Martial Technique Acquired

Defeated! He had lost to Wan Mingze by a wide margin. Su Yu sighed softly to himself. In terms of pure willpower and divine characters, if he didn't rely on blood essence, he might not have even defeated Zhang Hao. Wan Mingze, Hu Qiusheng, Zhang Hao... Even Zheng Hong, whom he had beaten—if they fought a second time, it was hard to say who would come out on top. None of these monstrous talents were pushovers. Wan Mingze... three Tier-2 divine characters! That had genuinely caught Su Yu off guard. While facing Wan Mingze, Su Yu had not used the Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence again. That stuff drew too much attention, and even if he used it, victory was far from guaranteed. Three containment-type divine characters! Just as Su Yu was turning this over in his head, Hu Qiusheng, sharing the same plight, chuckled beside him. "A loss is a loss. People like us can afford to lose once. That guy really is a freak of nature. You probably didn't know, but he outlined his first divine character when he was nine years old. In nine years, he's cultivated nothing but auxiliary divine characters. Heaven knows what's going through his head." Nine years old! Su Yu was stunned. He lowered his voice. "To outline a divine character, you need at least around ten percent willpower, right? You'd have to read so many books and learn so much..." When Su Yu was nine, he was still attending primary academy. He had been playing in the mud with a bunch of brats! "He's Principal Wan's grandnephew. He's looked up to Principal Wan since childhood, practically worshipping him. Principal Wan thinks very highly of him too and often guides him..." Hu Qiusheng smiled. "Coupled with his own talent and willingness to endure hardship, it's only natural. Coming to the academy this time, half of my motivation was him. Originally... I was planning to study at the Quest Realm." "Huh?" Su Yu paused, surprised. Study at the Quest Realm? "The Quest Realm has an internal academy of its own," Hu Qiusheng explained. "It's filled with descendants of prominent figures. Experts of the Eternal Realm often give lectures there, and they even write texts of will for the students. The entry threshold is pretty high, though. Back then, my family was arranging to send me over..." "Then I found out Wan Mingze was coming to the Great Xia Civilization Academy, so I followed him here." Su Yu was shocked. Experts of the Invincible Realm lecturing in person? "Then... why didn't he go?" As he spoke, he glanced toward Xia Chan and the others. People like them should have qualified as well. Hu Qiusheng smiled. "The Quest Realm isn't necessarily better! Part of it is the mindset of preferring to be the head of a chicken rather than the tail of a phoenix. Another thing is that over at the Quest Realm, life is actually relatively comfortable and sheltered, which isn't ideal." "Comfortable?" "Right, comfortable!" Hu Qiusheng nodded. "After all, there are Invincible experts keeping watch. In that internal academy, everyone mostly studies on their own without much intense competition. It's a bit too complacent. It's nothing like Great Xia Civilization Academy, where everyone is constantly fighting and clawing for every inch, battling to the death just over the Top 100 Rankings..." Su Yu nodded slightly and said nothing more. Everyone had their own choices, and neither was inherently right or wrong. Back then, he had even considered going to the Great Xia War Academy. Hu Qiusheng looked at him again and smiled. "That's why I say it doesn't matter if you lost. Just get back up. You have immense potential—I think even greater than his! It took him nine years of cultivation to reach where he is today. How long has it taken you?" He looked at Su Yu with a trace of wonder. "Su Yu, have you even been in contact with divine characters for a full year?" Su Yu gave a sheepish smile. "I have. My enlightened teacher was Teacher Liu Wenyan. He actually started teaching me the basics of divine characters a few years ago. But in terms of actually outlining divine characters, it really hasn't been that long." Hu Qiusheng nodded. He did know about that. Even so, he was still amazed. Even if you were exposed to them a few years ago, you haven't been outlining characters for long, yet you've reached this point. It's truly terrifying. While others focused on Wan Mingze taking first place, Hu Qiusheng paid more attention to Su Yu. His progress was simply too fast! Su Yu paid him no further mind and stepped toward Wan Mingze. His goal was the Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll, not some first-place title. If he lost once, he could just win it back next time. ... "Brother Wan!" Su Yu called out. Wan Mingze was chatting with someone at the moment—a researcher. Seeing Su Yu approach, the