Chapter 337: The More You Know, The Faster You Die (1)
Su Yu no longer concerned himself with the matter involving the willpower texts.
He was returning to the research center.
Chen Yong followed behind him silently. After a while, when they were finally far away from the others, he softly said, "I guess we have officially fallen out with them today."
Su Yu looked at his martial uncle and said, "Martial Uncle, do you think that we need to keep holding back?"
"We're not holding back. We are really weaker than them."
Chen Yong sighed.
Su Yu nodded. He said, "I know. But if we remain silent, they will keep pushing. If this continues, we won't have any future. With Zheng Yuming seriously injured and the single character faction occupied, this is the best chance for us to make a counterattack."
Chen Yong stayed silent for a long while before saying, "But we need to at least wait until your grandteacher is back before counterattacking."
At the mention of his grandteacher, Su Yu asked gloomily, "Why is grandteacher not back yet?"
Without the support of a Mountainsea cultivator, he felt extremely unsafe.
"It's your teacher's fault!" Chen Yong said, "A new race has appeared in the Allheaven Battlefield. Nobody knows where that race can be found. Your grandteacher is looking for that new race all over the Allheaven Battlefield so nobody knows his exact location. And we can't even contact him through communicators since a realm tunnel stands between us. Your teacher was the one who had instigated your grandteacher to leave. He might have stayed in the academy otherwise."
After giving Su Yu a simple explanation of what Bai Feng had done, Chen Yong asked, "Were you telling the truth about the Soul Devouring Art?"
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded, "I wouldn't have dared to announce it so publicly otherwise. I only hope that they will refrain themselves for fear of courting more trouble. After all, the single character faction is not the only faction in the academy. Martial Uncle, they don't seem that scary. Although they are strong, I feel like the other factions are not weak either. They can't exactly do anything they want in the academy."
He felt like there was no need for them to be overly worried about the single character faction. It wasn't like they were the ones running the academy.
Chen Yong hesitated slightly before deciding to be frank, "You're wrong. Yes, the single character faction is not running our academy. But in many other academies, their principals are actually from the single character faction. The single character faction does not exist only in our academy. But it exists in the entire Human Realm."
Chen Yong sighed, "Similarly, the multiple character faction does not refer only to the one in our academy. Over the past decade, the multiple character faction has declined to the point where we have less than a thousand members. I doubt we even have more than 500 members left across the entire Human Realm. As for the single character faction, they have over 10,000 members just in our academy alone."
Su Yu frowned, "Other factions are able to exist just fine. Some factions are even smaller than us. Why must the single character faction target us?"
From what his martial uncle had said, the entire single character faction of humanity was against them. But why?
Chen Yong sank into silence. Su Yu frowned. Was there an even bigger reason that could not be spoken about?
After a short silence, Chen Yong said, "Go back to the research center first. We'll call your teacher out before we continue this conversation."
"Alright."
...
A few minutes later, the two arrived at the research center.
When Bai Feng was dragged out of the laboratory, he was completely confused. Just what was happening this time?
"Senior Brother, why are you here?"
"..."
Chen Yong looked at Bai Feng with sympathy. As Su Yu's teacher, this fellow was actually the last to know about what had happened today.
Su Yu hurriedly said, "Teacher, I earned a lot of money today! I earned thousands of merit points!"
Bai Feng's eyes lit up. More money?
But his face soon sank as he asked, "How did you earn it? Who did you scam this time?"
"..."
Su Yu was rendered speechless. He explained, "I didn't scam anyone. I fought in a few matches and lost."
Bai Feng asked blankly, "So you were fighting in fixed matches?"
He then nodded, "Well done! Back then, your teacher used to fight in fixed matches too. During my time in the top 100, a few fellows bribed me to help increase their ranks. But you can't really earn much doing this. Who bribed you? How much did they pay you?"
This was...a dark piece of history.
Beside him, Chen Yong's face fell as he scolded, "You actually fought fixed matches back then?"
Bai Feng answered righteously, "Yeah. What about it? I didn't have money to cultivate so I had to earn some money. What's the problem? Senior Brother, don't be so pedantic."
"..."
Chen Yong didn't know what to say. So Su Yu wasn't the only one from their faction who had done this? Before Su Yu, there was Bai Feng?
Sigh.
He could only sigh.
Su Yu coughed awkwardly and said, "Exactly! Teacher, I fought in some fixed matches. I lost over 8,000 times!"
Bai Feng stared at his student expressionlessly.
"Kid, the moment you say that, I know something big must have happened. What could happen that would require you to lose over 8,000 times?"
Su Yu gave a simple explanation of what he had done. Bai Feng stared at his student for a while before saying, "In other words, we have openly fallen out with them?"
"Yeah."
"Oh." Bai Feng curled his lips, but he wasn't too surprised. Instead, he gloomily said, "Idiot! You should have waited until your grandteacher is back first! Can't you be patient for a few more days? Your grandteacher is not around while we are not strong enough to withstand this pressure. Don't you understand?"
