The Formidable Expanding Will Art

Zhao Li truly hadn't expected Su Yu to be so shameless... He was far too direct. He had assumed Su Yu would beat around the bush, looking for subtle ways to extract the legacy from him. As for the routine... Zhao Li had even mapped it out in Su Yu's place. Running over to his side of the academy more often, picking up a bit of knowledge on forging, or, if all else failed, coming over every day to sweep the floors and run errands—doing anything, essentially, to get in his good graces. Yet what did he get instead? This damned brat hadn't done a single thing; he simply showed up and demanded it outright! Zhao Li stared at him, while Su Yu wore an expression of simple, guileless sincerity. "Teacher, doesn't what I said make sense?" "..." *Make sense to your damned ancestors!* Zhao Li felt utterly exhausted. Putting up one last bit of resistance, he said, "You're not cut out for forging!" *You'll ruin my family's legacy!* "Teacher, I think there's still hope for me on the weapon forging path. Look, I can outline a lot of divine characters. If I just draw a few at random and designate them to the Forging faction, I can forge weapons." "..." There wasn't really anything wrong with that logic. Yet Old Zhao still wasn't pleased. He had every intention of imparting it to Su Yu—otherwise he would have told him to get lost long ago—but he simply refused to yield so easily; he felt thoroughly disgruntled. "You might not even be able to learn it. And even if you do, your cultivation is already notoriously difficult to advance. If you spend every day tempering your sea of will on top of that, I doubt you'll ever even dream of reaching Tengkong, let alone helping me forge weapons once you reach Lingyun..." Su Yu gave a silly grin. "Teacher, I can learn it. I'm very smart! As for compressing willpower, that's hardly an issue either. As long as my willpower grows faster than it's compressed, wouldn't that solve everything?" "Su Yu, you make it sound easy. Before reaching Tengkong, willpower inherently grows at a crawl..." "It's not slow at all!" Su Yu hurriedly said, "Teacher, look, my reservoir is already at seventy percent fullness. Last time I came here, your hammer strike knocked me all the way back to the early Yangxing stage. My progress has been so fast that I'm worried I might break through to Tengkong before I can even outline all my divine characters. It's only been a few days—not even a month—and my reservoir has already risen by twenty percent. Teacher, your hammer strikes last time weren't fierce enough!" Zhao Li's expression shifted slightly. Only now did he realize what was going on! Right... last month, wasn't it the eighteenth? Su Yu had come by that day, and after his willpower was tempered, it had plummeted back to the initial Yangxing stage. To this day, it had been exactly twenty days! In twenty days, his reservoir had grown by twenty percent? And that was after expanding his sea of will? Only now did Zhao Li sense the gravity of the situation. Looking at Su Yu, his willpower abruptly surged outwards and swept over Su Yu to investigate! A mighty pressure of willpower enveloped Su Yu, crashing against his defenses! Su Yu's willpower instinctively fought back, shielding himself... Zhao Li maintained relentless pressure! Gradually, the pressure grew heavier and heavier until Su Yu was soaked in sweat. At that moment, the shadowy zones cloaking his divine apertures began to disperse! The moment the shadowed barrier over the first divine aperture was driven back, a faint suction flashed and vanished, prompting Zhao Li to instantly withdraw his willpower! Looking at Su Yu, Zhao Li remained silent. Su Yu didn't say a word either. After a long while, Zhao Li asked in a deep voice, "Have you sworn loyalty to the Xia family?" Then, catching himself, he muttered, "No, swearing loyalty wouldn't be enough. Are you Xia Longwu's bastard son?" "..." Su Yu didn't know how to respond. Evidently, Old Zhao had noticed something—namely, that his divine apertures had been opened! Though he hadn't probed too deeply, Zhao Li knew that across the entire Human Realm, there were barely a handful of methods capable of opening divine apertures during the Yangxing stage, and the Xia family of the Great Xia Prefecture ought to possess one. Where had Su Yu learned it from? Zhao Li watched him for a moment before asking, "Do you have an ancestor in the Invincible Realm?" Su Yu shook his head. "Do you know someone in the Invincible Realm?" He shook his head again. "Are you from the All-Races Sect... No, the All-Races Sect wouldn't have this