Your Shamelessness Looks So Good

Sweep the battlefield and search for the remaining Ten Thousand Races Cult members.

Before long, everything had settled down. Every member of the Northern Squad returned wounded.

Inside the vehicle.

This time, Su Yu rode with Captain Liu. Captain Liu's left arm was drenched in blood, yet the iron-blooded burly man seemed not to feel it at all. He even joked with Su Yu in the car. "Your old man used to brag that he killed Ten Thousand Stones at the Qianjun Seventh Level. The whole of Nanyuan practically knows about it now. Look at me—I killed a Ten Thousand Stones fighter this time, but I'm not as crazy as your old man."

Su Yu had originally been somewhat saddened, but the captain's words nearly made him laugh.

Captain Liu had seemed very stern to him before, but he was completely different now.

Su Yu vaguely understood that he had earned his recognition.

Previously, in Captain Liu's eyes, he had been nothing but baggage—a burden. At a critical moment, Jifeng Hall might even have needed to save him, disrupting their deployment.

But today, Su Yu had contributed to killing a Ten Thousand Stones fighter.

If Su Yu had not disrupted the opponent for that instant, even if that Ten Thousand Stones fighter had still died today, Jifeng Hall would have suffered heavy losses.

Su Yu did not want to discuss his father, so he changed the subject. "Captain Liu..."

"Just call me Uncle!"

Captain Liu was no longer stern at this point. He was remarkably cordial as he smiled. "We're family. You're not even a Jifeng Hall squad member, so don't stand on ceremony!"

"Uncle Liu." Su Yu did not put on airs either. With some confusion, he asked, "There were quite a few Ten Thousand Races Cult members this time, and they even had a Ten Thousand Stones fighter holding the fort. If they had gathered together and jointly defended that small courtyard, I don't think Jifeng Hall would have taken them down so easily, right?"

Captain Liu nodded and said with certainty, "Of course! If they had held that courtyard with a Ten Thousand Stones fighter in command, as long as those in front held us off for a while, then the Ten Thousand Stones fighter launched a surprise attack, our Northern Squad would probably have lost more than half its men this time."

"Then..."

"You want to ask why they were so foolish, scattering and fleeing?"

Liu Pingshan sneered. "Because they were afraid of dying! Who in the Ten Thousand Races Cult isn't afraid of death? Hold their ground? Holding their ground means the people in front have to risk their lives. Why should I be the one risking mine? When disaster strikes, each bird flies its own way. I won't hold the line—I'll run. Then I might have a chance to survive."

"But if I hold the line, those resisting in front will definitely die!"

Liu Pingshan said disdainfully, "The Ten Thousand Races Cult has elites, and they are quite powerful! But they lack the heart to fight to the death and the resolve to die. Of course, a few mad cults do have such combat units, but those are only deployed in large-scale wars."

"With little teams like this, don't expect them to risk their lives for anyone. They can fight when the wind is at their backs, but the moment they sense the possibility of defeat, the possibility of death, these people collapse in an instant!"

Liu Pingshan looked at Su Yu and said seriously, "That is why I say the Ten Thousand Races Cult is merely a festering scab! No matter how many experts they have, the moment they encounter a setback, they immediately collapse! But regular human legions will never be like that! They can fight favorable battles, and they can fight battles in desperate straits too!"

"In war, what you fight for includes momentum!"

Liu Pingshan looked at Su Yu, his expression suddenly turning solemn. "As long as that momentum remains, even if you are weaker than your enemy, you still have hope of turning the tables! In battles where life blooms from death, where the few defeat the many, that momentum is present! Kill as many of my people as you like—you still cannot break me!"

"The human race's elite legions, like the Dragon Martial Guard of Great Xia Prefecture, will find it difficult to collapse even when they fight down to their last man! But some ragtag corps may completely collapse after losing more than ten percent of their forces, even if they are an army of a hundred thousand!"

"On the battlefield, those who fight to the bitter end are ultimately the minority!"

After thinking for a moment, Liu Pingshan added, "If you have a chance to go to the Battlefields of the Heavens in the future, you will discover that when two legions of a hundred thousand men meet and suffer massive casualties, the greatest losses are not on the frontal battlefield. They come when one side collapses and the enemy follows up with pursuit and slaughter."

"That is why the first thing human soldiers are taught when entering the Battlefields of the Heavens is not to collapse! Those charging at the front lines are absolutely veteran soldiers—veterans with more than ten years of service, the most elite batch. Even if more than half of them are killed or wounded, they will not collapse!"

"If recruits charge at the front and suffer heavy casualties, they will drag down the entire legion. There have been more than one or two cases where a legion was shattered because its own people turned around and crashed back into the formation!"

Su Yu nodded. Liu Pingshan had cleared up his doubts.

