Chapter 175: As Outstanding As Me (1)
Three hours later.
Bai Feng was getting more and more anxious.
"Is he not out yet?"
Bai Feng frowned and looked at the two old men.
Old Huang hesitated slightly and said, "If we go, we might disturb his cultivation. We are Cloudbreach cultivators. The moment we enter, the source qi inside will automatically come toward us."
"I'll go then. I'm only a Skysoar."
"Nonsense. It's the same. Source qi will still flow toward you."
That was how the source grotto worked. Upon entering, the source qi would automatically move to fill your acupoints. With their strength, they could very easily interrupt Su Yu's cultivation upon entering by disrupting the flow of source qi. Even when Bai Feng offered to enter, he wasn't really being serious.
Old Huang hesitated and said, "Why don't we send a Great Strength cultivator inside. I'm mainly worried about disturbing him. If he is really lasting so long due to his talent..."
Bai Feng understood what Old Huang was trying to say. If Su Yu was really extremely talented, he might still be in the process of opening more acupoints. It would be a great loss if he was disturbed at a critical juncture of his cultivation.
"Bai Feng, he's your student. Be honest. Is he really capable of lasting until now?"
Bai Feng calmed down and inhaled deeply before nodding, "Yes. It's possible. He is talented and tenacious. I am only worried that he insists on staying after reaching his limit and harming himself."
There was no doubt that Su Yu was talented. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a need for Bai Feng to bluff about his own accomplishments. He was only bluffing because he had to protect his reputation in front of his student. That was why he had claimed to have lasted three hours. And reality proved that even that wasn't enough to protect his reputation.
After thinking about it, Bai Feng said, "I don't trust any strangers. How about this? Can you use the Source Qi Mirror to check the source qi flow in the grotto? If the source qi in there is still flowing normally, then he is definitely still cultivating. I will be less worried."
"Source Qi Mirror..." Old Huang said, "That mirror has the ability to spy on source qi. It can also pry on a cultivator's secret. Without his approval..."
"I'm his teacher. You only need my approval." Bai Feng was decisive.
Old Huang did not say anything else and exchanged glances with the other old man. The two nodded and roared at the same time.
Whoosh!
The air rippled and a mirror appeared out of nowhere. Numerous red dots appeared on the surface of the mirror. And at the outermost region was a small red dot. Numerous ripples were converging on that red dot.
With a wave of Old Huang's hand, the other area turned dark, leaving only the area with the small red dot visible. The other red dots were the other cultivators. It was a taboo to pry on the cultivation of others. In fact, even against Su Yu, both old men needed to agree on it before they could use the mirror.
"He's still cultivating." Old Huang said in astonishment, "The source qi is flowing rapidly. This is already near the speed of an Infinite Strength cultivator. Your student...is really not simple."
Bai Feng was relieved. He smiled, "Everything is fine as long as he is still cultivating. Everyone has their secrets. How can a genius be the same as a regular student? That kid really gave me a scare. But looks like he has gained a lot this time."
He then coughed and said, "Uhm, by the way. You can deactivate the mirror now. It's not proper to spy on the secrets of our faction, right?"
"..."
Both old men cursed inwardly. Who was the one who had requested them to use the mirror in the first place? How did that change into them spying on their faction's secrets? Shameless!
The two dispersed the mirror with dark expressions. They decided to stop talking to Bai Feng. That bastard had immediately changed his tune the moment he stopped needing them.
Nevertheless, they were getting more and more interested in Su Yu.That was quite a talented new student.
"I wonder how long he can last. Can he break the record of that fellow from the war academy?"
The three started waiting in silence. They were no longer as anxious as before. Since the source qi in the grotto was still flowing rapidly, Su Yu could probably last even longer inside. As for Su Yu's absorption speed, Bai Feng was right. All geniuses had their own secrets.
Cultural researchers were the most mysterious group of people in existence. One should never try to pry on the secrets of a cultural researcher. There were simply too many possibilities. Perhaps it was a unique Divine Character.? Perhaps it was a unique bloodline. Or perhaps it was something else. They only needed to be sure that Su Yu wasn't a member of the Myriad Race Cult and everything would be fine.
Since Su Yu had been accepted by Bai Feng, a proper background check had definitely been performed on him. He was simply unaware of it.
…
Three hours. Four hours. Four and a half hours…
The expression on Bai Feng's face turned stranger and stranger. Was that kid really going to break the record of that bastard?
...
At the same time.
Su Yu had finally finished using his blood essence. He could no longer activate his book. A total of 23 acupoints had been opened. He was one acupoint away from the third-stage. That was why he had been unwilling to leave. He was absorbing source qi as best as he could. Instead of the Body Strengthening Art, he was using the War God Art now.
