It wasn’t long after that everyone had boarded the Guardian Protector, the moment that the last student had boarded and sat down, Xu Long noticed a change in the ambient qi. It felt to him like the giant owl had taken control of all the qi in a small radius around its body, none of the qi was moving like it was just a moment ago. His intuition proved correct when Ming-Yue spread her other wing and Xu long watched as the qi around her lifted her up and into the sky without her so much as flapping her wings.
Almost immediately Xu Long turned on his blindfold’s function. He really wanted to be able to see the view from his first time soaring in the skies. Although he had yet to master his qi control enough that it would go unnoticed to someone of Ming-Yue’s power if she were paying attention to him, given that she was the only one of said power here right now and that Xu Long both trusted her and trusted that she did not care enough to tell anyone even if his trust in her was misplaced, he felt free to be a little daring.
The moment he activated his blindfold he was greeted with quite the spectacular view. Unfortunately he had missed the take off, lest one of the more powerful escorts catch on to what he was doing, still, that hardly mattered to him as he watched the forest below them rush past at astonishing speed. Xu Long could tell that Ming-Yue was obviously not going anywhere near her full speed, considering what he had seen from Old Wu, but she was still moving at great speed judging by how quick the landscape under them was moving.
That being said, he may not have realized just how fast they were moving had he not taken a look himself because all he could feel was a slight breeze on his face. It was certainly a surreal experience to see the incongruity between what he felt from the wind and what he saw with his eyes, but honestly Xu Long was too enamored with the experience of flight to care about anything else right at this moment, it was utterly exhilarating. He looked to his right where the forest met the gargantuan wall of the Great Plateau and marveled at the view of the great land mass from this vantage.
As he was taking in the view it dawned on him that he could very easily look to his left and look at Bai Mei next to him for the first time, and he was certainly tempted. But the more he thought about it the more he realized why he hadn’t done so yet, it wasn’t just because Old Wu would know, that would certainly prompt a little teasing, but that was trivial, the main reason he hadn’t was because it felt wrong. It felt like he was lying to her, to look at her and not have her know that he had done so, he didn’t seem to have that problem with anyone else, but with her it seemed important.
While he was pondering all this their journey from Tianyun City to the Azure Dragon Academy came to an end as the Guardian Protector started slowing down her speed very quickly and finally stopped. As she was slowly descending Xu Long noticed that they were much further away from the wall of the plateau than Tianyun City but he wasn’t sure if this was the right place as all that he could see around them was more forest.
Xu Long decided that he had seen enough and so disabled his blindfold. When he did, he got yet another reminder of just what he could be missing if he relied solely on his eyes. As the ground slowly approached beneath them, a gargantuan formation barrier dome became apparent to Xu Long and they were landing directly in front of it. Of course Xu Long could only infer its size given the limited range of his perception, but from what he could feel it stretched out well beyond his perception and the radius that he could make out made it apparent that it was very large.
When they landed on the ground Xu Long barely noticed as he was fixated on what he imagined was the entrance to the formation. It was a large square arch and the densely woven formation radiating qi off of it made it stand out to him like a bright beacon, he was awoken by his fascination by a gentle voice.
“We are here Xu Long.”
“I know, it is massive.”
“The gate?”
“No, the formation surrounding the Academy.” He answered before turning his attention towards the giant owl. “Ming-Yue, how much bigger is the Academy compared to Tianyun City?”
Without turning her head this time she simply answered. “You should have focused less on the formation surrounding the Academy and more on leaving my back in a timely manner, child.”
Just when she finished talking, the owl underneath all those who had yet to disembark, which was most of the students, suddenly disappeared and Xu Long watched as he fell to the ground as a much smaller and compact raging blizzard in the shape of an owl flew through the gate in front of them and then promptly disappeared from his perception.
Even though they were all caught off guard, very few who were unceremoniously dropped by the Guardian Protector actually hit the ground from their abrupt fall. These were a group of very promising cultivators after all, most were trained from a young age and all of them had at least Awakened before arriving here.
As Xu Long landed next to Bai Mei he couldn’t help but chuckle. “I like her.”
