Su Yu could not be bothered to argue with Xia Huyou. If you want to deny it, go right ahead; I'll just pretend to know nothing.
Even if he truly was an important figure in the Xia family, Su Yu did not care all that much.
The Xia family enjoyed a decent reputation. He had never heard of them using their power to bully others. If their reputation had been terrible, an army of experts would have rebelled long ago against their rule over the Great Xia Prefecture for more than three centuries.
Dropping the subject, Su Yu asked briskly, "Did you manage to buy the Five Elements Race blood essence I asked for last time?"
"I got some, but not much," Xia Huyou said helplessly. "The Five Elements Race is simply too rare, and their strength is formidable. You only want Wanshi Realm blood essence, so even requisitioning it from other prefectures doesn't yield much."
It was also extremely expensive.
For a single drop of Wanshi Realm Five Elements blood essence, Su Yu had to pay fifty merit points.
Su Yu planned to purchase a batch to unlock the cultivation art, using the breakthrough to open divine apertures. Once he opened thirty-six divine apertures, he would no longer need blood essence and could actively begin cultivating his willpower.
"Cut the chatter. How many drops did you gather?"
"In total, I've procured sixty drops so far..."
Sixty drops was far too few.
By Su Yu's estimation, opening a single divine aperture would take at least two or three drops of blood essence. Sixty drops, at best, would only open around twenty-five.
"Give me the sixty drops first, and buy me another forty drops at the very least!"
A hundred drops of Five Elements blood essence might barely be enough.
At that thought, Su Yu suddenly asked, "Has anyone mentioned Soul-Devouring Insect innate blood essence lately?"
Xia Huyou glanced at him and smiled with narrowed eyes. "Indeed there are! People are inquiring about it both inside and outside the academy. Of course, what outsiders care about most right now is whether this innate blood essence confers a willpower-type innate skill. If it is, warriors won't be able to use it since it involves willpower; if it isn't, then warriors will be keenly interested."
Su Yu smiled and said softly, "That thing isn't any kind of willpower innate skill. It's just a special mutated martial technique. It's a martial technique that happens to damage willpower!"
"..."
Xia Huyou fell into deep thought.
A martial technique!
He had actually suspected as much. The Xia family possessed records on Soul-Devouring Insects, and various accounts indicated that the creature's willpower was nothing special. That soul-devouring fluid, which corroded willpower, seemed very much like mutated origin qi.
The Xia family possessed its own research teams; they could not rely entirely on outsiders.
"A martial technique..." Xia Huyou murmured after a moment's reflection. "Su Yu, if it's a martial technique, it's actually far more precious than a willpower innate skill! You're no fool, so you know what that implies. Of course, it depends on the cost and the realm..."
Su Yu smiled. "I know. If it were purely innate blood essence, it wouldn't be that remarkable. But what if I told you that we've figured out the apertures needed to activate the Soul-Devouring skill, allowing humans to open them and mutate their origin qi as well? What would you think of that?"
"Hm?"
Xia Huyou's heart jolted, and he whipped his head toward Su Yu! "Seriously?"
Deducing cultivation arts suitable for humans from the arts of the myriad races was something humanity had always pursued. Many of the arts and martial techniques humans practiced today were adapted from the myriad races' techniques.
Under normal circumstances, however, humanity predominantly adapted techniques from large creatures. For a species like the Soul-Devouring Insect, their anatomy was vastly different from humans, making deduction extraordinarily difficult. Furthermore, the Soul-Devouring Insect race had virtually no manuals passed down. Securing an original cultivation manual from a swarm of insects was nearly impossible, though a few had encountered broodmothers and, upon slaying them, acquired fragments of original inheritances.
In total shock, Xia Huyou pressed, "Can you really deduce a human-compatible martial art from that? Are you certain? Are you certain it can mutate a person's origin qi to inflict damage on willpower?"
He understood the profound significance of such an art!
Su Yu replied casually, "It isn't perfected yet. My grandmaster began researching the Soul-Devouring Insect's traits thirty years ago, and my teacher is an elite in this field—no, a genius, a true genius! Through relentless experimentation, he has already deduced several operational apertures."
