Kaiyuan Fourth Stage (Seeking Recommendations)

Back home.

Su Yu held a glass vial containing a full three drops of essence blood.

Though Qianjun Realm essence blood was less than a fart to the strong, to Su Yu, it was a vast fortune. A single drop cost 50,000.

If he had not been short on money, he would have been reluctant to spend Merit Points.

He did not need a teacher to remind him of the importance of Merit Points. Even with money, they might not be available for purchase. Of course, if someone offered more than 50,000 for one point, Su Yu could consider it. After all, a drop of essence blood only cost 50,000.

"Come to think of it, I'm even wealthier than Dad. After all these years, he's only saved a little over 300,000..."

Su Yu suddenly laughed. More than 300,000 really might not be worth as much as his 18 Merit Points.

But his father actually had Merit Points too. He had spent some on cultivation in the past, and the remaining points... Su Long had not said where they went, but Su Yu roughly knew. He had given them away when he retired from the military.

Su Long had not told him that. It was simply something many people did.

There were many retired veterans in the neighborhood. When they left, they gave their Merit Points to their comrades, because those comrades still had to continue fighting and needed them more.

Supporting one another, trusting one another—such were the warriors of the human race.

If not for the fifty-year-old limit on recalling veterans, even more old soldiers would likely have left this time. Many had been nearly fifty when they retired; once discharged, they likely would never have another chance to return.

No longer dwelling on such matters, Su Yu once again saw that illustrated book in his mind.

The pages quickly flipped to the Iron Winged Bird's page.

"Essence blood activation... what does it activate? A skill or a cultivation art?"

Su Yu considered it briefly and swiftly made his decision: a cultivation art.

Essence Gathering Art!

Skills were most likely meant for instantly raising one's strength, explosive techniques used in battle. He had no opponent right now, so using one would be somewhat wasteful.

Of course, if he had enough essence blood, he could try it. After all, he did not know the effects. Reckless explosions of power could get someone killed.

"How many drops does it take at once? I wonder whether one drop is enough."

With that thought in mind, Su Yu willed it into action. Activate cultivation art!

A drop of essence blood entered his stomach and instantly vanished.

This time, it was not as painful as before. It was absorbed almost the moment it entered his mouth.

Buzz!

The golden Book Page in his mind trembled slightly. The next moment, the cultivation art activation entry changed.

"Basic Essence Art: Essence Gathering (Activated, lasts 1 hour)"

"One hour?"

Su Yu cursed under his breath. At that moment, he felt the pores across his body open as they rapidly devoured the surrounding vital essence. His nine apertures seemed to have been temporarily opened.

This was the effect of the illustrated book!

Normally, those in the Kaiyuan Realm could not do this. With the nine apertures unopened, they could not sense vital essence, much less actively absorb it.

Yet now, Su Yu could feel it. With a mere thought, he could devour the vital essence around him.

Nanyuan lacked vital essence, but that was only for Ten Thousand Stones cultivators and high-level Qianjun cultivators. For a Kaiyuan Realm cultivator like Su Yu, there was more than enough to go around.

Creak!

For the first time, his flesh began absorbing vital essence. As though starving beyond endurance, it swallowed and refined it without regard for anything else.

The nine apertures gave off a faint glow. A great amount of vital essence gathered around his head, refining the nine apertures.

Pain!

Su Yu felt pain. His mouth and nose were fine, since they had already been refined, but the other apertures had not. Now, the vital essence washed through those unopened apertures, bringing him agony.

His ears thundered, and tears streamed from his eyes.

The vital essence was refining his apertures, helping him open them.

"One hour... that's too long!"

Su Yu, who had just thought one hour was too short, instantly betrayed his former self. It was too long. If this continued for an hour, would he not burst apart?

This might have been the first time someone in the Kaiyuan Realm had actively absorbed vital essence to cultivate.

Moreover, the Essence Gathering Art was the cultivation art of the Iron Winged Bird race. It had not been adapted and was not truly suited to humans. Su Yu felt that more pores had opened on his back, and his back was now frantically absorbing vital essence as well.

