Second Page of the Booklet

Stepping through the door felt like traversing time and space. A blur flashed across Su Yu's vision, and the next moment, he appeared in an open expanse. Vast, quiet, and empty. There was nothing at all! No, just ahead stood a dilapidated sign that read: "Qianjun Area." All around, an open space seemed to have been artificially cordoned off. This was the Qianjun Area. Whatever was beneath his feet was not soil, but some spongy, yielding material. Two other people were nearby—the students who had entered alongside him. The moment they arrived, they prepared to cultivate. Seeing Su Yu looking around in bewilderment, an ordinary-looking young man smiled and said, "Su Yu, stop staring and get cultivating! The Yuanqi Secret Realm is like this. There's nothing to see. It's just a small pocket dimension formed by a divine character that gathers yuanqi." Su Yu was already gauging the concentration of yuanqi. At this moment, even without actively cultivating, he could feel vast amounts of yuanqi pouring into his body. His opened apertures instinctively absorbed the energy. Gradually, he felt them nearing saturation. In other words, even if he did not actively cultivate, after a certain amount of time, the pressure would build until he was squeezed out. No wonder Bai Feng and the others judged how much yuanqi someone absorbed by how long they could stay inside. "It's so bare-bones..." Su Yu muttered under his breath, shattering his illusions. He had imagined this secret realm would be profoundly mysterious and wondrous, but it turned out to be just a tiny pocket dimension! Well, walking further out probably led to other areas, though those were off-limits to him. It really was utterly spartan! Seeing the other two already cultivating, Su Yu felt awkward asking more questions. He sat down cross-legged, thought better of it, and stood up to jog a bit farther away to avoid disturbing anyone—or being disturbed himself. *** Wasting no more time, Su Yu sat cross-legged and began circulating the War God Art, linking his apertures together. Inside his body, lines began connecting the points of light. Apertures were nodes; linking them formed pathways, which ultimately formed a closed circuit. Uniting every usable aperture into a coherent whole was the purpose of different cultivation arts. Su Yu had actually opened twenty-two apertures, but one belonged solely to the Thunder Yuan Saber and was useless within the system of the War God Art. One node, two nodes, three nodes... The twenty-one points of light gradually linked together. The process was swift! In less than ten minutes, the twenty-one points formed a unified circuit. A loud rumble echoed from deep inside his body—the resonance of those apertures, a sound only he could hear. The dense surrounding yuanqi rapidly converged toward him! Nearby, the other two opened their eyes. Seeing how quickly Su Yu had linked his apertures, both felt a twinge of envy. Impressive! Unlike Su Yu, both of them cultivated only the standard version of the War God Art. The advanced version was widely practiced in the War Academy, but far less common in the Civilization Academy. Even some high-tier students occasionally settled for the standard version, which required opening only eight apertures. These two were not new students; they were second-years who had enrolled the previous year. Both had reached the Character Nurturing stage, though their physical bodies had only entered the Qianjun Realm this year. Among their cohort, that was considered quite good—well within the ranks of the exceptional. Yet seeing Su Yu break into the Qianjun Realm so quickly, and judging by the sheer volume of yuanqi gathering around him, he was almost certainly practicing the advanced War God Art. A flicker of envy sparked within both of them. Fortunately, Civilization Masters primarily cultivated willpower. While they felt envious, it had not reached the point of jealousy. For now, they did not place much stock in physical cultivation. *** Within ten minutes, Su Yu connected all the apertures. As the apertures formed a circuit, vast amounts of yuanqi surged into his body and were absorbed. Su Yu could clearly feel that the capacity of yuanqi within him had expanded. Not only that, but his physical body was growing stronger! The yuanqi was being refined! His vital blood surged, his meridians were washed clean by yuanqi, and his bones hummed with vibrations. This was a process of metamorphosis! The transition from Kaiyuan to Qianjun was the true metamorphosis that granted a warrior formidable combat strength. *Teacher said that after breaking through, I should keep opening apertures until reaching my limit, and only then consume the blood essence. Let's see how many more I can open!