Su Yu did not say anything. The Skysoar Realm would provide a single chance to strengthen all his existing characters. If he had 99 characters, then he would be able to upgrade all 99 of them to the second tier. But if he broke through now, he would need to spend a lot of time and energy to grow those characters.
Of course, he could use the breakthrough as a trump card as well. He would stay one step away from the next realm and take that step forward during a critical moment to give himself a boost. Bai Feng continued telling Su Yu more about his disassembly method, also teaching him how to reassemble his character technique.
Finally, he reminded, "With my characters destroyed, I don't know if I can even replace them. Don't try anything before I prove this theory right. Otherwise, you would only greatly weaken yourself for the wrong theory."
Hong Tan could no longer keep silent and furiously said, "What are you even talking about? Destroy his own characters? Have you gone mad? Are you teaching your student to destroy his own characters?"
Just what nonsense was Bai Feng saying?
Bai Feng was speechless. This old man was interfering even when he was trying to teach his own student. The old man was interfering too much.
Was the old man even aware of how ferocious his grandstudent was? The old man was speaking like Su Yu was a pitiful lamb! He knew nothing!
Ignoring his teacher, Bai Feng said, "Also, at a higher stage, I suspect that you can fuse all the characters in your character technique into a single character. It's the same as the fusion of acupoints and apertures. I believe that there is a unique, undiscovered path involving Divine Characters. You can fuse your characters, reaching a level where you only need one character for your character technique."
The moment those words were spoken, Hong Tan trembled slightly. He said nothing.
As for Su Yu, his eyes lit up brightly, "Teacher, is this the actual path leading toward the formation of a racial ability character? The different characters and the quantity of characters fused will result in different racial ability character for each person?"
"Exactly." Bai Feng smiled, "I am only giving you my theory, my idea of how this should work. I'm not talking about how it would actually work. But I do believe that we should be able to fuse characters as well. For example, I will probably need to fuse 12 characters to reach the point where I can utilize the Dragon Slaying Sword with only one character. The 12 characters will form a brand new character. And that will become my true main Divine Character. Of course, I can also try to expand upon this system and increase the number of fused characters.
"This is basically similar to the Mountainsea Realm of warriors. At that cultivation level, they aim to fuse all their acupoints together, reaching a level where they only need one acupoint for a technique or a cultivation method. When you do this with characters, you will be able to utilize a character technique with one character, having each character house a different racial ability."
Often times, a single theory was all it took to encourage the development of an entirely new system. In fact, many independent branches of study had developed from a single theory.
Su Yu's eyes were shining brightly as he said, "Teacher, in that case, the racial ability character of the human race would clearly be different than what the myriad races have. Would our racial ability characters still be able to produce source qi abilities?"
Bai Feng smiled, "You are letting the existing beliefs trap your mind. Racial abilities do not refer to only source qi abilities. Willpower abilities are also abilities. Do you understand now?"
Realization dawned on Su Yu.
True. Some races actually had willpower abilities as their racial abilities.
Su Yu had learned a lot from this little lesson. He thought for a bit and said, "Teacher, I have opened a lot of acupoints, but I am not able to link them all into a system. I can only connect 108 of them. Can I modify my cultivation method and come up with something capable of utilizing all my acupoints?"
"How many acupoints have you opened?"
"186."
"..."
Bai Feng was already used to these outrageous answers by now, so he didn't react. Oh, 186 acupoints? Whatever.
But nearby, Hong Tan was having a headache. So this was his grandstudent?
Fuck!
Where did a kid like this come out from? Could this kid really be his senior brother's illegitimate child?
No, that wasn't right. He had seen the kid's father on the battlefield. The two actually bore some resemblance to each other.
While Bai Feng was still in thought, Hong Tan said, "Activate your acupoints. Show me your 186 acupoints."
Su Yu did not hesitate and removed the shadow barriers covering his characters. Immediately after, 186 dots of light appeared on his body. His source qi was incomparably pure. And his acupoints were blinding.
He had cultivated the Pure Source Art and opened all its acupoints. Thus, he no longer needed the clearbright bird blood essence to purify his source qi and acupoints. Even his newly opened acupoints were shining brightly.
Hong Tan was completely stunned.
It was not enough that this kid had opened so many acupoints, but his source qi and acupoints were actually so pure. If this kid was placed in a war academy, he would be a super genius.
"186 acupoints..."
