You're Mine!

Bai Feng's words opened up an entirely new world for Su Yu. Su Yu had too many questions he wanted to ask, too many things he wanted to say. However, before he could ask further, Bai Feng took the initiative and smiled. "Do you really want to keep asking these kinds of questions? Martial Uncle didn't send you here just to ask basic common knowledge. You'll learn all about that once you reach the academy." Su Yu paused. That made sense. An assistant researcher charged five merit points per hour for instruction—wasn't wasting time on these things a complete loss? To the side, Liu Yue showed a hint of excitement and asked in a low voice, "Teacher Bai, then... can you teach us how to inscribe divine characters with willpower?" Su Yu was somewhat bewildered. What did that mean? Liu Wenyan had never mentioned this to him, so he had no idea what Liu Yue was talking about. Bai Feng chuckled. "It seems you know about it. Su Yu, didn't Martial Uncle tell you?" "No." Su Yu whispered, "Teacher Bai, inscribing divine characters with willpower... what does that mean?" Bai Feng said with a faint smile, "'Divine character' is an umbrella term. It doesn't specifically mean the script of the God Race, but rather the characters of the myriad races that possess immense power! Out in the world, people like us are also known as Civilization Masters. "You saw us fight earlier, but that wasn't our strongest method or state of combat. "Of course, your teacher's willpower has only just manifested, so he hasn't yet familiarized himself with using it in that manner." That was why yesterday, Liu Wenyan had chosen the bluntest combat style: raw willpower manipulation. "Inscribing divine characters with willpower—that will be the most important, most crucial course when you enter the Civilization Academy! "You outline the character you desire using your willpower, and then take control of it and nurture it! When the day comes that your willpower manifests and your divine character reaches completion, a single character unleashed will suppress all four corners! "There are countless divine characters; in fact, virtually any character could potentially become a divine character. You have to understand its meaning. Use your own heart to understand it, accept it, nurture it, and embrace it, even if you might never use it in your entire life. "A Civilization Master who hasn't outlined their own divine character is not a qualified Civilization Master—they're just a weakling among the ranks of Civilization Masters." Bai Feng looked at Su Yu and chuckled. "Feeling lost right about now?" "A little," Su Yu admitted awkwardly. He truly didn't understand any of this. "When you enter the Civilization Academy, regular courses—including learning various myriad-race languages—are taught by senior students. "That's one of the ways they earn merit points. But engraving and outlining divine characters must be taught by a Civilization Master whose willpower has manifested! "Your teacher probably told you that our lessons are very expensive. The crux of it lies right here!" With that, Bai Feng said with a grin, "I'll show you, and then you'll understand." The moment he spoke, Su Yu felt the surrounding air grow stagnant. The next instant, an invisible force erupted around Bai Feng. In midair, a somewhat familiar character gradually took shape. It was God Race script! Su Yu had studied the God Race language, so he recognized it. As if an invisible person were writing in the air, the character slowly coalesced. "Gather." Su Yu recognized it: "Gather"—not the human character, of course. The character formed in midair, giving off a faint glow. This wasn't a divine character Bai Feng had spent years nurturing, but one he had outlined on the spot. The next instant, wild gales swept through the room! *Hum!* The air vibrated, and the surrounding furniture rattled as if an earthquake had struck. "*Chu!*" Bai Feng let out a low cry—the God Race pronunciation of "gather." At that very instant, Su Yu sensed something unusual. Liu Yue might not have noticed, but he did! He felt yuanqi converging! Because he had absorbed yuanqi before, and while those in the Kaiyuan Realm normally couldn't sense yuanqi's presence, Su Yu had experienced it firsthand. Thus, he felt the difference right away. *Hum!