Due to mandatory grouping, three people had to share one puppet. Li Fei found herself standing with the two people she disliked the most. Ji Tongzhou kept his head down, counting his talismans as if they were bank notes, while Lei Xiuyuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at something unknown. The three remained silent, creating an atmosphere as cold as winter compared to the harmony of other groups.
Today, Hu Jiaping once again assumed the role of a teacher, personally inspecting each group. When he reached their group, his brows furrowed. “Five hundred talismans before nightfall. Did you not understand, or do you not know how to use talismans? Hmm… The concept of groups of three means that if one person fails to complete the task, all are held responsible.”
Collective responsibility! The three looked at him, realizing that if one person didn’t finish, all three would have to stay in the disciples’ quarters and pay for meals?! They exchanged wary and critical glances but remained silent.
Hu Jiaping, rarely troubled, rubbed his temples. It seemed they wouldn’t even speak to each other. Why did this group have so many issues when other disciples had none? Last time, it was the little girl unable to master sword riding. It seemed the two boys had even fought yesterday, their faces still bandaged! Now they refused to work together as a group of three for the Furnace Cultivation. What a headache.
“I’ll count to ten. If you don’t start, you’ll be buying meals in the disciples’ quarters from now on. One, two, three…”
He counted rapidly on purpose. Li Fei, sensing trouble and worried about her lack of money, was the first to throw out a talisman. An ochre light, like a warm mist, instantly enveloped the stone puppet, as if protecting it. This was the most basic attribute of the Earth element: defense.
Hu Jiaping nodded and smirked at the two difficult boys beside her. “Even a girl is more generous and focused during cultivation than you. As men, your minds are smaller than a needle’s point. I suppose you can’t even break through this layer of defense.”
Break through this thin Earth element defense? Ridiculous! Ji Tongzhou, annoyed, waved his hand and shot out a talisman. Simultaneously, Lei Xiuyuan also made his move. Bright fire and brilliant golden light exploded on the puppet at the same time. The Earth element defense was instantly torn apart, with half of the puppet’s body blackened by fire and the other half pitted and nearly shattered by the talisman’s impact.
Hu Jiaping smiled, “That’s it, continue. If I catch you indulging in your tempers instead of focusing on cultivation again, I’ll throw you into the forbidden ground below to fend for yourselves.”
Exhausted, he turned and walked away, unable to hold back a sigh.
This group of three would likely require more of his attention as a teacher… The girl’s situation fluctuated between good and bad, while the two boys were among the best of the eighteen disciples. Yet they couldn’t get along… Arranging for these three to live in the same courtyard must have been Amu’s prank. Their competitive spirit was good for faster cultivation, but if it became excessive, it could lead to unforeseen problems in the future…
When would the other teachers finally arrive at the academy? Dealing with these little brats alone was such a bother!
This type of cultivation was effortless for Li Fei. Her body constantly replenished her spiritual energy, allowing her to use up five hundred talismans in the blink of an eye without breaking a sweat. Compared to the slight strain shown by her two groupmates, she felt superior for the first time.
For three consecutive days, they used five hundred talismans daily. The children quickly progressed from struggling to completing the task with ease. After all, out of the five hundred talismans, only four hundred truly consumed spiritual energy. The hundred Wood element talismans were used to stimulate and generate spiritual energy. It would be embarrassing if they couldn’t even manage this level.
Just as everyone thought Furnace Cultivation was this simple, on the fourth day, Hu Jiaping smiled and brought out a larger bamboo basket. He said, “Today, continue with groups of three for Furnace Cultivation. Each person will receive one hundred Wood element talismans, and two hundred each of the Gold, Water, Fire, and Earth attribute talismans. All must be used before nightfall.”
The Wood element remained at one hundred, but the others doubled to two hundred each!
Zhuque Academy was, after all, Zhuque Academy, and cultivation could never be easy and comfortable. Furnace Cultivation was not only uninteresting but also monotonous. As days passed, the number of talismans nearly doubled each day, while the Wood element talismans used to replenish spiritual energy remained at one hundred. The invisible furnaces within the children were gradually being carved and developed. From initially struggling with four hundred talismans a day, they could now barely manage nearly a thousand. Although every night in their dreams, their extraordinary meridians would be in excruciating pain, most chose to grit their teeth and persevere.
By the eighth day, the daily talisman count had increased to four thousand one hundred, with one thousand each for Gold, Water, Fire, and Earth, and only one hundred for Wood.
As time passed, the sounds of talisman explosions around the training ground became softer and more sporadic. After continuously using thousands of talismans, most disciples had reached their limits. Although the speed of drawing spiritual energy into their bodies was increasing, it couldn’t keep up with such wasteful use. Moreover, their internal energy had to keep circulating, and their extraordinary meridians couldn’t withstand such high-intensity operation and refinement, beginning to ache subtly.
