Making a Move
Early in the morning, Qiao Zidan was sitting on a large rock on the mountain peak. She was holding a leaf in her hand, and her evil technique, Soul Qi, surged up and suddenly infused into the leaf. The soft leaf instantly straightened under the effect of the Soul Qi. Qiao Zidan's right index finger and middle finger shook slightly, and the leaf spun out, flying out as if cutting through the air.
Just one meter. The leaf had only flown a meter before it could no longer maintain its spinning posture. This was because it was no longer hard. Once it left Qiao Zidan's finger, the effect of the evil technique's Soul Qi naturally disappeared.
"My cultivation is still too weak." He shook his head helplessly. Qiao Zidan stood up. It was time to go back. She was leaving the village today. She didn't know when she would be able to come back to the mountaintop again.
Qiao Zidan tapped the ground with her toes and exerted strength in her calves. She used Silent Ghost Steps and headed down the mountain.
The familiar fragrance of porridge assailed her nostrils. This was the last time she would cook for her father before she left, so Qiao Zidan naturally wouldn't slack off. He looked at the firewood under the stove and added some water to the porridge. This way, his father could have hot porridge when he woke up.
Jack was already here. Perhaps because he was going to Fars City, Jack wore a new set of clothes today, making him look even more hale and hearty.
"Dan 'er, let's go. Your lazy daddy won't get up.”Jack called out to Qiao Zidan.
Qiao Zidan gestured to Jack to keep quiet." Grandpa, keep your voice down. Daddy hates it when people disturb him when he's sleeping."”As he spoke, he took out a piece of burnt charcoal from the stove and wrote a few lines on the ground. Then, he turned around and looked at his father's door reluctantly. Then, he carried his bag and left quietly with Jack.
Qiao Zidan didn't know much about this world's written language. He only occasionally read it when he was teaching the children in the village's private school. After all, with the foundation of his previous life, he had also mastered some basic words.
The curtain was lifted and a tall figure walked out from the room. Qiao Tian did not look sleepy at all. When he reached the door, he could still vaguely see Jack and Qiao Zidan's thin bodies.
Qiao Tian stood there without moving. Even after Qiao Zidan and Chief Jack's figures had completely disappeared, he still stood there in a daze.
As if recalling something, Qiao Tian suddenly turned around and walked back to the smithy. He looked at the words that Qiao Zidan had left for him on the ground.
It was a very simple sentence." Dad, Grandpa Jack and I are leaving. You have to take care of yourself and drink less. The porridge is in the pot. Don't forget to eat it."
Qiao Tian's gaze shifted from the words on the ground to the iron pot at the side. He rushed over and swept open the lid of the iron pot. Then, he picked it up with both hands.
As Qiao Zidan had just added water, the porridge in the iron pot had not boiled again. However, Qiao Tian did not care about it as he held the iron pot and poured it into his mouth. He swallowed it in big mouthfuls. In his eyes, there was a layer of hazy water.
Qiao Zidan silently followed Jack on the road, occasionally turning her head to look in the direction of the village.
"Dan 'er, do you miss the village or your alcoholic father?”Jack patted Qiao Zidan's head and asked with a smile.
"A little bit of both." Qiao Zidan replied softly.
"Compared to my good-for-nothing grandsons, you're much more sensible," said Jack with a smile. If only you were my grandson. Qiao Tian, that drunkard, was really lucky. Don't think too much. The world outside is very vast. You'll make many friends in the academy. He would learn a lot of knowledge. When you have the title of a soul practitioner, the country will give you a monthly allowance. At that time, your family's life will be better.”
Qiao Zidan was someone who had lived two lives after all. After listening to Jack's words, her emotions had gradually returned to normal. She could not help but yearn for the outside world and asked,"Grandpa Jack, can you tell me about the academy? What is that place?"
"Of course, the academy is a place for learning. Although I haven't been on it before, I know most of it. Our village has a quota for working students every year, but it has been many years since any working students went to study. There were many benefits for working students. Tuition fees and accommodation fees were waived, and they only needed to pay for their own meals. You can do some simple work in the academy in exchange for food. For example, cleaning the classroom. In general, the working students 'learning in the academy was not much different from free. "If we have to pay to study, it's not something that poor people like us can afford.”
"Dad told me to find a swordsmithing shop to work in when I get to the academy," said Qiao Zidan.”
"You? Work in a sword forge? What kind of joke was this? I think Qiao Tian is really crazy." Jack said unhappily," How old are you? You're not even as tall as a forging hammer. What kind of smithy would accept an apprentice like you? Besides, blacksmithing is a profession that is not valued. You just need to study hard in the academy.”
"However, speaking of which, if you can achieve something in the academy, you should ask your drunkard father to save some money for you. In the future, there would be no working student slots in the intermediate spirit cultivator academy. That would require a lot of money to study. Just the spirit cultivator's subsidy was far from enough.”