* The space continued to tremble! The next moment, Liu Yue let out a cry of astonishment! The surrounding yuanqi was drained dry, and in the blink of an eye, a drop of milky-white liquid appeared in front of Bai Feng. "Yuanqi liquid!" Liu Yue was shaken beyond belief. Su Yu had never seen yuanqi liquid before, but hearing those words left him completely stunned as well. Yuanqi liquid! The liquid worth one hundred thousand a drop, said to take a Tengkong expert three full days to condense just one drop! And right here, in mere moments, it had taken form before his eyes! "Nanyuan's yuanqi is too thin. This doesn't count as true yuanqi liquid—no, it doesn't count as a standard drop of yuanqi liquid. It probably has about half the efficacy." Bai Feng exhaled softly, looking slightly exhausted. "This isn't a divine character I've nurtured. A person's energy is limited; one can't nurture too many divine characters. This was just outlined on the fly for demonstration purposes. "This is one of the marvelous uses of divine characters. When you discover that a certain character possesses mystical properties, you can attempt to outline it. "Of course, even if two people outline the exact same character, its function might not be identical. "I use this character to gather yuanqi; someone else might use it to kill. "That is a Civilization Master!" Smiling, Bai Feng beckoned the condensed yuanqi liquid into his hand, sealed it in a jade bottle, and casually tossed it to Su Yu. Flustered, excited, and slightly uneasy, Su Yu said, "Teacher Bai, this... this is too valuable..." Even if it fell short of genuine yuanqi liquid, it still carried at least half the effect. A genuine drop went for a hundred thousand; this was easily worth fifty to sixty thousand. "Keep it. I just made it on a whim." Bai Feng waved it off with a faint smile. "I gathered it here at your Nanyuan Academy, consuming Nanyuan's yuanqi. If I took it away, wouldn't Martial Uncle come after me to settle the score? "It's a trivial thing anyway. It helps you Kaiyuan kids well enough, but at our realm, a single drop of yuanqi liquid changes nothing." Having said that, Bai Feng dropped the subject and resumed, "Liu Yue asked me to teach you how to inscribe divine characters, but this is actually beyond your current grasp because you aren't familiar enough with myriad-race writing. "Never mind that you've mastered a dozen or twenty myriad-race languages. You've never seen the original texts. You've never seen words actually written by the myriad races themselves, never seen characters brushed by their own powerhouses. So your perception isn't sharp enough, and it's very hard for you to discover on your own which characters carry power! "The same character written by different people—written by different experts—will give you entirely different impressions. "And so, the reflections they inspire in you will also differ. "When you look at an original manuscript from the Qianjun Realm, you might think there's nothing special about a character. But when you look at text written by someone in the Shanhai Realm, you might find an enormous wealth of meaning and knowledge hidden within it..." Bai Feng looked at the two of them and said solemnly, "When a divine character outlined by willpower is nurtured to the absolute limit, it can truly manifest into the world, transforming into divine weapons and miraculous instruments! "At the Great Xia Civilization Academy, one hundred and eighty years ago, the third headmaster fell in battle. He left behind the Demon Race character for 'Battle,' which formed a special treasure realm at Great Xia Civilization Academy—the Demon War Ground!" "The Demon War Ground!" Liu Yue gasped softly. This time, Su Yu truly felt useless and rather frustrated; he knew nothing about any of this. Bai Feng said seriously, "Indeed. It is a sacred treasure ground of the Civilization Academy, somewhere the war academies have always yearned to enter for training. A single character formed a pocket world, primarily suited for cultivation below the Tengkong Realm. "Combat simulation training! "Inside the Demon War Ground, vast numbers of Demon Race soldiers, formations, and powerhouses take shape... You can experience a realistic slaughterhouse environment and treat them as genuine demons. Inside, you can bring your wits and your strength to bear—slaughtering, fighting bloody battles, and preparing for future entry onto the All-Heavens Battlefield. "One hundred and fifteen years ago, the fourth headmaster fell, leaving behind the God Race character for 'Yuan,' which formed another treasure realm—the Yuanqi Secret Realm. It functions similarly to my 'Gather' character just now, but it exists