On the evening of the 3rd, Su Yu became an absolute sensation.
A crowd of people was itching to challenge Su Yu immediately, but after the 3rd, no one caught sight of him again.
Some said he had gone into secluded cultivation, some claimed he had been injured beforehand, and others insisted that Su Yu did not dare accept challenges and was hiding.
Under the academy's rules, if someone challenged Su Yu before the 25th of the month and he still refused to accept battle, then after the 25th, when the Top 100 Rankings were settled, Su Yu would be automatically removed from the list.
This existed precisely to prevent certain students from avoiding battle, manufacturing excuses to drag things out while hogging spots on the leaderboard.
……
Su Yu truly had no idea about this.
At this moment, he was entering a marvelous domain.
Researching innate blood essence!
Manufacturing innate blood essence!
Third basement level.
Main laboratory.
Su Yu marveled, "Teacher, the imprint inside this blood essence can actually be stripped out? That's incredible! Is this thing the innate skill imprint?"
Blood essence always contained an image of its corresponding creature.
It was very blurry, though naturally, the stronger the creature, the more lifelike it appeared.
Just like the first time Su Yu bought Ironwing Bird blood essence, he had seen a tiny golden bird, seemingly trapped within the blood essence.
Right now, what they were researching was the blood essence of a Soul-Devouring Insect.
Inside the blood essence, a tiny black insect loomed indistinctly.
While performing delicate operations to separate the blood essence, Bai Feng replied, "Correct, this is the innate imprint! What is blood essence? It is what remains after a creature dies, or what is left when it consumes a massive amount of blood and Yuanqi while alive. In fact, blood essence is divided into inanimate blood essence and animate blood essence. You need to learn how to distinguish between the two..."
"Teacher, is there a difference?"
"Of course!"
In his professional field, Bai Feng possessed vast knowledge, and he explained, "Ordinary people don't care about the difference between the two, but as researchers, we must distinguish them! Inanimate blood essence is blood essence condensed from a dead creature. It contains a certain amount of willpower, and even resentment and grievances, so it may retain many things—such as obsessions or subtle impressions from life. This is primarily common in divine and demonic experts.
"Whereas animate blood essence—for instance, the blood essence extracted from those demons we have locked up—does not contain those things..."
As he spoke, master and disciple exchanged a look.
Bai Feng looked at him, and Su Yu looked back at Bai Feng.
"How many days has it been since you fed them?"
Su Yu calculated in his head and breathed a sigh of relief. "Not many days. Today is only the 4th, so less than five days in total."
"Then it's fine!"
Bai Feng breathed a sigh of relief as well. If it had only been that many days, there was nothing to worry about.
By now, Bai Feng had separated the blood essence.
His willpower manifested, enveloping the small phantom image of the insect, and he murmured softly, "This is the imprint, but it doesn't necessarily contain only the innate skill imprint; other imprints might also be present. Therefore, it has to be stripped apart!"
At this point, Bai Feng said with a touch of pride, "In the past, many people reached this step and knew that things might exist within this imprint, but they were never able to strip away the portion belonging to the innate skill imprint. In the end, it was your teacher who invented the rapid stripping method!"
Su Yu's eyes widened, and he flattered him, "Teacher, you're amazing!"
"Naturally!"
Bai Feng was thoroughly satisfied. Did this brat finally realize how formidable his teacher was?
To prevent the kid from saying anything more that stung his pride, he quickly added, "The rapid stripping method isn't actually difficult! But it requires immense care. Not only can you strip out innate skill imprints, but you might even extract some memories from the creature's life!"
Bai Feng said solemnly, "This is of paramount importance! I dare say that in today's Civilization Master world, there are very few who can cleanly strip apart different imprints like I can!"
Su Yu felt he was bragging.
Was it really that hard?
Could even Invincible experts not do it?
'Very few'?
"Don't believe me? Watch closely and listen well!"
Bai Feng snapped irritably, "This is your teacher's exclusive signature technique. Aside from your grandmaster secretly learning it from me, I've never taught it to anyone!"
Secretly learning!
That choice of words... was rather intriguing.
Regardless of whether Su Yu believed it or not, his eyes were wide now as he watched Bai Feng's movements.
