Mission

Ignoring the dejected White Li, Su Yu stepped forward once again and scooped up the little fur ball, which was still muttering, "Not tasty anymore..." Aside from this peculiar ability, this fellow didn't seem capable of doing much else. It couldn't harm physical bodies, nor could it devour Yuan Qi. With a strange gleam in his eyes, Su Yu asked, "Little guy, can devouring divine characters help you advance?" The little fur ball opened its eyes and gazed at him with an aggrieved look, too depressed to speak. It only wanted to eat delicious things! Now it realized the scent was still there, but it couldn't eat it. It was simply heartbreaking. Su Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "Can you eat divine character fragments?" There was a divine character fragment vault inside the Wen Tan Research Center filled with damaged divine characters. If he fed those to this creature and raised it to the Lingyun Realm or even the Shanhai Realm, wouldn't that be insane? If it reached the Sun Moon Realm, or even the Invincible Realm... *Ahem*, just wishful thinking. Still, Su Yu remembered the Invincible expert who had struck that day, attacking purely with divine characters. *Heh!* If that person ran into this little fur ball that devoured divine characters, then no matter how many divine characters were sent, they would all be swallowed! How many divine characters could anyone afford to throw away? Now that was formidable! It would be like delivering free nourishment! Su Yu stared eagerly at the little creature. It looked like nothing more than a ball, but its capability was extraordinary. It seemed exceptionally useful. "Eat... not tasty," the little fur ball replied dejectedly. It could eat them, but those fragments weren't fragrant. Su Yu's divine character was the truly delicious one. Su Yu smiled. "Don't rush. You're too weak right now, so of course it won't taste good and you can't eat the big ones. But once you grow stronger, you'll naturally be able to eat them, and they'll taste delicious then." That sounded entirely reasonable! "Eat more divine character fragments, and I'll help you get more divine characters to eat. Once you grow up, it'll taste amazing!" The little fur ball stared at him, and Su Yu looked back, chuckling. "Think about it—come work with me! Also... do you have blood essence? How about giving me a drop?" "Blood essence?" The little fur ball widened both of its eyes, looking at him, and shook its head... Or rather, it had no head. Su Yu couldn't really tell, only seeing the little ball wobble. Did that mean it had none? Su Yu was genuinely curious. This creature was akin to a divine character—could it even have blood essence? Hard to say! Of course, he was even more curious whether he had ever been killed by a fur ball in his dreams. If he had never been killed by one, obtaining its blood essence would be useless anyway. At the same time, Su Yu considered that with his current physical body, devouring Tengkong Realm blood essence should pose no challenge. But what about Lingyun blood essence? Could Lingyun blood essence burst his body? A single drop... probably wouldn't! Many people had long forgotten how he had defeated Chen Qi back then. Initially, his purpose in devouring blood essence was never to learn cultivation methods, but rather for the racial battle techniques and the burst of raw explosive power. Before setting out on journeys in the past, Su Yu had always liked to keep a drop of Wanshi blood essence tucked under his tongue. Looking at the fur ball while mulling over these thoughts, Su Yu held the little creature in hand and glanced over at the Suanni. This fellow belonged to a Top Hundred race! Ninth-stage Tengkong! Its explosive power was quite formidable, and its warrior dao prowess was impressive enough to battle Lingyun cultivators. There shouldn't be any problem if he swallowed a drop of ninth-stage Tengkong blood essence from it, right? Maybe he should just slaughter the Suanni and extract some blood essence to carry along on the road. Others assumed his current strength was his upper limit, but they were sorely mistaken. Just because he hadn't used it recently didn't mean he couldn't. A single drop of blood essence could sustain his combat power for at least two to three minutes. The Suanni stared wide-eyed at Su Yu, suddenly feeling uneasy. "My lord, having me as a mount brings immense prestige! Immense prestige!" It was terrified by that gaze. He was looking at it like an exquisite piece of meat! Only when appraising a dead Suanni would someone look at it that way! "Heh..." Su Yu chuckled and nodded without saying anything further. If needed, he could have Xia