Chapter 39 - 39

Chapter 553: Fire of Civilization (1)

After the talk with Zhu Tiandao, Su Yu left the Xia Restaurant.

He felt refreshed. And he was in a joyful mood. He didn't know Zhu Tiandao that well, but he knew that a prefect had personally arrived to meet him. The timing of Zhu Tiandao's arrival meant that he had arrived right after hearing about his intention to join.

What else did Zhu Tiandao need to prove? Nothing.

Before this meeting, Su Yu had been filled with nervousness about his future. He was feeling lost. But now, those feelings had weakened significantly. The prefect's appearance was in itself a display of sincerity. And that was the highest level of sincerity Great Ming could show. That was better than any sort of promise they could make.

A ninth-stage Sunmoon. An expert near the Invincible Realm with a father who was the second strongest human cultural researcher had personally met him. That was a lot of sincerity. And that was enough for Su Yu.

Nothing else mattered. Su Yu was confident he had the ability to get anything else he wanted. He only needed some time, a safe place, and more freedom. And Zhu Tiandao had agreed to provide all that.

With a refreshed feeling, the resentment and gloominess deep in his heart dissipated.

So the Human Realm was not completely filled with filth. There was still somewhere clean in the Human Realm. Even if this clean place sounded rather uninspiring. But wasn't the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy described by Zhu Tiandao the exact type of academy he had imagined cultural research academies to be?

A bunch of scholars, engaging each other in debates, drinking wine and reciting poetry, talking endlessly, researching and unveiling secrets of culture and civilization, and ensuring the continuation of culture and civilization...

That was how he had imagined cultural research academies to be. Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was very strong, but this academy felt like a battlefield and an endless abyss to Su Yu. It didn't feel like a holy land of knowledge.

With a cheerful state of mind, Su Yu strode forward. Walking on the street, he took in the scenery around him. Everyone felt much more pleasing to his eyes.

At this moment, his sea of willpower rippled and the aura of a character emerged. At the same moment, all the resentment and gloominess in his heart vanished completely.

A fire character appeared and shone brightly. It shook.

Su Yu did not turn absent-minded. He continued walking amid the crowd. Slowly, his entire body ignited in flames. However, these flames were not visible to the average individual. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs Novᴇl_Fire(.)net

High in the sky, someone seemed to have sensed something.

...

Xia Restaurant.

Third floor.

Zhu Tiandao was looking at the departing Su Yu. And he had witnessed the birth of that flame. His mouth opened wide with shock. Was that...a natural character?

With the fire around him, Su Yu was akin to a saint who had descended from the heavens. In Zhu Tiandao's eyes, Su Yu's entire body had turned transparent and bright with not a speck of dust on it.

Walking amid the crowd, that clump of fire illuminated the world around him.

Some of the people in the crowd were in the middle of thinking about some thorny problems. At this moment, solutions to those problems seemingly appeared out of nowhere in their minds.

Some of the people in the crowd had reached a bottleneck in certain issues, but at this moment, those bottlenecks seemed to have vanished. Their thoughts were flowing smoother than ever.

"Fire of civilization..."

Zhu Tiandao muttered with a dumbstruck expression.

Was this...a natural-born cultural researcher? That character was able to influence those around him right after reaching the second tier? This fire character was one that Su Yu had never placed much importance on. Even when he bragged about this character previously, he didn't really mean his words.

But at this moment, Zhu Tiandao was viewing that character with great importance. He was greatly shocked by that character.

...

At the same time.

Prefect's manor.

Standing on a high building, Marquis Xia looked in a certain direction. There, a clump of fire was burning fiercely and illuminating its surroundings.

The brilliance of the fire filled the darkness.

The fire of civilization.

Marquis Xia's jaw dropped in shock. For a long while, he remained silent.

Beside him, Administrator Hu's expression changed. He sighed and said, "We shouldn't have let him go."

That was a natural-born cultural researcher. This was the omen of the appearance of a saint.

Su Yu...was granting everyone around him wisdom.

Marquis Xia's throat was dry. He felt slightly uncomfortable and irritated. A sun and a moon appeared in his eyes as he looked in the direction of Xia Restaurant.

Damn you!

Zhu Tiandao!

The same thing appeared in the Xia Restaurant. A sun and a moon rose and space twisted as Zhu Tiandao and Marquis Xia came face to face even while they were still respectively in the restaurant and the manor.

Marquis Xia was gnashing his teeth. This was a massive loss. An incredibly massive loss.

Meanwhile, Zhu Tiandao had a smile on his face. In a leisurely manner, he said, "It won't end well if you force someone whose heart is not here to stay. Just look at him. Right after deciding to leave, his divine fire advanced in tier. His heart was cleansed and his grievance dissipated. If you keep forcing him to stay, he will develop a grudge toward Great Xia. You will only turn him into an enemy."

Marquis Xia said nothing.

Zhu Tiandao laughed, "What a treasure. This is an inheritance-type character. If you have some people cultivating around him, all those people would be able to comprehend something new and break through their bottlenecks. This is basically a moving education-type character."

Marquis Xia clenched his teeth in anger. This Zhu Tiandao was deliberately saying that to annoy him. He was furious.

With a grin on his face, Zhu Tiandao watched on as that clump of flame continued moving amid the crowd. The grin on his face grew wider and wider. Eventually, his body flickered and vanished, leaving these words behind: "Xiao'er, your big bro is leaving. Don't miss me too much."

The furious Marquis Xia threw a punch in the air. The air twisted and shook. But nothing else happened.

With a snort, Marquis Xia cursed, "That fellow is showing off to us after picking up such a treasure from us."

Beside him, Administrator Hu had a bitter smile. He softly said, "Marquis, it's pointless to bicker with Prefect Zhu about this. He won't be bothered."

This was a prefect who was as shameless as Marquis Xia.

But when Marquis Xia was being shameless, he still constrained himself within the bounds of rules. But Prefect Zhu, on the other hand, did not care about any rules. Or to be precise, he had nothing to lose and nothing to fear. In addition to having nothing to lose, he himself was strong and his father was even stronger. Thus, Zhu Tiandao did not even need to respect the rules.

Marquis Xia snorted.

In truth, his relationship with Zhu Tiandao was quite good. But he still found that fellow annoying. There was no helping it as Marquis Xia was once an arrogant young master as well. But due to the misgivings of the Xia Family, he couldn't afford to be as arrogant as Zhu Tiandao. He was very sad about that. He would have been the number one arrogant young master among all the descendants of Invincibles otherwise.

Ignoring Zhu Tiandao, his gaze settled on the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy again. There, the clump of flame was burning brighter and brighter.

Those in the Skysoar Realm could sense something unusual, those in the Cloudbreach Realm could gain enlightenment, those in the Mountainsea Realm could feel the flame, but only those in the Sunmoon Realm could get a clear look at the flame.

...

At that moment, Su Yu had a wide smile on his face.

He would be going on a long journey soon. A new world awaited him. All the chains shackling him in Great Xia, all the struggles in Great Xia, everything in Great Xia would be put aside for the future.

The sea was wide, the sky was boundless, and he could now roam the seas and the skies like a free spirit.

Today, he was still helpless to do anything in Great Xia. His teachers were exiled to a den of sinners. He couldn't do anything.

Today, his martial uncle was filled with grudge and resentment. He couldn't change anything.

There was nothing he could do about any of that.

He would leave. He would start anew. In Great Ming, he shall welcome his rebirth.

The fire of civilization continued burning. As the fire burned, his willpower looked even purer and brighter than before. His willpower was as beautiful as a diamond and as pure as saintly light.

His transparent body was as pure as his willpower. His apertures shone gloriously as his sea of willpower further consolidated, showing signs of materialization. However, the little hammer appeared to further temper the sea of willpower, halting the advancement.

At this moment, atop the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, Wan Tiansheng was overlooking the academy. When he saw the clump of fire, he could only sigh with regret.

A natural character.

A natural-born cultural researcher.

This was not a character that had been formed from a willpower text. Rather, this was a character that had formed naturally. That was why it was called a natural character.

As of this moment, all eight of Su Yu's characters had advanced to the second tier.

The resplendent characters floated in his sea of willpower. The fire character, which was the weakest character previously, was starting to show signs of elevating itself into the main Divine Character. Su Yu had never decided on a main Divine Character. Instead, he treated each of his characters like a main character.

But at this moment, all the other characters were actually orbiting the fire character. Even the first character he had, the blood character, a character on the verge of becoming a third-tier character, was orbiting the fire character. Tempered by the flames of the fire character, all the other characters appeared even brighter than before.

