses. He said, "They must have disturbed your peace today. Hao, stay and accompany this young friend. I'll deal with these people..."

"I'll send some people to surround Zhang Wu's estate and raid their assets. Young Friend Su will receive what we get from the raid."

"Don't worry, Grandpa Zhang. Brother Zhang's company is enough for me."

Su Yu had a gentle smile on his face.

In the past, Zhang Zhonghe was very satisfied with his talented grandson. He believed that his grandson was as good as the likes of Zhao Shiji who were the juniors of much larger families.

But after looking at Su Yu...it wasn't that his grandson was garbage in comparison, but his feelings still became complicated after witnessing Su Yu's talent and potential.

He said nothing and left with his prisoners.

As for the water elemental and the shadow, they had returned to Su Yu's side.

The moment Zhang Zhonghe left, Zhang Hao looked at Su Yu and sighed, "The gap between us is growing wider and wider."

This was too shocking.

A Mental Tempering Stage student killing Skysoars.

Two Skysoars had been killed in a single battle. And neither of the two Skysoars were fresh Skysoars. One was at the third stage while the other was at the fifth stage.

Zhang Hao had complicated feelings.

He could clearly see the gap between him and Su Yu.

With a smile, Su Yu said, "I just got lucky. You would have been able to do this with enough luck as well. Brother Zhang, we're on the same side anyway, right?"

"Yeah."

Zhang Hao smiled and nodded.

He was absolutely not weak.

He had opened six apertures and was at the peak of the Mental Tempering Stage. In terms of physical cultivation, he was a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator. He had merely been too busy to challenge the ranking. Otherwise, he could probably enter the top 30 if he wanted.

As a new student, this was an astonishing level of strength.

His growth was thanks to the Willpower Grotto and the apertures he had opened.

"If news of this spread, it will..."

"I can only hope that Grandpa Zhang can help me keep it secret for now."

Su Yu smiled ,"Can you inform Grandpa Zhang for me? Something like fame is not important to me. It will only cause my enemies to take me even more seriously."

"I understand."

The tallest tree in the forest would always be the first to fall.

And at the moment, Su Yu was definitely the tallest tree among his peers.

He had fought and defeated Skysoars.

This was something that could shake the entirety of Great Xia.

This was unlike Di Feng, who was suspected to have killed a Skysoar with the assistance of some other experts or many other top 100 students.

There was no comparing what Di Feng had done with what Su Yu had just done.

Sure, Su Yu was also supported by experts, but he had relied purely on himself to kill two Skysoars.

While walking, Su Yu said, "Looks like my luck is decent today. I have earned some profit today."

This was profitable!

Three late-stage Skysoars would earn him 900 merit points.

One middle-stage and one early-stage Skysoars would earn him 300 merit points.

He would earn 1,200 merit points in total.

And these points would even be added to his total earned merit.

He would also receive the proceeds from the raid of the Zhang Family's estate. That was an estate housing multiple Skysoars. Even if Su Yu would only be given a portion of what they get, he could probably get about 1,000 or 2,000 merit points, right? Official source ıs n0velfire.net

And there was also the 5,000 merit points promised by Zhang Zhonghe...

Chapter 511: Money Is So Easy To Earn (2)

After some calculations, Su Yu realized that he could probably get around 8,000 merit points from this. If he was lucky, he might even get more than 10,000 merit points.

Earning money...seemed to be very easy! He only needed to kill five Skysoars and money would start falling into his lap!

In reality, for many people, this was a feat they wouldn't be able to achieve even after working a lifetime for it. Even an early-stage Cloudbreach cultivator would not dare to guarantee that they would be able to take the five of them down.

And even if such a person did manage to take the five down, they would not receive a gift of 5,000 merit points from Zhang Zhonghe. Su Yu did not mind handing those people to Zhang Zhonghe at all. He was more than happy to exchange them for money.

As for Xia Huyou...he was sure that Xia Huyou was definitely paying close attention to Zhang Zhonghe. Thus, Su Yu was not worried about anything. The Zhang Family wouldn't be able to escape the Xia Family if they decided to try something funny.

As for what Zhang Wu had said after being captured, Su Yu really didn't care. It no longer mattered. The truth would eventually eventually be unveiled now that Zhang Wu was in Zhang Zhonghe's hands.

...

Before long, they reached the main city's gate.

