Chapter 171: Great Strength (1)
Day after day passed. Nobody else bothered Su Yu during this period of time.
A lot of people believed that he would not be able to keep the mountainbreak bull blood essence. Lin Yao would be the new owner of the blood essence. Because of that, nobody bothered to create any trouble for Su Yu. Even Liu Hong was nowhere to be seen. Su Yu didn't know if Liu Hong was away for cultivation or some other business.
...
28th of August.
Nearly a month after Su Yu entered the academy.
Wentan Research Center.
Filter room.
Source qi undulated intensely in Su Yu's body. With a rumble, an acupoint opened. That was the 12th acupoint. The final acupoint of the advanced War God Art's first stage had finally been opened.
"Done!"
Su Yu was overjoyed. Before entering the academy, he had only opened 5 acupoints. During the past 28 days, he had opened another 7 acupoints. On average, he had opened 1 acupoint every 4 days.
The high source qi density of his surroundings and the Infinite Strength blood essence that he had spent nearly all his money on had helped him open all the acupoints of the first stage. As of now, he could be considered a proper Great Strength cultivator. But he still lacked the final step. If he connected his 12 new acupoints with his Source Opening acupoints, joining all 21 of them, he would become a true Great Strength cultivator.
"It feels fast, but it's really quite slow..."
Su Yu was still not satisfied with his speed. There were 108 acupoints for him to open in the Great Strength Realm. He still had 96 of them. With the speed of 1 every 4 days, he would need at least a year to reach the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm.
Of course, for anyone else, that was already a terrifying speed. But Su Yu knew that in the war academies, there were some geniuses that could enter the Infinite Strength Realm within a year. Thus, his current speed was not enough to surpass those geniuses.
"I have the book's help, but those fellows have a large amount of source qi liquid. And they are already stronger than me, so they can probably reach the Infinite Strength Realm before me."
That was why Su Yu thought that his speed was still too slow. He tossed all that out of his mind and rushed to the living area. There, he pushed a button. A short while later, Bai Feng appeared.
...
Nowadays, Bai Feng had transformed into a complete shut-in. He left his stubble unshaved, giving him a sloppy look.
When he saw Su Yu, he stared blankly for a bit before asking in astonishment, "You're done opening your acupoints?"
"Yes." Su Yu happily said, "Teacher, I've opened all 12 acupoints."
"Not bad." Bai Feng was pretty happy too. "Looks like my teachings for the past month have been very effective. You have not disappointed me. This is faster than I expected."
Su Yu had a lot of say about that, but he decided to shut his mouth. He really wanted to ask Bai Feng about his so-called teachings. Then again, his fast progress was all thanks to the research center, so he decided to credit that to Bai Feng instead.
"Don't link your acupoints for now..." Bai Feng said, "When you entered the academy, weren't you given a free entry into the source character grotto? Do you want to use it when you enter the Infinite Strength Realm or do you want to use it when you advance from the Mental Tempering Stage to the Skysoar Realm?"
Su Yu had been learning a lot recently, so after giving it some thought, he said, "Teacher, I intend to seize every minute."
He did not wish to slowly grow. He wanted to grow strong immediately. The stronger he was right now, the more he could get for himself. As for the secret grotto entries, he would have the chance to earn more in the future.
Bai Feng smiled and nodded, "Good. That is the right choice. The source grotto will be very helpful for you. Let's go there. You can make your official breakthrough in there. Take the mountainbreak bull blood essence and forge your body while you're at it. You might even be able to open 12 more acupoints while you're in there."
"Teacher, the mountainbreak bull blood essence..."
He wanted to say that the blood essence had been staked in his coming spars. It would be troublesome if he lost and had no blood essence in hand.
"I know." Bai Feng indifferently said, "If you lose, that can only mean that you're useless. You will have to think of a way to solve that problem yourself. At worst, you can just renege on the debt and embarrass yourself. You will only destroy your reputation in the academy and might even end up expelled..."
Su Yu was speechless. Why was his teaching saying all that like it was nothing? But after thinking about it, he did not object. He would just use the blood essence. And if he ended up losing the spars...well, he was actually a tad bit worried about it.
When Bai Feng saw that, he smiled and said, "Don't worry. It's no big deal. If you really can't solve it, I'll think of something for you. Mountainbreak bull blood essence might be rare, but it's not something impossible to get. At least it won't be an issue for Mountainsea experts."
"Those fellows you mentioned simply do not have a high enough position to buy the blood essence. Look at those freaks. Do you see any of them worrying about blood essence? I don't know about the others, but the big families definitely have some in their storage. The Mountainsea experts of the academy definitely have some too. The people bugging you might come from decently powerful families, but their families are not powerful enough to earn the help of Mountainsea experts. That’s why this blood essence is so valuable for them.
