Chapter 256: Heaven-Grade Martial Technique (1)
Back at the research center, Bai Feng had vanished once again. Su Yu didn't know if his teacher had left the research center or returned to the laboratory.
He returned to his cultivation.
Although he could now afford to visit the grotto, he still couldn't neglect his daily cultivation. He also needed to read more books. He had taken a few days of leave to prepare for his fight with Zheng Yunhui. Thus, he was falling behind on many subjects.
Nowadays, he was already used to reading while withstanding willpower attacks. Of course, he was only reading regular books when training his willpower. If he read willpower texts while cultivating his willpower in the fragment room, he could easily damage his sea of willpower. While reading, he suddenly smiled in amusement.
"Shadow race. Resides in the Dark Shadow Realm, excellent at moving in stealth..."
Shadow race!
Was this supposed to be some sort of reminder for him?
Those fellows had been starving for so many days. They should be a lot more obedient now, right? After a while, his willpower was finally drained. His entire body was drenched wet with sweat.
He did not bother cleaning up. With a slightly pale face, he muttered to himself, "I should put on the outfit I wore during the fight. Maybe I should smear some blood on it as well...forget it. That would look too obvious."
He smiled and left the fragment room.
...
"So hungry."
"I'm going to die."
The suanni continued muttering weakly when suddenly, his ears trembled slightly.
His eyes lit up! The human was finally coming! Sounds of movement rang out from a few other cages as well.
A short while later, Su Yu entered the room.
He had a pale face and was favoring one leg when walking. When he saw the suanni staring at him, he impatiently said, "What are you looking at me? Are you dead yet?"
All these creatures were at the Skysoar Realm and above. Thus, they were able to see that he had been injured. Injured? Had he fought the enemy he spoke of previously? No wonder he had been missing for so many days. So he had been busy dealing with his enemy.
The shadow said, "Su Yu, if you have taken any longer to come, you might really end up starving us to death. If that happens, Hong Tan won’t be happy when he returns."
Su Yu replied impatiently, "If you die, you die. Accidents can happen at any time. Are you trying to threaten me? Fine. I'm out of source qi liquid. You're strong enough to last half a year without food anyway."
Su Yu looked extremely agitated.
The white civet gently said, "Little brother, did you suffer a loss somewhere? Who bullied you? Do you need your big sister to avenge you?"
Su Yu sneered, "As a mere prisoner, stop playing these tricks on me. I might be feeling terrible right now, but that fellow is definitely doing worse than me. He is only relying on his family and money. Without his family, he is nothing!"
The creatures instantly understood the meaning behind Su Yu's words. He was basically complaining that the world was unfair.
The suanni hurriedly said, "Su Yu, he is from a big family. He is well supplied with resources, martial techniques, and secret techniques. You can't compare with him. Even with your great talent, you won't be able to catch up to someone like that."
"Also, each time someone angers you outside, you would forget to feed us. If this keeps happening, we would eventually starve to death. And you will also suffer for that. Su Yu, if you can give me more source qi liquid this time, I can give you a treasure."
Su Yu merely sneered at the suanni. He couldn't even be bothered to say anything.
The suanni hurriedly said, "I really have a treasure! It's a heaven-grade martial technique. You only need a few drops of source qi liquid to get something so valuable!"
Su Yu was tempted, but he still had the same sneer on his face.
"You? Treasure? Are you trying to trick me into killing myself through cultivation deviation?"
"I'm not!" The suanni was getting more and more anxious. "I got it from the Luminous Domain Mansion! It came from your human race! It was a technique used by a human genius from the War Shrine in the Luminous Domain Mansion!"
Su Yu looked the suanni up and down before smiling, "So where is it? Don't tell me it's in your head. I won't trust you."
The suanni hurriedly explained, "No! It's already with your faction! When I was captured, all my stuff was confiscated, that technique included."
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "In that case, the technique would be in my grandteacher's hands. That has nothing to do with me."
The suanni explained, "Your grandteacher is unaware about that technique. That is a secret technique of the War Shrine. Outsiders won't be able to see through its disguise. Therefore, your grandteacher has been neglecting the book because he believes that it is something useless..."
Su Yu was speechless. In that case, would that technique still be around?
What a joke.
The suanni said, "That secret book was made of silkwrym thread so it is not completely useless. I remember that back then, Hong Tan intended to use the book as a material to write a new willpower text..."
Noticing the look of disbelief on Su Yu's face, the suanni continued, "I'm telling the truth! The book is definitely still around! The willpower text he wrote out of the book is probably out of willpower by now, but the original heaven-grade technique is definitely still around. The willpower text written by a Mountainsea wouldn't be thrown away even after running out of willpower. Furthermore, the book was made of silkwrym thread! That alone is enough to ensure it won’t be thrown away easily."
"Willpower text..." Su Yu frowned and asked, "Is it still in the research center?"
"I'm not certain, but probably yes. I remember that Hong Tan likes the book a lot. He would take it out just to look at it every now and then..."
The shadow chimed in, "Are you talking about the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem?"
Su Yu blinked. Why was that name so familiar?
Suddenly, he recalled something.
Divine Character tournament!
That was the reward for the first place!
Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem!
Su Yu had nearly forgotten about that tournament. His face fell. So hidden within that reward was a heaven-grade martial technique?
"How is this possible? My grandteacher is a peak eighth-stage Mountainsea. How can the secret technique stay hidden from him?"
Su Yu refused to believe that.
The suanni anxiously said, "I'm telling the truth! That is probably a private collection of an Invincible expert! A seal has been placed by that expert on it. If I hadn't opened the seal accidentally once, I wouldn't have found out about its secret either!"