After straightening his clothes, Su Yu strode forward with the earthdragon beast's reins in hand and the beast behind him. Under the dark night, his fluttering white outfit made him look incomparably graceful and elegant.

His white outfit was perfectly clean.

During his fight with the two Skysoars, some blood had splashed onto his white outfit. But he had used the blood character to clean himself. At the moment, he looked nothing like the wild and tyrannical warrior he was earlier.

Beside Su Yu, Zhang Hao had complicated emotions. Cupping his hands together, Zhang Hao said, "Let's separate here. We don't want others to start guessing the relationship between us."

"Take care, Brother Zhang."

Su Yu smiled, "If you're willing, can you help me fan the public opinion in the academy? It has nothing to do with the events today. You must be aware of what the Foreign Students Faculty has been doing recently. Help me fan the hatred of the masses toward the foreign students. Those foreign students should die. They must die. We can't trust anyone except our fellow humans."

"In short, make everyone think that it doesn't matter even if those foreign students die. Make everyone believe that those foreign students have definitely arrived at the Human Realm with ulterior motives."

"But how about Principal Wan's policies?"

Su Yu said, "It's fine. I doubt Principal Wan would care. Those students will be protected within the academy. But outside the academy...who cares?"

Zhang Hao's flickered as he realized something. He nodded and said, "If you're really doing this, you should take along a few of your own people as well. Or you can take along people who appear to be your enemy but are actually your friends. These people can serve as your witness."

"That will be quite dangerous."

"It's fine. If you require my help, I am willing to do it."

Zhang Hao said, "By the way, what happened earlier will be exposed sooner or later. We can try to release some news in advance. You can say that the Martial Dragon Guards were the ones who had dealt with the Zhang Family. Or blame it on someone else. Just insist that the Zhang Family tried to harm you."

"Since that's a branch family of our Zhang Family, it will be normal for the two of us to be enemies."

Su Yu nodded with a smile before waving at Zhang Hao.

The two separated.

There was no doubt that the events of the day would be exposed sooner or later. Just the sharp increase of his total earned merit would invite a lot of suspicion.

"Fatty Xia..."

With a smile, Su Yu muttered, "Fatty Xia was with me. His people defeated the opponents, but I was the one to land the last hit and kill the opponents for the merit points. Would anyone believe this?"

He took out his voice transmission talisman.

After a short while, Xia Huyou was carried over by an old man. While panting heavily, he said, "I was busy! Why did you call me here?"

"Enter the city with me." Su Yu smiled, "As good brothers, we naturally need to enter the city together. We met each other while returning. You even saved me from an attack and gave me a chance to be rewarded with a large sum of merit points. It is only natural that we enter the city together after that."

"..."

Xia Huyou blanked out slightly, but when he realized what was happening, he cursed, "Fuck! Who are you plotting against this time? Your heart is too dark!"

Su Yu laughed, "What are you talking about? I will never plot against a fellow human. I only plot against those I don't consider human. And I don't consider anyone harboring malice toward me human. I am a genius. I am a research genius. My existence will benefit Great XIa. My dearest Prince Xia, I believe you're aware of this. Only by treasuring talent will Great Xia remain standing for a long time to come."

Xia Huyou curled his lips. Those words...were right.

But the issue here was this fellow's tendency to create massive troubles. It was only a matter of time before a mess too big for them to clean up appeared.

Xia Huyou moved on from the topic and asked in astonishment, "You're incredible. Did you do that?"

In truth, Xia Huyou was in the area earlier. But he was not near enough to get a clear look at what happened.

Su Yu...had killed two Skysoars.

The hell?

This fellow was getting a tad bit too scary.

Su Yu said, "You would have been able to do it as well. With so many apertures, what's the big deal with killing some garbage Skysoars?"

"People like us could already be considered ninth-stage Skysoars with sufficient willpower. What's the big deal about killing some garbage warrior with 60 acupoints?"

"..."

Xia Huyou was completely speechless. The mouth of the old man twitched as he flickered and vanished. He decided to stop listening to them. Two Mental Tempering Stage students were claiming that killing Skysoars were easy. Not even a Mountainsea could avoid feeling discouraged after hearing that.

Su Yu didn't mind the old man. Since that person was here with Xia Huyou, he was probably someone directly answering to the Xia Family. This was either a member of the Xia Family or a loyal general under them. When one was in Great Xia, one would not want the Xia Family as their enemy. One would only die a terrible death.

