Published at 22nd of September 2024 11:27 pm

Chapter 259: Third Grotto Visit (2)

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Very few people could afford to spend so much money at the Great Strength Realm like Su Yu. Not even Xia Huyou could spend money in such a manner.

Su Yu exhaled deeply and nodded, "I know. But I need to buy time. I need to grow strong as soon as possible. I wish I could take it slow, but some people aren't willing to give me the time to grow."

"It's up to you. I was only giving you a small reminder." Xia Huyou smiled, "In fact, I am more than happy to see you spend all your money. But us businessmen prefer to do long-term business. Thus, we need to think for our customers as well."

Su Yu laughed, "You're quite a good businessman. By the way, had Zheng Yunhui looked for you?"

"Nope." Xia Huyou was in no rush. He said, "His Zheng Family is a powerful family as well. They don't lack common resources. But a day will come when he will need my services. After all, his family is not a cultural research family."

Su Yu nodded. "By the way, is the Divine Character tournament being held on the same day of the monthly exam?"

"Why?" Xia Huyou asked, "Are you asking because of Master Hong Tan's book?"

Su Yu nodded. He helplessly said, "My teacher told me to win the book back. Although the book isn't too valuable, it is meaningful. We can't allow it to remain in the hands of outsiders."

He doubtfully asked, "These people sure are bold. They actually dare to steal my grandteacher's stuff..."

"Steal?" Xia Huyou blanked out. "Was that what Assistant Bai told you?"

Su Yu gave him a deep look and said, "My teacher said that he brought some guests to visit the research center previously. The book went missing after that. It might have been stolen during that time."

"Do you actually believe that?"

Xia Huyou laughed. But Su Yu smiled and said, "Yes."

He had to believe that. If he didn't believe that, his teacher would not spare him. And since he didn't want to suffer, he chose to believe his teacher.

"Hahaha!"

Xia Huyou couldn't help but to roar with laughter.

He said with amusement, "I think you will encounter even more troubles in the future. This is not the only stuff gone from your research center. There are a few other items. Of course, most of them aren't that important. But some of them are more meaningful than the others. Everyone knows those things belonged to Master Hong Tan. You will encounter more of this in the future."

Su Yu was feeling very helpless as well. But what could he do if he had a teacher like this? Clearly, those things weren't stolen. His teacher was the one who had sold them.

Su Yu understood why Bai Feng did that. Bai Feng had said that he had to sell some stuff because the research center was basically out of money. What Su Yu didn't know was the fact that his teacher had even sold the personal belongings of his grandteacher.

He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. His teacher actually resembled him somewhat. Back in Nanyuan, he had also considered selling his father's house when he lacked money. He had not done so because he couldn't actually do it. But Bai Feng had actually done it.

After a short chat, Su Yu nonchalantly asked, "What's going to happen during the tournament? Is it hard to win?"

"Pretty hard." Xia Huyou solemnly said, "That involves more than the Character Faculty. All the new students of the academy will be involved. The Character Faculty might be strong, but we are far from unequaled. The Willpower, Pillmaking, and Talisman Faculties are also filled with experts."

"Since it is a Divine Character tournament, it naturally is a competition of Divine Characters. But willpower is important as well. You can't separate Divine Characters from willpower. The academy has a unique grotto that is basically an improved Mark of Culture."

Xia Huyou explained, "You have experienced Mark of Cultures before. Within a Mark of Culture's illusion, you can materialize your Divine Characters. You can do the same in that grotto. You can even see the characters of your opponents. In the grotto, you will fight with only your Divine Characters instead of your body. Thus, willpower and Divine Characters will be very important."

"That's why this tournament is called the Divine Character tournament, not the top 100 tournament."

Su Yu asked in astonishment, "So it's going to be held inside a grotto? Will the teachers be able to see our characters as well?"

"No, they can't." Xia Huyou explained, "Only the two combatants can see them. And that grotto is very small. It is basically a Mark of Culture. You will be at one end while your opponent will be at the other end. Both of you will send your willpower into the grotto, and only both of you can see the situation inside."

"There are so many new students. Are we going to fight one match at a time?"

With a short calculation, Su Yu found that there were nearly 2,000 new students.