He took a look at Su Yu, paying close attention to the leg acupoints. With a frown, he said, "A small cycle had been formed with your leg acupoints. And a different sort of power seems to be coming from it. Is this...the power of time?"
He frowned deeply. Was he mistaken? This wasn't possible, right? Was this still a martial technique?
Hong Tan looked at Su Yu and Bai Feng before asking, "Is this a heaven-grade martial technique?"
Su Yu and Bai Feng exchanged gazes. Su Yu had a look on his face that was asking Bai Feng if he should come clean.
After an awkward cough, he said, "Yes, Grandteacher."
"It feels quite strong." Hong Tan thought about it and said, "This martial technique...let me think about it. It looks familiar..."
Once again, Su Yu coughed and said, "Grandteacher, this is a technique called Time. It has moves like Crushing Mountainsea, Suppressing Sunmoon..."
"I remember now!" Hong Tan interupted him and said in astonishment, "It's that person's martial technique! That fellow-cough, cough. That man is a big shot. He is not weak at all. How did you get your hands on his technique? When did you get it?"
Bai Feng asked curiously, "Teacher, who is that?"
Since even Hong Tan was being so careful when speaking about that person, it was clear that was an extremely powerful person.
Hong Tan had an odd expression as he said, "Silk Destroying King."
"..."
What kind of a name was that? Su Yu didn't know who that person was. He had never heard of that person.
Bai Feng also shook his head after thinking about it. There was no such leader among the 36 prefectures.
"Cough, cough. That was not his original title. He changed it after."
Hong Tan did not say much. Not many people knew about that. He had only learned of it from the fifth principal.
Back then, a certain someone was swallowed by the Silkwrym King before being shat out. That certain someone had been holding a grudge against the Silkwrym King since then. He had even changed his title to the Silk Destroying King. That little episode was a funny story among the Invincibles. The fifth principal was only aware of that because he was strong enough to join their circle.
Naturally, Hong Tan wouldn't dare spread this story around. That was a petty fellow. If he was angered, he might really start killing.
Hong Tan moved on from the topic and asked, "So where did you get it? You sure are lucky. I have heard of the Time technique before. It is very strong. In fact, it is no weaker than the Xia Family's Sky Sundering Saber. Of course, the Sky Sundering Saber comes in multiple versions. I don't know how many moves the Great Xia King has created so far."
Su Yu remained silent.
Hong Tan looked at Bai Feng and Su Yu. What was the meaning of this silence? Was this a secret? He already knew who the creator was. What was the big deal about it?
Bai Feng thought about it before shrugging. He looked at Su Yu with an expression that was telling his student to be the one telling Hong Tan. He was definitely not going to be that person.
Thus, Su Yu softly said, "Grandteacher, this technique came from our research center..."
"Nonsense!"
Hong Tan rolled his eyes. Was the kid joking?
"It's true. I found it in a book. The book is called...the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem."
"..."
Silence descended.
The silence was deafening.
Su Yu slowly moved behind Bai Feng. When Bai Feng saw that, he rolled his eyes.
Hong Tan was very silent.
Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem.
What a good book.
That was his favourite book.
He had been curious when he found that the book was missing after his return.
So...the book had been taken by someone else?
And that someone had even discovered a heaven-grade technique in the book?
After a short while, Hong Tan chortled, "Not bad at all! You actually found it! I had already noticed that years ago. I have been planning to leave it for Bai Feng, but he has been too disappointing. He has failed to discover it. What a pity. But you have actually discovered it. Well done, kid!"
Why was he unaware of the name of the technique before this? Well, that was naturally because he had not cultivated it!
Hong Tan smiled, "I am not a physical cultivator, so a heaven-grade technique won't be that useful for me. At my level, even opening one acupoint would be very difficult. I couldn't be bothered to open new acupoints so I decided to not cultivate it. Your teacher is blind. He has failed to discover it even after so many years. Not bad at all, Su Yu. Like me, you have sharp eyes."
"..."
Both Bai Feng and Su Yu said nothing. Sure, old man. Sure.
The old man was basically claiming that he had ignored a heaven-grade martial technique like it was a piece of trash. He had also hidden it from his students. Who was he trying to fool?
Hong Tan resisted the urge to punch someone and smiled, "Su Yu, how did you find it?"
"Uhm...Grandteacher, the suanni told me."
