Su Yu quickly opened the book titled "Methods of Accelerating the Kaiyuan Realm," only for the title page to leave him speechless. A line of blood-red characters was written across it—So-called acceleration methods can indeed accelerate progress, regardless of life or death. Most who attempt them die during the attempt!
Su Yu gave a wry smile. Just reading that made it sound unreliable. No wonder the teachers all said not to rush while in the Kaiyuan Realm, lest one stray onto the wrong path.
"Acceleration Method One: Bathe in the Blood of Gods and Demons. Gods and Devils are born with all nine apertures open and abundant qi; their blood contains a vast amount of Heavenly Origin qi..."
"Consequence: Body explosion!"
"Case Study: In the ninth year of Anping, the son of the Great Ming Prefecture Lord bathed in the Blood of Gods and Demons in an attempt to rapidly open his nine apertures. All nine apertures opened instantly that day. That same day, his body exploded and he died. He was nine years old at the time of death and had entered the Qianjun Realm!"
Su Yu bared his teeth. There were even case studies. It seemed this book really was not making things up.
The Prefecture Lord's son, the ninth year of Anping—that meant he had been the legitimate son of the King of Great Ming, who had founded Great Ming Prefecture. Even he had died? That was far too dangerous!
Besides, how could the Blood of Gods and Demons be so easily obtained?
On the Battlefields of the Heavens, the God and Demon Races were among the most powerful races. He had heard that the weakest Gods and Devils to take the field were all in the Wanshi Realm.
For the King of Great Ming's son to obtain such a thing, the King of Great Ming must have killed Gods or Devils and left it to him.
Even if this method worked, it had nothing to do with Su Yu.
"My dad isn't the King of Great Ming..."
Su Yu muttered to himself. If my dad were the King of Great Ming, I would not even need to cultivate. Who was the King of Great Ming? An invincible expert who founded Great Ming Prefecture, one of the pillars holding up the human race. Su Yu could not say exactly how strong he was, but he was so strong that Su Yu did not even need to think about it.
Discarding the first option, Su Yu continued reading. The farther he read, the more tightly his brow furrowed.
"Option Two: Eat demon flesh. The flesh and blood of certain Demon Races can aid in opening apertures."
"Consequence: Body explosion!"
"Case Study: In the early years of Anping, the human race was weak. Experts killed demons and carried their corpses back. Large numbers of humans consumed demon flesh; some exploded and died, while a small number rapidly opened all nine apertures."
"Note: Very few people opened apertures. According to statistics, the flesh and blood of Demon Races beneficial for opening apertures includes: the Golden Peng Race, the Savage Ox Race, the Sky Tiger Race..."
Forget it!
Su Yu immediately gave up on it. Was this a joke? The Demon Races listed here were all among the immensely powerful myriad races. Though inferior to the God and Demon Races, they were still beyond anything he could come into contact with.
"Option Three: Heavenly Origin Fruit, a heavenly treasure."
"The Heavenly Origin Fruit gathers Heavenly Origin qi, the primordial qi of the Myriad Worlds. It is immensely beneficial for opening the nine apertures."
"Locations: Several powerful realms, including the God Realm, Demon Realm, and Monster Realm, produce them, though in extremely small quantities."
"Case Study: In the twenty-fifth year of Anping, the son of King Dazhou consumed a Heavenly Origin Fruit and opened all nine apertures within three days. No aftereffects have been observed thus far."
Su Yu bared his teeth again. "The son of King Dazhou... King Dazhou seems to have only one son. Could this be Great Zhou Prefecture's current Prefecture Lord, Zhou Potian?"
Fine, give up.
He had never heard of this thing before. It was clearly an ultimate heavenly treasure. Zhou Potian was still alive even now and had become the Great Zhou Prefecture Lord, so he was obviously immensely powerful.
Even if the human race possessed Heavenly Origin Fruits, one would never fall into Su Yu's hands. This was probably a top-tier strategic resource.
