Chapter 821: Sorry (1)
Restore scroll position
Beside Su Yu, Liu Hong was also looking at the departing myriad race experts, but he did not show much interest in them. Rather, he continued talking to Su Yu. At this point, Su Yu was starting to get tired of Liu Hong. This fellow was too talkative. He had the urge to give this fellow a punch.
Seemingly sensing Su Yu's impatience, Liu Hong suddenly used voice transmission, "Brother Cui, you might not be interested in anything else. How about the disassembly method?"
"Hmm?" Su Yu finally turned to look at Liu Hong. With a smile, Liu Hong continued his voice transmission, "Disassembly method. Something capable of rearranging character techniques. Are you interested?"
"And you know it?"
"Of course."
"Are you messing with me?"
"Absolutely not." Liu Hong said, "You might not know this, but I do have a lot of friends in Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. I am also quite important here. Others might not be able to get the disassembly method, but I have my ways. Brother Cui, are you interested or not?"
"That is the secret technique of the multiple character faction. How did you get your hands on it?"
Liu Hong said, "That is not something you need to worry about. You only need to tell me if you want it or not."
Su Yu stared at Liu Hong. Was this a scam or was this real? And if it was real, was it deliberately leaked by Hong Tan or had this fellow someone obtained it through some dirty means? Hong Tan and Bai Feng weren't stupid enough to get scammed by this fellow, right?
Su Yu smiled and replied, "Yes, I am. What do you want for it? But I want the real deal. If you're lying, I will make your life hell. Don't get overconfident just because you're a Cloudbreach."
"Of course." Liu Hong replied in excitement, "I wouldn't do something like that. Be rest assured. This is not the place to talk. Brother Cui, let's go to a more suitable venue."
Su Yu gave it a thought and nodded in agreement.
A few minutes later, the two arrived at a relatively empty teahouse.
After entering a private room, they sat facing each other.
Su Yu went straight to the point, "Let's not waste time. Show me. I need to know if it's the real deal. Since you claim to know it, you must have a character technique as well. If you can't show me a character technique, nobody will trust you."
Liu Hong said, "Why the rush, Brother Cui? Let's talk terms first. The disassembly method has yet to be released. Even after completion, it won't be distributed openly. Since you're not a citizen of Great Xia, you won't get it even if the prefecture is trying to recruit you. By the time it becomes more widely available, many years might have passed."
"Name your terms."
"A hundred thousand merit points and ten peak profound cultural weapons. This is reasonable, right?"
Su Yu said, "It is reasonable if this is not a scam. If this is a scam, you are being way too greedy with it."
"Of course it's not a scam!" Liu Hong beamed and said, "The authenticity of my product is guaranteed!"
"If you don't trust me, let me show you the proof..."
Immediately after, a slim sword appeared for a split second before vanishing again. Su Yu was stunned. He was able to get a clear look at the slim sword. Shock covered his eyes. That was really a character technique!
Impossible! How could this fellow know a character technique? Could it be that this fellow had not lied to him in the past? He was really a spy of the multiple character faction? No, that wasn't the case. Hong Tan himself had verified that he had never heard of Liu Hong being a spy for them. Even Liu Wenyan had denied knowing about that. Dıscover more novels at nοvelfire.net
Then again, Liu Wenyan had also said that there was another group of multiple character cultivators. This was a secret group that was being raised in secret. Was Liu Hong one of those secret cultivators? Unlikely.
But even if he was, he wouldn't admit it. Thus, it would be pointless to ask him about it. Could it be that Zhang Ruoxu of the Eighteenth Secondary School was really Liu Hong's teacher?
If that was the case, this would be a lot more understandable. As for the origin of Liu Hong's character template, Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was not the only place in possession of character templates. Perhaps Zhang Ruoxu had passed his character template to Liu Hong on his death bed.
Su Yu's mind was in a mess. He only came here to satisfy his curiosity about how Liu Hong was going to carry out this scam. He also wanted to verify if his grandteacher had actually released a version of the method as bait. But after witnessing Liu Hong's character technique, that did not seem to be the case.
That slim sword was an actual character technique. Liu Hong really knew one. In the past, this fellow had only exposed his strength character. He acted like a super supporter of the single character faction, revealing only a single character all along. Why did he know a character technique?
Numerous thoughts appeared in Su Yu's mind.
Seeing Su Yu's shocked expression, Liu Hong said, "Brother Cui, you can trust me now, right? Of course, this is a secret. We will be in big trouble if words of this get out. If you're interested, we can talk more."
Su Yu frowned and said, "Even if you do know the disassembly method, you shouldn't possess that many characters. Are you scamming me with a fake character technique?"
"Of course not!" Liu Hong clarified, "There are actually more people out there with a lot of characters. The disassembly method has provided them with a way to bring these characters into a proper system. You're a cultural researcher yourself. You should understand this. At times, we will randomly form a character while reading. And we can't just reject that character and let it go to waste, right? As a weaponsmith, you probably have more than one character, right? You have at least five characters. Am I right?"
Su Yu sank into silence. After a while, he said, "Yes. But this is really surprising, Brother Liu. I can buy it from you. But I don't have that many cultural weapons. It's pointless for you to have so many of them anyway. I can pay you 150,000 merit points and a peak profound cultural weapon. One that is custom-made for you."
Liu Hong inhaled in shock. How rich! Were all weaponsmiths so rich? He had only dared to ask for 100,000 merit points, but this fellow had actually offered 150,000 merit points! One ought to know that even the entire single character faction would have a hard time taking out 150,000 merit points in one go.
Cui Lang was only a brand new profound weaponsmith before this. How was he this rich? He had never heard about Cui Lang selling his cultural weapons.
Seeing how easily Cui Lang had agreed, he turned suspicious. With a fake smile, he said, "Brother Cui, that's not a small sum of money..."
Su Yu indifferently said, "It's fine. I can ask for some money easily as long as you hand me the disassembly method."
Liu Hong blanked out slightly. He asked, "You mean...you're sharing this with someone else?"
"Of course." Su Yu answered matter-of-factly and said, "Don't worry. I'll only be sharing with a few people to split the cost. We'll only use it as a reference in our research. For example, I can get the help of my teacher, Principal Niu. Otherwise, I won't be able to afford that much money. Unless you're selling me a fake product, you shouldn't mind. My teacher won't leak your secret. Don't worry about that."
"But...the more people know about it, the higher the risk of exposure. Brother Cui, I'm only selling it because I'm in a tight spot right now. If Principal Niu finds out, the entire Great Ming might learn of it as well. And the moment this secret spreads out of Great Ming, it will be all over for me."
Su Yu was quite speechless. Why was this fellow so worried? Was he selling a fake product? In that case, he probably didn't know the disassembly method. But how had he obtained his character technique? Also, why had he exposed his character technique so rashly? Had he gone mad from poverty or was there some other reason?
It wasn't like the two of them were close. Either he was desperate or he didn't actually care if his secret was leaked. Su Yu had always viewed Liu Hong as a cunning and selfish fox who would only cared about himself. But strictly speaking, that was how most cultivators behaved.
Even Su Yu himself was such a person. Of course, he was perhaps not as excessive as Liu Hong who would scam even his own people. Or maybe he never viewed himself as one of them. Nobody knew what he was thinking.
At the very least, Liu Hong seemed rather loyal to his teacher, Elder Zhao, who was currently in seclusion. It seemed reasonable for someone like that to reveal his character technique if there were benefits to be gained. But Su Yu still felt like he had been way too ready to do so.
Were they close? Why was he revealing his secret so casually? Was Liu Hong doing that because he was confident Su Yu wouldn't leak it or was there a different reason?
Su Yu sank into thought. Liu Hong hurriedly said, "Brother Cui, I can take a step back, but you can't tell anyone. Only the two of us can know this. It will be quite troublesome if this is leaked."
Su Yu said, "If I'm not remembering things wrongly, Elder Hong once said that the disassembly method is only effective up to the Skysoar Realm. But you're a Cloudbreach, right?"
