I Have Money, and I'm Strong!

Su Yu panted for breath. With the City Guard helmet obscuring his face, no one recognized him. Sensing a gaze directed at him, Su Yu looked up and saw the old man. He quickly scrambled to his feet and bowed slightly in respect. A powerhouse! A true powerhouse! The All-Races Sect expert who had battered Xia Bing into pure defense and left him heavily wounded had been struck dead from afar in a single blow. He had to be at least in the Lingyun Realm! Of course, he might be at the peak of the Tengkong Realm; Su Yu couldn't tell for certain, as he had never seen an expert of that caliber fight before. Moreover, across a distance of several hundred meters, bursts of golden light had erupted and simultaneously killed dozens of All-Races Sect cultists. That was something a warrior of the same realm likely couldn't pull off. He was almost certainly a Civilization Master. Seeing Su Yu looking over, the old man smiled and gave a slight nod. He then turned his gaze away from Su Yu toward the other students, some of whom were weeping bitterly. The old man watched for a moment before speaking. His voice was not loud, yet it resonated in all directions: "This is something you were bound to experience sooner or later!" "Though it came a bit early, now that you have embarked on the path to the higher academies, this is something you are certain to experience—and the reality may become even crueler!" "Classmates, instructors, comrades-in-arms, friends, lovers... One day, any of them might fall before your very eyes!" The old man continued slowly, "The path of the strong is lonely, and it is sorrowful!" "If you cannot bear it, then give up." "From now on, death will follow at your side. Going to the All-Heavens Battlefield brings death; carrying out missions brings death; cultivating brings death. From weakness to strength, step by step, death will constantly accompany you..." "Today was merely an appetizer." The old man said softly, "Crying is useless, and cowardice is just as useless! If you want to give up, you can do so right now. If you don't want to give up, then toughen up!" Over by the vehicles, Xia Bing was clearing the battlefield. At this moment, the wounds on his body were still bleeding steadily. When the old man finished, Xia Bing looked up at the crowd and said in a frigid voice, "The moment you stepped out of Nanyuan, you became soldiers! Don't claim you weren't given time to prepare or adapt! Your five years in the intermediate academy were your adaptation period!" "This journey to the Great Xia Prefecture is your practical training course!" "To obey orders without question—did your academy never teach you that?" "You were ordered to hold your ground. Why did you disobey?" "If you're this terrified, this frightened, then don't leave Nanyuan! Go live out your days in Nanyuan! Why bother stepping onto the path of cultivation?" "Did you think going to the Great Xia Prefecture meant living in comfort? Did you think you were going there to pick up free money and grab resources for nothing?" Xia Bing said coldly, "Those who fail to adapt will be eliminated! Cowards do not deserve to be nurtured! Countless soldiers on the front lines receive fewer resources than you. You have talent? What the hell does talent count for!" "Having talent without character, perseverance, or courage still won't make you strong! Wasting resources on you would be worse than sending them to the front lines for soldiers who actually need them!" "In the rear, you receive twice the rewards for the same tasks as those on the front lines. On what grounds? Because you have talent, because you carry the hope of becoming powerhouses! But if you throw away that hope... I'm sorry, but nowhere keeps freeloaders!" Xia Bing's words were blunt and cut straight to the quick. Pointing at the fallen remains of several City Guards on the ground, he roared, "If some of you hadn't disobeyed orders, sprinting around blindly and throwing the formation into chaos, these comrades wouldn't have died here!" "Their lives were thrown away by you!" "They were human beings too, and they were young! Why should they sell their lives for you? Because they are soldiers! They know what duty means—do you?" Quiet sobs rose from the crowd. Several students who had bolted earlier and disrupted the formation broke down in agonizing tears. They had survived, but only because others had traded their lives to save them. The City Guards and Longwu Guards silently cleared the battlefield. No one spoke. The atmosphere turned freezing cold. This was the first lesson taught to these higher academy students—a practical lesson in the truest sense. Today, they had