Kaiyuan Acceleration Method

Su Yu quickly flipped open the book Methods for Accelerating the Kaiyuan Realm, only to be left speechless by the title page. Written there in blood-red large characters was: "So-called acceleration methods, regardless of life or death, can indeed speed things up—but most who try die in the attempt!"

Su Yu gave a bitter smile. One look at that line and he knew it was unreliable. No wonder the teachers always said not to rush the Kaiyuan Realm and to avoid straying down the wrong path.

"Acceleration Method One: Bathe in the powerful Blood of Gods and Demons. Gods and demons are born with nine apertures open, their qi abundant, and their blood contains vast amounts of Heavenly Origin Qi..."

"Consequence: Explosive death!"

"Case Study: In the ninth year of Anping, the son of the Great Ming Prefecture's Prefect bathed in the Blood of Gods and Demons, seeking to quickly open his nine apertures. He opened all nine that same day—and that same day, he exploded and died. At death, he was nine years old and had entered the Qianjun Realm!"

Su Yu bared his teeth. There were even case studies—so this book wasn't just making things up.

The Prefect's son, in the ninth year of Anping—that was the direct heir of the King of Great Ming, who founded the Great Ming Prefecture. Even he died. This was way too dangerous!

Besides, getting the Blood of Gods and Demons was no simple matter.

On the Battlefields of the Heavens, the God and Demon Races were among the most formidable of all races. Word had it that the weakest gods and demons sent to the battlefield were at the Wanshi Realm.

The King of Great Ming's son could get his hands on that stuff—it must have been left behind by the king after killing gods and demons.

This method wasn't just impractical; even if it worked, it had nothing to do with Su Yu.

"My dad's no King of Great Ming..."

Su Yu muttered to himself. If my dad were the King of Great Ming, I wouldn't even bother cultivating. Who was the King of Great Ming? An invincible powerhouse who founded the Great Ming Prefecture, one of humanity's pillars. How strong exactly? Su Yu couldn't say, but strong enough that he didn't need to think about it.

Ditching plan one, Su Yu kept reading, his brow furrowing more with each page.

"Plan Two: Eat the flesh of the Demon Race. Some demon flesh and blood can help open apertures."

"Consequence: Explosive death!"

"Case Study: In the early years of Anping, when humanity was weak, a strong man killed a demon and brought its corpse back. Many humans ate the demon's flesh and blood; some exploded and died, while a few quickly opened their nine apertures."

"Note: Among the very few who opened apertures, the demon flesh and blood that proved beneficial included: the Golden Peng Race, the Savage Ox Race, the Sky Tiger Race..."

Abandon!

Su Yu quickly gave up. No joke—the demon races listed here were all incredibly powerful among the myriad races. Though not as strong as the God and Demon Races, they were still beyond his reach.

"Plan Three: Heavenly Origin Fruit, a type of heavenly material and earthly treasure."

"The Heavenly Origin Fruit gathers Heavenly Origin Qi, the primordial qi of the myriad worlds, and is extremely beneficial for opening the nine apertures."

"Location: Produced in small quantities in the God Realm, Demon Realm, Monster Realm, and several other major realms."

"Case Study: In the 25th year of Anping, the son of King Dazhou took a Heavenly Origin Fruit and opened his nine apertures in three days, with no lasting ill effects."

Su Yu bared his teeth again. "The son of King Dazhou... King Dazhou only has one son, right? That wouldn't be Zhou Potian, the current Great Zhou Prefecture Prefect, would it?"

Right, abandon.

He'd never heard of this stuff before—clearly it was a top-tier heavenly treasure. Zhou Potian was still alive and had become the Great Zhou Prefecture Prefect, obviously incredibly powerful. Even if humanity had Heavenly Origin Fruits, they wouldn't be for Su Yu. This was probably a top-level strategic resource.

"Plan Four..."

Su Yu kept reading, his heart growing colder with each page.

Sure enough, there was no shortcut in the Kaiyuan Realm's cultivation. No wonder the teachers never brought it up.

These acceleration methods either required powerful Blood of Gods and Demons or top-tier heavenly treasures, and almost all came with some lingering drawbacks.

"Plan Nine: A place abundant with qi. The distribution of qi across the myriad worlds is uneven—some places are barren, others abundant. In the Kaiyuan Realm, passive tempering of the nine apertures is related to the amount of qi..."

"Note:

Qi Sacred Lands: The Battlefields of the Heavens, Academy Secret Realms, Human Realm Sacred Lands..."

Seeing this plan, Su Yu was momentarily stunned.

A place abundant with qi!

In the Kaiyuan Realm, you couldn't actually sense qi, but he knew Nanyuan City was no such place.

"I've heard of this one before. The bigger the city, the more sacred the land, the faster cultivation goes. That must be tied to how much qi there is."

The teachers in Nanyuan wouldn't bring this up—it was pointless. Moving these days wasn't easy.

"So if I could go to a big city, or some secret realm or sacred land, I could accelerate safely. But the speed wouldn't be that fast—not as efficient as the earlier methods."

Abundant qi only sped things up a bit, not like the earlier methods that got results in one go.

Still, Su Yu felt a flicker of longing.

Too bad he couldn't go to any of the Qi Sacred Lands listed. The Battlefields of the Heavens went without saying. Academy Secret Realms—he'd heard higher-level academies had them, but he didn't know the details. And the Human Realm Sacred Lands were out of the question.

"Plan Ten: Qi Liquid."

"Qi Liquid can be naturally formed or artificially produced. In places abundant with qi across the myriad worlds, some liquid qi may form—extremely rare, condensed from dense qi."

