True Wanshi and False Wanshi

Chen Yong genuinely found it hard to accept. Qianjun Ninth Layer! Yet despite his shock, Chen Yong soon frowned and said, "You've devoured too much blood essence, and of too many varieties. Your yuanqi is impure and mixed with a great deal of foreign blood essence power. The apertures themselves are chaotic. It won't have much effect in the Qianjun Realm, but once you reach the Wanshi Realm, it's going to be troublesome!" Su Yu nodded and said honestly, "Martial Uncle, I'll purify it slowly down the line." "It will take quite some time, and I'm afraid it might delay your entry into the Wanshi Realm." Su Yu nodded along. Naturally, he felt embarrassed to mention that he could use Brightlight Bird blood essence to purify his yuanqi. "Come on outside. I'll give you a lesson in a moment." "Thank you, Martial Uncle!" ... After a few more words, the two walked out of the room together. Outside, seeing them emerge, Wu Jia brushed aside the hair hanging over her face. She looked at them with a hint of a pout. "Teacher, you were whispering private things with Junior Brother. Is there something you can't tell me?" Chen Yong let out a chuckle. Of course I can't tell you! If I told you, your head would explode too. "Cut the chatter. Tidy up and sit down to listen. I'm going to explain the Wanshi Realm to your junior brother." "It's way too early for him! I've already heard all of it." Wu Jia turned to Su Yu and giggled. "Junior Brother, my master is an awful nagger. You'll be crying in a moment." Su Yu maintained his smile, looking completely guileless. This senior sister felt quite approachable, though her face held an unnatural, sickly pallor that looked rather uncomfortable. After a moment's thought, Su Yu asked, "Martial Uncle, does Senior Sister's injury really require such a long recovery?" Chen Yong glanced at Wu Jia. Wu Jia herself didn't seem too bothered, merely annoyed at Huang Qifeng. She huffed and said, "That bastard shattered several of my divine characters. My sea of will suffered some damage, and the divine characters need to be nurtured back to life, so it's taking a bit of time." Understanding dawned on Su Yu. Her divine characters had been shattered! "Senior Sister, can shattered divine characters be restored?" "Mm." Wu Jia's anger vanished, replaced by another smile. "Of course they can. It's similar to when you outline them. The foundation is still there, but you have to invest a lot of energy to nurture them again." "Can divine characters be shattered even without manifestation?" "Yes!" Wu Jia continued, "For instance, if your divine character is attached to a cultural weapon, even though others can't see it, it's truly inside. If the cultural weapon breaks, it can damage the divine character. Still, as long as it isn't completely pulverized, it can be nurtured back with enough time." She then added, "Having one or two divine characters shattered isn't so bad, but if there are too many, the sea of will becomes unstable, which leads to a state like mine. It's a bit of a headache. Teacher has been helping me comb through my chaotic sea of will these past few days." The meaning behind her words was obvious: she had lost far more than just one or two divine characters. Seeing Su Yu's expression shift, Chen Yong gave a light cough and said, "Your senior sister's personality is far too unyielding. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been injured so badly. If you surrender on stage, the fight stops. Public spars have referees, but this stubborn girl refused to give in..." Wu Jia protested cutely, "Teacher! How could I surrender? The moment he stepped up, he started provoking me, saying he'd ensure no one from our Multiple Divine Characters Faction would ever enter the Top 100 Rankings again, and that the rankings weren't meant for a cripple of a department like ours... I was so furious I nearly burst!" "Why pay so much mind to outsiders' words?" Chen Yong said with a smile. "Cultivation is your own affair..." "Teacher!" Wu Jia looked completely displeased, muttering under her breath in a tiny voice. Chen Yong's face suddenly darkened slightly, and he glared at her in exasperation. Su Yu faintly caught her words: "I haven't cultivated into a little turtle yet. Once I do, we'll see..." Su Yu fought back laughter and stayed completely composed. He couldn't laugh! Chen Yong followed the path of defense, and Wu Jia was likely the same—or perhaps a balanced path of offense and defense, though he hadn't asked about the specifics. Wu Jia's meaning was clear: her divine character battle technique was not yet complete. Of course, one could read a bit deeper into it—Chen Yong was an old turtle, and she hadn't turned into a little turtle yet. Seeing Su Yu stiffen with effort, Chen Yong knew he had overheard and felt rather speechless. "Enough idle talk. Come over and prepare for the lesson!" Wu Jia didn't mind at all and walked over cheerfully. It was plain to see she had an excellent relationship with Chen Yong; otherwise, she wouldn't have dared speak so recklessly. ... Su Yu and Wu Jia sat side by side. Chen Yong began, "Su Yu asked me what Wanshi is, how to cultivate in the Wanshi Realm, how it differs from Qianjun, and whether it requires opening apertures..." "Teacher, didn't Junior Martial Uncle teach him any of that?" Wu Jia chimed in, astonished. "..." Su Yu held a polite yet unawkward smile, doing his best to stifle the urge to burst out laughing. *Teacher, it seems you're being attacked!