Chapter 236: How Much? (2)
17th of September.
As usual, Su Yu arrived early to the classroom.
Beside him, Wu Lan had arrived early as well. Normally, the two did not interact with each other much. But today, Wu Lan took the initiative to say, "Su Yu, I'm breaking through in two days. This time, I'll charge straight to the third-stage Great Strength Realm."
Wu Lan had a proud look on her face. She was going to catch up to Su Yu soon! She was already at the ninth-stage Source Opening Realm when she joined the academy. And she also cultivated the advanced War God Art. Finally, she had opened 12 acupoints. The third-stage Great Strength Realm wasn't far away!
Su Yu looked at her speechlessly. Was she sure? She was so confident. Was she sure that she could open 24 acupoints in the grotto? Why did this woman think that the advancement into the Great Strength Realm was a journey straight to the third stage? For her, it was as if the first two stages did not exist.
"What blood essence are you using?"
"Mountainbreak bull blood essence, of course," said Wu Lan, as if there couldn't be any other option.
The look on her face was basically saying that as a genius, that was naturally the blood essence she was going to use.
Su Yu was getting tired of speaking to her. He wanted to tell her to take a look at Chen Qi and Lin Yao. Those two had suffered so much just to get some mountainbreak bull blood essence. This girl sure came from a rich family. It sounded like the mountainbreak bull blood essence was nothing for her.
"I thought you said once that you don't need the support of your family anymore?"
Wu Lan's face turned red as she angrily said, "Exactly! I didn't ask for their support! I am only borrowing...I mean my grandaunt insisted on supporting me!"
"..."
Su Yu cursed inwardly. Truly shameless. Insisted on supporting her? He wanted a grandaunt like that as well.
"Who's your teacher?"
Su Yu asked, suddenly curious. He had never asked about the teachers of his fellow classmates.
"My elder sister!"
"..."
What a complicated relationship. Su Yu was getting even more tired. So her elder sister was now her teacher as well...Fine, the academy wasn't really that strict about relationships and hierarchy so it wasn't a big deal.
"Is your elder sister strong?"
Su Yu wasn't too interested in Wu Lan's advancement. He was more interested in her elder sister, a legendary genius from the previous generation. Bai Feng was one such legend, but Su Yu had seen Bai Feng so much that he wasn't feeling anything from seeing him anymore.
As for Hu Wensheng, he had been defeated in one move. His legend had been broken. And Liu Hong...was basically a shameless scoundrel. Su Yu looked down on him.
There were only two from that generation that Su Yu hadn't seen yet. One was Xia Yuwen. The other was Wu Qi.
"Of course!" Wu Lan's face turned proud when talking about her elder sister. She said, "My elder sister is a ninth-stage Skysoar. She's going to reach the Cloudbreach Realm soon. Your teacher is not her match. She can defeat him in one move."
"Hehe."
Su Yu sneered and said nothing more. Forget it. He wouldn't be able to learn anything useful for this lady. He was only a little bit curious anyway.
"Su Yu, wait until I reach the third-stage Great Strength Realm. I'll let you know that I'm very strong as well!"
"Yes. You're very strong."
Su Yu nodded. Sure. But she had to reach that level first. Also, by the time she reached the third stage, he would probably be at the sixth or seventh stage already. Maybe. Wu Lan, keep working hard!
Suddenly, Xia Huyou entered the classroom and waved at Su Yu. Su Yu frowned and walked over without saying anything.
...
"Su Yu, are we still brothers?"
"What are you trying to say?"
"Are you going to fight Zheng Yunhui?"
"Nope."
"You're lying to me!" Grief covered Xia Huyou's face as he said, "I heard some rumors about it! I am an information peddler! Why are you trying to hide this for me? I even learned that there is a bet between you two. Is it the Skybreak Technique?"
He didn't know the exact details. He only knew that there was a bet.
The Skybreak Technique was most likely the stake.
Su Yu smiled, "Who told you all that? That person is lying. Also, don't even dream of starting a betting pool on the fight. Even if we do fight, we won't fight publicly. No outsiders will see our fight."
"So a fight is really happening?" Xia Huyou asked curiously, "Are you confident? That fellow...I suspect that he is going to reach the eighth-stage. He will probably be skipping classes for now to push his cultivation level up. As an eighth-stage Great Strength cultivator...he will be strong enough to challenge the top 100."
"We'll see."
Su Yu was unwilling to say more. The entire fight was a scam. It was better for Xia Huyou to not get involved.