Huyou purchase some for him. This time, he intended to carry an ample supply of blood essence on his journey, preferably of various kinds. Not merely to unlock pages in his golden album, but more importantly, for self-preservation and to expand his arsenal of methods. Turning into water, turning into metal, turning into wood... Earth tunneling, flight, invisibility... Among the all races, there were simply too many distinct capabilities. When all these methods were concentrated in a single person, Su Yu would show those people that even though he was only in the Character Nurturing Realm, he was far more troublesome than a Shanhai expert! Previously, too many restrictions had kept him from using them freely. Now... he would unleash them without hesitation! Innate techniques! Innate blood essence! As for whether the Great Ming Prefecture would force him to hand over the production method for innate blood essence—if they truly pressured him, he would surrender it, find an opportunity to slip away, and leave them with it. Even if he gave them the formula, they might not be able to replicate it anyway. Even if they produced it, they wouldn't necessarily achieve the same results as Su Yu. Bai Feng's research had never reached a fully stable phase. Once the research reached the Wanshi stage, Bai Feng had tossed it aside and run off to study divine characters instead. With so many thoughts running through his head, Su Yu stopped looking at the Suanni. Carrying the little fur ball, he walked outside, speaking as he went: "I won't take your blood essence anymore. Are you interested in working with me?" "Eat!" "Don't just think about eating. If you don't work, you don't deserve food!" "Then... work!" Su Yu smiled. "Will you rebel?" "Rebel? What's rebel?" "..." Su Yu was left speechless and asked, "How old are you?" "How old?" The little fur ball fixed its eyes on Su Yu. Su Yu explained, "Count the time my grandmaster kept you in the cage as one month. From your birth until now, how many months has it been?" The little fur ball seemed to calculate for a moment before quickly replying, "120 months!" Ten years! Ten years old? *Damn!* Was it considered Tengkong Realm? So powerful? Of course, among the god and demon races, many started at the Qianjun Realm at birth and advanced to Wanshi very quickly. Some reached Wanshi by five or six years old, and reaching Tengkong at a young age wasn't unheard of either. Reaching Tengkong at ten wasn't entirely unbelievable. However... that was a hallmark of powerful races. Humans were unique, possessing no innate strength at the beginning and having to open their origin apertures through effort, so they didn't compare. "Is your race very powerful?" Pausing, Su Yu added, "You can devour Tier-2 divine characters, but the one you couldn't eat earlier is called a Tier-3 divine character..." "I don't know divine characters! That was the first time I saw one..." The little fur ball chirped excitedly, "There are so many tasty things outside! I didn't know before, I only ate that..." It pointed... or rather, made a gesture of pointing. Since it had neither hands nor feet, Su Yu merely sensed that it was gesturing toward a text of will. Had it eaten those? True enough, those contained willpower. Did this creature feed on willpower? "How did you get out?" "Ran out." "Are there many in your race?" "Just three of us... No more besides that." Su Yu remained silent. *What do you know? Just three? Impossible!* This race was extremely dangerous. If it ever appeared on the All-Heavens Battlefield, it would spell disaster for Civilization Masters. Of course, what did that have to do with him? Civilization Masters... weren't necessarily all good people anyway. "What is your elder's cultivation?" "Half-Emperor!" "..." Before Su Yu could even react, the White Li following beside them suddenly froze. Su Yu glanced over at it, and the White Li stammered nervously, "Th-that... Half-Emperor is a title used by ancient races. The Primordial God Race and Primordial Demon Race call their monarchs Half-Emperors..." Su Yu fell silent. *Damn!