Chapter 656: A New Unit of Measurement Appears

Chapter 656: Chapter 13: A New Unit of Measurement Appears

“Thank you, Su Zhou.”

New Calendar, Year 147. December 4th. Two days had passed since the Third New Southern Celestial Capital was attacked by an unknown Extraordinary Creature.

Su Zhou, who was soaking in a hot spring in the Taibai Mountain Area tourist district and complaining that the local sour plum soup didn’t taste authentic enough, received thanks from Zhou Buyi.

Two days prior, Su Zhou had made a direct beeline for the Divine Wood Ruins, flying ostentatiously across half of the Tianzheng Alliance’s core territory. An estimated tens of millions of people had seen him, and the immense Spiritual Power fluctuations had put every Martial Artist, Patrol officer, and Demon Suppression Bureau Specialist along his path on high alert, their hearts pounding in their chests.

And in the end, his battle with Zhou Buyi—and the city-destroying level of energy he released in the final ten seconds—had left the entire population of the Third New Southern Celestial Capital in a state of panic.

However, after Zhou Buyi, the Director of the Demon Suppression Bureau, announced that he had defeated the suddenly-appearing Demon, the public’s mood stabilized.

But at the end of his address to placate the masses, Zhou Buyi also stated that there was more than one of these strange Demon Dragons. Their purpose, their biology, their origin—all remained unknown. For now, the Demon Suppression Bureau was doing everything possible to analyze their source and find the true origin of this threat.

“See? I told you. I beat him up, and he still had to thank me!”

Su Zhou’s attitude was practically begging for a punch. “Qiming, send him the bill later!”

“Alright.”

Shao Qiming, who was sampling the local liquor, nodded. Because of his poor health as a child, he was rather eager to try this kind of potent drink that he previously couldn’t handle. “So this is how it is? Alcohol tastes so much better when someone else is paying.”

“Of course! You should try it more often.”

With that, the two burst out laughing, filling the hot spring with a cheerful atmosphere.

Of course, what Zhou Buyi wanted to say to Su Zhou went far beyond a simple thank you.

“Civilization, in the end, is a group formed by people gathering together. And there are only two things that can guide a group: a goal before them, or a threat behind them.”

“The Tianzheng Alliance has grown so powerful that it no longer has any enemies in this world. Its driving force for progress has, in truth, vanished. This is especially true after I stepped down as the Federation Chairman. The policies of successive chairmen could never be maintained for long. ‘When a person leaves, their influence fades’ is a common occurrence… Since almost everyone is living in peace and prosperity, with the only issue being their degree of wealth, how can the people at the very top maintain their vitality when everyone has enough to eat?”

“Truthfully, if you hadn’t come, I was planning to use the power of the Wood of Continuation to fabricate a giant wooden Demon Dragon myself. It would make landfall near Yingzhou, then slowly grind its way west across the entire world… Of course, the Demon Dragon would be very slow, so anyone who wanted to run could definitely escape. During this process, I would mobilize all of the Tianzheng Alliance’s resources to attack it—which would, of course, be completely useless. I would use this time to spur a new round of technological development and use the fragments dropped by the Demon Dragon as a pretext to gradually popularize research into the Divine Wood Power.”

“After all, on a planet that has already been changed by the Divine Wood, to not study the Divine Wood is to be doomed to stagnation… I hope you can understand.”

‘This guy, does he think I’m some old man who’s lived for over a hundred years? I’m only seventeen years and thirty-something months old; how could I not be this flexible?’ While communicating with Zhou Buyi from a distance, Su Zhou couldn’t help but think of the catfish effect. When a lively catfish is placed in a tank of listless sardines, it disrupts their environment and, in doing so, activates their survival instincts. The essence of the catfish effect is to use a stimulating method to reactivate listless individuals or groups, spurring them into action once more.

The Tianzheng Alliance had known peace for over a century. Even an ancient dynasty would have started its decline from such a peak. But the founder of this political entity was still alive, so Zhou Buyi was still thinking of ways to maintain the entity’s vitality.

“What else do you need me to do?”