* Chen Yong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Your junior martial uncle has been busy with innate blood essence lately. He probably didn't have the time, or simply forgot. That's just his personality. Don't interrupt!" "Oh!" Wu Jia obediently shrank back, glancing at Su Yu with a look of sympathy. *Poor junior brother!* *Junior Martial Uncle is so unreliable. You really have it rough.* Chen Yong couldn't be bothered to dwell on it and continued, "The outside world generally treats Wanshi and Qianjun as a single whole; both are processes of strengthening the physical body. Qianjun focuses on opening apertures, while Wanshi focuses on merging apertures!" "Merging apertures?" Su Yu looked puzzled. Chen Yong smiled and asked, "Did Bai Feng ever tell you that the stronger you become in cultivation, the fewer weaknesses you have?" Su Yu nodded. "Exactly!" Chen Yong said, "Wanshi, merging apertures, condensing them into nine apertures! To take a simple example: you, Su Yu, opened 108 apertures, twelve per layer. Do 108 apertures spread across your entire body count as weaknesses?" Su Yu fell into thought, then nodded. "They do! Even though apertures are filled with yuanqi, that very fact makes them obvious targets. If someone shatters your apertures, it's disastrous. The third form of Sky-Breaking Slash is Shatter Yuan—shattering yuanqi and shattering apertures!" Chen Yong smiled. "Indeed, that's precisely it! That is why, upon reaching Wanshi, our main focus is no longer opening apertures, but merging them. Your twelve apertures per layer form their own self-contained system. We merge those twelve apertures into one! Into a single aperture! "At that point, a single aperture will hold the power of twelve apertures. It will become immensely sturdy, rich with yuanqi, and far easier to mobilize power from. Once merged, your strength will be greater and your weaknesses fewer. That is Wanshi!" Su Yu was surprised. So this was Wanshi? Aperture merging? "Martial Uncle, doesn't that mean someone cultivating a Low-grade Yellow-rank art with only nine apertures doesn't need to merge them at all and becomes Wanshi Ninth Layer straight away?" "In theory, yes. In practice... those people have virtually reached the end of their path. That is why one must cultivate at least a Medium-grade Yellow-rank art to have any hope of entering Wanshi, because the very standard for entering Wanshi is merging apertures. "With a Medium-grade Yellow-rank art, Qianjun opens eighteen apertures. Only when two apertures merge into one has one truly stepped into the Wanshi Realm." Chen Yong continued, "After that, each time a layer's apertures are merged into one, you advance a layer! When all apertures have been successfully merged, nine apertures are formed. At that stage, you are at the peak of the Wanshi Realm!" Su Yu asked, "Does strength increase significantly?" "Significantly!" Chen Yong nodded. "Merging apertures achieves several things. First, you mobilize power faster. "Second, your weaknesses decrease. "Third, the yuanqi packed into a single aperture is several times that of the Qianjun Realm, meaning the resulting power isn't merely several times greater—it is vastly more formidable! "For instance, if your 108 apertures ultimately merge into nine apertures, the power you unleash will be entirely incomparable to what you have now." Pausing, Chen Yong added, "In truth, the disparity between one Wanshi and another can be massive—sometimes frighteningly so. Do you know why?" Su Yu nodded. "Because the number of apertures opened during Qianjun differs..." "Not just that!" Chen Yong smiled. "Even between cultivators using Earth-rank Peak arts, the gap can still be shockingly wide. Do you know why?" Su Yu was puzzled. Why? If everyone ended up merging into nine apertures, why would there be such a vast gap? Chen Yong continued on his own, "More than just shocking—put it this way: the strongest Wanshi Ninth Layer absolutely has a shot at slaying a Tengkong, while a weak Wanshi Ninth Layer... isn't even worth mentioning. This doesn't actually have much to do with cultivation arts or martial techniques." Beside them, seeing her master talk in circles, Wu Jia cut in directly, "Junior Brother, isn't it simple? Take your twelve apertures per layer: to merge