Xia Huyou didn't feel like saying anything else. He hopped onto the earthdragon beast. Su Yu did the same.

The earthdragon beast started running. Before long, they were within the main city. Even at night, the city was still bustling with activity. This main city could actually be considered a city that never sleeps.

Seated atop the earthdragon beast, Su Yu and Xia Huyou were conversing with soft voices.

While chatting, Su Yu did not forget to smear some blood on Xia Huyou's body. Xia Huyou would take the credit for defeating those Skysoars while he would be the one to receive the merit points.

"As for Old Man Zhang Zhonghe, it doesn't matter if he is problematic or not. It is still a good idea to perhaps revise his position for now."

Su Yu smiled, "This is only a suggestion. In any case, the Zhang Family had given our dear Prince Xia a scare. They should receive a punishment, right?"

Xia Huyou grumbled, "Su Yu, you weren't such a big schemer before."

Su Yu smiled, "No. I am only acting in accordance with the circumstances. Also, the academy's environment is not one that a pure-hearted person can survive. You need to either go with the flow or truly learn what survival of the fittest means."

Xia Huyou was left speechless. That was actually true.

In the cultural research academy, one would need to adapt quickly and blend into the existing culture of the academy. Otherwise, one would become an outlier and life would become harder and harder for that person.

One would only be exempted from that if one had a sufficiently strong backer. Otherwise, just go with the flow. The academy was filled with schemers who wouldn't hesitate to plot and scheme for the downfall of their competitors.

Su Yu smiled. He was in a good mood.

He asked, "By the way, have you purchased the blood essence I ordered?"

"I'm still working on it."

"How much would it cost?"

"A few of the blood essence types are quite expensive, especially the celestial dragon blood essence. That is a race comparable to the divines and the devils. They are the kings of the dragon race. To get their blood essence, you need luck. If you're lucky, you can get a drop for a few hundred merit points. If you're unlucky, the blood essence can be as expensive as a drop of divine or devil blood essence."

"What's your estimated total price?"

"Around 2,000 merit points."

That was expensive.

Su Yu was stunned speechless. After a while, he said, "Come on, just make it 1,900 merit points. Including what I owe you from before, I'll owe you a total of 3,000 merit points. I will pay you back when I manage to get some money. Don't worry. I always pay my debts."

Su Yu would definitely repay some of his debt after getting his money. After all, repaying his debt to Xia Huyou would only allow him to borrow even more in the future. As for his debt to Zheng Yunhui...he would have to wait and see. If he really couldn't find some excess money, he would forget about that debt.

The Pure Source Art was enough as a repayment to the Zheng Family. And it was also a good thing to let the Zheng Family be the ones to spread this art. It would be too risky for Su Yu to actually auction the art out himself as that would attract too much attention to him.

While he was thinking about all sorts of things, he suddenly felt the deceit character showing signs of breakthrough.

What?

Holy shit!

What was the meaning of this?

He was only thinking about some stuff when this character wanted to break through out of nowhere.

At the moment, his blood, lightning, and kill characters had reached the second tier. The saber, break, battle, and deceit characters were on the verge of breakthrough. As for the fire character, it was still not showing any signs of advancement.

Before long, Su Yu would be someone with seven second-tier characters.

The deceit character seemed to be catching up with the older characters quickly. In fact, it had already grown a lot after absorbing the intent of the destroyed Sunmoon characters previously. Su Yu had not expected this character to start its advancement after his battle with the Skysoars.

It was unfortunate that the timing made it seem like he had caused the character to advance due to the schemes he was plotting. He was definitely not that type of person. This character was deliberately making him look bad.

...

While Su Yu was on his way back to the academy.

A piece of news started spreading in the capital.

Genius Student Su Yu was attacked outside the main city.

Five Skysoars had attacked. Two were killed on the spot while three were arrested. At present, nobody knew if the attackers were cultists or some other people.

Before long, a second piece of news spread. Those idiots seemed to have attacked when someone from the Xia Family was present. Thus, those people had basically thrown their lives away. How idiotic!

They made the move when there was someone from the Xia Family around? Were they tired of living?

