Chapter 288: Martial Technique Gained (1)
Defeat.
Su Yu had suffered a rather crushing defeat in Wan Mingze's hands. He sighed inwardly. Without relying on blood essence, he probably wouldn't even be Zhang Hao's match if he had to fight with only willpower and Divine Characters.
Wan Mingze, Hu Qiusheng, Zhang Hao...even Zheng Hong. He wasn't fully confident that he would be able to defeat Zheng Hong again if they had to fight a second time. Not one of these freaks could be underestimated.
Wan Mingze actually had three second tier Divine Characters. That was completely beyond Su Yu's expectations. He had not used the soul devouring bug blood essence during his fight with Wan Mingze since that thing was too conspicuous. It wasn't like he would win even if he used it.
Three sealing Divine Characters.
While Su Yu was deep in thought, Hu Qiusheng walked over with empathy and said, "A defeat does not matter. People like us can afford a defeat or two. That fellow is a freak. You must not know this but he formed his first Divine Character at nine. And he spent nine whole years only cultivating supportive Divine Characters. I really don't know what he's thinking."
Nine years!
Su Yu was shocked. He said, "But to form a Divine Character, he needs at least 10 percent willpower. He also needs to read a lot of books and learn a lot of knowledge..."
When he was nine, he was still in elementary school. He was still playing mud with a bunch of snotty brats.
"He is Principal Wan's grandnephew. From a young age, he has the principal as his role model. He grew up worshipping the principal. And the principal has high hopes for him as well, so he benefits from numerous private lessons from the principal.
"With all that, his talent, and a willingness to work hard, it is normal for him to be this impressive. Half the reason I'm here is him. I was supposed to study at the Knowledge Seeking Realm."
"Hmm?" Su Yu blanked out. Studying at the Knowledge Seeking Realm?
"There is an academy there as well." Hu Qiusheng explained, "Most of their students are the descendants of some big shots. There, even Eternal experts would occasionally hold some classes when they feel like it. These Eternal experts would also personally write those students some willpower texts. But it is definitely not easy to enter that academy. My family had been planning to send me over. But I learned that Wan Mingze is going to enter this academy so I came as well."
Su Yu was shocked. Classes from Invincible experts?
"Why...why hadn't he gone there?"
He also looked at Xia Chan and a few other people curiously. All these people were definitely able to enter that academy if they wanted to.
Hu Qiusheng said, "The Knowledge Seeking Realm might not necessarily be better. Comparatively, that place is much more peaceful. And that might not be good for growth."
"Peaceful?"
"Yes." Hu Qiusheng nodded, "After all, you have Invincible experts around. Internally, most students there only focus on studying independently. The competition there is not as intense. Life is easy and comfortable there, unlike this academy where everyone is busy competing against each other all the time. Just the Top 100 Ranking alone is akin to a battlefield."
Su Yu nodded in understanding. Everyone had their own choice. There was no right or wrong. He himself had thought of joining the Great Xia War Academy not long ago.
Hu Qiusheng said, "Therefore, like I said, a single defeat is nothing. You only need to be able to stand back up. You're very talented. I feel like you have more potential than even that fellow. He has spent nine years reaching his current level. How long have you been cultivating?"
The look in his eyes changed into amazement as he said, "Su Yu, you have probably only known about Divine Characters for like a year, right?"
Su Yu flashed his usual honest smile and said, "More than that, I think. Teacher Liu Wenyan is my first teacher. In truth, I already learned something a few years ago, but I have only properly formed a Divine Character not long ago."
Hu Qiusheng nodded. He was aware of that. Even so, he was still quite amazed with Su Yu's growth. Even if Su Yu had learned about Divine Characters for a few years, he had only started forming Divine Characters very recently. Thus, his growth had actually been quite terrifying.
A lot of people were more concerned about Wan Mingze, but he was more concerned about Su Yu. Su Yu was simply growing too fast.
Su Yu ended the conversation and walked toward Wan Mingze. The Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem was his sole goal, not the first place. A single defeat wasn't important. He had plenty of chances to face Wan Mingze again in the future.