Xia Huyou nodded. Bai Feng was indeed a genius; no one could deny that. Even when he had only been at the sixth stage of Tengkong, people had hailed him as a prodigy assistant researcher. His cultivation strength was one factor, but Bai Feng was also a prominent figure in the field of blood essence research.
Taking a deep breath, Xia Huyou asked, "What are you getting at by telling me this?"
"A deal!"
Su Yu pondered briefly before saying, "Even though the art hasn't been fully mapped out, I'm confident it will be perfected soon! Once it is, I've been debating whether we should disseminate it.
"If we publish it, humanity's strength will increase greatly. I won't claim everyone will be willing to open extra apertures, but at least some ambitious individuals will certainly want to!
"Yet if we disseminate it, how do we guarantee our research center's interests? Should we collect patent fees like everyone else?"
Su Yu said somberly, "Our intent is to use this against the Civilization Masters of the myriad races. But in the eyes of outsiders, they might think we're targeting our own people—our own Civilization Masters. That would put us in a very difficult position!"
Hearing this, Xia Huyou scoffed dismissively, looking somewhat incensed. "Why care about them? This Great Xia Prefecture still belongs to the Xia family! It must be disseminated, absolutely! If you don't dare to do it, the Xia family will buy out the rights and take responsibility for passing it down!"
Strengthening humanity was the duty of every prefectural ruler.
A technique that granted a faction of warriors a lethal edge against Civilization Masters was immensely valuable.
Naturally, not everyone was capable of opening additional apertures. But talented warriors would certainly not mind opening a few more, especially when the resulting technique could lethally threaten Civilization Masters.
As Xia Huyou spoke, he paused and added, "Elder Hong hasn't returned yet, and you're already talking about distributing the art... Could he go back on the deal once he gets back?"
That would be trouble!
Hong Tan was, after all, an eighth-stage Shanhai expert. If they acquired his cultivation art while he was away through what looked like semi-coercive maneuvering, and he raised a storm, the Xia family might not fear him, but it would chill the hearts of many.
Civilization Masters in particular would fan the flames, making matters even messier.
Su Yu shrugged and smiled. "Nothing to do with me. My teacher said it's fine! He claims he perfected most of the data himself, and my grandmaster instructed before leaving that all the research center's projects and outcomes are under my teacher's charge."
"Right, right, right! That's good then. As long as Teacher Bai is responsible, that works!"
Xia Huyou nodded, visibly delighted. "Su Yu, profit splits and patent royalties are long-term businesses! I won't deceive you; long-term royalties definitely bring greater benefits. You'd get revenue year after year, and both you and your descendants could collect money as long as you live.
"But the future is unpredictable! Besides, you might not live very long..."
"..."
At those words, Su Yu looked at him with an odd gaze.
He felt as though every one of these bastards was eagerly waiting for him to drop dead.
Xia Huyou cleared his throat dryly. "I didn't mean it like that. What I mean is, this is an achievement of your research center, not your personal property! You might not get a large share in the long run anyway, so a one-time buyout right now is better. At least you'll secure a guaranteed cut immediately."
"How much for a buyout?"
"Five thousand merit points..."
Su Yu nearly smashed a fist into his face!
"Are you serious?"
Xia Huyou replied stiffly, "Even though the Soul-Devouring Insect martial technique has the effect of mutating origin qi, I reckon it won't require many apertures! The Soul-Devouring Insect isn't a powerful race either. For it to cause widespread corrosion and searing, you'd probably need an entire legion practicing it, just as Soul-Devouring Insects only possess terrifying lethality when swarming in massive numbers.
"Opening extra apertures is generally the privilege of geniuses, so training entire legions with it is rather unrealistic. That makes this art somewhat niche."
It sounded plausible, not entirely without reason.
Yet Su Yu would never believe this fellow. Five thousand points? What a joke!
Seeing his expression, Xia Huyou added, "Truly! The art hasn't been popularized yet, so no one knows its universal applicability. A five-thousand-point buyout isn't small. You should know that back in the day, the Qianjun Art series that everyone cultivates now only sold for the price of a single Tengkong demon beast..."
Su Yu rolled his eyes!
Damn it, I know that already. Do I need you to tell me?
"Let's talk about it later!" Su Yu refrained from haggling further. "It hasn't been fully deduced yet. Once it's truly perfected, or after I've tested it myself and assessed the effects, we'll see!"
