Su Yu was getting ready to leave when Wen Zhong hollered at him from downstairs, "Junior Brother Su, you have a visitor."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
After saying that, Wen Zhong glanced at Marquis Xia. He knew who this fatty was, but he had to pretend he didn't know. After all, he would need to salute the fatty if he revealed that he knew the fatty's identity. In any case, it wasn't too surprising that someone from Great Ming didn't know Marquis Xia.
Su Yu went downstairs and walked outside. There, he saw Marquis Xia.
He smiled.
"Marquis, it has been a while."
Su Yu cupped his hands in greeting and bowed, adhering completely to the rules of etiquette.
"Why are you being a stranger?" Marquis Xia smiled, "You used to call me grandpa."
Su Yu said, "Yeah. Back then, I thought that I would stay in Great Xia for life, fighting alongside Great Xia for the sake of humanity and my loved ones. But ultimately, I realized that everything was but a naive dream of an innocent youth."Marquis Xia didn't know what to say. After a short silence, he asked, "Are you inviting me inside your new research center?"
"Forget it. It's too messy inside." Su Yu said, "I don't want to sully your eyes with the sight of my unworthy research center. I know why you're here today. However, I did not ban the Great Xia military and the populace from learning my cultivation method. Only the three cultural research academies have been banned. Why bother making this trip just for the three academies?"
Marquis Xia sighed and said, "If I do nothing, the three academies will probably be empty by next year."
"They deserve it." Su Yu said, "What do you think?"
Marquis Xia stared at Su Yu for a long while before saying, "Fine. Let's cut the crap. Tell me what you want. I'll see if I can provide it. If I can't, so be it. I already tried my best."
Su Yu said, "Firstly, I need both my teachers to be pardoned. They can stay at the Allheaven Battlefield, but they won't be staying as criminals.
"Secondly, Martial Uncle Feng Ji must stay alive. Otherwise, forget this.
"Thirdly, Shan Xiong can enter the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy if he wants, but before that, he has to fight me in a match to the death.
"Fourthly, I know you guys are helpless against the Yuan Qingdong. It's fine. I only want a public apology from him. He also needs to issue Martial Uncle Feng Ji a public apology. Additionally, Great Xia will be charged an additional one million merit points for the distribution rights. And Yuan Qingdong must be the one paying for it. If he's unable to pay, forget about the cultivation method.
"Fifthly, I want an undamaged corpse of a divine. That shouldn't be an issue since Prefect Xia once killed multiple divine skywings.
"Sixthly, every member of Great Xia's single character faction will be charged 200 merit points for the first part of the cultivation method and 500 merit points for the second part. Don't bother asking why. They know why.
"Seventhly, I will get the full share of all sales in Great Xia. The academies, the prefecture, and the Knowledge Seeking Realm will not get a single cent. You can negotiate with them."
"Eighthly, I want the Willpower Grotto."
Marquis Xia had remained silent. But when he heard the eighth term, he rubbed his head and said, "Fine. You never intended to let this talk go through. I can pass on these terms, but it's unlikely that it will happen."
Su Yu said, "In that case, forget it. At worst, the three academies can shut down and their students can join the war academies. They deserve it. Also, the best version of my fusion art is not going to be sold to the three academies as well. In fact, the three academies will be banned from anything I create in the future.
"This ban applies to the Pure Source Art I gave the Zheng Family and the Soul Devouring Art I gave the Xia Family. If I manage to perfect the disassembly method in the future, the three academies will be banned as well."
Su Yu's current cultivation methods weren't too important for those at the Skysoar Realm and above. But what about the cultivation methods he would produce in the future? What about the disassembly method?
Marquis Xia's face changed as he said, "Are you trying to force the three academies to shut down?"
"Yes." Su Yu said, "That's exactly what I'm trying to do. Because you guys have been indulging them so much all these years that they have been getting too arrogant. They tested your limits repeatedly, and they eventually found that you didn't dare to do anything. Because of that, they grew more and more brazen. Since you guys don't care about the academy, why should I care?