Bai Mei, looking at him a little exasperated, just shook her head. “I really wish you would treat the Guardian Protector with a little more respect.”
Xu Long raised an eyebrow at her. “I think you and I have a very different definition of respect, I have a great deal of respect for her.”
“You keep talking to her as if you were both equals.”
“See that’s what I mean, I respect her, but what you are talking about is obeisance, I don’t like that, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Bai Mei, who was ready to continue their disagreement suddenly stopped, not expecting that answer in the slightest, in fact she was struggling to find a retort. Luckily for her their conversation was interrupted when a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early to mid twenties appeared to walk out of nothingness as she exited the large gate. She coughed slightly into her hand and yet that cough was heard perfectly by every student that was standing around discussing the abrupt disappearance of the Guardian Protector. Every head turned in her direction as if they had no choice in the matter.
“I’d like to formally welcome all of you to the Azure Dragon Academy. This will be your home for the next decade or two, depending on how talented and driven you are, that being said, while difficult, it is entirely possible to be kicked out of the Academy should you truly apply yourselves to the task.”
She then scanned the crowd as if looking for any obvious signs of someone who would be kicked out. Finally she continued. “My name is Lui Xiaoqing, I am an instructor here and will be guiding you through your orientation.” She then looked at a certain young man that every new student here was familiar with and held out her hand to him. “Zeng Chen, if you would.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
The young man slinked forward with his head bowed a little and his shoulders slumped, he then handed over the talisman that contained the table and chair that he had been using as well as the jade tablet with the information of the students that had been collected. She saw his strange behavior but dismissed it, “thank you, your task is complete.”
He bowed his head before rushing through the gate of the academy making sure to not make eye contact with any of the new students, some of whom were sneering at him as they watched.
“Alright, before we step inside I will quickly go over a few things. Starting with your Academy insignia, first and foremost it is the means by which other cultivators, both inside and out of the Academy, and the formations, both encircling and within the Academy, recognize that you are members of the Azure Dragon Academy. Its other main function is to record your academic credits, these will be the only means that will allow you access to almost every resource in the Academy, from time in one of the many artificial biomes where certain types of qi are concentrated to facilitate cultivation, the huge collection of arts and cultivation techniques, items such as weapons, talismans, beast cores, alchemy products, which includes everything from spiritual plants to completed pills, and finally one on one tutoring from any instructor who has the time and inclination to teach you. The only resource in the entire Academy that is completely free is the Great Library, discounting of course the aforementioned arts and cultivation techniques.
“You will receive a monthly stipend of credits just for being students of the Academy and bonus credits for attending classes. You can also win bonus credits by betting with sparring opponents, though betting on fights that are not your own is strictly forbidden and is an excellent way to lose all of your credits. Finally, you can complete jobs for the Academy to earn extra credits, as new students you will be restricted to the jobs in the Academy itself and the immediate vicinity of the Endless Forest, when you are more seasoned students you will be allowed to hunt more freely in the forest and sell your kills for credits and take jobs that require more of a journey, such as taking requests from some of the local sects that administer the nearby mortal lands that we have agreements with.
“Now I am sure some of you are thinking, ‘this sounds just like the systems that the sects use to work their disciples to the bone just to receive basic training.’ And you would be correct, it is a system that was directly lifted from the sects when the Academies were formed, but obviously there were more than a few modifications made. Your monthly allowance and bonus from simply attending classes is more than sufficient to allow most of you to cultivate comfortably for your entire tenure here. The motive of the Academy with regard to utilizing this system is to encourage students to accrue life experience and at the same time divy up the Academies finite resources to the students in an equitable manner. Make no mistake, if we were to pay outsiders to complete the jobs posted for students, which we sometimes do if there are no takers, and compare what we would pay outsiders vs what the same credits offered for the job could buy, the Academy is operating at quite a loss.
“That loss is made up for by your tuition and the subsidies of the various clans, which they are more than happy to provide given that the Academies produce graduates that are among the best of the best in the cultivation world year after year.”
