Chapter 6 - 6

Chapter 35: Fifth-Stage Source Opening (2)

This experience felt completely different than before. In Su Yu's mind, the Source Opening Codex he saw earlier reappeared. A miniature Bai Feng appeared in his mind and started cultivating the Source Opening Codex. Every move of his was embedded deep in Su Yu's mind, greatly improving his comprehension of the Source Opening Codex.

"The Source Swallowing Technique is too crude. It's not as refined as the Source Opening Codex. Perhaps this is due to the difference between the bodies of humans and beasts."

In the past, Su Yu had allowed the Source Swallowing Technique to circulate freely within his body. After some thought, he decided to control the circulation. He hadn't dared to do so before as he was worried that he would harm his body. But now, he wasn't too worried. He started focusing his source qi on his right ear acupoint, causing booming sounds to echo within his right ear.

Boom!

Sounds that only he could hear resounded within his ear. The source qi in his right ear trembled and his fifth acupoint started opening. The blood character in his mind trembled. He immediately noticed that the little brother in his mind was absorbing source qi as well.

"Huh? A Divine Character requires source qi as well?"

Su Yu blanked out. He had thought that he only needed willpower to nourish the Divine Character. He had not expected that source qi would be required as well. He ignored the blood character. It wasn't like he needed a lot of source qi himself. After about twenty minutes, a loud rumble sounded within his right ear. A loud boom only he could hear rang out. His entire body trembled as joy overwhelmed him.

"The fifth acupoint is open!"

Fifth-stage Source Opening! He had reached the fifth-stage! It had only been ten days since his father left for the Allheaven Battlefield and he had already increased his cultivation by two stages.

Su Yu was overjoyed. For others, the fifth-stage Source Opening Realm was nothing special. But that was enough to place him among the best of the students in Nanyuan. Bai Feng was someone who had seen even ninth-stage Source Opening secondary school students, but that was Bai Feng.

If news of Su Yu reaching the fifth-stage spread, it would even cause a tiny sensation in Nanyuan Secondary School. With his hearing further improved, Su Yu felt completely different from before. Previously when he opened his left ear acupoint, he felt rather uncomfortable due to the difference between his two ears. But now, that feeling of imbalance had vanished. Content orıginally comes from novel·fire·net

"This feels great. I'm now a fifth-stage Source Opening cultivator."

He still had a drop of source qi liquid to use. ?It was the 19th of April today. The entrance examinations were generally carried out on the 25th of June each year. The result would be released at the end of June and the list of accepted students would be finalized in early July. The new semester would start in early August.

That was the timeline Su Yu was working with. He still had around two months before the examination. Cultural research academies did not care about the cultivation level of their applicants, but Su Yu cared about his cultivation. Before reaching the Great Strength Realm, he had basically zero combat prowess.

After killing two cult members, Su Yu's thirst for strength had increased. He did not want to see himself helplessly dying in the hands of some random cult member. The dead students from the previous attack on the secondary school served as a reminder at how weak Source Opening cultivators were. Even though he had the option of activating the abilities in his book with blood essence, that was still borrowed power. He preferred to have the power himself.

Su Yu did not stop after his breakthrough. He continued with his usual activities of reading and cultivating before sleeping. This time, he was not reading a regular book. Rather, he was reading the Source Opening Codex given to him by Bai Feng.

As for the original Great Strength bone fragment, he placed it aside. The bone fragment wasn't really stronger than the Source Opening Codex, but the Source Opening Codex was more suitable for the current him. Reading the Source Opening Codex, he could familiarize himself with the Source Opening Realm while clashing with the willpower embedded within the text.

That was not an easy text to read. He could finally understand how Chen Hao felt whenever he read a book. A single sentence was enough to make him feel like tossing the text aside and going to bed. The clash of willpowers basically felt the same as what a simple-minded person would feel when forced to read. He continued reading until midnight before stopping. After a shower, he went to bed. Nowadays, he looked forward to his dreams as that was also a form of willpower tempering.

"If a day comes when my willpower is strong enough to kill the monsters in my dreams...perhaps I can gain something new from those dreams as well."

Activation of the book in his mind required blood essence. Su Yu would often wonder if he would be able to activate the book and end his dreams if he hadn't discovered the usage of blood essence. Killing the monsters in his dreams, perhaps? He had a guess that killing the monsters in his dreams would bring about a different result.

...

That night, his dream was rather unique. To the point it caught him by complete surprise. As usual, there was a monster chasing after him, and as usual, he was quickly killed. But he discovered that he could actually summon his Divine Character in the dream.

Yes, the Divine Character. The blood character was in the dream. When the character appeared, an illusory iron-winged bird appeared in his dream. He wondered why it was an iron-winged bird. Perhaps that had something to do with his subconscious mind. Regardless, he had obtained the ability to utilize his Divine Character in the dream. That would open up many new possibilities for him.

...

When Su Yu woke up the next morning, he sank into thought. He wondered if the Divine Character he saw in the dream was the real deal or was it fake? Had the blood character in his mind entered the dream or was there a different blood character in the dream? That sounded confusing, but Su Yu wanted to figure it out as that would be an important piece of information.

If the blood character had really moved from his mind into his dream, that would signify that there was something more to his dream. Instead of being a normal dreamland, it might be a unique domain. Or perhaps it was the same domain as the one his Divine Character resided in. That also signified that there was more to the book in his mind that he had yet to explore.

He tried sensing the blood character in his mind and found that the dim character was starting to glow faintly again. He did not know if the character had recovered due to his sleep or due to its appearance in his dream.

...

Su Yu did not waste more time thinking about his dream and climbed out of his bed to brush his teeth. He was going to school today. Although Bai Feng had said that there was nothing more Su Yu could learn from him for now, Su Yu still intended to take a trip to the school.

...

Nanyuan Secondary School.

Outside the school.

Su Yu had arrived in a rush. He hadn't even bothered waiting for Chen Hao. A few people were standing outside the gate. It was still early so most of the students had yet to arrive. One of the people standing in front of the school was Bai Feng. Clad in a white coat, he looked charming and graceful. Standing amid the group, he was akin to a crane in a flock of chicken with his eye-catching appearance.

The principal, commander of the city guards, head of Windcatcher Department, and Liu Wenyan were present as well. Bai Feng was chatting with the group when he saw Su Yu rushing over. A smile appeared on his face.

"I told you I'm not teaching you anything today, right? Why are you here?"

Still gasping for breath, Su Yu greeted the others before saying, "I'm here to see you off, Teacher Bai. Thank you for your guidance yesterday."

Bai Feng was going to leave today. He had not mentioned it to Su Yu and Liu Yue, but Su Yu was able to guess it from Bai Feng's words yesterday.

Since the emergency at Nanyuan had ended, there was no reason for Bai Feng to spend more time here. He had already taught Su Yu and Liu Yue what he could yesterday. Even if he had more to teach, Su Yu and Liu Yue would not be able to grasp them. Thus, it was pointless for him to stay any longer.

Bai Feng merely smiled. He did not say anything else to Su Yu. Turning to look at Liu Wenyan, he said, "Martial Uncle, you have achieved willpower materialization. The academy's door has always been open for you. You have yet to forge your body. If you're not willing to request for flying sky tiger blood essence, I'll just send some back to you."

Liu Wenyan frowned, "No thanks. I'm an old man. There's no need to waste such valuable blood essence on me. I can just use some regular blood essence. As for flying sky tiger blood essence..."

Liu Wenyan glanced at Su Yu and spoke with a soft voice, "Leave it to someone else who needs it more in the future."

Bai Feng smiled. He understood what Liu Wenyan was getting at. Su Yu was going to enter the cultural research academy. Although they had no idea how many years would he take to achieve willpower materialization, he would certainly require powerful blood essence to forge his body after his breakthrough.

The flying sky tiger blood essence was very powerful. It was the blood essence of a top fifty race. Sure, the academy had more powerful blood essence in stock. But how many people were there in the academy? Was everyone going to get a share of the blood essence? That was not possible.

Su Yu came from an ordinary family and his father was only a Great Strength cultivator. How was he supposed to get his hands on powerful blood essence? He could only rely on the academy and his teacher. Even if Bai Feng was willing to accept Su Yu as his student, that did not signify that he would be willing to prepare the blood essence for Su Yu's breakthrough.

The flying sky tiger blood essence belonged to Bai Feng's teacher who was also Liu Wenyan's junior brother. Since they wanted to give the blood essence to Liu Wenyan, he could naturally reject it and leave it for Su Yu instead. There was no reason for Bai Feng's teacher to refuse that request. Liu Wenyan did not mention the request directly. Bai Feng understood. He did not mention it either. There was no rush. This could wait until after Su Yu entered the academy.

"I'll follow your wish, Martial Uncle," said Bai Feng. He looked at Su Yu and softly said, "Su Yu, you need to rely on your own hands to change your destiny and future. Nanyuan is a small city, but that does not mean that it can't give rise to an expert. Background, family, and talent will merely grant you some advantages early on. There is a long road ahead of you. Who can walk until the end? Who can laugh at the top of the world? Who can dominate the myriad races? You need to first walk the road to know.

