Chapter 25
Yu Sui's basic classes still had three days left to finish.
After she returned to wash up and change clothes, she prepared to go out to Study Hall Number Three at the Yin-Yang School.
Yu Sui had just opened her door when she saw Li Jin Shuang also coming out. Li Jin Shuang clearly paused when she saw Yu Sui, then turned her gaze away and walked straight out.
"Going to the study hall together?" Yu Sui asked.
Li Jin Shuang didn't answer and left quickly.
Yu Sui followed behind leisurely. Her mindset was very good now, completely unable to feel emotions like "urgency" and "anxiety."
She checked her Wind-Listening Ruler along the way, searching for information about today's "Rank Advancement Challenges" from Taiyi's communication array.
The Wind-Listening Ruler captured many messages about all sorts of things, but the most numerous were prayers to various school ancestors for successful rank advancement challenges.
Today's rank advancement challenges allowed promotion from Class D to C, C to B, and B to A.
Covering all academy disciples, once every two months, but not including students who had joined the academy for less than two months.
Because there were too many mixed messages, Yu Sui refined new key points, adding "Martial Path" to her monitoring, and saw messages like these:
"Brothers, quickly reveal who are today's Martial Path arena disciples advancing to Class A?"
"All Nine Schools have people, too many to count, waiting for a list."
"I only know Technical Arts School's Nian Qiuyan and Agricultural School's Cang Shu."
"Who from the Military School?"
"I know the Military School one—Kong Yiyi!"
"What about Yin-Yang School?"
"Wait, who from Technical Arts School would want to storm the Martial Path?"
"Nian Qiuyan can only defend others' schools, can't defend his own."
"That's obvious nonsense—no one can defend their own school, but if you meet Nian Qiuyan, consider yourself unlucky."
"Brothers, I have bad news here. Ghost Way School's Mei Liangyu is also a Martial Path arena disciple advancing to Class A today."
"Then it's over. Anyone who meets Mei Liangyu or Nian Qiuyan is finished."
"These two really don't hold back when they fight!"
"Aren't they here to block Wei Kun today?"
"Half the disciples from the Nine Schools are here to block Wei Kun today. Speaking of unlucky, he's the unluckiest."
After reading for a while, Yu Sui memorized certain names and information, somewhat surprised by what this Yin-Yang School disciple Wei Kun had done to offend half the Nine Schools' disciples, all rushing here today to block his advancement, including her temperamental Senior Brother.
At this moment, Yu Sui somewhat regretted not placing a Five Elements Light Core on Gu Qian earlier to have him help her see Mei Liangyu's abilities.
Sitting in the study hall listening to lectures, Yu Sui supported her chin with one hand, looking out the window and thinking that it would be great if she could capture images through communication arrays. Since they could transmit sound through stellar positioning, why not transmit images?
……
The bimonthly rank advancement challenges were divided into three types: "Celestial Trials," "Martial Path," and "Five Elements Arts Creation."
Simply put, the first, Celestial Trials, was prepared for students with weaker combat abilities. Some Nine Schools Arts, though not strong in battle, were exceptionally powerful in certain areas.
For example, communication arrays, mechanism arts, military formations, etc. Though individual combat power was weak, they benefited the Six Kingdoms' daily life and various developments—they were indispensable at present.
Five Elements Arts Creation required self-creation, surpassing existing known "arts" to succeed. Medical School and Agricultural School chose this path most often, followed by Technical Arts School and School of Names.
As for Martial Path, that was the strength of Yin-Yang School and Military School disciples, followed by Taoist School, Legalist School, and Ghost Way School.
Class D to C required passing one trial, C to B needed two trials, and students wanting to advance to Class A had to pass all three trials.
At this moment, the Martial Path arena was still preparing for the drawing of lots. Students arrived one after another, and Thirteenth Realm experts presided over the scene, responsible for scoring and arranging arena matches.
The Martial Path arena building was predominantly red. The high building had a huge circular arena hollowed out in the center, with viewing platforms circling upward layer by layer, enclosed by red railings. Currently waiting on the third floor were the disciples defending the arena this round.
The vermillion lacquered wood bore black Yin-Yang School curse patterns that lit up the entire Martial Path arena.
Kong Yiyi, leaning back against the railing, turned her head to look toward the first-floor entrance, seeing dense crowds of people. She searched for her target among them, raising an eyebrow with a "hey": "That brat Wei Kun couldn't be too scared to come, could he!"
