Chapter 558: Not Yummy Anymore! (1)
Source Soul Research Center.
Before anyone knew it, the 22nd of December arrived.
During the past few days, apart from the time he spent walking around annoying the single character faction members, Su Yu had been spending most of his time in cultivation. He was still fusing his acupoints.
He had reached the eighth-stage Infinite Strength Realm. 18 days after his breakthrough into the fifth-stage Infinite Strength Realm, he had broken through three stages in a row. At this point, he had successfully fused 128 acupoints. After fusing them, he was able to unleash the strength of 320 acupoints with only 128 acupoints.
Including the strength of his martial techniques, he was able to unleash the strength of around 400 acupoints at any given time.
With great offensive prowess and incredible endurance, one could say that Su Yu had no weakness in terms of physical cultivation. His number of opened acupoints had also reached 332.
With his current physical strength, he could probably contend against an eighth-stage Skysoar warrior cultivating a top-tier yellow-grade cultivation method. Including his willpower, he was probably strong enough to contend against the weaker ninth-stage Skysoars.
This was the level of strength a genius should possess.
After opening so many acupoints, using so many resources, and learning multiple powerful martial techniques, he would not be called a genius if he still couldn't defeat these lower-level cultivators.
Inside the room.
Su Yu opened his eyes upon sensing a message in his voice transmission talisman.
"Zhou went looking for Sun."
It was a short message. Upon seeing that, Su Yu's eyes flickered. Was that a regular visit or had Zhou Pingsheng finally learned about his planned trip? He did not send any reply. After a short contemplation, he walked out of his room.
Right after he reached the living area, Wu Jia exclaimed, "Junior Brother, you're finally out! Have you heard? Something has happened in Nanyuan! The wild beasts there have gone crazy. The locals of Nanyuan don't even dare to leave the city anymore..."
There were a few other people in the room.
Zheng Yunhui exclaimed in astonishment, "Nanyuan? Wild beasts? Are you talking about the beasts in the wilderness? These beasts are generally quite weak. Since Nanyuan has a low level of source qi density, the beasts there should be even weaker. What's going on?"
Wu Jia shook her head, "I don't know."
She was indeed unaware of anything. She had only heard about this as a rumor.
"But don't worry, Junior Brother. The beasts have yet to attack the city."
Su Yu nodded. That naturally wouldn't happen. The beasts wouldn't have the courage to do so. And it wasn't like they had the strength to do so. After all, some experts might have been stationed in Nanyuan already.
Hu Zongji and the others had merely created some chaos in the wilderness near Nanyuan. News of that disturbance had merely been exaggerated in the process of reaching the capital.
Since even the Xia Family was suspecting that there was a ruin in Nanyuan, they had definitely dispatched some experts over. Thus, it was basically suicide for the beasts to attack Nanyuan itself.
Only the areas around Nanyuan had turned slightly more chaotic than before, causing the locals to stay cooped up in the city out of fear.
Nevertheless, Su Yu did not forget to put up an act. He frowned and asked, "A beast disturbance in Nanyuan? Are there any casualties?"
"I don't know."
Su Yu nodded, "Ok. Got it. I'll ask around."
Wu Jia hurriedly said, "Junior Brother, do you want to solicit the academy's help to solve this crisis? After all, that's your birthplace."
Su Yu smiled, "It's fine. I still don't know what's going on. The prefectural government has probably done something already..."
"Prefectural government..." Wu Jia said, "I heard that the Martial Dragon Guards were dispatched several times, but each time they left, new beasts would appear. Unless the Martial Dragon Guards stay there forever, the beasts will continue bothering Nanyuan."
Su Yu nodded, "I see. Nanyuan itself is too weak so there is no helping it. There are only two Skysoars there."
With Liu Wenyan's departure, Xia Bing, the Martial Dragon Guards squad leader and Wu Wenhai, the mayor were the only Skysoars remaining. Before Su Yu left Nanyuan, they were still at the second-stage Skysoar Realm. Even if they had improved since then, they wouldn't be any stronger than the third stage.
And both of them were warriors. Even with the support of the city guards, the beasts would still be quite troublesome to deal with. Nanyuan was truly too weak.
It was so weak that many people would rather buy some lands on the outskirts of the capital and settle down than move to Nanyuan. And the reason for that was very simple. The ambient source qi density in Nanyuan was too low. That was a terrible place for cultivation. Unless one was willing to spend a lot of money on source qi liquid, one might not even be able to fulfill their daily cultivation requirement there.
