Imperial Weiyang Academy.
This is an academy that trains Spirit Masters for the Empire, divided into four grade levels.
Xia Feng was just a first-year student in the second semester.
In this world, only those who have reached the age of eighteen can practice Spiritual Pressure and become Spirit Masters.
Therefore, students with some talent for spiritual cultivation will apply to the Imperial Weiyang Academy after high school graduation. They must go through several rounds of selection to enter the academy, with a pass rate of less than one in ten thousand, which is very harsh.
"Feng, over here, over here!"
Just as Xia Feng entered the lecture room, he saw a short girl with a fluffy, slightly curled mushroom haircut and wearing deep blue overall pants excitedly waving at him.
She wore thick black-framed glasses, but they couldn't conceal the dark circles under her lenses.
"Mushroom, it's rare to see you attending an open class."
Xia Feng was somewhat surprised.
"Heh~" Mushroom lifted her delicate and cute face with a contemptuous smile, "If it weren't for hearing that a beautiful senior sister would be coming to this class, do you think I'd want to come?"
"You truly never change."
Xia Feng gave the girl a disdainful glance, "Didn't you say before that you were Senior Sister Lin's lapdog? And now, in such a short time, you've got a new target?"
Mushroom crossed her arms, lifting her chin as she looked down on Xia Feng: "Hmph, that's where you're clueless. My grand strategy is to cast a wide net!"
Then she smirked, her eyes shining brightly behind her glasses: "After all, in this world full of lies, only by licking boots far and wide can one find true love!"
Xia Feng was accustomed to Mushroom's weird ways.
The girl's actual name was Mo Gugu, nicknamed Mushroom, and she was his good sworn sister... no, that's not right, sworn brother, meaning essentially the same thing.
As for why he became 'brothers' with a girl, it's a story that dates back to a night with a dark sky and high winds, a cliché moment of a hero saving a damsel—
Simply put, as he was walking at night, he encountered a middle-aged female fugitive who, finding him irresistible, wanted to take advantage of her First Rank Spirit Master's strength to give him a 'warm welcome'. Mushroom just happened to be passing by and, on impulse... called the police! And then she yelled to let that boy go...
From this, it's clear—
Boys in other worlds really need to protect themselves; these natives are too frightening!
"By the way, didn't you say you were busy with something these days? How come you have time to attend class today?" Mushroom asked with a sleepy face, puzzled.
Xia Feng smiled and kept silent; naturally, he was there for Mu Qingtong.
Mu Qingtong had some fame in the second year, and it wasn't difficult to find her class schedule. One of her classes was this public class on swordsmanship.
The Imperial Weiyang Academy adopts a self-directed class attendance model, where after three mandatory courses in the first half of the freshman year, students aren't required to attend any particular classes from the second semester on, which is to say, it's self-directed attendance.
Students can go to any classroom for the classes they like; anyway, the teaching resources are ready, and the high tuition is fully collected, so whether students learn is their own business.
Besides staying out of trouble, the academy wouldn't interfere much further.
This is also why, like Mushroom, someone who loved gaming and was addicted to the virtual world, had hardly attended any classes since the beginning of the second semester.
However, students like Mushroom were an exception in the academy, after all, the annual tuition fee of over 300,000 made students wish they could cram every hour of the twenty-four in a day with classes, to study fiercely! Not milking it for all it's worth would be disrespectful to money!
"She's coming, she's coming!" Mushroom excitedly tugged at Xia Feng's sleeve.
Xia Feng looked up, puzzled.
The woman entered, wearing an elegant black gown and sexy high heels.
"Senior Mu."
"Hello, senior sister."
The passing female students greeted her as they saw her.
Mu Qingtong smiled warmly and nodded. After walking straight to the second-year seating area, she was about to sit down but seemed to sense something and quickly locked her gaze on the freshman area at the back.
"Uh~ she looked at me! Mu Shen looked at me!!" Mushroom shook Xia Feng's sleeve excitedly.
"..."
Xia Feng's eye twitched slightly as he pushed her encroaching face away and smiled at the woman in the black gown in the distance.
Mu Qingtong gently curved her beautiful eyes and nodded back before sitting down gracefully. The surrounding girls flocked to her side, chattering away.
"Is she your new target?" Xia Feng turned his head and asked.
Mushroom calmed down her excitement, her face serious: "Indeed!"
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"Well, you really do have a knack for choosing," Xia Feng said with a hint of amusement, speaking softly, "Let me tell you a secret, she actually already has a fiancé~"
"Ah?! How is that possible..." Mushroom's eyes went wide, "Who is it?"
"Me," Xia Feng smiled.
"...Heh~"
Mushroom rolled her eyes and waved her hand dismissively, "Got it, get lost and have fun."
With a look of disdain, she said, "If you're her fiancé, then I'm her unborn daughter!"