"I'll be waiting for you at the academy. Nanyuan is too small. The world outside is more interesting. Bye."

With a carefree laugh, Bai Feng took a single step to move dozens of meters away. In the blink of an eye, he vanished. He looked so confident and at ease with himself. Nearby, the Nanyuan experts were looking on with admiration in their eyes. Bai Feng, a genius of the cultural research academy that might enter the Cloudbreach Realm soon. A genius like that was rare even in the entirety of Great Xia.

Commander Zhang Yun of the city guards gasped in admiration before turning to look at Su Yu. "So this is Su Long's son?"

The principal smiled, "Yes."

"I can see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. From Researcher Bai's words, I can see that he has high hopes for you. Work hard. Nanyuan is a small city, but like he said, that does not mean that it can't give rise to an expert. I've heard of your father. Don't worry too much. Although we have a lot of enemies on the Allheaven Battlefield, we are still capable of sweeping everything standing before us.

"News regarding the soldiers from Nanyuan will be sent back every now and then. When the latest update comes in a few days, I'll have some people send you a copy of the update on your father."

Su Yu hurriedly replied, "Thank you, Sir Zhang!"

"Don't mention it." Zhang Yun had a carefree smile. "We're basically family. Your father is a straightforward person. He's not willing to get involved with workplace politics. Thus, even after leaving the battlefield, he has stubbornly stayed in the Traffic Department.

"A few years ago, I invited him to become a 100-man commander of the city guards, but he refused. Otherwise, he would have probably entered the Infinite Strength Realm by now. With his bravery, he will probably be the second in charge of the city guards with time. It's a pity that he didn't join, but he made the right choice. I admire him."

Zhang Yun solemnly said, "You have a good teacher. Instructor Liu is Nanyuan's vanguard of civilization. You have a good principal. Principal Wang is not strong, but he has dedicated his entire life for the school. Nanyuan is small, but its people are simple and honest. I've seen a lot of geniuses from Nanyuan. These people have left for the capital or even the other prefectures. Alas, many of them lose their way in the end.

"I hope you'll be different. Because you're the child of a soldier. Your father is not strong, but he is worth learning from. Stay true to your heart. Do not forget who you are. Do not overestimate yourself, but do not underestimate yourself either. Be serious and do your best."

Zhang Yun laughed, "We people of Nanyuan are not afraid of being weak. We're only afraid of cowards! Do not fear anything! After leaving, talk with your strength. Talk with your courage. If you really find it too hard out there, come back. There will always be a place for you in the city guards!"

Su Yu hurriedly thanked Zhang Yun once again. To the side, Liu Wenyan snorted, "Cut the crap. Returning after failing outside Nanyuan? That would be too embarrassing. Also, it's my job to teach the students. Since when is it your turn to teach my student?"

"..."

Zhang Yun had an embarrassed expression. He stopped talking and left with a hearty laugh. Beside them, the head of Windcatcher Department also laughed and bid his farewell before leaving.

Su Yu couldn't help but to secretly laugh. Zhang Yun was right. Nanyuan was small, but Nanyuan had a good environment. The teachers here were warm. The commanders here were friendly. The principal here...was really weak. Yeah, that part was true. To the side, the principal was so furious his beard was trembling. Zhang Yun was clearly belittling him earlier.

Chapter 36: The Top Student Is Working Hard

Inside the office.

"You reached the fifth-stage?" With a cup of tea in hand, Liu Wenyan looked at Su Yu in astonishment. His senses weren't too sharp previously, but after willpower materialization, he could see Su Yu's changes very clearly.

Normal people were not able to see or feel the differences between Source Opening cultivators in different stages. But cultural researchers could clearly sense the nine acupoints. Five of Su Yu's acupoints were lit up, indicating that he had reached the fifth-stage.

"Yes." Su Yu nodded, "I was still at the fourth-stage yesterday, but after looking at Teacher Bai's Source Opening Codex, I feel my familiarity with the nine acupoints increasing greatly. I was able to directly enter the fifth-stage."

"That's well-deserved." Liu Wenyan did not doubt Su Yu. "Bai Feng might act indifferent, but with his strength, he would need to exhaust a lot of willpower to finish writing a complete Source Opening Codex. That's all due to his thick foundation. Regular Skysoar cultivators won't be able to do the same even at the seventh-stage.

"In the academy, the instructors won't write willpower texts easily. The willpower exhaustion is too great and recovery is hard. They still need their willpower to nourish their Divine Characters. Generally, they won't be willing to waste their willpower unless necessary. That is why their classes are so expensive. Most students will end up spending all their merit points on these instructors."

Liu Wenyan smiled. "Fifth-stage Source Opening. Looks like you're quite talented in physical cultivation as well. But the speed of Source Opening is really not that important."

Liu Wenyan wasn't impressed. So what if one was a Source Opening genius? ?Even if you could open your acupoints at nine, so what? Cultural researchers would reach the Skysoar Realm the moment they achieved willpower materialization, instantly putting a wide gap between them and regular cultivators.

"I didn't get the chance to ask you yesterday. Did you kill that cult member?"

"Yes." Su Yu did not deny and answered with a nod. He couldn't be bothered to fabricate a lie before Liu Wenyan. This update ıs available on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

"Not bad. When there is a need for you to make a move, you should never hesitate. So did you swallow a drop of blood essence to gain the strength to kill the opponent?"

"Instructor, you're able to sense that?" Su Yu was surprised.

"Of course. Do you think you can conceal this from a cultural researcher?" Liu Wenyan laughed before assuming a stern expression, "Your body is too weak. Those in the Source Opening Realm should not be cultivating with blood essence. Neither should they be using blood essence for short bursts of strength. You were too rash!

"Of course, I understand that you were forced by the situation. It was our fault for letting danger fall to the students. I can't say anything about what you did there. But from now on, you should stop using blood essence."

Liu Wenyan was solemn, "Do not ruin your life for a short term gain in cultivation. Blood essence can strengthen your body and speed up your cultivation, but you have yet to open your nine acupoints. With unconnected acupoints, the blood essence will accumulate in your body. Do you know how much trouble that will cause you in the future?

"When you finally manage to materialize your willpower, you will find that too many impurities from the blood essence you used have been left in your body. At that time, you won't be able to use more blood essence to refine your body since it has gained resistance to blood essence from your repeated usage. The blood essence impurities will also clash against the newly consumed blood essence, greatly lowering the effect of your body refinement."

Liu Wenyan was extremely serious. "Remember, do not consume more blood essence after this. Don't gamble with your life. You won't get away with it each time."

"Got it." Su Yu hurriedly answered. In truth, when he consumed blood essence, it wasn't his body that was absorbing the blood essence. Rather, it was the book. Only the aura of the blood essence was left on his body. That was probably what Liu Wenyan had sensed. The blood essence would not harm Su Yu's foundation. Of course, that wasn't something he could tell his instructor.

"Good." Liu Wenyan started smiling again, "The exam is two months away. You've basically been shortlisted, but that does not mean that you can waste the two months. Bai Feng is right. You're a genius in Nanyuan but nothing special in the capital.

"But that's in the past. I had not achieved willpower materialization before and couldn't teach or help you with some topics. But now, things are different. In the coming two months, you'll be learning exclusively from me."

Su Yu hesitated before asking, "Instructor, only me?"

"Yes."

"Instructor...is my father...your long lost son?"

"..."

Liu Wenyan was enraged, but that was such a ridiculous question that he also felt like laughing.

"What? Are you trying to be my grandson? Do you think I would even want that?" ?He pointed at Su Yu as he spoke. After a while, he laughed, "Stop thinking so much. In Nanyuan, both you and Liu Yue are decently talented. But Liu Yue has her family to guide her, help her, and provide her with resources. That's why she's better than you right now.

"You have nothing. Your father has left for the Allheaven Battlefield. After spending five years in this school, you can be considered to have grown up before my eyes. I'm not a selfless person who is completely impartial. Strictly speaking, the other students will be rather limited in their future accomplishments. You can walk further than them. The human race needs more experts."

Liu Wenyan spoke bluntly, "I believe you stand a chance to become an expert in the future. Therefore, I'm willing to give you as much help as I can, allowing you to walk a smoother path. Of course, there is a premise for my help. You need to be worth my help. If you're an arrogant fool, I will only watch silently and not say anything to you."

"Thank you, instructor," thanked Su Yu sincerely. During his five years in secondary school, Liu Wenyan had helped him greatly. He was only able to master eighteen languages thanks to Liu Wenyan. From an ignorant child five years ago, he had grown into a youth on the verge of entering a cultural research academy. Liu Wenyan had played an important role in his growth.

"Don't thank me. When you become an expert one day, just remember to kill more enemies on the battlefield. That will be the best way to repay me."

Liu Wenyan stood up and changed the topic, "Come with me. Learn a few more languages and improve your willpower. You're too weak."

