At the same time, the academy would provide various rewards to the outstanding disciples, following the single principle of natural selection. The better you did, the more resources you received. If not, your progression would only become more and more difficult, and in the end, all you would be able to do was run errands for the academy.

  Li Long called out excitedly on the ship, “Qingshan, over here!”


  Li Qingshan failed to find who was spying on him in the end. He rubbed the back of his head and boarded the ship.

  Unbeknownst to him, the leaders of the various schools all witnessed his behaviour.

  “This kid’s senses sure are sharp. His cultivation isn’t bad either. He’s quite the talent in the intake this time,” said Liu Zhangqing in evaluation, shifting everyone’s attention onto the focus of the entrance examination. Perhaps there were talents among these children, but it would take a few months at the very least before they knew.

  “It’s just a pity that old Wang has already got his hands on him.” The old man in coarse clothing with a long hat shook his head.

  “The kid’s a troublemaker. I don’t even know which school he’ll pick.” While Wang Pushi did not particularly like Li Qingshan, he still felt glorified over the fact that the Hawkwolf Guard had produced a talent.

  “I think there’s some destiny between this child and our buddha. May I ask if commander Wang is willing to part with him?” asked the old, bald monk.

  “He’s a skilled Body Practitioner, so compared to the school of Legalism, the school of the Military suits him better.” Before Wang Pushi could reply, the middle-aged man who sat beside him silently spoke up all of a sudden.

  Even as he sat there, his posture was dead-straight. He placed both of his hands on his knees and he did not move at all, staring straight ahead. When he remained silent, he seemed just like a carved statue. Even in a relaxed state, he radiated with a steady sense of power. He was the leader of the school of the Military, the General of Riling Might, Han Anjun.

  “One Thought, do they all have a destiny with your buddha as long as they have a bit of talent? Old Han, even your son didn’t contend with little Hua over him. If he really chooses the school of the Military, I’ll shut up immediately.”


  “Buddha refers to the buddha in our minds, which is also the buddha within all life. He’s not destined with your buddha, he’s destined with “our” buddha. Namo Amitābha!” The One Thought monk stringed together a list of buddha names.

  The Watermirror disc did not remain on Li Qingshan for long. It moved onto others. They focused on the young, talented people with relatively high cultivations in the entrance examination this time. They all discussed which school they should end up in.

  Among them, Hua Chenglu would obviously follow Hua Chengzan’s footsteps and join the school of Legalism. Although they did not stay on her for long, they did look at Qian Rongzhi as well. As a Hawkwolf guard, she would naturally be a member of the school of Legalism too. Wang Pushi was pleased with himself.

  The issue of the otherfolk, Mu Kui, led to quite a dispute. Even now, the conflict between otherfolk and humans had yet to stop. However, when Han Anjun nodded and said, “I’ll accept him.” there was nothing more that they could say.

  Apart from them, the Watermirror disc checked on another dozen or two people. They were all the talents this time. Although Li Qingshan stood out among regular Qi Practitioners, he seemed to be nothing special when compared to them.

  The Clear River prefecture that spanned fifteen hundred kilometers was equivalent to all of Jiangnan on the earth that Li Qingshan lived on previously. There was a population in the hundreds of millions, so there were countless people with talent and fortuitous encounters.

  To be able to stand out among so many people, be depicted in the Watermirror disc, and be discussed by the leaders of the various schools, Li Qingshan could already be regarded as an extremely rare talent, but he was nowhere close to startling them with his talent. Out of everyone sitting in the room, had they not been geniuses themselves in the past?

  Li Qingshan and Li Long leaned against the railing on the ship and discussed what happened after they had parted ways. Because what Li Qingshan went through was just too mysterious and startling, with far too many secrets to hide, Li Long was speaking most of the time with Li Qingshan listening.

  As it turned out, Li Long was quite the talent among the Iron Fist school. Going from being a third-rate master to a second layer Qi Practitioner in under a year was already a very startling step. The Iron Fist school was already prepared to elevate him to protector.

  An expansive wall of mist suddenly appeared on the surface of the water. It seemed extremely strange in the current weather, but Li Qingshan failed to sense any spiritual qi within it.

  However, when the ship sailed through the mist, Li Qingshan felt like the world was spinning around him. He immediately understood that the wall of mist was part of a huge formation, except all of its spiritual qi and spiritual energy was withdrawn perfectly. Then he checked on Li Long, who failed to notice anything. He just looked around in confusion.

  Suddenly, a huge, black shadow appeared in the mist, and it rapidly grew larger. It arrived right before them in the blink of an eye. It was a vicious, strange-looking fish, ten times the size of the ship. From so close, it basically seemed like a mountain. Its mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth that were the size of spears, and it lunged towards the ship.

  There were a series of cries from the ship as various talismans and techniques flew out.

  Li Qingshan shook his head. There was no murderous aura, no daemon qi, and no living aura. It was a fake.

  The strange fish passed trhough the ship. Sure enough, it was an illusion. The talismans and techniques obviously failed to hit anything. However, the illusion was just too realistic, such that many people were pale-faced, still shaken by what they had gone through.

  The male instructor clapped his hands with a smile. “Don’t be afraid, it’s just a joke. Though, if you move through this mist without permission, the joke might end up being real!”


  The Watermirror disc obviously caught everyone’s expressions, leading to a series of laughter and a rough evaluation.

  The cowardly were not necessarily despised, rejected from all schools. Being faint-hearted did not mean they could not make machines, practise divination, or practise medicine. Since they lacked the courage to fight and kill, then they should just stick with the work that suited them!

  Of course, the cultivators that had completely paled in fright had already lost their right to be chosen in Han Anguo and Wang Pushi’s minds. The very core of these two schools were based on fighting and killing. They were not places for the cowardly.

