Chapter 433: So Pitiful (2)
Inside cage number one, the water elemental slowly returned to his original form. But his body looked somewhat dim compared to before. Previously, his body was crystal clear but now, his body had turned somewhat dark and murky.
"Chen Yong...it has been so many years. And you've still not broken through. You sure are patient."
The water elemental's emotions were complicated.
As a seventh-stage Cloudbreach, even in a weakened state, he wouldn't be completely helpless. Yet Chen Yong had been able to so easily squeeze a drop of water essence out of his body.
Chen Yong ignored the water elemental and looked at Su Yu with a smile, "Even though the fire crow is willing to refine your weapon, you might not be able to withstand the power of his lifebound fire. This water essence is a treasure. In fact, the essence of the five elements are all treasures. With this water essence around, you can protect your sea of willpower from the power of fire."
"Thank you, Martial Uncle."
"Don't worry about it." Chen Yong smiled, "These beasts are all weaklings. Don't take them too seriously. If you really don't know what to do with them, just kill them. I can see that you're intending to subdue them, but that's pointless. Teacher still has a few Mountainsea beasts locked up deeper inside the floor. If you really want a mount, you can get your grandteacher to tame a Mountainsea beast for you instead. Those beasts have been locked here for too many years. Your grandteacher has been thinking about slaughtering them already. If you intend to make them your mounts, they will probably agree."
Su Yu was dumbstruck.
Mountainsea beasts?
Holy shit!
Just what was his grandteacher planning?
He was actually rearing Mountainsea beasts in the research center?
The expressions of the beasts in the room changed. When Su Yu visited them in the past, they had always carried a sense of superiority before him. But Chen Yong had actually personally arrived to help Su Yu with the refinement of his cultural weapon. Chen Yong had even squeezed a drop of water essence out of the water elemental for Su Yu's sake. On top of that, he was also offering to get Su Yu some Mountainsea mounts.
If that really happened, wouldn't things be over for them?
Even the suanni, a member of a powerful race, could no longer keep silent. He hurriedly said, "L-Lord Chen, this little one is willing to become Lord Su's mount!"
Chen Yong glanced at the suanni with cold eyes.
"Do you think you're worthy of that? Shut your mouth."
Rumble!
A bolt of lightning struck the suanni and left multiple fresh wounds on his body.
"A mere ninth-stage Skysoar is dreaming of becoming my martial nephew's mount?"
Chen Yong coldly said, "Know your place. You are merely livestock. On the Allheaven Battlefield, I have killed even ninth-stage Cloudbreach suannis before."
"..."
Su Yu looked at Chen Yong blankly. Really?
But...didn't his teacher say that his martial uncle had not entered the Allheaven Battlefield for many years? Also, his martial uncle seemed really domineering today. Was his martial uncle aware that he was acting completely out of character?
Chen Yong said nothing else and left with the fire crow and Su Yu.
After walking out of the room, he smiled and said, "There is no need to be too gentle with these beasts. You need both carrot and stick when dealing with them. I won't stop you from trying to subdue them, but if you don't thoroughly subjugate them, they might end up turning against you in the future."
"Thank you, Martial Uncle!"
He could see that Chen Yong was helping him subjugate the beasts. One of them would be the good cop while the other would be the bad cop.
As for how well this would work, they would need to wait and see.
...
Prison zone.
All the beasts sank into silence.
After a long while, the shadow sighed, "It's time for us to cease our delusions. Su Yu is much more important than we thought. You guys understand what Chen Yong said earlier. Even back when Bai Feng tried to subdue us, Chen Yong had not shown his face. But now...We can see that Su Yu is probably more important than even Bai Feng."
None of the beasts said anything.
Suddenly, the water elemental said, "Even now, Chen Yong has yet to reach the Mountainsea Realm. He has already been a ninth-stage Cloudbreach for a very long time. The Myriad Text Sutra of the human race requires no more than a fusion of eight apertures for their advancement. He must have fulfilled the requirements long ago. Why is he still stuck?"
The Myriad Text Sutra only allowed one to open 72 apertures. Thus, one only needed to fuse 8 apertures at the maximum to become a top-tier Mountainsea.
Was Chen Yong still incapable of that?
Impossible!
It had been too many years. And Chen Yong wasn't someone who had barely reached the Cloudbreach Realm. Back then, this fellow was also a famous top genius of the multiple character faction.
