"Du Shen…." I muttered as I was moving under the dim light of the rising sun. I had spent a lot of time loitering around throughout the night that I never actually got any sleep.
Many thoughts were crossing my mind, most of them, about the greatness and power that all the ancient cultivators used to hold.
Would I ever be on par with those cultivators?
Du Shen… A person trying to prove to the whole world of cultivation that all elements, and all Dao is equal.
Many would consider each Dao to be weaker or stronger than another, but through Du Shen's actions and beliefs, one could infer that he thought otherwise.
Since actual teaching lessons will start tomorrow… or probably in a few hours, I'll see what I can get from the teachers there.
Morning soon came and with it the start of my 'first' school day. It's been so long since I ever went to class, I wonder how it'll feel.
I headed towards the teleportation gate that would lead to the upper hovering island.
Many students were slowly moving towards the gate being teleported upwards, but all of them without exception were in yellow robes.
I was the only White Robe among the crew.
"Who is this guy?" someone spoke.
"I don't know, must be a newcomer, he doesn't know he shouldn't be here…"
"Just leave him be, he'll get kicked out or yelled at by the teleportation guards," another added.
More students added to their derisive words, and I felt slightly annoyed at how they could judge and condemn me based on looks alone without any prior knowledge of who I am or what I'm capable of.
I swear, these cultivators are begging to get their…face slapped. God, I hate that expression.
As I was ignoring the group of yellow robes, one of the people at the teleportation gate spotted me. After all, I was as conspicuous as a sore thumb.
"You there, Shen Bao, right?" he asked among the group of yellow robes.
"Yes," I replied.
"Please come forward, the teachers are asking for your presence, they're delaying their classes until you arrive,"
This caused the group to gawk at me and move away from front of me. The speed at which they gave way was slightly frightening because it made me feel like a plague person in a crowded place.
I had both hands behind my back as I moved forward.
Murmurs and gossip echoed around me as I headed forward, but I decided to ignore everything.
"Where should I head when I get up?" I asked.
"Don't worry about that, you'll find a carriage that will take you to one of the teachers, he'll explain the curriculum that has been chosen for you, and give you the name of all the teachers that will be teaching you this semester," he said.
"Good, that'll make things easier," I replied.
"Good luck," the guard said and allowed me entry.
And just like he said, the moment I appeared on the upper island, a man in blue robes came rushing toward me, and I knew who this person was.
"Brother Huang, how have you been," I spoke.
"Oh, I'm surprised that junior brother Shen Bao still remembers me," he said.
"You helped me a lot in the race, it would be a disservice to forget such assistance," I replied clasping my hands at him.
"Don't mention it," he said smiling, "Let me take you to senior Gu Lei, he is waiting for your arrival," Huang Yu said.
"Right then, please lead the way," I said.
"We'll be taking the carriage, it's more comfortable," he said and walked up to a carriage on standby.
It had two horses with six legs each. The horses looked far bigger than any normal horse I've ever seen and the carriage itself seemed to be specially made for prestigious guests…it was adorned with gold and green pure jade sculptures.
"Wow, that's pretty extravagant," I said.
"The academy gives great value to its students with bright futures ahead of them, this is nothing," he said as he walked inside the carriage.
I entered after him and was surprised to see that the interior was far bigger than the outside.
I looked around and smiled, "Great application of spatial law, this is interesting." I said.
"Yes, this is actually a carriage made by elder Gu Lei, he is a master in Spatial Law inscription," said Huang Yu.
"Good, but why does that name strike me as a familiar name…" I frowned as I spoke.
"Ah…it's because you had a small issue with his son, back in the race… Wei Lei, if you remember," Huang Yu said.
"Oh…yeah, now that I recall, you said that his father's name was Gu Lei. Well, I hope he wouldn't be the kind to hold a grudge," I said.
"You'll have to meet him and see that for yourself," Huang Yu said.
The carriage had apparently started moving without me even feeling it, and when I asked how. Huang Yu explained it to be also the work of the spatial inscriptions within the carriage.
I thought about it for a moment and realized that I did something similar to this back when I was fixing Y's Heavenly Qi reactor. It was not as great as his original Saint Qi reactor and was susceptible to damage, so I made a vibration nullifying inscription to protect it from shock. This is perhaps something similar, I'll need to check this one out.
Soon, the carriage stopped and we hopped off.
Looking up, there was a massive lean tower just a few steps away from us.
Its door was wide open and many students were walking their way to the tower with scrolls, quills, and many writing tools in hand.
"We'll wait here until the Elder comes, he should be here any minute now," Huang Yu said.
I leaned against the carriage and waited…and waited.
After a bit, I got bored and took a second look at the carriage, I was curious to how the spatial formation allowed the insertion of a larger space into a smaller one, and also how it all worked.
I spread my divine sense around the carriage and realized that the bulk of the inscription was written under the carriage.
I leaned under and scooched to be just under the inscriptions. Then I began scanning through it. Opening it up so it would unfold its secrets.
The inscription was masterfully made, and it opened up like a book before me. All golden written with many inscriptions constantly on the move like gears.
I began moving a few of the inscriptions that were not essential to the overall function of the spatial diagram and seemed to uncover more of the secrets of this precise work.
"What do you think?" I heard a voice right next to my ear.
I was so shocked I stood up and bumped my head against the carriage.
"God damn!" I looked next to me as I rubbed my head. It was an old man grinning and he looked to be enjoying what he was seeing.
He wore purple robes.
"Elder Gu Lei I suppose," I said.
"In the flesh, I heard from little Huang that you took interest in my work, you seemed too focused to even realize that I was next to you, so tell me what do you think about my work," he said.
"Honestly speaking, it's really good. Comparable to Master Rain in terms of precision," I said.
"I can hear the 'but' in your words, might as well say it now," he said.
"Yes. But, it seems that the quality of the work leaves something to be desired, not that I'm belittling this work, it's actually far better than what I can make. But being with Master Rain for a long while seemed to have increased my expectations of inscriptions a lot." I said
"Good to know that young people are still honest, you're right, this word is very subpar, it's flashy, and looks precise but I've made this when I was far younger, it's not something I take pride in." he said.
I reverted all the changes I did to the inscriptions and closed it back. Then moved from under the carriage.
The old man did the same.
"I've heard about you, Shen Bao, from many people here," the old man said.
"You even had some issues with my son I heard," he said.
Just as I opened my mouth to explain, he stopped me, "You don't need to explain yourself, Elder Cho had already given me the full rapport of what happened, and I'd like to apologize on behalf of my son, I never raised him to be a person of such a low attitude…but being the son of a purple robe can make a person feel superior even without they themselves having any hand in it," the old man said.
"Thank you for understanding," I said.
"Another thing, I have my pride as a teacher in this university, so don't think that my work of the days of yore is the same as my ability right now. I made that carriage more than a few centuries ago, I'm far more honed, and I'm sure I have a few things to teach you," he said.
"I never implied or said otherwise, I'm here to learn not to brag about my insignificant knowledge of the art of inscriptions," I said.
"That's a good humble lad for you, good, good, follow me, Shen Bao, our class will start soon," he said.