Chapter 142: First Visit to the Research Center (1)
Unit 609.
Su Yu was gasping for breath while his entire body was aching and his clothes were stained red with blood. But his attention was not on any of that. Joy covered his face as he focused inward.
Iron-winged bird: Second-stage Infinite Strength Realm
Racial abilities: Tier-2 Rip (activation with blood essence), Ironwing Slash (activation with blood essence)
Advanced source art: Source Swallowing Technique, Infinite Strength Chapter (activation with blood essence)
The description was as short as ever, but he was overjoyed to see it. The page had indeed been upgraded! Prior to this, he wasn't sure if he could really upgrade the page. He had only activated a seventh-stage Great Strength page previously. He had also consumed a lot of blood essence after that. He suspected that some of the blood essence he had consumed originated from some ninth-stage beasts, but his page had not been upgraded at all.
Now, it was obvious that to upgrade the page, he needed the blood essence of a higher realm, either major or minor. After upgrading to a second-stage Infinite Strength page, he suspected that his next upgrade would be the Skysoar page. He exhaled in relief. He succeeded!
The advancement of the source art, in particular, was worthy of celebration. It had been upgraded to the Infinite Strength Chapter. That signified that if he cultivated with blood essence, he would be able to absorb source qi at the speed of a second-stage Infinite Strength iron-winged bird. That was likely ten times faster than the speed of a regular Source Opening cultivator.
"The racial abilities have been upgraded as well."
Su Yu was also happy to see the upgrade of the racial abilities. If he used the ability again, he would be able to release the offensive power of a second-stage Infinite Strength cultivator.
Of course, it wouldn't be a good idea to try that technique now. When he used the seventh-stage Great Strength ability before, his arm had been tortured by intense pain. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't activate the Infinite Strength version of the ability. It would harm both him and his opponent.
He stood up and cleaned himself after a short rest. After washing the blood off his body, he put on a new set of clothes. He thought about it for a bit and decided to give his new cultivation speed a try. He still had four drops of Infinite Strength blood essence. It wouldn't hurt to try it out.
…
Having made up his mind, he swallowed another drop of blood essence. This time, it felt much better than before as the energy in the blood essence was instantly absorbed by the book. Then, numerous dots of light appeared within Su Yu's body as one acupoint after another opened temporarily. Source qi started converging around him.
The Source Swallowing Technique at the Infinite Strength Realm had over 50 acupoints open. This was a profound-grade cultivation method. All these temporary acupoints started taking source qi into Su Yu's body. He was absorbing source qi at a rapid pace.
But the cultivation speed of the Infinite Strength Realm was not something a Source Opening cultivator like Su Yu could withstand. Instantly, he felt himself reaching the limit of his source qi capacity.
The source qi density of the capital also played a part in the high absorption speed. It would probably be slower in Nanyuan. The Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was Great Xia's holy land of cultivation. The source qi density here was high, allowing one to cultivate at a much faster speed.
Su Yu's face was flushed red, but he did not stop absorbing source qi.
Acupoint opening!
Outside of the nine basic acupoints, he had already opened six acupoints prior to this. Five of them belonged to the War God Art while one belonged to the Lightning Source Blade. This time, he wasn't opening the Lightning Source Blade's acupoint. Instead, he focused on opening the War God Art's acupoint.
A large amount of source qi entered his body. The sixth acupoint of the War God Art started shining brightly. More and more source qi entered his body. He didn't even need to use any source qi liquid to cultivate here. The natural source qi around him was enough for him to open his acupoint.
Rumble!
A loud sound erupted in his mind as the sixth acupoint opened. This was an astonishingly fast cultivation speed. Su Yu himself was shocked.
The cultivation speed of the Infinite Strength Realm was much faster than the Great Strength Realm. And when such speed was applied to a Source Opening cultivator like him, it became even more effective.
Since he was already working on the sixth acupoint prior to this, he only took ten minutes to fully open it.
"Next."