This transformation had even affected his acupoints. Of his 320 opened acupoints, 80 of them had been fused into 5 acupoints, making him a fifth-stage Infinite Strength cultivator. He had just reached the fifth stage yesterday. But now, 16 more acupoints instantly fused under the illumination of the light from the fire character.

Prior to this, he had only opened 106 apertures. Now, the 107th aperture started opening.

...

Inside the academy.

Step by step, Su Yu walked. The shadow beast inside his shadow and the water elemental hiding on his body could both feel a warm sensation, as though they were resting by the fireside. The fire did not exist in the physical world, but it was burning within their seas of willpower.

The shadow warped while the water boiled. But this was no torture. Rather, this was a form of cultivation, a form of comprehension, a form of enlightenment.

The shadow and water elemental had sustained heavy injuries. After so many years of imprisonment, the very foundation of their cultivation had been damaged. But at the moment, their foundation was starting to recover.

They stayed completely silent, but they understood what was happening.

They understood that...Su Yu was a freak.

The fire of inheritance.

The fire of civilization.

Was this an omen of something greater?

Or was this simply the result of having a unique character?

Su Yu was not thinking about any of that. His mind felt exceptionally clear and his mood was excellent. Slowly, the fire withdrew into his body and faded away. Some sort of transformation seemed to have occurred in Su Yu.

He seemed...gentler than before.

Moments ago, his negative emotions had vanished. The baleful aura accompanying him due to his murder of multiple Skysoars and the resentment in his heart had given him an intimidating presence.

But right now, he was akin to a candle in the dark, giving everyone around him a gentle and comfortable sensation.

Chapter 554: Fire of Civilization (2)

The first thought in Xia Qing's mind after seeing the current Su Yu was that he was a good person.

A truly good and kind person. For some reason, Su Yu suddenly felt like someone she could trust. She was greatly bewildered by that feeling. But before long, her heart thumped as she regained her clarity of mind. Why did Su Yu feel different than before?

"Brother Su, have you broken through in your cultivation?"

"No." Su Yu smiled, "It's only the advancement of a character. I only have eight characters, but all of them have reached the second tier."

Only eight.

Only. That was a very hurtful choice of words.

That was actually a lot. And all of them were in the second tier. More importantly, this guy wasn't even a Skysoar. He was only at the Mental Tempering Stage!

Xia Qing sighed inwardly. But she was also greatly shocked. This was truly an exceptional genius that was rarely seen even among the divines and devils. In fact, such a genius could probably only be found in the first divine race and the original devil race.

But such a genius had actually appeared among the human race. Truly worthy of being a top 10 race.

"Brother Su, you're here because..."

Su Yu smiled, "Princess Qing, you must be aware of the situation I'm in currently. I require more strength. But I'm afraid of leaving the academy. I need to grow, but I have no way of growing in the academy. Previously, I wanted to wait. But after the recent incident, I doubt I can afford to keep waiting. I intend to go out on a treasure hunt. I recently learned that there is a treasure somewhere that can help me rapidly reach the Skysoar Realm. I wish to take a look."

Xia Qing raised her brow, "Treasure hunt?"

He was probably heading to his ruin. Was he aiming to receive his inheritance? He was clearly unhappy with his current strength so he was trying to gain more strength from the ruin.

Thus, it was clear that this ruin had yet to be fully exploited. But that was understandable as Su Yu was too weak to fully exploit an ancient ruin. Perhaps only a Sunmoon would be able to fully exhaust what an ancient ruin had to offer.

"Brother Su, you mean..."

Su Yu smiled, "I wish to invite you on this trip. But I need your dao protectors to come with us."

Su Yu's face turned solemn as he said, "I'm afraid of the dangers we might encounter."

"Dangers?" Xia Qing feigned ignorance, "Is it very far away?"

"It's not too far..." Su Yu hesitated slightly before saying, "It's near a small city called Nanyuan. Of course, you probably don't know about that city."

She actually knew about that city.

Xia Qing's heart thumped. She knew it. That was Su Yu's hometown. Sure enough, there was an ancient ruin there! That was in line with her guess.

"Nanyuan?" Xia Qing put on a doubtful expression and asked, "I think I heard about that place before. It's...where you came from, right?"

Su Yu nodded, "I learned about that treasure long ago, but I have never visited that place. Or to be precise, I have never gone too deeply into that place. I had only explored the outer area. It was too dangerous. I went there once when I was out picking herbs with my father during my childhood..."

Xia Qing immediately reached her own conclusion. Herbs. Childhood. Since it was a place where herbs could be picked, it must be a mountain. Or was it a valley? So it wasn't within Nanyuan itself. Rather, it was somewhere near Nanyuan. No wonder it had remained hidden until now.

Xia Qing spoke in hesitation, "Brother Su, you mean...we might encounter danger during this trip?"

After some internal struggle, Su Yu nodded, "Yeah. I'm very worried. Thus, I need some help. Of course, it's not like I'm completely unprepared. My grandteacher had a tamed Mountainsea beast. I will be taking that beast with me. But I'm worried that one Mountainsea won't be enough. And the beast might not obey me. I need someone capable of suppressing that beast with me.

"I hope you will keep this between us. I am telling you this because you're not a human. In all honesty, I'm not afraid of having the treasure snatched by you. You won't be able to do something like that. But if it's another human...I won't be able to know what they're thinking. That includes those from the Xia, Hu, Wu, and Zheng Families. If something is valuable enough, it might provoke greed in their hearts. And they have enough power in Great Xia. I won't be able to do anything if they decide to snatch the treasure from me."

Su Yu solemnly said, "I won't treat you unfairly, Princess Qing. If you agree to help me with this, I will pay you a fee of 10,000 merit points and a profound-grade cultural weapon. If you have any other conditions, feel free to raise them as well."

How generous.

10,000 merit points and a profound-grade cultural weapon. That was enough to hire even a Mountainsea.

The doubt on Xia Qing's face vanished. So that was why. Since she wasn't a human, she wouldn't be able to protect the ruin after snatching it. Since a ruin was not something one could take and run away with, Su Yu believed that he could only seek help from someone who wouldn't be able to occupy the ruin.

Anyone else, including his allies from the Wu Family, might end up occupying the ruin after discovering it. After thinking about it, Xia Qing agreed that this was a logical choice. She definitely wouldn't dare to occupy that place. Even if she wanted to, the cloud tiger race would not be qualified to do so. That was basically suicide. But the premise of all that was the survival of Su Yu.

If Su Yu was dead, nobody else would be aware of the ruin. Of course, she still needed to return to the academy after the fact so she wouldn't be able to stay in the ruin. But she could always get an elder of her race to feign death and hide in the ruin, right?

Numerous thoughts appeared in her mind.

Xia Qing said, "Brother Su, I am naturally willing to help you. But to speak the truth, myriad race students like us will attract a lot of attention wherever we go. We might even attract the attention of the upper echelons of Great Xia."

"And it's not like we can leave without a proper excuse."

Su Yu nodded, "I'm aware of that. I already have an excuse prepared for you. My hometown, Nanyuan, has been suffering from beast and cult attacks. Since the people of Nanyuan are too weak, I naturally need to return and help."

Su Yu's eyes flickered as he said, "I already contacted some people and have them create some chaos in Nanyuan. I'm a genius student, so I will naturally return to help my hometown. I will even issue a mission with no restrictions. You can accept the mission and leave openly with me."

Xia Qing was slightly alarmed, but when she thought about it, that was indeed a good idea. A crisis in Nanyuan. It was natural for Su Yu to return. As a genius from Nanyuan, he had received the request for help from his birthplace. It was understandable for him to answer that call.

In fact, not returning wouldn't even be an option for him.

Thus, this trip wouldn't seem too surprising. Rather, it would only make it look like he had been forced to accept this mission. A lot of people understood that this was definitely not the right moment for him to leave the academy. But he had no choice. He couldn't afford to be called someone who had forgotten his birthplace.

After a slight hesitation, Xia Qing said, "I'm worried about the cult...don't look at me like that. The cloud tiger race does not have a sect in the Human Realm. I'm worried that those fellows would really make a move against you. Also, are you sure the single character faction won't do anything?

"I have two elders with me. One of them is a Cloudbreach while the other is a Mountainsea. But according to the agreement, only one of them can leave at a time. The other will remain behind as a hostage. You understand what I'm saying, right?"

Su Yu nodded. Of course he understood. The human race needed to ensure that these foreign students wouldn't flee and hide in the wilderness. Thus, it was natural for some of them to remain as hostages.

Su Yu smiled,"One Mountainsea is enough. I have a Mountainsea beast as well. I refuse to believe that they would send more than two Mountainseas just to deal with me. Forgive me for asking this, but what's the cultivation level of your dao protector?"

