While Bai Feng was suffering from a coughing fit, Su Yu stepped forward and patted his back. When Bai Feng finally stopped coughing, he looked at Su Yu with a complicated expression. He really didn't know what to feel anymore.
"Where did you get something like that?"
"I deduced it myself. You told me to deduce one myself previously, remember? You said that if I manage to deduce a cultural art, you will become my student instead—cough, cough. Of course, you were only joking. I definitely won't take those words seriously."
"You...deduced it yourself?"
Bai Feng did not know what to say anymore. Please stop messing with him.
"Thank you for the blood character, Teacher."
Bai Feng stared at his student silently. If this brat dared to make the character a scapegoat one more time, he would beat the brat to death. Even in his current injured state, he was still strong enough to beat this brat to death.
Blood character? Bullshit!
At this point, Hong Tan could no longer stay silent. He said, "You deduced it yourself?"
Did the brat take him for a fool? A kid like this could actually deduce a cultural art himself?
Su Yu gave a hollow laugh and said, "Not all by myself. Teacher helped me a lot. And some of the research materials left behind by you had been very helpful as well. Also, the water guy in the prison had been helpful. There's also Teacher Liu's teachings. Only with all these helps was I able to come up with the Water Origin Art, a cultural art suitable for humans."
"So you have 36 apertures opened?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Hong Tan looked at Bai Feng, then looked at Su Yu, before looking at Bai Feng again. After a while, he sighed, "I might be getting old, but I'm in a better condition than Great Xia King since I'm still not senile yet. But I've discovered something. After my return, the two of you have been treating me like I'm a senile old man."
Unfilial students!
The two kids were definitely spouting lies to him like he was a fool. One claimed that he had easily deduced the existence of racial ability characters and a disassembly method for character techniques.
One claimed to have deduced a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures and the Soul Devouring Art that specialized in harming willpower. If these two were really telling the truth, wasn't he a piece of trash in terms of research?
After decades of research, character fusion and ability blood essence were the only notable research results he had come up with. But these two had surpassed him in a matter of months?
He shot Su Yu another look before saying with a tired voice, "Do you know how many apertures a human has in total?"
Su Yu was at a loss for words. He did not know the answer.
"Do you know the classification of apertures?"
No answer.
"Do you know about aperture fusion?"
No answer.
But Su Yu still maintained an innocent expression.
"You know nothing, yet you claim to have deduced a cultural art. Do you think your Grandteacher is a fool?"
Hong Tan had the urge to roll his eyes.
But at this moment, Su Yu had a look of realization as he said, "Oh, I understand now!"
What did the kid understand this time?
"Congratulations, Grandteacher, for coming out with the Water Origin Art, a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures. My grandteacher is truly mighty and incredible."
Su Yu congratulated his grandteacher unhesitatingly.
It was Hong Tan's turn to feel like coughing blood. This was what the brat got out of everything he had said?
Fuck!
Too tired to keep talking about the same topic, Hong Tan asked, "Who else knows about this?"
"Nobody. Wait, no. The prefect's son, Xia Huyou, has the instructions to open 35 of the 36 apertures. He's still missing one."
"Xia Longwu's son?"
"Yeah."
Bai Feng asked in astonishment, "You actually know Xia Longwu's son?"
"It's that fatty. The little fatty, Xia Huyou. You met him before, Teacher."
"That's Xia Longwu's son?"
Bai Feng, who had remained calm throughout the entire conversation, was finally shocked. That was unbelievable.
Holy shit!
Even if he started telling others about it, nobody would believe it. It might sound more believable if he said that the little fatty was Marquis Xia's son instead.
Hong Tan was getting even more tired listening to the conversation between his student and grandstudent. He berated, "Is this even the main point?"
Were these two not aware of the crux of the issue here? This kid was actually capable of coming out with a cultural art with 36 apertures. That was the crux of the issue. Yet these two were talking about Xia Longwu's son? What was so interesting about that kid?
He knew that kid as well! It was just a little fatty! He had met everyone of note from the Xia Family, including Great Xia King! Just how did the brains of these two work? Why did their brains work so differently from his?
After he cursed at the two, they finally stopped talking. Only then did Hong Tan said, "Xia Huyou, right? That little fatty really does resemble that Fatty Xia a lot. I reckon Xia Longwu must have suspected the same as well. That was why he had Fatty Xia raise the little fatty instead. Hahaha!"
"..."
Su Yu and Bai Feng exchanged gazes speechlessly. The old man was laughing very happily. Was he not afraid of being beaten to death by the Xia Family for making such jokes?
