You're in Big Trouble!

At the Wen Tan Research Center. Su Yu returned from the fragment chamber defeated. Though unwilling to accept it and feeling somewhat dejected, the pain had been all too real. Unable to endure any longer, he had had no choice but to scramble out of the fragment chamber on all fours. Still, he refused to give up just like that! After resting for a moment, Su Yu ran into the filtration chamber. ... Like the fragment chamber, the filtration chamber was divided into several zones. Su Yu entered the first zone. This time was far easier than in the fragment chamber. Ahead of him lay a massive pool where golden blood churned. It was not just a single drop of blood essence, but countless drops blended together; some of their essence had been extracted, and the leftover blood essences had mingled to form this pool. Such a mixture of blood essences was actually not well-suited for cultivation by experts. However, the ambient yuanqi drifting off it was exceptionally dense. As long as he did not venture too deep, it was rather suitable for Su Yu's cultivation. *If I activate the Yuan Absorption Art here, I won't have to worry about yuanqi at all...* The moment Su Yu entered the first zone, he made his assessment. Dense yuanqi was the first benefit; the second was that Little Blood could absorb blood essence for free. Little Blood was not picky—it could absorb any type of blood. The blood energy radiating from this vast pool of blood essence was more than enough to give Little Blood its fill. "What a waste..." Gazing at the massive pool, Su Yu still felt a twinge of regret. The blood essences were all jumbled together; otherwise, he might have been able to use them to unlock pages in the booklet. Among them, there were bound to be blood essences from races he had dreamed of. With so many kinds of blood essence, it was impossible that none matched the races from his dreams. Yet now that they were mixed together, separating them was practically impossible. Their essences had been extracted, but Su Yu felt that even without the essences, since blood essence merely served as a catalyst, it might still have been able to activate the booklet. *If the essence of Ironwing Bird blood essence were extracted, could it still aid my cultivation?* Su Yu pondered this question. If it could, without any adverse effects, then judging by the lab's operations, plenty of blood essence ended up discarded. If he could get his hands on it, could he swallow it to cultivate? Could that massive pool in front of him, brimming with blood essence, be repurposed? Su Yu fell into deep thought. For now, however, even if it were possible, he would not dare act rashly. He had just arrived at the lab and understood next to nothing. Trying something heedlessly could easily lead to trouble. More importantly, he could not even reach the inner perimeter right now. He had no way of getting close to that massive pool! All around the pool, the yuanqi was violently turbulent. Blood essence contained formidable energy, and at his current Kaiyuan Realm, simply getting close would be dangerous—he could easily be blown to bits. "First, I'll cultivate to recover, and then... back to the fragment chamber! I refuse to believe I'm really that weak!" Su Yu's stubborn streak flared up. He did not believe he was truly that useless. If others could hold out until their limit, why couldn't he? Perhaps his limit was just higher than other people's, which meant he would definitely be able to reach it! Sitting cross-legged, he began to cultivate. Time to recover yuanqi! In his sea of will, Little Blood rapidly absorbed the drifting blood aura, reveling in delight. Meanwhile, surges of newly generated willpower burst forth in his sea of will. Enduring willpower resistance was always followed by a period of growth. For ordinary people, holding out once a day was already an accomplishment. Waiting for their willpower to fully replenish took time; reading an original text of the myriad races once every two or three days was standard practice before Character Cultivation. When Bai Feng had told Su Yu to go in once a day, he had clearly just been throwing out a rough figure. Once every two or three days was far more appropriate for a student at Su Yu's stage. Su Yu did not concern himself with that. He knew willpower was difficult to recover, but he assumed that because his willpower was weak, it replenished faster. Back home, when studying original texts of the myriad races, he had always recovered very quickly, reading several original text fragments every day. The fragment recording *Arm Slash* had been worn out by him in just a few days. In the filtration chamber, Su Yu had no shortage of yuanqi, so his cultivation speed was very fast. His internal yuanqi recovered, and after tempering his acupoints for a while, Little Blood drank to its heart's content, reaching full saturation before sinking into slumber. Su Yu sensed it briefly. Little Blood was glowing vividly right now, noticeably brighter than Little Thunder beside it. It looked like it had gained quite a lot! This time, he did not swallow any blood essence to cultivate. Since it was his first visit, he kept a low profile. After cultivating for about an hour, Su Yu gritted his teeth and, with an expression of grim resolve, charged toward the fragment chamber once more! He refused to accept defeat! *I, Su Yu, have been killed thousands of times in my dreams. What kind of ordeal haven't I been through?