Stay Calm!

May 18, Year 350 of the Anping Calendar. Nearly a month had passed since Su Yu began his private instruction under Liu Wenyan. Over the course of this month, Su Yu had been utterly exhausted, but it was an exhausting joy. In his cultivation, Su Yu made conspicuous progress. After consuming several more drops of blood essence, he still had not touched that half-drop of yuanqi liquid. Even so, he had unsealed the acupoints in both eyes, formally stepping into the Kaiyuan seventh stage. Unsealing both eye acupoints in a single month was astonishingly fast. At this moment, even if Su Yu were placed in other major cities, he would undeniably be considered a cultivation genius. As for the Kaiyuan eighth stage, that was rare even across the other big cities. Typically, only the Great Xia Prefecture saw a few such individuals, and even there, reaching the eighth stage of Kaiyuan marked someone as a genius. The eighth stage involved opening the Shenque acupoint. Once this acupoint was unsealed, a cultivator could sense the presence of yuanqi and even mobilize a small amount of it. From that point on, a cultivator possessed true combat capability. The Kaiyuan eighth stage was a watershed, dividing cultivators capable of combat from ordinary people who were not. Alongside his conspicuous advancement in physical cultivation, Su Yu had also made remarkable progress in willpower. According to Liu Wenyan, in just one short month, Su Yu's willpower had reached around fifteen percent. Five percent might not seem like much, but in reality, it was almost unimaginable considering it had taken Su Yu all those years just to fill it to ten percent. If he maintained this pace, he had a good chance of reaching twenty percent before the academy assessments. By then, Su Yu would no longer be a complete novice. With twenty percent willpower, he could directly view Qianjun bone fragments. That stage was the starting line for a Civilization Master, marking the true beginning of the Civilization Master's path. Beyond his gains in personal strength, Liu Wenyan had spent the month taking him to various places and showing him many things. Some of those insights were perhaps even more important than breakthroughs in cultivation. *** "Two hundred thousand Anping coins, ten gold coins, two drops of blood essence, and ten merit points." Over this month of cultivation, Su Yu had used a fair amount of blood essence, yet he had hardly spent much money, and his merit points had actually increased rather than decreased. During the past month, Liu Wenyan had rewarded him with blood essence on three occasions, and Su Yu had chosen Ironwing Bird blood essence every time. As for the merit points, those had come from Chen Hao reporting their previous achievements. In truth, Su Yu had spent only sixty thousand coins to purchase two drops of blood essence at an insider discount from the Xia Trading Company. The discount was granted entirely because his teacher was Liu Wenyan. "Kaiyuan seventh stage!" Walking toward Liu Wenyan's office, Su Yu clenched his fists, feeling a flicker of excitement. He had broken through to the seventh stage only last night, and the eighth stage was up next. Opening the Shenque acupoint was relatively difficult, but once it was unsealed, he could truly begin practicing martial techniques and possess real combat strength. Today was supposed to be a rest day, but Su Yu could not wait any longer. Lately, the "Blood" divine character had constantly yearned to drink blood, though Su Yu had kept it in check. When he previously tried experimenting on his own, the character had actually wanted to absorb the blood essence in his hand, frightening him thoroughly. He was only in the Kaiyuan Realm. He could consume blood essence only because the golden album absorbed it on his behalf, not because his body could handle it directly. The divine character resided right inside his sea of will. If that little fellow tried to draw in blood essence there, a single slip-up could blow his head apart, and where would he go to seek justice then? Su Yu dared not act recklessly. He had not even dared let it drink ordinary blood, terrified of being killed by his little bro "Blood." After nurturing it with willpower for an entire month, and now having broken through to the Kaiyuan seventh stage, Su Yu felt his strength had grown considerably and that it might be safer to investigate. Coming to find Liu Wenyan today was precisely to inquire about matters regarding divine characters. Over the past several weeks, Liu Wenyan had not taught him how to outline a divine character. With Bai Feng's previous guidance, Liu Wenyan believed Su Yu had no need for further instruction on divine characters for the time being, and that focusing on the *Kaiyuan Art* was enough. *** Inside the office. Even though it was a rest day, Liu Wenyan had not gone home to rest. Having spent the past month traveling here and there with Su Yu, plenty of academy affairs had piled up. Taking advantage of the day off, Liu Wenyan was working hard to clear the backlog. He sensed Su Yu's approach before the youth even reached the door. When Su Yu knocked and stepped inside, Liu Wenyan looked up at him, frowning slightly. "Rest when it is time to rest. Balancing labor and leisure yields far better results. You have had an exhausting