Chapter 1615: Martial King's Descendant (1)

Su Yu the saint.

In only a few days, Su Yu was turned into a legend. Some were suspicious as all the rumors had emerged suddenly. They wondered if Su Yu was deliberately spreading these rumors.

But did that matter? No.

The stories mentioned in the rumors were mostly true.

Su Yu was truly strong. His backers were truly strong as well. The various prefectures couldn't find an effective way to dispute those rumors. It was also true that Su Yu had saved Great Qin King. It was true that he had killed enough people for the myriad races to tremble in his presence.

When all the stories were true, how the rumors emerged was no longer important. The masses had their own way of judging the world. They did not care about the scramble for power of the strong.

What did they truly care about?

The safety of Human Realm. Their own safety. Their family's safety.

Su Yu was strong. He had powerful backers. He was willing to help humanity, but he could always ignore humanity. What would the masses choose? Help Su Yu return to humanity or push him away?

Any normal person would know the right answer to those questions. As long as the power backing Su Yu did not intend to invade and occupy the Human Realm, that was enough for many. They did not care about anything else.

Nobody was stupid. Even the ignorant masses knew what to choose here. After spending so many years in war with the various races, retired soldiers were practically everywhere. Even the commoners knew a little about what was happening outside the Human Realm.

The human race might be one of the more powerful races, but it was also being suppressed by the myriad races. Everyone knew this. Thus, what was the harm in letting Su Yu rejoin humanity with a powerful force behind him?

Su Yu himself was a human. He had fought against the myriad races in the Allheaven Battlefield. He was not a traitor. He hadn't defected to join a different race.

Thus, Su Yu became the ideal candidate to become the leader of the new holy land.

The masses did not care about the ploys and schemes of the rulers. They only cared about their own benefits. Because of that, more and more people gathered outside the prefect's residence of the various prefectures to make their stand known.

***

Three days had passed.

The conference would be held on the seventh day. Some people were already starting to head toward Great Xia.

As for Su Yu, he was too busy to care about the rumors. He had visited Zhao Li the day before. Upon seeing the pile of treasures Su Yu brought, Old Zhou had completely forgotten about everything else.

In truth, Zhao Li had just forged the Mark of Civilization with Su Yu not long ago. Thus, the two had not parted for long.

Old Zhao was warming up by forging some normal weapons. Thus, Su Yu was not afraid of disturbing Old Zhao during weaponsmithing. He asked, "Teacher, has Elder Zhao left seclusion?"

"No."

Zhao Li was quite annoyed. Why was Su Yu still here? He did not like to be disturbed during weaponsmithing.

The damn kid loved talking too much. Zhao Li had always been a man of few words, but Su Yu had been talking to him for an entire day. The fact that Su Yu had been bragging about his accomplishments nonstop did not help either. Zhao Li was finding Su Yu's presence annoying.

Alas, he was too embarrassed to kick the kid out since he had just received a pile of treasures from the kid. Thus, he could only force himself to stay patient.

Su Yu was naturally unbothered about how annoyed Zhao Li was. He asked, "Teacher, are you related to this Elder Zhao?"

"Nope."

"But you have the same surname..."

"So what if we have the same surname? There are plenty of people with your surname out there as well. Are they all your relatives?"

Well, that was true. But why did Zhao Li sound so grumpy?

Su Yu rolled his eyes and said, "That Elder Zhao has been in seclusion for so many years. Has there ever been a conflict between him and the multiple character faction?"

"Not really. He has been in seclusion long before the conflict between the single and multiple character factions intensified."

That was good to hear.

Su Yu said, "Can I visit him?"

"Why would you want to visit him?"

"To save him. His student, Liu Hong, asked for my help lest his teacher die in seclusion."

While forging, Zhao Li said, "Sure. Just go. But remember to inform Ji Hong about it beforehand."

"Fine."

Seeing that Zhao Li was only focusing on forging and not him, Su Yu curled his lips and tossed a jade talisman over.

Zhao Li asked indifferently, "What is this? I don't lack treasures."

Su Yu started walking away as he said, "Nothing much. Just a collection of trash. I killed too many people and received this Encyclopedia of Weaponsmithing as the heavenly reward. It was a manual left behind by an ancient heaven weaponsmith. Or perhaps that was a divine weaponsmith."

Su Yu sounded completely casual about it. But the moment he said those words, Zhao Li vanished with a flicker before reappearing to snatch the falling talisman out of thin air. The weapon he was working on exploded, but he ignored it and roared in fury, "How could you throw an ancient manual around like this?"

Su Yu shrugged. That was because of Zhao Li's clear lack of interest in conversing with him earlier. In fact, he had planned to hand it over the day before, but Zhao Li had been so dry in their conversations that he delayed it.

Zhao Li roared, "Bastard! This thing is far more valuable than your so-called dragonbind wood!"

