However, Liu Yu Tong was a True Disciple.
She was not as strong as Qi Yong Ye, so why?
Because she was the princess of the Liu Clan. So, for one, the Academy definitely had to give some face to the Liu Clan, and for another, at the tournament at the end of the year, she’d still be able to obtain a valuable treasure from her clan to drastically increase her battle prowess for a short time, thus allowing her to easily keep her position as a True Disciple.
Of course, each Great Clan could open this kind of back door only once, and guarantee the entry of only one of their clansmen into the Academy. All other clansmen could only depend on themselves to fight for their own place in this Academy.
Above True Disciples, there were three Core Disciples.
The Core Disciples were people the Academy would put its full efforts into developing because they were the strongest among the younger generation of Rain Country. They represented the future level of martial arts of the whole of Rain Country, and were the face of the entire nation.
To become a Core Disciple, the prowess of Gushing Spring Tier was necessary. A few hundred years ago, one of the strongest ever Core Disciples had even reached Spiritual Ocean Tier!
However, upon reaching thirty years old, everyone would have to leave the Academy, because thirty years old was considered as the age of maturity, and anyone above this age would be considered a full adult.
One of the current Core Disciples was Qi Feng Yun, the Third Imperial Prince of Rain Country. He was not only extremely talented, he was also someone that the imperial family of Rain Country as well as Hu Yang Academy had concentrated their efforts on developing, so naturally, he was extremely powerful.
He was currently twenty-seven years old, yet had already reached the seventh layer of Gushing Spring Tier. He was the strongest disciple of Hu Yang Academy, and was also nicknamed as the Strongest Son of Heaven of Rain Country.
The second person was Zhao Huan, who was a member of the Zhao Clan, one of the Eight Great Clans. According to the rumors, when he was born, a strange phenomenon was witnessed. A golden light lit up half the imperial city, and he was almost killed by the secret powers of the imperial family, because he was considered a potential threat to the imperial throne that belonged to the Qi Clan.
Thankfully, the Emperor was a wise man, and he not only did not do anything to harm Zhao Huan, he had even bestowed Zhao Huan with the title of Marquis of the Golden Sky—to be granted nobility status upon birth, that was the first time this kind of event happened in the history of Rain Country. And Zhao Huan, after awakening his Spirit Base, indeed displayed a terrifying talent in the field of martial arts. Currently, Zhao Huan was twenty-three years old, and he was in the fifth layer of Gushing Spring Tier, so in truth, he was not inferior in any way to Qi Feng Yun.
The third person was called Can Ye. He did not have a surname, and according to rumors, he was an orphan. He had been picked up the Headmaster of the Hu Yang Academy from the street, and since he was a child, he had been missing his right arm. [1]
In the field of martial arts, losing the right arm was practically a sentence of death, and there would no longer be any future for this kind of person. Yet Can Ye still managed to become a Core Disciple, proving how terrifying his natural talent was. [2]
Can Ye, twenty-two years old, third layer of Gushing Spring Tier. He was also rumored to have battle prowess that could soar up to seven Stars, and was someone that even Zhao Huan would have misgivings about going up against.
‘Interesting!’ While Ling Han was waiting for the teacher who was responsible for receiving the new students, he kept thinking thus. He did not think too deeply about Qi Feng Yun and Zhao Huan, but this Can Ye did engender some of his intrigue.
Could this Can Ye also be a genius who possessed a Heaven Grade Spirit Base?
Otherwise, how could his advance up the ranks be so swift and he himself so powerful?
“Hey, are you a new student?” The teacher in charge of enrollment finally walked over. He looked at Ling Han a bit oddly, because he had never seen anyone coming to report carrying a little girl.
“That’s right!” Ling Han drew out the proof showing that he had exited from Da Yuan City and handed it over to the teacher. The teacher in charge of enrollment was an elite in the fifth layer of Gushing Spring Tier, and definitely not someone to be underestimated.
The teacher received it from him, took a look, and could not help showing a surprised expression. He blurted out, “You’re Ling Han?”
Ling Han scratched his head, and asked, “Am I very well-known?”
“Hahahaha, you, with the mere prowess of the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, managed to defeat an opponent of the ninth layer of Element Gathering Tier, and that opponent happened to be Qi Yong Ye, whose battle prowess is not in any way weak. Such talent, tsk, tsk. The Headmaster has already said to immediately bring you to see him when you’re here to report!” The teacher said. Suddenly, he stared blankly and gasped in astonishment, “You, you’ve already broken through to the fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier!