Su Yu betrayed the suanni unhesitatingly. He had no choice. He couldn't show off his good eyes too much, right? What if he invited the envy of his grandteacher? What if his grandteacher decided to suppress him out of anger?
Thus, he had to show his grandteacher that his eyes weren't that good. He had only learned about the technique from the suanni.
Hong Tan nodded with the same smile on his face. At this time, Bai Feng transmitted his voice to Su Yu, "The next time you go downstairs, you might find that one of them is no longer there. Your grandteacher will probably start researching the suanni race in the near future."
Su Yu could only mutter a prayer for the suanni. What a pitiful suanni. May the suanni survive. Please don't blame him.
Hong Tan rolled his eyes. He moved on and said, "186 acupoints. That is actually quite impressive. But you have opened so many acupoints from multiple cultivation methods and martial techniques. You might have a lot of acupoints, but they don't work that well with each other. You still won't be able to utilize these acupoints better than someone with a proper heaven-grade cultivation method. Is that what you're worried about?"
"Yeah."
Hong Tan smiled, "Cultivation methods are essentially the tools you use to properly utilize the strength of all your acupoints. Currently, the strongest known cultivation method only utilizes 144 acupoints. Su Yu, we have so many experts in the world. Why have none of them created cultivation methods with more acupoints?"
Su Yu hesitated slightly and said, "Is it because of the acupoint fusion process during the Infinite Strength and Mountainsea Realms?"
"Exactly." Hong Tan nodded, "That's the reason. If there is a cultivation method with 180 acupoints, how many Infinite Strength cultivators can fuse all of them into 9 acupoints? And how many Mountainseas can fuse all of them into a single acupoint? Are you sure you can do it?"
Su Yu himself was aware of how difficult that would be.
"Cultivation methods are something to be cultivated, not something to obstruct one's cultivation." Hong Tan said, "Thus, those Invincibles stopped at cultivation methods with 144 acupoints. That's because with a better cultivation method, you might be stuck at the Great Strength Realm for life."
Su Yu nodded. So this was an issue of usability. Even if they could create a cultivation method with 180 acupoints, it would be pointless if nobody could cultivate it. They would have wasted their time and energy for nothing.
Hong Tan said, "I understand what you're saying. You want to utilize all your acupoints to unleash more strength. But listen to your grandteacher. You're better off using the effort to advance into the Infinite Strength Realm. You can't feel the stress right now, but you will understand at the Mountainsea Realm. At that time, you will need to fuse all your acupoints into one. Naturally, all the acupoints you have opened before will be a form of accumulation and foundation for you."
"In fact, all the realms before that are merely the preparatory stage for someone to enter the Mountainsea Realm and fuse all their acupoints into one."
He solemnly said, "Sure, you will benefit from opening more acupoints right now. And if you have what it takes to fuse all these acupoints at the Mountainsea Realm, you will probably be the strongest Mountainsea ever. At that time, your cultivation method will no longer be important. With all your acupoints fused, you will be able to unleash the strength of 186 acupoints either way. How would those geniuses with 144 acupoints be your match?
"As for the acupoints you couldn't fuse, all your efforts would go to waste. At the Mountainsea Realm, the source qi you can gain from one additional acupoint is negligible."
Su Yu had a pensive look as he asked, "Grandteacher, can I switch to a heaven-grade cultivation method right now?"
Even if he couldn't utilize all his acupoints, switching to a heaven-grade cultivation method would still be good for him.
Hong Tan looked at him and asked, "Are you sure? You can do so, but you will need to open even more acupoints. And the difficulty of acupoint fusion will increase as well. Let me put it this way. The stronger the cultivation method, the harder the fusion. That applies to both the Infinite Strength and Mountainsea Realms."
Su Yu nodded, "I want to switch, but I don't have a heaven-grade cultivation method. No, that's not right. I have one, but it's not good enough. I don't have a top-tier heaven-grade method..."
"You have one?"
This time, both Hong Tan and Bai Feng were stunned. He had a heaven-grade cultivation method?
Why were they unaware of that?
In fact, Su Yu had more than one. The Body Strengthening Art was actually quite powerful. But it focused too much on the physical body. Su Yu was already considering cultivating that method. That way, he could stop consuming mountainbreak bull blood essence to cultivate. He was afraid that they would go extinct from his consumption.