Hu Jiaping silently watched these diligent children. As a teacher, he understood that four thousand talismans was an absolute watershed moment. The aptitude of the eighteen disciples would be clear as day today. This wasn’t a task that could be completed through sheer determination; it all came down to true ability.
With a thud, a boy in the northwest corner fainted from excessive spiritual energy release, causing a small commotion. But everything quickly returned to normal as the children had no energy to care about others’ affairs. Soon after, a girl also fainted. Hu Jiaping carried the two unconscious children to the corner of the training ground—it wasn’t even noon yet, but these two children’s futures were essentially hopeless.
Li Fei was also in a very difficult state. At first, when it was just four hundred talismans a day, it seemed too simple, leading her to believe this cultivation wouldn’t be challenging for her. But gradually, she finally realized she was in for a tough time.
Four thousand talismans seemed like an impossible task for her.
She didn’t need to draw spiritual energy into her body; her body automatically absorbed it for her. In the beginning, she had an advantage due to her special constitution, but in the later stages, she gradually fell behind. Her body’s rate of spiritual energy absorption remained constant, while the amount she needed to consume increased more and more rapidly. The others, due to these days of cultivation, had considerably improved their speed and quantity of drawing in spiritual energy, but she remained unchanged.
The spiritual energy within her was almost depleted. Li Fei breathed heavily, an extreme sense of fatigue enveloping her. So this was the feeling of spiritual energy exhaustion, a hundred times more exhausting than any physical fatigue.
She looked at the two boys beside her. Ji Tongzhou was breathing as heavily as she was, his pale face flushed red, probably also nearing his limit. Although Lei Xiuyuan’s expression remained unchanged, sweat beaded on his forehead, indicating that four thousand talismans were a formidable task for them all.
After throwing out the 2,381st talisman, Ji Tongzhou suddenly felt a painful tightness in his chest, unbearable to the point where he couldn’t help but let out a low cry of pain. Honestly, he had already reached his absolute limit. The last few talismans were only thrown out by gritting his teeth and scraping out the last bits of spiritual energy. But Jiang Li Fei beside him seemed to always keep up with his pace, and Lei Xiuyuan on the other side hadn’t made a single mistake. If he stopped now, wouldn’t it mean he was the weakest? How could that be acceptable?
The 2,382nd talisman! He recklessly threw out another talisman, but it didn’t shoot out forcefully. Instead, it fell limply to the ground—his extraordinary meridians had reached their limit and could no longer absorb or circulate spiritual energy. Ji Tongzhou’s face turned pale as he gasped, staring blankly at that talisman. Had he lost to these two beggars?
Lei Xiuyuan continued to throw out talismans impassively, but his talisman, like Ji Tongzhou’s, didn’t stick to the puppet and fluttered down. His back was already drenched in sweat. Looking down at his uncontrollably trembling hands, he suddenly spoke, “I need to rest for a moment.”
Ji Tongzhou sneered, “Giving up so soon?”
Lei Xiuyuan didn’t respond, just looked at him, then at the talisman that had fallen to the ground. His gaze said it all.
Ji Tongzhou somewhat regretted his quick tongue. From a young age, he never understood the concept of giving others a step, always being the one to argue forcefully. Since coming to the academy, he had been constantly suppressed, initially feeling resentful and indignant. However, he wasn’t a hopeless fool and gradually had to recognize the vastness of the world and the multitude of capable and extraordinary people in it. The imperial power that was supreme in the mortal world meant nothing in the realm of immortal sects. He had to learn to be a proper cultivation disciple, not the Prince of Ying who got whatever he wanted in the Kingdom of Yue.
He snorted, no longer bothering with Lei Xiuyuan. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes to concentrate, and forced his exhausted extraordinary meridians to continue drawing in spiritual energy bit by bit.
Thank heavens… Li Fei sighed in relief. Fortunately, they had stopped, or she might have fainted like those two disciples. She had never depleted her spiritual energy like this before and realized for the first time how slow her body’s absorption of spiritual energy was, completely unable to keep up with such intense cultivation. Yet she couldn’t draw in spiritual energy like the others, unexpectedly hitting a bottleneck in her second cultivation task as well.
Ji Tongzhou, who had been sitting nearby circulating his internal energy, suddenly spoke up, “You two, don’t drag me down. If anyone dares not to finish all four thousand today, I won’t let them off!”
Lei Xiuyuan closed his eyes in concentration as if he hadn’t heard. Li Fei, however, didn’t have such good self-control and immediately sneered, “You should say that to yourself. Don’t make us accompany you to eat in the disciples’ quarters. If you like being punished and spending money, do it yourself.”
Come to think of it, since eating in the disciples’ quarters became a punishment, this noble little prince’s perspective had suddenly changed. Now he only ate free meals in the northern canteen. Lan Ya and his lackeys insisted on spending money to eat in the disciples’ quarters, earning his severe contempt.
