Chapter 164: The Mysteries of Sea of Willpower (1)
News of the challenge spread everywhere. Meanwhile, Lin Yao was completely clueless as he was cultivating alone instead of spending his time attending the basic classes. And since he had no idea what was going on, he had naturally not stepped forth to explain himself.
Because of that, all the students concluded that he had tacitly agreed to the rumors. Everyone believed that he was completely disregarding the intermediate class' fury. Because of that, the students became even more furious at him.
Too arrogant!
Terms such as arrogant and overbearing were being used all over the academy to describe Lin Yao.
...
As for Su Yu, he had been keeping an exceptionally low profile. He had not said anything. Even when some students tried to do something for him, he was quick to placate them. It was as though the others were the ones being bullied, not him.
"Public image is very important indeed."
Su Yu concluded while in the middle of a class. In the eyes of others, he was an honest and reliable student. Meanwhile, Lin Yao was an evil villain.
Sure, his reputation might not bring him any tangible benefits, but it would still help reduce the number of his potential enemies and reduce the trouble he might encounter in the academy. That was good enough. With his reputation, he could hold hands with his fellow students and live a peaceful life.
"I only need to kick Lin Yao's ass next. After that, those who are trying to take my blood essence will probably give up. Even if they are still unhappy with me, they will probably stop trying to mess with me."
His status as a high-high student and position as a class monitor had played a big role in helping him reach this point. Very good. Thank the heavens for Liu Hong!
Su Yu could fully appreciate just how useful this position was. He was basically the spokesperson of the intermediate class. The other students would willingly draw close to him. As long as he wasn't too annoying or arrogant, even those who did not approve of him wouldn't intentionally stand against him.
...
That day, Su Yu attended his classes seriously. He arrived earlier than others and left later than everyone. He also ensured that the classroom was clean and liaised promptly with the instructors to confirm the class schedules of the next day.
In the eyes of the students and the instructors, Su Yu was an honest and reliable class monitor. Additionally, he was also a principled person. He was unwilling to let his fellow students deal with his problem for him. He insisted on facing the evil Lin Yao alone. He would fight until the very end without giving up.
Su Yu said that he was a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator. He was not afraid of Lin Yao. Even though Lin Yao was at the Mental Tempering Stage, Su Yu would not hesitate to throw his fist at an evil villain like that.
Principled, tenacious, and brave...
In the eyes of the other students, Su Yu was basically a saint. If he had retreated in fear instead, the students would probably look down on him somewhat. It didn't matter if he was an honest and kind person. This was a cultural research academy. Courage still mattered.
His unrelenting spirit when facing a superior enemy won him a lot of respect. Thus, the students stopped trying to advise him against accepting the challenge. Everyone started encouraging him to kick the evil Lin Yao's ass, to show the evil bullies that the intermediate class students were no pushovers.
They all shared a sense of glory for being in the same class. Never before had the intermediate class students been so united. Everyone was standing behind the class monitor. Nobody doubted that the class monitor would place top three in the monthly examination. Even if the class monitor really couldn't do it, they would ensure that he would make it.
...
After the afternoon class ended, Su Yu went to grab a meal. And after the meal, he started heading back to the research center. When he was near the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, he saw someone.
Xia Chan. He had seen her once before. This was his second time seeing her. She seemed to be on the way to the Heart Cultivating Pavilion. Her teacher was Zhou Mingren, and he resided near the Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
She seemed to sense his gaze as she suddenly turned to look at him. When she saw Su Yu, she needed a short moment to recall who he was. She stopped walking.
When Su Yu was near, she said, "Defeat Lin Yao."
Su Yu was stupefied.
Xia Chan calmly repeated, "Defeat him. Show me the strength of a genius from Nanyuan. Before entering the academy, someone told me that a high-high student from Nanyuan is far superior than the so-called freaks of the capital.
"I disagree, but I still want to see the strength of a genius from Nanyuan. Come to the senior class as soon as possible. The intermediate class is too boring. There is no competition. Come to the senior class next month. That is the true heart of the academy. It is pointless for you guys to keep competing against each other. We are planning to go to the Foreign Student Faculty and challenge the elites of the myriad races. If you come, you can join us."
Su Yu asked in astonishment, "Foreign Student Faculty?"
Xia Chan said with an aloof tone, "Why not? Anyone below the Skysoar Realm could be challenged. The Mental Tempering Stage is basically the same as the Infinite Strength Realm. People often say that the Mental Tempering Stage won't give a cultivator any combat strength. What a joke. True cultural researchers are capable of defeating Infinite Strength cultivators while they are in the Mental Tempering Stage."
Su Yu did not say anything. He was suddenly reminded of Wu Lan. Both Wu Lan and Xia Chan were similarly arrogant. But Su Yu was able to quickly see the difference between the two.
Wu Lan's arrogance came from external factors. It came from her family and her education. In truth, she was still childish and silly. She did not understand the meaning of true pride. Xia Chan was different. Her very being radiated arrogance. She was aloof. As far as she was concerned, she was the center of the universe.
An odd thought suddenly appeared in Su Yu's mind. He might be able to give Wu Lan a punch and make her cry. On the other hand, even if he punched Xia Chan until she was coughing blood, she would only gnash her teeth and fight him to the bitter end.
The moment that thought appeared in his mind, he shook his head. Why was he thinking about something like that? Although all women were obstacles in the path of cultivation, he was not the kind of villain that would beat women up and make them cry for no reason.
