Chapter 190: One Hit Knockout (2)
"Continue growing it then." Bai Feng was still feeling troubled, "Stop forming any new human characters for now. Even if you have the chance to form one, give up on it. You have formed too many characters. That might not be a good thing. That is especially true when you're only forming human characters."
Su Yu was unhappy to hear that. He wasn't unhappy with Bai Feng, but he disliked hearing that human characters were weak.
When Bai Feng saw Su Yu's expression, he gloomily said, "When my teacher told me the same back then, I was unhappy as well. But this is the truth. We can't change it. Not a single Eternal Divine Character in existence is a human character. That is the strongest proof of that."
"Also..." Bai Feng paused slightly and continued, "Generally, each cultural researcher would make a character their master character. You can't make a human character your master character or you won't be able to get beyond the Mountainsea Realm."
Bai Feng's tone turned heavy, "Human characters can't be advanced into Eternal characters. And Eternal characters can only be formed by those beyond the Mountainsea Realm. If you specialize in human characters, the Mountainsea Realm might be your limit. Mountainsea cultivators are strong, and a lot of people don't aim to go further than that, but those are all ordinary people. We are different, Su Yu. We aim beyond that."
"Teacher..."
"Listen to me." Bai Feng solemnly said, "There is no rush. You will only need to think of picking a master character at the Skysoar Realm. You still have time. But you need to be ready to make all your human characters subsidiary characters. You can't make any of them your master character."
Su Yu wanted to say something, but he decided to hold his tongue. He was a newbie in the path of cultivation. He naturally didn't know as much as a Skysoar like Bai Feng. But he was still unwilling to accept that. Nevertheless, he understood that Bai Feng meant well.
"I understand."
Su Yu answered gloomily. Bai Feng did not say anything else. In a short few moments, his emotions had gone from joy to excitement to helplessness before settling on solemnness. Did Su Yu really lack talent in myriad race characters?
If that was the case, could he still become an expert who was unrivaled within his realm? Would he be able to bring the multiple character faction back to glory? Bai Feng had no answer for that.
He felt both discouraged and dispirited. If Su Yu only had a lackluster talent in myriad race characters, even reaching the Skysoar Realm would be difficult for him. He wouldn't be able to become the next successor of the multiple character faction.
...
Third underground floor.
Bai Feng was in no mood to research anything. He was both lethargic and indignant.
After a long while, he clenched his teeth and said, "Even if he can only form human characters, he can still be an expert. Even if he can't go beyond the Mountainsea Realm, reaching the peak Mountainsea Realm is enough! How many people can get above that realm? I shouldn't ask for that much from him. As long as he can get into the Mountainsea Realm, he can still pass on the torch of our inheritance."
Bai Feng took a deep breath and said, "I don't even know if I can get beyond the Mountainsea Realm. I shouldn't force others to do what I can't. Even Teacher is stuck at the Mountainsea Realm. Why bother talking about the realm beyond? I was being too wishful.
"Even with only human characters, he can still grow strong. As long as he has enough Divine Characters and a complete character technique, he can still grow strong and stand tall above his peers."
Despite saying all that, the sense of loss was still torturing him. He didn't know if his speculation was right. He would have the answer tomorrow. Earlier, he was filled with expectations for their visit to the books depository tomorrow. But now, only grief filled his heart.
...
Su Yu spent the night repairing the kill character. He was still in an indignant mood. Were human characters really so weak? But his characters felt strong to him! His Little Blood and Little Lightning were both strong.
"The kill character is strong enough to defeat the other two characters alone. Are human characters really weak? Eternal characters...Only the non-human characters have hope to become Eternal characters. Above the Mountainsea Realm?"
...
That night, Su Yu couldn't sleep. That night, Bai Feng couldn't sleep either. He threw himself into his research, trying to forget his troubles through work.
Morning.
With a pulse of Su Yu's willpower, a small saber flew out of the blood essence pool and floated in front of him for a bit before vanishing into thin air. A black small saber appeared in his sea of willpower.
With five drops of source qi liquid and eight drops of Infinite Strength iron-winged bird blood essence on him, Su Yu left the research center. In his sea of willpower, three Divine Characters orbited the small black saber.
All four of them were sent into the beast skull for further nourishment. At a different corner of his sea of willpower, a golden book floated silently. Nothing dared to approach it.
...
The challenge ring of the academy was located near the Heart Cultivating Pavilion. The place was already packed with people early in the morning.
"This batch's students have quite the temper. It is their first month here and there is already a challenge?"
"I heard the two little fellows are both fresh Mental Tempering Stage cultivators."
"Is that so? Then this would be a boring fight."
"Nah. I'm already bored of watching the fights of old fogeys and top 100 students. It can be quite refreshing to watch the fight of some newbies."
People could be seen all around the ring.
While everyone was talking about the upcoming fight, someone was running through the crowd. Suddenly, he stopped beside a student and whispered, "Student, do you want to place a bet? I'm offering the odds of 1.3 if you bet on Su Yu and 1.2 if you bet on Lin Yao."
