Buying a Research Institute

Time passed day by day. Su Yu vanished from public view. Even in the Great Ming Prefecture, people had heard that Su Yu had entered Tiandu Prefecture, but ever since the first of the month, he hadn't made a sound, and no one caught sight of him. Mid-January was when the various academies commenced their terms. Many wondered whether Su Yu would attend an academy in mid-January. Would he continue his studies? Would he still open his Primordial Spirit Research Institute? Rumors painted Su Yu as arrogant and ruthless. Quite a few people in the Great Ming Prefecture wished to catch a glimpse of him, yet none managed to do so. ... Tiandao Garden. Ten days. Su Yu had not stepped outside for ten days. These ten days were a period for him to settle himself, to learn about and become familiar with the Great Ming Prefecture. He spent his time reading, cultivating, and learning everything about the prefecture. In those ten days, he had opened all the remaining apertures. Three hundred forty-six! At this moment, Su Yu had opened a full 346 yuan apertures and 114 divine apertures. All of this had also benefited from the battles he fought while carving his way here, which made it far easier for him to open and meld apertures. Ninth-stage Wanshi, peak Yangxing—Su Yu's strength didn't seem to have changed much from before on the surface. On the roof of the small building, Su Yu sat on a rattan chair, basking in the warm sunlight while continuing to read his book. *Chronicles of the Great Ming Prefecture*—this was a thoroughly entertaining book. As he was reading, someone came pounding toward him from a distance with booming footsteps. The moment Zhu Hongliang arrived beneath the building, he chortled loudly. "Su Yu! The academy term starts in a couple of days. The Tiandu Eight Steeds are planning to hold a poetry gathering before the term begins. You coming?" "No." Su Yu had no interest. He said calmly, "Your Highness can go yourself." A poetry gathering... was practically an alternative divine character competition. It was not purely about romantic sentiment or artistic verses. The civilization masters of the Great Ming Prefecture certainly knew how to amuse themselves. Some didn't care about a character's traits; so long as the characters could form a poem or a verse, regardless of what traits they possessed, any character that fit the verse was considered a good divine character. Su Yu had zero interest! Their poetry gatherings didn't compare martial strength; they competed over whose poetry flowed better and caught more eyes. They competed in other spectacles too, like beast-taming assemblies, puppet-master assemblies... So many assemblies! Su Yu had no desire to take part in any of them. He had his own pursuits. "Come on, don't be like that! Everyone's curious about you. Why not take a stroll outside with me? I already promised them..." Su Yu gave him a flat look until Zhu Hongliang felt sheepish. Only then did Su Yu say, "Your Highness can go play on your own!" "Well then..." Zhu Hongliang said helplessly, "Fine. You really are boring. No wonder my eighth sister said you're dull and act like an old fogey. We're young people, after all." Su Yu gave a faint smile and ignored him. I am not you, and you are not me. You are not the fish, so how do you know the joy of the fish? Zhu Hongliang left. Not long after, a silhouette flickered and appeared before Su Yu in the very next moment. Su Yu rose and bowed with hands clasped. "Greetings, Prefecture Lord!" "No need for formalities!" Zhu Tiandao sat down on the chair across from him and chuckled. "Hongliang, that rascal, loves to play around. But he has a kind heart—just like me, really..." Su Yu was speechless. Zhu Tiandao had three sons and two daughters. Each of the three sons had fathered one child. His eldest son had Zhu Hongwen, who was already a Lingyun Realm expert in his thirties. His second son fathered Zhu Hongliang, and his third son fathered Zhu Qingyan. Yet old Zhu seemed to favor Zhu Hongliang more. As for the eldest grandson, Zhu Hongwen, Su Yu had met him once—an exceptionally cultured and refined man. Yet whether old Zhu simply didn't like him as much or followed a different parenting style, he didn't show the same genial warmth toward him as he did toward Zhu Hongliang. As the eldest grandson, Zhu Hongwen was likely to inherit the position of prefecture lord, so Zhu Tiandao being stricter with him was understandable. Reaching the Lingyun Realm in one's thirties was already outstanding. Zhu Tiandao dropped the subject of Zhu Hongliang and smiled. "How have you been considering