He had been wondering whether the Ten Thousand Races Cult had panicked today, whether that Ten Thousand Stones fighter had been a little stupid. Why hide? If he had simply led his men out to fight, he might truly have had a chance to escape, perhaps even turn defeat into victory.

Now Su Yu understood. The key was... fear of death.

No one was unafraid of death. Were Liu Pingshan and the others unafraid?

They were afraid too!

The key lay in ideals, persistence, conviction, and the courage to fight!

"Uncle Liu, then are human legions the strongest on the Battlefields of the Heavens?"

"Cough, cough..." Liu Pingshan was a little embarrassed. After considering it, he still spoke frankly. "I'm afraid of misleading you. If you were never going to the Battlefields of the Heavens, it would be fine for me to brag a little. But you might go someday, so I cannot mislead you."

"On the Battlefields of the Heavens, human legions are very resilient and powerful, but calling them invincible would be overestimating ourselves."

"The god race, devil race, demon race, and even some smaller races all have elite corps of their own!"

"They can fight very well too!" Liu Pingshan said in a deep voice. "Back when I was on the Battlefields of the Heavens, I encountered a Demon Heaven Guard unit with a thousand-man establishment. I was serving in the Hushan Army at the time. The Hushan Army had ten thousand men, while they had one thousand. Most of them were at Thousand Jun, Ten Thousand Stones, and we met in Fenglong Gorge. Both sides fought head-on!"

"The result... the Hushan Army paid the price of four thousand casualties to wipe out that Demon Heaven Guard unit!"

Liu Pingshan said emotionally, "They really could fight. I remember that by the end, only one Soaring Third Level expert was still alive. At the time, he still had a chance to escape, because we had suffered terrible losses as well. Yet... that fellow launched one final charge. When he died, he was facing us, not turning his back to us..."

"In that battle, the Hushan Army was nearly beaten into collapse. In the end, the commander arrived and personally buried them in Fenglong Gorge. Apart from their weapons and other spoils of war, all the bodies were buried there. We did not collect the corpses."

Collecting corpses was actually a tremendous gain as well.

But in that battle, though the Demon Heaven Guard had been enemies, they had fought with magnificence. In the end, the Hushan Army gave up collecting their corpses and buried them instead.

Su Yu breathed out softly. So the other myriad races also had such fearless legions on the Battlefields of the Heavens.

That was only natural, really. It was simply that Great Xia Prefecture mainly promoted not these things, but the human race's unstoppable advance on the battlefield.

Liu Pingshan continued, "Of course, such legions are rare. They are the elites of every race! The human race has legions that can fight, but there are also some comparatively weak legions. Not every legion can be a powerful army. We should not underestimate ourselves, but neither should we become overconfident on the battlefield and think the myriad races are nothing much..."

"If that were truly the case, we would have stormed into the myriad races' lairs instead of tangling with them on the Battlefields of the Heavens."

Su Yu nodded. As they chatted, the vehicle entered the city.

The city remained peaceful.

The small-scale clash outside the city had not drawn much attention.

However, there were more vehicles on the streets now, coming from Great Xia Prefecture.

People from Great Xia Prefecture had already arrived.

The assessment date was drawing near. It was time for them to come.

Captain Liu saw them too and said, "You do not need to worry. It would be fine even if you did not participate in the assessment. This time, you assisted us in killing a Ten Thousand Stones fighter, killed a Thousand Jun Sixth Stage fighter yourself, and earned merits several times before this. Once everything is reported, it should not be difficult for you to gain admission to Civilization Academy or the War Academy without an examination."

If Chen Hao heard those words, he would probably go mad.

Exemption from the exam!

The kind of admission that was guaranteed!

If Chen Hao knew, he would probably sigh that even people born into the same world lived vastly different lives.

Bai Feng had originally possessed such a quota and gave it to Su Yu and Liu Yue. Then Su Yu earned enough merit himself to qualify for exemption from the exam. Every opportunity had fallen into his hands alone!

The strong remained strong, and adding flowers to brocade was only natural.

Su Yu pondered for a moment before saying, "Captain Liu... could you only count merit for me regarding the assisted killing of that Ten Thousand Stones fighter? I'm afraid I'll be retaliated against if word gets out. I'm only at the Origin Opening Realm, after all. It would draw too much attention."

"If you do not want extra admission points, then it will not be a problem."

Liu Pingshan smiled. "Some organizations can only see your merits, not their exact source. The merit system is managed by the military. Other than the military, no other organization has the authority to interfere. It is an institution directly under the Prefecture Lord's command. Even if the Ten Thousand Races Cult has spies, unless they have truly infiltrated the military's upper ranks, no one can investigate it."

Su Yu relaxed slightly. He wanted merits, but he was also worried about drawing too much attention. That would not be a good thing.

An Origin Opening Realm cultivator had assisted in killing a Ten Thousand Stones fighter? How had he assisted?