"Did the odds change?" The person asked curiously, "I thought the previous rate for Su Yu was 1.5."
/p>
"He has entered the Mental Tempering Stage so I naturally have to adjust the rate accordingly. So are you betting, student? I'm a member of the Xia Family. You can trust me. Look over there. That's Xia Chan, a freak of this batch. That's my little sister..."
"Your little sister? I know Xia Chan. Isn't she the granddaughter of Marquis Xia?"
Xia Huyou grinned and said, "Yeah, she's not my true little sister, but our relationship is closer than the relationship between actual siblings. Place your bet with me. I won't run away with your money. Trust me. I'll let you know that there are even researchers placing bets with me."
"Researchers? Are you kidding?"
Someone else whispered, "Are you not afraid of getting raided? What would you do then?"
Xia Huyou beamed and said, "Don't worry. I have already reached an agreement with the relevant personnel. Unless an elder personally orders the raid, not even an intermediate researcher can do anything to me. The Xia Family can at least do this much. I even have intermediate researchers placing their bets with me."
"Really?"
"Of course." Xia Huyou said, "If you don't believe me, you can ask their students..."
After hearing the names he gave, their trust in him grew. This little fatty seemed to be quite capable. As for the appearance of an elder, forget it. This is a small matter. It wouldn't attract the attention of an elder. There had even been bets for fights between top 100 students and none of those bets had ever been raided by elders before.
Xia Huyou was busy promoting his betting services when his eyes lit up. He hurriedly said, "Alright, I got to go. I'll be back. Wait for me."
He then ran away.
...
A short while later, Xia Huyou squeezed through the crowd and arrived beside Su Yu. While panting heavily, he said, "Su Yu, you're finally here! So? Are you confident? Don't screw me over, brother. If you lose, it's over for me."
Su Yu was already in a bad mood. He frowned and said, "Did you use my fight to do some business?"
"No..."
"Liar! Don't even dream of selling anything to me anymore after this."
Xia Huyou coughed awkwardly and came clean, "I started a small betting pool..."
Su Yu glared at him.
After a short while, he said, "I want a six four split of your profit. I'm getting six and you're getting four."
Xia Huyou cursed inwardly. What a greedy bastard! He must be crazy. He didn't need to invest anything and he was asking for 60 percent of the profit?
Su Yu did not care. He said, "If you disagree, I'll concede..."
"Please don't joke. If you concede, how are you going to pay up? Su Yu. Don't mess around. I'll really go bankrupt."
Su Yu gave him another glare before asking curiously, "My performance yesterday was decent. Are you telling me that there are still more people betting on Lin Yao's victory?"
That didn't make any sense! He had managed to get first place in the examination. He had also entered the Mental Tempering Stage. Why would nobody bet on him?
Xia Huyou grinned, "What do the outsiders know? They only know that you're a fresh Mental Tempering Stage cultivator. First place in the intermediate class is nothing for them. Nobody bothered to ask around about you too. Even if they did try, all they would find is information about you being a fresh Mental Tempering Stage cultivator. That does not sound as impressive as it actually is.
"Lin Yao is different. He has been in the Mental Tempering Stage for quite a while. And he's also near the Great Strength Realm. And he also has a cultural weapon..."
Xia Huyou anxiously asked, "Do you have one? You would be disadvantaged without one."
He could see the saber Su Yu was carrying. That was a standard-design saber, a middle-tier yellow-grade martial weapon. That was not enough!
"You don't have a cultural weapon while Lin Yao is rich enough to own a cultural weapon, good martial techniques, and a good cultivation method. Also...watch out for the talismans that he might have stocked up on."
"Hmm?" Su Yu was alarmed. "Talismans?"
"Yeah. Why else would that kid drag the fight until today? He must have gone to buy some talismans. If he did, things would be troublesome for you."
"Are talismans...really that powerful?"
Su Yu recalled the talismans he saw during the faculty registration day. A single talisman was able to unleash countless swords. That was a very powerful option.
Su Yu frowned, "What's the point of these challenges if the students can use talismans? The one without a talisman might as well concede directly."
"That's not necessarily the case." Xia Huyou explained, "Talismans are split into different ranks as well. Those at the Mental Tempering Stage would only be able to use Great Strength and Infinite Strength talismans. And I doubt Lin Yao is strong enough to use Infinite Strength talismans yet. He needs a lot of talisman to use that. He could probably manage only one activation, but he wouldn't have enough willpower to fight after that.
"Furthermore, talismans are very expensive. An early-stage Great Strength offensive talisman is worth over 10 merit points. Double that price for middle-stage talismans. As for late-stage talismans, you need around 50 merit points each. Even if that fellow is rich, I doubt he'd waste his money like this..."
"You're going to jinx it!" Su Yu cursed. "He is probably scared of me. He might really get himself a powerful talisman as a trump card. What's the price of Infinite Strength talismans?"
"Over 100 merit points for one early-stage Infinite Strength talisman." Xia Huyou hurriedly added, "If he really has an Infinite Strength talisman, you should just concede. That would be too dangerous."