Chapter 417: Teaching (2)
Su Yu's willpower churned as he produced praise after praise toward Marquis Xia in his mind. All the praise came from deep inside him. Marquis Xia looked at the kid and merely maintained a faint smile without saying anything.
After a while, he finally spoke, "Hide your disgusting thoughts. I can teach you the cultivation method, but cultivation methods are never things to be taught lightly. Defeating the puppet only gives you the qualification to learn it. But if you want to leave with the cultivation method, tell me. What can you give for it?"
Su Yu cautiously said, "Marquis, I'm only a student..."
"That's fine. You can sell your body. For example, you can serve in the army for 20 years after your graduation."
"Umm...Marquis..." Su Yu softly said, "I don't even know if I can live that long. What if I can't? That would be a loss for you! In that case, you might have to protect me for 20 years to not make a loss. Is this worth it?"
"..."
Marquis Xia looked at Su Yu silently. He had never heard of such an argument before. This kid was truly a genius in sophistry.
Suddenly, he recalled something. This was the same kid who had scammed a large amount of money from the single character faction. This kid was definitely a lot more treacherous than he let on!
"Tell me, then. What can you give?"
"If you can teach me this cultivation method, my grandteacher will teach Brother Huyou a cultivation method as well."
"Cultivation method?"
"Yeah." Su Yu seriously said, "Before this, my grandteacher already agreed that we can exchange cultivation methods. My grandteacher had spent 50 years creating the Thirty-six Souls - Heaven Shaking Sutra. It is a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures. I believe it is valuable enough to be traded for the Sky Sundering Saber."
Marquis Xia frowned and looked at Hong Tan.
Hong Tan continued looking at the ceiling. But when he noticed that Marquis Xia was still staring at him after a long while, he smiled and said, "So is that agreeable? Naturally, only Xia Huyou can be taught. It's the same case as your Xia Family's Sky Sundering Saber where those taught by you can't teach it to anyone else. I'll give Xia Huyou the cultivation manual once you give Su Yu the Sky Sundering Saber's manual."
"Where did you get it?"
"I created it."
Marquis Xia snorted coldly and said, "Are you trying to lie in front of me? If you are really capable of creating something like this, you won't be Hong Tan anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"Hong Tan is not someone with such ability. Which part of my statement are you not understanding?"
"..."
Hong Tan started cursing inwardly.
Marquis Xia's face fell instantly.
Hong Tan was getting tired so he said, "Just tell me if you agree to this trade or not. If not, piss off."
Marquis Xia ignored Hong Tan and asked Su Yu, "Is this the same cultural art you talked about the other day? I noticed that Huyou seemed to have gotten a new cultivation manual after that. The so-called Xia Family's cultural art you mentioned was actually this Heaven Shaking Sutra, right?"
"Yes." Su Yu smiled, "You're right."
"What a cunning kid. That way, you made the Xia Family your scapegoat. And now, you're even trying to trade the cultural art for our cultivation method? Since the manual has already been given to Huyou, why should I give you anything?"
Su Yu smiled and answered, "Marquis, Brother Huyou was only given the instructions for 35 apertures."
"It won't be that hard for us to deduce the location of the final aperture with those 35 apertures we already know about."
Marquis Xia was still calm. Could something like this stump him?
Su Yu nodded and said, "The Xia Family is naturally capable of that. But an agreement was already made between me and him. The art will only be taught to him and no one else. You will violate the agreement by looking at the manual. In that case, the Xia Family's Sky Sundering Saber will probably start being spread everywhere as well. After all, everyone is following the Xia Family's rules. Since the Xia Family is not following their own rules, nobody will bother. Marquis, this is not a loss a single cultural art can compensate for.
"The Xia Family is the soul of Great Xia. And those below will generally follow the example of those above them. The drop in morality in Great Xia will cause you far greater losses than the value of a single cultural art. Dont you think I'm right, Marquis?"
Marquis Xia smiled, "So is this a checkmate on me? Interesting. Over the years, nobody has managed to make a profit at my expense. Are you trying to be the first? Am I supposed to give you the manual without taking a single cent from you?"
"Soul Devouring Art!"
Su Yu did not waste any time. He made his offer directly, "On top of the cultural art, you'll be getting the Soul Devouring Art as well. But in return, I want a willpower text of the Sky Sundering Saber. This includes the supplementary martial technique of this cultivation method. The Soul Devouring Art might be far lower in grade as a top-tier yellow-grade cultivation method, but it is a uniquely useful method. You should understand this as well."
Marquis Xia stared at Su Yu for a long time. Finally, he smiled.
This was quite a daring young man.
One cultural art and one Soul Devouring Art for a willpower text of the Sky Sundering Saber and the supplementary technique. Which was more valuable? The value would honestly vary depending on who the recipient was.
The top-tier heaven-grade Sky Sundering Saber was not a common cultivation method. It was the unique method of Great Xia King. And Great Xia King was a top existence even among Invincibles.
"Sure!"