"Third-stage Mountainsea." Xia Qing asked, "How about your Mountainsea?"

"Same." Su Yu's tone turned helpless as he said, "He's supposed to be stronger, but my grandteacher had extracted too much of his blood essence so he had weakened considerably."

Xia Qing felt gloomy after hearing that. The cloud tiger race was also a beast race. Thıs text ıs hosted at N0veI.Fiɾe.net

Extracting blood essence, taming...

Those were very uncomfortable terms for her.

Su Yu continued acting like he hadn't realized that. Or to be precise, this wasn't something that most humans would realize.

Xia Qing was slightly upset, but she maintained the same smile on her face as she said, "Two Mountainseas should be enough. But I'm worried that the senior on your side would suddenly turn on us. Brother Su, that would be very troublesome."

Su Yu frowned and nodded, "You're right. After all, I'm not using a Demon Subduing Ring on him."

"What?"

Xia Qing blanked out. That was truly too gutsy of him. How courageous. And how confident. Was he so sure that the Mountainsea beast wouldn't betray him? He wasn't even using a Demon Subduing Ring.

Su Yu stubbornly said, "It's fine. My grandteacher was the one who tamed this beast. It will be fine. But your worry makes sense. It will be troublesome if he turns against me..."

With a frown, he muttered, "But apart from you, I can't trust anyone else. You should never tempt the heart of another human with greed. That would only cause you to lose an ally for no good reason. Elder Wu Yuehua is trustworthy...but I still don't want to tempt them with something so precious."

"How about Head Manager Chen?"

Su Yu shook his head, "I can't let my martial uncle go. I'm leaving on the guise of reinforcing Nanyuan. They don't know about my Mountainsea beast. As for you, it is understandable for you to leave with a dao protector. But what will people think if my martial uncle comes with me? Even a fool will be able to see that I'm planning something."

Xia Qing's eyes flickered as she suggested, "Why don't we find some helpers among the foreign students?"

"No!" Su Yu shook his head, "I trust you because we've talked to each other before. I believe in my eyes. You had even fought for me before and offended the single character faction. But I'm not a fool. How can I place my trust in others so easily?"

In other words, he could only trust Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had a touched expression as she said, "But the Mountainsea senior on your side might not be reliable enough. And if we really do encounter a dangerous situation, the sole Mountainsea on my side might not be enough to protect us. Brother Su, this is too dangerous."

She said, "After losing their students to you, would they let go of this chance to take their revenge on you? And as the creator of something like the acupoint fusion method, the other races won't allow you to keep growing. The cult would make a move as well. They might even send a Mountainsea after you.

"So at least two Mountainseas would come after us. If your Mountainsea senior turns on us, my elder wouldn't be able to face multiple opponents alone."

Su Yu frowned and said, "Let me think about it. Princess Qing, please keep this between us. We can't leak this. Don't tell the other foreign students about this. I already told you about my general plan. So let me consider if I need to get more help..."

Xia Qing said, "How about this? I won't tell anyone, but anyone can accept the mission you issue, right?"

"I won't allow anyone from the single character faction to accept the mission." Su Yu emphasized.

Xia Qing nodded, "But other students might take the mission as well. And if I take the mission, some other foreign students might come with me. Why don't we selectively let some of these people know about our goal after knowing who the participants are?"

Su Yu frowned, "But I still need to make sure that these people aren't my enemies or the allies of the single character faction. That would only create needless trouble."

"Of course." Xia Qing smiled, "The ones to come with me will naturally be my close friends."

With a frown, Su Yu said, "I won't be able to afford so many helpers so I still need to think about it. Honestly, I think two Mountainseas would do. I am only going to the border. It's not like I'm going to the Allheaven Battlefield. It's good enough to have two Mountainseas protecting a Mental Tempering Stage student like me."

Su Yu actually made a lot of sense. He might be a genius, but even the child of a prefect would mostly only travel with two Mountainsea protectors. Even if his enemies wanted to send Mountainseas after him, it wouldn't be so easy for them to find more Mountainseas on such short notice.

If they gathered too many Mountainseas together, they would end up attracting Great Xia's attention.

But Xia Qing was still worried. She could only bring one dao protector with her. That was too little protection. After all, Su Yu himself would have a Mountainsea beast with him. And this beast's original strength was most definitely above the third-stage Mountainsea Realm if he was already this strong after being weakened. As for whether she would side with Su Yu or the single character faction, she honestly still wasn't sure.

"When do you intend to make this trip, Brother Su?"

"Not too soon." Su Yu explained, "I'll need to wait until my senior sister stabilizes her position in the top 100. With me here, they will have to think twice before trying anything on her. I also need to make some other preparations."

"Sure. I'm ready anytime." Xia Qing smiled, "I am honored by the trust you're placing in me, Brother Su."

Su Yu smiled helplessly and said, "I am an honest person. So I'll be blunt. I picked you because...the cloud tiger race isn't too strong. Even if we have some divine and devil students in the academy, I wouldn't dare to trust them because they are too strong."

His honesty caused Xia Qing to feel relieved.

Exactly. The cloud tiger race was very weak. He didn't need to worry about them. That was what she wanted him to believe.

"I understand, Brother Su. Even if we have to pick some other foreign students to go with us, I'll try to see if there are any suitable members of the weaker races we can take with us. I will check with you before doing anything, Brother Su."

Su Yu nodded. With an awkward expression, he said, "My apologies for that. I didn't mean to insult you. I only want to be safe. I hope you can understand me, Princess Qing."

"That is perfectly understandable." Xia Qing said, "If you're doing this without any plan, I would be more worried. After all, I'm also afraid of biting off more than I can chew. Thus, the more careful you are, the safer it will be for us."

It was only understandable that Su Yu was being careful. She would be more scared if he was being careless about it. That was an ancient ruin. Being too careless would only result in their death.

Instead, Su Yu had arranged for a fake Nanyuan crisis so that he could assign a mission to help with the crisis. She could then accept the mission and join him without arousing any suspicions. Meanwhile, he would also take a Mountainsea beast with him as protection.

One could say that he was already being very careful. He had provided a perfect cover for their departure. Most people wouldn't even suspect his cover. And any danger they might encounter during the trip could be solved with the two Mountainseas that would be traveling with them.

In fact, Xia Qing believed that not even she herself could come up with a plan this good. After all, Su Yu had taken even her identity as a princess into consideration when making his plan.

Su Yu said, "Princess Qing, since I've decided to trust you, I'll be very blunt. We are all friends, so I don't want anything to ruin the relationship between us. I'm offering 10,000 merit points and a profound-grade cultural weapon because I don't want to owe anyone favors. Thus, I hope that you can keep your mouth shut about what you see during the trip. The multiple character faction might have declined, but my grandteacher will reach the Sunmoon Realm soon."

He had an intense look in his eyes as he said, "If a Sunmoon decides to attack without holding anything back, the cloud tiger race won't be able to survive the repercussions. I believe you're aware of this."

Xia Qing wasn't offended by the warning. She felt even more at ease. Carrot and stick had both been used. This was how the human race had always acted. As a human genius, Su Yu would naturally need to apply both reward and threat when working with her. Thus, this wasn't surprising at all.

Xia Qing smiled and nodded, "Since Brother Su is trusting me with this, I would naturally be honest if I'm not going. Since I've agreed, I will naturally not do anything to cause misunderstandings between us. Like you said, the cloud tiger race is too weak. We won't do anything to risk the prospect of an alliance with the human race."

Su Yu exhaled in relief.

He cupped his hands at Xia Qing and said, "Princess Qing, I hope you won't blame me. I was merely being thorough. I am not prejudiced against you. I shall properly apologize to you after the trip."

"Don't worry about it."

"You're a magnanimous person, Princess Qing."

After checking the time, Su Yu stood up and said, "I'll be taking my leave. Try to pay attention to the coming missions. I won't be notifying you when I issue the mission as I don't want to attract any attention. As for the other foreign students, when we gather up to set off for the mission, I'll consider if I want to tell them the truth."

"Sure. That's a safe choice." Xia Qing nodded and watched as Su Yu departed.

After Su Yu left, she sank into thought. Su Yu was not a brute. His plan was actually very detailed. Two Mountainseas...that would actually be enough to protect them.

But the issue here was her choice. Which side should she pick? Should she tell the single character faction about this? Or should she use this chance to make Su Yu owe her a favor?

She couldn't decide. This was a very hard choice to make. If she really helped Su Yu, she might end up as an enemy of the single character faction.

