Divine Character Rejection

Inside the Initial Fusion Pavilion. Su Yu was reading a book—a Wanshi Realm cultivation art from the Demon Scorpion Race. It was an auxiliary art specifically designed to help the Demon Scorpion Race enhance the sharpness of their tail stings. It was quite similar to the body-refining arts of other races. Su Yu was relatively inexperienced and had not read many cultivation arts, so he read with great interest. Even though their apertures were not necessarily identical, one could draw analogies. Reading enough would allow him to grasp some underlying principles. After reading for a while, Su Yu gradually began to feel something. He was fairly diligent when reading, pondering the meaning and comparing it to himself rather than merely skimming through. Just like that, after nearly half an hour of reading and consuming a considerable amount of willpower, Su Yu suddenly felt the sensation of comprehending a divine character. At this moment, Su Yu was overjoyed! What a relief! Bai Feng had been worried that he would struggle to comprehend the divine characters of the myriad races, but facts proved that a genius was simply a genius. Even with myriad races divine characters, he could still comprehend them just as rapidly! …… Within his sea of will, a Demon Scorpion Race divine character gradually took shape. Su Yu's miniature willpower figure hopped out, eager to make a move! He could subdue another divine character! Now that he had reached the Yangxing Realm, subduing a divine character should be even simpler than before. This divine character was the Demon Scorpion Race's "Qiang"—the character for strength, as in strengthening the body and reinforcement. Su Yu felt its effect ought to be quite good. Just as he was preparing to go all out, the three divine characters residing within the miniature saber in his mind suddenly trembled. The next instant, the three divine characters took control of the divine character battle technique miniature saber, buzzing as it broke through the air! *Bang!* Su Yu felt a roar echo through his sea of will. The next moment, he was dumbfounded. The "Qiang" character had been shattered by the miniature saber! The "Blood" divine character was absorbing the residual willpower, while the "Thunder" divine character continued to flash with lightning... "What's going on?" Su Yu turned exceedingly grave! Ever since the golden booklet had shown a reaction, these divine characters seemed somewhat out of control. The divine character he had just condensed was actually shattered! "Do divine characters have consciousness?" He had previously thought the booklet had gained consciousness, but at this moment, he suddenly wondered if the divine characters did too. That was impossible! Su Yu tried controlling the divine characters. Just as before, it went smoothly without any resistance. Yet Su Yu felt deeply uneasy! What on earth was happening today? Just moments ago, he had been ecstatic about outlining a Demon Scorpion Race divine character after reading a willpower text once, convinced he was a super genius! Yet in the blink of an eye, trouble arose with the three divine characters! Su Yu turned his willpower toward the golden booklet. The golden booklet was completely quiet, showing no movement whatsoever. He glanced at the cultural weapon not far away, and then at the Annihilation Beast skull... Su Yu withdrew his willpower from his sea of will and fell into deep thought. He could still control the divine characters perfectly. Then why had that just happened? The "Blood" divine character seemed to have grown slightly stronger, and the other two divine characters appeared to have gained something as well. Outlining the Demon Scorpion divine character had not been entirely useless; after shattering it, all three divine characters seemed to have reaped benefits. "The Demon Scorpion divine character... was ganged up on and destroyed by them? Devoured?" Su Yu frowned, muttering, "Why?" He was certain it was not a problem with his talent. He outlined divine characters just as quickly as ever. Whether Human Race or myriad races, it was the same. The fact that the fragment earlier had not yielded a divine character only proved that the fragment had been too weak. Then why did it result in this? "The divine characters are rejecting the Demon Scorpion divine character!" "Divine characters... might not necessarily have consciousness, but they are indeed rejecting Demon Scorpion divine characters!" The three divine characters that arrived first seemed to have formed a clique. They were rejecting outsiders! Su Yu did not know whether they rejected only the Demon Scorpion language or all foreign races' writing. "No, I have to test it again!" One instance proved nothing. Su Yu decided to give it another try. …… More than three hours later, Su Yu's face was somewhat pale. Another divine character had been shattered! Just now, he had comprehended an Earth Bee Race divine character, only for it to be shattered once more! "No, I forcefully suppressed the three divine characters just now, and they were still under my control. But the repulsive force was too strong!" Su Yu had tested it just then. He had held back the three divine characters, preventing them from immediately