the City Guards and Longwu Guards risking their lives to protect them, but such protection wouldn't always be there. Students who couldn't stomach this would be better off not going to the academy at all. Just as the chill in the air grew heavy, a loud wail suddenly cut through the crowd! "Yu, where are you?!" "Yu... sob... it's over..." It was Chen Hao's voice. The guy had been searching for Su Yu just now without finding any trace of him. Looking at the corpses strewn across the ground, Chen Hao had panicked. Was he dead? Xia Bing, who had intended to use the moment to hammer some discipline into the students, twitched violently at the interruption. That damned brat! Over by the truck, Su Yu seized the opportunity to slip out of the uniform. Stepping out from behind the vehicle, he hissed, "Shut up!" Seeing Su Yu, Chen Hao breathed a massive sigh of relief and hurried over. Then, his eyes widened, and he whispered, "Yu, why are you so scared that you're soaked? Did you wet your pants?" Su Yu was drenched in liquid—sweat, in reality—which had completely soaked through his clothes. His face was pale, and beads of sweat were still dripping from his forehead. Hearing Chen Hao's remark, Su Yu felt like beating him to death. Glaring at him, Su Yu snapped under his breath, "Shut your mouth. If you don't know how to talk, say less!" Chen Hao looked a bit sheepish, then whispered again, "Did you kill someone?" Last time, he had followed Su Yu and helped take down two Qianjun Realm cultists. Seeing that Su Yu was only emerging now, he figured Su Yu definitely hadn't been hiding; he had probably killed more All-Races Sect cultists just now. Su Yu had guts! With that in mind, he glanced at Su Yu's saber. Sure enough, he saw blood that hadn't been wiped clean yet. His eyes lit up, and he grumbled somewhat, "You should've called me along earlier. I could've helped you lure people over..." "Get lost!" Su Yu couldn't be bothered with him. There had been enemies everywhere just now; what would he need anyone to lure? If this fool had lured dozens of them over at once, Su Yu wouldn't even have a place to cry. As the two spoke, the old man spoke up, "Quickly clear the battlefield. Transport the remains of the fallen soldiers and students to Tianshui City, and Tianshui City will escort them back to Nanyuan!" "We need to hurry to Tianshui City to rendezvous with their forces. Be on guard against the All-Races Sect making a return!" Hearing this, Xia Bing barked, "Students, board the trucks! Abandon damaged vehicles. Longwu Guards will proceed on foot, and City Guards will follow!" "Yes, sir!" The soldiers acknowledged the order and cleared out several trucks to make room for the students whose vehicles had been disabled. Some students felt embarrassed and tried to decline, but Xia Bing barked coldly, "On the battlefield, military orders are absolute! If you have that kind of consideration, go kill more enemies in the future instead of acting sentimental right now! If we let a bunch of Kaiyuan cultivators walk, can you even keep up? You'd only drag everyone down!" "When you're truly on a battlefield, don't harbor delusions of helping powerhouses slay enemies. Fulfilling your own duties is the greatest contribution you can make to them!" "If you are told to withdraw, withdraw! Do whatever you are told, and don't indulge your own temper!" "Don't put on some tragic melodrama on the battlefield! If your lover dies, withdraw immediately and figure out how to take revenge, instead of standing there like an idiot waiting to get killed and adding another corpse to the pile!" Xia Bing's tone was icy as he barked, "You genius students might have good talent, but on an actual battlefield, plenty of soldiers die every year because of your willful arrogance!" "Some are untamable, some act recklessly, and some are full of self-importance. Behaving however you please on the battlefield often forces the military to rescue you. In the end, over a thousand soldiers die or are wounded every year because of so-called geniuses!" "People like you ought to suffer a bit more!" "Decurion Xia..." Over to the side, the old man gave a light cough. That was enough; any more scolding and these students would be thoroughly crushed. Xia Bing didn't care and continued directing the convoy forward. *** A short while later, the convoy resumed its journey. They didn't conduct a sweep of the area; the Tianshui City Guards would handle that shortly. Their mission was to protect the students, not exterminate the All-Races Sect. With the old man guarding them, the remainder of the journey was bound to be safe. Near the rear of the convoy. Xia Bing and his men marched on