The medium Zhou Buyi was using to communicate with Su Zhou was a mirror. In this world, mirror projection arts were already highly advanced and commonplace, often used for communication. Su Zhou didn’t bother with pleasantries and spoke directly to the other side of the mirror. “If you have something to say, say it quickly. I’ve almost figured out the Desire Power matter. I’m going to go talk with the Immortal Banyan Tree in a bit, and then I should probably be on my way.”

“There’s nothing else… Your battle with me was incredibly realistic; no one could find any flaws. The Tianzheng high command has entered a state of emergency. After this, I’ll just continue to use the Wood of Continuation to stage a few more attacks on the New Continent and the western side of the World Island.”

Although Zhou Buyi looked somewhat weary, some of the injuries from his beating by Su Zhou not yet fully healed, his eyes were bright. He just sounded a little puzzled. “As for the Immortal Banyan Tree… Forgive me for being blunt, Su Zhou, but aren’t you the inheritor of another Divine Wood? Given the conflict between Divine Woods… why would you seek it out to communicate?”

‘Crap, I forgot about that part of the story.’

Cursing inwardly, Su Zhou suddenly remembered the story he had spun for the Hundred Schools. But on second thought, it didn’t really matter if he came clean now. After all, his actions had proven he wasn’t a spy for the Demon Dynasty.

“Actually, I lied to you about that… Well, not exactly a lie, more of a misdirection.”

Su Zhou had never been afraid to admit his mistakes, nor did he mind telling the truth. “While you could say I’m from the Kunlun Secret Realm, in essence, I’m actually from another world that you can’t travel to… In any case, the Immortal Banyan Tree isn’t as evil as you imagine, and my relationship with it is rather complicated and difficult to explain. Don’t look too deep into it. It’s not a bad thing for humanity, anyway.”

Zhou Buyi wasn’t the type to demand an answer for everything, and the subtext of Su Zhou’s explanation told him a great deal. Even so, he was still a bit baffled. “I’m actually well aware that the Divine Wood itself wasn’t the cause of the Demon Dynasty. The evil originated from the Demon Emperor, not the Divine Wood… But, since there’s no conflict between Divine Woods and you’re from an ‘Otherworld’, why did you help us fight the Demon Emperor back then?”

No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for Su Zhou, who was only at the Postnatal Tier back then, to risk his life helping them eradicate the Demon Dynasty!

“Isn’t it simple? It’s because I’m a good person. I’m kind-hearted, a soft touch, easily persuaded, and filled with great compassion.”

As Shao Qiming nodded along emphatically at his side, Su Zhou said with a perfectly straight face, “Therefore, I can’t stand to see evil people run rampant while good people suffer. If anyone wants to build a society where ‘good people can hold their heads high and evil has no place to hide,’ I’ll always lend them a hand.”

“As for a villain like the Demon Emperor, do you even need a reason to blast him to smithereens? People don’t think twice before swatting a mosquito, do they?”

Zhou Buyi was silent for a moment, then he slowly said, “…It’s that simple?”

For a reason like that, he risked his life to slay the Demon Emperor?

“What else could it be?”

The conversation with Zhou Buyi came to a temporary close. He was extremely busy lately, and even taking the time to thank Su Zhou was a luxury he had to carve out of his schedule.

In fact, aside from the truly idle Su Zhou, even Shao Qiming had been very busy. He had received a communication port from Zhou Buyi that allowed him to interact with personnel from the Tianzheng Alliance’s database. During this time, he had already collected and organized a large portion of the True Qi Mechanism technology unique to the Divine Wood World. In exchange, he had transferred some basic knowledge about generators and electronic devices to the Tianzheng Alliance’s technicians.

‘But when the time comes, how should I hand this technology over to the Zhengguo Government?’

Now, the biggest problem was actually coming up with a pretext for how they obtained the technology. Just as Shao Qiming was worrying about this, Su Zhou offered a highly plausible idea. “Just say you got it from some Immortal God Ruins. They won’t be able to tell if it’s true or not, and they’ll just have to give you a ton of rewards and Points.”