"Second Grandpa, what do you think I should do?"

An old man appeared beside her and said, "I'll listen to you, Princess. Su Yu was right. Even if we can find the ruin, we might not be able to occupy it. But we don't necessarily need to occupy it. We can simply leave after getting some inheritance out of it for you. You can make the choice. This old man will simply obey your wishes."

Xia Qing said nothing. She sank into deep contemplation. Should she notify the single character faction about this?

The single character faction was probably not aware of the Mountainsea protector Su Yu had. She was probably the only person aware of that apart from those in the multiple character faction.

Chapter 555: Countdown (1)

After the talk with Xia Qing, Su Yu started preparing for his departure.

He would definitely not return anytime soon. Since he was prepared to go out with a bang, returning before gaining sufficient strength was the same as seeking trouble for himself.

"If I get a few Mountainseas killed, what would happen to Martial Uncle and the others?"

Inside the room.

Su Yu inhaled deeply and decided that if he was really going to do something crazy, he might as well leave the multiple character faction first. In that case, this departure might also signal the end of his status as a student of the multiple character faction.

"Apart from my willpower texts, I don't seem to have anything else to pack."

Su Yu was busy packing up. Things like Bai Feng's research notes, Liu Wenyan's cultivation notes, and the willpower texts he had purchased previously would be brought with him. He didn't have a lot of things, but the few things he had were quite valuable.

There was also the information collected and organized by Wu Lan and his senior sister. But he could simply record all the information in a jade talisman so there really wasn't much to pack.

...

Night.

Inside the data room.

Su Yu tossed a jade talisman over to Wu Lan and said, "Can you transfer all the organized data into the talisman?"

"It's annoying to read from talismans..."

"But it's easier to carry around."

Wu Lan was somewhat speechless. It was only some basic information. Why would he need to carry something like that around?

She couldn't understand the choice, but she still did as told. With an impatient tone, she asked, "So when are we going to start working on the aperture fusion method?"

She was very ambitious. After the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art was released, her name was spread far and wide. Since then, she had been feeling like she was floating each time she walked. Every time she heard about someone purchasing the Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art manual, she would grow excited.

She only felt slightly regretful that it wasn't named Wu Lan Acupoint Fusion Method. Double Wu...there were too many people with that surname out there.

At that thought, she softly asked, "Su Yu, will I remain the leader of the Breakthrough Team for this project?" The rıghtful source is n0velfire.net

Su Yu merely smiled without answering.

Wu Lan said, "Can I suggest a name for the fusion method after completion?"

"Hmm?"

"Lan needs to be a part of the name."

She spoke in excitement, "If you do that, the two fusion methods combined will result in Wu Lan!"

Incredible. In the future, anyone cultivating these methods would have no choice but to know that she was involved in the creation of these methods. The fact that even Wu Lan herself didn't know what she had contributed to the project didn't matter. As far as she could remember, she had only arranged some data.

Su Yu laughed and nodded, "Sure."

"Really?"

Wu Lan was overjoyed. Her level of motivation shot up as she started working even harder than before. Looking at Wu Lan, Su Yu felt somewhat regretful. This was a free laborer he had just tricked to work for him. But he was going to lose this free labor soon.

Before long, Wu Lan was done transferring the data into the talisman. After taking a quick look, Su Yu nodded in satisfaction. The information available in Great Xia might not necessarily be available in Great Ming. For Su Yu, the numerous cultivation manuals weren't as important as the basic information collected in this talisman.

After thinking about it, Su Yu tossed a jade talisman to Wu Lan and said, "Take this. Consider it the reward for your hard work after joining the research center. You may also share this with Elder Wu. But apart from Elder Wu, you're not allowed to share it with anyone else."

"Reward?"

Wu Lan had completely forgotten that she was supposed to be rewarded for her hard work. She took a look and muttered, "Furious Earth Cultural Tempering Art?"

What garbage name was that?

After checking the method, she indifferently said, "This is a cultivation method with only 72 apertures. It is the same as the Myriad Text Sutra. Why should I cultivate this art?"

Su Yu was tired of speaking to her. What a fool. Couldn't she take a closer look? Could the Myriad Text Sutra be compared to something like this?

"This is a foundation cultural art."

"Oh...foundation..." Wu Lan blanked out.

Su Yu calmly said, "When cultivating this art, don't be in a rush to advance into the Skysoar Realm. If you can open 72 apertures before your advancement, you will be able to reach the Cloudbreach Realm in no time."

As for the cultural arts with more apertures, such as the one with 108 apertures, those were actually not too suitable for people like Wu Lan. She was decently talented. After all, she was a high-high student. But making her open 108 apertures would slow her down too much.

It wasn't like the 108-aperture version would grant her much more combat strength than the 72-aperture version. Thus, this 72-aperture version was enough for her. After all, it had enough apertures as the Myriad Text Sutra that most people would cultivate at the Skysoar Realm.

Wu Lan was still blanking out. Su Yu ignored her and continued speaking, "You're not allowed to show this to anyone. At most, you can only show it to your grandaunt. Oh...right, I'll allow you to show it to your elder sister as well. But you can't show it to anyone else."

In truth, Wu Qi didn't need this art since she was already a Skysoar. But she could always open more apertures and build herself a stronger foundation with it.

Su Yu with his 320 acupoints was the best example. Even without the ability to link all the acupoints into a system, the additional acupoints had still granted him a considerable boost in strength.

Wu Lan looked at Su Yu in confusion and asked, "Is the aperture opening method you provided me previously compatible with this art?"

"Yeah." After thinking about it, Su Yu advised, "For now, try to link 36 apertures first. Don't be in a rush to link 72 apertures. Wait until I reach the Cloudbreach Realm or until you receive confirmation from me before linking everything together."

He had yet to fully perfect this art so he might be able to further improve it in the future.

Wu Lan stared at Su Yu for a long time before asking, "Are you firing me?"

"No." Su Yu smiled, "Student Wu Lan, you have worked the most and the hardest. You are much better than Xia Huyou and the others. I would fire everyone else before I fire you."

"Then why..." She looked at Su Yu suspiciously and asked, "After giving me this thing, how are you supposed to reward me for my contribution in the future?"

Su Yu laughed in amusement. So she was worried about that?

"Don't worry. When the time comes, I'll definitely have more things to give as your reward."

He smiled, "Take good care of this thing. It will be even better if you destroy the talisman after reading it. Well, I guess that's not necessary so forget about that."

He might also start distributing this art after his arrival at Great Ming. But he was still unsure. This was merely a version combining two out of the five arts he knew. It wasn't that big of a deal.

The biggest advantage of this thing was to help a student open apertures at the Mental Tempering Stage. That would allow one to rapidly reach late-stage Skysoar Realm or even the Cloudbreach Realm. For a lot of people, something like this would save decades.

Thus, this was actually quite a terrifying art.

"Ok..."

Wu Lan appeared quite indifferent. She decided to contribute more in the future. Previously, she had received the opening method of an aperture after answering five questions previously. And now, she had received the opening method for 72 apertures. To repay Su Yu for this, she only needed to answer 355 of his questions in the future. At that thought, she suddenly realized that the burden on her shoulders was actually quite heavy.

She needed to answer 355 questions or solve 355 issues to turn this from a charity into a salary. Seeing that she was deep in thought, Su Yu smiled and walked away.

...

After passing Wu Lan the version with two arts, Su Yu went to the books depository. There, he handed the version combining three arts. There was no need for him to provide the version with four arts as that would be too powerful.

"Martial Uncle." Su Yu took out a few talismans and said, "This is the Body Strengthening Art. It can help someone to rapidly open acupoints. This is the Pure Source Art, it can help purify your source qi. This is the best version of the acupoint fusion art. Senior Sister already knows this."

He took out one cultivation manual after another. Every one of them was invaluable. Chen Yong sat there in silence for a very long time.

Su Yu smiled, "Martial Uncle, you should feel happy for me. The prefect of Great Ming had personally arrived to negotiate with me. He agreed with all my conditions. I'm very happy, Martial Uncle. Of course, I have enjoyed my time here as well."

"I met a lot of people in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. My teacher, you, Grandteacher, Teacher Zhao, Senior Sister, Teacher Huang...all of you have helped me greatly. I'm afraid I will be creating more trouble during my departure so please accept my apology in advance."

Chen Yong remained silent. He stood up and entered his room. A short while later, he came out and handed Su Yu an item without saying anything.

It was a slab.

"Take it."

The slab looked familiar to Su Yu.

He looked at Chen Yong doubtfully. Chen Yong nonchalantly said, "Take it with you. The multiple character faction is no more. But remember this. Great Xia is the root of the multiple character faction. Here, the multiple character faction had produced one expert after another. All that was thanks to this stele. The Character Technique Stele."