He checked the time and confirmed that the activation duration of this ability was still the same: one hour. He couldn't let this activation go to waste!
A drop of Infinite Strength blood essence was worth five merit points when bought through the official channel. He could only get a cheaper price from Xia Huyou. This wasn't something he could afford to waste.
After using a drop to upgrade the page and another drop for activation, he only had three drops remaining.
...
As Su Yu started working on his acupoints, all the source qi around block 3 started converging on him. This place was different from his neighborhood in Nanyuan. The residents here were all genius future cultural researchers.
Slowly, some of them started sensing the flow of source qi. With their powerful willpower, they were able to sense the source qi around them being pulled away.
Some of the more knowledgeable ones even reached a conclusion that an Infinite Strength cultivator was cultivating. It wasn't like there were no Infinite Strength cultivators in block 3. After all, their guards were at the Infinite Strength Realm.
But generally, these guards wouldn't cultivate there. Despite the high source qi density there, Infinite Strength cultivators could easily absorb too much source qi and disrupt the cultivation of the students staying there.
Before long, the guard leader, Chen Feng, sensed the disturbance in the air as well. After checking around, he arrived at the sixth floor. Before long, he was standing in front of unit 609.
He did not say anything. Neither did he knock on the door. He merely waited silently. Only when the source qi turbulence stopped did he knock on the door.
A slightly pale Su Yu opened the door. Chen Feng looked at him in astonishment before asking, "Student Su Yu, were you cultivating earlier?"
Su Yu nodded.
"I suggest...this is only a suggestion, that you move to the high-level zone or the special zone."
Chen Feng seriously explained, "In the common zone, there are over 100 residents per block. Although the academy has high source qi density, it is only good enough to support the cultivation of those in the Great Strength Realm. The moment you start absorbing source qi at a faster speed, the other students would be disturbed..."
Chen Feng added, "Also, staying here won't benefit you either. At a higher level, you would need to use source qi liquid to sustain your cultivation. The high-level zone has a much higher density of source qi. Even Infinite Strength cultivators can cultivate there without any problem. As for the special zone, it is good enough to support even the cultivation of those in the Skysoar Realm."
The Mental Tempering Garden was split into several zones for the sake of these students. Chen Feng did not ask Su Yu anything about his cultivation. It was surprising that a Source Opening student could absorb source qi at the speed of an Infinite Strength cultivator, but it wasn't like something like that had never happened before.
Some geniuses even had unique Divine Characters capable of helping them gather source qi. An example was the source grotto of the academy. The source character had the ability to gather source qi. It was the Divine Character left behind by the fourth principal, eventually turning into one of the most important grottos of the academy.
In the world of cultural researchers, everything was possible. With one look, Wan Tiansheng noticed that something was odd about Su Yu. And even someone as powerful as him placed the blame on a unique Divine Character. If the owner of the Divine Character did not reveal the character, outsiders would not have any way of determining the abilities of the character.
An apologetic look appeared on Su Yu's face. He had failed to take that into consideration. This wasn't Nanyuan. There were a lot of experts and geniuses here. When he was absorbing source qi rapidly, the others would be able to sense it.
"My apologies." Su Yu said, "Committee Leader Chen, I will take note of that. My Divine Character will take a few days to recover so I'll only be able to use it again after several days. This place is enough for my normal cultivation. I'll be staying here for now."
Moving would require money, so he wasn’t going to do that! He had not expected that cultivating at the speed of an Infinite Strength cultivator would affect the other residents, but he wasn't going to use the blood essence every single day, so it was still manageable for now.
That was mostly because he couldn't afford to use it daily. If he only used the blood essence once every few days and picked a time when very few people were cultivating, it would be fine.
But Su Yu also understood that he wouldn't be able to stay here for long. He would probably need to move after reaching the Great Strength Realm. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if everyone could sense it every time he cultivated.
The ambient source qi here was still not dense enough. Su Yu sighed inwardly. If he moved, he would have to spend 10 more merit points. He wondered if he could ask for a refund if he ended up staying here for less than a year.
