Two Nines!

His willpower probed into the wall. Su Yu felt as though he were beholding a starry cosmos! Vast and boundless, stretching on without end! Stars shattered and were reborn in an instant. "What is this?" Su Yu was curious and a little thrilled; this seemed incredibly impressive. His consciousness drifted, floating through the expanse of this cosmos. A moment later, a nearby star seemed drawn to him. The star flew over... but once it actually arrived, Su Yu realized it wasn't a star at all, but resembled a giant wok... Su Yu looked closely, blanked for a moment, and quickly caught on. *I don't have to outline it entirely on my own—there are templates?* No wonder his martial uncle and teacher had said he would understand once he came in. The giant wok drifted toward him as if hesitating, circled around Su Yu for a while, and then quickly flew away. "Eleven points of light..." Su Yu saw it clearly! Within that giant wok flickered eleven points of light. A divine character battle technique with eleven base points! *Eleven is too few, fewer than Teacher's. Besides, something shaped like a pot... it would be so embarrassing to bring out!* Su Yu didn't chase after it; it seemed quite weak. In this moment, he began to understand. He had to use his willpower to capture these templates, just like outlining a divine character. Su Yu's consciousness drifted again. He saw a hammer flickering with twelve points of light. Too weak, reject! He saw a long spear flickering with thirteen points of light! Not bad; this could be a backup and kept for reference. Thirteen—one more than his teacher had. Decent enough. "Most of them are weapons..." Su Yu understood. On this wall of slaughter, many of the templates took the form of weapons. Filled with divine characters and transformed into weapons, perhaps their efficiency was better. *Maybe I should look for a saber...* Su Yu looked around. Without getting close, it was hard to make out what those stars looked like. After drifting a bit longer, Su Yu spotted a saber. Unfortunately, it only had ten points of light. Su Yu turned his nose up at it and continued roaming through the starry expanse. So many! Su Yu saw countless points of light, so he wasn't in a hurry. Take his time—what was there to fear! Just then, Su Yu felt several divine characters in his sea of will quiver slightly. With a shift of thought, three divine characters suddenly appeared before him! Thunder, Blood, and Kill! The three divine characters suddenly manifested here. Su Yu paused, though he wasn't particularly surprised. This wasn't real space, but a space similar to the sea of will, so their appearance was perfectly normal. The moment the three divine characters appeared, several stars around him began to tremble. A moment later, star after star flew toward Su Yu. "Huh..." Su Yu was briefly startled, but quickly realized: were the divine characters seeking matching divine character battle techniques on their own? Divine characters had this ability too? Around him, quite a few stars were now hovering. There was everything: sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, battleaxes, hooks, forks... There were also strange objects: hammers, cauldrons, chains... Su Yu glanced across the variety; there were at least twenty. Most of them had ten points of light. The one with the most was a sword, flickering with fifteen points of light! At this moment, the sword and the "Kill" divine character resonated from afar, vibrating in harmony. It seemed the "Kill" divine character had taken a liking to it, and the sword fancied little brother "Kill" in return. Su Yu looked at that template, feeling tempted. Fifteen points of light seemed to be the most he had seen so far! However... right then, little brothers "Thunder" and "Blood" seemed somewhat repelled. The divine characters trembled, looking displeased with the sword. *Is there repulsion?* Su Yu frowned slightly. Bai Feng had mentioned earlier that not all the divine characters he had outlined could necessarily be used. Some divine characters might not match the battle technique, in which case they couldn't be embedded into it and could only be used separately. With two divine characters mismatching, Su Yu hesitated. Give up on these two little brothers? These two were the very first divine characters he had outlined; abandoning them felt like far too much of a waste. *It would be best to find one that can accommodate all three divine characters. That way none go to waste, and all can be embedded.