Xia Feng smiled without a word, simply reaching out to rub her little head with a tender gaze like that of a compassionate father.
"You—" Mushroom, who was just over 1.5 meters tall, became instantly furious with embarrassment, slapping his hand away, "Scram, scram, scram!"
Xia Feng withdrew his hand and looked towards the Destructive Witch, who was surrounded by a crowd in the distance, with some confusion, "She seems quite popular?"
"That's Mu Shen, naturally she's popular."
Mushroom snorted, explaining, "At last New Year's Eve party, Mu Qingtong performed a piano piece that propelled her to godlike status. You hadn't enrolled at that time, so it's normal you don't know."
Sighing, she added, "It's just a pity that Mu Shen, despite having just average Spirit Master talent, still enrolled in this crappy Spirit Master academy. If she went into showbiz, she'd be an absolute killer!"
She has just average talent as a Spirit Master?
If this scheming woman has average talent, then everyone here might as well be tossed into a dumpster.
Xia Feng's thoughts were filled with sarcastic rebukes as he was about to ask more questions, but at that moment, a subtle commotion and murmuring arose at the entrance.
"Why is she here?"
"Who is it?"
"One of Black Moon Church's candidate Holy Daughters, Cha Naixue. It's said that she's only twenty-one but has already broken through to a Second Order Spirit Master!"
"That strong?" A male student exclaimed in surprise, "She could compete with the geniuses in the fourth grade."
"But what's a candidate Holy Daughter from Black Moon Church doing at our academy..."
"Silence!"
Suddenly, Professor Freya at the lectern lightly tapped the Spirit Bell, and the piercingly clear chime spread like ripples, silencing the entire room.
"It's time, everyone go back to your seats."
Although Professor Freya was beautiful, her cold and stern demeanor left the students as silent as cicadas in winter.
Once everyone was seated, she didn't waste words and flipped open her book to start the lecture, introducing the basic system of cultivation.
"In this world, every life form has a soul, and on the surface of the soul, there are countless Spiritual Particles attached. After decomposing and reconstituting these Spiritual Particles, one can form 'Spiritual Clothes' and 'Spiritual Pressure' with attack capabilities."
"Last class, we discussed the relationship and definition of Spiritual Clothes and Spiritual Pressure.
'Spiritual Pressure' refers to the process during which a life entity steps into being an Apprentice Spirit Master, rearranging the 'chaotic Spiritual Particle structure' on the soul's surface into an orderly 'Double Helix Spirit Particle Structure'—this process causes the soul to evolve, forming a force field that asserts pressure over lower life forms, which is why it's called Spiritual Pressure.
Later on, this 'Double Helix Spirit Particle Structure' can further be decomposed and reconstituted into other 'Special Spirit Structures,' giving rise to various unique abilities. In ancient times when the globe was not yet unified, this was referred to as Martial Arts Skills, Spiritual Energy Templates, Magic Models, Magical Circuits...
But in the modern era, due to its manifestation as a layer of airflow around the human body during its release, it is uniformly called a Spiritual Energy Garment, simply known as Spiritual Clothes."
"So, Spiritual Pressure is actually a kind of Spiritual Clothes, also known as Basic Spiritual Clothes. It's the foundation for forming other special-power Spiritual Clothes....."
Professor Freya was lecturing on the podium, while Cha Naixue absentmindedly sat in the guest seat at the very front.
Suddenly, the nun sitting beside her leaned in and handed her a cell phone, "Your Excellency, please take a look at this."
"What's wrong?" Cha Naixue returned to her senses and took the phone.
[Six-tailed Society - Qi Xiao: Holy Daughter, I have some bad news for you, your childhood sweetheart is actually a First Rank Spirit Master; this scum fooled us all!]
The text message was filled with anger and malice, and the moment Cha Naixue saw it, she clearly paused, her slender brows slowly knitting together, "He's a First Rank Spirit Master? How is that possible?"
She was absolutely certain that her childhood sweetheart was a complete failure in the realm of spiritual cultivation... Of course, to call him a failure was a bit much. But in the Imperial Weiyang Academy, where geniuses were a dime a dozen, his cultivation talent really didn't stand out.
And it was improbable for him to have reached the level of a First Rank Spirit Master at just eighteen.
According to her calculations, Xia Feng would only be able to reach First Rank at the earliest in his third year's second semester or maybe his fourth year. But at the current stage... it was a fantasy.
[Six-tailed Society - Qi Xiao: I know the Holy Daughter would not believe it; luckily, I found out that the guy also attended Freya's class, heh~ He must still be harboring ill intentions towards you; you can test him yourself to see how deep it runs.]
As the message notification went 'ding,' Cha Naixue's eyebrows raised involuntarily, and she turned around subconsciously, seeing that familiar figure.
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