"Ha!"
A low shout rang through the training room alongside the cry of a blade.
Ever since he had smashed the wardrobe last time, Su Yu no longer dared practice the more powerful Thunder Origin Blade at home. He was worried about tearing down the house—or splitting the floor and getting beaten up by the old man downstairs with fists as big as sandpots.
The standard-issue military saber flashed out at tremendous speed, slicing through the air with a howling whistle.
Su Yu panted lightly, sheathed his saber, and frowned.
Difficult!
A Profound-rank martial skill was still a little too early for him—far too difficult.
Even the first strike—Thunder Strike—normally required the coordinated activation of nine apertures, gathering power into one and unleashing a single slash.
"I've learned the form. The key is Origin Qi!"
Su Yu summed it up. He had learned the form of Thunder Strike, and that itself was not difficult.
The key lay in linking the apertures, erupting Origin Qi, gathering force into one, coating the blade with Origin Qi, and striking like lightning to kill the enemy in a single blow!
After all, he had only opened eight apertures. All he could use was the Origin Qi within his own body, not Origin Qi from the outside world.
"I still can't rapidly gather my Origin Qi into one and pour it all into the blade."
Su Yu frowned. It had been three days.
He had practiced this strike for three days. That was not particularly long, but even after reading the Thunder Origin Blade several times a day, he still could not grasp the method of gathering Origin Qi into one.
That meant he had not even crossed the threshold!
To cross the threshold, he at least needed to be able to inject Origin Qi into the blade.
Only then came proficiency and speed—completing the injection of Origin Qi in an instant.
After three days, he had not even managed the first step, let alone figuring out how to speed it up or inject Origin Qi instantly.
"Do I really have to reach the Kaiyuan Ninth Stage?"
Su Yu sighed. He wanted to cultivate to the Kaiyuan Ninth Stage first, but the problem was that he had also used essence blood once during these three days and discovered that its effects were now far worse than before. Opening the final aperture was proceeding very slowly.
At this pace, it would probably take at least a month.
The Kaiyuan Eighth Stage had taken him twenty days last time. Taking a month to reach the Kaiyuan Ninth Stage would already be considered good.
And he would need to spend quite a bit of essence blood. Su Yu only had two drops of Iron Winged Bird Essence Blood left, and he had to save one in case of emergencies.
"Eight apertures working together... how can I control Origin Qi and send it where I want it to go?"
Origin Qi was somewhat disobedient. It would not move wherever he wanted simply because he wished it to.
Su Yu stopped practicing the saber art. He sat down beside the wall, drank a cup of water, and began to think.
"The Rending strike from the Iron Winged Bird clan's skill activated by the tome gathers Origin Qi in the palm, making the hand incomparably sharp enough to tear through all of an enemy's defenses."
"But the tome was operating it for me. It wasn't under my own control."
"Now that I want to inject Origin Qi into the blade, the principle is the same. The tome uses the power of essence blood rather than external Origin Qi, but the principle is connected to the Origin Qi stored within my own body..."
Su Yu felt a pang in his heart. He roughly understood how he could quickly cross the threshold of the Thunder Origin Blade.
He would continue using essence blood to activate the Rending skill and observe how Origin Qi gathered and circulated.
No one understood his own body better than he did. No matter how clearly Liu Wenyan's Willpower Script demonstrated it, nothing could compare to trying it himself once.
"I have to spend money again!"
One drop of blood cost thirty thousand. Was it worth spending that much just to make one attempt and observe it once?
For many people, it definitely would be.
As for Su Yu, he did not truly mind spending money. He was not stingy; he was simply genuinely strapped for cash at the moment.
"Forget it, I'll use a drop! If I can ambush and kill a Qianjun, I can earn it back in Merit Points. I can also master the Thunder Origin Blade while I'm at it. Overall, I'll still come out ahead."
Ever since he had activated a martial skill at the academy last time, Su Yu had not used this thing again.
Last time, he had been at the Kaiyuan Fourth Stage. Now, he was at the Kaiyuan Eighth Stage.
Su Yu stopped hesitating and swiftly pulled a small bottle from his pocket. He carried essence blood with him at all times in case something unexpected happened.
Once he made up his mind, Su Yu did not dither.
He swiftly swallowed a drop of essence blood. This time, instead of activating the Essence Gathering Art, he activated the Rending skill.
This time, Su Yu's purpose was much clearer than before.
At this moment, his perception was also far more direct.
A force appeared from nowhere within his body. It was force converted from essence blood, similar to Origin Qi, though closer to the fundamental power of humans.
This force also circulated around his apertures and quickly began to gather. Su Yu's right hand soon swelled.