Su Yu did not say anything. He stood up and followed Liu Wenyan out of the office.

...

Xia Trade Company.

Warehouse.

Accompanied by a manager from the trade company, the two walked into a massive warehouse. Upon seeing the contents of the warehouse, Su Yu was stunned.

"First lesson today, identifying corpses."

"This is Xia Trade Company's main warehouse in Nanyuan. There are 132 corpses from the various demonic races. Most of them are obtained from the Allheaven Battlefield. These corpses are fresh from the battlefield and have yet to be processed. Your mission is to stay here for a day and identify all the corpses."

Liu Wenyan tossed a small book over and said, "Record their data such as height, width, weight, bone count, and so on."

Su Yu was blanking out. He felt sick. The smell of blood in the warehouse was too strong. Was he supposed to stay there for a day?

"Go on. You'll be here all by yourself today. Of course, do not mess around with these corpses. They're all very valuable. You won't be able to pay for any damages done. I'll check your work later in the evening. I want to see your speculations on the unknown races as well. Even if you have to make things up, I want you to write something about them."

"Instructor, I'll be doing this alone?"

Su Yu had a bitter expression. He wasn't scared. But the warehouse was massive. And it was such a bloody warehouse. Was it right to throw an eighteen-year-old into such a warehouse alone?

"Yes." Liu Wenyan said indifferently, "Is this too much for you? On the Allheaven Battlefield, soldiers will be required to hide among corpses for days at a time. If even this is too much for you, forget about going to the battlefield. You'll only be throwing your life away."

"I...understand." Su Yu did not say anything else and accepted his fate. Thinking about it, this was actually a good idea. There were many corpses here, some belonging to races he had never seen before. He wondered if he could identify some of the monsters in his dreams from these corpses.

"Shut the door."

Liu Wenyan stepped out of the warehouse. Next, the people of the trade company shut the thick metallic door of the warehouse.

...

Outside, the manager who had been staying silent smiled and said, "Old Liu, is this your personal disciple?"

"Yes."

Liu Wenyan did not say anything else and the manager did not ask more. That question was quite pointless. If this wasn't his personal disciple, he wouldn't have paid such a large price to rent the warehouse from the Xia Trade Company. This was the main warehouse of the Xia Trade Company. Not everyone could enter it.

"Old Liu, he's still an inexperienced child who has yet to see the battlefield. He's too young. I'm afraid he will be having nightmares for several days after this. Why don't we turn on the lights inside? That will at least reduce the pressure on him."

The lights in the warehouse were shut, with only a few dim safety lamps active. Thus, it was quite dark and sinister inside.

"No. Cultural researchers need to work with corpses a lot. If he can't even get through this, how is he supposed to face what's coming in the future?" Liu Wenyan had a wide smile as he said, "A powerful cultural researcher is capable of going to the Allheaven Battlefield to capture the divines or devils they need for research. Since this is the path he's walking, he need to get used to corpses."

The manager smiled but did not say anything. He believed that it was still too early to talk about Su Yu becoming a cultural researcher. There were way too many people that were stuck in the Mental Tempering Stage for life. Not everyone could become a cultural researcher. Capturing divines and devils? How many people in Great Xia were capable of that?

Liu Wenyan had placed too many expectations on this student of his. He had also overestimated this young man. Of course, it would be improper for the manager to counter Liu Wenyan's words. After all, this guy had materialized his willpower and was a proper cultural researcher.

Of course, the Xia Trade Company wasn't really afraid of a fresh cultural researcher, but Liu Wenyan also had a junior brother who was a senior researcher in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. That position held a lot of weight, and that wasn't someone the trade company's Nanyuan branch could afford to offend.

...

"This is a fire hog, 3.1 meters tall and 7.2 meters long. Good at breathing fire and ramming, commonly used as cannon fodder on the Allheaven Battlefield. The bulk of them are at the Great Strength Realm..."

Looking at the massive corpse before him, Su Yu started recording the characteristics he noticed. Liu Wenyan thought that he would be afraid or disgusted, but in truth, Su Yu wasn't really that scared. His only issue was the thick smell of blood in the warehouse. He found it somewhat unbearable.

"As for the weight..."

After looking at the size, the muscle density, and bone count of the fire hog corpse, Su Yu did a rough calculation on the corpse's weight. It would be between forty thousand to fifty thousand kilograms. That was the weight of this fire hog. It had a terrifying size and an even more terrifying weight. Even if this was only a Great Strength fire hog, it still had a terrifying ramming power. A squad of Great Strength soldiers could easily be scattered by a fire hog's ramming if they didn't prepare for the encounter in advance.

"Huh?" While calculating, Su Yu frowned. The blood character in his mind was kicking a ruckus.

"You want to consume the blood?" Su Yu frowned. "This isn't mine. Although the blood essence has been extracted, the ordinary blood inside the corpse is also worth a lot. It's not good to steal what is not yours, understand?"

In truth, the corpses in the warehouse did not have a lot of blood left in them. After having their blood essence extracted, they would not have much blood left. A majority of the blood had been used for the formation of the blood essence. In any case, the blood here wasn't his to take. His instructor had brought him here to learn. If he took something he shouldn't, the blame would lay on his instructor. He couldn't accept that.

"You can actually consume blood?" Su Yu muttered.

His little brother was displeased with the question. It was a blood character. Was it so surprising that it could consume blood?

"Can consuming blood strengthen you?"

Su Yu was unsure. Regardless, he couldn't allow the character to consume any of the blood here. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to explain himself.

"Calm down. When I get some money, I'll buy some for you. Ordinary blood won't be too expensive."

Previously, he had spent five thousand dollars on a bottle of iron-winged bird blood. Of course, that actually wasn't a lot of blood. But if he wanted to buy a large amount of blood, it would actually be quite cheap as he could get a deal for large purchases. That was because people generally wouldn't buy ordinary blood in large amounts. Unless...

Su Yu's eyes flickered as he thought of something. Blood essence was something extracted from ordinary blood. He couldn't help but to ask, "Little bro, can you extract blood essence from ordinary blood?"

If the character could, this might be a way for him to get rich. Some cultural researchers were capable of extracting blood essence. They would be paid handsomely for each drop they extracted. A single drop of Great Strength blood essence was sold at the Xia Trade Company for fifty thousand dollars.

Chapter 37: Unperturbed (1)

In truth, the business of selling blood essence was a low cost business. Most of the expenses consisted of storage, haulage, extraction, and salaries. As for the cost, if one could get to the Allheaven Battlefield, a hundred thousand dollars would allow one to purchase hundreds of Great Strength corpses from the army. These corpses were nothing at the Allheaven Battlefield. It wasn't like the soldiers were going to consume these corpses as food. Even if they did, there would still be too many corpses for them to finish.

The biggest chunk of the expenses would come during the latter processes such as extraction and haulage from the Allheaven Battlefield back into the Human Realm. In truth, haulage was so expensive that unless one was hauling a large volume of products at once, it wouldn't even be worth it.

Of course, the armies also had their own cultural researchers that could extract the blood on the spot. However, Great Strength blood essence wasn't exactly that valuable, so most cultural researchers couldn't even be bothered to perform the extraction. Su Yu did not know all that before. Now that he had learned more about cultural researchers, he could easily guess most of that.

"The character 'blood' wants to consume blood..."

Su Yu sighed. He felt like he was going to go bankrupt soon. If blood could really nourish his Divine Character, he would have to purchase some. There was no choice. The nourishment of his Divine Character was too important. Without sufficient willpower, he would have to look for alternatives to nourish his Divine Character. He could see himself getting more and more poor in the future. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs ⓝovelFire.net

While entertaining himself with random thoughts, Su Yu continued working hard on identifying the corpses. The process was rather exhausting and he was sweating badly from all the work he was doing. These corpses were too heavy. He was only a Source Opening cultivator. Some of the corpses were so heavy he wasn't even able to move them.

Some of the corpses were piled together, so he was forced to move the corpses bit by bit to get a clearer look at them. Not long had passed before Su Yu was dyed red in blood. At that point, the blood character became even more restless. It was on the verge of charging out of Su Yu's body, forcing him to suppress it with his willpower. Was this fellow asking for a new round of beating?

...

When evening arrived, the door was finally opened and Su Yu was released. Looking at Su Yu's dirty appearance and the book filled with characters, Liu Wenyan smiled. Very good. He had not complained about the hardship, nor had he performed the task half-heartedly.

"We'll stop here today and continue tomorrow. You'll be staying here for five days. After five days, we'll go to a different place."

Liu Wenyan paused and thought for a bit before saying, "Previously, Bai Feng helped you perform your first attempt at forming a Divine Character. Of course, that isn't something you can perform to completion right now, but you can get used to the process and try a few times.

"Divine Character formation is an extremely exhausting process for your willpower. There is actually a shortcut to the process. By using the blood essence of the demonic races that came with willpower and source qi, you can draw out the character you want in reality before trying to draw one in your mind. That is also the common method the academy uses to train their students.