"Option Four..."
Su Yu continued turning the pages, and the more he read, the colder his heart became.
Sure enough, cultivation in the Kaiyuan Realm had no Outer Dao to speak of. No wonder the teachers never mentioned any of this.
These acceleration methods either required powerful Blood of Gods and Demons or top-grade heavenly treasures, and all of them carried some degree of aftereffects.
"Option Nine: Places rich in qi. Qi is unevenly distributed throughout the Myriad Worlds. There are barren lands and abundant lands. The Kaiyuan Realm passively tempers the nine apertures, and its speed 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 option, Su Yu was slightly stunned.
Places rich in qi!
Those in the Kaiyuan Realm could not actually sense the existence of qi, but he also knew that Nanyuan City was not a place rich in qi.
"I've heard of this one. The bigger the city and the more sacred the land, the faster cultivation becomes. This must be related to how much qi there is."
The teachers in Nanyuan would not mention such things, because mentioning them would be pointless.
Moving house was not so simple these days.
"So, if I could go to a major city, or enter some secret realm or sacred land, I could accelerate safely. But the acceleration would not be very fast; it would not be as efficient as those earlier methods."
Abundant qi merely increased the speed somewhat. It did not let one reach the goal in a single bound like the previous methods.
Even so, Su Yu felt a little longing.
Unfortunately, he could not go to a single one of the Qi Sacred Lands listed above.
There was no need to mention the Battlefields of the Heavens. He had heard that higher academies possessed Academy Secret Realms, but he did not know the specifics. As for Human Realm Sacred Lands, there was even less to say.
"Option Ten: Qi Liquid."
"Qi Liquid can be naturally formed or artificially produced. In places throughout All Heavens and Myriad Worlds where qi is abundant, some qi liquid may naturally emerge, condensed from dense qi. It is exceedingly rare."
"Artificial production requires Soaring Realm experts to gather qi and condense it into liquid."
"Its effect is comparable to being in a place rich in qi."
"..."
There was no need to think about the natural kind. As for the artificial kind... the Soaring Realm!
Su Yu smiled bitterly again. What was the Soaring Realm?
Thousand Jun, Ten Thousand Stones was still merely physical enhancement. Su Yu did not know much about the Soaring Realm, but he knew it lay above the Wanshi Realm. At that point, humans could soar through the air and conquer the skies.
The Soaring Realm was a major transformation. Did anyone in all of Nanyuan City possess such a realm?
Perhaps there was, such as the Nanyuan City Lord.
But was that a level Su Yu could come into contact with?
At Nanyuan Middle Academy, the strongest person was the Academy Head, and he had only recently entered the Wanshi Realm.
If Wanshi Realm cultivators could condense it, Su Yu might have been able to beg the Academy Head for a drop or two of Qi Liquid, given the Academy Head's character. But the key was that the Academy Head could not do it.
"Not a single reliable one!"
Su Yu complained. No wonder these books had been tossed into a corner.
For people like Su Yu, none of the methods in them were viable.
The simplest option was probably going somewhere rich in qi or obtaining Qi Liquid. Yet even the lowest-grade Qi Liquid involved the Soaring Realm, still incomparably distant from Su Yu.
His father had already been at the Qianjun Seventh Level eighteen years ago. Over the years, because qi in Nanyuan was not abundant enough and his father had lost the military's resource supply, he had only reached the Thousand Jun Ninth Stage even now.
Even so, he was considered somebody in Nanyuan City. Of course, his father did not see himself that way. Before returning to the army, he had worked as an inspector at the Traffic Supervision Department and lived a leisurely life.
If not for taking care of Su Yu, Su Long, with his Thousand Jun Ninth Stage cultivation, could easily have found a good position in Nanyuan City.
"None of them will work!"
Su Yu flipped through the books once more before quickly returning them to their places.
