Three Goals

The Chen household. A four-bedroom, two-living-room apartment. It wasn't in the same residential complex as Su Yu's, but in the neighboring complex right next door, not far away at all. That was why Chen Hao so frequently showed up below Su Yu's apartment building—it was very close. Years ago, the two families had lived in the same complex. Later, when Chen Qinghe was promoted, he bought a slightly larger place in the neighborhood next door. As soon as Su Yu stepped through the door, Chen Qinghe, who was watching television, immediately stood up and chuckled heartily. "A'Yu is here! Sit, sit. We'll be eating shortly. Haven't seen you in quite a while!" "Uncle Chen. Is Auntie in the kitchen?" Inside the kitchen, Chen Hao's mother didn't come out, but answered with a warm laugh, "A'Yu, watch some TV first. Dinner will be ready in a moment. I specifically made that braised pork you like today." Su Yu smiled and thanked her. As for the braised pork... his dad had cooked it so often that he used to be sick of it, but now that his dad was away from home, he genuinely missed it. Once Su Yu sat down, Chen Qinghe saw his son about to sit down as well. The smile instantly vanished from his face, and he barked, "Go pour some tea! Have you no tact whatsoever?" Chen Hao muttered a few grumbles and reluctantly trotted off to pour tea. As soon as Chen Hao left, Chen Qinghe's expression softened considerably. He looked at Su Yu and said, "A'Yu, thank you for what you did for Haozi. That boy has a screw loose. Taking credit for someone else's kill is no trivial matter. If it had been anyone else... we wouldn't have been able to accept such credit. "But you and Haozi grew up together. Since this was your idea, I'm not worried about any fallout. "You're sharp and have been clever since you were little. You have much more initiative and better ideas than your dad or me." Su Yu said softly, "Uncle Chen, nothing bad will come of it. I was just worried whether adding those points to send Haozi to a war academy... was really the right choice." Chen Qinghe sighed and soon shook his head. "I considered that before as well, but thinking about it more, there was no stopping him. You know his personality—stubborn as a mule. He's determined to go to a war academy. Even if he couldn't make it into the Great Xia War Academy, he would probably end up going to some weaker war academy elsewhere. "Rather than having him attend some lesser war academy, it's better for him to go to a better one. At least there will be more opportunities and greater safety." Chen Qinghe looked at Su Yu and said solemnly, "Actually, I've wanted to treat you to this meal for a long time. On one hand, it's to thank you. On the other... it's a plea! You are definitely going to the Great Xia Prefecture. Even if you aren't in the same academy as Haozi, I believe that once you reach the Great Xia Prefecture, you'll go much further and fare far better than him... "Put on a battlefield, you'd be the commander, while Haozi would just be cannon fodder charging at the front. I want to ask you to look after him a bit." Su Yu said hastily, "Don't worry, Uncle Chen, of course I will. Haozi and I have known each other for so many years." Chen Qinghe waved his hand slightly and sighed again. "Once or twice is fine, but as time goes on, even the closest bond wears thin. So in the end, it still comes down to Haozi himself. If he has no ability, then once he graduates, he can just come back to Nanyuan. Nanyuan is actually pretty nice. "If he does have some ability and manages to carve out a decent path in the Great Xia Prefecture, then when the time comes, as long as he doesn't drag you down, he can just be your follower..." "Uncle Chen, that's going too..." Just as Su Yu began to speak, Chen Qinghe interrupted, "He's cut out to be a follower, but it depends on who he follows. That little bastard is reckless and pig-headed. If he follows someone else, who knows which day he'll end up as cannon fodder, dead without even knowing how he died. "The outside world isn't like home. The myriad races eat people, and people eat people too." Chen Qinghe's tone turned somber. "A'Yu, I can only entrust him to you. You two are the same age, yet I trust the way you handle things completely. But Haozi really won't do. All these years, I've tried to teach him, but I couldn't get through to him, and teaching him was useless." Su Yu had nothing more to say and could only nod. Just then, Chen Hao returned carrying a cup of tea. Seeing their expressions, he chuckled and asked, "Dad, what are you two talking about?" Chen Qinghe shot him a glare and snapped, "Talking about how foolish you are, and when you'll ever grow up!" Chen Hao looked aggrieved and went silent. "If only you were a girl, I'd have spoken straight to Su Long and promised you to A'Yu. But no, you had to be an oversized, clumsy boy—all that height gone to waste!" Chen Hao grimaced, while Su Yu felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. Imagining Chen Hao turning into a girl... Forget it, best not to think about it. Terrifying. After chatting for a while, Chen Hao's mother finished cooking, and dishes began arriving on the table. They all moved to the dining room. *** It wasn't Su Yu's first time eating at the Chen household, so he wasn't constrained or formal. Having not eaten a decent meal in days, Su Yu ate quite a lot. After dinner and some more idle chatter, Su Yu prepared to take his leave and head home. Once outside the door, Chen Qinghe, who had held a box in his hands at some point, grasped Su Yu's hand and pressed the box into it. He whispered, "Take it. This isn't a thank-you gift for what happened before—let Haozi thank you for that himself later... "This is a gift for my request