Chapter 104: The Myriad Race Arrives (2)
Back home.
Su Yu took out the bone fragment with the incomplete original text on it. He did not know which race this copy came from. Neither did he know if this was a martial technique or a cultivation method. Perhaps it was only an unimportant document.
Bai Feng had not told him anything about the bone fragment, and Su Yu had not asked either. This incomplete copy would mainly be used to strengthen his willpower. He was never meant to analyze the contents of the bone fragment.
Su Yu had been busy increasing his cultivation level and practicing his martial technique recently. Thus, he hadn't had much time to study the bone fragment.
Since he had yet to receive the War God Art, he had some free time on his hands. Thus, he decided to put more focus on his willpower. It wouldn't do if he still couldn't study original texts even after entering the academy. That would be a waste of time and opportunities. After wrapping his willpower around the bone fragment, he sank into a state of concentration.
"This is..."
In his trance-like state, he saw some indistinct characters. After studying them for a bit, Su Yu concluded that these characters belonged to the berserk ape race.
This was a relatively common race in the Allheaven Battlefield. They were extremely ferocious in combat. There were several well-known elite armies below the Skysoar Realm on the Allheaven Battlefield. The berserk ape race's army was one of them. At only the Great Strength Realm, they fought like they were actively trying to throw their lives away.
A human army of similar size and strength would generally suffer a rapid defeat after encountering them. It wasn't because the humans were weak. Rather, the berserk apes were simply too crazy. When they fought, they seemed to be in a permanently enraged state.
Of course, they would also stupidly charge ahead even after stumbling into an ambush. Thus, one could easily defeat them by setting up ambushes in advance. Because of that, the berserk ape race had been suffering disastrous losses on the battlefield.
The berserk ape race was the subordinate race of one of the divine races. As for which divine race it was, Su Yu had no idea. The divine race was actually a general term for the humanoid life forms living in the Divine Realm.
In truth, there were various different races in the Divine Realm. The divine skywing race was one such race. Su Yu stopped thinking about all that. The berserk ape language was one of the languages he knew.
"Arm Slash?"
Su Yu wasn't sure if he was reading the characters right. This was the first time he had tried reading an original text. In the past, he had only studied from regular copies.
After a while, he started feeling some drain on his willpower. However, he ignored the exhaustion as there was practically no danger reading these incomplete copies. The session would automatically end after his willpower reached its limit.
"The berserk apes have powerful arms. The Arm Slash is a common bare-handed technique of theirs..."
Slowly, Su Yu gained some understanding. He was looking at a martial technique. A technique that cultivated the acupoints in the arms to strengthen both arms. In his mind, he could even see a massive ape who was in the midst of cultivation. And at that moment, an understanding dawned on him.
"This is a willpower text! A willpower text of a different race!"
He realized that he seemed to have been mistaken about something before. He had been told about myriad race original texts during the lesson with Bai Feng back then. He eventually obtained his first Divine Character from Bai Feng's Source Opening Codex.
From then on, he started to believe in the misconception that only humans could write willpower texts.? But he now realized that the willpower texts of foreign race cultivation methods must have been obtained from the other races as well.
"In short, these original texts are basically willpower texts of non-human races. This is an incomplete copy. That's why I can't get a clear look. But since it's an original text, it must have been stored for quite a long time."
Su Yu sank into thought. The willpower text he received from Bai Feng was written relatively recently yet it had nearly turned into a regular copy by now. Was it a problem of the materials or was it a problem of Bai Feng's strength?
He had received both the incomplete copy and Bai Feng's Source Opening Codex at the same time. Furthermore, it was unknown how long the incomplete copy had been with Bai Feng before it was given away. But the willpower in it remained until now. Did that mean that the author of this original text was a berserk ape that was much stronger than Bai Feng?
"In other words, the myriad race original copies are actually consumable items?"
Su Yu was alarmed as he came to another realization. This thing would basically be worthless the moment the willpower in it fully dispersed. At that point, he shook his head and returned his focus on his willpower cultivation. He would come to learn in the future that after studying this incomplete Arm Slash copy for a while, the copy would eventually disintegrate and break apart.
"Arm Slash, opening the acupoints of both arms. A special martial technique focusing on both arms. With this technique, a berserk ape can open 16 acupoints in each arm. With 32 acupoints opened in total, this is a top-tier yellow-grade martial technique."
