Chapter 535: Top Hundred Banquet, Anniversary Day (1)
Inside the research center.
Su Yu was in deep thought.
After a long while, he stood up and walked outside.
...
A few minutes later.
Wentan Research Center. Prison Zone.
Su Yu went straight to the point and said, "Suanni, I will be going on a trip soon. You will be my mount for the trip."
The suanni nearly teared up upon hearing that. Su Yu had finally remembered him!
"Alright!"
The suanni agreed easily. After Su Yu moved out, both the water elemental, shadow, and fire crow had left as well. The beasts left behind had been living in constant fear.
The mountaindrill bull yelled out in agitation, "Lord, suannis look good, but they are terrible as mounts. The mountaindrill bulls are better! You can't find better mounts than us!"
Yes. They were so desperate they had to start fighting to become a mount.
The white civet grew anxious as well. But she was unsuitable as a mount so there was no way she could compete against the two. Thus, she hurriedly said, "Lord Su, Young Miss Wu still lacks a guardian pet. I can be her guardian pet!"
With her good looks, that was the most suitable role for her. If she was the only one left behind, she would definitely die.
Su Yu smiled and nodded, "Sure. White cat, my senior sister stays with my martial uncle. Think it through. Don't be rash lest you lose your life."
"I wouldn't dare do anything rash!"
The white civet was overjoyed. Finally, she could leave this place.
Su Yu looked at the mountaindrill bull and said, "You're a ninth-stage Skysoar and a member of the 182nd ranked race. But you feel very weak for me. Is a genius of a top 200 race so weak? If that's the case, there is no need for me to keep you around. Your role is overlapping with the suanni."
In Su Yu's eyes, the more honest someone seemed, the more unreliable someone was. The mountaindrill bull race's rank wasn't low at all. As a member of a 182nd ranked race, this bull actually felt like a weakling. There seemed to be nothing special about this bull.
Could Su Yu even put his trust in a mountaindrill bull so weak? He would rather trust the suanni.
After a short silence, the mountaindrill bull said, "Lord, it's not that I'm weak. But compared to the others, the mountaindrill bull race specializes in something entirely different. The shadow and the others are good at assassination. The suanni is good at direct offense. I'm not good at any of that. From my name, you should know that our race is good at traversing. We can drill through mountains. We can escape easily the moment we get underground. And no matter how tall a mountain is, we can easily drill through it."
Su Yu frowned. This was something he had never considered before.
"In that case, your race should be very strong in a mountainous area?"
"You can say so."
The mountaindrill bull said, "We might be big, but we're not good at offense. The mountainbreak bulls are better at offense as they are good at crushing mountains. Unlike them, we drill through mountains and are more focused on concealment. In fact, among the bull races, we are the concealment specialists..."
Su Yu nodded. That could be useful.
Mountainous region...Starfall Mountain. That was a mountainous region.
"Ninth-stage Skysoar..."
Su Yu gazed at the bull who was bad at offense.
He smiled, "Mountaindrill bull, if you can survive 10 punches from me, I will believe that you are decent at protecting yourself."
"Lord..."
The mountaindrill bull opened his eyes wide and looked at Su Yu in suspicion.
He was a ninth-stage Skysoar. Even if he had been weakened due to his imprisonment, he was not someone a mere Great Strength student like Su Yu could contend against. Had the kid advanced?
"Lord, your current strength..."
"Fourth-stage Infinite Strength Realm."
Fourth-stage Infinite Strength Realm!
After thinking about it, the mountaindrill bull asked, "Lord, you won't be using your willpower, right?"
"I won't." Su Yu smiled, "I'll only use my physical strength. So do you agree?"
"I...agree."
Ninth-stage Skysoar versus fourth-stage Infinite Strength. The mountaindrill bull knew that Su Yu was very talented with a lot of opened acupoints. But he was not too weak himself. He was pretty good defensively. He wasn't afraid of that. It was only 10 punches.
"Good. I'll temporarily release you. Shadow and water guy, keep an eye on him."
Su Yu smiled. The shadow and water elemental were still with him. He opened the cage. When the mountaindrill bull stepped out, he grew slightly excited. There was a moment where he considered running away. He even considered killing Su Yu before running.
But the thought was erased the moment he appeared. He wasn't even sure if he could kill Su Yu. For the sake of preserving their lives, the shadow and water elemental might kill him instead.
"Lord...let's start."