She took a brief pause and scanned the gathering of new students to make sure that they took all of that in before continuing. “Well that’s enough of the introductory spiel, why don’t I show you just what is behind this gate…Which reminds me, I would advise against trying to pass this gate, whether headed in or out, without an Academy insignia, it would be a most unpleasant experience, I assure you. Oh, and do try not to lose your Academy insignia, it is a slight hassle for us to replace, but more importantly for you, your newly issued one will contain none of your credits, they will be gone forever, lost to the ether.”
Xu Long heard more than a few gulps at the prospect. He didn’t share their feelings on the matter but he surmised that he might have joined them in their trepidation had Old Wu not impressed on him just how little the material resources of cultivation would ultimately mean to him, not to mention his cultivation technique demanding very little from him with regards to the location he cultivates.
He was awoken from his pondering as he heard their guide simply say “follow me” and then promptly disappear into the formation that she had just appeared from. He joined Bai Mei in following the crowd of new students that followed her lead and passed through the rather large arch, making sure to turn on the function of his blindfold for the second time in as many minutes before he passed through.
Passing through the gate was a simple affair, he felt absolutely no resistance save for an almost imperceptible tingling on his skin as he walked through, what he saw however was another story altogether. The moment he passed the threshold of the gate his view changed from a bunch of rather densely packed trees to an exquisitely paved boulevard with what appeared to be more than a few lavish looking storefronts hugging it’s sides, one could be forgiven for thinking that they had been transported to Tianyun City but for the different style of the buildings and the dense forest that surrounded them. All of that was incidental though, what truly demanded everyone's attention was the seemingly enormous tower off in the distance directly down the boulevard.
Xu Long’s curiosity over what he was seeing was diverted when their guide began explaining their current location. “This is the Azure Dragon Academy Market, as far as students are concerned, all business conducted here is with Academy credits and all of the items I previously mentioned can be found here. This is also the only place in the Academy grounds that you will ever see people who are not students or instructors, that being said, whether it be the merchants manning the stores or those who travel outside, they all work for us. You will recall that I mentioned how difficult it is to be kicked out of the Academy. Well, messing with our merchants for any reason whatsoever is an excellent shortcut, should that be your desire.”
After dropping that rather naked warning she turned and started to walk down the boulevard, talking over her shoulder. “Moving along, you can come and peruse the market at your leisure after I am done with you.”
They continued down the central boulevard, which after the very densely packed market ended looked a little odd, it looked like the section of a thoroughfare in a city had been transplanted right into the middle of a forest with the trees girding the edge of the boulevard on both sides. After they were a decent distance from the market, however, what was presumably the Academy proper started to come into view. Once they reached the section that was no longer just trees on each side their guide stopped walking and turned to face the group.
“This is the main Academy grounds, you have no doubt noticed the looming tower in the distance, that is the Spring Pagoda. It is not only the heart of the Academy formation but also houses all of the different cultivation biomes that you will no doubt greatly desire to avail yourselves of. Surrounding the pagoda is the Great Library to northeast, the Arena to the northwest, with the various lecture halls populating the south east and west. The outside of the central area is divided up into four quadrants that each house a separate living space for different groups of students, each with their own training facilities, sparring arenas and all manner of amenities. The four groups that the students are divided into are first years, or rather, yourselves, next is those in the Qi Condensation realm, with the last two being divided between those in the upper and lower reaches of the Foundation Establishment realm.
“These group distinctions not only dictate your accommodations but also place restrictions on each group with regards to physical confrontations and unsanctioned violence, namely it is strictly forbidden between those of different groups and dealt with more laxly and on a case by case basis between those in the same group. That being said, there will still be consequences for any violence instigated outside of the arenas, the respective groups of the participants just dictates the severity of the punishment that will be doled out.”
As the young woman was describing the Academies stance on violence between the students, Xu Long could feel more than a few hostile gazes look his way. He had to stop himself from instinctually looking in the direction that he felt the gazes from lest anyone clock on to the fact that he could see perfectly fine at the moment. In the end he had to just smile to himself, it certainly appeared that he would not be lacking for new sparring partners now that he no longer had Old Wu.