Almost Can't Hold It Together!

Liu Wenyan quickly finished writing the remaining five strokes, then let out a long breath.

Sensing the old Academy Head's gaze focusing on him, Liu Wenyan remained calm and composed, as though talking to himself. "Once you get the hang of writing this thing, it actually becomes easier and easier."

The old Academy Head did not really understand this. The world of Civilization Masters was not something he could comprehend.

Much of the knowledge he had acquired had been taught to him by Liu Wenyan.

Hearing this, the old Academy Head's expression shifted. Suddenly, he looked at Liu Wenyan with blazing enthusiasm.

Liu Wenyan turned to look at him and froze for a moment.

Why was he being so enthusiastic?

"You... can still write more?"

The old Academy Head's words made Liu Wenyan's heart skip a beat!

"Old Liu!"

The old Academy Head swiftly sidled over and whispered, "You really can keep writing? Is it that easy? A Willpower Script written by a Soaring Realm Civilization Master—if you sell one to some rich merchant for their descendants, three hundred Merit Points would already be an understatement!"

"Then if you write a hundred copies, your debt will be paid off. Once it's paid off... can't you return to the Civilization Academy?"

"Of course, there's the cost too... but the cost is only around a hundred Merit Points. Write a hundred and fifty copies, and you can still clear it all!"

The old Academy Head was thrilled!

Liu Wenyan stared at him dumbfounded!

I... was just saying that casually.

You took it seriously?

Forget one copy—even after just these four strokes, he had nearly been worked to collapse. Besides... how could a Willpower Script possibly be that easy to write?

First of all, as a Civilization Master, he had to possess an exceptionally deep foundation in the Thunder Origin Blade and master it thoroughly.

As a Civilization Master, he actually did not have much time to study such things.

Moreover, the consumption of Willpower was enormous, and recovering it was difficult—far harder than recovering vital energy.

Three hundred Merit Points... writing one every few months was manageable. But if someone wanted him to write one every day, he could not do it even if they beat him to death.

Writing three or four pieces a year, something like the Kaiyuan Jue, was still within Liu Wenyan's capabilities. But writing three or four Thunder Origin Blades a year would be more than he could bear. He would have no time left to cultivate or do anything else.

"Old Wang..."

Liu Wenyan cursed inwardly, but his face wore a mysterious smile as he said softly, "Don't talk nonsense! There are rules in the Civilization Master profession. Many things cannot be passed around freely, lest they fall into the hands of Ten Thousand Races Cult spies."

"For a profound-grade martial skill like the Thunder Origin Blade, the Ten Thousand Races Cult does have such things. But aside from their own Civilization Masters writing Willpower Scripts for them, the Willpower Scripts of Civilization Masters from the various prefectures are strictly forbidden from circulating outside!"

"Even if they do circulate, they won't be the kind written on the spot. They'll be the sort that has been stored away for who knew how long and has almost turned into an ordinary object. That sort of Willpower Script is actually useless and not worth much."

With a smile on his face, Liu Wenyan said quietly, "Don't bring this up again. Be careful, or the higher-ups may hear about it and come after you."

The old Academy Head paused slightly, then said with some regret, "So that's how it is. I thought it was too good to be true. If Merit Points were really that easy to earn, Civilization Masters would not be short on them. Would Bai Feng still have needed to come here and kill a fourth-stage Soaring Realm expert..."

Liu Wenyan had just said that writing became easier later on, which was why such an idea had suddenly occurred to him.

Now that he heard there were restrictions, he felt as though he understood!

Liu Wenyan secretly let out a breath of relief. There naturally were restrictions, but selling them normally to wealthy people was not a problem. The problem was... he could not do it!

Forget him—even if one asked Lingyun Realm or even Shanhai Realm experts to write a hundred pieces a year, could they do it?

Those people could not do it either!

Even if they could, they would not. They needed to cultivate and handle other matters too. If they exhausted their Willpower, they would not even have Willpower left to nourish their divine characters. If something went wrong then, who would be responsible?

Liu Wenyan simply ignored the old Academy Head and turned toward Su Yu.

At that moment, Su Yu was still struggling.

His attention was no longer on the blade technique, but on the divine character he had captured.

There was expectation in Liu Wenyan's eyes, along with a headache.

"His Willpower is too weak. Nourishing one divine character is already difficult, and now he has captured a second one... sigh, if this continues, the growth rate of his Willpower will be dragged down considerably!"

Liu Wenyan was pleased, but also worried.

Too many divine characters really were not a good thing.

Of course, having none was even worse.

But with so many, how was Su Yu supposed to nourish them?

His Willpower was limited. If divine characters were not nourished, they would dissipate.

