Five Elements Cultural Art

Inside the secret realm. Drop after drop of blood essence was devoured as if it cost nothing. In his legs, apertures were blasted open one after another. Three hundred drops of blood essence, all from the middle and late Wanshi Realm, boasting greater potency and duration than those from the early Wanshi Realm. One, two... Aperture after aperture lit up! As the Body Strengthening Art circulated, Su Yu's physical body grew continuously stronger, far tougher than that of an ordinary Qianjun Ninth Layer cultivator. Cast the foundation in Qianjun—and that foundation was bodily strength. He used Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence precisely because this creature's blood essence was better suited for tempering the flesh, and Su Yu was running the very foundation of their strength: the Body Strengthening Art! A full day and night passed! By the time Su Yu had opened all twenty-four apertures, a substantial amount of Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence still remained. ... "They're all open!" A look of joy appeared on Su Yu's face. Opening the first tier had proven much easier than he had anticipated, largely thanks to the willpower text. This time, Su Yu clearly felt the text's profound effect. When opening his apertures, he had experienced a sense of complete familiarity and intuition. Which aperture to open, where to open it, how to open it... It felt as though he had already opened them once before, and they had merely been blocked up, waiting for him to clear them anew. That was the power of a willpower text. Su Yu stood up and tested linking the apertures. Forty-four apertures flared to life! In the twenty-four newly opened apertures, the yuanqi did not flow completely smoothly yet, but Su Yu didn't mind. He could simply wash through them with Brightlight Bird blood essence later. "Break!" Su Yu let out a low bark. With the apertures in his legs wide open, he whipped a leg outward! Bang! Yuanqi detonated, forming a vortex of energy. Fast! Su Yu had only one impression: the strike was blistering fast! Like a phantom! A single whip of his leg caused the yuanqi to burst, leaving behind only an afterimage in the air. "So fast!" Su Yu was amazed. Exerting force through his right foot, he sprang up into the air! He soared remarkably high with that single leap! In midair, yuanqi erupted beneath his feet, allowing him to briefly levitate. He whipped another leg kick, and an afterimage appeared once more! Rumble! The yuanqi blasted apart! Like a toddler who had just learned to walk, Su Yu was filled with sheer delight. Stepping on thin air, he launched kick after kick, over and over. Whenever his yuanqi was drained, the secret realm's dense energy quickly restored him to full capacity. "So strong!" Su Yu had no opponent to test it on, but he could clearly feel its devastating power! If Zheng Yunhui stood before him right now, Su Yu felt confident he could blast him apart with a single kick! And the speed was incredible! Yuanqi detonated in his legs as Su Yu touched down. In a blur, he darted across the ground and appeared ten meters away. "Mountain Shatterer!" Su Yu muttered to himself. The name sounded rather silly, but the martial technique was truly magnificent. The moment he kicked, illusory afterimages even manifested to confound the eye. At this stage, Su Yu had not yet discovered its other effects. If an enemy were truly standing before him, the moment Su Yu kicked, his foe would perceive time slipping away, the surrounding scenery shifting and distorting at dizzying speed. "Incredible!" By now, Su Yu could no longer contain his excitement. Stamping the ground, leaping, soaring! Kicking! Explosive roars rang out one after another! After an unknown amount of time, Su Yu suppressed his excitement, took a deep breath, and looked toward the remaining blood essence. Having mastered Mountain Shatterer, Su Yu did not plan to cultivate the second form just yet. He intended to consume the Five Elements blood essence to see if he could extract the willpower cultivation methods of the Five Elements races. If they required opening apertures, the remaining Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence might even help him open a few. Ten drops of Five Elements blood essence would allow him to activate the album's pages and trigger a round of technique circulation. As long as the technique circulated once, Su Yu would understand how to open the apertures and cultivate it. Even