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Hong Tan hurriedly stopped and assumed a solemn expression as he said, "Hand it over to me later. Don't spread it around anymore. I'll work on it for a bit and give it a complete makeover. Water Origin Art? What nonsense. That's not its name. Its called the Thirty-six Souls - Heaven Shaking Sutra, a result of my hard work over a period of 50 years."
Su Yu hurriedly flashed a fawning smile and said, "Exactly! You're right, Grandteacher!"
Hong Tan rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "You may leave now."
Su Yu laughed awkwardly and hurriedly left the room.
The moment he left, Hong Tan solemnly asked, "What's up with this kid?"
Bai Feng gave a short summary of Su Yu's history before saying, "He has probably stumbled on a fortuitous encounter to obtain a unique character inheritance or some sort of memory fragment inheritance. Over the years, I have peeled a lot of memory fragments during my experiments. He might have encountered a relatively complete memory fragment. That's very possible."
"Memory fragment?" Hong Tan thought about it and said, "I'll ask my senior brother about it. If that was a pure fortuitous encounter, it would be fine. I'm only afraid that there is more to that. Don't forget that we have an Invincible as an enemy."
Bai Feng said, "I wasn't even aware of that before this. You can only blame yourself for not telling me anything. But I believe he isn't a spy."
"Cut the crap. It never hurts to be cautious."
Hong Tan had a solemn expression. Communicators were unsafe, so he directly left the research center and visited Liu Wenyan personally.
A super genius with incredible luck had joined the declining multiple character faction. He had no choice but to be careful about it. And if the kid was really a spy, it was probably already too late for him to do anything about it.
His silly student had told the kid everything, including the disassembly method and character fusion theory...
All those were supposed to be top secrets. But Su Yu already knew all their secrets. Hong Tan sighed. That student of his was too trusting.
Eighteenth Secondary School. Rear mountain.
"Ruin inheritance?"
"That's my guess." Liu Wenyan smiled, "Don't worry too much. If he's really a spy planted by our enemy, your senior brother won't be so stupid to remain fooled for so many years. Also, if he is really a spy, that person would have known everything he wants to know. And he would have killed all of us already by now."
"So he's fine, Senior Brother?"
Liu Wenyan nodded, "Most likely. My only worry is the ruin. I'm only worried about the very unlikely possibility that he had been possessed by some old monster in the ruin."
"You're referring to a willpower soul?"
"Exactly."
Liu Wenyan nodded, "But something like that is very rare. Most of these willpower souls have unclear minds. After all, these ruins have been around for too many years. Any soul left from back then would no longer be in a good condition. I doubt something like that has happened to Su Yu. He must have accidentally stumbled upon some recordings of the past in a ruin."
"Back then, he mentioned that he kept dreaming about being killed by monsters. I suspect if there is really a ruin in Nanyuan, then this ruin must be something related to research in the past. The ruin must have been used for something related to beast taming. A lot of beasts must have been reared there a long time ago."
Su Yu had entered the secondary school at 13. And Liu Wenyan had been teaching him since then. At 13, Su Yu was most certainly not as crafty as he currently was. Thus, when he encountered Liu Wenyan, someone who he viewed as a knowledgeable sage, he inquired about his dreams.
In fact, Liu Wenyan was the one who had suggested that Su Yu start learning about the myriad races and their languages. That would make it easier for him to recognize the beasts killing him in his dreams. Thus, Liu Wenyan actually knew Su Yu quite well. If Su Yu had really been possessed by a soul from the past, he wouldn't be stupid enough to expose himself so easily.
"I see."
Hong Tan exhaled and said, "As long as he's not a spy, it's fine. By the way, Su Yu also asked me if Liu Hong is a spy I sent to the single character faction. Is that your spy?"
"Who?"
"Liu Hong. A genius teaching assistant in the academy from the single character faction. He's Old Zhao's student. Previously, he studied under Zhang Ruoling in the Eighteenth Secondary School."
"Ruoling's student?"
Liu Wenyan thought about it and shook his head, "No. That's not true. Ruoling would have informed me about it if he had really accepted a disciple."
"Then this person is a cheat."
Hong Tan found himself somewhat speechless. "These days, all sorts of people roam the academy. A genius from the single character faction like him had actually lowered himself to lie to a student, telling the student that he was my spy for us in the single character faction? The galls of him!"
Liu Wenyan smiled, "Since he had the galls to make such a claim, just go along with it. Liu Hong...I remember this name. I think Bai Feng told me about him before. He is a genius as well. Old Zhao's student...Old Zhao..."
