Chapter 314: A Glimpse Of Future (1)
Books depository.
When Su Yu arrived at the books depository again, the guards had changed how they treated him. They were behaving like how the Mental Tempering Garden guards acted when they encountered Jiang Mu, a top 100 student.
They were treating him with respect. Yes. Respect. The moment he arrived, they opened the door and stepped aside, allowing him to enter smoothly.
That was how the academy worked. No, that was how the Myriad Realms worked. With strength, talent, and ability, one would do well wherever one went.
Su Yu did not care about taking this chance to teach these guards a lesson for their past disrespect. Instead, he nodded at them with a warm smile. These guards had only been carrying out their orders.
Even cultural researchers would occasionally need the help of these guards. For example, when leaving the academy for some missions, they might need to bring some of these guards with them.
Tenth floor.
The moment Su Yu arrived, a loving voice rang out in the room, "Junior Brother!"
Su Yu shivered. That sounded way too weird.
Wu Jia walked over. Her eyes were still red. She jumped forward and gave Su Yu a big hug while choking with emotions, "Junior Brother, you're the best!"
"..."
Su Yu struggled off his senior sister's hug before saying, "Senior Sister, is Martial Uncle here?"
"Yeah." Wu Jia was somewhat unhappy that Su Yu was unwilling to accept her hug so she gave a perfunctory answer. She then curiously asked, "Junior Brother, when did you become so strong?"
"Cough, cough. My teacher taught me well."
"..."
Wu Jia was dumbstruck. Her martial uncle taught him well? That was obviously a lie! Her martial uncle was clearly an unreliable teacher!
"Jia, Su Yu, come in."
Chen Yong's voice rang out from the inner room. As for Su Yu's words, there was no need for them to take him seriously. Perhaps not even Bai Feng himself was aware of Su Yu's real strength.
His teacher taught him well? Bullshit! It was fine if Su Yu used that as an excuse to lie against outsiders, but why would he lie against his own senior sister as well? What a little rascal!
Inside the living room.
Chen Yong looked at Su Yu with a complicated expression. After a long while, he said, "Jia, go make a pot of tea. Your junior brother is thirsty."
"Sure!"
Wu Jia ran off happily. After she left, Chen Yong exhaled and said, "We're in big trouble."
Su Yu nodded.
Chen Yong smiled, "From your expression, you seem to understand what's happening. Tell me. What do you understand?"
"Principal Wan was too harsh." Su Yu calmly said, "Even if Elder Zheng was really going to attack me, he hadn't actually attacked. An elder like this had been seriously injured just because of what he might do. He was nearly killed. If the principal was really someone so rash, the academy would have fallen apart decades ago."
"That's right." Chen Yong nodded, "What else?"
"I believe something we're unaware of is happening in the background. Perhaps the principal wanted to warn the single character faction. Perhaps they had angered him somehow. Perhaps they had done something to cross his bottom line."
Chen Yong nodded, "All that might be right. There is also another possibility. The principal might be trying to support the multiple character faction."
"But why?" Su Yu was curious. They had been left without support for decades. Why would the principal decide to support them now?
Chen Yong sank into thought before answering, "Perhaps there is a reason for that. Previously, the principal looked for me once for something related to you, but I couldn't be bothered to entertain his request so I told him to talk with you instead."
Chen Yong did not enjoy getting into academy politics so he would allow Su Yu to make his own decision regarding the principal's request.
"In fact, the matter involved more than you. The principal wishes to have us make the character technique wall semi-public and run it like one of those grottos in the academy."
Su Yu cursed and said, "What is he thinking? Why don't he get the other factions to do so with their own unique resources as well? We don't really have that many trump cards left. Are we supposed to share even the last trump card we have?"
Chen Yong gestured at Su Yu to settle down and said, "I didn't agree. I told him to ask your grandteacher about it. I can't make this decision."
Chen Yong did not linger on the topic for long.
He said, "In any case, you need to be careful. Heavily injuring Huang Qifeng is nothing, but Zheng Yuming has been affected as well. He has even been exiled to the Allheaven Battlefield. His exile can only end through killing a Mountainsea enemy. In short, he would probably be stuck in the battlefield for life."
Causing a Mountainsea cultivator to be exiled for life was much more serious.
But Su Yu appeared unbothered. Instead, he asked in confusion, "So what if he can't return? Do we cultivate so hard just so that we can keep staying in the academy in seclusion? What's the point of strength if we don't head to the battlefield and fight for humanity? Shouldn't only the weak ones stay behind in the academies?"