either. Even if the gods and demons possessed such a technique, they wouldn't bestow it upon a human." Dismissing his own theories, Zhao Li exhaled and asked, "Your own fortuitous encounter?" Su Yu kept quiet. "I'll take that as a yes, then." Zhao Li didn't press the matter further. After a moment of thought, he added, "If you want to learn the *Expanding Will Art*, I can teach you. However... I will not acknowledge you as my student! Nor will you be my direct disciple!" "Teacher, why?" Su Yu was perplexed. Hadn't Old Zhao been eager to take him as a student? Zhao Li said slowly, "Your Multiple Divine Characters Faction and the Single Divine Character Faction have been fighting for so many years; I see everything with utter clarity! Fifty years ago, I was hardly a young man, and that fellow was still alive, roughly the same age as me..." Su Yu knew he was referring to the Fifth Head. "I knew him for many years. My father even taught him, and I'm familiar with all of his students. Whether it's Liu Wenyan or Hong Tan, neither of them is an idiot, neither is foolish, and neither is weak!" "The Multiple Divine Characters Faction was pushed to this point, yet they never struck back. It wasn't that their counterattack failed—they simply never struck back!" Zhao Li continued calmly, "Hong Tan is no bookworm! Back when Liu Wenyan resolved to tread the path of inheriting divine characters, Hong Tan had a chance as well. Another Sun Moon expert resolved to pass on their divine characters to Hong Tan... but Hong Tan refused." Zhao Li recounted an event from the past: "I was present at the time! I was stripping down shattered cultural weapons for that expert, who wanted to pass everything on to Hong Tan. But Hong Tan said he wouldn't walk that path. Liu Wenyan had embarked on it, and if he failed, the Great Xia Civilization Academy... would still need someone to watch over the house." "So after Liu Wenyan left, Hong Tan quickly broke through to Tengkong. He was very young—he isn't even seventy this year. He entered Lingyun at thirty, attained Shanhai at forty-five, stepped into the seventh stage of Shanhai at sixty, and now stands at the peak of the eighth stage..." Zhao Li let out a breath and said, "He's roughly the same age as Xia Longwu. That entire generation is about Xia Longwu's age. Yet to outsiders, or perhaps as a misconception, Hong Tan seems... very old, even older than me!" Su Yu froze for a moment. *He's right!* *I shared that misconception too!* Hong Tan seemed ancient, well advanced in years, but when one thought about it carefully, he really wasn't that old. Wasn't he under seventy? Zhao Li said indifferently, "He was able to bide his time for fifty years. A man holding back for fifty years without retaliating, burying himself entirely in his own research—tell me, is he a saint, a fool, or something else?" Su Yu remained silent. Zhao Li went on, "So, what is the Multiple Divine Characters Faction waiting for? What are they afraid of? I've grown older, so I tend to think about things a little more. Since you insist on joining the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, I can teach you the technique, but I won't acknowledge you as my direct disciple. Otherwise, I fear the Forging faction will be wiped out alongside you." "Teacher, I... I won't learn it then..." "Why not?" Zhao Li chuckled. "What's the harm in passing on a technique? You even possess techniques bestowed by experts in the Invincible Realm. Is someone going to come after me just because I passed on a technique? It's not that complicated. As long as you aren't my direct disciple, I can teach whoever I damn well please! Just remember not to drag my Forging faction down with you in the end!" Su Yu was momentarily at a loss for words. Zhao Li let out another breath. "Never mind that. I'll transmit the *Expanding Will Art* to you right now. I'm merely warning you: don't go thinking you're the grand savior of the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, or that you alone can change everything. You're just a weakling, not even at Tengkong. What nonsense are you cooking up in that head of yours? Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan have held their ground for decades, and people like Xia Yunqi, Hu Ping, and Zhao Mingyue aren't dead yet. How could it be extinguished so easily!" "Even if they truly are destroyed, they'll burn brilliantly before the end! If the day comes when all of those people are dead, then the Multiple Divine Characters Faction is truly finished. But as long as they draw breath, there is still hope, and they are still biding their time!" Su Yu nodded, sinking into deep thought. *He's right. It seems I've overestimated myself and underestimated those seniors.