Chapter 258: Third Grotto Visit (1)
22nd of September.
A new day was starting.
When Su Yu arrived at class that morning, he discovered something interesting.
He had gotten used to sitting near Wu Lan, but this time, Wu Lan ran from him.
From the pitiful look on her face, one would even think that Su Yu had done something to her to solicit such a reaction.
With her school bag, Wu Lan ran until the last row of the class. She was clearly trying to stay as far away from Su Yu as possible. Her confidence must have suffered quite a big blow after her breakthrough.
Su Yu laughed in amusement. He wasn't too worried about her. Yet another interesting encounter was the fact that Lin Yao would smile happily whenever he saw Su Yu. Of course, Lin Yao was still putting some sort of effort into hiding the relationship between them so he did try to not make it too obvious.
From his expression, he was basically saying that this was a secret only the two of them knew. Su Yu had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Did this fellow assume that he had secretly joined the single character faction?
And those two were not the only changes. Right after he sat down, another person appeared beside him.
Jia Mingzhen.
The little fatty wasn't too tall and looked good-natured. But Su Yu was very cautious toward him. This was the same person who had acted incredibly arrogant during the previous monthly examination.
He ate during the examination and even wiped his oily hand on Xia Chan's cloth. Everyone saw that and nobody dared to underestimate him.
Su Yu had barely spoken to him at all. When Jia Mingzhen sat down beside him, he flashed a friendly smile and said, "Student Jia, is there anything I can help you with?"
"Nothing."
When Jia Mingzhen saw Su Yu smiling at him, he smiled as well.
This brat...really looked like a good person when he was smiling. However, Jia Mingzhen knew very well that Su Yu was not a simple person. Just look at the single character faction. Even now, they were busy studying the fake formula Su Yu had supplied them. These two days, their researchers had been tortured so much by the fake formula that they felt like their brains were going to burst apart.
Su Yu smiled and said nothing else.
Jia Mingzhen wasn't able to stay silent so he said, "Su Yu, I heard you defeated Zheng Yunhui? You beat him up so badly that he has to stay in bed for a few days?"
"..."
That instantly attracted the attention of the entire class.
The expressions of Xia Chan, Wan Mingze, and the others changed. Was that true? Had Su Yu seriously injured Zheng Yunhui? Su Yu's heart thumped. His fight with Zheng Yunhui might not be a complete secret, but only the big shots of the academy were supposed to know.
The single character faction was aware of it. The Xia Family was aware of it. And some major players of the black market were aware of it as well. But how did this fellow know about it?
Su Yu did not let his shock show on his face. Instead, he assumed a confused expression and asked, "Student Jia, have you been listening to some unfounded rumors?"
He raised his voice, "Everyone, be wary of rumors. This is one bad habit of the academy I have noticed. Just yesterday, people were spreading rumors that my teacher had been killed. What a load of nonsense."
Su Yu spoke indignantly.
"If it wasn't for the fake that my teacher was magnanimous, I wouldn't have spared those who had spread that rumor. Is it very fun to spread news that someone is dead? We are all future cultural researchers. How can we involve ourselves in something so pointless? Student Jia, the same applies to you. Please keep my words in mind..."
Su Yu solemnly said, "What you did is exactly how fake rumors would start to spread. You heard about it. But who did you hear it from? Do not spread a rumor without being sure of its veracity. Don't spread fake news just for the sake of attention. This is not something a serious cultural researcher should do."
Jia Mingzhen was stunned. Wow, that was excellently done. The kid was able to instantly come up with a counter.
Jia Mingzhen smiled, "In that case, why is Zheng Yunhui missing..."
Before he could finish his words, his expression changed.
Next, a perfectly healthy Zheng Yunhui who was full of vigor stepped into the classroom.
Even Su Yu was shocked. Has he recovered? That was way too fast! Even Su Yu himself had yet to fully recover. This fellow's injuries were even heavier yet he had fully recovered?
Su Yu's shock did not last for long as he said, "Student Zheng Yunhui, someone is claiming that you have been seriously injured by me. After your defeat in my hands, you are nursing your injuries and won't be attending any classes. Why are you here?"
"..."
Zheng Yunhui blanked out slightly. When his gaze landed on Jia Mingzhen who was sitting beside Su Yu, he furiously said, "Which bastard is spreading fake news about me? Are you trying to die? Would I lose to someone like you?"
Zheng Yunhui was very unhappy.