* Su Yu looked around, searching in every direction. He temporarily set aside the thought of subduing that sword. It could remain a backup—fifteen points of light was a lot, even if it didn't quite suit his little brothers. As he continued roaming, more and more balls of light gathered around him. Some circled Su Yu for a while before quickly departing. Evidently, not only was Su Yu picking them, but these light orbs were also picking him. After another while, Su Yu frowned. Were fifteen points of light really the maximum? He found that only the sword seemed to have the highest count, but unfortunately it didn't match the "Blood" and "Thunder" divine characters. Just as Su Yu was debating whether to subdue the sword, an orb of light not far away caught his attention. It wasn't large and was far less bright than those around it, even appearing somewhat dim. Yet right now, this small orb had sidled up near the three divine characters, hovering close by. The three divine characters didn't seem to reject it, though there wasn't that earlier sense of resonance either. Like strangers! *You don't provoke me, and I can't be bothered with you.* The orb was dim and small; for the moment, Su Yu couldn't even tell what shape it had. It was just a spherical orb of light! Curious, Su Yu peered toward it. It was so dim that he couldn't immediately tell how many points of light it held. "This is a template too?" "Why does it feel so weak?" "It doesn't repel any of the three divine characters, but it isn't very close to them either..." The tiny orb circled the divine characters like a child curious about them, yet shy and hesitant to get close while reluctant to leave. When Su Yu drew a bit closer, the orb actually dodged away. Now Su Yu was intrigued. Had he stumbled upon something good? Moving closer for another look, the points of light inside were very dim, but Su Yu discovered they were indeed there—just lacking brightness. "One... five... eight..." Su Yu counted carefully and was astonished. Inside this little orb, there appeared to be eighteen points of light. He even doubted his own count. That massive starry greatsword only had fifteen points of light, blindingly bright. *You're so small and dim, yet you have eighteen points of light?* *Wouldn't that require eighteen divine characters as a foundation?* *Is it really that formidable?* *Did I run into a treasure?* Su Yu's heart jolted. He had read outside books and knew of the phrase "a true treasure conceals its shine"—could this be one? In reality powerful, but feigning mediocrity? *Eighteen points of light, and no repulsion toward any of the three divine characters—did I really find a treasure?* Su Yu was thrilled. *Could my luck really be this good?* Even if it looked weak and tiny, just a sphere, eighteen points of light was incredible! So far, this sphere had the most points of light he had encountered! Su Yu felt excited. This was the one! This was good! A fine treasure indeed! He prepared to capture it. Finding one with eighteen points of light wasn't easy; this was it. Su Yu spread his willpower! In an instant, he enveloped the orb. According to what his teacher and the others had said, once he drew it into his sea of will, it would belong to him! From then on, his divine character battle technique would take shape. Even after reaching the Tengkong Realm, he would merely be embedding divine characters into it; the main body would remain this. The orb was obedient. As soon as Su Yu's willpower enveloped it, it drifted toward him willingly. It seemed right on the verge of being subdued by Su Yu... Just then, inside his sea of will, the golden booklet that had remained silent all this time seemed to notice something! In the next moment, the golden booklet suddenly shuddered! *Pfft!* Though the void was deathly silent, Su Yu seemed to hear the sound of shattering. The sound rang out in his sea of will. In the next instant, Su Yu froze. The orb of light... shattered! Yes, shattered! "What the hell?" Su Yu was dumbfounded. Usually, the Illustrated Guide to the Myriad Races only stirred when he opened it himself. Why had it suddenly shattered his divine character battle technique framework today? "What is this? Holy crap, what does this booklet mean? It won't let anything else into my sea of will, wanting sole possession? But that's not right—before, the cultural weapon, the Annihilation Beast skull, and the divine characters could all enter!" "Eighteen points of light!" Su Yu was furious. *I finally found something good, thinking heaven was smiling upon me! What do you mean by this? It didn't even resist, coming right to me, and you just smashed it to pieces?