the research institute? I haven't seen much movement from you; you've spent these days reading." "Sharpening the axe doesn't delay cutting firewood," Su Yu smiled. "These are just minor matters. The Prefecture Lord attends to a myriad of affairs daily; troubling you to ask in person makes me feel unworthy." "This is no minor matter!" Zhu Tiandao chuckled. "It's a major affair. And as for you, arriving in the Great Ming Prefecture for the first time, I think it's better to make a few friends. Being all alone gets lonely. Qingyan and the other kids organized a Tiandao Society; you could go hang out with them. You're young—don't keep yourself so tightly wound. Relax a bit. Now that you're in Great Ming, there's no need to act like you're still in Great Xia." Su Yu nodded. "I will go when I have time." Zhu Tiandao was rendered speechless. This kid was so young, yet he was terribly solemn. He had been in Great Ming for so many days, and besides seclusion, all he did was read. Didn't he find it boring? Well, perhaps people like him were the ones who could go further. As for Great Xia... it had to be said that their self-discipline was far superior to Great Ming's. Great Xia and Great Qin were both powerful prefectures where the populace was intensely martial. Over there, only the strong earned respect. That was true in Great Ming as well, but in Great Ming, others also had opportunities to stand out; one didn't necessarily need immense martial strength. "If you find time, you can still go check it out. Also, did you look through that list from last time? If you're establishing a research institute, you can meet with those people. Honestly, their strength is average and they're quite old, but when I said they possess profound knowledge, that's entirely true!" Su Yu nodded and smiled. "I will." "You kid... why do I feel that since coming to Great Ming, you've gotten even duller!" Zhu Tiandao saw how he was and stopped pressing. He stood up and said, "Then I won't disturb you further. If anything comes up, feel free to find Hongliang anytime." "Thank you, Prefecture Lord!" Zhu Tiandao smiled and vanished on the spot. Su Yu said nothing more and went back to his reading. Selecting people was certainly necessary. However, they were all strangers. Some things couldn't be laid bare on the table right away. Right now, he was in the dark and understood little. There was no rush to pick people. Besides, a group of elderly men and women might not even be willing to come over to his side. A plucked melon forced from the vine is never sweet. *The research institute is important, but improving my strength is even more important!* *Can all 360 apertures really be assembled? Can they form a great cycle?* *Bai Tianhao...* Su Yu flipped through the *Chronicles of the Great Ming Prefecture* before him, which contained records of Bai Tianhao. The founder of the Bai family! He had once slain a seventh-stage Shanhai expert while only at the ninth stage of the Lingyun Realm—truly terrifying! Bai Tianhao had also been one of the experts who followed King Daming to establish the Great Ming Prefecture. However, after that battle, Bai Tianhao perished. Yet the Bai family had been passed down! The current patriarch of the Bai family was Bai Feng's eldest uncle, who wasn't in the Shanhai Realm either, only at the ninth stage of Lingyun. But Bai Feng's grandfather was actually still alive, which came as somewhat of a surprise to Su Yu; Bai Feng's grandfather was a Shanhai Realm expert! However, the old master of the Bai family hadn't emerged from seclusion for many years. He remained in continuous seclusion, whether attempting a breakthrough or something else. Bai Feng's father still held a post in the prefecture army, and Su Yu hadn't met him yet. As Bai Feng's student, the Bai family should be aware of him. Yet up to this day, no one from the Bai family had contacted him. Su Yu wouldn't rashly pay a visit; he wasn't clear on the Bai family's circumstances. Who knew whether his teacher had been cast aside by the family? *Primordial spirit apertures, Bai Tianhao...