He looked at Jia Mingzhen, snorted, and said, "Those scoundrels who are spreading fake news behind me should stop acting innocent. What are you guys trying to do? If you find me an eyesore, come have a fight with me. I'll be sure to beat you so badly you beg your granddaddy to stop beating you."
"..."
Jia Mingzhen's face fell. Well done. These two were actually working together to cover it up. But their lies wouldn't fool him. He knew exactly the type of people these kids were.
Jia Mingzhen smiled and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zheng Yunhui, "Zheng Yunhui, are you scolding me?"
"Am I?" Zheng Yunhui sneered, "I'm scolding the person who is spreading fake news about me. What can you do about it?"
Jia Mingzhen said with disdain, "I was merely clarifying the rumor I heard. Do I need your permission before speaking? I don't like to look for trouble, but that does not mean I fear trouble. Why are you so cocky? Do you want to face me in a ring? Sure, bring it on."
At that point, they had attracted the attention of every single student in the class. Everyone was enjoying the show. This was a conflict between Jia Mingzhen, the student with the best performance during the previous monthly examination and Zheng Yunhui, a powerful student.
Even Su Yu's interest was piqued. He also wanted to see the extent of Jia Mingzhen's strength. Zheng Yunhui would be the perfect person to test that fellow's strength.
But at that moment, Zheng Yunhui sneered, "Who are you to fight me? I will be challenging the Top 100 Ranking next month. Do you think you are worthy of challenging me just because of something like a monthly exam? Talk to me after you get in the top 100. If you can't, then you're garbage. And I don't waste my time competing against garbage. Even beating you up would stain my noble hands."
"..."
Jia Mingzhen was infuriated. Stain his noble hands? Why...was this brat so annoying?
Zheng Yunhui was no fool. Jia Mingzhen had easily taken first place during the Mark of Culture test. Why must he be the one to step forth and test this fellow's strength for others?
A smarter choice was to have this fellow challenge the top 100. That way, they would have the chance to see the true strength of this fellow.
Because of Zheng Yunhui’s declaration, nobody cared about the conflict between Zheng Yunhui and Jia Mingzhen anymore.
Wan Mingze asked in astonishment, "Yunhui, you're challenging the top 100 next month?"
"Yeah. What about it?" Zheng Yunhui smiled, "I'm already at the eighth-stage Great Strength Realm and 85 percent willpower. Is this not enough? Us of the Zheng Family are very straightforward. Since I feel like doing it, I'll do it. What's the point of acting like a turtle?"
Wan Mingze forced himself to smile and said, "Yunhui, not all of us are as strong as you."
Zheng Yunhui laughed and said, "Is that so? Is someone from Principal Wan's family so weak? You're even weaker than someone from the war academy? How embarrassing."
Wan Mingze frowned and said, "You're now a member of the cultural research academy."
"Yeah. So what?" Zheng Yunhui said, "I am from the cultural research academy while my entire family is from the war academy. What about it? I am going to become the first student of this batch to enter the top 100. What can you do about it? I am going to stand on top of you. What can you do about it?"
Wan Mingze's frown grew deeper.
He stared at Zheng Yunhui silently for a long while before saying, "Yunhui, since you're so confident, we'll see if you can actually get into the top 100."
"Of course I can." Zheng Yunhui said, "Apart from me, who among us can get into the top 100 this early? You guys?"
The moment this fellow arrived, he had insulted one person after another. He was incredibly arrogant. But he was also truly strong. Silence descended. The silence was suffocating. Nobody got involved in the argument between Zheng Yunhui and Wan Mingze. Even the other freaks were staying silent.
Meanwhile, Jia Mingzhen was cursing inwardly. This fellow was too cunning. He had challenged Zheng Yunhui, but the brat had claimed that he was unworthy of it to avoid the fight. Was this brat asking to get a sack thrown over him at night before being beaten up?
The little incident had caused everyone to forget about Su Yu. He was more than happy to see that. He took a glance at Jia Mingzhen cautiously. That fellow seemed really eager to fight Zheng Yunhui.
That was the case even after Zheng Yunhui revealed his strength. In that case, what was the meaning of that fellow's eagerness? What did that mean? Was he stronger than Zheng Yunhui?
"Zheng Yunhui's true strength is already comparable to a second-stage Infinite Strength cultivator. Is that fellow actually stronger?"
Su Yu took note of that.
As for himself, he was naturally still weaker than Zheng Yunhui. Of course, with blood essence, he could reach the strength of an Infinite Strength cultivator. But he was still rather weak in all other aspects. His Divine Characters, however, were quite strong for his level.