month; going too far is just as bad as falling short." He knew Su Yu worked hard, but over this past month, he had discovered that the boy pushed himself even harder than he had previously realized. Such a student was admirable! Yet such a student was also cause for worry—worry that he might work himself to death one day. Moreover, Su Yu had not abandoned the physical cultivation path, and his progress there had been extraordinarily rapid. It even made Liu Wenyan wonder whether the boy was better suited for physical cultivation after all. "Teacher, I'm not tired," Su Yu said hurriedly. He immediately pressed on, "Teacher, I came today because I wanted to ask about divine characters..." "I already told you that at your current stage, your focus should be on building a foundation and outlining your own divine character! With the groundwork Bai Feng laid last time, you will soon have a shot at outlining one of your own." Liu Wenyan cut him off. This was not the first time Su Yu had asked. He felt the boy was simply too impatient. When one's willpower was not yet strong enough, obsessing blindly over divine characters was not a good thing. Liu Wenyan said in a grave voice, "Su Yu, cultivation must proceed step by step. You cannot rush ahead!" "I have already rebuked you several times regarding divine characters. Why do you still refuse to listen?" "Once your willpower reaches twenty percent, I will write a willpower text for you to capture a divine character and see if you can formally establish your foundation. Put divine characters out of your mind for now." Liu Wenyan looked somewhat displeased. Still, his intention was unmistakably clear: in a few more days, he would personally pen a willpower text for Su Yu. For someone who had just recently advanced, writing a willpower text was no easy feat, even if Su Yu did not fully comprehend the exact cost involved. Back then, Bai Feng had been at the sixth stage of the Tengkong Realm, nearly at the seventh, and transcribing a single copy of the *Kaiyuan Art* had still left him pale. Su Yu smiled bitterly. He had tried to ask several times before, only to receive the exact same lecture each time. Liu Wenyan could be terribly stubborn. A teacher's role was to pass down knowledge, impart skills, and resolve doubts. Beyond that, Liu Wenyan believed an instructor was duty-bound to guide students onto the proper path and keep them from straying into dead ends. In his eyes, Su Yu fixating entirely on divine characters right now was stepping onto a crooked path. Willpower was the foundation; divine characters were a pursuit for later stages. Biting off more than one could chew now would only make it easier to go astray. "Teacher..." "No more questions!" "Teacher!" Su Yu felt a mounting headache. The old man's stubbornness was truly frightening at times. "I already learned how to outline a divine character..." "Shut up!" Liu Wenyan suddenly flared in anger! Su Yu froze, looking at the furious Liu Wenyan, sensing that something was wrong. Liu Wenyan was taken aback by his own outburst as well. His expression shifted repeatedly before he finally regained his composure. In a heavy tone, he said, "I somewhat regret letting Bai Feng teach you. Divine characters... are a good thing, but I never expected you to pursue them with such single-minded obsession!" "Su Yu, Civilization Masters and divine characters are inseparable, but you must remember that willpower is the root!" He had not registered Su Yu's claim of having already learned how to outline one. Even if he had, he misunderstood; learning how did not mean one had actually succeeded in outlining it. Taking a deep breath, Liu Wenyan gestured with his hand. "Sit down!" Su Yu sat down obediently. Once the youth was seated, Liu Wenyan's gaze drifted for a moment before returning to normal. After an internal struggle, he spoke, "Some Civilization Masters become enamored with the sheer might of divine characters. When they are young and their will is not yet steadfast, they devote their entire focus to chasing after them!" "At the Great Xia Civilization Academy, several generations of headmasters left behind a divine character each. Their wondrous applications are boundless; a single character contains a world of its own, filling people with yearning." "Fifty years ago, the fifth headmaster of the Great Xia Civilization Academy fell, leaving behind a single character... That character altered many matters, and it altered many people." A trace of bitterness surfaced in Liu Wenyan's eyes. "Some Civilization Masters who hungered for the power of divine characters embarked on an alternate route—the path of divine characters! Rather than treating divine characters as a supplement, they made them their primary discipline, placing divine characters above all else and treating everything else as secondary!" "Some of the geniuses back then, prodigies in the Character Cultivation stage who were on the verge of stepping into Manifestation, were deeply influenced. They resolved to outline powerful divine characters before reaching Manifestation, even dreaming of using them to leap across realms and slay Tengkong cultivators!" "They were filled with grand ambitions. They believed they were uniquely gifted and capable of anything!" "Unwilling to remain ordinary Civilization Masters, they