Chapter 11: Fourth-Stage Source Opening

Pain!

Su Yu was in great pain. His nose and mouth were still doing fine as he had already refined the acupoints there. However, that wasn't the case for his other acupoints. With source qi coursing through his unopened acupoints, he was tortured by intense pain. Rumbling sounds echoed in his ears while tears flowed down his eyes. The source qi was refining and opening his shut acupoints.

"An hour...is too long."

He had still been complaining about the short duration a moment ago, but now, he unhesitatingly changed his mind. An hour was too long. Would his body burst apart after the hour was over?

This was probably the first time a Source Opening cultivator had ever actively taken in source qi. The Source Swallowing Technique was the cultivation method of the iron-winged bird. Without proper modifications, it was in truth unsuitable for human use. Su Yu could feel that there were a lot more open pores on his back than the rest of his body, causing a much higher level of absorption on his back.

"Shit! These pores are meant to refine my wings. I won't grow a pair of wings after this, right?"

Su Yu was speechless. The iron-winged bird was a flying race with their wings being one of their trump cards. It was only natural that their cultivation method would focus on the wings as well. Alas, Su Yu was no bird. Even with the book's help in adapting the Source Swallowing Technique to his body, it was still an unsuitable technique.

Boom!

Suddenly, Su Yu heard a loud rumble in his left ear. He blanked out slightly before erupting in joy. Was that...his fourth acupoint being opened? It wasn't too hard for a human to open the initial three acupoints. The fourth and fifth acupoints at their ears would be slightly harder to open.

Beyond that, the sixth and seventh acupoints at the eyes were even harder to open. As for the final two acupoints, the Spirit Palace and the One Hundred Openings, these two would stump the vast majority of people. Most of the people unable to enter the ranks of proper cultivators were stuck at these two.

"The left ear acupoint is opening!"

Su Yu was overjoyed. The rumbling in his left ear was like music to him. Based on his previous estimation, he would require at least six months to reach the fourth-stage. However, a single activation of the Source Swallowing Technique had accomplished that feat for him.

Of course, the speed only seemed impressive due to his weak cultivation level. The main difficulty of acupoint opening was a Source Opening cultivator's lack of ability to actively absorb source qi. The moment one gained the ability to do so, it would no longer be difficult to open the nine acupoints.

Source Opening cultivators would not actually gain significant strength from the growth of their cultivation. At most, they would gain an increase in health and sharper senses such as smell, taste, hearing, and eyesight. Even so, that was good enough for Source Opening cultivators.

After opening the Spirit Palace acupoint to reach the eighth-stage, Source Opening cultivators would then be able to practice some simple martial techniques for self defense, preparing themselves for their eventual ascension into the ranks of true cultivators.

Boom!

Rumbling sounds kept erupting in Su Yu's left ear. He could feel his ear shrinking and swelling repeatedly while his eardrum shook violently. All the while, his left ear was surrounded by source qi. The process was about to reach completion.

The ambient source qi started gushing into his left ear. Su Yu, who had not been able to see source qi before, could actually see a smoke-like clump gushing into his ear. He was looking at source qi. He had never sensed source qi so clearly before.

"I...can't hang on anymore!"

Rumbling sounds echoed in his head. It wasn't that his acupoint couldn't withstand the burden of the surging source qi. Rather, his body was too weak to withstand his first ever active qi absorption.

Boom!

Suddenly, a particularly loud rumble erupted in his left ear. Su Yu's heart sank as he hurriedly stopped the cultivation method. He could no longer keep this going.

…

Su Yu only recovered after half an hour. He felt regretful as he had cultivated for less than half an hour in total, wasting the remaining active duration. What a pity that the remaining duration would not be saved until the next time he needed it.

"However, the result is still excellent. I actually broke through into the fourth-stage!"

Su Yu was pleased. In truth, he hadn’t had much hope for the book. Surprisingly, it had actually pushed him to the fourth-stage before the entrance examination. In the entire Nanyuan Secondary School, only slightly over ten students had reached the fourth-stage.

His previous cultivation was nothing, what with over a hundred students at the same cultivation level. Being a fourth-stage Source Opening cultivator changed everything. In fact, based on the city’s standards, he could be considered an all-rounder good in both martial cultivation and intellect. In short, he was a genius student!

"So is this how the book works? It's incredible. However..."

