Chapter 382: If I'm Brave Enough, The Whole Academy Could Be Mine (3)
Zhang Hao's gaze landed on Su Yu's arms as he asked, "How are your wounds? If you're not recovering well, I can get some healing talismans from a few teachers in the talisman faction for you."
"It's fine. Thank you for the thought. My martial uncle bought me some. I have enough." Su Yu then sighed and said, "You are quite brave for having the courage to invite me into your home even now."
Zhang Hao laughed, "Why should I be afraid? You have only offended the single character faction, not the talisman faction. In fact, the talisman faction is quite friendly with your faction. Is the single character faction going to create trouble for us just because of this?"
He then asked, "Brother Su, are you not here today to talk about the blood essence production?"
"We'll do that next time. There's no rush." Su Yu said, "You see, I am trying to get some sound transmission talismans. They don't need to work long-distance. I only need them to work within the academy. Security is extremely important so I need some that won't be intercepted or spied on. Can you get me some?"
"That is...possible." Zhang Hao nodded, "But in terms of security...Brother Su, I respect you a lot. To be honest, even if I find you some, I won't be able to guarantee the security unless I am the maker of these talismans. You never know if the maker of a talisman had left a backdoor in it. Thus, there is no promise that your conversations through the talismans won't be listened in on."
Su Yu frowned, "So there's no way to guarantee security?"
"Yeah." Zhang Hao thought about it and said, "In truth, it's not that hard to produce a talisman like this. You only need a few specific characters. Firstly, a location finder character. Secondly, a seeking character. Thirdly, a manifestation character. With all three characters, you can even make these talismans yourself."
Su Yu was somewhat speechless. Making his own talismans? Why did it feel like nothing was safe anymore? Not long ago, Teacher Zhao had also told him that some people loved leaving backdoors in the weapons they forged. But that was also the case for the talisman faction? Was everyone really so dishonest? Were the outsiders even aware of this practice?
Seeing Su Yu's expression, Zhang Hao smiled, "It's fine if you don't know how to produce a talisman. To guarantee the security of the talisman, you can have multiple people complete the talisman separately. The location finder and seeking functions are the more important functions so you can get some people you trust to work on those functions."
"Can a Cloudbreach do something like this?"
"Are you talking about Head Manager Chen? I think so." Zhang Hao nodded, "If you keep the different stages of production separate, the likelihood of someone leaving backdoors in your talismans will be greatly decreased. After all, a backdoor can be easily discovered if others are going to keep working on the talisman after you're done with your part."
Su Yu was somewhat speechless. He said, "Why does this feel like what a Myriad Race Cult agent would do?"
Zhang Hao said, "In fact, these backdoors have been very useful in detecting numerous cultists. The general populace is unaware of this, but the cultists are very careful with all their purchases nowadays for fear of being detected out of nowhere. That was especially true for things involving communication. It is very easy for your conversations to be spied on if you're doing it with a talisman."
"Fine. Thank you. I know what to do." Su Yu nodded and said, "Brother Zhang, I need to ask you about something."
"Feel free to ask, Brother Su."
"Not long ago, I started a club for fun. Some people have been recruited..."
Su Yu gave a simple description of the Mutual Aid Club before saying, "This is a small club established to help each other in our path of cultivation. This is definitely not an official organization or faction. I wonder if you would be interested in joining, Brother Zhang?
"Of course, since I have so many enemies, this club will have to remain a secret since we don't want to be targeted. The members of the club will not even know who the other members are. I will be the middle person connecting everyone in the club."
When it comes to recruitment, a different approach was required for different individuals.
Lin Yao had been tricked to join.
Hu Zongji had been awed into joining.
As for Zhang Hao, Su Yu was taking the earnest approach.
Zhang Hao's interest was piqued. He said, "Interesting. But I have a question. Is the club helpful enough? If not, then there is really no need for me to join."
He was also a freak. And he had a good family background and a strong teacher. He was the sole freak of the talisman faction this batch. If the club wasn't that helpful, then it was pointless to join.
"It's decently helpful, I suppose. All the brothers and sisters that have joined are people of decent background and far reaches." Su Yu smiled, "Willpower texts, cultivation manuals, blood essence, cultural weapons...all these things can be obtained through the club. The club can get an easy mission that pays well for you through the Missions Department if you're thinking of doing missions..."
Zhang Hao smiled, "I don't really lack any of that. But this sounds like a decent club. Are you the founder, Brother Su?"
"Something like that."
"Something like that..." Zhang Hao's eyes flickered as he asked, "So is the club also capable of getting some unique resources?"
"What are you referring to?"
"Ability blood essence."
Su Yu laughed, "That is really not so special and valuable. If you really want some, you can really get some through the club. And our research center doesn't lack ability blood essence either. I thought you would ask for treasures like foundation cultural art. But you're happy with only some ability blood essence? Brother Zhang, don't tell me you actually think that the Mutual Aid Club is the same as all those garbage regional clubs?"
Zhang Hao blanked out slightly.