foot. The trucks moved slowly, allowing them to keep pace. The old man walked among the group as well. Keeping up with them, he asked in a low voice, "Was that Su Yu earlier?" "Yes." "Has the battle report been compiled?" Xia Bing glanced at him and said flatly, "Does a military battle report need to be submitted to you?" "Xia Bing, I'm just asking. I didn't want what happened earlier to take place either," the old man said helplessly. "Our mission was to monitor for large-scale movements from the All-Races Sect. They didn't have many men, their strength wasn't high, and they created chaos to confuse the situation..." Xia Bing said in a heavy voice, "I have no authority to blame you! The ambush also had to do with my own oversight. But since two guards were assigned, why did the other one stray so far? Tianshui City wasn't devoid of defensive forces. That was dereliction of duty!" "I will report this up the chain. That person must bear responsibility! If they abandoned their post during wartime because of relatives in Tianshui City, I'd like to see how your Civilization Academy explains it!" The old man felt a headache coming on, utterly helpless. Xia Bing had hit the nail on the head! That colleague of his... really did have ties to Tianshui City. A grandnephew of his was in Tianshui City's convoy, so upon hearing that there was trouble there, he had rushed over immediately. This time, the trouble wouldn't be small. The old man could only feel some sympathy for him, as it had little to do with himself. He pressed on, "He will shoulder the responsibility himself; no need for your reminders. Tell me about Su Yu. You must know that with one more person looking out for him, he'll have one more opportunity, won't he?" Xia Bing was silent for a moment before speaking, "I asked around. Roughly twenty enemies were slain after falling into confusion; the exact number can't be confirmed right now. As for the ones he killed personally, I examined the corpses. It should be four." There was merit in killing enemies, and while soldiers wouldn't forfeit their achievements, they wouldn't falsely claim them either. Four kills had gone unclaimed. Xia Bing had gone to inspect the bodies; they had likely been killed by Su Yu, as they bore traces of lightning aura consistent with the Thunder Yuan Saber. "Slain four... disrupted twenty." The old man murmured, "He is only at the ninth stage of the Kaiyuan Realm. Even with the aid of divine character disruption, being able to personally kill four enemies still exceeds my expectations! I've read his dossier; he shouldn't be this strong..." Xia Bing hesitated. He had actually noticed a few clues. Su Yu's explosive power exceeded the Kaiyuan Realm! Killing four opponents had been crisp and decisive! That wasn't something an ordinary Kaiyuan cultivator could achieve! After a moment's hesitation, however, he chose not to speak of it. That might be Su Yu's trump card, and there was no need to expose someone else's hidden strength. Having an extra layer of protection was always a good thing. Who could say for certain that the old man before him wasn't an enemy? "The divine characters he outlined are 'Blood' and 'Thunder.' Is that illusion disruption a special trait of the 'Blood' character, or the 'Thunder' character?" Xia Bing frowned. "How would I know? I'm not a Civilization Master." "Two divine characters..." The old man didn't mind the brush-off and muttered, "Illusion disruption isn't a particularly rare trait; many divine characters possess it. But being able to unleash it repeatedly at the Kaiyuan stage, before his willpower has even reached the Character Cultivation stage, means the character consumes very little willpower..." "At this stage, that divine character is exceedingly strong!" That was all the old man could say. As for whether it would still be strong at the Tengkong Realm or higher, that was hard to tell. At the very least, right now, Su Yu's divine character was formidable. Against those Qianjun Realm cultivators, when disrupted in battle, they had virtually no way to dispel it. Once facing Wanshi or Tengkong cultivators, Su Yu's disruption power probably wouldn't be as effective. Moreover, such a trick only worked well against opponents who were caught off guard. Once an adversary knew about the trait, its effectiveness would drop drastically. "His cultivation is modest, yet he has outlined two divine characters..." The old man sank into thought, then asked abruptly, "Is he Liu Wenyan's student?" Xia Bing nodded. "Then it makes sense. Back in the day, Liu Wenyan specialized exclusively in the path of divine characters. He was a genius divine character master among that