Chapter 136: Malicious Intent From Martial Uncle (1)
irst day at the academy was spent getting to know the academy.
Early next morning. Su Yu had just finished brushing his teeth when someone knocked on his door.
"Su Yu, open the door."
Su Yu walked over and opened the door.
The moment he did so, Xia Huyou rushed inside and wailed, "It's over!"
"Huh?" Su Yu frowned. What was this fellow doing?
"It's over!" Xia Huyou mournfully said, "It's really over. Last night, the guards were deployed. The entire black market was raided. A large number of people were captured and countless merit points and resources were seized. Those captured are being interrogated. Even those who had not been caught with any other wrongdoings would need to pay a fine to be released."
"Raided?" Su Yu blanked out and frowned as he asked, "And why are you telling me this?"
"Su Yu, didn't you order some products worth 30 merit points yesterday? Those things have arrived in the academy. I was going to give them to you today, but the raid happened. Uhm...can you…uhm…share the burden with me?"
Su Yu had not paid anything when making the order.
Xia Huyou sullenly said, "That's 30 merit points. Su Yu, those things were bought for you. I hadn't bothered asking for a deposit because we're fellow schoolmates. Now that a raid has happened, can you..."
Su Yu stared at the chubby guy for a while before saying, "Why are you acting pitiful? Do you think I would believe you?"
"I'm telling the truth!" Xia Huyou said indignantly, "The black market was really raided!"
"So coincidental?"
"Exactly!" Xia Huyou pitifully said, "Each year when new students arrive is the peak period of the black market. Nothing has happened to it before but this year, something happened. The academy is too greedy! My loss is quite small in comparison. Some fellows are going bankrupt."
He sighed and said, "Take that Liu Hong as an example. He is probably crying somewhere now. His Liu Family is a big player in the black market. He had a lot of his wealth thrown into the black market. Now, he lost all of them."
Su Yu suddenly felt like laughing. It would seem like the academy had emptied the pockets of many people this time.
"I'm not paying." Su Yu shook his head. "This is unrelated to me. I refuse to believe your stuff was seized since you're still freely walking around.
"Even if your stuff were really seized, if you're asking for your customer to share the burden for a tiny loss, you're not worth working with anymore.
"Even if I can pay you a few merit points this time, you can forget about doing business with me in the future. People like you can only see the short term benefit. There is no point for us to work together."
Xia Huyou's face turned awkward as he said, "Su Yu, don't say that. I was joking! I made some losses yesterday so I was in a bad mood!
"Your stuff will be here in the afternoon. I'm still charging you 30 merit points. To tell you the truth, the prices are increasing after the raid, but I'm maintaining the same price for you!
"I was just joking earlier. Don't take it seriously."
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to entertain the string of excuses and asked, "Were you really raided yesterday?"
"Yes!" Xia Huyou swore, "I was really raided. You have no idea how sad I am! Luckily, I just entered the academy yesterday and my business wasn't that big yet. If my business was already big, I would have lost even more. But I really did lose everything I made from an entire day of cleaning due to the raid!"
Su Yu rolled his eyes. So this fellow didn't lose that much at all. He had thought that this fellow had gathered a massive stock only to be raided.
"Would the academy do these raids often?"
"No," Xia Huyou answered helplessly. "I heard that previously, there wouldn't be more than three raids per year. But this year is different for some reason. There was a raid just two months ago but they're back so fast."
He cursed and said, "Is the academy running out of money? Are they trying to use the black market to fill up their empty coffers?"
Su Yu did not let the conversation derail and asked, "Since there was a raid, could you still deliver my stuff in the afternoon?"
"Of course." Xia Huyou proudly said, "This is the safest time to do it. There was a raid last night. Are they going to raid us again so soon? Furthermore, the volume I trade in is too small to pique their attention. It would be fine."
"Would they notice if I transfer my merit points to you?"
"We would be fine as long as we aren't caught in action." Xia Huyou was all smiles as he said, "It is too easy to come up with an excuse for the transfer of merit points. For example, I'm starving and you're lending me some. Or you owed me some in the past and you're clearing the debt."
Su Yu nodded and said nothing else. The raid didn't really have any effect on him. He wouldn't pay anything before receiving his stuff.
"Oh, I almost forgot this. The academy is launching a new system where high-tier students can major in a faculty and minor in a different faculty."
"Huh?" Su Yu exclaimed in astonishment, "Minor? What do you mean?"
Xia Huyou gave a simple explanation, clearing Su Yu's doubts.
"Zhao Li..."
But he shook his head. Even if he wanted to do so, Zhao Li might not agree. Minoring in a faculty was still different from majoring in it. He stopped thinking. He would see what to do when the moment arrived.
Su Yu then finished cleaning up before preparing to go out for a meal. He still had a lot of things to do after the meal. LIke Chen Feng said yesterday, they were going to pick a faculty today. The various faculties would be at the Dao Preaching District to attract new students.
...
Half an hour later.
Public square, Dao Preaching District.
Before even reaching the square, Su Yu was greeted by an astonishing sight.
A massive bird was flying in the sky. On the bird was a tiny human silhouette. The human said, "The Beast Taming Faculty welcomes all new students. By joining us, even those below the Skysoar Realm can fly!"
