Chapter 226: Great Intelligence May Appear As Stupidity (1)
Bai Feng was the type who would like to do things in a straightforward manner. The moment he agreed to enter seclusion, he wasted no time and left after a short preparation.
Su Yu was very curious. Could Bai Feng even afford entering a grotto? He greatly doubted his teacher. Of course, there was always the possibility of his teacher having some free entries around so he didn't bother asking.
Before Bai Feng left, he recalled something and said, "Don't forget to feed those fellows. If they starve to death, you'll have to explain to your grandteacher. The source qi liquid is in the storeroom. You know where it is, right?"
At those words, Su Yu's expression turned complicated. Very complicated. Bai Feng stopped walking and stared at his student. The teacher and student pair looked at each other.
Shortly after, Bai Feng muttered, "It should be fine. I remember the last time I fed them was on the 30th. It has only been 10 days. They should still be alive, right?"
Su Yu was stunned. His teacher had last fed those fellows last month? He had thought that his teacher had fed those fellows on the 4th when they visited the prison zone. It had been 10 days! Were those creatures still alive?
After thinking about it, Bai Feng seriously said, "In any case, those fellows were still alive on the 4th when I handed the task over to you. If they have really starved to death, you will take responsibility when your grandteacher returns. Su Yu, you're dead."
Su Yu had a sullen face. He asked, "Teacher, they should still be alive, right?"
"How am I supposed to know that?" Bai Feng was very irresponsible. He said, "That no longer has anything to do with me. I'm leaving. For now, you're the leader of this research center."
Bai Feng then left. To be precise, he ran away. How was he supposed to know if those creatures were still alive? In any case, they were Su Yu's responsibility, not him. If his teacher was angry about it, he could go and beat up his own grandstudent.
"He sure is fast..."
Su Yu felt very helpless. He was still comforting himself that those fellows should still be alive. Even the weakest of them was at the seventh-stage Skysoar Realm. It had only been a few days.
"Whatever. I'll go take a look."
...
Prison zone.
The room was completely silent.
The golden lion was sprawled on the ground. Gone was his imposing look from the past. He was staring ahead blankly, looking like he was completely out of energy. A weak voice could be heard coming out of his mouth, "Are you guys hungry?"
He was ignored. What a stupid question. Here, they couldn't even absorb the ambient source qi in the air. They would have their blood extracted and flesh harvested every now and then. And that had been going on for many years.
These creatures were already in a greatly weakened state. Thus, they were currently being badly tortured by their hunger. Previously, Bai Feng would still feed them every now and then. But this newcomer seemed very unreliable. Just how many days had it been? If it wasn't for their high cultivation bases, they would have been starved to death already.
"Save your energy..." The shadow said, "Just get used to this. I have been here longer than you. Back before Hong Tan took Bai Feng as his student, there was a period of time when Chen Yong left on an errand. During that time, Hong Tan forgot to feed us for three whole months."
Yeap. They only needed to get used to it. He had even survived three months of starvation back then. Thus, this was nothing. It had only been a few days. This little suanni was too impatient.
He had ignored their advice to not mess around and ended up struck by the lightning talisman around his cage. That had exhausted too much of his energy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been in such a terrible state after only 10 days without food.
Just look at the water creature. He was doing just fine. Why? Because he never spoke much. He would also stay as a puddle of water most of the time, saving a lot of his energy. He could probably stay alive for even a year without food.
Suanni did not say anything. He was too exhausted to muster a reply. Hungry. He was really hungry.
And he wasn't even the strongest among the creatures here. He was only a ninth-stage Skysoar. He naturally wasn't comparable to the shadow. After all, the shadow was a third-stage Cloudbreach.
While thinking about that, the suanni's big ears flicked.
"He's here!"
The suanni felt like crying. Someone finally remembered them! Someone was coming! He was really going to die if this continued any longer.
Su Yu's footsteps rang out from the stairs as he rushed into the room. When he saw the suanni gazing at him expectantly, he heaved a breath of relief. The big lion was not dead.
"Are all of you alive?"
Nobody answered.
Su Yu frowned, "#1 through 5! Call out your numbers. If you stay silent, I'll assume you're dead so you won't receive any source qi liquid. You should be happy that you're being fed source qi liquid when I don't even have enough for my own use. How dare you ignore me?"
"One."
"Two."
...
All five of the creatures replied. They couldn't take the hunger anymore. They had no choice but to lower their heads. Su Yu was relieved. All of them were still alive.
While tossing source qi liquid into the cages, he said, "I have been busy so I forgot about you guys."
While swallowing the drop of source qi liquid, the suanni said, "Kid, what are you busy with? There are so many experts here. Tell us your troubles. Maybe we can be of help. Just remember to come on time."
"Yeah, Little Su Yu. Do you have any questions? Let big sister help you."
The white civet spoke as well. Instead of speaking in a flirty tone, she was speaking with a pure and sincere tone. She sounded like a girl next door.
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "All of you are prisoners. What can you help me with? A seventh-stage Great Strength bastard has been creating trouble for me. I'm cultivating hard to get my payback."
"Great Strength..." The suanni said with disdain, "A mere weakling. If I can leave this cage, I can kill someone like that by merely breathing on him."