  By now, the mist began to disperse as the radiant sunlight landed on the nose of the ship again. The ship inched into the domain of light.

  Everyone could not help but gasp. Even Li Qingshan widened his eyes. The dark blue lakewater seemed even clearer than outside the mist. Many large, rare fish swam around in the water. The sky seemed bluer too as a flock of large, white aquatic birds flew over the ship. The spiritual qi was so dense that even breathing seemed much more delightful.

  A jade-green island with a chain of mountains stood right before them, with various other islands of different sizes scattered in the surroundings like stars in the night sky. They seemed like pieces of jade that had fallen onto a blue piece of silk.

  Li Qingshan suddenly understood something. It was these islands that created the formation, assimilating with nature.

  This was the Academy of the Hundred Schools, while the largest island in the centre was known as “Contention”!

  The ship directly sailed towards Contention island, and everyone became riled up with it.

  A while later, the ship docked.

  The instructor brought everyone to a square. There was a formation engraved there. Li Qingshan found the formation to be slightly familiar. Suddenly, he remembered that the formation scroll Sun Fubai had taken out when he had his yin and yang and five elements tested below the Green Vine mountain seemed quite similar, except this one was much larger and much more complicated.

  To the Academy of the Hundred Schools, the elemental affinity of their disciples was the most important. As a matter of fact, it served as a first prerequisite.

  Li Qingshan had already understood from the Book of All that the school of Legalism preferred profound yin, the schools of Buddhism and Confucianism preferred Profound Yang, the schools of Mohism and Agriculturalism preferred earth and wood, the school of the Military preferred metal and fire, the schools of Names and Novels preferred water, the school of Yin-yang preferred a balance in yin and yang, while the schools of Daoism and Miscellany accepted everyone.

  Of course, the prerequisite of elemental affinity was not always absolute. Even if a person had non-matching elemental affinities, they could still join the various schools. The school of Legalism accepted all elements, while the school of the Military was not fixed on metal and fire either. On the other hand, while the school of Buddhism did accept all, the main cultivation method they practised focused on force and strength, so yang, and the great, righteous spirit of the school of Confucianism also required Profound Yang.

  They could write an entire book on the considerations they took into account. Li Qingshan only possessed a rough understanding, ensuring that he would not make any general mistakes.

  All of the Qi Practitioners stood in line according to how they had initially boarded the ship. They would hear the instructor call their names one by one. After they were called, they would step onto the formation.

  “Chen Han!”


  A man walked out from the group and arrived at the centre of the formation. The five elements lit up simultaneously. His metal, wood, water, and earth elements were all very weak, but his fire was a blazing ball that stood seven feet high. The yin and yang qi above his head displayed two shades, one light and one dark. Light completely exceeded dark.

  Only then did Li Qingshan understand why the testing formation was so large. As it turned out, it could simultaneously test the strength of the various elements.

  The male instructor took note of this. “High yi for fire, low yi for yang, and the rest is low ding.”


  TL: Once again, the levels of talent is named after the twelve heavenly stems (just the top four in this case). High, mid, and low are self-explanatory, but the heavenly stems in this case appear to be jia ] yi ] bing ] ding, from highest to lowest. The heavenly stems also appear to be the more dominant measure, so a low jia talent would be better than a high yi talent for example.

  When Hua Chenglu walked into the formation, a huge shadow immediately appeared above her. She was deemed to have low jia for yin, making her a good disciple for the school of Legalism. She left the formation under everyone’s gazes of amazement.

  Closely following her was Yu Zijian. She was slightly nervous. She still practised the Innate Method of Practising Qi right now, and she never had her element affinity tested so far.

  The formation flashed and produced an extremely soft thrum. Scorching, white light blinded everyone’s eyes as a dazzling ball of light rose up above her head, like a miniature sun.

  The light poured through the Watermirror disc, landing in the gloomy room and lighting up everyone’s faces. The expressions of all of the leaders changed slightly.

  Liu Zhangqing smiled. “High jia for yang. She’s suitable for practising the righteous spirit of Confucianism. Surely she’s mine, right?”


  All people who could reach the extremes of any single element were rare geniuses.

  “The fuck do you know?” The slovenly daoist priest that had remained silent the entire time, sipping his alcohol with his head lowered, suddenly spoke.

  “Please enlighten me, senior!” Liu Zhangqing was an extremely cultivated person. He bowed and asked for guidance, demonstrating the gentleness, modesty, and courtesy of confucianism.

  Of course, the primary reason was because he was not this old daoist priest’s opponent. He was only at early Foundation Establishment, while the old daoist priest had already reached late Foundation Establishment.

  The slovenly daoist priest ignored him, remaining fixated on the Watermirror disc as his gaze became quite fervent. All the other leaders of the schools were shocked by this. All of them knew this old daoist was violent-tempered and foul-mouthed, looking down on everything. Yu Zijian’s talent might have been extraordinary, but there was no need for him to behave like this!

  But that gave everything away. Liu Zhangqing exclaimed, “The Pure Yang constitution!”


  Apart from the scorching ball of light above Yu Zijian’s head, there was not even the tiniest sliver of darkness.

  Regular people possessed both yin and yang, just like how birth could not happen with yin alone, and growth could not happen with yang alone. Only extremely accomplished cultivators could reach the limits of yang and produce yin as a result, attaining the state of pure yang. This had always been the most simple principle in cultivation. If there was light, then there was darkness. If there was yin, then there was yang.

  However, there were a few, rare cases of people being born with pure yin or pure yang, which gave them a sacred constitution for cultivation. However, men were primarily yang, and women were primarily yin. For the Pure Yang constitution to appear on a woman, it was an outlier among outliers.