destroying the newcomer. Yet when he prepared to subdue and outline it, he discovered a powerful repulsive force between that newly arrived divine character and his sea of will. In other words, even if he subdued it, Su Yu would still have to expend energy suppressing the character to neutralize the repulsion. "Demon Scorpion doesn't work, and Earth Bee doesn't work... It's not that I can't outline them, but that my sea of will harbors a rejection toward them. The three divine characters shattered them not out of dislike, but because they are inherently mutually repulsive..." Su Yu knitted his brows, lost in thought. "Repulsion..." "It never happened before because all the ones I condensed previously were Human Race divine characters!" "Now that I am condensing myriad races divine characters rather than Human Race ones, repulsion arises." A vague notion formed in his mind. He... might be somewhat different. The sea of will's repulsion might be related to the golden booklet, and his three divine characters might have also been influenced by the booklet. Rejecting myriad races divine characters! As a result, although Su Yu could outline them and could even suppress the three divine characters to keep them from destroying myriad races characters, doing so was completely pointless and would tie down part of his willpower just to keep them suppressed. "I... cannot cultivate myriad races divine characters!" It was not a lack of talent, nor an inability to outline them; rather, his power rejected the divine character power of the myriad races. Su Yu furrowed his brows tightly, glancing once more at the three divine characters. They appeared slightly stronger than before. "Interesting... the outlined myriad races divine characters actually served as nourishment for them!" This was not a complete waste. Shattering two embryonic divine characters had granted some improvement to the three, so the six or seven hours he spent had not been in vain. Su Yu set down the book and cleared his mind. He needed to consider the consequences of this divine character rejection. Furthermore, what if... what if he shattered his three Human Race divine characters? Would there still be repulsion? He did not know! Naturally, Su Yu had no desire to try. "The golden booklet, Human Race divine characters, recasting the framework..." At this moment, several pieces vaguely connected into a single line. "Absorbing the blood essence of the myriad races, utilizing the martial techniques and cultivation arts of the myriad races..." "The booklet... if the booklet is a supreme treasure, then this booklet... might very well have been crafted by the Human Race!" At this point, many thoughts crossed Su Yu's mind. Blood essence was typically refined from an enemy's blood after slaying them. Thus, the booklet absorbing blood essence essentially implied the act of killing enemies. Slay an Ironwing Bird and refine blood essence; slay a Mountain-Breaking Ox and refine blood essence... The blood essence absorbed by the booklet was certainly no ordinary blood. "The booklet resides in my sea of will. It remained completely dormant before, yet suddenly stirred when I was outlining the framework. I previously thought it was to extract powerful light dots, but thinking back now... could it have been rejecting the divine character light dots of foreign races?" "Could the ninety-nine basic divine character light dots outlined in my miniature saber only accommodate Human Race divine characters?" He thought of many possibilities! The booklet might have no consciousness and might not be under anyone's control, but one thing certainly existed within it: rejection! Rejection of the myriad races' divine characters! "The booklet and the myriad races' divine characters might be hostile to each other..." "Could the Annihilation Beast skull exist within my sea of will simply because it is an inanimate object, something already dead?" "So, the booklet is a supreme treasure of the Human Race?" "The booklet came from those dreams, and in those dreams, the myriad races hunted and killed me relentlessly. Did that signify from the very beginning that those monsters appearing there were all my enemies?" Divine character rejection! At this moment, a thought flashed through Su Yu's mind. Was the booklet a treasure, or... a divine character? An eternal divine character passed down through the ages! A special eternal divine character! "Could this be a divine character?" Su Yu frowned. If so, where had he obtained this thing? Su Yu truly had no idea! "I am too weak and have never seen an eternal divine character. It seems I will only be able to discover the truth once I grow stronger..." Exhaling a breath, he rubbed his face to clear his head. Su Yu decided not to dwell on this question for now! This was not something he could figure out at present! "If it truly is a divine character, perhaps... once I reach the Shanhai Realm or Sun and Moon Realm, I will be able to understand a thing or two." "Moreover, if it is a divine character... that means it is a Human Race eternal divine character!" Su Yu suddenly realized a crucial point! A Human Race eternal divine character! Bai Feng had said that among the existing eternal divine characters, not a single one belonged