"Damn... this is for refining wings!"

"I'm not going to grow wings, am I?"

Su Yu felt rather helpless. Iron Winged Birds were avians, and their wings were their greatest weapons, so naturally they refined their wings. The problem was that he was not one.

Now that the Essence Gathering Art had been activated, the meridians in his body circulated. Though the illustrated book had altered it to suit the human body, it was still somewhat incompatible with Su Yu. He felt that his back was absorbing more vital essence than his nine apertures.

Rumble!

At that moment, Su Yu's left ear began ringing thunderously.

Su Yu froze slightly, then rejoiced instead of panicking. This was... his fourth aperture about to open?

The first three of the nine apertures were easy to open. The fourth and fifth were the ear apertures, which were somewhat difficult.

The sixth and seventh were the eyes. Those were even harder!

The Shenque aperture and Baihui—those two stumped most people. Nearly everyone who failed to become a cultivator fell at these two barriers.

"My left ear aperture is about to open!"

Su Yu was overjoyed. The ringing in his ears sounded incomparably pleasant!

He had calculated that he would need at least half a year to reach Kaiyuan Fourth Stage. Who could have expected that merely activating the Essence Gathering Art once would bring him to the brink of success?

Of course, that was also because he was too weak.

The difficult part of opening apertures was that those in the Kaiyuan Realm could not actively absorb vital essence and could only refine themselves passively. Once they could turn passivity into initiative, opening apertures was not difficult for cultivators.

Kaiyuan Realm cultivators did not become much stronger in direct combat. Their physical condition improved somewhat, while their sense of taste became sharper, and their sense of smell, hearing, and vision all improved. That was Kaiyuan.

Of course, that alone was enough.

Only upon reaching Kaiyuan Eighth Stage and opening the Shenque aperture could cultivators learn some simple martial techniques for self-defense, preparing to become official cultivators.

Rumble!

The ringing in his ear continued without end. Su Yu's ear contracted and expanded repeatedly, his eardrum trembled, and vital essence swirled around it.

It was about to be complete!

The vital essence around him continuously poured into his left ear. Su Yu, who previously could not see vital essence, could now see mist-like currents surging about. This was vital essence. It was the first time he had clearly sensed its existence.

"No... I can't take it anymore!"

Su Yu's head rang. It was not the aperture opening that overwhelmed him; it was his first time actively refining himself. His body was too weak and could no longer endure it.

Boom!

At that moment, a thunderclap erupted from his left ear. Su Yu's mind relaxed. It was complete.

He immediately gave up cultivating the Kaiyuan Jue. He could not hold on any longer!

Half an hour later, Su Yu finally recovered.

He felt somewhat regretful. He had cultivated for less than half an hour, and the remaining time had gone to waste. Activating it for an hour did not let the unused time accumulate; it simply returned to zero when the time was up. What a pity.

"But this is already great. I actually reached Kaiyuan Fourth Stage!"

Su Yu secretly rejoiced. He had not held out much hope, yet he had truly reached Kaiyuan Fourth Stage before the assessment.

In all of Nanyuan Middle Academy, there were only around a dozen people at Kaiyuan Fourth Stage.

There were more than a hundred at Kaiyuan Three Stages. Being at the third stage was nothing special, but the fourth stage was quite impressive.

By everyone's standards, he now counted as a talent accomplished in both letters and martial arts.

A genius, no less!

"Is this the effect of the illustrated book? It's too astonishing... but..."

Su Yu frowned slightly. This was only Kaiyuan, so its effects seemed excellent. But once he reached Qianjun and could cultivate actively, the Essence Gathering Art was not a human cultivation art. By then, it might not be as effective as humanity's own arts.

"Forget it. I can't be too greedy. Besides... if there were Gods and Devils cultivation arts..."

Su Yu's eyes flickered. What if he could one day activate a Gods and Devils page?

Human cultivation arts were powerful, but those of the Gods and Devils were even stronger. Humanity had seized quite a few cultivation arts, but there were not many from the Gods and Devils races, and most belonged to the lower ranks. There were almost none from the upper ranks.

