Chapter 359: Bai Feng Ran Away (2)
Inside the academy.
After ending the call, Su Yu thought for a bit and started rushing toward the research center. Was there any special reason why Teacher Liu was not coming to the academy? Since Teacher Liu wasn't coming, Su Yu would just letTeacher Bai go. When he arrived at the research center, he went straight to the third underground floor.
As usual, Bai Feng was working on his research untiringly. He was truly paying zero attention to the matters of the world. Perhaps he would still remain oblivious even when the sky was falling outside the research center.
When Bai Feng sensed Su Yu's arrival, he looked up and said with joy, "Little Yu, your teacher discovered something new! Just earlier, I managed to take my Dragon Slaying Sword apart!"
Su Yu nearly got a heart attack from that. Had Bai Feng gone crazy? That was his character technique!
"Teacher, relax. Don't get yourself killed..."
"Stop talking nonsense."
A tiny sword appeared above Bai Feng's palm as he said, "Kid, watch carefully."
He then dismantled the sword. Yes. He had actually taken the sword apart. Su Yu was completely stunned. Could character techniques be taken apart like this?
Bai Feng laughed, "Amazing, right? I'm not taking individual Divine Characters out. Rather, I have taken the entire technique apart. Isn't this incredible? Character technique? The template can't be changed? Bullshit! I can dismantle and reassemble it anytime I want!"
With that declaration, he started putting the dismantled sword back together.
"I can even change its shape as I wish!"
As he played with the sword, it turned into a saber.
"As long as the main nodes are around, I can alter the technique as I wish."
Bai Feng continued working on his character technique as he said, "But I discovered an issue with this. When taking the form of the Dragon Slaying Sword, I don't feel any sense of discomfort. But the moment I change it into a different form, I will feel a sense of disharmony."
"Firstly, the Divine Characters originate from different races. Secondly, the Divine Characters are of different tiers. Thirdly, the strength of the Divine Characters of different races are different as well..."
He looked at Su Yu and said, "You need to persevere in using only human characters. I have discovered that the repelling force among the human characters is the weakest. The repelling force of the divine and devil characters are the strongest.
"I suspect that the divine and devil characters have an innate rejection toward us humans. My divine and devil characters have always carried a repelling force with them. I have merely not noticed it before."
Bai Feng continued muttering, "Are human characters too weak to even generate the repelling force? Or is it possible that the divine and devil characters have never been suitable for the human race?
"If I do not reassemble my character technique, I won't be able to sense the repelling force. Even at the Cloudbreach or the Mountainsea Realm, it would probably be the same. But I suspect that at the Sunmoon Realm, this repelling force would intensify, to the point where human cultivators wouldn't be able to reach the Invincible Realm with these characters.
"Does the problem lie on human characters? Have human characters been weakened somehow? Or is there a problem with the divine and devil characters? Because they are not suitable for the human race?"
"..."
Bai Feng continued talking to himself. He had completely forgotten about Su Yu's presence. Meanwhile, Su Yu was also in a state of shock. After he had given his teacher the idea that Divine Characters might be related to racial abilities, his teacher seemed to have entered a state of enlightenment, becoming better and better at research.
"Teacher!"
"Oh." Bai Feng was roused awake. He looked at Su Yu and exhaled, "Don't worry. You need to form 18 Divine Characters so you have plenty of time. I'll keep working on my research. If I have no choice, I'll destroy some of my characters and try to cultivate new characters."
Su Yu was alarmed. Destroying his own characters? Would his teacher kill himself with these experiments?
"Teacher, relax. Don't hurt yourself because of your research."
Su Yu never intended to say too much about his teacher's research, but his teacher was already thinking of destroying his own Divine Characters. Su Yu couldn't hold back anymore and decided to tell his teacher the truth.
He said, "Teacher, you can't get yourself killed yet. A lot of troubles are coming for us."
"Has Martial Uncle arrived at Great Xia City?" Bai Feng raised his brow, "As mentioned previously, we are not exactly the targets of some people. We are merely the tools they use to force Martial Uncle to reappear. And looks like they have succeeded."
Bai Feng did not know too much, but he was no fool. He snorted coldly and said, "A bunch of bastards. They have all these excuses, but ultimately, they are all coveting the Divine Character of the fifth principal. Perhaps the fifth principal had really discovered the secrets of reaching the Eternal Realm as a cultural researcher."
Su Yu frowned, "Those people are too shortsighted. If there is really a way to reach the Eternal Realm as a cultural researcher, I doubt any cultural researcher will hide the method."