"I had not taught you any of that before, but I'll start teaching you all that from now on. Every five days, come get a drop of blood essence suitable for Divine Character formation from me. Of course, to claim the blood essence from me, you need to perform your assigned tasks well."

Su Yu was excited, but he turned awkward and said, "It's fine, instructor. I don't need it."

Instructor Liu would be paying for the blood essence out of his own pocket as it was impossible for the school to foot the bill. Even if the blood essence was purchased from the school, Instructor Liu would still be paying one merit point per drop.

"Like I said, you need to perform well in your assigned tasks. Do you think I'm going to be giving them to you for free? Do you think you can complete my tasks so easily? Maybe you will not be able to get more than one drop after two months. That's worth one merit point. It's nothing for me."

Su Yu had an embarrassed expression. He wanted to say that he had completed his Divine Character, but the people of Xia Trade Company were nearby so he said nothing. He would wait and see. His instructor was right. He might not be able to claim that much blood essence in the first place. The task today was a good example. If he wasn't already used to being killed himself in his dreams, he probably wouldn't be able to last long facing all those corpses.

"Let's go. Rest well tonight. You will have a lot of difficult tasks waiting for you. If needed, slow down on your Source Opening cultivation."

"I understand. Don't worry, Instructor. I won't let anything get in the way of my studies."

"..."

After a short chat, Su Yu returned to his home while Liu Wenyan returned to the school.

...

One day after another, time passed.

During the day, Su Yu would follow Liu Wenyan around for his studies. Even at night, he had heavy tasks as well. He needed to cultivate, study the Source Opening Codex, fight in his dreams, and even spend some time learning more languages.

He was also slowly starting to study the original Great Strength bone fragment. Although he still couldn't properly read it, each attempt was a clash of willpower that would help him improve. Bai Feng had advised him to not read the bone fragment more than twice per day. But Su Yu had actually been making about a dozen attempts each day.

He didn't feel any discomfort from his attempts. Rather, he could quickly recover from each session after a minor headache. As for his "blood" character's desire to consume blood, Su Yu was too busy to entertain it. He would first focus on nourishing the character with his willpower. It wouldn't be too late to start experimenting when he had more free time.

In the blink of an eye, a new month arrived.

It was now the middle of May.

Year 350 of the Anping Calendar, 18th of May.

Su Yu had spent around one month following Liu Wenyan around. That was a tiring month for him, but it also came with plenty of joy. He had improved considerably in his cultivation. During the month, he had used a few more drops of blood essence while his source qi liquid remained unused. He had opened the acupoints of both his eyes, becoming a proper seventh-stage Source Opening cultivator. Opening two acupoints in one month was an incredible feat.

The present Su Yu could be considered a cultivation genius even in a bigger city. As for reaching the eighth-stage at his age, that was extremely rare even in the bigger cities. Generally, such people would only appear in the capital. And even in the capital, such people were good enough to be considered top geniuses.

At the eighth-stage, one would open the Spirit Palace acupoint. With the opening of that acupoint, one would finally gain the ability to sense source qi or even slightly manipulate it. That was when a cultivator would finally obtain some proper combat strength.

The eighth-stage Source Opening Realm was basically a dividing line between those with and without combat strength. The difference between cultivators with and without combat strength was the same as the difference between a cultivator and a non-cultivator.

Su Yu's progress in physical cultivation had been obvious. However, that was also the case for his progress in willpower cultivation. According to Liu Wenyan, Su Yu's willpower had reached fifteen percent full in the span of one month. The five percent increase might not seem like much, but that was actually an unimaginable growth. After all, it had taken Su Yu so many years of studying previously to only reach ten percent.

With his current growth, he might even be able to reach twenty percent prior to the examination. And at that point, Su Yu would no longer be a weak clueless student anymore. With twenty percent willpower, he would be able to directly read original Great Strength texts. That was basically the very first step one would take as a cultural researcher. At that point, one could already be considered a cultural researcher.

Apart from the growth in his cultivation, he had also followed Liu Wenyan to many places over the past month. He had seen a lot and gained a lot of knowledge that was probably more important than pure growth in cultivation.

...

"Two hundred thousand dollars, ten gold coins, two drops of blood essence, ten merit points."

Su Yu had used some blood essence during the month, but he had not wasted much of his cash. His merit points had even increased. That was because Liu Wenyan had rewarded him with three drops of blood essence during the month. All three times, Su Yu had picked the iron-winged bird blood essence. As for his extra merit points, he had gotten them from the reward of the kill Chen Hao had claimed.

In truth, Su Yu had only spent about sixty thousand dollars during the month to purchase two drops of blood essence from the Xia Trade Company at a special price. The trade company was offering him a special price out of respect for Liu Wenyan.

"Seventh-stage Source Opening Realm!"

While walking toward Liu Wenyan's office, Su Yu clenched his fists in excitement. He had only broken through last night. His next goal was the eighth-stage. The Spirit Palace acupoint would be harder to open. After opening it, he would be able to start practicing martial techniques properly. He would finally possess combat strength.

Today was supposed to be a rest day, but Su Yu was getting impatient. His blood character had been clamoring for blood recently. He had stopped the character from doing anything. During a previous test of his, the character had actually tried to consume the drop of blood essence in his hand, greatly alarming him.

He was only a Source Opening cultivator. He had only been able to consume blood essence because his book was the one absorbing the blood essence instead of his body. But the Divine Character resided within his mind. If he was careless when allowing the character to absorb blood essence, he might even blast his own head apart. It would be very unfortunate if that happened.

Su Yu did not dare to act rashly. He didn't even dare to feed the character some ordinary blood. He was worried that this little brother of his would kill him. He had nourished his little brother with willpower for a month. After breaking into the seventh-stage, he had more confidence in dealing with whatever the Divine Character was up to.

Today, he was here to see Liu Wenyan regarding his Divine Character. Liu Wenyan had not been giving him lessons on Divine Characters. With the lesson provided by Bai Feng previously, Liu Wenyan was of the opinion that Su Yu did not need more of such lessons for now.

Chapter 38: Unperturbed (2)

Inside the office.

Even during an off day, Liu Wenyan did not stay at home. He had been busy taking Su Yu everywhere during the past month, so he had quite a lot of accumulated work at school. Since it was a free day, he took the chance to deal with them. He was able to sense Su Yu's arrival outside the office.

When Su Yu started knocking on the door, Liu Wenyan looked up and frowned as he said, "You should rest properly when it's time to do so. It is important to strike a balance between work and rest. It has been a tiring month for you. It's not a good thing to push yourself too much."

He knew that Su Yu was a hardworking student, but during the past month, he noticed that Su Yu had been working even harder than before. That was an excellent student to have. But that was also a worrisome student to have. Liu Wenyan was worried that one day, this student would work himself to death.

Furthermore, Su Yu was also simultaneously working on his physical cultivation. His progress in physical cultivation was so fast that even Liu Wenyan wondered if this kid was more suited for physical cultivation.

"I'm not tired, instructor." Su Yu said, "Instructor, I'm here today to ask you about Divine Characters--"

"I told you. At the present stage, you need to focus on building your foundation and complete your first Divine Character. With Bai Feng's previous help, you will be able to complete your first Divine Character soon."

Liu Wenyan interrupted Su Yu. This wasn't the first time Su Yu was asking him the same question. But he believed that Su Yu was getting impatient. Without a strong enough willpower, it wasn't a good idea for him to focus too much on Divine Character studies.

Liu Wenyan sternly said, "Su Yu, cultivation is something you need to do a step at a time. You can't keep looking for shortcuts. I've advised you several times about Divine Character cultivation. Why are you being stubborn?

"When your willpower is twenty percent full, I'll write a willpower text for you, giving you the chance to capture a Divine Character and see if I can help you complete your foundation building. Don't think about Divine Characters before that."

Liu Wenyan was displeased. But he also made it clear that after some time, he would personally write a willpower text for Su Yu.

Su Yu had no idea what price a freshly advanced Skysoar cultivator like Liu Wenyan needed to pay to conduct a single willpower text writing session, but he knew that it wouldn't be easy for Liu Wenyan. Back then, as someone on the verge of reaching the seventh-stage Skysoar Realm, Bai Feng had paled from writing the Source Opening Codex.

Su Yu had a helpless expression. He had tried asking the same question several times before. But every single time, he would be reprimanded. At times, Liu Wenyan could be very stubborn. As a teacher, he was responsible for imparting knowledge and dispelling doubts. Apart from that, he also believed that a teacher should guide their student to the right path.

He believed that Su Yu was taking the wrong path by putting so much focus on Divine Characters. Willpower was what he should be working on for now. Divine Characters should be left for the future. He could very easily step on a wrong path by biting off more than he could chew.

"Instructor..."

"Stop asking!"

"Instructor!" Su Yu felt his head aching. This old man could be terrifyingly scary at times. "I've formed my first Divine Character..."

"Shut up!" Liu Wenyan was furious.