without the Five Elements blood essence in the future, he could open the apertures directly and practice the technique. Su Yu had also considered opening apertures manually to cultivate the Body Strengthening Art, but it required far too many apertures. All that Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence might not even be enough to open the apertures demanded by the Body Strengthening Art. "The human body's apertures are truly mysterious—and so numerous!" At this moment, Su Yu couldn't help but sigh in wonder. There were simply too many. Across different techniques, even with overlap, he was constantly discovering new apertures. Just how many apertures could a human body open? If every single one were opened, it meant he would never need to open apertures again when learning a new technique; he could just cultivate directly. "Just from what I've encountered so far, I've discovered over two hundred apertures!" Su Yu took a deep breath. He truly wanted to open every single aperture across his entire body. That way, whenever he circulated any myriad race technique once, he would know which apertures it utilized, and next time, even without blood essence or the album, he could practice it directly. The more apertures opened, the greater one's yuanqi reserves, and the longer one could sustain combat. His explosive power would be higher, and his adaptability greater. Every part of his body could become a lethal weapon. ... Pushing those thoughts aside, Su Yu promptly swallowed a drop of Five Elements blood essence. The album trembled slightly! The next moment, Su Yu was delighted. It opened! He had been killed by the Five Elements races before! Right now, he was genuinely glad that the Five Elements races had killed him in his dreams. Thank goodness for the past, and thank you for killing me back then! If you hadn't killed me, I wouldn't have been able to unlock the album's pages. Much obliged! "Water Spirit race (Wanshi Second Layer): Racial Abilities: Liquefaction (unlocked with blood essence), Water Affiliation (unlocked with blood essence) Basic Cultural Art: Water Element Art (unlocked with blood essence)" Su Yu shook slightly! Looking at the newly unlocked page, he noticed the most glaring difference—a change of a single character! "Basic Yuan Art" versus "Basic Cultural Art"! Even the Soul-Devouring Insect's Soul-Devouring Art had been labeled a basic yuan art. Yet the Water Spirit race's technique was a basic cultural art! "A cultivation technique for Civilization Masters!" Su Yu was overjoyed! It truly was! The water spirits cultivated a cultural art from the very start, similar to the human race's Myriad Characters Scripture. The key difference was that humans had to wait until reaching the Tengkong Realm before they could practice the Myriad Characters Scripture! Thrilled, Su Yu wasted no time and began devouring the blood essence of the other Five Elements races. "Metal Spirit race (Wanshi Third Layer): Racial Abilities: Weapon Transformation (unlocked with blood essence), Metal Affiliation (unlocked with blood essence) Basic Cultural Art: Metal Element Art (unlocked with blood essence)" After that, Su Yu consumed the other drops of blood essence in turn. Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—all five elemental arts appeared! "Let's see what happens!" In his excitement, Su Yu couldn't wait to test the results! Could it truly cultivate willpower? Actively cultivate it to grow stronger? Swallowing a drop of Water Person blood essence to activate the Water Element Art, Su Yu initially expected bodily apertures to open. But the next instant, he froze in shock! Not bodily apertures! At that exact moment, something shifted within his sea of will. It was as though it had learned to actively breathe! Yes, breathing! "Wait... the sea of will... has apertures too?" At this moment, Su Yu was utterly astounded! He had never imagined that apertures existed within the sea of will. Right now, apertures were opening inside his sea of will, absorbing a unique form of energy that was definitely not yuanqi! Su Yu sensed it carefully! Thirty-six! His sea of will seemed to have become a honeycomb, giving rise to thirty-six tiny whirlpools. Currents of special energy, reminiscent of the power in the Fragment Room, surged into his sea of will. His willpower was growing! The next instant, Su Yu suddenly cursed out loud! "Fuck!" Tracing the source of the energy, he couldn't help himself. A willpower text resting on the