Chapter 169: My Heart Slowly Darkens (1)
Once again, Su Yu was stupefied. He found that Bai Feng had really gone mad recently. Was he trying to sell his student's weapon to feed himself?
"Hahaha!" Bai Feng laughed awkwardly and said, "Just kidding! Yes, you can throw it into the blood essence pool and take it out when you reach the Mental Tempering Stage. That old fart has been setting his eyes on our blood essence pool for a while now. I can't even be bothered to entertain him. He even offered 5,000 merit points to enter the room. Dream on!"
Su Yu asked, "Teacher, we're not really using that pool for anything else right? 5,000 merit points could be very useful for us right now..."
He tried speaking on behalf of Zhao Li.
But Bai Feng shook his head and said, "That's not the issue. Forget it. You won't understand. Also, that fellow would enter with his half-finished earth-grade weapon. If he tosses that weapon into the pool, the pool would be sucked dry. 5,000 merit points aren't enough for that. Furthermore, even after exhausting all the energy in the pool, his weapon might still remain unfinished. That's a complete waste."
"Has Teacher Zhao Li really forged an earth-grade cultural weapon before?"
"Strictly speaking, no. That's an unfinished product. It can't even be used. What a pity," said Bai Feng regretfully. "That fellow spent all his wealth on that weapon only to fail at the last moment. He had also failed at his attempted advancement. It's truly a pity..."
"Teacher, are profound-grade cultural weapons expensive?"
"Of course." Bai Feng solemnly said, "There are a lot of cultural researchers in Great Xia. And a lot of them are Mountainsea experts. Our academy alone has a lot of them. I don't know the exact number, but out of the 42 pavilion elders, there are 36 Mountainsea cultivators. Six of them are ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivators.
"Out of the 36 Mountainsea elders, no more than 10 of them are equipped with earth-grade cultural weapons. Sure, Great Xia has a weaponsmith capable of forging earth-grade cultural weapons. But each forging session would take more than 20 hours. The willpower exhaustion is great and the failure rate is terrifyingly high. Even if you're lucky, you would probably only have a success rate of two out of ten.
"And that weaponsmith is only capable of one attempt per month. At times, he would not forge anything if he is busy cultivating. In a single year, he would only be able to make seven or eight attempts. And if he's lucky, he would only be able to actually produce one or two earth-grade cultural weapons. If he's unlucky, he might fail all attempts."
Bai Feng sighed, "Our academy isn't the sole cultural research academy in Great Xia. There is the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy and the cultural researchers in the military. Therefore, how many cultural weapons can our academy actually get?"
They were already happy enough with 10 cultural weapons in the academy.
Bai Feng continued, "Also, cultural weapons can't be mass-produced. It also can't be passed on to the next person."
At the mention of that, Bai Feng had a troubled expression as he said, "Think about it. Everyone has different Divine Characters. Each cultural weapon is tailor-made for one person's Divine Characters. There is no way for those weapons to be inherited. We still have some earth-grade cultural weapons in storage. Those were left behind by some departed elders. But nobody can use those weapons. Rather than use an incompatible earth-grade weapon, you're better off using a compatible profound-grade weapon."
Su Yu nodded repeatedly as he listened. He finally had a clearer idea of how valuable cultural weapons were.
"So does grandteacher have one?"
"Yes." Bai Feng nodded, "That's not surprising. Your grandteacher is still an eighth-stage Mountainsea expert. How can someone like him not have one? Generally, only late-stage Mountainsea experts can possess these cultural weapons. As for those in the lower stages, dream on. They won't be able to get one even if they can afford it."
Cultural weapons could be considered strategic resources. These were things people couldn't buy even if they had the money for it.
"Feel free to nourish your weapon mold in the pool. It's only at the yellow-grade anyway. It won't drain much of the energy in the pool. If you're interested in weaponsmithing, wait until you reach the Skysoar Realm. I don't suggest you focus on that now. It takes a lot of time. You will only be busier when you reach the Mental Tempering Stage."
Su Yu wasn't even surprised. Just look at Bai Feng. He had been driven mad by how busy he was. He spent almost all his time in his laboratory. It was no wonder that researchers were so rarely seen in the academy.
...
After saying all that, Bai Feng vanished again. Meanwhile, Su Yu was in a rush too. He still had classes to attend. After tossing the weapon mold into the pool, he left.
...
Attending classes, cultivating, attending some basic weaponsmithing classes. Su Yu's schedule was packed. A genius would not appear out of nowhere. Behind each genius was an untold amount of hard work. Su Yu was starting to gain an appreciation for that saying.
In the academy, the freaks and high-high students were rarely seen in public. Those with time to actually stroll around the academy were mostly untalented fellows. In the subsequent days, Su Yu stopped encountering people like Wu Lan, Xia Chan, Hu Zongji, or even the petite Liu Ke he had met when he first arrived.
