The fight continued, with me being on the back foot for the majority of it, if I were to land a single blow on the old man I'd take a hundred. However, dare I say it…
It was inexplicably fun.
The motions of two people dodging away from incoming blows, striking on the smallest opportunity and counterattacking whenever possible, blow after blow, kicks, and knees, roundhouse kicks even, and some more.
A battle of acrobatics never have I thought the human body could ever produce was all thanks to a simple, insignificant manual that I only glanced at.
"Fist of Roaring Qi, Wind Surge!" the incantation is spoken, and the follow up was a stomp forward that cratered the ground, then all the impact from that very stomp surged back up, I coiled and roiled the inebriating force, while gathering all the momentum I've been picking up from the start of the fight, and shot it forward in a single palm.
Wind popped, and the world for a moment turned silent, before a surge of kinetic power shot from my open palm willing to tear the world apart.
A visible palm print shot up forward, it was strong and large enough that old man Gin had his eyes wide open when he saw the incoming palm print.
He twisted his own palms and then sent a similar shockwave towards the incoming palm print, instantly dissipating the two of them at the cost of an eardrum rending clap.
"Not bad, not bad," he said.
This meant that we were probably due for a break, especially since Liang Yu seemed to have already arrived and was sitting in the domed area in the garden.
She was wearing a new set of clothes, it was a dark red robe with golden phoenixes adorning it. One wouldn't take one look at her and turn away, it was that good on her.
She was calmly sipping tea and watching the spar, we were basically entertainment for her.
"Let's sit, these old bones can't keep up with youngsters nowadays," the old man said. That was a lie.
Once we were all seated, Liang Yu took the lead this time to pour us tea.
"You'll be heading to the Heavenly Academy comes the morning," spoke the old man.
"Isn't it a few days before the week period of the final test is over?" I asked.
"It is, but it's better for you to get to the Heavenly Academy before the majority of the people who clear the third trial to arrive. You'll need to snatch a good cultivation cave first," he said.
"I don't fully know the layout of the Heavenly Academy, care to explain?" I asked.
"Hmm," the old man sipped his own tea and spoke.
"You'll first be needing a lodging, a place to call your own, mainly a cultivation cave. The problem is that they are limited, so you'll be fighting for your own cave.'
He then slowly looked me in the eyes and added,
"Every time a new admission of cultivators begins, there are a few caves open for the new cultivators, since a lot of cultivators either die, graduate, or outright get expelled, so some caves are usually free. Your goal is to obtain one and make it your own, protect it too."
This was serious, it meant that death wasn't something that could be avoided, the rule that this planet upholds of no killing isn't applicable to every place in the Vast Expanse, and the Heavenly Academy was not a nice place.
"Once you procured your cave, and you're ably capable of protecting it, then your official stay in the Academy can begin."
"Are there any merits of getting a cultivation cave?" I spoke.
"Ah, smart man," the old man said.
"None, there are no benefits," he added smiling.
Liang Yu however cut him mid-speech, "But master, even the smallest Cultivation Cave has an abundant Qi, it can help cultivators grow, isn't that benefit enough?" she asked.
"It is, for a normal cultivator, however, Shen Bao isn't a normal cultivator," the old man said. "But that doesn't mean that the Academy will allow you to loiter around in the open, you must find a place to stay in," he said.
"That'll be an annoyance," I said.
"Not really, you can do something, a bit unorthodox for a newly admitted student," the old man said, and calmly patiently sipped on his tea, just to make it more stressful, "You'll need to challenge the Advent Tower of the Heavenly Academy," he said.
"What is that?" I asked.
"It's something that all of the Heavenly Academy Students will one day challenge, it is mandatory for graduation, it allows people to challenge its contents for rewards and some befits."
'I feel like there is no originality in this cultivation world, everyone has a tower nowadays.'
"But, it's not as simple as it sounds. You can find some lodging in the tower, and challenging some of the floors in it can award you with cultivation materials and resources. Still, you'll need to really work hard inside the tower, I suppose you can probably if you try hard enough, clear the first floor and obtain the right to stay within the tower to cultivate, it should be a good way for you to find a place away from people and cultivate your arts without anyone knowing of what you can do," the old man said.
"I also heard about the robes, do you know what's the significance of that?" I asked.
"You'll get better answers from the teachers at the Academy, for now, let's not mind that, I want to ask you something personal," the old man said.
"Ehm, yes?" I replied.
"I've been bothered about this since you've done it, but, how did you manage to escape my Domain? And rather fast at that too, I've never had that happening to me before," he asked.
I debated between replying truthfully or lying to him.
"I don't actually know, I can just leave a domain whenever I want," I said.
"Interesting, that should come in handy, make sure not to reveal that secret of yours, you can turn the tables against a powerful person by that ability of yours alone," the old man said and sipped his tea once again.
"I'll require you both to help and look after each other, the world of the Heavenly Academy is cruel, and even my own reputation and power cannot sway the people in there to aid you, make sure to help yourselves, and don't let people walk all over you," the old man said and stood up.
"Meet me here again tomorrow morning, we'll be leaving by then, make sure you're well-rested and ready.
The old man then walked away leaving me and Liang Yu alone.
"Tea?" she asked.
"If you please," I replied and pulled my pipe. Tea and Joyful weed make a good combo.
As she was pouring tea, she asked, "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" she asked.
"Not really, new day, new thing, I've been living my life like this for a long time, I'll handle a situation as I get to it, and stressing about things that have yet to come is pointless," I said.
"A rather pragmatic view of the world, some might not share it," she said.
"It isn't really my own worry for other to share my view or not, I live my life for myself not for the others," I said and took a long whiff of the smoke. "Then again, people tend to be very aggrieved when you don't share their views, so a good pummeling is enough to straighten them up." I added.
She smiled as she sat down and drank her own tea, "You really are interesting Shen Bao, it is a shame," she said.
I sighed, she was talking about the 'Incident'.
"It is, but what can one do," I said sighing.
"I know though," she said smiling.
"What?"
"I actually did a bit of research before I came here, and the Poison God had a few concubines and a wife, and even had children at one point," she said smiling.
'What is she getting at,'
"Is that so…" I said frowning.
"Yes, it's just that, to be able to fully manipulate the poison within his body, he needed to reach the Saint Cultivation Stage." She said.
I was immediately shook, not because of what she just said.
"What cultivation stage? Can you repeat that again?" I asked.
"Ah, the Heavenly Censoring, I thought that was a myth, yes the Saint Stage, it's the first Stage after Ascendant, at that point in time the Poison God began gathering his harem. He was a very lewd man though, of all his conquests I've read about, he really, was a lust beast." She said.
The wording she just said caught me off guard, the very old man that spoke words of wisdom from the Poison God's book was a Casanova? Hum.
"We'll see about that then won't we," I said.
"Of course," she said smiling back.