Bai Feng paid him no heed, using willpower to shift the insect phantom onto the experiment table.
A small sword appeared in his hand—his divine character battle technique.
Bai Feng said seriously, "This thing hovers between illusion and reality, similar to a divine character. In the past, people didn't understand the underlying principle, but looking at it now, it might be a projection of an innate divine character, or a projection from when the sea of will collapsed.
"It must be dissected and stripped using a divine character!
"Some experts find this step troublesome to the extreme. Back then, your grandmaster tried using Shanhai Realm willpower to slice it, and he failed.
"In truth, it's quite simple—just dissect it with a divine character!"
As Bai Feng spoke, the divine character Dragon Slaying Sword carefully made a few slices against the phantom. The single insect suddenly split into several insects.
"You have to grasp the trick to this. Each phantom represents a residual trait!"
He pointed casually at one of the insect phantoms. "This pitch-black phantom is grievance. Calling it grievance isn't entirely accurate either; it's an impurity. If you swallow blood essence and swallow this, the impure aperture Yuanqi that results is related to this!"
With that, he shattered that phantom with a slash of his sword, sending up a wisp of black smoke.
"The second one: this is a memory fragment!"
He pointed to another phantom. "If you shatter this, you can see some of the Soul-Devouring Insect's deepest memories. Of course, because its strength is too low, not much will remain."
The next moment, he shattered the remnant phantom.
Instantly, an image materialized.
In a pitch-black space, countless insects swarmed—all Soul-Devouring Insects.
At that moment, these insects were crawling down from the body of a colossal insect.
The image flashed and vanished in an instant.
Bai Feng frowned. "That's a Soul-Devouring Insect broodmother. Extremely powerful. If you run into one on the All-Heavens Battlefield, run! One word: run as far away as you can! That thing specializes in targeting Civilization Masters. A broodmother is at least in the Lingyun Realm! Even Shanhai Realm Civilization Masters find them troublesome."
"Understood!"
Su Yu nodded, then thought for a moment and asked, "Teacher, being able to see memories like this feels terrifying! If that's the case, if we kill divine and demonic beings, couldn't we obtain a lot of secrets?"
"Correct!"
Bai Feng nodded, but soon added, "Like I said, very few people can strip out memories, so in practice it isn't of much use."
"It looks pretty simple, though!"
Su Yu found it rather straightforward. Wasn't stripping it easy enough?
I just watched you cut it apart with a few casual slices.
Bai Feng rolled his eyes and snapped, "Bullshit! Practice makes perfect for me, plus I have rich experience and extraordinary talent! How to divide a phantom, which part is a memory fragment, which part is resentment, and which part is the innate skill imprint—can you tell them apart?"
Su Yu thought about it and shook his head.
That seemed true enough; it was hard to tell.
Bai Feng added, "Learn this slowly. When you reach your teacher's level, you'll be able to tell at a glance!"
"Teacher, what about humans?"
"What?"
"I mean, when humans die, do they leave behind blood essence? Can memories be stripped from it?"
Bai Feng looked at him, frowning slightly. After considering it, he said, "The Civilization Master field has a rule! Never use humans as test subjects! That includes people from the All-Races Sect! Better to slay them outright than use humans as experimental material. Once you cross this bottom line, a Civilization Master turns into a devil!
"You must understand that once certain barriers are let down, you can never put them back up!
"Regardless of whether they are enemies or opponents, if you kill them, let that be the end of it. To slice them into pieces and make them experimental material... Su Yu, remember this: do not touch this taboo!"
Su Yu nodded. Bai Feng thought for a moment and added, "Of course, if you truly encounter some All-Races Sect scoundrel on the All-Heavens Battlefield, kill him, and find yourself in a tight spot where you urgently need information, you may extract a drop of blood essence at your discretion to examine memory fragments..."
With that, Bai Feng warned, "And only that! Restricted strictly to that! You can grind his bones to dust and scatter his ashes, no problem, but you are not permitted to privately perform exploratory research on enemy corpses!"
"Understood!"
Bai Feng said no more on the subject and resumed the experiment. Soon, he destroyed the other phantoms, leaving only the final insect shadow.