them, you only need to fuse two of the twelve to advance a layer! But a truly formidable Wanshi chooses to merge all twelve together! Tell me, isn't that a massive difference?" Su Yu paused, looking toward Chen Yong. "Martial Uncle, you don't have to merge all twelve apertures?" Chen Yong didn't scold Wu Jia, nodding instead. "You don't. As long as you merge two apertures, you possess the foundation to advance, and you can move on to merging the apertures for the second layer. That is why some people at Wanshi Ninth Layer don't necessarily end up with only nine apertures; they might have many more, but the others simply weren't merged. "To use an analogy: divine characters are divided into tiers—Tier One, Tier Two... Apertures, in truth, have their own distinctions! When someone fuses two apertures to advance, we informally call it the Two-Shi Realm. Three apertures is Three-Shi, nine is Nine-Shi, and only ten or more do we truly call the Wanshi Realm!" Chen Yong smiled. "This is just an inside joke among experts, not standard terminology. The outside world refers to all of them as the Wanshi Realm! But the gap is immense. A genuine Wanshi Ninth Layer can practically instakill a Two-Shi Ninth Layer! "Only cultivators who practice at least a Low-grade Earth-rank art have the potential to become true Wanshi experts!" Su Yu looked astonished. There were so many intricacies to Wanshi! "Martial Uncle, does that mean anyone cultivating an Earth-rank art can become a true Wanshi?" "Not necessarily." Chen Yong explained, "Some people simply hit a wall. Take your twelve apertures: merging them becomes harder the further you go! If someone remains stuck unable to merge all twelve and can only manage eight, and they grow impatient, they might choose to advance with just eight merged." *Grew impatient...* Su Yu thought it through and found it understandable. Merging apertures sounded remarkably difficult. If someone couldn't fuse all of them after several years, giving up on a complete merger was entirely plausible. "Martial Uncle, after reaching Wanshi, can you still open more apertures?" "Of course!" Chen Yong smiled. "That has no effect on your advancement, nor is it linked! Opening apertures beyond your cultivation art is generally done to practice martial techniques. You can cultivate martial techniques at any time. However, martial techniques also have their distinctions, and aperture merging exists for them too!" Chen Yong turned serious. "When a true expert brings a martial technique to great mastery, do you know what that looks like?" Su Yu shook his head. "One aperture, one martial technique!" "For instance, if practicing a technique requires forty apertures, merging those forty apertures into one marks true great mastery—one aperture, one martial technique!" Su Yu said doubtfully, "Martial Uncle, but the apertures for Sky-Breaking Slash and War God Art overlap for me. How could I achieve one aperture, one martial technique?" "Why couldn't you?" Chen Yong countered. "When all the apertures of your War God Art merge into one, haven't the apertures of Sky-Breaking Slash merged as well?" Su Yu shuddered! That seemed to be true! "Wait, but..." "That is called Tengkong!" Chen Yong interrupted. "Condensing them into nine apertures represents Wanshi Ninth Layer. What is Tengkong? Tengkong means merging those nine apertures into one again! That is why Tengkong is so difficult. The stronger your apertures, the harder they are to merge and the greater the repulsion. Only by fusing them completely into one can you step into the Tengkong Realm!" Chen Yong sighed. "Many people, in order to reach Tengkong, will deliberately forgo merging certain apertures even if they practice an Earth-rank art. For example, if twelve apertures form a set, they might merge only nine during the Wanshi stage. That way, once they reach Wanshi Ninth Layer, fusing them together is far simpler—at least not nearly as brutal as fusing twelve together." Su Yu nodded repeatedly. So that was it! To think the disparity between different Wanshi cultivators could be so colossal! By the standards of true experts, there were Two-Shi, Three-Shi... all the way until fusing ten apertures into one, which counted as genuine Wanshi! That meant his father, who practiced the Qianjun Art, could at most merge four apertures per layer. At best, he was a Four-Shi cultivator, not a true Wanshi. How tragic! "Martial Uncle, do Four-Shi and Five-Shi cultivators have any hope of advancing to Tengkong?" "Naturally!" Chen Yong smiled. "Of course they do! They just lack raw power, but hope remains. Granted, the chances aren't very high; the advancement rate is far too low. If a true Wanshi has a ninety-nine percent chance of advancing, a Nine-Shi has ninety percent, an Eight-Shi eighty percent... By the time you reach Two-Shi, the chance is at most ten or twenty percent. One out of ten making it is considered good!" *So that's how it works!