Chapter 404: Like Teacher, Like Student (1)
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
The massive battle the night before had not affected the students in the academy. Most of the researchers and students heard of what happened, but the event really did not have that much effect on them.
Life in the academy continued as usual. The students were still going to their classes and cultivating as usual. Most of the time, the academy would remain calm and peaceful as long as nothing happened with the Top 100 Ranking.
After taking his leave from Xia Huyou and the others, Su Yu started heading toward the Wentan Research Center.
...
He had opened 40 apertures in total.
All his characters were dormant. Or to be precise, they were in the process of digesting the character intent they had absorbed. The destruction of several Eternal characters was akin to the destruction of several grottos. Even a tiny bit of the character intent leaking out of these characters could greatly benefit Su Yu.
Su Yu had also taken this chance to open a decent number of acupoints. The second level of the Time technique required 44 acupoints. Most of the acupoints overlapped with his opened acupoints.
After opening 180 acupoints, Su Yu did not have to open too many acupoints to fulfill the second level's requirements. The night before, he had opened 6 acupoints. Thus, he was only 16 acupoints away from completing his cultivation of the second move, Suppressing Sunmoon.
While thinking about all that, he stepped into the research center. The moment he entered, he noticed something different. The floor...was clean! Had his grandteacher and teacher returned? Or was it someone else?
He had always felt that the academy was a safe place with Wan Tiansheng's presence. Even so, he did not dare to be careless.
"Teacher?"
He tried calling, but he did not dare to take another step forward.
"Come in."
Bai Feng's weak voice rang out. Su Yu heaved a breath of relief and continued stepping forward. In the living area, Bai Feng was resting on the couch. Seated across from him was an old man with a cold expression.
Beside Bai Feng was Chen Yong with a troubled expression. Wu Jia was also there. She wanted to move over when she saw Su Yu, but when she stole a glance at the old man in the room, she decided to not budge. The old man looked at Su Yu, moved his gaze to Wu Jia, before finally looking at Bai Feng.
He abruptly scolded, "Garbage."
There were only five people in their faction. But apart from him, the other three were carrying varying degrees of injuries on them. Bai Feng was the most heavily injured person, followed by Wu Jia, with Su Yu having the lightest injury. He had yet to fully recover from the injuries to both his arms.
Was this even still the unrivaled multiple character faction? This was way too miserable. He hadn't even been away for more than three months. Would the entire multiple character faction be gone if he had remained away for a longer time?
Chen Yong awkwardly said, "Teacher, I"
"You're the biggest piece of trash among them!" Hong Tan scolded, "You're actually on the verge of losing your position as the head manager? Even your student has received such a heavy injury. Are you not ashamed of yourself?"
"..."
Chen Yong could only helplessly shut his mouth.
Hong Tan poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip before suddenly taking a closer look at the teapot. He muttered suspiciously, "This isn't my old teapot!"
Bai Feng looked at the ceiling and pretended like he had heard nothing. That definitely wasn't his fault. Su Yu was also completely silent. That teapot was history. It had been crushed by Old Nie. There was no getting that teapot back.
"Grandteacher."
Su Yu gave his grandteacher a greeting before obediently stood behind Bai Feng. Beside him, Wu Jia gave her fellow sufferer a glance. How pitiful. Their grandteacher had returned. And the first thing he did after returning was scolding them. Hong Tan did not pursue the matter of the teapot. It was no big deal. Maybe the teapot had been taken away to be washed or something.
He gave Su Yu another look and nodded, "Not bad. Ninth-stage Great Strength Realm. Your acupoint opening is fast. And your willpower is near 80 percent already. Not bad at all."
For a new student, this was a decent cultivation level. This new grandstudent was much better than he had expected.
Of course, he didn't know more about Su Yu. He only knew that this kid came from Nanyuan. He had even seen this kid's father on the battlefield before. The father was a simple and honest person. That kid was probably the same type of person. During the previous battle, the kid had gone over despite how dangerous it was. The kid was definitely a loyal person.
It was a pity that the kid was too honest. He was so silly. That place was so dangerous. What was a Mental Tempering Stage kid like him doing there?
"Thank you for the praise, Grandteacher."
Su Yu flashed his trademark honest smile mixed with a bashful expression of someone who was feeling shy after being praised.
Hong Tan nodded, his anger receding somewhat. Looking at Su Yu's arms, he asked, "Who broke your arms?"
"Teacher Xia Yuwen's student..."
"Bastard!" Hong Tan scolded, "It's that bastard again? Is Xia Changqing tired of living? I have only been away for a few months. Has that old fool gone mad? He dares to let his people attack my people?"
