Chapter 355: The Powerful Soul Expanding Art (3)
Su Yu was completely speechless. Yeah. That made so much sense. If Zhao Li's willpower was impure, how would he be able to last 10 hours during a forging session? Clearly, Zhao Li's willpower was very pure.
As far as Su Yu was concerned, this Soul Expanding Art was definitely more valuable than even a heaven-grade cultivation method. It was terrifyingly useful.
Zhao Li was actually capable of creating a cultivation method like this. That was incredible. But the old man was being...too casual about it. Just like that, the old man had taught him this cultivation method? Su Yu found himself in disbelief.
Zhao Li did not seem to care that much. He sighed, "Kid, cultivation methods are meant to be learned. I have been wanting to find a successor, but there are too many untalented fools around. For these people, learning this cultivation method might not be a good thing. Just take the ability to purify willpower. Not everyone might want their willpower to be too pure. Imagine a Mountainsea cultivator hammering himself back into the Cloudbreach Realm. Do you think he would enjoy that?
"For them, it doesn't matter if their willpower is impure. At the very least, they are still Mountainsea cultivators. It doesn't matter how pure your willpower is. You are still below them.
"Just take your multiple character faction as an example. Everyone knows that a character technique will make you stronger. But so what? Does that mean that everyone needs to form a character technique as well? In the time I take to complete my character technique, my peers in the single character faction might have reached the Cloudbreach or even the Mountainsea Realm already. Meanwhile, I am still stuck at the Skysoar Realm. Why bother?"
"It's the same concept." Zhao Li sighed, "Thus, how useful a cultivation method can be depends on the cultivators. There are no cultivation methods that are absolutely powerful for everyone. You can try making an untalented individual cultivate this cultivation method. See if they will bother. After all, they need both time and money to cultivate their willpower.
"Perhaps that person has only been aiming to reach the Skysoar Realm. And you go and tell that person that their path of cultivation is not beneficial for his future advancement into the Invincible Realm. That person will probably spit on your face."
"..."
Su Yu was completely speechless. He felt truly enlightened. Teacher Zhao made a lot of sense. Even when he was picking someone to learn the Pure Source Art, he had picked someone like Hu Zongji who was a high-middle genius. Someone like that would have no problem opening 36 acupoints.
But if he had told a low-tier student to learn the Pure Source Art, that student would probably tell him he was crazy. The student was already having a hard enough time trying to get into the Great Strength Realm. They could probably only open one acupoint per month. And Su Yu was telling them to open a bunch of extra acupoints? That was absolutely crazy.
For someone like that, the purity of their source qi didn't matter. So what if their source qi was pure? They would still be stuck as a first-stage Great Strength cultivator. What was the point?
Rather than opening 36 additional acupoints, that person might as well put the effort into reaching the seventh or the eighth stage. As for impure source qi, that was really not a big deal.
Su Yu started reflecting on himself. Not everyone was a genius. And not everyone was like him, capable of utilizing large amounts of resources in cultivation. He had to be careful with his mindset in the future. He had been spending way too much time with geniuses, to the point his perspective had skewed.
Someone like Hu Zongji was naturally able to handle opening more acupoints to cultivate the Pure Source Art. Hu Zongji would even thank him as someone like that could truly appreciate the value of the Pure Source Art.
But if he looked for someone only capable of cultivating a yellow-grade cultivation method to cultivate the Pure Source Art, that person would probably tell him to go screw himself. Rather than opening 36 acupoints for the Pure Source Art, that person would rather open the acupoints of their yellow-grade cultivation method and reach the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm. Su Yu's own father was one such person.
His father had only opened 36 acupoints. Even if he gave his father the Pure Source Art, his father wouldn't cultivate it. Instead, he would probably give Su Yu a beating for trying to mislead him.
From this short conversation, Su Yu learned a lot. He said nothing and gave Zhao Li a solemn bow.
Zhao Li accepted the bow. He was getting tired after the exhaustion. While yawning, he said, "Go back and take your time nurturing the hammer..."
He then taught Su Yu the control method of the hammer and gave him some tips regarding the hammer.
Finally, he reminded, "Remember, don't claim that you're my direct student. I won't acknowledge you. Don't involve me in your conflict with the single character faction. I won't help you...
"When your faction finally ends up defeated and if you have not offended an Invincible, you can claim that you're actually a member of the weaponsmithing faction. This old man can try to protect you from further harm
"But if you have already offended an Invincible cultivator from your conflicts, well, I can't afford to challenge an Invincible as well. In that case, I suggest you dig yourself a hole and bury yourself."
Su Yu smiled helplessly. This old man was really not very tactful. But he understood what Old Zhao meant. There was no need for him to say more. He gave Old Zhao another deep bow. This old man was basically telling him that in his desperation, he would still have one final path he could take. And he could consider taking that path even if he would end up bringing a lot of trouble to Old Zhao.
"Teacher...thank you. I will reduce the frequency of my visits here."
Su Yu exhaled deeply and started leaving. When he reached the door, he looked back and said, "When I reach the Cloudbreach Realm, I will come back to help you complete your weapon!"
"I'll be waiting." Zhao Li yawned, "Reach the Cloudbreach Realm first before making promises like this."
"Thank you for your guidance, Teacher."
Su Yu then walked through the door. After today, he would reduce his visits here. Granted, from the start of the semester, he had only visited this place three times. Only three visits...yet Zhao Li had given him a cultivation method that could very well change his entire life.