As the Body Strengthening Art required quite a lot of acupoints, Su Yu had not been able to gather enough time and blood essence to cultivate it. As of now, he had cultivated the Soul Devouring Art, War God Art, Lightning Source Blade, Skybreak Technique, Pure Source Art, and the first move of the Time technique.
At this point, it wouldn't be that bad an idea for him to proceed with the Body Strengthening Art. He would be able to keep strengthening his body and increase the speed of his future acupoint opening. He would also stop relying on the mountainbreak bull blood essence for acupoint opening.
"I have a heaven-grade method that I obtained through luck. It doesn't require too many acupoints. It only needs 116 acupoints. It is not a primarily offensive method"
Hong Tan stopped him, "Since it is your own fortuitous encounter, you don't need to tell us more. Things like cultivation methods can't be spread rashly unless you're sure the creator and the successors are all dead."
He thought for a bit and asked, "You want an offensive cultivation method with 144 acupoints, am I right?"
"Yeah."
After a short silence, Hong Tan said, "There are such powerful cultivation methods out there. There are quite a lot of them, in fact. But most of them are the inheritances of Invincibles. Of course, some aren't, but these methods come with a lot of disadvantages.
"For example, the famous Thousand Mountain Art is an offensive cultivation method with 144 acupoints. It is very powerful. But with this cultivation method, fusing acupoints at the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm is basically impossible.
"In Great Xia, the Sky Sundering Countless Saber is one of the proper heaven-grade cultivation methods that you can keep cultivating until the Invincible Realm.
"This is the unique legacy of the Xia Family. They are also not stingy with spreading the method. But generally, only the weaker versions are taught to outsiders. The low, middle, and high-tier versions are all available for outsiders. As for the top-tier version, very few people can learn it. Generally, only their direct descendants can learn it."
Hong Tan looked at Su Yu and asked, "Do you use sabers?"
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded. His main weapon was a saber.
Hong Tan thought about it for a while before saying, "I'll find an opportunity to take you to see Fatty Xia. Maybe we can get this cultivation method from him. But that damn fatty is very greedy. Even if he's willing to teach you, it won't be cheap."
After a short silence, he said, "I'm worried about one thing. You might need to open even more acupoints with this method. Would that delay your advancement?"
Su Yu smiled, "It won't, Grandteacher. I have only been in the academy for two months but I've already opened nearly 180 acupoints..."
"Hmm?" Hong Tan asked in astonishment, "What was your strength when you first entered the academy?"
"Ninth-stage Source Opening Realm."
Hong Tan nodded. Very good. Previously, Bai Feng said that this student had joined the academy as a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. Hong Tan was already suspicious of that.
Now, he finally learned that Su Yu was only a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator when he first joined.
Opening 177 acupoints in around two months. This grandstudent of his was either a super genius or an exceptionally lucky person. Very good.
Hong Tan shot Bai Feng a glance. He decided that after Su Yu left, he would first beat Bai Feng to death before beating the suanni to death. It was time to get things in order.
He remained silent. Now was not the time for him to say anything.
Su Yu hesitated and said, "Grandteacher, the Sky Sundering Saber is the prized method of the Xia Family. Would they be willing to teach me? My teacher had just seriously injured Xia Yuwen not long ago..."
"Fatty Xia and Xia Yuwen are from different branches of the family."
Hong Tan said, "Fatty Xia...is very greedy. But ignoring his greed, he is actually a decent person. In fact, Great Xia can be considered a very progressive prefecture. Here, they are willing to invest to produce more experts. As long as you display enough potential and talent, the Xia Family will have no reason to refuse unless you're a cultist or an enemy of their family. As for the price...we'll have to wait and see."
Su Yu nodded. Inwardly, he considered asking Xia Huyou about this. After all, the little fatty was still waiting for the instructions for opening the final aperture from him. Perhaps, he could make a trade with that fatty?
The Sky Sundering Saber was very powerful. That was especially true for the top-tier version with 144 acupoints. That was a version not everyone could learn.
"If I can really get this method, I should probably consider advancing into the Infinite Strength Realm after learning it."
It wasn't like he must open so many acupoints right now. He could accept opening more in the future. But he was also unsatisfied with the War God Art that was only capable of utilizing 108 acupoints. In fact, he had been unhappy about it since his fight with Zhou Hao. If it weren't for a weaker cultivation method, he would have been able to defeat Zhou Hao with only his physical cultivation alone.