Xia Huyou grew anxious and hurriedly urged, "Su Yu, ten thousand points! That's really generous! If you're going to sell it, sell it to the Xia family... Don't hand it over to the academy. The academy is full of Civilization Masters; they might just lock it away in the archives, and that won't help humanity at all."
"Is the academy really that short-sighted?"
"That's hard to say!" Xia Huyou shook his head. "People claim Civilization Masters and warriors are one family, but do you really believe that?
"Even biological brothers squabble over who's superior. Did you really expect two major cultivation systems to coexist in total harmony without any friction?"
Su Yu nodded slightly. It was true.
In the world of cultivators, claiming two vastly different systems were as close as family was pure fiction.
Civilization Masters looked down on warriors, and warriors looked down on Civilization Masters.
One called the other muscle-brained brutes, while the other called them feeble weaklings.
Ordinary cultivation arts were one thing; many warrior techniques were researched and provided by Civilization Masters.
However, a technique that specifically posed a mortal threat to Civilization Masters might not be shared so willingly.
Su Yu could not be bothered to say more and remarked, "We'll see. As I said, the research isn't finished. But you have to help me figure out a way to suppress the noise outside so people don't start scheming against us."
"Done!"
Xia Huyou agreed readily and said, "No problem! I'll mention it to several experts in the Xia family so your research can proceed smoothly. I just hope you can produce results soon!"
"Alright!"
Su Yu nodded. Bringing this up had been precisely to ward off outside interference.
The Xia family... was the foremost warrior clan.
As the rulers, they wished for nothing more than to see as many experts as possible emerge within their territory, with everyone enhancing their combat prowess. They cared little whether someone was a warrior or a Civilization Master.
……
The two chatted a while longer, but Su Yu did not mention drawing Xia Huyou into his circle.
An important figure of the Xia family... such an identity was taboo.
Xia Huyou was worldly and possessed a weighty status backed by powerful figures. Right now, Su Yu did not dare ask him to join. The other party did not need his help, and revealing certain things might make him suspicious.
Deducing one or two cultivation arts was acceptable, but if someone deduced dozens or hundreds, how could you be so godly without ascending to heaven?
Did he think everyone else was an idiot?
"Give me the Five Elements blood essence."
"It's at my place. Come with me to fetch it."
Returning to the matter of the blood essence, Xia Huyou quickly added, "Sixty drops are worth a staggering three thousand merit points. From the seven thousand I allocated to you last time, that leaves four thousand."
Su Yu nodded gently without objection.
"Also, procure some Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence for me. Oh, and Brightlight Bird blood essence, along with Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence."
Su Yu offered a few reminders. He needed to acquire more of these types of blood essence, ideally so he could synthesize innate blood essence himself.
Once he truly manufactured innate blood essence, he could claim that through extensive research, he had reverse-engineered the cultivation art, thereby keeping anyone from suspecting anything amiss.
……
When Su Yu finally held the Five Elements blood essence in his hands, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
He hoped it would open plenty of divine apertures!
Even without a complete cultural art system, opening each extra divine aperture would passively draw in willpower, accelerating his willpower growth.
He wanted to enter the Tengkong Realm as soon as possible!
Being stuck in the Yangxing Realm for years was not his goal. Outlining multiple divine characters already consumed massive amounts of time; if his willpower lacked strength, he might truly spend decades reaching Tengkong.
The mere thought of taking decades to reach Tengkong like Teacher Liu sent chills down his spine.
That was too miserable!
As he was leaving, Xia Huyou called out hurriedly, "By the way, are you certain you're showing up tomorrow to challenge those students?"
Su Yu smiled. "Of course! And it would be best if the elders hold their meeting only after I've defeated a few opponents. That way, they might observe and see that I'm obsessed with saving face, refusing to admit defeat and fighting to the bitter end. That should put them at ease!
"Seeing me fighting tooth and nail on the arena will satisfy their vanity, knowing they've finally cornered Su Yu. Once they feel smug and content, they probably won't bother checking in later!"
Surrendering right at the start would never work.
He needed to put their minds at rest.
I, Su Yu, am a genius!
I would rather die than surrender!
Admitting defeat is like taking my life; I will fight to the death for victory!