The suanni and mountaindrill bull were naturally unaware of that. But the shadow knew about Chen Yong's past. He said, "His advancement won't be that big of a help to the multiple character faction. He might even attract more unwanted attention to them. Is it possible that this fellow is deliberately holding himself back? Maybe he has fused seven apertures into one fused aperture before moving on to fuse seven more apertures into a second fused aperture. And he can keep repeating that..."
The water elemental understood what the shadow was insinuating.
The white civet also understood.
The white civet said in shock, "You mean that he only has nine fused apertures and nine unfused apertures left in his sea of willpower?"
The implication behind those words were too scary.
Did that not mean that he could complete the nine fused apertures any time he wanted? He could instantly jump from the ninth-stage Cloudbreach Realm to the ninth-stage Mountainsea Realm.
That was because each stage of the Mountainsea Realm required one fused aperture. Meanwhile, he had nine fused apertures ready. Each of those fused apertures was a product of fusing seven apertures together. In truth, he was already capable of advancing if he wanted. But he wouldn't be forced to advance as he still had some unfused apertures left in him.
The shadow sighed, "I don't know. But he has really been stuck at this level for too long. Even if my guess isn't completely correct, there is no way he has only produced one fused aperture after so long. He might be waiting for something. And if my guess is right, he is basically a future peak Mountainsea."
The white civet said with shock, "If that's true, he is way too patient. Also, forcefully suppressing his advancement might result in the collapse of his sea of willpower. His willpower will be too powerful for his sea of willpower to contain..."
"I don't have an answer to that."
The shadow did not have a concrete answer. He had merely been guessing. He said, "If he is really capable of instantly reaching the ninth-stage Mountainsea Realm, he will definitely be able to gain a powerful strength. But he might also destroy his own physical body easily as his body won't be given any chance to adapt to his sudden increase in strength. Is that fellow planning to completely give up on his physical body?"
The beasts were unable to guess what Chen Yong was truly planning. Eventually, they gave up trying to figure him out and stopped talking.
The multiple character faction was simply filled with freaks. From the members they had seen, Bai Feng was actually the least talented one, also the friendliest one among the multiple character faction members...
Yes. Apart from the times when Bai Feng was there to extract their blood, he was actually quite friendly and easy-going most of the time. Meanwhile, Chen Yong was always gloomy and unpredictable.
As for Su Yu, he was too treacherous. He had been lying to them from the very beginning. He had never cared too much about their lives.
There wasn't even a need to mention Hong Tan. In his eyes, they weren't even life forms. They were nothing but materials.
They sank into silence again. It seemed like surviving would only become harder and harder.
...
Zhao Li's research center.
The fire crow started spitting fire from his mouth. Since there were two Cloudbreach experts present, he was trembling with fear. The two Cloudbreach experts were giving off a pressure that was just as heavy as the presence of a Mountainsea.
The fire crow had the urge to start cursing.
Was there a need for this? He was only helping the kid temper his cultural weapon. Was there a need for the kid to get two Cloudbreach monsters that could basically be viewed as Mountainseas to monitor a puny Skysoar like him? Was he really so scary and devious?
Zhao Li stood there silently, completely ignoring Chen Yong. He didn't really like Chen Yong that much.
Instead, he was smiling as he talked to Su Yu, "This fire crow isn't completely useless, I suppose. The lifebound fire of their race is known as an excellent fire for smithing. What a pity that this lifebound fire is a racial ability instead of a character ability. Even if you can form a character of the fire crow language, it still won't be of much help in smithing."
Su Yu asked curiously, What if I can learn their racial ability? Will the resulting fire be even better than the one you're using?"
"That would be hard to say. After all, fire is merely one of the tools you can use when smithing. It isn't compulsory. But there are indeed several types of fire that are actually quite good. For example, the fire of the fire elemental race, the fire of the fire crow race, the fire of the fiery dragon race...They are all excellent for smithing."
Su Yu nodded. He could try getting the fire crow race's racial ability.
This ability was probably related to apertures.
Since this fire was useful for smithing, there was no harm in giving it a try. After all, he had promised Zhao Li to help finish his incomplete earth-grade weapon after reaching the Cloudbreach Realm.
"Are you doing this in preparation for the tournament tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"This is actually a good idea. But this fire is also quite a vicious weapon since it can harm one's sea of willpower. Don't use it unless you're faced with an actual enemy. You will turn anyone who is not an enemy into your enemy if you use it on them. You can slowly recover your willpower after it is burned, but the damage to one's sea of willpower will actually harm the root of one's willpower cultivation. That will be much harder to recover from."
Su Yu nodded. He was aware of that.