* As he was pondering, space rippled. In the next moment, Shadow and Water Person stirred into motion. "Ahem, one of us!" A moment later, an old man stepped out from the void, looking utterly transcendent and sagely! He had long silver-white hair, a snow-white beard, and wore flowing white robes, appearing distinctly otherworldly. Su Yu's eyes flickered slightly. He stood up and said, "Greetings, Dean Hu!" "You recognize me?" "Just a guess!" "Good eye!" Hu Xiansheng! Dean of the Multiple Divine Characters College of Great Ming Prefecture! Hu Xiansheng beamed. "As expected of the young prodigy renowned across the Human Realm! What bearing, what presence—truly extraordinary!" "The Dean flatters me," Su Yu smiled, exchanging pleasantries casually. Hu Xiansheng! What did he come here for? To borrow money? "Student Su, you've been here for several days now. I've been busy these days and didn't manage to come welcome you..." "The Dean must be joking. It should have been me visiting you!" Hu Xiansheng stroked his beard, chuckling. "No matter, no matter. The term starts in a few days, right? I noticed Student Su hasn't registered yet. Since you just arrived, you still need to register your name." "Yes, I understand. I will go handle it soon." "No need, I already handled it for you. A minor matter!" Hu Xiansheng chuckled and teased, "Won't you invite me to sit and chat?" "Please, Dean, have a seat!" Su Yu felt helpless. What do you want to chat about? I have no money, don't ask me for a loan! Ignoring his reluctance, Hu Xiansheng sat down and chuckled. "It's like this. I heard Student Su plans to re-establish the Primordial Spirit Research Institute. When I heard that, I thought, what a great thing! Look, I happen to have a massive research institute right here. Building a new one takes far too much time and requires a fortune in funds." "I thought about it, and why waste that money? Student Su, how about you simply buy a stake in my institute?" "..." Here it came! Su Yu felt resigned inside, but smiled on the surface. "Dean, forget it. Mine is just small-scale tinkering. I've heard others mention your research institute; your research is far too high-end." "Not high-end, not high-end at all, just average..." Hu Xiansheng grew excited. "My institute has absorbed over two million merit points over the years! If Student Su invests 400,000 merit points, I'll give you a thirty percent stake. How about that?" "Once results come out, Student Su, think about it—that's a spatial transference formation!" The old man was thrilled now. "A transference formation! How long does it take you to travel to Great Xia Prefecture's prefectural city right now? Three days! And that's the bare minimum! A Lingyun needs two days, a Shanhai needs one day, a Sunmoon needs half a day, and even an Invincible needs two to three hours!" "Such a waste of time!" "But think about it—once we have a transference formation, a teleportation array, heading to Great Xia Prefecture's city will take three seconds!" Hu Xiansheng said in awe, "Three seconds! Furthermore, our Human Realm has six entrances to the All-Heavens Battlefield. Even for the nearest one, traveling there from Great Ming takes three to five days. They're scattered across all corners of the world! But if we have teleportation arrays, even if we can't send people straight there in one jump, it'll only take dozens of seconds, a minute at most!" "If we charge one hundred merit points per teleportation, is that expensive?" Hu Xiansheng grinned. "Not expensive at all, right? And what is the daily foot traffic across all prefectures of the Human Realm? I won't even say everyone uses it, but even if ten thousand people use it a day, that's a million merit points! Deduct operating expenses and costs, and at the end of the day, we'd net at least 300,000 merit points!" "In a single day!" Hu Xiansheng exclaimed passionately, "And that's just the Human Realm! Three hundred thousand a day is over one hundred million in annual revenue—in merit points!" "And if it's applied to the All-Heavens Battlefield, good heavens, imagine that!" Hu Xiansheng marveled, "The military would probably be ecstatic! Paying tens of millions in licensing fees at once wouldn't be out of the question..." "..." A wonderful dream! Su Yu didn't take it seriously at all. Such a grand enterprise—you can play it yourself, old man; I won't be accompanying you. Hu Xiansheng seemed to see through his thoughts and smiled. "I know what you're thinking. Did you hear something from others and think I'm dreaming?" "Heh, I'm really not dreaming. I'm a seventh-stage Shanhai after all—am I an idiot?" With that, he quickly produced two miniature archways. Tossing one to Su Yu, he smiled. "Catch!" Su Yu caught the miniature gateway, feeling somewhat surprised. In the next moment, Hu Xiansheng took the other gateway and flew back some distance, about thirty meters away. "Watch closely, don't blink!" Hu Xiansheng urged excitedly. "Don't blink!" As he spoke, a small bottle appeared in his hand. He placed the bottle right in front of the miniature gate, then opened the gate and pushed the bottle inside! The