Su Yu did not unleash it. Instead, he silently experienced the sensation.
His arm was painfully swollen, but he could endure it.
He was experiencing the feeling of Origin Qi gathering into one, sensing the mysteries of Origin Qi's circulation.
One minute, two minutes...
Su Yu still did not unleash it. By now, his right hand had visibly swollen.
His physical body was not strong enough. This was the explosive force of the Qianjun Seventh Level. The power condensed from essence blood was immense, and he faintly felt as though it might burst his arm apart.
Su Yu kept observing. Using himself as an experiment and studying himself was also something many Civilization Masters did.
If Liu Wenyan and Bai Feng saw this scene—saw Su Yu remain expressionless as he allowed his arm to swell to its limit—they would probably curse him while still being unable to stop themselves from praising him. Su Yu's heart for seeking already possessed the state of mind of a Civilization Master.
Seeking...
There were too many unknowns in All Heavens and Myriad Worlds. Countless brilliant civilizations gathered there. Though humanity was strong, it could not dominate all the heavens. Only by seeking above and below, sparing no effort to explore and pursue, could humanity rise more swiftly.
Countless Civilization Masters acted as pioneers, attempting new cultivation arts, improving the cultivation arts of myriad races, swallowing different heavenly treasures, forcibly altering their physical bodies, and adapting themselves to the cultivation manuals of other races... Generation after generation of Civilization Masters, many of them died in laboratories.
Yet their achievements were extraordinary. Humanity had risen and grown powerful rapidly after the Anping Calendar began, and Civilization Masters had played an enormous role in that.
The Seeking Realm, the holy land of Civilization Masters.
It was called Seeking because it sought the unknown.
The Su Yu of today did not know this place existed, nor did he think much about it. He merely wanted to understand how to cross the threshold of the Thunder Origin Blade.
Yet an eighth-stage Kaiyuan warrior was operating a martial skill with energy far beyond his limits, all to observe the mysteries of Origin Qi's circulation. That was the heart of seeking—though, naturally, there was also the recklessness of one who feared nothing because he knew nothing.
Five minutes later, the power faded.
By then, Su Yu's right hand was too terrible to look at. It had swollen into a pig's trotter.
Su Yu gritted his teeth. Of course it hurt, but the pain could not conceal his delight. He felt as if he had finally caught hold of a clue.
"I overlooked something."
"Gathering Origin Qi into one doesn't merely require the apertures to work together. It also requires the cooperation of the physical body itself—meridians, muscles, and so on."
"I've always treated apertures as the foundation, but actually... that was an error!"
"The fundamental purpose of apertures is still to serve the strengthening of the physical body."
"Apertures are the engine, but they aren't the only thing."
At that moment, Su Yu came to a profound realization.
Apertures were what absorbed Origin Qi. They were the engine of a car, while Origin Qi was the fuel. But the body was the car itself—the wheels, the steering wheel.
He only knew how to burn fuel, but not how to steer. That had nothing to do with the apertures; the main issue was his body's poor coordination.
"I haven't been a good driver. All the hardware is there, but I can't gather Origin Qi and inject it into the blade because this driver doesn't know how to drive..."
Su Yu understood. A feeling of utter exhilaration washed over him, and he even forgot the pain in his right hand.
The teachers had actually said these things before.
But without experiencing it himself, discussing tactics on paper was merely empty talk.
If a swimming pool was draining and filling at the same time, how many hours would it take to fill it? If you did not try it yourself, then even if you calculated it a hundred times, it would never leave as deep an impression as one personal experiment.
Of course, the premise was that your family owned a swimming pool and you were not afraid of getting beaten up. Then you could give it a try yourself.
Those messy thoughts flashed past in an instant. At that moment, Su Yu could not wait to try the Thunder Origin Blade again, only then finally feeling the pain radiating from his arm.
"Not today. I'll try again tomorrow. I've already grasped the method for getting started; all that remains is practice."
Su Yu was delighted. He was delighted not only because he had grasped the method, but because he had developed another function of the tome.
Taken at face value, the tome could currently only absorb Origin Qi and unleash martial skills.
But through this function of unleashing martial skills, he had uncovered the mysteries of Origin Qi's circulation.
It might even include some of the mysteries of apertures used by the Iron Winged Bird clan at the moment they unleashed their skills.
"This is an Iron Winged Bird, and its body differs too greatly from a human's, so it isn't very obvious. But what if it were the cultivation arts of Gods and Devils?"
"Wouldn't that mean I could... see even more?"
Su Yu went home to read, waiting to put it into practice the next day.
It was already June 8.
