Most people who knew Yoshika would eventually discover that she wasn’t a very good teacher. She had the will to share her knowledge and expertise, but one thing every aspect of her shared was that they were quick learners. Each of them had an easy, intuitive understanding of their cultivation that made it difficult to articulate for those who didn’t have the same knack.

In the original academy, that had been a minor problem. Even the least talented academy students had been elites to some degree or another. Takeda Rika was the heir to a well respected dojo, Kasai Hanako had won her way into the academy by defeating an entire tournament of potential suitors, even the boy who managed the library had something impressive. Probably.

Despite her perfect memory, Yoshika had a hard time remembering him for some reason—or was it her?

In any case, the old academy had been a place for the elite, and it was because of Jia and Eui’s exceptional talents that Do Hye had engineered their entry in the first place. The new academy, however, was different.

Most of the students were still mortal, and among those, fewer than half would achieve any kind of awakening. If Qin Zhao’s lessons were to be believed, fewer than one in ten thousand. Yoshika hoped that Jiaguo would be able to do better than that, and she’d spent a lot of time with Dae and Yue trying to work out solutions.

Still, Yoshika didn’t want the academy to focus too heavily on just cultivators, but her expertise was fairly narrow, and her attempts to teach often went way over the heads of her prospective students.

Her own disciples were all very talented. Narae, Jiaying, and Haeun all shared her affinity—they absorbed her lessons like sponges, and would even spin her lessons into entirely new concepts that she hadn’t imagined.

Not everyone could be so lucky.

But Yoshika did teach lessons at the academy. Aside from the special cases, there were also a number of students who were simply more experienced than the rest, and they needed something to do when they weren’t being used as paragons for the rest to look up to.

Those were the students that Yoshika taught—because she was too awful at teaching to handle any others.

Like her favorite master, she preferred to teach smaller groups so that she could give each student more personalized instruction. And, since there were three of her—not counting Meili, who was still posing as a civilian—she could handle several such classes at once.

Each group had a few new faces that Yoshika looked forward to getting to know, and a few that she’d already met.

With Jia, there was Ito Yuuki, the young martial artist who had heralded Urayama’s arrival, Seong Haeun, and Melati.

In Eui’s class, Pan Jiaying was joined by Iseul, Yi Lan the apothecary’s apprentice, and Melati.

Finally, Kaede’s core students included Heian, Narae, an unusual young man from Qin named Jin Hu...and Melati.

Jia sighed and shook her head.

“Melati, do you really need to attend the same class three times?”

“Melati will learn while we learn! Triple the learning! No—cubed! We learned about that in Mister Magus Hyeong’s math class! Melati will make complex shapes with her lessons.”

She nodded happily, and Jia didn’t have the heart to correct her. As long as she was having fun.

Yoshika felt a little bit bad splitting up her disciples—especially Haeun and Narae—but there was a method to it. Ito Yuuki, Yi Lan, and Jin Hu were mostly unknowns. Yi Lan was the oddest one out, as the only mortal who’d been assigned lessons directly under Yoshika, but her place was well-earned.

Whatever else could be said about the surly old apothecary, the fact that his son had managed to craft an elixir of awakening and become a talented alchemist was no coincidence. Yi Lan’s knowledge of meridians and internal qi flows was better than most cultivators, despite her claims to the contrary.

That, along with Yoshika’s gratitude towards Luo’s family for helping to heal her sister, had singled Yi Lan out as a candidate to test their theories on late spiritual awakenings.

Spiritual awakening was usually done very young, before corruption could build up within the meridians and make the process too difficult or dangerous. Powerful awakening stones could be used to circumvent that problem, but they were as likely to kill the user as not.

Luo Mingyu had done it with an elixir, and the medicine he gave to Lee Jung was based on the same concept—eventually leading to her own late awakening. However, it was difficult to replicate, and potentially just as dangerous as the awakening stones, if not more.

Time would tell whether the technique could be generalized, or if it was worth the effort.

On the opposite side of that coin was Ito Yuuki. There wasn’t much remarkable about him, aside from his tragically obvious crush on Jia, but he served as a useful sanity test. Around so many unusual and exceptional individuals, it was important to have someone ‘normal’ around to remind her what realistic expectations looked like.