* At that thought, Su Yu dared not delay and immediately began circulating the second tier of the War God Art. Vast amounts of yuanqi poured into him! Su Yu estimated that in five minutes at most, he had absorbed roughly the equivalent of one drop of yuanqi liquid. *In one hour, I can absorb twelve drops, worth sixty merit points!* *Three hours would be a hundred and eighty merit points. Plus, the yuanqi here feels much easier to absorb...* *No wonder everyone wants to cultivate in this secret realm!* He had inquired earlier and learned that even without a pass granted by the academy, one could cultivate here. For those in the Qianjun Realm, it cost one hundred merit points, provided one's accumulated merit points met the threshold. In other words, if you couldn't absorb at least twenty drops' worth of yuanqi liquid inside, you were losing out and shouldn't bother coming. Only if you could absorb twenty drops or more was it worth the trip. *My pass is different, though. This complimentary pass could be used all the way up to the Tengkong Realm, where the cost is even higher. If I don't absorb at least fifty drops, I'll feel cheated...* Su Yu ran his petty calculations! Fifty drops would take about four hours, right? Of course, his absorption rate might speed up or slow down later. Either way, he resolved that until he absorbed fifty drops' worth, he wouldn't leave even if it killed him! Without consuming any blood essence, Su Yu circulated the second tier of the War God Art. His opened apertures lit up one by one, and the circuits formed by them swiftly drew in the yuanqi to temper a new aperture! Three minutes, five minutes... Ten minutes later, the first aperture of the second tier burst open! The moment it opened, his rate of swallowing and exhaling yuanqi accelerated even further! "So fast!" Su Yu was astonished. To open an aperture in such a short time here was astonishingly fast. No wonder everyone wanted to come. This felt incredible! "Keep going!" Su Yu dared not waste a single breath. Every lost second was money slipping away. Another dozen or so minutes later, a rumble sounded as the second aperture opened. Su Yu was completely stunned! Could it really be this fast? This was equivalent to four days of work outside! This... this couldn't be explained by dense yuanqi alone. The secret realm clearly had other benefits, like aiding the opening of apertures. That had to be it! *The world of divine characters is truly mystical!* Su Yu pressed on once more! This time took slightly longer, roughly fifteen minutes, before he opened the third aperture. Including the time spent on the initial breakthrough, he had spent roughly fifty minutes from start to finish. However, Su Yu noticed that after opening three apertures, his absorption rate had begun to slow. *Time to take blood essence. I can't let it slow down!* Without hesitation, Su Yu swiftly produced a bottle, poured out a drop of Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence, and swallowed it. The instant the first drop went down... Su Yu's mind shook! "Mountain-Breaking Ox (Qianjun Realm Stage Nine): Basic Skill: Mountain-Breaking Strike (unlocked via blood essence) Basic Yuan Art: Body Strengthening Art (unlocked via blood essence)" *Was I ever killed by an ox?* Su Yu's thoughts stirred. No, he had been killed by many oxen. Was there a Mountain-Breaking Ox among them? How could he not remember? The Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence had actually unlocked the second page of the booklet! This surprised him slightly, though he quickly regained his composure. Growing up, he had been killed by thousands of races. Having a Mountain-Breaking Ox among them was only natural. He was just surprised he had no memory of it. Perhaps too many different oxen had killed him. *Body Strengthening Art?* *They say Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence is potent because it greatly enhances the physical body. Does that have to do with this Body Strengthening Art?