But if he nourished them, the consumption would be immense, and he would be unable to recover it himself. If this continued, it would instead be easy to drag him down until he collapsed.

"His fullness is around nineteen percent now, nearly twenty percent. Nourishing two divine characters... that 'Blood' divine character can still draw blood to nourish itself. With that, he should be able to hold on while nourishing two divine characters."

"He absolutely cannot nourish a third one. At the very least, before reaching the Nurturing Nature stage, he cannot outline another divine character."

Liu Wenyan was somewhat troubled. Sometimes, encountering a genius was troublesome too.

Su Yu captured divine characters so quickly that he could easily become a cautionary tale of a genius who overdid it and tortured himself to death. Or he could nourish too many divine characters and make no progress for decades. That would count as being ruined too.

"The rest of you, go back first!"

Liu Wenyan spoke up, then said sternly, "The Thunder Origin Blade must not be passed on! A profound-grade martial skill, even if it is merely an ordinary copy, must not be passed on! Even at the Civilization Academy or War Academy, a copied volume of such a martial skill requires a hundred Merit Points to exchange for!"

The old Academy Head had only cared whether the Willpower Script was valuable, overlooking the fact that this was a profound-grade martial skill.

At this moment, the old Academy Head came to his senses as well.

He hurriedly said, "Right, this absolutely cannot be passed on! The martial skills at the War Academy are almost all copied volumes, with Willpower Scripts being the exception. If a profound-grade martial skill is leaked and discovered, there will be enormous trouble!"

Without a Willpower Script, it did not mean one could not cultivate it.

It was simply much slower, relying entirely on one's own comprehension. The role of a Willpower Script was merely like having a peak expert provide a full analysis from start to finish, allowing one to understand more deeply and cultivate more quickly.

Only now did the old Academy Head remember this matter. He looked at Liu Wenyan with some concern.

That old fellow had only talked about Willpower Scripts earlier, making him forget that this copied volume was important too.

This was not an Academy martial skill. Liu Wenyan had brought it himself.

Would he be in trouble for passing it on?

Liu Wenyan was not as worried as he was. Seeing the students' unease, he stopped being stern and said with a smile, "You may cultivate it yourselves. I am passing it on to you, but you cannot pass it on again to outsiders, including your family members."

"The human race does not encourage getting something for nothing. Everything requires paying an equivalent price. Those who get something for nothing are parasites! Consider this Thunder Origin Blade my graduation gift to you. Even if you do not learn it today, it does not matter. You still have long days ahead of you."

"Thank you, Instructor Liu!"

The students hurriedly thanked him. Though they had not seen the Willpower Script, and some had caught glimpses of it, their gains had not been great. Still, they had all seen the copied volume.

"It's fine. Go back and rest well. It doesn't matter if you didn't see it clearly. This is your first time; once you have experience next time, you'll gain something. The Civilization Academy has no shortage of Civilization Masters who can transcribe Willpower Scripts, as long as you are willing to work hard!"

"Thank you, teacher!"

Everyone thanked him again and left one after another, filled with anticipation.

Quite a few looked back at Su Yu, who was still trembling, wondering how many strokes of the blade technique he had seen.

As for Su Yu learning more than them, they were not surprised. Liu Wenyan had been taking Su Yu everywhere these past few days, clearly giving him extra lessons. There was no use being envious or jealous.

Half an hour later.

Su Yu woke up.

At that moment, only he and Liu Wenyan remained in the office.

Su Yu was slightly startled and hurriedly said, "Teacher, I... I didn't finish watching it just now..."

He was somewhat frustrated. He had been too busy fighting his little brother just now and had forgotten to watch the later blade techniques.

He was not stupid. Naturally, he knew that transcribing a Willpower Script was no simple matter. He had wasted this opportunity.

Liu Wenyan did not mind. He smiled faintly and asked, "How many strokes did you see?"

"The third stroke... I didn't have time to watch the fourth."

Su Yu looked frustrated and regretful.

"Whew!"

Liu Wenyan quietly let out a breath. Good. Seeing three strokes was enough. If he had really seen the later ones, this kid would probably be confused—why were there no little figures in the later blade techniques?

"It's fine. Even if you had seen them now, you would not have learned them. Take this back with you. Do not reveal it to outsiders, and hide it carefully. You can read it more when you have time. Of course, the effect will definitely be greatly reduced later on. After all, my Willpower is only at the Soaring Realm, not the Shanhai Realm. I cannot make it last for long."

He laid the groundwork in advance. Later on, the effect would certainly be poor. That was Su Yu's responsibility, not his.

As a teacher, I have already done my utmost to give you the best!

Liu Wenyan swiftly changed the subject. "You outlined another divine character?"