researcher offered a friendly smile, but didn't speak with Su Yu and turned to leave. Wan Mingze waited for Su Yu to walk over and smiled. "The Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll won't be handed out until later. Su Yu, consider what I told you before we came. If you agree, I'll give it to you for free..." Su Yu smiled and shook his head. Wan Mingze sighed, not pressing the matter. His smile returned as he said, "Alright then. I'll take advantage of your offer and trade it for your entry to the War Demon Field secret realm. I hope you won't regret it later." Su Yu replied softly, "I won't. Opportunities to enter secret realms will always come as long as I work hard! The Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll was my grandmaster's favorite scroll, only to be stolen by someone!" "..." There was no responding to that! Even Wan Mingze felt helpless. It wasn't as if people didn't know what had actually happened. There was no need to tell blatant lies to everyone's faces just to clear his teacher's name. As they were talking, Wu Lan walked over. This time, her head wasn't held high. She looked somewhat dejected! She barely dared to look Su Yu in the eye, glancing left and right, hesitating and struggling with herself. After a long while, looking on the verge of tears, she asked, "Are you in the sixth layer?" Su Yu shook his head. "Really?" "Not the sixth layer." Su Yu said earnestly, "Zheng Yunhui was talking nonsense. Besides, you don't need to constantly compare yourself to me. Isn't your willpower stronger than mine? Focus on reaching the Tengkong Realm early. In terms of physical cultivation, it's inherently harder for women than men. Walking the path of willpower suits you better." "Willpower..." Wu Lan mumbled. That was what Teacher Liu Hong had said too. Was she really not suited for the physical path? Su Yu smiled and said, "Wu Lan, you're very talented! Your willpower improves rapidly as well. It's only been slower lately because your focus was divided. Once your willpower reaches Tengkong, if you cast your body with god and demon blood essence, your physical strength won't be weak at all." "Of course!" Wu Lan lifted her chin again! *I was always very talented!* It was just that her talent wasn't in physical cultivation. Su Yu was right: she needed to focus on cultivating willpower. Her body... so what if her body was a bit weaker for now? Once she reached Tengkong and underwent body casting with god and demon blood essence, she would be just as formidable! "Su Yu, I'll definitely reach Tengkong before you!" Wu Lan issued her proud declaration, spun around, and marched off, as proud as ever! *Did you hear that?* *Even Su Yu said I'm very strong and talented!* Watching her run off, Wan Mingze couldn't help but chuckle. Glancing out of the corner of his eye toward Wu Qi in the distance, he remarked, "Wu Lan's talent is decent, but when it comes to the Wu family, her older sister is still the truly formidable one!" Su Yu also glanced toward Wu Qi. Seeing her speaking with Liu Hong, he remarked with surprise, "Doesn't she have a bad relationship with Teacher Liu?" "It's nothing. In this hall... Teacher Liu is the only one she'll exchange a few words with." Wan Mingze spoke with meaningful nuance. Su Yu suddenly understood! In Wu Qi's eyes, the Lingyun and Tengkong experts present were nothing of note. They simply didn't belong to the same world. Geniuses had the pride of geniuses. In this entire hall, perhaps only Liu Hong was worthy of speaking with her. As they spoke, Liu Hong finished his conversation with Wu Qi and walked over. He held several items in his hands, among which was a scroll. Su Yu fixed his eyes on it, keeping his expression neutral. Soon, Liu Hong arrived and smiled. "Congratulations to all of you! First place: the Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll!" "Second place: a Mind-Stabilizing Pill!" "Third place: a Wanshi offensive divine talisman capable of unleashing the destructive power of a second- or third-layer Wanshi!" "All top ten finishers receive ten merit points, which count toward accumulated merit!" Ten merit points weren't much to these students, but the fact that they counted toward accumulated merit instantly delighted them! There weren't many missions they could take right now, so accumulating merit was by far the hardest part. Su Yu hurriedly asked, "Do we get them too?" Liu Hong smiled. "The top three naturally do as well. In addition, every round you won earlier yields five merit points, which also count toward accumulated merit!" Upon hearing this, many students were overjoyed. That was fantastic! Su Yu quickly did the math in his head. He had won five matches in total! In the end, he lost to Wan Mingze, but there was one match that hadn't been fought: the battle for second