"Teacher, would this flame be useful for you as well? If it is useful, I can leave this crow with you..."
"Forget it."
Zhao Li showed no interest. He said, "This crow is too weak. He's only a seventh-stage Skysoar. I might consider him if he's a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. A seventh-stage Skysoar is basically garbage. Even when I encounter something like this in the Allheaven Battlefield, I would be too lazy to capture one. Hong Tan sure has a lot of free time in his hands to be capturing weak birds like this."
Fire crow: "..."
He continued trembling in fear.
He also felt like crying.
He wanted to say that he was useful. He wasn't garbage. But...why did even he himself feel like he was garbage? He couldn't even serve as a stove well enough!
"L-Lord, I can fl-fly very fast! Lord Su can use me as a flying mount!"
Zhao Li shot the fire crow a bored glance. He couldn't even be bothered to give a reply.
Ignoring the fire crow, he said to Su Yu, "Enter the Skysoar Realm as soon as possible. Stop wasting your time messing around with those people. As for the slot, if you really want one, there is no need to join the tournament. I can get one for you."
Su Yu stared at Zhao Li blankly.
Zhao Li said, "If they refuse, I will ban their faction from the Source Qi Secret Grotto. What's the big deal?"
"..."
Chen Yong kept his mouth shut. Inwardly, he didn't know what to feel.
Zhao Li was right. If he really asked for one, would Zhou Mingren agree?
Yes!
Even if Zhao Li was asking for a slot on Su Yu's behalf, Zhou Mingren could only sullenly agree to it.
Su Yu was somewhat speechless. This old man was making it seem so simple and easy. He said, "It's fine, Teacher. I'll get it myself!"
If Zhao Li did it, he would end up owing Zhou Mingren a favor. You could ask for someone's favor occasionally if you were worthy of it. But it was never a good idea to ask for favors too many times.
Thanks to the influence of the fourth principal, Zhao Li had been able to live a comfortable life in the academy. That would all change the moment he involved himself in these internal struggles. Anything could happen after that.
One of the reasons Zhao Li had such high status in the academy was his neutrality. After granting the academy the rights to run the Source Qi Secret Grotto, the entire academy owed him a favor.
But if he involved himself in these internal struggles, his special status in the academy would start being challenged. Hearing Su Yu's words, Zhao Li made no further offers. At this point, the fire crow was almost done with the weapon refinement.
When the refinement was done, Zhao Li took out his hammer and broke the water essence before covering the weapon with it. He reminded, "You can remove this layer of water essence when you want to use the fire. When you're not using the fire, you can keep it sealed with the water essence. It won't affect your normal use of the weapon.
"Remember, the moment you release the seal, you will be harming your opponents sea of willpower with each attack. This is the water essence of a seventh-stage Cloudbreach. It is powerful enough to keep the weapon sealed for several months. If you remove the seal entirely, you will be able to unleash the full power of a seventh-stage Skysoar, but you will only be able to do it once. This can be considered a trump card. Use your discretion when deciding when to use it."
Su Yu nodded. He couldn't help asking, "Teacher, does this mean that with this weapon, I might be able to kill even Skysoars as well?"
Zhao Li looked at Su Yu and said, "You stand a chance against those below the seventh stage. Forget about those higher than that. This fire crow is only a seventh-stage Skysoar. Even against Skysoars below the seventh stage, this fire will only be a threat to cultural researchers. As for warriors, they can still deal you a heavy blow even with their sea of willpower injured."
"I understand."
Su Yu nodded. This would indeed serve as one of his trump cards from now on.
Against Skysoar cultural researchers at around the third or fourth stage, he might really be able to kill them if he could catch them by surprise.
One could never have too many trump cards. Su Yu was very pleased with this new trump card. From now on, he would no longer need to fear opponents capable of fighting Skysoars.
The water essence seal on his saber could be freely adjusted to control the output of his fire attack. With this, his saber would finally be worthy of its name: the Sealing Saber!
He couldn't help but say, "With this, my Sealing Saber has finally obtained an ability befitting of its name."
"..."
Both the Cloudbreach cultivators decided to ignore him. Sealing Saber? Did this kid know no shame? Was this even a weapon used for sealing? Could this kid be less shameless?
Beside them, the weakened fire crow had a gloomy expression. Even after paying such a huge price, he was still being ignored by everyone. How pitiful.
And he didn't even have the courage to attempt an escape. This Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was feeling more and more dangerous nowadays. Even when he was volunteering himself as a mount, nobody wanted him. How pitiful.