One way or another, Ye Jiao managed to survive that one hellish training in the morning. Her arm felt numb and by the time they finished, lunch time has long passed.

“We’re going to eat. Do you want to come along?” Mu Xin asked as she pointed outside.

“Yes.”

Mu Xin placed her sword on the side carefully while Ye Jiao followed behind Mu Xin. Their dining room was located quite far in the back, so Ye Jiao had to pass several corridors and rooms before they could reach the dining room. There were no one inside the room, but a lot of food was already prepared on the table.

“You can eat all you want,” Mu Xin pointed to the table. “Make sure to eat a lot because our training hasn’t finished.”

“Ok, then I’ll eat a lot.”

With that, Ye Jiao pulled one of the chairs and sat down. She was stunned to see that the position of the chair was quite low for her, making it hard to reach the table. Standing up on the chair, she picked up several dishes to her plate first before sitting down again. Her eyes sparkled at the sight of numerous food in front of her.

Mu Xin watched Ye Jiao’s action amusedly. This table was not designed for children and with Ye Jiao’s current height, it was hard for the girl to reach the plate.

She couldn’t help thinking that Ye Jiao was cute when she saw how the little girl ate. The speed at which Ye Jiao ate made it seem like the girl wanted to gobble up the food all in one go. It was funny yet at the same time, it meant she had to eat faster if she wanted to have some food.

“They’re really good,” Ye Jiao said with satisfaction. This was one of the rare times when she could eat a lot of food without any restraint.

Mu Xin nodded her head. “You can eat lunch here every single day. After this, we’re going to practice again.”

“What’s the next part?”

“Sparring.”

 Ye Jiao smiled wryly. Her arm was not in the condition to spar against Mu Xin. “Do we have to start right away?”

“No, you should digest your food first,” Mu Xin replied.

Ye Jiao nodded her head and scanned the room for the first time. Before this, her attention was solely focused on the food. Now that she looked around, she realized that the dining room was large. The wall was painted in cream color and there were numerous paintings there.

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“Senior Mu, do you learn about geography?”

Mu Xin arched her eyebrows. “I do. It’s one of the basic subjects in school.”

“Then, do you know what’s on the north of Chen Kingdom? I mean, is there anything in the mountain’s range?”

“Mountain range?” Mu Xin nodded her head. “There’s an academy over there.”

“Academy?” in that secluded place?

“It’s a special academy unaffiliated to the four kingdoms in this area. Only geniuses of the four kingdoms can reach the academy, so it’s like a dream for all of us.”

“Do you want to go there?”

“Of course.”

Ye Jiao thought about herself. “Is the academy really powerful that everyone wants to get inside there?”

“Yes, they’re much more powerful than the four kingdoms. In fact, just one of those academies is enough to flatten the entire kingdom.”

Hearing that, Ye Jiao was speechless. Come to think about it, most of the experts around here were only rank 4 at most. Based on talent alone, they should be able to reach rank 5 or even above it. But so far, none of them could reach it.

If those academies could destroy an entire kingdom, it was clear that there must be those at higher rank over there. Maybe rank 5, 6, or even 7?

“Wait, you say they? There is more than one academy?”

Mu Xin nodded. “My Father tells me that it’s enough to know that there are powerful academies at the north which only accept rare geniuses in this world. He didn’t tell me the exact number, but yes, there is more than one academy.”

“What’s the requirement?”

“The lowest requirement is reaching rank 3 before the age of 20 for some better academies,” Mu Xin replied.

Rank 3 before the age of 20?

Ye Jiao was startled to hear such a high barrier. It was known that only those who possessed light blue or above talent could possibly reach rank 3 before the age of 20. Even light blue color didn’t mean that they would be able to do it if they didn’t work hard enough.

“That means, they only accept rank 3 students or above?”

“Yes.”

Ye Jiao furrowed her brows. It would take a long time for her to reach rank 3. Even though she was confident that she could reach it before the age of 20, it might be hard to hide in front of Wei Shang and the others. After all, her mother told her that the necklace wouldn’t be able to protect her if there was a rank 4 who tried to probe deeper.

Could she last one decade in this place? She was totally unsure.

Mu Xin studied Ye Jiao’s face. Seeing the troubled look, she assumed that Ye Jiao was thinking that it would be hard to get in. After all, she had heard about Ye Jiao’s poor constitution and all from her father. If one should say, this girl has the lowest talent of them all.

“You don’t have to be so down. Everyone has their own path and way,” Mu Xin said. “Even people without Eon Energy might be able to survive int his world.”

“What?” Ye Jiao raised her head in surprise. This was the first time she heard someone said that to her. Most of the time, they would look at her with the look of pity or disgust because of her identity and talent. After all, it was known that they wouldn’t be able to survive if they didn’t have good enough talent to protect themselves.

Mu Xin nodded her head. “It’s true. There are ways for people without Eon Energy to win against powerful people. Even though it’s not easy, it’s not impossible.”

It’s not impossible.

The sentence seemed to stick deeply in Ye Jiao’s mind as she stared at Mu Xin. In her opinion, it was hard for people without Eon Energy to survive because she had experienced for herself the discrimination they held to people without Eon Energy.

Well, her case was rather special because of her background.

“How?”

“Do you know the word ‘tricks?’”