Chapter 673: 72-Forged Iron Devourer (3)

Su Yu was alarmed as well. Zhao Ming? Lan Tian? Holy shit! He made frequent contacts with Zhao Ming during his time at the Source Soul Research Center. Zhao Ming was someone he had known since he first challenged the ranking.

That was Lan Tian? Master of the Original Devil Sect? Someone like that could kill him easily. How did nobody notice that? Su Yu swallowed nervously. He instinctively looked downstairs. Holy shit. Was one of these old men Lan Tian in disguise?

If that was the case...this was so scary. How was he supposed to detect the disguise of a crazy transformation faction expert? Even Great Xia King himself would visit the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy occasionally. Even so, Lan Tian had been able to avoid detection. Was a Sunmoon of the transformation faction so terrifying?

Zhao Ming...Lan Tian...

Su Yu's eyes flickered. He still remembered what Zhao Ming said during their first visit to the Lan Tian Research Center. Zhao Ming had praised Lan Tian as an incredible person. But Chen Yong had called him a traitor.

At the time, Zhao Ming did not argue. But clearly, he believed that Lan Tian was a super genius, a fact not even his betrayal could remove. Lan Tian Research Center...Zhao Ming was also the first person to talk about that research center.

The look in Su Yu's eyes changed. So that was Lan Tian?

Zhao Ming had been in the academy for decades, right? Meanwhile, Lan Tian's defection had happened around twenty years ago.

Su Yu recalled that Zhao Ming had said that he had joined the academy ten years earlier than Xia Yuwen. And Xia Yuwen had joined around the same time Bai Feng joined, which was nine years ago as of last year. In other words, if one actually calculated the time, everything lined up perfectly. Zhao Ming had joined the academy around the same time Lan Tian defected.

Su Yu was astonished. He said, "In other words, Lan Tian had returned to the academy right after defecting?"

"Yeap. It happened right after. He defected during the academy break and Zhao Ming joined when the academy reopened."

Fuck! Su Yu didn't know what to say. What a crazy guy. The guy had returned right after defecting and stayed in the academy for around twenty years. What was that guy doing in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy?

Was that academy worth his time? Also, why bother leaving again after so many years? Was that guy really coming after him?

Su Yu couldn't help but shiver. He yelled inwardly that he had never offended that guy. Wait, he was the one who had smashed Lan Tian Research Center's signboard. Holy shit. Did he offend Lan Tian because of that? He had even said that Lan Tian deserved death.

Shit!

"Zhao Ming...Lan Tian..."

Great Xia would probably keep that secret.

They couldn't let the populace know that Lan Tian had actually hidden amidst them for so many years as that would cause mass panic. After all, that was the master of the Original Devil Sect. Su Yu inhaled deeply. An enemy like that was extremely thorny to deal with.

"Fatty, is there a way to determine if someone is Lan Tian in disguise?"

If there was no way whatsoever, it would be really troublesome."

"That's a long topic. How about this? We'll talk again when I'm at Great Ming..."

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Lan Tian won't replace you, right?"

"Nonsense. He would be crazy to try that. I spend so much time with my second grandpa. He can avoid detection for one or two encounters, but he won't be able to survive daily encounters."

But Su Yu wasn't convinced. There was also Wan Tiansheng in the academy, but Zhao Ming had still been able to remain hidden. Then again, Xia Huyou was right. No matter how crazy Lan Tian was, he wouldn't risk prolonged exposure to the Xia Family.

Su Yu ended the conversation with Xia Huyou and left the research center. He planned to purchase some blood essence first. Since he had reached an agreement with the iron devourer, he might as well get a drop of blood essence there.

But he was curious if he had been killed by the iron devourers before. They seemed to enjoy eating way too much. Would they do anything apart from eating? He had no idea. But he might as well give it a try.

It wouldn't be too hard for him to complete the Source Opening of the three cubs. He only needed to provide them with the heavenly source qi of around three to five heavenly source fruits. If needed, he could give them two more to help the cubs recuperate from blood essence extraction. That should do.

And he could generate the heavenly source qi of seven to eight heavenly source fruits for about seven thousand merit points. Purchasing a drop of little iron devourer blood essence for seven thousand merit points was most certainly a big loss. But at times, money wasn't that important.

If Su Yu insisted on getting a drop of blood essence for free, the Zhu Family would probably help him. But there was no need for that.

Not only would he owe the Zhu Family another favor, he would also offend the big iron devourer. That fellow wasn't weak at all. He could withstand the attacks of Sunmoons. Even if he did not have the offensive power of a Sunmoon, he was still stronger than regular Mountainseas.

It was pointless to turn a friend into an enemy. The big guy would be thankful to him if he could complete the Source Opening for the three cubs.

***

At the academy's trade center, Su Yu purchased a batch of blood essence at a high price. Fortunately, he still had tens of thousands of merit points left after buying his research center. Then, he returned to the research center and spent a night converting all the blood essence into heavenly source qi. He immediately went to look for Dumbo after that.

Beast Taming Faculty.

The faculty was a lot quieter today. After searching for a while, Su Yu didn't find Zhu Hongliang. But he managed to find Dumbo alone. The big guy was busy chomping down on some bamboo sticks beside a small hill. Not far away, a large white bear could be seen.

The white bear was none other than the famous Big Ball. The white bear was maintaining a distance from Dumbo. Su Yu resisted the urge to smirk. Were they trying to hide their relationship like this? Wasn't this the same as covering one's ear while stealing a bell? Pretending to not know each other?

When Dumbo noticed Su Yu, his voice rang out in Su Yu's head, "Are you here for blood essence?"

"Yes."