"Liu Hong simply doesn't care about getting the blood essence for his student. As for Hu Wensheng, he did prepare a set of blood essence for his student, but he lost it. Now, he needs to enter seclusion so he naturally won’t ask for a new set of blood essence from his teacher. Do you understand now?"
Su Yu nodded, "I understand. Therefore, you're actually capable of getting this blood essence as well, right?"
"Not me..."
Bai Feng wanted to say that Wu Yuehua was the one capable of getting that blood essence, but he decided to shut his mouth about it. If this kid really ended up losing, he would have to go seek Wu Yuehua's help himself. Bai Feng was definitely not doing that. It would be too embarrassing. She would probably be willing to help if this kid went asking for help personally.
As the two walked, Su Yu asked, "Teacher, can I enter the grotto secretly? I don't want Chen Qi and the others to find out about it."
"Enter secretly?" Bai Feng smiled, "Looks like you really enjoy hiding your trump cards. To speak the truth, your blood essence ability is enough of a trump card. But since you wish to do that, sure, we can do that."
Bai Feng turned around and walked away.
A short while later, he walked out with a black jacket. He tossed it to Su Yu and said, "Put this on and cover your face. This would be secretive enough."
Su Yu was speechless. Was his teacher playing a joke on him? He was asking if there was a secret entrance or something like that. He was not asking for a terrible disguise like this. Also, even with the disguise on, by walking beside Bai Feng, even a fool would know who he was.
"Hahaha, it would be fine. Those kids won't be able to know the names of those who had entered the grotto unless their teachers told them. Hu Wensheng is in seclusion while Liu Hong had just entered a secret grotto for his own breakthrough. None of their teachers have the time to waste on you kids."
"Teacher Liu Hong is in a secret grotto?"
"Yes."Bai Feng clenched his teeth, "How would..."
How would Bai Feng be so poor otherwise? That fellow must have run into a secret grotto to avoid him! What a shameless fellow. They had agreed to partner up and scam some resources together, but that fellow had run off somewhere instead!
They had agreed to let Liu Hong suppress Su Yu. Bai Feng would be paid for it. But instead of suppressing Su Yu, Liu Hong was nowhere to be seen. Just look at Su Yu! Without Liu Hong's suppression, he was going to reach the Great Strength Realm and the Mental Tempering Stage already. And without money, how was Bai Feng going to nurture his student?
Yes, Su Yu was not far away from the Mental Tempering Stage as well. During his first day in the research center, he had reached 35 percent willpower. Due to a lack of time, his subsequent progress had been slower. Additionally, as his willpower grew, its growth was also starting to slow down.
But he had still been growing every single day for the past 20 days. His willpower was now at 48 percent. He could enter the Great Strength Realm today and the Mental Tempering Stage in a few days.
p>
Bai Feng was sure that Su Yu would enter the Mental Tempering Stage in the next 10 days.
While thinking about all that, Bai Feng said, "Enter the Great Strength Realm first. And when you finally reach the Mental Tempering Stage, you can start forming Divine Characters again. You have been building your foundation recently. Have you thought about the Divine Characters you want to form? Have you prepared your willpower texts?"
Su Yu was dumbfounded. Hadn't his teacher promised to provide the willpower texts previously?
Bai Feng coughed awkwardly and said, "At the Mental Tempering Stage, you can study Great Strength and Infinite Strength original texts. Those are too low leveled to remain in my storage. I did prepare a few Skysoar original texts for you before..."
Su Yu did not believe a single word of that. His teacher was obviously broke. He knew very well that Bai Feng did not have much money left. After the previous attack on his martial uncle, Bai Feng had gone out several times. Su Yu guessed that Bai Feng must have gone out to sell some things for money. This research center was probably the only thing left unsold.
Su Yu did not say anything. He tossed the jacket aside and followed Bai Feng out. While walking, he said, "Teacher, I still have two Great Strength original texts. I don't have any Infinite Strength texts. Will Great Strength texts be enough when I enter the Mental Tempering Stage?"
Bai Feng smiled and replied, "Of course. But at the Mental Tempering Stage, your willpower is stronger so Great Strength texts won't last as long. And the few attempts you have with each text might not be enough for you to form Divine Characters. Generally, people will increase the level of their texts accordingly as their cultivation grows...
"Maybe you can read those texts a few times before entering the Mental Tempering Stage. Otherwise, it would be a waste if they break down before you can form any Divine Characters."
"Can I read Skysoar texts?"
"Have you never tried doing that before? If the text is too strong, you won't be able to see anything. It would be the same as entering the fragment room. That would be a waste of a willpower text."
"I see."
Before long, the two left the district. Su Yu had seen the Grotto District from the outside before, but he had never entered.