Due to this incident, Xia Huyou, who was relatively unknown before this, gained a little bit of fame. So there was this person called Xia Huyou in the Xia Family? The upper echelons of the city knew that he was Xia Longwu's son, but a lot of people were not even aware of his existence.

...

Great Xia, inside a hidden chamber.

An old man was seated silently. Suddenly, his voice transmission talisman vibrated.

"Those fools. Why did they attack while Xia Huyou was there? Absolute idiots!"

The old man was furious. That was too idiotic. Of course, he also knew that those people couldn't be blamed. Xia Huyou's identity was top secret. Very few people knew about him. And even the few cultists who were aware of it wouldn't speak of it to their subordinates.

As far as those people were concerned, Xia Huyou was just a student. They probably believed that they could just kill Xia Huyou during the job.

Alas, disaster had descended upon them. Trouble was coming. If the Xia Family was angered, this would get very troublesome. The old man had not expected that Su Yu would actually travel alongside Xia Huyou.

"Cease all our operations. Go into hibernation mode. Erase all our connections to Zhang Wu's group. Zhang Zhonghe is investigating this matter to clear his own name. Find a chance to get rid of Zhang Wu's group. Don't give them the chance to speak...wait, scratch that. We shouldn't take this risk. The Xia Family might be waiting for us to make a move. Let them be. Even if they talk, it will be pointless. Pull back and stop all our operations for now."

The old man ordered promptly, but he still felt terrible. They had lost five Skysoars. And these were all agents that had stayed undercover for many years. This was a big loss. For more chapters visıt ⓝovelFire.net

"Increase Su Yu's threat assessment. After this failed attempt, he will be much more careful in the future." They would adjust the threat level and allow only those at the Cloudbreach Realm and above to accept the mission about Su Yu. The reward would also be increased by 5,000 merit points. The Xia Family had probably gotten close to Su Yu due to his talent, but it was also likely that the Xia Family was protecting him because they actually believed that Su Yu might be successful in discovering this source soul acupoint.

One order after another was given by the old man.

Su Yu's threat assessment in the cult was raised.

Su Yu would be on high alert after this. Thus, they would need to be generous and raise the bounty for the kid to 13,000 merit points.

Sure, Su Yu wasn't the person who had defeated the five Skysoars, but the old man had to admit that at the very least, this Su Yu was very lucky.

And luck was also a part of one's ability.

Since even five Skysoars had failed to take Su Yu, it could only mean that this wasn't something Skysoars could do. They should move on and let Cloudbreach cultivators attempt it. As for Mountainseas, these individuals were too conspicuous. They weren't suitable for this mission.

"Su Yu will probably hide in the academy for a long time after this..."

That was the message the old man received.

After a short silence, the old man replied, "That's not necessarily true. Wait and see. There is no rush. The source soul acupoint theory has just been proposed. How can there be a result so quickly? People only look highly on Su Yu because of the number of acupoints he has opened..."

No new messages came. The old man was right. There was no rush.

This research project was simply too difficult. Even if Su Yu was a genius, he could very well stay stuck for a decade or so without making any progress.

After thinking about it, the old man said, "Su Yu's father is in the Devil Subduing Army. What race is the Devil Subduing Army facing recently? Try to contact them and get them to capture his father. This will serve as our backup plan. After all, if Su Yu really manages to produce something out of his research center, Great Xia will instantly take control over him and his research center. At this time, our backup plan will come into play."

"Alright."

After giving that last order, the old man exhaled in relief.

In fact, it would also benefit them if Su Yu was successful in the research. After all, the cultists were also humans. And they would also be able to cultivate that acupoint once discovered.

But they absolutely needed to ensure that the Great Xia wouldn't obtain the research results or Great Xia would turn into an even more troublesome opponent.

Chapter 512: Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art (1)

Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.

Not long after Su Yu's return, news of the attack on him started spreading among the more well-informed students.

Source Soul Research Center.

The people there were also well-connected. Jiang Mu frowned and said, "These cultists are getting more and more gutsy."

"We don't even know if they really are cultists." Su Yu smiled and placated them, "It's fine. Look at me. I'm perfectly uninjured."

Wu Jia was furious, "Junior Brother, we need to tell Teacher and Grandteacher and get them to do something about it. Are we going to let those bastards target you all the time?"

"I'm fine." Su Yu said, "I didn't even notice what happened. All I heard was a crack. By the time I looked over, Xia Huyou's guard had already defeated them."