Hong Tan started scolding furiously. Su Yu said nothing. Zhou Hao was in an even worse situation. He personally believed that there was no need to tell his grandteacher that.
After a while, Hong Tan started blaming himself, "This is my fault. I have been ignoring them for decades. I had not been bothered competing against them. I wanted to maintain a low profile. We are too small to withstand too much attention anyway. But these people are crossing the line!"
Wu Jia softly said, "So Grandteacher, are we going to keep acting like turtles after this?"
"..."
What the fuck did she just say? Hong Tan glared at her.
"What are you talking about? Your teacher is the turtle here. Do you think your grandteacher is a wimp like that?"
Chen Yong felt aggrieved, but he maintained his silence. Wu Jia declined to comment. In truth, she believed that her grandteacher was quite a wimp.
Hong Tan was finally tired of cursing. He sighed and said, "Even if we want to continue acting like turtles, we can't anymore. My senior brother came back and killed Shan Tianhao. Before this, with all of them away, I could only protect the faction as best as I could. But in the end, the faction has still declined..."
He sounded bleak and tired.
Bai Feng couldn't help but say, "Teacher, our faction is not weak. We have the support of so many Mountainseas. What are we afraid of?"
"..."
Hong Tan shot his student a glare before saying, "Why bring them trouble for no reason? Wu Yuehua and the others aren't even members of the multiple character faction. Even if they can protect us, their feats will only strengthen the prestige of the talisman and pillmaking factions. Meanwhile, the multiple character faction will remain weak."
Bai Feng shrugged and stopped talking.
Chen Yong said, "Teacher, what about Martial Uncle Xia and the others? Did they say anything?"
"We still can't rely on them." Hong Tan sighed, "Your Martial Uncle Liu has never fully recovered. And after killing two Mountainseas, he will probably be sent to the Allheaven Battlefield soon. This is also the case for Bai Feng. You dumb brat. Why did you kill someone for no reason? Just cripple them and be done with it. In your current condition, you won't be able to survive the Vanguard Regiment."
"Allheaven Battlefield?" Su Yu couldn't resist interrupting, "Teacher is going to the Allheaven Battlefield?"
Bai Feng appeared indifferent. "Yeah. I can't say no. These are the rules of the Xia Family. We need to follow their rules. At times, these rules are the best shield we can have. I only need to kill 10 Cloudbreach enemies. I'll just take it slow."
So be it. He really wasn't scared. Sure, the Vanguard Regiment was the army involved in the highest number of battles. But if one could do well there, one would also be able to grow rapidly.
"When are you leaving?"
"Within one month." Bai Feng smiled, "It's fine. Even Zheng Yuming is still here. I'm not in a rush."
"Zheng Yuming?"
Hong Tan had just returned so he was still clueless about the recent events. Bai Feng explained, "Senior Brother did it. He almost got Zheng Yuming killed with his scheme."
"..."
Chen Yong had a helpless look. That really wasn't a scheme!
"It's my martial nephew..."
He pointed at Su Yu instead. He was definitely not taking the blame for this.
Su Yu had an awkward expression as he said, "It wasn't me. I was only comparing notes with his student. But he suddenly decided to make a move on me and Martial Uncle stopped him. That was when the principal injured him and exiled him to the Allheaven Battlefield."
After getting a rough idea about the event, Hong Tan shot a glance at Chen Yong before looking at Su Yu and asking doubtfully, "How did you come into a conflict with his student? You haven't even been in the academy for long, right?"
"He injured Senior Sister!"
Hong Tan frowned. As understanding dawned on him, he sighed, "These days, any random person can pick fights with us. Zheng Yuming was nothing back then. But now, he has actually grown gutsy enough to send his student against my people..."
His emotions were complicated.
He tossed that thought out of his mind and looked at Su Yu before nodding, "Not bad. It is not a bad thing to stand up for your senior sister. But remember that the tallest tree attracts the most wind. Too much attention might only bring you more trouble. This injury of yours is probably the consequence of what you did, right?"
He paused slightly before continuing, "You were taught by my senior brother at Nanyuan?"
"Yeah, Teacher Liu taught me..."
"You're not bad. Looks like my senior brother has been a good teacher..."
Before he could finish, Bai Feng rolled his eyes and said, "Teacher, this has nothing to do with Martial Uncle! I was the one who had taught him! When Su Yu first came, he wasn't even at the Great Strength Realm! Look at him now! And he wasn't even at the Mental Tempering Stage as well! Look at his current willpower cultivation!"