Su Yu blanked out. He noticed that something was different with Liu Wenyan's anger this time.

Liu Wenyan himself was shocked by how much anger he was feeling. His expressions changed several times before he regained his calm and said, "I'm regretting my decision to make Bai Feng give you that lesson. Divine Characters might be incredible, but I've not expected you to get so obsessed with them. Su Yu, cultural researchers are inseparable from Divine Characters. But you must also remember that as a cultural researcher, willpower is the basis of cultivation."

He had completely ignored what Su Yu said. Of course, he had also misunderstood Su Yu. Forming his first Divine Character was different from completing his first Divine Character.

Liu Wenyan inhaled deeply before saying, "Take a seat."

Su Yu did as told.

An empty look seeped into Liu Wenyan's eyes but he quickly recovered. After some hesitation, he said, "Some cultural researchers believe in the might of Divine Characters. During their youth, before building a sufficiently strong willpower, they stubbornly pursue the path of Divine Characters.

"Several former principals of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy had left a Divine Character behind each. All the Divine Characters came with incredible usages. Creating a brand new world with one character. That is the type of power everyone yearned for.

"Fifty years ago, the fifth principal of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy passed away. He left a single Divine Character behind. That character changed a lot of things. It also changed a lot of lives."

Liu Wenyan had a bitter look in his eyes. "Some powerful cultural researchers have stepped into a different path: the path of Divine Characters. Instead of cultivating Divine Characters at the side, they specialize in Divine Characters and put everything else second.

"Some geniuses in the Mental Tempering Stage back then who were on the verge of willpower materialization had been greatly influenced by this trend. They decided to complete a powerful Divine Character before willpower materialization, aiming to kill Skysoar cultivators before their advancement.

"They were proud. They were ambitious. They believed they were capable of anything. They were unwilling to become ordinary cultural researchers. They wanted to dazzle the world with their brilliance. They wanted to complete powerful Divine Characters and even create eternal Divine Characters that would leave a mark on the world, standing tall above the myriad races.

"They wanted to slaughter divines and devils with their Divine Characters, contend against the myriad races, and sweep all opposition in the same cultivation realm."

"But..." Liu Wenyan looked at Su Yu and spoke calmly, "They failed. Many of them died. Many of them were stuck at the Mental Tempering Stage for life. These were geniuses with a bright future ahead of them. They could become the pride of humanity. But they walked down the wrong path.

"Today, if you enter the academy, they will still teach you about Divine Characters. But before that, they will warn you to not be obsessed with the power of Divine Characters. That is something you should work on more in the future, not now.

"They will give you examples, telling you about so-and-so who were incredibly talented back then. However, those people had ultimately turned into cripples due to their obsession with Divine Characters.

"One of those so-and-so...could be a person named Liu Wenyan."

Su Yu's heart trembled. In truth, at the beginning of the story, a guess had appeared in his mind. And now, Liu Wenyan had confirmed his guess.

With a downcast voice, Liu Wenyan said, "Fifty years ago, I was a fellow apprentice of Bai Feng's teacher. We were both learning under the same teacher. Back then, both of us were in the Mental Tempering Stage. My willpower was eighty percent full and I was on the cusp of willpower materialization. At the time, he had only freshly entered the Mental Tempering Stage.

"The fifth principal of the academy had passed away, leaving behind one character. That character changed my life. It changed many lives.

"Fifty years later, I'm a trash cultural researcher who has just achieved willpower materialization. My junior brother is already a Mountainsea expert capable of dominating a region, waging wars against the myriad races, and slaughtering the divines and the devils."

Liu Wenyan's voice turned bitter, "Su Yu, let go of your obsession. I'm regretting this. I should have told you about this earlier. I am worried that you will walk the wrong path. Divine Characters should be your supplementary path, not your main path. Even if you want to improve your mastery in Divine Characters, you should wait.

"One is a first-stage Skysoar cultivator. The other is a Mountainsea cultivator. That is the result of walking the wrong path. One is high in the sky. The other is down below on the ground."

Su Yu's throat was dry as he softly asked, "Instructor, can Divine Characters interfere with willpower materialization?"

"Yes and no. Generally, that won't happen. But nourishing Divine Characters will exhaust too much of your willpower. Of course, if you only nourish your Divine Characters normally, it will be fine. But back then, we went mad with our pursuit."

Pain covered Liu Wenyan's face.

"We wanted to create a Divine Character capable of manifesting in the real world before willpower materialization. We were not happy with keeping our Divine Characters inside. We wanted to manifest our Divine Characters and turn them into weapons, perhaps even granting them the power to stay in the real world for eternity. We were...indeed mad."

Liu Wenyan mocked himself, "We were only at the Mental Tempering Stage! How strong could our willpower be? We exhausted so much willpower that we harmed our foundations. If we weren't mad, what were we?

"We were merely a bunch of fools who had overestimated ourselves. Serves us right for getting ourselves killed, crippled, or expelled."

Liu Wenyan once mentioned that he was an expelled student of the academy. He was telling the truth. Back then, the group that had been obsessed with Divine Characters were all super geniuses of their generation. Influenced by the fifth principal, nearly the entirety of that generation's students were crippled.

These people had massive influence in the academy. They nearly severed the academy's inheritance. At that time, the sixth principal, who was also the current principal, made a decision. All those people were expelled. All of them.

These people were thrown out and abandoned by the academy, preventing them from affecting the next generation. Otherwise, their presence could bring terrifying effects, perhaps even destroying the academy itself.

Liu Wenyan had not intended to tell Su Yu all that. But today, he was forced to remind Su Yu. He did not want to see Su Yu walking the same wrong path. Liu Wenyan spoke sincerely, using his own past as an example.

And Su Yu...hesitated greatly.

Looking at the expression on his instructor's face, an expression full of expectation, Su Yu was greatly troubled. Scratching his head, he awkwardly said, "Instructor, cultivating Divine Characters normally will be fine, right?"

"Of course. But your willpower is still too weak. It won't be too late to start after reaching the Mental Tempering Stage." Google seaʀᴄh ɴovelfire.net

"But instructor...I've formed a character." Su Yu was having a hard time explaining himself. "It has been a month. I succeeded on the day Teacher Bai taught us. He even told me to try capturing a few more characters."

"..."

Liu Wenyan looked at Su Yu indifferently. "You succeeded?"

"Yes."

"On the day Bai Feng taught you?"

"Yes."

Liu Wenyan nodded. He still had a calm expression, but he was cussing furiously inwardly. Succeeded? Why hadn't this kid mentioned it then? This damn idiot! And Bai Feng was an absolute bastard. Neither of the two had bothered telling him!

He could forgive Su Yu since the kid was probably unaware of the significance of that. But Bai Feng...what a bastard. No wonder. No wonder the bastard offered himself as Su Yu's teacher. Did he know no shame?

Liu Wenyan spoke expressionlessly, "Since you've succeeded, just spend your time slowly completing it. Why do you keep asking about it?"

"No, Instructor. I completed my character on that day. But this character is very restless. It keeps demanding to consume blood..."

Pop!

The pen in Liu Wenyan's hand pierced through the table. With a frown, he said, "The quality of this table is too poor! I know that the school is lacking in funding, but Old Wang is too stingy. Don't learn from him. Always acting so miserly."

Su Yu blinked in confusion. He was talking about Divine Characters. What was this change of topic?

"What a shitty table!" Liu Wenyan threw the pen aside angrily. Looking at Su Yu, he furrowed his brows and said, "You completed your Divine Character on your first attempt?"

"Yes. It's the character 'blood'," Su Yu hurriedly said. "I have been wanting to tell you, but...well...there is no rush and you told me to focus on my foundations, so I didn't get the chance to touch the topic."

In truth, Su Yu had attempted to talk about this a few days ago, but like today, Liu Wenyan had interrupted him before he could finish. He greatly respected Liu Wenyan, so he would naturally shut his mouth each time his instructor interrupted him and told him to focus on his foundations. But today, he couldn't afford to keep waiting.

After all, the instructor had gone as far as telling Su Yu his past. The instructor looked ready to sever their relationship if he continued being stubborn. Thus, he had to brace himself and tell the instructor everything. It wouldn't be a big deal that he had completed his Divine Character, right? Bai Feng hadn't said anything about that at all. But who knew if Bai Feng was dependable?

"The character 'blood'..." Liu Wenyan nodded. "This is not the first time someone has formed this character. Consuming blood...is normal for this character. As long as it isn't consuming your own blood, there won't be any issue. A month ago…first pletion..."

Liu Wenyan muttered and nodded to himself before saying, "I misunderstood you earlier. Not bad at all. So you have already completed your first character. No wonder you have been mentioning this topic repeatedly."

He then stood up and said, "I'll give Bai Feng a call and look for more information on the character 'blood' to see if it has any special characteristics. Wait here. I'll be back shortly."

While walking away, Liu Wenyan said, "Don't leave. By the way, don't tell anyone about this. Nanyuan is too small. Be careful lest the Myriad Race Cult makes a move on you..."