"Not everyone is capable of forming their own character technique, regardless of whether the disassembly method exists. The formation of a character technique is not that simple. Thus, having both a technique template and the disassembly method will still be the most optimal method of cultivation."

Su Yu was completely stunned.

This was the Character Technique Stele. The root of the multiple character faction. His martial uncle had actually removed it from the wall.

"Martial Uncle..."

Chen Yong calmly said, "Take it with you. I don't intend to accept more students after this. Your senior sister is still too weak for that. Your teacher doesn't need more students after you. In Great Xia, the multiple character faction no longer has any space for growth. There is no future for us here. Take this to Great Ming with you."

He added, "The other academies have something similar as well, but remember this. Ours is the best of all. The steles of the other academies are rather poor, with very few templates inside. Ours, on the other hand, is filled with numerous powerful character techniques."

"Martial Uncle, how about Grandteacher..."

"Don't worry about your grandteacher." Chen Yong smiled, "Since your grandteacher has not been able to grow the multiple character faction, he has failed. Prior to his seclusion, he had passed on the position of faction master to you, not me. Thus, you are qualified to take care of this. In fact, it is good that you're taking it with you. Without this stele, the books depository is fucking nothing."

He was actually cursing. Without the character technique wall, what was the books depository? It no longer mattered to him. He would never give all those people what they wanted. He would rather let Su Yu leave with it.

Looking at Su Yu, he smiled, "Keep it with you, even if you're going to treat it as a memento. You can decide if you want to rebuild the multiple character faction at Great Ming or simply keep it for yourself. With this thing, you will be able to restart the faction anytime you want. It would be much harder without it."

Chapter 556: Countdown (2)

Su Yu's hands were trembling as he held onto the stele. He did not know what to say.

"Take care of it. Don't lose it." Chen Yong said, "Don't worry about us. No matter what, your grandteacher is someone on the verge of reaching the Sunmoon Realm. They wouldn't dare to push us too far. If we really decide to throw caution to the wind, they will suffer as well."

"There is even less need for you to worry about me." Chen Yong smiled, "Your grandteacher might have told you something. Don't worry. I am cultivating the acupoint fusion method. I don't intend to die so early. Sure, I did plan to abandon my physical body and advance with only my willpower before killing some of my enemies."

"But this acupoint fusion method has given me the chance to strengthen my body as well." Chen Yong's eyes flickered as he said, "If I can open 144 acupoints, fuse them, and push my physical cultivation to the Mountainsea Realm, I might be able to instantly push my willpower cultivation to the ninth-stage Mountainsea Realm."

Su Yu was shocked.

Ninth-stage Mountainsea Realm!

Chen Yong smiled, "Thus, there is no need for you to worry about me. You also don't need to worry about your senior sister either. I won't do anything rash. If I can push my body to the Mountainsea Realm, I am confident I can survive even an encounter with a Sunmoon."

Su Yu was completely speechless. He was quite astonished to hear that. Ninth-stage Mountainsea Realm. His martial uncle was truly patient.

Chen Yong smiled, "Don't worry that you would implicate us. Don't think about leaving the multiple character faction. You don't want to give anyone the chance to ruin your reputation and block your future return. You are innocent. You are forced to leave. Don't forget this.

"I don't know what you intend to do. But be patient. If they go too far, I can simply break through and kill a few of their Mountainseas. I doubt Wan Tiansheng would kill me. He might only send me to the Vanguard Regiment. That's nothing."

Su Yu must keep a clean name. Su Yu must not receive the label of a defector. Anything he decided to do in the future, he needed a proper cause for it.

And by avoiding being labeled a defector, he would have just cause to return in the future for his revenge. If he was labeled a defector, his return could instead be viewed as an attack on Great Xia by Great Ming.

Chen Yong did not want to see Su Yu severing his way back.

After saying all that, Chen Yong picked up the jade talismans and said, "I'll be accepting these, but you're not allowed to refuse the stele."

"Even if you want to do something against the single character faction, you won't be able to do anything to the two seventh-stage Mountainseas of theirs. It's too dangerous to try anything against both of them. I will keep Sun Xiang occupied for you. You only need to kill Yu Hong for me."

Chen Yong's eyes turned cold as he said, "The attack on me back then that had caused the death of your senior sister's parents must be related to her. Since we won't be able to get her to confess, just kill her. As for Sun Xiang, we can deal with him in the future."

Su Yu nodded. A thick killing intent erupted from him. So the death of his senior sister's parents was actually related to Yu Hong?

"Martial Uncle, is she a part of the Myriad Race Cult?"

"No." Chen Yong calmly answered, "She's not. If she is a cultist, she would have been dead long ago. But my guess is that she had sold our whereabouts to the cult. That's only a guess, but I'm confident she was involved. I have been suspecting her for a very long time."

"I see."

Chen Yong asked, "Can you do it? If you can't, give up."

"I can."

Su Yu clenched his teeth. As long as he planned things out properly, he would be able to do it.

"Those beasts would need to join hands to deal with her. Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Su Yu nodded, "I have more Mountainseas."

"You can't trust outsiders. Even those prisoner beasts are more trustworthy than outsiders." Chen Yong said, "Those prisoner beasts are unlikely to betray you. Of course, it's not like your grandteacher doesn't have any contingencies in place. If they do end up betraying you, crush this thing..."

He took out a jade talisman and handed it to Su Yu before saying, "This thing won't kill them, but it can drive them mad. The moment they go crazy, Great Xia would make a move. Mounts who have decided to betray their masters will not be spared."

"When the Great Xia experts make an appearance, they would be able to ensure your safety as well. But at that time, you would no longer be able to pull your tricks against the single character faction. For now, Great Xia is turning a blind eye to what you're doing."

"I understand." Su Yu took the jade talisman.

Chen Yong asked, "Are you taking some willpower texts with you? Why don't you take a look at the books depository? Take everything you want with you. Without the character technique wall, I don't care about my position here anymore. Just take whatever you want."

That was really generous. There were tens of thousands of valuable willpower texts in the books depository. His martial uncle was allowing him to take anything he wanted.

Su Yu smiled, "Forget it. I don't need so many of them. If I really take them with me...I'm afraid that a certain person would be making a move against me."

"Hehe...true." Chen Yong laughed, "Forget that."

He said, "People like us can't leave as we can easily attract an even bigger trouble. Thus, we won't be adding more trouble on top of what you're going to face. Take good care of yourself."

"Yeah. Thanks, Martial Uncle." Newest update provıded by novęlfire.net

"You can leave now."

Chen Yong waved his hand, looking like he wasn't in the mood to say more. Su Yu did not hesitate and left. After Su Yu left, Chen Yong remained silent for a short while before taking out a voice transmission talisman. He sent a message through the talisman.

Then, he shut his eyes and withdrew the killing intent he was emanating. Su Yu had run out of patience, but he was still patient.

...

That day, Su Yu continued walking all over the academy. As usual, he would intentionally greet any single character faction member he saw to annoy them. The single character faction members were so enraged that they wished they could stay indoors forever.

Time passed slowly.

Su Yu was not wasting his remaining time. Even as he prepared for his departure, he wasn't slacking on his cultivation.

With more strength, he would be able to protect himself better. Without a grotto, he could fuse around 16 acupoints every 5 days.

On the 15th of December, 11 days after the anniversary, Su Yu entered the seventh-stage Infinite Strength Realm.

If nothing unexpected were to happen, he would be able to reach the ninth stage by the 25th. He had yet to discover the 360 acupoints he wanted, but he still continued opening new acupoints. Unfortunately, he was going to run out of acupoints to open soon.

...

At the same time.

A small chaos had erupted in Nanyuan. First, some Myriad Race Cult members were spotted. Next, some beasts appeared in the wilderness near the city.

This was a result of the missions Su Yu had issued in the Mutual Aid Club. He had offered ample rewards for these missions.

It didn't matter how the members did it. They could have their family do it, or they could do it themselves, or they could even hire some lunatics to do it. They would be rewarded with a large amount of mutual aid points.

And the other rewards were also very attractive.

Aperture opening method.

Foundation cultural art.

Even the superior version of the acupoint fusion method was being offered as a reward.

The Mutual Aid Club did not have too many members, but Hu Zongji's family was based in Tianshui City which was not far away from Nanyuan. Thus, he could easily get his family to release some wild beasts near Nanyuan. It wouldn't even be too risky. Or they could simply chase some wild beasts in the wilderness in Nanyuan's direction.

