The Heavenly Wandering Sword
Chapter 33
He was released promptly the next day, with fond farewells from the various guards that had stood post while he had enjoyed his stay there. For Li Jian, he felt calmer than he had in a while. The solitude nature of the prison cells with their oddly luxurious furnishings as well as the ability to socialize all day with the guards that stood outside his cell brought a rather nice sense of tranquility to him that he has not felt in a while. It seemed though that he had unfortunately agreed to the job offer made by the witch elf professor and sighed. He has not been a full-on teacher in quite a while and he was not looking forward to marking home work assignments or sitting there while a bunch of rich brats showed off their martial arts and spells to him. At most, he had taken on disciples before.
He looked down at the pieces of papers that had been handed to him by one of the guards on his release. The guard had handed him a large stack of paperwork that the Principal had left for him with addresses and a bank note for what she had labelled as his “signing fee”. He should probably read through the contract that was there at some point. After following some directions on a small map that had been drawn for him, he looked up to see the massive gate of the school grounds, whistling slightly to himself.
The Triparte Academy was surrounded by a massive wall with green ivy grown over the white masonry for what seemed like at least a few hundred years. The entrances were fitted by massive golden arches large enough to allow in carriages of any sizes while the grounds themselves were kept neat, with fields of various flowers and massive sections of grassy fields all around. It seemed that the Academy itself consisted of five massive buildings as well as an extremely large outdoor arena. He smiled to himself, the architect who designed this place was clearly quite skilled. The main building was quite large, housing the administrative offices as well as the main classrooms and the library. There was apparently also a smithing section as well.
The second largest building was the dormitory, with male and female separated housing. It was a massive eight floored building that seemed to be able to house thousands of students. He had read about this in one of his books. He recognized the gymnasium as well where various training classes were held as well as the building that housed the bestiary. Magical beasts existed on this continent as well, and part of the curriculum was made to teach students on how to care for and handle magical beasts. The last building was the Advanced Studies class which only accepted elite students. Likewise, their professors were the select group of the instructors employed by Triparte.
Li Jian however walked first into a series of apartments across the street. Room 1403. He shrugged his shoulders and walked in through the foyer. He was greeted by the uniformed concierge who bowed to him as he stepped into a box they called an elevator that would transport the occupant up to the right floor. He hit the rune marked 14 and, in a few seconds the doors would open and reveal the hallway to him. Stepping in front of room 1403, he unlocked it with the small door crystal and stepped in. The inside was furnished quite luxuriously, with a carpet knit from a very soft plant fiber. He checked out the main room as well as the bedrooms and nodded. It turns out that the Principal hadn’t lied, but he was still suspicious as to why she decided to offer him a job like this.
He was browsing through a series of books left for him on a work desk when he heard a knock on the door. Frowning slightly, he could guess who it was. When he opened it, he saw Principal Fu Rong standing there with a coquettish smile on her face. “I’m glad to see that you have settled in Master Li. How do you find the apartment?”
“Are witch elf women especially naggy.” He thought to himself, but he forced a smile and stepped back. “Of course, it is very nicely furnished thanks to your care.” Fu Rong walked in and smiled as she looked around the place. “Have you eaten yet? It would be a good time to take a tour of the school and of course we have a very high standard cafeteria there. Perhaps you would like to join me for dinner, it is the usual time for me to inspect the cafeteria.” Li Jian’s eyebrow twitched slightly, now the woman wants to bewitch him with the promise of free food. Very well, a real man steps forward even when he knows there is danger.
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“Sister Fu is so brave, inviting a man she had just met to eat together. Sister Fu, I admire you. You are a tigress in spirit.” Li Jian said, bowing his head while Fu Rong’s face became a darker purple from a mixture of embarrassment as well as anger. “Master Li, that, your jokes are too much.” She coughed politely before turning around quickly and walking out. Li Jian locked the door behind him and followed her. “Here, you will need this. It’s a professor’s pin.” She handed him a pen with a crystal clear gem imprinted into what looked like a western rapier and four folded wings around it. He pinned it onto his tunic absentmindedly. “It gives you access to professor only areas of the Academy as well.”
