Chapter 504: Conspicuous Genius (2)
At the same time.
High in the sky.
A middle-aged man was floating in the air. After glancing at the old woman down below, he frowned slightly. But he said nothing and left as he had not noticed anything abnormal.
The old woman did not notice anything.
While flying, the middle-aged man sent a message with a voice transmission talisman, "Senior Hu, there are a lot of Skysoars out here, but most are known to us. I don't notice anything abnormal. By the way, Su Yu has his own beast protectors. Both are at the Cloudbreach Realm."
Great Xia City, capital of Great Xia.
Administrator Hu laughed. That little fellow sure was well-prepared.
It was only a trip to the Myriad Race Pit, but the kid was actually taking two Cloudbreach beast protectors with him.
"Myriad Race Pit..."
Nurturing his character?
Administrator Hu sank into contemplation. Was that the real reason the kid was going there?
The Source Soul Research Center had just been established. Why was the kid going to the Myriad Race Pit instead of staying in his research center?
He was suspicious, but he said nothing about it. He sent his message, "Keep following him. Stay watchful. The source soul acupoint might only be a theory for now, but Su Yu is someone who has opened over 300 acupoints. A lot of people are interested in him."
There was a need for prudence.
The source soul acupoint was still a theory. It had yet to be truly discovered. If it had really been discovered, a single Mountainsea would not be enough to protect Su Yu. That was something that would change the fate of humanity. That was probably something that would cause even Invincibles to kill each other.
Of course, the premise of anything happening was Su Yu keeping his discoveries to himself. If the discoveries were already spread, it was pointless to kill Su Yu.
Administrator Hu started thinking. Should they step in and take over the research center right after this source soul acupoint was discovered? At that thought, he suddenly laughed. He was actually planning for Su Yu's eventual success already. How interesting.
...
Near the Myriad Race Pit.
Even from far away, one could see a red mist drifting in the air, as though the entire place was enveloped in a mist of blood.
Su Yu was able to sense the killing intent in the area even before arriving. He couldn't help but say, "How many people do they need to kill to create something like this?"
Wang Zhishan said, "Don't you know our prefect? Everyone in Great Xia knows that he never takes prisoners. Thus, executions are very common. There are jails in Great Xia, but there are no death-row inmates. These inmates have either been executed here or exiled to the Allheaven Battlefield. And this has persisted for decades. Just imagine how many people have died here."
Su Yu thought about how he used to watch Xia Longwu's executions on the television. It would happen at least once per month. And each time, at least a dozen people would be executed. In a year, at least a hundred people would be executed. And that was during relatively peaceful times. This year, when the Myriad Race Cult was very active, thousands of people had been executed.
Thus, there were tens of thousands of corpses in this Myriad Race Pit. And every single one of them was a cultivator. Their vitality was vigorous and some of them were cultural researchers whose willpower had yet to disperse even after death. Because of that, a baleful aura enveloped this place.
"The prefect is indeed murderous."
Su Yu nodded. That was the reason why the cult was rather afraid of operating in Great Xia. He heard that in some other prefectures, the cultists were already starting to preach their beliefs in broad daylight.
Ahead of them was the Myriad Race Pit.
Su Yu could already see the Martial Dragon Guards stationed there.
Yes, this place was actively guarded by the Martial Dragon Guards.
The earthdragon beast stopped a few hundred meters away from the pit. It did not dare to go any further. Rest pavilions and hitching posts were available there for the visitors. This rest stop was also guarded by soldiers.
When the guards saw the earthdragon beast, one of them asked, "You're from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy? How long are you staying here? You can keep your earthdragon beast here for a payment of one merit point per day."
"..."
Su Yu did not know what to say. He was cursing inwardly.
This was daylight robbery!
Why was Great Xia charging for everything?
He was unhappy, but he had no choice. It wasn't like there were any other options. If he did not keep the earthdragon beast here and ended up losing it, he would need to pay the academy hundreds of merit points instead.
He hopped off the earthdragon beast and completed the procedures for having the beast kept there. Nearby, a young woman with a boy was also in the process of hitching her mount, a cloudrush horse.
Su Yu had seen these beasts before during his entrance examination. At the time, he even rode one of them. The young woman was not weak at all. She was a Skysoar. The Perception Jade turned blue, but Su Yu wasn't too bothered. This was the capital. Skysoars were everywhere.
Seemingly having sensed Su Yu's gaze on her, the young woman turned to look at him. She smiled and nodded at her before walking forward while holding the boy's hand. She said to the guard on duty and said, "Little Zhang, I need to enter to gather some baleful qi. I'll be out shortly. Can I skip the payment this time? The parking fee is too expensive!"
The guard seemed to know her. He smiled and said, "Madam Zhang, the parking fee was set by the marquis, not me. As long as you have a mount here, you need to pay one merit point. Otherwise, you will have to risk losing your mount."
"This is too greedy!"
The young woman grumbled jokingly before paying up and moving on with the boy.
Su Yu only gave them a glance before withdrawing his gaze.
But after a short thought, he softly asked, "Brother, she's entering with a child. Will that be fine?"
The guard waited until the woman and the boy were further away from them before saying, "That's Madam Zhang, the lady of a nearby rich family. Her child injured himself during cultivation and requires baleful qi to suppress the backlash of his injuries. It will be fine."
Su Yu nodded. He only asked because it seemed improper to bring a child to such a place. But hearing the explanation, he said nothing else. He set off as well.