that you look after him. I may act tough and say I don't care, but deep down I'm truly terrified... terrified that one day he'll be gone. "A'Yu, I'm counting on you!" Su Yu didn't know what to feel. Chen Qinghe was, after all, the deputy director of the Traffic Supervision Office, at the ninth stage of the Qianjun Realm, and was even about to be promoted to full director. Yet now, for the sake of his son, he was far more polite to Su Yu than before, even bordering on humble and deferential. Su Yu was really only in the Kaiyuan Realm, and he was heading to a civilization academy. He didn't quite understand why Chen Qinghe placed so much faith in him. With Chen Qinghe pushing the box into his hands, Su Yu thought for a moment and decided not to refuse. Better to accept it for now. *** Su Yu soon left the Chen residence. As soon as he was gone, Chen Hao couldn't help saying, "Dad, why were you so polite to A'Yu today? It felt awkward." "What do you know!" Chen Qinghe couldn't be bothered to engage him, but Chen Hao protested discontentedly, "What do you mean, what do I know! A'Yu and I have known each other for so many years. Without you saying a word, our friendship is rock-solid." "Looking after you once or twice is friendship; three or four times is a favor; anything beyond that is asking for a fallout!" Chen Qinghe said with a cold face, "With that temperament of yours, you're bound to cause trouble sooner or later! If it happens too often, Su Yu isn't your father—why should he take care of you? When the friendship is burned out, will you still shamelessly cling to him?" "Dad, you really have no faith in me." "None at all." Chen Qinghe answered bluntly, then added, "If you truly go to the Great Xia Prefecture, cause less trouble for me. Just keep your head down and cultivate properly! As for Su Yu, don't bother him if nothing's wrong. Only go ask him for help when you run into something you can't resolve." "A'Yu is going as a student just like me, not as some high-ranking official..." "You idiot!" Chen Qinghe sighed. "How could it be the same? Setting aside that he's inherently smarter than you, who is Liu Wenyan? A Civilization Master in the Tengkong Realm with extensive connections in the Great Xia Civilization Academy! He holds high expectations for Su Yu. When Su Yu goes there, it won't be anything like your situation. "Furthermore, that Bai Feng who came last time—I asked around about him. An assistant researcher, and lately he's apparently about to break through to the seventh stage of the Tengkong Realm! "Before he left last time, he told Su Yu to look him up once he reached the academy... Chiliarch Zhang of the City Guards and the others were all present then. What does that signify? It signifies that he thinks highly of Su Yu! Look at you... why couldn't you seize an opportunity like that? "Once Su Yu goes to the Great Xia Civilization Academy, with Liu Wenyan's network, Bai Feng looking out for him, and his own intelligence, in a few years you'll still be an ordinary grunt while he might very well become a prominent figure in the Great Xia Prefecture! "And another thing: that guy Su Long may be at the ninth stage of the Qianjun Realm, but he comes from the Demon Suppression Army. That makes him completely different from your dad." Chen Qinghe said wistfully, "What was the Demon Suppression Army? That was the grand army led personally by Prefect Xia back in the day! In today's Longwu Guards, several of the chiliarchs hail from the Demon Suppression Army! "Su Long wasn't anyone important in the Demon Suppression Army, but coming from the same army makes them old comrades-in-arms! "Most of the higher-ups in the Longwu Guards and the Prefectural Army came out of the Demon Suppression Army. As long as Su Yu isn't foolish, using that connection makes those two formidable powers his backing!" Chen Hao shook his head. "That works too? Dad, Uncle Su is only in the Qianjun Realm—could he really know those big shots?" "It's not a matter of knowing them or not!" Chen Qinghe snapped, "You don't understand the military. If Su Yu ever went to them for help and said his father was from the Demon Suppression Army—and one of the returning veterans at that—the military would naturally feel a greater kinship toward him. The military is fiercely protective of their own; at the very least, they wouldn't let anyone bully Su Yu. "They might not shower him with massive benefits, but in the Great Xia Prefecture, ordinary people wouldn't dare walk all over Su Yu. When massive trouble has broken out in the past, Prefect Xia has even stepped in personally." Chen Qinghe said no more. Such things had happened before. Xia Longwu was an iron-blooded god of war who placed immense value on comradeship. In particular, among the batch of veterans who fought alongside him on the battlefield twenty years ago, many were now senior commanders in the Longwu Guards and the Prefectural Army. It was somewhat of a shame about Su Long. If he hadn't retired and returned, and had survived, his status today probably wouldn't be low either. The Qianjun Realm was still a bit too weak. If Su Long had been in the Wanshi Realm back then, he would probably have joined the Longwu Guards. Compared to Su Yu, his own son would truly be isolated and helpless once he reached the Great Xia Prefecture. Chen Qinghe wasn't Su Long. He was someone of note in Nanyuan, but in the Great Xia Prefecture... who would know who Chen Qinghe was? Chen Hao felt a headache coming on from listening to all this and stopped thinking about it. Muttering that Uncle Su was truly awesome, he retreated to his room. Chen Qinghe didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He could pretty much guess what his son was thinking right now: *Why wasn't my dad in the Demon Suppression Army?