Chapter Ninety-One: Enrollment

A dozen-odd guards withdrew one after another, their faces grim, as though only then had they remembered that this was the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy, not the territory of their own city.

Ye Mo glanced at them, and his expression also grew complicated.

That old man in the loft, though he had never even met him, had merely thundered a reprimand and sent them stumbling back injured and shocked. His strength was terrifying.

When would he, too, possess such power?

Ye Mo drew a breath, steadied himself, and climbed the stairs.

After ascending more than a dozen steps, he met the young man in silken robes and the old servant in blue at the landing.

After a brief pause, Ye Mo moved aside to let them pass.

He did not know what sort of background this richly dressed youth had, but it would be best not to provoke him.

“Just a common cultivator like you, and you dare sign up to be a city lord candidate? Could it be that the Eastern Sea has no one left, that even stray cats and dogs want to become city lords?”

The young man halted, looked Ye Mo over, and said with a cold sneer.

“The notice from the Azure Cloud Immortal Academy says only that enough spirit stones must be paid; it never said who may or may not apply. Though I am but a wandering cultivator, since I meet the academy’s conditions, I naturally may sign up. Besides, this is not your family’s academy! Wait until you become the city lord of Azure Cloud and change the rules before speaking!”

Ye Mo frowned and said coldly.

Once registration was complete, he and this young man would be fellow city lord candidates of the same academy, standing on equal footing. Though he did not wish to invite trouble, he would never allow anyone to ride roughshod over him.

“You...”

The youth in fine clothes stiffened at once, struck speechless.

He had not expected that this common cultivator before him would not only refuse to yield, but even dare to rebuke and lecture him. The words lodged in his chest, leaving him unable to vent his anger.

“Young Master, why bother quarreling with him? Since this little brother has also registered, there will be many chances to meet in the future. The road ahead is long.”

The old servant in blue glanced at Ye Mo with some surprise, then advised the young man.

“Ha, the sir speaks truly! This one’s surname is Lou. Since we shall study in the same academy from now on, we will surely have occasion to meet again.”

The young man in brocade smiled.

Ye Mo felt a chill in his heart.

“Until we meet again.”

With a faint smile, the young man descended from the loft with his dozen or so guards and sped away in a carriage drawn by spirit horses.

Ye Mo watched the departing shadows of the carriages, his face full of helplessness. Before he had even finished registering, he had already made an enemy, which was entirely unforeseen.

Offending this young man in rich robes would surely mean many troubles in the days to come.

...

Ye Mo entered the second floor of the loft and came to a hall.

An old man with white hair and beard, looking rather kindly, sat behind a desk of stone, jade, and spirit wood, while several cultivators stood nearby recording various details.

Seeing Ye Mo enter, the old man revealed a faint smile.

“Surnames? Background? Is your family clean and upright? Though our academy has no especially strict requirements for students, those whose background is not above reproach cannot be accepted. If it is later discovered that one’s background is not clean, then even if one has become a city lord, the appointment will be revoked.”

The white-haired elder spoke leisurely.

“Ye Mo, a wandering cultivator from the Nine Provinces Continent. I come from a common background, and no criminal is known in my ancestry. I wonder whether that counts as being clean and upright?”

Ye Mo hurriedly reported his situation.

“A wandering cultivator from the Nine Provinces Continent? Of course that is clean! So long as you have had no dealings with the ghost, demon, or spirit clans, you count as having a clean background. Human scum who collude with foreign races are absolutely not permitted to become city lords of our Immortal City Alliance!

“As for anything else, even if your ancestors were guilty of regicide, usurpation, or the extermination of nine clans, our academy would not concern itself with it. Since you come from the continent, there is no problem.”

Hearing Ye Mo’s words, the white-haired elder could not help laughing heartily. “Your nerve is quite something, boy! Do you know what sort of background that little fellow from before has? His father is the city lord of an immortal city. You are only a common wandering cultivator—why provoke him?”

Seeing that his identity was not an issue, Ye Mo finally relaxed a little and said, “Senior, how would this junior dare provoke him? His guards blocked the way, and I could not even get through the door!”

“Then are you blaming this old man for making things worse?”

The white-haired elder’s expression turned somewhat displeased.

If the elder had not intervened then, Ye Mo would still have been blocked outside by the guards, and the young man in brocade might not even have spared him a glance.

“This junior would not dare! Since it has already been offended, so be it.”

Ye Mo gave a wry smile. He was very practical; since offense had already been given, there was no use dwelling on it.

“Not bad temperament. From your background and aptitude alone, this old man also feels your chances of becoming a city lord are slim. Still, with such a disposition, you are at least worth cultivating. Even if you cannot become a city lord, you may still become a capable assistant cultivator.

“Pay one thousand spirit stones, and you may become a city lord candidate of our academy.

“Take this. This is your student token. With it, you may enter and leave most areas of the academy, as well as your residence here. It also contains some maps and an introduction to the academy; after you infuse it with spiritual power, you may examine them.”

The white-haired elder had already taken a certain liking to Ye Mo. He tossed over a token, a faint smile on his face.

Ye Mo caught it and took a look.

The token was a first-grade spirit artifact, within which a great deal of information had been recorded.

With a sweep of his consciousness, Ye Mo immediately obtained a map of the academy, as well as the various permissions granted to him.