Xia Huyou grimaced. Damn it, your heart is truly pitch-black!
That way, even if commotion arose outside later, those elders would likely refrain from investigating.
With that in mind, he suddenly proposed, "How about asking your martial uncle to come tomorrow? He's a ninth-stage Lingyun expert. Why not have him seal off the arena area? To avoid a repeat of what happened last time, even if those elders sense movement, they won't dare rashly probe with their willpower!"
"..."
Black-hearted indeed!
Su Yu cursed inwardly. You have the nerve to call me ruthless when your heart is even blacker!
Martial Uncle...
True enough. Zheng Yuming's incident had just occurred, and now Chen Yong was stepping forward. Even if the arena grew noisy and the elders meeting in Xiuxin Pavilion sensed something unusual, so long as no major catastrophe occurred, would anyone dare investigate?
Not a chance!
Were they truly unafraid of repeating the previous scene?
By the time they emerged from their meeting, everything would already be settled!
Su Yu looked at him, and the two exchanged knowing smiles. In the blink of an eye, Su Yu said, "My martial uncle's appearance fee is quite steep. How does three thousand merit points sound?"
"..."
Xia Huyou blinked. "Are you saying I pay for it?"
"Of course!"
"On what grounds?"
"On the grounds that you're about to make a fortune off the Single Divine Character Faction! Isn't that enough? I'm only drinking a bit of soup here; do you expect a ninth-stage Lingyun expert to guard the venue for you for free?"
"..."
There was no flaw in that logic!
Yet Xia Huyou tallied the costs in his mind. Damn it, I haven't earned a single thing yet and I've already shelled out so much. Can I even recoup the investment?
Looking at Su Yu in speechless exasperation, Xia Huyou grumbled, "And what if we end up getting nothing in the end?"
"Is doing business ever without risk?" Su Yu chuckled. "If you don't even dare bear a bit of upfront capital, how do you expect to run a big business?"
"You..."
Xia Huyou drew a deep breath and said gravely, "Su Yu, how about you come work for the Xia Commercial Firm? I'll grant you a high post! Don't worry, it certainly won't be low. If you do well, managing the entire prefecture's commerce in the future won't be an issue!"
"Not interested!"
Su Yu shook his head. Become a merchant?
Stop joking!
I am a man destined to become a supreme expert!
With that, Su Yu recalled something and asked, "By the way, do you know where Zhang Hao lives?"
"Hm? You're looking for him?"
"Not exactly. I need someone from the Divine Talisman faction, and Zhang Hao happens to be familiar."
"The Divine Talisman faction? You want to buy divine talismans?"
Su Yu looked at him with a faint smile. Xia Huyou smiled sheepishly; pressing further would be rude, so he quickly told Su Yu Zhang Hao's location.
……
Yangxing Garden, Premium District.
Monstrous talents like Zhang Hao all resided in this district. In addition to them, many senior genius students who had yet to reach Tengkong lived here as well.
That fellow Xia Huyou had not moved here.
Night had already fallen.
Passing through the security gate, Su Yu walked along the paths of the premium district, sighing in admiration. The environment was beautiful and origin qi was abundant.
It was indeed a prime place for cultivation!
No wonder these fellows all flocked here. A hundred merit points a year was no small sum.
Villa 189.
Su Yu knocked gently on the door.
Soon, a voice responded from inside, "Who is it?"
"Brother Zhang, Su Yu has come to visit!"
The door swung open immediately. Zhang Hao appeared with an expression of complete surprise. Su Yu had come to visit him?
"Su Yu!" Zhang Hao exclaimed, startled. "Why are you here...?"
"Is Brother Zhang not welcoming me?"
"Not at all!" Zhang Hao laughed. "It should be my honor! A huge crowd has been hunting for you these past two days without catching a glimpse, yet here you are at my door. How could I not be honored?"
"Brother Zhang, don't tease me!"
Su Yu chuckled. Zhang Hao quickly gestured, "Come in, take a seat!"
Su Yu stepped inside and marvelled inwardly. Rich people were truly extravagant! Such a massive residence occupied by just one person—what a waste. The ground-floor living hall alone spanned nearly a hundred square meters.