"Should I be sending free benefits to Yuan Qingdong after he becomes a vice principal of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy? What a joke."
"This does not apply only to Great Xia. The Knowledge Seeking Realm will not receive any cut of all my cultivation methods. I don't mind the prefectures taking a cut, but the Knowledge Seeking Realm does not deserve a cut."
"Kid, the Knowledge Seeking Realm has a lot of Invincibles..."
Su Yu said, "I know. But the various prefectures are allowed to get a cut of the sales. That is enough since the Invincibles will benefit from that. The Invincibles are the ones who are truly scary, not the Invincible families running the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Why should I be scared of these people? What can they even do to me? I'm letting the prefectures get the Knowledge Seeking Realm's cut. They can only blame themselves for their incompetence. If they really want their cut, they can negotiate with the prefectures themselves. That will have nothing to do with me."
"It doesn't matter what you say..."
Su Yu said, "I don't care. Do they want it or not? If they want a cut, they will be the ones offending the prefectures. If they don't want to, they will be the ones losing out on the profit. How is that related to me? If they try to create trouble for me because of that, Great Ming King will protect me."
Marquis Xia was left speechless. After a while, he said, "Fine. I'm only in charge of passing on your words. But I don't think you will get Yuan Qingdong's money. And you can also forget about his public apology..."
Su Yu smiled, "Good. That was why I listed that demand. I'm telling him to slap his own face. Is he going to do it or not? If he refuses, who will the three academies hate more? Him or me? I don't care if they hate me since I'm not in Great Xia anymore. But if they end up hating him, how is he going to survive in Great Xia?"
Marquis Xia said, "He's from the Yuan Family. They have an Invincible in the family."
"Why do I care?" Su Yu said, "I'll be frank. If an Invincible personally makes a move against me for something like this, then that Invincible is never a friend of humanity in the first place. Great Ming King is capable of dealing with an Invincible like that."
Marquis Xia was getting tired of hearing about Great Ming King repeatedly. He said, "Great Ming King might really lend you a hand. Are you not afraid that..."
Su Yu smiled, "Why should I be afraid? The benefits I'm bringing him are worth his help. You once told Brother Huyou that it doesn't matter if I offend the Zhou Family. The Xia Family is not afraid. As long as I can bring the Xia Family enough benefits, it's fine. It's the same here. Or are you perhaps thinking that I won't be able to bring Great Ming enough benefits?"
Marquis Xia nodded and smiled, "You're right."
He sighed, "At this point, I have one last matter to mention. Longwu is inviting you back to Great Xia. He promised that he would cut down anyone you want. Are you interested?"
Su Yu sank into silence.
Marquis Xia sighed and said, "I knew you won't agree."
Su Yu said, "It's not that I disagree. But there is no need for this. Since the Xia Family wishes to help Prefect Xia with his advancement, you should see this through. You will only end up offending both parties if you give up halfway. It's not worth it. I'm Huyou's friend. He helped me a lot. And Prefect Xia used to be my idol. I understand his misgivings. I believe that he was also aware of what I did when I extracted the Divine Skywing Sect master's blood essence. He allowed that to happen, so I owed him one for that."
"Yuan Qingdong is probably incapable of paying the merit points I'm asking for. The Xia Family will be able to use this chance to ask for something from his family in exchange. Use this chance to get what you want. That is my way of repaying Prefect Xia the favor. After today, I owe the prefect nothing. Apart from Brother Huyou, who is my personal friend, I no longer have any relationship with the Xia Family."
A drop of water in need shall be returned with a spring in deed. That was Su Yu's creed.
Back then, Xia Longwu had allowed him to extract the blood essence of Divine Skywing Sect master. That was the starting point of his subsequent ploy to bait all his enemies out before getting all of them killed.
For Yuan Qingdong, a public apology was not something that would hurt him. As for the merit points Su Yu had demanded, he had never expected Yuan Qingdong to pay up. Instead, he would use that as a way to repay Xia Longwu's favor.
Apart from Xia Longwu, he owed nobody anything. His friendship with Xia Huyou had nothing to do with the Xia Family.