* *What kind of danger haven't I faced?* *If I didn't reach my limit, maybe it's just that my limit is higher than average. Having died so many times, my limit should be deeper—it's not that I'm incompetent!* He refused to admit incompetence! Ever since childhood, he had never considered himself useless. In the academy, even without the Illustrated Guide to the Myriad Races, he had ranked among the very top of his class. Aside from Liu Yue, who had studied longer than him, he had mastered the most All-Races languages of any student. In Nanyuan, he had been outstanding, and here would be no exception! Su Yu charged into the fragment chamber, initiating suicide mode once more. At ten minutes, the agonizing pain flared. At fifteen minutes, tears streamed down his face again—the pain was truly unbearable! At twenty minutes, Su Yu was trembling from head to toe. In his mind, both the 'Blood' and 'Thunder' divine characters shone brightly, joining in to resist the willpower pressure! At twenty-five minutes... Su Yu held on for twenty-five minutes before scrambling out on all fours once again. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe! He had lasted longer than before. Su Yu was overjoyed. What did this mean? It meant his willpower might have been strengthened by that previous attempt; it meant he had been tougher and had endured longer than last time! Even though... he still had not reached his limit. "I can do this!" Su Yu clenched his teeth. He could definitely do this. If not today, then tomorrow; he would certainly achieve it. Just like back then, when the nightmares first struck and he could not sleep. He had been terrified to sleep, nearly working himself to death from exhaustion. Later, he had overcome it! He had gritted his teeth, endured the terror, learned to disregard death, embraced death, and withstood the agony... He had managed it as a young child. There was no reason he should be stopped by this small hurdle! This was also an opportunity to temper himself! Back in the filtration chamber, Su Yu began cultivating again, recovering his yuanqi, waiting for his willpower to replenish, and then charging into the fragment chamber once more. At this point, Su Yu gave no thought to anything else. This was a rare opportunity! To encounter such a wonderful place—if this was not an opportunity, what was? Bai Feng had been right. At this moment, Su Yu found himself agreeing with him. When Bai Feng said that others could not enter even after spending tens of thousands of merit points, Su Yu now believed it. If nothing else, these two facilities alone were worth tens of thousands of merit points! This was equivalent to an original text of the myriad races that would never wear out, and a drop of yuanqi liquid that would never run dry. Su Yu suspected that the yuanqi he consumed each time he cultivated was comparable to the effects of a drop of yuanqi liquid. As for the original texts of the myriad races, their price was even steeper. He suspected that if he used one like this, it would be worn out within ten or twenty sessions at most. That was worth dozens or even hundreds of merit points! *If I enter the filtration chamber ten times a day and the fragment chamber ten times a day, that's at least a hundred merit points earned!* Cultivating away, Su Yu calculated the values in his head. Recovering took about an hour or so, while holding out in the fragment chamber took less than half an hour—roughly two hours for a full cycle. If he could go in ten times a day, that would be twenty hours. *Four hours left for eating, drinking, and sleeping?* Su Yu exhaled. Forget it, no need to push that desperately. Going in six or seven times a day would be fine. Earning sixty or seventy merit points' worth each day was plenty good! Going too far was as bad as falling short! *That should be enough. It's not like this place is going anywhere. Two hours per cycle—that means six sessions a day, twelve hours of cultivation!* And that was only for now; in a couple of days, the academy's basic courses would begin, and he would have to attend classes. ... Su Yu settled into his cycle. Resisting willpower in the fragment chamber, recovering yuanqi, nurturing Little Blood, and replenishing willpower in the filtration chamber. The two aided each other, giving him the distinct impression that his willpower was steadily rising. Exactly how much it had risen, Su Yu did not know. Only a Tengkong Realm Civilization Master could perceive the exact willpower fullness degree. Anyone else could only roughly gauge its relative strength. For a practitioner himself, one would have to reach Character Cultivation before clearly sensing the strength of their own willpower. ... That night, Su Yu stayed right in the research center. It was Su Yu's fourth night since arriving at the academy. August 