"What a stupid thing to brag about. My grandteacher can kill you by merely breathing on you as well." Su Yu said, "This is a competition between those in the same cultivation level, do you understand? Do you think you're very impressive just because you're a ninth-stage Skysoar?"
A savage glint flickered in the suanni's eyes, but it vanished quickly. He said, "It is easy to defeat an opponent with a higher cultivation level. It's only the Great Strength Realm. At that level, speed is king. Let the white civet teach you some Divine Characters of the white fox race. Their race has some speed-related characters that can greatly increase your speed. With a character like that, nobody in the Great Strength Realm would be your match."
Su Yu asked in astonishment, "Divine Character? This white cat know Divine Characters?"
"Little Su Yu, your big sister is not a cat. She's a white civet." Inside the cage, the white kitten looked at Su Yu while walking around gracefully. With a smile, she said, "The civet race is not comparable to the other races in terms of strength. We are even weaker than some smaller races. But our speed is known throughout the Myriad Realms. As for our white civet race, we're the kings of the civets. After comprehending wind-related Divine Characters, our speed can reach incredible levels..."
"White civet race..." Su Yu asked curiously, "You guys are cultural researchers?"
"Based on the definition of humans, yes, we are cultural researchers." The white civet said, "We control Divine Characters as well, but our studies are a lot more focused compared to humans. Generally, we only control a few Divine Characters. For example, I only have two Divine Characters. Both are related to wind. One is the wind character, the other is the gale character."
"Gale and wind?" Su Yu asked, "Are you fast?"
"Of course. Although I'm only an eighth-stage Skysoar, back then, not even Cloudbreach cultivators could catch me in the Allheaven Battlefield."
"And you have a way of passing your Divine Characters on?" Su Yu's interest was piqued. "Just look at your sorry state. Can you still teach me your Divine Characters? You don't even have willpower texts..."
"Silly little brother," the white civet laughed. "I can write one. I'll write one on the spot. You only need to supply me with the materials and I can write one for you."
"Hehe." Su Yu said with disdain, "Do you think I'm dumb? To write a willpower text, you definitely need blood essence. What if you consume it instead of writing a willpower text? My teacher wrote me a willpower text before. So I know you can write without blood essence. Fine, I'll give you a piece of paper. If you can write one with just a paper, I will trust you."
The white civet cursed inwardly. She would only write a willpower text without the assistance of blood essence in her current weakened state if she was crazy. That was basically suicide.
The shadow suddenly said, "Yes, willpower texts can be written without blood essence, but the text written that way would be much weaker. Su Yu, if you're willing to give me a few drops of source qi liquid, I can write a shadow race willpower text for you."
Su Yu asked in astonishment, "You can write willpower texts as well?"
"Of course." The shadow said, "Shadow race members are natural cultural researchers."
"And you're going to write me one?"
"Yes. I only need a few drops of source qi liquid."
"You aren't scheming against me, right?" Su Yu frowned. "I'm not stupid. Maybe you will write a fake willpower text. After trying to cultivate using that text, my willpower will sink into disorder, causing me to die. No, no, no. Stop talking to me. Teacher is right. Your words are poisonous!"
Su Yu turned around to leave. When the creatures saw that, they grew agitated. It wasn't easy for them to see Su Yu once. After this meeting, they had no idea when their next meeting would be. They weren't sure they could survive much longer here.
"Su Yu, calm down!" The shadow said, "How about a trade? Ten drops of source qi liquid for a willpower text..."
The white civet suddenly said, "Don't trust him. The shadows are known for being crafty. He is also very strong. Ten drops of source qi liquid might be enough for him to regain his strength. I can write you a willpower text for only five drops."
She hurriedly added, "The shadow race has a unique racial ability. They can attach themselves to the shadow of others. But I know that they can also attach a part of them onto some other items. For example, willpower texts. If you accept his willpower text, he might use it to escape or transmit a message to someone outside."
Su Yu's expression changed.
The shadow furiously said, "White civet, why are you talking nonsense?"
The white civet snorted, "We're all prisoners here. You want to leave. I want to leave too. And I'm not even asking to escape entirely. I only want better treatment. Little Brother Su Yu, I won't ask for a way to leave the academy. I only hope that when the day comes for me to be killed, plea for leniency for me. Even if they send me over to the Beast Taming Faculty to be turned into a pet, that is better than dying. I'm unlike these fellows with grand ambitions who only want to leave..."
"White civet, stop pretending to be innocent. You want to escape as much as we do."
"I'm not as stupid as you guys. Escape? Where can we go? This is the Human Realm, not the Allheaven Battlefield."
The white civet looked at Su Yu again. On her kitten-like face, sorrow appeared as she said, "Little Brother Su Yu, you know what I want. In truth, five drops of source qi liquid won't be enough to make up for the energy I need to use for the willpower text. I'm only offering this for your pity in the future."
Su Yu frowned, "I can't believe any of you. Every last one of you is a schemer. I need to ask Teacher before making any decision."
The white civet hurriedly said, "I'm not lying to you. If you tell Bai Feng about this, he might want to take our willpower texts for himself. Would you still get the willpower texts then? We heard very clearly how he had deducted your merit points during your previous visit..."
Su Yu's expression changed again. With a snort, he turned around and left.
Behind him, the white civet shouted, "Trust me. If you want to grow strong, you have to be decisive. Only after you grow strong would I have the chance to leave this place. Trust me..."