At the very least, he believed that he wouldn't do so. After all, the first cultural researcher to do so would be a trailblazer. That person would be the one to open up a path for countless Sunmoons who had been forced to focus on physical cultivation.
There was no need for someone to hide something that would benefit anyone as long as it wouldn't expose that person's core secrets. After all, the myriad races actually had their own Eternal cultural researchers.
Only the human race was without Eternal cultural researchers. In such a situation, was there even a need to hide something like a method to reach that fabled realm?
Bai Feng exhaled, "Who knows? Perhaps it's not a lack of foresight. Instead, they simply do not wish to see the human race with our own Eternal cultural researchers?"
"This..."
Su Yu recalled what his martial uncle said about the potential thief that had stolen the data left behind by the fifth principal. He really couldn't argue against what Bai Feng said.
Bai Feng inhaled deeply and said, "Since Martial Uncle is here, then I no longer have to worry about my lack of research subject. Very good. Now, I don't have to worry about accidentally killing myself while experimenting on myself anymore. Kid, you won't be able to inherit my wealth after my death anytime soon."
Su Yu wanted to tell Bai Feng to wake up and remember that he had no wealth to speak of. The most valuable belonging here was the research center, but it belonged to his grandteacher, not Bai Feng.
Thus, if Bai Feng really died, he would die leaving nothing behind.
Bai Feng was naturally unbothered with what Su Yu was thinking. He said, "I'll go look for Martial Uncle. I might be away from the academy for some time so you need to be careful. Stay in the academy and don't leave no matter how messy things get outside."
Bai Feng solemnly said, "Since even Martial Uncle has been forced to leave Nanyuan, something is definitely happening soon. Things will get unpeaceful soon. Just stay in the academy and cultivate. If you encounter any trouble, look for your martial uncle. He can't leave anyway since he needs to watch over the books depository."
"I know. Be careful, Teacher."
"Don't worry. I'll be fine."
Bai Feng wasn't too worried about himself. He started packing up his stuff, including some of the devices he needed for his research.
While packing up, he said, "Remember this. The character technique is most likely the initial form of a racial ability. And the racial ability character might be one of the keys behind a cultural researcher's advancement into the Eternal Realm.
"It is definitely not easy to enter the Eternal Realm as a cultural researcher. I suspect that all your Divine Characters need to be of the same race to accomplish that. Additionally, all your Divine Characters need to be at the sixth tier. Only then can you truly step into the Eternal Realm.
"The fifth principal is very strong. Terrifyingly strong. I guess that some of his Divine Characters have reached the sixth tier. Meanwhile, for the human race, we have this habit of calling fifth-tier characters Eternal characters. But that is actually inaccurate. The fifth principal definitely had a lot of fifth-tier characters and some sixth-tier characters. But since not all his characters were at the sixth tier, he had failed his advancement.
"The ambush is probably not the only reason the fifth principal had failed his advancement. I also need to take this chance to take a look at the fifth principal's main Divine Character. I will be updating you through the communicator, but I can't be too direct in it. I will only say enough for you alone to understand.
"If the fifth principal's sixth-tier characters are human characters, then that means that the human race is actually capable of becoming Eternal cultural researchers. The fifth principal had probably been mistaken about some other aspects, resulting in his failure..."
Bai Feng's line of thought seemed to be jumping all over the place. He looked like he was trying to tell Su Yu everything he had learned from his research.
Su Yu frowned, "Teacher, you don't have to tell me more. You'll be fine."
He knew what Bai Feng was thinking. Bai Feng was afraid that he wouldn't be able to return alive.
Bai Feng chided, "Cut the crap. Back then, the fifth principal was also fully confident with himself. Because of that, he had left nothing behind prior to his attempt. But instead, he failed and brought the multiple character faction down with him. Do not repeat the fifth principal's disastrous policy. One more thing. If you're really in big trouble, seek Wan Tiansheng's help."
"What?"
"Wan Tiansheng!" Bai Feng said, "Before your grandteacher left, he said that we can look for Wan Tiansheng if we encounter any trouble. Thus, I believe that he isn't an enemy. Back then, he had a good relationship with the fifth principal. But he had not remained in the academy the entire time. There was a period of time where he went to the Knowledge Seeking Realm for his cultivation. He had only returned after the fifth principal's death.
"One of the reasons he had returned was the Knowledge Seeking Realm's request. I don't know if his return involves an exchange of benefits as well. But you need to remember that he might also be a member of the multiple character faction."
"What?"
Su Yu was dumbstruck. Multiple character faction? In truth, he did not know about the principal's path of cultivation. He did not have much information about the principal. He had only heard that the principal could actually be considered a member of the single character faction, the part of the faction that believed in forming a system of characters. Why was he suddenly a member of the multiple character faction?