Outsiders had no idea just how powerful this cultivation method actually was. It was capable of tempering sea of willpower, purifying apertures, tempering Divine Characters, and serving as a willpower technique during combat.
...
Zhao Li was left alone in the room. He could only shake his head and sigh.
But soon, he smiled again, "At the very least, my inheritance has been passed on. Sigh."
Chaotic times were coming. Liu Wenyan was returning. Hong Tan was probably returning as well. The single character faction was preparing something. That genius from Great Zhou who had roamed the Human Realm defeating numerous experts was also on his way to Great Xia.
Furthermore, Great Zhou was going to welcome a brand new Invincible. And that was also the case for Great Xia. There was also Wan Tiansheng. What exactly was that fellow planning by luring the myriad race students into the academy?
Meanwhile, Old Jia and a few other elders claimed that they were in seclusion. To hell with that! Zhao Li dared to bet his life that the damn fatty called Jia Mingzhen was basically Old Jia in disguise.
"It's so messy. What a pity that the fifth principal is dead."
Zhao Li sighed regretfully. If the fifth principal had survived and successfully affirmed his dao to enter the Eternal Realm, all the cultural researchers of humanity would be united under his banner. At that time, it would no longer matter whether you were from the single or multiple character faction. As long as the fifth principal said that all cultural researchers were the same, nobody would dare to say no.
But with the death of the fifth principal, all sorts of cracks were emerging in the cultural research community. Most of the Invincibles of humanity were in the front line. Only a few were left within the Human Realm, but even these Invincibles were not united.
Each of them had their own plans, and some were even waiting to see if the fifth principal had really left something behind. Under such a situation, it was perfectly understandable that there would be chaos.
"Wan Tiansheng..." Looking in the direction of the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, Zhao Li muttered, "Just what is that fellow planning?"
He kept having a feeling that Wan Tiansheng was definitely planning something big. And a lot of people were going to suffer from it.
Zhao Li even suspected that despite the friendly facade Wan Tiansheng was showing the myriad races, he could very well be the one to suddenly go crazy and kill all those myriad race experts in the Human Realm. That would set the entire human race against the myriad races, forcing the human race to truly unify against the external threats.
"He can't be that crazy, right?"
If Wan Tiansheng was really planning to do that, then the end result would be his death. Of course, that would not be so absolute if Wan Tiansheng was actually an Invincible in disguise. Zhao Li shook his head and decided to stop guessing.
He used to be quite familiar with Wan Tiansheng. But it had been too many years so he was unsure if Wan Tiansheng had changed. There was also Su Yu. Just who had taught the kid a cultural art?
"Why do I care?"
Zhao Li decided to stop thinking. Maybe he should accept some mission and go far away from the academy. He could smell that the academy was going to start being unpeaceful in the near future.
It had been a busy night for Su Yu. By the time he walked out of Old Zhao's research center, the sky was already bright. The students were starting to attend their classes.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was busy observing the little hammer in his head. That hammer was very domineering. It even pushed the character technique aside as it rested in a comfortable spot in the sea of willpower.
Incredible.
That wasn't too surprising since the character technique was something Su Yu had formed himself while the hammer came from a seventh-stage Cloudbreach who was once a ninth-stage Cloudbreach.
"Everything is ready."
Finally, Su Yu felt that he was done with his preparations. Next, he could start growing rapidly. Reading willpower texts, forming Divine Characters, strengthening his willpower, and entering the Infinite Strength Realm
As for his meeting with Wan Tiansheng He was going to ignore it. He had no idea what the principal wanted from him. And the principal was too strong. He decided to drag this out as long as he could. He would think about it after his grandteacher was back. Either that or he would drag it out until Wan Tiansheng looked for him again.
...
While Su Yu was getting ready for class.
Outside the Great Xia City.
A shabby car that had traveled for two days had just arrived.
Before the massive city gate.
Today, a suffocating silence enveloped the area.
The city guards were standing to the two sides of the gate. All around, the members of the Martial Dragon Guards were leading the public to the other gates of the city. The largest road leading in the city was left unused.
Numerous experts were standing around the checkpoint. Some were blood-soaked, some were brimming with tears, some had complicated expressions, while some were waiting expectantly.
"He's here!"
Suddenly, someone shouted. The shabby car stopped and Principal Wang got out of the car. Looking at the group standing ahead of him, he smiled and stepped aside. Inside the car, Liu Wenyan opened his eyes.
He stepped off the car and looked at the old friends ahead of him. There were about a dozen of them. Suddenly, he had the urge to turn around and run away.
I'm back. It has been 50 years. Once again, I am going to enter the Great Xia City. Teacher, I am back. But...I am not returning as an undefeatable expert.
At the same time.
Not far away, atop a certain building, numerous experts were gathered. They were watching silently. The pale Elder Yu was among them. The Elder Sun with a complicated expression was there. The people from the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy were there. The people from the Daoseeking Cultural Research Academy were there.
Somewhere else, there was another group of people. Those from the Talent Fostering Bureau were among them. Those from the war academies were among them. Those from the military were among them. These people were also silently looking in the direction of the gate.
All of them were looking at the grizzled old man. When he left 50 years ago, he was still in his prime. He had returned, but he no longer had the grace and elegance he used to possess.