Tribulation of Myriad Races

"Hmm?" Su Yu finally turned to look at Liu Hong. With a smile, Liu Hong continued his voice transmission, "Disassembly method. Something capable of rearranging character techniques. Are you interested?"

"And you know it?"

"Of course."

"Are you messing with me?"

"Absolutely not." Liu Hong said, "You might not know this, but I do have a lot of friends in Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. I am also quite important here. Others might not be able to get the disassembly method, but I have my ways. Brother Cui, are you interested or not?"

"That is the secret technique of the multiple character faction. How did you get your hands on it?"

Liu Hong said, "That is not something you need to worry about. You only need to tell me if you want it or not."

Su Yu stared at Liu Hong. Was this a scam or was this real? And if it was real, was it deliberately leaked by Hong Tan or had this fellow someone obtained it through some dirty means? Hong Tan and Bai Feng weren\'t stupid enough to get scammed by this fellow, right?

Su Yu smiled and replied, "Yes, I am. What do you want for it? But I want the real deal. If you\'re lying, I will make your life hell. Don\'t get overconfident just because you\'re a Cloudbreach."

"Of course." Liu Hong replied in excitement, "I wouldn\'t do something like that. Be rest assured. This is not the place to talk. Brother Cui, let\'s go to a more suitable venue."

Su Yu gave it a thought and nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, the two arrived at a relatively empty teahouse.

After entering a private room, they sat facing each other.

Su Yu went straight to the point, "Let\'s not waste time. Show me. I need to know if it\'s the real deal. Since you claim to know it, you must have a character technique as well. If you can\'t show me a character technique, nobody will trust you."

Liu Hong said, "Why the rush, Brother Cui? Let\'s talk terms first. The disassembly method has yet to be released. Even after completion, it won\'t be distributed openly. Since you\'re not a citizen of Great Xia, you won\'t get it even if the prefecture is trying to recruit you. By the time it becomes more widely available, many years might have passed."

"Name your terms."

"A hundred thousand merit points and ten peak profound cultural weapons. This is reasonable, right?"

Su Yu said, "It is reasonable if this is not a scam. If this is a scam, you are being way too greedy with it."

"Of course it\'s not a scam!" Liu Hong beamed and said, "The authenticity of my product is guaranteed!"

"If you don\'t trust me, let me show you the proof..."

Immediately after, a slim sword appeared for a split second before vanishing again. Su Yu was stunned. He was able to get a clear look at the slim sword. Shock covered his eyes. That was really a character technique!

Impossible! How could this fellow know a character technique? Could it be that this fellow had not lied to him in the past? He was really a spy of the multiple character faction? No, that wasn\'t the case. Hong Tan himself had verified that he had never heard of Liu Hong being a spy for them. Even Liu Wenyan had denied knowing about that.

Then again, Liu Wenyan had also said that there was another group of multiple character cultivators. This was a secret group that was being raised in secret. Was Liu Hong one of those secret cultivators? Unlikely.

But even if he was, he wouldn\'t admit it. Thus, it would be pointless to ask him about it. Could it be that Zhang Ruoxu of the Eighteenth Secondary School was really Liu Hong\'s teacher?

If that was the case, this would be a lot more understandable. As for the origin of Liu Hong\'s character template, Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was not the only place in possession of character templates. Perhaps Zhang Ruoxu had passed his character template to Liu Hong on his death bed.

Su Yu\'s mind was in a mess. He only came here to satisfy his curiosity about how Liu Hong was going to carry out this scam. He also wanted to verify if his grandteacher had actually released a version of the method as bait. But after witnessing Liu Hong\'s character technique, that did not seem to be the case.

That slim sword was an actual character technique. Liu Hong really knew one. In the past, this fellow had only exposed his strength character. He acted like a super supporter of the single character faction, revealing only a single character all along. Why did he know a character technique?

Numerous thoughts appeared in Su Yu\'s mind.

Seeing Su Yu\'s shocked expression, Liu Hong said, "Brother Cui, you can trust me now, right? Of course, this is a secret. We will be in big trouble if words of this get out. If you\'re interested, we can talk more."

Su Yu frowned and said, "Even if you do know the disassembly method, you shouldn\'t possess that many characters. Are you scamming me with a fake character technique?"

"Of course not!" Liu Hong clarified, "There are actually more people out there with a lot of characters. The disassembly method has provided them with a way to bring these characters into a proper system. You\'re a cultural researcher yourself. You should understand this. At times, we will randomly form a character while reading. And we can\'t just reject that character and let it go to waste, right? As a weaponsmith, you probably have more than one character, right? You have at least five characters. Am I right?"