"That's not surprising at all."
Liu Hong explained, "Any researcher will hold something back to serve as their trump card. The general practice is to produce several versions and release the weakest version first. After some time, they can release a slightly better version. That way, they can maximize their gains. They also don't need to worry about illegal copies. You should know about this practice very well as well, Brother Cui."
Su Yu nodded, "You mean Elder Hong has actually produced a method that is effective up to the Cloudbreach Realm?"
"Yes."
Su Yu started cursing inwardly. Bullshit! This was definitely a scam! This damn bastard had most definitely obtained a character technique long ago. Damn this scammer! Just what was up with Liu Hong? What was he trying to do?
Su Yu couldn't figure out what Liu Hong was thinking.
Liu Hong said, "Eighty thousand merit points. Brother Cui, you only need to pay that much for the method. Of course, you must promise to not leak it. Is that agreeable?"
Su Yu frowned and said, "Without asking anyone, I might not be able to determine if it's the real deal. I am not knowledgeable enough for that..."
Liu Hong clenched his teeth and said, "Fine. I won't play dumb. I'll be perfectly honest here. I've sold the same product to someone else before this. It is definitely the real deal or I would have been dead already."
"Who?"
"Someone from Great Shang. You probably know her. Shang Tianjiao. Is this a familiar name?"
"Huh? She's in Great Xia as well?"
"She passed through several days ago on her way to Great Zhou. I encountered her while I was out on a random errand. Since I was in need of money, I offered the method to her. She paid 120,000 merit points for it. Now that I'm selling the same product again, I can give you a big discount and take only 80,000 merit points."
Su Yu furrowed his brows, "Are you telling the truth?"
Chapter 822: Sorry (2)
Restore scroll position
"Of course." Liu Hong said, "How can I lie about this? You can ask Shang Tianjiao about it if you doubt me. I won't lie. Shang Tianjiao isn't a fool. And she's an Invincible descendant. I'm not suicidal enough to scam someone like that."
This was unexpected. Was this fellow telling the truth? He sold the same thing to Shang Tianjiao before? And he was right. Only someone suicidal would try to scam an Invincible descendant with a fake secret technique.
Also, why did Shang Tianjiao buy it? Was she doing it for Shan Xiong? Or was it for Great Shang? Su Yu was getting more and more confused. Had his teacher and grandteacher really leaked the disassembly method?
"This is a big transaction. I need to think about it..."
Liu Hong shook his head and sighed, "Forget about it. I'll be entering seclusion soon. This is why I'm trying to prepare a large amount of resources for my cultivation. My body is going to reach the Cloudbreach Realm soon. I need a lot of resources, including a large amount of blood essence. That's why I'm trying to sell this thing. But I guess you will be missing out on this, after all. Brother Cui, I can only hope that you will keep this secret for me even if you're not buying."
"Seclusion?"
Physical advancement into the Cloudbreach Realm? That was a good reason. Perhaps this fellow was really going to advance soon. His growth sure was fast. It hadn't even been that long since he broke through his willpower cultivation.
"How about this? Show me the start of the method. I need to see something before I can proceed with the trade, right?"
Liu Hong hesitated slightly before answering, "Alright, but you can only see a tiny part of it. A secret art will not have much worth if it's no longer secret."
"Of course."
Liu Hong wasted no time and imprinted something in an empty jade talisman and handed it over, "It will self-destruct after a single view. I'm not going to leave anything behind. This thing is still top secret right now. I can't take any risks."
"Don't worry."
Su Yu took a look at the jade. At first glance, it really felt like Bai Feng's disassembly method. But after reading a few more lines of words, he exhaled in relief. It was different. Newest update provıded by novel-fire.ɴet
The crux of the disassembly method was its ability to take apart the fixed nodes of a character technique, allowing one to relocate or add more characters to the character technique.
As for Liu Hong's version, it did mention the same concept in the beginning. But that was something everyone knew. The moment Liu Hong's version touched on the actual method itself, everything was different from Bai Feng's version.
Su Yu was actually feeling quite doubtful. Even though Liu Hong's version was entirely different, it also made a lot of sense. Of course, Su Yu did not have the entire thing so he was unsure if the quality would remain after the initial parts.
But from the initial parts alone, this was really a very believable version. Its description and analysis of character techniques were spot on. Even an actual multiple character faction member like Su Yu couldn't help but agree with what he was reading.
This was definitely written by someone with a deep knowledge about the multipler character faction. That person might even know the multiple character faction better than Su Yu. He looked at Liu Hong again. Did Liu Hong write this thing himself? If that was the case, his understanding of the multiple character faction would be truly deep.
"It looks reasonable..." Su Yu said, "How about this? I'll give you an answer in three days. After all, I don't have that much merit points on me. I need some time to gather the money if I'm buying."
Liu Hong hurriedly replied, "That's fine. Brother Cui, if you're really buying, you can pay a deposit of ten thousand merit points first. Otherwise...I'll feel too worried."
"That..." Su Yu said, "I'm quite tight financially right now."
"..."
Liu Hong stared silently. Fuck! So this fellow was merely babbling nonsense earlier when he offered 150,000 merit points? He was a damn liar! Was this fellow trying to pull a scam on him? With the opening price of 150,000 merit points, Liu Hong had thought that this fellow was really so rich. But it turned out that he couldn't even afford 10,000 merit points?
Left speechless, Liu Hong stood up and said, "In that case, you can look for me again when you have the money."
"Wait, Brother Liu, let's talk about it..."
"No thanks." Liu Hong started walking away, "Brother Cui, if you're really interested, you can look for me during the next three days to buy it. In no later than five days, I'll be entering seclusion so you won't be able to find me anymore after that."
After leaving those words behind, he left the teahouse.
Su Yu remained seated in the private room. After Liu Hong left, he frowned again. This fellow sure was brazen. He was actually scamming with a fake disassembly method. Was he lying when he claimed that Shang Tianjiao had bought a copy?
Also, what was up with that character technique? Su Yu's head ached. He was finding it harder and harder to see through Liu Hong.
"Just what are you doing?"
Su Yu was very confused. Who exactly was Liu Hong? Was he doing this just for money?
After a while, Su Yu suddenly recalled something. He took out his voice transmission talisman and said, "Brother Lin, what have your teacher been busy with recently?"
"..."
Lin Yao was quite surprised to receive the message. It had been a while since he last got in touch with Su Yu. Wasn't Su Yu supposed to be healing up in seclusion? And why was Su Yu asking about his teacher out of nowhere? Wasn't his teacher a member of the Mutual Aid Club as well?
He was confused, but he did not delay his answer, "Nothing much. He has been cultivating as usual. Oh, right, there's one thing. Not long ago, he applied to become a teacher of the Foreign Students Faculty. He will be in charge of conducting basic classes for the myriad race students. I don't think he has been doing anything else."
"Hmm?"
Su Yu blanked out. Just what was going on? Becoming a teacher at the Foreign Students Faculty? Was that fellow trying to use the same scam on the myriad race students as well? There were a lot of powerful students among the latest batch, including those from the divine and devil races. Could it be...no way!
Su Yu looked at Liu Hong's departing back through the window. Had this fellow decided to throw all caution to the wind and scam as much as he could?
Invincible descendents, myriad race students, and rich individuals...
Had Liu Hong been getting in contact with such people as of late? For something that was supposed to be the disassembly method, if he quoted a reasonable price like ten thousand merit points or something, the rich individuals would be willing to buy it. They also wouldn't think that Liu Hong would dare to scam them due to their background. What? Was he supposed to live the life of a fugitive after that one sale? Was he tired of living?
And since everything was thinking the same thing, he could totally earn a large sum of money by scamming them one after another. After all, none of his customers would tell anyone that they had purchased the disassembly method from the black market.
"Did I inspire him with what I did previously?"
Back then, Su Yu was able to earn a lot from scamming the single character faction with some fake information. Could it be that Liu Hong had carried his torch and was planning to do something similar?
