Chapter 492: Deep in Debt (1)
On the 6th of November, the application for the research center was submitted.
On the 8th of November, the academy approved the application.
The single character faction had not attempted to stop this. Or to be precise, they didn't care. On top of that, they were also being pressured externally to allow this research center to be established.
...
9th of November.
With the key to his new research center in hand, Su Yu brought his fellow initial members to the building not far from the Wentan Research Center.
Xia Huyou, Hu Qiusheng, Wu Jia, and Zhao Ming were all there. Chen Yong was also present. He was there to give Su Yu some support and suggestions.
At the entrance of the new research center.
The building looked desolate.
Weeds were growing everywhere.
It was a three-story building with a large courtyard. Above the entrance was a dilapidated signboard. If one paid close attention, one would be able to see the words on it: Lan Tian Research Center.
At the sight of that, Chen Yong and Zhao Ming exchanged gazes. Zhao Ming said, "What a surprise. They actually gave you this place."
Su Yu was still busy checking the environment. Wu Jia was the one to curiously ask, "What's wrong with this place?"
"This is Lan Tian Research Center..." Zhao Ming sighed. Before long, the complicated expression on his face was replaced by a smile, "The previous owner of this place is slightly famous."
"Who's that?" Wu Jia was curious. Was that a famous person?"
"It's Lan Tian." Zhao Ming smiled, "Since it's called Lan Tian Research Center, the previous owner is naturally Lan Tian."
Wu Jia shook her head. She didn't know that name. But beside her, both Hu Qiusheng and Jiang Mu seemed to know the name.
Jiang Mu frowned and said, "This is inauspicious."
Su Yu looked over and asked, "Who's Lan Tian?"
"A traitor." Jiang Mu explained, "It happened around 20 years ago. I read it in a travelog before. Lan Tian...or to be precise, he is now known as the sect master of the Original Devil Sect."
"Hmm?"
Su Yu blanked up. What was the story? He knew that of the myriad races, the divine and devil races were the strongest.
And the divine and devil races were merely the general names of their respective races. They were further split into numerous smaller races. And among these smaller races, the first divine race and the original devil race were the strongest.
Master of the Original Devil Sect?
Zhao Ming said, "You don't know this? Yes. The Original Devil Sect master came from our academy. Of course, since this is dark history, the academy doesn't enjoy talking about it too much. This history has been mostly left to be forgotten. Lan Tian...hehe, that's an incredible individual."
Chen Yong said, "Just a mere traitor. What's so impressive about him?"
Zhao Ming smiled, "Head Manager Chen, that's wrong. He might be a traitor, but you can't deny his talent."
When he saw that Su Yu and the others were looking at him curiously, he said, "Lan Tian...used to be the faculty head of the Transformation Faculty. As for his age...he's not too old. He's from the same generation as Elder Hong. Twenty years ago, he was a seventh-stage Mountainsea and the head of the Transformation Faculty. The Transformation Faculty isn't exactly a strong faculty, so he was strong enough to hold down the fort with that level of cultivation."
"And this Lan Tian...modified his body so much that he went mad. One day, he decided to transform his human body into an original devil body."
The others started frowning. Zhao Ming continued his explanation, "That fellow was amazing. He disguised himself as an original devil and infiltrated the original devil's military camp in the Allheaven Battlefield. There, he did some crazy things and killed some original devils. If that was all, he would have been lauded as a hero of humanity."
Su Yu and the others nodded. That was correct. If that was the end, then this person would definitely be considered a hero. But since this person was presently the master of the Original Devil Sect, that was definitely not where the story ended.
Sure enough, Zhao Ming said, "In the end, a Sunmoon from the original devil race caught him. Instead of killing him, that expert told him that his transformation was a failure. His body wasn't a true original devil body. His body was flawed..."
Zhao Ming shrugged, "We don't know what exactly happened. But eventually, Lan Tian was persuaded to jump ship. After that, he returned to the Human Realm and replaced the previous master of the Original Devil Sect. Over the years, the First Divine Sect and the Original Devil Sect had been scrambling for power and wealth in the cult. The Original Devil Sect held the upper hand in this struggle."
"He's already a Sunmoon?"
"Yeah. He's a Sunmoon." Zhao Ming nodded, "That fellow is a genius. It's not surprising that he can reach the Sunmoon Realm. After all, even Elder Hong is on the verge of reaching that realm."
"..."
Chen Yong stared at Zhao Ming.
Why did that feel somewhat insulting?
Why was it so surprising that his teacher could reach that level?
Zhao Ming laughed and said, "It's true that he is quite an incredible individual. He modified his body so much that he turned himself into an original devil. You need real talent to do something like that. The original devils have extremely powerful bodies. How did that fellow manage to turn his body into an original devil body? There is actually a lot to learn there. Unfortunately, he defected not long after his successful transformation. Otherwise, we would have learned a lot more about the original devils."