* Having shattered the orb, the booklet paid Su Yu no further mind and fell silent again. Su Yu cursed under his breath. It was infuriating! Seeing that he wouldn't find an orb with more points of light, Su Yu had no choice but to turn his gaze back to the sword with fifteen points. At least this one resonated with little brother "Kill." As for little brothers "Blood" and "Thunder," apologies, but it looked like they would have to wait until he reached the Tengkong Realm to be embedded as filler characters. Su Yu enveloped the sword in his willpower, tugging at it while the "Kill" divine character vibrated constantly. Drawing the sword to fly toward Su Yu of its own accord! This time, Su Yu felt the strain. Bringing in that tiny spherical orb earlier had required zero effort, but now the pressure was immense. Su Yu tugged relentlessly. After quite a while, feeling utterly drained, the sword was finally enveloped in his willpower and flew toward his sea of will. Su Yu monitored the movements in his sea of will and the golden booklet. *You're not going to pull something wicked again, are you?* Just as the thought crossed his mind—*pfft*, another crisp snap! Su Yu froze! Shattered! "I... damn you!" Su Yu was enraged! What did this mean?! This thing was hogging his sea of will and refused to let any other divine character battle technique templates enter! It had smashed two orbs in a row. Now he was finished; the two strongest orbs nearby had been these two, one with eighteen points of light and one with fifteen! Just what was going on? …… Meanwhile. Outside. Watching Su Yu constantly shuddering, Bai Feng frowned with curiosity. "Why isn't he done yet? What is this kid doing?" Chen Yong was also puzzled. "Just now, I clearly sensed ripples in his sea of will, as if he was already outlining the foundation of a divine character battle technique. Why did it suddenly go quiet again?" He wondered why things had calmed down once more. Bai Feng looked at Chen Yong and said uncertainly, "Could he have failed the outlining?" "Normally not. If he truly failed, it would mean he isn't suited to cultivate divine character battle techniques, which would mean he isn't suited... to be a student of the Multi-Divine Character faction." At Chen Yong's words, Bai Feng gave a start. "No way, right?" Su Yu couldn't outline a divine character battle technique? Wouldn't that mean the boy had no way to inherit their faction's legacy? Chen Yong couldn't make sense of it either. He said, "Normally not. Over so many years, those who failed to outline a divine character battle technique framework... have been practically nonexistent! Even for someone with lesser talent, the trouble comes later when they cannot fill all the base-point divine characters, not right now." "Practically nonexistent?" Bai Feng looked at Chen Yong, brow furrowing. "Senior Brother, don't tell me someone actually failed before? 'Practically' means someone did fail, right?" Chen Yong explained, "It was many years ago. Someone did fail, though apparently only one person! I don't know the exact details either, but it's recorded that over two hundred years ago, a student came to outline a divine character battle technique. He claimed he had outlined a powerful battle technique with several dozen points of light... but after coming out, no trace of any outlined technique was ever found on him." Chen Yong said helplessly, "The book recorded that later on, he simply couldn't enter this battle technique wall at all anymore. Even if others didn't pick one on the first try, they could enter again, but he only had that one chance. Because he couldn't outline a divine character battle technique, he switched to another faction. "According to him, he truly had outlined a powerful battle technique inside the wall back then—a very unique one. Although it was dim, it had many points of light and matched his divine characters. Outlining it had gone smoothly, but for reasons unknown, it disappeared after he emerged." Chen Yong added, "Later, the Third Head proposed an idea: deception-type divine characters might have been integrated into this battle technique wall, creating deceptive battle techniques inside. It caused quite a stir back then, and many students worried they might encounter one... "Yet centuries passed without it ever happening again. So several decades ago, people refuted that theory. In reality, no such deceptive battle