lineage..." Xia Bing looked doubtful. "Instructor Liu wasn't a Civilization Master back then." The title of divine character master wasn't thrown around lightly. Liu Wenyan had only broken through to the Tengkong Realm recently; decades ago, he could hardly have been called a genius divine character master. The old man smiled. "You don't understand. That fellow... sigh!" Letting out a soft sigh, the old man murmured, "You know he has a junior brother, right?" "Yes, Master Hong Tan." "Since you know Master Hong is his junior brother, aren't you curious why he ended up reduced to this state?" Xia Bing said gruffly, "Not interested. Knowing too much does no good!" "You people!" The old man chuckled. "You Longwu Guards are like iron blocks! It's true Liu Wenyan never achieved Manifestation back then, but many years ago, he had already reached Character Cultivation—the peak of it, in fact. Fifty years ago, he had outlined over twenty divine characters. Back then, he was the young expert of the divine character master faction with the greatest hope of advancing beyond the Shanhai Realm!" Xia Bing pricked up his ears to listen. Suddenly, the old man went quiet! Xia Bing remained taciturn and didn't prompt him. In the end, it was the old man who couldn't hold it in, chuckling, "Not curious?" "If you want to talk, talk!" "Liu Wenyan actually had quite a background. He was a disciple of the previous headmaster... Fifty years ago, when the headmaster fell, he passed down a divine character before departing..." "Silence!" Xia Bing snapped in a low voice, cutting him off. "I've heard of this matter, so say no more! If you go on, I'm afraid I'll invite trouble upon myself!" He had begun to piece things together vaguely. Yet he refused to ask further. Fifty years ago, the Great Xia Civilization Academy had nearly imploded from internal strife, which ultimately ended with Wan Tiansheng expelling a whole group of people. And every one of them had been a genius. Many were connected to the fifth-generation headmaster! That event was widely viewed as Wan Tiansheng purging the Civilization Academy to erase the marks left by the fifth headmaster. Xia Bing had originally assumed Liu Wenyan was merely one of that crowd. He hadn't realized he had been one of the core figures—a disciple of the previous headmaster. He truly hadn't known about that. As for whose student Hong Tan had been, nobody asked about it nowadays, and no one publicized it; almost no one knew. Only now did he learn that both Hong Tan and Liu Wenyan had been students of the fifth-generation headmaster. In that case, Liu Wenyan's expulsion and the fact that he hadn't achieved Manifestation until recently likely involved high-level struggles among Civilization Masters, possibly even tying back to figures of Wan Tiansheng's level. That was not something Xia Bing could afford to meddle in. "Headmaster Wan... Instructor Liu... Researcher Hong..." Xia Bing turned his gaze toward one of the trucks ahead. Su Yu was Liu Wenyan's student—would he be implicated? Wan Tiansheng had expelled Liu Wenyan back then. If Su Yu lacked talent, it might not matter, but his talent happened to be extraordinarily strong. Would he be affected? The old man was looking at the truck as well. He smiled and said, "Don't worry, nothing should happen to him! Headmaster Wan had no choice back then either; had he not acted, a catastrophe might have struck the Civilization Academy. Many years have passed since then. Otherwise, how could Bai Feng and his peers be thriving in the academy?" Xia Bing didn't take the bait, asking instead, "You're asking about Su Yu—do you intend to step in?" "I'm assessing the situation. Bai Feng has been having a rough time lately, and his attention isn't focused on mentoring. Seeing that this Su Yu has good talent, I'd hate to see him held back." The old man narrowed his eyes and smiled. "I am an intermediate researcher, after all. Aren't I far more dependable than Bai Feng?" Xia Bing had no desire to get involved and said casually, "That's none of my business. My mission is to escort them safely to the Civilization Academy!" The old man nodded, chuckled, and said, "Then might I trouble Decurion Xia to arrange an opportunity for us to speak?" "Once we reach Tianshui City, do as you please. Not right now!" Xia Bing wasn't overly deferential. An intermediate researcher was, at the very least, in the Lingyun Realm. A Tengkong cultivator could become an assistant researcher and had hope of being promoted to a junior researcher. However, intermediate researchers were generally held by those in the Lingyun Realm, and in rare cases, even some in the Shanhai Realm might serve as