If everything went smoothly, he could probably earn millions of merit points from this scam. Of course, the consequences would be grave. He couldn't sell the disassembly method openly. And the powerful families he scammed also couldn't go after him openly since that was an illegal transaction. But after offending so many people, he could forget about peace for the rest of his life.
"Has he gone mad?"
Su Yu couldn't understand this. Just what was going on? Liu Hong had exposed even his character technique to earn a large amount of money. What was he trying to do? Even if he could earn a lot, he would be screwed for life.
While Su Yu was thinking about all that, Liu Hong arrived at a different restaurant with his face covered. There, a youth was waiting for him in a private room.
He softly asked, "Brother Zhang, have you reached a decision? Fifty thousand merit points. This is definitely a cheap price. I am taking a huge risk doing this. Since you've asked for a meeting, you must have decided."
The youth stared at Liu Hong for a while before answering, "Fine. I'll take it for fifty thousand. But...if it doesn't work, you will have to bear the consequences. The Zhang Family will not let this go."
"Of course. I don't have enough courage to scam an Invincible family."
Liu Hong spoke with a helpless tone, "I'm only doing this because I have no choice. If the single character faction finds out that I've formed a character technique, I'll be in great trouble. This is merely an insurance for myself. The single character faction will probably kick me out very soon..."
The youth tossed over a merit card and coldly said, "Hand it over. These merit points have all been obtained through proper channels. And the card is a nameless card. You can use it freely as long as you make sure you don't withdraw too much money at the same time and attract too much attention."
"Sure." Liu Hong smiled and tossed a jade talisman over, "The trade is complete. Brother Zhang, it doesn't matter if you'll tell anyone about this or not. I will never admit to being the one who has sold this to you."
"That is only natural."
The youth nodded and said nothing else. With the disassembly method in hand, he left in a rush. He had to get the seniors in his family to verify the authenticity of this method.
Liu Hong also left silently. After calculating his profits, he nodded in satisfaction. He had earned around three hundred thousand merit points thus far. There were a few additional whales considering his offer. If he could complete his transaction with all of them, he could probably earn as much as five hundred thousand merit points.
As for the myriad race students, he did not need to scam every last one of them. He only needed to scam about one out of ten students from each race and he would probably earn around a million merit points.
"I'm not lying. I'm really selling you guys a disassembly method. But I never said that I'm selling Hong Tan's disassembly method, right? I'm selling Liu Hong's disassembly method. I'm not lying."
A million merit points could probably last him until the Sunmoon Realm and beyond. If everything went smoothly, that would probably be enough for him to even reach the Invincible Realm, provided he had the talent to climb that high.
Chapter 823: Sorry (3)
Restore scroll position
A million merit points! Liu Hong laughed happily. Sure enough, scamming was the best way of earning money. Back then, Su Yu was able to earn so much money with some random formula. He could definitely earn a lot more using the disassembly method as his scam.
"After receiving all my money, I'll need to convert them all to valuable resources before leaving this place."
He raised his head and took a good look at his surroundings. He really needed to leave. This damn place was feeling more and more dangerous nowadays. Even Zhou Mingren had found himself an excuse to leave. Why should he stay?
As for the people he would offend doing this, why should he care? Would Invincibles go after him just for such a small amount of money? After all, he was getting less than a hundred thousand merit points from each family. For such a small amount of money, not even Sunmoons would make a move.
As for the Mountainseas, they wouldn't dare to do anything openly. This was an illegal transaction. They wouldn't dare to do so. Furthermore, he had indeed not claimed that he was selling Hong Tan's disassembly method. He had merely claimed that he was selling a disassembly method. Thus, these people wouldn't be able to find a proper reason to punish him.
Of course, they could always make his life hell. But that did not matter. He was going to leave soon. Why should he care?
"If I really need to, I'll just roam the Allheaven Battlefield. With so many merit points, I can even buy some precious resources from the military there. After a few years in the Allheaven Battlefield, all these people would probably get tired of hunting for me..."
As he thought about all that, he looked in the Heart Cultivating Pavilion's direction. Staying was not an option. The events that were about to unfold in Great Xia were not things he could get involved in.
The buyers of his disassembly method would take several months to determine if it was really the real deal. By the time they found out that it was useless, he would no longer be around.
"It's a pity I have to expose my character technique, but it doesn't matter. I'm not the only person with a character technique in the world. There are plenty of people like me out there. It's not like I'm from the fifth principal's line..."
Liu Hong smiled. He would flee as soon as possible after making enough money. As for his two students...they might be implicated slightly. But they would be mostly fine since the scam had nothing to do with them. With that man in the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, nobody could do anything too rash.
His two students would be fine in the academy. And when chaos fully descended, those people would be too busy to deal with the two kids anymore. He also had a teacher who had been remaining in seclusion.
There was nothing he could do about that. But that wasn't a bad thing. At the very least, his teacher would stay uninvolved.
After making up his mind, Liu Hong started heading toward the Foreign Students Faculty. He would use his identity as a teacher there to get close to these myriad race students and earn some money there. The divines, devils, immortals, and demonic beasts were all pretty well-off. Even if they weren't rich in cash, it was fine. They would definitely have plenty of valuable resources on them. They wouldn't enter the Human Realm with empty pockets, right?
"Fortunately, Su Yu is not here anymore. Otherwise, he might have started scamming them even earlier than me. After all, his reputation as a seller is better than mine. One month. In that time, I'll leave for the Allheaven Battlefield!"
At this time, his thoughts returned to Cui Lang. He cursed inwardly. That damn fellow was such a good liar. He had been happy for nothing. That damn scoundrel had offered 150,000 merit points like it was nothing.
"I need to ask Bai Feng out for a meal. And I need to ensure that some people will see us together. I need to show the public that I'm Bai Feng's friend..."
At that thought, he took out his communicator and called Bai Feng. The moment the call was answered, he said, "Bai Feng, your teacher is making my life hell. Without Faculty Head Zhou around, my life has been very hard..."
"Why should I care about that?"
Before Bai Feng could hang up the call, Liu Hong hurriedly said, "Wait, I have something important to tell you. Do you want to meet up? I can pay you a thousand merit points just for this meeting with me."
"Why are you so generous?"
Bai Feng was stunned. Since when did this fellow become so generous? A thousand merit points just for a meeting?
Bai Feng said, "Two-no, five thousand merit points. I am a very important person now. It's not cheap to meet me."
"Fuck off. Two thousand. Yes or no?"
"Deal. Where do you want to meet? I'll be there."
"Let's meet at our usual place. I'll be waiting. Be careful. A lot of people are keeping an eye on you nowadays. I don't want to get dragged into your troubles."
"I'll be there."
Bai Feng was overjoyed. Wow. What a rich guy. Two thousand merit points just for a meeting. Had Liu Hong gone mad? Why was he spending merit points like water?
***
Su Yu was unaware that Bai Feng was going to voluntarily act as Liu Hong's prop for only two thousand merit points. Su Yu was finding Liu Hong increasingly mysterious. He still didn't know what type of person that cunning fellow was exactly.
Even if Su Yu knew that Liu Hong was brazen enough to scam a million merit points in one go, he wouldn't think that it was wrong. He would only think that this fellow was too smart and sharp.
Liu Hong was not going to stay behind and enjoy his position as a researcher anymore. Clearly, he had sensed the arrival of danger. And he was right. Great Xia was currently filled with danger. Even the Allheaven Battlefield might be a safer place.
Of course, without money, the Allheaven Battlefield would just be as dangerous as Great Xia. Liu Hong would still need to earn his cultivation resources through battles. But if he could leave with a million merit points, he could find a good hiding place to seclude himself or even stay in the main headquarters full-time. Either of those options would be safer than staying in Great Xia.
Meanwhile, the pitiful Bai Feng had unknowingly assumed the role of a prop just for the sake of two thousand merit points. He was fortunate that Su Yu was unaware of this. Otherwise, Su Yu would probably end up losing a lot of respect for that teacher of his.