"He'll come."
The white-robed man beside her, arms crossed and leaning against a pillar, smiled warmly.
At his waist hung three black wooden divination sticks of varying lengths—the representative items of Technical Arts School disciples.
Kong Yiyi looked curiously at Nian Qiuyan: "Could Wei Kun go find Technical Arts School to help break the situation?"
"No." Nian Qiuyan tilted his head toward Mei Liangyu standing on the other side. "Those with ability in Technical Arts School won't help him, and those without ability wouldn't be useful even if he found them."
"To break the situation, his fallback option would be to find Ghost Way School. Ask this one beside me if he agrees."
Mei Liangyu said leisurely: "I'm not as good as you at divination. Which school will he draw in the lots?"
"Must be one of five schools." Nian Qiuyan smiled slightly. "Technical Arts, Ghost Way, Military, Agricultural, or Taoist."
He said: "Wei Kun is a Yin-Yang School disciple. Even if he draws Yin-Yang School, they'll have him redraw."
"Hmph." Kong Yiyi cracked her knuckles, rotating her neck. Her whole body seemed to make clicking sounds. "He'd better fall into my hands."
Pale and sickly-looking Cang Shu, who appeared half-asleep, slowly emerged from the entrance and walked toward the three. Reaching the railing, he said to those below: "He's here."
The first batch of disciples who passed the lottery were let into the Martial Path arena. After Mei Liangyu and the others scanned through them, they slowly turned to look at Cang Shu.
Cang Shu rubbed his eyes, saying weakly: "Oh, he's not there."
"Hey!" Kong Yiyi raised her fist to swing at him but was laughingly stopped by Nian Qiuyan. "Wake up before you speak!"
Mei Liangyu didn't see Wei Kun below but unexpectedly spotted Gu Qian and his group.
The Martial Path arena could conduct five matches simultaneously, with five barriers separating the contests so they wouldn't interfere with each other, also speeding up the challenge process.
Students entering now meant it was starting.
……
Yu Sui was in a very good mood today, listening attentively even to Jing Yunkui's lecture on the sixty-four trigrams arts creation.
As basic classes neared their end, it wasn't all just listening without doing anything.
Today Jing Yunkui addressed the hundred-plus students in the study hall: "Next, you four will form groups and go to the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field. Complete the first trial before tomorrow's classes begin, and you'll have passed the month-long basic instruction. Otherwise, you'll continue the last two days of classes and have two points deducted."
Hearing this, students couldn't help but gasp. The newly arrived Class D students had pitifully few points to begin with. If deducted to a certain level, they'd be expelled from the academy.
Some didn't want to lose points, others didn't want to waste more time on basic classes, wanting to enter their school academies for cultivation earlier. So they acted quickly, forming teams within moments to head to the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field.
Yu Sui looked left and right. People around her formed teams spontaneously, tactfully avoiding her entirely.
Even people from Qingyang who knew her pretended not to see Yu Sui now. Those with higher emotional intelligence would ask if Yu Sui had chosen a team yet, offering to help introduce her because their team was already full.
But no one wanted to team up with Yu Sui, this Ordinary Practitioner. It would be troublesome and potentially drag them down. No one knew what the Yin-Yang Five Elements Field trials would be like. If they didn't complete it before tomorrow's classes began, they'd lose two points.
Two whole points!
Yu Sui sat in her seat without moving. When no one came to talk to her, she lowered her head to check her Wind-Listening Ruler. She had Old Yan help watch Zhongli Que—Nangong Ming's conflicts with Zhongli Ci had been increasing over the past two years.
She even suspected that when Nangong Ming and Zhongli Ci completely fell out, Nangong Ming would send word asking her to find a way to get Zhongli Shan expelled from Taiyi Academy.
Or maybe Nangong Ming was already having others do this.
If news that Yu Sui could cultivate and possessed Five Elements Light Cores reached Nangong Ming's ears, the tasks he gave her would become increasingly difficult.
Yu Sui tapped her Wind-Listening Ruler and saw a message from Blackbeard.
She'd previously asked Blackbeard to investigate Mei Liangyu's relevant information, and he'd just sent it over.
Blackbeard considered this the first task the Princess had given him and took it seriously, wanting to do it satisfactorily. But when investigating Mei Liangyu, he discovered this matter was somewhat complicated.
He couldn't find anything.