Su Yu did not say anything. The Skysoar Realm would provide a single chance to strengthen all his existing characters. If he had 99 characters, then he would be able to upgrade all 99 of them to the second tier. But if he broke through now, he would need to spend a lot of time and energy to grow those characters.
Of course, he could use the breakthrough as a trump card as well. He would stay one step away from the next realm and take that step forward during a critical moment to give himself a boost. Bai Feng continued telling Su Yu more about his disassembly method, also teaching him how to reassemble his character technique.
Finally, he reminded, "With my characters destroyed, I don't know if I can even replace them. Don't try anything before I prove this theory right. Otherwise, you would only greatly weaken yourself for the wrong theory."
Hong Tan could no longer keep silent and furiously said, "What are you even talking about? Destroy his own characters? Have you gone mad? Are you teaching your student to destroy his own characters?"
Just what nonsense was Bai Feng saying?
Bai Feng was speechless. This old man was interfering even when he was trying to teach his own student. The old man was interfering too much.
Was the old man even aware of how ferocious his grandstudent was? The old man was speaking like Su Yu was a pitiful lamb! He knew nothing!
Ignoring his teacher, Bai Feng said, "Also, at a higher stage, I suspect that you can fuse all the characters in your character technique into a single character. It's the same as the fusion of acupoints and apertures. I believe that there is a unique, undiscovered path involving Divine Characters. You can fuse your characters, reaching a level where you only need one character for your character technique."
The moment those words were spoken, Hong Tan trembled slightly. He said nothing.
As for Su Yu, his eyes lit up brightly, "Teacher, is this the actual path leading toward the formation of a racial ability character? The different characters and the quantity of characters fused will result in different racial ability character for each person?"
"Exactly." Bai Feng smiled, "I am only giving you my theory, my idea of how this should work. I'm not talking about how it would actually work. But I do believe that we should be able to fuse characters as well. For example, I will probably need to fuse 12 characters to reach the point where I can utilize the Dragon Slaying Sword with only one character. The 12 characters will form a brand new character. And that will become my true main Divine Character. Of course, I can also try to expand upon this system and increase the number of fused characters.
"This is basically similar to the Mountainsea Realm of warriors. At that cultivation level, they aim to fuse all their acupoints together, reaching a level where they only need one acupoint for a technique or a cultivation method. When you do this with characters, you will be able to utilize a character technique with one character, having each character house a different racial ability."
Often times, a single theory was all it took to encourage the development of an entirely new system. In fact, many independent branches of study had developed from a single theory.
Su Yu's eyes were shining brightly as he said, "Teacher, in that case, the racial ability character of the human race would clearly be different than what the myriad races have. Would our racial ability characters still be able to produce source qi abilities?"
Bai Feng smiled, "You are letting the existing beliefs trap your mind. Racial abilities do not refer to only source qi abilities. Willpower abilities are also abilities. Do you understand now?"
Realization dawned on Su Yu.
True. Some races actually had willpower abilities as their racial abilities.
Su Yu had learned a lot from this little lesson. He thought for a bit and said, "Teacher, I have opened a lot of acupoints, but I am not able to link them all into a system. I can only connect 108 of them. Can I modify my cultivation method and come up with something capable of utilizing all my acupoints?"
"How many acupoints have you opened?"
"186."
"..."
Bai Feng was already used to these outrageous answers by now, so he didn't react. Oh, 186 acupoints? Whatever.
But nearby, Hong Tan was having a headache. So this was his grandstudent?
Fuck!
Where did a kid like this come out from? Could this kid really be his senior brother's illegitimate child?
No, that wasn't right. He had seen the kid's father on the battlefield. The two actually bore some resemblance to each other.
While Bai Feng was still in thought, Hong Tan said, "Activate your acupoints. Show me your 186 acupoints."
Su Yu did not hesitate and removed the shadow barriers covering his characters. Immediately after, 186 dots of light appeared on his body. His source qi was incomparably pure. And his acupoints were blinding.
He had cultivated the Pure Source Art and opened all its acupoints. Thus, he no longer needed the clearbright bird blood essence to purify his source qi and acupoints. Even his newly opened acupoints were shining brightly.
Hong Tan was completely stunned.
It was not enough that this kid had opened so many acupoints, but his source qi and acupoints were actually so pure. If this kid was placed in a war academy, he would be a super genius.
"186 acupoints..."
