Chapter 546: Cold Night (3)
It was a sleepless night for many people. They weren't able to get a good rest. And right after the sun rose, all these people left their beds.
A lot of them had spent the night awake. News of what happened the day before was still spreading.
Great Xia was a powerful prefecture. A super genius had appeared there. Something like this would spread all over the Human Realm in no time, just like how the feats of the single character faction genius from Great Zhou had spread all over the Human Realm. That genius had been traveling south to challenge numerous experts. And he had a lot of attention on him.
Now, Great Xia had also produced a super genius. This super genius had killed Skysoars at the Mental Tempering Stage. Additionally, this genius had also created the acupoint fusion method and some other cultivation methods. Thus, this super genius was also starting to receive a lot of attention.
...
Qian Zhihua.
This was a normal student of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. The only thing different about him was the fact that he came from Great Ming. He had a part-time job. It wasn't a big deal.
His job entailed recommending Great Ming to the geniuses in the academy, telling these geniuses that Great Ming was very welcoming toward talented individuals. A lot of people knew about his part-time job. Even Great Xia itself was aware of that.
There were such individuals in all the academies. They were basically recruiters. They would try to trick—cough, cough, recruit as many people for their home prefecture as they could.
If they tried hard enough, they would still be able to find some unhappy geniuses. And any successful recruitment would result in a decent reward. Qian Zhihua had entered the academy for three years, but he had not been able to recruit anyone. But he didn't mind. He was paid by Great Ming to attend Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, so he had nothing to lose.
The only reason Qian Zhihua had been picked for this task was his honest appearance. Great Ming believed that their recruiting efforts in the past years had failed because all their agents looked too shady.
Zhu Tiandao had even considered sending some attractive schoolgirls out as agents. But he ultimately gave up on that thought because it wouldn't look good on him.
Qian Zhihua was the person who had contacted Su Yu before this. He had never imagined that he would be successful. He had only aimed to establish a friendly relationship with Su Yu, nothing else.
What a joke. Su Yu had a grandteacher who was on the verge of reaching the Sunmoon Realm. He also had a martial uncle who was on the verge of reaching the Mountainsea Realm and a teacher who had slain a Cloudbreach before. A lot of people attached great importance to him. He had the support of some elders and the friendship of several geniuses. And he was incomparably strong. Would someone like that consider leaving? Dream on!
During his previous meeting with Su Yu, he had only been trying to leave an impression of himself in Su Yu's mind. If it wasn't for his status as Great Ming's agent, a regular student like him wouldn't have been able to even get in touch with a super genius like Su Yu.
He was also aware of what had happened the previous day. He had been there to watch the show. That was such a great show. Su Yu alone had completely crushed the spine of all single character faction geniuses. What an overbearing performance.
Di Feng would be a top student if he was placed in the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy. Well, there was no helping it as Great Ming was a weak prefecture. Even excluding Di Feng, any of the top 10 students here could easily become the number one student in Great Ming.
That was the only reason why back then, Zhu Tiandao had tried so hard to have Great Xia join hands with them for the next opening of the Luminous Domain Mansion. He was able to maintain a smile on his face even when Xia Longwu had treated him so coldly.
Zhu Tiandao was still willing to pay even after receiving all sorts of insults from Xia Longwu. What could he do if his prefecture was weak? If they went alone, the mortality rate of their students would be very high. They needed the assistance of Great Xia.
Qian Zhihua had never imagined that he would be able to poach one of these geniuses. All he had done was build a friendly relationship with these geniuses. Perhaps that would prove helpful in the future.
The moment he woke up, he started hearing about the events the day before. He wasn't too interested in the gossip. He was personally there to witness the whole thing, so there was no need for him to listen to these rumors.
As for the task of gathering information for Great Ming, well, that wasn't his job. He wasn't a spy. Someone else would do that. He was only here to poach geniuses. In fact, news of what happened had probably reached Great Ming already by now.
"Su Yu...what an impressive individual."
Qian Zhihua was staying in a small room in the Mental Tempering Garden. There was no helping that since Great Ming was too stingy to rent him a villa. Qian Zhihua had grumbled many times that they wouldn't be able to recruit any geniuses being so miserly with money.
In his opinion, Great Ming was terrible at building their public image. Listening to his neighbors who were loudly talking about Su Yu instead of the anniversary, he felt somewhat gloomy. Weren't these people there as well? They had personally witnessed everything. What was there to talk about?
"The acupoint fusion method is incredible, but it is a pity that I can only cultivate the version with 18 acupoints. I heard there is a genius version with 30 acupoints. I wonder if Great Ming can get the right to distribute this method. Lord Prefect better get his hands on this distribution right or Great Ming would only fall further behind Great Xia."
