Having cleared up what his next cultivation art would be, Su Yu felt much more at ease.
The advanced version of the War God Art opened 108 apertures, making it a top Earth-rank cultivation art.
That was already exceptional!
As for Heaven-rank arts, Su Yu had no great craving for one. For one thing, they were extraordinarily difficult to obtain; for another, cultivating them would be vastly more troublesome and slow down his progress.
Earth rank was already more than enough!
*At the Kaiyuan ninth layer, if I cultivate the advanced version of the War God Art, I will need to open the twelve apertures of the Qianjun first layer.*
The Qianjun Realm had nine layers. By opening twelve more apertures at the Kaiyuan ninth layer, he could directly step into the peak of the Qianjun first layer.
However, the standard version only had eight apertures to open for that stage.
Mulling it over as he ate the charred meal, Su Yu looked up after a moment and asked, "Teacher, will I also have to redeem the Wanshi Chapter myself?"
"Of course," Liu Wenyan replied casually. "Without a doubt. At Qianjun, you can redeem the Wanshi portion; at Wanshi, you can redeem Tengkong. You can only exchange for techniques one realm above your own. The higher the stage, the stricter the review, and the higher the merit point requirement."
"To prevent them from falling into the hands of the All-Races Sect?"
"Partly, yes." Liu Wenyan smiled. "But it's not just that. There's another point: to keep people from getting something for nothing! Humanity didn't rise on the backs of just a handful of experts, but through the shared struggle of countless humans. Look at the All-Heavens Battlefield—there are countless soldiers. If we relied only on a few mighty experts, how could we ever hold the line?
"If you don't contribute, and I don't contribute, then humanity could never become a powerhouse race.
"When arts are redeemed with merit points, the creators receive royalties—usually thirty percent."
Liu Wenyan said with feeling, "The wealthiest people in humanity aren't those Invincible experts, but the experts who created these cultivation arts. The annual dividends alone are staggering! Of course, they can also be bought out... For instance, arts like the Qianjun Art were bought out by the military. Who knows if the experts who created the Qianjun Art regret that now..."
Back then, the creator had probably thought it was just a Yellow-rank art—common as dirt and worthless.
To an Invincible expert, such a technique was truly beneath notice.
And yet... the human military promoted it, and soon the entire human race began cultivating it. If they had charged a royalty—even a single merit point per cultivator—it would have yielded billions, tens of billions of points.
What was more, that wasn't just for a single generation, but generation after generation.
Now even Su Yu felt an ache of sympathy for whoever had created the Qianjun Art. He couldn't help asking, "When the military bought it out, how much did they pay?"
"Who knows? That was many years ago, back before merit points even existed. I heard it was traded for the corpse of a Tengkong Realm demon beast..."
Liu Wenyan couldn't recall clearly either. It had been far too long, and whatever remained today was merely old gossip.
The corpse of a Tengkong Realm demon beast!
And probably not even a top-tier one! To have bought out the technique for just that—what an immense loss.
Feeling the phantom sting of that creator's loss, Su Yu continued, "Were the subsequent follow-up arts bought out together with it?"
"Supposedly, yes. Of course, I don't know the specifics. Techniques above the Shanhai Realm might have been created later on, so they weren't necessarily bought out. I really can't say."
Liu Wenyan had only recently entered the Tengkong Realm himself, so he hadn't paid much attention to such matters.
Seeing Su Yu's interest, Liu Wenyan chuckled. "Thinking of trying it yourself? Creating arts... that's a Civilization Master's specialty! Civilization Masters have created all kinds of cultivation arts, but the end results often left much to be desired, riddled with side effects when cultivated.
"Some people would be halfway through cultivating when they'd suddenly sprout a tail, an extra arm, or scales... After all, most of the arts we reference come from the myriad races. And that's the best-case scenario; the worst directly kills people."
Liu Wenyan sighed. "For that alone, humanity owes an immense debt of gratitude to Civilization Masters! Civilization Masters have created countless cultivation arts—some useless, some effective. Most of the martial skills and cultivation arts humanity uses today were developed by Civilization Masters, and who knows how many died in succession to achieve that.
"Generation after generation, Civilization Masters steadily refined these arts. From the days of cultivating purely by luck to today's methodical progress, from an era where half the cultivators died in the attempt to now, when almost no one dies from qi deviation... all of this is the achievement of Civilization Masters."
Hearing Liu Wenyan's words, Su Yu couldn't help nodding.