"This is the innate skill imprint!"
Bai Feng said solemnly, "However, with Soul-Devouring Insects, I've experimented several times before and failed every time. It might be that their innate skill isn't very suitable for becoming innate blood essence!"
"Why?"
"It probably has to do with the type of innate ability—mutated Yuanqi that corrodes and burns willpower. Because of its corrosive effect, the outer layer of blood essence enveloping it gets destroyed..."
Bai Feng explained, "This is merely the imprint. If you want it to become innate blood essence, you must coat the outside with a special layer of blood essence. The reason I stripped away the Soul-Devouring Insect's original blood essence wasn't just to extract this imprint, but also because the original blood essence isn't suitable to serve as the coating layer."
Su Yu nodded again like a well-behaved child.
It was remarkably complex!
The outer coating blood essence also required a specialized preparation technique.
Su Yu was completely awestruck now!
*Damn, I really had the nerve to make stuff up back then.*
*Last time I sold information, what kind of rubbish did I fabricate? And people actually believed it! I'm truly amazed. Are these people too gullible?!*
After a series of intricate procedures, Bai Feng began putting a "coat" on the phantom—the outer layer of blood essence.
Yet as soon as it was slipped on, it blew apart!
The instant it exploded, the phantom seemed to spit out a glob of saliva. Su Yu failed to dodge in time, and his willpower suddenly flared with a searing pain!
"Ah!"
Bai Feng's willpower washed over to envelop him, and he chided in annoyance, "It's no big deal, what are you yelling for? It had no blood essence energy attached to it; it was just a shattered imprint. It wouldn't even cause much harm to an Open Aperture cultivator!"
"It hurts!"
Su Yu felt deeply aggrieved!
It hurt like hell. Damn it, it felt just like being slaughtered in his dreams again—dying for nothing. So aggrieved!
"Of course it hurts! If it didn't hurt, how could Soul-Devouring Insects kill Civilization Masters?"
Seeing him suffer, Bai Feng gloated a little. "Now do you understand why those people take it so seriously when they learn that Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence can have its innate skill extracted? It hurts too much! If a warrior grasps this, wouldn't fighting Civilization Masters become much simpler?
"Your willpower reaches over to pin me down... hehe, my mutated Yuanqi instantly burns you until you scream in agony, your willpower retracts, I close in instantly, and I cleave you dead in a single stroke!"
Su Yu nodded vigorously!
Formidable!
*I can try this next time! This is great. Next time Wan Mingze tries to immobilize me, hehe, my mutated Yuanqi will corrode and burn you until you cry for your daddy, and then I'll step forward and kick you to death!*
Truly formidable!
"Teacher, it failed?"
"Yeah, it failed!"
Bai Feng sighed. "This corrosion and burning are very troublesome. It's hard to coat it with a blood essence layer; the blood essence easily burns and bursts!"
Bai Feng said with a headache, "The reason I gave up previously was because of this. Figure something out yourself. I don't have the time to waste a ton of hours on such a minor thing."
Su Yu wore a helpless expression. Was this a minor thing?
This was a massive problem, okay?!
Yet Bai Feng was now wholeheartedly focused on innate divine characters. Left with no choice, Su Yu would have to do it himself.
Bai Feng paid him no more heed. Having demonstrated once, he abdicated responsibility: "You can keep trying on your own according to the process I just showed you. As for the coating blood essence layer, think of a way to improve it yourself!"
With that, Bai Feng tossed him a jade talisman. "This contains my previous method for modifying blood essence and the structural formulation of the outer coating layer. Study it carefully, then find a way to develop a coating blood essence suitable for the Soul-Devouring Insect. Consider this your entry test!"
"Teacher, you couldn't even make it work, and you're making it my entry test? Isn't that too hard?"
"What's hard about it!"
Bai Feng rolled his eyes. "What's there to be hard? I was just too lazy to bother with the proportion research, or else I would've succeeded long ago! Spend some effort on it. As my student, can't you even solve a little problem like this?"
Su Yu was helpless!
Bai Feng had already slipped away, returning to his little room to continue researching innate divine characters.