He was at first shocked, but then thought that Ling Han must have long since reached the peak period of the fourth layer of Element Gathering Tier, and after so many days, this guy thus smoothly soared to the fifth layer of Element Gathering Tier.
When he thought about it this way, the shock level lessened by quite a large degree.
…If he found out that Ling Han had only been in the second layer of Body Refining Tier only a few months ago, his jaw would probably drop out of shock.
However, because of his exclamation, Hu Niu was instantly awakened. She was extremely displeased, and bared her teeth and growled at the teacher, displaying her ferocious nature.
“Come, I’ll take you to see the Headmaster,” the teacher beckoned his hand, waving Ling Han forward. Though Ling Han was still very weak now, with time, he may become the strongest Core Disciple of the Academy and show off the might of Rain Country.
Ling Han nodded and followed the teacher out, stepping onto a pathway in the Academy.
Very quickly, they arrived at a cluster of buildings. This was where the high-level officials resided. However, that Headmaster had not stayed in his own courtyard, so the teacher in charge of enrollment instructed him to wait for a moment while he himself would go to seek out that Headmaster who had gone who knows where.
Ling Han waited for a moment, but felt a bit bored, and so began to stroll around in the surrounding area.
‘En?’
He suddenly picked up a very familiar smell, and he could not stop his feet from moving towards the source of that smell.
It was a very elegant courtyard. The door of the courtyard was ajar, and had not been closed.
Ling Han pushed open the door and entered, and very soon saw a young girl sitting cross-legged in the courtyard. Her hand was holding onto a very small alchemy furnace, and her whole right hand was erupting in flames.
She was concocting a… Storm Pill.
Storm Pill allowed a martial artist to increase his speed temporarily, like a storm blowing through. It was a very useful alchemical pill.
However, there was something wrong with this smell.
Ling Han wrinkled his nose and took a sniff. He instantly understood. One of the complementary drugs was wrong, and though this still allowed the Storm Pill to be successfully concocted, it would affect the success rate of forming the pill. It would also increase the chances of the furnace exploding.
He spoke up, “I advise you to stop immediately. Otherwise, within the time of three breaths, your alchemy furnace would definitely explode.”
The girl completely ignored him. Now was the crucial time of concocting the Storm Pill, so how could she afford to be distracted? Merely by the second breath, “pa,” the lid of the furnace was violently flung off, and some bits of junk sprayed out from within the furnace. Although she managed to dodge the majority of it, her face was still covered by a bit of it.
The furnace had exploded.
The girl finally raised her head to look at Ling Han, surprise filling her eyes. How had this guy known that the furnace would explode? You have to understand, with her level of control, there was absolutely no way that she would have been distracted by any external factors.
“The Scarlet Wolf Bone is one of the most likely ingredients that would cause a furnace to explode. Especially if it is used in the concoction of Storm Pill, it would affect the quality of the completed pill. I really don’t know what kind of idiot came up with this!” Ling Han said, shaking his head.
“How dare you insult my Master!” The girl was suddenly enraged. With a flash, she had already leaped towards Ling Han. Her right hand formed a palm strike, flames winding around her hand as the heat caused the air around her hand to ripple.
Seventh layer of Element Gathering Tier.
Ling Han had known her cultivation level with a single look, and from the looks of this palm strike, she had not even reached the battle prowess of seven Stars. Actually, this was quite normal. Alchemists would concentrate all their energy on pill concoction and alchemy, so where would they have gotten any spare time to spend on refining their martial arts?
This girl’s cultivation level of seventh layer of Element Gathering Tier had probably been reached with the aid of alchemical pills, so it was only logical that her actual battle prowess was quite weak.
When she stood up, Ling Han had only at this moment realized to his surprise that this girl possessed a very tall, slender figure, and was about the same height as himself. Moreover, she had the charm of a deity, and was overwhelmingly beautiful, not the slightest bit inferior to Liu Yu Tong in terms of looks.
“Hehe, have I spoken wrongly?” Ling Han said as he dodged. Meanwhile, Hu Niu was crouching nearby, her face filled with excitement, wanting nothing more to pounce in and take a few bites of her own.