Su Yu spent his first day after matriculation familiarizing himself with the campus.
The next morning.
Just as Su Yu finished washing up, a frantic pounding shook his door.
"Su Yu, open up!"
Recognizing the voice, Su Yu opened the door.
The moment it swung open, Xia Huyou rushed in with a look of utter misery and a funeral expression. "It's over!"
"Hmm?"
Su Yu frowned. What was this fellow doing?
"It's completely ruined!"
Xia Huyou wailed in grief. "It's truly over! Yesterday, the Academy Guards mobilized and swept the entire academy's black market! They arrested a whole bunch of people and seized countless merit points and resources! The ones caught are being interrogated right now, and even if they're found clean, they'll have to pay heavy fines to get out!"
"A crackdown?"
Su Yu froze for a moment, then looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Su Yu, didn't you order thirty merit points' worth of goods yesterday? The goods arrived, and I was just about to bring them to you today, but then the raid hit! So, look... could you shoulder a bit of the loss?"
After all, Su Yu hadn't paid yet!
Xia Huyou said with a tearful grimace, "Thirty merit points! Su Yu, that stuff was bought specifically for you. For the sake of us being classmates, I didn't even ask for a deposit. Now that an accident happened, look..."
Su Yu gave him a long, measured glance before replying, "Why play the victim? Do you really think I'll buy it?"
"It's the truth!"
Xia Huyou cried out in indignant sorrow. "It really got seized!"
"What a coincidence."
"It really was just that coincidental!"
Xia Huyou whined pitifully, "Every year, freshman matriculation is the golden window for black market deals. Nothing has ever gone wrong before! Who knew something would go wrong this year?
"The academy is ruthless!
"My loss is considered small compared to others... Some poor souls lost their entire fortunes!"
With that, he sighed again. "To say nothing of anyone else, that Liu Hong is probably about to burst into tears right now. His Liu family runs a fairly large black market business, and he poured a massive amount of resources into it this time... Now it's all gone in one swoop!"
Su Yu suddenly felt like laughing. The academy must have truly wiped the bottom of the barrel this time.
Those traders were probably bleeding dry from their losses!
"I'm not compensating you."
Su Yu shook his head flatly. "It has nothing to do with me. First, I don't believe you got caught, because you're standing right here.
"Second, even if you were hit, when you run a large business, running to your client to shoulder the burden over a tiny loss... means you're no longer someone worth doing business with!"
Su Yu continued, "Even if I paid you a few merit points this time, you could forget about ever doing business with me again. If you only look at immediate profits and ignore long-term ones, there's no need for us to cooperate."
Xia Huyou looked sheepish and let out an awkward laugh. "Su Yu, don't say that! It was just a joke! I took a huge hit yesterday, so my heart was just aching, you know? Your goods will arrive this afternoon—still thirty merit points. Actually, now that the black market got swept, prices should go up, but I won't raise them for you!
"I was just joking earlier, don't take it to heart!"
Su Yu couldn't be bothered to entertain him. After a moment's thought, he asked, "Did you really get hit yesterday?"
"Really!"
Xia Huyou swore to the heavens. "I was truly raided! My heart aches to death! Luckily, I only entered the academy yesterday, so my business hadn't grown big yet. If it were larger, I would've lost everything! Still, everything I earned from cleaning rooms all day yesterday went down the drain!"
Su Yu rolled his eyes. So he hadn't lost much at all.
And here he was acting like he had made a massive bulk purchase and been wiped out completely.
"Does the academy raid often?"
"No," Xia Huyou said helplessly. "I heard from others that in past years, two or three raids a year was the absolute maximum. This year has been absurd—they just did a sweep two months ago, and they actually struck again last night!"
As he spoke, he cursed under his breath, "Is the academy starving to death, so they're scrounging up some good stuff to fill their bellies?"
Su Yu didn't take the bait and asked, "Since there was a raid, can you still deliver this afternoon?"
"Of course!"
Xia Huyou said proudly, "The more dangerous it seems, the safer it is. They just raided last night, so would they raid again today? Besides, my order volume is tiny; there won't be any trouble."
"Won't they know when I transfer merit points to you?"
"As long as they don't catch us in the act!"
Xia Huyou smiled warmly. "Unless caught on the spot, there are plenty of excuses. 'I ran out of money, can't you lend me some?' or 'You owed me from before, can't you pay me back now?'"
Su Yu nodded and asked no further.
It didn't concern him anyway.
He would only pay once the goods were in his hands; otherwise, he wouldn't agree.