He sighed and added, "Xia Huyou keeps claiming that he's from a branch family. I honestly can't believe that. He even has a Mountainsea acting as his guard."

Hu Qiusheng had an odd look in his eyes. Was Su Yu really not aware of Xia Huyou's identity? That fellow was definitely not from a branch family. Yet Su Yu was treating that fatty like the fatty was his own grandson. Thus, Hu Qiusheng really wasn't sure if Su Yu knew about Xia Huyou's identity or not. He had yet to receive any news about what had happened during the attack.

After a while, he said, "Just be careful for now. Try to not leave the academy unless absolutely necessary."

"I know." Su Yu smiled, "I'm not planning to go out anymore. By the way, since all of you are here, let's stop talking about this boring topic. I need your help with something."

"There is a plant with three blue leaves..."

"Three blue leaves? Are you talking about the skystar flower?"

Su Yu blanked out. How was she even aware of something like this?

When he looked at Wu Lan in astonishment, her face turned smug as she said, "Why are you looking at me like this? I saw this plant before. It has three blue leaves. Upon reaching maturity, a skystar flower will bloom on it. It's very pretty."

"Do you have a picture of it?"

"I'll try to look for it. I think you can find it in the plant encyclopedia."

Wu Lan ran upstairs. Shortly after, she returned with a massive book. She handed the book to Su Yu and said, "There are 12 volumes of the plant encyclopedia. I've only read a few of them. Take a look. Is this the plant you're looking for?"

Su Yu flipped through the pages before stopping at the page introducing the skystar flower.

The plant in the picture was exactly the same as what he saw in the memory fragment.

But when he checked the location where these flowers could be found, he frowned. The scope was still too large. These flowers could be found in eight prefectures.

They could be found in Great Xia as well, but they could also be found in the nearby prefectures. Great Ming, Great Shang, Great Xia...

Nevertheless, Su Yu was still certain that the hidden treasure would not be too far away from Great Xia as these flowers did not exist in the prefectures that were too far away.

That had narrowed down his search.

He wasted no time and said, "I'm also looking for a tree with watermelon-like fruits on it. These fruits are massive and there are stripes on it..."

After finishing his description, Wu Lan raised her hand like an eager student and hurriedly said, "I know, I know! It's the nine-striped fruit! There are nine stripes on each fruit, right?"

"..."

Looking at the smug expression on Wu Lan's face, Su Yu blanked out.

Amazing. This lass was fighting to answer his question. Did she misunderstand that this was a test or something?

He asked, "Where can these fruit trees be found?"

"Great Ming, Great Xia, and Great Shang."

"Incredible!"

Su Yu praised her.

He then described yet another plant, "There is another tree. This isn't a fruit tree..."

Before he could finish, Wu Lan asked, "Is there any reward for getting all the answers right?"

"..."

Did she think that this was a game?

Su Yu was speechless. But he still flashed a smile and said, "Yes. I will keep asking. The one to get five questions right will be given the opening method of one aperture."

"..."

Everyone looked at him with stupefaction. He calmly said, "This is your employment benefits. Don't look at me like this. As a new research center, we lack money, but we're not poor. To encourage the staff of this research center, I have decided to hold some quizzes every now and then. And those capable of getting the answers right will naturally be rewarded."

Unlike everyone else, Wu Lan exclaimed in excitement, "You're using apertures as the reward? Those are the apertures we can open with our current cultivation level, right?"

"Yeah."

"What are you waiting for? Ask away!"

"..."

Meanwhile, Hu Qiusheng and the others were getting totally speechless. Was she not curious about the origin of that aperture opening method instead? Uhm...yeah, she seemed to lack any curiosity about that. But at this point, even Zheng Yunhui, Hu Qiusheng, and Jiang Mu were paying full attention to Su Yu's question.

Holy shit!

He should have told them earlier about the reward! They would be a lot more enthusiastic in answering him if they had known about it!

With a smile, Su Yu continued, "A fruitless tree that is very tall. It's about seven to eight meters tall with lotus-like leaves..."

"There are three plants matching your description!"

Hu Qiusheng hurriedly answered. But before he could finish, Wu Lan screeched, "I know the answer! Lotus sandal, orchid maple, or cloudleaf wood! Which is it? Are there spots on the trunk?"

