Chapter 577: Arrival at the Starfall Mountain (1)
Beneath the scorching sun, a group of people were traveling rapidly. The group had stopped encountering attacks after arriving near Tianshui. Just as Su Yu was about to take a detour around Tianshui, a group of soldiers appeared ahead of him.
Zhou Hao and the others were instantly on high alert, worried that these soldiers were cultists in disguise. However, Su Yu saw a familiar face among the soldiers.
Li Yunfeng. That was one of the people in charge of escorting Su Yu and the other students to the capital back then. He was a seventh-stage Skysoar, the deputy commander of Tianshui's city guards.
At the same time, Li Yunfeng saw Su Yu as well. Even from far away, Li Yunfeng could sense how strong Su Yu was. He was greatly shocked. And Su Yu's mount was incredibly impressive as well. The mere aura leaking out of that mount was enough to cause Li Yunfeng's cloudrush horse to tremble in fear.
That was a suanni, a top 100 race. Furthermore, that was a peak Skysoar suanni.
Li Yunfeng still remembered Su Yu. A few months ago, he had escorted Su Yu and the other students to the capital alongside Zhao Li. Back then, Su Yu was not the main character of the convoy. Instead, it was Hu Zongji. That was also the person Li Yunfeng was in charge of protecting. After all, that was a genius from Tianshui.
Back then, Su Yu was merely an unremarkable genius from Nanyuan. How long had it been? It had only been a few months, but everything seemed to have changed. As the group approached, Li Yunfeng looked at Su Yu, who was clad in a snow-white outfit. Seated atop the suanni mount, he emitted a baleful and murderous aura.
"Su Yu?"
"Commander Li!" Su Yu cupped his hands in greeting and smiled, "Are you here to deal with the beast disturbance?"
"Yes."
Li Yunfeng nodded. As he scanned the group of students, he was greatly shocked. These must be the geniuses from the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. There were also some weird-looking students among them. Were these the myriad race students?
"Su Yu, where are you going?"
"I'm going back to Nanyuan." Su Yu explained with a smile, "Nanyuan is also suffering from a beast disturbance. They asked for help so I accepted the mission."
"Do you need any help from us?"
Su Yu cupped his hands and said, "Thank you for the offer, but there is no need to trouble you, Commander Li. By the way, we killed some beasts on our way here. Only the corpses of the Skysoar beasts have been collected. There are still plenty of Great Strength and Infinite Strength corpses everywhere. If you don't mind the trouble, you can get your people to collect those corpses. Use the money to get some drinks. Consider that my treat."
Looking at the soldiers behind Li Yunfeng, Su Yu smiled and said, "My father is a soldier as well. Thus, I can't help but think of my father when I see you. It would be a waste to leave those corpses to rot. However, we can't carry that many corpses with us."
Li Yunfeng was too shocked to say anything. Even Skysoar beasts had been killed?
At this time, he recalled the rumors he had heard and asked, "Su Yu...have you entered the Skysoar Realm?"
"Nope."
That was even more shocking to hear. It would be understandable if someone with Su Yu's strength was already a Skysoar. It was even more terrifying to hear that someone below that realm had killed a large number of Skysoars.
"In that case...I'll have to thank you."
Li Yunfeng did not reject the offer. He said, "Do you need to take a rest inside Tianshui?"
"No. I can't wait to return home." Su Yu smiled and said, "Commander Li, I'll be taking my leave."
"Farewell!"
Li Yunfeng cupped his hands as he saw Su Yu off. After the group left, he sighed in admiration. Was this the same child he had escorted to the capital a few months ago? Standing before the child, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed of himself. As a seventh-stage Skysoar, he could be considered a genius in Tianshui. But he was nothing before Su Yu.
With complicated emotions, he traveled forward with his subordinates. Before long, they arrived at a fresh battleground. The place reeked of blood and over a hundred beast corpses were strewn all over the place.
The soldiers behind him exclaimed in admiration as they saw that. As experienced soldiers, they were able to see that most of these beasts had been killed by a single individual. And most of them had been killed with a single slash.
All the corpses were still in pristine condition. Looking at the positions of the corpses, they judged that these beasts had been killed instantly.
One of the soldiers asked, "Commander, is this the work of that student?"
"Yeah." Li Yunfeng nodded and sighed before saying, "Remember this name. Su Yu of Nanyuan. He is a top genius of Great Xia. The Double Wu Acupoint Fusion Art that the military is preparing to disseminate was created by this same genius."
Only then did the other soldiers realize who Su Yu was. That was a super genius. A true super genius.
"Great Xia is lucky to have him."
One of the soldiers laughed and said, "Such a genius has actually emerged in Great Xia. What a pity that we're too old. If I'm 20 years younger, I can definitely reach a much higher level with the Soul Devouring Art and the Acupoint Fusion Art. By the way, he mentioned his father. Don't tell me that he's the son of Nanyuan's Su Long?"
One of them knew Su Long.
Li Yunfeng nodded, "Yes. It's the same Su Long from the Devil Subduing Army. Old Chen, both of you served in the Devil Subduing Army at the same time, right?"
The 100-man commander in the group smiled and said, "I guess you can say so, but I'm from the batch before him. Su Long...what an incredible individual. He has actually produced a genius son like this. He will probably go crazy with joy if he learns of this."