Su Yu frowned. It worked well when he was in the Source Opening Realm. But anyone at the Great Strength Realm would be able to cultivate actively. The Source Swallowing Technique was no human cultivation method. At that level, he would be better off using a proper human cultivation method.

"Forget it. I can't get too greedy. Also, if I can get my hands on the cultivation methods of the divines and devils..."

Su Yu's eyes flickered in excitement. If he could one day activate the pages of the divines and the devils, what would happen? Human cultivation methods were great, but divine and devil cultivation methods were even greater.

Humanity had pillaged a large number of cultivation methods of the other races over the years of war, but very few of them were the cultivation methods of the divines and the devils. Most of the cultivation methods came from the weaker races. Cultivation methods of the more powerful races were rarely found. After all, killing an opponent was very different from killing an opponent and also snatching the opponent's cultivation method.

"Have the divines and devils appeared in my dreams before?"

Su Yu couldn’t remember his earlier dreams well as he was still too young back then. He wasn't sure if he had encountered them in his dreams before. If he had, would he be able to use their cultivation methods?

"It's too early to think about all that. The Source Swallowing Technique is good enough for now. It can help me quickly advance my Source Opening cultivation.”

Su Yu forced himself to calm down. He was still in great excitement over his progress.

Fourth-stage Source Opening!

Not much had changed with his body, but the refinement by source qi had still strengthened his body slightly. More importantly, his hearing had improved tremendously. As his left ear moved, he started hearing the sounds in the apartment unit above. It still wasn't very clear, but he could hear much more than before.

Due to the excellent soundproofing of the apartment, he could hardly hear a sound from his neighbors in the past, especially when they weren't intentionally being loud. Now, his hearing was much more formidable. It was a basic requirement for a cultivator to have clear eyesight and good hearing. Those were the qualities one would not gain without completing the Source Opening Realm.

"This is great!"

Although he had used a drop of blood essence for the advancement, it was totally worth it if every merit point used could advance him by a stage.

"I still have two drops. Should I...try the abilities out?"

Su Yu's eyes flickered in anticipation. He wanted to test out the might of the abilities, also figuring out their duration and effects on his body. It would be too irresponsible to use these abilities before actually testing them out.

Two iron-winged bird abilities were available for him. Rip and Ironwing Slash. Rip was labeled a tier-1 ability. In short, different iron-winged birds would be able to provide abilities of different tiers. That was understandable. Su Yu could forget about Ironwing Slash due to his obvious lack of wings. However, it wouldn't hurt to give Rip a try.

"Fine, let's give it a try."

However, his house was too small and there were too many people in the neighborhood. With Great Strength cultivators as neighbors, his house wasn't a suitable place to test the ability. After thinking about it, Su Yu left with his blood essence.

...

About ten minutes later, at a training center.

After paying a fee of hundred anyuan dollars, Su Yu rented a training room for an hour. There were plenty of such training centers in Nanyuan. After all, there were a lot of Great Strength cultivators living in the city.

"Start!"

The moment Su Yu swallowed the drop of blood essence, countless scenes of an iron-winged bird ripping its prey apart with its claws appeared in his mind. Both his hands started swelling. Source qi gathered in both his hands, filling them with power while also torturing him with pain.

"This...is Rip?"

Su Yu was shocked. This was the first time he had ever felt so strong. He couldn't even accurately judge how strong he was at the moment as he was only a fourth-stage Source Opening cultivator. As the pain in his hands intensified, he did not dare to delay and hurriedly attacked the training dummy before him.

Boom!

His hand shot out and clawed at the dummy's throat with his fingers that had turned as sharp as eagle claws. A loud boom resounded from the dummy that was made from sturdy materials capable of withstanding the attack of cultivators.

Su Yu then pulled his hand back and attacked with his other hand. He attacked again and again, each attack powered by some sort of tearing effect. Slowly, a tiny crack appeared on the dummy's throat. And after about five minutes, Su Yu finally felt the power leaving his hands.

Boom!

"Hiss!"

Su Yu inhaled in pain as he landed one final attack after the power left him, nearly breaking his own fingers and putting himself in great pain.

"Fuck!"

Su Yu cursed the ability for leaving so abruptly. It was understandable that he would hurt himself attacking a training dummy with his cultivation of Source Opening Realm. After checking his communicator, he reached a conclusion.

