Chapter 386 : Enrollment (2)
Jun Wu Xie closed her eyes and pushed her spiritual power into the crystal.
A blindingly bright orange glow exploded at that moment and the light attracted the attention of all the youths who had come for the enrollment before the academy's gates!
Qiao Chu and the others who were making their way over to come find Jun Xie after they had completed their enrollment were shocked when they saw the explosion of orange light!
That bright light had drawn everyone's attention and all their eyes were staring at Jun Xie in surprise.
Orange!?
The spirit stone was glowing orange!?
That would mean that small kid's spiritual powers had reached the orange level?
Among everyone there, they could find no one of a smaller size. His looks showed that he was still at a very tender age and he was so tiny and skinny. It was obvious he was one of the youngest there and if not for the fact that ring spirits awaken only at the age of fourteen, with the way he looked, everyone would think he was still maybe twelve or thirteen!
But the fact that the youngest looking one among them had achieved the orange level slapped them across their faces!
A murmur of voices guessing his actual age broke out among the crowd.
Fei Yan who had been walking in that direction slapped his hand on his forehead when he saw the orange light.
"It's over! This time, it's all over!"
The Zephyr Academy's enrollment usually only called for a check on the ring spirits, and it was only when the applicant himself declared that he had achieved a breakthrough that the academy would conduct another test. As people who were able to achieve a breakthrough in their spiritual power at ages between fourteen to sixteen were extremely rare, no one hid that fact if they had achieved such a feat.
Qiao Chu and the others had decided to start their search from the branch division as they were confident that they were able to advance into the main division easily with their abilities when they chose, they had therefore kept silent on their spiritual powers.
But they had not expected for Jun Xie to meet with this unexpected turn of events.
Why had the Zephyr Academy suddenly asked to test the level of Jun Xie's spiritual power?
A fourteen year old achieving the orange level in his spiritual power. Needless to say, he would be admitted into the main division without question!
However, the other four had completed their enrollments and they had already received their emblems for the branch division, it was already too late for them to change!
In the end, the man who had conducted the tests for Jun Xie gave him a thoughtful glance and finally turned to whisper to his fellow staff of the academy before that staff ran off quickly.
After awhile, an attractive looking man dressed in a light blue brocaded robe walked slowly to the main gates. He followed the direction that the orange light was coming from and walked towards Jun Wu Xie.
Jun Wu Xie was nevertheless composed while her eyes were cold and clear.
The blue robed man raised an eyebrow when he saw Jun Wu Xie and he reached out his hand to hold Jun Wu Xie's wrist just above the hand that held the spirit stone.
Qiao Chu and the others readied themselves as they watched hidden among the many other youths.
Jun Wu Xie narrowed her eyes but did not react any further.
The man only held on to Jun Wu Xie's wrist and did not do anything else. After a moment, he smiled and said: "A orange spirit at fourteen, a rather amazing seedling I must say."
At that man's words, the crowd erupted into an uproar!
Achieving the orange level at sixteen years old was already uncommon but would not be that shocking, but achieving orange at fourteen.....
It was just absolutely insane!
At fourteen years, what were most people doing?
With their ring spirits just awoken, they would just be learning how to train and develop their powers and trying to understand the capabilities of their ring spirits, taking no less than half a year to do that. And after they were ready to embark on the actual training, they would require a long period of time to adapt and adjust before they take the first step into their brand new journey to power.
For a fourteen year old to achieve the orange level was monstrous.....
And they had never encountered anything like this before!
Who would have thought that such an unimpressive looking brat would achieve such Heaven forbidding speed in the development of his spiritual powers!?
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Chapter 387 : Enrollment (3)
Even with everyone's eyes staring at her, Jun Wu Xie still did not react in the slightest. She could feel that the man dressed in blue robes before her was not weak, and based on how the others from the Zephyr Academy were deferring to him, it was not difficult to ascertain that the position the man held was rather high.
"With such gift, you'll be directly admitted into the main division." The blue robed man said candidly with a laugh and put Jun Wu Xie straight into the main division.
His words drove many of the youths present green with envy.
Every year, an extremely small number of applicants gained direct entry into the main division. The other youths might have been envious, but they knew they had not achieved an orange level in their spiritual power. The blue robed man had not given the boy any preferential treatment. For a fourteen year old to have broken through to the orange level and be admitted directly into the main division was only to be expected.
Among the youths before the academy, not all of them were just plain envious. Qiao Chu and his other companions almost vomited out blood when the blue robed man directly admitted Jun Wu Xie into the main division. Now, what was to happen to them who had already been admitted into the branch division!?
Their tests had ended and they couldn't go back and tell the academy that they wanted their tests to be done one more time.....
