Ping Fu Town was a rather large town situated roughly five hundred kilometers out from the Eastern Gate of the Academy. It, alongside many other towns, formed a small satellite ring around the Academy where people who were on their way to make a pilgrimage to the Academy or were seeking a better life under the protection of the Academy's inclusive gaze.
After all, although the Academy didn't really reject people from coming and going, it also wouldn't hire everyone who showed up at its doorstep, and without proper residency and pay, it wasn't exactly cheap to live in the Academy. Although there were some brave folk who could uproot their entire lives to live at the Academy, carving out a living, cultivator or mortal, they were at the top of their respective crafts.