As for the fact that they had openly fallen out with the single character faction, that was no big deal. They had never gotten along well with each other, anyway. The main issue here was that this stupid kid had done so before Hong Tan returned.
Bai Feng helplessly said, "Just be patient for now. Stay indoors for a period of time. You need to know that these people are all very treacherous. Even if they don't have the guts to personally kill you, they can still get others to do it for them. Don't underestimate how evil a human can be. It would be perfectly normal for a bunch of people you consider brothers to suddenly betray you if the benefit is big enough.
"We also have some Myriad Race Cult spies that would be more than happy to kill you and frame the single character faction, turning your grandteacher against them and sow chaos within the academy."
Bai Feng exhaled and said, "But don't worry. Just stay in the research center for a period of time. You will probably be fine as long as you remain in the academy."
Su Yu nodded. His teacher was right. Even if the single character faction did not have the courage to actually kill him, some other people might do it to sow chaos.
"I understand. That was why I had announced the matter concerning the Soul Devouring Art. That way, the warriors will start paying close attention to us. With more eyes on us, anyone wishing to touch us would have to think twice."
"Have you completed the research?" Bai Feng asked doubtfully, "Don't even think of coming out with some fake data like you did previously. I'm warning you. If you try to pull something like that, you will die a miserable death."
Bai Feng appeared rather calm despite what Su Yu told him. He was only slightly astonished in the beginning, but it did not take him long to become completely calm again.
Meanwhile, Chen Yong was completely dumbstruck. This was a very big deal! Why was this bastard acting like it was nothing?
Furious, he said, "Bai Feng, this is very troublesome. Do you understand?"
"Senior Brother, don't make a big fuss out of nothing." Bai Feng indifferently said, "We have never gotten along well. What's the point of staying patient all the time? Since they have been targeting us, what's the problem with hitting back every now and then? So what if they were embarrassed? They were the ones who had started it."
Chen Yong exhaled and said, "It's not this simple. Su Yu asked me why was the single character faction so hostile toward us."
"It's a matter of resources, right? They are afraid that we will snatch their position if we are able to rise to prominence again."
"Nonsense." Chen Yong scolded.
Bai Feng was stunned. What? Was he wrong?
Chen Yong inhaled deeply and said, "You need to understand that the single and multiple character factions do not exist only in our academy. Both factions are spread across the entire Human Realm, including the military and the holy lands."
"Bai Feng, you need to know that we are not the only ones being targeted. The entire multiple character faction of humanity is being targeted. Do you understand? This is happening everywhere."
Su Yu frowned. With a slight hesitation, he asked, "Martial Uncle, is this a conflict of ideals?" If that was the case, then this would be very troublesome. For scholars, even a grudge involving life and death could be forgiven. But a conflict of ideals would result in a grudge that would last for generations. Generally, the conflict would persist until one side was utterly eliminated.
"Ideals?" Chen Yong shook his head, "The core ideal of all cultural researchers is the pursuit of strength. Ideals? Orthodoxy? None of this matters for cultural researchers."
"Why, then?"
Even Su Yu was starting to get confused.
Bai Feng also asked doubtfully, "What? There is a deeper secret to this conflict? I thought it's because we need more resources for our cultivation and those people are jealous of our individual strength?"
Chen Yong said, "Bullshit. If that's the reason, why hadn't they targeted us before that incident 50 years ago?"
"Because we were strong!"
"There have been times when the single character faction was strong as well. Back then, we only disliked each other. But the hostility has not escalated to its current level where they are essentially trying to erase our legacy."
That piqued the interest of both Bai Feng and Su Yu. Was there really a different reason?
Bai Feng thought about it and said, "Everything seems to have started after the battle involving the fifth principal, our grandteacher. After that defeat, they started targeting us. In that case, whatever this secret reason is, it is related to the fifth principal."
Chen Yong nodded. After thinking about it, he continued the conversation through voice transmission, "The multiple character faction is not targeted due to ideals. It isn't due to resources either. It is due to a personal grudge."
"Personal grudge?"
"Yeah. It's related to the fifth principal. Su Yu, you should be aware about the fifth principal's death, right?"
Su Yu nodded.
"Back then, a total of three Invincible experts had perished. You're also aware of that, right?"
Su Yu nodded again.
"Two of them were from the myriad races while the other was a human. That human came from Great Zhou. He was the younger brother of Great Zhou King. During the time of his death, he had just entered the Invincible Realm. His son...is the current principal of the Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy.
"Back then, the fifth principal had not requested the help of any Invincible experts for his advancement. He was too arrogant. He believed that he could affirm his dao all by himself. He only brought a group of passionate cultural researchers not to help him, but to observe the process of dao affirmation.
"Alas, it ended in a disaster. Not only has the multiple character faction suffered a calamity, many of the helpers perished as well.