* This was massive trouble! Had Grandmaster investigated properly before bringing it back? Half-Emperor... an Invincible? No, likely an elite among Invincibles! Of course, it was also possible that this race was extremely small and weak, and this wasn't an official cultivation rank but merely an honorific title. Some experts from ancient races were respectfully addressed as Half-Emperors just to distinguish them. Maybe it was merely at the Shanhai Realm? Well, Su Yu found that hard to believe, given that this tiny creature was already at the Tengkong Realm. Never mind! What did it have to do with him? If they had the ability, let them invade the Human Realm. With so many Invincible experts among humanity, they weren't pushovers either. While conversing, they arrived at the divine character fragment vault. Su Yu opened the door. Inside, a dense layer of willpower lingered, preserving the divine character fragments. A divine rhyme drifted in the air! In truth, Su Yu could absorb the power of divine character fragments himself, but he hadn't wanted to force his divine characters to advance to higher tiers beforehand. The pressure would be too great and entirely unnecessary. He intended to leave that until after he reached the Tengkong Realm. Ignoring the fragments for now, Su Yu directly absorbed the willpower. It was exceptionally pure, similar to that in Bai Feng's laboratory, specifically maintained to preserve divine characters. These were materials once used by the Multiple Divine Characters Faction for research, along with characters extracted from various races or humans to isolate certain traits. He might as well use them all! He was leaving anyway, and Grandmaster and the others had no use for them, leaving them sitting here like trash. If he didn't take advantage of them, someone else would reap the benefits. While he absorbed the willpower, the little fur ball stared at the sealed divine character fragments with sparkling eyes. Even though they weren't exceptionally fragrant, they still seemed edible! The next instant, it bounded onto a sealed display counter. Without any discernible movement, it melted right through the counter. A moment later, one of the sealed divine character fragments vanished. Su Yu smiled and said again, "You work, you get food. A fair deal. Otherwise, we part ways, and you stay locked up. How about it?" "Okay!" The little fur ball's voice came through with great enthusiasm. It had wanted to leave long ago; it had tried to escape last time, but Su Yu hadn't taken it. Seeing it agree so readily, Su Yu felt slightly uneasy. This creature was difficult to restrain! Ah, whatever! If it truly ran off, he would just notify a few experts. If Hong Tan could capture it, they could too. Besides, it only ate divine characters and didn't kill people. While eating divine characters was terrifying, its actual danger to physical life wasn't that severe. Seeing it busily devouring divine characters, Su Yu paid it no further mind, turned around, and walked toward the blood essence vault. His cultural weapon needed an upgrade! Before departing, he would absorb more blood essence energy. It could have reached the Profound rank long ago; Su Yu had simply been suppressing it himself. ... An hour later. Both the blood essence vault and the divine character fragment vault had been thoroughly pillaged. His cultural weapon had grown much stronger! As for divine apertures, having absorbed that pure willpower, he had opened another one. With the third set of cultivation arts, all 108 divine apertures were now completely opened! "Troublesome. I need to sketch a spatial divine character or something, or carrying things around will be too inconvenient." Look at Hong Tan: whenever he went out, he was carefree, completely empty-handed. Look at Bai Feng: whenever he went out, it was pitiful, lugging a bundle around because he didn't possess a spatial divine character. Aside from a spatial divine character, it would also be best to acquire a beast-taming divine character. Genuine members of the Beast Taming faction possessed such divine characters, allowing them to store mounts within the character and conceal them inside their sea of will. That was the hallmark of a true Beast Tamer. As for Su Yu... the Water Person and Shadow were hanging directly onto his clothes. The Suanni and the others remained temporarily at the Wen Tan Research Center, while the little fur ball was left there to absorb divine characters on its own. The little fellow had stuffed itself silly and hadn't finished digesting yet. "I really need to get a spatial divine character. I'll read through more books over the next two days to see if I can outline one. Even if it's only Tier-1, it can still hold plenty of items." Su Yu needed one to store records, and especially blood essence. Otherwise, carrying so much blood essence on his person would easily be noticed by powerful experts. In addition, he needed to stockpile more blood essence. He was prepared: once he broke through to ninth-stage Wanshi over the next two days and pushed his physical body to its absolute peak, he might try devouring Lingyun Realm blood essence! First- or second-stage Lingyun would suffice, as long as it possessed massive explosive power and the highest