The mountaindrill bull did not waste any time. A faint golden light erupted from his body. When he stood up, he was at least two meters in height. He looked much smaller when he was suppressed in the cage.
Su Yu said nothing and gathered some source qi around his fist.
His vitality erupted.
His acupoints activated.
But with the shadow barriers around his body, none of that was visible.
Abruptly, he threw a punch out.
Boom!
A punch landed on the mountaindrill bull's head.
"Mooo!"
The mountaindrill bull groaned in pain and took a few steps back in shock.
Was this an Infinite Strength cultivator?
Nonsense!
This was definitely a Skysoar!
He was still in a weakened state due to the long imprisonment. After taking that punch, he was slightly dizzy. He was still busy thinking when another rumble rang out. The second punch had arrived.
The mountaindrill bull only had enough time to take a step back and cover his head in a layer of golden light.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The loud rumbles reverberated in the room. Punch after punch was thrown rapidly. Each punch was launched with all Su Yu’s strength. With the sheer number of acupoints he had opened, he had plenty of source qi to spare.
Nine consecutive punches were thrown.
At this point, a clear fist mark could be seen on the mountaindrill bull's head. In fact, the mark was deep enough to reveal his bones. Blood was also seeping out of that wound.
With a roar, Su Yu threw his final punch.
Boom!
The mountaindrill bull was sent flying before crashing into the cage. He stared at Su Yu blankly.
Meanwhile, Su Yu frowned. He had overestimated himself. The mountaindrill bull had allowed him to attack freely, yet he had only managed to leave a fist mark on the bull's head.
Sure, the bull was a ninth-stage Skysoar, but in practice, he only had the strength of around seventh-stage Skysoar remaining. And Su Yu had actually failed to blast the head apart in 10 punches.
Su Yu was unhappy, while the mountaindrill bull was completely stunned. The other beasts did not make a single sound.
Fourth-stage Infinite Strength Realm!
What joke was that?
One ought to know that the mountaindrill bull race was a top 200 race good at defense. And any beast captured by Hong Tan was a genius. This applied to the mountaindrill bull. He had 110 opened acupoints. That was comparable to someone cultivating a heaven-grade cultivation method.
But someone like that had been sent flying by Su Yu. That...was too strong.
The mountaindrill bull stood back up while the fist mark on his head vanished. He sighed and said, "If you never said that you're a cultural researcher, nobody will believe that you're a cultural researcher. You have the offensive strength of a Skysoar."
Or to be precise, the offensive strength of an above average Skysoar.
Su Yu was still dissatisfied. He said, "My offensive strength is still too weak. But it's fine. I'll reach the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm soon."
Yes, it wouldn't take long. Even outside a grotto, his acupoint fusion speed was still fast. He could easily advance a stage every five days or so. The beasts sank into silence.
Looking at the big fellow in front of him, Su Yu said, "Can you shrink? Just grow big again when we leave the academy."
"Yes..."
The mountaindrill bull did not say anything and hurriedly reduced his size. This was something he could control. Before long, he turned into the size of a regular tiger, looking less burly than before.
But when Su Yu looked at suanni, he couldn't help but think that the suanni still looked better.
Look at the shiny, golden body. With one look, one would know that this was a member of an impressive race. Of course, the mountaindrill bull would be the better choice if he wanted to stay low-key. The suanni was not suited for something like that.
Su Yu did not put the mountaindrill bull back into the cage. Instead, he went straight to the rear room. After he left, the beasts looked at each other in silence. Both the shadow and water elemental had been left behind as well. They started conversing through voice transmission.
"Is he really at the Infinite Strength Realm?"
"Old bull, was that an act?"
"..."
The mountaindrill bull gloomily said, "No. He is really very strong. His burst of strength is at the level of a Skysoar. I wasn't able to defend myself in time against 10 consecutive punches. Not only is his offensive power strong, he can also keep it up for a long time."
320 opened acupoints had granted Su Yu an incredible level of endurance. By the time he finished throwing a punch, he would have recovered at least half of the source qi he used for that punch. He could also supplement himself with the source qi from the acupoints that were not a part of his circulation system.
"A warrior with less than 100 acupoints will probably not be his match even at the fourth or fifth-stage Skysoar Realm. Taking his willpower into consideration, you can basically see him as a fifth-stage Skysoar."
The beasts sank into silence. The water elemental and shadow said nothing. When Su Yu killed a fifth-stage Skysoar previously, he had launched a surprise attack. It was different this time. That fellow was growing too fast.