Perhaps the Civilization Masters who created these arts weren't particularly strong in combat and had never even set foot on the front lines, but their contributions were truly monumental.
With a hint of longing, Su Yu said, "If I could create a cultivation art suitable for the masses in the future—say, an Earth-rank art that's no harder to cultivate than the Qianjun Art—I'd never have to worry about merit points for the rest of my life."
"That thought... plenty of people have had it!"
Liu Wenyan laughed. "Every Civilization Master thinks that way, but in reality, it's impossible. After all these years, if there were truly something better suited for humanity to cultivate, our basic cultivation arts would have changed long ago."
Su Yu dropped the subject; it had only been a passing daydream anyway.
Soon, Su Yu asked curiously, "Teacher, is it really impossible for the All-Races Sect and the experts of the myriad races to get hold of these cultivation arts?"
"Not necessarily. Most of the powerful races probably have copies, at least of the arts up to the Shanhai Realm."
Liu Wenyan chuckled. "It doesn't really matter. We have their arts too, and we just keep refining ours."
"Then why still charge for them..."
"I already told you: you get what you work for, instead of expecting something for nothing!" Liu Wenyan chided. "Don't go hoping for free pies to drop from the sky. Besides, at the higher stages, there are merit point restrictions..."
Liu Wenyan smiled with a trace of amusement. "To obtain these cultivation arts, the myriad races have killed no small number of other races! When the God Race wants to acquire our arts, on top of planting spies, they certainly don't hesitate to slaughter other races just to earn merit points, and vice versa.
"Every time an art is refined, it invisibly brings in massive benefits!"
Liu Wenyan grinned. "Here's a secret that isn't really a secret: about eighty years ago, a spy from the All-Races Sect infiltrated the Civilization Academy. To get hold of the initial edition of the Ten Thousand Characters Classic for realms above Shanhai, that fellow went to the All-Heavens Battlefield and slaughtered dozens of experts from the God and Demon Races...
"He then redeemed the high-level manual of the Ten Thousand Characters Classic. However, that draft version had plenty of flaws and was only suited for humans—and even for humans, it was troublesome to cultivate. When he brought it back to the Azure Dragon Race, several of their top Civilization Masters tried to cultivate a modified version... and every single one blew up!"
Liu Wenyan clicked his tongue in amusement. "All of them cultivated until they self-destructed. Humanity realized it immediately. Not only did we uncover a spy, but we also realized the manual had massive flaws. Under normal circumstances, even if an art wasn't suitable for cultivation, it wouldn't make top experts directly explode, which proved there was a major vulnerability in it.
"After that, we revised it several more times. Occasionally, we even leaked a few cultivation arts on purpose whose consequences were uncertain, and quite a few members of the myriad races died because of it."
He spoke lightheartedly, but Su Yu thought much deeper. When Liu Wenyan finished, Su Yu asked in a low voice, "Then human Civilization Masters must have suffered heavy casualties too, right?"
"Yes."
Liu Wenyan nodded. "Scheming against one another is only natural. Human Civilization Masters die every year while testing All-Races techniques—going mad, self-destructing, it all happens. But we have to research them. Everyone is progressing; if you don't progress, and you don't know yourself and your enemy, how can you keep fighting on?"
The master and disciple said no more, quietly finishing their meal.
Once they finished eating, Su Yu prepared to leave. Liu Wenyan pondered for a moment before speaking up: "Bai Feng's side is indeed facing some trouble lately. As for whether you want to study under him, you can decide for yourself once you get to the academy."
"Understood."
...
Bidding farewell to Liu Wenyan, Su Yu headed home.
Aside from physical path cultivation arts, he could now train his willpower as well.
By contemplating original All-Races cultivation manuals!
A Qianjun-tier manual required a willpower fullness of 20% to 49% to read. Having only recently reached 20%, he could at best read fragments or incomplete copies; he was not yet capable of viewing a complete version.
And in his possession, Su Yu happened to have a fragment.
Bai Feng had given it to him back then. When Su Yu had looked at it for the first time, he hadn't been able to see anything and had ended up dizzy and groggy for half a day.
At this stage, Civilization Masters cultivated and strengthened their willpower by contemplating such fragments.
The clash of willpower helped foster its growth.
Once one reached the Character Cultivation stage, there would be even more ways to enhance oneself.
...
At home.
Su Yu took out that bone fragment. He had no idea which race this cultivation art belonged to, whether it was a martial skill, a cultivation art, or merely some unimportant document.
Bai Feng hadn't explained, and Su Yu hadn't asked.