"You think too much." Xia Huyou smiled, "Only senior class students can participate so there won't be a lot of participants. The intermediate class students aren't even at the Mental Tempering Stage. How are they supposed to participate? Our class alone will probably make up half the participants. In total, there will be around 200 students participating.

"And it won't take that much time either. A match will probably last between dozens of seconds to a minute or two. There will only be around 100 matches for the first round. It will be over in an hour or two. Including the subsequent matches, the whole tournament won't take more than four hours."

Su Yu nodded in understanding. In that case, this would be a short tournament.

Xia Huyou said, "Don't put your focus on our class alone. There are experts in other classes as well. They might not be our match in real combat, but when fighting with only Divine Characters, some of them are pretty strong."

Su Yu exhaled lightly and nodded again. He couldn't afford to lose. He must win!

His Divine Characters were quite strong, but his willpower was not too strong. Even if his willpower had high endurance, its strength still wasn't anything special since he was still at the level of a fresh Mental Tempering Stage student.

He still needed to grow some more before the tournament. Since they wouldn't be fighting with their bodies, all his opened acupoints wouldn't be of any use during this tournament.

"Huyou, do you have any methods of rapidly growing the willpower?"

"..."

Xia Huyou was speechless. Su Yu thought that he was slow?

He had reached the Mental Tempering Stage in such a short period of time! He considered that slow?

"Yeah. Just give up on your Divine Characters and your willpower will grow rapidly."

"..."

Su Yu decided to not ask this fellow anymore. What a load of nonsense. Would a cultural researcher without Divine Characters still be a cultural researcher? Of course, there were actually a lot of students who had chosen to not form any Divine Characters before the Skysoar Realm. But that wasn't a path for those in the multiple character faction.

At the Skysoar Realm, his character technique would be fixed. If he couldn't supply his character techniques with the minimum required characters before the Skysoar Realm, the technique would be thoroughly ruined.

In that case, would he still be considered a multiple character faction member?

Su Yu thought of something else and asked, "Are there any treasures capable of strengthening the willpower?"

"Yes." Xia Huyou grinned, "But I suggest that you don't use something like that. Your cultivation base will be too unstable. To be honest, people at our level should focus on strengthening our foundations. Even with 99 percent willpower, if your willpower is so unstable that it can be blown away with a breath, what's the point?"

"Fine. You're right."

Su Yu was helpless. He could only cultivate properly. Over the past few days, his willpower had still grown somewhat.

Previously, his willpower had dropped to 50 percent. He had pushed it back up to 52 percent. Strictly speaking, he was still growing quickly. He had simply been asking for too much.

After the talk with Xia Huyou, Su Yu left with the things he bought.

Back at the research center, Bai Feng was still nowhere to be found. Su Yu wondered if his teacher was still in the laboratory. After cleaning up the living area, Su Yu started cultivating. When the sky turned dark, he left the research center.

He was going to the grotto again. With 500 drops of mountainbreak bull blood essence and 399 drops of different blood essence on him, he was prepared to have a productive cultivation session.

"It's a pity that the grotto is rarely empty. Visiting the grotto is quite a troublesome affair."

Su Yu was troubled. He was prepared to massively boost his cultivation, but if the grotto wasn't empty, it would be quite hard for him to cultivate freely. After all, he wouldn't be able to explain himself if others noticed his abnormal absorption speed after activating his book.

"Unless...I leave the marked territory!"

Su Yu decided to leave the marked zone.

There might be Infinite Strength or Skysoar zones around, but he did not need to enter those places. The pressure at those zones were too strong for him to enter anyway.

"I can cultivate somewhere between the Infinite Strength and Great Strength zones. For those in the Infinite Strength Realm, a place like that would not have enough source qi. But for those in the Great Strength Realm, a place like that would have too much source qi."

Su Yu reached a decision and stopped thinking about it. He had no choice but to enter the grotto. He kept having a feeling that his cultivation was too slow outside the grotto.

Grotto District.

Source Qi Secret Grotto.

Same as Su Yu's previous visit, there were very few people around. As it was late at night, only the two old men in charge of watching over the place were around.

The moment Su Yu approached the building, Old Huang opened his eyes and said, "That kid is here again! It has only been a few days since his last visit! How long do you think he can last this time?"

