Chapter 685: The Curtain Rises (3)
The news continued spreading, city after city, prefecture after prefecture.
Great Xia City, capital of Great Xia.
Marquis Xia sighed, "Again. He's creating cultivation methods like they are nothing. This kid was never so proactive when he was in Great Xia."
Beside him, Administrator Hu said, "He's repaying Prefect Zhu in kind for the preferential treatment he's receiving there. In fact, Great Ming has turned into his own backyard. With Su Yu's temper, it is not surprising that he will do this to thank them."
Marquis Xia said, "I'm mainly worried about the fact that he might not release his new cultivation method to Great Xia. This is so troublesome. We might be forced to beg them for this cultivation method again. If this new cultivation method is really as good as he claimed..."
Administrator Hu said, "It is indeed as good as he claimed. Hu Hao is cultivating it. He has regrown his physical body. With this cultivation method as the base and earthly source fruits as the support, he opened the 14 acupoints of the first stage. According to Hu Hao, his cultivation speed has increased by at least 10 percent after that. After the second stage, his speed has further increased. By the time he completes all 9 stages, he can probably cultivate double the speed of a regular person."
And with double the speed, how could one outcompete someone with a similar level of talent?
With the fusion art on top, one could easily reach the ninth-stage Infinite Strength Realm.
Administrator Hu had complicated feelings as he said, "After about 30 or 40 years, the people cultivating this cultivation method will become Cloudbreaches and Mountainseas. These people will all possess incredible combat strength. They will be far stronger than our current warriors. They will also have a better future. Even the Sunmoon Realm will no longer be a mere dream. Marquis, the true weight of this cultivation method will only show with time."
Marquis Xia said, "I'm aware of that."He didn't need Administrator Hu to remind him of that. How could those cultivating a heaven-grade cultivation method not be strong?
Administrator Hu said, "He's demonstrating it publicly this time. Is this a trap? Is there even a need for that?"
Administrator Hu was a smart man, but not even he understood what Great Ming and Su Yu were trying to do.
Marquis Xia was unable to make sense of it as well. He said, "This is definitely a trap. As for how it's going to work, I don't know. Perhaps some fools might really fall for it? Or maybe they can manufacture an incident, forcing Zhu Tiandao and the others to leave Su Yu behind, creating an opportunity for others to move against Su Yu?"
But Marquis Xia did not think that there was a need for something like that. Just what was that damn Little Zhu doing recently? Everything seemed so confusing.
Administrator Hu asked, "Do we need to do anything?"
Marquis Xia waved his hand, "Nope. Since they have not asked, why bother? Just get Old Zhao to find Chen Yong as soon as possible. If Chen Yong really ends up dead, Su Yu will really turn into an enemy."
Administrator Hu shook his head, "We can't contact him. We don't know his voice transmission talisman frequency. Old Zhao missed him a few times. But he did encounter Old Hou from Great Ming."
"Su Yu sure has a lot of respect there," Marquis Xia laughed. The Talent Fostering Bureau director of Great Ming was personally out on an errand for him.
He continued, "Whatever. We'll watch the show as it plays out. But remind that Fatty Zhu to be careful lest he ends up luring a certain someone out..."
Administrator Hu smiled and said, "Unless that person comes personally, his character clones won't survive. Zhu Tiandao is strong enough to deal with a few character clones. And if that person comes personally, that might not be a bad thing. At the very least, we will all know who he is."
"It's still better to be safe. What if that person decides to kill a bunch of humans before defecting to the myriad races? Things can get very troublesome."
True. Administrator Hu nodded in agreement. They needed to remind Zhu Tiandao. That hidden Invincible might have noticed Su Yu already.
***
The news continued spreading crazily.
Great Ming.
Clearheart Hall.
Underground.
Zhu Tiandao was there again. He said, "Have any unknown experts entered the capital these two days?"
The old woman surnamed Hu smiled and said, "There are a few of them, but they're not too strong. They're mostly Skysoars and Cloudbreaches."
She pointed at a few black dots on the mirror and said, "They have all been marked. We don't have anyone keeping an eye on them since we don't want to spook them. These are all newcomers. Maybe they're only here for the occasion. Or maybe they're cultists."
She then pointed at a few white dots and said, "These are the people who have been coming in and out of the city frequently during the past few days. Maybe they're in charge of gathering information. We're paying close attention to them."
Zhu Tiandao nodded, "So our coverage has reached the city gate?"
"Yes. But we can only cover half the city. Only the northern and eastern parts of the city are covered. Also, we have been keeping this active for two days. It's very expensive. You'll need to pay a lot for this."
Zhu Tiandao said, "It's not much. I can easily earn back the money through Su Yu's cultivation methods."
At that, everyone in the room laughed. The Super Sensory Jade made a lot of things easier for them.
Suddenly, the old woman said, "Look, we have another Cloudbreach."
Zhu Tiandao took a look and saw that the newcomer had been marked as a black dot. The old woman said, "These are all the people we will investigate at a later date. Those who are hiding their strength will receive more of our attention regardless of whether they're from the cult. They must be doing something fishy if they're entering the capital while hiding their cultivation."
Zhu Tiandao laughed. He was very pleased. This Super Sensory Jade was truly incredible. What a pity that its coverage wasn't large enough.
With a somewhat regretful tone, he said, "It would be great if this thing could cover the entire Human Realm. The myriad races will be discovered the moment they sneaked in..."
The old woman said, "I suspect there used to be such a mirror in ancient times. This jade was also made based on our discoveries in the ancient ruins. Sometimes I wonder just how glorious the ancient humans are. Why did that glorious era end?"