"He's looking for those fellows?"
"Is he planning to do something soon?"
"..."
The beasts were busy talking among themselves when a childlike voice rang out from a nearby cage. The owner of the voice was speaking in the common language.
"You...I...want leave...as well..."
The beasts blanked out slightly before looking at the cage at the back of the room. It was the little furball.
The shadow exclaimed in surprise, "You know the common language?"
"I...hear you...talk...learned..."
Once again, the beasts blanked out. That was impressive. The mountaindrill bull and the others had probably been chatting with each other every single day. After all, life here was too boring. But this little furball had learned the language from that?
"How is it possible..."
How was one supposed to learn a language without any basic knowledge or a shared language?
The little furball blinked before saying, "Willpower...sensory...guess..."
The beasts finally understood. That fellow was very sensitive toward the changes of willpower. Through that, he had guessed the meaning behind each word spoken, allowing him to learn the language. With this language, one would be able to converse with almost all races in existence.
The suanni asked curiously, "So what are you? Soul devourer race? You sound impressive, but be careful of the divine race lest they eliminate your race after hearing about it."[1]
"Soul devourer...not...is...am..."
The little furball suddenly got anxious as he didn't know how to properly introduce himself. Thus, he gave up and hurriedly said, "I...want...leave..."
"That's not up to us."
The suanni was also still in a cage. He helplessly said, "That fellow is the one in charge. This is his house so we need to listen to him. Why are you in such a rush? We have been locked here for so long that we have been greatly weakened. That was why we compromised. You shouldn't compromise so easily!"
Just how many days had this furball been here? Why was the furball in such a rush to bow? Just stay here for a while longer. Otherwise, they would all feel terrible. If this fellow was going to leave after a few days, how would they, prisoners of many years, feel?
While the beasts were conversing among themselves, Su Yu came out. He had a smile on his face. It seemed like his conversation with the Mountainsea beasts had been productive.
He was about to leave when an unknown voice rang out, "Yummy...I...want leave..."
Su Yu looked at cage number seven in astonishment.
It was the little furball.
Soul devourer race!
That fellow knew how to speak?
Or to be precise, did this fellow know the common language?
"Are you calling me?" Su Yu asked in astonishment, "You know the common language?"
"I...learn!"
The little furball looked at Su Yu while blinking his tiny eyes. He did not want to stay in the cage.
Su Yu frowned and shook his head, "Nope. We still don't know your race well. And you can invade one's sea of willpower. You're too dangerous."
Hong Tan was too busy cultivating to perform any research on this little fellow, but Su Yu knew how dangerous this furball was. Sure, the furball was only a Skysoar, but he could invade seas of willpower. That alone was a terrifying ability. And Su Yu didn't even have a way of restraining something like this.
The little furball did not seem to understand what Su Yu was saying. He repeated, "Leave...good?"
"Not good." Su Yu helplessly said, "You can be very helpful. But the issue is that you're too dangerous. We'll see. Suanni and mountaindrill bull, you guys will stay here for now. You can take the time to teach this fellow the common language."
The suanni and mountaindrill bull felt very helpless. Why did they need to be teachers now? After giving the little furball one more look, Su Yu exhaled deeply. This was a very powerful monster.
At the Skysoar Realm, this furball was capable of entering one's sea of willpower and devouring the characters inside. Defending against a move like this was extremely difficult. If he could subdue this soul devourer for himself, he would obtain a super trump card against cultural researchers.
Just imagine a Skysoar taking out their characters to attack when the characters vanished into nothingness. Would that Skysoar be stunned?
Regardless of whether one was a transformation master, a beast tamer, or a pillmaker, one would still require Divine Characters to fight. And a lot of people only had a single character that also served as their main Divine Character. Having a counter for Divine Characters would basically turn one into a bane of all cultural researchers.
With the furball, Su Yu could instantly eliminate a cultural researcher's method of offense. And a cultural researcher without their characters could be defeated easily.
Su Yu wanted to know more about the soul devourers, but this little furball only had a small mastery over the common language. It was too hard to converse with this little fellow. The furball could understand less than half of his words most of the time. Thus, he gave up on trying to learn more about the little furball.
...
After leaving the research center, Su Yu started his daily cultivation routine.
Meanwhile, the entire Great Xia was in a festive mood.
Colorful banners could be seen everywhere.
They would celebrate the prefecture's anniversary tomorrow.
1. The soul and divine here uses the same character in Chinese with different meanings. ☜