There were seventeen days left until the higher academy examinations.
At the same time.
Daxia Civilization Academy.
Inside an enormous hall.
Wan Tiansheng had gathered the academy's upper ranks for a meeting. At that moment, Wan Tiansheng slowly said, "Prefect Xia has entered seclusion, and Marquis Xia will temporarily assume the position of prefect! Everyone should know what happened at this morning's ceremony... I propose that Marquis Xia withdraw the troops. On the Battlefields of the Heavens, the Dragon Martial Guard will soon retreat back to Great Xia Prefecture."
The moment he finished speaking, an elderly man with gray hair rose to his feet and angrily rebuked him. "Wan Tiansheng, you and Marquis Xia are birds of a feather, colluding in evil! Great Xia Prefecture has fought in the heavens for years, and never before has it withdrawn troops in the midst of battle!"
"You are traitors to humanity, traitors to Great Xia Prefecture! By law, you should be beheaded!"
Wan Tiansheng was not angry. He calmly replied, "By your reasoning, the people of Great Zhou Prefecture and Great Ming Prefecture are all traitors! To forget war is perilous; to love war is ruin!"
"How can you lump them together!"
The old man roared, "Love war? If humanity does not fight, the Human Realm will become the next Battlefields of the Heavens! If Great Xia Prefecture does not fight, if Great Zhou Prefecture does not fight, if every prefecture ceases fighting, how will the Human Realm survive?"
"Wan Tiansheng, you are a sinner!"
Wan Tiansheng swept his gaze below. Quite a few people wore indignant expressions. At the ceremony, his proposal to withdraw troops and make the Tianyi Divine Race buy their lives with resources had already left many dissatisfied with him.
Wan Tiansheng sighed inwardly, but he was used to it.
To love war is ruin!
Many people said those words, but how many truly understood them?
Was Great Xia Prefecture powerful?
It was very powerful!
But Great Xia Prefecture had fought year after year, spending more than it earned. Each battle brought little harvest, and sustaining war through war was simply impossible.
Great Xia Prefecture had to support the Dragon Martial Guard, the Demon Suppression Army, the Great Xia Prefecture Army, and countless compensation payments... Across all of Great Xia Prefecture, everyone regarded dying in battle as an honor!
But when they died in battle... they lost their lives, while Great Xia Prefecture lost money.
Too much money!
Over the years, nearly a million had died in battle. That was only Great Xia Prefecture. Xia Longwu also cherished his soldiers, and the compensation for those killed was extremely generous. Not only did each person receive hundreds of thousands of Anping Coins, there were all kinds of additional benefits.
As a result, everyone in Great Xia Prefecture truly became fearless in the face of death.
Quite a few old people even fought with savage ferocity on the battlefield to carve out a future for their descendants, utterly unafraid of death.
But did these people understand that Great Xia Prefecture was already drawing upon the foundation left behind from King Daxia's era?
After serving for so many years, Xia Longwu had already exhausted the family fortune accumulated in the past!
Countless thoughts flashed through Wan Tiansheng's mind. Soon, he regained his calm. "A sinner? Whether I, Wan Tiansheng, am guilty is not for you to decide! Besides... I merely made a proposal. This is Marquis Xia's order."
"Marquis Xia..."
The elderly man's expression changed. Then he burst into curses. "He's a pig! Aside from raking in money, what else can he do?"
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Wan Tiansheng interrupted, "Elder Yun, don't beat the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree..."
"I'm not beating the mulberry tree while cursing the locust tree. I'm cursing him directly!"
The old man angrily said, "Even if he were standing before me, I'd point at his nose and curse him!"
"The Xia Family Merchant Guild has monopolized the cultivation resources of all Great Xia Prefecture. Isn't that enough money for him? That pig-headed Xia still wants to keep raking it in, even reaching into the Battlefields of the Heavens. He should be beheaded and sacrificed to heaven!"
The previously solemn meeting suddenly took on a strange turn.
Below, someone from the younger generation spoke up. "Academy Head, now that Marquis Xia is in charge of Great Xia Prefecture, he won't cut our salaries and bonuses, will he?"
"Academy Head, why don't you suggest to Marquis Xia that the Xia Family Merchant Guild stop selling things at such outrageous prices? Great Ming Prefecture is much cheaper than we are."
"Academy Head, how long will Marquis Xia act as prefect? A few years ago, when the prefect went to the Battlefields of the Heavens, Marquis Xia acted in his place too. In the end... the academy even charged fees for using the latrine. Isn't that too much of a scam?"
"..."
Everyone's attention had already shifted to Marquis Xia.
