Chapter 35: Fifth-Stage Source Opening (2)
This experience felt completely different than before. In Su Yu’s mind, the Source Opening Codex he saw earlier reappeared. A miniature Bai Feng appeared in his mind and started cultivating the Source Opening Codex. Every move of his was embedded deep in Su Yu's mind, greatly improving his comprehension of the Source Opening Codex.
"The Source Swallowing Technique is too crude. It's not as refined as the Source Opening Codex. Perhaps this is due to the difference between the bodies of humans and beasts."
In the past, Su Yu had allowed the Source Swallowing Technique to circulate freely within his body. After some thought, he decided to control the circulation. He hadn't dared to do so before as he was worried that he would harm his body. But now, he wasn't too worried. He started focusing his source qi on his right ear acupoint, causing booming sounds to echo within his right ear.
Boom!
Sounds that only he could hear resounded within his ear. The source qi in his right ear trembled and his fifth acupoint started opening. The blood character in his mind trembled. He immediately noticed that the little brother in his mind was absorbing source qi as well.
"Huh? A Divine Character requires source qi as well?"
Su Yu blanked out. He had thought that he only needed willpower to nourish the Divine Character. He had not expected that source qi would be required as well. He ignored the blood character. It wasn't like he needed a lot of source qi himself. After about twenty minutes, a loud rumble sounded within his right ear. A loud boom only he could hear rang out. His entire body trembled as joy overwhelmed him.
"The fifth acupoint is open!"
Fifth-stage Source Opening! He had reached the fifth-stage! It had only been ten days since his father left for the Allheaven Battlefield and he had already increased his cultivation by two stages.
Su Yu was overjoyed. For others, the fifth-stage Source Opening Realm was nothing special. But that was enough to place him among the best of the students in Nanyuan. Bai Feng was someone who had seen even ninth-stage Source Opening secondary school students, but that was Bai Feng.
If news of Su Yu reaching the fifth-stage spread, it would even cause a tiny sensation in Nanyuan Secondary School. With his hearing further improved, Su Yu felt completely different from before. Previously when he opened his left ear acupoint, he felt rather uncomfortable due to the difference between his two ears. But now, that feeling of imbalance had vanished.
"This feels great. I'm now a fifth-stage Source Opening cultivator."
He still had a drop of source qi liquid to use. ?It was the 19th of April today. The entrance examinations were generally carried out on the 25th of June each year. The result would be released at the end of June and the list of accepted students would be finalized in early July. The new semester would start in early August.
That was the timeline Su Yu was working with. He still had around two months before the examination. Cultural research academies did not care about the cultivation level of their applicants, but Su Yu cared about his cultivation. Before reaching the Great Strength Realm, he had basically zero combat prowess.
After killing two cult members, Su Yu's thirst for strength had increased. He did not want to see himself helplessly dying in the hands of some random cult member. The dead students from the previous attack on the secondary school served as a reminder at how weak Source Opening cultivators were. Even though he had the option of activating the abilities in his book with blood essence, that was still borrowed power. He preferred to have the power himself.
Su Yu did not stop after his breakthrough. He continued with his usual activities of reading and cultivating before sleeping. This time, he was not reading a regular book. Rather, he was reading the Source Opening Codex given to him by Bai Feng.
As for the original Great Strength bone fragment, he placed it aside. The bone fragment wasn't really stronger than the Source Opening Codex, but the Source Opening Codex was more suitable for the current him. Reading the Source Opening Codex, he could familiarize himself with the Source Opening Realm while clashing with the willpower embedded within the text.
That was not an easy text to read. He could finally understand how Chen Hao felt whenever he read a book. A single sentence was enough to make him feel like tossing the text aside and going to bed. The clash of willpowers basically felt the same as what a simple-minded person would feel when forced to read. He continued reading until midnight before stopping. After a shower, he went to bed. Nowadays, he looked forward to his dreams as that was also a form of willpower tempering.
"If a day comes when my willpower is strong enough to kill the monsters in my dreams...perhaps I can gain something new from those dreams as well."
