Chapter 322: Famous (2)
The old woman asked, "I heard you lost to him during the Divine Character tournament?"
Zheng Hong said apologetically, "Yeah. I lost. He has multiple characters, and two of them are second tier characters. He has also mastered the initial form of a character technique. He might have also learned a willpower enhancement technique because his willpower is very powerful."
"Willpower enhancement technique..."
The elders exchanged gazes.
Zhou Mingren said, "That might be the Soul Expanding Art."
"Soul Expanding Art?" Elder Sun frowned, "With Zhao Li's temper, he won't give anyone face. Back then, I looked for him to talk about his cultivation method, but he completely ignored me. But he had chosen to teach it to Su Yu instead?"
"I'm not sure." Zhou Mingren couldn't be sure. He suddenly thought of something and asked Zheng Hong, "You still lack one character, right?"
"Yeah." Zheng Hong respectfully said, "Grandteacher, I still lack the forest character."
"I understand. Old Sun, allocate more related willpower texts to him. Make sure to use those that are from at least 50 years ago. Also, Zheng Hong will be entering the grotto this time as well."
"Thank you, grandteacher." Zheng Hong thanked the elders one after another. Since Elder Sun was Zheng Hong's teacher, he was naturally agreeable to that.
"You may leave first."
Zhou Mingren waved his hand and sent Zheng Hong out.
After Zheng Hong left, Zhou Mingren sighed and said, "Old Sun, give your student more pointers. Yuming has been injured so this kid...has no one else. Also, get the kids under us to get closer to each other. I realized something from Qifeng's injuries."
The elders looked at him.
Zhou Mingren regretfully said, "The kids under us no longer have the sense of camaraderie between fellow members of the same faction. Su Yu had crippled Qifeng to avenge Wu Jia. If we remain silent, how many of the kids would actually be willing to fight for Qifeng?"
The elders sank into silence. They found that to be a bitter pill to swallow.
"Single character faction..." Zhou Mingren sighed again, "I had thought that encouraging internal competition is good. That will only help them grow faster. But because of the competition, we lose our unity. The other factions are far more united than us."
Nobody said anything.
Zhou Mingren said nothing else. He also wasn't sure what Zheng Hong was thinking.
The kid was very calm and rational. He even remembered to get some benefits for himself in such a situation. If he was staying patient to find an opportunity to take revenge on Su Yu, it would be fine. But Zhou Mingren was afraid that the kid never planned to do so and was completely unbothered about his grandfather's fate.
Zhou Mingren was not afraid that those under him would fight for power and profit. He also wasn't worried that they would scheme around too much. All that was good for them. But he was afraid that they would no longer have any affection for fellow members of the same faction and only cared about benefits.
"Let's end this here. Remind the kids that we need to continue suppressing Su Yu. We have to put more effort into it." Zhou Mingren's tone turned cold as he said, "It's good that a clear target has emerged. Without an external enemy, our people are probably going to start killing each other. The stronger Su Yu is, the better it is. That way, they would have a clear target instead of fighting among each other and making a joke out of themselves."
As far as Zhou Mingren was concerned, Su Yu was no big deal. Zheng Yuming had suppressed the multiple character faction for personal grudge. As for Zhou Mingren, the multiple character faction was merely a tool to foster unity within his own faction.
He even believed that the multiple character faction's many years of silence had been a bad thing for them. Hong Tan...was a bastard who would immediately withdraw the moment he was attacked. Throwing a punch at him basically felt like punching air. It felt terrible.
Zhou Mingren even wondered if that was actually Hong Tan's scheme. He only needed to act like a turtle to turn the single character faction members against each other. If even elders like them weren't truly united, what about those below them? Their internal conflicts were actually much more intense than their conflicts with outsiders.
Thus, Zhou Mingren was more than happy to see someone like Su Yu appearing. He even hoped that Su Yu could last longer instead of falling apart under their suppression. Without him, the single character faction members would once again devolve into endless internal conflicts.
Back when Bai Feng was still below the Skysoar Realm, he would still compete against the single character faction. Because of the competition with Bai Feng, their faction had also produced talented teaching assistants like Liu Hong and Hu Wensheng. But when Bai Feng also started turtling like Hong Tan, the entire multiple character faction had basically turned into air within the academy.
The elders were about to leave when Elder Sun suddenly said, "I almost forget this. Xia Yuwen is returning soon. Are we still fighting for the books depository?"
"Of course." Zhou Mingren was firm, "The sole target of our top 100 students is Wu Jia. Make sure she can't enter the Top 100 Ranking for the year. No, even our other students also need to target her. Make them keep a close eye on Wu Jia.
"Let them unite against a common enemy. They should focus on Wu Jia and Su Yu. Without first defeating these two, they are unworthy of getting involved in internal conflicts."
"I understand."
Elder Sun nodded. This was a good thing. It was never bad to give their students a proper target.