How much had he contributed?

If word truly spread, what if the Ten Thousand Races Cult sent a Ten Thousand Stones fighter or even a Soaring expert to kill him?

So it was better to stay low-key. Of course, he still had to take the merits.

On one hand, they could raise his rank. On the other, he needed the merits themselves to exchange for things he required.

"This time, you killed a mid-stage Thousand Jun fighter alone, worth two Merit Points. Assisting in killing a Ten Thousand Stones fighter—an early Ten Thousand Stones fighter—generally starts at ten Merit Points. But we killed above our level, so the merits will double. On top of that, we wiped out a stronghold, which brings additional rewards..."

Liu Pingshan did not want Su Yu to think he was claiming credit greedily, so he said solemnly, "Thus, the Merit Point reward for killing that Ten Thousand Stones fighter should come to roughly twenty-five to thirty points. Of course, if a Soaring expert made the kill, it would truly only be ten points. Merit Points are not fixed."

"You interfered with him at the end and contributed greatly, but... Little Chen and the others... Su Yu, according to the rules, some must be allocated to those who died in battle. So after calculating it all, you should receive about five Merit Points."

Five Merit Points. Su Yu was slightly stunned—not because it was too little, but because it was too much.

He had merely interfered from the outskirts for a moment. This was equivalent to killing five early-stage Thousand Jun enemies.

"Uncle Liu..."

Liu Pingshan interrupted him. "Do not think it is too little. Your merit reward this time should be around seven points in total. Also... the spoils of war cannot be distributed to you. You understand that too, of course. But if there are operations in the future and Jifeng Hall takes the initiative to invite you to participate, then you will be qualified to share in the spoils."

That was the rule as well.

Su Yu had come on his own this time. It was already quite good of Jifeng Hall to let him join the operation. He was not qualified to share in the spoils.

Otherwise, the people of Nanyuan would have swarmed over long ago.

However, if Jifeng Hall encountered a major operation and lacked manpower, they would invite some people to participate. At that point, those people would qualify to share in the spoils.

Liu Pingshan patted Su Yu on the shoulder again and smiled. "If there is work involving some small strongholds next time, I will have someone notify you. It will count as an invitation, and you can share in the spoils. This time, do not compete with the other brothers."

Taking the initiative to invite an Origin Opening Realm cultivator to participate... that had never happened before.

In the past, if they truly encountered trouble, they had invited experts above the Qianjun Seventh Level to help. Those below the Qianjun Seventh Level were almost never invited.

Su Yu did not know what else to say. He truly felt they had already given him a great deal.

Seven Merit Points!

Adding the three Merit Points he had received from Jifeng Hall before, Jifeng Hall's pursuit of the Ten Thousand Races Cult had provided him with a full ten Merit Points.

Learning Myriad Races Language had given him eighteen points, and killing the invading Thousand Jun fighter had given him three. Su Yu had actually earned thirty-one Merit Points.

Of course, he only had ten points remaining now, not counting the seven points he was about to receive.

His accumulated merits were twenty-eight points. Chen Hao's contribution counted as Chen Hao's accumulated merits, not Su Yu's.

Accumulating twenty-eight Merit Points at the Origin Opening Realm was extremely difficult, unless one had mastered twenty-eight Myriad Races Languages. That was possible, at least.

As they spoke, they arrived at Jifeng Hall.

Everyone got out of the vehicle.

Jifeng Hall's master, Zeng Hua, was waiting outside. When he saw Liu Pingshan and the others get out, Zeng Hua nodded slightly. He glanced at Liu Pingshan's arm, and a trace of sorrow appeared in his eyes.

With Thousand Jun Ninth Stage strength, Liu Pingshan was not considered weak even in Jifeng Hall.

Now that his right hand was ruined and his strength greatly diminished, Liu Pingshan would likely have to retire early.

When the two bodies were carried down, Zeng Hua sighed and bowed. He said nothing more. After nodding to Su Yu, he gestured for Liu Pingshan to go inside and talk.

Su Yu did not linger either and soon left Jifeng Hall.

Nanyuan Academy.

Liu Wenyan also sighed. After sighing, he quickly cursed under his breath, "Fooling around!"

He sighed because Jifeng Hall had lost two squad members. He cursed because Su Yu had been fooling around!

With Willpower so weak, he had actually dared to interfere with a Ten Thousand Stones fighter. He was courting death!

With the slightest misstep, if the opponent's Willpower had not been weak, they could have counterattacked along the connection. With Su Yu's tiny amount of Willpower, he would have been crushed instantly and turned into a madman or an idiot!

Fortunately, the opponent followed the warrior path and had little involvement with Willpower.

But one had to know that many people could not continue studying at Civilization Academy and switched halfway to the warrior path. Quite a few Civilization Academy students at the Mental Cultivation stage might switch paths.