Su Yu picked up the jade talisman and began reading through the material, while another thought nagged at him!
*The blood essence... was mine!*
*Pauper teacher!*
*He didn't even have raw materials for the experiment. This Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence was supplied by me!*
*So poor!*
*Infuriating!*
*I even have to pay for my own material costs. So miserable.*
"Forget it, I won't hold it against you. I'll go earn money myself!"
Su Yu was depressed, but Bai Feng had indeed held nothing back, telling him everything he needed to know.
……
Su Yu spent his time reading, then personally performed the operations several times. He wasted several drops of Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence without once succeeding in stripping out an innate imprint.
No matter—failure was the mother of success. Take it slow.
The problem was that he had run out of blood essence!
He would probably have to purchase some more. Suddenly, he understood why Bai Feng always used Fire Swine blood essence. Damn it, it was cheap!
Using it to practice yielded the exact same result.
No wonder there was so much Fire Swine blood essence in the laboratory!
So that was why!
At this moment, Su Yu had an epiphany as to why so many people researched Fire Swine. It all came down to one word: poor!
Too poor to afford other types of blood essence for massive amounts of research.
Take this Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence: a single Qianjun Realm drop cost 3 merit points, and that was already a discounted price from Xia Huyou.
Effortlessly, Su Yu's remaining 8 drops of Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence were gone, vaporizing 24 merit points.
And in the end, he hadn't even managed to strip out a single imprint!
Sure enough, conducting research burned money.
As for the stripped blood essence, it could only be discarded and tossed into the filtration chamber. Without the imprint inside, Su Yu tried swallowing a drop, only to find that he couldn't even activate the Soul-Devouring Art!
Evidently, using blood essence to unlock skills in the album was not just about energy supply; the key reason was the absorption of those remnant imprints.
"Discarded blood essence isn't completely useless, though. At least the energy is pure. No wonder the energy in the filtration chamber always felt so pure—it's because some things were stripped out."
At this moment, Su Yu gained a deeper understanding of the Wen Tan Research Center.
……
Without blood essence, he had to find Xia Huyou to buy more.
When he emerged from the basement, day was breaking on the 5th.
Just as Su Yu prepared to head out, something struck him, and he hurriedly checked a mirror!
What a sight!
How many days had it been?
Stubble had sprouted, his hair was disheveled, his white robe was blackened, and dark circles had formed under his eyes!
"Holy crap!"
Su Yu was shocked. *This is Bai Feng the Second!*
No wonder his teacher looked like this every time he came out. Where was the personal image?!
Su Yu hurriedly jolted all the apertures throughout his body. The grime shook off, and the dark circles vanished.
A cultural weapon appeared, transforming into a small blade. He shaved his stubble, smoothed his hair, and quickly changed into fresh clothes. Looking in the mirror again—an elegant, scholarly gentleman. Only then did Su Yu feel relieved!
Clothes make the man!
If he didn't dress nicely and look refined, was he supposed to imitate Zheng Yunhui, who looked like a crook at first glance?
He, Su Yu, was a genuinely good person!
In the academy, who among those familiar with him didn't think Su Yu was poised, kind-hearted, refined, and amiable?
……
Half an hour later.
Inside a small teahouse in Yangxing Garden.
Upon seeing Su Yu, Xia Huyou blurted out, "You still dare to show your face! I thought you were hiding and didn't dare come out. Aren't you afraid someone will spot you and cause trouble..."
"What?"
Xia Huyou hurriedly explained the situation, then said with some regret, "Pity I'm not qualified to challenge you. Otherwise, I'd want to put on a double act with you to make a fortune!"
Su Yu frowned slightly and spoke up: "A text of will at the peak of the Shanhai Realm? Offered by Zhou Mingren?"
"Most likely!"
"Whoever defeats me gets one? No limit on the number of times?"
"None!"
Xia Huyou shrugged. "You noticed the loophole too, right? I spotted it early on. A pity I'm not currently among the top 90 students. Even if I were rank 89, I'd have the right to challenge you, and we could just stage a match..."
Su Yu rolled his eyes. "Even if you were rank 89 and beat me, you'd only get one chance! Once I drop to 89, how would you keep farming..."