Why had he allowed himself to be bought for a cheap price of two thousand merit points? How embarrassing. Of course, if this was a few months prior, even Su Yu himself might have volunteered to act as Liu Hong's prop for only twenty merit points.
***
A storm was heading toward Great Xia. Those with sharp senses were starting to sense the arrival of a crisis. Some opted to leave directly, some opted to earn some money before leaving, and some opted to stay.
As for Su Yu, he was also planning to leave. That general from Great Jin had started an investigation in Nanyuan. Perhaps he would head to Great Xia City to look for all the people who were in Nanyuan during that incident soon. Su Yu had to leave before that general was here. Things might get troublesome if he waited.
His eleventh body forging was near completion and his willpower was also on the cusp of a breakthrough. He did not meet Wu Jia to persuade her to leave. Rather, he left a letter for her. Xia Huyou would hand her that letter after his departure.
Xia Huyou had also spent a million merit points to purchase five hundred portions of heavenly source qi from Su Yu at a price of two thousand merit points per portion. He had probably used the money in Xia Family's treasury for that. Content orıginally comes from novel✦fire.net
Su Yu didn't even have enough heavenly source qi to complete the transaction. Thus, he had to spend several days extracting enough heavenly source qi for the sale. He even gave Xia Huyou several cultivation methods for free. He knew too many cultivation methods and a lot of them were unsuitable for him. For example, those with terrible side effects or those requiring self-harm to be cultivated. He had handed all these cultivation methods to Xia Huyou.
He also checked with Lin Yao several times about Liu Hong. According to Lin Yao, Liu Hong had been spending his time in the Foreign Students Faculty for the past few days. He seemed to be getting along well with the students there.
Liu Hong had not asked Su Yu about the purchase after their previous meeting. Clearly, he had found himself a new buyer.
***
Finally, the 8th of June arrived.
This was the day Su Yu was leaving. He would make a stop at Great Jin before heading straight to the Allheaven Prefecture. There, he would exit the Human Realm and enter the Allheaven Battlefield.
As for Liu Hong's character technique, he only told Xia Huyou about it so that they could keep an eye on Liu Hong. He did nothing else as that was none of his business. The Xia Family would deal with this.
He also left some things behind for Bai Feng and Hong Tan, such as some heavenly source qi and hundreds of thousands of merit points. He had earned a lot of money during his time in Great Ming. He still had about 1.4 million left after his previous purchases. He left half his remaining money to Hong Tan and Bai Feng. He didn't know if money would help, but this was the best he could do for them right now.
That night, Su Yu departed quietly.
He traveled alone. Before leaving, he looked back at the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy behind him. He would definitely return to this place again. At that time, he would return with his own name and appearance.
Not long after Su Yu's departure.
Wentan Research Center.
When Bai Feng received Su Yu's gift from Xia Huyou, he stared at Xia Huyou for a long time before he sighed and said, "I am regretful."
He did not mention what exactly he was regretful about. Perhaps...he shouldn't have gone to Nanyuan back then. Without him, Su Yu would definitely be in a much better position right now. Alas, their relationship as teacher and student had shackled Su Yu.
Bai Feng lay down on the couch and stared blankly for a very long time. He was feeling very regretful. If he had known that the multiple character faction would be faced with such circumstances, he wouldn't have accepted Su Yu as a student back then.
"Sorry."
Chapter 824: Even Sunmoons Need To Piss Off (1)
Restore scroll position
"Go!"
Outside Great Xia City, Su Yu was moving away rapidly on his horse.
He could only apologize. Once again, he had to leave Great Xia. He was unable to change anything. He couldn't participate in the things they were doing. He couldn't even meet them. Too many eyes were on them. He was too weak.
Had he ever regretted his decision of joining them? Never. Perhaps he had been somewhat unwilling in the beginning, but he had learned numerous secrets, the disassembly method, memory extraction method, and blood essence production method from Bai Feng.
Chen Yong had gifted him the mythic destruction beast skull and guided him on his path of cultivation. Because of these people, he did not regret it.
There was also Liu Wenyan's many years of guidance and Hong Tan's permission for him to make use of those locked beasts as he wished. He couldn't forget any of them. He couldn't forget what they had given him.
Before he left Great Xia previously, Chen Yong had given him the Character Technique Stele. Only now did he realize that Chen Yong must have planned to leave at that time. Both his teacher and junior brother weren't around. Thus, he had decided to give the final thing holding him back to Su Yu.
Others wanted the stele as well, but he would never hand it over to them. Su Yu did not care about the stele, but he had given it to Su Yu. For some people, that stele was a priceless treasure. For Chen Yong, that was probably a final spark of hope. Su Yu would remember the six months that he had spent in Great Xia City for the rest of his life.
Su Yu's next stop was Great Jin. There, he would remove the stench of blood from his body before leaving for the Allheaven Battlefield. He wanted to carry out a slaughter. But he still couldn't. He was still in the Human Realm. He couldn't act without any inhibitions. Because he was Su Yu. He was still in seclusion. He was still in Great Ming.
"Allheaven Battlefield!"
At that thought, he increased his speed and rode through the night. Not far ahead of him, a merchant caravan was resting beside the road. Their bonfire shone brightly in the darkness of night. Su Yu continued moving rapidly, rushing past them without stopping.
Someone from the group complained, "Where did this inexperienced youth come from? Why is he rushing through the night? Is he not afraid of attracting the attention of demonic beasts? Even without demonic beasts around, he also needs to worry about cultists and bandits. He didn't bother to stop even after we called out to him. We will probably encounter his corpse on the road tomorrow."
An experienced traveler with a cigarette in his mouth looked at Su Yu's departing back and smiled, "Don't worry about him. Perhaps our path tomorrow will be a lot smoother. Nobody will rush through the night in the wilderness without some confidence in their strength."
"But that guy looked quite young..."
"All experts look young."
"He's riding a cloudrush horse. How can he be an expert?"
"You never know. Have you ever seen a cloudrush horse capable of moving so fast it was as good as flying?"
"..."
After talking for a bit, they all threw the matter to the back of their minds. The wilderness was a dangerous place. Out here, it was never smart to meddle in the affairs of others. It was also a bad idea to get tangled with lone travelers. After all, most lone travelers were also powerful individuals.
***
Not far ahead.
Su Yu was still moving at a rapid pace. Further away from him, a wolf howled. When the horse heard the howl, it appeared slightly fearful. Su Yu merely snorted and released his battle character, instantly eliminating the fear in the horse. In fact, the horse grew even more energetic as it ran even faster than before.
Spluuurt!
A wolf jumped out but before it could pounce on Su Yu, it was smashed into mincemeat by a hammer strike. Next, a clump of fire rose and burned the remains of the wolf into nothingness.
A gust of wind blew through. Nothing remained. Only the tiny bit of bloodstain on the ground indicated that something had bled here earlier.
Su Yu did not even turn back to look at the dead wolf. He continued moving onward. The Allheaven Prefecture was located in the northern region of the Human Realm. Thus, one only needed to travel to the extreme north to reach that place.
There, one could enter the Allheaven Battlefield. Great Jin was in the middle of this route. It wasn't too far from Great Zhou. At this speed, he would be able to reach Great Jin in two or three days. And if everything went smoothly, he would reach the Allheaven Prefecture in about five days.
But apart from the various prefectures, the Human Realm was also filled with large swathes of untamed lands. These were the places where demonic beasts, bandits, and cultists gathered.
Things were better around Great Xia and Great Qin as there were very few cultists near these prefectures. The few that were there would normally maintain a low profile. But that was not the case for all prefectures. Some prefectures did not care too much about the cultists near their territories.
As long as the cultists did not bother them, these prefectures would leave the cultists alone. Because of this, the areas around some prefectures were more dangerous than others. Generally, being a Skysoar was enough for one to travel safely between prefectures. But there were some dangerous situations not even Skysoars could survive.
***
The darkness of the night did not reduce Su Yu's speed.