According to Su Yu's guess, he was probably around as strong as a first-stage Infinite Strength cultivator when all aspects were taken into consideration. Just because he could unleash the destructive prowess of a third-stage Infinite Strength cultivator would make him as strong as one.
"I think Dad is only a first-stage Infinite Strength cultivator..."
Suddenly, Su Yu had the urge to laugh. If his father was still around, perhaps he might emerge a victor in a fight between the two. He could even imagine the look of shock on his father's face after being defeated.
The bickering stopped after the instructor arrived.
With Zheng Yunhui's full recovery, news about Su Yu heavily injuring him had naturally become an unfounded rumor. Nobody took that seriously. Just look at how vigorous Zheng Yunhui was. He was already preparing to challenge the top 100 next month. How was that someone who had been seriously injured?
When the classes were over, Su Yu rushed out of the classroom and went downstairs before heading toward the corner of the building. Before long, Xia Huyou arrived there as well.
"Su Yu, you have no idea how difficult it was for me to gather all these for you..."
Xia Huyou started complaining, "Last night, I spent over eight trips to the various black market locations and Xia Trade Company branches, begging everyone and using all my connections before I can get everything you want. I spent hundreds of merit points just to bribe the relevant individuals to get all the transactions going..."
"Cut the crap."
Su Yu couldn't even be bothered to listen to all that. He accepted a suitcase and looked around before opening the suitcase. The moment he looked inside, his heart thumped in excitement.
There were numerous bottles in it.
"500 drops of Infinite Strength mountainbreak bull blood essence for 5,000 merit points. There are also samples of 399 drops of different Great Strength blood essence. I can't gather everything in such short notice. Some of them are very rare and come with unique usages so I spent 920 merit points for them. I'll give you a discount and charge you only 900 merit points."
Xia Huyou continued, "I don't have too many willpower texts yet. I only have 20 texts gathered, but some are worth more than 100 merit points. In total, they are worth 2,300 merit points. All in all, you owe me 8,200 merit points."
Xia Huyou then asked, "Do you want me to continue gathering blood essence and willpower texts? If you want more, you need to give me three more days."
"Yes. Keep gathering. There is no rush. I can wait a few more days."
Su Yu checked the stuff, but this time, he wasn't as strict as he had been during his first transaction with Xia Huyou. He had dealt with this fatty a few times now so a certain level of trust had been established between them.
Furthermore, this fellow had never asked for any down payment from him. He could pay after receiving the goods. Thus, it was much less risky for Su Yu to deal with Xia Huyou.
After paying 8,200 merit points, Su Yu had 11,800 merit points left. In the black market, 8,200 merit points were worth over 400 million dollars. With that much money, he had only bought such a small amount of resources.
It was lucky that cultivators generally did not use the regular currency. Otherwise, they could easily ruin the economy for the regular people.
Su Yu had never once imagined that a day would come when he would spend hundreds of millions of dollars just for some things that could only fit into a small suitcase. His father would probably go crazy if he heard about this.
And Su Yu was still only in the Great Strength Realm.
Even someone from a big family like Xia Huyou couldn't help saying, "Su Yu, you need to control your spending. Making money isn't easy. Even if you're strong enough to go to the Allheaven Battlefield and kill a Skysoar each day, you would only make around 100 merit points per day."
The money he had scammed from the single character faction came from the numerous Mountainsea and Cloudbreach experts they had. The money did not come from a single expert.
They were only so rich because of the high number of experts in their ranks. In fact, in the academy, it would be hard for even a Cloudbreach to take out 8,200 merit points in one go.
Chen Yong was an example of that. He was the head manager of the books depository. He was also a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. But he wouldn't be able to take out that much money at once. Not even Zhao Li could.
And Hu Youhui, the Cloudbreach expert that had excorted the convoy with Zhao Li back then wasn't able as well.
Even those Cloudbreach experts from the Myriad Race Cult weren't able to take out so much money alone. If they were so rich, they wouldn't have needed to take such a big risk and attack the student convoys in the first place.
Experts gained their strength from their supply of resources. Thus, they would mostly spend their money as soon as they earned some. Was Chen Yong poor? Was Zhao Li poor? Strictly speaking, they were rich.
If they were willing to sell their cultural weapons and cultivation methods and also spend their time writing willpower texts every single day, they would be extremely rich. But doing so would slow down their cultivation.