The blue robed man thought that the little kid before him would be ecstatic to hear his words but was instead surprised that the cold and chill expression did not change a single bit, and that made him look at Jun Wu Xie differently.
A person's gift might be hard to come by, but if their personality were overly arrogant or confident, it would impede their progress in their development in training. He had seen quite a few highly gifted youths to shine with brilliance at the onset, but faced countless obstacles in their training as they progressed. In the beginning, the development and progress in training towards their spiritual power was easiest to attain and that gift would easily breeze them through the earlier breakthroughs. But as they progressed to the later levels, the demand on one's natural temperament becomes higher as the training process becomes dry and dull and took long periods of time. If they could not last the tedium and succumbed to the temptations of flowery and carnal world, no matter how high their gift was, they would not be able to progress further.
In the end, they would turn out to be someone whom people whispered behind their back, as one who was highly gifted at a young age, but had squandered it all to amount to nothing.
"Little one, what's your name?" The blue robed man asked with a smile.
"Jun Xie." Jun Wu Xie replied simply.
The blue robed man laughed.
At the moment that the man's laughter sounded, Jun Wu Xie felt a sudden warmth flow from the hand clasped over her wrist into her incessantly and she froze.
"Relax, you do not have to worry. With such outstanding gift, if your ring spirit were to be damaged, it would be such a waste." The man's soft whisper that was tinged with laughter sounded in her ear.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head, and her cold eyes reflected the man's attractive contenance.
The flow of warmth was almost unnoticeable as the energy fused into her soul, spreading towards the part that belonged to the little black cat's soul.
Jun Wu Xie's eyes flashed briefly in amazement. She could clearly feel that the black cat's exhausted soul was recovering very gradually under the flow of warmth, and gaining a little more life bit by bit!
A Spirit Healer!
Jun Wu Xie's mind suddenly flashed with those three words.
The little black cat might be a little different from other ring spirits, but they were basically the same in spirit form. If a Spirit Healer can heal ring spirits, that must also mean they can heal the little black cat's soul!
At that time, the Snow Lotus was not within Jun Wu Xie's body and the only other spirit within her body was only the little black cat!
The energy from the warmth was slowly and unendingly lending nourishment to the little black cat's soul!
Was this the power of a Spirit Healer? Jun Wu Xie's eyes were showing a rare expression of amazement and it was no wonder the Spirit Healers of the Zephyr Academy enjoyed greater prominence than any other faculties. If with a Spirit Healer in their midst, people when in battle, need no longer be so restrained as when their ring spirits were injured, they could be healed and prolong the time they can contribute in battle!
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Chapter 388 : Enrollment (4)
After some time, the man dressed in blue released Jun Wu Xie's hand, and his attractive face was rather pale, with a thin sheen of sweat covering his brows.
The people from the Zephyr Academy around the man saw that the man dressed in blue was showing signs of exhaustion and stepped up to hold him.
The man dressed in blue waved them off gently and insisted for them to step back.
The healing of the little kid's ring spirit took up far more of his energy than he had expected and he had not needed to deplete such a severe amount of his energies for a long time. It had felt like he had not just treated an injured ring spirit but more like he had almost resurrected a ring spirit from the brink of death.
The man laughed bitterly inwardly, on the one rare occasion he had decided to show a bit of benevolence, he had to meet with such a trying incident. He could have pulled back halfway when he had first felt uncomfortable, but he did not know why, when he looked onto the face of the little kid before him, and that boy's eyes had showed that tiny flash of amazement, he could not make himself hold back but had soldiered on with the healing.
To the point that he was now finally drained and feeling rather exhausted.
"I'm tired, all of you can just carry on." The man dressed in blue rejected the offers of help and just looked at Jun Wu Xie once more before he turned and left.
Jun Wu Xie could feel that gradually strengthening spirit within her body. She looked up in gratitude, stared at the retreating back of the man dressed in blue and said: "Thank you."
The man dressed in blue stopped in his tracks and turned around. He looked at Jun Wu Xie's expressionless face and replied with a smile: "There's no need. You are now a disciple of the Zephyr Academy and as a Master here, I should naturally help a little with the recruitment. You are Jun Xie right? If you are interested, after you are admitted, come to the Spirit Healers faculty to look for me. My name is Gu Li Sheng."
After that, Gu Li Sheng turned and walked away without stopping, feeling a tad bit unsteady.
Gu Li Sheng? Spirit Healers Faculty? Jun Wu Xie was still considering Gu Li Sheng's parting words when the crowd before the Zephyr Academy's gate suddenly broke into an uproar!
If all the youths at the gates of the Zephyr Academy were just envious of Jun Wu Xie previously, the youths after hearing Gu Li Sheng's words had suddenly turned their envy into unbridled jealous rage!