lethal capability! "The Heavenly Dragon race would actually be great, but their blood essence is too expensive..." Among the top ten races, Su Yu had only ever swallowed Heavenly Dragon blood essence. The Mountain-Breaking Ox would work too; he was quite familiar with it. A Top Hundred race with formidable physical strength, specializing in brute force attacks. A Mountain-Breaking Strike was no small matter. As he was lost in thought, his gaze shifted slightly. Looking up, he saw Liu Hong smiling faintly at him from ahead. "Su Yu, haven't seen you in days." "Teacher Liu!" Su Yu smiled. "Teacher, you recently broke through to the Lingyun Realm, so why do you seem even more low-key lately?" Liu Hong truly did seem more subdued. After entering the Lingyun Realm, he rarely showed his face in public and was far less active than before. Liu Hong smiled dismissively. "Having just advanced, cultivating more is a good thing. I haven't even opened my divine apertures yet, and there's too much on my plate. Su Yu, your progress isn't slow either. Getting close to Tengkong, aren't you?" "Still early." Liu Hong nodded with a smile, glanced at Su Yu, and suddenly transmitted his voice: "You have quite a lot of good things on you. Lin Yao actually opened his divine apertures! And that aperture fusion method seems to have a special version too! How about gifting me a few manuals?" "Heh!" Su Yu's eyes turned frosty. *You sure dare to dream!* Still, Liu Hong kept a sharp eye on things. That fool Lin Yao had been figured out so quickly. "Don't refuse just yet. I'll tell you something, and you'll definitely be willing to give them to me." Su Yu transmitted back directly, "Let's hear it!" Voice transmission was typically reserved for Tengkong cultivators, but with Su Yu's potent willpower, he had long been capable of it; he simply rarely bothered, feeling it resembled acting like a thief. While transmitting, Liu Hong spoke aloud, "Su Yu, don't be too arrogant in life..." Privately, his voice transmission said, "Give me the aperture fusion method and the divine aperture method. Agree, and I'll tell you!" "Take it or leave it!" "Don't be so hasty to refuse!" Liu Hong transmitted, "First piece of news: you're famous in the All-Races Cult right now. You're ranked high on their kill list: fifteen thousand merit points for your death, and thirty thousand for capturing you alive!" Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "How does Teacher know?" "I have friends!" Liu Hong beamed at him nonchalantly, transmitting, "Do you think the All-Races Cult is entirely made up of madmen? There's plenty of opportunists, slackers, and fence-sitters running wherever the money is. How hard could it be to get some news?" Su Yu chuckled. Thirty thousand points alive, fifteen thousand dead—hearing that made him want to kill himself for the bounty. Liu Hong added with a transmitted chuckle, "Why not cooperate? You play dead, and I'll hand you over to claim the reward. We can rake in over ten thousand merit points..." "That works too?" "Of course, but we'd need some identifying items, like your cultural weapon. It's not worth that much anyway." "Forget it, not interested." Su Yu couldn't be bothered. In the past, he might have been tempted to swindle the All-Races Cult, but now he had no time for it, and the payout was too low. Liu Hong's eyes flickered. Out loud, he continued to throw barbs, and Su Yu didn't hold back either, retorting to disgust him. Secretly, Liu Hong transmitted, "That was the first piece of news. Second: do you know about Zhai Feng's clan? The Zhai family is a prominent clan. Not exceptionally powerful, of course, with just a few Lingyun cultivators. Those Lingyun elders were constantly clamoring to settle scores with you, but today they suddenly went quiet..." "What does that mean?" Su Yu remained impassive. Liu Hong transmitted, "I was curious too. I heard them shouting every day, but this morning someone called them over to Elder Sun's place. They stayed for about an hour, and after that, they stopped complaining entirely, as if swallowing the loss." Pausing, he added with a grin, "Usually, when an aggrieved party falls silent like that, it means either Elder Sun gave them sufficient compensation, or you're simply too powerful for them to resist, or... they're preparing to make a lethal move! Clamoring further would be meaningless. Which one do you think it is?" "Compensation? Frankly speaking, the Single Divine Character Faction is flat broke right now and can't afford it. As for you being so terrifying they dare not speak, you haven't reached that level yet. So I wonder, could it be the third possibility?" Su Yu looked at him and suddenly said out loud, "You don't belong to the Single Divine Character Faction!" He strongly suspected this guy wasn't really with them! Coming to share this information out of nowhere—couldn't this be considered betrayal? Such a blatant betrayal? All for techniques he might not even get? Liu Hong was an absolute pragmatist. Would he betray the Single Divine Character Faction before securing any benefits? "We're on the same side!" Liu Hong smiled brilliantly! Su Yu narrowed his eyes at him. *Same side my foot!