"No..." Su Yu answered with a blank expression.

Wu Lan followed up with another question, "Are the leaves blue?"

"No..."

Wu Lan hurriedly said, "Then it's the lotus sandal tree! It can be found in Great Zhou, Great Ming, and Great Shang!"

"..."

Su Yu blinked and looked at Hu Qiusheng, who nodded helplessly. He knew the answer as well, but Wu Lan had not given him the opportunity to answer.

Su Yu asked, "What is the place with all three of these plants?"

"Great Ming."

Wu Lan continued answering before anyone could answer, "I even know a specific place that is not far from Great Xia. In fact, it's not far from your Nanyuan! It's a place called...Starfall Mountain!"

Wu Lan looked incomparably smug as she said, "This is my fourth correct answer. Continue!"

Su Yu had nothing to say.

Holy shit!

He was only casually asking to try his luck. Was he really going to find the place just like this? And that place was the Starfall Mountain!

"Wu Lan, how do you know all that?"

With a proud and happy expression, Wu Lan tried and failed to look humble as she said, "It's nothing special. I love reading about things like flowers and other plants. I always spend my free time reading about these. It's much more interesting than reading about beasts."

In other words, she was telling him to not ask her about beasts. She would not be able to answer anything.

"Is Starfall Mountain big?"

"Very." Wu Lan asked, "Does this count? Do you need to know the actual size of the mountain? I need to look around if you want to know the exact size..."

She was about to run off for an answer when Jiang Mu smiled and said, "The Starfall Mountain has a main peak and six minor peaks. You can reach it after traveling about 350 kilometers south of Nanyuan. That's actually a border region of two prefectures. It has a rough and mountainous terrain. With some wild beasts living there, that's a rather dangerous place. There are also bandits and even some cultists hiding there..."

Wu Lan looked grief-stricken. That was supposed to be her question! That fellow had snatched her question! Su Yu's heart thumped. Cultists? Was it the Divine Skywing Sect? Was it possible that this sect had been based near Great Xia in the first place?

That actually made a lot of sense. After all, the entire sect had participated in the attack against Great Xia. There were so many of them. For their movement to remain undetected, their base of operations was probably not too far from Great Xia.

The Starfall Mountain was a region that was not under the jurisdiction of any prefectures.

Su Yu was quite surprised that he was able to locate the place so quickly.

Incredible.

This research center of his was actually filled with geniuses. Oh, there were two exceptions: Zheng Yunhui who was staring at them blankly, and Wu Jia who looked completely confused. Those two had not been able to get a single word in. How pitiful.

Su Yu asked, "What's the biggest danger there? And what's the danger level?"

At this point, Hu Qiusheng looked at Su Yu in astonishment. He seemed to have realized something. Su Yu was trying to look for a place. And that place was the Starfall Mountain!

Jiang Mu smiled and said, "I'm not too sure, but the danger level there won't surpass the Mountainsea Realm. A Mountainsea level danger is already the highest level of danger classification. Generally, most threats of this level will be eradicated by the various prefectures once discovered."

Su Yu nodded.

Perhaps he could consider taking a trip to this Starfall Mountain.

Seeing that he had stopped asking his questions, Wu Lan gloomily asked, "Are you stopping?"

Quizzes were fun!

And she had only gotten four answers right so far. She still lacked one answer to get her reward.

Su Yu said, "Sure. I'll ask you one more question. One day, you leave on a mission in a team. Someone in the team wants to target you, but they lack the courage to kill you out of fear for your grandaunt. How should you force that person to make a move against you regardless of their fear?"

Wu Lan blinked. That was a very difficult question.

Some of them looked pensive, seemingly having realized something. Nobody said anything.

After a short while, Wu Lan asked, "Is this a treasure hunt or a combat mission?"

"Treasure hunt."

"Produce a great treasure that can tempt all of you. When there are only the two of you, that person will definitely not be able to resist making a move against you..."

But doing so will result in that person getting killed by my backer."

Wu Lan started having a headache. She said, "Make sure your backer is unaware of this mission or make it so that your backer can't touch the killer by providing proof that your death is not that person's proof."

"How should I do that?"