The fragment's greatest purpose was to temper his willpower, not for Su Yu to decipher its meaning.
Over the past few days, busy raising his realm and practicing martial skills, Su Yu hadn't had much time to contemplate it.
At the moment, having not yet received the new War God Art manual and with little else pressing, he planned to dedicate more time to cultivating willpower over the coming days, lest he arrive at the academy unable to read even an original text, squandering time and opportunity.
Covering the bone fragment with his willpower, Su Yu began to focus and observe.
"This is..."
Once calmed, Su Yu soon discerned some hazy characters.
Examining them carefully, he quickly identified the race the writing belonged to—the Violent Ape Race!
This was a relatively common race on the All-Heavens Battlefield, fierce in combat. Among the elite legions below the Tengkong Realm on the All-Heavens Battlefield, the Violent Apes formed one of them. Qianjun-tier Violent Apes fought like utter madmen, with complete disregard for their own lives.
If a human legion of equal numbers and comparable strength clashed with them, the humans would usually collapse swiftly.
It wasn't that humans were weak, but that this race was excessively frenzied, turning vicious and seemingly mindless in battle.
Of course, while their frontal combat capability was formidable, once lured into a trap, they would charge blindly ahead. Thus, as long as an ambush was properly arranged, it was easy to set a lethal trap for them; the Violent Ape Race frequently suffered catastrophic losses on the battlefield as a result.
The Violent Ape Race was considered a vassal of the God Race. As for which specific branch of the God Race they fought under, that was beyond Su Yu's knowledge.
The God Race was an umbrella term; humanoid beings residing in the God Realm were all classified as members of the God Race.
Internally, they were divided into numerous ethnic groups, the Tianyi God Race being one among them.
Su Yu did not dwell on this further. The script of the Violent Ape Race happened to be one of the languages he had studied, and he could read the characters.
"*Arm Slash*?"
Su Yu deciphered the text, not entirely sure if his translation was accurate.
This was his first time seeing the original writing of an All-Races manual; everything he had studied previously had been rubbings.
Observing slowly for a while, Su Yu's willpower began to deplete, but he paid it no heed. Reading such fragments carried virtually no danger; when his willpower was exhausted, he would naturally be ejected.
"Violent Apes possess immense arm strength. Arm Slash is a common combat skill used by Violent Apes in barehanded fighting..."
Su Yu gradually pieced together the meaning: it was a martial skill.
It was used to cultivate arm apertures and augment arm strength.
Vaguely, he could even picture a giant ape engaged in cultivation.
At that moment, understanding suddenly dawned on Su Yu!
*This is a willpower text... a willpower text of the myriad races!*
He was dazed for an instant. It seemed he had previously fallen into a misconception.
Back when Bai Feng had taught him about divine characters, he had said they were learned from original All-Races manuals. Later, after acquiring a divine character from Bai Feng's Kaiyuan Art, Su Yu had assumed that human willpower texts were the only kind.
Looking back now, divine characters were originally meant to be derived from original All-Races manuals—or rather, that was how humanity had obtained them from the beginning.
*So original All-Races manuals are essentially willpower texts, just not created by humans.*
*This is only a fragment, which is why I can't see it clearly...*
*However, original All-Races manuals last much longer than human ones.*
Su Yu made an estimation. The one Bai Feng had written was already on the verge of expiring. Was it because the carrier medium was lacking, or because Bai Feng's strength was insufficient?
This fragment had been in his possession for the same length of time as Bai Feng's Kaiyuan Art, yet who knew how long Bai Feng had held onto it before that? Even now, willpower still lingered within it. Did that mean the Violent Ape who wrote this original was far more powerful?
*Does this also mean original All-Races manuals are actually consumables?*
A sudden shock struck Su Yu. Did that imply that once the internal willpower was completely drained, the object would become useless?
Shaking his head, Su Yu put the thought aside.
He would find out soon enough. If he contemplated this Arm Slash over an extended period, it might end up shattering completely.
"Arm Slash opens the apertures in both arms, focusing purely on arm strength. The Violent Ape Race opens sixteen apertures in each arm, totaling thirty-two apertures, making it a top Yellow-rank martial skill."
Cultivation arts and martial skills generally complemented one another.
If a cultivation art opened thirty-six apertures and its accompanying martial skill opened thirty apertures, those thirty apertures were usually among the ones already opened by the cultivation art, requiring no extra apertures to be unblocked.
Of course, there might occasionally be discrepancies, in which case additional apertures would have to be opened separately.