Gu Li Sheng! That was the founder of the Spirit Healers faculty himself!
It was said that any Spirit Healers throughout the lands now had all studied under Gu Li Sheng's discipleship!
Before Gu Li Sheng, Spirit Healers had not existed before!
It was only because of Gu Li Sheng that the Zephyr Academy had the unique and highly exclusive Spirit Healer faculty!
What did that little brat Jun Xie do to be graced with such an encounter!? Just a fourteen year old orange leveled spirit did not deserve the highly revered and esteemed Gu Li Sheng come just to see him! And Gu Li Sheng had not done just that, he had actually personally invited that brat of a Jun Xie to join his Spirit Healer faculty! !
Upon hearing that, all the other youths were indignant! They all stared at Jun Xie, wishing they could swallow him whole then.
Every single one of them had fervently wished that they could be shoved into the Spirit Healer faculty and that brat had so effortlessly been accepted into it just like that!
The brat had even captured the attention of Gu Li Sheng and that made Jun Xie already shine in brilliance before he had even stepped into the Zephyr Academy!
The furious and indignant youths had now diverted their stares filled with envy and jealousy at the two men who had brought Gu Li Sheng here. They were all enrolling into the Zephyr Academy as disciples, why would they go invite Gu Li Sheng just to come see a mere applicant just like them ! ?
The two innocent men had to suffer under the indignant and angry stares when all they did was to invite a Teacher to come take a look when they found that Jun Xie was highly gifted, but had possessed a badly weakened ring spirit. Who knew that the Teacher they found would turn out to be Gu Li Sheng and he had chosen to appear before everyone here? No one would have expected that Gu Li Sheng would find the little kid soothing to his eye and directly accepted him immediately too.....
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Chapter 389 : Enrollment (5)
Gaining admittance into the Spirit Healer faculty was totally unexpected for Jun Wu Xie herself, not to mention for all the people before the academy's gates.
Her objective for this trip was to locate the second piece of the human skin map with Qiao Chu and the others. She had not thought..... that she would be unknowingly noticed by the founder of the Spirit Healers and invited to accept his tutelage.
Under everyone's envious and jealous eyes, Jun Wu Xie left, her face a sea of calm and went to join Qiao Chu and the others under a huge tree as previously arranged.
But.....
The four pairs of eyes that met her were rather surprised.
"Little Xie..... Did you know that Gu Li Sheng before this?" Qiao Chu asked Jun Wu Xie immediately when she came over, unable to suppress his curiosity even for a moment.
Jun Wu Xie replied unhesitatingly: "Never met him."
"You've never met him?" Qiao Chu's eyes widened in surprise.
"What did he do to you earlier?" Rong Ruo surveyed Jun Xie head to toe and after seeing that Jun Xie looked fine, she was finally relieved.
"Healed my spirit." Jun Wu Xie said simply.
Shock showed on all four faces.
Rong Ruo asked again: "How was it?"
Jun Wu Xie did not reply but raised her hands. They saw a ball of black mist form on those hands and gradually a graceful little black cat appeared within her arms.
"Meow?"
[Did I sleep long?]
The little black cat snuggled into Jun Wu Xie's arms and closed its eyes to a slit in comfort, its long tail dangled over Jun Wu Xie's arm, swishing lazily through the air.
Jun Wu Xie lowered her head, her eyes looking at the little black cat within her arms, and the cold feeling of loss that had steeped within her for so long finally started to fade gradually.
Qiao Chu and the others had all seen the black cat before, but besides Qiao Chu and Hua Yao, Fei Yan and Rong Ruo had only seen the black cat unconscious. This was the first time they had seen the little black cat awake!
When the little black cat was brought back to the Phoenix Academy, even Yan Bu Gui had declared that the little black cat had been injured more seriously than Jun Xie and would most probably not awaken. But the little black cat was now obviously snuggled deep into Jun Xie's arms happily content, and that greatly surprised all of them!
"The world really is a vast place, people that can heal ring spirits really exist?" Hua Yao wondered, more to himself than to the others, with his eyes narrowed in thought. It wasn't just in the Lower Realm, but even in the whole of the Middle Realm, nobody had ever heard of it.
When they had first heard about the Spirit Healers, they had been rather skeptical. But the little black cat's recovery stood as a strong prime example before their very eyes and that was an undeniable fact.
"Now, the four of us have been allocated into the branch division, so Little Xie, you do not need to do anything in the main division but to just wait for us to get promoted there. Erm..... didn't that Gu Li Sheng invite you to join his Spirit Healer faculty? If you can learn the technique and become a Spirit Healer, that would just be fantastic." Fei Yan said with a laugh.
