Chapter 507: Killing Skysoar (1)
Su Yu started returning to the entrance. While walking, he did not forget to absorb some baleful qi to nourish his characters.
The kill character had reached the second tier long ago so there really wasn't much need to nourish it. Su Yu did not intend to push it to the third tier for now. Doing that at his current level would only increase the burden on him without much benefit.
The blood character had been on the verge of advancement after absorbing some intent from the destroyed Sunmoon characters. And Su Yu had not dared to push the character to the next tier.
After a short walk, he returned to the spot where he had encountered the other student. That person was no longer there.
Su Yu wasn't bothered. At that time, his voice transmission talisman vibrated. When he took a look, he saw that Xia Huyou had sent him a message with information about the Zhang Family.
"Zhang Family, a Skysoar family of the northern suburb..."
That was a family with four Skysoars.
That was absolutely not weak.
The family head was Zhang Wu and his wife was Hu Feng. One was a ninth-stage Skysoar while the other was a seventh-stage Skysoar. The son was Zhang Ming, who was slightly weaker at third-stage Skysoar. But the son's wife was quite impressive. This was the same young woman Su Yu had seen earlier. She was known as Madam Zhang, but her name was Chen Lan, a seventh-stage Skysoar. There was also a grandson, the same boy Su Yu had seen earlier.
These were the main members of the Zhang Family. There were also some other servants and guards in the family. In the northern suburb, a family of four Skysoars was absolutely not weak. And this Zhang Family had been in the area for over 20 years.
After going through the message, Su Yu asked, "Chen Lan is a seventh-stage Skysoar. Why did she marry a third-stage Skysoar?"
Sure, it was normal for married cultivators to have different levels of strength, but the husband would generally be the stronger one. It was quite rare to see the reverse of that.
Xia Huyou's reply came promptly, "I heard back then, Chen Lan was helped by the two elders of the Zhang Family when she was cultivating. Thus, she married their son to thank them."
"The two elders..." Su Yu suddenly recalled the old woman he saw on the way. He asked, "Do you have the picture of Old Madam Zhang? Can you send me the picture?"
"Give me a minute!"
Xia Huyou went silent, most likely contacting someone else. Shortly after, a picture was sent over. After checking the picture, Su Yu saw that the woman in the picture greatly resembled the old woman he saw even though there were some differences. It was likely that they were the same person.
The look in his eyes changed.
Interesting.
If he did not know they were from the Zhang Family, he might not be suspicious. He had actually encountered three members of the Zhang Family on his way here. How interesting.
And there was even a boy who was potentially an adult in disguise.
That made things even more interesting.
Xia Huyou asked, "Are you sure about this? According to the information I gathered, the Zhang Family has been living a considerably honest life. The leader of the family has even killed some enemies in the Allheaven Battlefield before. Su Yu, someone like him is considered a hero in Great Xia and his family is considered a hero's family. Don't mess around."
"He fought on the battlefield before?"
Su Yu started feeling uncertain. In his view, no cultist would have the courage to step onto the battlefield.
"Also, this Zhang Family is related to the Zhang Family of the main city. They are actually a branch family of Zhang Hao's Zhang Family."
Su Yu frowned. Zhang Hao's family? He knew about Zhang Hao's family. That was a family with a ninth-stage Cloudbreach and could be considered a decently powerful family in the main city. They were actually related?
After a short silence, Su Yu sent a message to Zhang Hao, "Is your family related to the Zhang Family of the northern suburb?"
"Are you referring to Zhang Wu's family?"
"Yeah."
"We are related. Back then, my grandpa came to Great Xia for further studies. In truth, my Zhang Family originated from Great Shang. Eventually, my grandpa built up his own family in Great Xia. This Zhang Wu is a distant relative from Great Shang..."
Zhang Hao then asked, "Did something happen?"
"Do you know about that child in his family?"
"Zhang Mo?" Zhang Hao remembered the boy. He said, "Yeah, but I have only met him a few times. He started cultivating too early and damaged his own body. Nowadays, he spends most of his time recuperating at home. He's 12 this year, but he hasn't even entered elementary school."
The boy was not attending school. Was it really due to his so-called injury or was it because he didn't dare to go for fear of exposing himself?
Su Yu said, "Something is suspicious about this family. Brother Zhang, I have a question. If this family did something wrong, would that implicate you?"
"This...Great Xia does not have the habit of implicating the relatives of criminals, but that's not the case when it involves the Myriad Race Cult. If they can prove that my grandpa had accidentally leaked some information before, my family will definitely be implicated."
...
Inside the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, Zhang Hao was starting to feel worried. He asked, "Brother Su, are they really problematic?"
He personally found Su Yu to be a trustworthy person. And Su Yu must have discovered something to suddenly ask about this family.
"I'm not sure. But that child...does not seem like a child. I left the academy today, but on my way, I encountered Hu Feng, Chen Lan, and Zhang Mo in succession. And I actually met them separately."
Zhang Hao asked, "Is it possible that those are coincidences?"
"What do you think?"
Zhang Hao sank into silence.
As someone capable of entering a cultural research academy, he was definitely not a fool.