"Nonsense, you challenge me back, I lose to you, and we trade wins and losses back and forth until they call a stop!"
Xia Huyou chuckled. "Seriously, what do you think? How about I find you a plant, and you two just keep farming rankings?"
"The academy doesn't have restrictions on that?"
"A minor one: for students on the Top 100 Rankings, if your ranking doesn't advance, you can challenge at most three times in a month!"
Xia Huyou grinned. "Meaning if you're ranked 71 and want to challenge rank 70, failing three times in a row means you can't challenge again this month! But that doesn't affect you. Trading rankings back and forth advances your rank, so what's there to worry about?"
Su Yu gave a chuckle and said speechlessly, "Leave it to you to think of that! Doing something like that is way too wicked, and that plant might not even have the guts. Are they really not afraid to die?"
"True enough!"
Nodding, Xia Huyou agreed with his point. Who would be bold enough to shamelessly farm matches back and forth without fearing a Shanhai Realm expert coming after them?
Although a Shanhai couldn't personally lay hands on you, there were countless ways to discipline you.
Su Yu smiled and said, "As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses! If one person offends the Single Divine Character Faction, they'd be terrified. But if a whole crowd does it, who gives a damn?"
Shaking his head, he said, "Zhou Mingren and his people must have ossified brains!"
Having said that, Su Yu didn't take it seriously at all and casually remarked, "Tomorrow I'll set up a stage. Let everyone from rank 89 to rank 72 come. I'll lose to each of them once, going strictly down the line, one by one. I'll drop one rank each time, and they can go claim several dozen texts of will..."
"Wait, no!"
Su Yu murmured, "Once I drop in rank—say, down to rank 89—doesn't that mean everyone behind me can come farm me too?"
Stroking his chin, Su Yu said, "Fine, everyone ranked below me can come. Every single person gets to farm me once—that's several dozen people. If that's not enough, I'll fight my way back up and let them farm me again, taking turns, dozens of rounds if needed! I refuse to believe the Single Divine Character Faction would dare punish everyone just because they'd punish one person!"
Su Yu curled his lip. "It just so happens I can curry favor with the whole student body! Worst comes to worst, I drop off the Top 100 Rankings—what's the big deal? Once I'm off the list, any Yangxing student can challenge me. The bounty never said it had to be a Top 100 combat match; it just said defeating me would do... Right, let's just have every Yangxing student in the whole academy come tomorrow!"
Su Yu chuckled. "Our academy has several tens of thousands of Yangxing students, right? Come on up, all of you! I'll surrender every time. One book per person—let's see how they play this!"
"……"
Xia Huyou stared at him, dumbfounded.
*I only wanted to farm a few books for some petty gain. You're insane—you want several tens of thousands of Yangxing students in the academy to farm you! You're... way too ruthless!*
As he spoke, Su Yu suddenly added, "No, doing it for free is too humiliating. How about this: anyone challenging me pays 1 merit point. I'm generous—anyone can afford 1 merit point, right? Such a small fee in exchange for a text of will is a bargain!
"Starting tomorrow, I'll receive clients. Taking in a few thousand a day shouldn't be a problem, right?"
Su Yu beamed happily. Such a small amount of merit points shouldn't be an issue, right?
Then he felt something was off and frowned. "No, that makes me, Su Yu, look too easy to bully. Push an honest man and he gets trampled! How about this: tomorrow I'll accept a few real matches first. For those bastards itching to challenge me, I'll show them what the big stick looks like! Pound a few of them half to death first. Be ruthless when ruthlessness is needed. Combine kindness with severity—that's how people will respect and appreciate me. Otherwise, if they get something for free, they'll take it for granted!"
Xia Huyou stared blankly at him for a long time before asking, "Is your father a city lord?"
"What?"
"You play power politics frighteningly well!"
Xia Huyou scrutinized him. *What the hell is your deal?* He knew these tricks too, but only because he had been taught by precept and example.
Had Su Yu mastered this with no teacher?
Su Yu chuckled. "Child's play. Read more books; it's all in books! Tomorrow I'll show some strength first! Let everyone know that I, Su Yu, am no pushover and not someone to mess with. After flexing my muscles, I'll bestow favors!"