* Su Yu opened his eyes and glanced stealthily at the two students nearby. If he circulated the Body Strengthening Art right now, would it aid his cultivation even more? As for the Ironwing Bird's Yuan Absorption Art, it wasn't focused on strengthening the physical body, nor were the temporary apertures it opened meant for body refinement. It might not compare to a Qianjun-grade Mountain-Breaking Ox art. *Forget it, let's use the blood essence to temper first and open the other apertures along the way...* Su Yu didn't know when those two would leave and didn't dare activate it recklessly. If they noticed something abnormal, it would cause trouble. Just as the thought crossed his mind, both students stood up almost simultaneously! "I can't take any more!" one of them sighed. "Reached my limit. Managed to open two apertures, not bad. Almost lasted an hour..." Shaking his head, he looked over at Su Yu. Both of their faces were flushed red. Seeing Su Yu sitting there with a calm expression, they exchanged a helpless glance. Look at him—he seemed to have just started taking blood essence, which meant he could probably hold out for at least another hour! There was no comparison! Was Su Yu's body that much stronger than theirs? Or was his capacity simply greater? "Su Yu, we're leaving!" Su Yu nodded. The two didn't linger. It was merely a chance encounter, and Su Yu didn't even know their names. Neither had any intention of introducing themselves; they weren't in the same school and had just crossed paths today. Beside the battered sign was a halo of light, evidently the exit portal. The two walked over and vanished into the light in the blink of an eye. Seeing them leave, Su Yu consumed another drop of blood essence! This time, he didn't use the Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence to unlock pages in the booklet, but for normal cultivation. He could feel a special power tempering his physical body. However... the effect felt ordinary, and the progress was slow. *What if I use a drop of blood essence to activate the art?* He wanted to activate the Body Strengthening Art and see its effects. Since the Mountain-Breaking Ox clan used it to strengthen their bodies, perhaps their racial yuan art was even more effective than the raw blood essence? *I'll test it with just one drop. If it doesn't work well, I'll go back to consuming it directly to temper my body...* Once the previous drop was mostly digested, Su Yu swallowed another. This time, he used it to activate the Body Strengthening Art! The moment it began, Su Yu sensed the difference! Points of light suddenly appeared across his entire body! So many! Far more than with the Ironwing Bird. Back then, the Yuan Absorption Art had only opened thirty-six temporary apertures, only increasing somewhat upon reaching the Wanshi stage. Yet the Qianjun-grade Body Strengthening Art opened over a hundred apertures in an instant! Su Yu didn't count, but a rough glance told him it was no fewer than the War God Art! This meant the Body Strengthening Art was at least a peak Earth-rank or even Heaven-rank cultivation art. The moment it activated, things got wild! The yuanqi here was simply too dense, and opening so many temporary apertures caused massive amounts of yuanqi to liquefy in an instant and flood into his body. Rumble! His fourth aperture was forced open almost immediately! And this time, Su Yu felt a distinct change. The golden booklet trembled slightly in his sea of consciousness, as if surprised by the sheer concentration of yuanqi here. The power required to swallow it was immense, consuming considerable energy. For the first time, it transmitted a faint fluctuation to Su Yu... energy exhausted! The blood essence's energy was insufficient! Normally, the energy would last an hour, but because the yuanqi here was so concentrated, it was drawn in far faster, depleting the energy in mere moments. Su Yu was surprised that the golden booklet could send fluctuations, but he had no time to ponder that now. He swallowed another drop of blood essence! The temporary apertures that had been fading brightened again, and vast amounts of yuanqi surged toward him once more. A few minutes later, with a roaring vibration, the fifth aperture opened. "So fast..." Su Yu basked in the sheer euphoria. Although devouring yuanqi so rapidly placed a heavy burden on his physical body, watching his apertures open one by one felt incredible. *** Another half hour passed, and Su Yu had consumed a total of eighteen drops of blood essence. He had opened six apertures! And roughly an hour and a half had passed since he entered the secret realm! *** Inside