technique frameworks existed; that student back then probably failed the outlining and made up an excuse. As for why he could never enter the battle technique wall again, nobody knows the reason yet." Bai Feng blinked. "No way? There was such a thing? I never knew!" "It's just an unofficial anecdote; no need to dwell on it." Chen Yong didn't take it to heart, chuckling. "In hundreds of years, there was only that single case, and it might not even be true, so knowing it is of no use. "I only came across it in some miscellaneous book; otherwise, even I wouldn't have known such a thing occurred." "That's a relief..." Bai Feng breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced at Su Yu, wondering why this kid was taking so long! …… "I refuse to believe this!" At this moment, Su Yu felt utterly aggrieved and helpless. Recklessly, he captured another framework—one with twelve points of light. Yet an unexpected turn occurred once more. The moment he subdued it, *pfft*—it was shattered again! "Fuck, what the hell do you want?!" Su Yu was furious! If this continued, he wouldn't be able to subdue anything at all. Wouldn't that mean he had no way to cultivate a divine character battle technique? Just as Su Yu's anger flared, the golden booklet shuddered again! This time, contrary to Su Yu's expectations, the golden booklet actually drifted out! Just like the divine characters, it seemed to float out from his sea of will! In the next moment, the golden booklet burst with brilliant light! *Pfft, pfft, pfft...* Sounds rang out without end as one orb of light after another burst apart! The golden booklet shattered dozens of light orbs around Su Yu in one sweep! While Su Yu watched in stunned silence, the golden booklet made another move. Within those shattered orbs, individual points of light still remained. As if picking and choosing, the booklet absorbed points of light from the void. From some shattered orbs it absorbed one point of light; from some, two; from others, none at all. Even the orbs shattered earlier in his sea of will had points of light drawn out. Only now did Su Yu notice that the very first shattered orb... had actually left behind only a single point of light? What was going on? With no time to ponder, points of light gradually reconvened in front of Su Yu, assembling into a brand-new orb of light! The orb shimmered with dazzling points of light! Su Yu remained dumbfounded. Had the golden booklet looked down upon those battle techniques, shattered them, extracted their essence, and reassembled them? While his mind spun, a new orb of light came into being! It was a saber—a tiny saber, rather similar to Su Yu's cultural weapon. Points of light clustered densely across it. Su Yu counted them: ninety-nine? Had he miscounted? Stunned, Su Yu counted again. It was ninety-nine! With so many orbs shattered, there had been at least several hundred points of light, and the booklet had extracted ninety-nine of them to assemble into a single saber! "Ninety-nine..." "Are you insane?!" Su Yu felt no joy, only exasperation and shock. What did this mean? *You want me to outline ninety-nine divine characters before reaching the Tengkong Realm?!* *I'll die!* *Can my sea of will even endure that?* Others outlined a handful of divine characters to step into the Tengkong Realm, while he had to outline ninety-nine—perhaps even more, since they wouldn't necessarily all match these points of light! Was it trying to kill him? Su Yu was currently present only as consciousness; otherwise, his face would have turned green! A battle technique formed from ninety-nine divine characters would definitely be unimaginably powerful! However... where would he get so much time to outline them? Where would he get that much willpower to nurture them?! At this rate, while others entered the Shanhai Realm, he might still be stuck in the Tengkong Realm. Wasn't this pushing him toward death? "I refuse!" "I don't want it!" Su Yu ground his teeth. *I don't want it! What kind of madness has this garbage booklet succumbed to today?!* *Wasn't staying quietly in the sea of will good enough?* *Why did you have to come out and cause trouble!