Foundation cultural art?
Garbage regional clubs?
Before this, he really thought that this Mutual Aid Club was only a small club formed by a few individuals. But from Su Yu's words...
Zhang Hao's expression changed. He was no longer so relaxed as he said, "Brother Su, don't mess with me. Can the club really provide something like foundation cultural art?"
"Yes, but the price is very high." Su Yu smiled, "You should understand why. This is something that is generally only passed down in the families of Invincibles. We paid a high price to get our hands on one. I can only say that there is hope to get one if you join, but I can't promise that you will really be able to get it."
"Why bother mentioning it, then? Are you trying to trick me into joining?"
Zhang Hao thought to himself that this Su Yu was such a swindler.
Su Yu laughed, "Why should I trick you? Am I such a person? You probably won't be able to get the full manual. Instead, you will be given the positions of your soul apertures and instructions on how to open them. The complete manual will be very difficult to obtain."
After saying that, Su Yu indifferently activated one of his apertures. Instantly, the source qi around them rippled while the willpower from a willpower text on Zhang Hao's desk moved.
Zhang Hao's eyes widened.
Su Yu nonchalantly said, "I only managed to obtain the instructions to open a few apertures. Of course, I have yet to link these apertures into a full system. I also don't know when I will get the complete manual. But it is not completely hopeless..."
Zhang Hao's expression changed completely.
He was also in the Mental Tempering Stage. He could naturally sense the changes when Su Yu activated an aperture. He could no longer maintain his calm. He said, "Brother Su...is there...a descendent of an Invincible in your club?"
"I can't tell you anything about that." Su Yu shook his head, "But don't worry. All our manuals have been obtained through legal means. You won't be troubled by an Invincible after cultivating it. Of course, it won't come cheap. As one of the leaders, I was given preferential treatment. And I have also contributed a lot to the club. For example, my Soul Expanding Art has also been contributed to the club. Only after all that was I given this cultural art."
Zhang Hao swallowed, "Are Teacher Bai and Teacher Chen aware of this?"
"I don't know. In any case, when I asked for those things, my teacher did not refuse. He gave me everything I asked for. Thus, even the Soul Devouring Art of the club can be safely practiced without any issue."
Zhang Hao was shocked. Holy shit. Was this the so-called small club? He had thought that it was a useless club. But this fellow was telling him that he could even get a cultural art from the club!
Su Yu asked in astonishment, "Brother Zhang, you're not too far from the Skysoar Realm already. Why do you care so much about some cultural art? It's not like a cultural art will affect you much at this stage..."
Zhang Hao's tone turned gloomy as he said, "How is it the same? Prior to the Skysoar Realm, apertures were much easier to open. It's like acupoints. It will be much harder to open at the Skysoar Realm. If you can open one aperture every three days now, then you will probably take an entire month to open one at the Skysoar Realm. Also, opening aperture now will allow you to cultivate your willpower in advance and increase the speed of your growth. And you can even continue cultivating this art at the Skysoar Realm to the fourth or even the fifth stage."
Zhang Hao asked doubtfully, "Don't you know all that?"
Su Yu smiled, "Of course I know. But I feel that even without a cultural art, you are talented enough to easily enter the Skysoar Realm. But it looks like this cultural art is a much bigger deal to you than I have expected."
"..."
Zhang Hao felt like shouting.
Bullshit.
How could that not be a big deal?
So were there some Invincible descendents in the club as well? Who were they? Were they from the Xia Family? Those from the Xia Family wouldn't lightly spread the cultural art of their family. Could it be the descendants of a dead Invincible who had fallen into hard times? Or was it something left behind by the fifth principal? He had no idea.
Su Yu did not say much. He indifferently said, "If you're really interested to join, we can talk further after I get my hands on some sound transmission talismans. With the talismans, we will be able to maintain our communication without even meeting each other. If you need anything from the club, you can contact me through the talisman. At times, some missions might even be issued by the club. You guys are free to accept those missions if you're interested."
Zhang Hao said, "Your club isn't related to the Myriad Race Cult, right?"
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "Myriad Race Cult? Do you think they're stupid? Would they dare to spread something like this if they really have one? Do they even have one? Using a cultural art just to rope in some students like us? Are we guaranteed to reach the Invincible Realm or something?"
"..."
That made so much sense.
Zhang Hao couldn't help but ask, "Why invite me, then?"
Su Yu said, "Brother Zhang, I am the one inviting you, not the others. I can be considered one of the founders. And I believe in your character. That's why I invited you. If you're unwilling to join, just forget it. I only hope that you can keep this between us. After all, this can still bring us trouble if words spread to more people."
Zhang Hao nodded and asked, "Can I really get the cultural art from the club?"
"Of course." Su Yu nodded, "You can even get things like heaven-grade cultivation methods and martial techniques. Cultural weapons are slightly troublesome to get, especially the earth-grade weapons. Profound and yellow weapons are much easier to get. But that doesn't matter since we're still too weak to be using earth-grade weapons anyway."
"..."