Chapter 552: The Easygoing Great Ming (3)
Su Yu smiled, "I was born with an innate talent in the comprehension of cultivation methods. I am good at deducing the cultivation methods of the myriad races. Additionally, the multiple character faction specializes in producing ability blood essence. With this skill, I can perform a deeper analysis of the cultivation methods and racial abilities of the myriad races. This counts as one of my abilities as well, right?"
"Yes." Zhu Tiandao nodded. With a shocked expression, he said, "You are truly talented. Forget about your martial talent. Your research talent alone is more valuable than even a million-strong army."
The Xia Family was too dumb. They had actually treated a super genius like this so poorly that he was leaving. Sure, Xia Longwu wanted to affirm his dao, but there was the option of gritting their teeth and fighting it out, right? Served them right for feeling so terrible.
Zhu Tiandao smiled, "This much is enough You can raise any condition you have. As long as it's nothing too excessive, I can agree to everything."
Analyzing the cultivation methods of the myriad races.
Holy shit!
What manner of an ability was that?
This kid was a walking treasure vault!
Su Yu said, "Lord, I am capable of analyzing the myriad races, but some of the unique skills of my faction can't be taught to outsiders. This includes the ability blood essence production method. Those things are not my creation so it's not my place to teach them."
"That is only natural."
Su Yu exhaled in relief. He added, "Also, I am only considering joining Great Ming for freedom. Thus, Great Ming is not allowed to pressure me too much. As for Great Ming's single character faction..."
"Just pretend they don't exist." Zhu Tiandao smiled, "Those people are all...very relaxed. To speak the truth, I'm happy with that, but I'm also greatly troubled because of that. They are basically a bunch of bookworms."
He sighed and said, "There are advantages and disadvantages to the struggle between the single and multiple character factions. If the scope of the struggle is kept within a certain limit, it can be a good thing. But the premise of that is the existence of struggle."
He grumbled with resentment, "But the cultural researchers of Great Ming...do not struggle."
There was so much bitterness in those words that Su Yu blanked out slightly.
Zhu Tiandao helplessly said, "In the other prefectures, the people will compete against each other. But Great Ming is akin to a pool of stagnant water. We have a bunch of old geezers who spend all their time reciting poetry, drinking wine, enjoying life, and debating with each other. That's the furthest they would go. Waging a war of words. In terms of fighting...I honestly suspect that our cultural researchers have forgotten how to fight. Of the various prefectures, Great Ming has the lowest number of cultural researchers in the army.
"There are a lot of cultural researchers in Great Ming, but these people have a very good relationship with the war academies. The moment a conflict breaks out, these fellows would provide cultivation methods, tactics, techniques, weapons, and all sorts of support except manpower."
In other words, in the event of war, the cultural researchers would provide material support but not manpower support. The warriors could do all the fighting. For Great Ming's cultural researchers, it was the job of those brutish warriors to fight. Meanwhile, they were all refined scholars who only needed to help with logistics.
Su Yu was completely speechless. Were things really this bad? Wasn't that a tad bit too easygoing of them? Did those cultural researchers really believe that they were weak scholars?
Zhu Tiandao sighed, "Therefore, you don't need to worry about conflict in Great Ming unless you're the one starting a conflict. In fact, I would be more than happy to see that. But let me warn you that even if you start picking fights, they might simply ignore you like you're a madman. It's that simple. There is a multiple character faction in Great Ming as well. There aren't a lot of them. They have around 50 to 60 members. They aren't really living a good life, but things are not that bad for them either. These people are all bookworms that don't enjoy leaving their homes..."
"..."
Su Yu was completely speechless.
After a long while, he asked, "Lord, is Great Ming capable of surviving in the Allheaven Battlefield?"
"Of course." Zhu Tiandao smiled, "We don't fight much, but don't make the mistake of thinking that we are weak. Our warriors are quite impressive, even if willpower cultivation is supposed to be our main legacy."
After all, the Great Ming King was a cultural researcher and the number two expert of the Knowledge Seeking Realm. But the other cultural researchers of Great Ming were truly unreliable.
Instead, their warriors were stronger. After all, these warriors were supplied with good equipment, excellent cultivation methods and techniques, plentiful pills, numerous mounts, and a large supply of talismans. Apart from cultural researchers, their military had everything.
After picturing all that, Su Yu said, "I think I finally understand why my teacher came to Great Xia."
Zhu Tiandao was speechless. But he still nodded in agreement, "You're right. Things are too stagnant in Great Ming. Your teacher wanted to grow rapidly. Thus, Great Xia was the right choice."
"Are you not afraid that I would change my mind after learning about all that?"
Zhu Tiandao appeared unworried, "What can you do here? If you're from the single character faction, I would agree that you should stay. Since you're not, you should leave as soon as possible. The internal struggle here is too intense. More importantly, you're still too weak to participate in the struggle."
Su Yu nodded. Zhu Tiandao asked, "Any other conditions? Just tell me everything at once. If possible, we can even leave straight away."
Su Yu smiled, "Lord, I need to wait until the end of the month before I can leave."
Zhu Tiandao frowned, "Why?"
"My senior sister is in the Top 100 Ranking. I need to watch over her. I also have some other matters to resolve. I am unwilling to leave just like this. Even if I have to leave, I still need to vent some of my anger. I am a petty person. Since I have been forced to leave, I will have my revenge."
"This..." Zhu Tiandao considered it before saying, "It's easy for us to back you in Great Ming, but it's not proper for us to do anything within Great Xia. It's taboo to interfere in the internal affairs of a different prefecture."
