Chapter 254: Forgetful Su Yu (1)
A bone-chilling killing intent was erupting.
"Teacher!"
Su Yu roared. Slowly, he regained his clarity of mind. That was when he noticed something wrong. He seemed to be flying? He was alarmed. He could also sense that someone was carrying him so he hurriedly turned his head to look at the person beside him. And he was even more stunned by what he saw.
"Teacher, you're not dead?"
Bai Feng was speechless. What type of a question was that? Had this kid been hoping his teacher would die?
A Skysoar couldn't remain in the air indefinitely, especially when he was carrying someone else. Thus, when Bai Feng saw that Su Yu had awakened, he landed somewhere without people and tossed Su Yu aside.
"What happened to you earlier?"
Bai Feng asked curiously. Why had the kid's Divine Character suddenly broken through?
"Teacher, earlier, the people said that you were killed by the single character faction..."
Su Yu gave an awkward reply.
Bai Feng blanked out slightly before saying, "No matter how bold they are, they wouldn't dare to make a move on me in the academy. Where's your brain?"
Su Yu shut his mouth. He had been too agitated earlier. He had not suspected what he heard because at the time, he had just finished scamming the single character faction.
80,000 merit points!
He felt guilty because he assumed that the single character faction had killed Bai Feng out of anger after being scammed by him. In his mind, that was possible. Thus, agitation and guilt tortured him.
Bai Feng was speechless. While walking, he said, "Let's go. Tell me. Did your plan work? That was why you thought they had taken revenge on me?" He laughed, "What were you thinking? Even if they found out the truth, a small sum of money like that is not worth the risk of making a move in the academy."
It was easy for him to say that. He still wasn't aware of just how much money Su Yu had scammed. Back then, Liu Hong was their target. Thus, they hadn't expected to get too much out of him.
Bai Feng felt like his student was quite silly to trust the rumor so easily. But he was also gratified that his student had been so agitated at his death that even his student's Divine Character broke through.
"So your kill character broke through earlier?"
Bai Feng asked curiously. Why wasn't it the blood character?
"Yeah."
Su Yu was starting to feel nervous. His Divine Characters had been growing too quickly. That was especially true for his kill character. He had to grow his willpower as much as possible. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to properly use his Divine Characters.
Bai Feng nodded. When he saw Su Yu deep in thought, he smiled, "That's a pleasant surprise. At times, Divine Characters can indeed break through from emotional stimulation. Willpower, Divine Character, and your mind are all linked."
He gave Su Yu a short explanation before saying, "But what happened to you is quite rare as well. You can say that it's a breakthrough relying on the tempering of your willpower through a lie. I reckon this is the only time it would happen."
Su Yu nodded. He couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, what happened to you earlier? Everyone was saying that you were dead." "..."
Bai Feng's face fell.
He cursed inwardly.
Bullshit! He was still alive and well!
"They were talking nonsense. When I left seclusion, I suddenly had a spark of inspiration so I did a random cultivation session. Those fellows are good for nothing except creating fake news."
Bai Feng did not tell his student about his embarrassing encounter. As for the attacker...he already had a guess of who it was. That fellow had taught him a lesson without injuring him. Thus, that person was definitely not an enemy. But that person wasn't exactly on their side either.
In that case, the attacker must be one of those elders who had some relationship with their faction. He had somehow provoked them? That was why the attacker decided to teach him a small lesson?
The list of potential attackers continued shrinking until eventually, he locked onto a certain name.
Wu Yuehua!
Bai Feng was certain he was right. He cursed that the old woman truly had too much free time in her hands. He hadn't provoked her at all! Wait, previously, his martial uncle had threatened to send some people after him. Was this his martial uncle's work?
Bai Feng was sullen. He could only take this in silence. Sure, he could look for Wu Yuehua, but...he wasn't her match.
"Cultivation?"
Su Yu was doubtful. Why would his teacher lie down on the ground to cultivate? He remembered clearly that his teacher was lying on the ground!
Bai Feng calmly replied, "Of course I was cultivating. I gained a lot during this cultivation session. I'm now an eighth-stage Skysoar! But you! Remember to not believe any rumor you hear. There are a lot of people in the academy with too much free time. These people enjoy creating rumors whenever they are bored. A sage will not be misled by rumors. As a cultural researcher, you should possess sound judgment instead of blindly believing in rumors."
Su Yu nodded. He awkwardly said, "Teacher, I was too anxious. And since I had just scammed them, I thought..."
But he suddenly turned furious as he said, "I only thought of them because they have been too excessive! Just look at what they did to Senior Sister! I thought they were back to do the same to you!"
Bai Feng smiled, but he didn't say anything. He was in a decent mood. It was good that his student cared so much about him.
At that point, the research center was already not far away. Only then did Bai Feng remembered to ask about the plan, "So was the plan successful? I can see that you're injured. You even have a few broken bones. How was your fight with Zheng Yunhui?"
"I lost."
Bai Feng wasn't surprised to hear that. It was only natural that his student wasn't Zheng Yunhui's match.
Little did he know, Su Yu had nearly won. He also didn't know that Zheng Yunhui had also broken through into the eighth-stage Great Strength Realm and had even opened temporary acupoints during the fight, bringing his strength close to the ninth stage. Even so, he had sustained more injuries than Su Yu.
"Did Liu Hong take the bait?"
"No." Su Yu deflated and said, "He even schemed against us!"
The two finally arrived at the research center. Su Yu gave Bai Feng a simple explanation of what had happened. While listening, Bai Feng's eyelids started twitching.
80,000!