Yes. Both Su Yu's Perception Jade and this Super Sensory Jade were items that had been made based on the discoveries in the ancient ruins. If they could create something capable of covering the entire city, what about the ancient humans that had lived during the glorious era? Perhaps there was a mirror capable of monitoring the entire world?
Zhu Tiandao sighed, "The ancient era was truly glorious. I'm afraid the current humanity can no longer forge something like that. Just forging something that can cover Tiandu has wasted decades of our time. The resources we used were enough to forge several heaven-grade cultural weapons."
Money and time weren't even the main issues of this project.
Over the years, accidents would constantly happen during their research. A few years ago, an earth-grade weaponsmith had perished during a research accident. That caused Zhu Tiandao no small amount of grief. An earth-grade weaponsmith was basically a grandmaster. Losing someone like that was a massive loss. Even Zhao Tianbing was only an earth-grade weaponsmith.
After a while, Zhu Tiandao said, "Are there no new Mountainseas or Sunmoons?"
"Nope."
"Keep an eye out for any." Zhu Tiandao said, "Those fellows won't show up now, but they will definitely appear when things change. The moment we detect one, we can't lose sight of them. If we can kill them undetected, do it. If not, we can eliminate them outside the city. The Hundred Dao Pagoda will be on standby. Teachers, I'll have to trouble you to make a move when things get critical."
Zhu Tiandao continued, "Great Ming might enjoy keeping to ourselves, but that does not mean that we will tolerate existences that are a threat to our security. Keep a communication channel open with my first kid. The moment anything unforeseen happens, contact Great Han King and seek help from the Knowledge Seeking Realm. We can tolerate them for tacitly allowing all these internal conflicts to happen, but if they decide to do nothing even when cult experts are gathered in Great Ming..."
One of the old men in the room laughed and asked, "Are you looking for an excuse to create trouble for them again?"
Zhu Tiandao smiled, "I have no choice. I am very unhappy with what those fellows have been doing recently. Since Su Yu has no idea what's happening, I'm not telling him. I don't want to anger him for no reason. With his cultivation methods, he should have been promoted to a senior researcher long ago. But the Knowledge Seeking Realm as been silent.
"Su Yu is on the verge of breaking. He should be entitled to a body forging slot as well, but the Knowledge Seeking Realm is still keeping silent. Back when the Myriad Text Sutra was first released, the Zhou and Yuan Families were given a slot each. Meanwhile, nobody is doing the same for Su Yu.
"Su Yu is unaware about all that or he might make a big fuss out of it. The eight families running the Knowledge Seeking Realm think that nobody will notice if they stay silent. Little did they know, the War Shrine is looking at us like we are clowns."
The old woman frowned and said, "There is no offer? I thought the offer came and Su Yu rejected it."
"Nope." Zhu Tiandao said, "I wouldn't have said all that otherwise. Whatever. Su Yu does not need the slot anyway. But we can't just let them get away with this. I will use this chance to complain about them. Great Han King has recently entered seclusion again. After this matter, I'll get him to leave and throw these new cultivation methods at his face. Let's see what he has to say after seeing those cultivation methods."
Once again, the people in the room laughed. One of the old men said, "If Great Han King learns what you're thinking, he'll probably skin you alive."
"He's supposed to be leading the Knowledge Seeking Realm, but he spends all his time in seclusion." Zhu Tiandao grumbled, "Skinning me? Did I do anything wrong? I'm not going to let him enjoy his seclusion in peace. I'll start bothering him with each cultivation method Su Yu releases. By the way, after the release of the Source Soul Acupoint Opening Art, we can try to contact the War Shrine and see if they are going to do anything to show their appreciation."
"But the Silk Destroying King doesn't get involved in the day-to-day affairs of the War Shrine as well, right?"
"That's fine." Zhu Tiandao grinned, "If he dares to ignore this, we'll throw the Time technique into the latrine pit. My old man told me to do that."
Once again, the others roared with laughter.
Zhu Tiandao said, "Teachers, you'll have to keep working hard for a little while. Tomorrow will be very important. After this, Great Ming will stay safe for at least a decade."
The others nodded heavily. Peace in Great Ming was something they wanted to see. Looking at the numerous dots in the mirror, they couldn't help but feel threatened. They started working hard, recording every single new visitor to the city. This place had been temporarily transformed into the core of Great Ming.
They were supervising the capital from within the room. Apart from the outsiders, they also needed to pay close attention to the existing experts of the city, observing their movement patterns for any inconsistencies. Only cultural researchers were capable of processing such a large amount of information.
After a while, Zhu Tiandao left. His emotions were somewhat complicated. After decades of hard work, they had finally produced a result. Their hard work had not gone to waste. Unfortunately, these people would remain unsung heroes as their feat couldn't be spread due to the nature of the surveillance system.
After all, a lot of experts would not be pleased to learn that they were being subjected to constant surveillance.
At the same time, Su Yu was frowning in his research center.
His tribulation character was madly throbbing again. Great Ming suddenly felt a lot more mysterious. Was he under monitoring? Just what were they using to monitor him? That seemed to be a pretty impressive item.
"I need to be even more careful in the future. I need some anti-surveillance treasures as well. They are able to see through even Sunmoon formations. No wonder Old Zhu was so confident. Tomorrow...my performance shall start."
Su Yu decided to stop worrying about the constant surveillance. He only needed to get used to it. In any case, there was also a certain someone in Great Xia with the habit of constantly spying on others as well.