He took a look at Su Yu, paying close attention to the leg acupoints. With a frown, he said, "A small cycle had been formed with your leg acupoints. And a different sort of power seems to be coming from it. Is this...the power of time?"
He frowned deeply. Was he mistaken? This wasn't possible, right? Was this still a martial technique?
Hong Tan looked at Su Yu and Bai Feng before asking, "Is this a heaven-grade martial technique?"
Su Yu and Bai Feng exchanged gazes. Su Yu had a look on his face that was asking Bai Feng if he should come clean.
After an awkward cough, he said, "Yes, Grandteacher."
"It feels quite strong." Hong Tan thought about it and said, "This martial technique...let me think about it. It looks familiar..."
Once again, Su Yu coughed and said, "Grandteacher, this is a technique called Time. It has moves like Crushing Mountainsea, Suppressing Sunmoon..."
"I remember now!" Hong Tan interupted him and said in astonishment, "It's that person's martial technique! That fellow-cough, cough. That man is a big shot. He is not weak at all. How did you get your hands on his technique? When did you get it?"
Bai Feng asked curiously, "Teacher, who is that?"
Since even Hong Tan was being so careful when speaking about that person, it was clear that was an extremely powerful person.
Hong Tan had an odd expression as he said, "Silk Destroying King."
"..."
What kind of a name was that? Su Yu didn't know who that person was. He had never heard of that person.
Bai Feng also shook his head after thinking about it. There was no such leader among the 36 prefectures.
"Cough, cough. That was not his original title. He changed it after."
Hong Tan did not say much. Not many people knew about that. He had only learned of it from the fifth principal.
Back then, a certain someone was swallowed by the Silkwrym King before being shat out. That certain someone had been holding a grudge against the Silkwrym King since then. He had even changed his title to the Silk Destroying King. That little episode was a funny story among the Invincibles. The fifth principal was only aware of that because he was strong enough to join their circle.
Naturally, Hong Tan wouldn't dare spread this story around. That was a petty fellow. If he was angered, he might really start killing.
Hong Tan moved on from the topic and asked, "So where did you get it? You sure are lucky. I have heard of the Time technique before. It is very strong. In fact, it is no weaker than the Xia Family's Sky Sundering Saber. Of course, the Sky Sundering Saber comes in multiple versions. I don't know how many moves the Great Xia King has created so far."
Su Yu remained silent.
Hong Tan looked at Bai Feng and Su Yu. What was the meaning of this silence? Was this a secret? He already knew who the creator was. What was the big deal about it?
Bai Feng thought about it before shrugging. He looked at Su Yu with an expression that was telling his student to be the one telling Hong Tan. He was definitely not going to be that person.
Thus, Su Yu softly said, "Grandteacher, this technique came from our research center..."
"Nonsense!"
Hong Tan rolled his eyes. Was the kid joking?
"It's true. I found it in a book. The book is called...the Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem."
"..."
Silence descended.
The silence was deafening.
Su Yu slowly moved behind Bai Feng. When Bai Feng saw that, he rolled his eyes.
Hong Tan was very silent.
Mountainsea Peace Seeking Stratagem.
What a good book.
That was his favourite book.
He had been curious when he found that the book was missing after his return.
So...the book had been taken by someone else?
And that someone had even discovered a heaven-grade technique in the book?
After a short while, Hong Tan chortled, "Not bad at all! You actually found it! I had already noticed that years ago. I have been planning to leave it for Bai Feng, but he has been too disappointing. He has failed to discover it. What a pity. But you have actually discovered it. Well done, kid!"
Why was he unaware of the name of the technique before this? Well, that was naturally because he had not cultivated it!
Hong Tan smiled, "I am not a physical cultivator, so a heaven-grade technique won't be that useful for me. At my level, even opening one acupoint would be very difficult. I couldn't be bothered to open new acupoints so I decided to not cultivate it. Your teacher is blind. He has failed to discover it even after so many years. Not bad at all, Su Yu. Like me, you have sharp eyes."
"..."
Both Bai Feng and Su Yu said nothing. Sure, old man. Sure.
The old man was basically claiming that he had ignored a heaven-grade martial technique like it was a piece of trash. He had also hidden it from his students. Who was he trying to fool?
Hong Tan resisted the urge to punch someone and smiled, "Su Yu, how did you find it?"
"Uhm...Grandteacher, the suanni told me."
