Chapter 4 School: Is it safe for you to cultivate immortality here?
"Your eyes are so red, have you been crying?" Song Yin noticed Shi Heming's red eyes at this moment.
She managed to cry her eyes out while tidying up inside the house, amazing!
Shi Heming felt embarrassed, but then he remembered that Song Yin was his only friend now, so he whispered, "Mm." She wouldn't mind that I cry so much, would she? Even though they had all been murdered by their entire families, she was so strong and never cried.
Compared to him, he was truly cowardly. When his parents were in trouble, he was too cowardly to go out and save them; on the flying boat, he was too cowardly to ask others for comfort; after entering the sect, he was too cowardly to stop crying.
What should he do if he feels like crying even more when he thinks about how cowardly he is?
Song Yin: "Are you done crying? If you are, let's go find our senior sister or senior brother. We have no idea what to do next. Let's also ask where we can buy things. The room only has simple furnishings, and we still need to buy some daily necessities." She treated coming to the Xianxiao Sect as her daily life of studying and living at the base in her previous life.
Shi Heming: "Okay."
Song Yin: "Go inside and change into your disciple's robes first. I'll wait for you in the courtyard."
Shi Heming obediently went to change his clothes. The disciple robe he was given was white, and even though it wasn't entirely white, he still wanted to wear white as mourning clothes. He had asked Senior Brother Xu, who said that it wasn't appropriate to wear mourning clothes within the sect, so it would be better to take the disciple robe in white.
Two children went out together: one was a fake child with a soul in his twenties and a body in his six years, and the other was a real child with a soul and body in his seven years.
Shi Heming: "Why didn't you receive the white disciple robe?"
Song Yin: "White gets dirty easily, I prefer a light green."
Shi Heming: "Aren't you going to wear white clothes instead of mourning clothes?"
Mourning clothes? Song Yin only remembered this after being reminded. She decisively said, "I won't wear them."
Song Yin's answer was too straightforward, so Shi Heming didn't press for the reason and advised her to wear white.
The bamboo hut was huge, seemingly endless, with a teleportation array every short distance. Every now and then, you could see people using the teleportation arrays, either leaving the hut or returning from elsewhere.
After searching around but not finding Senior Sister Cheng and Senior Brother Xu, the two had no choice but to return to their own courtyard.
Upon returning to their respective residences, they discovered that each person had a paper crane and a purse on their window.
Song Yin took down the paper crane, and the paper crane spoke automatically. After speaking, it turned into ashes.
Paper cranes were used to transmit messages, informing newly initiated disciples of what to do next.
When a new disciple joins the sect, each disciple receives one hundred low-grade spirit stones. Going forward, the sect will distribute spirit stones to disciples monthly, the amount depending on their cultivation level; the higher the cultivation level, the more spirit stones will be distributed each month.
On the second day after joining the sect, new disciples must report to the academy. To prevent new disciples from being teleported to the wrong place or getting lost, the sect will send some disciples to stay by the teleportation array to help them familiarize themselves with the sect.
Upon joining the sect, new disciples will be given a bottle of Bigu Pills free of charge. Each bottle contains ten pills, and using one pill allows one to go without food for a month. Future needs for pills must be purchased by the disciple themselves; the sect will not be responsible for these future needs.
Song Yin opened the bulging pouch beside her, inside were the one hundred low-grade spirit stones mentioned in the paper crane message. Judging from their shape, Song Yin felt that calling them spirit beads would be more appropriate, as each of these spirit stones was round and resembled a bead.
Knowing what to do next, Song Yin was no longer in a hurry and was finally able to relax.
However, the message only said to go to school tomorrow, without specifying the exact time. In order not to be late for class on the first day, Song Yin decided to get up early.
After taking a fasting pill, I indeed felt no hunger that night.
The next day, before dawn, the new disciples in each courtyard dressed neatly and set out. Most of Song Yin's group of disciples were village children, with only a few from wealthy families. Today, they were all dressed identically, clean and presentable, their spirits and demeanor noticeably different.
