Chapter 400: A Saint Or A Sham (3)
Su Yu shook his head. He had finally understood something. From all the battles, struggles, and chaos, he had realized something. All these conflicts were merely the precursor to the rise of a true overlord.
The human race still lacked a super expert that could suppress everyone with force. Without someone like that, those arrogant experts would never lower their heads to anyone. Nobody would unconditionally obey the orders of others. That was also the reason for the lack of unity among the various prefectures of the Human Realm.
The two holy lands might be powerful, but the holy lands were also comprised of the top experts of the various prefectures.
For example, Great Xia King was a member of the War Shrine. But he would naturally prioritize Great Xia in his considerations. Similarly, Great Zhou King would prioritize Great Zhou.
That would only change when someone strong enough to suppress all these Invincibles appeared. Someone who could truly force the entire human race to heed his commands. Only then would the chaos end. Only then would all these internal struggles end.
These internal struggles would serve as the grindstone to produce the ultimate expert that could rule over them all. And if even Su Yu could realize that, then the Invincibles had most certainly realized the same. They had reached the same conclusion long ago.
That was why they had allowed all these internal conflicts to happen. They only ensured the unity of humanity at the front line. Back home, the human race was allowed to continue struggling against each other.
In fact, if it wasn't for the threat of the myriad races, the Human Realm would have devolved into a civil war long ago.
Thus, one could say that the threat of the myriad races was actually a good thing for the human race. It allowed humanity to maintain their unity at the front line. After all, the Invincibles knew that if they fell in the front line, then it would no longer matter who the leader was back home anymore.
Wan Mingze was a smart man. He was naturally aware of all that as well.
The look in his eyes changed as he nodded, "You're right. But all the Invincibles are super experts. Who among them can fully suppress the others? Therefore, I wish to educate everyone on the danger coming from the Allheaven Battlefield, the looming threat of the myriad races, and the difficult position our military is in. Starting from our generation, I wish to unify the majority and join hands against external enemies."
Wan Mingze earnestly said, "I know. You might think that I am merely dreaming. But I need to remind you that the various forces of humanity aren't really as friendly with each other as you thought. Things are still not too bad in Great Xia's military. But for some prefectures, even their military on the front line had devolved into a mess of internal conflicts. Some are even starting to doubt the threat posed by the myriad races."
Wan Mingze sighed, "People should start planning for danger in times of safety. Alas, a lot of people have already forgotten that. If this continues, the Human Realm will be in danger. The Invincibles are aware of this change of attitude as well. That is why they have been pushing for a union of the various prefectures. They know that this can't continue."
"If they really want to achieve unity, just start more wars with the myriad races."
Su Yu was acting like it was an easy thing to do. Wan Mingze couldn't even be bothered to offer a retort. He sighed, "I will stop bothering you, then. Brother Su, I wish you a smooth path of cultivation."
He then looked at Xia Huyou and softly said, "Brother Xia, if a day comes where...Basically, I hope that the Xia Family can consider things from the perspective of the entire human race when the day comes."
Xia Huyou rolled his eyes.
"Go tell the other families this. It's not like we are the ones pushing for this. Like Su Yu said, we need enough external pressure for everyone to let go of their grudges. Either that or we need a supreme expert to rise and suppress everyone. Otherwise, do you think it's really possible that the Xia Family will willingly bow and become the little brother of someone not stronger than us?"
That was impossible.
From this, it was clear how difficult it was for the Human Realm to achieve unity. That was basically the stance of every single ruling family in the Human Realm, such as the Xia Family, the Zhou Family, the Zhu Family, the Qin Family, and so on.
Why should they play second fiddle? Wan Mingze left with a dispirited look on his face.
After Wan Mingze left, Xia Huyou said, "He is either a saint or a super hypocrite. I truly hope to see him rise in power. I think he's planning to roam the Human Realm and persuade the various experts to unify against external threats. That's actually a good thought, but it's too hard. Not even becoming an Invincible is that hard."
So was he a saint or a hypocrite? It was too early to judge. Wan Mingze was still too weak. Thus, one would not be able to get a glimpse at his true ambitions. He would probably start revealing more about himself after growing stronger.