ground, which had plenty of willpower lingering on it just moments ago, was now completely drained! "Fuck, this absorbs willpower!" Su Yu's face twisted with heartache! Even if this was a defective castoff written by a Tengkong Realm cultivator with mediocre effects, it was still worth a hundred merit points! He had only read it once, and the willpower attached to it had been sucked dry by this technique! "Wait... right, the Fragment Room!" A thought struck Su Yu like lightning. He remembered a fantastic place to cultivate: the Fragment Room. There was an immense heap of scattered, chaotic willpower over there! Could he absorb that to cultivate? Furthermore, could blood essence be used to cultivate this? Su Yu wasn't sure. He swallowed a drop of Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence and tried to open apertures in his sea of will, but reality proved he was overthinking it. It didn't work! "Apertures in the sea of will can only be opened with willpower?" Su Yu reached a conclusion! In other words, aside from using the blood essence of the Five Elements races themselves, opening the apertures for these basic cultural arts could only be done with willpower. "Does that mean the Myriad Characters Scripture actually opens apertures in the sea of will too?" "And that's why it can actively absorb willpower to grow stronger?" Next, Su Yu activated the cultural arts of the other four races one after another. His eyes shone with brilliant light. Five distinct arts, each opening thirty-six apertures. Apertures within the sea of will! A total of one hundred and eighty apertures! Not a single overlap! Yet the five arts gave Su Yu the feeling that while each formed its own closed circuit, they seemed capable of interlocking together. Like five tiers of a single grand technique! Each set of apertures formed its own circuit, and in the end, they could merge into one whole. "If cultural arts operate like yuan arts, does this mean I've just obtained a willpower cultivation technique that opens one hundred and eighty apertures?" Su Yu swallowed hard! Could this be real? How many apertures in the sea of will did the Myriad Characters Scripture open? He didn't know, but he could ask Bai Feng later. No, he could just ask the two teachers outside when he left. Almost all Civilization Masters in the academy cultivated the Myriad Characters Scripture. "Still, combining five sets of techniques into one won't be easy!" "And opening a hundred and eighty apertures sounds like an absolute fantasy!" "If I can just open thirty-six and actively absorb willpower to cultivate, that's already incredible!" Right now, Su Yu felt as though pleasant surprises were arriving in non-stop waves. Even though other kinds of blood essence couldn't help him open apertures in his sea of will besides the Five Elements races, Su Yu didn't mind. Once he returned, knowing how to open them, he could slowly grind them open using the energy inside the Fragment Room. Thirty-six apertures—would one every three days in the Fragment Room be realistic? At most, it would take three months before he could practice this willpower technique. If he could purchase more Five Elements blood essence, that pace would skyrocket! "The Fragment Room really is a treasure trove!" Su Yu couldn't help marveling. He realized he had previously underestimated the Fragment Room. "And that's just the Fragment Room in our research center. I heard the Cangshu Pavilion has one too... Damn, we absolutely cannot lose control of the Cangshu Pavilion, or getting inside will be nearly impossible for me!" It was fine right now while his martial uncle was in charge. If someone else took over, they might bar Su Yu from ever stepping foot inside. The discarded original texts of the myriad races in the Cangshu Pavilion were far more numerous than those in the research center. The chaotic willpower gathered there had to be far denser! "I wonder if others in the academy cultivate like this too..." Su Yu weighed the possibility and found it quite likely. If the Myriad Characters Scripture could also actively absorb willpower, the Fragment Room was genuinely a sacred cultivation site. Many pairs of eyes were undoubtedly fixed on the Cangshu Pavilion's Fragment Room. Before, Su Yu had thought people fought over the Cangshu Pavilion solely for the original texts of the myriad races. Thinking about it now... perhaps the Fragment Room in the Cangshu Pavilion was an equally vital cultivation ground. "Wait, the academy might