Chapter 1351: Corpse Collector (3)

At the moment, the ancient city and its surroundings were packed with people.

Initially, everyone was wary of coming here. Eventually, they found that Su Yu had stopped sealing the city for no reason. He also seemed indifferent to those visiting his city. He would only charge the visitors some source qi liquid as the fee to enter. With that, everyone finally felt safe to gather in and around the city.

Suddenly, the sky above warped and a stone statue appeared. Below, everyone went silent and withdrew their auras. This had been happening quite frequently as of late. These stone statues were ancient Invincibles who had rarely left their cities in the past. But because of Su Yu, they started leaving their cities at random times, forcing the myriad races to be constantly on alert.

This time, the stone statue had not appeared alone. An old man could be seen behind him.

Looking down at the city from above, Zhao Li was hit by a sense of melancholy. It had been years since he was last here. He had visited this place a few times back when he was still a middle-aged man.

His frequency of travel had dropped significantly after his failed attempt at forging an earth weapon.

After that failure, he had spent years reflecting on himself. Additionally, he had also been busy with numerous weaponsmithing projects. Thus, he had not been able to find much time to travel the Allheaven Battlefield.

Understandably, his face was unfamiliar to many of the people in the city. However, some of those from the older generations were able to recognize him. One of them exclaimed in surprise, "Zhao Li?"

"Why is he here?"

"Who's Zhao Li?"

This was causing quite a ruckus in the city. Someone personally escorted by a stone statue was probably a big shot among the humans, right?

"You might not know Zhao Li, but you must have heard of his father, Zhao Sanchui. That was the fourth principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. That academy has never produced an ordinary principal."

At that, many people couldn't help sighing with regret.

Wan Tiansheng was the sixth principal. He was likely the most controversial of all the principals. After Wan Tiansheng's departure, no seventh principal had been appointed. Even Ji Hong was only an acting principal.

Perhaps Xia Longwu couldn't find anyone worthy of taking over the mantle. Thus, the position had been left empty for now.

The first principal, Xia Chen, had founded the multiple character faction.

The second principal was an incomparably powerful beastmaster who had tamed even dragons.

The third principal was First Profound, an Invincible.

The fourth principal was an incomparably powerful weaponsmith.

The fifth and sixth principals were ferocious combatants capable of killing Invincibles without being Invincibles. Each preceding principal had been more impressive than the previous principal. With such a history to the position, who in Great Xia was worthy of being the seventh principal? Was Xia Longwu supposed to become the principal himself?

Zhao Sanchu's name was a lot more well-known. Someone exclaimed in surprise, "So it's him? This is the most promising weaponsmith in the human race at the moment, someone with the potential to become a heaven weaponsmith. I remember him. Su-Mayor Su seems to be a weaponsmith as well. Is this his teacher?"

"Yes."

"Why did Mayor Su send a guardian to pick him up? Is Mayor Su planning to forge a weapon?"

"Probably."

Everyone discussed spiritedly.

The sheer strength Su Yu had demonstrated had caused everyone to neglect the fact that he was also an earth weaponsmith. Even in the Allheaven Battlefield, earth weaponsmiths were extremely rare. In fact, they might be even rarer than Invincibles.

That was even more so for heaven weaponsmiths. Even a major race like the human race could only produce one, the Heavenly Forge King. There were heaven weaponsmiths in the divine, devil, and immortal races as well. But each race would only have one or two. Even the immortal race, with the highest number of heaven weaponsmiths, only had four of them.

Thus, Zhao Li's arrival attracted a lot of attention. Was Su Yu planning to forge a weapon? He wouldn't have bothered to send a stone statue to pick Zhao Li up otherwise. Before long, news of Zhao Li's arrival spread everywhere.

Su Yu was now important enough that his every action would catch a lot of attention.

***

While everyone was gossiping.

In front of the mayor's residence.

Su Yu bowed deeply and greeted, "Teacher!"

When Zhao Li landed on the ground, he gave the stone statue a slight bow. When Grandstar left, he regarded Su Yu with a strict expression and said, "Mayor Su, it has been a while."

Su Yu hurriedly said, "Please don't play this joke on me, Teacher. In front of you, I'm no mayor..."

Zhao Li snorted, "Is that so? So you still remember that you're a weaponsmith?"

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Of course! How would I dare to forget?"

Su Yu said fawningly, "Teacher, congratulations on your promotion to a vice principal!"

