Chapter 260: Milking The Academy (1)
This was Su Yu's third visit to the Source Qi Secret Grotto.
The world spun around him and he appeared in a familiar place. It was the same crude marked zone with the dilapidated signboard. As it was late at night, the Great Strength zone was empty.
Su Yu took a short moment to get used to his new environment before he started walking out of the zone with a smile on his face. He was not planning to stay in this tiny zone.
Sure enough, the moment he crossed the marked line, the pressure on him increased. But the ambient source qi became thicker as well.
Source qi constantly entered his body, filling the empty acupoints. The moment the acupoints were filled to saturation, one's acupoints would start swelling and hurting. That was a sign that one would need to leave the grotto. And that was why each visitor could only remain in this grotto for a limited period of time.
The large grotto was deathly silent and empty. He only stopped when he was around a kilometer away from the Great Strength zone. The pressure was getting too strong for him. He could feel that here, his source qi absorption was at least 50 percent faster than before. If he continued forward, he would probably reach the Infinite Strength zone.
He was surrounded by white mist on all sides. The white mist was basically source qi that was dense enough to assume the form of mist. Su Yu was rather shocked to see this. Perhaps if he went deeper, he would encounter source qi that had already liquified. And liquified source qi was basically source qi liquid.
"I'll stop here."
He looked around to ensure that nobody was near him. He didn't know how many cultivators were in the grotto at the moment, but there shouldn't be that many. After all, it wasn't cheap to enter and it was late at night.
After checking his surroundings, he sat down cross-legged and started cultivating. He did not use his blood essence right away. He opened his suitcase, revealing a few pills. These were healing pills. He had obtained them from Xia Huyou.
The moment he swallowed one of the pills, the pill melted. He could sense his broken bones rapidly healing. The pill was working well. The slight pain constantly coming from the wounds on his body was replaced by a refreshing sensation. Gradually, he stopped feeling pain.
"Sure enough, as long as you're rich, injuries are nothing. How about Senior Sister?"
Su Yu thought about the senior sister he had never met before. It was reasonable to assume that no matter how poor Chen Yong was, he shouldn't be so poor that he couldn't afford any healing pills.
That was especially true after he received the merit points from Su Yu. And Chen Yong did not look like a stingy person either. He wouldn't have given Su Yu the mythic destruction beast skull otherwise. That could only mean one thing. Su Yu's senior sister had sustained injuries so grave that she needed three months to heal despite the usage of healing items.
"Huang Qifeng!"
After cursing at that name one last time, Su Yu tossed all thoughts out of his mind and focused on his cultivation.
He was in no rush to consume the other blood essence. After all, he only had a drop of each type. Thus, he wouldn't be able to use the new abilities even if he did end up activating new pages with them. Thus, he would first focus on opening more acupoints.
A drop of mountainbreak bull blood essence was consumed. The Body Strengthening Art activated once again, opening over 100 temporary acupoints. These acupoints started taking in large amounts of source qi, tempering the acupoints in his body.
"Just how many acupoints does the human body have?"
Looking at the temporary acupoints, Su Yu was curious. Just how many acupoints were there in a human body?
Also, the Body Strengthening Art was a cultivation method of the mountainbreak bull. Logically speaking, the acupoints of the mountainbreak bulls were different from human acupoints. But for some reason, he was able to cultivate the Body Strengthening Art. In that case...could he assume that this version of Body Strengthening Art had already been altered to suit the human body?
"If that's the case..."
Su Yu started considering the feasibility of actually teaching this cultivation method to other humans.
Generally, when humanity obtained new myriad race cultivation methods, they would require countless cultural researchers to study, analyze and alter the cultivation methods into versions suitable for human use. Each cultivation method required countless time and work.
After all, the locations of acupoints vary by race, and each race had their own way of naming their acupoints. Thus, altering a myriad race cultivation method for human use was most certainly not an easy task.
"If there is a chance, I should consider getting a Body Strengthening Art or Source Swallowing Technique and see how it differs from the version I'm using."
He had been relying on his book to directly open those acupoints for him. Thus, he had not seen a proper copy of those cultivation methods. Perhaps their activation might be different from his activation.
While thinking about all that, he took out the Skybreak Technique. The Skybreak Technique had six moves in total. The first three moves were Wallbreaker, Life Reaper, and Source Break. The first three moves required 48 acupoints and were suitable for Great Strength cultivators.