He did attract some attention traveling through the wilderness, but when they saw him traveling alone at night, the more cautious ones gave up on making a move against him. Most of the time, lone travelers would either be lunatics, powerful individuals or inexperience fools.
Apart from the third possibility, the first two possibilities were troublesome to provoke.
In fact, even inexperienced fools would generally be not too weak as well. For these bandits making a living in the wilderness, they would rather target traveling merchants than these lone travelers. It just wasn't profitable enough.
Su Yu continued heading north. At dawn, he reached the border of a neighboring prefecture.
Great Wu.
This was a prefecture next to Great Xia. Back then, it was a powerful prefecture. After Great Wu King's death, they had declined considerably in strength. There was no helping it since they no longer had the backing of an Invincible.
After all, the loss of their own Invincible was the same as the loss of confidence. This was also the ancestral home of Wu Lan's family. They had only been in Great Xia for about a hundred years.
This was probably where Chen Yong had killed someone not long ago. No. Chen Yong was definitely the killer. His whereabouts were still unknown. Among the information Xia Huyou had given Su Yu, there was a list of individuals who might be Chen Yong's next target.
The moment Su Yu stepped through the border into the land of Great Wu, an arrow shot over. The source qi around it was incredibly powerful, creating a loud rumble that could be heard from far away.
Su Yu indifferently reached out and grabbed the arrow before casually tossing it back where it came from. A few hundred meters away, a Skysoar's expression changed as he hurriedly tried to dodge the arrow. But before he could move, a noiseless hammer descended and crushed his sea of willpower. Next, the arrow pierced through his head.
Su Yu scanned his surroundings coldly before snorting and riding off on his horse. The latest_epɪ_sodes are on_the novel※fire.net
Not long after he left, several individuals appeared. They gathered around the dead Skysoartt and checked the body before gasping in alarm. "How cruel. Is this the Soul Expanding Art? Destroying a sea of willpower with one hit. I don't think we should provoke this Cui Lang guy. He's clearly a merciless killer as well. He only has a bounty of one thousand contribution points. It's not worth it. He might even win against Cloudbreaches."
"Have weaponsmiths always been so strong?"
"Don't look down on weaponsmiths. They can be as strong as character masters in combat. Cultural researchers have too many trump cards, making them difficult opponents. Let's withdraw. Don't lose your life for the sake of a thousand contribution points."
"..."
After saying that, they withdrew from the area. Cui Lang was now a person of considerable fame. Thus, the cult had finally issued a bounty for his head. With the merge of the various sects of the cult, their internal bounty listings had also merged into one. Cui Lang wasn't ranked too highly on the ranking, but a thousand contribution points was still a decent reward. Thus, some people intended to earn some money through this bounty. But clearly, this was not worth it.
The bounty was too low for someone with his level of strength. That was the market price to kill an early-stage Cloudbreach, but it was clearly not enough for a genius weaponsmith like Cui Lang.
While they were moving away, they did not forget to gossip about the famous names they had been hearing. One of them said, "It's pretty pointless to kill Cui Lang. In terms of profit, Su Yu is worth a lot more compared to his level of cultivation. His bounty has reached eight hundred thousand points. That is too scary. If it reaches a million, it will reach the level of top-tier Sunmoons."
"Yeah. But who would dare to try this? Too many Sunmoons had died because of him. That guy is basically a bearer of ill luck."
They flew rapidly, but before long, one of them frowned. Immediately after that, someone flickered into existence before them. At the same time, their surroundings whirled and warped, alarming all of them. When everything settled, they found that the dead Skysoar was still on the ground in front of them.
"This is...an illusion!"
Boom!
Chapter 825: Even Sunmoons Need To Piss Off (2)
The Soul Expanding Hammer descended. Su Yu also reached out and snapped a random neck he caught. In the blink of an eye, only one out of the four Skysoars was left.
Looking at the final survivor, Su Yu asked, "Is this interesting? Do you have that list of bounties? Show it to me. Am I only worth a thousand points?"
Were they looking down on him? As a top-tier weaponsmith, if he wasn't worth tens of thousands of points, the bounty should at least reach five digits, right? Only a thousand points? Were they insulting him?
"Lord...I..."
Su Yu kicked the cultist's head apart without waiting. He searched the bodies around him before burning them all away, leaving nothing behind. By the time he was done with everything, he was holding a jade talisman in hand.
And there was indeed a bounty ranking inside the talisman. The pictures of the wanted individuals were also provided.
Sunmoon Kill List
Xia Longwu: Peak ninth-stage Sunmoon, pseudo Invincible, Sky Sundering Saber...
Reward: Three million contribution points, a hundred drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid, one heaven-grade weapon, one Eternal inheritance, one heaven-grade cultivation method...
Even Su Yu was tempted to go and cut Xia Longwu down.
Xia Longwu sure was valuable. His bounty started at three million points. Additionally, there were numerous other rewards, such as the sunmoon yellow profound liquid that was extremely helpful for the advancement of Sunmoons.
Xia Longwu was ranked first on the list of Sunmoons. Anyone capable of killing him would probably be set for life. Of course, it was more likely that anyone attempting to claim this bounty would have no need to worry about anything else anymore. Why? Because they would be dead.
Second on the list was Zhou Polong with generous rewards for his head as well. Third on the list was Qin Zhen of Great Qin.
Not all thirty-six prefects were on this list. Only about seven or eight of them were there. Su Yu couldn't help but shake his head when he thought about the other prefects. How embarrassing must it be if he was one of these perfects who couldn't even get onto the wanted list? They were so worthless that not even the myriad races cared if they were dead or alive.
Great Ming's Zhu Tiandao was on the list as well. Good for him. However, he wasn't on the list because of his threat level. Rather, he was only there as a form of revenge after he got five Sunmoon cultists killed.
The list was quite detailed with all sorts of information about the targets provided. Of course, most of the names here were unrealistic to aim for. It was way too hard to kill a prefect.
Su Yu continued reading the list. Before long, his eyes changed.
Xia Yunji: High-stage Mountainsea. Unknown combat strength.
Reward: A hundred thousand contribution points, three drops of sunmoon yellow profound liquid, one earth-grade weapon, one heaven-grade secret technique...
Zhao Mingyue: High-stage Mountainsea...
People like Zhao Mingyue, Xia Yunji, and Hu Ping were all on the list. Natually, Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan were there as well.
Even Chen Yong was there. And he was worth more than Xia Yunji.
According to the list, he was a high-stage Mountainsea with unknown combat strength. It was possible that he had the combat strength of a peak Mountainsea. That was the judgment they had reached from the many murders committed by Chen Yong. As for Chen Yong's so-called recent breakthrough, who knew if that was the case? Perhaps he had been hiding his true cultivation level all along.
Su Yu continued reading. When he reached the Skysoar list, he saw his own name at the very top of the list.
Su Yu: Ninth-stage Skysoar, combat strength of a seventh-stage Cloudbreach
Reward: Eight hundred thousand contribution points, thirty drops of sunmoon profound yellow liquid. Double the rewards if captured alive.
Su Yu laughed smugly. Just look at his bounty! He was worth a lot, especially when captured alive. In fact, he was only slightly cheaper than Xia Longwu and the others! He was basically worth as much as those pseudo Invincibles! He was worth as much as the likes of Zhu Tiandao!
The second person on the Skysoar list was actually Shan Xiong.
And he was quite expensive as well. But of course, there was no comparing him and Su Yu. Nevertheless, he was worth as much as some Mountainseas. A bounty of a hundred thousand contribution points was attached to his head. Three hundred thousand contribution points would be rewarded to those capable of bringing his character in.
How impressive.
"Shan Xiong..."
Su Yu smirked. That fellow would probably not dare to roam around anymore after this. This was quite an attractive bounty. Eventually, he even saw Bai Feng's name on the list.
Bai Feng: Seventh-stage Skysoar, combat strength near the Cloudbreach Realm
Reward: Thirty thousand contribution points. Double the reward if captured alive.
"Teacher will probably consider selling himself to the cult if he finds out about this bounty. He is actually worth sixty thousand points alive. This is a pretty decent price."