4th. Early in the morning, Bai Feng arrived. He was no longer disheveled or slovenly. Who knew where the man had gone to live it up yesterday, but he was full of energy, dressed in brand-new clothes, clean-shaven, and rosy-cheeked. Stepping into the laboratory, Bai Feng swept a glance across the ground-floor living area, and a broad smile broke out on his face. Excellent! It was cleaned up quite nicely! At long last, there was room to walk! When his teacher returned, he probably would not blow his top—even though his teacher rarely cleaned either. "Su Yu!" Sensing Su Yu's aura, Bai Feng called out. A moment later, Su Yu walked out from one of the rooms, his face pale. Bai Feng casually tossed the bag in his hand over, chuckling. "I knew you hadn't left! No one wants to leave their first time here! Have some breakfast. I just brought it from outside, tastes pretty good!" "Thank you, Teacher!" Su Yu caught the breakfast and began devouring it ravenously. He had not eaten anything since yesterday and was starving to death; he had just been getting ready to head out for food. Bai Feng smiled, and just as he was about to ask something, his expression suddenly froze. "Huh?" Bai Feng stared at the pale-faced Su Yu. Were his eyes playing tricks on him? Willpower erupted! Mid-bite, Su Yu felt a wave of willpower sweep over him. He looked up at Bai Feng, remaining silent. Bai Feng blinked and withdrew his willpower. Then, his willpower burst forth again! Su Yu felt the willpower scan him once more and shifted uncomfortably, noticing that Bai Feng's gaze... seemed very strange! What was wrong? Ignoring him, Bai Feng rubbed his chin, sank into thought for a moment, and slowly asked, "Did you go to the fragment chamber yesterday?" "Yes." "How long did you stay?" Su Yu said sheepishly, "Not very long." "How long is 'not very long'?" "Less than half an hour..." Feeling slightly embarrassed, Su Yu added, "At first, it was only twenty minutes. The later times were a bit longer, and the last time was just under half an hour..." "..." Bai Feng said nothing. At this moment, he was questioning his life choices. Had something gone wrong with the fragment chamber? Half an hour... Wait, how many times had this kid gone in yesterday? Bai Feng's heart jolted! The first time was only twenty minutes, but the later times... the later times! Just how many later times were there?! With a fullness degree of thirty percent, exhausting one's willpower in a single session should take at least a full day to recover from, right? And there had been multiple sessions after that? Half an hour! The last time, he had held out for nearly half an hour! Bai Feng's eyes flickered with shifting emotions. What was going on? This was completely unscientific! With a stern face, Bai Feng asked, "Those later times—how many times did you go in altogether?" Seeing how serious he looked, Su Yu thought he had gone in too many times and consumed too much willpower, displeasing him. He answered cautiously, "Altogether... six times!" "What?" Bai Feng's expression turned entirely grim. In a deep voice, he demanded, "Six times? Did your sea of will destabilize?" "No." "I mean violently turbulent!" Bai Feng snapped. "You went in way too many times! Don't mess around like that! If your sea of will collapses, nobody will be able to save you!" "It didn't destabilize..." Hearing his severe tone, Su Yu hastily said, "There was no turbulence, not even once..." "..." Bai Feng stared at him as if looking at a monster. At this moment, Bai Feng suddenly felt a strong urge to dissect him! Even more than he wanted to dissect the myriad-race captives in the holding cells! "You... your willpower didn't deplete?" "It did, but after going into the filtration chamber, it recovered very quickly..." Bai Feng fell into deep contemplation. After a long pause, he asked, "You have two divine characters?" "Yes." "What are their characteristics?" "Blood absorption, illusion, Thunder Strike... and it might also carry a numbing effect." Su Yu hid nothing. This was his current teacher; he had to be honest so that Bai Feng could better tailor his guidance. "Nothing else?" "Probably not?" Su Yu was not certain. Some characteristics of divine characters could not be discovered unless one actually used them, so he really did not know if there were others. "That 'Blood' divine character of yours—does it do anything else after absorbing blood?" "It seems... not?" Su Yu did not know either. Probably not, right? "Does it grant you any reciprocal energy?" Bai Feng suspected that perhaps after absorbing blood, the divine character could convert it into willpower. Otherwise, there was no explaining how Su Yu could enter the fragment chamber six times in a single day! If that was the case, then this divine character... was terrifying! It would be the absolute dream of every divine character master! It could even rival those eternally preserved divine characters! Bai Feng's throat instinctively went dry. Could it really be that? If so, Su Yu had learned that 'Blood' character from the Kaiyuan Art he himself had written. Wouldn't that mean he should write a few hundred copies himself and try to capture this 'Blood' divine character? Granted, divine characters acquired by different people—even with the exact same word—might not possess identical characteristics. But as long as there was even a one-in-ten-thousand chance, it was well worth trying! "Reciprocal energy?" Su Yu thought about it and said uncertainly, "I'm not sure. I never paid attention." "Then when your willpower recovered, did you feel it was unusually fast?" Su Yu nodded. "Quite fast." Bai Feng said no more. Sitting on the sofa, he sank into deep thought. Half an hour, six sessions, fast willpower recovery... *Damn it!