The next morning, Luo Jiujiang went out.
He asked You Su to borrow enough spirit stones to send messages, and wrote a long letter overnight, which he would deliver to the post station in the academy early in the morning.
Qinglong Academy had been recruiting students recently, and regardless of whether they passed the entrance exam or not, most students would report back home. The disciples at the post office were accustomed to seeing people like Luo Jiujiang getting up early to mail letters. He took the letter and sorted it into the White Tiger Realm category. After carefully comparing it with the map of the realm for a moment, he simply said, "Your letter will arrive in at least twenty days, and at most a month."
Luo Jiujiang breathed a sigh of relief, thanked his senior brother, and bought a map of Qinglong Academy here.
This time, he didn't return by the same route, but instead wandered off in a different direction. The atmosphere at Qinglong Academy was peaceful and harmonious. The forbidden areas were clearly marked, and as long as they stayed within the twelve main peaks, both casual cultivators and academy disciples were free to come and go. There was no question of whether or not they would violate the law.
He passed by many students who were reading aloud under the forest, brushed past the sisters and brothers who were wielding swords as fast as rainbows, squatted behind a rock and listened for a while to some calculations and celestial principles that he half understood, and finally stopped in front of a group of monks who were shooting birds with bows.
Most of the group wore green robes and black ribbons, primarily disciples of the Xuanzhu and Baoyu sects, with a few scattered cultivators mixed in. A dozen of them stood with bows drawn, their arrows pointed directly at a giant white bird circling in the sky. At a command from someone nearby, all their arrows were fired at the bird.
The arrows had sharp tips, each containing a cold star-like light, and the shafts were thick and heavy. One could tell at a glance that they were extremely durable and were definitely not ordinary items. Without having to look at the results, Luo Jiujiang already exclaimed in his heart, "Great!"
"Excuse me for interrupting, my brothers are..."
Disciples within the academy were divided into three classes. The first class consisted of direct disciples accepted by the academy elders, known as "Tingzhu." Most of them served as Peak Masters or Deputy Peak Masters within the academy, and they were also responsible for most of the annual academy assessments. The second class was equivalent to inner disciples from other sects, registered under the names of their respective peaks and known as "Xuanzhu." The last class was equivalent to outer disciples, such as Baoyu disciples like Shang Hanjiao.
Before Luo Jiujiang finished speaking, more than a dozen arrows shot like meteors straight at the white bird flying freely in the sky. The bird calmly raised its head and chirped, then flew down obliquely to meet the rain of arrows. It moved very smoothly and freely, and occasionally the arrow tail touched its smooth feathers, but it was just like a tickle.
The last heavy arrow lost its power before it even touched the white bird, and was deflected by the giant white bird's beak. It raised its head and let out a strange cry, as if mocking it.
"Hey—" A few sighs of anger and amusement rang out from the crowd. Three or four of them went to pick up arrows in the distance. Another scholar who had just given the order turned around and greeted Luo Jiujiang with a smile: "Junior brother, you are new to the academy, so you must be confused. You don't know what we old guys are doing."
The scholar had a friendly face and was quite humorous. Luo Jiujiang couldn't help but laugh out loud when he greeted him. "Of course not. I'm just a casual cultivator who came late to register. I don't deserve to be called a junior brother."
"There are differences in how we learn the Dao. Since we've all come here to seek the Dao, we're all brothers. There's no distinction between those who join the sect and those who don't." The scholar's attire clearly showed he was a Xuanzhu disciple, and Luo Jiujiang's introduction didn't bother him. He pointed at a white bird circling in the sky. "Junior brother, you might not know this, but this divine heron was personally planted by the dean. It stops here for an hour every day at the hour of Mao. If anyone can shoot off one of its white feathers, it will bring us a frost flower from Yunshen Peak."
At this point, the scholar clapped his hands and laughed, "You must know that Senior Brother Yin Bansi, the master of Yunshen Peak, is not easy to get along with. Yunshen Peak is also a medicine peak. Trying to get any advantage from him is harder than climbing to the sky."
Luo Jiujiang was stunned: "This Master of Yunshen Peak..."
"Yin Bansi." The scholar wasn't surprised by his expression, having clearly heard this kind of questioning many times. "Isn't this a nickname we deliberately gave to Master Yunshen? His surname is Yin, and his given name is Shangban Xiasi. Putting aside his cultivation, in terms of pure ability, he's indeed one of the best among the twelve masters."
Since entering Qinglong Academy, Luo Jiujiang had been deeply impressed by its vast aura, and the students he met possessed a certain leisurely demeanor. Therefore, upon hearing such an unhealthy name, he was taken aback, thinking that a doctor with such a name would be too insecure for a patient.
Perhaps the rumors about the head of Medicine Peak had already taken root deeply within the community, so the scholar introduced him to Luo Jiujiang with familiarity, "You'll know after you've been here longer. Although Senior Brother Yin has a strange temper, he truly can cure any illness with his medicine. He's a rare miracle doctor. There's just one contradiction—he's clearly the best at treating terminal illnesses, but unless a knife is placed on someone's neck, he won't treat the dying. Why do you think that is?"
Luo Jiujiang asked curiously, "Would you like to hear more details?"
"He said, 'Dying, ugly, incurable, get out.' Oh, that's his temper!"
Luo Jiujiang was truly amazed. While the cultivation world didn't have a rigid "doctor-like" approach, speaking to someone on the brink of death like that was truly rude to a certain degree. He gathered his thoughts and said, "...If that's the case, isn't Senior Brother Yin afraid of being hit by a club?"
The scholar shook his head and said, "Although Senior Brother Yin is difficult to get along with and rarely shows up, all the disciples at Medicine Peak obey him, which is why order is maintained on the peak and rules are followed. He's certainly stingy with herbs, but if someone comes seeking medical treatment, he handles the problem faster than anyone else at the other peaks. Even when a student at the academy is on the verge of death, while he won't fully cure them, he's willing to keep them alive to give them time to find a renowned doctor. So, while we disciples get angry and amused when we talk about him, we also respect him deeply."
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