* Even Teacher Liu was a Tengkong expert after all, far stronger than himself. "Teacher, I understand." "Good that you understand!" Zhao Li exhaled. "Come, follow me inside!" With that, he rose and walked deeper into the building. ... A few minutes later, Su Yu and Zhao Li entered a basement. Su Yu hadn't expected the research institute to have such an enormous underground chamber and was caught somewhat off guard. He had assumed Zhao Li's facility lacked one entirely. "The Expanding Will Art is actually quite simple. You saw it last time: it's basically a hammer!" *A hammer!* Su Yu inwardly grumbled. Phrased like that, it sounded so ambiguous—almost like an insult! "Focus your mind!" Right at that moment, an enormous iron hammer suddenly manifested before Zhao Li, shimmering with a dark, profound radiance. "This is the foundation of the *Expanding Will Art*: forging an enormous iron hammer within your sea of consciousness to temper your willpower and expand your sea of will!" "An ordinary hammer won't do. You can't just toss in any cultural weapon shaped like a hammer and expect it to expand your sea of will. It must resonate with the sea of will, tempering it without causing harm, rather than smashing it to pieces..." After explaining for a while, Zhao Li noticed that Su Yu still looked rather confused. A look of disappointment crossed Zhao Li's face. "Forget it, your intellect isn't up to par. You've got plenty of petty cleverness, but no true wisdom. Never mind, never mind, say no more. I'll just split off a smaller hammer from my large one and hand it to you so you can use it directly. Nourish it with your willpower over time, and it will eventually grow on its own..." Su Yu's mouth hung open. *Was I just looked down on?* Did Teacher Zhao think he was too dumb to grasp it, so he decided to simply cleave off a small hammer for him? A dummy-proof shortcut ready for immediate use? Could it really be that simple? "Teacher, will that actually work?" "Of course!" Zhao Li waved it off casually. "As a weaponsmith, separating these things is second nature to me. When the time comes, you'll just need to adjust its frequency to resonate with your sea of will. It's actually very straightforward. Once I split off the small hammer, absorb it into your sea of will and adjust the frequency until it feels comfortable. I'll teach you the method of adjustment shortly... Whichever setting feels most comfortable indicates that your frequencies match!" "Put simply, when it strikes, your sea of will should feel comfortable rather than pained, beating in a harmonious rhythm like breathing. Then you'll know it's right!" Su Yu nodded repeatedly. He understood! "Teacher, can the Expanding Will Art really be cultivated so easily?" "Easily?" Zhao Li snapped irritably, "What do you mean, easily! It's easy for you because you're the second generation, receiving a ready-made seed from me! When the first generation—meaning me—tried to figure this out back then, I nearly shattered my own sea of will several times!" Su Yu scratched his head and asked in a low voice, "Teacher, then why didn't you pass it on to my teacher? I believe my grandmaster came to see you about it back then..." "Bai Feng?" Zhao Li pondered for a moment before forcing out a response: "If he had this hammer, he'd still be rolling around in the Yangxing Realm! This kind of thing depends on the individual! Besides, while the hammering feels comfortable at first, the subsequent compression will be excruciatingly painful. Can you endure it?" He felt Su Yu would have no problem! Since he managed it last time, he should be fine in the future. Su Yu nodded vigorously! He could definitely endure it! "That's the spirit. Among the younger generation, how many can bear the agony of that kind of compression? These youngsters haven't suffered any real hardship. I tested a few students with my hammer before, and every single one collapsed after a single blow. You expect me to pass it on to them?" Old Zhao scoffed with disdain! *Teach them my foot!* *If they can't even take a few strikes, teaching them would be a waste of my creation!