Activation of the book in his mind required blood essence. Su Yu would often wonder if he would be able to activate the book and end his dreams if he hadn't discovered the usage of blood essence. Killing the monsters in his dreams, perhaps? He had a guess that killing the monsters in his dreams would bring about a different result.
...
That night, his dream was rather unique. To the point it caught him by complete surprise. As usual, there was a monster chasing after him, and as usual, he was quickly killed. But he discovered that he could actually summon his Divine Character in the dream.
Yes, the Divine Character. The blood character was in the dream. When the character appeared, an illusory iron-winged bird appeared in his dream. He wondered why it was an iron-winged bird. Perhaps that had something to do with his subconscious mind. Regardless, he had obtained the ability to utilize his Divine Character in the dream. That would open up many new possibilities for him.
...
When Su Yu woke up the next morning, he sank into thought. He wondered if the Divine Character he saw in the dream was the real deal or was it fake? Had the blood character in his mind entered the dream or was there a different blood character in the dream? That sounded confusing, but Su Yu wanted to figure it out as that would be an important piece of information.
If the blood character had really moved from his mind into his dream, that would signify that there was something more to his dream. Instead of being a normal dreamland, it might be a unique domain. Or perhaps it was the same domain as the one his Divine Character resided in. That also signified that there was more to the book in his mind that he had yet to explore.
He tried sensing the blood character in his mind and found that the dim character was starting to glow faintly again. He did not know if the character had recovered due to his sleep or due to its appearance in his dream.
...
Su Yu did not waste more time thinking about his dream and climbed out of his bed to brush his teeth. He was going to school today. Although Bai Feng had said that there was nothing more Su Yu could learn from him for now, Su Yu still intended to take a trip to the school.
...
Nanyuan Secondary School.
Outside the school.
Su Yu had arrived in a rush. He hadn't even bothered waiting for Chen Hao. A few people were standing outside the gate. It was still early so most of the students had yet to arrive. One of the people standing in front of the school was Bai Feng. Clad in a white coat, he looked charming and graceful. Standing amid the group, he was akin to a crane in a flock of chicken with his eye-catching appearance.
The principal, commander of the city guards, head of Windcatcher Department, and Liu Wenyan were present as well. Bai Feng was chatting with the group when he saw Su Yu rushing over. A smile appeared on his face.
"I told you I'm not teaching you anything today, right? Why are you here?"
Still gasping for breath, Su Yu greeted the others before saying, "I'm here to see you off, Teacher Bai. Thank you for your guidance yesterday."
Bai Feng was going to leave today. He had not mentioned it to Su Yu and Liu Yue, but Su Yu was able to guess it from Bai Feng’s words yesterday.
Since the emergency at Nanyuan had ended, there was no reason for Bai Feng to spend more time here. He had already taught Su Yu and Liu Yue what he could yesterday. Even if he had more to teach, Su Yu and Liu Yue would not be able to grasp them. Thus, it was pointless for him to stay any longer.
Bai Feng merely smiled. He did not say anything else to Su Yu. Turning to look at Liu Wenyan, he said, "Martial Uncle, you have achieved willpower materialization. The academy's door has always been open for you. You have yet to forge your body. If you're not willing to request for flying sky tiger blood essence, I'll just send some back to you."
Liu Wenyan frowned, "No thanks. I'm an old man. There's no need to waste such valuable blood essence on me. I can just use some regular blood essence. As for flying sky tiger blood essence..."
Liu Wenyan glanced at Su Yu and spoke with a soft voice, "Leave it to someone else who needs it more in the future."
Bai Feng smiled. He understood what Liu Wenyan was getting at. Su Yu was going to enter the cultural research academy. Although they had no idea how many years would he take to achieve willpower materialization, he would certainly require powerful blood essence to forge his body after his breakthrough.
The flying sky tiger blood essence was very powerful. It was the blood essence of a top fifty race. Sure, the academy had more powerful blood essence in stock. But how many people were there in the academy? Was everyone going to get a share of the blood essence? That was not possible.
Su Yu came from an ordinary family and his father was only a Great Strength cultivator. How was he supposed to get his hands on powerful blood essence? He could only rely on the academy and his teacher. Even if Bai Feng was willing to accept Su Yu as his student, that did not signify that he would be willing to prepare the blood essence for Su Yu's breakthrough.
