Chapter 429: The Final Member (1)
While walking, Su Yu was deep in thought.
Liu Hong...
What an interesting person.
Was Yang Sha and the others assigned to him because Liu Hong believed that he could win? Or was it simply for the sake of dragging him down?
At this moment, Su Yu was finally sure that neither the single or multiple character factions mattered to Liu Hong. He only cared about himself. As long as he could benefit from something, he wouldn't care about both factions.
"Single character faction...heh."
Su Yu snickered. There were actually quite a lot of people like Liu Hong in the single character faction. But that was also understandable. The bigger a faction was, the more trouble one would be able to find in it. That was normal.
Back when the multiple character faction was at the top, such internal struggles would probably happen frequently as well. They were only united now due to their small size. Internal politics would definitely start happening once they reached a certain size.
...
Wentan Research Center.
Su Yu had been away for a few days. He wondered if Bai Feng was still in the research center. But when he saw the dusty living area, he concluded that Bai Feng had probably left.
Hong Tan was probably not around as well. Perhaps he had left to help Teacher Liu get his characters in order. Only Bai Feng and Hong Tan had the skills required to do something like that.
Su Yu wasn't too bothered by their absence. Suddenly, he recalled something. Had his teacher and grandteacher fed the beasts while he was away? It had been quite a while since he last visited them.
Su Yu had been busy after the return of his grandteacher. Subsequently, he had entered seclusion. It had been nearly 10 days since he last fed them. During his last visit, he was there to ask the water elemental some questions. A few of them had been fed, but the mountaindrill bull and the others had not been given anything.
"Is the suanni still alive?"
Su Yu decided that it was time to pay them a visit. What if his grandteacher had forgotten about the beasts as well? It wouldn't do to let those beasts starve to death.
...
Prison zone.
The door swung open. When Su Yu walked in, the suanni was silently sprawled on the floor with fear on his face. When he saw that it was Su Yu, he exhaled in relief.
Good.
Su Yu looked at the suanni curiously and remarked, "Wow, you're still alive."
"..."
The suanni wanted to roar, to curse at someone, to tear this bastard apart. But he didn't have the courage to do any of that. He sorrowfully said, "I'm still alive. After all, the suanni race is quite valuable as a research subject."
"True." Su Yu nodded.
The mountaindrill bull hurriedly said, "Su Yu, give me a drop of source qi liquid. I still have an old hideout at the Allheaven Battlefield. I hid a lot of treasures in there. I can give you the map for only a drop of source qi liquid!"
The fire crow also shouted, "Give me a drop as well! I have a lot of treasures! Do you want the fire of the fire crow race? You can use it to burn the willpower of your opponents! I have a lifebound fire. If I refine your cultural weapon with it, you will be able to attach the flame to your weapon for a willpower-burning effect."
Su Yu said in astonishment, "Why didn't you say that earlier? What a pity. I already have the Soul Devouring Art. You know what that is, right? That's the cultivation method of the soul devouring bugs..."
"That's a trash race!" The fire crow said, "I know that race. Apart from the mother bug, all the other bugs are useless. They need tens of thousands of them to kill only one Skysoar. But the lifebound fire of my race is capable of directly burning one's sea of willpower. That trash race is incomparable with us. They can only corrode one's willpower, not the sea of willpower. We can harm the root of power while they can only harm the power itself. It's different."
The fire crow was getting very anxious. It had been a few months. He was really on the verge of being starved to death. Su Yu really wasn't afraid of starving him to death. Since Su Yu took over the task of feeding them, he had only been given two drops of source qi liquid. And it had been quite a while since he was last fed.
Su Yu raised his brow, "Really? You can burn seas of willpower directly? Why isn't your race a top 100 race then?"
The fire crow replied, "We are quite good at dealing with cultural researchers, but our bodies are too weak. We can't handle strong warriors. All the top 100 races have powerful warriors and cultural researchers. But we are definitely the bane of all cultural researchers."
In fact, the fire crow race wasn't weak. They had a rank of 418 among the various races.
And they had relied only on their willpower to reach that far.
The fire crow said, "Our Fire Crow King once killed an Invincible cultural researcher just with his lifebound fire. He is incredibly powerful. Even a cultural researcher with a higher cultivation level won't be our match..."
Su Yu curiously asked, "But won't it be much easier for you to kill warriors with their weak willpower?"
"It doesn't work that way." The fire crow explained, "Warriors have thick source qi and powerful bodies. It will be very hard to kill them just by burning their seas of willpower. As for cultural researchers, they will be rather helpless with their weak bodies after having their seas of willpower burned..."