"Oh, right, I forgot to mention another piece of news. The academy is preparing to pilot a minor system. High-grade students can take one major and one minor."
"Hmm?"
Surprised, Su Yu asked, "A minor? What's going on?"
Xia Huyou briefly explained the details. Understanding dawned on Su Yu, and he felt a stir of interest.
"Zhao Li..."
However, Su Yu quickly shook his head. Just because he had the idea didn't mean Zhao Li would agree.
A minor, after all, was not a major.
Not dwelling on it further, he decided to see how things unfolded.
Su Yu tidied up and prepared to go eat. After breakfast, there was still plenty to do today.
Team Leader Chen Feng had already notified them last night that they had to choose their colleges today.
Over at the Preaching Area, each college would organize an exhibition performance today for the students to make their choices.
***
Half an hour later.
The grand square of the Preaching Area.
Before Su Yu even reached the square, he witnessed an astonishing scene.
An enormous avian demon beast soared through the air. Atop the giant bird, a small figure hovered, calling out loudly, "Welcome to enroll in the Beast Taming College! Fly freely even beneath the Tengkong Realm!"
While this person spoke, on the other side, another figure took to the sky—yet he wasn't in the Tengkong Realm either!
He flew through the air, looking quite young, and shockingly had a pair of wings growing from his back!
"Welcome to enroll in the Evolution College! Even without wings, we can grow our own! Qianjun cultivators can reach the clouds!"
***
Su Yu watched in awe. This was the first time he had seen Civilization Masters who modified their own bodies.
He had actually added a pair of wings to himself!
Beside him, Xia Huyou and the others watched for a moment. Soon, someone whispered, "Modifying one's own body... I really can't accept that. They look almost like students from the Myriad Races. On the battlefield, who knows if they'd be accidentally killed by our own human race?"
As they were talking, beams of golden light burst forth, scattering down upon all the students.
The next instant, a figure flew into the air, and a massive divine character materialized above his head!
It wasn't in human script. Su Yu glanced at it—it was Immortal script.
"Heal!"
"The Divine Character College awaits your enrollment! Cure ailments when sick, strengthen the body when well!"
As the words fell, Su Yu and the others felt a refreshing coolness spread throughout their bodies.
The figure in midair chuckled and said, "This is a basic auxiliary divine character. For today's recruitment, we won't display combat-type divine characters. If you're interested, you can visit the Divine Character College for more details!"
Before Su Yu and the others could react, a golden beam streaked over, and a jade pendant landed in front of them.
"The Divine Talisman College awaits your enrollment! No effort required, no preparation needed—just trigger it!"
"Classmate, give it a try and trigger it! It's very simple—just throw it toward me!"
Su Yu looked up. Not far away, an elderly man with the demeanor of a transcendent immortal smiled at him warmly.
Su Yu was a bit surprised. Me?
After a brief thought, Su Yu caught the divine talisman in his hand. The old man quickly added, "Just release a wisp of willpower..."
Su Yu nodded and hurled the divine talisman toward the old man.
Rumble!
In that split second, ten thousand sword rays materialized all around, hurtling toward the old man with a thunderous roar.
The old man laughed boisterously and crushed a divine talisman of his own. In the next instant, rings of golden radiance encircled his body.
"This is a defensive divine talisman—watch closely!"
Boom, boom, boom!
The sword rays slammed into his perimeter, but they were utterly repelled by the defensive divine talisman as bursts of golden light deflected every strike.
A moment later, calm was restored.
The old man smiled. "At the Divine Talisman College, combat is never difficult!"
Su Yu's eyes widened. Impressive!
When that golden light had erupted just now, he had felt that every single sword ray carried the striking power of a Wanshi cultivator, yet all of them had been blocked!
And it had genuinely consumed only a tiny wisp of his willpower!
Beside him, Xia Huyou whispered, "He spared no expense, and it was entirely on purpose. He knew you're a top-high student and we're high-grade, so he deliberately had us trigger it."
Su Yu was torn between tears and laughter. So there was even a scheme behind this.
No wonder the old man hadn't picked anyone else and had thrown the divine talisman right at him.
Dazzled by the displays, he realized that the various colleges were truly showing off their best tricks.
Before this showcase ended, a woman took to the skies on the other side and declared clearly, "The Willpower College needs no theatrical performance. In June of this year, sixty-two Tengkong students graduated—thirty came from the Willpower College! Consider that for yourselves!"