After a long while, Zhang Hao said, "Brother Su, if they are really problematic, please hold your hand. Give me the chance to notify my grandpa. My family must be the one to act against them."
Su Yu replied, "No problem. But I'm not certain yet. How about this? You guys get ready. If they really make a move against me, that will be the strongest proof that they are problematic. If they don't do anything, they have been able to stay here for so many years so we might not be able to find any proof of wrongdoing."
"Then...I'll get my grandpa to assist you in secret..."
"It's fine. I don't want to risk them noticing anything. I only told you this because we are fellow brothers of the Mutual Aid Club. But please keep this to yourself for now. Honestly, your grandpa might not trust a mere student like me even if I have absolute confidence in Grandpa Zhang."
After giving that reply, Su Yu smiled.
As for his trust toward Zhang Hao's grandfather, he was merely being polite. If those fellows did not do anything against him, he wouldn't be bothered to do anything about them unless he had strong proof of their wrongdoings.
Great Xia was powerful enough that a few Skysoars wouldn't be able to do much harm to the prefecture. In fact, not even a ninth-stage Cloudbreach would be able to harm the foundations of the prefecture.
But it wasn't likely that Grandpa Zhang was also problematic. That was a member of the prefectural government, someone working under Administrator Hu. And Administrator Hu would definitely not hire someone before checking their background.
Thus, Su Yu really couldn't be bothered to do anything about this. As long as they stayed away from him, he wouldn't waste his time doing anything to them. It was pointless to him.
Since even Xia Huyou was already aware of them, even if they didn't do anything to him this time, the Xia Family would continue paying close attention to them. And that was enough.
After a short chat with Zhang Hao, Su Yu said to his two protectors, "Stay watchful on our way back."
"Alright."
The water elemental and shadow replied promptly. The two were waiting for a chance to perform a meritorious deed for Su Yu. Thus, they would be more than happy to see an attack happen.
...
Before long, Su Yu met up with Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming again.
The two were in the middle of cultivation. They were both relieved to see Su Yu again. It had been a few hours since Su Yu left. They would start worrying if he stayed in there any longer.
"I'm done with my business." Su Yu smiled, "This place is quite good to nurture characters, but the stench is too unbearable. I truly have troubled the two of you to come to this place with me."
Wang Zhishan hurriedly laughed it off, "What are you saying? We are the ones who have benefited from this trip."
They started walking toward the exit while talking.
Outside, Su Yu saw that the two from the Zhang Family were no longer around.
At the place their earthdragon beast was hitched, he rubbed his pocket and grumbled, "Where's my merit card? Don't tell me I dropped it?"
The moment the guard on duty heard those words, his face turned unsightly as he said, "You are not allowed to leave without paying."
"..."
Su Yu rolled his eyes and said, "I must have dropped it while cultivating. I'll go in and look for it..."
He looked at his two companions and awkwardly said, "We can't withdraw our earthdragon beast. I need to go inside to look for my merit card...Senior Brother Wang, can you lend me five merit points to enter the pit again? I will repay you later..."
Wang Zhishan said, "This is nothing. Don't worry about it. Are you sure you still want to enter the pit? You can always return and apply for a new card."
"I'll try to look for it first."
Su Yu had a helpless tone as he whispered, "That's an unregistered card. I can't lose it or I'll be in trouble. Anyone with the card will be able to take the money inside."
Wang Zhishan had a look of realization.
He had heard of such cards before, but he had never seen one. It wasn't surprising that Su Yu would have one such card. In fact, most geniuses of the academy would probably have these cards in their possession. That way, they could avoid attracting the academy's attention when conducting large transactions.
He nodded, "Sure. We can enter with you as well..."
"No!" Su Yu smiled, "There is no need to trouble you. It's not like the pit is a comfortable place. Chen Ming isn't even at the Mental Tempering Stage yet. He is already pale after the first visit. If he enters again, he will probably remain in his bed for a few days after this."
Chen Ming had an awkward expression. Su Yu was right.
Su Yu said, "In truth, you don't even need to wait for me here. I don't know how long I'll take to find that card. How about this? Rent two cloudrush horses here for your return trip. I'll pay for it later. I only need to borrow five merit points from Senior Brother Wang for a single entry into the pit."
Naturally, Su Yu would be the one to ride the earthdragon beast back later. That concerned his reputation. The reputation of a genius needed to be protected.
And Wang Zhishan was understanding of that. But he still looked embarrassed as he offered, "Why don't Junior Brother Chen return first while I accompany you..."
"It's fine. I will need to go deep into the pit..."
Wang Zhishan could only smile helplessly. If that was the case, he wouldn't be able to follow.
"Fine. Also, forget about the matter of money. In all honesty, neither of us has been of much help to you during this trip. We only need a merit point or two..."
"Senior Brother Wang, are you looking down on me?"
Su Yu's face fell. He was showing the displeased face of someone whose kindness had just been rejected.
Wang Zhishan felt helpless. He nodded and said, "Fine. But it's not cheap to rent cloudrush horses, so we can pay for that ourselves. Please agree to this, Junior Brother Su."
"But...fine!"
With a loan of five merit points, Su Yu returned to the pit. As for Wang Zhishan and Chen Ming, they left on their rented cloudrush horses.