"Brother Wan!"
Su Yu called out. Wan Mingze was in the middle of a conversation with a researcher. When the researcher saw Su Yu coming over, he gave Su Yu a friendly smile before walking away without saying anything.
Wan Mingze waited until Su Yu was near him before saying, "I'll receive the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem later. Su Yu, consider my previous offer. If you agree to join, I can give it to you for free."
Su Yu smiled and shook his head.
Wan Mingze sighed, but he didn't force the issue. He smiled again and said, "Fine. I'll have to take advantage of you then. A free entry into the Devil Battling Field for the book. I hope you won't regret it."
Su Yu replied, "I won.t The grotto won't run away. I only need to work hard for it. But the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem is my grandteacher's favourite collection that has been stolen."
"..."
Wan Mingze couldn't say anything about that. Everyone knew the true story of how the book got out. Even if Su Yu was trying to wipe his teacher's ass, there was no need for him to lie through his teeth like that.
Suddenly, Wu Lan walked over. Surprisingly, her head wasn't held high in pride this time. In fact, she was hanging her head dispiritedly.
She didn't even dare to make eye contact with Su Yu. She kept glancing left and right as she hesitated to speak. After a long while, with an expression that looked like she was about to cry, she asked, "You're at the sixth stage?"
Su Yu shook his head.
"Really?"
"Yeah." Su Yu solemnly said, "Zheng Yunhui is full of shit. Also, there is no need for you to compete against me in everything. Don't you have a higher willpower cultivation than me? Just aim to reach the Skysoar Realm as soon as possible. Women have always been at a disadvantage in physical cultivation compared to men. You are more suited for willpower cultivation."
"Willpower..."
Wu Lan muttered. Teacher Liu Hong had told her the same. Was she really not suited for physical cultivation?
Su Yu smiled, "Wu Lan. You are very talented. Your willpower is growing at an incredible speed. You have split your attention too much recently. Aim for the Skysoar Realm. At that time, you can forge your body with divine or devil blood essence for a powerful physical body as well."
"Of course!"
Once again, Wu Lan's head was held high with pride. Yes. She had always been very talented.
Her talent simply did not lie on physical cultivation. Su Yu was right. She needed to focus on willpower cultivation. Sure, her physical body might be weak now, but after reaching the Skysoar Realm, she could still strengthen her body with some divine or devil blood essence!
"Su Yu, I will reach the Skysoar Realm before you!"
Wu Lan declared arrogantly before leaving with her head held high. Did everyone hear that? Even Su Yu was saying that she was very strong and talented!
Wan Mingze laughed before shooting Wu Qi a glance. He said, "Wu Lan is really decently talented. But among those from the Wu Family, her elder sister is much more talented."
Su Yu also looked at Wu Qi. When he saw her conversing with Liu Hong, he asked in astonishment, "I thought she doesn't have a good relationship with Teacher Liu?"
"Don't think too much about it. In this entire room, Teacher Liu is probably the only person even capable of holding a conversation with her."
Wan Mingze's words seemed to hold some hidden meaning. Realization dawned on Su Yu. In Wu Qi's eyes, all those Cloudbreach and Skysoar cultivators present were nothing. She lived in an entirely different world from them. Geniuses had their own pride. In the entire room, Liu Hong was probably the only person worthy of conversing with her as an equal of sorts.
After a short while, Liu Hong ended the conversation with Wu Qi and walked over. He was holding a few items in his hands. One of them was a scroll. Su Yu's gaze landed on the scroll, but he maintained a calm expression.
Soon, Liu Hong reached them and said, "Congratulations. First place, Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem. Second place, soul stabilizing pill. Third place, an offensive Infinite Strength talisman with the destructive power of someone between the second and third stage of the Infinite Strength Realm.
"Those in the top 10 will be rewarded 10 merit points as well. These merit points can be added to your total earned merit."