Which places within the academy he could enter, and which were forbidden grounds.

It also marked the residence assigned to him.

Ye Mo nodded inwardly. For the payment of one thousand spirit stones, the treatment was not bad at all. He had been granted a fairly large independent residence, and all the people who had come with him could live in that courtyard.

“All registered. You may go find the academy’s instructors to collect your books. The location is recorded on your token.”

The white-haired elder said.

“Many thanks, Senior!”

Ye Mo nodded and took his leave with proper respect.

As he went downstairs, more cultivators were coming up to register. Though their bearing was not as ostentatious as that young man in brocade, they were clearly people of some standing, nothing like Ye Mo, a humble wandering cultivator from the common ranks.

...

After leaving the loft, Ye Mo completed his registration and went with Mo Ling, Wang Hu, and the others to another compound within Azure Cloud Immortal Academy to sign up as assistant cultivators.

The place for registering assistant students was obviously much livelier, with several hundred Qi Refining cultivators gathered there.

The competition among city lord candidates was extremely brutal. In the end, only the top ten upon graduation would obtain the official qualifications of city lords within the Immortal City Alliance. The rest would all be eliminated, and the one thousand spirit stones would amount to nothing but a wasted payment.

Most who signed up as city lord candidates were children of noble families. Ordinary cultivators rarely did so, nor could they afford so many spirit stones.

Ye Mo naturally knew how difficult it would be to seize a top-ten place among a crowd of city lord candidates. Yet since he had come for this academy registration, he had no choice but to do it. Missing this opportunity would only mean many detours ahead; he absolutely could not waste it.

But assistant candidates had no such quota restrictions, and the registration fee was much lower. Many of them were common cultivators, with relatively few children of noble houses.

“Brother, what are you planning to study? I intend to focus on beast taming. If I can later guard an immortal village with a troop of powerful spirit beasts, my strength will surely rise greatly. I imagine those city lords will be eager to recruit me!”

A sturdy cultivator of plain appearance said to a thin young man beside him.

“Mm, beast taming is very good! I plan to study cultivation of spiritual plants. Refining pills or artifacts would also be excellent, but those two are too costly, and I do not have the spirit stones to sustain them, so I dare not choose them. Plant cultivation consumes fewer spirit stones, and it is easier to learn.”

The thin young man said with some regret.

“Plant cultivation is important too! No immortal city can do without the growing of spirit grains and all kinds of medicinal herbs. Brother, your choice is not wrong! In the future, if we both pledge ourselves to the same city lord, it will be good to support one another.”

The sturdy cultivator said consolingly.

The cultivators registering were all discussing excitedly.

Mo Ling, Wang Hu, and the others also hurriedly went to queue up and register, following the plan they had already made.

Mo Ling would chiefly study plant cultivation, focusing on the breeding and nurturing of spirit grains and spirit medicines.

Wang Hu and Yang You would specialize in artifact refinement, while also studying the construction of immortal cities.

Deputy Shipmaster Chang would study management and trade.

The five earth slaves would cultivate combat arts, combination strikes, battle formations, and the like.

After the better part of half an hour, everyone had finished registering and then went to collect the corresponding books.

The materials of these books were peculiar: some were old volumes on coarse paper, some were recorded on bamboo slips or turtle shells, and some existed only as jade slips imprinted with consciousness.

Ye Mo’s books covered an especially wide range of topics, including governance, schemes and battle strategy, immortal city layouts, development strategies for immortal villages, and many other matters.

The books given to the others were all related to the main subjects they had chosen.

The registration period lasted half a month.

Formal classes would not begin until the first day of next month, leaving several more days.

The residence assigned to Ye Mo as a city lord candidate included a detached spirit-wood pavilion, ample enough for dozens of people to live in. Many among the city lord candidates were children of noble families and often brought servants with them, so the lodgings were all very spacious, elegant, and luxurious.

“The young man in brocade whom we met earlier has quite a background. I noticed a character on the carriage, so I had someone inquire privately.

“The Lou family is quite famous in Azure Cloud Immortal City. The Lou family head is a Golden Core cultivator and has established an immortal city of his own. Though it cannot compare with the main immortal city, it is still quite powerful. Offending that young master of the Lou family may cause some trouble in Azure Cloud Immortal Academy!”

Deputy Shipmaster Chang said worriedly to Ye Mo.

“Let us not worry about that for now. Azure Cloud Immortal Academy has its own rules. No noble family’s child can run wild here as he pleases. We will be fine within the academy. Besides, I only exchanged a few sharp words with him; there was no serious clash. It should not come to the point of drawing swords against one another.”

After thinking for a while, Ye Mo shook his head and said.

After all, people like Zheng Yiqing were still few and far between.

During the days spent waiting for school to begin, Ye Mo and the others worked hard to improve their cultivation and also began studying the books they had obtained.

His thoughts had long since settled on those volumes.

However, merely reading them was not enough to understand many things. They all looked forward to the official start of classes, when they would have the chance to hear the instructors’ guidance, which would undoubtedly resolve many of their doubts.

Within the Ancient Painting Immortal Village, A Li remained busy refining artifacts.

Ye Mo still had half of the profound iron on hand. Forging it into a profound iron spirit sword would fetch more spirit stones, and it would also let A Li’s artifact refinement become more adept.