Song Tian, acting as the backbone, took the initiative to say to everyone, "Let's set off for the school together. Once we're there, we can sit together and look out for each other. If we encounter any trouble, we can tell you, and we'll figure something out together."
"Okay, we'll listen to Brother Song."
"With Brother Song around, we're not afraid of anything."
"Thanks to Brother Song among us, we all have a pillar of support."
A few people who disliked Song Tian rolled their eyes. "Pretending to be something you're not, it's laughable that you call yourself a pillar of support. What makes you think you are? Because you're old? Because you're illiterate? Because you were humiliated yesterday? If there were a real problem, why wouldn't I go to the sect instead of you?"
Song Tian twitched the corner of his mouth. He didn't dare to make things awkward with the other party because she was the daughter of an official.
Feeling refreshed after washing her face, Song Yin opened the courtyard gate, where Shi Heming was already waiting. After closing the gate, Song Yin said, "Let's go."
The two walked towards the nearest teleportation array, saw Song Tian and the others standing in a group, stopped to listen for a bit, then, finding it uninteresting, continued towards the teleportation array. She couldn't understand why there was already a tendency to form small groups so soon after arriving at the sect.
Beside the teleportation array stood a tall, taciturn male cultivator with a sword slung over his shoulder.
Song Yin looked up and said, "Hello, brother. We're going to school."
The male cultivator held out his hand, "The school and the bamboo hut are close together, so I'll give you a low-grade spirit stone."
Song Yin opened her purse, took out spirit stones, and placed them in the male cultivator's hand.
Shi Heming also took out a spirit stone.
Because he wanted to help the new disciples understand the sect's mission, the male cultivator, even though he wasn't talkative, explained with a cold face: "The amount of spirit stones required for a teleportation array depends on the distance; the farther the distance, the more spirit stones are needed. The teleportation arrays within the sect are set up by the sect itself, mainly to provide convenience for the disciples. Therefore, for the same distance, the sect's teleportation arrays use far fewer spirit stones than the teleportation arrays outside."
"There are many places in the sect that you can't go to at will, so be careful when you teleport. As for which places you can't go, there will be courses in the academy specifically for new disciples from the mortal realm to teach them common knowledge about the cultivation world."
Leaving the bamboo hut and arriving at the school, they saw many sect disciples flying in the sky on swords. As they sped through the air, Song Yin and Shi Heming were immediately captivated, both children looking up intently.
"Are you two new disciples this year?"
Song Yin turned her head and saw another new senior sister.
The senior disciple said to the two of them, "Even for newly initiated disciples, the curriculum will be different. Can either of you read?"
Song Yin shook her head. "I don't know him."
A brilliant student in a past life has become illiterate in this one – how tragic!
Xiao Song Village had no opportunity to come into contact with written language. After her spiritual root was tested, she saw books in the flying boat room. When she opened them, she felt dizzy because she couldn't understand the winding characters at all!
Shi Heming: "I know some characters."
Song Yin looked at Shi Heming in surprise. What a clever young man! He's actually literate.
Shi Heming explained to Song Yin, "My father was a scholar, and my mother was also literate. My father taught me to read and write."
The senior sister said to the two of them, "If you can't read, you can go to a literacy class first, and they will teach you to read and write."
Got it, it's a literacy class!
Song Yin: "I want to learn!"
The senior disciple couldn't help but laugh. This child was really interesting. While the other new disciples wanted to learn magic first, she wanted to study and learn to read and write first. She nodded: "Okay, I'll take you to Class D."
Song Yin: "Class Ding?"
Senior Sister: "The sect has set up four classes for new disciples: Class A, Class B, Class C, and Class D. Class A is for new disciples in the Qi Refining stage. Class B is for disciples with a certain foundation but who have not yet entered Qi into their bodies. The new disciples in these two classes all come from the cultivation world. Class C and Class D are for new disciples from the mortal world. If you can read, go to Class C; if you can't read, go to Class D. This junior sister, you go to Class D, and this junior brother can go to Class C."