eternally, unlike my temporary creation. "In the Yuanqi Secret Realm, you can experience dense yuanqi that accelerates your cultivation speed. "The Civilization Academy has many such treasure realms. Some were gifted to the war academies of the Great Xia Prefecture, and some were kept for ourselves." At this point, Bai Feng wore a look of yearning and said softly, "A person's energy is finite, so one generally majors in the single divine character best suited to oneself. The ultimate goal is always physical manifestation and eternal legacy! "Of course, you can outline many divine characters—offensive ones, support ones, all of that is fine. "All of this, you will understand once you arrive at the Civilization Academy." Bai Feng paused before continuing, "Since you asked, it wouldn't do for me to hold back. After all, I did say earlier that you could ask anything. Today, I will teach you how to outline divine characters. Just knowing how to write the character doesn't mean you can outline it. "Before your willpower manifests, outlining a divine character isn't that simple. It is outlined through meditation, not literal writing..." Su Yu's eyes shone brightly! Outlining divine characters! No wonder his teacher had said Bai Feng's lessons were extremely valuable and precious—so that was why! Even without Bai Feng saying it, Su Yu understood the difficulty. It consumed willpower, and in vast quantities. Bai Feng had only demonstrated once, yet his face was slightly pale now; clearly, it wasn't nearly as simple as it looked. "Your willpower is weak. Right now, you cannot fully outline a complete divine character. You can only outline a fragment of one, and then meditate on it to perfect it... "You have learned many myriad-race languages, but naturally, the most important is the human language! The myriad-race scripts naturally include human characters. Since you aren't very familiar with other scripts, but know human script best, we'll start with human characters! "You've never seen text written by human powerhouses. Today, I'll write one out for you!" With that, Bai Feng made a gesture in midair, and a sheet of blank paper appeared. Without picking up a brush, Bai Feng looked at the paper and exhaled. "Text that possesses true power is imbued with willpower. That means not just anyone's writing works; even some human Tengkong experts cannot produce it. "What you are most familiar with is undoubtedly the *Kaiyuan Art*. Today, I shall write the *Kaiyuan Art*!" With those words, Bai Feng raised his hand, not touching the paper, but tracing through the air. Golden light flickered over his fingertips. Once again, Su Yu felt yuanqi gathering, and he also felt the presence of willpower. Wearing a solemn expression, Bai Feng moved his fingers like a sword, brandishing them through the air. "Kaiyuan has nine apertures..." The moment the first line was written, signs of tearing appeared on the paper, as if it could not endure the power of the words. Golden light flashed from Bai Feng's hand, enveloping the paper and stabilizing it. "The medium isn't sturdy enough to record potent willpower text. But this is just a demonstration; I'll reduce the power. In the future, if you want to record powerful techniques or writings, you will need special mediums. You'll learn about that in time." He continued writing. Beads of sweat formed on his brow, and wisps of white smoke rose from the crown of his head as if he were burning from within. "Don't look at me! Look at the words I'm writing!" Beside him, Liu Yue nodded hastily and whispered to Su Yu, "Willpower texts written by a Civilization Master are worth a thousand pieces of gold per character!" Su Yu nodded urgently as well. He didn't need to be told to understand how precious this was. One character after another appeared; line after line was inscribed. Su Yu fixed his gaze on them, only to feel the world spinning around him. It was different! Completely different from the *Kaiyuan Art* he was used to reading! It was as though he weren't looking at characters at all, but at a person—a person cultivating the *Kaiyuan Art*. It was Bai Feng! He was opening his nine apertures! ... Outside the door. A smile touched Liu Wenyan's lips as he muttered softly, "That kid... is really putting in the effort." Writing a willpower text, especially a lengthy one—he couldn't do it. If he could, he would have taught them himself. Even now that his willpower had manifested, he still couldn't do it. He wasn't on Bai Feng's level. Bai Feng could