As for the small squad of Martial Dragon Guards stationed in Nanyuan, they would have to do their best to deal with these beasts, but it also wasn't a big deal if they couldn't remove all these beasts.

The people of Nanyuan would stay in the city most of the time. On the rare occasions they needed to leave, they only needed to be careful and avoid the beasts. It wouldn't be too dangerous.

Nevertheless, this was still a trouble plaguing Nanyuan. At the moment, everything was still under control so Nanyuan had yet to request outside help.

...

Recently, the single character faction was very quiet.

There was no helping it. Su Yu had been spending a lot of time running all over the academy to annoy them. These people were tired of seeing him everywhere, but there was nothing they could do to him.

Since Su Yu was no longer accepting challenges from Skysoars, the single character faction could only send Mental Tempering Stage students after him in the academy. And which Mental Tempering Stage student would be willing to pick a fight with Su Yu?

After Di Feng's death, Huang Qifeng and the others had completely lost the courage to face Su Yu. Thus, they could barely be seen in public anymore.

20th of December.

An unremarkable piece of news started spreading in the academy. Recently, the wilderness was infected with beasts. The smaller border cities were being disturbed by these beasts. Nanyuan was one of these small border cities.

Nanyuan was too weak. The Martial Dragon Guards had sent some people over to remove the beasts, but they found that these beasts were actually quite weak. And it wasn't cheap to move an elite army like the Martial Dragon Guards.

In the past, such issues would generally be solved by the academies. After all, it was much cheaper this way. They could simply use it as an opportunity to train their students. This time, most of the beasts creating trouble were around the Infinite Strength Realm. There was also a small number of Skysoar beasts.

...

Foreign Students Faculty.

Xia Qing's villa.

Looking at the group in front of her, Xia Qing said, "Su Yu has started moving. We are all members of minor races. An opportunity like this is very rare. Do we help Su Yu, get rewarded once and earn the favor of the multiple character faction or do we try to earn the favor of the single character faction instead. It is time for us to make the choice. It would be too late for us to choose after setting off."

Xia Qing scanned the group as she waited for a reply. These were all the members of minor races. Most of them were only protected by a Mountainsea protector. Some were even weak enough that they were protected by Cloudbreach dao protectors.

She looked at Bai Ce from the fox race and said, "If we're going to befriend the single character faction, we need to inform them about Su Yu's plan now. From what I can see, the single character faction is still completely clueless."

Bai Ce nodded, "That's not surprising. Su Yu is a very cautious person. If he hadn't informed you in advance, would you be able to guess that he was actually doing so many things to path the way for his trip out of the academy?

"With his Mountainsea beast protector and your Mountainsea dao protector, the two of you would be more than capable of dealing with the single character faction. After all, they might end up underestimating him and send only a few Cloudbreach cultivators after him. Even if they overestimate him and send a Mountainsea, that might not be enough. They would end up with disastrous losses."

Chapter 557: Countdown (3)

Without knowing anything in advance, the single character faction would most likely send a single Mountainsea after Su Yu. No matter how much of a freak Su Yu was, he was merely as strong as a Skysoar.

Bai Ce couldn't help but wonder if they would be able to see through Su Yu's plan if Su Yu had not informed Xia Qing in advance. He was actually capable of causing a beast insurrection near Nanyuan.

They would never have imagined that he would do something like that. With the chaos near Nanyuan, Su Yu would be able to issue a mission to reinforce Nanyuan without inviting any suspicion. He had the combat strength of a Skysoar. He would be of great help to Nanyuan. Who would suspect anything?

Bai Ce said, "Honestly, I don't want to make an enemy out of Su Yu. If he ends up dead because of our betrayal, we would be in a lot of trouble as well."

The iron-winged bird gloomily said, "It's not like we're the killers. And we won't be the only students participating in the mission. In my opinion, we should take a few clueless individuals with us. Those from the Myriad Race Cult can be the ones to kill him. There is no need for our dao protectors to protect him against the cult..."

"In fact, it would be better if we bring a few individuals from the races that are close to the human race. That way, they would naturally try their best to deal with the cultists during the attack. That would create a chaotic battlefield and it would be far less surprising for Su Yu to perish in such a battlefield."

He smiled, "Su Yu himself is the one who has decided to take this risk. He is also the one organizing this mission. If he ends up killed, he can only blame his arrogance. Nobody else will take the blame.

"Even if they get an Invincible to playback the time, they won't be able to find any faults with us. It's better for us and our dao protectors to not be the ones to make the move. We should be the ones blocking the cultists instead. That way, we can show that we have indeed tried our best. The enemies have simply been too strong."

He had a clear plan as well. If they personally moved, they would die upon discovery. But there wasn't even a need for them to make a move. They only needed to put on a play.

Su Yu was relying on them for protection, but they would only focus their efforts on dealing with the cultists. For the human race, fighting the Myriad Race Cult was considered a meritorious deed. At worst, they would be forced to kill a few cultists. With that contribution, could the humans really kill them without solid proof that they had a hand in Su Yu's death?

The single character faction could be the ones to deal with Su Yu. This way, they could befriend the single character faction without taking any responsibility for Su Yu's death. They wouldn't need to fear even if an Invincible personally arrived to playback the time and investigate the death. At most, only the single character faction's assassin would be caught. That would have nothing to do with them.

The iron-winged bird said, "If Su Yu is lucky enough to survive the attack, we still wouldn't be blamed for anything. The same excuse can be used. Our hands were tied by the cultists."

He sneered, "That damn Su Yu reeks of the blood from my race. Even during his first match in the academy, he had used the blood essence of my race. I will definitely not ally myself with him."

It wasn't that he did not know about this during his previous meeting with Su Yu. But it was simply inconvenient for him to fall out with Su Yu. This Su Yu had used a large amount of iron-winged bird blood essence for his cultivation. He needed to be punished for that.

Xia Qing sighed, "I initially thought that he was worth befriending since he has a friendly attitude toward the myriad races. But during my talk with him, the contempt and indifference in his voice when he talked about his tamed beasts...originated from the depths of his heart. I suspect he's only so friendly toward us to gain the support of Principal Wan."

She was disappointed. After that talk with Su Yu, she had realized that Su Yu wasn't really sincere in befriending them.

Bai Ce nodded, "That's not surprising. He's from the multiple character faction. Just look at the fifth principal. Back then, he had also killed a lot more myriad race experts than the experts from the other factions."

During the fifth principal's era, the multiple character faction had slaughtered countless myriad race cultivators for the large amount of resources they required for their cultivation. At the very least, they had killed a lot more than the single character faction.

Thus, for the myriad races, the multiple character faction members were basically terrorists. In fact, Su Yu's friendliness toward them was actually quite abnormal. His attitude toward them was probably only for the sake of obtaining Xia Qing's help.

"Hong Tan's hands are also dyed red with blood. I heard that thousands of myriad race experts had perished in the Wentan Research Center..." ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ novel·fire.net

One after another, they spoke. And one reason after another was given to stand against Su Yu. In truth, they had already decided on what they wanted to do. This meeting was only for the sake of finding proper excuses for their choice.

The single character faction was more powerful. It was only natural that they picked the single character faction. More importantly, the single character faction was backed by Great Zhou.

Meanwhile, people like Hong Tan and the other multiple character factions shared a lot of similarities with Xia Longwu. They only believed in slaughter.

If a minor race dared to get in their way, slaughter was the answer.

If a major race dared to get in their way, slaughter was the answer as well.

On the other hand, even after being in power for 50 years, the single character faction had not killed too many myriad race experts. At the very least, they were much milder toward the myriad races than the multiple character faction. Naturally, these foreign students would not say anything about how the single character faction treated their fellow humans.

These foreign students were clear about one thing. No matter how friendly the multiple character faction appeared, they might not be sincere. Perhaps they were only forced to do so due to their decline.

After a short silence, Xia Qing asked, "So have all of you decided?"

The others exchanged gazes before nodding.

Yes.

Xia Qing looked at the others. Including her, there were five of them.

"We'll get a few pro-human fellows to come with us as well, but don't leak anything to them. To fawn on the humans, those fellows would definitely not hold back when the cult attacks."

Xia Qing inhaled deeply. With several Mountainseas providing cover for them, she was not afraid that the contents of their conversation would leak.

She said, "We won't be making a move against Su Yu. But we won't be helping him either. We can only make Su Yu believe that we are his allies. That is the biggest help we can give the single character faction."

After a short silence, Bai Ce asked, "Would the single character faction make a move?"

Xia Qing asked, "What do you think?"

"They would." Bai Ce nodded. There was no doubting that. As long as Su Yu remained alive, they would forever be forced to bow before him.