intermediate researchers. This old man was at least in the Lingyun Realm. *** More than half an hour later. They arrived at Tianshui City. The convoy did not enter the city itself, stopping instead to rest and regroup at a reception station outside the walls. Representatives from Tianshui City came out to coordinate the handover with Xia Bing. Being ambushed by the All-Races Sect was a major incident, and Tianshui City took it very seriously—especially since it had occurred within their jurisdiction, and trouble had also broken out near Yuanshui Village. Tianshui City had already dispatched City Guards to scour the area. *** None of this concerned Su Yu and the others. Due to the attack, they were lodged at the reception station. They would not travel further today, taking the night to rest and recover before setting out again tomorrow. Inside the room. Su Yu let out a breath of relief. Tianshui City had arranged things well, assigning two people per room, and he was placed together with Chen Hao. Though today's sudden ambush had made Su Yu nervous, it had also brought a sense of relief. Hanging in suspense had been far more stressful. Now that it had happened and they had come through safely, he felt much more at ease. As he was wiping the sweat off his body, a knock sounded at the door. Decurion Ma of the City Guards stood outside with his arm in a sling, a cut on his cheek still oozing blood. As soon as Chen Hao opened the door, Decurion Ma laughed heartily and said, "Su Yu, good brother! Things were too hectic earlier, so I didn't get a chance to thank you. Come on out and let's chat!" Su Yu walked out of the washroom. Seeing Decurion Ma, he asked with concern, "Brother Ma, are you alright?" "A minor scrape!" Decurion Ma waved it off casually. Then, recalling something, he turned his head and said, "This is an esteemed Civilization Master from the Great Xia Prefecture. He has something to discuss with you later, but let's have our chat first." With that, he gestured for Su Yu to sit and said earnestly, "We had already heard about your meritorious service back at the Wind Arrest Hall, but I never expected to witness it with my own eyes today! I was a little skeptical before, but now I admire you from the bottom of my heart!" "If not for you, brother, at least a dozen more of our men would have died today!" "Civilization Masters really are formidable; a Kaiyuan cultivator is more useful than a Wanshi..." Behind him, the old man wore a pleased smile. He loved hearing people praise Civilization Masters as superior to warriors, especially when coming from the mouth of a warrior himself. "I told the centurion long ago that ambushes are useless! If we meet them head-on, would the All-Races Sect even dare to fight us? If not for your help today, brother, relying on those ambushing forces... who knows how many more men we would've lost!" The old man's smile froze slightly. These Nanyuan folk... really didn't know how to speak tactfully. To think that he, a dignified intermediate researcher, was constantly being jabbed at out here. Decurion Ma had only made an offhand comment and quickly laughed. "Let's not dwell on that. Generals inevitably fall in battle; when you eat this bowl of rice, casualties are unavoidable! I came here on a mission—to record your merits!" "Su Yu, hear the command!" "Present!" Su Yu quickly stood straight. Decurion Ma assumed a serious tone: "I ask, you answer!" "Yes, sir!" "Did you personally execute four All-Races Sect bandits today?" "Yes!" "Did you utilize a divine character to disrupt multiple All-Races Sect cultists?" "Yes!" "The tally is recorded as seven instances; is that correct? And the total number of individuals disrupted is twenty-one; is that accurate?" Su Yu considered for a moment before answering, "It should be eight instances, totaling twenty-three people..." Su Yu briefly described the circumstances of each disruption. Decurion Ma recorded it using his uninjured right hand and said, "I'll report the eighth instance. At present, only seven have been officially confirmed." With the routine questioning concluded, Decurion Ma dropped his stern demeanor and laughed heartily. "Splendid work! If all Civilization Masters were like you, there'd be nothing left for us to do!" "I merely created disruptions; the real credit for slaying the enemies belongs to the soldiers..." "Don't worry, credit will go to whoever earned it!" Decurion Ma finished speaking and turned to leave. Unable to hold back any longer, Su Yu asked in a low voice, "Brother Ma, does this count as meritorious service?" "Of course!" "Then... roughly how many merit points can I receive?" Decurion Ma paused, scratching his