"What's so surprising about that?" Bai Feng said, "There really isn't that much of a difference between the single and multiple character factions. When a single character faction member forms more than 10 characters and links those characters into a system before the Skysoar Realm, that person can actually be considered a multiple character faction member already. People like us are benefiting from the knowledge of our predecessors, allowing us to pick a template from the wall. Meanwhile, Wan Tiansheng might have formed his own character technique instead of picking one somewhere."
Su Yu was stunned. Forming his own character technique? Right! In truth, that was what he had done as well. Or to be precise, he had not inherited any existing templates in the wall. The golden book had instead formed a new template for him. Thus, it was really possible that Wan Tiansheng had formed his own template.
But if that was the case, then Wan Tiansheng was a true freak among freaks. One ought to know that the template had to be formed before the Skysoar Realm.
"Teacher, are those templates in the wall the creations of our predecessors before the Skysoar Realm?"
"Not all of them. Some were created after the Skysoar Realm. Even though they couldn't use these templates, that did not stop them from creating these templates."
At this point, Bai Feng had finished packing up. He inhaled deeply and said, "Just remember my words. Don't get involved in anything else. In the academy, you will be fine as long as you follow the rules. Nobody would dare to take the risk and act against you in the academy.
"Your martial uncle is still in the academy. If you are really left with no choice, just leave the multiple character faction. It's fine. Old Man Zhao has been trying to take you as a student, right? It's not a problem."
Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He said, "Teacher, stop making this sound like your final words. You have to stop planting these flags or you might really jinx yourself."
Bai Feng glared at Su Yu.
After thinking about it, he said, "By the way, I need to give you the keys of the cages in the prison zone as well. When you're in trouble, you can release them for their help. They aren't stupid.
"Tell them that if they help you, they will be assigned the identities of tamed beasts. That way, they won't be killed for leaving the cages. If they refuse, they will definitely die before they can leave the Human Realm.
"They aren't stupid. They will know what to do. Not everyone can get the identifications for tamed beasts, but your grandteacher was prepared. He had used his identity as an elder to apply for some mount allocations. You only need to register those beasts as our mounts to make them your tamed beasts."
He then tossed a token over to Su Yu. It was a silvery white token. On it, the character Hong could be seen on one side. On the other side was the picture of the Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
"This is your grandteacher's identity token. You can use it for the registration process." Bai Feng exhaled and added, "If the situation becomes dangerous that you're worried about your safety, release the beasts. At the very least, you can get a few Cloudbreach cultivators at your side that way.
"As for the potential of their betrayal, you will have to deal with that yourself. If they escape, they will die. If they remain obedient, they can stay alive. As long as they aren't complete fools, they will know what to do. Be generous when making promises. For example, you can promise a timeline where they can eventually return to the Allheaven Battlefield..."
"Alright."
Su Yu was quite surprised. So his grandteacher had actually gotten the identity of mounts for these beasts. That way, these beasts would not be killed even after being let out of their cages.
After saying all that, Bai Feng hefted his heavy bag up and complained, "Su Yu, if you have the chance, try to get a storage Divine Character. We can do the same with Eternal characters, but all characters below that level can't do so unless that is the special ability of the character in question. You better get one or it would be too uncool for us to travel with so much luggages. Traveling with luggages simply doesn't fit our status as cultural researchers."
Su Yu's eyes lit up. That made a lot of sense! All cultural researchers should look graceful and ethereal. And dragging luggages around would ruin that image.
"Teacher, are there many characters with this ability?"
"There are, but not many. For example, the bag, carry, lift, space, and some other characters might come with a storage space. But it ultimately depends on your luck."
At that point, Bai Feng lost his patience again. He said, "I'll be leaving. Time for me to experiment on my martial uncle-no, I mean time for me to save my martial uncle!"
He then ran off unhesitatingly. Su Yu was completely dumbstruck.
Previously when Bai Feng was leaving his last words, Su Yu thought that his teacher was ready to face death. But looking at his teacher's current look of excitement, well, his teacher did not look worried at all. Instead, he looked more like a mad scientist who had stumbled upon the perfect test subject.
Su Yu started suspecting that Bai Feng wasn't worried of dying under the hands of the single character faction. Instead, he was worried of dying under the hands of Teacher Liu. He was basically treating Teacher Liu as a lab rat. At that thought, Su Yu reckoned that Bai Feng would really be unable to return.
What a troublesome fellow. Why was his teacher so unreliable? Forget it. He could only count on himself.