In fact, Su Yu had been very curious about all those Mountainsea cultivators in the academy. What were they doing hiding behind the frontline? What was the point of keeping so many experts within the Human Realm?
Even those in the Great Strength and Infinite Strength Realms were fighting hard on the battlefield. But the actual experts of humanity were actually not participating in those battles. Su Yu had never been able to understand the reason for that.
Chen Yong sighed, "There are several reasons for that. Firstly, if all experts get involved, then the war would escalate into a different level of intensity, upgrading the main combatants from Skysoar cultivators to Cloudbreach and Mountainsea cultivators.
"Secondly, the battlefield is our first line of defense. We need to be careful lest all our experts perish together, severing all our inheritances.
"Thirdly, the Human Realm isn't that peaceful. We still need some experts to stay and guard against the unexpected.
"Additionally, the cultural research academies have fewer people on the battlefield compared to the war academies. People like us mostly have some important research projects. And some of these projects are important enough that the help of these experts are required."
"Projects?" Su Yu thought of Bai Feng and said, "What important project is the single character faction involved in? They have so many experts hiding behind the front line but why have I never heard of the incredible project they are involved in?"
"They naturally have some. Don't underestimate the single character faction. There is a reason they are able to grow so big. Haven't you fought Zheng Hong before? Did you notice anything?"
Su Yu thought about it and said in hesitation, "Wind, fire, mountain, and forest...a system?"
"Exactly." Chen Yong nodded, "The current single character faction is completely different from the past. Back then, their Divine Characters did not have a proper system. Many would only focus on a single character. But that has changed. For example, Divine Characters that can be assembled into a system is one of the changes they have undergone over the years...
"In truth, the single character faction itself is also split. Some believe that they should stick to only one character. Some believe that they should cultivate multiple characters and assemble them into a system. They have been at odds with each other for that."
Su Yu nodded as understanding dawned on him.
Chen Yong continued, "Apart from that, they have many other research projects. For example, Faculty Head Zhou Mingren has been researching the eternal preservation of willpower texts. And that research has been rather helpful to humanity.
"You are aware that human willpower texts will continue deteriorating with time even without usage."
Su Yu nodded as he regretfully said, "That's right! When I was in Nanyuan, Teacher Liu gave me a Lightning Source Blade willpower text. But only the first four moves still have some willpower left. The willpower for the rest of the moves have dissipated..."
Chen Yong blanked out. The willpower for the early moves was still there while the willpower for the later moves had dissipated? Was that a joke?
The later moves would be stronger so more willpower would be attached to those moves as well. Even if the willpower was going to start dissipating, the willpower of the early moves should be the one to dissipate first. When he thought about it, he guessed the truth.
He did not know whether to laugh or cry. It wouldn't be proper for him to expose his martial uncle. Thus, he awkwardly agreed, "Exactly. Therefore, human willpower texts can never be preserved for long. That has resulted in a lot of wastage.
"And Faculty Head Zhou Mingren is trying to solve this issue. I heard that he is going to complete the research soon. The moment the research is completed, we would be able to store human willpower texts for many years like myriad race willpower texts. With that, the experts of humanity would be able to start stockpiling more willpower texts for the future generations."
Su Yu nodded. That could indeed be helpful.
"Zheng Hong's teacher, Elder Sun, is also researching something important. He is researching foundation cultural arts. In other words, he is trying to create willpower cultivation methods that even those in the Great Strength and Infinite Strength Realms can cultivate. A lot of effort and resources have been poured into this research."
Su Yu's heart thumped as he asked, "Martial Uncle, has the Knowledge Seeking Realm not created a proper foundation source art even after so many years?"
Chen Yong shook his head, "I'm not sure. There are things that I don't know as well. But logically, after spending so much time and using so much resources, there should be some results. Perhaps the results are not perfected yet. Perhaps they are unwilling to share. Who knows?
"You know that not all humans can be trusted. Thus, some things must be kept secret, such as the more important inheritances to prevent our enemies from getting their hands on them."
Su Yu disagreed, "That is the same as not eating for fear of choking. You can always make it so that one would need to pay a price to learn it like the War God Art. How is humanity supposed to progress if we keep everything good a secret?"
"Well, that is not up to people like us. Don't even talk about others. Even our research center would probably be very careful if we happen to make a massive discovery as well. Before publicizing our results, we must properly weigh the pros and cons."
Su Yu couldn't help but to nod in agreement. That was true. He couldn't be a hypocrite and expect others to do what he wouldn't do himself.
That was something people had spent countless years and exhausted countless resources to create. It was natural for them to refuse when being asked to contribute their result for free. Thus, it all came down to the exchange of benefits.