That was what Yue said, anyway. Yoshika thought it was a little mean.

Then there was Jin Hu. Yoshika wasn’t sure what to make of him. He’d arrived late—apparently traveling on his own—and quietly joined the academy without much fanfare. He had made it through the screening process without issue, but now that she saw him in person he was...suspicious.

By appearance, he was fairly unremarkable. A typical Qin man in his late twenties or early thirties, a surprisingly muscular build for a cultivator possibly explained by the fact that he was an itinerant rogue cultivator with no affiliations.

As a peak third-stage cultivator, he was on par with some of the academy’s teachers, but had chosen to join as a student. That was fine by Yoshika, as it would mean a chance to refine the methods for unifying more developed cultivators, but something about him just felt...off.

So while Jia’s class focused on talismans and formation, and Eui’s on spiritual meditation, Kaede decided to take her group out to the practice fields and test them with what she knew best.

“Sparring. I need to establish a baseline for each of you. We’ll start with partners—Heian with Melati, and Narae with Sir Jin.”

Jin Hu bowed politely, but carefully schooled his expression as he spoke.

“With all due respect, I am a peak third stage cultivator—on the cusp of xiantian myself—and Miss Lee is...a child.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Kaede nodded.

“That’s correct. The sparring matches will be full contact, and I permit the use of any techniques so long as you do not strike to kill. If I step in, or if your opponent yields, you must stop immediately.”

Melati raised her hand.

“Melati has never fought a spirit before...or with only one body.”

“Then it will be a good learning experience.”

“Oh right!”

She buzzed excitedly, flying out to the old dueling ring to prepare. It was the same one where Yoshika had done much of her practice, including some memorable duels against Yan Zhihao...and herself, which was an odd thought.

Jin Hu pursed his lips, still hesitant.

“You want me to fight an eleven-year-old without holding back?”

Narae snorted derisively.

“Why, ‘fraid you’ll lose to a girl?”

“To be honest, I’m a lot more worried about the opposite. Sifu Hayakawa, this scenario sets me up for humiliation no matter the result.”

Kaede frowned.

“This is meant to be a test, Jin Hu. All of the students here are equal, regardless of age, origin, or background. If you think Lee Narae is beneath you, then this may not be the place for you.”

“Alright. If you’re sure. But don’t blame me for whatever happens.”

“I’ll be sure to step in if it looks like she’s about to kill you.”

He sighed and shook his head before moving into position to wait for Heian and Melati to finish.

It didn’t take long. While Heian was restricted from accessing Yoshika’s domain or the grand formation woven into Jiaguo’s spiritual realm, she was still a powerful spirit in her own right, and had been cultivating alongside Yoshika for nearly as long as they’d been together.

Also, Melati was used to treating her individual bodies as expendable. The fight opened with Melati charging straight forward, only for her ki-powered strikes to strike air as Heian’s illusory double faded into dark fog.

The real Heian then skipped up next to Melati and tapped her on the shoulder, igniting her body in black flames.

Melati immediately collapsed, screaming—every single one of her. Yoshika quickly put a stop to the fight and put out Heian’s flames, hastily explaining to the other classes that it was nothing to worry about.

For her own part, Melati was quite chipper about the experience.

“Wow! I didn’t expect Miss Heian to hit me instead of Melati. That hurt!”

Kaede nodded sagely.

“Against spirits and demons, you should always be wary of spiritual and mental assaults. Especially you, Melati.”

She didn’t want to say as much out loud, but attacks like that were among the few things that could permanently destroy Melati and prevent her from simply birthing a new queen to reincarnate herself.

“Heian, I know I said not to hold back, but be careful with techniques that have lasting effects like that.”

Her daughter bowed, looking chagrined.

“Sorry. I just thought that would work best.”

“It did, but remember that you’re not trying to kill your sparring partner.”

“Yes mother.”

Jin Hu raised an eyebrow at that.

“‘Mother’? Is this spirit bound to you somehow?”

Kaede nodded.

“Yes, but that’s a personal matter. I assure you that our familiarity doesn’t afford her any preferential treatment—in school, at least.”

“I see. Perhaps it would be more appropriate for me to practice against her instead.”

“Perhaps. Narae, you’re next!”