Jun Wu Xie nodded, within that period, she could learn to understand more on the methods employed for the training of her spiritual power as she had so far only relied on her innate capabilities when using her spiritual power.
The branch division conducted an appraisal every quarter and for those who displayed exemplary increase in their spiritual power within that period stood a chance to be promoted into the main division. Hua Yao and the others would have to wait at least three months after their discipleship start for them to join Jun Xie in the main division.
And that was agreed upon by the five companions under the huge tree.
For all successful applicants into the Zephyr Academy, they were to report to the Zephyr Academy on the fourth day after the start of the academy's enrollment.
Jun Wu Xie returned to the inn and put the little black cat on the table before she opened her cosmos bag to retrieve the sphere that contained the Snow Lotus.
[This little imp's injuries..... seems no less grave than what I sustained.] The little black cat sat upon the table and said with its eyes narrowed as it stared unblinkingly at the Snow Lotus. The last memory it had was the dire battle in the Cloudy Peaks, and that battle would forever remain a scar etched into its mind.
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Chapter 390 : Enrollment (6)
"I will heal him up." Jun Wu Xie said determinedly. When they were still at the Phoenix Academy, she might not have been able to find a way and could only depend on the water from the Heaven's Spring. But she had now personally witnessed Gu Li Sheng's technique as a Spirit Healer and she had resolved to learn it.
The little black cat just rubbed itself against Jun Wu Xie's hand.
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The three days for enrollment into the Zephyr Academy finally ended and a larger part of the youths were allocated into the branch division, while only tens of them made it into the main division.
Jun Wu Xie entered the doors to the main division with the other tens of disciples but all the way from the moment that they had all stepped in, she was ostracised and pushed out and was always at the back of the group.
The incident when Jun Wu Xie had received Gu Li Sheng's preferential treatment had spread among the youths. All those who had been directly accepted into the main division were highly gifted and they had inevitably viewed themselves to be more privileged than others. When they had come to the Zephyr Academy, they had set their sights on gaining entry into none other than the Spirit Healer faculty but they had found that an inconspicuous brat had snatched that spot from them instead, and were feeling a tad bit bitter about it.
The youth leading the new disciples into the Zephyr Academy looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old and he wore a jade badge carved into the shape of three stars. The youth had not spoken a single word and though one of the new disciples stepped up to him to make some small talk, the older youth had only given the young youth a cold wordless stare.
The Zephyr Academy lived up to its name as one of the top three academies throughout the lands. Every inch of the architecture within the grounds were lavishly luxurious and did not feel the least bit gaudy but classy and majestic. As they walked through the halls, the eyes of the new disciples were wide open, captured by the grandeur as they turned their heads all around, amazed by the endless spectacles of splendour.
They were finally brought to a big hall when the youth leading them stopped in his steps and turned to look at the new disciples. He proceeded to say without any expression: "Newly admitted disciples will be mentored by our senior disciples."
Right after the older youth finished his sentence, tens of good looking and pretty youths stepped out from behind the hall. Their ages were between eighteen to nineteen years and the jade badges they wore on their chests were carved into three stars as well.
It had been the age old tradition in the Zephyr Academy that the newly admitted disciples would be mentored by their seniors to familiarise themselves in the beginning. It was a matter of course that the privilege was only extended to disciples who had passed the tests during the enrollment and were directly accepted into the main division. For those allocated into the branch division, they were left to fend for themselves.
Understanding that they would be largely dependant on their seniors in the days to come, the younger youths all raised their heads and looked longingly at the group of senior disciples before them.
"These are the new disciples for this year? I don't see anything special about them." One of the senior disciples said with a yawn, seemingly not entirely enthusiastic about mentoring the newly admitted juniors.
Being a mentor to new disciples sounded grand, but in reality, it was a task shunned by all the seniors.
For the young youths who had just come to the Zephyr Academy, they were completely clueless and oblivious to any of the rules there. The seniors were obligated to not only explain those rules one by one, they were also required to take time out from their training to guide their allocated juniors. Such an uncalled for task was boring and a waste of time to them, and moreover, once they took up the task, they were stuck with them for at least two years before they could rid themselves of the baggage.
Unless the seniors were specifically picked, none of them were willing to accept such a thankless task.
It was due to these factors that made these seniors of the Zephyr Academy unable to make themselves show any goodwill towards the newly admitted disciples and instead look at them with disdain.
Nevertheless, the seniors did not have much of a choice in the matter and they quickly chose whoever looked the least displeasing from among the group of juniors.
Their criteria for their choices were simple. It was based on age. The older they were, the more independent their ward was expected to be, and the younger they were, the more trouble they would be sure to cause.