At the mention of Elder Zhao, Liu Wenyan shook his head, "This Old Zhao is an old man from Teacher's generation. We didn't have a good relationship with him back then, but we weren't hostile either. How has your relationship with him been these years?"
"Not too bad. We basically minded our own business. That old man is fully focused on the Sunmoon Realm. For a period of time, he even had more influence than Zhou Mingren. But he never cared about status or power. What a pity. The Sunmoon Realm is not easy to reach. I'm afraid...he will reach the end of his lifespan soon."
"His lifespan isn't supposed to be this short, right?" Liu Wenyan frowned.
Hong Tan sighed, "After several failed attempts at entering the Sunmoon, he lost some lifespan from the backlash. If he had taken it slow, he would still have some time to keep trying."
"What a pity." Liu Wenyan shook his head, "This is a struggle between the young. Let them experience it lest they grow up sheltered. Just let Su Yu deal with Liu Hong himself."
"I understand." Hong Tan looked at Liu Wenyan and asked, "Senior Brother, any other instructions?"
"Instruction my ass." Liu Wenyan laughed, "Enter seclusion and reach the Sunmoon Realm as soon as possible. Don't step out of the academy again before reaching the Sunmoon Realm. By the way, is the repeling force of your characters strong? It has been quite a while since a human has last reached the Sunmoon Realm..."
Back then, people at the level of Zhou Mingren and Jin Yuhui should already be in the Sunmoon Realm. That also applied to Elder Zhao, who was currently deep in seclusion. Alas, all of them had yet to break through successfully.
Otherwise, Great Xia alone would be able to produce between three to five additional Sunmoons. Currently, the entire Human Realm had around seventy to eighty cultural researchers with the potential to step into the Sunmoon Realm. But all of them were stuck.
In fact, Director Ji was the only person who had stepped into the Sunmoon Realm in recent years. As for General Zhao, he was a warrior. Meanwhile, Administrator Hu was an old Sunmoon. He wouldn't have been appointed the administrator otherwise.
And there was also Wan Tiansheng. It was quite likely that he was already a Sunmoon more than 50 years ago. Liu Wenyan couldn't even be bothered to say anything about that scheming principal anymore.
Marquis Xia was also a recently advanced Sunmoon, but he had advanced through physical cultivation. Liu Wenyan was unsure about the level of Marquis Xia's willpower cultivation.
While Bai Feng was suffering from a coughing fit, Su Yu stepped forward and patted his back. When Bai Feng finally stopped coughing, he looked at Su Yu with a complicated expression. He really didn't know what to feel anymore.
"Where did you get something like that?"
"I deduced it myself. You told me to deduce one myself previously, remember? You said that if I manage to deduce a cultural art, you will become my student instead—cough, cough. Of course, you were only joking. I definitely won't take those words seriously."
"You...deduced it yourself?"
Bai Feng did not know what to say anymore. Please stop messing with him.
"Thank you for the blood character, Teacher."
Bai Feng stared at his student silently. If this brat dared to make the character a scapegoat one more time, he would beat the brat to death. Even in his current injured state, he was still strong enough to beat this brat to death.
Blood character? Bullshit!
At this point, Hong Tan could no longer stay silent. He said, "You deduced it yourself?"
Did the brat take him for a fool? A kid like this could actually deduce a cultural art himself?
Su Yu gave a hollow laugh and said, "Not all by myself. Teacher helped me a lot. And some of the research materials left behind by you had been very helpful as well. Also, the water guy in the prison had been helpful. There's also Teacher Liu's teachings. Only with all these helps was I able to come up with the Water Origin Art, a cultural art suitable for humans."
"So you have 36 apertures opened?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Hong Tan looked at Bai Feng, then looked at Su Yu, before looking at Bai Feng again. After a while, he sighed, "I might be getting old, but I'm in a better condition than Great Xia King since I'm still not senile yet. But I've discovered something. After my return, the two of you have been treating me like I'm a senile old man."
Unfilial students!
The two kids were definitely spouting lies to him like he was a fool. One claimed that he had easily deduced the existence of racial ability characters and a disassembly method for character techniques.
One claimed to have deduced a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures and the Soul Devouring Art that specialized in harming willpower. If these two were really telling the truth, wasn't he a piece of trash in terms of research?
After decades of research, character fusion and ability blood essence were the only notable research results he had come up with. But these two had surpassed him in a matter of months?
He shot Su Yu another look before saying with a tired voice, "Do you know how many apertures a human has in total?"
Su Yu was at a loss for words. He did not know the answer.
"Do you know the classification of apertures?"
No answer.
"Do you know about aperture fusion?"
No answer.
But Su Yu still maintained an innocent expression.