* Just as the thought crossed Su Yu's mind, the three divine characters suddenly rippled. In the next instant, they embedded themselves into that saber! Su Yu's willpower stirred as he tried to pull the divine characters free, only to find he couldn't! "Holy crap, what the hell!" Su Yu was flabbergasted. Had the three divine characters betrayed him? Did this mean that if he didn't accept this saber, the three divine characters might... disappear? What on earth! The three divine characters seemed quite content. At this moment, they roamed within three of the saber's points of light, as if expressing great satisfaction with their new home. Su Yu was so angry he felt ready to explode! He truly couldn't fathom what this booklet was doing. Wasn't it an inanimate object? Could it actually possess consciousness? "Ninety-nine divine characters..." Su Yu's face darkened, but he began comforting himself. *Just ninety-nine, that's all. It's not that many.* *If I outline one each time I read a text, that's just reading willpower texts ninety-nine times.* *Read one a day, and ninety-nine days will be enough—no, ninety-six days.* "It just burns money to read more willpower texts..." Su Yu was on the verge of tears. He truly didn't know whether this counted as good fortune or bad. Ninety-nine was far too many; it was pushing him toward a minor breakdown. "With ninety-nine, it will definitely be powerful. Yes, immensely, terrifyingly powerful!" Su Yu comforted himself once more. Since resistance was futile... he might as well accept it! All the nearby orbs had been shattered anyway. Finding more would take time, and more importantly, even if he found others, the booklet would just smash them too. A complete waste of effort! Helpless, Su Yu had no choice but to wrap his willpower around the miniature saber and draw it into his sea of will. There was no strong resistance. The booklet had already vanished, returning to the sea of will. The three divine characters had also settled in, looking thoroughly comfortable. A moment later, the miniature saber vanished from the void and appeared in Su Yu's sea of will. This time, the booklet did not smash it. "Ninety-nine divine characters... even if I tell Teacher, he won't believe me!" Su Yu sighed helplessly. Would Bai Feng believe it? Could there even be a technique composed of ninety-nine divine characters on this battle technique wall? Probably not! …… Opening his eyes. Su Yu's face was ashen. Beside him, Bai Feng started in shock. "Did you fail..." Suddenly finding the scene familiar, he quickly changed his tune: "Was the outlined battle technique framework not good?" This kid was always startling everyone with his dramatics; perhaps the battle technique wasn't very good, which was why he looked so dejected. Su Yu hesitated to speak. It wasn't that it wasn't good—it was too good. *Teacher, if I told you I outlined a battle technique with ninety-nine base divine characters, would you believe me?* Su Yu bared his teeth, completely unable to bring himself to say it. After a long while, he asked dryly, "Teacher, in our faction, who outlined a divine character battle technique with the most base divine characters?" "Huh?" Bai Feng blinked, thought for a moment, and said, "That would be... either Martial Uncle Liu Wenyan or the Fifth Head, right?" From behind, Chen Yong looked at Su Yu with some confusion and said, "It was the Fifth Head, who outlined a battle technique containing twenty-two divine characters. Martial Uncle Liu outlined one with eighteen divine characters. Our teacher—your grandmaster—outlined one with fourteen divine characters. Of course, the path of slaughter is more difficult, while ours is relatively simpler. On the path of slaughter... ten characters can generally rival twelve of ours." Continuing, Chen Yong added, "The Fifth Head was someone about to reach the pinnacle of the Invincible Realm, and Martial Uncle Liu was a heavenly prodigy of fifty years ago. That is why both were terrifyingly strong. Under normal circumstances, for your path of slaughter, being able to outline a technique with ten divine characters is already remarkably powerful!" Bai Feng chimed in as well. "Exactly! Our path of slaughter is harder than theirs. The battle technique with twelve base divine characters that I outlined is stronger than your grandmaster's—my teacher's. At the same realm, he certainly wouldn't be a match for me..." Chen Yong rolled his eyes at him. Bai Feng looked at Su Yu and said, "Did the technique you outlined have too few divine characters? Don't be discouraged, it doesn't matter. Even if it's only ten divine characters, that's plenty. Compared to me, your teacher, you fall a bit short, but it's more than enough to beat the likes of Hu Wensheng into the ground..." He offered some consolation! As long as he succeeded, the number of divine characters didn't matter all that much. Ten base divine characters were enough; that was already top-tier prodigy material. As long as he cultivated it successfully, he could overpower anyone in the same realm. Su Yu wanted to speak, but held back! He was frantic—what should he do? The Fifth Head, a powerhouse who slew an Invincible, had only outlined a technique with twenty-two divine characters. And Su Yu... had ninety-nine! One of his equaled more than four of the Fifth Head's! If the Fifth Head killed one Invincible, Su Yu could kill at least four! *Teacher, if I told you, would you be terrified?