There was hope of killing them, but the odds of killing them while also seizing their cultivation arts were far too small.

"Were there Gods and Devils in my dreams?"

His earlier dreams had been too vague. Coupled with his young age, Su Yu could not remember.

He did not know whether there had been any.

If there were, could he cultivate Gods and Devils cultivation arts?

"It's too early to think about that. The Essence Gathering Art is already very good. It can help me quickly cross the Kaiyuan threshold."

Su Yu suppressed those thoughts, his heart filled with joy.

Kaiyuan Fourth Stage!

There were no especially obvious changes to his body, though the vital essence had refined it and made it somewhat stronger. But that was not the key—the key was his hearing.

His left ear twitched slightly. Soon, faint rustling sounds from upstairs entered his ears.

Though they were not especially clear, they were far better than before.

Previously, because the soundproofing was so good, he could barely hear anything. If the noise was too soft, there was no way he could hear it. But now... his hearing had grown stronger.

For cultivators, seeing in all directions and hearing from all eight sides was a basic ability.

Until Kaiyuan was complete, this was nearly impossible.

"Very good!"

Though he had spent one drop of essence blood, Su Yu would have been willing to do it another ten times, another hundred times, if one Merit Point could raise him by one stage.

"Two drops left. Should I... try activating a skill?"

Su Yu's eyes flickered. He wanted to see how powerful it was, how long it lasted, and what consequences it had for his body.

If he did not figure that out and used it recklessly, he would be irresponsible toward himself.

The Iron Winged Bird had two racial skills available for activation: Rend and Iron Wing Slash.

Rend was activated at Level One. This meant Iron Winged Birds of different levels could possess racial skills of different grades, which was perfectly normal.

Su Yu did not consider Iron Wing Slash, since he had no wings. Rend, however, was worth testing.

"I'll just try it!"

But his home was too small, there were too many people nearby, and elderly Qianjun Realm cultivators lived upstairs and downstairs. It was inconvenient to test it at home.

After thinking for a moment, Su Yu brought the essence blood and quickly headed out.

More than ten minutes later, he arrived at a cultivation hall.

After paying 100 Anping Coin, Su Yu rented a cultivation room for an hour. There were quite a few cultivation halls like this in the city, after all, as there were many Qianjun Realm cultivators in town.

"Activate!"

He swallowed the essence blood. In an instant, countless images flashed through his mind—images of Iron Winged Birds tearing apart prey with their sharp talons.

Su Yu felt both hands swell in an instant!

Then the vital essence compressed. Even as his hands ached with swelling, they were filled with immense power!

"This... this is the Rend skill?"

Su Yu was shocked. For the first time, he felt that he was powerful. Very powerful. He could not determine exactly how powerful, since he had only just reached Kaiyuan Fourth Stage.

His arms hurt unbearably. Su Yu did not dare delay and swiftly attacked the training dummy before him.

Boom!

One hand seized the dummy's throat. His fingers were as sharp as eagle claws. Su Yu clenched down hard, producing a booming sound. These dummies were specially made for cultivators to practice real combat and were extremely sturdy, yet when its throat was gripped, a booming sound still rang out.

Su Yu crossed his left and right hands, attacking continuously and frantically striking the dummy. Every strike seemed to carry a tearing effect.

Gradually, a tiny crack appeared in the dummy's throat.

After five or six minutes, Su Yu's eyes shifted slightly. The strength in his arms seemed to be fading, slowly weakening.

Bang!

Hiss!

Su Yu sucked in a breath of cold air. The strength instantly vanished. One hand struck the dummy, and his fingernails nearly split apart. The pain was beyond bearing.

"Damn it!"

Su Yu cursed under his breath. It vanished just like that. He, a Kaiyuan Realm cultivator, had struck the dummy with all his strength. Of course it would hurt.

He quickly picked up his communicator and checked the time, reaching a conclusion.

"Duration: five minutes. It consumes one drop of essence blood. It isn't a simple attack; it carries a tearing effect. This should be the effect of a racial skill, not merely a pure strength attack..."

