Chapter 225: A Good and Honest Man, Su Yu (3)
Looking at Su Yu who was scratching his head with an honest smile, Chen Yong didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
After some thought, he said, "A lot of people are keeping their eyes on the research center. Previously, when Su Yu erupted with the strength of an Infinite Strength cultivator, a lot of people were starting to wonder about the existence of Skysoar blood essence abilities."
He looked at Su Yu and said, "Su Yu, the main purpose for our research center's existence is to serve humanity. However, there are many humans around us and everyone has their own thoughts. There are things that we can't fully reveal to the public, such as some secret techniques and martial techniques..."
Bai Feng interrupted, "Simply put, we have invested too much into our research. Even if we have to release our result, we need to receive something from it. That is only fair as our faction has spent decades on this research. Countless resources have been invested into this research, reaching hundreds of thousands of merit points in value. Or maybe that value has even risen to millions of merit points."
Bai Feng snorted coldly, "Some people want to reap without sowing. Some want to buy us off with only a tiny bit of merit points. Dream on. We would rather keep our result for ourselves than to take that insult. This thing involves more than the research alone. It also involves benefits. If someone manages to get the result and submit it to the Knowledge Seeking Realm and War Shrine before us, everything we have done would have been for nothing.
"Maybe some people will say we shouldn't be so calculative since we're all working for the good of humanity. Ridiculous. Easy for them to say that when they're not the ones being expected to make the sacrifice. Try asking them to release their cultivation methods and their family wealth for the good of humanity. Would they agree?
"Su Yu, remember this. Don't let anyone poison you with so-called righteousness. That is nothing but a joke. In fact, there are some people like this in the Myriad Race Cult. They have never contributed to humanity but have been demanding that the various academies and prefectures release all their secret cultivation methods and martial techniques. They are also requesting for all research results to be made public."
Bai Feng sneered, "Why don't they ask themselves if they have contributed anything to humanity? Even more hateful is the fact that a bunch of ignorant sheeps have actually been incited. Those people started demanding fairness, demanding to have the things that others have."
Su Yu scratched his head and awkwardly said, "Teacher, our faction..."
Bai Feng glared at Su Yu and said, "Scram! Are we the same as those people? We are only requesting for impartiality within the academy instead of the current suppression against us. We only want to get the same for the same amount of effort. It's not like we have not been using any merit points in the academy. And the fact that we actually have merit points to spend proves that we have contributed to humanity. We are not asking for free things to be handed to us."
Bai Feng scolded, "Don't be stupid and lump us alongside the cult members. Also, why do you think that we haven't contributed anything? Your martial uncle is running the books depository. Is that not a sort of contribution? Your grandteacher is focused on research. In the whole academy, very few researchers are so focused on research. They forget that a researcher's main task is research. Why call themselves a researcher otherwise? We all contribute in our own way."
"Our research is only a problem because those people have been intentionally picking faults with us. Every faction out there is doing some sort of research, but those people turn a blind eye on the resources burned by the others and only attack your grandteacher.
"Over these years, although our research center has not released a lot of results, we have released enough to maintain our research center. But those people have been using the lack of results regarding blood essence abilities as an excuse to look for trouble.
"Even if we ignore the rest of our results, things like ability transfer, Divine Character removal, blood essence storage, usage of broken willpower text...all these are the results of our research. They have deliberately ignored all that. But those results have proved useful in many aspects.
"Today, the masses see us as a faction that has only been relying on our past glory to survive until today. What a joke. We rarely receive any resource allocation from the academy. Most of our resources have been earned by your grandteacher himself. How dare they call us useless?
"Any random result of our research center could be far more useful than all those so-called high-tier research centers. Those research centers are the ones actually relying on their past glory to survive. They can't research for shit but they are pretty good at cooking instead. I've tried the fire hog they cooked before. It tasted pretty good."
"..."
Su Yu resisted the urge to laugh.
Chen Yong was also rather speechless. He cleared his throat and said, "It's pointless to say all that. As for Su Yu's plan, it is feasible. I'll try to see if we can use this plan to lure out a bunch of fellows, including some cult members.
"I reckon the researchers of the academy aren't the only ones interested in our research. Perhaps some other people with unknown intentions are also interested. A blood essence ability technology at the level of Infinite Strength Realm is not that big of a deal, but if it reaches the Skysoar Realm, then everything changes."
Chen Yong thought about it for a bit before saying, "Bai Feng, we can try doing this. Of course, we're going to use some fake data for this. If it fails, so be it. If it works, we can lure a group of people out of hiding. Even if we can't do anything else to them, we can at least be more on guard in the future."