Thus, one could forget about growing strong in Nanyuan.
Su Yu couldn't help but shake his head. It was said that there were 28 cities in Great Xia. But they might as well say that there were only 27 cities. Nanyuan was more like a town than a city. If it wasn't for its important location as the sole border settlement in that part of Great Xia, it wouldn't have been named a city.
The neighboring Tianshui City, on the other hand, was a true city. Their city guard commanders were all Skysoars while only those at the Cloudbreach Realm and beyond could serve as the mayor. There was no comparing the two.
While Su Yu was in thought, Zheng Yunhui asked with an odd expression, "Su Yu, is there some sort of treasure in Nanyuan? Why would those beasts gather there otherwise? It's not like they can get any benefits doing so."
Su Yu smiled, "I have no answer for that. I'll try to call somewhere there to ask about it. Hopefully, the call gets through. After all, that's my hometown. My family apartment is still there. Let's see if they need any help."
"Apartment..."
Zheng Yunhui blanked out. Apartment? Nanyuan was only a remote, small city. Even a villa there wouldn't be worth much. That apartment was probably not even worth a hundred merit points.
Thus, the thought of Su Yu worrying about such an apartment caused Zheng Yunhui to roll his eyes.
Su Yu ignored Zheng Yunhui and took out his communicator. After a short thought, he called Principal Wang's number. After a short wait, the call connected.
"Who is this?"
Su Yu turned slightly absent-minded after hearing the thick Nanyuan accent spoken by the old principal. When he recovered, he smiled and said, "Principal, it's me. Su Yu."
"Su Yu...oh, it's you, kid. After Old Liu quit, you have never called us. I thought you had forgotten us. Be honest. Have you forgotten us after getting rich?"
The principal joked for a bit before coughing and saying, "Little Yu, even Old Liu and the others have decided to stay patient. So you should stop struggling as well. Just live your life well."
"Principal..."
Su Yu sighed.
The principal said, "Don't try to lie to me. No matter what, I'm the principal of Nanyuan Secondary School. I still have access to some information that the public is not privy to. Kid, you sure are impressive. You made us proud. Those were Skysoars...Even our mayor isn't your match anymore. During the previous city meeting, the mayor himself had said that he would vacate the seat for you if you decide to return..."
"You jest, Principal."
The old principal laughed and said, "If you really want to return, what's the big deal with letting you be the mayor? Wu Wenhai should be honored to get the chance to vacate his seat for you.
"Brat, since you have the talent for it, just focus on your cultivation. You're still young. You only need to outlive them. There is no need to face them head on..."
Su Yu laughed, "Sure. I'll listen to you, Principal. By the way, has Nanyuan been attacked by wild beasts recently?"
"Not really. But they are creating trouble outside the city, making it hard for the people in the city to leave. The city guards have been working hard to clear the beasts..."
"Do you need my help?" Su Yu offered, "This won't be an issue for me. If needed, I can issue a mission and get some of my fellow students to help as well. Maybe we can even get the Martial Dragon Guards or the city guards to issue a mission. That way, we can also use this chance to earn some money."
"You're offering to help?"
After a short pause, the old principal asked, "Gara come gach any issue?"
He had suddenly switched to the local Nanyuan dialect. Zheng Yunhui and Wu Jia who were eavesdropping on the conversation had no idea what those words meant. They were somewhat distressed. This local dialect was quite hard to understand. Even some myriad race languages were easier to understand.
"No." Su Yu smiled, "I'm only checking if you need any help."
The old principal had asked if returning would be dangerous for him.
Listening to the reply, the old principal sank into silence. After a while, he laughed and said, "Sure. You're a talented son of Nanyuan. How about this? I'll get the mayor to issue a mission to your academy. You can accept it and use this chance to earn some merit points. This will also be a good chance for you to come back and visit everyone. Maybe you can even share some of your experience with those little rascals in the school..."
"Sure, Principal. See you."
"Yeah."
With that, the call ended.
...
Nanyuan.
Inside the principal's office.
While stroking his beard, the old principal muttered, "Old Liu, you're not here anymore, but you sure left a terrible mess behind."
Why had the kid suddenly decided to return?
He had heard what happened. That was quite a ruthless kid. He had killed the number one genius of the single character faction. The single character faction would never forgive the kid.
The kid needed to cover a long distance to reach Nanyuan from the capital. If he traveled now, he would encounter a lot of trouble during the journey. No matter how strong Great Xia was, it was impossible for them to fully monitor even the wilderness.