Su Yu asked curiously, "Did Principal Wan do nothing?"
Why hadn't the principal killed the traitor?
"What could the principal do?" Zhao Ming shrugged, "That fellow is a Sunmoon. He is very secretive and has been avoiding Great Xia. Do you think the principal will leave the prefecture and search the whole Human Realm just to hunt that person? Also, the principal is currently known to the public as a peak Mountainsea. He's not supposed to be running around hunting down Sunmoons, you know."
Zhao Ming had an amused expression.
Peak Mountainsea Realm, the principal's strength as known to the public.
Su Yu frowned, "Isn't the academy ruining their own prestige by sparing a traitor like this? What about the Xia Family? Why are they ignoring this traitor?"
Xia Huyou said, "What can we do? Not even Great Xia King can find that person. He is too mysterious. And he has been claiming that he is Principal Wan's spy in the cult. In fact, he has been telling everyone that while asking for benefits from the various forces."
"Spy?" Wu Jia asked curiously, "He's a spy? So he's a good guy? But if he's a spy, why is he saying that everywhere?"
Xia Huyou had a helpless smile as he said, "That's bullshit. He's intentionally doing this. And the meaning behind that is clear. He's telling us to stay out of his way. If we do that, he will leave us alone and focus only on the First Divine Sect. "
Su Yu said, "He's only fighting the First Divine Sect? That's a good thing, right?"
"What are you thinking?" Xia Huyou said, "Don't underestimate him. He intends to unify the Myriad Race Cult and establish a major force or even a new prefecture within the Human Realm. He is the most annoying type of person to deal with."
Xia Huyou sighed, "If he is only someone capable of violence, in all honesty, he won't be that terrifying an enemy. But the scariest part about him is the fact that he is the main voice preaching for the peaceful coexistence of the myriad races. He was also the person who suggested establishing a free-trade zone in the Human Realm to facilitate trade between humanity and the myriad races."
Xia Huyou said, "All the higher ups know that he has ulterior motives in what he preaches. But it's different for the masses. Some actually believe that he is a saint. He proclaims that he is not acting against human interests. He preaches that humanity should consider more perspectives and opinions. He asks for the people who reject war to be given a chance. He is offering to protect those people..."
Xia Huyou said, "The Xia Family naturally wishes to kill this person. In fact, they want to kill him more than they want to kill the First Divine Sect master. The other cultists focus only on creating chaos and slaughtering the innocent. Meanwhile, this person is an idealistic preacher. And his ideals also seem perfectly reasonable, even if they are unfeasible."
Xia Huyou helplessly said, "He is saying that the human race should establish a free-trade zone. He is preaching that we should welcome the myriad races into the Human Realm. Since the Human Realm does not have any suppressive effect on all races, he suggests that we join hands with the myriad races and turn the Human Realm into the heart of the Myriad Realms. What do you think about that?"
Su Yu frowned. He had heard the same before from Wan Mingze. That day, he had reacted negatively to it.
And his reaction was the same. He said, "Someone like this should be killed."
"Exactly." Xia Huyou shrugged, "But some people agree with his ideals. Why should we go to war? Isn't it a good thing that we can live in peace with the myriad races? People will die in wars! Peace is much better! We can achieve peace by becoming a center of trade, and the heart of the Myriad Realms! Isn't that a wonderful idea?
"He has been preaching that the myriad races aren't here to kill us. Instead, they are here to help build up the Human Realm. The Human Realm has a lot of room for development. By distancing ourselves from war, we will be able to achieve self-actualization. What do you think?"
"..."
Su Yu didn't know what to say. That was indeed...a thorny individual. Someone cruel or ruthless was not terrifying. Someone truly cunning was a lot scarier.
No matter how strong an enemy was, even if the enemy was an Invincible, the human race would still be capable of killing one such enemy. But this person did not launch his offense physically. Instead, he was doing it spiritually.
The Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was truly...incredible. Even a traitor who had defected from the academy was such an incredible schemer. Sure enough, anyone who had spent decades in this academy would not be a simpleminded fool.
Even Zhou Mingren, who had suffered loss after loss recently, was able to solve the many issues plaguing the single character faction with relative ease once he decided to get serious. In recent days, he had solved a lot of internal issues within the single character faction.
The faction that seemed to be on the verge of falling apart was once again brought together.
Keeping the position of faction master as bait, even the Cloudbreach cultivators and the elders in the faction had suddenly turned obedient. That was one tasty carrot he was dangling in their faces. They were all staying obedient in the hope that they would get the carrot.
Thanks to that, all the infighting within the single character faction seemed to have ceased recently.