"Yes, the character 'Thunder.'"

"How much of it did you outline?"

"It seems... all of it. No, not quite, just a tiny bit short..."

Su Yu was somewhat embarrassed as he said softly, "It seems I broke off one stroke."

"Hm?"

Liu Wenyan was somewhat surprised. On one hand, he was surprised that Su Yu had outlined another complete one... another?

Fine. He gave up investigating why he was using that word and quickly said, "You broke off one stroke?"

"Yes. When I captured it, it resisted fiercely..."

"That means your Willpower was not strong enough to forcefully capture and outline it. At that point, you should have given up, or outlined one stroke at a time. Next time, you must not forcefully capture it again. Do you understand?"

Liu Wenyan's expression turned stern. "Once or twice might be luck, but if you do this again, it can easily backlash against you! Of course, this is also my responsibility. I did not expect you to outline a second divine character, so I forgot to remind you."

"Also, before reaching the Nurturing Nature stage, you must not outline a third divine character!"

"Yes!"

Su Yu immediately replied, then continued, "Teacher, one stroke of the 'Thunder' divine character is broken. I think it will take at least ten days to half a month to recover."

"That is normal. Taking half a year or even a year to outline a complete divine character is nothing unusual."

This time, Liu Wenyan did not discourage him. He said seriously, "You outline divine characters too quickly. It is actually not very normal. I do not know whether it is a bad thing, but... having more divine characters is not necessarily better. I told you last time that having too many divine characters can also leave you scattered and lacking refinement."

"Teacher, I understand."

Su Yu hurriedly nodded. As for the trait of the 'Thunder' divine character, there was no way to test it this time, because the divine character was incomplete. He would have to wait until it recovered fully.

Of course, Su Yu could judge one trait... it could electrocute people!

That thing had shocked him repeatedly just now. Otherwise, he would not have torn off that fellow's "leg" at the end. The shocks hurt quite badly, and he had failed to control himself.

Seeing that he had taken it in, Liu Wenyan also sighed in relief.

After thinking for a moment, he slowly said, "At this point, I have taught you nearly everything I can teach you. As for some basics, once you reach the Civilization Academy, there will naturally be people to teach you."

"This includes some profound cultivation methods and secret manuals, the use of divine characters, the outlining and nurturing of divine characters, and studying some Myriad Races Language... these things are all very standard. Once you get to the Academy, spend a few years learning them slowly. This is also the accumulation of a foundation."

As Liu Wenyan spoke, he became serious again. "In the early stages, do not care too much about anything else. Building a foundation is the priority! We Civilization Masters must endure loneliness. People from the War Academy may hope to step into the Qianjun Realm after half a year or a year in the Academy."

"But most Civilization Masters only step into the Soaring Realm in a single leap many years later..."

Su Yu hurriedly nodded. After nodding, he said quietly, "Teacher, I think I can reach the Qianjun Realm in a few months."

"..."

Liu Wenyan was choked speechless!

Damn it, he had forgotten this kid was at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage!

As a preparatory student for the Civilization Academy, one spent five years at an intermediate academy learning multiple language courses, all from scratch. Was five years really a lot?

Besides language courses, they also had quite a few other subjects.

Mathematics, basic weapon construction, geography, history...

Relatively speaking, there were not few courses.

At that time, being able to go home at night and cultivate the Kaiyuan Jue once counted as diligence. How many could reach the fourth or fifth Kaiyuan Stage?

Unlike Chen Hao and the others, they did not need to learn too many Myriad Races Languages. Three basic languages were enough.

Even so, these people complained bitterly and wished they did not have to study even one.

Su Yu's performance in the path of divine characters had been too stunning. In that instant just now, Liu Wenyan had completely forgotten that this fellow was at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage, and that he had written the Thunder Origin Blade for him to increase his combat strength.

As for capturing divine characters, that was secondary!

The words caught in Liu Wenyan's throat simply would not come out.

He had originally wanted to say, "Do not envy those fellows from the War Academy. After a year, quite a few of them will have reached the Qianjun Realm, but you must endure loneliness. In a few years, you will be in the Soaring Realm while they are still in the Qianjun Realm..."

But now, he could not say it!

This kid was at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage!

With a light cough to conceal his awkwardness, Liu Wenyan calmly said, "It is good that you are at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage, but so what if you reach the Qianjun Realm? The Qianjun Realm is the least valuable! Once you arrive at the Academy, some senior brothers and sisters may already be in the Soaring Realm..."

Su Yu immediately said, "Teacher, I have a question."

"Ask."

"I looked through some Ancient Texts before. None of them ever said how many years the Civilization Academy lasts. It seems no materials mention it at all..."