Shi Heming: "I'll go to Class D too."
The senior student asked in confusion, "Why?"
Shi Heming: "I've only studied for a few years, and there are still many characters I don't understand."
The senior student nodded: "Then I'll take you to Class D."
The academy was huge. On the way to Class D, Song Yin turned her head and saw a huge floating island in the distance, the place where she had disembarked from the sect's flying boat yesterday. The academy occupied an independent floating island, but there was another independent floating island next to it, with a similar architectural layout to the academy.
"Senior sister, why are the floating islands next to us similar to the ones we're standing on?"
Senior Sister: "Because the floating island next to us is also a school, but the school we are in now is the outer school, and the one next to us is the inner school."
"Inner gate, outer gate?"
Senior sister: "These things will be explained to you in detail by the senior instructors."
Soon Song Yin entered Class D, and surprisingly, the entire building she was in was filled with Class D students.
They entered one of the classrooms, where there weren't many new students. Song Yin saw there were seats in the front row and sat down there.
Before long, the classroom gradually filled with new students.
After waiting for a while, a person dressed in light blue clothes came in. He sat calmly at the head of the table; he was their instructor.
"Hello, sir." Someone greeted him politely.
The other party casually raised his hand and said, "There's no need to call me 'sir.' I'm just an inner disciple. I just entered the sect earlier than you and my cultivation is higher. My surname is Zhou, so you can just call me Senior Zhou."
Senior Zhou doesn't look very old, but his tone is like that of an older person.
Senior Zhou casually glanced around at the newly initiated disciples and saw two children sitting in the front row. He said, "Today is your second day in the sect. From the moment your spiritual roots were detected and you were brought into the sect, you have already stepped into the world of cultivation where strength is paramount. The road ahead will not be smooth, and your trials are just beginning."
"Class Ding has the weakest foundation, but not the weakest talent. What you need to do is study hard and catch up with others. In the future, your achievements will not be lower than those of the classes above. The courses at the academy are not mandatory. You can come whenever you want or not. So after you have achieved Qi Induction, you can choose to attend classes at the academy, cultivate in the cultivation room, or take on missions at the mission hall to earn spirit stones, etc."
The freedom is high, but while this seems great, it actually requires individuals to plan their time and daily tasks; a slight lapse in attention can cause you to fall behind. Moreover, with so many choices, you'll inevitably have to make trade-offs in the future, and deciding what to choose and what to leave behind will be another challenge later on. Ultimately, how high you can climb in the future largely depends on yourself.
Song Yin recalled a saying she had heard in her past life: "The master leads you through the door, but the cultivation depends on the individual."
Bang--
A loud noise suddenly came from outside.
The new disciples in the class, who were listening attentively to Senior Zhou's speech, were taken aback.
Someone, still shaken, asked, "Senior Zhou, what happened outside?"
Senior Zhou calmly raised his eyelids to look at his disciple and asked, "Oh, the sound of the alchemy furnace exploding next to me is normal."
Song Yin's eyes widened: Is this normal?
boom--
Song Yin: "What is this sound again?" It's different from the sound we just heard.
Senior Zhou didn't even blink. "It's probably the sound of a talisman being struck while drawing a lightning talisman. Don't worry about it."
Song Yin silently swallowed, "I just want to ask, is your cultivation practice safe?"
Senior Zhou finally became interested and answered Song Yin's question, "Can a cultivator's affairs be called cultivating immortality? It should be called cultivation. Calling it cultivating immortality is too straightforward. As for your question, cultivation, of course, involves danger."
Song Yin's expression faltered slightly. "You call this the cultivation world if you're so blunt?! Cultivation is so dangerous! Have I been thrown onto a pirate ship, escaping one danger only to fall into another?!"
A note from the author:
----------------------
Song Yin: Did I come to the wrong place? [Cracked face]
Senior Zhou: No, we cultivators love peace (when it comes to competing for resources), it's very safe (there are countless ways to die) [covering face and peeking][doge]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