* He cursed internally! Why did every stroke of good fortune have to land on this kid? Was it due to the divine character, or something else? How was this possible?! His willpower fullness degree was only thirty percent... oh, now it was thirty-five percent! That was precisely why he had been stunned the moment he arrived! He had checked yesterday; Su Yu's willpower fullness degree had clearly been thirty percent. After not seeing him for a single day, it had surged straight to thirty-five percent. It was a wonder he had not fainted on the spot. A five-percent increase in a single day was frighteningly absurd. Even if the pace would gradually taper off later, this speed still left him dumbfounded. Just how had Su Yu pulled this off? Even if he recovered quickly, holding out for so long was not normal either! Half an hour—even Character Cultivation students would struggle to endure that long. *The 'Blood' character might replenish his willpower, but enduring for so long reflects the resilience of his sea of will. Could his sea of will be inherently sturdier than an ordinary person's?* *Perhaps that's it!* *If not for that, mastering two divine characters wouldn't have been so effortless for him either.* *His sea of will was born stronger than others'!* He recalled the first time he had met Su Yu, when the boy's willpower fullness degree was only ten percent. On that very day, Su Yu had directly mastered a divine character—an almost impossible feat. Back then, he had not thought too deeply about it, assuming Su Yu simply had an extraordinary innate talent for divine characters. Looking back today, perhaps... his sea of will was naturally stronger and sturdier than normal, which had allowed him to master a divine character at that early stage. After a moment of contemplation, Bai Feng regained his composure, looked at Su Yu, and asked in a serious tone, "Among your ancestors, was there ever a powerful Civilization Master?" Su Yu looked bewildered and shook his head. "I've never heard of one." "None?" Bai Feng murmured, then continued, "I know about your father's side, but what about your mother's?" Su Yu scratched his head and said in a low voice, "My mother passed away from complications during childbirth when I was born. There are no relatives on her side, so I don't know." "Is that so?" Bai Feng hesitated, then asked, "Could there have been a powerful Civilization Master among your maternal ancestors?" If a formidable Civilization Master had existed among one's ancestors, their descendant's sea of will could naturally be born stronger—a form of bloodline inheritance. Of course, that powerful Civilization Master would have had to be above the Shanhai Realm! Only above the Shanhai Realm, where divine characters could be passed down eternally, was it possible for willpower to be inherited across generations. "I really don't know." Su Yu shook his head; he was truly in the dark. Seeing that he could get no useful answers, Bai Feng stopped probing. Glancing at Su Yu from the corner of his eye, he cleared his throat and said, "Finish eating first. I'm going upstairs to check on something. Come with me outside in a bit!" "Okay!" Su Yu did not ask what it was about and resumed eating; he was genuinely famished. ... Third floor. In the archives. Bai Feng shut the door, and the very next instant, he let out a furious roar. "Damn it!" "Holy crap!" "Is this kid like this because of that divine character?" "This makes no damn sense!" "Can a divine character born from my writing really be this badass?" "That's impossible!" "What a shame he can't manifest it! Otherwise, I'd study it—I have to study it!" "No, I need to write the Kaiyuan Art myself! I'll write a hundred copies, ten thousand copies—I have to master this divine character!" Bai Feng pounded the floor frantically, his hands swelling from the impact! It truly defied all logic! How could someone's willpower fully recover in two hours? How could someone at his stage hold out in the fragment chamber for half an hour? You had to know that back when he first entered the academy, he had only managed ten minutes on his first attempt, and that was when he was already on the verge of Character Cultivation! *Could it be... that the fragment chamber's willpower has dissipated, making it weaker than before?