Zhang Hao treated Su Yu with great courtesy. As a monstrous talent, Zhang Hao possessed plenty of pride, but it depended on who he faced. He did not care much even for the monstrous prodigies of the previous class or the likes of Wan Mingze from this year's batch.
Su Yu was different. He had defeated Zhang Hao during the divine character competition, and two days ago, he had ruthlessly pulverized Huang Qifeng in an instant. Zhang Hao harbored genuine admiration for Su Yu.
Heroes appreciated heroes; that was generally how it went.
Taking their seats, after a few pleasantries, Su Yu cut straight to the chase. "Brother Zhang, you remember when I swallowed Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence and injured you last time, right?"
Zhang Hao looked awkward. Had he come to mock him?
"Don't misunderstand, Brother Zhang!" Su Yu sighed. "Here is the situation: that Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence was our research center's sole finished product, essentially an experimental prototype! Later, when we attempted to manufacture more, we ran into frequent problems. The outer coating layer of blood essence simply wouldn't stabilize and kept detonating easily."
Su Yu smiled and continued, "After multiple failures, I thought of the Divine Talisman faction, and I thought of Brother Zhang! Last time, when you used those explosive divine characters against me, I observed that they weren't entirely stable either, yet you could control them so they only exploded when you commanded..."
This had been a flash of inspiration for Su Yu. Who said innate blood essence had to be manufactured solely by the Divine Character Faction?
The Divine Talisman faction seemed exceptionally skilled at sealing things.
His teacher spent all day thinking of self-sufficiency.
At the mention of this, Zhang Hao's interest was instantly piqued. "The Soul-Devouring Insect's innate skill? You want to manufacture innate skill blood essence, but the outer coating layer isn't stable enough?"
"Exactly. It detonates too easily!"
Zhang Hao chuckled. "Naturally! I experienced the Soul-Devouring Insect's innate skill firsthand last time—corrosion and searing. That stuff is just like explosive divine characters; of course it's unstable! Last time, I assumed you had already resolved that problem to manufacture it successfully. So it turns out you hadn't, and it was just a fluke?"
"Yes!"
Zhang Hao's face lit up with excitement. "Well, wouldn't you know it, this is precisely my specialty! In fact, I've been researching this very topic recently. Blood essence innate skills are something many Civilization Masters study! Since I don't have a sample of your innate blood essence, I can only make an educated guess: you must have extracted some kind of innate imprint and then coated it in another layer of blood essence..."
Su Yu could not help but admire these people.
They were simply too clever!
If the students were this smart, what had been going through the minds of Zhou Pingsheng and the others? How had they fallen for the trick?
Su Yu felt a bit speechless, but on second thought, he nearly laughed.
He understood now!
First, he had genuinely unleashed the power; second, it was probably due to his casual mention of divine character fluctuations. He had claimed divine character fluctuations altered the internal structure of the blood essence, so those fellows had likely spent all their time researching that rather than extracting internal innate imprints.
They probably believed divine character fluctuations could modify internal imprints directly.
Su Yu suddenly realized... that might not be an impossible method!
If one could extract the innate imprint remotely and shatter the remaining residues without breaking the blood essence drop, wouldn't the original blood essence coating be even better?
Su Yu froze on the spot!
This... might actually be a viable path!
Moreover, the manufacturing process would be simpler and more complete, requiring no separation of the blood essence!
At this moment, Su Yu zoned out, caught in a trance!
*I really am a genius!* he thought to himself. *If I can truly strip out the internal innate imprint remotely and shatter the remaining grievances and memory fragments, that drop becomes innate blood essence!*
Su Yu swallowed hard. If so, he would genuinely have pioneered a brand-new method for manufacturing innate blood essence!
*However, without separating the blood essence, it seems impossible to penetrate deep inside to isolate the imprint!* Su Yu rubbed his temples. Unless he possessed a specialized divine character capable of directly entering the blood essence's interior to extract the imprint!
*Truth be told, it really is a feasible method!* Su Yu was amazed. *I'm too incredible.* Now he understood why he had fooled so many people; those fellows had likely reasoned along similar lines!
He had never thought of it that way before simply because he knew nothing of the standard procedures.
As for the bizarre materials he had used, they probably interpreted them as a softening process—something to make the blood essence permeable to divine characters or willpower!