* The only reason he took a liking to Su Yu was that during their first meeting, the kid had unleashed multiple bursts of willpower yet stood back up as if nothing had happened, even managing to hold a conversation. Now that was proper backbone! Without another word, the massive iron hammer began to tremble, as if giving birth. Gradually, Su Yu could make out the silhouette of a tiny iron hammer emerging from the larger one. Zhao Li's face grew somewhat pale, his willpower heavily taxed. He said gravely, "The *Expanding Will Art* doesn't just temper the sea of will; it also tempers divine characters and cultural weapons. Strictly speaking, it is exceptionally powerful and can even be wielded as an offensive martial technique!" "Take last time, for example. When I brought the hammer down on you, you were in agony. In that state, would you have retained any combat capability?" "Even if it helped you temper your willpower afterward, what good would that do? In a real fight, I would have already ended your life!" Su Yu was startled! A willpower martial technique! Right, wasn't that precisely what a willpower martial technique was? Yes, it served a supportive function, but recalling how he had been hammered unconscious last time, Su Yu realized that if applied properly, it made for a terrifyingly potent willpower martial technique. At that moment, Su Yu faintly felt that the *Expanding Will Art* might truly be an extraordinary technique! "Teacher, what rank is this technique?" "No idea." Zhao Li said offhandedly, "I created it myself, so who knows what rank it is? It doesn't require opening divine apertures, making it difficult to categorize. Consider it purely supportive; such techniques are hard to grade." "I simply forged weapons so often that inspiration struck, and I spent quite a bit of time cobbling it together. My original goal was just to make forging cultural weapons easier. You should know that crafting cultural weapons is impossible with ordinary hammers..." Right, it could also be used to forge weapons! Su Yu was inwardly astonished. The more he heard, the more remarkable this technique seemed—regardless of it being just a hammer. "Teacher, can my little hammer give birth to even smaller hammers in the future?" "..." Old Zhao stared at him. What kind of nonsense phrasing was that? What did he mean, "give birth"? Well, looking at the scene before them, the large iron hammer was indeed birthing a smaller one. Rendered speechless, Old Zhao said, "It can, but you are not to split it. Unless I allow you to pass it on, you must not, unless I'm dead—in which case you can make your own decisions!" Zhao Li grumbled sullenly, "Do you know why so many people in this era keep their techniques to themselves? Kid, the human heart holds myriad motives. You must always keep an ace up your sleeve! Who knows when someone might sell you out once they know your flaws and weaknesses? Being selfless doesn't guarantee a long life!" "If being selfless were truly the way, why haven't the Invincible experts publicized their signature abilities?" "Don't think people are just selfish. Consider this: if your technique is shared abroad—and it's your core technique at that—what happens when your enemies figure out every detail of how to counter and kill you? What will you do then?" Su Yu nodded. That made sense! His thinking had still been too naive. This was hardly a world without enemies; threats lurked everywhere. As they spoke, a tiny hammer fully emerged! Zhao Li's face instantly turned deathly pale! "Teacher, you..." "I'm fine, just drained a bit of willpower..." Zhao Li panted. "So if your cultivation isn't high enough, don't even think about birthing... bah, don't think about cleaving an Expanding Will Hammer! You won't be able to handle it! Once you reach Lingyun, you'll have some confidence, but otherwise, you'll shatter your own hammer, and that'll be the end of you." Su Yu nodded silently, feeling a swell of gratitude. In this academy, he had encountered detestable experts from the Single Divine Character Faction, but he had also witnessed true mentors. Zhao Li, the two elderly men guarding the secret realm, and other experts he had yet to meet—their intentions were pure: to nurture students and educate the next generation. The Civilization Academy had its dark corners, but it also held brilliance. Perhaps this was what society truly was. "What are you standing around for? Hurry up and draw it into your sea of will!" Zhao Li barked. Not daring to delay, Su Yu unleashed his willpower. The tiny hammer vanished from midair, entering his sea of will in the blink of an eye. The moment it entered his sea of will... Su Yu felt the difference immediately. *Boom!* Upon entering, the tiny hammer rampaged recklessly, charging straight toward the golden album. The album ignored it. After circling for a moment and realizing it couldn't get close, the hammer abruptly wheeled around and flew toward the small blade formed by his divine character battle technique. The "Blood" and "Thunder" divine characters flew out one after another, instantly clashing with the tiny hammer the moment they emerged! *Rumble!