"You know nothing, yet you claim to have deduced a cultural art. Do you think your Grandteacher is a fool?"
Hong Tan had the urge to roll his eyes.
But at this moment, Su Yu had a look of realization as he said, "Oh, I understand now!"
What did the kid understand this time?
"Congratulations, Grandteacher, for coming out with the Water Origin Art, a foundation cultural art with 36 apertures. My grandteacher is truly mighty and incredible."
Su Yu congratulated his grandteacher unhesitatingly.
It was Hong Tan's turn to feel like coughing blood. This was what the brat got out of everything he had said?
Fuck!
Too tired to keep talking about the same topic, Hong Tan asked, "Who else knows about this?"
"Nobody. Wait, no. The prefect's son, Xia Huyou, has the instructions to open 35 of the 36 apertures. He's still missing one."
"Xia Longwu's son?"
"Yeah."
Bai Feng asked in astonishment, "You actually know Xia Longwu's son?"
"It's that fatty. The little fatty, Xia Huyou. You met him before, Teacher."
"That's Xia Longwu's son?"
Bai Feng, who had remained calm throughout the entire conversation, was finally shocked. That was unbelievable.
Holy shit!
Even if he started telling others about it, nobody would believe it. It might sound more believable if he said that the little fatty was Marquis Xia's son instead.
Hong Tan was getting even more tired listening to the conversation between his student and grandstudent. He berated, "Is this even the main point?"
Were these two not aware of the crux of the issue here? This kid was actually capable of coming out with a cultural art with 36 apertures. That was the crux of the issue. Yet these two were talking about Xia Longwu's son? What was so interesting about that kid?
He knew that kid as well! It was just a little fatty! He had met everyone of note from the Xia Family, including Great Xia King! Just how did the brains of these two work? Why did their brains work so differently from his?
After he cursed at the two, they finally stopped talking. Only then did Hong Tan said, "Xia Huyou, right? That little fatty really does resemble that Fatty Xia a lot. I reckon Xia Longwu must have suspected the same as well. That was why he had Fatty Xia raise the little fatty instead. Hahaha!"
"..."
Su Yu and Bai Feng exchanged gazes speechlessly. The old man was laughing very happily. Was he not afraid of being beaten to death by the Xia Family for making such jokes?
"Cough, cough, cough!"
Hong Tan hurriedly stopped and assumed a solemn expression as he said, "Hand it over to me later. Don't spread it around anymore. I'll work on it for a bit and give it a complete makeover. Water Origin Art? What nonsense. That's not its name. Its called the Thirty-six Souls - Heaven Shaking Sutra, a result of my hard work over a period of 50 years."
Su Yu hurriedly flashed a fawning smile and said, "Exactly! You're right, Grandteacher!"
Hong Tan rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "You may leave now."
Su Yu laughed awkwardly and hurriedly left the room.
The moment he left, Hong Tan solemnly asked, "What's up with this kid?"
Bai Feng gave a short summary of Su Yu's history before saying, "He has probably stumbled on a fortuitous encounter to obtain a unique character inheritance or some sort of memory fragment inheritance. Over the years, I have peeled a lot of memory fragments during my experiments. He might have encountered a relatively complete memory fragment. That's very possible."
"Memory fragment?" Hong Tan thought about it and said, "I'll ask my senior brother about it. If that was a pure fortuitous encounter, it would be fine. I'm only afraid that there is more to that. Don't forget that we have an Invincible as an enemy."
Bai Feng said, "I wasn't even aware of that before this. You can only blame yourself for not telling me anything. But I believe he isn't a spy."
"Cut the crap. It never hurts to be cautious."
Hong Tan had a solemn expression. Communicators were unsafe, so he directly left the research center and visited Liu Wenyan personally.
A super genius with incredible luck had joined the declining multiple character faction. He had no choice but to be careful about it. And if the kid was really a spy, it was probably already too late for him to do anything about it.
His silly student had told the kid everything, including the disassembly method and character fusion theory...
All those were supposed to be top secrets. But Su Yu already knew all their secrets. Hong Tan sighed. That student of his was too trusting.
Eighteenth Secondary School. Rear mountain.
"Ruin inheritance?"
"That's my guess." Liu Wenyan smiled, "Don't worry too much. If he's really a spy planted by our enemy, your senior brother won't be so stupid to remain fooled for so many years. Also, if he is really a spy, that person would have known everything he wants to know. And he would have killed all of us already by now."
"So he's fine, Senior Brother?"
Liu Wenyan nodded, "Most likely. My only worry is the ruin. I'm only worried about the very unlikely possibility that he had been possessed by some old monster in the ruin."