Su Yu betrayed the suanni unhesitatingly. He had no choice. He couldn't show off his good eyes too much, right? What if he invited the envy of his grandteacher? What if his grandteacher decided to suppress him out of anger?
Thus, he had to show his grandteacher that his eyes weren't that good. He had only learned about the technique from the suanni.
Hong Tan nodded with the same smile on his face. At this time, Bai Feng transmitted his voice to Su Yu, "The next time you go downstairs, you might find that one of them is no longer there. Your grandteacher will probably start researching the suanni race in the near future."
Su Yu could only mutter a prayer for the suanni. What a pitiful suanni. May the suanni survive. Please don't blame him.
Hong Tan rolled his eyes. He moved on and said, "186 acupoints. That is actually quite impressive. But you have opened so many acupoints from multiple cultivation methods and martial techniques. You might have a lot of acupoints, but they don't work that well with each other. You still won't be able to utilize these acupoints better than someone with a proper heaven-grade cultivation method. Is that what you're worried about?"
"Yeah."
Hong Tan smiled, "Cultivation methods are essentially the tools you use to properly utilize the strength of all your acupoints. Currently, the strongest known cultivation method only utilizes 144 acupoints. Su Yu, we have so many experts in the world. Why have none of them created cultivation methods with more acupoints?"
Su Yu hesitated slightly and said, "Is it because of the acupoint fusion process during the Infinite Strength and Mountainsea Realms?"
"Exactly." Hong Tan nodded, "That's the reason. If there is a cultivation method with 180 acupoints, how many Infinite Strength cultivators can fuse all of them into 9 acupoints? And how many Mountainseas can fuse all of them into a single acupoint? Are you sure you can do it?"
Su Yu himself was aware of how difficult that would be.
"Cultivation methods are something to be cultivated, not something to obstruct one's cultivation." Hong Tan said, "Thus, those Invincibles stopped at cultivation methods with 144 acupoints. That's because with a better cultivation method, you might be stuck at the Great Strength Realm for life."
Su Yu nodded. So this was an issue of usability. Even if they could create a cultivation method with 180 acupoints, it would be pointless if nobody could cultivate it. They would have wasted their time and energy for nothing.
Hong Tan said, "I understand what you're saying. You want to utilize all your acupoints to unleash more strength. But listen to your grandteacher. You're better off using the effort to advance into the Infinite Strength Realm. You can't feel the stress right now, but you will understand at the Mountainsea Realm. At that time, you will need to fuse all your acupoints into one. Naturally, all the acupoints you have opened before will be a form of accumulation and foundation for you."
"In fact, all the realms before that are merely the preparatory stage for someone to enter the Mountainsea Realm and fuse all their acupoints into one."
He solemnly said, "Sure, you will benefit from opening more acupoints right now. And if you have what it takes to fuse all these acupoints at the Mountainsea Realm, you will probably be the strongest Mountainsea ever. At that time, your cultivation method will no longer be important. With all your acupoints fused, you will be able to unleash the strength of 186 acupoints either way. How would those geniuses with 144 acupoints be your match?
"As for the acupoints you couldn't fuse, all your efforts would go to waste. At the Mountainsea Realm, the source qi you can gain from one additional acupoint is negligible."
Su Yu had a pensive look as he asked, "Grandteacher, can I switch to a heaven-grade cultivation method right now?"
Even if he couldn't utilize all his acupoints, switching to a heaven-grade cultivation method would still be good for him.
Hong Tan looked at him and asked, "Are you sure? You can do so, but you will need to open even more acupoints. And the difficulty of acupoint fusion will increase as well. Let me put it this way. The stronger the cultivation method, the harder the fusion. That applies to both the Infinite Strength and Mountainsea Realms."
Su Yu nodded, "I want to switch, but I don't have a heaven-grade cultivation method. No, that's not right. I have one, but it's not good enough. I don't have a top-tier heaven-grade method..."
"You have one?"
This time, both Hong Tan and Bai Feng were stunned. He had a heaven-grade cultivation method?
Why were they unaware of that?
In fact, Su Yu had more than one. The Body Strengthening Art was actually quite powerful. But it focused too much on the physical body. Su Yu was already considering cultivating that method. That way, he could stop consuming mountainbreak bull blood essence to cultivate. He was afraid that they would go extinct from his consumption.