Su Yu laughed and said, "Well, it's yours now, Teacher. Just look at you. Why are you getting so worked up? It doesn't look like a divine weaponsmithing method. It was probably the manual of a heaven weaponsmith. It contains the personal experience and theories on weaponsmithing of that ancient weaponsmith."

"Are heaven weaponsmiths that weak?"

Zhao Li didn't know what else to say. Was Su Yu listening to himself? Why was the kid talking like heaven weaponsmiths were very weak? Who was the kid looking down on?

Su Yu said, "Not at all. Well, get busy, Teacher. I'll be visiting Director Ji Hong and Elder Zhao now and get this request fulfilled."

"Alright. Time for you to get out of my face."

Su Yu rolled his eyes and muttered that he wouldn't give Zhao Li any treasures anymore after this.

***

Before long, he reached Ji Hong, the current acting principal of the academy.

Wan Tiansheng, the sixth principal, had retired. Ji Hong did not believe himself qualified to become the seventh principal. Thus, he had been maintaining his position as the acting principal.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Of the six past principals, each was more terrifying than the one before. Thus, Ji Hong did not even dare to covet that position even when Great Xia Cultural Research Academy had declined.

Wan Tiansheng had left with the Heart Cultivating Pavilion, but Ji Hong did not intend to rebuild a new Heart Cultivating Pavilion. He merely resided in a random large residence in the academy.

The environment was decent, but it lacked the solemn and dignified atmosphere of the Heart Cultivating Pavilion.

He was surprised to see Su Yu, but he still smiled and said, "Mayor Su! Welcome!"

He was aware of Su Yu's arrival at the academy, but he had not bothered to meet Su Yu. In any case, Su Yu's identity was too special for any random person to meet.

"Director Ji!" Su Yu smiled and said, "You are too polite. Strictly speaking, I'm a fellow schoolmate of your daughter."

Ji Hong nodded and said, "Please take a seat. Do you need anything from me?"

"Nothing so serious." Su Yu went straight to the point and said, "Two matters. Firstly, where is Liu Hong's teacher, Elder Zhao, secluding himself? Don't worry, I'm not here to kill him. I promised Liu Hong to help him. Secondly, you once gathered some information, but the information is no longer useful to you. Can I take a look at the information you gathered?"

The first request wasn't an issue.

Ji Hong said, "Elder Zhao is secluding himself at the bottom of the Jade Moon Lake. That place has been sealed. Nobody has been allowed to enter. Thus, it has remained undisturbed even during the previous battle. As for the second matter...yes. The information I collected is no longer useful after Fiery Sea's death. Do you need it?"

Su Yu nodded, "Yes. I'm trying to check if we missed anything."

He grinned and said, "Back then, there were quite a lot of traitors around. My martial uncle removed some of them. Subsequently, Principal Wan killed some as well. But I'm worried that some of them are still out there."

Ji Jong nodded and said, "Yes. There might still be some of them out there. Something still doesn't feel quite right about the traitor. Fine. I'll be sending the information to you."

"Thank you, Director Ji."

"You're too polite." Ji Hong paused slightly before saying, "Mayor Su, I need to trouble you for something as well."

"Please do tell."

Ji Hong sank into silence. After a short moment, he said, "This academy was founded by Principal Xia Chen. The second principal strengthened its foundations, while the third principal developed and grew it massively. The fourth, fifth, and sixth principals were also incredible monsters in their own right. Therefore, I don't feel comfortable serving as the acting principal. Since so many of the multiple character cultivators have returned...why don't you ask Liu Wenyan if he's interested in the position..."

Su Yu stared at the director silently.

Ji Hong said earnestly, "If you ask me, you're the most fitting person for the job. But I doubt this position is worthy of your time anymore. However, Liu Wenyan and the others still care a lot about the academy. After all, people like Hong Tan and Chen Yong had spent half their lives there. The seventh principal must be someone from the multiple character faction."

Su Yu gave it some thought and said, "I'll ask, but I can’t promise anything."

"Thank you."

"Don't worry about it." Su Yu smiled and said, "If that's all, I'll be taking my leave. Just deliver the information to my father's place later, Director Ji."

"Sure."

Ji Hong agreed easily. Just as Su Yu was about to leave, he recalled something and said, "Mayor Su, one more matter."

"What is it?"

After a short moment of hesitation, Ji Hong said, "You know Zhou Hao, right?"

"Yes."

"During the previous chaos, Vice Principal Xia Changqing was killed. Xia Yuwen...was deployed to the Allheaven Battlefield to serve his penal sentence. Since he did not participate in any direct acts of rebellion, he was spared from death. Zhou Hao is now without a teacher, but his talent is too good to be wasted. In my opinion, the cultural research academy can't do much for him anymore. Are you interested in taking a student, Mayor Su?"

"Hmm?" Su Yu blanked out.