Su Yu smiled. "As for whether Zhou Mingren actually pays up, that has nothing to do with me! By the way, does anyone on the black market take this kind of commission? If Zhou Mingren refuses to honor the reward, is anyone daring enough to lead the troublemakers? Hang banners, call parents, appeal to the high court, take it up with the academy, go to the Yuqiang Department..."
Xia Huyou stared at him in utter disbelief. *Your guts are made of iron!*
"Su Yu, aren't you afraid of offending him to..."
"Nonsense, I've already offended him. What choice do I have?"
Su Yu said gloomily, "Right now I have no time to fuss with him. He can't lay hands on me directly anyway, so why should I fear him? If his people challenge me, worst-case scenario I just surrender. Did you really think I'd rather die than lose face? In your eyes, I suppose Su Yu is supposed to be unyielding like my senior sister, fighting to the bitter end—that's what I ought to do, right?"
"Right!"
Xia Huyou nodded!
Indeed, that was what everyone thought, including Zhou Mingren, which was why he had offered such terms.
To a genius, defeat was a disgrace!
Given Su Yu's strength, few students could actually defeat him!
So in everyone's mind, very few people would ever defeat Su Yu. Even if someone finally did, it wouldn't amount to much—at most a handful of individuals.
Could Zhou Mingren afford that?
Easily!
Just a few people—I'll pay you!
And Su Yu, after suffering several defeats, would he still retain his sharp edge?
Probably not!
That was their reasoning—or rather, everyone's fixed preconception.
Su Yu couldn't care less. Ruined after a single defeat?
What garbage!
*I've failed thousands of times, killed by monsters every single time. If one defeat could ruin me, after being killed so many times I'd have crumbled to dust long ago!*
When you were used to it, did you still care about this?
After displaying both mercy and might, would anyone think Su Yu was useless?
What a joke!
Just look at what happened to Huang Qifeng!
When it was time to be ruthless, Su Yu was second to none.
When the time came, everyone would only be grateful to him. If Zhou Mingren failed to pay, everyone would only harbor resentment: *A dignified Shanhai, yet his word is like a fart!*
Utterly disgraceful!
Su Yu figured that he wouldn't even need tens of thousands of people; losing a few dozen times would probably cause chaos and trouble, prompting Zhou Mingren's side to strike back.
Thinking of this, Su Yu suddenly said, "No rush. Help me keep an eye on those Shanhai experts! When they go into seclusion, or leave the academy, or hold a meeting, let me know, and then I'll host the challenges, giving them no time to react!"
Xia Huyou's eyes flickered, and he spoke rapidly: "How about this: I'll find someone—an elder! Call a meeting! Hold them up for a few hours. Su Yu, how about you pay for it?"
"Get lost!"
Su Yu snapped, "I don't have money, don't even think about it! You could easily make a huge profit off this..."
"Me?"
Xia Huyou said speechlessly, "What profit could I make? At most, I beat you once. When everyone wins, that's hardly a windfall, is it?"
Su Yu said, exasperated, "Are you stupid? The people who win might not actually get the goods. Go buy their claims! Anyone who defeats me is owed a text of will. Although it's an IOU, go buy it! Have them write you an IOU. When they can't get the text of will, you buy it for 10 merit points. Do you think they'll sell it to you? Of course they will!
"Naturally, not at first. Wait until they can't collect and Zhou Mingren reneges on the debt, then go buy them up! Then take all those IOUs and have the Xia family collect!"
Su Yu could already guess that no one would receive the texts.
Thousands or tens of thousands of books—did they really think the Single Divine Character Faction was as wealthy as an empire?
The cost of materials alone was astronomical!
"With the Xia family holding those IOUs, would he dare refuse to pay? Even if he can't afford it, go to Marquis Xia! I know Marquis Xia's skin-flaying nature—he'll tear a layer of hide right off them! Would they dare welsh on him?"
Xia Huyou looked sheepish!
What a way to put it. Who said my granduncle was a skinflint!
Yet... come to think of it, it made total sense!