As the Body Strengthening Art required quite a lot of acupoints, Su Yu had not been able to gather enough time and blood essence to cultivate it. As of now, he had cultivated the Soul Devouring Art, War God Art, Lightning Source Blade, Skybreak Technique, Pure Source Art, and the first move of the Time technique.
At this point, it wouldn't be that bad an idea for him to proceed with the Body Strengthening Art. He would be able to keep strengthening his body and increase the speed of his future acupoint opening. He would also stop relying on the mountainbreak bull blood essence for acupoint opening.
"I have a heaven-grade method that I obtained through luck. It doesn't require too many acupoints. It only needs 116 acupoints. It is not a primarily offensive method"
Hong Tan stopped him, "Since it is your own fortuitous encounter, you don't need to tell us more. Things like cultivation methods can't be spread rashly unless you're sure the creator and the successors are all dead."
He thought for a bit and asked, "You want an offensive cultivation method with 144 acupoints, am I right?"
"Yeah."
After a short silence, Hong Tan said, "There are such powerful cultivation methods out there. There are quite a lot of them, in fact. But most of them are the inheritances of Invincibles. Of course, some aren't, but these methods come with a lot of disadvantages.
"For example, the famous Thousand Mountain Art is an offensive cultivation method with 144 acupoints. It is very powerful. But with this cultivation method, fusing acupoints at the ninth-stage Great Strength Realm is basically impossible.
"In Great Xia, the Sky Sundering Countless Saber is one of the proper heaven-grade cultivation methods that you can keep cultivating until the Invincible Realm.
"This is the unique legacy of the Xia Family. They are also not stingy with spreading the method. But generally, only the weaker versions are taught to outsiders. The low, middle, and high-tier versions are all available for outsiders. As for the top-tier version, very few people can learn it. Generally, only their direct descendants can learn it."
Hong Tan looked at Su Yu and asked, "Do you use sabers?"
"Yeah." Su Yu nodded. His main weapon was a saber.
Hong Tan thought about it for a while before saying, "I'll find an opportunity to take you to see Fatty Xia. Maybe we can get this cultivation method from him. But that damn fatty is very greedy. Even if he's willing to teach you, it won't be cheap."
After a short silence, he said, "I'm worried about one thing. You might need to open even more acupoints with this method. Would that delay your advancement?"
Su Yu smiled, "It won't, Grandteacher. I have only been in the academy for two months but I've already opened nearly 180 acupoints..."
"Hmm?" Hong Tan asked in astonishment, "What was your strength when you first entered the academy?"
"Ninth-stage Source Opening Realm."
Hong Tan nodded. Very good. Previously, Bai Feng said that this student had joined the academy as a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. Hong Tan was already suspicious of that.
Now, he finally learned that Su Yu was only a ninth-stage Source Opening cultivator when he first joined.
Opening 177 acupoints in around two months. This grandstudent of his was either a super genius or an exceptionally lucky person. Very good.
Hong Tan shot Bai Feng a glance. He decided that after Su Yu left, he would first beat Bai Feng to death before beating the suanni to death. It was time to get things in order.
He remained silent. Now was not the time for him to say anything.
Su Yu hesitated and said, "Grandteacher, the Sky Sundering Saber is the prized method of the Xia Family. Would they be willing to teach me? My teacher had just seriously injured Xia Yuwen not long ago..."
"Fatty Xia and Xia Yuwen are from different branches of the family."
Hong Tan said, "Fatty Xia...is very greedy. But ignoring his greed, he is actually a decent person. In fact, Great Xia can be considered a very progressive prefecture. Here, they are willing to invest to produce more experts. As long as you display enough potential and talent, the Xia Family will have no reason to refuse unless you're a cultist or an enemy of their family. As for the price...we'll have to wait and see."
Su Yu nodded. Inwardly, he considered asking Xia Huyou about this. After all, the little fatty was still waiting for the instructions for opening the final aperture from him. Perhaps, he could make a trade with that fatty?
The Sky Sundering Saber was very powerful. That was especially true for the top-tier version with 144 acupoints. That was a version not everyone could learn.
"If I can really get this method, I should probably consider advancing into the Infinite Strength Realm after learning it."
It wasn't like he must open so many acupoints right now. He could accept opening more in the future. But he was also unsatisfied with the War God Art that was only capable of utilizing 108 acupoints. In fact, he had been unhappy about it since his fight with Zhou Hao. If it weren't for a weaker cultivation method, he would have been able to defeat Zhou Hao with only his physical cultivation alone.