transcribe the entire *Kaiyuan Art*, whereas he would probably run dry after the first section, unable to complete a full manual of the *Kaiyuan Art*. Even though the *Kaiyuan Art* didn't contain many words, it still exceeded his capability. No matter that his willpower had been nurtured over the years to rival an ordinary Tengkong third stage, it still wasn't enough. Bai Feng was at the Tengkong sixth stage, and was even on the verge of advancing to the seventh stage. Even in the Great Xia Civilization Academy, individuals like him were rare—among the younger generation under forty, that is. Liu Wenyan had merely meant to test the waters. He hadn't expected Bai Feng to actually expend so much willpower to teach two minor geniuses from a small border city. He hadn't brought this up himself. Pressuring Bai Feng into yielding quota spots or mentoring students were things he could shamelessly demand, but transcribing a willpower text to teach the outlining of divine characters was something he hadn't asked for, because doing so came at a steep price. "Su Yu, Liu Yue, cherish this opportunity." Liu Wenyan murmured silently to himself and soon walked away. ... Inside the room. Su Yu was excited beyond measure. For the first time, he was seeing someone cultivate the *Kaiyuan Art* with utter clarity—an analytical demonstration, stripped down from the inside out, so thoroughly transparent that he could see every detail. *This* was true teaching! Compared to this, the guidance he had received at the academy felt far too crude. Was this the power of a Civilization Master? At this moment, Su Yu felt that if he activated the *Yuan Absorption Art* with blood essence again, his efficiency might be thirty percent higher than before! No wonder the Civilization Academy could deconstruct the cultivation methods of the myriad races. If they were all recorded in this manner for experts to study, it would be so direct, so lucid! "Don't just watch the cultivation—look at the words, look at the power within the characters! If you can sense a character that resonates with you, you can visualize and outline it, finding the first divine character suited to you! "My willpower is at its most active while I write in real time. Right now is when your perception will be sharpest!" What Bai Feng didn't say was that even in the Civilization Academy, not everyone had the chance to watch a powerhouse transcribe a willpower text in person. Most of the time, students studied original manuscripts of myriad-race techniques to seek out characters on their own. Under normal circumstances, outlining divine characters was only done during the Character Cultivation stage. Once Su Yu and the others entered the academy, their primary focus wouldn't even be cultivation, but mastering more myriad-race languages. Thus, outlining divine characters was something they wouldn't normally touch for several years. Su Yu cast all stray thoughts aside and focused on the text. The characters danced before his eyes. Every one of them seemed charged with power, yet remained impossible to grasp. Dazzled and dizzy, Su Yu felt a splitting headache coming on, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep watching. Beside him, Liu Yue was already drenched in sweat, her face pale. Moments later, a defeated expression crossed Liu Yue's face, and she withdrew from observing the willpower text. Looking at the writing now, although she could still feel the immense power coursing through the characters, she could no longer achieve that immersive sensation from earlier. *I... failed.* Liu Yue sighed inwardly, though she wasn't particularly disappointed. Her willpower was simply too weak; failing on her first attempt to sense anything was only natural. Turning her head, she saw that Su Yu was also drenched in sweat, yet still staring intently. She was slightly stunned. *He's still watching?