Su Yu subconsciously looked at Xia Huyou, who shrugged. "Normal. They have plenty of geniuses, and they usually cultivate only willpower. Their willpower grows very quickly, but they don't nurture divine characters... Their combat power is pathetic, but their Tengkong breakthrough rate is genuinely high!"
He continued, "They graduate plenty of Tengkong cultivators, but... there are barely any students from the Willpower College on the Top 100 Rankings. They are Civilization Masters in the truest sense—the embodiment of frail physical bodies. Every year, they get pulverized by the War Academy, suffering the most miserable fate year after year!"
Su Yu nodded. Naturally, advantages came with drawbacks.
Fast cultivation, no nurturing of divine characters, no pill refining, and no weapon forging—purely cultivating willpower naturally yielded a higher Tengkong breakthrough rate than other colleges.
While the other colleges made flashy displays, an old man in a corner was sweating profusely in agitation.
He cursed angrily, "You useless trash, can't you come up with something new?"
"Instructor Zhao..." Beside him, a middle-aged man smiled wryly. "How are we supposed to put on a show? Forging weapons isn't like other trades; there's no way to show off!"
Zhao Li fumed. No wonder the Forging faction was doing worse and worse!
Look at them—the other colleges were dazzling the students. Were they supposed to hammer iron right here for everyone to watch?
After a moment's thought, Zhao Li gritted his teeth. "Go, quick! Fetch weapons over here—the magnificent kind! None of the pitch-black ones; the flashier, the better! Make them fly!"
Soon, someone's eyes lit up, and they scurried off to fetch weapons.
Before long, in that corner, over a hundred glittering golden weapons danced in midair!
"The Forging College welcomes everyone! Divine characters are easy to obtain, but divine weapons are hard to come by!"
***
Not far away, Su Yu spotted Zhao Li. Seeing the hundred dancing weapons over there, he couldn't help but chuckle.
Flashy and impractical!
Of course, it was just a demonstration, but Su Yu felt at first glance that this approach wouldn't do much. Divine weapons... could simply be bought!
Just as he was thinking this, an aroma caught his nose.
In that instant, Su Yu felt slightly lightheaded.
The next moment, not far away, a massive pill furnace opened. With a thunderous boom, a shower of medicinal pills shot into the air!
"Qianjun Pills forge the flesh and temper the body! The Divine Pill College wishes all new students a smooth path of cultivation! One hundred Qianjun Pills, gifted to all of you!"
The next instant, the pills shot out in all directions.
Su Yu's heart stirred. A free gift?
Just as he reached out to catch a streaking pill, it dropped right into his hand.
He hadn't even exerted any force!
Su Yu froze for a moment, then looked around, soon feeling amused and exasperated. What a bunch of sly old foxes!
At that moment, quite a few people had caught pills just like him.
Yet when Su Yu looked closely, nearly all of them were high-grade geniuses!
Cheating!
He saw Xia Huyou holding one, and not far away, Liu Ke had one in her hand as well. That girl wore a completely bewildered expression, clearly wondering how on earth the pill had landed in her grip.
Nearly all hundred divine pills had been snatched by high-grade geniuses.
Evidently, this was rigged; an expert from the Divine Pill College was manipulating the trajectories.
Each college displayed their unique prowess.
To recruit students, they had pulled out every trick in the book.
After watching for a while, Su Yu decided not to linger.
***
A few minutes later, Su Yu arrived at the registration booth for the Divine Character College.
"Su Yu?"
A row of booths stood here, responsible for registration.
Handling the registrations were several instructors. Instructors were not researchers, but rather senior students who had not broken through to the Tengkong Realm and thus took up teaching duties at the academy.
Hearing Su Yu introduce himself, the instructor smiled. "I knew you'd come to the Divine Character College! Assistant Researcher Bai Feng already notified us. Are you going to register directly under Assistant Researcher Bai Feng now, or wait a bit to finalize your teacher?"
Before Su Yu could speak, another female instructor nearby gasped, "Xia Chan? The prodigy of the Xia family?"
"..."
Before the female instructor stood a young girl. Hearing the exclamation, she frowned slightly before quickly regaining her smile and nodding. "I am Xia Chan."
"You... you want to join the Divine Character College?"
The female instructor sounded both pleasantly surprised and caught off guard.
The Xia family's prodigy didn't necessarily have to join the Divine Character College.
The dean of the Divine Character College was Zhou Mingren, while the Xia family also had a vice head who oversaw the Willpower College. In previous years, many members of the Xia family had joined the Willpower College.
"I have already spoken with Vice Head Zhou. This time, I will become Vice Head Zhou's disciple."