*I don't know what cultivation art accompanies the Thunder Yuan Saber either... If I cultivate the War God Art and its apertures don't overlap much with the Thunder Yuan Saber, then to master the Thunder Yuan Saber, I'll probably have to open quite a few extra apertures.*
*The martial skills matching the War God Art won't require merit points to redeem as well, will they?*
Su Yu began to let his thoughts wander again, feeling somewhat depressed.
*The Thunder Yuan Saber opens forty apertures in total. Its matching cultivation art must be at least low Profound-rank, but since the aperture count isn't that high, it's most likely not an Earth-rank art...*
Without question, Su Yu would not cultivate the Thunder Yuan Saber's matching cultivation art, because it was bound to be weaker than the War God Art.
Yet he had worked so hard to master that first slash of the Thunder Yuan Saber; giving it up would be a terrible waste.
*Forget it. At worst, I'll just open a few more apertures later to practice the Thunder Yuan Saber. It's only forty apertures in total, anyway, and some might overlap.*
If the overlap was high enough, Su Yu might only need to open a handful of extra apertures.
As his thoughts multiplied, his concentration wavered.
Just as Su Yu tried to study Arm Slash further, his willpower fluctuated, and he was expelled from the manual.
Su Yu gave a wry smile. Sure enough, reading required total focus without wandering thoughts.
*The arm apertures opened in Arm Slash seem to share some overlap with the Thunder Yuan Saber. Reading it more will help me broaden my knowledge.*
The anatomy of humans and Violent Apes differed, but apertures still shared similarities.
If Violent Apes could open thirty-two apertures in their arms, humans might find corresponding apertures and modify the technique for human use—which was also part of a Civilization Master's work.
Bai Feng had once warned him not to read such manuals too many times in a single day, but Su Yu hadn't taken it to heart.
He rarely felt any sign that his sea of consciousness couldn't bear the strain.
Over the past few days, only during the examination had he felt genuinely depleted, yet he had bounced back full of vigor the very next day. In Su Yu's eyes, that proved he had not reached his limit.
Undaunted by being expelled once, Su Yu resumed his contemplation.
Willpower clashed continuously. This time, Su Yu put away his stray thoughts and observed with complete dedication, growing stronger through the clash of willpower. The glow on the bone fragment dimmed slightly as its willpower dissipated and was absorbed by Su Yu.
Such was the cultivation path of a Civilization Master—growing stronger through clash and resistance.
Before long, Su Yu was expelled once more. After resting for half an hour, he continued.
Even incomplete, Arm Slash had already brought him many pleasant surprises.
Su Yu even faintly entertained the notion of trying to open those apertures to see if he could strengthen his arms. Of course, he knew that was dangerous and only a passing thought; right now, he lacked the qualifications and resources to modify an All-Races technique.
His knowledge was too limited, his understanding of human apertures far too shallow.
*I'm far too ignorant. I don't even know the distribution, structure, or total number of human apertures, yet I'm already dreaming of modifying techniques? That's asking for death.*
At that moment, Su Yu clearly recognized his shortcomings.
His horizons were too narrow!
The knowledge offered by higher academies was vital to him. Once he arrived at the academy, he had to study diligently and become a true top scholar.
...
Just as Su Yu was engrossed in his cultivation.
Somewhere in the Human Realm.
The heavens split open!
A colossal fortress floated in the air. The next moment, heads of bizarre and grotesque shapes popped out along the fortress walls—some looking around in wonder, others vigilant and cautious.
Moments later, a fully armed legion surrounded the fortress.
An expert leading the troops stepped forward and declared coldly, "Principal Wan, upon entering the Human Realm, you must adhere strictly to the designated route! If any member of the myriad races inside the fortress dares take a single step outside or deviate from the route, they shall be treated as enemies and slain without mercy! Great Xia Civilization Academy shall bear primary responsibility!"
Inside the fortress, several figures rose to float in the sky.
At the very front was Wan Tiansheng.
Beside Wan Tiansheng, several experts from the myriad races took flight as well.
The commanding general paid them little mind, casting a frigid gaze upon the non-human experts. "You come as Dao Protectors. Normally, you are permitted to reside only within Great Xia Civilization Academy! Without permission, none of you may step outside Great Xia Civilization Academy by so much as a single pace—otherwise... you die!
"You are forbidden from acting on your own authority. Violators shall be—slain!
"You are forbidden from prying into human secrets. Violators shall be—slain!