* That was undoubtedly what was running through the boy's mind! *** The Su household. Upon returning home, Su Yu opened the box Chen Qinghe had given him. The moment it opened, Su Yu's expression changed. The box wasn't small, and it contained more than one item. Inside were several small vials, plus a bone slip. An intact bone slip! "Th-this is... an original manual of an all-races cultivation technique?" Su Yu was astonished. As for the vials, he saw three of them. Uncapping one to take a look—yuanqi liquid! One drop per vial! Three drops of yuanqi liquid! "What lavish generosity!" Su Yu clicked his tongue in wonder! Three drops of yuanqi liquid had a market value of 300,000 coins. Yet the crux wasn't the liquid, but the original manual of an all-races technique. Even if it was only an original manual at the Qianjun Realm, its value was astounding. Last time, Bai Feng had given Su Yu a fragment, which was only a third of an original manual. Even that was considered a treasure, making Liu Yue green with envy at the time. This kind of item couldn't be bought with money; it required merit points. Present-day Su Yu was no longer a complete novice. Nanyuan Secondary Academy didn't offer original manuals for exchange, but they could be redeemed in the Great Xia Prefecture. An original Qianjun Realm manual—regardless of whether it was a cultivation art or a martial skill, and regardless of race—started at a baseline of thirty merit points! If it was an original manual from powerful races like the gods or demons, its value was even higher—far higher! At least thirty merit points or more! "This..." At the time, Su Yu had felt that Chen Qinghe wouldn't be stingy, but he hadn't imagined this went far beyond mere generosity. He suspected Chen Qinghe had spent all the merit points accumulated over the years to exchange for this original manual! "This is..." Su Yu truly didn't know what to say. As for three hundred thousand, Chen Qinghe headed the Traffic Supervision Office and certainly earned more than Su Yu's father, but parting with three hundred thousand easily was by no means simple. And as for merit points, based on their annual benefits, Chen Qinghe probably received around five to ten points a year. Su Yu didn't know exactly how many merit points he had spent, but this single box likely represented Chen Qinghe's entire net worth accumulated over six or seven years! Salary, benefits, merit points—everything had been poured into this! "Uncle Chen thinks way too highly of me!" Su Yu gave a wry smile. He understood that this was an investment—though not for Chen Qinghe himself, but on Chen Hao's behalf. He hoped that once Su Yu made a name for himself in the Great Xia Prefecture, he could look out for Chen Hao. The point was, he had truly staked a fortune. Chen Qinghe didn't even know that Bai Feng had taken Su Yu as a student in advance, nor did he know Su Yu was already at the seventh stage of the Kaiyuan Realm. Giving him such an expensive gift purely based on past events—wasn't he afraid it would all go down the drain? "Sigh!" Su Yu sighed with emotion. It was all for his child. Haozi probably had no idea about this; if he did, he would probably come to snatch the things back. If he tried to return the items, Uncle Chen wouldn't accept them either—Su Yu knew that much. After thinking it over, he didn't plan to return them. Since Chen Qinghe had exchanged for an original manual—something he couldn't use or read himself—it was clearly meant as a gift for Su Yu. Moreover, he had likely inquired into many matters beforehand. As for the three drops of yuanqi liquid, Su Yu considered that he might not need that much. He still had half a drop on him, plus the three drops from the examination that he had already counted into his future assets. Yuanqi liquid was a great help in the Kaiyuan Realm, and it remained useful in the Qianjun and Wanshi Realms, though its efficacy wouldn't be as pronounced as it was now. Currently at the seventh stage of the Kaiyuan Realm, Su Yu probably wouldn't need to spend that much. "When Haozi comes over to cultivate, I'll just let him use it." "After Dad left home, my savings have actually grown more and more." Su Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. When his dad left, he had left behind over 300,000 coins. When Su Yu bought blood essence back then, he thought he would go broke in no time. Now, his wealth had actually increased. "Anping coins and gold coins worth 300,000, three and a half drops of yuanqi liquid, one intact Qianjun original manual, one fragmented manual, one copy of the Kaiyuan Art, two drops of blood essence, and 13 merit points." Regarding merit points, that included the one point earned today, while the remaining two points had been earned a few days ago assisting the Wind Arrest Hall personnel in capturing All-Races Sect cultists. Calculating it this way, Su Yu realized he was quite a wealthy man now. "Now that I'm rich, time to reward little bro 'Blood'!" Su Yu smiled. The two drops of blood essence he had seized last time weren't Ironwing Bird blood essence, so he hadn't recklessly ingested them; instead, he saved them for the "Blood" character to absorb. Although the divine character didn't absorb much each time, by absorbing slowly, it would mature sooner or later. "For the time remaining, kill a mid-Qianjun cultist as my graduation exam, and also break through to the eighth stage of the Kaiyuan Realm! "As for willpower, strive to hit 20% capacity soon!" Su Yu set his goals. These were his objectives before taking the higher academy entrance examinations. At this moment, less than twenty-four days remained before the examinations. Three goals. He believed he could accomplish all of them!