He said the same thing as Bai Feng.

Then, ignoring the shut door, Liu Wenyan rammed through the door while grumbling, "That Old Wang is really too stingy. Why is everything here in such poor quality? Even the door has a terrible quality. If he keeps running the school this way, it is only a matter of time before the school shuts down. Even if we shouldn't be wasteful, we shouldn't be too stingy either."

"..."

Liu Wenyan walked away while swearing non stop. Not far away, the principal was stroking his beard with an aggrieved expression.

Were they really that bad? Not really! The furniture in Old Liu's office was actually quite good. They were the best the school had to offer. Still swearing, Liu Wenyan continued walking, and walking, and walking...before suddenly flying away. Before anyone knew it, he vanished.

When he was finally alone, he rammed his head into a random pillar as he muttered, "Completing a Divine Character in one day. Completing a Divine Character in one day. The fuck? How embarrassing. Why did nobody tell me that? Bai Feng, I'm not going to forget this! You want to take him as your student? In your dreams! This is not over! That was too embarrassing. What did I tell that kid earlier?"

At this moment, Liu Wenyan was hit by another realization. He seemed to have revealed his shameful past to Su Yu before proudly telling Su Yu to stop being obsessed with Divine Characters, to not bite off more than he could chew!

How...embarrassing!

Just like that, the reputation he had spent years building was ruined. That kid was also a bastard. Why did he leave his sentence unfinished? Would it kill him to finish his sentence?

"When your teacher is wrong, you need to bravely correct him. Did I not teach him that? I...don't think so."

Liu Wenyan continued mumbling to himself. Then, he started roaring profanities again.

"I need to keep calm! Su Yu is just an ignorant kid. If I keep silent, what would he know? Pfft. It's only a Divine Character...what's so special about that?"

While rubbing his own face, Liu Wenyan convinced himself to stay calm, telling himself that this was no big deal. Someone as knowledgeable as him wouldn't be troubled so easily.

Chapter 39: Work Hard, Kid (1)

Liu Wenyan returned about fifteen minutes later. Su Yu stole a few glances at him and did not notice anything abnormal.

With an indifferent expression, Liu Wenyan said, "Bai Feng went into seclusion after returning to the academy. I couldn't get in touch with him. You should have told me earlier. Next time, finish your sentences. Why are you being all hesitant and leaving your sentences unfinished? That's not how a cultivator should act!"

Liu Wenyan berated Su Yu, "You need to know that both cultural researchers or warriors...when I say warriors, I refer to the physical cultivators. Both require flexibility, decisiveness, and fortitude to become true experts. A small matter like this kept you hesitating for an entire month? Don't you feel that you're too indecisive?"

Liu Wenyan slapped the table, nearly smashing the table apart. The more he spoke, the more he believed that he was right.

"If you discover the armies of divines or devils marching upon us in the future, are you going to hesitate for a month as well? Are you getting ready to perform mass funerals for humanity? Even if your superior doesn't give you the chance to speak, you need to create a chance to speak!"

Liu Wenyan had a look of disappointment as he continued, "I thought you're calm and dependable. Alas, you're not calm, you're indecisive. I'm very disappointed!"

"..."

Su Yu wanted to say something but hesitated. He eventually decided that his instructor was right and he should stop being indecisive so he hurriedly said, "Instructor, I was wrong. I will change!"

"Good." Finally, Liu Wenyan smiled. He had regained his dignity as a teacher. "Activate your Divine Character."

The blood character in Su Yu's mind erupted. Once again, an illusion was created. This time, it wasn't an iron-winged bird. Instead, it was a charging army of hundreds of demonic beasts. Liu Wenyan stared at the scene before him with his brows furrowed. These demonic beasts looked real, but they were not without flaws.

"Are these beasts created based on the corpses you studied in Xia Trade Company?"

"Yes."

"They look quite real, but you only saw them as corpses. These illusions lack the liveliness of true beasts. Some Great Strength cultivators that have never been to the battlefield might fall for it, but someone with experience will not be fooled for long."

Liu Wenyan then praised with a nod, "Not bad at all. It will work against ordinary Great Strength cultivators. Of course, it won't last long."

His eyes glowed and the illusion instantly vanished.

Apart from having a slightly pale face, Su Yu was largely fine. Newest update provıded by N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

"Not bad. Your willpower isn't too strong, but it's tough and durable, as though it has been tempered endlessly..."

Liu Wenyan paused and looked at Su Yu doubtfully, "As someone who has not seen the battlefield or experienced anything big in life, your willpower shouldn't be so durable. You should suffer some form of backlash after I destroyed your illusion."

Even though the backlash wouldn't be too strong due to Su Yu's weak willpower, it should do something more than only causing Su Yu to pale slightly. In fact, turning pale was merely the sign of willpower exhaustion, not backlash.

Su Yu hurriedly explained, "I watch a lot of executions performed by the prefect on television. I wonder if that has something to do with this?"

"..."

Liu Wenyan had the urge to curse. This kid watched a lot of executions on television? What next? Was he going to say that he had recorded the executions to watch them on repeat every day? How psychotic must he be to do so? This kid...couldn't be a psychopath, right?

Liu Wenyan glanced at Su Yu suspiciously, but he did not say anything about Su Yu's preferences. He moved on and said, "You mentioned that your Divine Character wants to consume blood? Try doing it."

"I don't have any blood..."

"There's no need. Order the Divine Character to absorb my blood."

Su Yu gave it a try, but he shook his head. His little brother did not seem interested in doing so. Liu Wenyan thought for a bit before slicing his finger, allowing a drop of blood to flow out.

"Again."

"Instructor...this..."

"Do it. Why are you hesitating?"

Su Yu did not dare to delay. He once again ordered the blood character to absorb the blood. This time, the character moved. With a hum in his mind, an absorption force erupted and pulled the drop of blood away from Liu Wenyan.

Liu Wenyan's eyes flickered as he said, "This will do."

He did not allow his blood to be pulled away from him. With a nod, he said, "Not bad. This is an offensive ability. The previous ability your Divine Character demonstrated is an illusory ability."

"Your Divine Character is quite interesting. It is still weak, but it has a lot of abilities. Generally, even if a Divine Character has multiple abilities, there would only be one main ability. As for yours...does it have more abilities? If your Divine Character is strong enough, you can cause your opponents to bleed endlessly the moment a wound is left on them, eventually killing them through excessive blood loss. That was why I called this an offensive ability."

Su Yu nodded before shaking his head. "I think this is as much as the character can do for now. I have not discovered anything."

"So two abilities...no." With some hesitation, Liu Wenyan took out a drop of blood essence and said, "This is the blood of a Great Strength fire hog. Try absorbing it."

But he shook his head and said, "No, wait. I'll grab some ordinary beast blood instead. Wait here."

He then vanished into thin air. Before long, he returned with a bottle in hand. "This is the blood of a python bull. Try absorbing it."

Once again, Su Yu ordered his blood character to get to work. The blood in the bottle trembled for a bit. Then, a small portion of the blood vanished into nothingness. Su Yu could sense that the blood character in his mind had turned deeper in color.

"Again."

Su Yu wasted no time and continued the absorption. More and more blood vanished from the bottle and eventually, the bottle became empty. The blood character was much deeper in color than before.

"How are you feeling?"

"The Divine Character seems to have been strengthened. I don't feel anything else."

"Strengthened?" Liu Wenyan sank into thought. He said, "In that case, your Divine Character can be strengthened with blood. That is good. Most Divine Characters can only be strengthened with willpower. Only some unique Divine Characters can be strengthened with something other than willpower.

"This is your first Divine Character. Since it can strengthen itself with blood, it is a unique character. Not bad at all. This special ability will be a great help to its growth in the future."

Liu Wenyan nodded repeatedly. Su Yu's willpower was still weak, so it wouldn't be easy for him to strengthen his Divine Character. However, his Divine Character was able to strengthen itself through blood consumption. That was a good ability to have.

"Instructor, will I be able to extract blood essence? I heard that some Divine Characters are able to do so."

Liu Wenyan shook his head, "Yours won't work. Your Divine Character is still too weak. Furthermore, it only absorbs blood to strengthen itself, exhausting all the power in the blood in the process."

"But..." Liu Wenyan paused and smiled before continuing, "That's not absolute. This Divine Character is still weak. When it gets strong enough, it will stop needing the power within the weaker blood. It might be able to extract the blood essence out of those weaker blood.

"You won't be able to do that for now. There is no need to try. Just wait until you achieve willpower materialization first. Or maybe the late Mental Tempering Stage will work as well. For now, even if your Divine Character can really extract blood essence, with its absorption speed, it will probably take half a month to produce a single drop. It's not worth the time."

Su Yu was disappointed to hear that. His dream of getting rich had been shattered. On the other hand, bankruptcy seemed to be creeping nearer and nearer. That little brother of his could only eat for free without contributing anything!

