Chapter 31: You Are Mine (1)
Bai Feng's words had opened a brand new world for Su Yu. He had too many questions to ask and too many things to say.
But Bai Feng did not give him the chance to ask more. "Are you going to continue asking these questions? Martial Uncle did not send you here to ask these simple questions. These are the things you can learn just by entering the academy."
Su Yu blanked out. True, the lesson of an assistant researcher had a fee of five merit points per hour. Wouldn't it be a waste for him to ask all those questions?
Beside him, Liu Yue grew slightly excited as she softly asked, "Teacher Bai, c-can you help us with Divine Character formation?"
Su Yu was confused. What did that mean? Liu Wenyan had not told him about that before. He had no idea what Liu Wenyan was talking about. Bai Feng smiled.
"Looks like you know about this. How about you, Su Yu? Has Martial Uncle not taught you this before?"
"No." Su Yu softly said, "Teacher Bai, Divine Character formation...what does that mean?"
Bai Feng said, "Divine Character is a term. It has nothing to do with the divine race. Rather, this is a term referring to written characters of the myriad languages with unique powers in them.
"People like us are known as cultural researchers. You saw how we fought before. But that wasn't our strongest form. Of course, your instructor has freshly broken through, so he's still not very familiar with some aspects of being a cultural researcher."
Evidently, that was why Liu Wenyan had opted to use a straightforward method during the combat yesterday: willpower manipulation.
"Divine Character formation is the most important subject in the academy. With your willpower, you can form the character you want, gain control over it, and raise it. One day, perhaps after willpower materialization, you will be able to complete the formation of your Divine Character. At that point, a single character can cause the world to tremble.
"There are numerous Divine Characters in existence. Or to be precise, any character in existence can become your Divine Character. You need to comprehend the meaning of the character, comprehend it with your very heart, accept it, nourish it, embrace it, even if there is a possibility that you might not be able to use it in your entire life.
"A cultural researcher without his own Divine Character is not a qualified cultural researcher. Among cultural researchers, such individuals are weaklings." Looking at Su Yu, Bai Feng smiled, "Are you confused?"
"Somewhat." Su Yu felt awkward. He had not been aware of any of that.
"After entering the academy, most of your classes, including your language classes, will be taught by the other students of the academy. That is how they earn their merit points. As for the Divine Character formation class, it can only be taught by actual cultural researchers.
"Your instructor might have told you before. It isn't cheap to get us to teach. This is the main reason. You'll understand after I show you something."
Immediately after, Su Yu felt the air around him turning heavy. An incorporeal power erupted from Bai Feng's body. A familiar character slowly took shape in the air. That was a character of the divine language. Su Yu had learned the divine language before, so he knew this character. It was as though someone invisible was writing the character in thin air. One stroke at a time, the character took form.
Gather!
Su Yu recognized it. That was the character “gather” written in the divine language. The character hovered in the air, shining with a gentle glow. This wasn't the Divine Character that Bai Feng had been nurturing. Rather, it was something he had created on the spot. Gale erupted all around them.
Whoosh!
The air trembled as the furniture around them shook, as though an earthquake was happening.
"Chu!"
Bai Feng roared. That was how “gather” was pronounced in the divine language. Right that moment, Su Yu sensed something different. Liu Yue might not be able to sense it, but he could. He could sense the gathering of source qi around the character! As he had actively absorbed source qi before, he could sense the difference in the air even though those in the Source Opening Realm weren't supposed to do so
Whoosh!
The air trembled. Suddenly, Liu Yue cried out in surprise. The air around them had been emptied of source qi. In the blink of an eye, a drop of milky white liquid had appeared before Bai Feng.
"Source qi liquid!"
Liu Yue was greatly shocked. Su Yu had never seen any source qi liquid before. But after hearing Liu Yue's words, he was stunned as well.
Source qi liquid!
Something worth a hundred thousand dollars per drop, something a Skysoar cultivator needed three days to form. Something like that had been formed in mere moments right in front of him.
"Nanyuan's source qi density is too low, so this can't be considered a proper source qi liquid. It is probably only half as efficient." Bai Feng exhaled lightly, looking somewhat tired. "This isn't my own Divine Character. Everyone has limited energy, so it is impossible for one person to nurture too many Divine Characters. This is something I've just drawn out as a demonstration.
"What you saw, the gathering of source qi, is one of the unique functions of Divine Characters. When you discover the unique properties of a character, you can start trying to form it as well. Naturally, the same characters will work differently when formed by different people. I can use this character to gather source qi. Some other person might be able to use it to kill. This is what it means to be a cultural researcher."
With a smile on his face, Bai Feng moved the drop of source qi liquid into a bottle with a wave of his hand before casually tossing the bottle over to Su Yu.
Su Yu was caught by complete surprise. He felt both excited and uneasy as he said, "T-teacher Bai, this is too expensive..."
Even though this drop of source qi liquid wasn't as good as a proper drop, it was still half as effective as a regular drop. With the price of a hundred thousand per drop, this drop with reduced efficiency would probably be worth fifty or sixty thousand dollars.
"Take it. It's something I casually made anyway." Bai Feng did not seem to mind. "This drop was made with the source qi of Nanyuan. If I dare take it away, Martial Uncle will probably be unhappy. So you can have it. This isn't a big deal for me. The liquid is only helpful for you since you're in the Source Opening Realm. At my cultivation level, that one drop can't do anything."