For these people, 10 merit points weren't much. But they were all overjoyed to hear that these points would count as their total earned merit. At their level, there weren't many missions they could take. Thus, total earned merit points were very rare for them.
Su Yu hurriedly asked, "Is that applicable to us?"
Liu Hong smiled, "Of course. Even the five merit points you win per victory can all be counted as your total earned merit."
The students grew even happier upon hearing that. That was great!
Su Yu did a short calculation. He had fought five matches in total. He had lost the fight with Wan Mingze. There was also a match that he had not fought, the fight for second place with Hu Qiusheng. At that thought, he looked at Hu Qiusheng.
Then, he looked at Liu Hong and said, "Teacher, Hu Qiusheng and I still have a match, right? I think we should fight it, after all..."
Hu Qiusheng blanked out slightly before laughing.
Liu Hong narrowed his eyes and asked, "I thought the two of you had agreed to consider the fight a draw? That is the result we accepted. And the tournament is already over."
Su Yu felt regretful. In that case, he would be able to get 35 merit points this time. And all of them would count toward his total earned merit. That was actually a lot of points.
He suddenly understood why all these geniuses had participated. So the merit points here could increase their total earned merit. He had thought that they would only receive some regular rewards.
After doing a short calculation, Su Yu found that including his reward for last month’s examination and his pay as a class monitor, his total earned merit had reached 103 points. That should be the case, right?
And with his recently earned 35 points, he now had 138 total earned merit points.
The next monthly examination was going to be held in the afternoon. If he could get first place, he would probably be able to push his total earned merit to 150 points after getting his class monitor pay for the month as well.
One needed 200 total earned merit points to enter the Devil Battling Field. This was too difficult for new students.
Even the Source Qi Secret Grotto wasn't easy to enter. Previously, Su Yu was probably the only new student to have ever entered. But after this tournament, there would probably be more new students entering that grotto. After all, Wan Mingze and the others had earned quite a lot of merit points this time.
Wan Mingze did not say anything else and handed the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem to Su Yu. He said, "That's agreed, then. We only need to finalize the transfer later."
"Sure."
Su Yu nodded and took a look at the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem and felt the texture of the book, wondering if it was really made of silkwrym thread.
But this was a public tournament. It was unlikely that they would give out a fake reward. This wasn't supposed to be a valuable item, anyway. With the book in hand, Su Yu was relieved.
As for the rewards for the second and third places, he picked the talisman as his reward. Hu Qiusheng was quite generous as he even gave Su Yu 20 merit points as the other reward was slightly more valuable.
All in all, he had earned 55 merit points and a talisman from this tournament. That was actually quite a decent harvest. No, that was an excellent harvest.
But Su Yu's standards had also increased considerably as of late. For him, 55 merit points were no longer a lot. Thus, for him, the merit points weren't the main rewards of the tournament.
It was worth noting that this wasn't a tournament that would be frequently held. It was only held with the intention of giving the new students some benefits in the first place. The old students would not waste their time on tournaments and focus on the Top 100 Ranking instead.
With the tournament over, the crowd started leaving the Secret Character Hall. They still needed to take their monthly examination later so they had to go back and rest before the examination.
For the senior class in particular, the contents of this month's examination would be different from the previous month's. Since there was no point asking about the contents of the examination, Su Yu did not waste his time and rushed back to the research center.
First underground floor.
Storeroom.
Nowadays, the storeroom had quite a lot of treasures, such as blood essence and willpower texts. These all belonged to Su Yu. As for Bai Feng, he was too poor to have anything to store in the storeroom.
Su Yu placed the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem in the storeroom as well. He was quite excited while doing so. He was in no rush to study it. He would do it when he came back later.
Additionally, he also had to buy some silkwrym blood essence. According to the suanni's words, he would need the blood essence to unlock the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem. But it would only remain unsealed for a period of time.
"Heaven-grade martial technique!"
Su Yu inhaled deeply. What a treasure. Looking at the book, he resisted the urge to study it immediately and left reluctantly. He went to the filter room and started letting his willpower recover. He still had a monthly examination in the afternoon, after all.