*That must be it. The vinegar, the soy sauce... they probably thought those were used to soften the blood essence!*
Otherwise, Shanhai and Lingyun experts would never have been foolish enough to believe such absurd research methods.
Zhang Hao watched Su Yu, noticing him drift into thought mid-sentence, yet felt not the least bit surprised.
Geniuses were all like this!
Researchers often caught a spark of inspiration from a single sentence and sank into their own worlds. He understood completely, as he frequently did the same.
He only admired Su Yu all the more!
Possessing immense martial strength while never forgetting his core duty as a Civilization Master—he truly was a monstrous talent, a genuine prodigy!
……
After a moment, Su Yu snapped back to reality and apologized, "My apologies, I just thought of something..."
"No matter!" Zhang Hao waved it off with a smile. "Su Yu, you mentioned an issue with the blood essence coating. When you came looking for me, I wondered if you had something else in mind—like replacing that coating with a divine talisman?"
Su Yu nodded and smiled. "Precisely! That's my thought. Or perhaps adding an extra protective membrane over the coating, like a capsule, to ensure it doesn't detonate prematurely."
"Then you've come to the right person!" Zhang Hao beamed. "If you approached anyone else, the cost would be exorbitant! Stable talisman shells do exist, but their price is astronomical. You know my divine character—it's specialized. I can continuously peel off small, disposable divine characters.
"As long as I neutralize the explosive properties within them, the disposable character shells I peel off can function perfectly as capsules!"
Su Yu frowned. "You? You haven't materialized your divine characters yet..."
"This doesn't require materialization; it can be manifested through willpower!" Zhang Hao urged eagerly, "Su Yu, how about this: as long as you agree to supply me with some Soul-Devouring Insect innate blood essence, I'll help you stabilize the blood essence for free. What do you say?"
Su Yu looked at him and asked thoughtfully, "I've been wondering: if the innate blood essence isn't swallowed, but instead guided to detonate using your divine character's properties, would it directly unleash the innate skill to corrode an opponent's willpower?"
"..."
Zhang Hao's eyes gleamed brightly! "It's possible! If that works, I'll be terrifying! Controlling hundreds of drops of Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence, even against a Tengkong cultivator, hundreds of simultaneous innate skill detonations could corrode their willpower and inflict severe injuries!"
Zhang Hao swallowed dryly. "Seriously, Su Yu, this idea might actually work! When that time comes, I alone would be an army of Soul-Devouring Insects! Of course, it depends on how many I can peel off and how strong my willpower is. Right now, I can only trigger about a hundred detonations.
"A hundred divine character explosions, given that my character isn't overwhelmingly powerful, can only blow up weaklings like Lin Qing. But once loaded with Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence, forget Lin Qing—even Zhan Hai would probably end up weeping if blasted a hundred times!"
Zhan Hai was not even in the Tengkong Realm yet!
Blasting him with corrosive Soul-Devouring skills, corroding and searing him—how could Zhan Hai not weep?
At the thought, Zhang Hao's face flushed with excitement!
It felt as though a whole new life had opened before him!
Su Yu chuckled. "Don't get too excited; there are many obstacles! Besides, the cost of innate blood essence is steep. The Soul-Devouring Insect's innate skill is technically a martial technique, primarily functioning through mutated origin qi. Of course, since there is blood essence on the outside providing origin qi, it shouldn't cause an issue."
Even so, Su Yu cautioned, "The main problem remains cost. Even if you can pull it off, do you know how much a single drop of innate blood essence costs? Detonating a hundred drops at once just to injure people like Zhan Hai—how much money would that burn?"
"..."
Zhang Hao froze. That was true!
Damn it, innate blood essence had to be expensive, right?
"How much per drop...?"
"Even with mass production, the raw blood essence alone costs three merit points per drop. Not to mention that blood essence is merely raw material; factoring in the extraction process and the discarded failures... even under large-scale production, you wouldn't manage it for under ten merit points."
Ten points was actually not expensive.
Yet Zhang Hao suddenly shivered!
Detonating a hundred drops in one go would cost a thousand merit points... Forget it; unless it killed a Lingyun cultivator, it would feel like a colossal loss!
With his current strength, blasting a hundred drops might kill Zhan Hai if he was lucky, but it wouldn't even kill a Tengkong cultivator!