even possess a secret realm filled with willpower!" Su Yu murmured internally. This was the beauty of the academy! If you knocked around in the outside world, could you ever find such secret realms? Could you have access to a Fragment Room? Completely impossible! Only within an academy could you have the opportunity to enjoy such treasured lands and secret grounds. Only in an academy could you pay a modest price to enter a secret realm to cultivate. Outsiders who wanted to enter were merely daydreaming! Even the War Academy had to pay an exorbitant price if they wished to borrow the yuanqi secret realm. "That's why... we have to hold power!" Su Yu muttered. Without authority, you wouldn't even get the chance to step inside. If the secret realm fell into the hands of the Single Divine Character Faction, they could concoct countless excuses to bar you from entry. What Su Yu didn't know was that the academy did indeed possess a willpower secret realm, and opening it each time came at immense cost. Zhou Mingren had argued with Wan Tiansheng over it, and Wu Yuehua had even had a fallout with Zhou Mingren on the spot! Zhou Mingren could open such a high-tier secret realm if he wanted, but her people had to enter for free—she wasn't paying a copper. ... After that, Su Yu put those thoughts to rest. The Five Elements arts couldn't be cultivated for now. With not much blood essence left, Su Yu pondered for a while before deciding to use it to open apertures for the Thunder Yuan Blade. The Thunder Yuan Blade required forty apertures in total, with quite a few overlapping. Nine of them were the nine Kaiyuan apertures. In the end, there weren't many left that Su Yu had yet to open—only eleven. Once these eleven were opened, the total number of apertures Su Yu had opened, counting the nine Kaiyuan apertures, would reach one hundred and fifty-three! In terms of yuanqi depth, he would match someone cultivating a top-tier Heaven-rank cultivation art. Such a person opened 144 apertures, which, added to the nine Kaiyuan apertures, also made 153. Their yuanqi reserves would be on par, though the other person's 144 apertures formed a cohesive system, yielding far greater burst power than Su Yu's. Su Yu's God of War Art could only unleash the power of 108 apertures. For eleven apertures, the remaining blood essence should be plenty. Wasting no time, Su Yu immediately resumed cultivating. ... The evening of October 2nd. Su Yu had been inside the secret realm for more than a day. And the yuanqi secret realm had been shut down for an entire day. Some researchers had already lodged complaints, though nobody paid them any heed, of course. Taking a one-day break was completely normal. Just come back another day! Perhaps the secret realm needed maintenance, or perhaps something had gone slightly amiss. In any case, guards were tending to it, and maintenance was likely underway. Waiting a few days was no big deal. ... Yangxing Garden. Xia Huyou dialed Su Yu's communicator. This was his tenth attempt. No answer! "This guy... must have gone to the secret realm!" Xia Huyou was certain Su Yu had entered the secret realm. And since the yuanqi secret realm had remained closed from yesterday until now, Xia Huyou couldn't help letting his imagination wander. "He has to be in the yuanqi secret realm. Now that it's closed off... wait, has he been inside for a whole day? It couldn't be that they closed the secret realm because of him, could it?" "Zheng Yunhui is challenging the Top 100 students tomorrow. Will this guy come out in time?" Xia Huyou was somewhat surprised by how long Su Yu had stayed in the secret realm, and eager for him to come out soon. Tomorrow would mark the freshmen's first challenge against the Top 100 students, and plenty of onlookers were eager to watch the spectacle. It would be a shame if Su Yu remained in seclusion and missed it. "That guy might already be at Qianjun Seventh Layer!" Xia Huyou grumbled. Or maybe even stronger! And as for divine characters, he might possess more than just three or four. If it came down to sheer strength, among this year's freshmen, Wan Mingze was likely the only one who might be stronger. Hu Qiusheng probably wasn't a match for Su Yu. As for Jia Mingzhen... Xia Huyou cursed under his breath! I don't even have information on that guy! Those people were real, but... the facts didn't match up at all. He had dossiers on every one of them, and none of them should have been so strong or so mysterious. "It's probably something