The commotion didn't seem to be winding down as many other Elders began presenting themselves and the subjects they were teaching. This is getting pretty out of hand.
"Emm, do I really have to choose right now?" I asked.
"Yes!" was the unanimous reply of all the elders.
"I'd rather not," I answered back. This caused a lot of elders to be dissatisfied but my next words helped clear the atmosphere.
"It's not that I think that your teachings are subpar nor do I believe I'm far beyond what you could teach me, I'm not that arrogant, but accepting a teacher means refusing another, and I do not wish to have teachers being dissatisfied with me since I didn't choose them. So how about this," I asked as I gave a preposition.
"I wouldn't mind studying under a teacher who teaches a unique subject, however, if two teachers share the same subject I will only choose one who shows that they are better than the other at teaching it, either by test, or trial," I said.
"Humph, smart lad, this way the teacher who loses can't complain or be hostile against you since they'll only reveal how petty they are after having lost to a better teacher, you're actually forcing teachers to confront each other so the heat won't be focused on you," Master Rain immediately exposed my ploy and I couldn't help but let out a sigh.
"But," he added, "He is right, why should such a bright student be taught under an incompetent teacher, unless you prove yourself the best you probably should refrain from teaching such a budding talent, so, what do you say, elders and grand elders?" asked Master Rain.
"We accept," spoke a few and immediately everyone nodded.
"Well, I guess you'll have a lot of classes to go through, Shen Bao," Master Rain said.
"Yeah, I guess so, but until the tests are over, I'll head back to the Advent Tower, I still need to finish up what I started there," I said.
"Right, you already helped me out with my task, once you're done I'll need you to come with me for a small trip, Let's go," spoke Master Rain to his attendant as he turned and was about to take a step forward then he stopped.
"Shen Bao," Master Rain said as he turned back to me, "I guess I have no need of this anymore, I wanted to glean some knowledge from your unorthodox way to understand better the inscription I've handed to you, but now, there is no need to, here," Master Rain said and threw me a small ring.
I grabbed the ring and scanned it using Divine Sense, and immediately my lips curled.
"Welcome back home, Y," I clenched my hand tightly on the ring and nodded at Master Rain who disappeared from the stage.
The rest of the cultivators seemed too busy talking about the Elders taking tests so I took the opportunity to leave the area.
A few steps forward using the Ancient Step and I was already away from the Avenue and already in front of the teleportation gate leading to the Advent Tower.
The two guys from before were still there and the moment they recognized me their eyes bulged out.
"Uh, Ah… Junior brother Shen Bao, you're going back to the tower so soon, I heard about the Sermon, how did it go?" one of them asked all politely.
"Pretty casual, nothing much happened," I said as I cracked yawned.
"Ah, yes, we made a small mistake in calculating the cost of operation of the teleportation gate, and we'd like to refund you the difference, I hope you can look past that incident, you know, no one is perfect and mistakes happen," he added then pulled a pouch full of top grade spirit stones, exactly one hundred thousand, the same pay I gave them the last time.
"Is that so," I said as I weighed the pouch in my hand, "It feels kinda light you know," I said.
The second who was probably not the smartest of the two, "It's exactly the same as you gave!"
But he received an elbow to the side, "Of course, I think we also made a mistake in filling the pouch, here this should make it as hefty as it should," he said and added about fifty thousand Top Grade spirit stones.
"Ah, right, this is the right weight, good stuff," I said "How about you operate that gate for me, I want to go up again," I said.
"Of course," the smarter of the two said while the other one pouted.
The gate opened up and I used it to go up to the upper island.
I guess cultivators can be sensible sometimes, and a few of them can actually recognize when they fuck up and how to fix their mistakes.
I made a good buck and got Y back, and now I'm the talk of the Heavenly Academy, this feels kinda nice.
I moved towards the tower and entered, this time I wasn't ignored like before but many of the eyes kept a close watch on me.
Even if the majority of the people here, if not all didn't see the Sermon, the Academy had the ability to broadcast it to everyone so they definitely saw everything that happened there, I grew famous in a very short time and this is bound to cause some problems.
Someone seemed to be pretty annoyed with my display earlier and came to the conclusion of being childish was enough to put me down a peg. He was a largely built cultivator and seemed to be walking towards me while fully ignoring my presence, then he tried to elbow shove me aside. I noticed the incoming shoulder and took one single light step back using the Ancient Step, took just half a step worth of momentum, and charged it up towards my shoulder.
The impact between us was immediately nullified since two forces of the same power and nature seemed to collide against each other at the same time.
The incoming cultivator was slightly surprised at how 'sturdy' my posture remained after he tried to shove me away but his mouth wasn't as surprised.
"Damn white robe, just because you can speak a few words doesn't make you some big shot, get your nose off of your own ass, you're nothing here, only the strong rule," he said and scuffed as he left the area.
"Talking a lot of smack for someone your size," I said, but apparently he didn't take the bait.
The large built cultivator continued walking until he was outside of the tower, and I kept my divine sense close to him.
Suddenly the man when thought he was away from all eyes groaned as he seemed to have actually been injured, he tightly grabbed at his shoulder as he walked forward and seemed to be cursing.
"Well, that's what you get," I mumbled and then moved on towards the closed room where apparently someone was actually using.
As I stood in front of the room where I possessed the body of the Ling Cao, cultivators seemed to realize who I was and one of them spoke.
"Ah, Brother Shen Bao, you want to use the room I suppose," he said.
"Yes, someone is in there?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, a few cultivators actually went in after you came out, but it seems that none of them were able to replicate the same feat as you did. They were all ejected and a few of them were on the verge of death even," he said.
"Is that so, how long did the person who just got in stay?" I asked.
"About half a minute, he just walked inside," He said.
I then decided it was good to wait here since he only entered it shouldn't take time for us to see if he would be able to reverse the Cultivation Deviation or get ejected.
Not a moment later, a soul-wrenching scream echoed from within the room and its doors blasted open revealing a man laying on his back, spasming so hard he would soon break his own spine, blue veins were bulging out of all of his body and he seemed to be frothing at the mouth while his eyes were rolled over dangerously..
"God damn it why does everyone think they're special throwing away their lives like this! Call the medical staff!" one of the cultivators said.
A few cultivators ran out to get help while the rest watched pitifully at the man who was rapidly losing his life.
"Step aside please," I said as I walked inside the room.
The disciples next to me kept a close eye on what I was doing, so I let them watch.
I pulled my finger up and then rapidly struck the convulsing man with the tip of my fingers into various pressure points.
The rapid stabs caused his convulsion to stop immediately then I shoved a pill down his throat then hastily got him seated then slapped his back as fast as I could.
The strike causes his whole system to momentarily 'Stop' as if I had rebooted the man, he closed his eyes then opened them.
No longer screaming or in pain, "Where am I?" he asked as he looked dumbly at everyone.
"Luckily not heaven or hell, but next time don't try and possess this body, you'll really die," I said to the man who just realized or seemed to remember how stupid he was trying to possess a body that so many people died to.