Bai Feng hesitated, "Would they fall for this?"
"It's hard to say..." Chen Yong suddenly had a new idea and said, "How about this? You should take a short break from your research. Go to a grotto for a secluded cultivation session. Don't stay in the lab all the time. After reaching the seventh-stage, you have been neglecting your cultivation. Try to reach the eighth-stage. Even Liu Hong is at the eighth-stage already. You're too slow.
"With you away, it would be more believable for Su Yu to be able to take out some data from the research center."
"Would people suspect me for the timing of my departure?"
"Don't worry." Chen Yong smiled, "Su Yu can wait a few more days before agreeing on a match with Zheng Yunhui. You will go into seclusion earlier than that. With your departure, it is only natural that Su Yu finally has the chance to get the data he needs for the bet, right?"
Bai Feng nodded. "But there is still a flaw to this plan. Su Yu is still not strong enough. If he's at the seventh-stage already, then all is fine. But he's still at the fifth-stage..."
"If he's at the seventh-stage, he would win for sure. In that case, how is he supposed to release the fake data?"
Bai Feng nodded again. He said, "Senior Brother, I'm worried that the kid would get in trouble because of this. Would someone try to take a risk and make a move on him directly?"
"Unlikely. We're still in the academy. Here, they can only employ some acceptable tricks to get what they want. Those experts will not make a move personally. Otherwise, do you think the Heart Cultivating Pavilion is only there for decoration?
"If Su Yu's plan works out, he will definitely get some merit points. Also, a goal of 5,000 merit points is too small. You're looking down on our research center. But it would be hard to get anyone to bite the bait if we add a zero to that number. But I think we can easily push it above 10,000 merit points."
When he looked at Su Yu once again, he was feeling both gratified and melancholic. This martial nephew of his was truly gutsy. He was most certainly not as honest as that smile on his face suggested.
"Fine, I'll listen to you..." Bai Feng nodded. He looked at Su Yu and said uncertainty, "You won't suddenly reveal a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivation during the day of the match and screw Zheng Yunhui over by winning his blood essence, right? Kid, if you do that, the Zheng Family might really come after you. Those are three drops of Cloudbreach divine blood essence. Even I covet something like that. If you're really planning something like that..."
Bai Feng shivered, "Zheng Ping would definitely go crazy. I can't take his anger. You would need your grandteacher to come back and deal with that."
"..."
Su Yu had an innocent look on his face. No way. He had never thought of that. But then again, his teacher made a lot of sense! What if he won? Was he going to get the blood essence?
"Teacher, what's the price for a drop of Cloudbreach divine blood essence?"
Bai Feng grimaced. Damn it! Why was the kid asking him the price? Was the kid really planning to do something like that?
"At the Skysoar Realm, it's at least 1,000 merit points per drop. And you can only get it from the black market as it is a restricted resource. As for Cloudbreach blood essence, it is slightly higher in price since it's similar to the Great Strength body forging situation as it has less specific usage than the Skysoar blood essence. But it's still not cheap. You probably need to pay at least 1,500 merit points for each drop. It is also very rare in the market. Thus, getting one isn't only a matter of money as not even money can guarantee you something like that. Do you understand?"
"I see."
Su Yu nodded. His eyes were shining. How valuable! So the three drops Zheng Yunhui was going to take out would be worth at least 5,000 merit points? Also, this was a commodity where the demand was much higher than the supply, so its true value might be higher than that.
"Teacher, what if I accidentally win?"
Bai Feng was going crazy, "Just give up on the plan, kid. I won't be able to withstand the backlash of that. Not even your martial uncle can withstand it. The Zheng Family has been bragging about the divine blood essence for a few years. If you take it from them, they will definitely come after you."
"Of course, things would be different if your grandteacher is around. After all, you're still relying on your own ability to set them up..."
Basically, it wasn't that they couldn't scam the Zheng Family. It was a matter of timing. Hong Tan wasn't around and they weren't able to withstand Zheng Ping's fury. Even if they could look for the academy to help, they would only end up benefiting the academy with their scam.
Why? Because that was a private match with illegal items as the wager. The academy was well within its rights to confiscate everything.
Su Yu was feeling regretful. Fine. He would give up on that plan. He told himself that he wasn't the kind of person who would do something like that. Yeah, he would feel too bad to scam Zheng Yunhui. After all, both of them were currently in the same boat.