The third move, Source Break, was an interesting move. It gathered the strength of 48 acupoints into a single point, aiming to send source qi into the acupoints of his opponents, damaging their source qi circulation before killing them.
"Is this the move Teacher used that day?"
Su Yu suddenly thought of something. During Bai Feng's visit to Nanyuan, he killed a Skysoar cult member. That Skysoar's acupoints had been damaged, resulting in a leakage of source qi, allowing Bai Feng to easily kill him.
Su Yu had no idea how Bai Feng had done that, but now, he was slowly starting to understand. Bai Feng had used the Source Break move.
Of course, the premise of using that move successfully on the cultist was sufficient understanding of the Divine Skywing Technique used by the Divine Skywing Sect. Only then would he be able to pick a weak acupoint he could send his source qi into, instantly destroying his opponent's source qi circulation.
"I see."
While reading the Skybreak Technique, he continued working on his acupoints. Before long, his 67th acupoint started blinking. A few minutes later, the acupoint opened with a rumble. After leaving the Great Strength zone, his acupoint opening speed was much faster. The surrounding source qi constantly surged toward him, creating a small source qi tornado around him.
At the same time.
Around a kilometer away from Su Yu, inside the Infinite Strength zone.
A young man was seated cross-legged, absorbing source qi rapidly. The young man had a handsome face and an aquiline nose. He had a rather cold look in his eyes. Suddenly, he frowned as he looked in Su Yu's direction.
"There's someone there?"
The young man muttered curiously, but he didn't give it much thought. He was only slightly curious, wondering if a newcomer had moved over from the Great Strength zone. He had opted to cultivate late at night because he wanted to avoid disturbances during his cultivation. It would seem like he wasn't the only person with this idea.
"Whoever that person is, they won't be able to stay for long. I can just ignore them."
There was no need for him to be too bothered about someone coming over from the Great Strength zone. Someone like that would probably leave after around an hour. Furthermore, that person was still quite far away from him so he wasn't too concerned.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was completely unaware of the existence of that youth. The source qi around him was too dense while his willpower wasn't strong enough for him to sense that far away.
After about 10 minutes, he consumed the second drop of blood essence. The Body Strengthening Art was activated once again, helping him absorb source qi at a speed comparable to the youth in the Infinite Strength zone.
As for the matter of comprehending the grotto mentioned by Old Huang, Su Yu was in no rush to do that. He would focus on opening acupoints first. In any case, he was planning to stay here for quite a while. He had 500 drops of blood essence to consume. His cultivation session was just starting.
A few minutes later, he consumed another drop of blood essence. When he sensed his 68th acupoint showing signs of opening, joy covered his face.
Inside the small room.
Time passed slowly.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Suddenly, Old Huang said, "Oh, by the way, Zhan Hai has been inside the Infinite Strength zone for quite a while, right?"
Old Nie nodded, "Yeah. About two hours."
Old Huang said, "That kid is truly talented. I wonder when that kid would choose to enter the SKysoar Realm. He is quite ambitious. He aims to let his body reach the Skysoar Realm first before pushing his willpower into the Skysoar Realm as well."
Old Nie said, "You can't force something like that. It isn't necessarily a good idea to keep suppressing your cultivation. People like Bai Feng are still strong despite not doing so. It might not be worth it to suppress your willpower advancement just to gain a stronger body."
Old Huang nodded.
But that wasn't the main reason he mentioned Zhan Hai. He curiously asked, "Who do you think will come out first? Zhan Hai or Su Yu?"
"Probably around the same time." Old Nie smiled, "Zhan Hai is already a ninth-stage Infinite Strength cultivator. Although his source qi absorption speed is high, he has more opened acupoints and a stronger body, allowing him to take in more source qi. Su Yu is still in a stage of rapid progress. He can extend his duration in the grotto by opening more acupoints. Thus, they would probably come out at around the same time."
Old Huang said, "I think Su Yu might be able to stay longer. But that isn't important. I wonder if Su Yu will have the chance to fight Zhan Hai. After all, Zhan Hai is already near the Skysoar Realm. He probably won't stay at the top of the Top 100 Ranking for long. Do you think Su Yu would have the chance to challenge him before he leaves the Top 100 Ranking?"