"Illusion, blood absorption, and self-strengthening. Three abilities." Liu Wenyan nodded, "Not bad at all."

As for blood essence extraction, he wasn't sure if the character could do so. That wasn't exactly some super valuable ability, so he didn't really care too much about it.

Su Yu was somewhat happy as he asked, "Instructor, does possessing three abilities make this Divine Character strong?"

He had heard from Liu Wenyan that many Divine Characters only had a single ability.

"Strong?" Liu Wenyan nonchalantly said, "The number of abilities does not mean anything. For example, I have a Divine Character with only one ability: to pierce through someone's sea of willpower. Between this character and your character, which do you think is better?"

"..."

Su Yu had an embarrassed expression. Liu Wenyan was right. That was only one ability, but it was an extremely powerful one.

"Therefore, don't focus on the number of abilities. Focus on the function of the ability and its strength.

"Take the fourth principal of the academy as an example. He left the character 'source' behind. It can only absorb source qi, ultimately turning into a source qi grotto. Let me ask you. Is that ability strong or weak?"

Liu Wenyan smiled, "It's actually a weak ability. Are you going to be stronger than your opponent just because you can replenish your source qi faster during combat? But for humanity, that Divine Character is worth more than a living Mountainsea expert.

"No matter how strong a Mountainsea cultivator is, that is still one person. A source qi grotto is capable of nurturing countless students. So is this Divine Character powerful or not?"

Su Yu came to an understanding. He nodded and said, "I understand, Instructor. The strength of a Divine Character is not decided by its number of abilities. Rather, it is decided by how and where you use it. The character 'source' is nothing special in active combat, but when it comes to supporting, it is an absolute treasure."

"Exactly. Therefore, you don't really need to care too much about the number of abilities. However, it can be quite helpful to have more abilities during the early stages of cultivation. But most people will focus on a single ability at the latter stages. That will make it easier for you to reach a higher height."

Liu Wenyan tossed the drop of fire hog blood essence over and said, "Try absorbing this. It's a Great Strength blood essence. As a Source Opening cultivator, you won't be able to make use of it. However, that's not the case for your Divine Character. I'm just afraid that your body won't be able to withstand it."

Su Yu did not hesitate and had his character absorb the drop of blood essence. This time, the absorption process was difficult and slow. Su Yu could feel his willpower dropping at an alarming rate. The blood character was trembling, looking like someone trying to drink from a ten-meter-long straw.

The hyperactive blood character was suddenly much less energetic than before. This was a case of failing to perform after finally getting what it wanted. After expending a great effort, to the point Su Yu felt like his head was going to burst apart, he had only caused the drop of blood essence to tremble slightly. Apart from that, the drop of blood essence remained the same.

Liu Wenyan was able to detect more than that. With a smile, he said, "About one percent of the blood essence has been absorbed. Looks like your Divine Character is still very weak."

Su Yu could see the blood character being covered by a blanket of blood. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was this fellow giving up? It had only absorbed one percent of the blood essence and it was acting like someone who had gone through an intense workout session. He had thought that this fellow was amazing, but it was actually so weak. If it could only absorb one percent of a Great Strength blood essence, why even bother demanding for blood?

"Instructor, so I can grow this Divine Character by absorbing blood, right?"

"I think so. How you grow your Divine Character depends on its characteristics." Liu Wenyan warned, "But don't absorb too much blood. It's not a good thing for your Divine Character to grow too strong. Your willpower is still not strong enough. If your Divine Character grows to the point your willpower can no longer suppress it, you will suffer a backlash from the character."

"And that's only if you're getting off lightly. In the worst case scenario, it can even devour all your willpower." Liu Wenyan turned stern, "Among the group of failed students back then, a few were killed. This was how they had been killed. Those fools had focused on strengthening their Divine Characters. A few of them were like you."

"Their Divine Characters can grow using external resources. After paying a great price, they grew their Divine Characters to incredible levels. As a result, the Divine Characters started needing even more willpower. Their willpower was fully devoured by their own Divine Characters, causing a collapse of their seas of willpower, killing all of them."

Liu Wenyan was solemn, "Therefore, when you feel yourself nearing your limit, when your willpower feels pressured, immediately stop strengthening your Divine Character. Divine Characters and willpower complement each other. It doesn't matter if your willpower is stronger, but if your Divine Characters grow stronger, you're not far away from death. Even if you survive, you will end up crippled."

Su Yu nodded with a similarly solemn expression. He had actually been thinking of trying to grow his Divine Character until he could kill a Skysoar cultivator with it. But with Liu Wenyan's warning, he immediately understood how dangerous that thinking was. After all, he had gotten into a long struggle with the blood character before taming it. If the Divine Character grew too strong, it would turn on him.

"All that is actually common sense. You'll learn them in the academy. But you're a special case since you've completed your Divine Character in advance. In Nanyuan, I'm the only one familiar with this topic. If there is something you don't understand, remember to ask me. Do not experiment recklessly."

Liu Wenyan was extremely stern, "Never, ever, experiment recklessly. Also, since you have completed your first Divine Character, you can form your second. That is fine. But be sure to stay within your limit. When you're near your limit, even if a Divine Character is dancing in front of you, do not attempt to capture it. Don't lose your life over greed.

"Divine Characters are not things that you want to have as many as you can. Having too many of them might overcomplicate things. With a smaller number of characters, you can properly grow each of them. And at the moment, you won't even be able to withstand the might of a single fully grown Divine Character, much less multiple Divine Characters."

Su Yu nodded repeatedly. His instructor was speaking from experience. A novice like him needed to listen carefully. Liu Wenyan continued speaking, sharing more of what he knew with Su Yu. It had been many years since he last touched this topic, but he still had his experience from the past.

Chapter 40: Work Hard, Kid (2)

Toward the end, Liu Wenyan's tone turned regretful as he said, "I've only freshly materialized my willpower. I've also spent too much time in Nanyuan so I'm a bit outdated. Times are changing, and the path of cultivation is also changing. There are things you can only learn in the academy.

"During the coming month, stop working on Divine Characters. Place your focus on your willpower. That is the foundation of everything."

"I understand, Instructor."

"Also..." Liu Wenyan hesitated slightly. "Your talent in willpower cultivation is rather ordinary, but your Divine Character formation is incredible. I don't know if this is good or bad, but that can be considered a unique talent as well. With this unique talent, you can probably get a good teacher in the academy.

"Bai Feng wanted to accept you as his student. I had thought that you should be thankful for such a good opportunity. But now...I don't know what to do."

Su Yu had a doubtful expression.

Liu Wenyan had a helpless smile as he said, "I am wondering if I should tell Bai Feng's teacher about you. If I do, he would definitely accept you as a student. But...he might not be a better teacher than Bai Feng."

Liu Wenyan sighed, "He has a lot of students. He is also very powerful. He might not have a lot of free time in the academy. He won't be able to place much focus on you. He is a Mountainsea Realm cultural researcher. He will take trips to the Allheaven Battlefield, to the deep seas, to many other places. Thus, your time with him will be limited.

"Although Bai Feng is only a Skysoar cultivator, he will spend more time in the academy. In your early stages, he will be able to give you more help. And at the latter stages...in truth, when you reach the Skysoar Realm, even his teacher will provide you with guidance since you're essentially his martial grandson. A genius will receive care no matter where they go."

Liu Wenyan was very angry with Bai Feng before, but after thinking about it, he still needed to consider things on behalf of Su Yu. Bai Feng was weaker than his teacher, but Bai Feng had no student. He also had more free time. He would be able to give Su Yu more help. And when Su Yu was strong enough, he would naturally be able to start learning from Bai Feng's teacher as well considering he was Bai Feng's student.

After giving it some thought, Liu Wenyan slowly said, "In fact...there is a different option. You can become a student of Bai Feng's teacher and have him order Bai Feng to teach you as your senior brother. But you have to pray that Bai Feng will actually be willing to do so instead of beating you up in anger."

Su Yu coughed before looking up helplessly, "Instructor, if I do that, I think he'll kill me. Teacher Bai Feng is ready to accept me as his student. If I suddenly become his junior brother and still want him to teach me, that would be...pushing it too far, right?"

Liu Wenyan said nonchalantly, "That's a choice for you to make. In fact, Bai Feng will be fine. But this fellow...will need to focus on his breakthrough into the seventh-stage Skysoar Realm soon. After that, he will also need to focus on getting into the Cloudbreach Realm. You need to consider this properly. He might not have a lot of time for you as well."

Su Yu nodded. That was true.

"Well, you still have some time left before you have to pick a teacher. Those two are not the only researchers in the academy. Don't reveal your Divine Character to anyone. Keep it as a trump card.

"Even during your entrance exam, do not reveal it. You can consider saying that you have only formed one or two strokes of a Divine Character. That will be fine. Cultural research academy, war academy, it doesn't matter. You might encounter danger no matter which academy you enter."

Liu Wenyan sighed and said, "Su Yu, remember this. You never know what's in a person's mind. Most humans might be on your side against the other races, but that is not the case for all humans. Otherwise, something like the Myriad Race Cult would not exist.