* The tiny hammer tirelessly and savagely struck the characters, hammering them back again and again until they seemed to shrink slightly. "Pfft..." Su Yu felt a splitting headache, as though his skull were about to burst! He spat out a mouthful of blood! The divine characters were hammered smaller and smaller, constantly pushed back. The "Blood" divine character in particular seemed to be hammered until it bled, shrinking continuously as layers of impurities were expelled from its periphery. Soon, Su Yu noticed something remarkable! The divine characters... seemed purer and more refined! Not yet satisfied, the tiny hammer subdued the divine characters until they cowered, then shot high into the air and began unleashing a barrage of strikes against the void. At that moment, something that shook Su Yu to his core occurred! The tiny hammer was striking his divine apertures! With each blow, willpower seemed to leak from the divine apertures, and black smoke began rising from the crown of Su Yu's head! Ordinary people couldn't see it, but Zhao Li saw it clearly: it was disordered willpower. He couldn't help but curse, "Absorbing wildly! Don't go taking in chaotic willpower; it's far too filthy! You little bastard, you're polluting my private chamber..." The black mist dispersed into the surroundings. Meanwhile, the tiny hammer continued its strikes! It pounded every single aperture once! Gradually, the tiny hammer ran out of steam. It descended toward the Annihilation Beast skull resting in his mind, slamming down against the bone with a heavy blow! Shuddering from head to toe, Su Yu snapped awake and looked at Zhao Li in panic. "Teacher, this hammer is striking my Annihilation Beast skull..." "Hm? You have one of those?" Zhao Li had no idea he possessed such a thing and asked in surprise, "That's a genuine treasure. Who gave it to you?" "Teacher, it's going crazy! It's hammering the skull! Teacher, what should I do? Why can't I control it..." "What's the panic!" Zhao Li replied unhurriedly, "It was just born and carries immense power. After all, it was split from mine and retains some residual strength equivalent to the Lingyun Realm, which will fade soon enough." "This is a rare opportunity, so what are you panicking about? The Annihilation Beast skull serves to stabilize the sea of will. This particular skull is unique, containing special matter. The little hammer took a liking to it and will shatter it to absorb its essence to solidify itself, saving you a great deal of time doing it on your own..." Su Yu wanted to weep! *That was expensive!* This little hammer was far too overbearing. It actually intended to smash the skull and absorb it to nourish itself. It was inhuman... Well, it wasn't human to begin with. Sure enough, within his sea of will, the tiny hammer struck wildly. After a few minutes, with a loud bang, the skull shattered! The tiny hammer absorbed the essence released from the shattered skull. Soon, the remaining dross was hammered into black smoke, billowing out from the top of Su Yu's head! The Annihilation Beast skull was gone! At that moment, the tiny hammer grew quiet. Crystal-clear and translucent, it settled into silence. It appeared to be recuperating, or perhaps entering dormancy. Su Yu opened his eyes and looked at Zhao Li, an expression of profound heartache on his face. It was completely gone! Seeing his mournful expression, Zhao Li chuckled and said, "It's a good thing. The sole purpose of the Annihilation Beast skull was to stabilize your sea of will, which isn't particularly useful in the long run. With this hammer, you can temper your sea of will every day, keeping it naturally stable. Why would you need that bone? Oh, right, let me teach you how to adjust its frequency and control it..." Su Yu couldn't help saying, "Teacher, why do I feel like this thing can also purify divine apertures?" "Of course it can." Zhao Li treated it as nothing extraordinary. "It treats your sea of will like iron to be forged. When you forge iron, can you do so without knocking out the impurities?" "..." Su Yu stared at him. *Teacher, do you have any idea what this means?