He was desperately trying to please Su Yu. He said, "I can't give you my lifebound fire. There is also no way for you to learn our racial abilities. But I can refine your cultural weapon for you. After the refinement, your weapon will gain the ability to burn seas of willpower."
"So is this burning ability a source qi technique?"
"No, it's a soul technique..." The fire crow explained, "In the Myriad Realms, the techniques used by cultural researchers are collectively known as soul techniques since they rely on soul apertures. As for warriors, their techniques are known as source techniques since they rely on source acupoints."
Su Yu rolled his eyes, "Do I need you to tell me something so basic? Do you think I don't know something like that? Also, can your refinement help me burn even the seas of willpower of Skysoars?"
"Sure." The fire crow said, "I am a seventh-stage Skysoar. Although I am the weakest here, I can give your cultural weapon the ability to burn the seas of willpower of those at the first three stages of the Skysoar Realm. Each refinement will last a month. Of course, if you use your weapon frequently, the power of the fire will deteriorate faster."
"Are you sure?" Su Yu wasn't convinced. He asked, "Are you telling me that your race is capable of helping weaker cultivators fight those above their level by refining their weapons?"
The fire crow said with indignation, "I'm telling the truth! But generally, we will only use our lifebound flame when we are fighting to the death. And we won't easily offer to refine the weapons of others. But I want to stay alive! So I'm making this offer!"
Yes. It was that simple. He wanted to keep his life. As for the exhaustion of his lifebound fire, it was pointless to talk about that. What was the point of having a robust lifebound fire if he was dead?
In a nearby cage, the mountaindrill bull hurriedly said, "My race, the mountaindrill bull race, has powerful bodies. We are the best for physical chores. Do you want me as a mount? The mountaindrill bulls are the best mounts you can find."
As a ninth-stage Skysoar, the mountaindrill bull was stronger than the fire crow. Among the prisoners, he was ranked fourth. At this point, face and prestige no longer mattered to him. If he didn't think of something, it was only a matter of time before he starved to death. The fire crow could help with weapon refinement, but he did not seem capable of anything else.
The mountaindrill bulls were known for their powerful bodies, but the mountainbreak bulls were better in regards to that. And their racial abilities also weren't too powerful. Strictly speaking, this was a race without anything special about them.
Nevertheless, they were pretty good at surviving. The human race needed to reach the Sunmoon Realm before they could regrow their bodies from a drop of blood. Meanwhile, the mountaindrill bull race could start doing so at the Skysoar Realm if one was lucky.
"Mount?" Su Yu laughed and said, "I'm afraid of death. Who knows if you'll turn against me the moment I release you?"
"No, I won't!" The mountaindrill bull promised, "The beast tamers of the human race are very powerful. I am willing to accept a beast tamer contract..."
"We'll see."
"Su Yu..."
Su Yu impatiently said, "You're too ugly to be my mount. Do you understand now? You don't look mighty enough. With one look, everyone knows you're from a weak race. The suanni race is better in that aspect. They have a good physical appearance..."
The suanni stared at Su Yu blankly. No! Absolutely impossible! He would rather die than be a mount!
Su Yu was unbothered. He said, "Stop wasting time. We'll talk about this again some other time. I still needed you guys previously, but honestly, you are no longer useful to me now."
Su Yu spoke with an indifferent tone, "I'm starting to find you guys weak. Even the water guy is only a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. There really isn't anything special about that. Recently, your Grandpa Su has provoked a lot of enemies. And these enemies aren't even Great Strength or Infinite Strength cultivators. I can deal with such weaklings myself. But my recent enemies have all been Mountainseas and Sunmoons..."
The mounts were all dumbfounded.
Su Yu smiled and said, "You guys continue serving as blood suppliers. I will continue finding time to feed you guys. I might not be your match now, but it won't be long before I surpass all of you. Honestly, what's the point of keeping beasts who are even weaker than me around? Am I supposed to raise you like livestock and slaughter you for meat?"
The water elemental couldn't stay calm anymore. He assumed a humanoid form and asked after some hesitation, "You're...near the Skysoar Realm?"
"Yes." Su Yu smiled and said, "If I hadn't stopped to cultivate a powerful cultivation method, I would probably be a Skysoar warrior already."
As he said that, his body shook.
All the acupoints in his body activated. A total of 300 acupoints were shining brightly inside his body.
This was the result of cultivating the Sky Sundering Saber and the second level of the Time technique.
300 acupoints!
Su Yu nonchalantly asked, "Do you see this? I have opened 300 acupoints. This is what a true genius looks like. The weakling in your eyes might not be a true weakling. When I finish fusing my acupoints and enter the Infinite Strength Realm, even regular Skysoars might not be my match."
All the beasts were shocked.