the small office. The two middle-aged instructors had already departed with their students. Bai Feng was still waiting. He wiped away nonexistent sweat from his forehead and exhaled in relief. Thank goodness he had bragged about lasting three hours, or Su Yu would have caught up to him by now. In his own youth, he had only stayed inside for an hour and a half. In the room, the elderly man named Huang checked the time and chuckled. "This new student is quite good. His foundation is solid, and his nine Kaiyuan apertures were grounded thoroughly. Looks like he really might open six or seven apertures this time. Impressive!" The old man who had escorted the Fox demon away had returned. Hearing this, he remarked flatly, "He's from a small city, right? Excellent! I love geniuses from small places. They use less yuanqi liquid growing up, so their foundation is sturdy. When they seize an opportunity, their groundwork is far more solid. As for those great families, the core elites are fine, but the branch members chase speed blindly. Without a solid foundation, how can you build a towering mountain?" Elder Huang sighed. "You can't look at it that way. Coming from a small city and an ordinary family, how many can truly seize an opportunity like this? The probability of rising up is too low. He can only be considered an exception." As the two chatted, Bai Feng chimed in, "Elders, how long do you think he can last?" "Two hours is within reach!" Elder Huang laughed. "His foundation is solid, and he was given Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence, so his body will gradually strengthen. Since he hasn't come out yet, and those two kids mentioned he had only just started taking blood essence when they left, he should be able to hold out for a while longer." Bai Feng nodded slightly, feeling relieved. It matched his own estimate. Two hours... was very impressive! Civilization Masters generally didn't care much about physical cultivation during the Kaiyuan Realm, and their bodies were usually frail. But that was for ordinary people; when it came to geniuses, everyone hoped their physical bodies would be stronger. During Kaiyuan, Su Yu's body hadn't been weak. The kid had even managed to cultivate the Thunder Yuan Saber to its second slash, which required immense explosive power and proved his body was sturdy. Of course, opening apertures also required talent. The more apertures Su Yu opened, the longer he could endure. That was only natural. It all depended on how many apertures he could open! If he got stuck on an aperture and couldn't break through, the accumulated yuanqi would force him out. Thinking about this, Bai Feng recalled something and asked, "I remember... back when our school's students broke through to Qianjun, the one who opened the most apertures and lasted the longest was... my martial uncle, wasn't it?" "Liu Wenyan?" The two old men looked at each other. Elder Huang thought for a moment and shook his head. "Not him. I was two cohorts below him back then. I heard that when he reached Qianjun, he wasn't cultivating today's War God Art, but the Innumerable Saber Strikes of Heaven Cleaving from back in the day..." "Huh?" Bai Feng asked in surprise. "How come I never heard of that? Isn't that the Xia family's secret art?" "It is the Xia family's secret art..." Elder Huang smiled. "Back then, the Fifth Head accepted him as a student and went to the Xia family to ask for it. The Fifth Head had that much face, after all. He promised it wouldn't be passed to outsiders, and the Xia family agreed to let Liu Wenyan learn it." Pausing, he continued, "The Xia family's Innumerable Saber Strikes of Heaven Cleaving is a Heaven-rank cultivation art. Of course, what they provided back then was likely low-tier Heaven rank. It required opening one hundred and seventeen apertures in the Qianjun Realm, with thirteen per tier. When Liu Wenyan broke through, he opened twelve apertures and lasted nearly three hours, falling just short of stepping straight into Qianjun Realm Stage Two." He then teased, "That bragging you did earlier—you were stealing your martial uncle's record and sticking it onto yourself! You have some nerve!" Bai Feng laughed dryly, then asked curiously, "If not my martial uncle, who was it? I could have sworn it was him..." "It wasn't!" Elder Huang shook his head, hesitating. He glanced at Bai Feng. Beside him, the other old man was far more direct, snapping, "Do you have amnesia? A few