place against Hu Qiusheng. He quickly looked at Hu Qiusheng. Then he turned to Liu Hong. "Teacher, about that match between Hu Qiusheng and me... should we go ahead and fight it...?" Hu Qiusheng stared blankly, then broke into a wry smile. Liu Hong laughed as well, narrowing his eyes. "Didn't you two agree to call it a draw? Since it's a draw, there's no match. The competition is officially over!" Su Yu felt a bit of regret! That meant he could receive a total of thirty-five merit points from this event, all counting toward accumulated merit. That was a lot! Now he understood why these geniuses had all rushed to participate. It turned out the points counted toward accumulated merit. Su Yu had thought they were just regular rewards. Su Yu quickly calculated his accumulated merit. Counting last month's first place in the monthly exam and the class monitor reward, his accumulated merit was 103 points? It seemed so! Adding thirty-five points this time brought it to 138 points. With this afternoon's monthly exam and the class monitor reward, if he took first place again, he would surpass 150 points of accumulated merit! Reaching two hundred points to enter the War Demon Field was simply too difficult for new students. Never mind the War Demon Field—even for the yuanqi secret realm, Su Yu was likely the only new student previously able to enter. There would probably be a few more this time, considering Wan Mingze and the others had earned quite a few accumulated merit points. Wan Mingze didn't waste any words, directly handing the Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll to Su Yu with a smile. "Then it's settled. We can handle the formal transfer later." "Alright!" Su Yu nodded, taking the Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll into his hands to inspect it. He felt the texture, wondering whether it was truly woven from dragon silkworm silk. Of course, in a public competition, it was unlikely they would pass off a fake, especially since the item itself wasn't considered extraordinarily precious. With the item in hand, Su Yu finally breathed a sigh of relief. As for the rewards for second and third place, Su Yu chose the single-use divine talisman. Hu Qiusheng was generous as well, offering Su Yu twenty merit points to make up the difference rather than taking advantage of him. All told, Su Yu gained fifty-five merit points and one single-use divine talisman. In truth, that was no small haul! It was quite a lot! However, Su Yu's appetite had grown, or rather, his horizons had broadened. Fifty-five merit points were substantial, but in his eyes, they weren't the main prize. Divine Character Competitions didn't happen all the time! This had essentially been a special benefit for new students. The real senior students wouldn't participate in competitions like this; they proved their might on the Top 100 Rankings. ... With the competition concluded, everyone exited the Secret Character Hall. They still had the monthly exam in the afternoon, so they needed to return and rest to recover their energy. The advanced class's monthly exam this month differed from the last. Furthermore, almost all the students had participated in the competition, expending a massive amount of willpower. Su Yu didn't ask what the afternoon exam would entail; instead, he hurried straight back to the Research Center. Basement floor one. Storage vault. Currently, the vault housed quite a few treasures, including blood essence and texts of will. These were all Su Yu's belongings. Bai Feng... had none. He was poor! Su Yu placed the Seeking the Secluded in Mountains and Seas Scroll in the vault, feeling a surge of excitement. He didn't rush to open it. He would deal with it when he returned tonight. Besides, he needed to purchase some Dragon Silkworm blood essence. According to the Suanni, opening this scroll was similar to opening his own golden album: it required Dragon Silkworm blood essence, but after a period of time, it would seal itself back up. "A Heaven-tier martial technique!" Su Yu inhaled deeply. What an incredible treasure. Casting a lingering glance at the scroll, Su Yu resisted the urge to study it immediately. He dutifully headed to the filtration chamber to recover his energy, as he still had the monthly exam to attend in the afternoon. ... Afternoon. Advanced class. Liu Hong arrived once again. "Everyone expended quite a bit of energy this morning, so this month's advanced class exam won't involve the civilization chronicle. As for cultural courses, starting this month, you will take the qualification exams on your own. Passing a course earns ten points and one merit point, which counts toward accumulated merit!" "Next month, building upon this month's foundation, passing an additional course will follow the same standard!" They had heard about this