Before long, Su Yu withdrew his attention from the list and gazed ahead at the distant Great Wu. He sighed inwardly. This was a chaotic place. Sure enough, not even the cult was afraid of a prefecture that had lost its Invincible.
He had just stepped into Great Wu yet he had already encountered several Skysoar cultists. For him, Skysoars were nothing. But that wasn't exactly an easy realm to enter. Back when the Divine Skywing Sect attacked Nanyuan, they only had several Skysoars to spare.
But he had actually encountered five of them right after entering Great Wu. The kill character started stirring. Clearly, killing was very beneficial for this character. After removing all traces of battle, Su Yu rode off into the distance.
He did not enter any of the Great Wu cities. Instead, he stuck to the wilderness and moved around the cities. Compared to the routes from Great Xia to Great Ming, the wilderness of Great Xia was clearly a lot more chaotic.
Every merchant caravan he encountered along the way traveled in large numbers. In fact, each group would have more than a hundred members. These traveling caravans were the easiest way one could judge whether a place was safe or not.
Great Xia might be chaotic nowadays, but in the past, a caravan could travel safely with only seven or eight people in the group, including a Skysoar. At times, they could even travel under the protection of Infinite Strength cultivators. Most of the time, they would only encounter some insignificant bandits.
Large groups of powerful cultists could barely be found in Great Xia. Most of these powerful cultists would flee as far as they could from Great Xia instead of committing crimes there.
As for Great Ming, their Invincible was still around. With the relatively strict control inside Great Ming and the recent addition of the Strength Guard, Great Ming was quite safe nowadays as well. In fact, after losing five Sunmoons there not long ago, Great Ming had nearly turned into a forbidden zone for the cultists.
***
Su Yu continued traveling rapidly.
After about a day, he left Great Wu and entered Great Yuan's borders. This was a powerful prefecture, so he encountered less bandits after entering Great Yuan.
Su Yu continued sticking to the wilderness. He was aware that traveling in this manner might incite some suspicion if he was noticed, but he didn't feel like wasting his time traveling through city after city.
Cui Lang was the type of person who would stay in each city he entered for a few days. Thus, Su Yu would probably need to waste at least three months per prefecture if he traveled normally. A year would have passed by the time he reached the Allheaven Prefecture.
In fact, this was how Cui Lang had acted in the past. That was how he had been able to spend years traveling. He would frequently stay in the larger cities for half a year or even a year at a time.
Su Yu was unwilling to waste so much time. If people were going to be suspicious, so be it. He was sure nobody was tailing him. If someone was really tailing him without being detected by his jade, that person was most definitely an Invincible.
If an Invincible wanted to kill him, it wouldn't matter if the Invincible suspected him of something or not. At present, three Invincibles were already aware of his disguise. He would be absolutely helpless if they wanted to kill him.
***
He departed on the night of the 8th. On the night of the 11th, he finally reached the border of Great Jin. Three days had passed.
The Heart Calming Spring could be found inside Great Jin. After asking around, Su Yu learned that the so-called Heart Calming Spring was a natural grotto that had been formed by nature itself. It was generally useless, but it allowed one to cleanse one's mind and remove the stench of blood from one's body. Thɪs chapter is updated by novelfire(.)net
A lot of soldiers and commanders would visit this place after returning from the battlefield. The Heart Calming Spring was open for even those who were not the citizens of Great Jin. Thus, they received frequent visits from the various experts of humanity. They had even founded a Heart Calming City around the spring. This spring was one of the main sources of income for Great Jin. One had to pay to enter, but it wasn't expensive. One only needed to pay ten merit points.
That might seem like nothing for the current Su Yu, but that was actually very expensive for most people. Each year, Great Jin could earn hundreds of thousands of merit points from this spring alone.
And the visitors of the spring would also need to stay in the city and spend more money there. Some might even end up buying a property or two in the city. Thus, including the additional expenses from these visitors, the Heart Calming City would bring Great Jin millions of merit points each year.
From this, one could see just how valuable the spring was. The first youth Su Yu had killed in Nanyuan was the son of a general from Great Jin Army. That was the sole son of a Sunmoon expert.
Chapter 826: Even Sunmoons Need To Piss Off (3)
It was late at night when Su Yu arrived at the Heart Calming City.
This was a tranquil city. It wasn't a big city, but it was still filled with flickering city lights even this late at night. Experts could be seen entering the city from all directions. The stench of blood on some of them was so thick that one could smell it from far away.
One had to pay a fee of one merit point just to enter the city. This was only applicable to outsiders. It was actually extremely expensive, but it did nothing to dampen the flow of visitors into the city.
With a cloudrush horse, Su Yu did not seem too conspicuous here. In fact, cloudrush horses could be considered to be something only commoners would ride. Experts would generally fly themselves or travel on unique mounts.
At the city gate, a guard shouted, "As per our orders, those coming from Great Xia is forbidden from entering the Heart Calming Spring for three days. Everyone else is allowed to enter as usual."
"What? You dare discriminate against those from Great Xia?" Someone from Great Xia shouted furiously, "How audacious. Is Great Jin insulting Great Xia?"
"You misunderstand, Lord." The guard was feeling very helpless. Great Xia was not a weak prefecture that could be bullied without consequences. He said, "This is an order from the higher-ups. Not long ago, the general's son was killed in Great Xia. The general has left to personally investigate this matter. He might need to use some unique methods to detect the murderer. And the easiest option to remove the stench of blood on one's body in the Human Realm is our Heart Calming Spring..."
"Nonsense!" The visitor from Great Xia scolded, "The Heart Calming Spring is located right in the middle of Great Jin. Is that murderer dumb? Why would the murderer enter Great Jin after killing the son of a Great Jin Sunmoon? They only need to hide somewhere safe. Once enough time passes, no secret method will be able to locate the murderer. How many days have it been since the murder? If the murderer really intended to remove the stench of blood here, that would have happened days ago. What's the point of closing the spring now?"
The burly guy from Great Xia was a ninth-stage Skysoar. He was furious after hearing that he couldn't enter the spring. What nonsense was this? Why was this ban issued right when it was his turn?
Were they discriminating against him? Not far behind, Su Yu frowned. Pursuit? Was that Sunmoon capable of locating him? He had not taken anything after the murder. Nor had he left anything behind. In that situation, how could a mere Sunmoon locate him? He found that hard to believe.
Of course, he did not deny that there might exist some secret techniques that could locate the murderer through the belongings left behind by the victim. But it had been too long for that to even be effective.
Nevertheless, he was someone who was present in Nanyuan previously. Now that he was here, would they suspect him? It didn't make much sense for a weaponsmith to visit the Heart Calming Spring.
That worry did not last long. When it was Su Yu's turn to register his entry, he indifferently demanded before the guard could say anything, "Get someone here to show me the way to Master Chen's residence."
"Master Chen?" The guard blanked out.
Su Yu frowned and said, "Is Master Chen Qizhong not here?"
"Yes, he is..." The guard hurriedly replied, "Master Chen is here. Lord, are you here for weaponsmithing?"
Master Chen was a weaponsmith as well. He was a peak profound weaponsmith. He had decided to settle down in the Heart Calming City because there were a lot of murderous individuals there. Thanks to that, the demand for good weapons in the city was quite high. This city was actually a good place for weaponsmiths. There were a few other famous weaponsmiths in the city, but Chen Qizhong was the best among them.
Su Yu smiled and said, "No. I'm here to visit him as a friend. Stop wasting time. Show me the way."
He looked around and beckoned at a random Skysoar on the city wall and said, "Little Commander, get over here and show me the way."
The Skysoar commander blanked out slightly, but he did not hesitate to fly over. With his hands cupped, he asked, "May I ask for your name?"
"Cui Lang!" Su Yu answered, "Do you know me? Little Commander, stop wasting my time. I have an urgent business with Brother Chen. I have been staying awake for several days to prepare for this. Hurry up already."