Wan Tiansheng secretly let out a breath of relief. This was a good thing. Marquis Xia... was naturally meant to take the blame.
Of course, Marquis Xia was not as terrible as these people claimed.
Great Xia Prefecture was spending more than it earned. Xia Longwu ignored such matters and only concerned himself with cultivation and warfare. If Marquis Xia had not brought in money, the prefecture treasury would have been empty five years ago.
In Wan Tiansheng's opinion, Marquis Xia was more suited than Xia Longwu to serve as prefect.
Great Xia Prefecture had remained standing because Marquis Xia deserved the greatest credit. Naturally, outsiders could not understand such things.
All they knew was that Marquis Xia was a thoroughly shameless fellow.
If his father were not King Daxia, he would have long since been beaten to death with a club in some alley.
Ignoring them, Wan Tiansheng perfunctorily answered a few remarks before swiftly saying, "Since Marquis Xia is temporarily acting as prefect, no one will have an easy time this year. Marquis Xia spoke with me before; the treasury has no money, so we must cut expenditures!"
"Therefore, this year's incoming class will be reduced by five hundred students."
"Additionally, within the academy... some departments must be separated."
"And one key point: those over fifty who have not manifested their willpower may no longer serve as instructors at the academy. From now on, they will no longer receive academy stipends."
The moment those final words were spoken, the entire venue erupted!
"Absolutely not!"
"How can this be allowed!"
"Academy Head, you are betraying the entire academy!" An elderly man roared, "Daxia Civilization Academy has a full twenty thousand students over fifty who have yet to manifest their willpower. Only around five hundred serve as instructors. If the stipends of the other twenty thousand are canceled, how are they supposed to live?"
A chill appeared in Wan Tiansheng's eyes. It was bloated beyond measure!
Over the past fifty years, Daxia Civilization Academy's strength had indeed advanced enormously, with experts gathering like clouds.
But it had to be said that internal problems had also begun to emerge—many, many problems.
A group of old students who had yet to manifest had nearly dragged the Academy down.
He knew this plan would be opposed. With tens of thousands of people, each receiving an annual stipend of over 100,000, the stipends alone amounted to several billion in expenses!
Of course, these old students were deeply intertwined with the Academy.
Some had descendants at the Academy; others had classmates and teachers there. Once the stipends were canceled, it would inevitably trigger a massive earthquake.
But cutting expenditure was imperative.
He could no longer tolerate it. Back when Xia Longwu was around, his plans had repeatedly failed to pass because Xia Longwu believed these people had also contributed greatly to Great Xia Prefecture and their hearts could not be chilled.
But if their hearts were not chilled... sooner or later, something would go wrong.
One Daxia Civilization Academy was already like this. Across all of Great Xia Prefecture, these expenses alone were an astronomical figure!
No matter how capable Marquis Xia was at raking in money, he could not fill that deficit.
They were bound to go through this pain. Even if they did not understand today, someday... he hoped they would.
They were all stakeholders. Wan Tiansheng was not swayed by their words. His voice remained calm, yet it drowned out everyone else as he said lightly, "This is an edict from Great Xia Prefecture. If any of you are dissatisfied, go argue with Marquis Xia!"
"Furthermore, research funding will be cut by thirty percent! Some useless research can simply be abandoned. The Audit Institute must shoulder its responsibilities. Do not put every single project on the table—spending plenty of money and producing no results at all!"
"What research into the Fire Porcupine race... How many years has that been studied? They are a cannon-fodder race on the Battlefields of the Heavens. If we have not killed ten million of them, then we have killed at least one million. What is there left worth studying?"
Wan Tiansheng rebuked them, "Nonsense! With that energy, can you not research something else?"
"And if you are doing research, then focus on research! Do not entertain all those disorderly, crooked thoughts!"
Having said that, Wan Tiansheng did not wait for anyone to refute him before dropping another bomb. "I have considered it and discussed it with Marquis Xia. The Myriad Races Training Institute... will be reopened!"
The moment those words came out, they completely overshadowed all previous news.
At that moment, even among the powerful figures who had remained silent, someone said coldly, "The Myriad Races Training Institute? Academy Head, this proposal was rejected years ago! Back then, the Prefecture Lord personally went to the Battlefields of the Heavens and wiped out several races. And now you wish to restart it? Do you really think the Prefecture Lord will not emerge from seclusion?"
Wan Tiansheng said calmly, "Everyone, if we do not admit members of the myriad races, do you think the Ten Thousand Races Cult has no spies within the Academy?"
"That is different!"