years ago, the fellow who beat you black and blue came to borrow our secret realm once. He lasted five hours that day, opened twenty-four apertures, and stepped straight into Qianjun Realm Stage Three! Did you deliberately wipe him from your memory?" "..." Bai Feng's face instantly turned pitch-black! Damn it! He had forgotten about that! He couldn't resist cursing, "That bastard isn't even from our academy! I was talking about our academy, not him!" Seeing him curse, both elders burst out laughing. Elder Huang chuckled. "I didn't even want to bring it up, but you insisted on asking! By the way, did you know he reached the Lingyun Realm?" With a darkened expression, Bai Feng muttered, "Don't know, don't care!" "You!" Elder Huang laughed. "You really need to focus on your cultivation. Reaching Lingyun as soon as possible is the proper path. Stop holing up in that research center all day long. Xia Yuwen should be breaking through soon too. Wu Qi has reached Tengkong Realm Stage Nine. Hu Wensheng took a blow this time, but I expect he'll make the leap soon as well. And there's Liu Hong..." With a touch of regret, he added, "Bai Feng, among the monsters of your cohort, the top few are all about to enter Lingyun. Even if you can beat someone at Tengkong Realm Stage Nine, what will you do against a Lingyun expert? Put your mind to this as soon as possible..." He teased further, "If you don't advance, that fellow from the Great Zhou Prefecture will catch up to you. I heard he's almost at Tengkong Realm Stage Six!" "Tengkong Realm Stage Six?" Bai Feng scoffed disdainfully. "Let alone Stage Six, even if he reaches Stage Nine, I can still slap him to death!" "Don't forget, he's only nineteen this year!" Elder Huang reminded him. You are quite a bit older than him! Bai Feng grumbled under his breath. What was so special about nineteen? His own student was only eighteen... Fine, so he had only reached the Qianjun Realm today, but the gap between Qianjun and Tengkong wasn't that big, right? As they chatted, time slipped by. Soon, two hours had passed. Bai Feng kept his eyes glued to the portal. Seeing no movement, he was somewhat surprised. Still not out? This kid wasn't bad at all! *Could he have opened seven or eight apertures by now?* *** Another half hour passed, and Bai Feng grew nervous. "Nothing went wrong, did it?" "Nothing will go wrong!" Elder Huang reassured him. "What could possibly happen in the Qianjun Area? He's probably still cultivating. Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence is best for building foundations; as his body grows stronger, he can open more apertures." "That's not it!" Bai Feng said anxiously. "One hundred drops of blood essence—by my calculations, that's enough for ten apertures at most. He should be coming out any minute now. Maybe I should go in and check..." "He might not have finished them yet. Even if he did, he might just be absorbing yuanqi to cultivate. Don't panic!" Elder Huang offered a few soothing words, while the other elder remarked indifferently, "Don't listen to him. This kid probably just wants an excuse to go in and cultivate himself. He's so dirt-poor that the moment an opportunity shows up, he wants to burrow into the secret realm!" "..." Bai Feng gave an awkward cough. Nonsense! He wasn't that kind of person! "Our multiple divine character faction is wealthy and powerful! We'd never lack money..." Before he could finish, the old man picked up an exquisitely crafted teapot from the table and murmured, "I heard Hong Tan used this teapot for fifty years. Good stuff. Cost me ten merit points on the black market. Wonder if it's authentic!" "..." Bai Feng froze. Holy crap! He had sold that off in a bundled lot—how had it ended up here?! Wait, damn it, one teapot went for ten merit points? He had bundled a massive pile of items and only gotten eighty merit points for the lot, and there were dozens of items better than that teapot! *Black-hearted merchant!