Principal Wan whipped up!" Xia Huyou stopped thinking about it. He found those individuals far too mysterious and didn't even want to factor them in. Among the freshmen, in Xia Huyou's view, the strongest was most likely Wan Mingze! That guy was remarkably talented, powerful, and kept his depth well hidden. Second place previously seemed to belong to Hu Qiusheng. Old Hu was a master schemer, and his grandson was likely cut from the same cloth, hiding plenty of cards up his sleeve. As for Zheng Yunhui... he had won against Su Yu last time, but it had been a pyrrhic victory. Now, it was hard to say. That bastard Su Yu had bought nearly twenty thousand merit points' worth of resources from him. There was no way Xia Huyou would believe Su Yu hadn't gotten stronger. Twenty thousand merit points! Excluding willpower texts, Su Yu had spent over ten thousand merit points on blood essence alone. "Wan Mingze, Su Yu, Hu Qiusheng, Zheng Yunhui, Xia Chan, Zheng Hong, Zhao Shiqi..." Xia Huyou ranked this year's batch of freshmen. As for Su Meng and Zhang Hao, they were roughly on par with Zhao Shiqi. If he included himself, this crop of freshmen genuinely had the potential to sweep the bottom of the Top 100 Rankings right now and knock out the bottom ten students! The Top 100 Rankings wasn't an accumulation of just one year's students. Typically, students enrolled at eighteen and stepped down from the list after turning thirty. Twelve cohorts of students! Aside from those who had already broken through to Tengkong, all the strongest remaining figures were on that board. Freshmen sweeping out the bottom ten right after entering the academy had been unheard of in previous years. "Great Xia War Academy, Longwu Academy, Jiutian Academy... those academies have produced quite a few geniuses this year as well." "Especially Great Xia War Academy—they produced a monstrous freak..." Xia Huyou analyzed the intelligence he had gathered. There were quite a few monstrous geniuses walking the warrior path this year, though not quite as many as here at the Civilization Academy. "In past years, whenever the two academies clashed, the Civilization Academy got battered. If there's a contest this year... Principal Zheng is probably going to cry!" This year, because the Myriad Races Academy had opened, many monstrous talents had flocked to the Civilization Academy instead. Like Zheng Yunhui of the Zheng family, Zhao Shiqi of the Zhao family... Under ordinary circumstances in previous years, they would all have entered the War Academy. And Wan Mingze and his peers should have headed to the Quest Realm. Letting his thoughts wander, Xia Huyou considered Su Yu once more. The guy had no family backing and no background, but phenomenal talent. He made an excellent target for recruitment. "Cousin Yuwen is returning soon. Once he's back... I'll have to fight for my place too!" Giving up without a fight didn't match his ambitions. After all, this family legacy had been passed down by his grandfather and father. Even though everyone shared the surname Xia, if it truly went to Xia Yuwen, Xia Huyou would hardly be pleased. "Su Yu, Bai Feng..." Murmuring to himself for a while, Xia Huyou gradually drifted off to sleep. In his dreams, his willpower fluctuated continuously. Around him, damaged willpower texts drifted, leaking willpower. The grandson of an Invincible expert! The son of the Great Xia Manor Head! Without serious capital, could someone even call themselves a second-generation elite? A cultural art tailored for the Qianjun and Wanshi realms—something no one else had—the Xia family actually possessed! Naturally, it opened very few apertures, a mere eighteen. Compared to yuan arts, that would be trash, but among cultural arts, and specifically for Civilization Masters in Qianjun and Wanshi, it was an invaluable treasure. Even Xia Chan wasn't permitted to learn it. It was handed down strictly along the direct line—and not just any direct line, but solely to the heir of the Manor Head. All so the heir to the Manor Head could grow strong ahead of time and widen the gap, preventing any failure to suppress his peers. Xia Huyou slumbered contentedly. His willpower strengthened steadily. Faintly, signs of overflow began to appear. Once, Bai Feng had remarked that the sea of will was like a bottle. The day willpower filled it to the brim and spilled over was the day one stepped into Tengkong! Some were stuck at the bottleneck their entire lives, never able to make it overflow. Others