Since Qiao Zidan possessed the innate Soul Energy, Jack had already treated him as a Soul Cultivator. If he knew that Qiao Zidan was already a Mortal Soul Stage, he wondered if he would faint from fright.
Qiao Zidan looked at Jack doubtfully and said,"Is there still an intermediate soul practitioner academy? What was the difference between this and a beginner soul practitioner academy? They were both academies, so they should be teaching the knowledge of soul cultivators.”
Jack patiently explained,""Of course it's different. The primary soul master academy taught some basic things, and there were also some cultural courses to learn. They would only accept students whose souls had just awakened. The education period was six years. When they were twelve years old, if they did not have any future, they would just be ordinary soul cultivators. However, if they had good potential, most of them would choose to go to an intermediate spirit cultivator academy for further studies. He studied until he was eighteen. The things taught in the intermediate spirit cultivator academy were more advanced, but the difficulty of learning would also increase greatly. If one couldn't meet the academy's requirements, they wouldn't be able to graduate successfully. This was different from the elementary soul master academy.”
"If there's a beginner and intermediate level, then there must be an advanced level?" Qiao Zidan said.”
Jack nodded, his eyes revealing a hint of envy." You don't have to think about the advanced soul practitioner academy. It's not a place that just anyone can enter. In our Heaven Dou Empire, there are altogether only two advanced spirit master academies, and the number of students admitted each year add up to less than a hundred. That was the cradle of one's future. All the students who graduated from the advanced soul practitioner academy, regardless of whether they were from the country or the Heaven Martial Hall, would fight to get them. They would be directly awarded the title of nobility.”
"Nobles? With such good conditions." Qiao Zidan asked in surprise.
"Of course," said Jack. Spirit Practitioners were the noblest profession, and it was even more so for high-level spirit practitioners. Those are all talented people. Therefore, if we commoners want to reach the heavens in one step, becoming a high-level soul cultivator is obviously the best shortcut. However, how many commoners from ordinary backgrounds can have such a good soul? Even if he did, it would be very difficult to graduate from an advanced soul master academy without the assistance of a large clan.”
"The graduation exam is your own business. Why do you need others to help you?”Qiao Zidan was a little confused.
"This is the difference." Jack sighed. The difference between the poor and the rich, the commoners and the nobles. The requirements for graduating from the elementary soul practitioner academy were very simple. As long as one's soul could reach the tenth stage, one would be able to obtain an astral soul under the guidance of the academy's teachers and successfully advance to the soul scholar title. This was not difficult. As long as a child had Soul Qi when they awakened, they could do it. It was said that the tenth soul qi of the scholar soul was the easiest to raise.”
"However, it's different when you enter the intermediate soul practitioner academy. If you want to graduate from here, you must attain the grand scholar soul and obtain a second astral soul, obtaining the grand scholar soul title. From the first stage of the Great Warrior Soul to the final stage of the ninth stage was something that many Great Warrior Souls could not achieve in their entire lives. Furthermore, after attaining the Great Warrior Soul Stage, if one wanted to obtain an Astral Soul, they would have to rely on their own strength to hunt demonic beasts to obtain Astral Souls. That was extremely dangerous. If one was born in a noble family and was accompanied by a family warrior, the danger would naturally be much smaller. And for us, the commoner scholar spirits, we can only rely on ourselves.”
"The requirements for graduating from an advanced soul practitioner academy are even harsher. Only by passing the bottleneck of the final stage of the grand scholar soul stage and obtaining a third astral soul, can one advance from the grand scholar soul to the mortal soul stage. It was said that there was a threshold at the end of the ninth stage of the Great Scholar Soul Stage. If one could cross it, they would be called a powerful Soul Cultivator and a true noble. If they could not cross it, it would be difficult. Also, there seems to be some restrictions for Mortal Soul cultivators to obtain Astral Souls. As for the specifics, you should be able to learn them in the academy. In any case, the number of students from the advanced soul practitioner academies who could truly graduate was less than one-third.”
Hearing Jack's words, Qiao Zidan had some basic impressions of the teachings of the Battle Spirit Continent's Spirit Masters.
"Grandpa Jack, didn't you say that there are as many as ten Spirit Practitioner titles? Only the students who graduated from the Advanced Spirit Practitioner Academy were Mortal Spirit Practitioners. How could they obtain the titles after that?”
"How would I know?" Jack smiled bitterly. Those who surpass the title of Mortal Soul are all important figures. For example, the Saint Soul cultivator from our village was directly supported by the country. I've heard that the cultivation of a soul master becomes more difficult and dangerous as you progress. How many people can truly reach the level of a Sovereign Spirit Master? It can even be said that I'm not sure if there's such an existence in our Heaven Empire and Star Empire.”