Su Yu smiled. "It can't serve as a standard tactic, but as a trump card, it's exceptionally useful. Once your willpower grows stronger and you can split off more disposable talismans—say, five hundred at once—could five hundred Qianjun Realm Soul-Devouring Insects spewing soul-devouring fluid together kill a Tengkong expert?"
"That wouldn't be enough. It would take at least a thousand!"
Even as Zhang Hao said this, his eyes shone. "Still, before reaching Tengkong, I have a very real chance of producing a thousand disposable talismans. If this truly works, I could slay Tengkong cultivators... That's incredible!"
Su Yu laughed. "That's why I said it's tremendous as a trump card! Right now, this is only at the Qianjun level. If we can extract Wanshi Realm Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence and you can still control it, do you think over a thousand Wanshi Soul-Devouring Insects spraying simultaneously could kill a Lingyun expert?"
"Probably not kill one, but a late-stage Tengkong would definitely be left on the brink of death!"
Zhang Hao grew ecstatic and pleaded, "Su Yu, we fought and became friends, so we're buddies now, right? Let's cooperate! I'll provide the protective shells. You don't need to give me free blood essence; just sell it to me, but in large quantities!"
Su Yu smiled. He possessed the Soul-Devouring Art, but that did not mean everyone could open those apertures, so innate blood essence remained immensely valuable.
Like divine talismans, it was a consumable product.
For someone like Zhang Hao, even if he opened those apertures himself, the benefit would be limited. How much damage could a single person's strike cause?
Yet with Zhang Hao's divine character, controlling hundreds or thousands of blood essence drops to detonate and trigger innate skills would produce terrifying lethality!
"Let's test the effects later. We'll talk once we succeed; if we fail, it's all pointless anyway, right?"
"True!" Zhang Hao nodded, his urgency subsiding somewhat.
Su Yu, on the other hand, was contemplating whether to seize this opportunity to recruit the Divine Talisman faction's top prodigy into his Mutual Aid Society.
He would see later. Even if Zhang Hao collaborated with him to stabilize the blood essence, he would likely need close access to the research center, which required consulting Bai Feng.
Nevertheless, today's harvest was substantial. He might have found a solution to stabilizing the Soul-Devouring Insect blood essence after all.
*Mutual Aid Society... cultural arts... innate blood essence...*
Su Yu murmured to himself. He needed to drape himself in the cloak of a research genius!
To Civilization Masters, sometimes even Lingyun and Shanhai experts could not compare to a prodigy with outstanding research talent!
Or rather, that held true for the entirety of humanity.
Zhao Li enjoyed immense status!
Even elders dared not provoke him lightly. That had nothing to do with the fourth-generation principal; the primary reason was that he was the grand figure of the Great Xia Prefecture's Forging faction. If you wanted a cultural weapon forged, you might well end up begging him for help.
Zhao Li was a seventh-stage Lingyun cultivator, a level of strength that many in the academy shared.
Yet not a single one held higher status than him.
If Su Yu donned the persona of a specialist in innate blood essence research, then even if he could no longer survive in the academy, people across the Great Xia Prefecture—and indeed the entire Human Realm—would eagerly recruit and nurture him.
Su Yu was already planning for such possibilities.
The infighting within the Great Xia Civilization Academy was fierce, and the Multiple Divine Characters Faction seemed far too weak to Su Yu, perpetually suppressed.
He was a genius, but until he reached Tengkong, that carried limited weight.
Yet if he was a research genius, his value would exceed that of a Tengkong expert even before reaching that realm.
*Furthermore, I should experiment more deeply with using divine characters to modify blood essence and synthesize innate blood essence directly. If the Single Divine Character Faction picks a fight one day, I'll manufacture innate blood essence right before their eyes and slap their faces swollen—that would be hilarious!*
*I, Su Yu, never tell lies!*
Su Yu chuckled inwardly. If that day ever came, it would be magnificent.
Everyone would assume it was fake, only for him to genuinely manufacture innate blood essence. Wouldn't that shock them to their core?
Even his teacher and the others believed it was impossible, yet he would actually pull it off. Wouldn't that leave them dumbfounded?
When that time came, countless jaws would hit the floor.
This method... was actually real!
Chapter 165