This was a risk that they would be willing to brave.

"There you have it."

Bai Ce said, "Would the academy interfere? Since we can see that the single character faction would attempt something, how about the academy? How about Great Xia?"

It was clear to them that Su Yu was quite worried. He wouldn't have invited Xia Qing even after getting himself a Mountainsea beast otherwise.

Xia Qing smiled, "That has nothing to do with us. The single character faction will have to deal with it themselves. If they are too incompetent to achieve their goal, they can't really blame us, right?

"If they are capable enough, they would definitely be able to do something to keep the academy and Great Xia occupied. If the single character faction ends up not making a move, then we can simply use this as a chance to sell Su Yu a favor."

"How about the ruin?"

Xia Qing smiled, "If Su Yu is dead, what's the issue of us getting something out of the ruin? Is the single character faction going to expose us? We're only going to leave after a single harvest. The single character faction can have the entire ruin. Are they going to turn on us because of something like this?"

The others nodded. A look of yearning covered their faces. An ancient ruin of the human race. These ruins were the foundations of Invincibles. These ruins were invaluable.

Xia Qing took out a voice transmission talisman and said, "If nobody objects, I'll contact them."

The others exchanged gazes again before nodding. An agreement had been reached. With a deep exhale, Xia Qing activated the voice transmission talisman.

...

At the same time.

A voice transmission talisman on Zhou Pingsheng's body vibrated. When he noticed that it was a talisman connected to the Foreign Students Faculty, he frowned. He had warned them to not contact him unless it was something important.

But after checking the message in the talisman, his eyes flickered. A baleful aura erupted from his body. How courageous. At a time like this, that kid still dared to leave the academy?

"A ruin..."

Su Yu was going to his ruin and increase his strength.

"He is the culprit behind the recent chaos in Nanyuan."

Zhou Pingsheng was quite surprised. He had not expected this. He even felt some lingering fear when he thought about the Mountainsea beast the foreign students had told him about. Fortunately, they had notified him in advance.

Otherwise, he might end up underestimating Su Yu and going alone. That would only get him killed.

"That little bastard probably believes that I'll be going alone. Is he trying to use this chance to kill me?"

Zhou Pingsheng couldn't help but suspect this. After all, he had the deepest grudge toward Su Yu.

Generally, Mountainseas would not be deployed against someone at Su Yu's level. And it was very likely that he would be the one to make a move against Su Yu outside the academy. At that time, he would definitely be killed by the Mountainsea beast.

"Not only is he bringing his Mountainsea beast with him, but he has even contacted Xia Qing. So he intends to leave with two Mountainseas. How cautious."

That was a level of security befitting of someone like Xia Huyou. This Su Yu sure placed a lot of importance on himself. But there wasn't anything wrong with that. After all, Su Yu himself knew how much the single character faction hated him.

"Good thing I'm already aware of this..."

Zhou Pingsheng was feeling quite alarmed. If he blindly set off with a few Cloudbreach cultivators, all of them would be completely helpless.

An ominous glint flickered in his eyes.

Di Feng was dead. None of their students dared to challenge the top 100 anymore. His dream of becoming the head manager had been crushed. His proud student had died. And he had even lost a large amount of money. Everything had been going bad for him ever since Su Yu had appeared.

His status in his own faction had been dropping continuously. And with his teacher in seclusion, his status was under further threat. In fact, he had already lost the respect of everyone in his faction.

And Su Yu was the reason. He must kill Su Yu.

"Two Mountainseas? Heh."

He sneered with derision.

Su Yu was still too green. How could that kid believe that the foreign students would help him? He had actually trusted Xia Qing? How naive.

No matter what, Xia Qing was the princess of the cloud tiger race. Would she sacrifice the benefits of her race for his sake? Dream on. Wouldn't it be better for her to befriend the single character faction instead of Su Yu?

"You're dead, Su Yu."

Zhou Pingsheng laughed. He stood up and prepared to leave. He needed to look for Elder Sun and the other elders. Since Su Yu would be protected by a Mountainsea beast, he would need to get some help.

Chapter 558: Not Yummy Anymore! (1)

Source Soul Research Center.

Before anyone knew it, the 22nd of December arrived.

During the past few days, apart from the time he spent walking around annoying the single character faction members, Su Yu had been spending most of his time in cultivation. He was still fusing his acupoints.

He had reached the eighth-stage Infinite Strength Realm. 18 days after his breakthrough into the fifth-stage Infinite Strength Realm, he had broken through three stages in a row. At this point, he had successfully fused 128 acupoints. After fusing them, he was able to unleash the strength of 320 acupoints with only 128 acupoints.

Including the strength of his martial techniques, he was able to unleash the strength of around 400 acupoints at any given time.

With great offensive prowess and incredible endurance, one could say that Su Yu had no weakness in terms of physical cultivation. His number of opened acupoints had also reached 332.

With his current physical strength, he could probably contend against an eighth-stage Skysoar warrior cultivating a top-tier yellow-grade cultivation method. Including his willpower, he was probably strong enough to contend against the weaker ninth-stage Skysoars.

This was the level of strength a genius should possess.

After opening so many acupoints, using so many resources, and learning multiple powerful martial techniques, he would not be called a genius if he still couldn't defeat these lower-level cultivators.

Inside the room.

Su Yu opened his eyes upon sensing a message in his voice transmission talisman.

"Zhou went looking for Sun."

It was a short message. Upon seeing that, Su Yu's eyes flickered. Was that a regular visit or had Zhou Pingsheng finally learned about his planned trip? He did not send any reply. After a short contemplation, he walked out of his room.

Right after he reached the living area, Wu Jia exclaimed, "Junior Brother, you're finally out! Have you heard? Something has happened in Nanyuan! The wild beasts there have gone crazy. The locals of Nanyuan don't even dare to leave the city anymore..."

There were a few other people in the room.

Zheng Yunhui exclaimed in astonishment, "Nanyuan? Wild beasts? Are you talking about the beasts in the wilderness? These beasts are generally quite weak. Since Nanyuan has a low level of source qi density, the beasts there should be even weaker. What's going on?"

Wu Jia shook her head, "I don't know."

She was indeed unaware of anything. She had only heard about this as a rumor.

"But don't worry, Junior Brother. The beasts have yet to attack the city."

Su Yu nodded. That naturally wouldn't happen. The beasts wouldn't have the courage to do so. And it wasn't like they had the strength to do so. After all, some experts might have been stationed in Nanyuan already.

Hu Zongji and the others had merely created some chaos in the wilderness near Nanyuan. News of that disturbance had merely been exaggerated in the process of reaching the capital.

Since even the Xia Family was suspecting that there was a ruin in Nanyuan, they had definitely dispatched some experts over. Thus, it was basically suicide for the beasts to attack Nanyuan itself.

Only the areas around Nanyuan had turned slightly more chaotic than before, causing the locals to stay cooped up in the city out of fear.

Nevertheless, Su Yu did not forget to put up an act. He frowned and asked, "A beast disturbance in Nanyuan? Are there any casualties?"

"I don't know."

Su Yu nodded, "Ok. Got it. I'll ask around."

Wu Jia hurriedly said, "Junior Brother, do you want to solicit the academy's help to solve this crisis? After all, that's your birthplace."

Su Yu smiled, "It's fine. I still don't know what's going on. The prefectural government has probably done something already..."

"Prefectural government..." Wu Jia said, "I heard that the Martial Dragon Guards were dispatched several times, but each time they left, new beasts would appear. Unless the Martial Dragon Guards stay there forever, the beasts will continue bothering Nanyuan."

Su Yu nodded, "I see. Nanyuan itself is too weak so there is no helping it. There are only two Skysoars there."

With Liu Wenyan's departure, Xia Bing, the Martial Dragon Guards squad leader and Wu Wenhai, the mayor were the only Skysoars remaining. Before Su Yu left Nanyuan, they were still at the second-stage Skysoar Realm. Even if they had improved since then, they wouldn't be any stronger than the third stage.

And both of them were warriors. Even with the support of the city guards, the beasts would still be quite troublesome to deal with. Nanyuan was truly too weak.

It was so weak that many people would rather buy some lands on the outskirts of the capital and settle down than move to Nanyuan. And the reason for that was very simple. The ambient source qi density in Nanyuan was too low. That was a terrible place for cultivation. Unless one was willing to spend a lot of money on source qi liquid, one might not even be able to fulfill their daily cultivation requirement there.

Thus, one could forget about growing strong in Nanyuan.

