Chapter 547: Value (1)
To the south of Great Xia's capital was Nanyuan. And to the south of Nanyuan was the Starfall Mountain. If one went further south, one would reach Great Ming. Great Ming was massive. It also had a large population. There were only 28 cities in Great Xia, but there were 76 cities in Great Ming.
Unfortunately, Great Ming wasn't too strong. Of the 36 human prefectures, Great Ming wasn't the weakest, but it also wasn't the strongest. It was ranked middle in terms of strength.
If one was too weak, one would be known for it.
If one was too strong, one would also be known for it.
If one was right in the middle, it would be very hard for one to catch any attention.
A prefecture like this would not be the pick of geniuses. But they also weren't able to produce their own geniuses. Even the weaker prefectures had an easier time recruiting new talent. Some of the more regular geniuses wouldn’t be too special in Great Xia or even a place like Great Ming, but when they joined a weaker prefecture, they would be given the best treatment the prefecture could afford.
And these regular geniuses were not good enough to catch Great Ming's eye. Thus, Zhu Tiandao had spent many years trying to poach talented individuals to no avail.
Great Ming. Capital.
The capital of Great Ming was known as Tiandu.
Tiandu was an extremely large city with a population of nearly 100 million people. It was also a rich and flourishing city. It lacked the austere atmosphere that was so prevalent in Great Xia. The Zhu Family was not as militaristic as Great Xia, nor were they as scholarly as Great Zhou.
Thus, Tiandu gave off the impression of a regular city where cultivators and commoners alike mingled.
...
In the middle of Tiandu stood a massive palace.
This was the residence of the Zhu Family.
Great Ming King was actually very strong. Among the older Invincibles, he was ranked quite high. Unfortunately, his descendants were quite average.
He had two sons. The eldest son had passed away at nine after setting a historic record of being the first human who had bathed in the blood of divines and devils to enter the Great Strength Realm in one day. But he had died immediately after.
The second son was Zhu Tiandao. He wasn't young, but he wasn't too old either. He was only around 90 years old. He was a Sunmoon, but he was weaker than Xia Family's Xia Longwu and Zhou Family's Zhou Potian.
In short, he was average. The second generation of the Zhu Family was average. The third generation was average as well. As for the fourth generation...well, it was pointless to talk about them.
Zhu Tiandao was greatly saddened by this fact. He felt extremely helpless. Each generation was weaker than the previous generation.
Everyone said that the second generation was uninspiring. Everyone said that he was worse than his elder brother. But fuck all those people! His elder brother had died at nine. Why the fuck were they so sure that his elder brother was better?
And the generation after him, his son and daughter...were also uninspiring in terms of strength.
The third generation had yet to produce even one Sunmoon even though they were from Xia Longwu's generation. There were only a few Mountainseas among them. This was too pitiful. How could they serve as the future of the Zhu Family?
As for the fourth generation...it was even worse. There were only three individuals in the main branch's fourth generation. The strongest among them was only a Cloudbreach.
Inside a garden.
Zhu Tiandao was sighing endlessly. "That damn fatty is getting too greedy. He's selling the distribution right within Great Ming at a million merit points for the weaker version. For the stronger version, he's asking for three million. On top of that, he has also attached numerous other miscellaneous fees. How am I supposed to keep living like this?"
The old men in front of him were turning a deaf ear to his grumblings. But they couldn't deny that the fatty was indeed very greedy.
Zhu Tiandao grumbled, "That Su Yu is so dumb. Why doesn't he focus on cultivation instead of wasting his time creating these cultivation methods? And why must he sell the rights to the Xia Family? Is that his family? He should have held an auction for the rights. Why had he given Fatty Xia the rights for free? Does he even have a brain in that skull of his?"
He kept grumbling about Su Yu again and again. Su Yu was a pig. A dumb pig. That dumb pig should have auctioned his cultivation methods. Great Ming was not even that far from Great Xia. If that pig had held an auction, Zhu Tiandao would definitely have participated in it. Wouldn't it be nice to earn more money?
One of the old men couldn't take it anymore and coughed before saying, "Prefect, please watch your language."
"Heh."
Zhu Tiandao snorted, took a look at the latest intelligence report, and sneered, "Serves him right. He's being suppressed by the single character faction. Is the Xia Family doing anything for him? Hah! Serves him right for being so dumb. Why had he offered the good stuff to Great Xia? He should have offered it to me instead!"
The old men were speechless. This fellow was only saying all that out of jealousy. If Su Yu was someone from Great Ming, he would have gone mad from sheer joy.