"You're referring to a willpower soul?"
"Exactly."
Liu Wenyan nodded, "But something like that is very rare. Most of these willpower souls have unclear minds. After all, these ruins have been around for too many years. Any soul left from back then would no longer be in a good condition. I doubt something like that has happened to Su Yu. He must have accidentally stumbled upon some recordings of the past in a ruin."
"Back then, he mentioned that he kept dreaming about being killed by monsters. I suspect if there is really a ruin in Nanyuan, then this ruin must be something related to research in the past. The ruin must have been used for something related to beast taming. A lot of beasts must have been reared there a long time ago."
Su Yu had entered the secondary school at 13. And Liu Wenyan had been teaching him since then. At 13, Su Yu was most certainly not as crafty as he currently was. Thus, when he encountered Liu Wenyan, someone who he viewed as a knowledgeable sage, he inquired about his dreams.
In fact, Liu Wenyan was the one who had suggested that Su Yu start learning about the myriad races and their languages. That would make it easier for him to recognize the beasts killing him in his dreams. Thus, Liu Wenyan actually knew Su Yu quite well. If Su Yu had really been possessed by a soul from the past, he wouldn't be stupid enough to expose himself so easily.
"I see."
Hong Tan exhaled and said, "As long as he's not a spy, it's fine. By the way, Su Yu also asked me if Liu Hong is a spy I sent to the single character faction. Is that your spy?"
"Who?"
"Liu Hong. A genius teaching assistant in the academy from the single character faction. He's Old Zhao's student. Previously, he studied under Zhang Ruoling in the Eighteenth Secondary School."
"Ruoling's student?"
Liu Wenyan thought about it and shook his head, "No. That's not true. Ruoling would have informed me about it if he had really accepted a disciple."
"Then this person is a cheat."
Hong Tan found himself somewhat speechless. "These days, all sorts of people roam the academy. A genius from the single character faction like him had actually lowered himself to lie to a student, telling the student that he was my spy for us in the single character faction? The galls of him!"
Liu Wenyan smiled, "Since he had the galls to make such a claim, just go along with it. Liu Hong...I remember this name. I think Bai Feng told me about him before. He is a genius as well. Old Zhao's student...Old Zhao..."
At the mention of Elder Zhao, Liu Wenyan shook his head, "This Old Zhao is an old man from Teacher's generation. We didn't have a good relationship with him back then, but we weren't hostile either. How has your relationship with him been these years?"
"Not too bad. We basically minded our own business. That old man is fully focused on the Sunmoon Realm. For a period of time, he even had more influence than Zhou Mingren. But he never cared about status or power. What a pity. The Sunmoon Realm is not easy to reach. I'm afraid...he will reach the end of his lifespan soon."
"His lifespan isn't supposed to be this short, right?" Liu Wenyan frowned.
Hong Tan sighed, "After several failed attempts at entering the Sunmoon, he lost some lifespan from the backlash. If he had taken it slow, he would still have some time to keep trying."
"What a pity." Liu Wenyan shook his head, "This is a struggle between the young. Let them experience it lest they grow up sheltered. Just let Su Yu deal with Liu Hong himself."
"I understand." Hong Tan looked at Liu Wenyan and asked, "Senior Brother, any other instructions?"
"Instruction my ass." Liu Wenyan laughed, "Enter seclusion and reach the Sunmoon Realm as soon as possible. Don't step out of the academy again before reaching the Sunmoon Realm. By the way, is the repeling force of your characters strong? It has been quite a while since a human has last reached the Sunmoon Realm..."
Back then, people at the level of Zhou Mingren and Jin Yuhui should already be in the Sunmoon Realm. That also applied to Elder Zhao, who was currently deep in seclusion. Alas, all of them had yet to break through successfully.
Otherwise, Great Xia alone would be able to produce between three to five additional Sunmoons. Currently, the entire Human Realm had around seventy to eighty cultural researchers with the potential to step into the Sunmoon Realm. But all of them were stuck.
In fact, Director Ji was the only person who had stepped into the Sunmoon Realm in recent years. As for General Zhao, he was a warrior. Meanwhile, Administrator Hu was an old Sunmoon. He wouldn't have been appointed the administrator otherwise.
And there was also Wan Tiansheng. It was quite likely that he was already a Sunmoon more than 50 years ago. Liu Wenyan couldn't even be bothered to say anything about that scheming principal anymore.
Marquis Xia was also a recently advanced Sunmoon, but he had advanced through physical cultivation. Liu Wenyan was unsure about the level of Marquis Xia's willpower cultivation.
