Chapter 478: The Grotto Is Collapsing (2)
At the same time.
Xia Huyou checked his talisman. He had received a message from Su Yu.
"Wu Lan is going to challenge you to a match. I'm sorry. I was casually telling her how strong you are. I told her that you're not trash. For a high-middle student, you're pretty good. She disagreed and insisted on challenging you. I'm afraid you'll have to deal with her after this."
"..."
Xia Huyou wanted to punch someone in the face. How was that his fault? Instead of cultivating, why was Su Yu chatting with Wu Lan? Was that bastard deliberately doing this to mess with him?
Looking at the nearby Wu Jia, Xia Huyou flashed a wide smile and said, "Senior Sister Wu Jia, Su Yu just told me that he's returning with Wu Lan. He wanted me to remind you that you should watch your attitude around Wu Lan. She is a haughty person by nature and enjoys looking at someone with her nostrils. Don't mind her and don't provoke her...".
Wu Jia frowned and asked, "Why hasn't my junior brother told me that himself?"
"He felt awkward saying that himself." Xia Huyou had an embarrassed look as he said, "He's just worried that the two of you would get into an argument. Elder Wu is a friend of your faction. It would be awkward if the two of you get into a fight. Senior Sister Wu Jia, Wu Lan might even start picking fights after arriving. This is how she has always been. Don't mind her. But since she doesn't know you well, she might target me first instead to bait you into an argument. After all, she dislikes all women."
"Target you to bait me?"
Wu Jia frowned. Why would she care if this person was targeted?
Xia Huyou said, "That's how she is. She enjoys pretending to scold someone while scolding someone else entirely. She might call me a piece of trash right after arriving. In truth, she's talking about you. After all, well...you were seriously injured not long ago..."
Wu Jia's expression turned ugly.
Xia Huyou said, "Of course, she only has a bad temper. She is actually a nice person. And she worships experts. If you are willing to compare notes with her and teach her a lesson, she will immediately become docile in front of you."
After saying all that, Xia Huyou exhaled in relief. Go and fight. The two could fight to their hearts' content. He really couldn't be bothered to get into such a stupid fight.
That damn Su Yu was definitely doing that to screw with him. Thus, it was only fair that he used Su Yu's senior sister to solve this issue. He couldn't be blamed for that, right?
Wu Jia snorted and said, "I joined the academy before her. What's the point of comparing notes with her?"
"You're wrong, Senior Sister. You're not comparing notes with her. You're teaching her a lesson. You need to show her what's up or she will keep calling you garbage. Honestly, not even I can take something like that."
Xia Huyou continued instigating while Wu Jia remained silent. It was unknown if she had agreed or if she was planning to ignore Wu Lan. After a short while, Su Yu arrived. Sure enough, Wu Lan was with him.
At this time, Su Yu was busy notifying Zhang Hao and the others to stay somewhere with low willpower density. That way, they would be fine even if the grotto collapsed. The moment Wu Lan arrived, his gaze landed on Xia Huyou.
She had an unfriendly look in her eyes. But she was still polite enough to ask, "Xia Huyou, are you challenging me to a fight?"
Xia Huyou cursed inwardly.
Fuck!
Damn that Su Yu! He was right! Su Yu was trying to mess with him! Good thing he was smart!
"Not at all..."
Xia Huyou denied and laughed dryly before saying, "Did Su Yu tell you that? That's nonsense. In truth, I wasn't the one who had said those words..." He then glanced at Wu Jia.
He was basically hinting that Wu Jia was the person who had said those words. It wasn't him! It was Wu Jia! Pick a fight with her instead!
But after looking at Xia Huyou's indirect hint, Wu Lan cluelessly said, "So you don't have the balls to admit what you did? What a piece of trash. If you really want to fight, bring it on!"
"..."
Xia Huyou was speechless. He felt like he had just gestured at someone blind. Was she not getting the hint? She wasn't supposed to be this stupid!
Sure, her temper was bad, but she was actually quite smart. She only had a low emotional intelligence. How was she not getting the hint?
Before he could say anything else, Su Yu smiled, "Since Brother Xia has conceded, forget about it. Wu Lan, don't bother yourself with him. Brother Xia might talk a lot of trash, but he is a nice guy. Since we're all together, let us talk about what we have comprehended during our cultivation. We are on similar levels, after all..."
He could see that this fatty was trying to instigate his senior sister to face Wu Lan in his stead. What a black-hearted fellow! Wu Lan snorted. Meanwhile, Xia Huyou glanced at Su Yu before rolling his eyes. The two exchanged knowing looks.
Both of them were assholes, so neither could blame the other for what they did. Whatever. He couldn't be bothered to pursue this matter. He was more curious about the reason Su Yu had brought Wu Lan here.
Ignoring Wu Lan's disdainful gaze, Xia Huyou smiled and said, "Wu Lan, Senior Sister Wu Jia has something to say to you. The two of you should have a chat. I'll need to discuss something with Su Yu as well."
He then dragged Su Yu to the side. While walking, he whispered, "What are you doing? Are you treating me as a professional nanny? Are you trying to get me to take care of them both?"
"Nope."
Su Yu looked around before whispering, "Be careful. This place is going to collapse."
"..."
Xia Huyou was surprised. What did that mean? Collapse?
"How is that possible? No matter what, this place is a Sunmoon grotto. Unless its expenditure is too high due to an imbalance in willpower distribution that is interrupting the grotto's normal operation, it won't fall apart and throw everyone out of the grotto..."
But at that point, his eyes flickered. He stared at Su Yu in shock. Dang! That couldn't be it, right? This fellow had sucked the entire grotto dry? But that didn't make sense.