to the Human Race. Then the booklet... was it truly a divine character? If it was, it had to be the kind passed down through eternity. Since the booklet did not reject Human Race divine characters while likely rejecting myriad races divine characters, that meant if it were a divine character, it was overwhelmingly likely to be of the Human Race! "The Human Race has eternal divine characters too?" In an instant, Su Yu's spirits lifted dramatically. That day, when Bai Feng mentioned that the Human Race possessed no eternal divine characters, he had felt disheartened and unhappy. Every person had a sense of pride; the Human Race was so formidable, and in Su Yu's eyes, their divine characters were exceptionally powerful as well. Yet Human Race divine characters were unable to become eternal, which had bothered him! Now... perhaps... the Human Race did have them, but Bai Feng simply did not know! "Right, Teacher is still young and knows too little. Perhaps he doesn't know these secrets at all. Human Race divine characters are not weak..." "Even if they are weak initially, once nourished long enough, they will eventually grow mighty!" "Human Race divine characters can become eternal too!" Looking up at the books once more, Su Yu knew that these original texts of the myriad races likely could not help him outline divine characters to keep. Even so... he still intended to read them. On one hand, it tempered his willpower; on the other hand, if he outlined divine characters and shattered them, they could serve as nourishment to feed his own divine characters. Su Yu had realized that using divine characters to nourish divine characters might yield even better results! Having just shattered two embryonic divine characters, he noticed that the "Blood" divine character already felt on the verge of a transformation! That fellow had absorbed a vast amount of blood essence in the filtration room earlier. It had remained quiet all along, but after absorbing the residual radiance of two divine characters just now, Su Yu felt it had grown noticeably stronger! "Divine characters have tiers as well. Could it be advancing?" Su Yu was somewhat uncertain! Divine characters naturally had tiers; otherwise, where would eternal divine characters come from? This had been covered in basic lectures, though only briefly touched upon. That was because before reaching the Tengkong Realm, divine characters were all in their initial stage. "I recall the instructor mentioning in class that divine characters cannot advance before the Tengkong Realm. Only upon reaching Tengkong can a divine character hope to enter Tier 2. Could Little Blood be undergoing an early transformation?" Su Yu shook his head, finding the matter increasingly profound. Myriad races divine characters actually served as nourishment, and seemed to possess the special property of aiding divine characters in advancing! "These were outlined by myself. If I shatter the manifested divine characters of a Tengkong Realm Civilization Master from the myriad races, could I absorb those as well?" Su Yu found himself contemplating a profound question! The blood essence of the myriad races could help him activate the booklet. The divine characters of the myriad races could help him nourish his own divine characters. Then... what were the myriad races to him? …… For three days, Su Yu spent his time reading. He read each book only once, never a second time, so as not to damage the precious original texts by lingering too long. He did not know many languages, finding only twelve original texts of the myriad races that he could actually read. Even so, reading twelve books in three days was quite a lot. Reading them consumed willpower. Each reading required Su Yu to spend an hour or two recovering his willpower. Su Yu had not comprehended all twelve original texts. Some books he had read without fully digesting, leaving him unable to comprehend any divine characters from them. In total, he had outlined divine characters only six times! Had he kept these six divine characters, Bai Feng and the others would likely have been stunned. Three days... six characters! Yet Su Yu had kept none of them, shattering them all to let his three little brothers devour and grow stronger! Su Yu discovered an immense advantage: this way, he did not need to expend excessive willpower of his own to nourish these divine characters, allowing them to devour the fragments to nourish themselves instead. "I was previously worried about whether I could afford to nourish ninety-nine divine characters once they were all outlined. Now it seems I have another path to take!" Ninety-nine divine characters were manageable at this stage. Once he reached the Tengkong Realm and wanted them to advance into Tier 2 divine characters, that would be truly difficult! Without special methods, relying solely on willpower to nourish a single divine character into advancing would take years. Of course, one could nourish multiple characters simultaneously. Take Bai Feng, for instance. Though he had never explicitly said so, Su Yu could roughly guess that the divine characters of such geniuses had likely already advanced. "Little Blood shows signs of advancing!" As Su Yu walked out of the Initial Fusion Pavilion, his