* Seeing his reaction, Chen Yong added, "Naturally, everything I've said applies to warriors. In truth, most Civilization Masters don't pay much attention to this. Civilization Masters are not known for physical prowess. Ordinarily, even when cultivating an Earth-rank art, some geniuses choose to merge at most ten apertures to advance." He looked at Su Yu. "Our strength lies in willpower and divine characters! If we divide our attention to cultivate both sides, how could we grow strong quickly? "This is also why, whenever students from the War Academy clash with our Civilization Academy before Tengkong, we lose far more often than we win! "Those students at the War Academy focus purely on the physical body, giving them formidable physiques. Their Wanshi students have generally merged multiple apertures, unlike ours, where some fellows give up completely and advance with just two apertures merged. How could they possibly compete?" Chen Yong shook his head. The Civilization Academy had no shortage of Two-Shi cultivators. Meanwhile, even students at the War Academy who didn't reach true Wanshi still merged six or seven apertures. Beating down a Civilization Master was child's play. "Martial Uncle, do many students in our academy reach the true Wanshi Realm?" "Not many!" Chen Yong shook his head. "Or rather, very few. Even among those on the Top 100 Rankings who have entered Wanshi physically, those who count as true Wanshi are rare—perhaps half of them at most! Keep in mind, the Top 100 Rankings is the strongest leaderboard in our academy for students under thirty, which shows just how rare that proportion is. "Over at the War Academy, their Wanshi Rankings consists almost entirely of true Wanshi! Years ago, Principal Zheng purged everyone who fell short of true Wanshi. Later, he even made a rule that anyone who hadn't merged at least ten apertures per layer wasn't allowed on the Wanshi Rankings. For a time, their leaderboard sat completely empty. They would rather leave the board empty than allow impostors on the board!" Because the list was called the Wanshi Rankings! To outsiders you might count as Wanshi, but at the War Academy, being on the board meant representing the academy's honor, so they outright eliminated the fake Wanshi. Su Yu had heard of this. It seemed it had been the handiwork of his own teacher. After Bai Feng went and gave them a thorough beating, Principal Zheng had blown his top and completely overhauled the system. He was certainly a man of resolve. Su Yu posed many more questions, and Chen Yong answered every single one in exhaustive detail. This was the true benefit of taking a master! Otherwise, without a dedicated instructor, relying solely on public lectures made it impossible to probe such topics deeply. The instructors simply didn't have the time to explain everything to every student. A brief overview was all you got. Besides, the Civilization Academy didn't care much about physical cultivation anyway. If you advanced by merging two apertures, they wouldn't mind, nor would they deem you incompetent. As long as your divine characters were powerful and your willpower formidable, you were an expert. ... The private lesson lasted over two hours. Su Yu asked numerous questions, and Chen Yong answered each in detail. A private lecture from a Lingyun Ninth Layer expert would normally cost a fortune in merit points. Beside them, Wu Jia had grown so drowsy she was practically falling asleep. It wasn't laziness; she had already heard all of it before. Once Su Yu finally ran out of questions, Wu Jia stifled a yawn, looking slightly dazed. "Curious baby, are you finally done asking?" "..." Su Yu was embarrassed. What kind of phrasing was that? What did she mean by "curious baby"? He had simply never known these things before. Chen Yong scolded her as well. "Not a shred of diligence! You should learn from your junior brother! A cultivator must constantly seek knowledge and never be ashamed to ask questions! Even Invincible Realm experts named their sacred ground Seeking. Cultivation knows no bounds; only through seeking high and low can one move forward!" Wu Jia replied aggrievedly, "Teacher, I know all of this already. I've heard you say it so many times my ears have calluses!" Helpless, Chen Yong said, "Even so, listen more. Your junior brother..." He stopped himself. He didn't want to crush her self-esteem! The boy was already at Qianjun Ninth Layer; he was asking all this to prepare for stepping into Wanshi. One explanation was enough for him! Why? Because he might break through to Wanshi in the blink of an eye and wouldn't need to hear it again. As for this girl, until she reached Wanshi, she would have to sit there and listen, again and again! Wu Jia was completely unaware of this. Once the lesson concluded, she rested her chin on her hands and tilted her head toward Su Yu, giggling. "Junior