Chapter 561: Mission (2)
One hour later.
Both the fragment room and filter room were ransacked by Su Yu.
His cultural weapon had grown even stronger. He had also opened a new aperture after absorbing the high-purity willpower. With that, he had completed opening the apertures of his third art, putting him at 108 opened apertures.
"This is quite troublesome. I should try to get a spatial-type character. Otherwise, it would be hard for me to carry my stuff around."
Just look at how cool Hong Tan was as he traveled around empty-handed. Meanwhile, Bai Feng looked incredibly pitiful dragging his luggage behind him each time he needed to travel.
Additionally, it would also be better for him to get a beast-taming character. True beast tamers would have such characters, allowing them to keep their mounts in those characters before hiding those characters in their seas of willpower.
Meanwhile, both the water elemental and shadow had been stuck on Su Yu's body all the time. The suanni and the others would be kept in Wentan Research Center for now. Even the little fellow was left behind. After stuffing himself with the fragments in the room, he was busy digesting what he had eaten.
"I really need a spatial-type character. I guess I need to try to read something these two days. Even a first-tier character would be useful for travel."
He needed such a character to keep his research materials or even his blood essence. Otherwise, someone strong could easily detect the large amount of blood essence he carried on him.
He also needed to gather more blood essence. He intended to reach the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm within two days. Perhaps at that stage, his body would be strong enough to withstand the consumption of Cloudbreach blood essence.
He would be happy with even first or second-stage Cloudbreach blood essence. He only needed the blood essence of races with great offensive power.
"The celestial dragon race is a decent choice, but their blood essence is too expensive..."
Of the top 10 races, Su Yu had only consumed the blood essence of the celestial dragon race before. The mountainbreak bull race was also a decent choice. And this was a race he was very familiar with.
As a top 100 race with powerful body, mountainbreak bulls were good at attacking. Their ability to crush mountains with a single strike was quite impressive.
Su Yu was walking while thinking when he suddenly stopped and looked ahead of him. There, an amused Liu Hong could be seen. "Su Yu, it has been a few days since I last saw you."
"Teacher Liu." Su Yu smiled, "Teacher, you have just entered the Cloudbreach Realm, but why does it feel like you're even more subdued after that?"
Liu Hong had been keeping a low profile after his advancement. He was seen less and less, and he was also a lot less active in the academy than before.
Liu Hong smiled and said, "Since I've just advanced, it is good to focus more on my cultivation. I have been too busy to even open more apertures. Su Yu, you have been growing well. You're near the Skysoar Realm already, right?"
"Not at all."
Liu Hong smiled. Suddenly, he switched to voice transmission, "You sure have a lot of good stuff. Lin Yao has actually opened an aperture. And I also heard that there is a special edition of the acupoint fusion method. Would you consider me giving me some of the good stuff you have?"
"Heh."
Su Yu's eyes turned cold. Dream on. But this fellow sure had been paying attention. He had actually noticed Lin Yao's aperture so soon?
"Don't be so quick to refuse. I'll offer you a piece of information. I guarantee you would voluntarily give me something for that information."
Su Yu switched to voice transmission as well and said, "What is it?"
Generally, one needed to reach the Skysoar Realm before one could start using voice transmissions. But Su Yu's willpower was strong enough that he had obtained this ability in advance. He had merely refrained from using it as it felt too shady talking in secret like this.
While holding a conversation through voice transmissions, Liu Hong was saying something else with his mouth, "Su Yu, humility is good to have for everyone..."
With his voice transmission, he was saying, "Give me the acupoint fusion method and the aperture opening method. If you agree, you can have the information."
“Forget it, then."
"Don't be so hasty." Liu Hong said, "Firstly, you're now very famous in the cult. You rank very high in their killing list. They have a bounty of 15,000 merit points for your life. A bounty of 30,000 merit points is also available for those capable of capturing you alive."
Su Yu raised his brow and asked, "And how did you find out about that?"
"I am someone with a lot of friends." Liu Hong grinned and said, "Do you think the Myriad Race Cult is only filled with lunatics? They also have some regular hoodlums, some unambitious people there only to earn a living, or some greedy bastards who would do anything for money. Thus, it isn't hard to get information about the cult."
Su Yu smiled. A bounty of 30,000 for bringing him in alive and a bounty of 15,000 for his head. That bounty was so attractive that he wanted to offer them his head himself.
Liu Hong asked, "Are you interested in cooperation? You can feign death and I'll claim the bounty from them..."
"Would that even work?"
"Of course. But to do so, we need to offer them a strong proof. For example, your cultural weapon. Are you interested? It's not like your cultural weapon is worth much."
"Forget it. I'm not interested."
Su Yu was uninterested. If this was before, he might be moved. But it was no longer enough to attract him. The reward was too small and he did not have the time to attempt something like that.
Liu Hong's eyes flickered as he continued bickering with Su Yu outwardly.
Meanwhile, he continued using voice transmission and said, "That's only the first piece of news I have for you. My second piece of news is related to Di Feng's family. Do you know about them? It's the Di Family, a large but not too powerful family. They only have a few Cloudbreach cultivators in the family. They have been shouting about taking revenge on you, but recently, they seemed to have gone silent."
"What does that mean?" Su Yu asked, without a change in expression.
Liu Hong said, "I'm very curious as well. They made a lot of noise before this, but they were suddenly summoned to see Elder Sun this morning. After about an hour, they left the meeting and stopped shouting about you. It was as though they have decided to let the matter be."