"You opened the seal before?"
The suanni replied awkwardly, "That's not a technique I can cultivate. It is too different from suanni techniques."
"How do I unlock it?"
"Easy. Just use some silkwrym blood essence. I was unaware of that at first. One time after killing a silkwrym, I used the book as a piece of cloth and wrapped it around the silkwrym corpse. It was then that I discovered this secret."
Su Yu's eyes lit up.
Heaven-grade martial technique!
He did not have any heaven-grade techniques in his possession. His strongest technique was the Skybreak Technique, but it was only an earth-grade technique. And it wasn't even a top-tier earth-grade technique. It was only a high-tier technique.
For the first six moves of the technique, he needed to open 96 acupoints.
"What is the tier of this technique?"
"Middle-tier heaven-grade! Using the classification of humans, at the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm, you will be able to unleash the power of 132 acupoints with this technique. It is only barely below high-tier heaven-grade."
"What manner of a technique is it?"
"A kicking technique. It mainly utilizes the acupoints in your legs. It is extremely destructive. It can also increase your movement speed. It is an excellent technique that can be used to kill or escape. If it wasn't for the fact that I couldn’t cultivate it, I would have probably been able to escape even from Mountainsea experts."
"If it's so powerful, how did you kill the original owner of the technique?"
"I believe he hadn't finished his cultivation of the technique yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to carry the book with him. Also, that book is very special. Generally, human willpower texts can't last long. But that book is always filled with willpower. That might be a willpower text written by an Invincible expert."
Su Yu's eyes lit up.
"You mean to say that it is not a simple book, but it is also a willpower text?"
"Yes!" The suanni was relieved to see Su Yu interested. "Who would bother carrying a regular copy around? They can easily memorize the content after reading it once. Only a willpower text is worth being carried around."
A middle-tier heaven-grade martial technique that might be a willpower text written by an Invincible expert.
Su Yu inhaled deeply and said, "You said it was something carried by a member of the War Shrine? Would the Invincible experts of the War Shrine actually write willpower texts?"
He seemed to have realized something.
The suanni said, "That's not surprising. The experts of the War Shrine might initially be warriors, but at the Invincible Realm, they no longer have any path forward. Thus, it is not surprising that some would walk an additional path at that time."
Yes. That wasn't surprising at all.
Su Yu nodded as understanding dawned on him.
"Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem!" Su Yu muttered to himself. His eyes then turned unfriendly as he said, "We lost that thing long ago. Why hadn't you mentioned this earlier?"
The suanni felt wronged. Damn it! They were enemies! Why should he inform them? Also, if he had informed them earlier, there wouldn't be anything left for Su Yu anyway.
"Lost it..." The suanni couldn't believe it. "That book was Hong Tan's favorite book. How would it be lost?"
Su Yu felt gloomy. How was he supposed to know that? In any case, the book was no longer with them. The academy was currently in possession of it. Or perhaps it was in Liu Hong's hands?
He was unsure. He only knew that the book was being used as a reward for the coming tournament.
Wait, when was the Divine Character tournament happening? Su Yu had completely forgotten about it. He hadn't been too interested in the tournament so he hadn't bothered asking about it.
"Tournament..."
He casually tossed three drops of source qi liquid to the suanni before saying, "I'll try to search for it. If I can't find it, I'll stop coming for three months."
The suanni was tired of speaking to Su Yu. How was this his fault?
If Su Yu really stopped coming for so long, they would really starve to death.
Su Yu ignored the suanni and tossed drop after drop of source qi liquid into the cages. He was about to leave when a hoarse voice entered his ears, "Su Yu, I'm not dead yet. You forgot about me the last time you were here. Are you going to forget me again?"
"..."
Su Yu blanked out and looked around before his gaze landed on a clump of black feathers.
"Fire crow!" Su Yu blinked and said, "You're still alive? Why have you been so quiet? You're even harder to detect than the water guy!"
The fire crowd felt wronged. Was it his fault that his dark feathers were good for camouflage? Damn it. Previously, this kid had completely ignored him. This time, the kid was doing the same. If he stayed silent, he would really starve to death.
Su Yu patted his own head and helplessly said, "Right, there are supposed to be six creatures here. I have been assuming that there are only five. It's too hard to notice your existence."
At least the water guy was #1 so that that fellow was easier to remember. This crow was only #6, with dark feathers and tiny size. Furthermore, he had been staying very quiet. Who would notice him?
After a drop of source qi liquid was tossed into his cage, the fire crow complained, "Are you not going to make up for the previous time when you neglected me?"
"Piss off. Take it or leave it." Su Yu impatiently said, "You were the one who had decided to stay silent previously. Since you were so quiet, I naturally assumed you're dead. How can you blame me?"
Su Yu then scanned the room and warned, "Be obedient and don't cause trouble. If I manage to get that heaven-grade technique and defeat my enemy, I'll get you guys something good to eat. If not...well, I'll have to enter seclusion and focus on my cultivation. Don't blame me for not reminding you if you end up starving to death."
The creatures were feeling very helpless. Were they supposed to die if he couldn't defeat his enemy?
The shadow couldn't help but to say, "If you still can't defeat him, you can talk to us more. We have lived for so many years so we can give you some guidance."
Su Yu snorted disdainfully. While walking out, he said, "Don't even dream of tricking me. I'm not that stupid. Suanni, if your information is useful, I'll get some meat for you."
The suanni was so touched he felt like crying. Finally, this kid was no longer as stubborn as before.
Very good. This was a good start. He only wanted to remind Su Yu to not forget to feed them again three days later.