"An active duration of five minutes for a drop of blood essence. It is not a singular attack. Rather, it infuses my attacks with a tearing effect. That is probably the racial ability of the bird instead of a regular qi-powered technique."

Su Yu looked at the tiny crack on the dummy's neck. It was slowly closing back up. These training dummies were popular among the various training centers due to their ability to self-repair.

"Dad is also able to do this to the dummy as a ninth-stage Great Strength cultivator. In fact, he can do even more damage to it. With one full-powered punch, he can blast a hole through the dummy. Meanwhile, my repeated attacks have only left a small crack on it. Seems like my attack is around the level of a sixth or seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. Probably seventh as the sixth stage is unlikely to have enough strength to damage these dummies.

"In that case, these activated abilities will have the strength of the blood essence used. After all, the book indicated that the blood used belonged to a seventh-stage Great Strength iron-winged bird. One drop of blood essence for the offensive strength of a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator for a duration of five minutes..."

In other words, he now had access to the offensive prowess of a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator. Of course, offensive prowess did not equal strength. A true Great Strength cultivator would have a stronger body, a faster speed, and more experience in combat. They would be better than him in all aspects.

He could only contend against Great Strength cultivators when attacking stationary targets. But against proper Great Strength cultivators that were ready for combat, they would be able to instantly kill him. After all, his ability would only strengthen his hands while his body would remain weak.

"In fact, I won't stand a chance against even a third-stage Great Strength cultivator so long as the opponent is ready for me and fights from range. I won't even have the chance to approach such an opponent to use my ability."

Su Yu shook his head, pulling himself out of the illusion of strength. The strength this ability gave him was not as impressive as it looked. It could only be used as a trump card. If it was exposed, it wouldn't be able to harm even third-stage or weaker Great Strength cultivators. After all, those opponents could always avoid him until his ability ran out before turning around to deal with him.

"However, this ability isn't completely worthless either. In fact, it can be very useful."

Su Yu smiled. He shouldn't be too greedy. This ability was good enough for him. To be frank, a Source Opening cultivator like him was not much different from a regular person. The ability to gain the offensive strength of a seventh-stage Great Strength cultivator for five minutes was more than enough for him.

"But the side effects are a tad bit serious..." Su Yu complained. Both his hands were still swelling. As for the pain, it had tortured him so much that he was already numb to it.

"Rip...this ability is too rough. The abilities of the iron-winged birds are really not suitable for humans. Our own martial techniques will be much better. However, the abilities of some of the more powerful races can still be very useful."

Su Yu's eyes lit up in excitement. Humanity had performed a thorough research on the iron-winged birds, making them a poor target to study. But what about other races? What if he could decipher the abilities of other races?

"The cultural research academies will reward me for researching these subjects, right? If I'm lucky enough to get the cultivation methods, techniques, or even racial abilities of the divines and devils, won't that earn me a lot of merit points?"

Su Yu swallowed before smiling, "I think the cultural research academies are basically tailor-made for me! I can totally become a technique dealer at the cultural research academies."

Of course, Su Yu was only half-joking to himself. He was a nobody. If he suddenly started releasing the racial abilities and techniques of the divines and the devils after joining an academy, he wouldn't be considered a genius. Rather, he would be considered a freak.

Had he encountered a divine or a devil before?

Had he fought them before?

Had he trained in their techniques before?

If the answer to all these questions was no, nobody would believe that he was actually able to decipher the techniques and racial abilities of those races.

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Su Yu could only entertain himself with those thoughts. With a smile, he started moving again. Although he couldn't activate the iron-winged bird's ability anymore, he still shouldn't waste the training room he had paid for. It wouldn't hurt to use his remaining time in the room to train.

Human cultivators would only start learning martial arts after reaching the eighth-stage Source Opening Realm. They wouldn't be able to properly utilize the practiced martial arts before then. Nevertheless, Su Yu had still learned several martial arts in the past. He wasted no time and started practicing what he knew in the training room.

In the past, the eighth-stage felt incredibly far away for him. That was no longer the case. It would be a good idea to familiarize himself with some martial arts in advance. That way, he wouldn't be completely clueless upon reaching the eighth-stage. After all, if he reached that stage without the skill to utilize his newfound strength, he would remain as weak as before.