* "Teacher, I heard that only the Zhu family of the Great Ming Prefecture possesses this kind of technique, and they never share it with outsiders. This... this Expanding Will Art can actually purify willpower too?" Zhao Li was naturally aware of that and said dismissively, "So what if the Zhu family has one? My Expanding Will Art can do it too, so why shouldn't it? Is purifying willpower really that grand an achievement? If your willpower isn't strong to begin with, no matter how pure you make it, it won't amount to much!" "No, Teacher, your willpower must be exceptionally pure..." "Nonsense!" Zhao Li said weakly, "I already told you, I can forge cultural weapons continuously for ten hours straight. Are you an idiot? If my willpower weren't pure, could I hold out for ten hours?" At this moment, Su Yu found himself completely unable to argue! *He's right!* *It makes total sense!* If one's willpower were chaotic and impure, how could anyone persist for ten hours straight? Clearly, Zhao Li's willpower was exceedingly pure! In Su Yu's eyes, this *Expanding Will Art* was worth no less than a Heaven-rank technique, perhaps even more! Its supportive utility was terrifyingly potent! To think Zhao Li had created such a technique... He was incredible, yet he had passed it on so casually! Su Yu felt somewhat in a daze! Zhao Li didn't dwell on it, merely sighing. "Kid, techniques exist for people to cultivate. In truth, I wanted to find someone to pass it down to, but the problem is that there are too many mediocre talents around. Learning it wouldn't necessarily be a blessing for them! Take its ability to purify willpower: just because you like it doesn't mean everyone will! If a Shanhai cultivator's willpower gets hammered down to the Lingyun level, dropping their realm from Shanhai to Lingyun, would they be happy about it?" "What's wrong with being a little impure? Even if it's impure, it's still Shanhai! If you're pure, you're still only Lingyun!" "It's the same as your Multiple Divine Characters Faction. Who doesn't know that forming a divine character battle technique makes someone stronger? But so what if they know? Must everyone go learn it? If I cultivate that, by the time other people in the Single Divine Character Faction have reached Lingyun or Shanhai, I'd still be stuck in Tengkong. Why would I bother?" "The principle is the same!" Zhao Li said with emotion, "Therefore, there are only suitable techniques, not inherently superior ones. If you force mediocre people to cultivate this and purify their willpower, they might not even give you the time of day. Does cultivating willpower not cost time? Does it not cost money?" "Their original goal is just to reach Tengkong. If you tell them this will harm their chances of reaching the Invincible Realm decades later, they'll spit in your face! They don't even know what the Invincible Realm is!" "..." Su Yu was at a loss for words! At this moment, he felt as though his horizons had genuinely broadened; Teacher Zhao's words carried profound wisdom. Just like the *Yuan-Purifying Art* he had shared—he had only taught it to Hu Zongqi because Hu was a mid-high tier genius capable of opening thirty-six apertures. If he had taught it to lower-tier students, they would have cursed him for being out of his mind! *I can't even break through to Qianjun, spending months just to open a single aperture, struggling to reach the ninth stage of Qianjun. Why on earth would I open a bunch of extra apertures? Am I sick in the head?* *What does purity matter? No matter how pure I am, I'd still be at the first or second layer of Qianjun—what good is that?* *In the time it takes to open thirty-six apertures, I could have reached the seventh or eighth layer of Qianjun!* *As for a bit of impure yuanqi, what's the big deal?* Su Yu reflected on this. Indeed, not everyone was a genius, and not everyone possessed endless resources like he did; he needed to be more mindful of this going forward. He primarily associated with geniuses, so their pursuits were naturally different. When he had Hu Zongqi open apertures to cultivate the Yuan-Purifying Art, Hu Zongqi found it acceptable and even felt deeply grateful, understanding the technique's true worth. If he were to urge someone cultivating a Yellow-rank art to practice the Yuan-Purifying Art, they could have reached the ninth stage of Qianjun with thirty-six apertures; they would surely curse him for being insane. His own father was a prime example. His father only had thirty-six apertures opened. If Su Yu gave him the Yuan-Purifying Art, his father wouldn't cultivate it—he'd beat him half to death for trying to scam his own dad! So many realizations washed over him! Without another word, Su Yu bowed deeply to Zhao Li! Zhao Li accepted the bow calmly. Having expended considerable energy, he didn't say much, merely yawning as he spoke: "Go back and nourish it slowly on your own..." With that, he