Bai Feng moved on from the topic and said, "Liu Yue wants to learn Divine Character formation, but that is actually beyond your ability. You still don't know the myriad languages well enough.
"You might think you know a lot after mastering ten or twenty languages. But you have not seen an original text before. You have not seen the true appearances of these characters, and neither have you seen the characters written by actual experts. That is why you haven't been able to discover the power behind these characters despite your years of study.
"A different character will give you a different feeling when written by a different person. Therefore, each character will also give you a different inspiration. Perhaps you won't feel anything special reading an original text written by a Great Strength cultivator. But when you read something written by a Mountainsea cultivator, you might find the same text containing boundless knowledge in it."
Bai Feng's expression turned stern, "When fully nourished, Divine Characters formed by willpower may even manifest in the world, turning into godly weapons.
"In the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, 180 years ago when the third principal passed away, he left the character "battle" written in the devil language behind. That character transformed into a unique grotto of the academy: the Devil Battling Field."
"Devil Battling Field!" Liu Yue exclaimed in shock. Beside her, Su Yu was feeling very useless. He was angry at himself for knowing nothing.
Bai Feng solemnly said, "Exactly. That is a treasure of the academy, something the various war academies long to enter. A single character has transformed into a pocket realm suitable for those below the Skysoar Realm to cultivate in.
"Practical combat experience can be gained inside. In the Devil Battling Field, numerous devil soldiers will appear. War formations, experts, and all sorts of combat scenarios can be experienced. In there, you can fight them like they are the actual devils. You can make use of your intelligence and your strength to fight and spill their blood, preparing yourself for your future entry into the Allheaven Battlefield.
"115 years ago, the fourth principal of the academy passed away. He left behind the character "source" written in the divine language, forming another grotto: Source Qi Secret Grotto. That grotto is similar in function with the character "gather" I wrote before. However, that grotto can exist forever, unlike my character that will only exist temporarily.
"In the Source Qi Secret Grotto, you can experience dense source qi, increasing your cultivation speed. The academy has a lot of such grottos. Some have been given to the war academies in Great Xia, and some were kept for themselves."
A look of reverence covered Bai Feng's face as he softly said, "One person will only have so much energy to spare. Most people will focus on one Divine Character that is most suitable for them. The ultimate goal would be to materialize the character in the real world, granting it eternal existence.
"Of course, you will learn all this in the academy. But since you've asked about this, I won't be holding back. Like I promised, you can ask me anything.
"Today, I'll teach you how to form a Divine Character. Naturally, just knowing how to write a character does not equal the ability to form it as a Divine Character. Prior to willpower materialization, Divine Character formation isn't a simple affair. You will be writing the character in your mind instead of actually writing it on paper."
Su Yu's eyes lit up. Divine Character formation! No wonder his instructor had told him that Bai Feng's class was worth a lot. So this was the reason. Even without Bai Feng telling him, he would be able to guess how difficult it was to form a Divine Character. A large amount of willpower would be exhausted. He could see that Bai Feng's face was still slightly pale from the Divine Character he had formed earlier. Clearly, that hadn't been an easy process for him.
"Your willpower is still weak. You won't be able to form a full character. Just form a partial character and meditate on it while slowly improving it. You've learned many different languages. But the most important language for you will still be the human language. That is the language you know best. Thus, we will begin with human language. Since you've never seen the version of these characters that were written by human experts, I'll do it for you today."
With a wave of Bai Feng's hand, a sheet of paper appeared. Without any pen in hand, he stared at the paper before letting out a long breath. "Truly powerful characters are all embedded with willpower. Thus, not anyone can write these characters. Some people can't even write them even after entering the Skysoar Realm. You're probably most familiar with the Source Opening Codex. Today, I'll write a copy of the Source Opening Codex."
Bai Feng reached out, but he did not actually touch the paper. Rather, he started writing in the air. The tip of his finger glowed with a bright golden light. Once again, Su Yu sensed source qi gathering. He could even sense the movement of willpower. Bai Feng's expression was solemn, wielding his finger like a sword.
There are nine acupoints in the Source Opening Realm...
At the first sentence, the paper started showing signs of disintegration. It did not seem capable of withstanding the power of these characters. Golden light erupted from Bai Feng's palm. The light covered the paper, stabilizing it.
"Without a strong carrier, powerful characters can't be recorded. But since this is only a demonstration, I will reduce the power used. If you wish to record powerful cultivation methods or characters in the future, remember that you'll need special carriers. This is also something you'll learn in the future."
As Bai Feng wrote, he started sweating while smoke started coming out of the top of his head, as though his brain was on fire.
"Don't look at me. Look at the characters I'm writing!"
Liu Yue hurriedly nodded and said to Su Yu, "Each willpower character written by a cultural researcher is invaluable."
Su Yu also nodded and hurriedly looked down. He understood just how precious this opportunity was. One character after another appeared on the paper, forming one sentence after another. When Su Yu focused on the paper, the world around him started spinning.
Different. This was completely different from the regular copies of Source Opening Codex he had read before. Instead of characters, he could see a human. Someone was there, cultivating the Source Opening Codex, and that someone was Bai Feng. He was opening his nine acupoints.