head. "That will be tallied up later and relayed to you. But if you're in a hurry... I can have someone expedite the processing for you. Makes sense, since you're heading to the academy soon." With that, he chuckled and said, "It won't be meager. Disrupting over twenty enemies—even though you didn't slay them personally—should net you about one merit point per person. Since this happened during wartime, the merit rewards are higher. That's over twenty points right there. Add to that the four you personally killed—three at the middle stages and one at the seventh stage of Qianjun—which comes to nine merit points!" "This will also count as assisting in mission completion. Given the critical situation at the time, there will be additional bonuses, including a share of the captured spoils... though that's minimal, since they were a bunch of paupers. All told, you should receive close to forty merit points." Su Yu was thrilled inwardly. It was totally worth it! He had consumed two drops of blood essence today and had only one drop remaining, which had been worrying him. Now, things had turned around completely—he had earned so much in one go. The military handed out merits generously in wartime, giving an entire point just for disrupting an enemy, something virtually impossible under normal circumstances. "Then... roughly when will they be distributed?" "Very soon. Once we submit the report here in Tianshui City, you'll be able to claim them directly from the Great Xia Civilization Academy upon your arrival." Su Yu breathed a sigh of relief. That was great. He was penniless at the moment and had been worrying about his finances; now he no longer needed to fret about food or lodging. Finishing his explanation, Decurion Ma smiled. "Have a chat with this Civilization Master. I'll take my leave. Rest early; we have to get up early for the road tomorrow!" "Understood. Thank you, Brother Ma!" Su Yu thanked him and saw Decurion Ma out. Only then did he turn to the old man, bowing respectfully. "Please forgive my earlier neglect, my lord." "Don't call me 'my lord.' You can call me instructor, teacher, or senior..." The old man was very polite, though he felt a bit awkward—not because of Su Yu, but because of... Chen Hao! That foolish boy was staring at him dumbly without blinking. What did he mean by that? Chen Hao kept his eyes fixed on him, his gaze peculiar, filled with excitement and thrill. He had seen this man kill enemies today—so overwhelmingly strong, so crisp and clean. He admired powerhouses above all else, and with such a figure standing right before him, how could he not stare? He was practically trying to burn a hole through the old man with his gaze! The old man felt mentally exhausted. If this foolish brat were at the Civilization Academy and dared stare at him like that, he would have tossed him into solitary confinement on the spot! Here, however, he had no pretext to do so. Su Yu was the one who noticed the awkwardness. He gave a light cough and barked, "Hao, go wait in the washroom!" "Huh?" "Get in there!" "Fine..." Chen Hao was reluctant. He had wanted to stay and listen, but unfortunately, he was being chased away. "Senior, he's simple-minded by nature. Please don't take offense." "It's fine." The old man smiled. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am from the Great Xia Civilization Academy, an intermediate researcher named Zhao Li, at the seventh stage of the Lingyun Realm. If I manage to break through to the Shanhai Realm in a few years, I will become a senior researcher, just like Bai Feng's teacher..." Su Yu was astonished inwardly. A Civilization Master at the seventh stage of the Lingyun Realm! That was even stronger than he had imagined! "Over the years, I've taught quite a few students, though I haven't taken on any new ones for the past several years. My most outstanding student from those years has recently entered the Lingyun Realm and serves as a junior researcher in the academy." Zhao Li smiled and said, "Today, you used divine characters to disrupt adversaries and personally executed enemies. Truth be told, I admire that very much! With your talent and decisive nature, senior researchers will certainly be willing to take you in once you arrive at the Civilization Academy... But to be frank with you, senior researchers are elusive figures who rarely spend time in the academy throughout the year." "Having your name registered under them is mostly nominal; in reality, you still have to rely on yourself." "Assistant researchers and junior researchers are too weak, while among intermediate researchers, few are like me and currently without students. You must understand that an