* Reviewing what he knew about Liu Hong and analyzing the pieces step by step, Su Yu suddenly frowned, looked at him, chuckled, and transmitted, "I'm not going to bother guessing. You're either from the Xia family or arranged by Manor Lord Wan. Either way, you're not one of ours, and most likely not truly one of the Single Divine Character Faction's either. You're just a shit-stirrer!" "What makes you say that?" Liu Hong smiled warmly. Su Yu ignored his expression and transmitted as he walked, "If nothing else, regarding the black market—without Manor Lord Wan or the Xia family granting you the opportunity, could you have expanded the black market trade to this extent? The Single Divine Character Faction thinks it's their influence, but I doubt it. Xia Huyou told me the Xia family maintains black market operations specifically to keep track of certain registries. Why would they let you meddle unless you handed those transaction rosters over to them? Only then would they turn a blind eye. Even if you're not Xia family, you're certainly trading with them..." Liu Hong chuckled. "You guessed wrong. It's just a black market transaction roster. We hand it to the Single Divine Character Faction, and they hand it to the academy. As long as a major figure oversees it, that's sufficient. You don't quite understand the protocol." Su Yu didn't bother arguing. Liu Hong caught up, transmitting with a smile, "The Single Divine Character Faction isn't just us; there are many throughout the Great Xia Prefecture. Did you forget about Jiutian and Wendao? Leaving Wendao Academy aside, the principal over at Jiutian Academy belongs to our faction!" Su Yu's steps faltered slightly. Without a word, he kept walking. "In our academy, people are watching; Manor Lord Wan keeps an eye on things. But in other academies, their leaders belong to the Single Divine Character Faction, and the Xia family won't constantly monitor them. After all, they're experts approaching the Sun Moon Realm." Su Yu remained silent, continuing forward. "Give me the cultivation methods, and I'll look up the roster of Shanhai experts who might head outside soon. How about it?" Su Yu turned his head, his gaze shifting as he transmitted, "No need! Do you think I can't find out myself?" "Is that so?" Liu Hong smiled meaningfully and transmitted, "I know a secret. There's a blood essence merchant in the Great Xia Prefecture's black market who specializes in selling Shanhai blood essence. Over the past few years, he's regularly dealt in three types of Shanhai blood essence!" "Care to guess who that black market merchant is?" He looked cheerfully at Su Yu. "The methods—give them to me, how about it?" Su Yu glared at him and transmitted, "I can walk away, but provoking me like this won't do you any good!" "Wrong, I haven't provoked you in the slightest. It's a fair transaction," Liu Hong said with a laugh. "I'm not forcing you. The intel I'm selling is exceptionally valuable." "What is your objective?" Liu Hong's gaze turned complicated. "What objective could I have? If I must name one, it's very simple! Within three years, help me devour several Shanhai-tier divine characters, just like what you mentioned last time. How about it?" "Your teacher?" "Clever!" Liu Hong's eyes burned with intensity. "If what you said is true, this represents an opportunity to forge a Sun Moon expert. I've asked around recently: there are quite a few peak Shanhai experts stuck at the bottleneck in the Human Realm, and my teacher isn't the only one. Su Yu, what exactly is that method of yours to strip away divine characters? Were you lying to me?" "It's real!" He hadn't lied; it was real. But... it could currently only devour Tengkong divine characters, a detail he conveniently omitted. "You can't achieve it right now, can you?" Su Yu stayed silent. "You need time, don't you?" Su Yu didn't answer. "Therefore, you cannot die. You need time!" Liu Hong's eyes shone fiercely. "If you die, I'm worried this whole prospect will go up in smoke. Su Yu, settle kindness with kindness and vengeance with vengeance. Kill whoever provokes you; it has nothing to do with me. I only hope my teacher can