Marquis Xia agreed, "Only by fusing 16 acupoints will you be able to truly unleash the might of the Sky Sundering Saber. Among the younger generation of our family like Xia Huyou, Xia Yuwen, and Xia Chan, Xia Yuwen has only fused 14 acupoints for his breakthrough into the Infinite Strength Realm. Nobody from the younger generation has managed to fuse 16 acupoints yet. If you can really do so, I can give you a fortuitous encounter."
"Fortuitous encounter?"
"Yes. Do you know Xia Longwu? He is someone on the cusp of reaching the Invincible Realm. If you can reach the Infinite Strength Realm with 16 fused acupoints before his advancement, you will be allowed to observe his breakthrough."
Su Yu was rendered speechless. Hell fucking no. He was scared of death. Generally, people would enter the Allheaven Battlefield for their advancement into the Invincible Realm. And that person might even need to fight other Invincibles during the breakthrough. Any random stray attack from these experts would be enough to erase Su Yu from existence.
Marquis Xia said, "Observing his advancement into the Invincible Realm will greatly benefit you. At that time, all cultivators of Sky Sundering Saber will be affected. If you're lucky, you might even be able to comprehend some of the mysteries behind the Invincible Realm. Isn't this benefit big enough?"
Su Yu looked at Hong Tan. His grandteacher frowned slightly before saying, "We'll talk about this when the time comes."
Su Yu was still too weak. If Su Yu was a Sunmoon, then he would receive an unimaginably big benefit. That would truly be a highly fortuitous encounter. He didn't know what this fatty was thinking when making this offer. It was getting harder and harder to see through this person.
Marquis Xia said nothing else. He smiled and took out two manuals before saying, "One of these is the cultivation method and the other is the martial technique. The cultivation method teaches you how to unleash the power of your acupoints. The martial technique will teach you how to utilize that power, helping you adapt to your increase in strength."
After tossing the two manuals over, Marquis Xia said, "Don't bring shame to the Sky Sundering Saber. Otherwise, my old man will personally take it back from you. In the entire Human Realm, almost no warrior is a match for those from the Xia Family in the same cultivation level."
Almost. In that case, there were still some people out there who were stronger than them. Understanding dawned on Su Yu. That was understandable. After all, Great Xia King wasn't the strongest human around.
Nevertheless, he was still slightly excited. This was a top-tier heaven-grade cultivation method. This was the strongest cultivation method he had. It was even stronger than the Body Strengthening Art. And the supplementary martial technique would probably not be any weaker than the Time technique.
Marquis Xia was starting to get tired of this. He yawned and said, "This is it. Just remember to pass the Soul Devouring Art to Huyou later. Also, you only need to teach Huyou your Heaven Shaking Sutra. We won't steal it from you. Similarly, you are not allowed to teach anyone else the Sky Sundering Saber."
"I understand."
Su Yu gave the marquis a bow.
Hong Tan was happy to see this happen. Everything would be fine as long as they didn't need to pay. Fortunately, Su Yu had something valuable enough to trade for it. Getting this cultivation method would have been much harder otherwise.
"Then we'll be taking our leave."
Hong Tan wasted no time and left with Su Yu. He didn't want to spend more time here as he could see the odd look in Fatty Xia's eyes when looking at him.
...
After the two left, Marquis Xia yawned lazily and said, "Nephew, are you aware that you're supposed to be in seclusion? Why are you moving around all the time? Do you call this seclusion?"
Xia Longwu stepped out of thin air and said, "Second Uncle, we need to figure out if there is really a ruin at Nanyuan. This Su Yu might be a future Sunmoon. When he grows strong, he will add to the strength of our Great Xia."
"I know that. You don't need to keep reminding me about it." Marquis Xia impatiently said, "Stop ordering me around. If you don't like how I do things, you're free to end your seclusion. Also, spend your own money to heal Xia Yuwen's injuries. I'm too poor for that."
Xia Longwu did not say anything about that.
After thinking about it, Marquis Xia said, "Huyou is still too weak. Should we let him advance through physical cultivation first?"
"There is no rush." Xia Longwu calmly said, "Give him some pressure and let him solve this issue himself. Members of the Xia Family can only rely on themselves if they want to grow truly strong. We have already given him everything we can."
"Sure."
Marquis Xia was indifferent. He started walking away. While walking, he asked, "Zhou Potian is near his breakthrough as well, right? The Zhou Family sure is good at producing geniuses. Both Zhou Potian and Zhou Polong have managed to reach this step. Do you think I should start cultivating my willpower as well?"
"Sure."
Xia Longwu returned the same noncommittal answer before vanishing into thin air.
Marquis Xia merely curled his mouth. Sure his ass.
He shook his head and sighed. They had a lot of powerful experts from the previous generation in Great Xia, but their newer generation was far weaker. He started wondering if he should give up on willpower cultivation and focus on physical cultivation.
This encounter did cause him to remember Su Yu's name, but he still didn't care too much about Su Yu. Great Xia had never lacked geniuses.
And Su Yu could only rely on himself in the path of cultivation. He wouldn't be able to catch more of Marquis Xia's attention before reaching the Mountainsea Realm. A future Sunmoon was not the same as a current Sunmoon.
But he was quite impressed with the kid's business acuity. Perhaps he could recruit the kid into the Xia Trade Company.