Someone barked coldly, "The Ten Thousand Races Cult is the Ten Thousand Races Cult. After all, they are not the myriad races themselves! What meaning is there in admitting the myriad races?"
"To make money."
Wan Tiansheng said bluntly, "Rather than let them send Ten Thousand Races Cult spies here, we might as well admit them directly. First, they will be under our very noses, with people watching them.
Second, we can charge exorbitant admission fees.
Third, it is not merely money, but vast quantities of resources—even some top-secret cultivation methods. If they wish to enter Daxia Civilization Academy, they must pay a tremendous price.
In this way, they will provide less support to the Ten Thousand Races Cult and have fewer resources, while those resources fall into our hands.
Fourth, it demonstrates our sincerity. As long as they are not unwavering enemies, then we can form alliances!
We humans are among the top ten powerful races of the Myriad Races of the Heavens. We are not something just anyone can take a bite out of. Cooperation may be more beneficial than hostility!"
As Wan Tiansheng spoke, he continued, "It is not just us. The God Race and Devil Race actually have such measures as well. They are also buying over those small races. They even open certain less important secret realms and sacred lands to small races, nurturing and strengthening them, turning them into vanguard forces in the war against humanity!"
"Within the armies of the Gods and Devils, there are even experts from small races. In every battle, the humans who die will certainly be human, while the Gods and Devils may lose people from the small races. Their own strength suffers no damage at all."
"Since the myriad races can plant spies among humanity and nurture the Ten Thousand Races Cult, we also have opportunities. For instance, these Myriad Races Students who enroll here—buy them off, brainwash them, coerce and tempt them with benefits... there will always be a way to win them over!"
"After enough years have passed, these people may become the vanguard of humanity's counterattack!"
Wan Tiansheng said in a deep voice, "I admit that there are drawbacks, and quite a few of them. But everyone should consider this: do the drawbacks outweigh the benefits, or do the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? So long as they are properly supervised, this may actually be better than before. At the very least, you will no longer need to worry that the person beside you is a member of the Ten Thousand Races Cult!"
"When people from the myriad races come personally, the Ten Thousand Races Cult will diminish drastically. Then what happened before will not happen again—spending huge quantities of resources only to nurture experts for the Ten Thousand Races Cult!"
"..."
Wan Tiansheng had led the Academy for so many years, and he still had many supporters. The crowd began discussing it one after another.
In a corner, Bai Feng yawned, feeling rather bored.
This had nothing to do with him, nor was it his place to offer an opinion. A mere assistant researcher like him had no say here.
Just as he was growing bored, Liu Hong beside him said with a smile, "Bai Feng, with student numbers being cut this year, your reserve student will not be eliminated, will he? And that martial uncle of yours seems to be among those whose stipends are being cut..."
Bai Feng looked at him as though he were an idiot. "My martial uncle has manifested. Did you not know? Sorry, he is not among those being cut."
"He manifested?"
Liu Hong truly did not know. In the Civilization Academy, this did not count as any major matter. Manifestation only meant the first level of the Soaring Realm.
Liu Hong did not continue on that subject and smiled. "Research funding is being cut. The Academy seems to be heading toward reform, and the assessments for people like us will probably become stricter from now on..."
"If you have something to say, say it directly. I am too lazy to guess. It is exhausting."
Liu Hong took a deep breath. "Elder Hong's research institute can open itself to me. I will inject funding, and we can conduct research together. I can even provide resources that you do not have, and we can share the results! Bai Feng, if you and I keep fighting, the final result will only be mutual destruction!"
Liu Hong said seriously, "Elder Hong's research institute has not reported any results for years. If this continues, as long as someone pushes for it, it will be shut down!"
"Get lost!"
Bai Feng cursed without the slightest politeness, then thought for a moment. "Actually, it is not impossible..."
Liu Hong was overjoyed!
"First send me a few Shanhai Realm Gods and Devils corpses, then we can discuss it properly."
Bai Feng said earnestly, "Really. Since you want to join us, bleeding a little is necessary. After all, we have researched this for so many years and are close to producing results."
"I..."
Liu Hong cursed inwardly. Do you take me for an idiot?
Bai Feng sneered. Who else would it be but you?
Bai Feng ignored him after that. He glanced at Wan Tiansheng above and thought to himself, The Academy will probably be rather turbulent lately. I wonder whether that is good or bad.
The Prefecture Lord was in seclusion, while Marquis Xia was temporarily acting as Prefecture Lord... Why did it feel like an omen of great change?
"Nothing will go wrong, will it?"
Bai Feng sighed inwardly. He hoped things would go more smoothly. And that kid Su Yu... he wondered how his cultivation had been progressing lately.
Before you continue