beforehand, so no one was surprised. Su Yu had taken the tests a few times this month and passed four courses, which was quite good. "As for progress in willpower and divine characters, this morning's Divine Character Competition already showed us a fair bit. However, some students didn't participate..." Liu Hong glanced toward Jia Mingzhen and the others, smiling. "Let's not make it so complicated. In a moment, I will directly release willpower suppression. Whoever holds out the longest will take first place! It will be calculated by the minute: holding out for one minute earns ten points, and ten minutes earns a hundred points." Pausing, Liu Hong added, "Starting next month, it seems some people in our class plan to challenge the Top 100 Rankings. According to the rules of the advanced class, your rank on the Top 100 Rankings represents your monthly exam rank. Therefore, if someone makes it onto the Top 100 Rankings, and they are the only one, they will automatically be first in the monthly exam without needing to take the test!" In the end, strength was all that mattered! The monthly exam existed to push students to become stronger. If you were the sole person to make the Top 100 Rankings, who else could possibly take first place? "If multiple people make it, ranking will follow the Top 100 Rankings. So if ten people from our class make the list, the top ten for future monthly exams will be set automatically!" Liu Hong continued, "Those who were in the bottom ten last month, I hope you won't be there again this month. Three consecutive times, and you may be advised to withdraw or transferred to the intermediate class, and your instructors' ratings will be downgraded as well!" He glanced at Su Yu with a faint sense of helplessness. Originally, he had intended to let Su Yu land in the bottom ten a few times... but this kid kept soaring upward, completely impossible to suppress. Even the class's monstrous geniuses couldn't keep him down! As for his own student, Lin Yao—Liu Hong had figured Lin Yao was rated top-high, a certified genius, right? In the end... the less said, the better! Lin Yao was practically on the verge of becoming Su Yu's lackey now. What else could Liu Hong say? That plan had clearly failed! As for Wu Lan... forget it. Wu Qi's younger sister was so dim-witted that if Su Yu sold her off, she would probably help him count the money. Liu Hong wasted no more time and said briskly, "Does anyone have any objections to this format?" Su Yu remained silent for a moment before raising his hand. "Teacher, when you release your willpower suppression, you won't deliberately target anyone, will you?" "..." Liu Hong let out a laugh. "Don't worry, I won't be alone. Another researcher will be supervising shortly. Su Yu, do you really think your teacher would target anyone?" Su Yu said nothing. *Of course you would!* *If there were no supervisor, it would be a miracle if you didn't target me!* Even with a supervisor present, he still had to be careful. While they were speaking, a Tengkong assistant instructor entered the room. It was not Huang Yao, who had already gone to the Yuqiang Department and was no longer at the academy. With this person's arrival, Liu Hong said nothing more. Moments later, Liu Hong announced, "Then the monthly exam officially begins! The effect is similar to the civilization chronicle. If you can't hold out, leave on your own!" As soon as the words left his mouth, a powerful pressure crashed down! Su Yu's body sank! The next instant, Su Yu's expression changed, and he shot a glare at Liu Hong! Liu Hong wore a placid expression. He wasn't overtly targeting Su Yu, but... his willpower was probing for something. Su Yu could feel someone's willpower prying into him! He silently cursed Liu Hong for being shameless! No wonder the bastard had chosen this exam method! *Shadow Barrier, activate!* Concealing aperture after aperture! Su Yu had already been cloaking them, but now, he gradually eased the concealment on a portion of them—seventy-six apertures! Su Yu released the concealment on seventy-six apertures! Instantly, the apertures that had previously been cleansed by the Brightlight Bird blood essence began to radiate light! As Liu Hong was probing, his gaze suddenly shifted! He looked toward Su Yu in an instant! His eyes held a hint of shock! *What is going on?* Seventy-six apertures was no small amount—Qianjun sixth layer, just eight apertures shy of the seventh layer. But... why was the yuanqi inside this kid's apertures so exceptionally pure? It wasn't just Liu Hong. Many students in the classroom turned toward Su Yu, who was glowing like a being made of light, their faces filled with suspicion. Jia Mingzhen and his group also looked toward Su Yu, somewhat surprised! *Such pure yuanqi!