He laughed and said, "Su Long is too lucky. He's not very impressive himself, but his old brothers from the army have all done well for themselves. Even his son is doing so well. I retired from the army five years after Su Long. By the time I left, a few of his brothers were already 1000-man commanders. It has been over ten years since then. I reckon some of them are already 10000-man commanders now."
In the Devil Subduing Army, the 1000-man commanders were generally Skysoars while the 10000-man commanders were Cloudbreach cultivators.
When Li Yunfeng heard that, he exclaimed in admiration, "Su Long's old group is indeed incredible. With Su Yu's strength and talent, he can probably become a general shortly after joining the army in the future."
"Great Xia is truly blessed to have someone like him."
These veteran soldiers couldn't help but feel happy for Great Xia. Internally, the soldiers of the Devil Subduing Army would compete against each other intensely. But outside the army, they were all family.
Thus, these people felt proud to see the son of their old comrade-in-arms doing well. In fact, this alone was enough for them to gain some bragging rights when encountering those from the other armies in the future.
Even if those people didn't know the name Su Yu, it didn't matter. They would definitely know the Soul Devouring Art and Acupoint Fusion Art they were practicing. And they only needed to know that Su Yu was the creator. Su Yu, the son of a Devil Subduing Army soldier.
The more they thought about it, the more excited they became. This was something worth feeling proud about.
Looking at his subordinates who were happy collecting the corpses, Li Yunfeng said, "Yes, he is a genius, but his life is hard as well. He joined the multiple character faction at the capital. Us warriors don't know too much about this, but those with some cultural researcher friends will definitely know about this..."
One of them just happened to be such a person. He asked, "Commander, he's part of the multiple character faction? I wasn't aware of that. In that case, his life is definitely hard. I heard that the multiple character faction has already been deregistered in some places. But Su Yu should be fine right? He's such a genius."
"I think so. A genius like him who has created so many useful cultivation methods should be treated well. How will they trouble him?"
"..."
The soldiers did not seem too worried about Su Yu. As far as they were concerned, someone with Su Yu's talent would be treated well by Great Xia.
"The next time I see the other soldiers, I'll be telling them that the cultivation methods they practice came from our Devil Subduing Army."
"Old Chen, you retired long ago. You're not part of the Devil Subduing Army anymore."
"Yeah. You're not even a city guard of Nanyuan. You can't even lay any claim on Su Yu."
"..."
The soldiers started joking around. They all seemed to be in a good mood. Not only had they met someone like Su Yu, but they had also obtained so many beast corpses. Even if the students had claimed the credit for these kills, these corpses were still valuable.
And from what they could see, it was likely that those students hadn't even bothered with claiming these kills. Generally, one would be rewarded for killing beasts. To claim the kill, one would need to submit parts of the killed beasts as proof. That was to prevent fraudulent claims.
After gathering all the corpses in the area, they continued moving ahead. Sure enough, they found even more corpses. And it seemed like there were even more to be found further away. They could see that some other people were already gathering those corpses. Unhappy, they hurriedly rushed over to negotiate for these corpses.
After all, these corpses were Su Yu's gift to them! These random people had not been permitted to gather these corpses! In this manner, news of Su Yu's return and the numerous beasts he had slain started spreading in the surrounding cities.
All the retired Devil Subduing Army soldiers started bragging that Su Yu was someone from the Devil Subduing Army. That was the creator of the Soul Devouring Art and the Acupoint Fusion Art! That was someone from the Devil Subduing Army!
***
In only half a day, Su Yu's name spread all over the 28 cities of Great Xia. Meanwhile, Su Yu was getting nearer and nearer to Nanyuan. At this stretch of the journey, even the cultists had stopped attacking him.
At this point, the fools were already dead while the smarter ones had decided to withdraw after seeing so many of their own dead.
***
Nanyuan City. On the city wall.
Mayor Wu Wenhai, Old Principal Wang, Commander Zhang Yun, Head Zeng Hua of the Windcatcher Department, and Squad Leader Xia Bing of the Martial Dragon Guards were all waiting there.
Staring into the distance, Wu Wenhai said, "Old Xia, who would have guessed? It has only been a few months. Li Yunfeng of Tianshui called me earlier and thanked me for Su Yu's gift. I still remember how arrogant he was during my previous visit to Tianshui."
He had complicated emotions. He knew who Li Yunfeng was. That was a genius from Tianshui's Li Family, a Skysoar who was in his early thirties. And he also occupied an important position at a city like Tianshui which was much larger than Nanyuan.
Even the mayor of Nanyuan like him was inferior to someone like Li Yunfeng. But now, Li Yunfeng had taken the initiative to call him and build a friendly relationship with him. Xia Bing's emotions were complicated as well. He knew that Su Yu was a genius, but he had not expected Su Yu to be such a massive genius. It had been less than half a year since Su Yu departed, but he was now returning a hero.
Meanwhile, the old principal smiled smugly and said, "Isn't my Nanyuan Secondary School impressive?"
"How is this related to you?" Wu Wenhai teased, "Old Wang, that's not even your student. He's Old Liu's student."
"There's no difference. Would Su Yu deny that he graduated from Nanyuan Secondary School?"
The old principal laughed and said, "Amazing. Even back then, I already knew that this kid would grow up fine. And I was right! Look at how famous he is right now!"
But his expression soon turned solemn as he said, "But he's too high-profile. This kid should learn to keep a low profile. Nanyuan is a small city. We're not like Beifeng where their geniuses can expect the backing of their Mountainsea mayor. Is Su Yu supposed to rely on you, Old Wu?"