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious he became. For the locals, this beast disturbance was quite abnormal. After the disturbance started, he had left the city once. He found that the beasts were merely running around disorderly. Things weren't really too dangerous.
These beasts looked like they were roaming around randomly after having their lairs destroyed by some experts. They would naturally disperse after some time. But for some reason, news of this minor disturbance had actually reached the capital so soon.
And Su Yu himself had made a call to ask about it. Was such a minor issue even worth his attention?
"Sigh."
With a sigh, the principal decided to stop worrying about it. The kid clearly wanted to return. Or to be precise, the kid clearly wanted to find an excuse to return. In that case, he might as well lend the kid a hand and demand that Wu Wenhai issue a mission requesting Su Yu's help.
"The damn kid is similar to that bastard Old Liu. They always like to speak vaguely. Fortunately I'm smart enough to understand them..."
Principal Wang couldn't help but praise himself smugly. After spending over 40 years together, he had gotten very used to the way Liu Wenyan spoke. Thus, the moment he spoke to Su Yu, he was able to guess Su Yu's intention. He only hoped that the kid wouldn't get into even bigger trouble.
...
In a room.
After putting the communicator away, Su Yu smiled and said, "It doesn't sound serious. If needed, I can just take a trip back."
Not giving Zheng Yunhui the chance to say anything, he added, "Yunhui, buy some source qi liquid for me. I need to cultivate but I don't feel like entering a grotto for now. Try to buy as much as you can. It will be even better if you can buy the liquid produced by Mountainseas. If you can get this done, I can give the Zheng Family the rights to the Pure Source Art in advance. What do you think?"
Zheng Yunhui was about to question Su Yu's choice, but he immediately forgot about it and asked, "Would 1,000 drops be enough? That should be enough, right? Source qi liquid produced by Mountainseas is more expensive. Thus, I'll need to pay at least between 5,000 to 6,000 merit points for that. Are you really going to give us the rights in advance?"
"What a stupid question. Do I need to care about an insignificant cultivation method like this?"
Zheng Yunhui was overjoyed.
Finally!
He stood up and said, "I'll start gathering the source qi liquid. You sure are rich nowadays if you're cultivating with source qi liquid instead of entering a grotto. How luxurious."
He immediately ran off after saying that.
Hu Qiusheng, who had just arrived from upstairs, heard the conversation. He took a look at Su Yu and inhaled deeply before asking, "Su Yu, do you need any help from me?"
Su Yu had not been paying much attention to the research center in recent days.
He had not been working on the aperture fusion method.
He had also not been working on the source soul acupoint.
Even the devices brought back by Zhao Ming a few days ago had been ignored by him.
It almost felt like this research center had only been founded for the sake of producing the acupoint fusion method.
Hu Qiusheng had taken note of everything. Recalling what his grandfather told him not long ago, he couldn't help but feel somewhat sad.
He asked again, "Su Yu, if you need help, feel free to let me know."
Su Yu glanced at Hu Qiusheng and nodded with a smile, "Brother Hu is a loyal friend. In that case, I won't be holding back. Of course, I also won't be taking advantage of you. I can trade you a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures for 10 killing talismans with the offensive strength of the Cloudbreach Realm."
Hu Qiusheng's eyes flickered as he asked, "Does the art come with the distribution right?"
"Nope."
Su Yu calmly said, "You are the only one that can cultivate it. Otherwise, the price would be a lot higher than 10 Cloudbreach talismans."
"Ok!" Hu Qiusheng said, "You'll get them tomorrow. But since your willpower is not at the Skysoar Realm, it will be quite hard for you to activate these talismans..."
"Don't worry. My willpower is strong enough."
His willpower was already as strong as a Skysoar's. Of course, his willpower had yet to materialize. It had merely reached the level of a Skysoar in terms of quality. In fact, his willpower had long surpassed the level of an early-stage Skysoar.
The 10 talismans he had asked for weren't cheap, but they were definitely not as valuable as a cultural art, even if that art didn't come with the distribution right.
In all honesty, Su Yu hadn't been as generous with Hu Qiusheng. The relationship between them was more like a trade between him and the Hu Family. They weren't that close to each other. But since Hu Qiusheng had still helped in the Source Soul Research Center and Su Yu did not like to take advantage of others, he had decided to pay Hu Qiusheng handsomely for the help.
Hu Qiusheng said nothing else and left as well.