willpower inspected the "Blood" divine character. Having absorbed a large volume of blood essence and subsequently swallowed six rounds of divine character remnants, the character had grown a size larger, its red halo becoming increasingly prominent. From the look of it, a few more times might allow it to advance into a Tier 2 divine character! …… In the outer room of the Initial Fusion Pavilion, the room used as camouflage. Bai Feng and Chen Yong were both present. Seeing Su Yu emerge, Bai Feng appeared somewhat cautious, probing, "Did you succeed in outlining any divine characters?" Su Yu hesitated briefly, then put on an honest, slightly apologetic smile. "Teacher, they weren't as easy to outline as Human Race divine characters. I only outlined incomplete myriad races divine characters, without fully completing them!" He was not lying. He had outlined myriad races divine characters, but they had shattered and been devoured by his three little brothers. Even the dregs had been consumed, though some remnants still lingered. If his teacher did not believe him, he could always outline another myriad races divine character after some time and simply keep it. At this moment, Su Yu vaguely understood that his booklet was of paramount importance. It might very well be the only eternal divine character belonging to the Human Race! Although Bai Feng was his teacher, it was still best not to test human nature in certain matters. Human nature was not meant to be tested. Unless one already harbored suspicion, one should not lead the other party toward actions detrimental to oneself. Upon hearing this, Bai Feng frowned at first, then seemed to realize something and smiled. "That's fine. Outlining them, even incompletely, is already not bad! That's how a normal person should be!" Initially, he had felt a touch of disappointment. Thinking it over, outlining a stroke or two within three days—wasn't that completely normal? Even he had to read willpower texts multiple times before managing to outline a single stroke. Su Yu had clearly been abnormal before! Only now was he acting like a normal person, a normal genius. A mediocre talent might not even outline a single divine character in three to five months. Chen Yong smiled as well. "Not bad. Having an embryonic form is already good enough. Which race's writing was it?" "The Demon Scorpion Race!" Su Yu replied, "The Demon Scorpion Race's 'Qiang' character. It feels like it will still take some time before it can be successfully outlined." "The Demon Scorpion Race... is not bad either!" Chen Yong nodded. "The Demon Scorpion Race ranks in the three hundreds, and their tail sting innate skill is among the stronger innate skills among the myriad races, possessing extreme sharpness. Even though you didn't outline the 'Pierce' character, 'Qiang' should be quite good as well!" With that, Chen Yong smiled again. "So that means you've outlined four divine characters now—three complete, and one initially outlined... That is already very fast! Spend a month or two completing this divine character, and strive to outline a fifth divine character before the end of the year!" At present, it was only September 4th. The end of the year was still a long way off! Nearly four months remained! Yet Chen Yong's expectation for Su Yu was merely to outline a fifth divine character this year. In reality, this pace was not slow at all; on the contrary, it was exceptionally fast. Outlining five divine characters in under a year—or even half a year—meant Su Yu could outline eighteen divine characters within a few years, at which point he could seek a breakthrough into the Tengkong Realm. For the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, entering the Tengkong Realm in three to five years was superior to entering it in one or two years under the Single Divine Character Faction. "Your senior sister enrolled in the academy the year before last, so it's been over two years since she entered the sect." Chen Yong could not help but think of his own disciple, smiling at Su Yu. "When she entered the academy, she had already stepped into the Yangxing Realm. Over these two-plus years, she has outlined seven divine characters, and is now at the Qianjun Ninth Layer with a willpower fullness degree of ninety-five percent." "At this pace, in another year, she has a good chance of outlining ten divine characters and should enter the Wanshi Realm next year..." "If all goes smoothly, she has hope of entering the Tengkong Realm the year after next." Speaking of his disciple, Chen Yong was quite pleased. "The year after next will be her fourth year after enrollment. Entering Tengkong in four years puts her on par with true monstrous geniuses!" Upon hearing this, Bai Feng frowned. "Regarding Jiajia, her injuries won't delay her, will they?" "A delay of several months is certain..." Chen Yong sighed. "There's no helping it; consider it a trial! These few months will also allow Jiajia to rest. Over the past two years, she spent all her time cultivating just to compete for the Top 100 Rankings." Su Yu asked curiously, "Martial Uncle, how long did it take Senior Sister to enter the Top 100 Rankings?" "About a year and a half." Chen Yong's smile returned. "She entered the Top 100 early this year, when