The flying sky tiger blood essence belonged to Bai Feng's teacher who was also Liu Wenyan's junior brother. Since they wanted to give the blood essence to Liu Wenyan, he could naturally reject it and leave it for Su Yu instead. There was no reason for Bai Feng's teacher to refuse that request. Liu Wenyan did not mention the request directly. Bai Feng understood. He did not mention it either. There was no rush. This could wait until after Su Yu entered the academy.
"I'll follow your wish, Martial Uncle," said Bai Feng. He looked at Su Yu and softly said, "Su Yu, you need to rely on your own hands to change your destiny and future. Nanyuan is a small city, but that does not mean that it can't give rise to an expert. Background, family, and talent will merely grant you some advantages early on. There is a long road ahead of you. Who can walk until the end? Who can laugh at the top of the world? Who can dominate the myriad races? You need to first walk the road to know.
"I'll be waiting for you at the academy. Nanyuan is too small. The world outside is more interesting. Bye."
With a carefree laugh, Bai Feng took a single step to move dozens of meters away. In the blink of an eye, he vanished. He looked so confident and at ease with himself. Nearby, the Nanyuan experts were looking on with admiration in their eyes. Bai Feng, a genius of the cultural research academy that might enter the Cloudbreach Realm soon. A genius like that was rare even in the entirety of Great Xia.
Commander Zhang Yun of the city guards gasped in admiration before turning to look at Su Yu. "So this is Su Long's son?"
The principal smiled, "Yes."
"I can see that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. From Researcher Bai's words, I can see that he has high hopes for you. Work hard. Nanyuan is a small city, but like he said, that does not mean that it can't give rise to an expert. I've heard of your father. Don't worry too much. Although we have a lot of enemies on the Allheaven Battlefield, we are still capable of sweeping everything standing before us.
"News regarding the soldiers from Nanyuan will be sent back every now and then. When the latest update comes in a few days, I'll have some people send you a copy of the update on your father."
Su Yu hurriedly replied, "Thank you, Sir Zhang!"
"Don't mention it." Zhang Yun had a carefree smile. "We're basically family. Your father is a straightforward person. He's not willing to get involved with workplace politics. Thus, even after leaving the battlefield, he has stubbornly stayed in the Traffic Department.
"A few years ago, I invited him to become a 100-man commander of the city guards, but he refused. Otherwise, he would have probably entered the Infinite Strength Realm by now. With his bravery, he will probably be the second in charge of the city guards with time. It's a pity that he didn't join, but he made the right choice. I admire him."
Zhang Yun solemnly said, "You have a good teacher. Instructor Liu is Nanyuan's vanguard of civilization. You have a good principal. Principal Wang is not strong, but he has dedicated his entire life for the school. Nanyuan is small, but its people are simple and honest. I've seen a lot of geniuses from Nanyuan. These people have left for the capital or even the other prefectures. Alas, many of them lose their way in the end.
"I hope you'll be different. Because you're the child of a soldier. Your father is not strong, but he is worth learning from. Stay true to your heart. Do not forget who you are. Do not overestimate yourself, but do not underestimate yourself either. Be serious and do your best."
Zhang Yun laughed, "We people of Nanyuan are not afraid of being weak. We're only afraid of cowards! Do not fear anything! After leaving, talk with your strength. Talk with your courage. If you really find it too hard out there, come back. There will always be a place for you in the city guards!"
Su Yu hurriedly thanked Zhang Yun once again. To the side, Liu Wenyan snorted, "Cut the crap. Returning after failing outside Nanyuan? That would be too embarrassing. Also, it's my job to teach the students. Since when is it your turn to teach my student?"
"..."
Zhang Yun had an embarrassed expression. He stopped talking and left with a hearty laugh. Beside them, the head of Windcatcher Department also laughed and bid his farewell before leaving.
Su Yu couldn't help but to secretly laugh. Zhang Yun was right. Nanyuan was small, but Nanyuan had a good environment. The teachers here were warm. The commanders here were friendly. The principal here...was really weak. Yeah, that part was true. To the side, the principal was so furious his beard was trembling. Zhang Yun was clearly belittling him earlier.