reached Tengkong within six months of enrolling. Geniuses from the Great Zhou Manor had plenty of powerful family members, but could their experts ever compare to the Xia family of the Great Xia Manor? Once Xia Longwu exited seclusion, the Xia family would boast two Invincible experts! Aside from his grandfather and father, the Xia family had an undisclosed Sun and Moon Realm expert—who knew just how strong his second grandfather truly was? ... At the moment Xia Huyou drifted off to sleep, a figure flashed across midair. Wan Tiansheng had intended to look for Su Yu. Only to find that the boy wasn't in Yangxing Garden, nor did he seem to be at the research center. Did that mean he had entered a secret realm? Within the academy, the only places Wan Tiansheng couldn't probe directly were the secret realms formed by Eternal divine characters. "Xia Huyou..." Wan Tiansheng glanced down at the floor below and chuckled softly. "You didn't take after your father; you take after that fatty instead!" Shaking his head, he couldn't be bothered to intervene. The Xia family was deeply polarized—some were dumb as rocks, while others were shrewd as foxes. Since Su Yu wasn't around, he didn't linger. His figure flickered and vanished in an instant. ... October 3rd, past three in the morning. Su Yu stepped out of the secret realm. Across his entire body, 153 apertures were open. Over thirty more pages in the album had been unlocked. By now, Su Yu had unlocked over eighty pages in total. He didn't even bother looking at some of them; biting off more than he could chew would only slow him down. Right now, he lacked the capital to test every single cultivation technique and racial ability. That cost money! Knowing when to stop was enough! At Qianjun Ninth Layer, with a formidable physical body and a mid-tier Heaven-rank martial technique under his belt, Su Yu felt confident that even if he were placed in the War Academy, he could charge straight onto the Wanshi Rankings without needing willpower or divine characters. "Top 100 Rankings..." Su Yu exhaled. Concealing all the glow from his apertures, he walked out of the secret realm. Inside the lodge. Old Huang was equally straightforward this time. "Let me seal it for you—" The words caught in his throat as he froze. Damn it, how come your yuanqi isn't leaking? He stared at Su Yu, and Su Yu looked back at him, smiling. Surprised? My "Yin" divine character can seal it all by itself. Impressed yet? You still wanted to pull that trick! Old Huang's expression stiffened. Quickly regaining his composure, he smiled and said, "Could it be that the martial technique from the Mountain and Sea Seeker Inscription has a concealing effect? The effect is quite impressive, worthy of a Heaven-rank martial technique! Even I couldn't spot any trace..." Su Yu's heart gave a violent lurch! His expression shifted slightly, and he forced out, "Teacher, I don't understand what you mean..." Old Huang said calmly, "What's the big deal? Decades ago, when Hong Tan wrote the Mountain and Sea Seeker Inscription, I already knew a martial technique was hidden inside. I just couldn't be bothered to ask for it. Otherwise, I would have taken it long ago. Would it ever have been your turn to practice it?" Old Huang gave an airy chuckle. "Our generation values freedom and carefree living. If something isn't ours, we can't be bothered to covet it! It's just a Heaven-rank martial technique. Heh, did you think I don't have one?" "..." Su Yu was stunned. Holy crap! You really knew! That's magnanimous beyond belief—passing up a Heaven-rank martial technique! "Then... does my grandmaster know?" "Him?" Old Huang scoffed disdainfully. "Of course he doesn't know! Don't look at how he's stronger than me—when it comes to keen observation, he's nowhere near my level! By the way, what tier of Heaven rank is this technique?" "Mid-tier, the very top of it. It opens 132 apertures." Su Yu answered honestly. The old man already knew there was a technique, and that it was Heaven-rank, so why bother hiding it? He had thought that aside from himself and Suan Ni, nobody else in the world knew. So generous and open-minded! At this moment, Su Yu felt genuine admiration. This was left behind by an Invincible expert, yet the elder didn't care at all. A true master! Old Huang stroked his chin, tugged on his beard, accidentally yanked out a whisker, and nonchalantly blew it away. Inwardly, he cursed violently! Holy mother of fuck! The very top of mid-tier Heaven