* His apertures were literally glowing! "This kid... he's probably not any weaker than some seventh-layer Qianjun. In fact, he might be stronger!" They quickly made their assessment. As for Liu Hong probing them... hah, what an idiot! The academy elders casually revealed a portion of their apertures for him to see. Some showed over eighty, some over ninety, and Jia Mingzhen brazenly revealed 108 apertures for him to inspect. *You want to look?* *Take a look then!* *Surprised, aren't you?* Ninth-layer Qianjun! Apertures that could be merged could naturally be separated; for Shanhai Realm experts to fool a Tengkong cultivator was child's play. Liu Hong wasn't particularly surprised by them—just a bunch of guys at the seventh-layer Qianjun or above! What surprised him far more was Su Yu. Su Yu had progressed so quickly; how could his aperture yuanqi possibly be so pure? By rights, it should have been completely impure and chaotic! This kid seemed to cultivate using blood essence, having consumed quite a lot of it, and the filtration chamber at the Wen Tan Research Center was a hub for blood essence. This made no sense! Wan Mingze and the others turned to look at Su Yu as well. Su Yu remained unperturbed. Revealing a modest amount didn't hurt; besides, once they fought, this couldn't be hidden anyway. It was just pure yuanqi! What, had they never seen it before? However, Su Yu refused to take a loss lying down. Feeling annoyed and aggrieved, he looked at Liu Hong and shouted, "Teacher, your willpower broke through my willpower defense. Isn't that crossing the line?" "..." Liu Hong was at a loss for words, saying calmly, "You couldn't withstand the pressure yourself and needed your willpower to resist. If you're unwilling to reveal your strength, then forfeit the exam!" Su Yu put on a face full of indignation! With suppressed anger, he said in a low voice, "I never planned to hide anything; I just didn't want to draw too much attention. Teacher, please withdraw the willpower probing inside my body. This is against the rules!" The supervising Tengkong cultivator also looked at Su Yu in surprise, then glanced at Liu Hong, speaking in a measured tone: "Assistant Instructor Liu, keeping the pressure external is sufficient. Probing is indeed against the rules. It's completely normal for students to have their own secrets. Do not overstep, Assistant Instructor Liu!" Liu Hong smiled and nodded. "Understood. I was merely startled just now. My apologies to Student Su Yu!" When a Tengkong expert apologized so easily, what more could Su Yu say? He silently cursed him in his heart! *Good thing that wasn't all I have!* The pressure persisted, and gradually, students who could no longer endure began to withdraw on their own. Jia Mingzhen and his group remained entirely nonchalant, either snacking or murmuring quietly among themselves. Liu Hong shot them several glances, inwardly cursing! These fellows didn't act like new students at all! They felt more like seasoned slickers! All of them were in the Qianjun Realm, with none in Wanshi. That was normal enough. As for willpower, their fullness levels were quite high—the lowest was above eighty percent, and two of them were approaching ninety-five percent. *They can all be considered monstrous talents, but something feels off!* If they were merely geniuses, he wouldn't be surprised. The crux was that their demeanor bore no resemblance to young students like Su Yu. They had the air of people who had seen far too much of the world, looking down their noses at others! Liu Hong kept his composure and continued releasing his willpower suppression. Who was strong and who was weak was clear at a glance. Those who had only recently achieved the Yangxing Realm soon retreated from the classroom. Gradually, only the strong remained. Those who had performed well in the morning's Divine Character Competition were still present. At this stage, however, physical cultivation also provided some assistance. The Secret Character Realm had only tested willpower and divine characters, which differed from the current situation. Students who had reached the Qianjun Realm now unleashed the power of their apertures, gritting their teeth and holding on, using their physical strength to help resist the suppression. After ten minutes, not many people remained. Two of Jia Mingzhen's companions left, leaving three of them behind. None of the monstrous students like Su Yu had departed. Liu Hong's pressure continued, growing steadily more intense. At twelve minutes, Xia Huyou bolted. At fifteen minutes, Zhao Shiqi felt unwilling to yield. Erupting with the power of his physical apertures and unleashing the aura of a seventh-layer Qianjun, he held out for another two minutes before reluctantly walking out! At eighteen minutes, Xia Chan furrowed her brows and left, looking disappointed. At twenty minutes, Hu