Wu Lan sank into thought again. At this time, Hu Qiusheng said, "As long as there are enough benefits, you don't need to provide any way for that person to deny their participation. They will act so long as there is no one else to witness it. Thus, the benefits offered are the most important. As long as the benefits are attractive enough, killing someone is nothing. As long as there is no witness, who can prove that the other person is the killer?" Thɪs chapter is updated by N()velFire.net

Su Yu nodded in agreement. The benefits offered should be large enough.

After thinking about it, Su Yu asked, "What's the most tempting for some people?"

"Well, for the myriad races, the ancient ruins are probably what they want most," Hu Qiusheng answered. "Or something capable of changing the order of the world, such as our source soul acupoint, a method to restore our suppressive force, or..."

He gave a long list of examples.

Su Yu nodded, "What are the consequences if I kill her after that?"

"Watch out for the reprisals of her race, watch out for the anger of the foreign students who might join hands against you out of their shared hatred toward you..."

Hu Qiusheng had a profound smile on his face as he said, "You can take more foreign students with you. Some can be killed while the rest can be roped to your side. It is better to have foreign students serving as your witness than some humans. Just let some of them be the ones to prove that the person who had died deserved it."

"As long as they don't come from the same race, they will have their own agendas. If you can satisfy the benefits of some of them, you will be able to use them to deal with the rest of them. That way you can align the interests of some of them with yours and destroy their unity. It's not that complicated."

Su Yu looked at Hu Qiusheng with a smile. Hu Qiusheng was also looking at him with a smile.

As for Zheng Yunhui, after looking at the two, he looked up at the ceiling.

Was this proper?

These two were openly plotting Xia Qing's death. The only thing that was missing was the mention of Xia Qing's name. Was this really proper?

There were still some girls there.

Weren't they afraid of looking too treacherous in front of these girls?

But when he looked at the two girls...fine. Continue on. The two girls were completely clueless. They were still thinking that Su Yu and Hu Qiusheng were discussing a hypothetical situation.

Before long, Su Yu moved on from the topic and said, "Wu Lan, I will give you a pass. Getting four answers right is actually quite impressive. And you have also provided some thoughts for the final question. You will be given the opening method of one aperture. Keep working hard. If you contribute more to the research center, I won't be stingy with the rewards."

Wu Lan was pleased. She had been rewarded! She felt even more motivated to work harder for the research center.

Su Yu smiled and stopped talking. As for the matter of the attack on him earlier, everyone seemed to have forgotten about it.

They all tacitly agreed to accept the explanation that Xia Huyou had killed the attackers.

...

The attack on Su Yu could be considered a major incident, but it also couldn't be considered major.

After all, Su Yu had survived the attack without any injury. Instead, the five Skysoars were defeated. Great Xia was in the middle of investigating the incident while the three survivors had been dragged to the Myriad Race Pit before being executed. Exposed cultists couldn't even be used as bait.

Thus, Great Xia would not keep these cultists around for long and would execute them immediately. Those who had been discovered and not exposed would be kept around as bait to fish out the more important members of the cult.

Su Yu's life returned to normal.

As far as the public knew, the only change was a tiny conflict that had erupted between Su Yu and Zhang Hao.

And the reason for that was the fact that the people who had attacked Su Yu were actually members of a branch family of Zhang Hao's family.

According to the rumors, Zhang Family insisted that those people were merely common criminals who had gotten too greedy instead of cultists. But Su Yu had insisted that they were cultists. That resulted in the death of those people and a punishment to the head of the Zhang Family from his superior.

If the attack was merely a regular robbery, it wouldn't implicate the Zhang Family. But since they were being treated as cultists, it had brought some trouble to the Zhang Family. Even though the family head promptly dealt with them, Su Yu had still complained to Xia Huyou and insisted that those people were cultists.

That was the main reason for the execution of the attackers as cultists.

...

Su Yu allowed the rumors to spread.

He did nothing. All these plotting and scheming were not for the sake of killing someone. His sole goal was to grow stronger. After receiving the blood essence he had asked Xia Huyou to gather, he started consuming the blood essence. More pages were activated and more abilities were tested.

Apart from the cultivation methods of the myriad races, Su Yu was also testing the cultivation methods of the human race. Since he had opened a large number of acupoints, most cultivation methods wouldn't pose much issue for him as his opened acupoints would overlap with their required acupoints.

And if he was a few acupoints short, he could easily open them.

With the Body Strengthening Art, opening new acupoints was not an issue for him.

In the blink of an eye, five days passed.