After a short walk, the two of them arrived inside the Academy itself. She lead the way, taking them through the main building and headed straight to the cafeteria. He looked around and paid close attention to the structure of the place, the construction methods used had not been simple ones. “Who is that with the Principal?” A few of the students were already whispering with gossip as they saw their Principal with a human. “Do you think she hired a new servant?” Li Jian heard all of this and it seemed like humans in general were much less powerful than the demons or the witch elves. It wasn’t surprising, the demons and the witch elves were born with higher grades of spiritual roots than humans. For a human to match the strength of a demon or the sheer capability of a witch elf in terms of manipulating spiritual essence, they had to have a very special bloodline or a spiritual body of some sort.
The cafeteria was laid out quite simply, large amounts of tables with seats around them. The meal line itself had a variety of dishes on offer and was spread through at least 30 meters with at least 12 different options available to the students. “We take a tray here and pick out something you would like.” It seemed the Principal was a fan of various fruits as he watched her load her plate. He followed her lead and picked up a very light but very hard wooden tray with slots in there to hold food. Shoveling a mix of what looked like rice with fruit and some braised meat that he recognized as more human food, he followed her to sit at section set aside for staff.
True to her words earlier, she had a lot of different dishes in small quantities on her tray and she taste tested each, even jotting down notes on a piece of paper as she did. It seems that she did take her work quite seriously. Li Jian tried out the various dishes on his plate and found them to be quite good. It wouldn’t be too far to say that the Imperial family would not have regular access to dishes of this quality. After nodding satisfactory at her taste test, she looked up at him and smiled brightly. “I’m sure you have a lot of questions for me.”
Li Jian leaned forward on the table and nodded. “Of course I do. I think it’s suspicious that you want to offer a human prisoner a job at the most prestigious academy in the Yao Kingdom.” She giggled at his statement, a rather playful look on her face. “Master Li, you are the suspicious one. You are a human who is able to wield much greater force than even the witch elf Silver Guard and then stopped a witch elf thief guild member with brute force. Not to mention, forcefully beating down a bull demon with brute strength. If that was not enough, you also were able to simply remove the Witchfire toxin from the injured guard. Master Li, just how many skills do you have?”
Li Jian put his face in his hands for a moment and sighed. “You’re right Principal. I am as talented as I am handsome.” Fu Rong giggled at his deflection of what she had said and shook her head slightly. “Master Li, I seek talents that can benefit the students of this school. The professors here are each powerful in their own right, with talents that surpasses the common cultivators of their level. Humans on this continent are mostly alchemists or array masters. You seem to be the outstanding exception, with a knowledge of healing as well as fighting. Can you really say that I should not have someone like that on my staff as an instructor?”
Li Jian held up his hands and sighed. “Very well then, what exactly is my job here?” Fu Rong leaned back and interlocked her fingers in front of her face, smiling at him. “You are the new spiritual combat tutor of course. You know, a lot of different professors have asked me for that position but I needed someone who would be able to coach our elite class.” Li Jian held up a hand towards her. “Hold on, now I have to tutor the elite class? Principal do you enjoy rubbing salt on wounds?” Fu Rong frowned slightly in confusion. “You don’t find it prestigious enough?” Li Jian formed a large “X” with his arms in front of him. “Too prestigious, the thought of coaching a bunch of hyped up brats who think they’re better than everyone else fills me with boundless amounts of prestige. Can’t you just let me teach basic cultivation or something?”
She held up her index finger and waved it disapprovingly, tutting all the while she did so. “Master Li, a basic cultivation professor would not have such a nice apartment across the hall from my own in one of the more expensive housing buildings in the city of Murk.” Li Jian shoulders slumped broodingly. “I thought this woman was a tiger, but it turns out she is a fox.”
“Your first class is tomorrow at 9 in the morning sharp, don’t be late. It’ll be held in the elite hall.” He sighed to himself as she got up and smiled at him again. “I am so glad to have you on board with us Master Li. Please don’t disappoint me.” She smiled at him again before waltzing off casually. Li Jian swore that he could have seen fox ears on her head as she walked away. “Very well Principal, you win this round. We will see how many of your elite students will want to stay in my class after I’m through with them.”