Birth registration, age, residence, nationality, birthday, family, friends, etc.—nothing at all.
No one knew his past identity, where he came from, or what had happened to him.
Blackbeard didn't believe it and used all his resources, even secretly bribing people at the academy's Registration Office.
The Registration Office was specifically for recording academy disciple information. No matter how many years ago, as long as they'd once entered Taiyi Academy, records would be preserved.
But Mei Liangyu's information remained so clean it made Blackbeard weep.
Besides his name, there wasn't even an age, household registration was blank, nationality unknown. In the record of people related to him, there was only one:
Master: Chang Gen.
Since Mei Liangyu's past couldn't be investigated, Blackbeard endured it and investigated his recent years' information.
In Blackbeard's messages, aside from unclear parts about Mei Liangyu's Nine Schools Arts, most were things Yu Sui already knew.
What kind of person Mei Liangyu was—in Blackbeard's messages, Yu Sui saw a mysterious, cold, bad-tempered, even somewhat "evil" person.
Blackbeard specially marked key points for Yu Sui:
He was known to have killed sixteen people in the outer city.
Within Taiyi Academy, regardless of birth, class, or status, everyone was equal. Personal grudges among students were restricted, and battles to the death were controlled.
Outside Taiyi Academy, as long as they were in the outer city, the academy no longer restricted disciples.
Settle grudges with grudges, revenge with revenge. Life or death—no one cared.
Of the sixteen people Mei Liangyu killed in the outer city, six were academy students. The remaining ten were outer city thugs, gamblers, addicts—men, women, old, young.
Before him, there seemed to be "equality of all beings"—no objects of preference or hatred.
He'd made many enemies in the outer city. People from several districts had put out word: don't let them see Mei Liangyu on their turf in the outer city, or he'd never return.
But Mei Liangyu was skilled. As a Ninth Realm practitioner with strange abilities and arts, though he was a Ghost Way School disciple, he'd studied courses from all other schools and knew a bit of everything.
Others' trigram arts creation was fixed, but Mei Liangyu could create any school's arts within these eight trigrams.
So he could survive until now, often strolling in the outer city without being killed.
After Blackbeard sent this to Yu Sui, his heart was anxious, fearing she'd be dissatisfied and think his capabilities were just this? As he was sighing sadly, he received Yu Sui's reply: "What's the conflict between my Senior Brother and Wei Kun?"
Wei Kun? Blackbeard slapped his forehead, overjoyed, rapidly typing in the character grid. Finally, something he knew!
"Wei Kun is a Yin-Yang School disciple with some history with Mei Liangyu. This incident happened right in our brothel—I still remember that day."
"Half a year ago, Wei Kun killed someone in our brothel. That person was also a Taiyi Academy student, also from Yin-Yang School. Though I don't know what conflict they had, everyone knew Taiyi Academy students settled grudges in the outer city, so no one interfered in their fight."
"After this Yin-Yang School disciple died, Mei Liangyu came to take the body."
"Wei Kun killed what should have been his friend. He used to be a regular in the outer city but hasn't been seen for a long time."
Probably afraid that going to the outer city would let Mei Liangyu and others know his death was approaching, so he'd been staying in the academy without going out.
Yu Sui read this thoughtfully.
Blackbeard asked: "By the way, Princess, the Prince's reply has arrived. Would you like to come see it, or should I bring it to the academy?"
Yu Sui replied: "I'll come."
……
When Yu Sui finished handling her Wind-Listening Ruler messages, she suddenly noticed the noisy environment had become quiet. Looking up, the previously full study hall was now nearly empty, with only a few scattered people remaining in their seats.
Yu Sui looked left and right, noticing Li Jin Shuang standing up ahead, and further forward, Xue Mushi sitting in his seat, dazed.
The last person was Wei Ren, leaning against the wall, playing with a scorpion in his hand.
Yu Sui supported her chin with one hand, her bright almond eyes reflecting Li Jin Shuang walking toward the exit.
Where there were many people, there were disputes, especially among a group of teenagers in their youth from the competing Six Kingdoms with different goals.
Young people's jealousy, inferiority, pride, and clique formation became more obvious in places like academies.
Though the academy advocated equality for all, ignoring nationality and class, the most disadvantaged—people from Yan nation—also faced contempt and bullying from fellow students.
Next was Li Jin Shuang, isolated by both male and female groups.