gateway in Su Yu's hand vibrated slightly. In the next instant, his eyes flashed! He quickly swung open the miniature gate in his hands. Out came the bottle! Su Yu abruptly snapped his head up to look at Hu Xiansheng across from him! Holy shit! Teleportation? Point-to-point teleportation! Seeing his shock, Hu Xiansheng burst into laughter. "How about that? Impressive, right? It's not that I have no results; they're just not complete enough. Currently, we face two problems: first, it can't transmit over long distances; second, it can't transmit living beings." "Research takes one step at a time. Who succeeds in a single try?" "Over the years, nearly a million merit points have been burned, but it's not like there are zero results, right?" Hu Xiansheng smiled. "Some people just hate seeing me do well. They spread rumors all day saying I squander money. Am I squandering money?" Hu Xiansheng said spiritedly, "Once I succeed, our Great Ming Multiple Divine Characters Faction will be living in luxury alongside me! Right now, our faction doesn't have many people left in Great Ming—counting me and you, fifty-eight in total!" "When we make all that money, we can recruit 580 people, 5,800 people..." Fifty-eight people! Su Yu wasn't particularly surprised; Zhu Tiandao had mentioned earlier that there were around fifty or sixty people here. At least it was far better than Great Xia! Moreover, the Multiple Divine Characters Faction had always been something only geniuses could cultivate, and was naturally subject to restrictions. In Great Xia's peak period, the faction's experts at Tengkong and above numbered only several dozen. Su Yu didn't rush to comment on the teleportation array, asking instead, "Dean, what is the strength of our Multiple Divine Characters Faction?" "Decent!" Hu Xiansheng gave a dry cough. "Apart from you and me, there are fifty-six people: four Lingyun, eight Tengkong, and forty-four Yangxing. Not bad, right?" Su Yu nodded. Considering the headcount, this proportion was indeed not bad. One Shanhai, plus four in the Lingyun Realm! Realistically speaking, though, combined together, they wouldn't last a single round against Hong Tan. The reason Great Ming hadn't been targeted was likely tied to their lack of strength. Great Ming allocated 30,000 merit points per semester, which averaged out to 500 merit points per person. Zhu Tiandao had said there was no suppression here, and Su Yu believed it—that funding was substantial. With so few people, one couldn't ask for too much. Su Yu looked back at the gateway in his hand, thought for a moment, and said, "Dean, I've examined it. This gateway is well-made, but the difficulties you face are likely immense. The two issues you mentioned are only part of it. What about long-distance transmission? How do you ensure spatial stability, and how do you prevent spatial forces from tearing the traveler to shreds..." Su Yu said calmly, "This bottle is specially crafted, its durability rivaling an Earth-rank weapon. Dean, don't assume I know nothing. Even after traveling just thirty meters, the bottle was vibrating from the spatial forces. The spatial compression is simply too violent. Under these conditions, no one below the Sunmoon Realm could survive the transit, and the range is still short..." Hu Xiansheng looked somewhat embarrassed. Su Yu continued, "Furthermore, I observed severe limitations. Dean, you must have embedded positioning divine characters into both gateways. You're certainly generous, but who has so many positioning characters to spare..." Hu Xiansheng's expression shifted slightly, and he hurried to explain, "It doesn't strictly have to be divine characters! Divine talismans work too, or an expert could embed a strand of willpower as an anchor." Hu Xiansheng added, "I only embedded characters to make demonstrations easier; they can be retrieved at any time." Su Yu nodded. "That wouldn't be an issue, then. We could collaborate with the Divine Talisman Department and embed talismans instead." Hu Xiansheng breathed a sigh of relief. *Good, he understands!