"Generally, there are only a few scenarios where this would happen. Firstly, Elder Sun had given them sufficient compensation. Secondly, you are too strong, forcing them to let go of the grudge. Or thirdly, it is also possible that they are ready to do something big. In that situation, it is naturally pointless for them to keep making noise about it. Which do you think is the case here?
"In all honesty, the single character faction is currently broke. They won't be able to afford the compensation. You are good at defeating them in arguments, but you're not strong enough that they can't do anything to you. Thus, I'm guessing that perhaps it's the third scenario."
Su Yu stared at Liu Hong for a while. Suddenly, he said, "You're not from the single character faction."
He suspected that this fellow owed his allegiance to an entirely different power. Why had this fellow informed him about this out of nowhere? Was he betraying the single character faction? Wasn't this a tad too straightforward?
Had he betrayed his faction just to secure Su Yu's cultivation methods for himself? Liu Hong had always been a pragmatist. Why would someone like that betray his faction before confirming that he would be able to get something from Su Yu?
"We're on the same side."
Liu Hong flashed a big smile. Su Yu narrowed his eyes. Nonsense!
Thinking about what he knew about Liu Hong, Su Yu tried to make a guess before frowning. He looked at Liu Hong again and smiled, "I don't feel like guessing anymore. You're probably an agent of the Xia Family or Principal Wan. In any case, you're not from our faction or the single character faction. You're only a shit-stirrer."
"I don't understand what you're saying." Liu Hong was still smiling.
Su Yu continued speaking with voice transmission while walking, "Ignoring everything else, without the support of Principal Wan or the Xia Family, could you have expanded your black market business to such a level? The single character faction people believe that they're the reason for that. But I doubt so. Xia Huyou once said that the Xia Family is only involved in the black market for information. They would never allow your involvement unless you're actively providing them with information. Thus, even if you're not their agent, you have definitely worked with them before."
Liu Hong laughed, "You guessed wrongly. It's only some information. We only need to provide the information to the single character faction. The information will then be passed to the academy. As long as someone of sufficient status is in charge, the Xia Family doesn't care about the process of getting the information."
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to argue.
Liu Hong followed Su Yu and said, "We are not the only single character faction members around. There are still a lot of members in Great Xia apart from us. Have you forgotten about the Daoseeking and Nine Heavens academies? Do you know that the very principal of the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy is a member of the single character faction?"
Su Yu paused slightly, but he said nothing and continued walking immediately after.
"In our academy, Principal Wan is keeping an eye on everyone. But look at the other academy. Their very principal is from the single character faction. And the Xia Family won't be keeping a close watch on that person all the time. No matter what, that is an expert near the Sunmoon Realm."
Su Yu continued walking silently.
"Give me the cultivation methods and I can provide you with a list of Mountainseas that might be leaving on a trip soon. What do you think?"
Su Yu finally turned to look at Liu Hong. His eyes flickered as he said, "I don't need your help. Do you think I can't get my hands on the same information myself?"
"Oh?" Liu Hong grinned, "I know a secret. There is a black market merchant in Great Xia's black market. This merchant is a big supplier of Mountainsea blood essence. This merchant has been active even in recent years. Guess who this black market merchant is."
He added, "Are you willing to give me the methods now?"
Su Yu said, "I can let you have this win, but offending me like this won't benefit you."
"Wrong. I'm not offending you. This is a fair trade. I'm not forcing you to give me anything, right? I'm only here to sell you some valuable information."
"What's your goal in doing this?"
Liu Hong had an odd look as he said, "What goal do I need to have? But if you really want a goal, it's really very simple. I need you to help me with the removal of several Mountainsea characters within three years. What do you think about this?"
"Your teacher?"
"Exactly." Liu Hong said, "If what you said previously is true, this would be a chance for you to produce Sunmoons. I have been gathering information lately. I learned that my teacher is not the only human Mountainsea stuck at that level. Su Yu, just how does your removal method work? You weren't lying, right?"
"No. This method exists."
He never lied. He had merely neglected to mention that he could only remove Skysoar characters for now.
"You still can't do so for now, right?"
Su Yu said nothing.
"You need time, right?"
Su Yu maintained his silence.
"Therefore, you can't be allowed to die. You need to get the time you need." Liu Hong's eyes were burning as he said, "I'm worried that I won't be able to find anyone else to do this after your death. Su Yu, you can deal with those who have wronged you accordingly. I don't care about that. I only want my teacher to survive."
"You don't look like the kind of people that would care about others." Su Yu sneered.
"You're wrong." Liu Hong said, "We're both the same type of people. The only difference is that you're luckier and more talented than me, giving you more confidence. I don't owe the single character faction anything, but I do owe my teacher something. Do you understand now?"
Su Yu had a pensive look. He stared at Liu Hong for a long while before saying, "Fine. We'll maintain contact with voice transmission talismans. Of course, I won't fully trust your name list. If your teacher can remain alive for three years, I can try to remove the characters for him."
"Deal."
Right after receiving Liu Hong's reply, Su Yu ran off.
"He sure is fast. He hasn't even given me the cultivation methods."
Liu Hong then laughed. This was someone with the courage to complain about the status quo in front of a Sunmoon. Why was he so confident? Or had he perhaps decided to throw all caution to the wind? Or maybe he had found an alternative?
Liu Hong didn't have enough information to guess what Su Yu was about to do, but he was sure that this kid was definitely plotting something.