They had just entered the academy. Everyone was busy. Incredibly busy.
...
While Su Yu was busy with his daily activities.
Special zone.
Lin Yao opened his door impatiently and asked, "Who is it? Can't you see the 'Cultivation in session, do not disturb' sign?"
He had been staying indoors for several days. He was working hard on opening his acupoints. He aimed to enter the Great Strength Realm and didn't have the time to go anywhere else. Chen Qi's gloomy face appeared before him.
"Junior Brother Lin, you are very diligent. I've been here a few times but I never got to see you."
"Senior Brother Chen?"
Lin Yao sounded impatient. Was his senior brother aware that it was rude to disturb someone who was in the middle of cultivation? Nevertheless, they still came from the same faction. Hu Wensheng was the previous leader of his generation in their faction. He still held some weight in the faction despite his defeat in the hands of Bai Feng.
Lin Yao forced himself to smile politely, "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Yes." Chen Qi gloomy said, "Junior Brother Lin, you should be aware of the previous owner of that batch of mountainbreak bull blood essence. It belonged to me..."
Lin Yao instantly understood what this fellow was here for.
He frowned and said, "Senior Brother, like you said, it used to be yours. Not anymore. Now, it belongs to Su Yu."
Chen Qi furiously said, "I'm in the middle of discussion with Su Yu. I'm going to buy it back. Junior Brother, what you did was wrong. You forced Su Yu to spar with you. Is that even fair? You're at the Mental Tempering Stage. Why are you sparring with someone who is not even in that stage?"
"I forced him?"
Lin Yao was stunned. Su Yu was the one who had proposed the challenge, not the other way around! Then again, it did not matter.
Lin Yao said with an upset tone, "Senior Brother, if he manages to place in the top three and challenge me, the rules allow that. Fair or not, that's his choice. It has nothing to do with me."
Chen Qi furiously said, "If you hadn't forced him, would he even challenge you? Junior Brother Lin, it is not a good idea to snatch something that belongs to others. Furthermore, you're not even in the Great Strength Realm yet. You still have plenty of time to forge your body. Why are you insisting on competing against me?"
Lin Yao raised his head pridefully and coldly said, "Senior Brother, you're being unreasonable here. The blood essence is no longer yours. So what if I'm getting it from Su Yu? It has nothing to do with you."
"You..."
"Senior Brother, I am not Su Yu. Teacher Hu is already in seclusion. I advise you to keep a low profile, Senior brother. My teacher is still out and about."
"You!"
Chen Qi was furious. This fellow was actually threatening him with Liu Hong!
"Very well!"
Chen Qi was getting more and more furious. He could still accept getting rejected by Su Yu. He could still think of a way to delay Su Yu from using the blood essence for a period of time. Who would have imagined that someone from his own faction would step forth and snatch the blood essence from him?
Seeing that he couldn't convince Lin Yao, Chen Qi left without looking back. Just you wait, Lin Yao!
…
Meanwhile, Lin Yao was looking at Chen Qi with disdain. He had relied on himself to obtain the blood essence. Why should he give up for Chen Qi's sake? Did Chen Qi really think that Lin Yao would be afraid of him?
Lin Yao shut the door dismissively.
...
Chen Qi seethed in rage as he walked. He did not see Su Yu winning the upcoming spar. Thus, the blood essence would not remain in Su Yu's hands for long.
And there was no taking the blood essence back once it landed in Lin Yao's hands. No matter what, the two of them were in the same faction. There were things he could do to Su Yu but not Lin Yao.
"I need to get the blood essence before Lin Yao! Challenge...I am a senior class student too! If Su Yu can place top three and challenge Lin Yao, why couldn't he challenge me instead?"
The academy had its own rules. But rules could also be flexible. There were more than one senior class around. There were also senior classes of different batches. Supposedly, Su Yu should only be able to challenge the senior class of his batch. But that wasn't really specified in the academy rules.
"I can only get the blood essence if Su Yu challenges me. I heard Lin Yao would give him 300 merit points if he wins the spar. Lin Yao might have forced the challenge, but Su Yu wouldn't really agree if he wasn't tempted by the offer."
"In that case, Su Yu himself must have found the offer agreeable. Otherwise, the spar would not happen. Merit points!"
Chen Qi felt like he had stumbled upon the truth. Su Yu was poor. His teacher was poor too. It wasn't surprising that he had agreed to the spar. It was all for the sake of merit points. With the proposed spar, even after losing, he would still get 100 merit points and silkwrym blood essence in exchange for the mountainbreak bull blood essence.
"He won't lose anything if he ends up defeated. And if he wins, he would get 300 merit points. No wonder Su Yu agreed to the spar."