Zhao Li merely snorted disdainfully.

When he looked around and sensed the death qi in the air, he exhaled and said, "Ancient cities are pretty good. Ignoring the death qi, these cities are quite suitable for one to focus on research. What a pity. I doubt you can focus on research anymore."

"Not at all. I'm still very interested in research." Su Yu said, "In truth, research was why I had opted to join a cultural research academy back then. Unfortunately, people kept forcing a cultured scholar like me to turn into an executioner."

He was actually being honest here. But very few people would believe these words. His very first pick had been a cultural research academy. At the time, he wasn't even aware that cultural researchers were excellent combatants as well. He had thought that a cultural researcher would be a pure researcher.

Fighting had never been his original aspiration in life. Before he started school, his only goal in life was to become a researcher and find the origin of his nightmares. Subsequently, his goal had changed into finding the origin of the golden book. Alas, things had developed so rapidly that almost nobody was viewing him as a pure cultural researcher anymore.

Even Zhao Li laughed in amusement as he said, "A butcher like you who had killed so many Sunmoons and caused the deaths of several Invincibles is claiming to be a researcher? What is the topic of your research? Corpse collection?"

"Yes." Su Yu smiled, "You got it right, Teacher. This is why I need your help. I'm planning to become a corpse collector. Teacher, is corpse collector one of the professions available for cultural researchers?"

"..."

Zhao Li asked in astonishment, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah."

Zhao Li stroked his beard and thought about it. He did not question this decision. Rather, he asked, "Is this related to the weapon you want to forge?"

"Yes. I wish to forge a book. Or something similar to a book. A tool to record and gather some things. You can consider this my dao."

At that, Zhao Li's expression changed. He asked, "Are you sure? The dao of a cultural researcher is not a joking matter. After deciding on a dao, you might not be able to change it anymore. For example, Lan Tian's madness is also his dao. As for me, I walk the dao of human-weapon fusion. It can be considered a minor dao. I can't change anymore. You're still young. Do you really want to set your future so early?"

Su Yu smiled, "You can say so."

"You..." Zhao Li shook his head, "So be it. This is a very personal matter. Even those learning from the same teacher will end up walking different daos. This is very common. We'll talk further inside. Tell me your requirements. What manner of a weapon do you need? What properties must the weapon possess? What abilities do you want the weapon to have?"

Su Yu went straight to the point, "I need something capable of storing the corpses of Invincibles."

Instantly, Zhao Li stopped walking and turned to look at Su Yu. Then, he started walking in the opposite direction as he said, "I quit. You can try asking for Heavenly Forge King's help."

Damn it! The kid must be messing with him! Su Yu was left speechless. He hadn't even gotten the chance to say that he wanted to store the corpses of Pseudo Emperors as well. Since he wanted to become a corpse collector, it would be reasonable for him to prepare for the collection of Pseudo Emperor corpses, right?

Why was his teacher's temper so bad? His teacher should talk it out before leaving!

Su Yu hurriedly said, "Teacher, how can Heavenly Forge King's smithing art compare with the Zhao Family's smithing art? Furthermore, I don't know him that well. Meanwhile, I'm your student. Am I right?"

Zhao Li scolded, "Are you trying to use me as a heaven weaponsmith? What joke is this? The so-called storing you mention must not be as simple as storing something in an empty space. The difficulty will be unimaginably high. Are you sure the two of us will be sufficient for this task?"

"I can settle with an embryonic weapon."

Su Yu hurriedly said, "That will be enough. I do not expect to finish it now. I can keep working on it in the future."

Finally, Zhao Li nodded, "Don't get too ambitious. Let's go. Tell me more about your thoughts. Do you have a blueprint of what you want or something? I knew it. You wouldn't have called me over to forge an ordinary weapon. That's understandable. Why would I bother to come for an ordinary weapon?"

Su Yu giggled. Of course it wouldn't be an ordinary weapon. He could forge an ordinary weapon himself. Why would he need their help for an ordinary weapon? Before long, the two entered the mayor's residence.

The moment Zhao Li saw Liu Hong, he said, "Why is this guy here? Kill him or kick him out as soon as possible. This kid is a villain through and through..."

Liu Hong, who was about to offer Zhao Li his greetings, shut his mouth and fled. He shouldn't bother. This wasn't someone he could afford to greet. This guy was hot-tempered enough that even greeting him might result in death.