"The Great Zhou King had not said anything, but that person from the Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy had never gotten along well with the fifth principal. Do you think he can accept the fact that his father had perished while helping the fifth principal?
"Since then, the Great Zhou Cultural Research Academy started suppressing the multiple character faction. The Great Zhou King remained silent while the prefect of Great Zhou said nothing as well. Because of that, the people of Great Zhou viewed that as a tacit approval to start suppressing the multiple character faction.
"Subsequently, those from the other prefectures followed along. Some did it for benefits, some did it for a sense of unity, some did it to fawn on the Great Zhou King, and some did it because they hated the fifth principal.
"That coupled with the decline of the multiple character faction and numerous other factors have resulted in the current situation where the multiple character faction is being suppressed in the entire Human Realm.
"And that's not the biggest issue. The fifth principal once left a set of data behind. The data concerns the advancement of cultural researchers into the Eternal Realm. Additionally, the fifth principal had also left a Divine Character behind. The principal from Great Zhou insisted that since his father had perished while aiding the fifth principal, all those things belong to him. That was the price for his father's life. He requested access to the data..."
Su Yu couldn't help but say, "That...should be fine, right? After all, those people have perished while helping the fifth principal."
He had not imagined that there would be such a story behind the hostility between the two factions.
Su Yu had not thought too much about the three dead Invincible experts when Bai Feng mentioned it previously. But things seemed to be much more complicated than he had imagined. One of them was actually a human.
Chen Yong smiled bitterly, "Yes, we should. But...we don't have the data."
"What?"
"Yes. We don't have it. The fifth principal had two students. One was Martial Uncle Liu Wenyan and the other was our teacher, your grandteacher. The Divine Character was given to Martial Uncle. Everyone claimed that the data had been given to us. But...that wasn't the case."
Chen Yong sighed, "Teacher has been looking for the data. He has even checked everything he has multiple times, but the fifth principal's data is nowhere to be found. But nobody believes us. Everyone thinks that your teacher is unwilling to share. And it's obvious why that would offend everyone.
"From then on, with Great Zhou as the leader, the single character faction started targeting us and the entire multiple character faction. You have been wondering why the multiple character faction was so easily suppressed despite having some surviving experts back then? This is the reason. There is no way for them to do anything out of guilt. Things still weren't that bad when those experts were still alive. But as more and more died, things became harder for us."
Su Yu frowned, "Martial Uncle, just let them search us then. Since we don't have the data, how are we supposed to give them what they want?"
"That won't work. They will only believe what they want to believe. It doesn't matter what we say. Also, the single character faction has immense prestige and power. Since they are only suppressing us instead of actually coming after us directly, what can we do?"
Bai Feng gloomily said, "So there is still a hidden story like this? I was wondering why those Skysoar cultivators from Great Zhou looked at me like I was their sworn enemy back when I visited the Allheaven Battlefield. Senior Brother, why hadn't you told me earlier?"
Chen Yong rolled his eyes, "What's the point of talking about that? Strictly speaking, we really can't say or do anything. If we really have the data, we are more than willing to share. But we really don't have the data."
Bai Feng cautiously asked, "Senior Brother, maybe Teacher hid the data away?"
"Piss off!" Chen Yong cursed.
He glared at Bai Feng and said, "How would Teacher do that? We really don't have the data. If we really have it, some people would have found out about it by now. But we really don't have it. Do you really think that nobody else is interested in the data left behind by someone on the cusp of reaching the Invincible Realm? Both the Knowledge Seeking Realm and War Shrine are curious as well.
"Nobody was able to find anything. But...Teacher said that the data might really exist."
"What do you mean?"
Chen Yong exhaled, "Teacher said that some of Grandteacher's belongings have gone missing. But Grandteacher used to stay in the Heart Cultivating Pavilion. He had even set up a formation before leaving. Nobody should be able to enter and steal his belongings...
"There was simply no way for Teacher to convince the others of the truth. Some things were missing, so the data might be one of the missing things. But we really don’t have the data. Nobody knows if Grandteacher himself had removed the data. It has been so many years. There is no way for us to find out the truth.
"There is a possibility that someone had entered Grandteacher's dwelling back then and stolen the data. We have no choice but to become the scapegoat."
"Someone took the data in advance? What do you mean? With Grandteacher's strength, apart from Invincible experts, who can sneak through his formation?" Right after saying that, Bai Feng's expression changed.
Su Yu's expression also changed. He finally understood. No wonder Hong Tan had never talked about it all these years. No wonder he had prevented Chen Yong from talking about it. Who was capable of stealing from the fifth principal?
Invincible! If the missing data really existed, then an Invincible expert had definitely arrived before everyone else and took the data. But how was that person so sure that the fifth principal would perish?
That person had to be sure to be the first to arrive at the fifth principal's place. One ought to know that the fifth principal's remains had been brought back by Great Xia King himself shortly after his death. Thus, the thief had clearly known about the fifth principal's death even before the Great Xia King returned. All three of them sank into silence.