Xia Huyou suddenly said, "He's on the verge of reaching the Skysoar Realm. This fellow is far stronger than you have imagined. His willpower is at peak first-tier. His Divine Characters are at the second tier. I believe he is actually strong enough to enter the top 30 of the ranking. He is also suppressing his willpower to delay his breakthrough."
Also suppressing. Note the keyword. Also. Who was the other person? Was it Su Yu or was Xia Huyou referring to himself?
"Suppressing his cultivation? Is he plotting against someone?"
That was also Bai Feng's guess.
"Not necessarily." Xia Huyou explained, "That depends on whether he has a foundation cultural art. If he has one, then he is probably planning to break through after opening more apertures. That will save him a lot of time at the Skysoar Realm. He is probably aiming to directly skip a few stages and reach the fourth or fifth stage upon breakthrough. After all, his cultivation speed will drop after entering the Skysoar Realm."
"Since he is claiming neutrality and even claiming to represent the neutral faction, I suspect that he has caught the favor of an old fossil from the Knowledge Seeking Realm. His teacher could very well be an Invincible."
"If that's the case, then he probably has a foundation cultural art." Su Yu said, "Yes, he has no teacher in the academy! Wait, but how does he have a junior brother?"
"He has a teacher in the academy." Xia Huyou said, "The principal is his nominal teacher. But the principal has been completely ignoring him. Is his actual teacher is even someone from the academy?"
"..."
Right! Su Yu only remembered that Wan Mingze had a teacher in the academy but he had instinctively neglected who that teacher was. That teacher was Wan Tiansheng! In that case, then Wan Tiansheng could very well not be his true teacher.
Everyone had instinctively believed that his teacher should be Wan Tiansheng due to their relationship. Perhaps Wan Mingze was really the student of an Invincible.
Beside them, Chen Hao's jaw had dropped a while ago. What were they talking about? Skysoar, Mountainsea, Invincible...Knowledge Seeking Realm, neutral faction, conflict between single and multiple character factions, struggle between the prefectures...What the hell was he listening to?
"Yu, have you reached the Great Strength Realm?"
Chen Hao was whispering. He felt like he was listening to a fantasy story earlier so he was trying to make things clearer.
A random student had walked over to have a talk with them. And next, this fatty beside Yu claimed that the random student was near the Skysoar Realm and was the student of an Invincible. What the hell did that even mean?
When that random student who Chen Hao personally believed was more handsome than his friend Yu was speaking, Chen Hao understood every single word the student spoke. But at the same time, Chen Hao also had no idea what that handsome student was talking about.
Su Yu glanced at Chen Hao and replied, "Yeah."
"Are you in the Infinite Strength Realm already?"
"Nope."
"Oh...I see. I was scared for a moment. I thought you're already at the Infinite Strength Realm."
Chen Hao heaved a breath of relief. Phew.
"But I can already kill seventh-stage Infinite Strength cultivators. I can probably enter the top 10 of your academy's Infinite Strength Ranking. Am I great?"
"..."
Chen Hao said nothing. He had reached source qi saturation long ago. At this moment, he silently stood up and walked away without giving Su Yu a second look. He was feeling sullen. So he decided to stop talking to Su Yu. But Su Yu received a message in his sound talisman.
"You were lying to me, right? Yu, we are brothers. Can you please console me?"
"Yes. I was lying. You're not even in the Great Xia War Academy. Your academy only has the Dragon Tiger Ranking. In your academy, I think I can enter the top five."
Not far away, Chen Hao staggered. He turned around and shot Su Yu a look of grief. Those words were not comforting at all! He walked out of the perimeter. There, Old Xie was waiting.
Looking at Chen Hao's sad face, Old Xie asked curiously, "What's up?"
"Teacher, I opened four acupoints."
"Not bad."
"Teacher, do you think I can challenge the Dragon Tiger Ranking?"
Old Xie rolled his eyes, "Challenge my ass. Even the student ranked 100th can defeat you in one move."
"Then how strong does one need to be to enter the top five of the ranking?"