wanted to astonish the world, to outline mighty divine characters, and even manifest true, eternally inheritable characters to become legendary figures among the myriad races of the heavens!" "They wished to rely on divine characters to battle gods and demons, wage war across the heavens, and sweep through their peers!" "And yet..." Liu Wenyan looked at Su Yu and said calmly, "They failed! Many of them died, and many remained trapped in the Character Cultivation stage for the rest of their lives! They were once geniuses with brilliant futures who could have made far greater contributions to humanity, but they chose the wrong road." "Today, if you go to the Great Xia Civilization Academy, they will teach you divine characters. But before they begin, they will tell you never to obsess over making them powerful too early, because that is a matter for later." "They will cite examples, telling you how so-and-so was once extraordinarily gifted, but because he chased the power of divine characters before reaching Manifestation, he ended up fading into mediocrity, entirely ruined!" "And that so-and-so... might well include someone named Liu Wenyan!" Su Yu's mind churned. He had already guessed it from Liu Wenyan's earlier words, but hearing it confirmed still shook him. Sinking into dejection, Liu Wenyan murmured in a low voice, "Fifty years ago, Bai Feng's teacher and I were fellow disciples under the same mentor. Back then, both of us were in the Character Cultivation stage. My willpower had reached eighty percent, not far from Manifestation, while he had only just entered Character Cultivation." "At that time, the fifth headmaster fell, leaving behind a character... that altered my life, and altered the lives of many others!" "Fifty years later, I am merely a useless Civilization Master who has barely stepped into Manifestation, while my junior brother is already a Civilization Master in the Shanhai Realm, guarding a territory, campaigning across the heavens, and slaying gods and demons!" A bitter smile touched Liu Wenyan's lips. "Su Yu, stop obsessing over this. I regret not telling you sooner. I was afraid you would stray onto that crooked path. Divine characters are supplementary, not the foundation." "Even if you want to strengthen your divine character, wait until you reach Manifestation." "One at the Tengkong first stage, the other in the Shanhai Realm... That is the difference born of choosing different paths. The final outcomes are worlds apart." Su Yu's throat felt dry. He whispered, "Teacher, can divine characters... interfere with willpower manifesting?" "Yes, and no." "Under normal circumstances, they will not. However, nurturing a divine character consumes an enormous amount of willpower. Naturally, standard nurturing is harmless, but our batch back then... went mad." When Liu Wenyan said the word "mad," a look of pain crossed his face. "We wanted to nurture a divine character capable of truly manifesting into reality before we even reached the Manifestation stage. Not merely inside the sea of will, but coalescing into the physical realm as a divine weapon, or even an eternal inheritance... Wouldn't you call that madness?" Liu Wenyan laughed self-deprecatingly. "We were only in Character Cultivation! How strong could our willpower have been? Squandering so much willpower on that endeavor ended up damaging our very foundations. If that isn't madness, what is?" "A bunch of arrogant fools who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth. They deserved to die, they deserved to be ruined, and they deserved... to be expelled!" His previous claim that he had been expelled from the academy... was true. The prodigies of that generation had been too heavily influenced by the fifth headmaster, resulting in nearly the entire generation being ruined! Yet those individuals carried immense influence, which threatened the very transmission of the academy at the time. Back then, the sixth headmaster—the current one—made a choice. To expel them all! To cast them out of the academy to fend for themselves, preventing them from leading future generations astray. Otherwise, the consequences would have been dire; the Great Xia Civilization Academy might well have seen its heritage severed. Liu Wenyan had not intended to tell Su Yu this, but seeing the youth still fixated on divine characters today, he felt compelled to warn him. He could not let him walk down that wrong path again! Liu Wenyan spoke with earnest sincerity, using his own failure to prove that this was a dead end. Yet Su Yu... Su Yu was caught in an agonizing bind! Seeing his teacher looking at him with immense anticipation, hoping he would realize his mistake, Su Yu scratched his head and said dryly, "Teacher, there's no problem with cultivating divine characters normally, right?" "Of course there is no problem with normal cultivation, but your willpower is too weak right now. It won't be too late once you reach Character Cultivation." "Teacher... but I've already outlined one." Su Yu felt an enormous headache coming on. "It's been almost a month. That day Instructor Bai gave me guidance, I successfully outlined it. He even told me to capture a few more." "..." Liu Wenyan stared at him, his face perfectly calm. "You succeeded in outlining one?" "Yes." "The day Bai Feng taught you?" "Yeah." Liu Wenyan nodded, his face still placid, but inwardly he was screaming curses! *You succeeded, and you didn't say a word?!