Chapter 233: Chapter 3: Space Teleportation
June 25, 2015. Overcast.
A lot happened today.
For instance, Shao Shuangyue, after two straight days of doing nothing but gaming when she wasn’t sleeping, finally completed her first playthrough of Immortal Tribulation.
For instance, Shao Qiming had a breakthrough in his cultivation, reaching Tier One Awakening and unlocking his Spiritual Vision.
And for another, Shao Nantian announced that in three days, he would be taking the younger generation on a vacation to the South Sea Beach. He himself was going for business, so he wouldn’t be an overbearing elder getting in the way of the young folks’ fun. He just hoped that Shao Qiming and Su Zhou would look after their little sister, Shao Shuangyue.
In response, Shao Shuangyue, feeling underestimated, puffed up her cheeks and playfully pounded on his shoulder for a good while.
Of course, today was also the day the ’Inheritance’ promised to Su Zhou by the Zhengguo Government was scheduled to arrive.
"It’s strange. Shuangyue didn’t even encounter the National Preceptor in her playthrough. Even when she beat the Demon Emperor at the end, there wasn’t a trace of him."
11:00 AM, at the Su Family home.
Back in his own home, Su Zhou was browsing a forum on his phone, his brow slightly furrowed. "On the forums, quite a few people have figured out the National Preceptor exists from item descriptions and indirect references. But for some reason, the vast majority of people only end up fighting the Demon Emperor."
"Only a small fraction of players have run into the National Preceptor, and the timing is different for each encounter. One person met him on Taibai Mountain, just like I did, while another challenged an Innate-tier National Preceptor *after* the Demon Emperor... Is it an Easter egg?"
But that didn’t seem quite right. Su Zhou watched online videos of encounters with the National Preceptor. The first scenario seemed manageable, but in the second, the Innate National Master was terrifyingly powerful. If it weren’t for the game’s mechanics—specifically, the ’Thunder Return’ counter to ’Thunder Strike’, which was practically a cheat—the Innate National Master would be nearly impossible to defeat. The whole screen was flooded with sweeping blue-green bolts of Thunder Light. How were you even supposed to fight that?
’Right now, the prevailing theory on all the major player forums is that you need to meet a few conditions to encounter the National Preceptor. The most important one is not losing a single drop of blood during the three consecutive battles against the Demon Generals in the decisive fight on Taibai Mountain, before the Divine Blade is forged.’
’The second condition is not dying even once before facing the Demon Emperor... Ugh, enough about that for now.’
Setting these questions aside for the moment, Su Zhou waited in his home for the Inheritance to arrive.
It was now 11:20 AM, but the Inheritance the government had promised had yet to arrive.
According to the notice from their last conversation, the Zhengguo Government had said the Inheritance would be delivered to Su Zhou at 11:25 AM on the 25th. But with only five minutes left until the deadline, Su Zhou, who had snuck home to avoid a crowd of reporters, still couldn’t sense the aura of any approaching government Transcendents.
’I’ll just wait. The government wouldn’t be late for something like this.’
Putting his phone down, Su Zhou remained calm. ’Actually, I have a feeling the government might try to wow me with some unexpected delivery method—like a drone drop or rocket express, something like that.’
His mindset was excellent; in fact, he was even a little excited.
He was looking forward to seeing just what method the Zhengguo Government would use to deliver the Secret Manual into his hands.
Five minutes later, Su Zhou checked his watch again: 11:25 AM.
The time had come.
And at that very moment, a strange, distorted sensation appeared in the Su Family’s living room. The next instant, the sensation vanished, and a square, steel-plate-like electronic terminal abruptly materialized in the center of the room.
Following the trail of the sensation that had appeared and vanished so suddenly, Su Zhou quickly located the electronic terminal, which was about the size of a laptop screen.
—There was no trace of anyone having been there, no residual Spiritual Qi trail, only the faint, colorless remnants of Spiritual Qi that were rapidly dissipating.