Ji Tongzhou angrily retorted, “Oh, I forgot, you two are poor beggars! You can’t afford to spend this money!”
“Even with money, we wouldn’t waste it on useless things like those fools.”
“What did you say?!” Ji Tongzhou jumped up.
“If you have the energy to argue, why not finish using the talismans earlier?” Hu Jiaping, who had been patrolling the field, happened to pass by and saw them arguing again. He came over with a headache to remind them, “You three, can’t you get along?”
Ji Tongzhou snorted coldly, “Teacher, haven’t you heard that only women and petty men are hard to deal with?”
Hu Jiaping calmly replied, “You’re all petty men, little brats who haven’t even grown hair yet. Stop wasting time and get back to practice.”
Ji Tongzhou nearly exploded with rage again, but since it was the academy teacher who had belittled him, he couldn’t do anything about it. He pretended not to hear and violently threw a handful of talismans at the puppet.
On the tenth day, each person received one thousand talismans of each of the four attributes, but only twenty Wood element talismans. The children immediately erupted in an uproar.
Hu Jiaping looked around at the children before him and spoke, “Today, new teachers will be coming to the academy, and it’s also the last day of Furnace Cultivation. Before noon, I want to see all four thousand and twenty talismans used up without a single one left… This is a test. Those who pass will move on to the next stage of cultivation, those who don’t… well, take a good look at the academy while you still can.”
A test… no wonder.
This time, no one exclaimed or sighed. They were all children with the most excellent aptitudes, carefully selected and chosen. However, this didn’t mean they were still the most excellent after entering the academy. These days of Furnace Cultivation had already shown the differences in their aptitudes. Out of the eighteen people, two children had already been punished and weren’t allowed to eat at the northern canteen, implicating the others in their group who could only obediently endure hunger in the disciples’ quarters.
No one spoke. The six groups of disciples cautiously used talismans on their puppets. Only the sounds of talismans transforming into the power of the five elements could be heard in the training ground.
After these days of brutal cultivation, everyone’s internal furnaces had expanded several times or even dozens of times compared to before. Four thousand talismans paired with twenty Wood element talismans, although difficult, was not an impossible task. Especially for Ji Tongzhou and Lei Xiuyuan, these two natural prodigies who, after using up the four thousand talismans, still had more than half of their Wood element talismans left. They sat aside replenishing their spiritual energy.
In these ten days, the progress of these two could only be described as miraculous. Li Fei, on the other hand, had fallen to the bottom. She still had hundreds of talismans left, but her body was empty, unable to use anything.
“Hey, hurry up, will you!” Ji Tongzhou impatiently urged her, “If you can’t finish, that’s fine, but don’t make us suffer punishment too!”
Li Fei gritted her teeth. She wasn’t willing to give up, but she had no way out. Just as she was about to forcefully throw out the next talisman, a cry suddenly came from behind the training ground. Shortly after, a child came running over and knelt, hugging Ji Tongzhou’s feet.
“Your Highness! Your Highness, please save me! Put in a good word for me! For the sake of my years of service to you!”
All three were stunned. Li Fei took a while to recognize the crying child on the ground as one of Ji Tongzhou’s lackeys, the one who had fainted that day.
Ji Tongzhou frowned, “What are you doing? Stand up and speak! What kind of behavior is this!”
The boy just kept crying, begging him, “Please put in a good word for me! I beg you, Your Highness! If I’m eliminated from the academy, the Emperor will surely not spare my family! My parents, sisters, and brothers will all be implicated!”
Ji Tongzhou exclaimed in shock, “Eliminated from the academy?”
What’s going on? Could one still be eliminated after entering the academy?
Hu Jiaping came over and pulled up the sobbing boy, saying in a low voice, “If your ability doesn’t measure up, there’s nothing to be done. This is how cultivation is. Although the test isn’t over, I can see from your condition that you probably can’t even mobilize the spiritual energy in your body anymore. Go back to the disciples’ quarters and pack up, then come with me to see Teacher Zuoqiu later.”
Ji Tongzhou urgently asked, “Wait, wait a moment! Teacher, are you going to send him away?”
“Entering the academy doesn’t mean you can rest easy forever.” Hu Jiaping glanced at him, “Every stage of cultivation has tests, and those who can’t pass will be eliminated from the academy. Come with me, don’t make a fuss here.”
He dragged the boy to the corner of the training ground. Even from that distance, faint sobs could still be heard.
Ji Tongzhou pressed his lips together and said in a low voice, “He… will be sent away from now on?”
No one answered this obvious question. Presumably, when that child returned home, all the glory and wealth bestowed upon his family by the imperial clan would be taken back. No wonder he cried so hard and came to beg him—those without aptitude were destined to be coldly abandoned.