"There are many sects and factions in the cult. Some of them are very well hidden among humanity. For them, killing weak geniuses that have yet to grow are totally worth their time. It is understandable for you to reveal some of your talent as you need to gain attention and support for your cultivation. But always hold something back."

Liu Wenyan sternly said, "Holding something back might end up saving your life one day. Feel free to show off your ability. Prove that you're worth cultivating. But keep some trump cards hidden. You might be able to use these trump cards to turn the situation around when it matters."

"I understand, Instructor." Su Yu hurriedly nodded. He was aware of that.

"Good." Liu Wenyan had a gratified smile as he said, "Go back and continue cultivating. Also, since you've completed a Divine Character, for the coming month, you can start following me to the Windcatcher Department."

"Windcatcher Department?"

"Yeah. Although we have defeated the Myriad Race Cult during their previous operation, some of the people in charge of causing chaos around the city have still escaped. Even now, the city is still trying to capture them. Their hands are drenched in the blood of the innocent. We can't spare them.

"You will be working with the Windcatcher Department to capture these traitors. I want you to...experience more. You performed well by killing one in the school, but that's far from enough. Before entering the academy, I want you to see enough blood that the sight of blood will no longer cause you to be nervous.

"Cultural researchers will be required to kill as well. In fact, they need to kill a lot. Only the weakest of cultural researchers can keep their hands clean. They are basically useless. I don't want to see you becoming one of them. I want you to step onto the path of the strong.

"Apart from the fact that you were able to complete a Divine Character in one day, feel free to reveal all your other talents. Show off as much as you want during the exam. Stand out from the rest and gain the attention of the academy. Make them give you the support you deserve. That is what you should be doing. Why? Because you don't have a Mountainsea expert as a father.

"Crush all those geniuses at the capital, advance, and rise. I won't be able to give you too much help. Work hard. The harder you work now, the more you'll gain in the future."

Su Yu was trembling. From his instructor's words, he had a feeling that he had a month of suffering ahead of him.

…

Outside Nanyuan City, in a small village.

A silhouette jumped forward in an attempt to escape from something. Right that moment, the silhouette turned sluggish. A massive iron-winged bird appeared before his eyes, charging straight at him. Alarmed, he instinctively moved aside. While he was still midair, sounds of something cleaving the air rang out.

"Arrgh!"

The sense of crisis instantly cleared the man's mind. With a roar, he calmed himself and swung his saber to the left. Someone was ambushing him!

"The active duration is so short..."

Beside the man was Su Yu, the ambusher in a gray outfit. He was only a Great Strength cultivator, and his illusion had only lasted for a split second. Sure enough, his Divine Character was still too weak and his illusion was not believable enough. But he had still attacked first and was the ambusher. Even if his opponent had reacted quickly, he was still faster.

Splurt!

Sounds of a metallic object slicing into flesh rang out, followed by a crack as the entire left arm was sliced off his opponent's body. Immediately after, the saber held in his opponent's right arm came near his neck. He retreated rapidly while creating illusions to distract his opponent.

Hundreds of demonic beasts charged at the man. Even though he knew he was looking at illusions, he was still a Great Strength cultivator. He was unable to stay fully calm and his body instinctively tried to dodge.

That allowed Su Yu to fully disengage from this opponent. At this point, he was already drenched wet with sweat. Why was his instructor still not helping him? By the time this opponent adapted to his illusions, he would no longer be able to handle this opponent without using blood essence.

In fact, if he had used blood essence for his previous attack, he would have been able to kill that opponent with one slash. As a Source Opening cultivator, his strength and speed were not enough. It was already very impressive that he could slice an arm off with that attack.

Su Yu continued falling back. The intense pain cleared the man's head, slowly dispersing the illusions. The man's eyes were red as blood constantly poured out of his stump.

Glaring at Su Yu with his red eyes, he roared like a cornered beast, "Die!"

The man madly charged at Su Yu. He wasn't going to survive this. He had already been on the run from the Windcatcher Department for a while. Now that he had lost an arm, there was no way he was going to survive. In that case, he might as well drag this bastard down while he could.

Source Opening? It was then that he realized something. He had actually been ambushed by a Source Opening cultivator.

"Absorb faster! Come on, do it!"

While running, Su Yu made his blood character absorb the blood of his opponent. Even an injured Great Strength cultivator wasn't someone he could defeat. More and more blood flowed out of the man's stump.

The man could feel his life draining away. He could also feel that the speed with which he was losing blood was increasing. With a roar, he increased his speed. His eyes were red and he was determined to kill this bastard.

The more strength he used, the faster he bled. He was able to rapidly close the gap between them. That caused Su Yu to grow even more anxious. If this person did not die soon, he would probably be the one to die.

Hum! Chapters fırst released on novel⁂fire.net

When Su Yu heard the sound of a blade slashing down behind him, he rolled on the ground, frantically moving away from the blade. After being chased for so many years in his dreams, he had gotten quite good at running away.

Although he would end up getting killed in all his dreams, he had gained the ability to roughly judge the type of attack being used behind him just by listening to the sounds. After making several rolls on the ground, his face was cut by the sharp stones on the ground. However, he ignored all that and stood up before running again.

The blood character was still busy absorbing his opponent's blood. The exhaustion of his willpower caused Su Yu to turn pale as he continued sweating non stop. Behind him, the man roared miserably as his vision turned blurry from blood loss.

"Don't...even think of running!"

The man continued chasing Su Yu.

...

"Instructor Liu, are we not going to make our move yet?"

Not far away, Chief Zeng Hua of the Windcatcher Department was standing beside Liu Wenyan. The enemy was on the verge of death and was determined to kill Su Yu who was only a Source Opening cultivator. If this continued, things could get dangerous.

Liu Wenyan remained silent. This was still not the time to make a move. In any case, he had reached the Skysoar Realm through willpower cultivation. The enemy was less than a hundred meters away from him. He could instantly freeze this opponent if he wanted so he wasn't worried.

He wanted to see just what Su Yu could do. In fact, Su Yu had already exceeded his expectations. As a Source Opening cultivator, this kid had actually managed to sever an arm of a sixth-stage Great Strength cultivator. That was amazing.

While Liu Wenyan was deep in thought, the cult member caught up to Su Yu yet again. Liu Wenyan was about to make his move when Su Yu suddenly turned to face the enemy, looking like he was going to fight it until the end.

"He's getting impatient..." Liu Wenyan remarked. But immediately after, Su Yu roared, "Don't kill him. Capture him alive!"

The man was swinging his saber at Su Yu when he heard the shout. His heart trembled as he heard the sound of something moving rapidly behind him. Even though he was already prepared to die, he still attempted to dodge the incoming attack. Su Yu took the chance to turn around and run away.

After moving out of the way, the sound from the man's back vanished. The sound he heard earlier actually came from Su Yu's illusion. Not far away, Su Yu was running with all his strength, rapidly moving over a dozen meters away.

"I'll kill you!"

The man roared in fury. He had been tricked.

"Why is he so energetic?" Su Yu complained while gasping for breath. That person had lost so much blood. Why was he still so energetic? Were all Great Strength cultivators so hard to kill? Didn't his previous victim die after a single slash?

He had heard that one of the opponents he had killed at the secondary school was a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. After that event, he stopped fearing Great Strength cultivators. But today, he learned just how wrong he was. Without blood essence, without ambushing, even third-stage Great Strength cultivators could kill him easily.

"Can you be faster with the blood absorption?"

].

Su Yu roared furiously at his blood character. This little brother of his was too useless. And it dared to call itself a Divine Character? Just look at how big the wound was. With a wound that big, this character had only been able to slightly increase the speed of blood loss. What a useless Divine Character.

The character was working very hard. Unfortunately, it was too weak. Su Yu's willpower was also too weak. Thus, the character was starting to turn dim from all the exhaustion. Its strength had weakened considerably.

Behind Su Yu, the sound of a blade being swung rang out once again. Without any hesitation, he rolled on the ground. The saber struck the ground, sending pebbles flying everywhere. Some of the sharp pebbles cut into his face and neck, leaving numerous bloody scars on him.

However, Su Yu ignored all that as he rolled madly on the ground. He even abandoned his saber while rolling. After several rolls, he got back on his feet and started running again. He cut an incomparably sorry figure.

"Bas...tard!"

The man was incredibly furious for failing to kill Su Yu. This kid was only a Source Opening cultivator but was incredibly slippery. Due to his serious injuries and intense pain, the man's speed had dropped considerably. The man was starting to lose his vision from losing too much blood. Seeing that his target had escaped yet again, the man let off a final wail.

Then, he stopped running. Utilizing all the strength he had remaining, he threw his saber forward. The man stared at the saber in desperation, hoping to see the result of the throw only to collapse onto the ground before he could see anything. Even as a sixth-stage Great Strength cultivator, he was still a man, not a god. He couldn't survive losing so much blood.