Generally, cultivation methods and martial techniques were meant to complement each other.
If a cultivation method required one to open 36 acupoints, then the accompanying martial technique would probably require one to open 30 acupoints which would also overlap with the 36 acupoints opened by the cultivation method. Thus, one could cultivate the accompanying martial technique without opening additional acupoints.
Of course, not all martial techniques will reuse the same acupoints. In that situation, one would need to open additional acupoints.
"I wonder what's the accompanying cultivation method for the Lightning Source Blade. If I cultivate the War God Art and its acupoints are too different from the Lightning Source Blade, I'll probably have to open more acupoints to use the Lightning Source Blade effectively.
"Do I need merit points to get War God Art's accompanying martial technique?"
The mere thought of spending merit points caused Su Yu to feel gloomy.
"Since the Lightning Source Blade requires 40 acupoints to be opened in total, its accompanying cultivation method is definitely above the low-tier profound-grade.? But since the Lightning Source Blade does not open a lot of acupoints, the accompanying cultivation method will probably not be an earth-grade method..."
Without a doubt, Su Yu would not cultivate Lightning Source Blade's accompanying cultivation method. This method would definitely not be as good as the War God Art. But it hadn't been easy for him to grasp the first move of the Lightning Source Blade. It would be a pity to give up on it now.
"Forget it. At worst, I'll just open some extra acupoints for the Lightning Source Blade. In any case, it only requires 40 acupoints. Maybe some of them will overlap."
If a lot of the acupoints overlapped, he might only be required to open a few extra acupoints. More and more thoughts appeared in Su Yu's mind while his concentration on the bone fragment dropped. Next, his willpower pulsed as he was kicked out of the trance-like state. He smiled helplessly. Sure enough, he should focus when reading instead of letting his mind drift all over the place.
"Some of the arm acupoints of this Arm Slash seem to overlap with Lightning Source Blade's acupoints. This will be quite helpful for me."
Humans and apes were different, but they still had similarities in terms of acupoints. If the berserk ape race could open 32 arm acupoints, as a human, he might be able to find the corresponding acupoints as well. He would then be able to modify this technique for human use. In fact, this was one of the jobs of cultural researchers.
Bai Feng had once warned him to not study these willpower texts too many times per day. However, Su Yu did not take the warning seriously. That was because his sea of willpower had shown no indication that it was being strained to its limit.
During the examinations, he felt like his willpower had been completely drained. But he only needed a night of sleep to be as good as new. Thus, he reached the conclusion that all his exertions thus far had yet to push him to his limit. Su Yu did not mind being ejected from the trance-like state once. He started a new session.
As he studied the text, his willpower clashed against the text's willpower. This time, he did not let his mind drift apart and focused on the text. Through the clashes of willpower, he strengthened his willpower. As he did so, the glow on the bone fragment started dimming as its willpower dispersed before being absorbed by Su Yu.
This was how cultural researchers cultivate. They would grow through the clashes of willpower. Shortly after, Su Yu was ejected from the trance-like state again. After resting for half an hour, he resumed.
This incomplete Arm Slash had already brought him a lot of surprises. He even considered opening the arm acupoints and seeing if he could really strengthen his arms doing so. Of course, he was aware of the dangers so he wouldn't really act on that thought. The current him simply did not have the qualifications and resources to modify a foreign martial technique. He had too little knowledge and knew too little about human acupoints.
"I'm still too ignorant. I don't even know the total acupoints and structure of a human body. Trying to modify a martial technique will be the same as suicide."
He came to understand his weakness even more. He simply knew too little. The knowledge available in an academy was very important for him. Upon entering the academy, he needed to learn seriously and become a top student.
…
While Su Yu was cultivating.
Somewhere else in the Human Realm.
The sky split.
Then, a massive floating fort appeared out of the crack in the sky. Numerous heads peeked out of the fort, and all these heads seemed to be different from each other. Some looked around curiously while some looked completely cautious. A short while later, a fully armed army appeared and surrounded the fort.
An expert stepped forth from the army and coldly said, "Principal Wan, stick to the fixed route in the Human Realm.
"If the foreigners in the fort dare to take a single step out or deviate from the approved route, all of you will be treated as enemies and killed without mercy. Great Xia Cultural Research Academy will be taking full responsibility should anything untoward happen."