After thinking for a moment, Su Yu walked over to Liu Yue with a faintly apologetic expression. "Liu Yue, can I interrupt you for a moment?"
Liu Yue put down the book in her hands, looked at Su Yu, and smiled softly. "Go ahead."
"I haven't paid much attention to cultivation matters these past few years. Do you know about Qi Liquid?"
"You want to buy Qi Liquid?"
Liu Yue immediately understood. She had been the one to point Su Yu toward those books, so naturally she had read them too.
"Qi Liquid... is a strategic resource. There's no channel to purchase it in Nanyuan City."
"But Great Xia Prefecture does have it. You need to register under your real name to buy it."
"There are many kinds of Qi Liquid. Qi Liquid condensed by experts of different realms is different. Of course, for Kaiyuan cultivators, Qi Liquid condensed by Soaring Realm experts is actually the most suitable. It is cheaper, and the qi is not condensed enough, which instead benefits aperture opening. If it is too concentrated, it can easily harm the body."
"However... the price is not low!"
"Even Qi Liquid condensed by a Soaring Realm expert takes three days to form one drop. But Soaring Realm experts need to cultivate too, and they need qi as well. Unless they are truly short of money, few are willing to condense it..."
As Liu Yue spoke, she looked at Su Yu. "Su Yu, you really don't need to buy it. It's too wasteful! And Qi Liquid only increases the concentration of qi; it doesn't mean it will definitely open your apertures."
"I know. Thanks. How much is one drop of Qi Liquid from a Soaring Realm expert?"
Su Yu naturally knew it would not be cheap, but he still wanted to ask. His father had left him quite a bit of money when he departed.
Or rather, all the family savings were with Su Yu. Going to the Battlefields of the Heavens was too dangerous, and Su Long was worried that he might not return.
"100,000 Anping Coin!"
"..."
Su Yu's heart twitched. One hundred thousand per drop!
His father was at the Thousand Jun Ninth Stage and held a public post at the Traffic Supervision Department, earning 5,000 Anping Coin a month. That was not considered a low salary.
After covering the father and son's daily expenses, as well as the cultivation supplies his father had to purchase from time to time, it would be good if they could save twenty or thirty thousand a year.
Over the years, Su Long had left his son a considerable sum for a future wife, around 300,000 in total.
So... their entire family fortune could only buy three drops of Qi Liquid?
No wonder Liu Yue had said it was too wasteful!
This was not wasteful. This was burning money!
Seeing Su Yu's expression, Liu Yue could not help laughing. "See? I told you it was expensive. It's really too wasteful! Actually... I used one drop before. It could probably maintain the higher qi concentration for three days, but the effect was truly ordinary."
"After using it once, I never used it again. It was too extravagant."
"If the effect were really that powerful, it's not as if there aren't people in the academy who can afford 100,000. They would have used it long ago. But how many people have you seen using it?"
"If three days can't open your apertures, then you have to keep buying it. Six days is 200,000, nine days is 300,000... no one can bear that cost."
Su Yu smiled bitterly. "I understand. It really is too expensive! If using it guaranteed that I could open my apertures, it would be a little better. But if it doesn't, then it really is money thrown into the water. No wonder the teachers all say there is no Outer Dao in Kaiyuan."
"There isn't." Liu Yue smiled. "You don't need to take an examination for this anyway. Why are you thinking of buying Qi Liquid?"
"I applied to a War Academy. It's one more preparation."
Su Yu gave a simple explanation, then smiled and said goodbye without continuing the conversation.
This was a library, not a place to chat.
Watching Su Yu leave, Liu Yue raised her brows, somewhat curious.
He applied to a War Academy?
Why would Su Yu, out of the blue, apply to a War Academy?
She lightly shook her head and stopped thinking about it. It would be useless even if he applied. In the future, they would probably both be classmates at Daxia Civilization Academy. She just hoped he would not do anything reckless.
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