Chapter 203: Better Left Uninvestigated (1)
"18 Divine Characters..."
Bai Feng and Chen Yong were still busy talking.
After a while, Bai Feng recalled something and said, "Senior Brother, let him read a few myriad race willpower texts. This kid has formed three Divine Characters but all of them are human characters. He is quite fast in forming human characters, but I'm afraid that he would be much slower in forming myriad race characters."
"Only human characters?" This was Chen Yong's first time hearing about this. He said with surprise, "Had he never read myriad race texts before?"
"He did, but it was an incomplete copy. He didn't manage to form any Divine Characters through it."
"That's fine."
Chen Yong wasn't too worried about it. An incomplete copy didn't mean anything. It was normal that Su Yu hadn't formed any myriad race characters if he hadn't even read a proper myriad race text.
He turned and looked at Su Yu, "Don't worry. This is good. Sure, 18 Divine Characters are a lot, but there are benefits to needing more Divine Characters. You won't be delayed below the Skysoar Realm for too long anyway."
Chen Yong was really not worried. Just how long had it been since Su Yu had first met Bai Feng? In such a short period of time, he had formed three Divine Characters. And he had started forming his Divine Characters before even the Mental Tempering Stage.
After reaching the Mental Tempering Stage, with stronger willpower, forming Divine Characters would be even easier.
Even if Su Yu could only form one per month, he would only need a year and a half to finish forming all the Divine Characters he needed. Of course, things would only get harder and harder since the more Divine Characters he had, the more willpower he needed to dedicate to nurturing those characters.
"Some special myriad race willpower texts have been collected in the First Fusion Hall. With these texts, you might be able to form the Divine Characters of some powerful races."
Chen Yong pointed at the bookshelves and said, "There are texts from the divine race, the devil race, the dragon race, the giant race, and the other powerful races here. They might help you form some powerful Divine Characters. Su Yu, you can stay here and study these texts."
"Of course, the premise of that is you actually knowing these languages." Chen Yong added, "If you don't know the language, it would be pointless to study the texts since you wouldn't be able to form a Divine Character without understanding the text."
Su Yu nodded. He was getting slightly excited. He decided to stop thinking about his character technique. It was nothing. He only needed 99 Divine Characters. What was he afraid of?
He would be able to form one character each time he read. So he only needed to read 96 times. Yes, there was nothing to fear.
With that thought in his mind, Su Yu looked at the room filled with willpower texts in excitement. It would seem like the multiple character faction wasn't completely broke, after all. They still had so many texts in this room.
Looking at Su Yu's excited expression, Bai Feng reminded, "Don't drain them excessively. The First Fusion Hall is our final trump card. All our remaining treasures are here. Also, these texts aren't only ours. Many of these texts are the final copy. The moment one is fully drained, the future generation will no longer be able to study the contents in it."
Chen Yong nodded, "Your teacher is right. A lot of these texts are final copies. And these texts have already been read multiple times before. So some of them will probably break down soon. But studying them once or twice is still fine. If you fail to form a Divine Character after reading a text a few times, give up on that text."
Chen Yong sighed, "It's not that we don't want to give you more opportunities, but some of these texts are very valuable and irreplaceable."
"I understand." Su Yu nodded, "Don't worry. If I can't form a Divine Character from a text, I won't force it."
Bai Feng smiled and pointed at the bookshelves, "There are introductions on the Divine Characters you might be able to form out of each text. For you, just focus on offensive Divine Characters. Don't bother with defensive Divine Characters.
"Stay here for three days. You are free to read as many of these texts as you want during that time. I'll come get you after three days. You won't be able to visit this place more than once every three months."
Bai Feng sternly said, "At normal times, we still need to rely on ourselves. We don't have a lot of willpower texts left here. If we hadn't been using this place so sparingly, it wouldn't have lasted until now."
Su Yu nodded. Three days. That was not a short period of time. They were already being very generous by letting him freely study in the room for three days.
Even attending a public class held by a Skysoar teacher would need a payment of at least five merit points. And one such class would not last any longer than two hours. But he had been given the chance to stay in this room for 72 hours. That was probably worth at least 180 merit points.
If he could visit once every three months, he would be able to read over 700 or 800 merit points' worth of willpower texts over a period of one year.
"We'll be leaving for now."
Chen Yong smiled, "Don't worry and read here. For our faction, our priority after entering the Mental Tempering Stage is to form more Divine Characters. After you form more Divine Characters, we will start teaching you how to fuse your abilities into your character technique. Don't attempt anything for now."
Chen Yong reminded, "Don't forget that it is better to ensure that your Divine Characters are compatible with each other..."
Su Yu was confused.
"I mean that it would be better for your Divine Characters to come from the same race. For example, if all your Divine Characters are from the divine race, it would naturally have a better effect than having a mix of characters from the divines and the devils. Of course, things might differ from person to person. Nothing is fixed.
"Also, the characters of the stronger races such as the divines and the devils are much stronger than the characters of the weaker races. If possible, it would be better for you to pick the characters of the stronger races."
Su Yu kept Chen Yong's advice in mind. All that was the experience of a senior in the path of cultivation. He might not necessarily be able to learn that from a book. In fact, putting those words down in written form might do more harm than good as some people unsuitable for that cultivation method might stubbornly pursue having only the characters of a single race. That would only negatively affect their cultivation.
Bai Feng and Chen Yong left.
They didn't even leave any food behind. Only a few drops of source qi liquid were left for Su Yu. These were enough to ensure that he wouldn't starve to death. Su Yu was happy with that arrangement. After all, source qi liquid was expensive.
"99 Divine Characters..."
Su Yu muttered to himself. He finally had the time to look inside his sea of willpower. Looking at the tiny saber in there, he started growing furious again.