* *Would you believe me?* *Would you beat me?* Su Yu hadn't wanted to lie, but torn with internal struggle, he could only say dryly, "Well, the technique I outlined has base points for divine characters..." "How many?" Bai Feng grew impatient. What was he doing, hesitating like this? Didn't he know how agonizing the suspense was? Su Yu fell silent for a moment. *I'm an honest person; I should tell the truth.* Gritting his teeth, he said, "Two nines!" "..." Bai Feng went blank for a second, then looked annoyed. *Eighteen is eighteen—why say 'two nines'? Trying to sound fancy?* *Still... eighteen is genuinely impressive!* Chen Yong was also astonished. "Eighteen base divine characters? So many! This... this should be a good thing. However, during the Yangxing stage, you will need to outline eighteen divine characters that can fuse together. In other words, the total number of divine characters you outline might far exceed eighteen. This will be a severe test of your skill!" Eighteen—this kid was indeed a genius! Incredibly strong! Yet the difficulty was immense as well. He felt somewhat worried: could Su Yu pull it off? Su Yu kept quiet. *You guys said eighteen!* *I said two nines!* *I didn't lie. When you find out in the future, it won't be that I didn't tell you, but that you misunderstood!* With eighteen, both of them already wore expressions saying "you're in for massive trouble ahead." If he said ninety-nine, he suspected the two of them would fall into despair. Su Yu had his own little calculations too. He worried that if he revealed a ninety-nine base divine character battle technique, he might be abandoned... That was genuinely possible. It would imply that he might never be able to reach the Tengkong Realm in his entire life—at least in their eyes, that probability was very high. Furthermore, because it involved the golden booklet, he couldn't explain it openly anyway. He was still an honest person and had spoken the truth; they were the ones who misunderstood, so he couldn't be blamed. *I'll have to keep a low profile from now on. For every five divine characters I outline, I'll report one. That way, my progress will keep pace...* Su Yu worked out his scheme. In the future, he had to keep a low profile and not tell Bai Feng everything. Every time he outlined five divine characters, he would report good news once, saying he had outlined one. Only then could he approximately match the embedding progress; otherwise, the pace wouldn't make sense! "Eighteen..." By this point, Bai Feng and Chen Yong were no longer paying attention to Su Yu. The two exchanged a glance, and Bai Feng asked in a low voice, "The same number as Martial Uncle. How long did it take Martial Uncle back then to nearly fill it?" "About three years, wasn't it?" Chen Yong thought for a moment. "Nearly three years before it was almost full." "Can this kid... match Martial Uncle? It'll take at least three years or more for him to enter the Tengkong Realm!" Bai Feng said, glancing at Su Yu and breathing a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this kid's speed at outlining divine characters wasn't slow. Entering the Tengkong Realm after three years would still make him a powerhouse among Tengkong cultivators—not too slow, though slightly slower than himself, which was just fine. Judging by Su Yu's speed, he probably wouldn't fall short of their martial uncle. Thinking this, Bai Feng felt rather pleased. It was great; if this fellow really only outlined ten divine characters and broke through in a year or two, advancing faster than him, how humiliating would that be for him as the teacher! "Eighteen characters, eighteen characters... looks like our expenses going forward won't be small either!" Bai Feng's thoughts had already wandered to the costs, while Su Yu hung his head and said nothing. *Ninety-nine divine characters. Consuming willpower texts for ninety-nine characters will take an astronomical amount. Teacher, you probably really won't be able to afford me!*