Xia Chan spoke calmly, but her words set off another wave of hushed exclamations all around.
Zhou Mingren!
The First Vice Head, Dean of the Divine Character College, and a peak Shanhai Realm expert!
He was actually accepting a new student this year!
Even for a Xia family prodigy, one had to remember that prodigies appeared every year, yet a prominent figure like Zhou Mingren rarely took on students lightly.
Xia Chan paid no heed to the murmurs. Once her registration was complete, she turned and left.
Su Yu glanced in her direction, not paying it too much mind.
A prodigy... was indeed formidable.
He could sense that she was already in the Qianjun Realm!
And that was merely her physical cultivation. As for divine characters, she had undoubtedly outlined one completely, and her willpower was stronger than his.
As for how many divine characters she had outlined, that remained unknown for now.
Perhaps only one, but even with just one, divine characters differed in power; hers was likely formidable.
For a member of the Xia family, being strong was only natural.
While he was pondering, the instructor in front of him snapped out of his daze and sighed with emotion. "Who would have thought? The dean is actually accepting a student this year, and it's the Xia family's prodigy. A union of titans. I wonder if she has a chance of breaking that record set by the one from the Great Zhou Prefecture."
"The Great Zhou Prefecture?"
Su Yu paused slightly and asked, "The prodigy who reached the Tengkong Realm in half a year?"
"You know of him too?"
"I've heard people mention him."
"That's him!" The instructor sighed. "Tengkong in half a year—it's simply too fast! He wasn't old at all. It's not like there's a shortage of geniuses from prominent clans, but to achieve Tengkong in half a year, he's the only one in all these years!"
"What about Researcher Xia Yuwen?"
Su Yu asked out of curiosity. The instructor chuckled. "Xia Yuwen... he took two years."
"Two years?"
"Almost everyone from that batch took around two years—and by that, I mean those few prodigies..."
The instructor said enviously, "Two years is already exceptionally short! Of course, when they entered, almost all of them were already at the peak of Character Cultivation. Normally, graduating within five years is already considered prodigy-tier!
"Those who can graduate under the age of thirty are almost exclusively the students who were rated as prodigies upon matriculation. Among the sixteen students under thirty who graduated this year, ten were rated as prodigies when they first entered!"
With that, he shook his head again. "What a pity. Some prodigies were dazzling upon entry, only to get stuck at the Tengkong hurdle. Truly a shame!"
In the past, several prodigies enrolled every year.
Yet among those under thirty, across twelve graduating classes, there had been around thirty to forty prodigies, but only ten graduated this year. That proved some simply couldn't make the cut.
Su Yu asked no more, and the instructor prompted him again, "Are you sure about having Assistant Researcher Bai Feng as your teacher?"
Su Yu smiled. "Not for now. I haven't even seen Teacher Bai Feng yet. I'll decide after I meet him."
There wasn't a trace of Bai Feng!
Although Su Yu had already made his plans, Bai Feng's attitude... left him wavering slightly.
He hadn't even shown his face!
"Assistant Researcher Bai Feng is probably a bit busy lately..." The instructor seemed to know a little and said, "I heard he's been staying in the research institute the entire time..."
Even as he spoke, a somewhat disheveled figure appeared.
Bai Feng!
Bai Feng had scruffy stubble and heavy bags under his eyes, yawning as he walked straight toward them.
Spotting Su Yu, he smiled, nodded, and said, "Register yourself. Rest today, and report to my research institute tomorrow. I'm leaving..."
With that, he turned to leave!
Su Yu was completely stunned!
You don't have anything else to say?
And how did this guy end up like this?
Before, he had seemed refined and scholarly, but now he looked practically like a beggar!
"Teacher Bai..."
Su Yu hurried after him. Bai Feng turned back, surprised. "What's wrong? Is there something else?"
"Well..."
Su Yu didn't even know what to say!
Seeing how hurried the man looked, as if he were about to leave immediately, Su Yu stopped beating around the bush and quickly said, "Teacher Liu said that upon arriving at the academy, there would be an apprenticeship gift when taking a master—an advanced edition of the *War God Art*, a hundred drops of Wanshi Realm blood essence, and ten willpower texts. Teacher Bai, is that true?"
"..."
Bai Feng was utterly dumbfounded!
What kind of family could afford that? Whose apprenticeship looked like this?
Even if you took Wan Tiansheng as your master, he wouldn't give you treatment like this!