Even if this fellow had opened 40 or 50 apertures, he would only have the absorption speed of a ninth-stage Skysoar. This grotto shouldn't be so weak. Su Yu shrugged and gave no explanation.
That was what his grandteacher told him. How was he supposed to know why? In fact, he also believed that he had not absorbed too much willpower at all. For some reason, his grandteacher told him to run and claimed that the grotto was going to collapse. What could he do? He could only take his grandteacher's warning seriously.
"The details don't matter. I only know that this place is going to collapse." Su Yu added, "It probably won't happen now, but it will happen when the next elder takes over the grotto."
That was Su Yu's guess. His grandteacher wasn't stupid enough to take the blame for a mess like this. In fact, his grandteacher had probably told him to leave the mountain earlier to remove any suspicion from him as well.
With his departure, only a bunch of Skysoar and Cloudbreach cultivators were left near the mountain. If the grotto really collapsed, it would be their fault, not him! And his grandteacher was definitely not to blame as well!
That place had a high density of willpower. Those people had all gathered there and sucked the grotto dry, causing the collapse of the grotto. That wasn't even surprising. After all, all the Cloudbreach cultivators were there.
Xia Huyou understood the hidden meaning behind Su Yu's words. He asked, "So we still have some time?"
"Yeah."
Xia Huyou was speechless. Hong Tan was the one in charge of the grotto right now. Did this not mean that they were going to let someone else take the blame? Who would be the lucky person?
It wouldn't be Elder Qi, right? He remembered that this was the arrangement made by the elders. Elder Qi would be the one taking over after Hong Tan. He hurriedly took out a voice transmission talisman.
Su Yu looked at Xia Huyou in astonishment. Xia Huyou met his gaze and calmly asked, "Why are you looking at me like this? We can transmit messages outside the grotto as well. I'm going to notify Elder Qi to not get dragged into this mess. Let the single character faction enjoy it instead. They should have recovered enough after a day of rest."
Su Yu was dumbfounded.
Holy shit!
He had completely forgotten about this. He should have given his grandteacher a voice transmission talisman as well. With that, they wouldn't have needed to communicate with some vague willpower words.
He was somewhat speechless.
That thought had never crossed his mind. And it seemed like Hong Tan had never thought of that as well. Generally, most people wouldn't think of using a voice transmission talisman since a communicator was more than enough.
"Wait a moment..." Su Yu asked, "Will Elder Qi sell us out?"
"Of course not!" Xia Huyou said, "That's my seco--cough, cough. That's Marquis Xia's old friend. In reality, he can be considered the Xia Family's spokesperson in the academy. Of course, he isn't from Xia Yuwen's line. He is from our--I mean Xia Chan's line. He is the spokesperson of the main line of the family."
Su Yu was feeling tired just listening to Xia Huyou. This fellow sure was attached to the act of hiding his identity. Was this his final struggle before his identity was fully revealed? Why was he pretending even now? The two of them knew each other so well that it was pointless.
Xia Huyou sent the message while talking to Su Yu. After doing that, he said, "I need to look for Xia Chan as well. I don't want her to get injured. The collapse of a grotto isn't a big deal, but it is still able to give Mental Tempering Stage students some troublesome injuries. My second--Marquis Xia would not spare me if I ignored her. He would take it out on you as well. Kid, you won't be able to hide this from my...second grandpa."
Whatever. He was tired of pretending. It was way too tiring to keep up the act in front of someone who was already aware of his identity.
Su Yu rolled his eyes.
Was this fellow finally tired of acting?
"Sure, but don't make it too obvious. After all, Xia Chan has joined the single character faction..."
Xia Huyou was indifferent, "That's not an issue. The separation between single and multiple character factions is only a big deal for you guys. For the Xia Family, all of you are citizens of Great Xia. As long as the single character faction does not rebel against the Xia Family, they will be considered an ally. You don't need to worry too much about her. Just take you for an example. We're close, but it doesn't mean that the Xia Family will be close to you. Generally, the Xia Family tries to be fair. The only exception is when someone does something too excessive."
Su Yu nodded. That was understandable. In the Xia Family's point of view, both the single and multiple character factions would be their people as long as they avoid doing something like rebelling.
In Su Yu's opinion, the only reason the Xia Family seemed somewhat prejudiced against the single character faction right now was because the single character faction seemed to be getting closer and closer to Great Zhou. And that was not something the Xia Family was happy with.
Su Yu said, "Do what you want. Just remember to hide somewhere with low willpower density. That way, you won't suffer too much when the grotto falls apart. Just don't go to Zhou Pingsheng's place. Oh, take care of my senior sister and Wu Lan for me. I need to take another trip."
"Where are you going?"
Su Yu smiled, "I'm going to absorb more willpower. I can't let the willpower go to waste, right? I won't be able to absorb more after the grotto collapses."
Xia Huyou was speechless.
This fellow was so obsessed with squeezing every benefit he could get that he would risk his own well-being for it.
...
Su Yu was not concerned about Xia Huyou's thoughts. He went over and told Wu Jia to stay with Xia Huyou. He also spoke a little with Wu Lan. As for how Xia Huyou was supposed to keep Wu Lan with him, well, that was a problem for him to solve.
...
After leaving the group, Su Yu started roaming the grotto.
Whenever he arrived at a location with high willpower density, he would absorb the willpower there. He told himself that he was doing this for the good of everyone here. What if the high willpower density ended up hurting these people?
He was doing this for the greater good! In this manner, Su Yu absorbed a decent amount of willpower. Most people did not mind him.
At this point, most of the Mental Tempering Stage students had reached saturation. They were using their remaining time to nurture their characters instead of absorbing more willpower.