"Artificial production is done by Soaring Realm powerhouses, who condense qi into liquid."

"Effect: Comparable to a place abundant with qi."

"..."

Don't even think about natural ones. Artificial ones... Soaring Realm!

Su Yu smiled bitterly again. What exactly was the Soaring Realm?

Thousand Jun, Ten Thousand Stones—that was still purely physical enhancement. He didn't know much about the Soaring Realm, only that it was the realm above Wanshi. At that point, humans could soar through the air and conquer the sky.

The Soaring Realm was a major transformation. Was there anyone in all of Nanyuan City who had reached it?

Maybe. The Nanyuan City Lord, for instance.

But was that a level Su Yu could ever hope to reach?

At Nanyuan Middle Academy, the strongest was the Academy Head, and he had only just stepped into the Wanshi Realm not long ago.

If a Wanshi expert could condense Qi Liquid, given the Academy Head's personality, Su Yu might have a chance to beg for a drop or two. But the key problem was that the Academy Head couldn't do it either.

"Not a single reliable option!"

Su Yu grumbled. No wonder these books had been tossed into a corner.

For someone like Su Yu, none of the methods in these books were feasible.

The simplest would be to go to a place rich in Qi or obtain some Qi Liquid. But even the lowest-grade Qi Liquid was tied to the Soaring Realm, which was still impossibly far from Su Yu.

Eighteen years ago, his father was already at Qianjun Seventh Level. But because Nanyuan's Qi wasn't abundant enough and he'd lost the resource supply from the military, he'd only reached Thousand Jun Ninth Stage by now.

Even so, he was considered someone of note in Nanyuan City. Of course, his father didn't see it that way. Before he left, he'd been working as a supervisor at the Traffic Supervision Department, taking it easy.

If it weren't for taking care of Su Yu, someone of Su Long's Thousand Jun Ninth Stage could easily have secured a good position in Nanyuan City.

"None of it works!"

Su Yu flipped through the books again, then quickly put them back in place.

After a moment's thought, he walked over to Liu Yue and gave a slight apologetic smile. "Liu Yue, can I bother you for a moment?"

Liu Yue put down her book and looked at Su Yu, smiling lightly. "Go ahead."

"I haven't paid much attention to cultivation matters over the years. Do you know anything about Qi Liquid?"

"You want to buy Qi Liquid?"

Liu Yue understood immediately. She had pointed Su Yu to those books, so of course she'd read them too.

"Qi Liquid... that's a strategic resource. There's no way to buy it in Nanyuan City."

"But you can get it over at Great Xia Prefecture, though you need to register with your real name."

"There are many types of Qi Liquid. The ones condensed by experts at different realms are different. Of course, for Opening Aperture, the ones condensed by Soaring Realm experts are actually the most suitable. They're cheaper, the Qi isn't too concentrated, which actually helps with opening apertures. Too dense and it can easily harm the body."

"But... the price isn't low!"

"Even for a Soaring Realm expert, it takes three days to condense a single drop of Qi Liquid. And those experts need to cultivate too—they need Qi themselves. Unless they're really strapped for cash, very few are willing to condense it..."

Liu Yue looked at Su Yu as she spoke. "Su Yu, you really don't need to buy it. It's such a waste! Besides, Qi Liquid only increases the concentration of Qi—it doesn't guarantee you'll open an aperture."

"I know. Thank you. How much is one drop of Soaring Realm Qi Liquid?"

Su Yu knew it wasn't cheap, but he still wanted to ask. His father had left him quite a bit of money before leaving.

Or rather, the family's savings were all with Su Yu. After all, heading to the Battlefields of the Heavens was too dangerous, and Su Long was worried he might not come back.

"100,000 Anping Coins."

"..."

Su Yu's heart clenched. 100,000 for one drop!

His father was at Thousand Jun Ninth Stage, a public servant at the Traffic Supervision Department, with a monthly salary of 5,000 Anping Coins. That wasn't too low.

After covering their daily expenses and his father's cultivation supplies, they'd be lucky to save 20,000 to 30,000 a year.

Over the years, Su Long had managed to save about 300,000 for his son's future.

So... his entire family fortune was only enough for three drops of Qi Liquid?

No wonder Liu Yue said it was such a waste!

This wasn't waste—this was burning money!

Seeing Su Yu's expression, Liu Yue couldn't help but laugh. "I told you it was expensive. It really is such a waste! Actually... I've used one drop before. It maintains Qi concentration for about three days, and the effect was honestly just average."

"After using it once, I never used it again. Too extravagant."

"If the effect were really that strong, there are people in the academy who could afford 100,000. They would have used it long ago. But how many have you seen actually using it?"

"If three days doesn't let you open an aperture, you'd have to keep buying. Six days would be 200,000, nine days 300,000... no one can sustain that."

Su Yu smiled bitterly. "I see. It really is too expensive! If using it guaranteed an aperture opening, that would be one thing. But if it doesn't, it's just money down the drain. No wonder the teachers all say there's no shortcut to Opening Aperture."

"Exactly." Liu Yue smiled. "You don't even need to pass that assessment. Why are you thinking about buying Qi Liquid?"

"I applied to the War Academy. Just preparing in advance."

Su Yu gave a brief explanation, then smiled, took his leave, and didn't continue the conversation.

This was the library, not a place for chatting.

Watching Su Yu leave, Liu Yue raised an eyebrow, curious.

Applied to the War Academy?

Why would Su Yu suddenly apply to the War Academy?

She shook her head lightly and stopped thinking about it. Even if he applied, it wouldn't matter. They'd probably all be classmates at Daxia Civilization Academy anyway. She just hoped he wouldn't do anything reckless.