"Cui Lang..." After a while, that commander finally recalled who this person was. He hurriedly said, "Master Cui, please come with me. Master Chen might have gone to bed since it's quite late. But he did mention you when he returned two days ago. He will be happy to see you here."
He personally held the reins of the horse and led Su Yu into the city. As for the regular questioning and procedures to enter the city, all had been forgotten. This was a genius weaponsmith from Great Ming. The master weaponsmiths of the city had just returned not long ago. All of them had mentioned Cui Lang. Thus, the guard was well aware of who Cui Lang was.
As for the fact that Cui Lang had also arrived from Great Xia, that did not matter. Even the mayor himself would not stop a peak profound weaponsmith from entering the city. Cui Lang was someone of considerable status. He was as respected as a Mountainsea. Nobody wanted to offend these weaponsmiths.
***
About ten minutes later, inside a large manor in the city.
An old man exclaimed with surprise, "Young Friend Cui, why are you here?"
"Do you not welcome me, Brother Chen?" Su Yu smiled and grumbled, "Brother, you left too quickly. I only recalled something the day after you left. I need your help with something. I traveled many days without sleep to see you. I have been quite miserable during the past few days. I didn't even enter any of the cities I passed by while I was on my way here."
"Help?" The old man asked, "Are you in trouble?"
Su Yu helplessly said, "A few days ago when I was forging a new weapon, Master Zhao Li said that I am too aggressive when forging weapons. If this continues, I will probably be stuck below the earth grade for several years. The fire in me is too strong. I am too brash. I never felt that, but Master Zhao suggested that I find a way to calm my heart. And the most suitable place for that in the Human Realm is the Heart Calming Spring."
Su Yu sighed, "If this is any other issue, I won't be bothered to get help as I don't like owing favors. But I hope I can forge a weapon inside the Heart Calming Spring. And the process will last a day or two.
"I doubt I'm important enough to get the Heart Calming Spring shut for a day or two. After thinking about it, you are probably the only person with enough status to persuade the mayor to agree. You understand how important a calm environment is when forging weapons. And I also need to keep some of my techniques secret. Thus, I need the Heart Calming Spring sealed when I'm forging a weapon inside."
The old man finally understood. No wonder this fellow required his help. Closing the Heart Calming Spring for a day or two was not a minor matter.
After a slight hesitation, he said, "I can give it a try. It will probably be fine. But Young Friend Cui, you might need to pay a price for that. After all, the Heart Calming Spring welcomes over a hundred visitors per day. Sealing it might incur the dissatisfaction of some people."
Su Yu indifferently said, "That won't be an issue. I'm here to forge a weapon, but I'm not here for the weapon. I only care about the process. All the visitors during the period the spring is sealed can register their names. I will pick a random person among them and give them my completed weapon. If that person is lucky enough, it might even be a peak profound weapon. Nobody will object to that."
"One weapon will be given out for free for each day the spring is sealed. I will also thank the mayor with one peak profound cultural weapon if the mayor is willing to help." Newest update provıded by novel★fire.net
The old man replied in astonishment, "Young friend...with how generous you are, consider this done. If words of this spread, there will probably be thousands or even more people registering for the draw. In fact, even this old man is tempted to try."
Su Yu laughed, "If I can really cleanse my heart and calm my mind, I might be able to step into the earth grade. A few weapons are nothing compared to an advancement. Of course, I will probably be forging some relatively simple weapons for this breakthrough. Furthermore, martial weapons are much easier to forge. Since martial weapons are much more murderous in nature, forging those weapons will also be a lot more helpful in cleansing my heart."
The old man said, "That won't be an issue. When would you need the spring?"
"Tomorrow. Let's start in the morning." Su Yu said, "After I'm done here, I will be traveling elsewhere. I have been traveling non-stop for so many days because of this matter."
"Sure. I'll visit the mayor immediately. If you want, you can come with me. The mayor will agree. This is a small matter. If you can complete your breakthrough in the Heart Calming City, it will be a major event. The prefect himself will come over to congratulate you."
"The earth grade might be a tad bit too hard. I'm not there yet." Su Yu said, "If I could enter the Cloudbreach Realm, there might be some hope. Otherwise, it would be very unlikely. The difficulty is too high."
"True." The old man nodded and sighed, "It is really very difficult. In fact, it's already very impressive of you to reach the peak profound grade at the Skysoar Realm. Forget the nonsense I spoke earlier."
After a short chat, the two set off for the mayor's residence together. At this moment, the status of weaponsmiths was fully displayed. He only needed to say that he had a friend here. That friend of his was of a relatively high status.
A peak profound weaponsmith would be a big deal everywhere. Before this, Zhao Li was only a peak profound weaponsmith yet he enjoyed a high status. That was not only because he was the son of the fourth principal. And things were the same in Great Jin.
After entering the mayor's residence, Su Yu found that the mayor was actually quite strong. He was a Mountainsea. This was because the Heart Calming Spring was too precious for Great Jin. Thus, a powerful expert was appointed the mayor here. Generally, only massive first-rate cities would receive Mountainsea mayors. But strictly speaking, the Heart Calming City was only a small city.
The mayor agreed without any hesitation after hearing Su Yu's offer. He instantly gave out the order to seal the Heart Calming Spring starting tomorrow. The seal would only be removed after Cui Lang was done forging there.
He did not need to worry that they would lose customers doing this. Instead, they would gain even more customers. One only needed to register their name for a chance to receive a peak profound weapon. Who would say no to that? As for waiting a day or two for the weapon, that was nothing.
After this incident, more weaponsmiths might try doing the same thing. After a few times, their city might even turn into a holy land of weaponsmithing. Of course, the mayor himself knew that was probably wishful thinking on his part.
Nevertheless, having a single peak profound weaponsmith like Cui Lang coming here just to forge some weapons was enough to increase the fame of the city. The mayor didn't even need to think twice before agreeing. As for the general's order to prevent anyone coming from Great Xia Army from using the spring...well, that had nothing to do with this mayor. The mayor did not need to care about the general.
He was a mayor. He answered directly to the prefect instead of the military. Furthermore, Cui Lang wasn't even a citizen of Great Xia. He was a genius from Great Ming.
Chapter 827: Even Sunmoons Need To Piss Off (4)
Restore scroll position
The mayor moved efficiently. Before long, news about the closure of the spring started spreading in the city. Everyone was informed that as long as one registered, one could potentially win a profound weapon. Or to be precise, a peak profound weapon.
Even a low-tier profound weapon could fetch an incredible price. A low-tier profound cultural weapon was worth at least a thousand merit points. And at the peak profound grade, the weapon could easily surpass ten thousand merit points in price. Even regular Mountainseas would find such a weapon unaffordable.
The person lucky enough to win the weapon could sell it for a large sum of money even if they couldn't use it themselves. If it was a cultural weapon, it would be slightly inferior to custom-made cultural weapons. But a cultural weapon was still a cultural weapon. It was still incredibly valuable.
And if it was a martial weapon, even warriors would be able to use it. Of course, in that situation, its value would be lower than a cultural weapon. Nevertheless, having a profound weapon was still better than not having a profound weapon.
Thus, everyone could look forward to this with excitement. And as expected, nobody was angry that the spring was going to be closed for a few days. Instead, everyone started waiting in excitement.
***
The next day arrived. It was the 12th of June.
Accompanied by several local weaponsmiths, Su Yu was personally brought to the Heart Calming Spring by the mayor himself. He was being treated with a high level of importance. After exchanging some polite words with the others, Su Yu entered the spring alone.
The process of entering was the same as any other grotto. He only had to step through a portal to enter an independent pocket world. A massive pond could be seen in front of him. And fresh spring water constantly sprayed out from the underground.
Su Yu exhaled before smiling. The identity of a weaponsmith was indeed useful. He wouldn't have been able to enjoy this place all by himself otherwise.
He said nothing and jumped straight into the pond. Instantly, he felt a unique power cleansing his body. Initially, the water in the pond was crystal clear. But as the cleansing began, it actually turned red. That was the color of blood!