Old Nie nonchalantly said, "24 hours. Like you said, if he can't reach 24 hours, he's a piece of trash."

Old Huang laughed in amusement. He had only said those words out of frustration.

How could the kid last 24 hours?

"The kid is even here with a suitcase..." Old Huang raised his brow, "What do you think he's carrying?"

"What stupid question is that? It can only be blood essence. What else?"

Old Nie had an odd look as he asked, "I thought this kid comes from a poor family? How is he getting so much blood essence?"

Even during Su Yu's previous visit, Old Nie could smell the thick stench of blood essence on the kid. And this time, the kid was here with an entire suitcase of blood essence. Just how much blood essence did he have that he needed a suitcase to carry them all?

While they were talking, Su Yu entered the room.

With the usual smile on his face, he greeted the two, "Hello, Teachers. Is there anyone inside?"

Old Huang did not want to keep seeing that smiling face. He only gave the suitcase and Su Yu a brief glance before saying, "You made some money again? As usual, 100 merit points per entry. Also, you will need to pay more to enter once you reach the Infinite Strength Realm. The minimum required total earned merit will also be increased to 200 points."

Su Yu nodded while maintaining his honest smile. He was in no rush. He still had plenty of time. Even after reaching the ninth stage, he would be in no rush to advance. He still had a lot of acupoints to open. Advancing would only make even entering the grotto more difficult for him in the future.

Seeing that Su Yu was calm, Old Huang couldn't be bothered to say more. While opening the door, he reminded, "Don't focus on growing quickly. Opening more acupoints is good, but you need to pay attention to other aspects of cultivation as well. If you only have acupoints without proper martial techniques, you won't even be able to enter the Top 100 Ranking.

"Also, don't forget that you're a cultural researcher. For cultural researchers, physical cultivation isn't the focus. If you want to focus on cultivating your body, you might as well join a war academy instead of a cultural research academy. Don't forget that even this grotto is also formed of an Eternal Divine Character."

Old Huang sternly said, "Do you think something formed of an Eternal Divine Character can only be used for physical cultivation? Comprehend more. Eternal Divine Characters are very rare even in the academy. Only those at the Mountainsea Realm and beyond can leave something like this behind. Do you think that those Skysoars are only entering this grotto to open more acupoints?"

Su Yu was stunned. That made a lot of sense!

Old Huang nonchalantly said, "Divine Characters should be your foundation. Eternal Divine Characters are helpful for Divine Characters, not the body. Source qi absorption is merely the supplementary benefit of this grotto. You have been entering this grotto a lot. Don't waste your merit points."

Su Yu nodded and hastily expressed his gratitude, "Thanks for the reminder, Teacher."

"Don't thank me. Go in and comprehend the grotto yourself."

Old Huang then opened the door and watched as Su Yu stepped through the portal.

After Su Yu left, Old Huang smiled. Beside him, Old Nie said, "You...are quite talkative. Isn't it better for them to comprehend it themselves? Why remind him?"

Old Huang said, "With this reminder, he will focus more on Divine Characters instead of spending all his time on acupoints. That way, he can come out earlier and waste less of the source qi in the grotto."

"..."

Old Nie laughed in amusement.

Old Huang might be saying that, but Old Nie knew that he was actually afraid that Su Yu would neglect his Divine Character cultivation. Then again, Su Yu was only in the Mental Tempering Stage. There was no rush. Even if Su Yu focused on comprehending the grotto now, he wouldn't necessarily be able to comprehend anything.

"He can probably reach the sixth stage easily this time. How about the seventh stage?"

"He won't be that fast, right?"

Once again, the two old men started talking about Su Yu. He had opened 66 acupoints. As he had spent the last two days healing, he hadn't been able to open more. He needed 84 acupoints to step into the seventh stage. The higher his cultivation, the slower his progress would be.

Would Su Yu be able to open 18 new acupoints this time? The two old men believed that it was unlikely to happen, but it was really hard to say when the person inside was Su Yu.

That kid had entered twice previously. During his first visit, he reached the third stage. During his second visit, he reached the fifth stage. Who knew if he could reach the seventh stage this time?

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