* Su Yu clearly wasn't completely ignorant; he could be reasoned with. But someone knowledgeable was also troublesome—they weren't easy to dupe. With this trick, he had duped quite a few people and borrowed a tidy sum in the past. Alas, it had stayed like this for years. After demonstrating it so many times, everyone caught on, and bamboozling acquaintances was no longer an option. Su Yu suddenly looked up at him. "Dean, realistically, how much more funding and time do you think it will take to perfect the teleportation array to the point where it can actually transport living people?" Hu Xiansheng hesitated before replying, "At least five million merit points... and a century of time..." He quickly added, "However, it will all be worth it! A hundred years sounds long, but the Human Realm has been established for over three hundred years. Had people researched it earlier, results might have arrived long ago! Everyone just didn't take it seriously, which is why the vast Human Realm still has no teleportation arrays." "Do the myriad races have them?" "Yes!" Hu Xiansheng replied promptly. "The God and Demon races have them. Naturally, the construction cost is astronomical—they use void stones as the foundation, with Invincibles presiding over them. What we are developing is different from theirs. Besides, the teleportation arrays of the God and Demon races aren't suitable for us; their pathways are entirely distinct. They can't set up teleportation arrays on the All-Heavens Battlefield either; they can only establish them within stable God or Demon realms." Su Yu was surprised. The God and Demon races had them? On second thought, that made sense. Those races had developed for thousands or tens of thousands of years, not just a few centuries! While the human race had plenty of experts, in terms of foundational heritage, they lagged far behind. Hu Xiansheng pressed on eagerly, "Four hundred thousand merit points, Su Yu! A thirty percent stake! Truly, an incredible bargain!" "I don't have the money." "How could you not? The Prefecture Lord killed so many people, didn't you collect their merit cards?" "Great Xia froze them!" "Fuck!" Hu Xiansheng cursed aloud, "Xia the Second is a complete bastard! Freezing even that? So you really don't have money? Wait, didn't you send someone to convert a bunch of merit points? That's tens of thousands of points too. Investing tens of thousands works as well..." Su Yu smiled. "I need to build a research institute." "Then... didn't the Prefecture Lord promise to build it for you?" "I need to purchase certain equipment myself." Hu Xiansheng grew frantic. "Don't be like that! How about this: forget investing. My institute is massive—six floors in total. I'll lease three floors to you for just ten thousand merit points a year! One year deposit, three years upfront—pay 40,000 points to use it for three years... I have high-end apparatuses there, Sunmoon-grade formations, first-rate defense!" Su Yu said calmly, "Dean, you should rather consider what your students will do next semester once you've burned through Great Ming's funding allocation. Moreover, in a little over two months, the academy will be seized by creditors, leaving you no choice but to disband the Multiple Divine Characters Faction. For Great Ming's Multiple Divine Characters Faction to be run into the ground by the dean himself—that would be truly tragic." Hu Xiansheng looked completely deflated. "You know about that?" "I know." "..." He had no retort. Hu Xiansheng slumped, a seventh-stage Shanhai expert rendered thoroughly miserable. "Back then, I believed I could accomplish it within a few decades! Speaking of which, this has a bit of history with your Great Xia's Fifth Generation. He supported me back then, saying my goal was ambitious and my idea brilliant, that geniuses of the Multiple Divine Characters Faction should undertake earth-shattering feats like this..." "Who knew... sigh!" With a heavy sigh, Hu Xiansheng pleaded, "How about lending me tens of thousands of merit points? The term is starting, and we can't let the students starve! Outlining divine characters requires studying texts of will; advancing willpower requires absorbing willpower; tempering the body requires blood essence and yuan qi..." Everything cost money! He had reached his wit's end; things were simply too dire. Su Yu didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I will inspect the research institute. If it meets my expectations, I am willing to spend money to buy it!" Su Yu smiled. "Prefecture Lord Zhu is willing to support me, but I prefer that some things belong entirely to me, without outsiders dictating terms!" "I did the math for the Dean: you owe 220,000 merit points in external debt, the academy is mortgaged for 100,000, and the students need 30,000 this semester—a total of 350,000 merit points! If the Dean's research institute satisfies my requirements, I am willing to pay 350,000 merit points to buy it outright!" Su Yu smiled. "This is no small sum. For 350,000 merit points, I could purchase a cutting-edge research institute anywhere." "You... you're taking advantage of my misfortune!" Hu Xiansheng