When in doubt, blame the Immortal God Ruins. This was one of Su Zhou’s old, reliable tricks. This time, by trading the techniques for the Five Extremes Divine Thunder True Technique and an improved version of the Gale Armor, Su Zhou had also obtained Zhou Buyi’s years of research data on the Divine Wood, as well as the Cultivation Method for the “Wood of Continuation.”

It had to be said that Zhou Buyi was truly worthy of being called a genius. Having synthesized the essence of all Cultivation in the Tianzheng Alliance, the Divine Wood Cultivation Method he created was, in Su Zhou’s eyes, already an Immortal God Level inheritance. Soon, Zhengguo would have one more Immortal God Cultivation Method in its legacy.

‘This Wood of Continuation really does have a trace of the Immortal Banyan Tree’s shadow in it. Those Sub-Plants that split off are clearly derived from the Immortal Banyan Tree’s Undying Root; it’s a characteristic of the “Divine Banyan.” But the essence of the Wood of Continuation—its ability to gather all wood, returning to a unified and complete state, or to divide into thousands, allowing one person to defend the world—is born from Zhou Buyi’s obsession with personally safeguarding the entire world.’

After reading through Zhou Buyi’s research on the subject, Su Zhou felt it was a bit of a shame. “I was originally thinking that you, Qiming, might be able to learn this Cultivation Method. After all, even Zhengguo doesn’t have a Cultivation path related to the Divine Wood. But now it seems this thing is a truly personal power. Without a similar obsession and mindset, others can’t learn it at all. They’d probably end up with a split personality and fragmented power.”

“What does that matter? While I’m not familiar with Zhou Buyi, I imagine he must have separated the pure Divine Wood Power from the power of the Immortal Banyan Tree, then combined it with his own power in an attempt to transform it into his own Divine Wood True Body.”

But Shao Qiming wasn’t bothered in the slightest. He took the data from Su Zhou, his eyes scanning the notes. “Since a predecessor has already researched it, I can do the same… In fact, my circumstances are far better than Zhou Buyi’s. I’m someone who has eaten two fruits from the Wisdom Tree and already has a connection to the Divine Wood. As long as I’m willing to put my mind to it, I can certainly forge my own path.”

Su Zhou naturally had faith in his friend’s abilities, so he gave the data to Shao Qiming. Even if he didn’t want to cultivate the Divine Wood Power, as a Wood Element Spiritual Power Cultivator, Zhou Buyi’s cultivation notes were still an incredibly valuable supplementary resource that could help him avoid many pitfalls.

As for himself, Su Zhou’s true focus was on improving his own abilities.

His fight with Zhou Buyi had made Su Zhou realize his own weakness: if he was bare-handed, his destructive power and firepower weren’t that strong. Whether in human form or his True Body, he had actually failed to obliterate Zhou Buyi, who had incarnated as the Divine Wood, in ten seconds. It was a shameful failure.

The solution to this weakness was also simple: pick up a weapon. Whether it was the Blade of Annihilation or the World Tree Long Spear, Su Zhou was confident that with either piece of equipment, he could swiftly and heavily wound a Zhou Buyi Level enemy.

Of course, since Zhou Buyi had many avatars, Su Zhou had subdivided him into two units. One was a “Little Zhou Buyi,” who had the strength of a newly-ascended Commander Tier, but whose Spiritual Power was less than a normal Commander, probably around fifty million.

The other was a “Standard Zhou Buyi.” This level was recorded by Su Zhou as one hundred Little Zhou Buyis, which equated to five billion in Spiritual Power. This was a terrifying figure that only someone of the Divine Wood Series could achieve.

Right now, in terms of pure Spiritual Power, Su Zhou only had about one billion even in his True Body. That was twenty Little Zhou Buyis, or one-fifth of a Standard Zhou Buyi. After all, he had been cultivating for a very short time. Even with his astonishing Talent, it was impossible for him to surpass someone who had accumulated power for a century.

But how could a battle be decided by Spiritual Power alone? In terms of combat strength, Su Zhou still surpassed his opponent, especially when armed.

Of course, this didn’t stop Su Zhou from setting a small goal for himself: to cultivate his Spiritual Power to one Standard Zhou Buyi before he ascended to the Moon.