So many Divine Characters. What a scam. There was also that golden book.
Su Yu frowned. Just what was that exactly? Not only did that thing need to be fed with the blood essence of the myriad races, it even created trouble for him when he was trying to form a character technique. Was someone controlling it or was the book moving by itself?
Su Yu frowned worriedly. But there was really nothing he could do about it.
"I'll stop wasting time and start reading instead."
When his gaze landed on the bookshelves, joy covered his face as he forgot all his troubles. He would focus on reading for now.
"Sharpness-related myriad race willpower texts."
From the label on one of the bookshelves, he saw that the texts here had a higher likelihood of giving him a sharpness-related Divine Character. Of course, only the probability would be higher. He still wouldn't be guaranteed any Divine Characters.
"Blade ant race's cultivation method..."
Su Yu noted that beside each text was an introduction in human language, detailing the origin of each text. That way, people would not read the texts in languages they weren't familiar with and needlessly exhaust the willpower in these texts.
Before long, Su Yu found a text in a language he knew.
"Devil scorpion race. A race with sharp, spiky tails. Ranked 368th among the myriad races. Their racial ability, Tail Stab, is capable of piercing through armor and poisoning their opponents. Reading the willpower texts of this race would help one form Divine Characters related to sharpness..."
The introduction was very detailed. Su Yu picked up the hide book in excitement and sent his willpower in.
...
While Su Yu was reading.
Prefect's manor.
There was a small garden in the manor. And at the center of the garden lake was a pavilion.
In the pavilion, a long table could be seen. People were seated all around the long table.
The chubby Marquis Xia was one of them. While sipping tea, he lazily said, "Longwu is truly bad at enjoying life. This place has good sunlight access, nice environment, and fresh air. It is the best place to drink tea. Why did he abandon a place like this? Good thing I'm here or this place will fall apart due to abandonment before long."
Not far away, Old Hu merely smiled and shook his head. He sipped on his tea silently, not feeling like saying anything to that.
To the side, Wan Tiansheng was busy feeding the fish in the lake. While looking at the ripples on the surface of the lake, he said, "The marquis is naturally better when it comes to enjoying life."
"You're right." Marquis Xia smiled, "After earning so much money, it is only natural that I enjoy life with all my money. I've decided. After some time, I'll change the water in this lake into source qi liquid."
He looked at Wan Tiansheng and asked, "Are you selling the source grotto? I'm buying. That grotto would be just nice to supply source qi liquid for my lake."
Wan Tiansheng said, "If you want it, feel free to take it."
"Really?"
"Yes." Wan Tiansheng smiled, "It's only a grotto. If you're willing to trade your Xia Trade Company with it, I won't object."
"Sure."
Marquis Xia sneered. Was this man dreaming? He wasn't stupid.
Marquis Xia couldn't even be bothered to entertain that offer with a reply. He said, "So why are you suddenly here?"
"It's related to Xia Huyou..."
"Pfft." Marquis Xia said with disdain, "Do whatever you want with him. You can even kill him if you have the guts. But if you keep him alive, it really doesn't matter what you do. Don't even dream of getting any money from me. If you're only here for this, you can piss off now."
Both Wan Tiansheng and Old Hu shook their heads while laughing. It was not easy to get any money from Marquis Xia. Wan Tiansheng stopped joking around and started talking business.
"I'm here today for two things. Firstly, I'm here to see Xia Yunji. Where is he?"
The moment he said those words, Marquis Xia's expression changed and he sat up straight. Old Hu's face also changed as he looked at Wan Tiansheng in surprise.
"Why are you looking for him?"
Marquis Xia frowned, "After he was expelled by you, he went on a tour around the Human Realm. What do you want from him? Don't tell me you're still thinking about the Divine Character on him."
"Not at all," Wan Tiansheng shook his head. "You know me. I'm not interested in their Divine Characters. It's pointless. And I don't need those Divine Characters."
"Why are you looking for him then?"
Wan Tiansheng solemnly said, "I only want to know about his progress in cultivation after all these years. I already asked Liu Wenyuan. He wasn't willing to see me. Even if we meet, he would only assume an ugly expression and kick me out."
Wan Tiansheng sighed, "Also, Lin Wenyan alone is not enough as a point of reference. I want to know about Xia Yunji as well. I want to know if the multiple character faction's choice back then was right. If that option is really feasible..."
Marquis Xia interrupted Wan Tiansheng, "So what if it's feasible? Wan Tiansheng, don't tell me that you're trying to get them back to the academy."
"No." Wan Tiansheng shook his head, "It has been 50 years and the multiple character faction has fallen very low. However, I would often wonder if there is still hope for them. Back then, they were so stubborn and decisive, staking everything in that single choice. Did they discover something back then? Could they really produce an Invincible?
"I was on the verge of losing all hope on them. But recently, a new student from Nanyuan joined the academy. I discovered something unique about that student. Therefore, I wanted to take one more look and see if there is still hope..."
"Hope?" Old Hu said, "I doubt there is any. Then again, I'm not sure either. Back then, all those lunatics were so stubborn. I don't understand them. They ruined themselves, they ruined Liu Wenyan, and they ruined my younger sister with that choice."
Old Hu sighed, "After she was expelled, Ping refused to even meet me. I really want to know if that was really worth it? All the elites of the multiple character faction were ruined for the sake of pursuing that tiny hope. Those people...sigh."
He was very regretful. He did not know what to feel about those people.
Liu Wenyan, Xia Yunji, Hu Ping, Zhao Mingyue...all these were the super geniuses of their generation. Now, they were all over 70 years old.
Back then, they were in their prime.
Back then, their radiance reached every corner of the Human Realm.
Now, they were all old. Those who had yet to reach the Skysoar Realm would probably reach the end of their life soon.