Su Yu had consumed way too much blood before. Even with the blood character, he still had a lot of leftover blood within him. Not even the Pure Source Art could cleanse him of the blood he had consumed.
The blood he had consumed had seeped into his very bones. The massive pond had actually turned red right after he jumped in it. Anyone else would be greatly alarmed by the sight of this.
Just how many people must one kill and how much blood must one consume to be tainted with so much blood? While cleansing his body, Su Yu started forging a weapon. He had to make something if he didn't want to incur suspicion.
As for the color of the water, it didn't matter. The spring was capable of self-purification. It had only turned red because Su Yu was polluting it faster than it could purify itself. Before long, the water would return to its previous color.
The water here was precious, but unfortunately, it would lose its properties after leaving this grotto.
While forging a weapon and cleansing his body, Su Yu also worked on extracting more heavenly source qi from blood essence. He could use this chance to rid himself of the stench he would get from working on so much blood essence. He had a large amount of blood essence in his possession so this was a good opportunity to convert most some into heavenly source qi. After all, Xia Huyou had purchased his heavenly source qi with blood essence instead of money.
As time passed, the color of blood in the pond became thicker and thicker. Even the blood character had been tossed into the pond to cleanse itself. It had absorbed too much blood so it also had a large amount of impurities.
After spending some time in the pond, the blood character actually started looking sparkling and shiny. And thanks to the cleansing, it even started showing signs of entering the fourth tier.
The blood character was the first to reach the second and third tiers. And it could very well continue its streak and become the first to reach the fourth tier as well. At that time, it would become a true Mountainsea character.
The Heart Calming Spring was actually working well in calming his mind. He could feel the anger in his heart calming significantly after spending some time in the pond.
Time passed slowly.
Eventually, the water in the pond started reverting to its previous color as the red in the water started growing thin. After a day passed, Su Yu completed his first martial weapon. It had sixty-seven golden stripes.
He spent the second day weaponsmithing as well. He did not leave. On the night of the second day, he completed a cultural weapon with sixty-six golden stripes without any special properties.
At that point, the water of the pond had returned to its original color. About half of his blood essence supply had been converted to heavenly source qi. He left the rest alone.
After the cleansing, his entire body felt light and relaxed. His willpower also felt much more lively than before. It was also starting to show signs of advancement into the Cloudbreach Realm.
"I'm on the cusp of Cloudbreach."
Su Yu could sense his coming advancement very clearly. In fact, he could already feel it after the forging session with Zhao Li. But he had tempered his sea of willpower more with his hammer and suppressed the breakthrough.
Today, his willpower was showing signs of breakthrough yet again. The spring wasn't magical enough that it could trigger a breakthrough, but it had greatly relaxed Su Yu's mind. And the moment he relaxed his taut mind, he felt like he could no longer stop the momentum of the breakthrough.
"Am I going to complete my advancement here?"
If he allowed this advancement, only his willpower would reach the Cloudbreach Realm, not his body. In truth, his apertures and characters had reached a sufficient level for a breakthrough into the Cloudbreach Realm. Only his willpower was holding him back, and it wouldn't even be hard for him to push his willpower to a sufficient level as well. For him, pushing his body to the Cloudbreach Realm was much harder.
Su Yu felt like a breakthrough without 360 apertures wasn't perfect, but he wasn't too bothered about it. He believed that his advancement into the Cloudbreach Realm would not generate a phenomenon.
Previously, a phenomenon had only appeared due to the Five Elemental Arts. The other phenomenon had appeared due to his physical cultivation. Google seaʀᴄh novel[f]ire.net
"Since an advancement is coming...I will let nature take its course."
He stopped suppressing his willpower. If it wanted to advance, so be it. At the Cloudbreach Realm, his disguise would be even better. Invincibles might still be able to see through him, but with his fourth-tier willpower and Niu Baidao's talisman, he should be able to hide perfectly from even Sunmoons, right?
He inhaled deeply and started forging yet another weapon. He had a feeling that if he could complete this cultural weapon, it would be much stronger than any weapons he had forged before. And the completion of the weapon would also push him to the next realm, making him a proper Cloudbreach cultural researcher.
At this point, two days and two nights had passed.
***
At the same time.
A lot of the people outside were starting to get anxious. Why was Cui Lang still not out yet?
Even the mayor was getting nervous. He asked, "Senior Chen, is Cui Lang not done yet? Does a profound weapon take such a long time to forge?"
Closing the spring for too long wasn't a good idea. A day or two was fine, but any longer would be troublesome. And two whole days had passed.
Senior Chen was also feeling quite gloomy. He had no choice but to say something, "He might have comprehended something. Don't worry. It won't take much longer..."
"Should we send someone in to take a look?"
"That won't do. Each weaponsmith has a unique weaponsmithing style. No outsider can pry on the process. This will result in a feud..."
Right at that moment, someone appeared in front of them. The newcomer coldly said, "Can I enter, then? I said that nobody from Great Xia is allowed to enter the spring. Mayor Liu, are you looking down on me?"
The mayor frowned and said, "Greetings, General Zhang. Cui Lang is from Great Ming. He is unrelated to Great Xia..."
"Hmph. He was in Nanyuan when my son went missing. No, to be precise, my son was killed!"
The newcomer looked at the Heart Calming Spring frostily and said, "Through my investigation, I found that the murderer is no longer in Great Xia. Instead, the murderer has traveled north. This Cui Lang is one of the suspects. Why did he pick such a time to visit the Heart Calming Spring instead of any other time?"
"General Zhang!"
Master Chen frowned and said, "For many weapponsmiths, a random fortuitous opportunity is what one needs. And this is one such fortuitous opportunity for Cui Lang..."
The general did not even wait for him to finish before flying toward the Heart Calming Spring.
Master Chen roared, "You dare? No weaponsmith can tolerate having their secrets pried upon when they are working on a weapon. You might be a Sunmoon, but even someone like you needs to consider the consequences of offending a weaponsmith!"
The general ignored the warning. He had to see for himself if Cui Lang was here to cleanse the stench of blood on him. The general suspected that Cui Lang was related to the death of his son.
This was too big of a coincidence. But he had barely opened the entrance of the grotto when a furious roar rang out, "Scram! Damn it! Do you think you're hot shit just because you're an expert?"
At that exact moment, numerous people saw through the opened portal that a hammer with seventy golden stripes was hovering above the pond. At the same time, intense bursts of willpower were rippling out of Cui Lang's body.
These were the signs of a breakthrough!
Su Yu knew who the newcomer was, but he did not care. He furiously howled, "Piss off! If I fail this advancement, a blood feud will form between us!"
Boom!
A massive willpower explosion erupted.
Su Yu madly hammered the cultural weapon while roaring at the general, "Fuck you and everyone dear to you! I am on the verge of completing an earth weapon! Damn you!"
The expressions of Master Chen and the other weaponsmiths changed massively when they saw that.
Seventy stripes!
And the seventy-first stripe was on the verge of taking form.
Master Chen roared furiously, "Zhang He, get out of there! Do you want to start a blood feud with all weaponsmiths of humanity?"
Even General Zhang's expression changed. A breakthrough! A cultural weapon with more than seventy golden stripes!
He took a quick look at the water in the pond before hurriedly saying, "My apologies, this is a misunderstanding..."
He then withdrew from the grotto. Meanwhile, a massive uproar had erupted outside the grotto.
Seventy golden stripes!
"Is...he really going to forge an earth weapon here?"
Someone softly said, "Shit. If he fails...the weaponsmithing faction is not weak. Every single earth weaponsmith is an incredibly important individual. Even if you're a Sunmoon...General Zhang is in trouble."
General Zhang's expression turned extremely unsightly. Cui Lang was really forging weapons in there.
This was actually a breakthrough attempt. This could pose him great trouble. He had thought that weaponsmithing was merely an excuse. But he was really in trouble. He could only pray that the advancement would not fail. Otherwise, the weaponsmithing faction of humanity might end up placing a ban on him or even Great Jin as a whole.