This way, Su Yu made money, the students lost nothing and earned a bit, everyone would thank the Xia family and Su Yu, and the Xia family certainly wouldn't lose out!
Zhou Mingren might dare renege on students, but would he dare renege on the Xia family?
If you didn't peel off a layer of skin, Marquis Xia wouldn't be called Xia the Skinner!
The Single Divine Character Faction... had treasures!
If nothing else, just patented techniques—the Single Divine Character Faction controlled plenty, and every one of them meant money!
Just as he was getting excited, Xia Huyou suddenly looked at Su Yu and groaned, "Su Yu, your heart is truly pitch-black! You even dare to scheme against the Xia family! Your nerve is beyond normal!"
He had almost forgotten!
If the Xia family stepped in, this would become a contest between the Xia family and the Single Divine Character Faction!
When that happened, with Zhou Mingren overwhelmed and frazzled, would he still have the bandwidth to bother with Su Yu and the others?
Killing multiple birds with one stone!
Currying favor with all academy students, disgusting the Single Divine Character Faction, getting the Xia family to confront them, leaving the faction with no time to trouble him...
This guy didn't look like a student at all; he was like an old fox!
Su Yu said indifferently, "Take it or leave it. I didn't say the Xia family had to step in! Without the Xia family, I'll have Zheng Yunhui buy them up and let the Zheng family demand payment. Even if they can't get the money, the Zheng family has always been at odds with the Civilization Academy; paying a little just to disgust the Civilization Academy and publicize the scandal is something they'd happily do!"
Su Yu added nonchalantly, "In any case, I won't gain that much benefit either. Do as you please! Plenty of people aren't afraid of the Single Divine Character Faction. If not them, there's Jiutian Academy, or Longwu Academy, or simply the Longwu Guards and the Demon Suppression Army! Are there few people who don't fear them?"
Su Yu sneered. "My dad is in the Demon Suppression Army. If all else fails, I'll bring people from the Demon Suppression Army. I guarantee they'd love to make a profit. I've heard they really dislike these fellows right now because Principal Wan made them stand down..."
Xia Huyou stared at him for a good while before asking, "Were you taught all of this by books?"
Su Yu smiled without answering.
*Books have it, of course, but mainly because I'm brilliant myself.*
*Ever since I was little, I, Su Yu, have never suffered a loss.*
*Scheming against me... what for!*
*You should consider yourselves lucky I'm not looking for trouble with you!*
Zhou Mingren and his cohort were strong and clever, but they stood in different positions. Zhou Mingren cared about face, whereas Su Yu cared about benefits and profit.
Losing face... who gave a damn!
*If Zhou Mingren gave me 10,000 merit points right now, I... what if I took my teacher along to take you as our master?*
Thinking of this, Su Yu suddenly chuckled.
Xia Huyou looked at him, completely speechless!
This guy... was truly a handful.
Talented, sharp-minded, shameless, honey-tongued with daggers drawn, ruthless and black-hearted, skilled at deception—a textbook hypocrite!
Monstrous geniuses were all proud!
Su Yu... was proud too, but unlike the others.
He possessed a few extra dashes of streetwise slickness!
Xia Huyou took a deep breath. After a long pause, he whispered, "Fine, I'll give it a try! How about this: tomorrow, I'll have an elder convene a meeting with them at Xiuxin Pavilion. No one allowed to disturb them, and no entry for anyone who isn't an elder!
"Stall them for a few hours. Even if they find out afterward, what's done will be done!"
Su Yu stared at him for a moment and said faintly, "You can even boss around an elder? Xia Huyou, you wouldn't happen to be Marquis Xia's son, would you?"
"Tch!"
"What nonsense!"
Xia Huyou snapped irritably, "Total rubbish! If I were his son, I wouldn't be human—Marquis Xia would be a pig! And I'm not his grandson either, don't even think it. If I were his grandson, I'd kill myself! I already told you, I'm just from a branch of the Xia family. What are you imagining!"
Su Yu laughed and cursed silently in his heart!
*Screw you!*
*'Marquis Xia would be a pig'... you actually dare say that? Even if you're not his son or grandson, you must be an important figure in the Xia family. Do you think I'm that stupid?*
Chapter 164