Several experts appeared from within the fort. They were all floating in the air. In front of them all was Wan Tiansheng. Around Wan Tiansheng were several Skysoar experts from the foreign races.
The general of the army was not intimidated. He looked at the foreign experts coldly and said, "You are all here as dao protectors. You will only be allowed to stay in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. For all of you, stepping out of the academy without permission is punishable by death.
"Fighting without permission is punishable by death.
"Spying on the secrets of humanity is punishable by death.
"To return to your own realm, you will need the papers of both the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy and the Great Xia Prefectural Government. Without such papers, any human is allowed to kill you outside the academy."
After saying all that, the general looked at Wan Tiansheng and coldly said, "Principal Wan, don't do anything stupid. If anything happens, you will bear the responsibility for it."
Wan Tiansheng smiled and said in an unhurried manner, "Don't worry. I know what to do. I've reminded them repeatedly before coming. If anyone is arrogant enough to ignore our rules, they deserve to die. All the resources they spent to come will go to waste. Feel free to kill any rulebreakers."
The moment he said that, an ox-headed expert beside him said, "Liwa doli..."
Wan Tiansheng said, "Speak in human language. This is the Human Realm. Nobody will translate for you."
The ox-headed individual unhappily shifted to human language, "General, Principal Wan promised that there will be some restrictions placed on us dao protectors but our students will not receive the same restrictions. They will be allowed to roam the Human Realm. Why is that changing now?"
The general said with a frosty tone, "That's Wan Tiansheng's promise. Ask him. If the foreign students dare to leave the academy without permission, they will be killed without mercy."
Wan Tiansheng coughed before saying, "I did not give you that promise. I only said that your students will be allowed to participate in some missions with the permission of the academy. Do not twist my words. For example, your students can take part in our Myriad Race Cult extermination missions. What do you think, general?"
The general glanced at him coldly before saying, "Just know your limits. Principal Wan, interactions are allowed, but I don't want to see certain things happening."
"That is only natural." Wan Tiansheng smiled, "If anything happens, you don't even need to do anything. With Prefect Xia around, unless a myriad race king comes personally, who can escape the prefect's blade?"
"Escort them to Great Xia."
The cold general ignored Wan Tiansheng. With one command, over a thousand soldiers surrounded the fort. Nominally, they were on an escort mission. But in practice, they were here to keep watch over these foreigners.
Wan Tiansheng did not mind. The foreign experts around him were unhappy, but none of them said anything. Before coming, they were already aware that they would be living under someone else's roof. In such a situation, they needed to be patient.
Inside the fort, some of the foreign students started looking at the surrounding soldiers. Some looked fearful. Some looked arrogant. And some looked indifferent. There were even some with fawning looks on their faces. These were mostly the students from the minor races.
Wan Tiansheng did not mind the actions of the soldiers. He looked at the experts around him and said, "Everyone, I hope you can follow our rules at the academy. As you can see, I'm shouldering a lot of pressure for the sake of this project. The moment anything improper happens, blood will flow."
"Don't worry, Principal Wan," promised a middle-aged foreigner who looked like a human with a tail. "We also hope to exchange knowledge with the humans, grow together, and coexist peacefully. Our Fox King already reminded us before that we shouldn't make trouble for you."
"That's good to hear."
Wan Tiansheng did not remark on that. He smiled and said, "Humans wish to have a good relationship with the various races as well. The divines and devils are oppressive. Today, they are targeting us humans. Tomorrow, they might target your races instead. Only by working hand in hand will we be able to resist the divines and devils."
None of the others said anything. The divines and devils were too strong for them to offend. In fact, they couldn't afford to offend the humans either. If it wasn't for the fact that the Human Realm lacked the suppression toward the other races, resulting in their numerous enemies and the massive pressure on them, the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy would never have opened its doors to them.
The foreign experts did not say anything and started sensing the realm suppression. Before long, they smiled. Sure enough, the Human Realm did not have any suppression on them. Here, they could use all their strength. It was no wonder that the divines and devils had their eyes on the Human Realm. This was a much easier realm to attack than the others.
Wan Tiansheng ignored them and returned to the fort. The fort started moving toward Great Xia. Around them, a strict formation of soldiers escorted them. There were also top experts monitoring them in secret. Not even these foreign experts could be sure whether these hidden experts were Invincible experts or not.