"Should any wish to return to their race, a joint secret order from Great Xia Prefecture and Great Xia Civilization Academy is required. Otherwise, should you be encountered outside, any human is authorized to kill you!
"..."
The general barked out a string of military commands before finally fixing his eyes on Wan Tiansheng, saying coldly, "Principal Wan, govern yourself accordingly! If any mishap occurs, not only them, but you too will be held accountable!"
Wan Tiansheng maintained a faint smile and replied slowly, "Rest assured, I know the limits. Before coming, I cautioned them repeatedly: if any race forgets its place and gets killed... they'll have thrown away their lives in vain. If they are willing to see the resources they provided go to waste, they are welcome to try."
At these words, an ox-headed humanoid expert beside him grunted something guttural: "Liwa daoli..."
Wan Tiansheng said calmly, "Speak the human tongue. This is the Human Realm; no one here will translate for you!"
The minotaur looked displeased, but quickly switched to the human language and spoke again: "General, Principal Wan promised us earlier that restrictions would apply only to us Dao Protectors, while the students would be unconstrained and could travel freely through the Human Realm. Why does the story differ now?"
The stern general's expression was icy. "That was Wan Tiansheng's promise—take it up with him! Students of the myriad races shall not leave the academy without permission; violators will be executed without mercy!"
Wan Tiansheng gave a slight cough and smiled. "I made no such promise. What I said was that under certain circumstances, students might take part in missions with the academy's permission. Do not twist my words. For instance, in purging cultists of the All-Races Sect, the non-human students can certainly participate. General, wouldn't you agree?"
The stern general stared at him, saying coldly, "Keep yourself within bounds! Principal Wan, cultural exchange between both sides is fine, but... I do not wish to see things happen that I would rather not see!"
"Of course!"
Wan Tiansheng smiled. "If real trouble were to break out, there wouldn't even be any need for you to speak. Once Prefect Xia emerges from secluded cultivation, who could escape his saber unless kings of the myriad races showed up in person?"
"Escort them to Great Xia Prefecture!"
Ignoring him, the stern general issued the command. Around them, over a thousand soldiers formed ranks around the fortress. In name, it was an escort; in reality, it was an armed convoy escorting them under guard toward Great Xia Prefecture.
Wan Tiansheng remained unbothered. Beside him, several experts of the myriad races appeared displeased, but none spoke up.
Now that they were in the Human Realm, they understood what it meant to live under someone else's roof. For the sake of the greater plan, petty indignities had to be swallowed.
Within the fortress, some non-human students poked their heads out to look at the soldiers.
Some were terrified, some defiant, some nonchalant...
Others cast fawning gazes toward the soldiers—clearly students from minor races.
Wan Tiansheng ignored them. Smiling, he turned back to the non-human experts and said, "Once you arrive at Great Xia Civilization Academy, I hope everyone abides by the rules. I bore tremendous pressure to facilitate this exchange. If anything goes awry, it will likely end in a bloodbath."
"Rest assured, Principal Wan!" A middle-aged man beside him—nearly human in appearance save for a furry tail—smiled and said, "We also hope to engage in mutual exchange with humanity, progress together, and coexist in peace. This was precisely what our Fox King instructed before we departed. We will not cause trouble for Principal Wan."
"That would be for the best."
Noncommittal, Wan Tiansheng chuckled softly. "Humanity also hopes to maintain friendly relations with all major races. The Gods and Demons are aggressive. Today their target is humanity; tomorrow, it might be all of you. Only by joining hands can we resist the invasion of the Gods and Demons."
None of them responded. The Gods and Demons were formidable—far beyond what they could afford to provoke.
Even humanity was not something they could contend with. Were it not for humanity opening its borders under the pressure of facing too many enemies, Great Xia Civilization Academy would never have opened its doors to them either.
The non-human experts fell silent and tested the suppression of their power.
Soon, smiles broke out on their faces.
Indeed, the Human Realm exerted no suppression on them!
Here, they could unleash one hundred percent of their true strength. No wonder races like the Gods and Demons had their eyes set on the Human Realm—attacking the Human Realm was far less troublesome and required far less effort than invading other realms across the myriad worlds.
Wan Tiansheng paid them no further attention and stepped back inside the fortress on his own.
The fortress continued to drift through the sky toward Great Xia Prefecture.
All around, over a thousand soldiers stood in strict readiness. In the shadows, top experts were monitoring them, watching closely. As for whether there were Invincible experts among them, even the non-human experts could not say for sure.
Chapter 63