"How strong? At least seventh-stage Infinite Strength Realm with a minimum of 10 fused acupoints per stage. You can forget about this. You only have 72 acupoints so you won't be able to fuse more than 8 acupoints. Strictly speaking, you're an Eight Strength warrior, not a true Infinite Strength warrior. This is your limit. Even at the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm, you will still have a hard time reaching the top five."
Even at the ninth stage, Chen Hao would still be someone who had fused eight acupoints to advance. He was definitely not a match for true Infinite Strength warriors.
Looking at Chen Hao's dispirited look, Old Xie comforted him, "It's fine. Since you can't beat them at the Infinite Strength Realm, just aim to reach the Skysoar Realm faster and beat them up. If they manage to reach the Skysoar Realm, just rush to the Cloudbreach Realm and beat them up. What's so special about those geniuses? Being a genius does not guarantee faster advancement. Their talent only helps them in the far future where they will be able to enter the Sunmoon and the Invincible Realms with their talent. It's not like you can reach those realms so why worry about that? Just beat them up during the Mountainsea Realm and below before they manage to reach the apex of their cultivation."
Old Xie's comforting words were not comforting at all. The old man had so nonchalantly pointed out that he wouldn't be able to reach those realms.
Chen Hao sullenly said, "Teacher, stop consoling me."
He did not need these kinds of comforting words. This teacher was even worse than Su Yu.
Old Xie smiled, "I'm serious. Don't be discouraged. You can't beat them now so just leave your hope for the future. You never know what will happen. Do you know this? Our Great Xia King had only opened 36 acupoints at the Great Strength Realm. He was able to cultivate until the peak of the Cloudbreach Realm with that many acupoints.
"Only after entering the Mountainsea Realm did he start opening more acupoints. Sure, at that level, acupoint opening is hard. But he is strong enough to fight for more resources. And he also has the lifespan to slowly improve. Thus, his Sky Sundering Saber slowly improved from the yellow grade to the profound grade, to the earth grade, and finally, the heaven grade. He has been growing one step at a time. Believe in yourself. You might be the next Great Xia King."
This time, Old Xie's words worked. Chen Hao became completely pumped and motivated.
Yes!
He also wanted to keep advancing until the Mountainsea Realm before opening new acupoints. He also wanted to slowly develop a profound-grade cultivation method into the earth or even the heaven grade!
Meanwhile, Old Xie was sighing inwardly. Silly kid. Those were only words meant to comfort him. Don't take those words seriously.
There were probably hundreds of millions of people dreaming of achieving the same. But for a lot of people, even the Skysoar Realm was unreachable. They could forget about the higher realms.
These people should not be planning for the Mountainsea and Sunmoon Realms this early like those geniuses.
Those geniuses were only opening so many acupoints at this stage to build their foundations for the future. They were preparing themselves for the Mountainsea Realm, to reach a level where they could contain all their methods and techniques within a single acupoint.
As for students like Chen Hao, they should be content with the Skysoar Realm. As a Skysoar, Chen Hao could already be the mayor of a city like Nanyuan. Sure, Nanyuan was a small city. These students might not like a place like that. But even in the bigger cities, a Skysoar would still be able to become an influential official.
And in the army, a Skysoar could become a 1000-man commander. That was already a good career prospect. Old Xie had never envisioned Chen Hao to reach for the skies in the future.
"Go back and focus on your cultivation. I'll try to get some good stuff for you."
Old Xie started speaking with an enigmatic tone, "With my connections, I can get you some blood essence of a top 1,000 race. You can forge your body with that. Remember to pay me the money for the blood essence in the future."
"Body forging?"
Chen Hao suddenly recalled something. Su Yu seemed to have told him to visit the cultural research academy for his body forging?
"It's fine, teacher. I can deal with this myself."
"You fool! Don't tell me you're planning to use some fire hog blood essence?"
Old Xie sighed. This silly kid. The fire hog blood essence was truly too trashy. Why was this kid giving up on himself already? The top 1,000 race blood essence he could find would still work splendidly!
Chen Hao scratched his head. He had no idea what Su Yu was giving him as well. He would simply use whatever Su Yu told him to use. Wait, he seemed to remember that Su Yu was very poor as well. Whatever. He would wait and see.