Chapter 233: Teacher, Hammer Me! (1)
Mental Tempering Garden. Behind a rock garden.
Su Yu stared silently at Zheng Yunhui. Meanwhile, Zheng Yunhui was completely composed.
"You swindled something from Liu Hong?"
"Nope."
Zheng Yunhui denied.
"Do you think I'll trust that?" Su Yu rolled his eyes. "Tell me. How much did you ask from him?"
"10,000 merit points. I told you already," said Zheng Yunhui. "Do you think that's a small amount? Do you know what you can do with that much money? It is enough to have a bunch of Cloudbreach cultivators assassinated."
Su Yu sighed, "10,000 merit points? If I believe that, then I'd be the biggest fool in the world."
"Believe whatever you want."
Su Yu didn't bother to argue. He said, "It doesn't matter how much you ask from him. Both my teacher and I will get 8,000 merit points from the deal. This is fair, right?"
"You're calling that fair?" Zheng Yunhui furiously said, "If we do that, I won't even get what I paid for the Skybreak Technique back..."
Su Yu said nothing and stared at Zheng Yunhui. This fellow should know when to stop. Did Zheng Yunhui really take him for a fool? The only reason he was working with this fellow was because he couldn't personally deal with Liu Hong. He needed a face for the scam.
Su Yu didn't know how much money this fellow had kept for himself, but it definitely wasn't a small amount.
After a while, Zheng Yunhui coughed awkwardly and said, "That's too much. How about 7,000 merit points?"
"Forget it. Let's cancel the plan..." Su Yu stood up to walk away.
Zheng Yunhui was getting anxious. He hurriedly said, "No, no. Fine. 8,000 it is..."
"9,000 merit points!"
"?" Zheng Yunhui was getting agitated, "Su Yu! That's too much!"
"You agreed too easily." Su Yu rolled his eyes, "You agreed without any hesitation. You have definitely kept more than half of the actual amount. I have probably only asked for a small portion of what you have asked for."
"I..." Zheng Yunhui was speechless. After a long while, he said, "If you increase the price again, then we really have to cancel the plan. Fine. We'll do 9,000. If you continue asking for more, forget it."
"Deal." Su Yu said, "Is Liu Hong suspicious?"
"I don't think so?" Zheng Yunhui was uncertain. "If he's suspicious, why would he be giving me stuff..."
Su Yu's eyes turned sharp.
Zheng Yunhui coughed and said, "Don't worry about it. I'm referring to the down payment. It's part of the total sum we're going to be splitting. He gave me the stuff this morning..."
He then eyed Su Yu curiously, "How surprising. I did not expect you to be hiding so much of your strength. You're already at the fifth-stage. How long would you take to reach the sixth-stage?"
"Not anytime soon."
Su Yu was unwilling to say much. Zheng Yunhui merely smiled. He did not ask too much. But inwardly, he was starting to take Su Yu more seriously.
He had thought that Su Yu had relied on luck to defeat Chen Qi. But it was very likely that this fellow had been hiding his strength even back then.
"How about challenging the top 100 together next month after scamming Liu Hong?"
"That's too early for me."
Su Yu shook his head. He wouldn't touch the Top 100 Ranking before reaching the seventh-stage. Perhaps he needed to wait until he was at the ninth-stage. He would either stay out of it completely or join in once he had absolute strength to crush all those bastards, including Huang Qisheng.
"Fine. But I've decided to challenge it next month."
Zheng Yunhui turned solemn as he said, "It feels like I'm not the only one releasing rumors in the black market. Have you been spreading rumors as well?"
Su Yu calmly said, "Nope. By the way, if someone else offers a higher price, feel free to deal with that person. We'll get the money in hand before deciding what to do next."
"..."
Zheng Yunhui frowned, "What are you trying to do?"
"I'm trying to make money." Su Yu did not think much before answering, "It's a scam anyway. It doesn't matter who we sell to. It would be even better if you can conclude the deal right after the fight. We can't delay. If we delay, the academy might get wind of it and more and more people will find out. If that happens, we won't be able to continue with our scam."
"I understand." Zheng Yunhui thought for a bit and said, "Let's do it four days from now. We'll find a place to fight on the 20th. Also, you are too treacherous. I need to be careful about you as well lest you really end up winning. I will fight with all my strength."
