Chapter 528: Changes in the Academy (1)
Source Qi Secret Grotto.
Near the Skysoar Zone.
Su Yu had finished opening all the acupoints required by the acupoint fusion method and was in the middle of fusing acupoints.
Three days had passed.
He finally completed the fusion he had started previously. His body shook as 16 acupoints fully fused together. The completion of this fusion signified that he had achieved a perfect advancement into the Infinite Strength Realm.
The fused acupoint shone brightly. His vitality surged, his bones cracked, and his source qi erupted. His vitality and source qi coursed through his body like a raging river and cleansed his entire body.
Infinite Strength Realm!
It was the 20th of November.
Less than 4 months after joining the academy, Su Yu had stepped into the Infinite Strength Realm by fusing 16 acupoints. He threw a punch.
Rumble!
After fusing his acupoints, his offensive force had increased significantly. His physical body and vitality had grown stronger than before.
"I've reached the Infinite Strength Realm!"
Su Yu exhaled.
This single fused acupoint was as strong as 40 basic acupoints of a regular Great Strength cultivator. Thus, he was unleashing the power of 40 acupoints with only 16 acupoints. The fusion had more than doubled the might of his acupoints.
Even someone who had fused only 10 basic acupoints would be able to unleash the prowess of 20 basic acupoints. This advancement had increased Su Yu's offensive strength greatly. He had advanced as a true Infinite Strength cultivator.
Someone cultivating a heaven-grade cultivation method was able to contend against someone cultivating an earth-grade cultivation method who was three stages higher.
And someone cultivating an earth-grade cultivation method was able to contend against a profound-grade method cultivator who was three stages higher. This was the same for the cultivators of a profound-grade method and a yellow-grade method.
In other words, Su Yu was now strong enough to defeat his father even if his father was nine stages above him. And that was only considering his cultivation method, ignoring his techniques and willpower. In reality, Su Yu was much stronger than even some warriors who had cultivated heaven-grade cultivation methods. He also had a lot more tricks up his sleeve.
"Even if Dad manages to reach the Skysoar Realm, he wouldn't be my match. Without using my willpower, I'm about as strong as a third or fourth-stage Skysoar."
This was the difference between a genius and an ordinary person. The gap between them would be very big despite having the same cultivation level.
And Su Yu was a genius among geniuses. Someone like Xia Huyou who similarly cultivated the top-tier Sky Sundering Saber would not be Su Yu's match if he did not have too many tricks up his sleeve. But Su Yu believed that as the son of the prefect, Xia Huyou would definitely have some trump cards.
A majority of the geniuses in the academy cultivated earth-grade cultivation methods. As for the regular students, most cultivated profound-grade cultivation methods. Su Yu could probably defeat a regular student six stages above him in cultivation. Due to the sheer number of acupoints he had opened, his combat strength was quite impressive. As for someone like Zhou Hao, he was basically the perfect example of a genius warrior.
"Infinite Strength..."
Su Yu focused on his own body. His body had grown stronger, but he was still someone with a body of flesh and blood. Nevertheless, he could feel a new addition to his body: a natural layer of protective membrane.
This was the Infinite Strength Realm.
A realm where one would gain a massive increase in strength.
At the Skysoar Realm, one would continue strengthening one's body for future cultivation. At the Cloudbreach Realm, one would start transforming one's source qi. Like the tiers of willpower, source qi could also be classified into different tiers. After the nine transformations, one would step into the Mountainsea Realm, gaining an even bigger increase in strength.
"Time to fuse more acupoints!"
Su Yu had opened 318 acupoints in total. He was in no rush to open more. For now, he was focused on fusing more acupoints. It would be even better if he could fuse 144 basic acupoints into 9 fused acupoints and enter the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm.
If he could do so, with only 144 acupoints, he would be able to unleash the strength of 360 acupoints. And including the further boost his cultivation method would give him, he could even unleash the strength of over 400 acupoints. That was the offensive strength of having a proper cultivation method.
Su Yu had other acupoints as well, but he wasn't able to utilize the strength of all those acupoints at the same time due to the lack of a cultivation method that could utilize all of them.