Su Yu was curious. He truly found it strange. How many years did one study at the Civilization Academy?

"How many years?"

Liu Wenyan was slightly stunned. After a while, he laughed. "I forgot to mention it. The Civilization Academy does not divide students by years. Those below twenty percent fullness, meaning students who cannot yet observe Qianjun original texts, are in the beginner class."

"From twenty percent to fifty percent, those who can observe Qianjun Realm original texts are in the intermediate class."

"Above fifty percent, meaning the Nurturing Nature stage, are all in the advanced class."

"Soaring... then you count as graduated. Of course, not everyone can graduate. Many people study for several years without making progress, and they may leave the Academy, go home, go to the battlefield, or do something else... at that point, the Academy will not interfere."

"If you reach the Soaring Realm, you may choose to remain at the Academy. For example, Bai Feng chose to stay and became an assistant researcher, but... that is treatment reserved for geniuses! If you only reach the Soaring Realm in your fifties or sixties, the Academy generally will not keep you. You can seek your own path. In any case, you will not do badly."

"Under normal circumstances, if someone still cannot reach the Soaring Realm by thirty, many will choose to leave."

Liu Wenyan sighed. "Thirty... at that age, it is still possible to switch to the path of a warrior. But after thirty, it truly becomes too late. The golden years for cultivation will have passed. Someone like you, entering the Academy at eighteen and staying there for more than ten years—if you still cannot reach the Soaring Realm by then, you will give up too."

How many people had entered the Academy with extraordinary talent and soaring ambitions!

Yet... they wasted more than a decade, unable to manifest the Soaring Realm for so long that they eventually gave up on the path of manifestation. This was all too common at the Civilization Academy!

"At the Academy, there may be some elderly people in their fifties or sixties. They are not teachers; they count as your senior schoolmates. They may teach some of your foundational courses, earning some Merit Points to support themselves so that even making a living and feeding their families will not be difficult."

"They do not even count as assistant researchers. Of course, you do not need to call them senior brothers. Just call them instructors. Calling them senior brothers... that stabs them in the heart. Be careful not to meet a petty one who gives you a hard time."

Liu Wenyan laughed as he spoke, though there was bitterness in it as well.

"If your teacher had remained at the Civilization Academy back then... I would be an instructor, a real instructor. It would be fine for you to call me senior brother. A seventy-something old fellow, and yet I would count as being of the same generation as you."

The bitterness and sweetness within this, perhaps no one but they themselves could understand.

Few who got into the Civilization Academy were fools.

Yet they had wasted decades in this place. One could imagine what those people had endured.

Su Yu was still young and did not understand. Yet even listening to Liu Wenyan speak, a shiver rose uncontrollably within his heart.

To drift through life until old age, accomplishing nothing, only to be called Senior by a bunch of teenage kids...

"I won't!"

Su Yu muttered to himself. He wouldn't. He didn't want to, either.

So the Civilization Academy had more than just geniuses—it also had such miserable people. Sure enough, where some shone brightly, others were destined to fade into the shadows.

"Go on. Go back and rest for a few days. Study the Thunder Origin Blade carefully, nurture your divine script, and wait for the assessment."

"Teacher, what about killing a mid-stage Thousand Jun..."

"No need. There isn't enough time."

Su Yu thought it over, but still insisted, "Teacher, how about I give it a try? In a few days, once my Thunder Origin Blade has improved, I'll try again. If it doesn't work, I'll give up then."

"Suit yourself."

Liu Wenyan did not try to stop him. Persistence was a virtue too. It was quite good.

He tossed the beast-hide book, "Thunder Origin Blade," to Su Yu. With his hands clasped behind his back, Liu Wenyan leisurely walked out of the office. Before he could leave, he heard Su Yu say, "Teacher, I'll come to the academy again tomorrow morning to study with you, then go back in the afternoon to practice my blade technique..."

Liu Wenyan nearly stumbled and fell!

I told you to go home, rest for a few days, and properly study the blade technique. Do you think I was being lenient with you?

You stupid brat! Your teacher has overused his Willpower and needs to hide at home for the next few days to recover. Otherwise, if I come to the academy every day looking pale, like I've indulged in too much debauchery—can you not understand the deeper meaning behind my words?

With his back to Su Yu, Liu Wenyan's face darkened, though his tone remained calm. "No need to come. I have some matters to attend to these next few days as well. I'll see whether my physical body can establish its foundation and enter Soaring. I've been rather busy lately."

Su Yu instantly understood and hurriedly said, "All right, Teacher. Then I won't disturb you."

"Mm."

Liu Wenyan left with an unfathomable air, drifting away. If he stayed any longer, he feared he would no longer be able to keep it together.