Su Yu indifferently said, "I'll be fighting with all my strength as well. There's nothing I can do if you lose. You already know all my trump cards. You have a large advantage over me. Don't expect me to hold back in that situation. Since Liu Hong will be around to observe the match, there might be some other people as well. Do you think that we can hold back without exposing ourselves with our strength? Do you think those people are fools?"
Zheng Yunhui's face turned even more solemn. It was supposed to only be an act. But when he heard Su Yu's words, he knew he had to take the fight seriously.
It was no longer just an act. He was a genius. A freak. Someone beyond all his peers. Su Yu was not yet considered someone at his level. A defeat in the hands of someone like that would be too bitter a pill to swallow.
"Su Yu, in that case, during the day of the fight, forget everything and fight with everything we have. I don't need you to hold back. If you win, so be it."
Zheng Yunhui stood up, his presence soaring as he said, "Frankly, it's only tens of thousands of merit points. That is nothing compared to my faith in my own strength. That should be the case for you. Don't forget the reason you start cultivating for some money. Our goal, first and foremost, is strength."
"We should be the strongest among our peers. We should also be strong enough to stand against those above our level." Zheng Yunhui solemnly said, "Four days later, I will use all my strength. I won't hold anything back."
"I'll do the same."
Su Yu replied.
"Only tens of thousands of merit points..." Su Yu sighed and said, "You exposed yourself. Next time, be sure to not contradict yourself when lying."
"..."
Zheng Yunhui's imposing presence instantly dropped due to awkwardness.
Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to say anything else. He left directly.
Behind him, Zheng Yunhui explained, "Hey, it's really not that much! Don't be so petty. Fine, I'll deduct the cost of the Skybreak Technique and split the rest with you."
"Do whatever you want."
Su Yu replied and left.
...
Back at the research center, Su Yu released a long breath.
Strength!
In the coming fight against Zheng Yunhui, he wanted to test his own strength. He wanted to see if he could really stand his ground against a freak of this generation. As for his Infinite Strength blood essence, he did not intend to use it at the beginning.
"Zheng Yunhui might be able to enter the eighth-stage. I won't be his match..."
His cultivation level was lower. To win, he had to rely on Divine Characters and martial techniques.
His opponent was a freak. Someone surpassing those with the same cultivation level. Just how could Su Yu defeat an opponent like that?
"I also can't forget about my cultural weapon...If the blood character can really advance into the next tier, then I'll have a true trump card."
Su Yu did not know how strong second tier Divine Characters were. He only knew that it would be even stronger than his kill character after the advancement.
"Four days. I have 63 acupoints opened. I still need 9 acupoints to reach the sixth-stage..."
Without reaching the sixth-stage, how was he supposed to put up a fight against Zheng Yunhui?
"It's a pity I can't enter the Source Qi Secret Grotto again."
He lacked merit points. It wasn't worth it to enter the grotto right now. He previously had 246 merit points left. Recently, he had spent 66 merit points to buy some Infinite Strength iron-winged bird blood essence. He only had 180 merit points left. He was spending money like water.
If he went to the grotto with his remaining merit points, he would only have 80 merit points left. That was not worth it since he didn't have other resources he could use in the grotto.
"180 merit points. I should leave some for my cultivation. I'll use the rest to strengthen my cultural weapon."
He suddenly thought of Zhao Li. It was time to pay the Weaponsmithing Faculty another visit. His cultural weapon was only a mold. It was not yet a truly powerful weapon. With a wave of his hand, a tiny black saber flew out of the blood essence pool. The shiny saber flew straight into his sea of willpower.
...
Zhao Li had told Su Yu to attend classes at his place on the 8th of every month. But Su Yu had been too busy recently. He couldn't find any free time to visit.
This was his second visit to Zhao Li's research center, and he found the place was cold and cheerless. Previously, there were a decent number of people here to observe Zhao Li's weapon forging. This time, there was nobody around.
The door was shut.
Su Yu knocked on the door. After a while, a sloppy Zhao Li walked out. When he saw Su Yu, he sized Su Yu up before saying, "It's not the 8th today. Why are you here?"
"Teacher, I'm here to strengthen my cultural weapon."
"Strengthen your weapon?" Zhao Li frowned, "What's the rush? You haven't even confirmed your main Divine Character. Why are you strengthening your weapon so early? After strengthening it with wrong abilities, it will be very hard to remove them."