* *Su Yu, you idiot! Bai Feng, you bastard! Neither of you told me!* *Never mind Su Yu being an idiot—the boy doesn't understand what this means—but that bastard Bai Feng... No wonder! No wonder the bastard wanted to take Su Yu as a student in advance! Does he have no shame at all?!* While an absolute tempest raged in his mind, his surface demeanor remained as calm as still water. "Since you've outlined a divine character, just take your time bringing it to completion. Why keep asking about it over and over?" "No, Teacher, I already outlined the complete character that very day. It's just that lately this character has been restless, constantly wanting to suck blood..." *Bang!* The pen in Liu Wenyan's hand punched straight through the desk. He frowned. "This desk is terrible quality! I know academy funding is tight, but Old Wang is far too stingy. Don't go learning from him and pinching pennies on everything." Su Yu blinked. *Teacher, I was talking about the divine character.* "What a piece of junk!" Liu Wenyan tossed the pen aside in irritation, turned to Su Yu, and furrowed his brows. "You outlined a complete divine character on the very first day?" "Yeah, the character 'Blood,'" Su Yu said hastily. "I wanted to mention it to you several days ago, but... well, it wasn't an emergency, and you told me to focus on building my foundation, so I didn't keep pushing it." He had tried to bring it up in recent days, but just like earlier, Liu Wenyan had immediately cut him off. Su Yu held immense respect for Liu Wenyan. When his teacher interrupted him and told him to build a solid foundation, he naturally had nothing to say and could hardly argue back. Today, however, he could not wait any longer. His teacher had even laid bare his own past, practically acting as if pursuing divine characters would get him disowned as a student. Su Yu had no choice but to brace himself and spill everything. Surely nothing could go wrong from outlining a divine character early, right? Bai Feng had not raised any concerns, but who knew if Bai Feng was truly reliable? "The character 'Blood'..." Liu Wenyan nodded. "Others have outlined that character before. It thirsting for blood... is also normal." "As long as it isn't drinking your own blood, it shouldn't be much of an issue." "A month ago, on the first day, completely outlined..." Liu Wenyan murmured to himself, then nodded slightly. "Then I misunderstood you. Not bad at all. So you had already succeeded in outlining it; no wonder you kept bringing the matter up." With that, Liu Wenyan stood up. "I will get in touch with Bai Feng and look through some records to check the properties of the 'Blood' character." "Wait here. I will be right back." Liu Wenyan walked toward the exit, adding, "Don't wander off. And don't go spreading word of this outside. Nanyuan is too small; be careful of the All-Races Sect catching wind of it and making a move on you..." His reasoning matched Bai Feng's exactly. Mid-sentence, Liu Wenyan ignored the fact that the office door was shut. With a loud crash, he slammed straight through it and walked out, muttering as he went, "That fellow Old Wang buys substandard junk for everything!" "A shoddy desk is one thing, but even the door is defective!" "If he keeps running this academy, it will go under sooner or later. There's saving money, and then there's this!" "..." Liu Wenyan grumbled continuously. Not far away, the old principal stroked his beard, feeling rather aggrieved. *Was it really that bad?* *It shouldn't be!* *The office supplies Old Liu uses aren't cheap; they're the best in the entire academy!* Outside, Liu Wenyan kept cursing, walking faster and faster until... he took off into the air and dashed away! A moment later, he landed in a secluded spot with no one around. Suddenly, he smashed his forehead hard against a stone pillar, wincing in sheer agony. Muttering in a delirious daze, he gasped, "Outlining a divine character in a single day! A single day! Holy... shit! What an embarrassment! Nobody told me! Bai Feng, I'm not done with you!" "You want to recruit him as your student? Keep dreaming in your next life!" "I'm not finished with you!" "Too humiliating... What on earth did I just say to him?" Liu Wenyan seemed to snap back to his senses. He had just laid bare his darkest personal history, grandly lecturing Su Yu about not chasing divine characters and aiming too high... Yet... it was mortifying! His lifelong reputation was completely ruined today. And that kid was a little bastard too, bringing it up halfway and stopping every time. *Would it have killed you to say a couple more sentences?!* "'When a teacher is mistaken, one must have the courage to speak up'... Did I never teach him that? Seems... maybe I didn't?" Liu Wenyan muttered to himself, then let out a low hiss of frustration. Words failed him; an earth-shattering curse was all that remained! "Stay calm!" "Su Yu is just a green boy who doesn't understand anything. If I don't say anything... what would he know! It's just outlining a divine character in a day... as if nobody else could do it!" Liu Wenyan rubbed his aged face. *Stay calm. This is nothing. I, Liu Wenyan, have seen the world. What storms haven't I weathered!*