Jin Hu got the message and took his place in the ring. Narae took her own place, looking excited at the opportunity to take an older cultivator down a peg. This would be a good lesson for her as well. Jin Hu wasn’t the only person being tested today.

“Begin!”

Narae predictably took off into the sky, circling around Jin Hu to search for openings while he formed a blade of Light essence in his hand. Kaede had seen that technique before, used by a demon hunter that had ambushed her diplomatic convoy on its way from Yamato to Goryeo.

He had been the first person that Jia ever killed, and the memory still haunted her. Her suspicions grew—was Jin Hu affiliated with the Silver Orchard Sect? Sun Quan had sworn to oppose her when she founded Jiaguo.

Jin Hu was content to wait for Narae, and she grew impatient, diving toward him in order to take the initiative. Jin Hu reacted by flooding his qi shield with Gravity essence—a natural counter to Narae’s signature flying techniques.

Before she could get caught in his trap, Narae veered off and produced a talisman from within the sleeve of her uniform. The dive had been a feint—her practice against Jiaying paying off as she cast her spell. Jin Hu lurched to the side as the air where his head had just been imploded with a loud pop and shredded his shoulder.

“Narae! Non-lethal attacks!”

“I knew he would dodge!”

Kaede frowned, but Jin Hu wasn’t waiting for their exchange to continue the duel. He leapt into the air using the ubiquitous Body Lightening technique and slashed at Narae. Her sister ducked under the blade, twisting around to flit behind Jin Hu.

He had either underestimated Narae or overestimated himself, but Jin Hu had just made the worst mistake possible against Narae. The air was her domain, and unless you were as agile as she was, jumping up to meet her would leave you at her mercy. Jiaying had lost dozens of matches that way.

Narae concentrated gravity essence into her feet, and Kaede recognized the pattern. Get behind her opponent, knock them horizontal, then move above them and magnify her weight by orders of magnitude.

It was easy to forget, as light and agile as the little girl was, that she could also use Kaede’s Weightless Fist technique as it was originally intended, freely altering her own mass to suit her needs. She’d gotten quite good at timing it seamlessly.

Just as Narae was about to stomp poor Jin Hu’s spine into paste, however, something unexpected happened. He reached to the side and clutched the air as though it were cloth and yanked himself out of Narae’s way just in time for her to crash to the ground alone. Then he twisted around and kicked off of thin air to race down after her, reversing Narae’s own attack as he drove his knee into her back and plunged the blade of light into the ground next to her head.

“I believe that’s the match. Well fought, Miss Lee.”

Narae groaned.

“Ow...yeah, I yield. Good fight Mister Jin.”

He rose to his feet and dusted himself off, withdrawing the blade’s essence back into himself. Throughout the entire match, Jin Hu had restricted himself only to techniques that were either completely internal, or stayed within his own aura. It was impressively efficient, but very strange for a Qin cultivator.

“Is that to your satisfaction, Sifu? Or do I need to demonstrate further? Perhaps there’s an elderly woman I can battle next?”

“No, that will do, thank you. You’ve got a rather unique style. Even in Qin, I’ve never seen anything like it. That last technique was startlingly similar to the Takeda-style’s Unseen Strike.”

“I’ve met martial artists before, and while I haven’t learned their ways directly, I know how to replicate some of their techniques with internal cultivation.”

Kaede cocked her head.

“Interesting. Why do you use only internal techniques?”

“I’ve been a rogue for a long time, Sifu. I know better than to carelessly expend essence within the domain of a powerful xiantian cultivator. I know that you don’t trust me, but you have to realize that the feeling is mutual. I’m interested in this place, but I have misgivings about the demons, spirits, and whatever she is supposed to be.”

He jerked his head towards Melati, who waved happily.

“I’m Melati!”

“Indeed.”

Kaede sighed.

“I suppose that’s fair. I hope, in time, that you will come to see the benefits of cooperation between otherwise disparate groups. We’re stronger together than we are apart, and your adaptation of foreign techniques is just one example of that.”

He inclined his head in acknowledgement.

“As you say. Shall we continue the lesson? I’d love to learn more about how to actually perform the techniques I’m mimicking.”

“Of course.”

Jin Hu was an oddball, but Yoshika found him strangely familiar. She was looking forward to discovering what they could teach each other.