Zhou Mingren thought about it and added, "Tell them that they can get a reward of 100 merit points for each victory against Wu Jia. I will personally write a willpower text to reward each victory against Su Yu."
Even the elders were astonished to hear that. Zhou Mingren was really taking this seriously. A peak Mountainsea cultivator was personally writing willpower texts to reward those below the Skysoar Realm. This was too rare.
"Sure."
This time, Su Yu would probably be in big trouble.
Suddenly, Zhou Mingren added, "This applies to even those outside the single character faction."
"..."
The elders stared at him in shock.
Zhou Mingren said, "Let our kids know that if they can't even accomplish this task, I will get outsiders to do it. When the time comes, they will be the ones losing face, not me."
The elders were completely speechless. This would certainly make things even harder for Su Yu. But if some outsider really ended up claiming the reward, it would be too embarrassing for them.
Zhou Mingren said nothing else. The elders did not ask anything about Zheng Yuming's Divine Characters. That was not a matter they wanted to get involved in. Let Zhou Mingren do the dirty work himself. After all, that was his student, not their student.
...
Heart Cultivating Pavilion. Top floor.
Wan Tiansheng was seated cross-legged on the floor while looking outside the window. He muttered, "Are they going to start fighting? Maybe that can be a good thing."
The students were busy fighting each other. Even the experts were going to start fighting each other. Since these people were unwilling to fight outsiders, it would still be better to have them fight among themselves than stay stagnant.
"Come in."
A short while later, an old man walked in and said, "Principal."
"Tell Wu Yuehua that Zhou Mingren is planning to dig Zhang Ruoling's grave."
"Alright."
"Tell...Liu Wenyan as well. Wu Yuehua might not tell him anything even if she knows about it."
"Understood."
"Go."
The old man nodded and walked away.
Wan Tiansheng stood up and continued staring out the window as he muttered, "Fight. Start fighting. Without something to fight for, you guys will keep hiding. And if you guys keep hiding, how can I find out the true culprit of the scheme back then?"
It was time for the multiple character faction to stand up again. Fifty years ago, so many people had died during that attempt to stop the fifth principal from affirming his dao. And most of the dead were multiple character faction experts. They had nearly lost all their experts during that one battle.
What a massive scheme. They had so many Invincible experts on their side, but every single one of these experts were kept busy. Even Great Xia King was delayed by an enemy expert and arrived too late.
The culprit was too powerful. Powerful enough to even know the whereabouts of all human Invincibles during that period of time.
"Was it you?"
Wan Tiansheng muttered as he looked at the sky. There was a big hand behind the scene in the future he saw. Whose hand was that? What exactly was the Knowledge Seeking Realm doing? Were there still no clues even after so many years of investigation? Or perhaps...even the Knowledge Seeking Realm had been infiltrated?
Wan Tiansheng sighed. The future he saw was merely one among the countless possibilities of what might happen. Thus, what he saw was not necessarily the true future. Perhaps...he had been oversensitive?
"Liu Wenyan...Xia Yunji..."
He muttered, shook his head, and sat down cross-legged again. This time, let all of them come out. If they continued hiding, the world would eventually forget about the multiple character faction.
At the same time.
A piece of news was being spread. Anyone capable of defeating Su Yu once would be rewarded with a willpower text written by a peak Mountainsea cultivator.
This news shook the entire academy. A willpower text written by a peak Mountainsea cultivator would worth at least 3,000 merit points. More importantly, it was something one might not be able to purchase even with money.
For this reward, there were no limitations. Thus, perhaps one could even request for a Myriad Text Sutra willpower text as the reward. If that was really true, then the person to get rewarded would profit immensely.
Even the students who were already near the Skysoar Realm were alarmed by this reward. Those near the Skysoar Realm had to get ready to cultivate the Myriad Text Sutra. And learning it without the guidance of a willpower text was very difficult.
Su Yu! As long as they could defeat him, they would be able to obtain an extremely rare willpower text! He was ranked 71st in the top 100. Thus, all the students between the 72nd and the 80th places were getting excited.
That was not all. Even the students with higher ranks were considering working with some lower ranked students to reduce their ranks. If they could reduce their ranks enough, they would be able to openly challenge Su Yu.
In the span of a single night, Su Yu's name spread all over the academy. He became famous in the academy. In fact, his fame had reached a level comparable to Zhan Hai, the first ranked student in the Top 100 Ranking.
And the news continued spreading rapidly, to the point even some people outside the academy heard of it.
Su Yu from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. A new student that had entered the academy this year. A freakish student that had suppressed the successors of the Wan, Xia, Hu, and Zhao Families.
Defeating Su Yu became the dream of countless students. By defeating him, one could get a willpower text. Even if one ended up obtaining an unsuitable willpower text, one could still sell it for thousands of merit points. And for a student, that was a lot of money. Some people might not see that much money even after working their entire life.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was still fully immersed in the mystical world of research, completely unaware of the troubles brewing outside the research center.