survive!" "You don't seem like that kind of person!" Su Yu sneered. He genuinely didn't think Liu Hong was so noble. "You're wrong..." Liu Hong chuckled softly. "In fact, you and I are the exact same kind of person! The only difference is that you have better luck and superior talent! Your backing is sturdier than mine! I owe nothing to the Single Divine Character Faction, but I owe everything to my teacher. Do you understand?" Su Yu looked at him thoughtfully. After a long pause, he said, "Fine. We'll stay in touch via transmission talisman. Naturally, I won't blindly trust your information. Within three years, if your teacher hasn't died and hasn't succeeded in advancing, I can give it a shot!" "Deal..." Just as Liu Hong agreed, Su Yu darted off. "Runs fast, doesn't he... and he still didn't give me the methods!" Sighing, Liu Hong smiled. *Daring to upend the heavens and forge a new Sun Moon! Can you actually pull it off?* *Are you planning to burn your bridges? Or have you found your next home?* He had too few clues to be certain. Regardless, someone was about to get thoroughly schemed against. The specific details remained anyone's guess. ... December 23rd. Su Yu stayed indoors, preparing to advance to ninth-stage Wanshi, devour Lingyun blood essence, and sketch a spatial divine character. He still had substantial preparations to complete. Three Shanhai great demons, plus the two Shanhai experts Xia Huyou had promised to provide... though whether that support would actually materialize was still up in the air. Five Shanhai experts! Still not entirely safe! "It would be best to set the location at Starfall Mountain so the Great Ming Prefecture has jurisdiction to intervene. Setting it anywhere else puts me at a disadvantage!" "When the opposition appears, they'll only dare to show up under the guise of the All-Races Cult. Even if they're faking it, they have to disguise themselves as cultists; otherwise, they won't be able to explain their actions. Ideally, I can borrow someone else's strength to kill them!" Even if members of the Single Divine Character Faction made a move, they wouldn't dare reveal their true identities. Disguising themselves as members of the All-Races Cult was inevitable. And that was precisely Su Yu's opportunity. Cultists of the All-Races Cult were enemies of all humanity, fit to be executed on sight! "On the surface, I only have one Shanhai escorting me. How many people will they deploy?" Su Yu weighed the possibilities. It was hard to say. With Xia Qing betraying him, deploying a single Shanhai expert would theoretically be more than enough to guarantee success. A seventh-stage Shanhai expert would virtually ensure victory! Yet the Single Divine Character Faction wanted him dead so badly. How many would they dispatch? More than one? Difficult to predict! One was too few. Even if Xia Qing and the others betrayed him, they most likely lacked the nerve to strike at him directly, as it would be impossible to explain. Who knew if those people would collude with genuine All-Races Cult powerhouses? At the Great Xia Civilization Academy, the Shanhai elders of the Single Divine Character Faction were all under surveillance. Even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't all depart at once; that would be far too conspicuous. Using an excuse to send out one or two was feasible. Any more would immediately draw suspicion. At that thought, Su Yu picked up his transmission talisman. "Zongqi, check for me: which elders have taken missions and left over the past couple of days?" Moments later, Hu Zongqi sent a reply: "Starting from the beginning of the month, or when?" "The 20th!" "Let me look into it..." His grandfather worked at the Mission Office. When Shanhai elders took on missions, even if they weren't publicly announced, they were generally filed with the Mission Office unless the mission had been assigned directly by the academy head. A short while later, Hu Zongqi replied: "Four elders have left. Elder Xie from the Beast Taming faction went to the All-Heavens Battlefield. Elder Li from the Divine Character College went to the Sea Battlefield. Elder Wang from the Modification College went to the Great Qin Prefecture to visit friends... Oh, and Elder Yu left too, though not far—she went to Beifeng City to receive an elder from the Great Shang Prefecture. I heard that was also triggered by your matter." Yu Hong and Elder Li! Without anyone noticing, two elders from the Divine Character College had departed. Naturally, both had valid pretexts: one heading to the Sea Battlefield, the other receiving an elder from the Great Shang Prefecture. Regarding the Great Shang Prefecture... Su Yu knew