These people were already used to Zhu Tiandao's antics. Before long, one of them, a scholarly-looking individual, smiled and said, "This Su Yu is indeed incredibly talented. His talent in cultivation method creation has probably originated from the multiple character faction. I find it hard to believe that he alone could come out with such a perfect cultivation method. Of course, I don't deny that everything is possible. What I value more is his talent, even if it is quite likely that his strength has originated from some sort of inheritance."
He waved the folding fan in his hand and sighed, "He has only joined the academy for four months yet he has grown from the Source Opening Realm to his current level where he has opened 320 acupoints.
"How terrifying. He has basically opened an average of three acupoints per day. On top of that, he has been keeping up with his willpower cultivation. His willpower is as strong as a Skysoar's. He has seven or eight second-tier characters. Even at the Knowledge Seeking Realm, you won't be able to find someone like him."
One would not be able to achieve all that from an inheritance alone. Talent was needed as well. Su Yu was someone with both luck and talent. Unfortunately, he wasn't fully lucky as he was being subjected to intense suppression in Great Xia.
If he had been born 50 years ago during the fifth principal's era, he would probably be lauded as the number one youth of Great Xia. He might even be the leading figure among the younger cultural researchers of the entire human race.
Zhu Tiandao disagreed, "He's only a lucky person who had stumbled upon some inheritance. There's nothing special about him. If you ask me, he's worse than some of the geniuses in our Great Ming. The masses simply enjoy exaggerating the truth too much..."
Suddenly, the voice transmission talisman of the scholarly man blinked. With a frown, the scholarly man picked up the talisman to take a look.
Zhu Tiandao continued belittling Su Yu. In his words, Su Yu was untalented. It did not matter how impressive Su Yu was.
At this moment, with an odd look in his eyes, the scholarly man said, "Prefect, stop talking for a moment..."
"What do you want?"
Zhu Tiandao was still not done with his complaints. At the moment, he was busy grumbling nonstop like an enraged wife of a cheating husband. There was no helping it. He was too jealous.
That damn Fatty Xia had asked for four million merit points from him. He was practically bursting with rage. Thus, he couldn't resist grumbling about Su Yu. In his eyes, Su Yu was someone from Fatty Xia's side. Damn that bastard!
The scholarly man said, "Prefect, the person you're scolding...seems...quite interesting."
"Hmm?"
"The kid you're scolding...seems to be...considering joining us."
The scholarly man wasn't too sure. He looked at Zhu Tiandao. Zhu Tiandao stared at him. The other people in the garden also stared at the scholarly man. What?
With an uncertain tone, the scholarly man said, "This is a message from Great Xia. It's the ambassador. He said that Su Yu had contacted one of our men and asked to join Great Ming. He wishes to negotiate with someone from Great Ming about his move..."
"..."
Silence descended.
After a while, Zhu Tiandao nodded and flashed a genial smile as he said, "Smart choice. I have never met Su Yu before, but I can see that he is a good kid with a good head on his shoulders. Great Ming is the correct choice. Great Ming is the best place for him. Yes. Exactly."
The others stared at him silently. Those...weren't his words earlier.
Zhu Tiandao ignored the rest of them and stood up. He started pacing with a wide smile on his face, "This is an excellent choice. I have been curious about the report on what happened yesterday. That kid had remained patient for several months. Why did he go crazy yesterday? So it turns out he has decided to leave. I knew it! My intuition was right!"
Zhu Tiandao grinned, "What conditions do you think the kid would raise?"
After a short silence, the scholarly man said, "Prefect, I'm not worried about what he would ask for. I'm more worried about the reprisals of the single character faction after he joins us..."
Zhu Tiandao exclaimed in astonishment, "Are you talking about those fellows from the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy? Unlikely. Those old fogeys are like me. We're easy-going and kind."
"I'm talking about those from Great Xia and Great Zhou."
Zhu Tiandao blanked out slightly before saying, "Are you thinking straight? They should be celebrating the fact that I'm leaving them alone. Would they dare to create trouble for me? So does Zhou Polong still want to affirm his dao or not? As for Great Xia, does Xia Longwu still want to affirm his dao?"
Zhu Tiandao laughed and said, "Old Hou, you worry too much. Us of the Zhu Family has nothing to ask of them. Would the single character faction dare to provoke us? No matter what, my dad is the number two expert of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. If they dare to create trouble, we'll just beat them to death. Do you think we're like Great Xia?"
Zhu Tiandao curled his lips and said, "And it will be quite a while before it's my turn to affirm my dao. I've just reached the ninth-stage Sunmoon Realm. I don't even know when my advancement will happen. I'm not like Xia Longwu and Zhou Polong. If I'm being honest, that damn fatty from Xia Family might even affirm his dao before me."
Toward the end, his voice turned sullen. That might really happen.