Su Yu was about to leave when Xia Huyou suddenly said, "Su Yu, don't do anything stupid. You have a bright future. There is no need to ruin your future just for a momentary satisfaction."
Su Yu turned around.
He looked at Xia Huyou. The smile on Xia Huyou's face vanished as he solemnly said, "I have still heard of some rumors. I hope those are mere rumors. Otherwise, you will be in great trouble if you lose."
Su Yu smiled, "Am I that kind of person?"
Xia Huyou looked at his friend, not knowing what to say.
Suddenly, an interesting thought came to Su Yu. He asked, "How many merit points can you move?"
"Why?"
"Do me a favor and raise the price."
Nothing much was said, but Xia Huyou's expression still changed. A pensive look covered his face. He sank into thought, connecting dot after dot in his mind.
After a while, he softly said, "There will be people observing in secret when the product is being inspected."
"That's not an issue."
Su Yu smiled. He was ready for it. He had no fear.
"I understand." Xia Huyou smiled, "Why are you telling me this?"
"Aren't we brothers?" Su Yu's eyes flickered as he said, "Furthermore...it's real."
"..."
Xia Huyou's face changed again. What was the meaning of that?
From Su Yu's earlier words, he had concluded that this whole thing was a ploy. But was it real?
"Su Yu..."
Su Yu smiled, "I'm certain I won't lose. And if I do end up losing...well, life is hard with the multiple character faction anyway. I am curious...will I have a future if I switch to the single character faction now?"
Xia Huyou looked at Su Yu with a frown. Su Yu said nothing else and left. Xia Huyou was greatly confused. So was it a ploy or not? Truth and lie seemed to have intermingled, causing even him to feel confused.
On the 17th, Su Yu opened another acupoint. At this point, he had opened 64 acupoints in total. He had used his remaining 60 merit points to buy 20 drops of iron-winged bird blood essence from Xia Huyou.
Once again, he was penniless.
On the 18th, he applied for a leave from his classes.
That day, he spent the entire day cultivating. Drop after drop of blood essence was used as he cycled between the filter and the fragment rooms. He cultivated untiringly.
On that very day, he used 8 drops of blood essence. The effect left a lot to be desired. Even with such a high intensity of training, he had only opened one acupoint.
Although he had spent much less money compared to when he visited the grotto, he had spent a lot of time and energy. In fact, what he spent that day couldn't be considered a small sum of money. If he had bought the blood essence through the official channel, he would have to spend 40 merit points for 8 drops of iron-winged bird blood essence.
On the 19th, Su Yu applied for another day of leave.
He continued cultivating in seclusion. That day, he used nine drops of blood essence to open another acupoint, leaving him with only three drops.
Thus far, he had opened 66 merit points. All the resources he had prepared to reach the sixth-stage had been exhausted, but he was still 6 acupoints away. He was already growing very quickly.
A normal person would only open an acupoint per month. Even the faster ones would take around half a month. Meanwhile, Su Yu had relied on blood essence and his book to cultivate at a speed that was ten times faster than a genius of the same level.
...
While Su Yu was in seclusion.
A certain rumor started spreading among selected circles.
Liu Hong's office.
The door was pushed open.
Zhou Pingsheng stepped into the office.
"Senior Brother Zhou..." Liu Hong hurriedly stood up and smiled, "You honor me with your presence. Is there anything I can help you with? Come, have a seat!"
Zhou Pingsheng sat down and went straight to the point, "Is Su Yu really having a match with Zheng Yunhui?"
"What?"
"Liu Hong!" With an upset tone, Zhou Pingsheng said, "Are you still trying to hide it from me?"
Liu Hong smiled, "Have you misunderstood something, Senior Brother. Yes, there is a match. But it's a game between children. I didn't keep it in mind. Why are you suddenly asking about it?"
Zhou Pingsheng coldly said, "A game between children? From the rumor I heard, that is no game. The stakes of the match...are not simple."
"Stakes?"
"Liu Hong, stop acting in front of me." Zhou Pingsheng unhappily said, "You bought quite a lot of resources for Zheng Yunhui from the black market. Do you think I'm really not aware of that?"
Liu Hong smiled, "Oh, right. Zheng Yunhui wants to challenge the Top 100 Ranking so he looked for me to buy some things as preparation."
"Can he afford those things?" Zhou Pingsheng snorted, "You sponsored him, right?"
"Yeah, but that's a loan. I'm charging him interest..."