* Filled with disbelief, Bai Feng suddenly rushed down to the second floor. He dashed into the fragment chamber! A moment later, he walked out looking utterly dejected, muttering, "It hasn't at all! In fact, with more fragments added, the willpower pressure is even stronger!" After thinking for a moment, Bai Feng pulled out his communicator and dialed a number. "Senior Brother!" "What's wrong?" Bai Feng mumbled, "Senior Brother, tell me... if I said my willpower grew by five percent in a single day, would you believe me?" "..." On the other end of the line, Bai Feng's senior brother said with concern, "Did you take some kind of forbidden medicine? Or are you just overtired and hallucinating? Or... Bai Feng, why don't you take a break lately? Stay away from the holding cells. Could you have been bewitched by some demon?" "Senior Brother, you don't believe me?" "Bai Feng..." "I don't believe it either!" Bai Feng looked ready to cry as he talked to himself. "I didn't believe it either! But... I have no choice but to believe it!" Saying that, Bai Feng rubbed his cheeks and took a deep breath. "Senior Brother, I discovered a secret divine character! Incredibly powerful! Utterly unique! I need to outline it. Once outlined, it might become an eternal divine character! Senior Brother, I'm out of money. Lend me five thousand merit points so I can outline the divine character..." "..." A brief silence hung on the other end, followed by a furious roar: "Get lost!" *Damn it, after rambling on for so long, you were just trying to scam me out of money!* *And here I was, worried you had gotten yourself into trouble!* "It's true, Senior Brother! I really discovered—" *Beep, beep, beep!* "..." The call had been disconnected. Bai Feng groaned in anguish, "It's the truth! Why won't you believe me? I might have created an earth-shattering divine character, one that isn't inferior even to Grandmaster's divine character... Grandmaster?" The next instant, Bai Feng froze! *Could Martial Uncle... could Martial Uncle have passed... that divine character down to Su Yu?!* Bai Feng felt he needed a moment to clear his head! Was it an issue with his own divine character, or was it Grandmaster's divine character? Had Martial Uncle actually passed that divine character on to Su Yu? At this thought, his expression shifted rapidly, and he turned deadly serious! Gritting his teeth, Bai Feng dialed another number. A moment later, an unstable voice came through. "Who is it?" "It's me, Martial Uncle..." "Hm?" Liu Wenyan's voice wavered over the poor signal as he asked quizzically, "What do you want?" "Martial Uncle, uh... Su Yu has arrived. About that... that divine character inherited from Grandmaster..." "Piss off!" Liu Wenyan exploded in fury. "You've set your sights on my stuff too? Is that something you have any right to eye? Are you asking for your master to clean house? You little brat with the surname Bai, all these years, even Shanhai Realm experts have targeted me, and now you want to scheme against me too?" "Last time you visited, I knew something was off about you. Sure enough, you had your eyes on me all along!" "Let me tell you, keep dreaming!" "Just you wait! You think I can't handle you, is that it?" "I heard you lured your master away—so this was your angle all along... Fine! You're dead meat! Starting today, the Shanhai Realm masters over at the Civilization Academy will be paying you visits one by one to give you hell! Just you wait!" *Beep, beep, beep...* Bai Feng was struck dumb. What... what had he done? He had only asked a question! Wasn't he just curious? Had Martial Uncle... lost his mind? He was going to teach him a lesson? What did he mean, Shanhai Realm masters would come looking for him one by one... A chill instantly ran down Bai Feng's spine. Had he brought disaster upon himself? He tried calling back, but the call would not go through! "Holy crap!" Bai Feng cursed violently. What kind of garbage signal was this?! The call wouldn't connect! What had he even done? Wasn't he just curious about what was going on with Su Yu? Did Martial Uncle really have to react like this?! "I... I didn't send my master away for this..." Bai Feng was practically on the verge of exploding. That truly was not the case! *Martial Uncle, hear me out!* "Arghhh!" Bai Feng was going crazy. What was wrong with everyone today? Why was every single person twisting his words? His senior brother thought he was trying to scam money, and his martial uncle thought he was coveting his divine character. He... he hadn't planned on doing anything at all! ... Downstairs. Hearing the faint roars coming from the upper floor, Su Yu paused mid-chew. A flicker of worry crossed his mind as he muttered to himself, *Could it be... that I consumed too much willpower and blood essence, making Bai Feng unhappy?* He had gone in six times yesterday. Had he depleted too many resources and angered the man? Otherwise, why would he suddenly start screaming at the top of his lungs out of nowhere? Su Yu grew anxious. He wouldn't get kicked out, would he? At this moment, Su Yu was no longer thinking about running away. All he could think about was how to stay. This place was a treasure trove; he genuinely could not bear to leave! *Please don't kick me out... Worst case... I'll just go in fewer times a day!* Su Yu felt deeply unsettled, convinced that he was in grave danger of being thrown out.