Nevertheless, with the prowess of 400 acupoints, if he was faced with a Skysoar without an impressive cultivation method, he could even skip an entire realm and defeat that opponent.
In other words, at the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm, he would be able to defeat a ninth-stage Skysoar cultivating only a yellow-grade method. This was the perfect example of the gap between a genius and a regular cultivator.
"Sigh. My dad sure is pitiful."
Once again, Su Yu lamented the terrible cultivation method his father was cultivating.
Top-tier yellow-grade cultivation method.
Even at the Skysoar Realm, his father would probably be defeated by him with one punch—cough, cough.
The difference between levels of cultivation method would be clearer the higher one's cultivation level was. Fortunately, he had not advanced with an earth-grade method. Otherwise, it would probably be much harder for him to take care of the other geniuses.
"Even at my current level, I'm already as strong as a regular SKysoar."
Su Yu was able to accurately judge the level of his strength. This was thanks to his experience killing the third-stage Skysoar from the Zhang Family. He continued fusing acupoints while thinking. He was planning his future path of cultivation. Regardless of his path, certain things were paramount: enough strength and a good backer. But he required time to acquire all that.
"I'm afraid the single character faction won't be able to stay patient anymore."
In their position, he would probably fail to stay patient as well. They had suppressed the multiple character faction for many years only for someone like Su Yu to appear and ruin their plans. It would be even weirder if they could stay calm.
"Most of the people in the single character faction are parasites. But Great Xia and Principal Xia can't find the determination to remove them. Perhaps they are still hopeful that these people can be brought back to the right path. But as far as I'm concerned, these people are hopeless."
He didn't know what Wan Tiansheng and the Xia Family were thinking exactly. Maybe they weren't willing to lose the strength of several Mountainseas. Or maybe they were worried about the counterattack of the entire single character faction of the Human Realm.
But in Su Yu's mind, these people were parasites.
One's perspective would differ based on one's position.
And this was Su Yu's perspective, especially now that he had a true trump card: Bai Feng's disassembly method.
That was an ultimate trump card that could instantly grant him victory. It would be much more effective than any new cultivation methods and techniques Su Yu could produce. With the disassembly method, one would be able to disassemble his character technique and freely fill their characters into the disassemble technique. Something like this was actually much more useful than a few new cultivation methods and techniques.
New cultivation methods might be helpful for newer cultivators. But for a lot of veteran cultivators, new cultivation methods wouldn't be as helpful as the disassembly method as they already had their own cultivation methods.
Su Yu was confident that if the disassembly method was really disseminated, the multiple character faction would instantly rise to the top again.
"Teacher is the true research genius. What a pity..."
What a pity that the academy had not noticed his teacher's genius. Great Xia's government seemed to have noticed. For example, people like Ji Hong had tried to recruit Bai Feng. Bai Feng was the one who had rejected the offer.
Su Yu was contemplating the correct timing to utilize this ultimate trump card.
"After eliminating some of my enemies, when some people start protesting and claiming that I am weakening the overall strength of humanity...This would be the perfect timing to release the disassembly method."
According to his estimation, right after killing some of his enemies, he would be criticized by a lot of people. At that time, the disassembly method would shut their mouths.
"But I need time and strength."
Su Yu did not care about the thoughts of Wan Tiansheng and the others. These people had their own plans, but Su Yu had his own plans as well.
"My only fear is...that Invincible personally making a move against me."
Su Yu frowned. He sighed. The only thing the multiple character faction lacked was their very own Invincible. Things wouldn't have been so difficult otherwise.
For now, he was still incapable of attracting that traitor's attention. But if he started eliminating the single character faction, he might be subjected to that person's attack. Even some myriad race experts would start trying to get him killed out of fear for his future threat.
According to Wan Tiansheng, the multiple character faction might be the key to producing a true human cultural researcher Invincible. And such a person could be the key to activating the Human Realm's suppressive force. And that wasn't something the myriad races could tolerate.
"This is so troublesome."
Su Yu knew that he could actually ignore all these matters. He was not the only person in the multiple character faction. But he was more than willing to reduce the pressure Liu Wenyan and the others were shouldering.