* Bai Feng was still writing. His face was pale as well, but a smile touched his lips. What resilience! To be frank, writing the *Kaiyuan Art* on the spot wasn't for Liu Yue's sake, but for Su Yu's. Looking at the boy, Bai Feng suddenly felt as though he had discovered a genuine genius. Inborn talent wasn't the decisive factor—what mattered was that grit, that sheer resilience! "Quickly find the character that feels most natural to you! Hurry, capture it! Use your willpower to capture it!" Hearing this, Liu Yue shuddered. This... Teacher Bai was laying a foundation for Su Yu—the foundation of a divine character! Did he truly believe Su Yu could pull it off? This was Su Yu's very first contact with this; could he possibly establish a foundation on his first try? Impossible! The first time was merely meant for getting familiar with the sensation, so how could... While Liu Yue was still reeling, Su Yu also sensed Bai Feng's urgency, as if the teacher were nearing his limit. Su Yu had no time to overthink. With countless characters swirling before his eyes, he fixed his gaze on one of them, gritted his teeth, and followed Bai Feng's guidance to swiftly capture it! Simply put, he had to imagine grasping it out of thin air! Catching that dancing character! *Catch it!* *Faster!* *I don't know if I'll ever get another chance like this, but this one is free! Once I get to the Civilization Academy, I might have to pay for it!* *Catch it, quick!* Su Yu was drenched in sweat from head to toe. He didn't realize it, nor did he feel it; his mind held only a single thought: catch a character, or this will be a terrible waste! Just as Bai Feng was about to finish writing the final character and lift his hand, a *hum* rang out, and the white paper trembled. Bai Feng looked down closely, his expression shifting! "Strengthen the qi and blood, temper the muscles and bones..." Within that line, the character for "Blood" had dimmed, no longer gleaming with the radiance of the other characters. "He... succeeded?" Bai Feng was stunned. He turned to look at Su Yu—he had succeeded on his first try! He admitted that he had harbored an urge to test the boy, combined with an appreciation for talent, which was why he had paid no small price to write out the *Kaiyuan Art*. He had held onto a one-in-ten-thousand hope that Su Yu might succeed. Yet he had never dreamed the boy actually would! *Heavens, are you kidding me?* Bai Feng considered himself a genius. When he first entered the academy, his willpower had already reached twenty percent capacity, allowing him to directly observe original Qianjun fragments. Even so, laying the foundation of his first divine character had taken him six months. His own teacher had personally transcribed willpower texts for him six times before he succeeded, and even that was hailed as the work of a genius! Yet this kid in front of him, on his very first try, with only ten percent willpower capacity... *Is this motherfucker even human?* *How could a backwater like Nanyuan produce a monster like this?* *Holy shit!* Bai Feng cursed silently in his heart, his eyes taking on an odd gleam. *A genius I discovered!* *No, a genius I nurtured with my own hands!* *Holy crap, nobody knows! He's only at ten percent capacity, which isn't worth mentioning once he gets to Great Xia Prefecture! But nobody knows he's already captured a divine character and laid the foundation for it!* Bai Feng's eyes flashed. Right now, Su Yu was locked in an intense inner struggle, deep in meditation. Bai Feng pondered for a moment, then turned to Liu Yue with a smile. "You should head back for now. You must be exhausted today. Get some rest, recover your energy, and you can come back tomorrow." "Thank you, Teacher Bai." Liu Yue was indeed tired, though she couldn't help glancing back at Su Yu. Bai Feng smiled and said, "It's his first time encountering this, so he hasn't recovered yet. He'll be fine after resting for a bit." Liu Yue couldn't tell that Su Yu had already captured a divine character. Without overthinking it, she merely assumed Su Yu really had no sense of pain. After thanking Bai Feng a few more times, she departed. Once she had left, Bai Feng looked at Su Yu, who remained lost in meditation, grinning from ear to ear! "I've... struck gold!" "Holy crap!" "Teacher, in this tiny backwater of Nanyuan, I actually found a genius who captured a divine character on his very first try!" "Should I let Teacher take him in early?" "No way. I found him! I'm a researcher too... Holy crap, what if *I* take him as my student?" "Wouldn't I be able to secure a tenured position?" "Of course, that's provided the kid can swiftly reach Character Cultivation or even manifestation!" "I'm a Tengkong sixth-stage Civilization Master taking in an ordinary student with only ten percent willpower—nobody could possibly object, right?" "Of course not!" "Holy crap, I'm a bloody genius! I've struck it rich!" Bai Feng grinned madly. Since Su Yu couldn't see him anyway, Bai Feng's smile bloomed like a radiant flower. What an absolute windfall! *Kid, you're mine!* *Whether I make full researcher all depends on you!*