bristled with indignation. "350,000 merit points? If nothing else, my research institute has three sets of grand formations alone, all Sunmoon-grade! One blocks willpower intrusion, one blocks Sunmoon surveillance, and there's an offensive Sunmoon formation—those alone are worth over 150,000 merit points!" "Furthermore, my institute isn't an ordinary building. Just the flooring was forged from Xuanhuang iron; even if a battle between Lingyun experts breaks out, it wouldn't be breached anytime soon!" "Some of the laboratories inside are top-tier, including the spatial severance chamber... money can't even buy those!" "Even if I tore it down and sold the parts, I could easily get several hundred thousand merit points!" Su Yu smiled. "Then the Dean can go ahead and tear it down to sell." "You..." Hu Xiansheng was at a loss for words. "Didn't you say you had no money?" "I can borrow some," Su Yu smiled. "If that fails, I can sell some items. And if all else fails, I can go to the Xia family and sell out all rights to my aperture fusion techniques completely. The terms I negotiated earlier granted me one merit point per copy distributed. Just because I don't have cash right now doesn't mean I can't secure funds." Hu Xiansheng looked deeply aggrieved and stared resentfully at him for a long while before speaking. "You're too ruthless. Buying me out completely for 350,000 merit points? After paying off my debts, wouldn't I be left with nothing after all these years?" Too miserable! Su Yu smiled. "Dean, isn't that better than being cornered by creditors and unable to step out the door? I won't seize your research results. All the data regarding the spatial transference formation can be taken with you. The rest stays. When you have the strength and capital in the future, you can resume your research anytime!" *I only want your research institute!* Over the past few days, he had asked Chief Steward Xie, and it had to be said that Hu Xiansheng truly spared no expense. His research institute was fortified to the point where even a Sunmoon Realm expert couldn't break in easily! Just as Hu Xiansheng said, all the equipment was cutting-edge and top-tier. For instance, that spatial severance chamber—building that would run at least 70,000 or 80,000 merit points. Being able to sever space touched upon the domain of Invincibles. This institute was far more high-end than the Wen Tan Research Center. Su Yu had even wondered why Bai Feng had chosen to go to Great Xia in the first place; Great Ming was genuinely fantastic, with research facilities and equipment far more advanced and complete than Great Xia's. Hu Xiansheng said sullenly, "If I sold it to someone else, I could get 500,000!" Su Yu chuckled. "Few people would buy it. Nearly all the experts in Great Ming already have their own research institutes, while the weak don't have one and couldn't afford it even if they wanted to! To be frank, your institute is somewhat of a white elephant. It's too high-end; unless one is conducting top-secret research, there's no need for such an advanced institute." True enough. Hu Xiansheng was helpless; Su Yu had hit the nail on the head. Those with money didn't need it; those without money couldn't afford it. On top of that, it was so top-tier that selling it for hundreds of thousands of merit points was impossible. Who would take it? "Then won't you be operating at a loss if you buy it?" Su Yu smiled. "It's fine. My main focus is cultivating techniques. A single widely applicable cultivation technique will recoup the cost and yield a handsome profit." "Like the aperture fusion technique?" "Something like that!" "..." Hu Xiansheng looked utterly wretched. "Now that the aperture fusion technique is out, are you planning to invent a divine aperture fusion technique or something?" "Depends on the situation." "How about I take a stake in your venture?" Hu Xiansheng gave a dry laugh. "Using the institute as equity, sixty-forty... sixty for me, forty for you... or fifty-fifty, how about that?" "Not interested." "Don't be so quick to refuse! How about... forty for me, sixty for you?" Su Yu smiled. "Forget it, Dean. I won't buy it after all. I'll just build one myself later." "..." Hu Xiansheng was thoroughly exasperated. Reluctant as he was, he pondered for a moment and said, "Fine, I can sell it to you, but we must add a condition: once I have the money, I can buy it back at the original price!" "Sure, but not within ten years!" Su Yu smiled. "Otherwise, if I move in today and you come redeem it tomorrow, wouldn't I be getting screwed?" "Ten years... fine!" Ten years wasn't that long, and