After a while, he tossed all those thoughts out of his mind and focused on his cultivation.
Even his previous plan of challenging the top 100 had been put aside.
Di Feng could keep waiting for a while.
Su Yu knew what Di Feng was planning by refusing to break through. Or to be precise, it was Zhou Pingsheng's plan. Thus, Su Yu was more than happy to let Di Feng wait longer. Di Feng was probably waiting impatiently for his challenge.
...
Day after day passed.
Slowly, the end of November arrived.
Top 100 Ranking.
Challenges would stop on the 25th of each month.
On the 25th of November, the challengers were getting some final matches in. After that day, challenges would stop until the next month. This year, the ranking had changed drastically with the appearance of the new students.
Standing in the ring was Zheng Yunhui, who had reached the Infinite Strength Realm. He had not switched his cultivation method. Rather, he cultivated the best version of the acupoint fusion method before stepping into the Infinite Strength Realm after fusing 12 acupoints.
With a punch, his vitality surged and his source qi erupted, sending an older student flying out of the ring. Shock spread through the crowd around the ring.
Yes, he was strong. But there was one issue. This was the Top 100 Ranking, not the Infinite Strength Ranking of the war academy. This Zheng Yunhui was totally a barbarian from a war academy. He had been fighting with his physical strength in every match. Thus, a lot of people were unwilling to accept his victory.
Zheng Yunhui naturally did not care about all that. He smiled and said, "It sure feels good to grow so quickly. I'm already in the 79th place."
Yes. He was now a top 80 student.
For a new student, this was an incredible achievement.
Zhao Ming was not interested in entertaining Zheng Yunhui. He said, "Get off the ring if you're not fighting anymore."
This was the 25th. The challenge ring would be very busy today. He did not have the time to entertain this fellow. Zheng Yunhui left the ring with a happy smile on his face. Reaching the 79th place was enough for him.
"Next."
With Zhao Ming's announcement, Zhou Hao leaped into the ring. Without looking at anyone, he spoke in a stuffy tone, "91st."
A lot of people were alarmed to see Zhou Hao. This was his second time on this ring. He had not entered the top 100 ring after the beatdown he received from Su Yu. Today, he was here again. And a lot of people here had witnessed his fight against Zhan Hai previously.
He was very strong. They reckoned that nobody below the top 30 would be his match. The student ranked 91st knew that he wouldn't be Zhou Hao's match, but he still intended to try fighting.
Right after Zhao Ming announced the start of the match.
Like a ferocious tiger, Zhou Hao pounced forward. His vitality burst out, suppressing the characters and willpower of his opponent.
Boom!
With one punch, the student ranked 91st flew out of the ring before landing on the ground with broken ribs.
Too strong.
Zhou Hao wasted no time and said, "81st."
An uproar erupted from the crowd. This guy was clearly here to sweep through the ranking. Sure, this was a frequent occurrence during the end of each month. But it somehow felt different when the person doing so was Zhou Hao. It felt a lot scarier.
He had easily defeated the 91st ranked student with one punch.
Silence descended.
Zhou Hao frowned and said, "If the student isn't here, I'll be challenging the 82nd ranked student."
...
"Not here as well? Student ranked 83rd."
"..."
Finally, someone lost his temper and leaped into the ring with a snort.
"Zhou Hao, you're only a—"
"Referee, can we start?"
Zhou Hao ignored his opponent. He was uninterested in any conversation. He only wanted to fight more matches and earn some money. He wasn't as good at earning money as Su Yu. He only knew that the higher he could climb, the more merit points he could get.
"Start!"
The same scene repeated itself. Zhou Hao relied only on his powerful vitality and source qi that could crush anything. After all, his willpower was too weak to be relied on. With one punch, his opponent flew out and collapsed on the ground.
Yet another easy victory.
Zhou Hao continued his climb. After seven consecutive victories, he reached the 31st place. Satisfied, he left the ring.
Seven matches.
Seven victories.
The previous 31st ranked student had received 13 continuous punches from Zhou Hao before he was sent flying away with broken ribs.