Qiusheng stumbled backward and withdrew, looking helpless. Zheng Yunhui, on the other hand, erupted with the aura of an eighth-layer Qianjun and continued to hold his ground. Now, only four people remained: Wan Mingze, Zheng Yunhui, Su Yu, and Jia Mingzhen. As for Zheng Hong, he had left at roughly the same time as Zhao Shiqi. Su Yu was bathed in radiant light, his sixth-layer Qianjun cultivation fully on display as sweat poured down his face while he held on. Thanks to the purity of his yuanqi, he had managed to endure up to this point. Seeing that both Zheng Yunhui and Wan Mingze were tottering on their feet, Su Yu also staggered toward the door, sweat dripping continuously from his chin. Seeing that he could no longer hold out, Wan Mingze and Zheng Yunhui exchanged a glance. Both let out a breath of relief, ceased holding on, and walked out one after the other. As for the classroom, the remaining Jia Mingzhen was still chewing on food. Seeing them all flee, he muttered, "So weak? I thought I could hold out for another five minutes!" "..." The others were speechless. Saying nothing, they walked away. Jia Mingzhen didn't hold on much longer either. After about three minutes, his face turned pale, and he scrambled out in a crooked run! Liu Hong's eyes flickered with suspicion and bewilderment! *Damn it, you ran out?* Su Yu and the others had all shuffled out step by step, but you ran out! What was that supposed to mean? You hadn't reached your limit yet? Was this fellow really that strong? *What kind of freaks are in this class?!* Liu Hong was completely exasperated! In previous classes, barely anyone could hold out under his pressure for ten minutes, yet this class had a whole crowd! Even in his own year, among the five of them—Xia Yuwen, Hu Wensheng, Bai Feng, Wu Qi, and himself—Hu Wensheng at his best back then had been comparable to Zheng Hong now. As for Liu Hong himself, he had probably been around Xia Huyou's level. Xia Yuwen had indeed been formidable, likely on par with Wan Mingze and his peers. But this Jia Mingzhen... what was his deal? And Su Yu—his overall combat prowess was probably among the top five in the class by now. ... A short while later, the students returned. Liu Hong shot another glance at Jia Mingzhen, said nothing further about it, and announced: "First place: Wan Mingze, 290 points!" "Second place: Hu Qiusheng, 280 points!" "Third place: Su Yu, 260 points!" "Fourth place: a tie between Zheng Yunhui and Jia Mingzhen, 250 points!" "..." Jia Mingzhen's 250 points came entirely from the willpower suppression assessment; his score for cultural courses... was zero! Zheng Yunhui's cultural score was lower than Su Yu's, leaving him ten points behind Su Yu. At this moment, Zheng Yunhui rubbed his chin and looked at Jia Mingzhen, muttering, "I thought I was uncultured and ignorant, but who knew... someone's even more uncultured than me!" Jia Mingzhen hadn't scored high in cultural courses last time either! This time, he had literally scored zero! Zheng Yunhui looked at him with disdain, baring his teeth in a grin. "At least I got thirty points and passed three courses. Some people are just plain stupid!" "..." Jia Mingzhen glared at him with an expression that said *you're dead*! *Damn it, you think I can't pass over a hundred courses next month?* *I was just giving you youngsters a chance, and you dare despise me? Tonight I'm putting a sack over your head and beating you half to death!* Su Yu didn't say anything. Third place wasn't bad. His cultural score was fairly high, but Wan Mingze and Hu Qiusheng had also passed several courses. It seemed those guys worked incredibly hard too! *So all that talk about geniuses not needing to work hard is a lie!* *They all pretend they don't study, but in private, they probably stay up reading books until dawn!* Su Yu cursed inwardly. Were they going to leave any room for ordinary people to survive? It was bad enough that they had talent, but they worked this hard too, even passing so many cultural courses. How were kids from ordinary backgrounds supposed to turn the tables? *No way. Starting next month, four hours of sleep a day will be more than enough!* Su Yu set a goal for himself. Bastards like Wan Mingze had talent and resources, yet instead of spending their days traveling and chasing girls, they stayed up all night studying. It gave him an intense sense of crisis! Even if he reached the ninth layer of Qianjun, he still wouldn't feel secure. If he wasn't even first among the freshmen, how was he going to compete with anyone else? *The moment I get back, I'm cultivating that Heaven-tier martial technique. When I get onto the Top 100 Rankings later, I'll drag them out one by one and thrash them! No matter how many hours you study, I'll study a few hours more than you!* Su Yu made up his mind in secret!