Su Yu nodded, "I understand. Thus, I won't make things hard for you, Prefect. If it's convenient for you, can you send some people to back me up at the Starfall Mountain? I'm afraid that true experts would appear there to deal with me. I doubt the truly strong ones would dare to make a move within Great Xia's borders."
"No problem." Zhu Tiandao rubbed his chin and said, "Kid, make sure to not die on the road. That would be such a loss for me."
"That won't happen. If that really happens..." After a slight pause, Su Yu said, "Then it's fate. That would only happen if I am lacking in luck, strength, and planning. And without all that, I am merely a fool who deserves death."
He was the one setting up this trap. If he ended up killing himself with it, then he deserved it. Even if he could survive this time, it would only be a matter of time before he killed himself with his stupidity.
Zhu Tiandao laughed, "Sure. I am quite interested in seeing what you can do. Anything else?"
"I intend to reopen my Source Soul Research Center in Great Ming. I need a lot of data, cultivation manuals, and some top-secret information. I also need some human willpower texts..."
"How many do you need, exactly?"
"At least 100 of them."
"What about the ranks?"
"Any rank will do. I only need them to be willpower texts."
"That's not a problem at all."
Zhu Tiandao laughed. That was really not an issue for him.
"I also need a large amount of blood essence for my research..." Su Yu explained, "Regardless of whether it's ability blood essence research or the analysis of the myriad race cultivation methods, blood essence is required."
Zhu Tiandao smiled, "As long as you're not asking for excessively rare blood essence, that won't be a problem. Of course, for divine and devil blood essence, the lower-ranked ones will be easier to get. After all, we don't really fight them that much."
Su Yu was happy to hear that. He nodded, "That would be enough."
But he quickly opened his mouth again, "No, there's one more thing. I need to have a few researchers assigned to my research center as well. I don't need them to be strong, but I need people good at talent management and research."
"This..." Zhu Tiandao thought about it and nodded, "Sure. We have a few old fellows who aren't too strong and are so old that they are probably going to die soon. We might as well let them retire at your place."
Su Yu was speechless. What?
"They are basically fools who spend all their time reading and accumulating knowledge instead of cultivating."
Zhu Tiandao helplessly said, "Don't look at me like that. We have a lot of people like that. For them, cultivation is boring. Thus, their lifespan is short. Those old fellows are near the end of their lifespan, but they are incredibly knowledgable individuals."
This time, Su Yu remained stunned for quite a while.
Impressive.
So in Great Ming, all cultural researchers viewed themselves as weak scholars? No wonder there was no internal struggle. In fact, did they even have the strength to struggle internally?
"Lord Prefect, how many elders are there in the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy?"
"16."
"..."
Wow. What a pitiful number. That was about half of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy's number.
"Are all of them Mountainseas?"
"Fourteen Mountainseas and two ninth-stage Cloudbreach cultivators."
Zhu Tiandao coughed awkwardly and said, "That's not too bad. Some of the weaker prefectures probably have around three to five elders in their academies so we can be considered quite strong."
But for some reason, he couldn't say that confidently. But their Great Ming King was really the number two expert of the Knowledge Seeking Realm, second only to Great Zhou King.
"How about the principal..."
"You're talking about Old Niu?" Zhu Tiandao coughed awkwardly and said, "He's in the middle of a vacation. He will probably return soon. But he's absolutely not weak. He's a third-stage Sunmoon. Even among the other Sunmoons, he's considered a veteran since he has been in the Sunmoon Realm for a very long time.
Veteran? So how old was that principal? Was he so old that he was nearing the end of his lifespan as well? Su Yu finally understood why Great Xia was viewed as a strong prefecture.
Just the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy alone had double the number of Mountainses in Great Ming Cultural Research Academy. They also had multiple Sunmoons. Yes. Multiple. Wan Tiansheng was one. But could Hong Tan and Zhou Mingren be considered regular Mountainseas? They could basically be viewed as Sunmoons already.
There were also the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy and Daoseeking Cultural Research Academy. Together, they had around 30 elders as well. If even the Great Ming Cultural Research Academy was so weak, what about the other academies in Great Ming?
Su Yu couldn't resist asking, "Lord Prefect, can these elders fight?"
"..."
Zhu Tiandao remained silent for a long while before answering, "Cultural researchers are meant to be the torchbearers of civilization. They are not very good at fighting, but they are still Mountainseas so they won't be helpless."
Su Yu nodded in understanding. So it was likely that these elders weren't very good at fighting.
Su Yu asked, "Prefect, would it be fine for me to enter the Allheaven Battlefield after joining Great Ming?"
"Of course." Zhu Tiandao said, "I checked your profile. Your father is in the Devil Subduing Army. That won't be an issue. I can transfer him to Great Ming. He can even retire immediately if he wants."
"Forget about that."
Su Yu was certain that his father would not agree. He would have retired in Nanyuan otherwise.
Zhu Tiandao smiled, "Is that all?"
"Yeah."
"Alright." Zhu Tiandao said, "None of that is an issue. If you do well, I have a young granddaughter that you can even take as your wife. If you're willing to marry into the Zhu Family, you might even be appointed the next prefect."
Su Yu looked at Zhu Tiandao's face. He did not remark about it. He merely said, "I only have cultivation in my heart."
"..."
Holy shit.
Zhu Tiandao cursed inwardly.
Holy shit!
This damn kid had first looked at his face before saying something like that. What was the meaning of that?