* Bai Feng raged inwardly. How dare he rip him off! Wait, thinking about it, that guy hadn't ripped him off; he had ripped off this old geezer! The old man was truly loaded, dropping ten merit points on junk like this! His mind swirled with these thoughts, nearly making him forget about Su Yu. Watching the old man fondle the teapot, Bai Feng cleared his throat. "That definitely wasn't used by my teacher. The one he actually uses is still in the research center. How could it possibly have left?" "Oh? Really?" The old man smiled knowingly. "I heard someone recently asked Old Qian to distress a batch of forged antiques. Bai Feng, you wouldn't happen to be fooling your teacher with fakes, would you?" "..." Bai Feng couldn't hold back his fury. "Elder Qian swore he wouldn't breathe a word! How dare he sell me out? I'm going to confront him!" "Ahem!" the old man hurried to say. "Don't, don't! It just slipped out. It's no big deal, don't go looking for him! Don't worry, we won't tell Elder Hong that everything he's using is fake, rest assured!" Gritting his teeth, Bai Feng insisted, "Everything my master uses is real! What you bought is fake!" "Right, right, of course!" The old man nodded repeatedly. Having nearly sold out an old friend, he thought it best to humor Bai Feng. *If you say so, we'll pretend to believe you!* This rascal really had no shame—he had pawned off his own master's entire household! It was a good thing Elder Hong wasn't at the academy, or Bai Feng would have sent him to an early grave. Bai Feng's expression shifted repeatedly before he finally mumbled, "I had no choice! Who told him not to leave behind a single cent? Head Zhou and those bastards are trying to set up my senior brother. What else could I do?" He had to defend himself—it wasn't his fault, it was all his master's doing! Without money, his hands were tied. There was nothing left to sell at home. Anything used by his master carried the prestige of a Shanhai Realm expert and a grandmaster Civilization Master, so it was bound to fetch something! To be fair, even his master's discarded junk had brought in over eight hundred merit points in total, which had genuinely surprised him! The two elders fell silent. When it came to such matters, it was better to keep their mouths shut. Bai Feng could curse, but they could not. *** Meanwhile. Contrary to Bai Feng's assumption, Su Yu had not exhausted his blood essence. He had only consumed about sixty drops and had already opened sixteen apertures! Earlier, he used eighteen drops to open six, several of which hadn't even required blood essence. Later, he used forty-odd drops to open ten more! Su Yu had reached Qianjun Realm Stage Two! Even he was dumbfounded. Opening apertures here was absurdly fast. *Eight apertures left until Qianjun Realm Stage Three. Can I pull it off?* He had used up the majority of his blood essence, with less than forty drops remaining. Su Yu wasn't sure if it would be enough to open the remaining eight apertures, but if he succeeded, he would step directly into Qianjun Realm Stage Three! *This secret realm definitely aids in aperture opening!* Su Yu concluded with absolute certainty. By now, his physical body was substantially stronger than before. Su Yu threw a test punch into the empty air, and without using any martial technique, his fist produced an audible sonic crack! *In terms of opened apertures, I seem to have surpassed Teacher!* *I might fall short on time, but lasting over three hours should be no problem...* He still had around forty drops of blood essence left! "Keep going!" Cast all stray thoughts aside, Su Yu resumed his cultivation. Drop after drop of blood essence was consumed. The Body Strengthening Art activated again and again, opening temporary apertures that swallowed massive surges of yuanqi. Su Yu felt completely euphoric! Thank goodness he had used Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence! It had unlocked the booklet, and the Body Strengthening Art was the ultimate body-tempering technique—at least in Su Yu's eyes. That was why he could open so many apertures with such ease. With any other art, even the Wanshi-grade Yuan Absorption Art, this would have been impossible. *And Chen Qi and his bunch actually wanted to rob me of my blood essence... Utterly outrageous!* The more Su Yu thought about it, the angrier he became! Fortunately, it hadn't been stolen. Whatever Dragon Silkworm blood essence they offered sounded vastly inferior to Mountain-Breaking Ox. If he swallowed Dragon Silkworm blood essence, could it unlock a page in the booklet? Would its unlocked art temper the physical body? Could it open apertures? Nine times out of ten, absolutely not! "Pushing people around like that—they nearly ruined my cultivation path! We're not done yet!" Su Yu fumed with rage. In this moment, he deeply understood what it meant to displace one's anger. Well, he was displacing it anyway—who told the Mountain-Breaking Ox blood essence to be this effective?