Su Yu sank into silence. After a while, he said, "Yes. But this is really surprising, Brother Liu. I can buy it from you. But I don\'t have that many cultural weapons. It\'s pointless for you to have so many of them anyway. I can pay you 150,000 merit points and a peak profound cultural weapon. One that is custom-made for you."

Liu Hong inhaled in shock. How rich! Were all weaponsmiths so rich? He had only dared to ask for 100,000 merit points, but this fellow had actually offered 150,000 merit points! One ought to know that even the entire single character faction would have a hard time taking out 150,000 merit points in one go.

Cui Lang was only a brand new profound weaponsmith before this. How was he this rich? He had never heard about Cui Lang selling his cultural weapons.

Seeing how easily Cui Lang had agreed, he turned suspicious. With a fake smile, he said, "Brother Cui, that\'s not a small sum of money..."

Su Yu indifferently said, "It\'s fine. I can ask for some money easily as long as you hand me the disassembly method."

Liu Hong blanked out slightly. He asked, "You mean...you\'re sharing this with someone else?"

"Of course." Su Yu answered matter-of-factly and said, "Don\'t worry. I\'ll only be sharing with a few people to split the cost. We\'ll only use it as a reference in our research. For example, I can get the help of my teacher, Principal Niu. Otherwise, I won\'t be able to afford that much money. Unless you\'re selling me a fake product, you shouldn\'t mind. My teacher won\'t leak your secret. Don\'t worry about that."

"But...the more people know about it, the higher the risk of exposure. Brother Cui, I\'m only selling it because I\'m in a tight spot right now. If Principal Niu finds out, the entire Great Ming might learn of it as well. And the moment this secret spreads out of Great Ming, it will be all over for me."

Su Yu was quite speechless. Why was this fellow so worried? Was he selling a fake product? In that case, he probably didn\'t know the disassembly method. But how had he obtained his character technique? Also, why had he exposed his character technique so rashly? Had he gone mad from poverty or was there some other reason?

It wasn\'t like the two of them were close. Either he was desperate or he didn\'t actually care if his secret was leaked. Su Yu had always viewed Liu Hong as a cunning and selfish fox who would only cared about himself. But strictly speaking, that was how most cultivators behaved.

Even Su Yu himself was such a person. Of course, he was perhaps not as excessive as Liu Hong who would scam even his own people. Or maybe he never viewed himself as one of them. Nobody knew what he was thinking.

At the very least, Liu Hong seemed rather loyal to his teacher, Elder Zhao, who was currently in seclusion. It seemed reasonable for someone like that to reveal his character technique if there were benefits to be gained. But Su Yu still felt like he had been way too ready to do so.

Were they close? Why was he revealing his secret so casually? Was Liu Hong doing that because he was confident Su Yu wouldn\'t leak it or was there a different reason?

Su Yu sank into thought. Liu Hong hurriedly said, "Brother Cui, I can take a step back, but you can\'t tell anyone. Only the two of us can know this. It will be quite troublesome if this is leaked."

Su Yu said, "If I\'m not remembering things wrongly, Elder Hong once said that the disassembly method is only effective up to the Skysoar Realm. But you\'re a Cloudbreach, right?"

"That\'s not surprising at all."

Liu Hong explained, "Any researcher will hold something back to serve as their trump card. The general practice is to produce several versions and release the weakest version first. After some time, they can release a slightly better version. That way, they can maximize their gains. They also don\'t need to worry about illegal copies. You should know about this practice very well as well, Brother Cui."

Su Yu nodded, "You mean Elder Hong has actually produced a method that is effective up to the Cloudbreach Realm?"

"Yes."

Su Yu started cursing inwardly. Bullshit! This was definitely a scam! This damn bastard had most definitely obtained a character technique long ago. Damn this scammer! Just what was up with Liu Hong? What was he trying to do?

Su Yu couldn\'t figure out what Liu Hong was thinking.

Liu Hong said, "Eighty thousand merit points. Brother Cui, you only need to pay that much for the method. Of course, you must promise to not leak it. Is that agreeable?"

Su Yu frowned and said, "Without asking anyone, I might not be able to determine if it\'s the real deal. I am not knowledgeable enough for that..."

Liu Hong clenched his teeth and said, "Fine. I won\'t play dumb. I\'ll be perfectly honest here. I\'ve sold the same product to someone else before this. It is definitely the real deal or I would have been dead already."

"Who?"

"Someone from Great Shang. You probably know her. Shang Tianjiao. Is this a familiar name?"

"Huh? She\'s in Great Xia as well?"

"She passed through several days ago on her way to Great Zhou. I encountered her while I was out on a random errand. Since I was in need of money, I offered the method to her. She paid 120,000 merit points for it. Now that I\'m selling the same product again, I can give you a big discount and take only 80,000 merit points."

Su Yu furrowed his brows, "Are you telling the truth?"