besides, he might not save up that many merit points in ten years anyway. Hu Xiansheng felt disheartened. He muttered dejectedly, "I came to pull you in as an investor, and... I ended up selling my institute instead. If I die... I won't have the face to see my old friends!" Sold! Decades of research—he would have to mothball it. He had no choice. The cost was simply too colossal, yet major breakthroughs remained elusive. He had truly reached the end of the line. He had originally thought that since Su Yu hailed from the Multiple Divine Characters Faction, he might sponsor a bit. Turns out he was dreaming. The kid had calculated everything with cold precision! Su Yu knew exactly how much debt he owed. The brat had set his sights on him from the start! The offer was just barely enough to settle all his debts! Once the debts were cleared, he would be penniless, without any capital to start another institute. Great Ming had provided him with ample support, and the Zhu family certainly wouldn't shell out another coin if he tried again. "Sigh!" With a heavy sigh, Hu Xiansheng looked crestfallen, his vitality instantly draining away. Su Yu knew the old man had been putting on a pitiful act earlier, but at this moment, he was genuinely heartbroken. It was just like the Wen Tan Research Center: when the academy planned to shut it down, Bai Feng refused to yield even at the cost of his life. When the academy halted its funding, Hong Tan personally traveled to the All-Heavens Battlefield to slay demon beasts and capture demons to sell their blood, all to keep the research institute running. Unfortunately, Dean Hu might not possess the martial prowess to pull that off. Even if he did, this research institute burned through money at a much faster rate. He couldn't sustain it either! After a period of despondency, Hu Xiansheng soon spoke up. "Su Yu, you're also a student of the Multiple Divine Characters Faction. Though you come from Great Xia, all Multiple Divine Characters across the world are one family. Right now, there aren't many people left in our faction across the prefectures. Once you set up your institute, could you hire a few Multiple Divine Characters students to do odd jobs? Times are hard!" Su Yu smiled. "We'll see. If the need arises, I will!" He made no promises. "All Multiple Divine Characters across the world are one family" was merely a nice saying. Su Yu felt affection not for the faction as a whole, but for the specific individuals within it. "All right then!" Hu Xiansheng said no more. "When are you coming to take a look?" "In a couple of days. If the Dean has anything you need to move out, clear it out beforehand, lest I seize everything once I arrive. Naturally, the crucial equipment cannot be removed; otherwise, I wouldn't pay such a steep price to purchase it!" "Fine!" Hu Xiansheng grew even more downcast. *My research institute... gone!* *From now on, there is only the Primordial Spirit Research Institute.* As he was about to leave, Hu Xiansheng remembered something and spoke up. "Right, I almost forgot. You are now a junior researcher. That carries obligations. Even if you don't take on apprentices, you may still need to lecture. On your end..." Lecturing? Su Yu was slightly taken aback. *I have to give lectures?* "Lecturing... All right, I understand. Thank you for the reminder, Dean." *What can I teach?* His breadth of theoretical knowledge was still lacking, inferior to those senior students. Of course, that was only in certain areas; when it came to cultivation techniques and sheer breadth of vision, Su Yu was top-tier—ordinary Lingyun experts might not possess his insight. If worse came to worst, he could just hold a casual lecture discussing the knowledge of opening divine apertures. That would be more than enough. Su Yu felt no lack of confidence. Seeing him agree readily, Hu Xiansheng said nothing more and vanished swiftly. As he departed, he let out another sigh, wishing Su Yu would call him back and say it was all a joke and that he was willing to gift him hundreds of thousands of merit points... Well, he was clearly disappointed. Su Yu had no such intention! Once he was gone, Su Yu chuckled softly. A little fur ball appeared in his hand. Squeezing it, he smiled. "Good fortune! That research institute is a fantastic place!" Even a Sunmoon Realm expert would need time to breach it. Three hundred fifty thousand merit points wasn't a loss—in fact, it was a massive gain. Buying it with his own funds was good; it saved him from owing too much to the Zhu family, though he already owed plenty after the battle at Starfall Mountain.