rank! It's that absurd? If I'd really discovered it decades ago, would it ever have been your turn! Beside them, Old Nie struggled to hold in his laughter. He couldn't laugh. If he laughed, he'd be smacking Old Huang right across the face, which would be dreadfully awkward. Forcing himself to maintain an exterior of calm, Old Huang chuckled. "Not bad! But let me warn you: don't go bringing just any random junk into the secret realm next time, understood? It easily causes issues! Especially Eternal divine characters. If you bring one inside and they clash, blowing up the secret realm, let me tell you, even selling off your grandmaster wouldn't cover the compensation!" Su Yu felt awkward! How could I! Wait, no... I really might have an Eternal divine character... Actually, the human race doesn't have true Eternal Civilization Masters, nor human Eternal divine characters. Su Yu muttered inwardly, I don't even know what the album is supposed to be. Since Old Huang already knew, Su Yu had nothing to say and remained awkwardly silent. Old Huang smiled, having caught his breath, and asked, "So did you master it this time?" "Yes, I succeeded with the first tier!" "Not bad!" Old Huang nodded calmly. This time he was genuinely calm; staying for over a day made sense. "Head on back. Because of you, the secret realm was shut down for a whole day. You're not allowed back this month!" Hearing this, dawn broke upon Su Yu! No wonder he hadn't seen anyone else come in after a full day of cultivation—it had been shut down! "Thank you, teachers!" Su Yu felt grateful. Only now did he feel that the Civilization Academy... truly lived up to its role of imparting knowledge and guiding disciples. Teachers possessed the grace and magnanimity expected of mentors. In his eyes, the two elders guarding the secret realm were vastly more dependable than the experts of the Single Divine Character Faction—and truth be told, they felt even more reliable than his own teacher. As he was about to leave, Su Yu hesitated, then asked, "Teachers, how many apertures does the Myriad Characters Scripture open?" "The Myriad Characters Scripture doesn't open apertures!" Old Huang replied casually, "That's a technique for Civilization Masters. Cultivation for us Civilization Masters differs from warriors. What we open aren't bodily apertures, but divine apertures! Of course, for your current understanding, you can think of them as the same thing, but in truth, it's quite complex. They are divine apertures tied to the sea of will. You'll understand in the future!" Su Yu nodded, still curious. "Then, like the God of War Art, are they divided into ranks?" "Of course, the ranking system is roughly the same! But just like cultural weapons versus martial weapons, cultural weapons are simply worth far more—a tenfold difference! For the exact same top-tier Yellow-rank technique, one on the warrior path isn't worth much, but for a Civilization Master, it's an absolute treasure!" Old Huang explained, "The Myriad Characters Scripture opens seventy-two divine apertures. Strictly speaking, it qualifies only as a top-tier Profound-rank technique, but its value is vastly greater than the God of War Art. Cultural arts are inherently rare." Su Yu nodded, inwardly shocked. Taken individually, none of the Five Elements arts could match the Myriad Characters Scripture. But if all five could be combined—no, combining even two would place it on the same level as the Myriad Characters Scripture! If all five were combined, that would be astounding! In the future, he might very well cultivate this instead of the Myriad Characters Scripture that everyone else practiced. "Does Water Person know how to combine them?" "Do the Five Elements races cultivate cultural arts of different attributes?" Su Yu didn't know and resolved to ask when he had time. The Five Elements races might not even be capable of cultivating them together. Based on what Water Person had said before, they didn't even know which apertures they were opening; to them, it felt like their whole bodies were apertures, and as long as they cultivated, they worked. Setting those thoughts aside, Su Yu was about to depart when Old Huang spoke from behind him: "Today is the third. The new Top 100 Rankings will be posted this morning, and people might issue challenges. You can head over to the Top 100 Building to take a look!" "Understood. Thank you, Teacher!" Su Yu's interest was piqued. It was already the third; he definitely had to go check it out today!