"Are you going to keep acting?" Zhou Pingsheng was getting angry, "Liu Hong, are you afraid that I would steal your contribution to the faction? What a joke. Do I need to do that? I'm only worried that you would miss out on the thing that truly matters. If the rumors are true, then we must get our hands on it."
"Instead of reporting what you found, you actually reached a private agreement with Zheng Yunhui? What are you trying to do? Are you trying to swallow the fruit yourself?"
Liu Hong frowned. He slowly said, "Senior Brother, that's not my intention. There are too many rumors. I still don't know if they're true. Su Yu might not be able to get that thing out. If I report it now and it ends up untrue, wouldn't it be a joke?"
When Zhou Pingsheng heard that, he frowned slightly and said, "True. So what do you think? Is it true?"
"Hmm..." Liu Hong smiled, "I'm really not sure. I already have an agreement with Zheng Yunhui. If it's real, he'll sell it to me for 50,000 merit points. If it's not real, he won't be able to run off with what he owes me."
"In truth, even without your visit today, I'm already planning to visit you after a few days..." Liu Hong awkwardly said, "My pockets are quite empty. I definitely can't complete this transaction without support. Also, my cultivation is too low to determine if the data is real or not. If I end up scammed...then I'll be in deep trouble. Thus, I'll be relying on you to determine if the data is real."
Liu Hong solemnly said, "Senior Brother, you run the books depository and are very knowledgeable. In fact, in our faction, nobody is more knowledgeable than you. But I'm still not sure. This feels too easy..."
Liu Hong frowned, "I'm really not trying to hide anything from you. This simply feels too easy. The thing we have been trying so hard to get is suddenly in Su Yu's hands..."
Liu Hong smiled helplessly, "Senior Brother, would I dare to report something I'm so uncertain of? If it's fake, then it would be too embarrassing."
Zhou Pingsheng nodded.
He smiled and said, "Don't worry. You're right. I have learned a lot after so many years in the books depository. When the time comes, I'll be there to verify the authenticity of the data."
Liu Hong said, "Senior Brother, should we find a few more experts to assist us?"
"No." Zhou Pingsheng shook his head, "It's not a good idea to let too many people know about this. That will only make it harder to keep this a secret."
"How about the 50,000 merit points?" Liu Hong awkwardly said, "I can't afford that. Why don't you get in touch with Zheng Yunhui instead? You can negotiate with him..."
He blushed and said, "I already paid him a down payment of 2,000 merit points."
Zhou Pingsheng thought about it before shaking his head, "I can't show myself. It's enough to have you as our agent. You're in charge of dealing with the black market and that is considered a black market transaction. It will be very troublesome if I get involved directly."
He frowned, "50,000 merit points are too expensive. Zheng Yunhui sure is greedy."
He was trying to keep his hands clean. Liu Hong was naturally the perfect candidate to do all the dirty work. That way, if they ended up raided, Liu Hong would be the one caught, not him.
"That's already quite cheap..." Liu Hong smiled bitterly, "His opening price was 100,000 merit points. I told him it's impossible but he said that he knows how important this thing is. If it's real, it's worth millions."
Liu Hong had a vexed expression as he said, "I spent a long time negotiating with him but he ended up bringing the Xia Family up. I had no choice but to set the price at 50,000. If you think this isn't proper...why don't I try lowering the price more?"
Zhou Pingsheng frowned and said, "Forget it. Don't make more troubles. Try to keep as little contact with the Zheng Family as possible."
He added, "I'll look for Senior Brother Zheng. That's too much money. The two of us won't be able to afford it."
He was about to leave when Liu Hong awkwardly said, "Senior Brother...uhm...can you report the price as 52,000 merit points? You can get the 1,000 merit points while I'll get the other 1,000. Things are...a little tight on my end recently..."
"..."
Zhou Pingsheng laughed and said, "Sure. You...Elder Zhao left quite a lot of stuff behind..."
"I can't touch those things! My teacher is still in seclusion!" Liu Hong hastily said, "Senior Brother, I'm a person of integrity! We'll only take 2,000 extra merit points. That's enough..."
Zhou Pingsheng smiled and nodded. He didn't say anything else. He left the office.
52,000 merit points? What? Liu Hong must be remembering things wrongly. The price was clearly 60,000 merit points!
He had no problem giving Liu Hong 1,000 merit points. After all, Liu Hong was the one who had started the plan so he still deserved a little compensation, right?