Immediately after, a different human silhouette shot into the sky from a different side of the square. That person was not at the Skysoar Realm. The person in the sky looked young, and at a closer look, there was actually a pair of wings on that person's back.
"The Transformation Faculty welcomes you! No Wings? We can help you grow a pair of wings! Even as a Great Strength cultivator, you can soar into the sky and breach the clouds!"
...
Su Yu was completely stunned. This was his very first time seeing a cultural researcher who had transformed his own body. He had grown a pair of wings for himself!
Beside him, Xia Huyou and the others were also staring at the person in the sky. Before long, one of them softly said, "I can't accept transforming my own body. He looks like someone from the Foreign Student Faculty. On the battlefield, he might get mistaken for an enemy instead of a human."
Next, an explosion of light erupted as dots of light rained down on the students. A human soared into the sky, numerous shining Divine Characters floating around his head. Those were not human characters. Su Yu recognized them. Those were characters of the immortal race.
"Heal!"
"The Character Faculty welcomes everyone to the academy. If you are being plagued by some illness, we can help you treat the illness. If you don't have any illness, we can improve your health."
At that, Su Yu and the other students felt a refreshing sensation spread all over their bodies.
The shining person in the sky smiled and said, "That is a basic supportive Divine Character. Today, we are accepting new students, so we won't be using any combat Divine Characters. If you are interested, feel free to join our faculty."
Before the students could react, a golden streak shot over. Next, a jade pendant appeared in front of Su Yu.
"The Talisman Faculty welcomes all of you! You don't need to prepare anything in advance. Just activate it! Student, lend me a hand! It's very simple. Just toss it at me!"
Su Yu looked up and saw an ethereal old man looking at him with a friendly smile. Su Yu was astonished. He was chosen to activate the talisman?
After giving it some thought, he grabbed the talisman. The old man said, "Release a bit of your willpower..."
Su Yu nodded and tossed the talisman at the old man.
Rumble!
Countless swords of light appeared around him and shot toward the old man. The old man laughed heartily and crushed a different talisman in his hand. Numerous golden shields appeared around him.
"This is a defensive talisman. Watch!"
Boom!
The swords were all stopped by the shields, and numerous golden explosions erupted around the old man. Immediately after, the world returned to normal.
The old man smiled and said, "Join the Talisman Faculty and all battles would become much easier."
Su Yu's eyes widened. That was really impressive. He could clearly feel that every single one of the golden swords earlier had the offensive prowess of the Infinite Strength Realm. And yet all those attacks had been blocked. He had only spent a tiny bit of willpower to activate the talisman.
Beside him, Xia Huyou whispered, "They're spending a lot for this. All this is intentional. They know you're a high-high student while we're all high-tier students as well. That's why the talisman just happened to stop in front of us."
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. No wonder the old man had asked for his help to activate the talisman instead of anyone else. All around him, the various faculties were showing off their prowess.
The old man from the Talisman Faculty had barely finished speaking when a woman flew into the sky and said, "The Willpower Faculty does not need to present anything. We will talk with facts. Of the 62 Skysoar students that had graduated June this year, 30 of them were from the Willpower Faculty. Decide for yourself if you want to join us."
Su Yu looked at Xia Huyou by reflex. The chubby guy shrugged and said, "That's not surprising. They have a lot of geniuses and they mostly focus on only willpower. They can grow their willpower quickly since they don't need to nurture Divine Characters. Their combat strength is low, but they do have a lot of Skysoars.
"Despite having a lot of Skysoar graduates, they have very few students on the Top 100 Ranking. Their students are true cultural researchers. They have weak physical strength, and they are the ones that would be beaten up badly by the war academy every year."
Su Yu nodded. There were naturally pros and cons to joining each faculty. At the Willpower Faculty, they could cultivate quickly. They wouldn't nurture Divine Characters, wouldn't concoct pills, and wouldn't forge weapons. Because of that, they had a lot more graduates than the other faculties.
While the various faculties were busy showing off, a certain old man was sweating heavily at a corner.
He was shouting at a group of people, "All of you are useless! Can't you show something flashy or trendy?"
"Master Zhao..." A middle-aged man helplessly said, "How are we supposed to be flashy? Weaponsmithing is different from the other professions. We can't be flashy."
Zhao Li was furious. It was no wonder that the Weaponsmithing Faculty had been deteriorating year after year. Just look at the dazzling performances of the other faculties. Were they supposed to stand here and hammer some metal for the new students to see?
After thinking for a bit, Zhao Li clenched his teeth and said, "Go. Get our weapons here. Grab the ones that look gorgeous and flashy. I don't want the ugly ones. The prettier they are, the better. I want all those weapons to fly in the sky."
The eyes of one of them lit up in excitement. That person hurriedly ran away to grab the requested weapons. Before long, over 100 shiny weapons started dancing in the air.
"The Weaponsmithing Faculty welcomes everyone! Divine Characters can be obtained easily, but a good weapon is hard to get!"
...
Not far away, Su Yu saw Zhao Li. When he saw the shiny weapons, he laughed. That was a flashy performance, but it was impractical. Then again, this was just a performance so it was understandable. Su Yu wasn't too tempted though. As far as he was concerned, weapons were things he could buy instead of making himself.