These bastards truly had a big appetite!
80,000 merit points!
"So you only got 5,000 while Liu Hong took 40,000?"
Bai Feng was starting to get impatient. He was prepared to go look for Liu Hong. Damn it! That fellow had taken too much money from his student! Liu Hong alone had taken half the profit!
Su Yu smiled bashfully and said, "No. Subsequently, I went looking for Teacher Liu. There, he gave me some merit points."
"Huh?" Bai Feng blanked out. "How much did he give you?"
Su Yu looked at his teacher cautiously before softly answering, "15,000..."
Once again, Bai Feng was stunned.
Was Liu Hong stupid? Would he give Su Yu 15,000 merit points? Did Su Yu think that he would believe this story? But he had no choice but to believe it. He was confused. Why would a scoundrel like Liu Hong spit out something he had swallowed?
Su Yu gave Bai Feng a simple explanation of what had happened. Toward the end, he hesitated and asked, "Teacher...is there an agreement between us and Liu Hong?"
"What?"
Bai Feng was still in a daze. He was surprised at how capable his student was. But he was also surprised to learn just how treacherous all these people were. Thus, that question from Su Yu caught him by surprise. What had the kid learned?
Su Yu said, "Liu Hong claimed that he might not be our enemy."
Naturally, he didn't mention the matter of Liu Hong being undercover. And he was still doubtful about that. But Liu Hong had also said that only his grandteacher was aware of the matter.
Bai Feng raised his brow and said, "That fellow is very good at talking. Dealing with him is easy. Just ignore everything he says. Be as straightforward as you can when facing him."
"Straightforward?"
Su Yu was confused.
Bai Feng smiled, "It's easy. Be very direct. Don't listen to any of his words. Ignore whatever he says. Only hold on to a single principle. If he provokes you, beat him up. If he doesn't provoke you, beat him up as well. Only stop if he gives you money. That's all."
"..."
Su Yu did not know whether to laugh or cry. Straightforward indeed.
Bai Feng would never care about what Liu Hong had to say. He would never believe a single word that came out from Liu Hong's mouth. That was how he handled things. Since he knew that he was dealing with a treacherous schemer, he would choose to not believe a single word of that person. He would selectively listen to things that benefit him. As for things that wouldn't benefit him, he would ignore them all.
That was the main reason why Liu Hong had suffered more defeats than victories in the hands of Bai Feng. His schemes, his words, all of them were pointless against Bai Feng. His words would only be taken seriously if they were beneficial to Bai Feng.
Bai Feng had not imagined that so many things would happen during his short seclusion. He was regretful for missing such a big show. If he had known, he wouldn't have entered seclusion.
When he thought of how much Su Yu had earned, he was overjoyed. He said, "Dear Little Yu, as you know, your teacher has just broken through. Were you planning to give me a gift to congratulate me? You promised to share half the profit with me, right?"
"Cough, cough!" Su Yu awkwardly said, "About that...Teacher, I already gave your share to Martial Uncle. He said that he would hold the money on your behalf."
"..."
Bai Feng stared at Su Yu blankly.
What was the meaning of this?
"Uhm, Teacher, you do deserve half the split. You can get 17,000 merit points. Thus, I still owe you 3,000 merit points..."
Bai Feng looked at Su Yu gloomily. Just a moment ago, he thought that he was going to get rich. But he was only getting 3,000 merit points? But that was better than nothing. It was already more than what he had expected. Yeah. That was still a decent harvest.
But that thought had just surfaced when Su Yu dryly said, "But this morning, Martial Uncle called me and told me to keep the money for myself. He said that you don't need merit points for now..."
"..."
Bai Feng asked in astonishment, "Who?"
"Martial Uncle."
"Cough, cough!"
Bai Feng nearly choked from anger. Bullshit! He needed a lot of money! But he was too embarrassed to argue about money with his student, so he maintained a calm smile on his face even though he was swearing incessantly inwardly.
Why did he feel like everything was going wrong for him today? His mood was originally pretty good due to his breakthrough. But the good mood had vanished completely.
"20,000...this kid won’t be able to finish spending them anytime soon! Forget it. I'll let him keep the money for now. I'll think of what to do when I really run out of money."
Bai Feng was in no rush. Su Yu wouldn't be able to finish spending these merit points anytime soon. He could just wait until he needed money before asking for money from his student.
Bai Feng decided to move on from the topic of money. He had to maintain the dignity of a teacher so he said, "Spend your money wisely. Don't let the single character faction discover anything. It's a good thing to have Liu Hong help hide this matter for now. We can use the time we earned to grow further."
Bai Feng smiled, "Just wait. When I reach the ninth stage and you reach the peak Mental Tempering Stage, we will have nothing to fear. As long as we are the strongest in the same cultivation level, they won't be able to do anything to us. No matter what, there are other elders and the principal in the academy. They won't be able to go too far in here."
Su Yu nodded.
Then, Bai Feng turned solemn again, "Su Yu, it's not necessarily a good thing for your Divine Character to break through. You need to form a lot of characters. Forming 18 characters is already a very difficult feat. Now that your Divine Character has broken through, nurturing your Divine Characters will be even harder. Your sea of willpower might not be able to withstand this burden."
"Try not to advance another second-tier character. Sure, your character will grow stronger from an advancement, but with weak willpower, its strength will still be limited. Your character still won't be as strong as a true second tier character of someone with a proper cultivation level. The gains do not make up for the losses. Do you understand me? There is nothing you can do about an accidental advancement, but don't intentionally seek advancement."
Su Yu nodded again. He understood all that.