Chapter 298: The Grotto Is Closed Again (1)
Inside the small building.
The two old men were completely speechless.
This kid had visited four times in the span of one month. Couldn't he take a break or something? Wasn't he already a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator? Was he aiming to enter the Infinite Strength Realm immediately?
"Su Yu, your acupoints are filled with impurities. If you keep advancing, you will have a hard time fusing your acupoints at the Infinite Strength Realm. Your acupoints will repel each other strongly. Even if you can enter the Infinite Strength Realm, you would be stuck at the first stage. This would also affect your future growth," Old Huang reminded.
He started cursing at Bai Feng inwardly. What an unreliable teacher! Why was he not concerned with his student at all? It wasn't that they didn't want Su Yu to break through, but with so much impurities in his source qi, he would probably be able to fuse no more than two acupoints after reaching the Infinite Strength Realm. He would become the weakest type of Infinite Strength cultivator.
Even if he could enter the Skysoar realm with his willpower and reforge his body, the negative effects of such a hasty breakthrough would still be extremely troublesome to deal with.
After all, he had entered the Infinite Strength Realm by fusing only two acupoints. Even after reforging his body, he would still have a weaker body than the other cultivators.
Upon hearing their words, Su Yu smiled. This time, he was smiling earnestly. Old Huang was saying all that out of kindness.
He said, "Teacher Huang, I understand. I won't do anything stupid. My acupoints are no longer filled with impurities."
"..."
Old Huang said, "Kid, you already have 108 acupoints opened. I checked previously and saw with my own eyes how much impurities you have. You need at least half a year to cleanse your acupoints if you want to enter the Infinite Strength Realm safely. Why pursue short term gains and ruin your own future?"
Old Nie also said, "The path of cultivation is long. Just because you are ahead now does not mean that you can be ahead in the future. Are you in a rush to enter the Top 100 Ranking? What's the big deal about that ranking? So what if you aren't on it?"
"No, that's really not the case." Su Yu bashfully said, "Teachers, I am not a shortsighted person. Is there anyone here?"
The two old men were speechless. Old Huang rolled his eyes and said, "Yes. The three of us."
"Cough, cough. Teacher I mean apart from us."
"No."
That word had barely left Old Huang's mouth when his eyes widened in shock. Standing in front of him was a brilliantly shining Su Yu. The acupoints in his body were shining like bright stars, illuminating his entire body.
Old Huang's mouth was agape with shock. Was someone messing around with him? He had witnessed with his own eyes how much impurities there were in this kid's body. It hadn't been that long but this kid had already cleansed his acupoints to this extent?
Old Nie crushed the teapot in his hand. That was the teapot from Hong Tan's private collection he had bought from the black market. He had always treasured the teapot yet he didn't even notice that it had been crushed in his hand.
Both of them stared at Su Yu in astonishment. What was going on? They had thought that Su Yu could do nothing to shock them anymore. After all, they were already used to how insanely talented the kid was. But today, they were once again stunned.
"Su Yu...this..."
Su Yu smiled, "Teachers, like I said, my source qi is very pure."
The two stared at him in stupefaction. Damn it. Was this pure? No! This was more than pure! This was flawless source qi! But how did the kid do this?
The old man kept staring at Su Yu until Su Yu withdrew his shiny source qi before asking, "How did you do this? I know it's a secret. Are you selling it? I want to give it a try as well."
Old Nie coughed awkwardly.
Old Huang ignored his old partner and continued saying, "This secret of yours is working too well! Just how many days have it been? You have taken such a short period of time to finish purifying your source qi."
Su Yu smiled, "Teacher, this is a secret of the multiple character faction. If you're interested, why don't you join us?"
"..."
Old Huang was rendered speechless. Screw that! The multiple character faction was basically a trap. He would rather die than join them.
"Whatever." Old Hung said, "You definitely have your own secret. Multiple character faction? Bullshit. Bai Feng has been here many times before. Do you think I don't know him? Multiple character faction's secret? Bullshit!"
"Forget it if you don't want to tell me." He paused slightly and smiled, "Su Yu, is the multiple character faction accepting external retainers? I am talking about those that will be paid without the need to do anything. Try to ask your teacher or martial uncle. If we are willing to become your external retainer, would you be willing to share some of the secrets with us?"
"..."
This time, Su Yu was the one rendered speechless. These two were truly funny. He also wanted a job like that. Maybe they should introduce a job like that to him instead? Was the single character faction accepting external retainers? He definitely wouldn't mind becoming their external retainer.
Suddenly, Su Yu curiously asked, "Teacher Huang and Teacher Nie, which faction do you belong to?"
"Us?" Old Huang laughed and answered, "We come from the leisure and free faction. Factions? None of that matters to us. We are only focused on our own cultivation. Back when the multiple character faction ran the academy, when the single character faction was still not an independent faction, we are already here. We have been minding our own business here and before we know it, we have reached the Cloudbreach Realm."
As for what happened next, it was simple. Since they were already Cloudbreach cultivators, why would they care about all those factions? Could those factions help them enter the Mountainsea Realm?