Su Yu scratched his head naively, looking a bit embarrassed. "I didn't know if that was true either. Earlier, Teacher Zhao Li said that if I took him as my master, he would give me a high-rank Profound civilization weapon. Is that worth much?"
"Zhao Li?"
Bai Feng subconsciously looked over. In the distance, Zhao Li spotted them as well, glaring with bristling beard and widened eyes as he looked at Su Yu, seemingly wanting to come over. However, he was held back by several people from the Forging faction, as they still had tasks to attend to.
"A high-rank Profound civilization weapon?"
Bai Feng was practically cursing in his heart!
Has Zhao Li gone mad?!
Even if you're trying to poach a student, you don't poach like this! Aren't you afraid of every researcher in the academy giving you trouble?
Who on earth gives a freshman a high-rank Profound civilization weapon upon enrollment?!
That's worth thousands of merit points!
He looked back at Su Yu, who had an honest, guileless expression, looking somewhat bashful as though feeling he shouldn't have said it.
Bai Feng froze on the spot, unable to move his feet.
What... what should I do?
Martial Uncle set me up, and Zhao Li is ruining me!
What hundred drops of Wanshi Realm blood essence? What ten willpower texts? What advanced edition of the *War God Art*? Are you sure you're not pulling my leg?
Added together, that would cost several thousand merit points!
He looked at Su Yu with a trace of suspicion. Did you make this up yourself, or is it real?
Su Yu wore a simple, honest smile. Under Bai Feng's gaze, his face flushed slightly, growing even more embarrassed as he said in a low voice, "Teacher Bai... if... if you don't have them, it doesn't matter. You... are only an assistant researcher after all, I understand. I've been at the academy for two days, and I know assistant researchers don't earn much salary..."
Bai Feng's face turned green!
What do you mean by that?
Goading me?
Looking down on me?
Su Yu added timidly, "Teacher Bai, it really doesn't matter. You taught me divine characters before, making you my enlightening teacher on the divine character path. You've already helped me immensely. If we don't have resources, we can earn them ourselves..."
Bai Feng opened his mouth and hesitated, his voice dry. "Su Yu, don't listen to Martial Uncle's nonsense. An apprenticeship... there's no rule about giving gifts to students..."
"Mm-hmm!"
Su Yu nodded, saying solemnly, "That's what I thought too! An apprenticeship should involve us students giving gifts to the teacher, so how could we let the teacher give us gifts? Teacher Liu must have remembered wrong. He even gave me a communication number and said if I went to that person to apprentice, she would definitely give me lots of gifts. I didn't have the heart to expose Teacher Liu..."
"What number?"
Bai Feng was startled. Su Yu scratched his head, looking awkward and hesitant to speak.
"Recite it for me. Don't worry, Martial Uncle and I are family. Would I harm you?"
Su Yu recited the number in a small voice, and Bai Feng's heart jolted with shock!
Holy crap!
Martial Uncle, you've gone too far!
This seems to be Wu Yuehua's number—it definitely is!
You actually told Su Yu to take Wu Yuehua as his master? We're not even from the same faction! Even though relations are relatively close, Wu Yuehua is your personal connection, not our faction's!
I'm finished!
Zhao Li alone was troublesome enough, but Wu Yuehua was the vice dean of the Divine Pill College!
The Divine Pill faction was filthy rich!
The moment Su Yu made that call, and Wu Yuehua found out that Liu Wenyan's student wanted to apprentice under her, she definitely wouldn't refuse!
What advanced *War God Art*? What hundred drops of Wanshi blood essence? To her, that was nothing!
No wonder Martial Uncle said there would be so many gifts for an apprenticeship. He wasn't talking about me—he was talking about Wu Yuehua!
*So... Martial Uncle wanted to hand this kid over to Wu Yuehua, and deliberately told him this to make him realize how broke I am and that I can't provide these things! When the kid makes that call, Wu Yuehua on the other end will definitely agree. By comparison... would he still want to be my student?*
Bai Feng instantly felt a thick wave of malice!
Malice from his martial uncle!
Martial Uncle hadn't wanted to tell Su Yu outright, so he went around in circles to tell Su Yu that Bai Feng wasn't worthy of being his teacher!
Bai Feng's throat felt dry. I really don't have money.
I'm poor!
I can't produce these things!
The next moment, a figure flashed across his mind: Liu Hong!
*Old Liu, do you have money?*
*Several thousand merit points... Are you still willing to put on a double act with me?*
*This student of mine hasn't even entered my door yet, but his appetite is already terrifyingly huge. I'm helpless here too!*
Chapter 79