explained the precautions and methods for controlling the hammer to Su Yu. Finally, he added, "Remember our deal: you are not permitted to claim you're my direct disciple! I will never acknowledge it! Don't come crying to me over your disputes with the Single Divine Character Faction either; I won't stick my neck out for you..." "If the day comes when you truly lose the fight, as long as you haven't provoked someone in the Invincible Realm, you can announce that you're no longer part of the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, but rather the Forging faction. This old man will see if I can protect you once..." "If you provoke someone in the Invincible Realm... well, I can't afford to cross them either, so you'd better go find a patch of dirt and bury yourself!" Su Yu gave a wry smile at those words. Yet in his heart, he understood Elder Zhao's intentions. Bowing once more, he realized that Elder Zhao was offering him an escape route should the worst happen, even if it brought immense trouble upon himself. "Teacher... thank you. I will come here less often in the future!" Su Yu exhaled, turning to leave. Reaching the doorway, he looked back and said, "Once I reach Lingyun, I'll come back to reforge your cultural weapon!" "I'll be waiting!" Zhao Li yawned, waving him off dismissively. "Survive until Lingyun first!" "Thank you for your guidance, Teacher!" Saying no more, Su Yu stepped through the door. From this day forward, he would rarely visit this place, though from beginning to end, he had only come three times. Three visits... yet Zhao Li had imparted a technique that could alter the course of his entire life. A technique whose sheer might the outside world couldn't even fathom! Tempering the sea of will, purifying divine apertures, refining divine characters, and even doubling as an offensive willpower martial technique in battle... ... After Su Yu left, Zhao Li shook his head and sighed. Soon, a smile touched his lips. "It's passed on... At least the legacy won't be broken. *Sigh!*" The winds and clouds were gathering! Liu Wenyan was returning, Hong Tan was returning soon as well, the Single Divine Character Faction was preparing, and from the Great Zhou Prefecture, that peerless genius sweeping through all prefectures was hurrying this way... One storm after another. The Great Zhou Prefecture was even on the verge of producing an Invincible expert. And the Great Xia Prefecture was about to produce one as well. Furthermore, Wan Tiansheng was bringing in the myriad races—what was that fellow plotting? Old Jia and the others claimed to be in secluded cultivation... Secluded cultivation my foot! If that fat bastard Jia Mingzhen hadn't been replaced by Old Jia, Zhao Li would hammer himself to death! "What a complete mess!" "It's a pity the Fifth Head died!" He sighed with genuine regret. Had the Fifth Head not fallen and instead succeeded in attaining the Dao, the Civilization Masters would have united under one banner. Single Divine Character or Multiple Divine Characters—they were all Civilization Masters, and who would have dared to stir up trouble? Yet the moment the Fifth Head died, all sorts of monsters crawled out of the woodwork. Most of the Invincible experts were stationed at the frontline, while those in the rear harbored divergent motives, some even scheming to see whether the Fifth Head had left anything behind... Under such circumstances, how could things not spiral into chaos? "Wan Tiansheng..." Glancing toward the Xiuxin Pavilion, Zhao Li muttered, "What is that fellow... trying to pull!" Deep down, he always felt that man was up to no good! He even suspected that Wan Tiansheng, having gotten so chummy with the myriad races, might suddenly slaughter a massive cohort of their experts one day and redirect the blame toward the human race, forcefully uniting humanity by pushing them to the brink of absolute war... "Surely it won't go that far?" Zhao Li grumbled to himself. If Wan Tiansheng really did that, he'd be courting certain death—unless, of course, the man was already in the Invincible Realm, in which case it would be another story entirely. Shaking his head, he couldn't be bothered to guess. He was reasonably familiar with Wan Tiansheng, but after so many years, who knew if the man had changed? And then there was that kid Su Yu, who actually knew a cultural art. Who on earth had taught him? "Who cares!" Zhao Li decided to cast it from his mind. When he had free time, he'd head out to take on some missions and get as far away as possible. The Great Xia Civilization Academy was destined for turbulent days ahead.