Chapter 180: Kill Character (1)
At the same time, outside the library.
Bai Feng yawned and said, "Are you kidding me? Look at the size of this place. How is he supposed to find a single hidden book? And if someone else found it instead, what are we supposed to do next?"
Liu Hong smiled indifferently and said, "In that case, the willpower text will go to the finder. After all, this can also be considered a fortuitous encounter. In any case, I already gave you what I should. Your student is the first to hear about the news. If he can't even find the text with this advantage, he can only blame his luck for it.
"Luck might be unreliable, but at times, it can also be quite useful. Without luck, you will fail in everything you do. If he has no luck I doubt he can go far even with good talent."
Bai Feng cursed before asking, "Where did you hide the text? I'll go take a look."
Liu Hong said, "Bai Feng, you will attract too much attention. Let him search for it himself. If he fails, then it's not my fault."
Bai Feng looked at Liu Hong speechlessly. After a while, he said, "You're very confident nowadays. Looks like your confidence has grown alongside your strength. I take it you don't need my help anymore after this?"
Liu Hong smiled and said, "There is no need to say that. None of us is helping the other. We are merely making use of each other. I already gave Su Yu a chance. If he fails to grab this opportunity, you can't really blame me for it."
"I keep feeling like you're scheming something." Bai Feng muttered, "But if Su Yu really manages to find it, I'll have to admit that you're really quite generous this time. After all, that's a Mountainsea willpower text..."
That thing was not cheap at all.
Liu Hong smiled, "Of course. I am not stingy when it comes to investments. Also, this willpower text has already been booked by someone in advance. That person had even paid the down payment. After the raid, he wouldn't get his down payment back. That's part of the agreement before the trade. If the buyer learns that Su Yu had obtained his text, hehehe..."
"Who's the buyer?"
Bai Feng did not care that much. He already knew that Liu Hong was a scumbag, so this wasn't too surprising for him.
"Zheng Yunhui."
"I don't know him."
Bai Feng was indifferent. Since it wasn't someone he knew, that must be a nobody.
Liu Hong explained, "Principal Zheng's grandson. He won't fear you guys. Since you guys dare to even snatch his stuff, hehe...just you wait."
"Who?"
"Principal Zheng's grandson."
Bai Feng's face twitched. He cursed, "What the hell? You're such a scumbag. The Zheng Family is filled with brutes. They can't be reasoned with. Can't you pick someone else to scam?"
"I have no choice..." Liu Hong sounded helpless as well, "The other potential buyers have their own Mountainsea cultural researchers. They don't need to buy the text from the black market. Old Zheng's family is the only one without a Mountainsea cultural researcher. Furthermore, their family mainly cultivates the War God Art.
"This martial technique is very important for them. In fact, even Principal Zheng himself needs to buy his willpower texts externally. He has merely been too embarrassed to lower his head and ask for help from some cultural researchers. Thus, his family is the only family willing to pay a high price for the willpower text. There is also no worry that he would spread the news about the black market."
Liu Hong grinned and added, "I charged him 1,000 merit points as the down payment..."
"What?" Bai Feng asked in astonishment, "Is he not going to look for you for losing the text?"
"We have a prior agreement so I'm not afraid of that. It's a black market transaction anyway so it isn't protected by law. Why should I be afraid of him? Would he dare to spread the news that he's buying from the black market?"
Liu Hong said with disdain, "This is the cultural research academy, not his war academy. Of course, he will definitely look for Su Yu after learning that Su Yu has his text. After all, they have paid for it. Would you let Su Yu off if you're in his position?"
"Of course not." Bai Feng answered without any hesitation, "It's fine if I haven't paid anything, but after paying..."
He stopped talking. Old Zheng's family was no pushover. That was a family of brutes. Zheng Yunhui couldn't do anything to Liu Hong, but he wouldn't be as helpless against a mere student like Su Yu.
And would Su Yu give up on the willpower text he found? Bai Feng knew his student. There was no way that was going to happen, especially when it was something so valuable. Furthermore, black market transactions were never supposed to be secured transactions. There were no records to serve as the proof of ownership.
At that thought, Bai Feng cursed and said, "Why did you drag the Zheng Family into this? Are you not afraid that you would drag Su Yu down because of this?"
"That's none of my business." Liu Hong beamed, "I'll even report this to my superiors and have them compensate me for it. After all, I am creating a conflict between your faction and Old Zheng's family. Both of you are opponents of our faction, and my contribution in turning you guys against each other would definitely be appreciated. Tsk, tsk. At the very least, I would get compensated for what I spent on you."
Bai Feng couldn't stop cursing.
Liu Hong placated him, "What are you afraid of? What can those war academy fellows do against you guys? This might sound like a big deal, but it's nothing. It might look like you guys have gotten yourself a new big enemy, but nothing would come out of it. As long as Su Yu can handle Zheng Yunhui, everything would be fine."