With their Willpower, if Su Yu encountered one of them, he would certainly die!

Liu Wenyan could only count himself fortunate that Su Yu had not met such a person this time. But if it happened once, would it always happen that way?

For an Origin Opening Realm cultivator to encounter a Ten Thousand Stones fighter was still far too dangerous.

"But... it is not bad either."

After cursing, Liu Wenyan smiled again.

At the very least, the boy had a sense of responsibility!

At that moment, he had not been scared into wetting his pants. He had even volunteered to help. That was responsibility and courage too.

"At the Origin Opening Realm, he assisted in killing a Ten Thousand Stones fighter. This boy is becoming more and more outstanding. I am almost reluctant to send him to Civilization Academy..."

The old man muttered to himself, then could not help cursing again. "What qualifications does that brat Bai Feng have to teach him... It would be more appropriate to have Wan Tiansheng teach him!"

Though he cursed, he soon comforted himself. "Fine. Keeping a low profile is good too. Bai Feng has quite decent potential. If that really does not work, then his teacher can teach him."

After muttering to himself for a while, Liu Wenyan picked up the communicator beside the desk and hesitated for a moment.

A moment later, Liu Wenyan dialed a number.

The other side quickly answered, but there was no sound.

Liu Wenyan did not speak either. After perhaps several dozen seconds of silence, Liu Wenyan said, "I have a student named Su Yu. He has great potential. When he goes to Civilization Academy, you... look after him a little."

"Liu Wenyan, are you begging me?"

"I am not begging you!"

Liu Wenyan snapped, "I would never beg you. You have no brain, you are an idiot. I am merely asking you to look after him a little—to look after an outstanding student!"

The voice on the other end came again. "Beg me, and I will look after him. Otherwise... I will target him. This is the first time you have begged me in all these years."

"Beg my ass!"

"In all these decades, have you only learned how to curse?"

Liu Wenyan was somewhat embarrassed and annoyed. He said furiously, "Wu Yuehua, do you want to argue? Do you think I, Liu Wenyan, cannot find a few people in Great Xia Prefecture willing to help me?"

"You can find them, but... are you willing to?" The person on the other end said calmly, "Other than me, who else can you turn to? Your junior brother? That Hong fellow recently went to the Battlefields of the Heavens. Who knows whether he can return alive. Are you sure you want to seek him out?"

"Hm? He went to the Battlefields of the Heavens?"

"Yes. He may be heading to a newly discovered realm. No one knows what year or month he will return."

Liu Wenyan frowned, but he could not be bothered to ask more. He quickly said, "Stop talking nonsense. That is it! Also, are you fucking stupid? Who the fuck told you to repay merits for me? Tell Wan Tiansheng to spit back whatever he swallowed from me!"

Liu Wenyan said angrily, "Fifty thousand merits, and that does not even include what they withheld from me over these years. Altogether, it is sixty or seventy thousand! Sooner or later, he will have to spit it all back out, or do not blame me for being impolite!"

"Is it yours? Did you pay those fifty thousand merits?"

"Nonsense. It was a debt repaid for me. If it is not mine, is it yours?"

"..."

The other side fell silent. After a long while, the person said, "When did you become so shameless..."

"I have always been shameless!"

Liu Wenyan said irritably, "If I cared about my face, I should have found some deserted place to live in seclusion for the rest of my life, until I died of old age. Why the fuck would I still be in Great Xia Prefecture? If I cared about my face, I would not have called you on this communicator. I gave up my face long ago!"

"..."

After a moment, the person on the other end sighed. "The way you are shameless... I really want to see it. Are you coming back?"

"I am not going back!"

Liu Wenyan's tone was unpleasant. "What would I go back for? To be mocked and ridiculed? Wan Tiansheng does not want to see me back either! If I went back, would he not target me every day?"

Having said that, Liu Wenyan quickly continued, "I cannot be bothered to say more about this. Just look after him a little. I am worried he will be targeted. You do not need to worry about anything else. Oh, right, I have been a little short on money lately... Just send me a few hundred drops of God-Demon Blood for body forging. I will pay you back when I have money."

"Liu Wenyan... I especially want to go see what you look like when you are shameless! How about I personally deliver them to you? I want to see whether you dare say that again to my face!"

"Why are you talking so much nonsense!"

Liu Wenyan flew into a rage from embarrassment. "Have someone send them over. If you will not send them, forget it! Do you think I am short a few drops of God-Demon Blood? I am not. I think you should not waste them..."

"Beep, beep, beep..."

The call was cut off.

Liu Wenyan stared blankly for a moment, then vigorously rubbed his old face. His face flushed crimson. How embarrassing!

I actually said something like that. Since when had I become so shameless?

"Alas, it was all Old Wang's influence!"

Liu Wenyan sighed. Let the old Academy Head take the blame—he had been influenced by him far too much over the past few decades.