"Nope." Old Nie answered confidently. "Zhan Hai would probably advance in no less than six months. At that point, he would have no choice but to advance even if his body is still not in the Skysoar Realm yet. As for Su Yu, his growth is fast. I even suspect he can reach the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm and at least 70 percent willpower in half a year. I am confident he can get into the top 70 or even 60."
That was a very high evaluation.
Even six months later, Su Yu would still be a new student who had only joined the academy for about eight months. Thus, Old Nie was looking very highly upon Su Yu to say that Su Yu could reach the top 70 or 60 in such a short period of time.
In fact, every student capable of entering the top 100 in one year could be considered a freak. Generally, these students would stay at the bottom of the top 100 for some time. Old Nie had only given Su Yu such a high evaluation due to his previous performance.
But the top 60 was still too far away from first place. Zhan Hai was someone who had fought a Skysoar and had not lost. Su Yu was still very far away from an opponent like that.
"Top 60?" Old Huang smiled, "I think he can even reach the top 50. As long as his combat strength is similar to mid Infinite Strength cultivators, he will have the chance to enter the top 50. With his Divine Characters, willpower, and blood essence, he is probably as strong as a first-stage Infinite Strength cultivator right now."
"But that's due to his blood essence." Old Nie shook his head, "Unless they come up with stronger blood essence, it wouldn't be too helpful for him in the long run. And when Su Yu reaches the Infinite Strength Realm, it would be even more useless."
Old Huang found himself agreeing with Old Nie. Su Yu and Zhan Hai would probably not meet each other in the Top 100 Ranking.
Zhan Hai would definitely reach the Skysoar Realm in half a year. As for Su Yu, just reaching the top 50 was enough to make him a super freak.
"Sixteen drops of blood essence for only five acupoints?"
After an hour of cultivation, Su Yu appeared rather dissatisfied. The source qi here was dense. But even after using sixteen drops of blood essence, he had only opened five acupoints. He still needed one acupoint to reach the sixth stage.
"Continue!"
He inhaled deeply and consumed another drop of blood essence. His 72nd acupoint was blinking constantly. After an unknown amount of time, the 72nd acupoint opened with a rumble. Large amount of source qi entered his body, linking all 72 of his acupoints. The 12 acupoints of the sixth stage joined with the other acupoints, forming a proper circulation route.
With the Body Strengthening Art, Su Yu could feel his body growing stronger and stronger. He even felt like his entire body had been compressed to give him more explosive strength.
Sixth-stage Great Strength Realm!
After less than two months in the academy, he had finally reached the peak of the middle Great Strength Realm.
"Continue! Seventh-stage Great Strength Realm!"
Su Yu was greatly encouraged by his advancement. He had only used 20 drops of blood essence so far. He still had a lot of blood essence remaining. He merrily continued opening acupoints.
But the advancement from the sixth to the seventh stage was also a transformation from the middle to the late stage. Thus, he could clearly feel that each blood essence consumed would last shorter now. But his source qi absorption was also much faster than before.
Infinite Strength zone.
Zhan Hai opened his eyes once again. He had a frown on his face. He could feel the source qi near him being pulled away.
That person was still around? Furthermore, the effect of that person’s cultivation seemed to be spreading. Even the source qi near him was starting to be affected.
"Who exactly is that person?"
An absorption speed like this would not come from a regular Great Strength cultivator. That was most likely a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator who was preparing to enter the Infinite Strength Realm.
If that was a student below 30, then that was most likely a student in the top 100. But if that student was above 30, then it would be much harder for him to narrow down the potential suspects.
"Forget it. I won't bicker with you about this."
Zhan Hai stood up and walked further away. That person was probably trying to enter the Infinite Strength Realm. He couldn't be bothered to get involved with that person. He only wanted to cultivate without disturbance. He had no issue going further away and let that person monopolize the source qi here.
Not long after Zhan Hai left, Su Yu opened his eyes.
"The source qi density here is quite high, but I feel like it's still within my limit. Should I go somewhere with thicker source qi?"
With the Body Strengthening Art, he was able to cultivate at the speed of a regular Infinite Strength cultivator. And he still wasn't in the Infinite Strength zone. Although the source qi here was thick, the speed here was still quite slow for him.
At that thought, he stood up and walked further away. After about 300 meters, he sat down cross-legged and resumed his cultivation. Consuming blood essence, opening acupoints, and reading. He was growing incessantly while his supply of blood essence was dropping without stopping.