There was also a rumor that above the genius version, there was a super version.
According to the rumor, this was a version Su Yu personally used. Only a few individuals were allowed to cultivate it. This version was terrifyingly effective in helping with acupoint fusions. But this wasn't something Qian Zhihua could even dream of getting.
Just as he was about to leave to take a walk, someone knocked on his door. He blanked out slightly. Who was it? But since this was the academy, he wasn't too worried about his safety.
When he opened the door, he saw nobody outside. He blanked out slightly. Just as he was about to curse about the pranksters, a puddle of water turned into a human in front of him. Qian Zhihua was completely stunned.
Su Yu!
Holy shit!
Why was he here?
"Su...Su..."
He didn't even know what to call Su Yu. Should he call Su Yu his junior brother? That seemed improper. But he couldn't call Su Yu senior either, since Su Yu was younger. If he called Su Yu lord, it would sound too disgraceful. How...should he address Su Yu?
Qian Zhihua felt like he was dreaming. This felt like someone who was talking about a superstar just a moment ago to find the superstar suddenly appearing in one's house. He felt overwhelmed by the favor from a superior individual. He was shocked.
"Are you not inviting me in?"
"Oh...oh...yeah..please..."
Qian Zhihua hurriedly invited Su Yu in. With a smile, Su Yu stepped inside and the door closed behind him.
"You're from Great Ming?"
"Y-yeah. I-I'm from Great Ming. But I'm studying here..."
Su Yu smiled, "Don't be nervous, Senior Brother Qian."
"I'm not nervous."
Qian Zhihua exhaled and told himself that he wasn't nervous at all. This was merely someone who had killed a few Skysoars. He was capable of doing so as well. In his dreams, of course.
"Su...Su..."
"Just call me Su Yu."
"Su Yu..." Qian Zhihua was relieved. With a simple expression, he said, "I was too surprised to see you. So why are you here?"
"Can you contact someone with more say from Great Ming?" Su Yu smiled, "I am very interested in your proposal, Senior Brother Qian."
Qian Zhihua was stunned. Proposal? What proposal?
Fuck!
He remembered!
Su Yu...couldn't be talking about the matter of joining Great Ming, right?
Qian Zhihua was stunned. He had merely said those words out of habit. He had never hoped to poach Su Yu. It wasn't that Su Yu was unqualified to be poached. But Su Yu was too great to be poached.
"S-Su Yu, stop joking with me. I--"
"I'm not joking." Su Yu smiled, "Of course, I don't want everyone to know this and I need to talk with someone with actual authority. It would be even better if I could talk to someone from the Zhu Family. My strength is nothing special, but I have more to offer than my strength. To be blunt, I have produced the most remarkable research result of the year in the field of cultivation method creation. I believe I will be able to become a full researcher soon if I remain in Great Xia. In fact, I might even be promoted to an intermediate researcher before long..."
Qian Zhihua felt like crying. Stop messing around! Su Yu's strength wasn't special? If Su Yu's strength wasn’t special, how about him?
Su Yu smiled, "This is why I'm here today. Feel free to contact me once you find someone with more authority."
He tossed a voice transmission talisman over and said, "I'll be troubling you, Senior Brother Qian."
"Sure, sure..."
Immediately after, Su Yu turned into a puddle of water before disappearing from the room. Qian Zhihua was completely stunned.
Holy shit!
What technique was that?
No, that was a racial ability, right?
No, Su Yu hadn't used any blood essence before using that ability...
His brain was unable to process what he saw.
He was incomparably shocked. Su Yu...was defecting—no, leaving Great Xia for Great Ming. He...had poached a super genius? Qian Zhihua swallowed as his heart thumped rapidly. Did he strike the jackpot?
He was the one to poach Su Yu! He didn't want to think about the reasons for Su Yu's departure. He only knew that if he passed this news back to Great Ming, it would immediately capture the attention of a big shot.
Su Yu was right. His strength was valuable, his talent was also valuable, but his genius in research was even more valuable.
"I'm rich!"
Qian Zhihua was wild with joy. He also felt happy for his pitiful home country. Great Ming was finally getting a genius!
Hahaha!
One would forever remain a guest in a foreign land. Great Xia was powerful and flourishing, but Qian Zhihua still missed his home country and the people there. Great Xia was too dangerous a place. This was a terrifying place. Perhaps after this mission, he could finally return!
With an excited heart, Qian Zhihua cautiously left the academy while trying to avoid any notice. This was something he needed to directly report to a superior. And that superior must be important enough to prevent leakage. Who could be more important than Great Ming's ambassador to Great Xia?