With a flicker, Dumbo appeared right in front of him. The big guy was still seated on the ground chewing on his bamboo sticks as he asked, "Do you have enough heavenly source fruits? You need at least three for the three little balls."

"Yes."

Dumbo looked at Su Yu in surprise. Was this kid telling the truth? Three fruits were a lot.

Su Yu did not waste any time. He said, "The heavenly source qi is in my research center. If you agree, I can take the three little fellows to my research center. I can take the chance to extract a drop of blood essence as well. There are too many people out here. I won't be able to explain myself if anyone sees me feeding them with heavenly source fruits. They will probably scold me to death."

Dumbo said, "What am I worried of? You won't be able to escape from Great Ming. Don't even think of tricking me with some earthly source fruits. I can see the difference."

"Of course." Su Yu said, "I never mistreat anyone trading fairly with me. I will compensate them well for the blood essence. If I may be presumptuous, is the bloodline of the little fellows pure?"

Dumbo stared at Su Yu for a long while before replying, "Of course."

There was no doubting that. He was a super demonic beast. His bloodline was a lot more powerful than Big Ball's. The little fellows had naturally inherited his bloodline perfectly.

"Good."

Shifting his gaze to the three little fellows who were running around, he said, "I'll be taking them with me. You will have them back tomorrow morning. If you're worried, you can wait outside the research center. You can't enter since I have my secrets."

Dumbo spent some time chewing on his bamboo sticks before replying, "Alright. Don't lie to me. Or I'll get angry."

This big fellow would probably be very scary when he was angry. Su Yu nodded. With this, he would have everything he needed. He ran over and lifted the three little bears. Big Ball was staring at Su Yu. She was not weak at all as she was at least a Cloudbreach. But Su Yu wasn't worried. Just as Big Ball was about to start raging, she calmed down again. She did not forget to shoot Dumbo with a loving gaze.

Fuck!

These two were showing off in front of him!

Su Yu did not have anything to say. He hurriedly left with the three little balls. Not long after, the Beast Taming Faculty sank into chaos.

"Shit! The little balls were kidnapped!"

"They are gone!"

"I think I saw someone running away with the little balls!"

"Thief! There's a thief in the faculty!"

The students kicked a huge ruckus.

Meanwhile, Su Yu was back at his research center with the three little balls. Staring at the three little fellows, he grinned.

Their skins were already so thick at such a young age. One should note that they were born in an environment without heavenly source qi. This iron devourer race couldn't be an ancient race, right?

They were ranked among the top 100 races. Su Yu didn't know if this was an ancient race, but he was sure that they had Invincibles in their race.

He randomly grabbed one of them. After taking a look, he confirmed that this was the first little ball Wu Lan caught previously. This little fellow would be his target. He would first feed the little fellow well before extracting the little fellow's blood. Since this little guy was still so young, he was probably unaware of the pain involved in blood extraction.

Su Yu went into the laboratory with the cub and stuffed an apple-like fruit into the little fellow's mouth. Unsurprisingly, the little fellow forgot everything the moment food was offered and allowed Su Yu to do what he wanted.

Su Yu needed to extract at least one-tenth of the little fellow's blood to generate a drop of blood essence. But he had fed the little fellow with a lot of heavenly source qi. And the little fellow did not seem to care. He was too busy enjoying the food.

After about a dozen minutes, the extraction was done. The little fellow looked at Su Yu in confusion. What did this human do to him?

Su Yu couldn't be bothered to say anything. He stuffed another ball into the little fellow's mouth, instantly shifting the little fellow's attention.

Then, Su Yu left and entered his cultivation room to consume the drop of blood essence. This drop of blood essence was too weak. It was only at the Source Opening Realm. If what he needed was a body forging art instead of a racial ability or even a foundation source art, he would have worked for nothing.

His body did not react whatsoever as the blood essence was too weak. After all, he was strong enough to withstand even the blood essence of Cloudbreaches.

Su Yu waited nervously, praying inside that he had been killed by the blood devourers before. Otherwise, all those heavenly source qi would have gone to waste. Fortunately, the golden book reacted. Su Yu was overjoyed.

Finally!

These bears had killed him before!

Iron devourer (First-stage Source Opening)

Racial ability: 72-Forged Iron Devourer (activation with blood essence), Void Devourer (inactive), Skyshaking Technique (inactive)

Foundation source art: Iron Devourer Art (inactive)

Su Yu blanked out. There were more inactive racial abilities? So these abilities would activate depending on the strength of the blood essence? That wasn't the point. More importantly, he had forgotten that he needed a second drop of blood essence. Holy shit. He couldn't extract more blood from ball number one. Should he set his sights on ball number two?

He was pretty pleased. This 72-Forged Iron Devourer must be the body forging art. It was a natural body forging art that existed as a racial ability. There was a reason for this race to have such strong bodies.

Also, that Dumbo was a liar. What was up with that Void Devourer and Skyshaking Technique? That Dumbo had definitely activated these abilities. His offensive prowess was probably as strong as his defensive prowess. This race actually had three powerful racial abilities!

"72-Forged...do I really need to forge my body 72 times?"

Su Yu was astonished. Wasn't this stronger than the body forging arts of the divines and devils? How much heavenly source qi would he need for this? Would he be able to kill Mountainseas as a ninth-stage Skysoar after completing this art? That...seemed possible. Wow. He was going to be so scary in the future.

Su Yu sighed. Moving forward, he could probably be viewed as someone two cultivation levels higher. This was so impressive because the higher the cultivation level, the bigger the gap with the cultivation level below.

"I am too scary."

Once again, he sighed before deciding to keep a low profile. At the very least, he had to be low profile regarding his combat prowess.