When Xia Chan saw Su Yu shaking his head, she thought that he disagreed with her. She sneered and said, "If you don't believe me, just come and see for yourself. But if you can't even defeat Lin Yao, then you won't be qualified to be one of us."
"One of you?"
"Yes."
The "us" she mentioned did not even include a high-high student like Lin Yao. Clearly, she was only referring to the freaks, the eight freaks that had entered the academy this year. Xia Chan was the only freak Su Yu had seen thus far. He had no idea what the others looked like.
These were the students who had gained 1,000 marks and above during the entrance examination. Even Su Yu had no choice but to admit that they were incredible.
He was a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator with two Divine Characters yet he couldn't even get 900 marks. Even if he retook the examination now, he still wouldn't get 1,000 marks.
There was no denying that there was a problem with the Mark of Culture during his examination. But there was also no denying that Su Yu was good enough to be a high-high student.
Suddenly, curiosity gnawed at Su Yu's heart. It might be presumptuous, but he still couldn't help asking, "By the way, just how strong exactly are the so-called freaks?"
A faint smile appeared on Xia Chan's face.
"We can...defeat a piece of trash like Lin Yao with one move."
Su Yu exhaled deeply. Defeating Lin Yao in one move. He believed that Xia Chan wasn't bluffing. There was no need for her to bluff. He definitely couldn't do the same unless he cheated with his book.
Even if he relied on his ninth-stage Source Opening cultivation and his illusion, Lin Yao was also a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator who was also in the Mental Tempering Stage. He might have a similar number of opened acupoints while his willpower would probably be strong enough to withstand the blood character's illusions.
Su Yu would not be able to defeat Lin Yao with one move. There was still a gap between him and the freaks. Su Yu exhaled deeply. He was starting to look forward to joining the senior class.
"Thank you. I'll defeat him." Su Yu replied seriously.
Defeating Lin Yao was something he had to do even ignoring the 300 merit points waiting for him. Xia Chan left without saying anything else. She had only spoken to Su Yu because someone had once told her that a genius from Nanyuan was better than them.
She was a proud person. She was very confident in herself. She refused to believe that Su Yu was better than her. Thus, she wanted to see Su Yu on the same stage as her. There, he could compete against them instead of wasting his time against small fries.
...
Back at the research center, Su Yu sat down on the couch and sank into thought. He started reflecting on himself again. He thought back to everything that had happened today, trying to see if he had done anything wrong or invited any future trouble. He also considered if everything he had done would be helpful for his cultivation.
"The smart ones will be able to see what I'm doing...but it doesn't matter. The smart ones won't bother exposing me anyway since it won't benefit them. It's not like I'm scheming against the smart ones. I am merely making a move against those fools."
He was more afraid of those who would believe everything they heard. Those people could be very troublesome as they were incapable of forming their own view and could be easily influenced by others. In fact, that was also why Su Yu had worked so hard to build himself a positive public image. That way, he could avoid a lot of unnecessary troubles.
"For example, an idiot like Wu Lan. If she found out that I was the one who had challenged Lin Yao, she would probably be furious that I hadn't challenged her and come challenge me instead."
Su Yu laughed and shook her head. Challenger or challenged, everything he did was for the sake of personal benefit and cultivation. Regardless of whether it was the Top 100 Ranking or Lin Yao, he would only challenge them for the sake of his own future. He wasn't doing all that just to show off and impress others.
Smart people would only get into conflicts for proper reasons. Only fools would get into conflicts because of their emotions. For example, people like Xia Chan. They weren't challenging the Foreign Student Faculty because of their emotions. They were only doing so to temper and strengthen themselves.
...
After reflecting on himself, Su Yu threw himself into his daily cultivation routine. He intended to open his eighth acupoint tonight. He had used three out of his five drops of blood essence. But Xia Huyou had delivered the new blood essence he had purchased earlier when he left class. Therefore, Su Yu now had 32 drops of blood essence in his possession.
...
About an hour later.
Su Yu was clenching his fists in excitement. His eighth acupoint had opened smoothly. This was only his first week in the academy and he had already opened two acupoints. Sure enough, coming to the capital was the right choice. With how scarce source qi and merit points were in Nanyuan, he would never be able to open two acupoints so quickly there.
"I'm still four acupoints away from the Great Strength Realm! There's also the Lightning Source Blade. The second move requires 12 acupoints. This is a move for those at the early Great Strength Realm before the fourth stage. The third move will require 16 acupoints and can be cultivated by those at the middle stage of the Great Strength Realm before the seventh stage."
Su Yu already mastered the second move. As for the third move, he needed to open 4 new acupoints to fulfill the third move's requirement of 16 acupoints.? Out of the 4 acupoints, only 1 overlapped with the advanced War God Art's acupoints. In other words, he needed to open 3 additional acupoints for the third move on top of what he was already going to open.
"I have yet to ask about the complementary martial technique of the War God Art. Nobody has mentioned it to me either. Is there no such martial technique or is there a reason for that?"
Su Yu was curious. Neither Bai Feng nor anyone else had not mentioned that to him. He had forgotten to ask about it himself. If there was a complementary martial technique, he would be able to practice the technique without opening additional acupoints. That would save a lot of his time.
The War God Art required 12 acupoints to be opened for its first stage. If he had the complementary martial technique, the required acupoints of the martial technique would overlap with the 12 acupoints. He could directly use the technique without spending time opening new acupoints.
After thinking about it, Su Yu decided to ask Bai Feng. His teacher was probably still in the research center. After all, Su Yu could see the instant noodle packaging left by his teacher in the living area.