He was unwilling to accept this. He was already on the cusp of the third-stage.? But unfortunately, he had no blood essence left. In fact, he had run out of blood essence half an hour ago. He was simply unwilling to leave.
"One more acupoint..."
Su Yu prayed inwardly. If he managed to enter the third-stage, he would be able to link more acupoints together, forming a complete circuit linked to the third-stage acupoints. That way, his source qi absorption speed would increase even further.
If he left without opening the final acupoint, he would probably need to use seven or eight drops of source qi liquid outside to open it. This was his sole chance to open it for free. After this, he could no longer enter this grotto unless he paid for it.
"If I can open one more acupoint, I can save at least 40 merit points. Open!"
He roared to himself. His acupoints were already overflowing with source qi. If this acupoint still refused to open, he would be forced to leave soon. He clenched his teeth and took out a different drop of blood essence.
Iron-winged bird blood essence!
He had purchased 30 drops from Xia Huyou previously. Recently, he had been using a drop per day and still had 10 drops left. He was initially unwilling to use the iron-winged bird blood essence here since it wasn't that useful for body forging, but he had no choice. He wasn't going to use the blood essence to forge his body. He only needed to activate the cultivation method and increase his acupoint opening speed.
Right after he swallowed the drop of blood essence, even more source qi converged on his body. His own acupoints were relieved of their pressure as more temporary acupoints opened and helped with the absorption.
"This is it!"
Su Yu was overjoyed. With this, he would be able to last longer. Before long, the final acupoint started showing signs of opening. At the same time, the blood essence ran out of energy.
Su Yu cursed. At this point, he didn't even know if this was worth it anymore. He swallowed another drop of blood essence. And finally, the final acupoint opened with a rumble.
He rapidly linked the 36 acupoints together. With the inclusion of his Source Opening acupoints, he had 45 linked acupoints. Within his body, a brilliant net with 45 shining nodes appeared.
Rumble!
As the circuit took form, Su Yu felt his body shaking rapidly as dark impurities started seeping out of his pores. That was the effect of body forging with blood essence.
But in truth, Su Yu had not forged his body with blood essence. Rather, he had cultivated the Body Strengthening Art through his book. The result of that did not seem any worse than forging his body with blood essence.
As for the Source Swallowing Technique, it did not have much effect on body forging. It was clear that the mountainbreak bulls' Body Strengthening Art was an excellent cultivation method to strengthen one's body.
"Body forging...is the process in which I build the foundation of my body. Only with a stronger body would I be able to prevail over my peers."
If everyone had the same cultivation level and cultivation method, the one with the stronger physical body would have the higher chance of winning in combat.
With the final acupoint opened, Su Yu knew that he wouldn't be able to stay in the grotto much longer. Instead of opening more acupoints, he started focusing on absorbing source qi and strengthening his body. All his acupoints were shining brightly, making him look like a bright lantern amid the darkness.
After a while, Su Yu opened his eyes and looked toward a certain direction. That was the Infinite Strength Zone. He could sense that the source qi there was even denser. The pressure there was also higher. He knew that he still wasn't strong enough to enter that place.
"Next time...I must try to enter that place next time. I'll gather enough resources before coming in again. I won't leave before absorbing as much source qi as I can!"
As a fresh Great Strength cultivator, the amount of source qi he could absorb in the grotto was nothing compared to what the grotto could provide. In fact, even in the tiny Great Strength Zone, he wasn't able to absorb enough to cause any change in his surroundings.
"I think I managed to absorb at least 100 drops' worth of source qi liquid."
Su Yu calculated. This was a profitable trip! But he had also used a lot of resources to absorb that much source qi. He had consumed 100 drops of mountainbreak bull blood essence and 2 drops of iron-winged bird blood essence.
"All those would have an official value of 1,510 merit points."
Su Yu was shocked. He had exhausted so many merit points just to reach the third-stage Great Strength Realm. He was basically buying time with merit points.
Without blood essence and this source grotto, he would be able to slowly absorb the thin ambient source qi around him. If he was still in Nanyuan, he would probably need several years to reach this stage. But in the academy, he only needed a few hours. Of course, that was only if he was willing to spend his money.
"If I'm at the Skysoar Realm, can I use the source qi here to form source qi liquid?"
An idea suddenly appeared in his mind. But after thinking about it, it didn't seem right. If that really worked, wouldn't this grotto be sucked dry by those Skysoar cultivators long ago?
"Source character..."
Even though Su Yu had never seen that character before, he was filled with admiration toward it. A single character had transformed into such a powerful grotto.