While speaking, Zhao Li walked back into the research center. Su Yu followed him into the building. After walking through the door, he wasn't greeted by an enclosed corridor like the Wentan Research Center. Instead, a large courtyard greeted him.
Only after entering the building at the other side of the courtyard would he reach Zhao Li's research center proper. With the courtyard around, Old Zhao's research center looked a lot more warm compared to the Wentan Research Center.
But it did not look like anyone had been taking care of the courtyard, so it looked rather bland.
"Have you been attending the weaponsmithing classes?"
"Some of them..." Su Yu answered awkwardly, "I have been busy with cultivation recently. And I was appointed the class monitor of the senior class, so I don't have a lot of free time. Therefore..."
"You don't need to explain yourself."
Zhao Li walked into the building. Instead of heading to the room Su Yu had been to previously, he stopped in the living area and sat down.
"Tea?"
"It's ok. Teacher, let me brew you a fresh pot..."
Su Yu hurriedly stepped forth and started helping brew a new pot of tea.
Zhao Li did not stop Su Yu and sat down with exhaustion on the couch. After letting out a long breath, he said, "Have you formed your character technique?"
"Yes. It's a saber."
"How many initial Divine Characters?"
Su Yu stiffened slightly before answering, "A lot."
"How many?"
Zhao Li was somewhat surprised. He said, "More than 20?"
"Yeah..."
Zhao Li gripped his armrest tightly. With an odd look in his eyes, he said, "Are your seniors in your faction aware of this?"
"They think I only need 18 Divine Characters."
That was an interesting answer.
"Why didn’t you tell me the same thing?"
"Because I need your help to strengthen my cultural weapon. I need to tell you the abilities of my Divine Characters. I might even need more help from you in the future. I want my cultural weapon to have a higher compatibility with me."
"How many Divine Characters do you have now?"
"Four. All human characters. Blood, lightning, kill, battle..."
"Oh?" Zhao Li was astonished, "Just from the literal meaning of those characters, they are probably offensive characters. Did you pick those deliberately or is this a coincidence?" "Coincidence."
"That makes things even more interesting. You have a natural affinity with the offensive path, then. Even your character technique is a saber."
After a short gasp of admiration, Zhao Li said, "Tell me about their abilities."
"Blood absorption, illusion, lightning, killing intent, and battle intent."
"Good abilities." Zhao Li praised, "Battle and killing intents might sound useless, but these two are very important for those walking the path of offense. They will grant you the courage to fight, to battle, and to kill. As someone who has killed before, you should know the importance of morale. It isn't an exaggeration to say that morale plays a large part in combat. With a thicker killing intent, you can even weaken your opponent."
After thinking for a bit, he asked, "What's the level of your willpower right now?"
"55 percent."
Yes. Su Yu had reached 55 percent willpower. He had reached the Mental Tempering Stage during the monthly examination. Half a month had passed but he had only grown by 5 percent.
His growth speed had slowed down considerably. That was because he had been mainly focused on opening acupoints recently. Of course, this was still a very fast speed for most people, it was only slow for him.
He would need three or four days to increase his willpower by one percent. Even after spending an entire month, he wouldn't be able to gain more than ten percent. And his cultivation would only grow slower the higher it was. With this speed, he might need a year to reach 99 percent.
"That's pretty good."
Zhao Li thought that Su Yu was growing quite fast. Or too fast, to be precise.
"Generally, below the Skysoar Realm, you can nurture an additional Divine Character with every 10 percent willpower you gained. In other words, 10 Divine Characters is the limit for most people below the Skysoar Realm. Of course, some people are very talented or lucky enough to gain some treasures. These people might be able to nurture more characters. As for your character technique, it needs 20 initial Divine Characters..."
Zhao Li suddenly had an amused look as he said, "Kid, I think you will never ever reach the Skysoar Realm."
Su Yu had an embarrassed expression. He didn't know what to say.
Zhao Li wasted no time. He stood up and said, "We'll drink the tea later. Come on. Let's work on your cultural weapon. You'll be my assistant for this."
"But Teacher, I don't know anything."
"It's easy. Just control your willpower and attach your Divine Characters onto the weapon. You still can't materialize your characters, but you can project their impression to the weapon. That way, I can get a clearer look at your abilities and strengthen your weapon in a direction that is suitable for you."
"I understand. Thank you, Teacher!"
Su Yu was overjoyed. He was finally going to strengthen his cultural weapon.