If the answer was yes, then they wouldn't mind joining. But if the answer was no, forget it. They would continue minding their own business. As long as the factions leave them alone, everything would be fine.
"Teachers, what...is your strength?"
Old Huang smiled, "Curious? This is a secret. Why don't we exchange secrets?"
Su Yu laughed dryly and decided to forget about it. He was only curious about why two Cloudbreach cultivators would spend their time guarding a grotto. Sure, this grotto was important. But these two were not weak. Why would the academy need them here? Would anyone dare to intrude upon the grotto within academy grounds?
When Old Huang saw Su Yu's expression, he smiled, "Why are you asking this? Are you looking down on our job? This is a job that many people dream for. We have relied on our strength and defeated countless competitors to get this job."
Old Huang smiled happily and said, "Kid, this is the Source Qi Secret Grotto. There is no lack of source qi here. We can absorb as much as we want. The Source Qi Secret Grotto is something formed from an Eternal character. Here, we can study it everyday. Here, we can study the Divine Character of a Sunmoon every single day."
"Cough, cough!"
Old Nie hurriedly interrupted his friend.
Old Huang also realized that he had said too much. He cleared his throat and said, "I was just kidding. We are here because we love our job. We are happy to sacrifice ourselves for the masses. We are definitely not secretly researching the Divine Character of a Sunmoon cultivator."
Su Yu laughed. He finally understood. In that case, this was indeed an excellent job. They could absorb as much source qi as they wanted here and could even study the Eternal character left by a Sunmoon anytime they wanted.
At that thought, he asked, "Teachers, why are the Divine Characters of Sunmoon cultivators called Eternal characters? How about the characters of actual Eternal cultivators?"
"Eternal cultivators?" Old Huang asked in astonishment, "Did Bai Feng not tell you this? Eternal cultural researchers do not exist."
"..."
Su Yu was stunned.
What? Wasn't the Knowledge Seeking Realm filled with Invincibles? Wasn't Invincible the same as Eternal? Why would they say that Eternal cultural researchers don't exist? Wasn't the fifth principal on the verge of reaching the Eternal Realm as well? Why say that the Eternal Realm didn't exist, then?
From Su Yu's expression, Old Huang could see that the kid really had no idea. He explained, "Are you wondering about the Knowledge Seeking Realm? Yes, there are a lot of Invincibles there. There are also a lot of cultural researchers there. But every single one of them has entered the Invincible Realm through physical cultivation.
"True cultural researchers need to advance through their willpower cultivation, not physical cultivation. But not one human cultural researcher has ever reached the Invincible Realm through willpower cultivation. Most would choose to start cultivating their physical body at peak Sunmoon Realm to enter the Invincible Realm."
"Thus, no Eternal cultural researchers exist. Of course, all those old freaks in the Knowledge Seeking Realm were peak Sunmoon cultural researchers back then. They had subsequently entered the Invincible Realm through physical cultivation. I guess in a way, you can consider them as Invincible cultural researchers as well."
Su Yu blinked and asked, "In that case, Sunmoon Realm is the end of the path of cultural research?"
"Yes." Old Huang nodded, "In truth, the fifth principal was the first cultural researcher with the hope to enter the Invincible Realm through willpower cultivation. If he had attempted a physical cultivation breakthrough instead, he would have probably succeeded. What a pity."
He sighed regretfully.
Su Yu was even more shocked to learn that. There were actually no Invincible cultural researchers in existence? Was the path of cultural research so unreliable?
"Teacher, in that case...are cultural researchers still valuable?"
"What stupid question is that?" Old Huang said, "Those old monsters in the Knowledge Seeking Realm had all risen to prominence through willpower cultivation. Upon advancing into the Eternal Realm through physical cultivation, their strength is even stronger than those old monsters from the War Shrine.
"There might be some limitations blocking us from entering the Eternal Realm through willpower cultivation. The Knowledge Seeking Realm has been researching this issue for many years. An expert once mentioned that the problem might be related to how we develop our sea of willpower. The human race might lack something important, resulting in a flawed sea of willpower."
Su Yu blinked. Lacking something important? What was that? Divine Character? Or the racial ability character?
Su Yu's heart thumped. That couldn't be the case, right? His teacher had been researching the racial ability character recently. He had heard Bai Feng talking about it many times already.
According to Bai Feng, the human race might have a special Divine Character that was formed innately. But for some reason, that character had remained hidden in the sea of willpower.
"Teacher...what is the thing we lack?"
Old Huang rolled his eyes, "How am I supposed to know that? If I knew that, I would be an Invincible cultivator already. In any case, a cultural researcher would generally switch to physical cultivation after reaching peak Sunmoon Realm. But don't get discouraged. Even with physical advancement, we will still be stronger than those pure warriors."
Su Yu nodded. He still hadn't fully recovered from his shock. Lacking something...resulting in the absence of an actual Invincible cultural researcher. Everyone would switch to physical cultivation at peak Sunmoon Realm.
That was why the Divine Characters of Sunmoon cultivators could also be known as Eternal characters. Because true Eternal characters did not exist.
Lacking something…