Looking at the dummy, Su Yu saw the tiny crack. It was slowly closing now. Even when damaged, this kind of dummy could slowly heal. That was why cultivation halls used this material for their dummies.

"It caused a tearing effect on the dummy. Dad at Thousand Jun Ninth Stage can do the same, and even worse. With a full-power punch, he can blast a small hole through it. I attacked continuously and only made a crack..."

"The attack power is roughly around Thousand Jun Sixth Stage or Seventh Stage. Probably Seventh Stage, since Thousand Jun Sixth Stage can barely cause any damage."

"So it's related to the level at which the Iron Winged Bird is activated. The illustrated book showed an Iron Winged Bird at Qianjun Seventh Level..."

"Attack power at Qianjun Seventh Level, one drop of essence blood, lasting five minutes..."

Su Yu's eyes flickered. In that case, he now possessed such attack power.

Of course, attack power did not represent true strength.

A genuine Qianjun Seventh Level cultivator possessed a powerful body, incredible speed, nimble movements, and extensive experience... in any case, he could not compare in any of those aspects.

When it came to simply attacking a dead object, he could match a Qianjun Seventh Level cultivator.

But if he truly encountered one, and the opponent was prepared, they could kill Su Yu in an instant. After all, he did not possess such a formidable body. Only his hands were filled with power.

"Forget Qianjun Seventh Level—even someone at Thousand Jun Triple Stage or Kaiyuan Fourth Stage, as long as they're prepared, don't get close to me, and don't give me a chance, I'll still die if I encounter them. I'm no match for them at all. I can't even catch up."

Su Yu shook his head slightly. The boundless power he had just felt was all an illusion. In reality, this ability was somewhat useless.

It could only be used as a trump card. If it was exposed, it would not pose much threat even to Thousand Jun Triple Stage cultivators or weaker Qianjun Realm cultivators. They could simply run first, then return to kill him once his strength faded.

"But... it isn't without benefits. The benefits are enormous!"

Su Yu suddenly laughed. People could not be too greedy. This was already incredible.

He was merely in the Kaiyuan Realm. To put it bluntly, he was an ordinary person. Yet now he could suddenly unleash the attack power of Qianjun Seventh Level for five minutes. Was that not enough?

"It's just that the aftereffects are a little severe..."

At that moment, Su Yu felt the aftereffects. Both of his hands were swollen!

They hurt so badly that they had gone numb. That was why he had barely felt anything just now.

"Tear... This martial skill was far too crude. It was the Iron Winged Bird's racial skill, and it wasn't very suitable for humans either. Martial skills developed by humans themselves were stronger than this, but if one could learn the martial skills of some powerful races, there would still be enormous benefits."

A bright gleam burst from Su Yu's eyes. The Iron Winged Bird had already been thoroughly researched, so there was nothing much left to study—but what about other races?

What if he researched the racial skills of other races...

"Civilization Academy offers rewards for this kind of research, right?"

"If one day I happened to figure out something from the God and Demon Races—their cultivation methods, martial skills, or even copied their innate martial skills—wouldn't that count as an absolutely colossal contribution?"

Su Yu swallowed, then suddenly laughed. "I think... Civilization Academy was practically tailor-made for me! It seems I could totally go there and sell martial skills..."

A thought was just a thought; Su Yu did not take it seriously.

He was just a little newcomer. If he went to Civilization Academy and suddenly researched an innate skill of the Gods and Devils, he would not be a genius—he would be a monster.

Had he ever seen Gods and Devils?

Had he ever fought them?

Had he ever learned their cultivation methods?

And yet he had managed to research them? Who would believe that?

After entertaining himself for a while, Su Yu laughed again. He did not waste the training room. Although he could no longer activate skills, painstaking cultivation on his own was just as good. No point wasting it.

Only cultivators at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage trained martial skills, because training before the eighth stage was useless. Still, Su Yu knew a few martial skills, and he began practicing them now.

He had once thought the eighth stage was still far away, but now... was it really that far?

It was better to prepare in advance, lest he reach the eighth stage and understand nothing. Having only a realm without the corresponding strength would still make him nothing but trash.

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