"Spatial Teleportation? Or maybe transport via the Spirit Realm? Or a special bloodline ability of some Awakener?"
Instantly, he stepped forward with great excitement, reaching out to sense the lingering, distorted Spiritual Qi path. His voice was filled with pure curiosity. "Can’t trace the source of the Spiritual Qi... Of course. I never would have thought Zhengguo’s technological and Extraordinary power was this strong!"
"Whatever the method, to have a practical Spatial Teleportation ability at the Extraordinary Tier is incredible!"
The electronic terminal, containing the Extraordinary Inheritance, had appeared in the Su Family home, delivered by a method inexplicable to any ordinary person.
Even the current Su Zhou could only be certain of one thing: the object had truly appeared out of thin air, and it wasn’t the result of a Daoist Technique like ’Spirit Realm Transport,’ which used Spirit Bodies to move things quickly.
In situations like this, Extraordinary Methods were truly far more convenient than science.
Picking it up and opening it revealed a specially designed e-reader. It contained explanations with animated images, PowerPoint-style concept summaries, detailed models of the Cultivation Technique’s Spiritual Qi Circulation, structural analyses for the formation of various Spiritual Qi Organs, and, most fundamentally, a dictionary of common and uncommon Runes.
After a brief look-through, Su Zhou could tell the electronic terminal held extremely advanced technology. It could even generate a holographic 3D projection above its screen to analyze and deconstruct all kinds of Extraordinary Knowledge from every angle.
But more than the e-reader itself, Su Zhou was interested in the method of its delivery.
’A Teleportation Technique, Spatial Teleportation... Is this a show of force?’
His rising curiosity slowly settled, and as he sat on his couch holding the terminal, Su Zhou frowned in thought. ’Or are they using this method to subtly intimidate me? I’m probably overthinking it, but they chose not to use a normal house call and instead actively demonstrated this kind of Spatial Power to me... It feels a bit like they’re showing off.’
Spatial abilities were strategic-level powers. For one, if you could teleport hazardous materials—like a super-virus, a micro-nuke, highly concentrated poison gas, or other dangerous substances—into the heart of an enemy’s territory, you could achieve strategic-level destruction.
At the very least, teleporting a large amount of graphite dust into an enemy’s electronic systems control center would be a direct physical way to paralyze their ’brain,’ wouldn’t it? Su Zhou was just an eighteen-year-old student; he couldn’t even begin to imagine how many tactical and strategic possibilities Spatial Teleportation opened up.
But no matter how he looked at it, using such a power just to deliver an Inheritance... wasn’t that a bit of an overkill?
"Perhaps that’s part of the intention," Yara said, poking out from the top of Su Zhou’s head. It nibbled on Su Zhou’s hair as it looked at the e-reader in his hands, its tone a bit nuanced. "But I don’t think it goes as far as intimidation."
"This is more like a temptation—an invitation. *’Come, join us, and this power can be yours to wield.’* Otherwise, why would they have expressed their intention to appoint you as a professor a few days ago?"
"Adults and their complicated thoughts. Haven’t I already agreed?"
Su Zhou clicked his tongue in assessment, then added, "But speaking of which, Yara, what do you think they’re planning, asking me to be a professor? Did they somehow figure out I’m practicing another Cultivation Technique?"
"You’re a grown-up now, too," the Snake Spirit said softly, shaking its head and tail. "As for the Cultivation Method, of course you have one. How could a human possibly practice cultivation to the Extraordinary level without one? However, Zhengguo probably thinks you inherited some instinctual Cultivation Method from your bloodline. That’s not unheard of."
"Whatever. Let’s look at the Cultivation Method first."
After a moment of marveling at the Spatial Power Zhengguo had displayed, Su Zhou stopped getting distracted and focused on the e-reader in his hands, on the ’Wind Thunder System’ Cultivation Method that the Zhengguo Government had called ’most suitable for him.’
[Thunder Marsh]