He came to realize how naive he had been previously. If he had actually picked an ordinary dormitory like he had intended, he would never be able to cultivate. All his roommates would stare at him like he was a freak the moment he started cultivating. Chen Feng was very friendly. These guards had always been very polite when dealing with these genius students.
When he heard Su Yu's words, he smiled and said, "Sure. That was only a suggestion. The high-level zone is more suitable for geniuses like you. With an entire villa for yourself, nobody would disturb you during your cultivation. There are too many people staying here so things might get inconvenient at times. Student Su, from my observation, you cultivate the War God Art, right? If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask me. Us guards cultivate the War God Art as well."
Then again, they only cultivated the ordinary version. Su Yu thanked the guard again. Having said all that, Chen Feng stopped bothering Su Yu and walked away. After Chen Feng left, Su Yu looked around and saw that some of the doors along the corridor had been opened. A few heads looked out at Su Yu.
When their gaze landed on him, they smiled and nodded before shutting their doors. Nobody said anything. Even an idiot would understand what a faster cultivation speed meant. That was a display of his talent.
Although their cultivation had been disturbed, this was the first day and the disturbance wasn't that serious. Saying anything now would be the same as looking for trouble. But if Su Yu kept doing the same thing every single day, the others wouldn't tolerate it no matter how talented he was.
As the sole high-high genius staying in block 3, a lot of people were paying close attention to Su Yu. He nodded at his neighbors apologetically before shutting his door as well. After he shut his doors, a few students walked out into the corridor and started pointing at Su Yu's unit while whispering to each other.
A high-high genius was indeed different from the others. This was his first day cultivating here and he had already caused a ruckus.
...
In his room, Su Yu was feeling very helpless. It would seem like he really had to move soon. But the cultivation session earlier had indeed been very satisfying. He was able to absorb a large amount of source qi rapidly.
His sixth acupoint had been opened and his seventh acupoint was also on the verge of being opened. Perhaps he would be able to open it during his next cultivation session.
And after opening the eighth acupoint, he would reach the limit of the ordinary War God Art. At that time, he would be able to choose to break through and become a first-stage Great Strength cultivator. However, he was going to wait for the advanced War God Art. For that version, he needed to open 12 acupoints before breaking through.
"Great Xia City...Nanyuan City..."
Su Yu had a complicated mood. There was indeed no comparing the two places. If he was still in Nanyuan, he would have to use at least a drop of source qi liquid to achieve the same cultivation speed. But here, he could cultivate without even using source qi liquid.
If there weren't other students around, this place would be more than enough to support his cultivation. It was no wonder that there were so many Infinite Strength cultivators in the capital. Even a Great Strength cultivator without much talent could reach the Infinite Strength Realm after spending several decades cultivating.
"If Dad had settled down in the capital instead, he would have reached the Infinite Strength Realm more than 10 years ago."
Su Yu couldn't help but to think about his father. Nanyuan's source qi density was too low. His father had only been able to reach the Infinite Strength Realm after entering the Allheaven Battlefield.
...
Su Yu woke up early the next morning.
These two days were the time given to the students to pick their faculties. Thus, there were no classes for now. The students had plenty of time to deal with their own affairs. Su Yu put on the academy uniform. He had been charged 5,000 dollars to buy four sets of them.
With the uniform on, he looked into the mirror and nodded in satisfaction. He finally had the look of a cultural researcher. The uniform was actually a robe, so it would probably be inconvenient during combat.
Of course, that was only applicable for physical combat. For cultural researchers, these robes would not affect them too much during combat. That was even more true for these new students who were still relatively weak. Not many cultural researchers would focus on physical combat.
Unleashing their Divine Characters, tossing their talismans out, sending their cultural weapons out, or summoning their tamed beasts were what cultural researchers would be more likely to do instead of fighting with their physical body. After admiring himself in his new uniform, Su Yu walked out of his room.