Considered a freak, a shameless creature—anyone standing with her or having any interaction would receive scrutinizing looks from others, as if saying "don't you find her dirty?" or "so you're the same type as her."
As long as there was one person angrily shouting at Li Jin Shuang, there would be a second, third, and so on, scaring away those who tried to approach her. People unwilling to cause trouble would pretend not to see and unconsciously keep their distance from Li Jin Shuang.
From Yu Sui's observations, Li Jin Shuang had been alone this month, occasionally acting with Xun Zhiya, but because of Shu Chujun's relationship, Li Jin Shuang was always being scolded.
Yu Sui couldn't help but sigh. Even if Li Jin Shuang knew Nine Schools Arts, it didn't matter—after all, who among those around her didn't? In Li Jin Shuang's case, strength comparison still couldn't overcome the numbers game.
In such times, those who could stand with Li Jin Shuang and act without receiving strange looks from others, pointing fingers, and being scorned, were only that type of person.
"Hey." Wei Ren, leaning against the wall, called out lightly, flicking his finger to send the bright red scorpion in his hand flying toward Li Jin Shuang, who was almost at the door.
Li Jin Shuang didn't seem to think Wei Ren was calling her, but she sensed danger. The scorpion behind her raised its tail, its stinger curved like a crescent moon. Yu Sui saw a silver flash so fast it even slightly surprised her.
The crisp sound of a sword rang out in the now-spacious study hall, waking the dazed Xue Mushi and shattering the flying scorpion.
Li Jin Shuang sheathed her sword, looking calmly at Wei Ren with quiet eyes.
"Heh." Wei Ren spread his hands with a smile. "Just wanted to get your attention. Don't be so tense."
This type of person, always consorting with sinister poisonous creatures and often releasing them to scare people, was someone no one usually wanted to play with, considering him so vile.
Some people had scolded Wei Ren over the scorpion crawling problem until their faces were red and necks thick, cursing his ancestors eighteen generations back. But Wei Ren just smiled and watched them, spreading his hands: "It's that serious? Want to have a life-or-death duel in the outer city?"
So others didn't dare scold him to his face anymore.
Wei Ren pointed at the remaining people in the study hall, his gaze sweeping over Yu Sui, who supported her face with one hand, past Xue Mushi leaning on his desk in a daze, and finally stopping on Li Jin Shuang. He raised an eyebrow: "Coincidentally, only we four are left. I see no one invited you, so why don't you join us three and form a team to complete this trial together."
Xue Mushi scratched his head. If he hadn't quarreled with his cousin Xue Jiayue, he wouldn't be without team invitations. Actually, there had been some, but he was absorbed in his emotions and didn't respond, so others left.
When the sword's ring woke him up and he came to his senses, only these three people remained.
Yu Sui, supporting her chin with one hand, tilted her head to look at Xue Mushi.
This person was also quite famous.
The most exciting recent event in Taiyuan was the Yin-Yang School's Saint Maiden personally going to the declining Xue family to break off an engagement, causing the Xue family to lose face in Taiyuan and shut their doors for months.
And Xue Mushi was that unlucky fellow who, after being abandoned at the altar, was sent to Taiyi Academy overnight by his family.
He looked like someone without a temper, even somewhat dull, always keeping his head down in his own world. When Xue Mushi's roommates learned about him being abandoned by the Yin-Yang School Saint Maiden, they expressed sympathy, comforted Xue Mushi, and angrily cursed the Yin-Yang School Saint Maiden as worthless.
Then Xue Mushi beat them up badly.
The beaten people were also confused. After recovering, they scolded Xue Mushi for being ungrateful and cut ties with him. When this spread, everyone laughed that Xue Mushi had no temper, no self-respect, was hopelessly in love with the Yin-Yang School Saint Maiden, wasn't manly at all, and was his ex-fiancée's dog.
Xue Mushi didn't refute, letting his roommates target him.
Such a person walking with Li Jin Shuang and Wei Ren wouldn't surprise or concern anyone.
As for her...
Yu Sui tapped the table with her knuckles, producing dull sounds. She said lazily: "Are you sure you want to bring me? I'm an Ordinary Practitioner."
"Sure, why not? It's not like we can't carry you." Wei Ren raised his chin slightly toward Li Jin Shuang with a half-smile. "Li Jin Shuang, it's just a basic trial. Surely you, a Fifth Realm practitioner, can carry her?"
Li Jin Shuang remained silent for a long time, quietly sheathing her sword without responding or leaving.