a little. That person had apparently come to the Great Xia Prefecture because Su Yu killed Zhai Feng, humiliating the Single Divine Character Faction. They hadn't left yet? In that case, at least three elders were currently outside. The one from the Great Shang Prefecture belonged to the Single Divine Character Faction as well, and there was no telling if they would mobilize. Not to mention the two academies, Jiutian and Wendao. "If they truly send people as well, they really think highly of me!" If each sent one person, that would already make five elders. Were they setting out to assassinate a Sun Moon expert? Was that truly necessary? Su Yu curled his lip. Impressive indeed! However, even if they struck, they most likely wouldn't dare mobilize together within the borders of the Great Xia Prefecture. The group was simply too large. "It all comes down to whether you have enough ambition!" Su Yu muttered to himself. If they were ambitious, they would wait until he reached the "ruins" before making their move. Without securing the ruins, would they ever be satisfied? That was his opening! Of course, if those madmen ambushed him with five or six Shanhai experts the moment he stepped out of the academy gates, then all bets were off; there would be no playing that game. At this stage, it was like walking a tightrope, testing the limits of human greed. Su Yu smiled, feeling a spark of excitement. Thrilling! Very good—this was precisely what he needed. Along the journey, those people would likely probe continuously, forcing out his trump cards and testing the reactions of the Great Xia Prefecture and the Multiple Divine Characters Faction. And for him, this was an opportunity to temper himself. While lost in these thoughts, Su Yu felt a tremor run through his body! The aperture fusion had succeeded! He had been fusing apertures continuously over the past several days. From the end of last month, when he derived the aperture fusion method, until now—a little over a month—Su Yu had finally completed the aperture fusion for the Heaven-Cleaving Blade. All 144 apertures were fully fused! Fused into nine combined apertures! Ninth-stage Wanshi! Su Yu's eyes gleamed. He had reached ninth-stage Wanshi. However, he had opened far too many other apertures, and it would be best to fuse his martial techniques' apertures as well. Since time was pressing, he decided to put that on hold and take it slowly once he reached the Great Ming Prefecture. "Time to try devouring some blood essence. Let's start with ninth-stage Tengkong!" He held off on Lingyun for now. Su Yu valued his life; unless ninth-stage Tengkong proved manageable, he wouldn't dare take the leap. A drop of blood essence instantly appeared in his palm! An old acquaintance! Ironwing Bird! He had procured these through Xia Huyou at great expense, spending nearly twenty to thirty thousand merit points in total. Su Yu didn't care; such an amount meant little to him now. Without further hesitation, Su Yu gritted his teeth and swallowed the drop of blood essence! *Boom!* His body shuddered, origin apertures roared, and the immense power of the blood essence surged through his physical frame. Within moments, the strain pushed Su Yu near his limit. Fortunately, the golden album promptly absorbed the blood essence. The next instant, a golden page manifested within his sea of will. The page belonging to the Ironwing Bird! However, the text on it had changed. "Ironwing Bird (Ninth-Stage Tengkong): Racial Skills: Tear Stage 3 (unlocked via blood essence), Wing Strike (unlocked via blood essence) Basic Origin Art: Yuan-Absorbing Art (unlocked via blood essence) Basic Body-Casting Art: Ironwing Nine Castings Art (unlocked via blood essence)" An extra line of text had appeared! A basic body-casting art! Su Yu wasn't entirely surprised. Upon reaching the Tengkong Realm, warriors needed to cast their physical bodies, cleansing their marrow and replacing their blood to reinforce their physical forms. During this phase, they practiced cultivation arts to temper their bodies and undergo a total metamorphosis. These techniques did not require opening apertures; they primarily relied on utilizing Yuan Qi, paired with powerful racial blood essence or heavenly treasures to forge the body. In this regard, warriors differed significantly from Civilization Masters, who focused primarily on opening divine apertures during this phase. Su Yu paid it no heed. Casting his physical body was still far off. What was the rush! Of course, if the opportunity arose to temper and strengthen his physical body in advance, that would certainly be a good thing. Shrugging off the thought, Su Yu promptly swallowed another drop of Ironwing Bird blood essence. His body swelled! His hands shifted, and Su Yu let out a low growl: "Tear!" *Riiip!