she was already at the Qianjun Eighth Layer with a willpower fullness degree of ninety percent." A year and a half was exceptionally fast. Of course, Wu Jia had entered the academy already at the Yangxing Realm, which differed somewhat from Su Yu. Combining the Qianjun Eighth Layer with the Yangxing Realm, along with multiple divine characters, making it into the Top 100 was hardly surprising. Wu Jia undoubtedly possessed Wanshi-level combat strength. "Then who defeated Senior Sister?" Seeing him ask this, Chen Yong chuckled. "Don't concern yourself with that. Your task is to cultivate first—outline divine characters, master more All-Races languages, open apertures, and strengthen your willpower..." Chen Yong knew what he meant, but cut him off promptly. "You have countless tasks ahead of you, including your divine character battle technique. Outlining the framework is only the beginning; there is synergy, coordination, embedding, and developing characteristics..." Chen Yong remarked with feeling, "You will likely be busy for the next year or two. There are things you need not worry about!" He added, "Wait until the day you truly possess Wanshi Realm combat strength—and I mean without relying on innate blood essence—before considering the Top 100 Rankings." Over the past few days, he had heard some news. For example, Su Yu defeating Chen Qi! However, Su Yu had consumed innate skill blood essence... Bai Feng had kept even him in the dark about this, as having too many people know about it right now was not a good thing. Blood essence was an external aid, a single-use consumable after all. Even if Su Yu entered the Top 100 relying on blood essence, he would face challenges every single day without fail. Could Su Yu consume blood essence every time? Did he have that much blood essence to spare? Wouldn't that delay his cultivation? Thus, Chen Yong could only dissuade him for now, hoping Su Yu would rely on his genuine strength and wait until he truly had the power to enter the Top 100 Rankings before bringing it up. Su Yu nodded and said no more. His martial uncle was right; at present, he was still some distance away from the Top 100. Still... Su Yu believed he would soon possess that strength! *The prerequisite is a large amount of blood essence, and a large number of willpower texts... of the Human Race!* Recalling this, Su Yu hurriedly asked, "Teacher, will it be a problem that I didn't attend classes these past few days?" "No problem, I requested leave on your behalf!" Bai Feng said casually, "Later, go submit a report to the intermediate class, then go attend the advanced class! In addition, starting today, you have an extra task: every evening, you must go to the detention area to feed the imprisoned demon race beasts!" "..." Chen Yong frowned, looking toward Bai Feng. Bai Feng said calmly, "Senior Brother, a Civilization Master walking the path of slaughter cannot lack courage! If he can endure pressure and get accustomed to oppression, his legs won't turn to jelly when he truly encounters those myriad races fellows!" Chen Yong considered it and nodded slightly. Su Yu was Bai Feng's disciple after all, so it was not his place to interfere, though he felt it was still a bit early. The demon beasts in the detention area were all ferocious. Moreover, they were very powerful! Bai Feng grinned again. "This is nothing. Once this kid grows stronger, I'll even have him fight those demon beasts for real life-and-death tempering. That's far more satisfying than sparring with fellow students!" Listening to this, Su Yu felt unperturbed. In fact, he felt a faint anticipation! He was no greenhorn; back in Nanyuan and on the journey to the academy, he had seen blood and killed people. He simply had not fought members of the myriad races yet, and wondered if it would be any different. He had also realized that Bai Feng was somewhat careless and rather reckless in teaching students. He set a goal and waited for you to complete it, rarely meddling otherwise. Chen Yong, on the other hand, was gentle. Meticulous in every detail, he oversaw every aspect. If Bai Feng was the hands-off type, Chen Yong was the motherly type. Perhaps it had to do with age, but even more with temperament. Walking the path of slaughter, Bai Feng cared more about results and paid little heed to the process. *One gentle, one fierce...* This was Su Yu's assessment of Bai Feng and Chen Yong. Inwardly, he wondered if the senior sister he had yet to meet was also like his martial uncle. Neither could be called better, but regarding his martial uncle, Su Yu felt he possessed steel beneath his gentle exterior; he had not forgotten his martial uncle's earlier threats toward Director Zhou. Bai Feng said no more. Calling out to Su Yu, he turned to Chen Yong and said, "Senior Brother, I'll be heading back first! Once my research is mostly wrapped up, I'll properly settle scores with those fellows!" Chen Yong said nothing further and simply waved his hand. He knew his junior brother's temperament; the man was currently wholly engrossed in his research. Once he finished and re-emerged, a great deal of trouble was sure to follow. Hopefully, Teacher would have returned by then; otherwise, even Chen Yong might not be able to hold the line.