Brother, I heard you defeated that Chen Qi earlier?" "Just a stroke of luck..." "Beautifully done!" Wu Jia said with a bright smile. "Not a single person in their faction is good! They're all wicked bullies! Your senior sister fought so hard to reach the Top 100 Rankings, yet those bastards had to come looking for trouble..." "That just means your skills were lacking!" Chen Yong cut in to deflate her. Wu Jia pouted. "Teacher, why do you keep hitting me while I'm down today?" Chen Yong felt awkward. He was simply provoked! His junior brother's student was about to enter Wanshi, while his own... Forget it, he couldn't dwell on it. Stay calm. He, Chen Yong, had patience. Wu Jia didn't dwell on it either, beaming again. "Junior Brother, Teacher keeps praising you, saying you have a shot at challenging the Top 100 Rankings in three months. Is that true? Three months from now will be year's end, and I should be recovered by then. Could you really be on par with your senior sister by then?" Su Yu gave a simple laugh. "How could I match Senior Sister? I'll just do my best in three months! Senior Sister's willpower fullness degree is already nearing its peak, while I'm still far off." "True enough. Willpower progresses very slowly!" Wu Jia said seriously. "Junior Brother, in another year or two, your senior sister has a good chance of entering Tengkong. You can't fall too far behind! Once I reach Tengkong and achieve great mastery with my divine character battle technique, just watch how I deal with those guys!" "Then let me congratulate Senior Sister in advance..." "Who congratulates someone this early!" Wu Jia giggled. "Congratulate me in two years! Junior Brother, once I reach Tengkong, you might already be in the upper ranks of the Top 100. When that time comes, with one genius assistant instructor and one genius student, our Multiple Divine Characters Faction will be able to recruit more students." "Mm, Senior Sister makes a lot of sense!" Su Yu nodded solemnly. Chen Yong's heart ached from listening. He turned and walked straight out of the room, unwilling to hear another word. *My silly disciple... I'm afraid things will turn out the exact opposite!* *Su Yu will become the genius assistant instructor, and you'll still be the genius student... I truly fear you won't have the face to show yourself then.* ... After chatting with Wu Jia for a while, Su Yu was in good spirits. This senior sister was quite talkative and remarkably pleasant. Earlier, he had worried she might be aloof and arrogant, cold as a mountain peak, rolling her eyes and huffing through her nose at him every chance she got—just like Wu Lan! It turned out he had guessed completely wrong. That was a relief; otherwise, Su Yu would have had quite the headache. ... Su Yu stayed for lunch at Chen Yong's place. Only around noon did he take his leave from Chen Yong and Wu Jia, stepping out of Cangshu Pavilion. After he left, Wu Jia noticed her teacher staring out the window at his retreating figure. She couldn't help but ask, "Teacher, why does it feel like you treat him better than you treat me? Are you thinking of trading disciples?" Chen Yong chuckled, then let out a soft, emotional sigh. "Jiajia, in the future... things will be much easier on you." "What?" "Nothing. Just focus on cultivating and prioritize your recovery. Don't worry about anything else for now. Someone... will settle scores with Huang Qifeng for you." "Huh?" Wu Jia blinked in curiosity, glancing down out the window. "You don't mean Junior Brother Su Yu, do you?" Chen Yong smiled and said no more. This was for the best! Previously, Wu Jia had been the only one of her generation in the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, bearing immense pressure all on her own. Now they had Su Yu... and he was unexpectedly talented and powerful. Moving forward, Wu Jia would have a much easier time. *Qianjun Ninth Layer...* Chen Yong murmured to himself. Still, Wanshi would be somewhat difficult. The disparate blood essence powers in Su Yu's apertures were messy and would take considerable time to purify. Brightlight Bird blood essence had purifying properties; he would see if he could gather a batch later to help him finish the process faster. *The main thing is still willpower. His progress felt a bit slow—did he cultivate the Expanding Will Art?* Su Yu hadn't brought it up, and Chen Yong hadn't asked. However, during Su Yu's fight against Zheng Yunhui, his willpower had been remarkably resilient. Chen Yong wasn't certain whether Su Yu had truly practiced the Expanding Will Art or not. *I forgot to ask how many merit points he spent... Well, it should be enough. 5,000 merit points should easily suffice to cultivate all the way to Wanshi, right?* Advancing so rapidly must have cost Su Yu a substantial sum, but Chen Yong reckoned 5,000 points was roughly enough. The kid certainly didn't hesitate to spend.