* Ahead of him, a training dummy he regularly used was shredded to pieces! Staring at the scattered debris, Su Yu paused for a moment before suddenly cursing, "Trash!" The Ironwing Bird race was utterly useless! Its ninth-stage Tengkong explosive power felt barely stronger than his own baseline strength. Truly pathetic! The physical strain on his body had barely registered either. "As expected, races outside the Top Hundred are terribly weak!" Su Yu muttered to himself. For such garbage, the blood essence was still pricey enough—it was ninth-stage Tengkong, after all. Using it felt like throwing money away! "No, I need to switch to a stronger race!" At the very least, something on par with the Suanni! Useless races like the Ironwing Bird could be tossed aside. Unlocking the Tengkong page for their race had been an absolute waste! He produced another drop of blood essence, devouring it to unlock another page! He wouldn't rest today until he had unlocked a page for a formidable race! Ideally, a race capable of slaying Shanhai experts at the Lingyun Realm. If he unlocked a first- or second-stage Lingyun page, he could slaughter Shanhai experts himself... Of course, that was just a fantasy. Across all races, those capable of killing Shanhai experts while in the Lingyun Realm were limited to an elite few geniuses among the supreme races. A single drop of blood essence wouldn't be enough to unlock that tier anyway. Furthermore, he would only be unlocking an early-stage Lingyun profile. An early-stage Lingyun killing a Shanhai... had probably never occurred in history. Su Yu continued unlocking pages, spitting blood from time to time. The blood essence of certain races was exceptionally potent, causing him to cough up blood even at ninth-stage Tengkong. Yet the more blood he spat, the more thrilled he became—that was true power! Unlike trash like the Ironwing Bird, where swallowing a drop of ninth-stage Tengkong blood essence merely made his skin swell slightly. Utter garbage! ... Meanwhile. Great Xia Civilization Academy. The Mission Office received an urgent request for assistance from Nanyuan. "The principal of Nanyuan Intermediate Academy requests Su Yu's return to Nanyuan to eliminate restless demon beasts in the surrounding wilderness..." "It also carries the joint signature of City Lord Wu Wenhai!" Inside a conference room at the Mission Office, several Lingyun Realm experts exchanged glances. Hu Zongqi's granduncle, Hu Youhui, spoke up: "This is a request for aid from Nanyuan, asking for Su Yu's return. What do you all think?" Below him, one Lingyun expert remarked indifferently, "Notify Su Yu and let him decide for himself! He hails from Nanyuan, so it's only natural they reached out to him. Since he can kill Tengkong geniuses, hunting down a few wild beasts is trivial!" "The demon beasts around Nanyuan aren't particularly strong anyway—just scattered and troublesome to eradicate..." The others chimed in one after another. One chuckled, "Then let Su Yu accept this mission. Geniuses need some real-world tempering after all!" Hu Youhui swept his gaze over the assembly, noting several members belonging to the Single Divine Character Faction. After a moment of thought, he said, "He is currently listed on the All-Races Cult's hit list. Sending him back—isn't that putting him in danger?" "It's just some field tempering, and it's all within the borders of the Great Xia Prefecture. If worst comes to worst, their faction can secretly arrange for an expert to protect him. We just need to forward the request and leave the decision to Su Yu himself!" Hearing their consensus, Hu Youhui pondered briefly and nodded, pressing no further. "Someone deliver this Nanyuan mission notice to Su Yu. Whether to go or not is entirely his choice!" Soon, an attendant took the mission notice and set off to find Su Yu. Hu Youhui stood up in silence, a flicker of unease passing through his eyes as he glanced at the individuals remaining in the room. These people... this mission posed considerable danger to Su Yu. The All-Races Cult had their eyes on him, so why was the Single Divine Character Faction joining in the commotion? Could they truly dare to... He didn't dare pursue that line of thought! He couldn't shake the feeling that this mission had arrived far too suspiciously! Could this be a trap laid by the Single Divine Character Faction? In his mind, he couldn't help recalling the young man he had received into the academy that day. In the blink of an eye, he had already become a figure who stirred the winds and clouds.