Jack only had a basic understanding of soul cultivators. He did not explain in detail. Qiao Zidan understood that she could only slowly fumble about this knowledge in the academy. This was especially true for demonic beasts, astral souls, and other things.
It wasn't far from the Soul Saint Village to Fars City. The two of them walked for half a day and ate some dry rations along the way. In the afternoon, they could already see the distant city walls.
Even though Fars City wasn't a big city, it was close to the borders of the Heavenly Empire, and the city walls were thick and solid. After Qiao Zidan and Jack were inspected like the other pedestrians, they entered Fars City.
"Dan 'er! Grandpa will send you back to the academy later. You must listen to the teacher when you are alone in the academy. You must not leave the academy without permission. When the semester ends, Grandpa Jack will come and pick you up. It was almost the New Year.”
After all, it was Qiao Zidan's first time leaving home. She was a little flustered and subconsciously said,"Grandpa Jack, are you leaving so soon?”
"A hotel isn't something poor people like us can afford to stay in," said Jack with a bitter smile. When grandpa sees you next time, I hope you've already become a spirit cultivator. In that case, our Spirit Saint Village will be proud of you.”
The Fars Elementary Spirit Practitioner Academy was located in the west of Fars City. Jack asked around a few times before finally bringing Qiao Zidan here.
In the distance, they could already see a tall arched door. The arched door was twenty meters wide and ten meters high. It was built from hard rock. There were two iron gates below. They were black. Qiao Zidan could tell at a glance that they were made from high-quality refined iron.
Through the iron bars, one could see a winding path leading to the inner area. There was a main road leading to the inner area, and there were tall trees on both sides.
In the middle of the arched door, there were four large words: ”
Just from the academy's entrance, one could see how important the Spirit Master profession was on the Dou Spirit Continent. This was only a primary Spirit Master Academy.
Jack and Qiao Zidan had just walked to the front door when they were immediately stopped by the young man guarding the door." What are you doing? Is this a place that you country bumpkins can come to?”
Jack's clothes were already considered glamorous in the Spirit Sage Village, but in Fars City, he completely looked like a country bumpkin. The gatekeeper looked at him with disdain.
"This little brother, we came from the Spirit Sage Village. This child is a working student sent by our village this year." What procedures do we need to go through?”
The gatekeeper frowned and said in a strange tone,"Can a grass nest produce a golden phoenix? Someone in a small village had Soul Qi? It had been many years since the academy had a working student. Are you imposters?"
A trace of anger flashed in Jack's eyes, but he still swallowed his anger and took out the certificate issued by the deacon of the Sky Martial Hall, Su Yuntao, and handed it to the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper took the certificate and looked it up and down." The soul is red fire? Innate Soul Energy? What a joke. This was the biggest joke in the world. I've been a gatekeeper in the academy for four years, but I've never heard of a student with innate Soul Surpassing Qi. This kid's soul is red, how could it be Soul Surpassing Qi? I think you must have forged this Sky Martial Hall certificate.”
" You…" No matter how good Jack's temper was, he could no longer hold it in." You're deliberately making things difficult for me." Alright, just you wait. I'll go find the deacon of the Sky Martial Branch Hall. Dan 'er, let's go." As he spoke, Jack led Qiao Zidan into the city.
Naturally, the Sky Martial Branch Hall's certificate could not be fake. The gatekeeper also knew about it. However, the people who came to send the new students off were usually a little more polite, especially those from civilian families. The so-called King of Hell was easy to deal with, but the little ghost was difficult to deal with.
Jack was born in a village. Even though he was a village chief, he did not understand these principles.
The gatekeeper felt a little uneasy. If the people from the Sky Martial Hall really came, he would not be able to bear the responsibility. Of course, he also believed that the people from the Sky Martial Hall would never come to the academy to question these two country bumpkins.
Feeling depressed, the words that came out of his mouth were naturally not pleasant to hear." Soul Return Sacred Village? I think it's more like a beggar village.”
"What did you say?" Jack turned around. The gatekeeper's words had touched the greatest pride in his heart. Back then, he had fallen out with Qiao Tian because of this. Now, this gatekeeper was someone from outside the village, which made him even more unbearable. He walked back in a few steps and glared at the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper was shocked by the aggressive Jack and could not help but take a step back. However, he quickly reacted and cursed himself in his heart. Isn't he just an old man? What's there to be afraid of?
"What's wrong? I said that you guys came from the beggar village, is that wrong? Look at this little pauper. His clothes are all patched. I think you should find a place to beg. Our Fars Academy is not a charity. Get lost, get lost."
As he spoke, the gatekeeper raised his left hand and pushed toward Jack's chest, wanting to chase the two away.
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