The Myriad Race Pit was massive, and it was surrounded by walls on all sides. These walls were meant to prevent accidental entries. There was an entry point allowing one passage through the walls. A small group of Martial Dragon Guards were stationed there.
The soldiers there were all peak Infinite Strength cultivators. There were probably some concealed Skysoar guards around as well as Su Yu could see the color of his Perception Jade changing. He wasn't too worried about it.
He took out the mission token of the academy and showed it to the guards. After checking the token, one of them said, "You may enter after paying five merit points. Also, remember to not go too deep into the pit. The corpses there used to be super experts, but don't even dream of getting anything there. Students like you love to fantasize about getting some inheritances from these dead experts, but can the inheritances of the cult compare with what you're getting from the academy?"
The soldier was blunt, but he was speaking the truth. A lot of students had visited this place with such fantasies in the past.
The soldier gave another reminder, "The killing intent and baleful qi around the corpses of experts are too thick. The aura can easily destabilize the seas of willpower of Mental Tempering Stage students like you. It might result in a collapse of the sea of willpower. I'm sure you know what that means. Don't do anything stupid in there."
"Thank you for the reminder, Big Brother." Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I won't seek death."
"Good. You may enter."
Su Yu nodded and entered with Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming. Right after stepping into the pit, a rotten stench assaulted his nostrils.
The smell was terrible. Not far away, the young woman from earlier could be seen gathering the baleful qi in the air. The boy was right beside her. Strand after strand of baleful qi entered his body to suppress his injuries. This was such a young boy. Had he encountered an issue while opening an acupoint?
Su Yu wondered inwardly, but he did not dwell on it. He continued heading deeper into the pit. But after a few steps, he frowned. He was merely passing by. Why was the young woman paying such close attention to him?
His Perception Jade kept turning blue before returning to its original color. This had happened a few times in a row.
The jade was probably reacting to the young woman's probes. Once or twice was not an issue, but the frequency was a tad bit too high. Did she think that he was a pushover for her to keep scanning him like this?
Sure, he wasn't supposed to be able to detect anything. But that wasn't the case since he had the Perception Jade on him.
He did not say anything, but he was starting to turn suspicious. They did not know each other, so it was rather weird that the woman would pay him so much attention. The guards knew her, so she was clearly a member of a large family in the area. After all, she was a Skysoar, so her family wouldn't be too small.
Previously, Su Yu was not bothered about her. But now, he started turning cautious. As complete strangers, a Skysoar kept stealthily scanning a student. Was this normal? Beside him, Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming were completely oblivious to what was happening.
Su Yu remained silent and continued walking forward.
The Myriad Race Pit was actually just a really large pit. But there were numerous pathways built over this pit, allowing one to go nearer to the center of the pit without jumping into the pit with all the rotting corpses. However, even on top of those pathways, the smell was still terrible.
Eventually, the Perception Jade stopped changing colors.
The young woman had stopped observing him.
Nevertheless, that little episode was enough for Su Yu to take note of the young woman. She had observed him over a distance of hundreds of meters. Since she was paying so much attention to him, she could very well be a villain!
Naturally, Su Yu did not deny that there was the possibility that the woman had simply been attracted to his good looks. Alas, he was uninterested in her. Since she already had a child of such age, even if she looked young, she could very well be 50 or even 60.
...
After Su Yu was far away, the young woman asked through voice transmission, "Did you discover anything?"
The boy replied with voice transmission, "I found nothing. But this fellow...his source qi is very thick."
He was somewhat envious.
Even after Su Yu's attempt to hide his source qi, when the boy was looking at Su Yu, he still felt like he was looking at a ferocious beast instead of a human.
So was this what a genius looked like? Someone capable of opening so many acupoints?
The boy had an envious look in his eyes. Back then, he had only opened 72 acupoints before entering the Skysoar Realm. The difference between him and Su Yu was simply too big.
After spending a little bit more time gathering the baleful qi in the air, the woman said, "If there are no issues, let's go back. Stay closer to me. Don't let anyone notice you."
With the boy sticking close to her, she could intentionally release the aura of a Skysoar to cover the fact that the boy was also a Skysoar.
The boy asked, "Why aren't we making a move here?"
"Fool!"
The woman chided.
This was the Myriad Race Pit.
The place was guarded by the Martial Dragon Guards. Sure, it was safe to kill inside the pit itself. But the moment the corpses of the kids were discovered, they would be hunted everywhere. After all, they had entered the pit openly and the Zhang Family was also rather well-known in the area.
All of them would suffer the consequences of Su Yu's death. If they were really killing Su Yu, they could only do it in the dark. Furthermore, that wasn't even their plan. They wanted to capture him alive.
"Let's talk when we're back. The crazy old lady has already returned."
The young woman ignored the boy's suggestion. She knew that he was saying that out of jealousy.
The boy had a habit of envying and hating geniuses. Of course, the boy wasn't alone. Geniuses like Su Yu would always be envied by their friends, worshiped by the weaklings, and resented by the enemies. Others would ask why weren't they the ones to open hundreds of acupoints?
They would make excuses that it wasn't due to their lack of talent. Rather, they simply lacked luck or background...
That was how most people would think.
The boy was angry at being chided, but he remained silent and followed the woman as she left.
Before leaving, he looked in Su Yu's direction one last time with a cold look in his eyes. So what if the kid was a genius? He was still going to meet his end in their hands! The kid could only blame himself for failing to get even one dao protector.
The multiple character faction had truly declined. In the past, a genius of this level would receive at least a Cloudbreach as his dao protector. But today, no signs of any dao protector could be seen around Su Yu.