instructor teaching dozens of students is entirely different from one devoting all their attention to just one!" "Your cultivation in the warrior path is not weak. To be blunt, I do not specialize in the path of divine characters; my expertise lies in the path of weaponry, and I am renowned for forging divine armaments. You saw today—when I killed that sixth-stage Tengkong expert, I used the Hundred Swords Casket, which I forged myself." As he spoke, a pale-gold casket suddenly appeared in his hands. "This is the Hundred Swords Casket, a peak Profound-rank civilization weapon! Weapons are divided into civilization weapons and martial weapons. Martial weapons are relatively easy to forge, but civilization weapons are exceedingly difficult. In the entire Great Xia Prefecture, no more than five Civilization Masters can forge a peak Profound-rank civilization weapon!" Zhao Li said earnestly, "If you follow me, you will never lack weapons, nor will you lack willpower texts. Plenty of people are eager to trade willpower texts for my weapons! Moreover, a forgemaster has certain requirements regarding the warrior path, making it far more suited for someone like you who walks both paths." Su Yu felt somewhat overwhelmed by the favor. "Senior, this... I..." "Think it over carefully; there's no rush." Zhao Li smiled. "As for Bai Feng, there's no need to pay him too much heed. He's just a teaching assistant—would he dare pick a fight with me?" Su Yu smiled awkwardly, not responding. He glanced curiously at the pale-gold sword casket in the old man's hands. Seeing this, Zhao Li smiled and said, "A peak Profound-rank civilization weapon is worth five times as much as a martial weapon! A peak Profound-rank martial weapon is worth over three hundred merit points, with superior ones costing even more. But a civilization weapon—take this Hundred Swords Casket, for example—is worth over two thousand merit points!" Su Yu's eyes nearly turned green. That expensive?! Two thousand points... what kind of concept was that? "And that's just Profound rank. Earth-rank civilization weapons start at five thousand points! While I can't guarantee a hundred percent success rate yet, I do have a record of successfully forging one. In the entire Great Xia Prefecture, only one Civilization Master can forge Earth-rank civilization weapons!" Su Yu looked at Zhao Li in astonishment. The greatest forging master in the Great Xia Prefecture? Zhao Li smiled without confirming it. Only one person... ahem, well, it wasn't him. He had merely forged one by fluke once; that didn't truly make him an Earth-rank forgemaster. Luck was the least reliable thing of all. Still, he hadn't claimed it was himself! From the kid's conversation with Decurion Ma earlier, it was obvious—this boy was strapped for cash! Quite normal; coming from Nanyuan, it would be strange if he weren't short on money. Zhao Li chuckled again. "Forging an Earth-rank civilization weapon yields several thousand merit points per piece. How many points do you get for killing a Tengkong cultivator? How many for a Lingyun cultivator? Killing ten Lingyun cultivators might barely buy you a single Earth-rank civilization weapon..." Zhao Li sighed with emotion, then smiled. "Well, I'll be taking my leave. In the domain of Civilization Masters, divine character masters may not necessarily beat forgemasters. Besides, we have money! We're wealthy, and we're powerful! Even if Bai Feng's teacher were here, I wouldn't flinch, let alone against Bai Feng. Don't worry about him!" Su Yu gave a dry laugh and saw Zhao Li off. Once the old man was gone, Su Yu couldn't help but chuckle. Zhao Li had been bragging! When mentioning Bai Feng's teacher at the end, his confidence had clearly wavered, and his voice had sounded unnatural. "Forgemaster... civilization weapons, martial weapons..." Su Yu muttered to himself, feeling that his horizons had been broadened. He truly hadn't known about this before. And they were so expensive... He had felt deeply tempted hearing about it, and suddenly felt that the merit points he was being rewarded today were hardly worth mentioning. Just look at that—an item casually pulled out was worth thousands of merits! Outside, Zhao Li let out a quiet sigh of relief. What a joke—casually pulled out? That was his prized treasure! The Earth-rank civilization weapon he had crafted hadn't even been fully completed and was unusable. Forging that Hundred Swords Casket had nearly cleaned out his life savings, and combined with that Earth-rank weapon, he was dead broke right now! Naturally, if he weren't broke, why would he have taken on this minor mission? Wasn't it just to earn a few merit points?!