Bai Feng scolded, "Everything would be fine? Can Su Yu even handle that fellow? That kid from the Zheng Family is at least a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator already, right?"
"Cough, cough. It's only a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. It's nothing. Don't be afraid."
"..."
There was no sincerity in Liu Hong’s words. But it wasn't his problem anyway. In fact, he was the one who had profited big from this.
He had first accepted 1,000 merit points from Zheng Yunhui as the down payment. When he reported this to his superiors, he could even get some extra profit by claiming that he had spent 3,000 merit points on this little endeavor instead.
And Bai Feng didn't have to spend anything to nurture his student, so what else could Bai Feng say? Was Liu Hong not sincere enough by supplying them a Mountainsea willpower text for free? If he hadn’t done all that, this bastard Bai Feng would probably pester him for money every single day.
By doing this, Liu Hong was basically killing three birds with one stone. It was a pity that he couldn't tell Su Yu about the plan or even Su Yu would need to owe him a favor. That way, he would be able to kill four birds with one stone instead!
"Oh, right, I need to be the one to tell Zheng Yunhui about this too. He must be thinking that his 1,000 merit points had been spent for nothing. After I tell him about Su Yu, I can even erase his grudge toward me."
Even Liu Hong himself was impressed with his brain. And the Zheng Family would definitely not suspect anything.
Tsk tsk.
With this, he would only profit without taking on any risk. At that thought, the smile on Liu Hong's face grew even wider. As for Bai Feng, after thinking about it, he decided to forget about the matter.
Was he supposed to be afraid of a brat? The Zheng Family had no influence in the cultural research academy. What could Zheng Yunhui do to them? The only thing he could do was look for Su Yu.
If Su Yu wasn't Zheng Yunhui's match, then he would have to choose between giving up on the willpower text or accept the fact that a feud had started between him and Zheng Yunhui.
"Forget it."
Bai Feng had his own plans too. The brat from the Zheng Family might not be weak, but Su Yu wasn't a pushover either. Just the blood essence ability alone was strong enough a trump card.
Without facing the challenges of those freaks, how could he grow? Then again, the biggest reason why Bai Feng was letting all this happen was because...he was broke. Since he couldn't afford the willpower text, wouldn't it be good for Su Yu to solve that issue himself? This was a great solution!
...
Su Yu was naturally unaware of the conversation between the two. He was carefully searching the bookshelves one by one. At this point, he was paranoid enough that every single person he saw looked like someone here for the same reason as him. In truth, he was the only person in the library searching for the text.
"Since the seller was running from the raid, they probably couldn’t get too far. The text might have been hidden the moment the seller reached the second floor...Therefore, it might be on a bookshelf near the second floor entrance. But it can't be too near the entrance as it would be too easily found by others. In other words, it's slightly further away from the entrance?"
Su Yu started searching according to his guess.
Ten minutes. Twenty minutes…
He searched untiringly. He had no idea what that text looked like. Maybe it was made of bone. Maybe it was made of a beast hide. Or maybe it was only made of regular paper. But he would be able to recognize it the moment he saw it.
After all, willpower text was something with some power imbued to it. Like a thief, Su Yu sneakily searched the bookshelves. His heart thumped nervously as he was afraid that someone would discover what he was doing in the library.
"1,500 merit points...this is worth my time. I won't leave before finding it."
The library was open 24 hours per day. Thus, some people would stay there all day long. Su Yu could search as long as he wanted.
One hour. Two hours...
After searching over 100 bookshelves and 30,000 books, the text was still nowhere to be found. Desperation was starting to sink in. Was the text really here?
"The monthly exam is tomorrow. If I still can't find it by the morning, I'll have to leave for the exam..."
He continued searching until late night. There were less and less people in the library. Finally, Su Yu noticed something. At the corner of one of the bookshelves, he found something different.
Stuffed within a thick book was something that looked like a napkin. It was very thin. The moment Su Yu saw that, he knew that he had found it. Sure enough, the moment he held the piece of cloth in his hand, he noticed that it was made of some unique materials. It might be a type of beast hide. In any case, it felt extremely smooth to touch.
"Found you!"
Su Yu did not even need to further check the piece of cloth. He could feel the faint traces of willpower it was emitting. This was clearly a willpower text.
"I'm rich!"
Su Yu joyously stuffed the willpower text into his pocket before looking around. When he saw that nobody was looking at him, he exhaled in relief. His heart was still thumping heavily from joy, nervousness, and fear.
He waited no more and left with his head lowered. He did not notice that the thick book hiding the piece of cloth was titled: Basic Outline of Multiple Divine Character's Growth.
Apart from those from the multiple character faction, nobody would bother looking over this book. It was clear that Liu Hong had put some thought into where he hid the willpower text.