Su Yu couldn't help but shake his head. It was said that there were 28 cities in Great Xia. But they might as well say that there were only 27 cities. Nanyuan was more like a town than a city. If it wasn't for its important location as the sole border settlement in that part of Great Xia, it wouldn't have been named a city.

The neighboring Tianshui City, on the other hand, was a true city. Their city guard commanders were all Skysoars while only those at the Cloudbreach Realm and beyond could serve as the mayor. There was no comparing the two.

While Su Yu was in thought, Zheng Yunhui asked with an odd expression, "Su Yu, is there some sort of treasure in Nanyuan? Why would those beasts gather there otherwise? It's not like they can get any benefits doing so."

Su Yu smiled, "I have no answer for that. I'll try to call somewhere there to ask about it. Hopefully, the call gets through. After all, that's my hometown. My family apartment is still there. Let's see if they need any help."

"Apartment..."

Zheng Yunhui blanked out. Apartment? Nanyuan was only a remote, small city. Even a villa there wouldn't be worth much. That apartment was probably not even worth a hundred merit points.

Thus, the thought of Su Yu worrying about such an apartment caused Zheng Yunhui to roll his eyes. Thɪs chapter is updated by nοvelfire.net

Su Yu ignored Zheng Yunhui and took out his communicator. After a short thought, he called Principal Wang's number. After a short wait, the call connected.

"Who is this?"

Su Yu turned slightly absent-minded after hearing the thick Nanyuan accent spoken by the old principal. When he recovered, he smiled and said, "Principal, it's me. Su Yu."

"Su Yu...oh, it's you, kid. After Old Liu quit, you have never called us. I thought you had forgotten us. Be honest. Have you forgotten us after getting rich?"

The principal joked for a bit before coughing and saying, "Little Yu, even Old Liu and the others have decided to stay patient. So you should stop struggling as well. Just live your life well."

"Principal..."

Su Yu sighed.

The principal said, "Don't try to lie to me. No matter what, I'm the principal of Nanyuan Secondary School. I still have access to some information that the public is not privy to. Kid, you sure are impressive. You made us proud. Those were Skysoars...Even our mayor isn't your match anymore. During the previous city meeting, the mayor himself had said that he would vacate the seat for you if you decide to return..."

"You jest, Principal."

The old principal laughed and said, "If you really want to return, what's the big deal with letting you be the mayor? Wu Wenhai should be honored to get the chance to vacate his seat for you.

"Brat, since you have the talent for it, just focus on your cultivation. You're still young. You only need to outlive them. There is no need to face them head on..."

Su Yu laughed, "Sure. I'll listen to you, Principal. By the way, has Nanyuan been attacked by wild beasts recently?"

"Not really. But they are creating trouble outside the city, making it hard for the people in the city to leave. The city guards have been working hard to clear the beasts..."

"Do you need my help?" Su Yu offered, "This won't be an issue for me. If needed, I can issue a mission and get some of my fellow students to help as well. Maybe we can even get the Martial Dragon Guards or the city guards to issue a mission. That way, we can also use this chance to earn some money."

"You're offering to help?"

After a short pause, the old principal asked, "Gara come gach any issue?"

He had suddenly switched to the local Nanyuan dialect. Zheng Yunhui and Wu Jia who were eavesdropping on the conversation had no idea what those words meant. They were somewhat distressed. This local dialect was quite hard to understand. Even some myriad race languages were easier to understand.

"No." Su Yu smiled, "I'm only checking if you need any help."

The old principal had asked if returning would be dangerous for him.

Listening to the reply, the old principal sank into silence. After a while, he laughed and said, "Sure. You're a talented son of Nanyuan. How about this? I'll get the mayor to issue a mission to your academy. You can accept it and use this chance to earn some merit points. This will also be a good chance for you to come back and visit everyone. Maybe you can even share some of your experience with those little rascals in the school..."

"Sure, Principal. See you."

"Yeah."

With that, the call ended.

...

Nanyuan.

Inside the principal's office.

While stroking his beard, the old principal muttered, "Old Liu, you're not here anymore, but you sure left a terrible mess behind."

Why had the kid suddenly decided to return?

He had heard what happened. That was quite a ruthless kid. He had killed the number one genius of the single character faction. The single character faction would never forgive the kid.

The kid needed to cover a long distance to reach Nanyuan from the capital. If he traveled now, he would encounter a lot of trouble during the journey. No matter how strong Great Xia was, it was impossible for them to fully monitor even the wilderness.

The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. For the locals, this beast disturbance was quite abnormal. After the disturbance started, he had left the city once. He found that the beasts were merely running around disorderly. Things weren't really too dangerous.

These beasts looked like they were roaming around randomly after having their lairs destroyed by some experts. They would naturally disperse after some time. But for some reason, news of this minor disturbance had actually reached the capital so soon.

And Su Yu himself had made a call to ask about it. Was such a minor issue even worth his attention?

"Sigh."

With a sigh, the principal decided to stop worrying about it. The kid clearly wanted to return. Or to be precise, the kid clearly wanted to find an excuse to return. In that case, he might as well lend the kid a hand and demand that Wu Wenhai issue a mission requesting Su Yu's help.

"The damn kid is similar to that bastard Old Liu. They always like to speak vaguely. Fortunately I'm smart enough to understand them..."

Principal Wang couldn't help but praise himself smugly. After spending over 40 years together, he had gotten very used to the way Liu Wenyan spoke. Thus, the moment he spoke to Su Yu, he was able to guess Su Yu's intention. He only hoped that the kid wouldn't get into even bigger trouble.

...

In a room.

After putting the communicator away, Su Yu smiled and said, "It doesn't sound serious. If needed, I can just take a trip back."

Not giving Zheng Yunhui the chance to say anything, he added, "Yunhui, buy some source qi liquid for me. I need to cultivate but I don't feel like entering a grotto for now. Try to buy as much as you can. It will be even better if you can buy the liquid produced by Mountainseas. If you can get this done, I can give the Zheng Family the rights to the Pure Source Art in advance. What do you think?"

Zheng Yunhui was about to question Su Yu's choice, but he immediately forgot about it and asked, "Would 1,000 drops be enough? That should be enough, right? Source qi liquid produced by Mountainseas is more expensive. Thus, I'll need to pay at least between 5,000 to 6,000 merit points for that. Are you really going to give us the rights in advance?"

"What a stupid question. Do I need to care about an insignificant cultivation method like this?"

Zheng Yunhui was overjoyed.

Finally!

He stood up and said, "I'll start gathering the source qi liquid. You sure are rich nowadays if you're cultivating with source qi liquid instead of entering a grotto. How luxurious."

He immediately ran off after saying that.

Hu Qiusheng, who had just arrived from upstairs, heard the conversation. He took a look at Su Yu and inhaled deeply before asking, "Su Yu, do you need any help from me?"

Su Yu had not been paying much attention to the research center in recent days.

He had not been working on the aperture fusion method.

He had also not been working on the source soul acupoint.

Even the devices brought back by Zhao Ming a few days ago had been ignored by him.

It almost felt like this research center had only been founded for the sake of producing the acupoint fusion method.

Hu Qiusheng had taken note of everything. Recalling what his grandfather told him not long ago, he couldn't help but feel somewhat sad.

He asked again, "Su Yu, if you need help, feel free to let me know."

Su Yu glanced at Hu Qiusheng and nodded with a smile, "Brother Hu is a loyal friend. In that case, I won't be holding back. Of course, I also won't be taking advantage of you. I can trade you a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures for 10 killing talismans with the offensive strength of the Cloudbreach Realm."

Hu Qiusheng's eyes flickered as he asked, "Does the art come with the distribution right?"

"Nope."

Su Yu calmly said, "You are the only one that can cultivate it. Otherwise, the price would be a lot higher than 10 Cloudbreach talismans."

"Ok!" Hu Qiusheng said, "You'll get them tomorrow. But since your willpower is not at the Skysoar Realm, it will be quite hard for you to activate these talismans..."

"Don't worry. My willpower is strong enough."

His willpower was already as strong as a Skysoar's. Of course, his willpower had yet to materialize. It had merely reached the level of a Skysoar in terms of quality. In fact, his willpower had long surpassed the level of an early-stage Skysoar.

The 10 talismans he had asked for weren't cheap, but they were definitely not as valuable as a cultural art, even if that art didn't come with the distribution right.

In all honesty, Su Yu hadn't been as generous with Hu Qiusheng. The relationship between them was more like a trade between him and the Hu Family. They weren't that close to each other. But since Hu Qiusheng had still helped in the Source Soul Research Center and Su Yu did not like to take advantage of others, he had decided to pay Hu Qiusheng handsomely for the help.

Hu Qiusheng said nothing else and left as well.