When this was said, the white-robed youth led Teacher Yan and Han Li inside.
After walking through a pathway for a short while, they pa.s.sed through several courtyards where Han Li heard sounds of paper and flipping pages, exactly as one would hear of an ordinary academy. Although it was named as such, why would low-grade cultivators waste their time studying instead of cultivating Qi?
When the white-robed youth saw Han Li’s surprise, he smiled and explained, “These are our lower academy disciples undergoing their noon studies. To enter the upper academy, one would not only require spirit roots but the cultivation of the n.o.ble spirit. After all, most Confucian techniques draw on the aid of n.o.ble spirit; the greater and firmer one’s n.o.ble spirit, the farther one will reach in their cultivation, greatly expanding their future prospects.” Since Teacher Yan had brought along a young cultivator with seemingly similar cultivation to his own, the white-robed youth decided to take the initiative to befriend him.
“So it was like that!” Han Li replied to this show of kindness with a smile.
At that moment, the three were walking through an area filled with pavilions. After making several turns, they arrived at a small serene courtyard. The sounds of turning pages suddenly disappeared as soon as they walked inside, clearly a result of a soundproofing restriction.
Teacher Yan didn’t show the slightest difference when this occurred. He seemed to have been there before. As for the white-robed youth, he didn’t dare to enter and had bid them farewell outside of the courtyard gate.
When he saw the youth disappeared into a pavilion at the side, Teacher Yan tidied up his clothes and approached the largest room with slow steps.
But just as he stepped forward, a light knock sounded from the door and it opened itself. Then, Senior Teacher Lu’s voice sounded out from above, “Brother Yan, please enter! I was just keeping Royal Serenity Monastery’s Nun Hualian company. Allow me to introduce you to my Brother Yan.”
“The Royal Serenity Monastery?” Teacher Yan revealed a trace of shock, but he walked in without any further hesitation. Han Li closely followed after him.
Once they entered the reception room, they saw a man and a woman sitting inside.
The man appeared over forty years old and had a thin face with long facial hair. At a glance, one could tell he was an extremely shrewd and calm individual.
The woman appeared to be in her twenties, wore yellow Daoist robes, and had fair skin and black hair. From her magnificent poise and grace, one could tell she was a Daoist nun.
When Teacher Yan and Han Li entered, the two swept their eyes past them.
Before Teacher Yan could even speak, the young Daoist nun smiled and called out to him, “So this is the famous Teacher Yan Yao? Although this humble Daoist pay no attention to the mortal world, I have heard of the great fame of the Magnificent Harmony Academy’s Teacher Yan.” Then she swept his gaze past Han Li and paid no further attention to him.
The woman was only a late-Foundation Establishment cultivator, but she was exceptionally calm and at ease in front of Senior Teacher Lu. It was clear she was someone of great background.
Teacher Yan didn’t dare to be negligent and hastily saluted her. “I don’t dare to accept your praise. I’ve heard of your grand name long ago as well. It is a pleasure to meet you, Nun Hualian!”
“Junior greets these two Seniors!” Han Li took half a step forward and saluted them as well.
Senior Teacher Lu blinked and calmly asked, “Who is this young friend?”
“This is my Esteemed Nephew Han,” said Teacher Yan, “A distant blood relative of my good friend. Because he mentioned the reputation of the Pure Revelations Academy, I couldn’t turn him down and brought his nephew here to see if he has the qualifications to be a disciple of the academy.”
Senior Teacher Lu looked at Han Li and after a moment of silence, he calmly said, “Oh! He’s the nephew of Brother Yan’s good friend. His spirit roots and apt.i.tude seems ordinary. However, let’s carefully examine his attributes. Young Friend Han, come here.”
“Yes, Senior!” When Han Li heard this, he walked over without the slightest hesitation and allowed his wrist to enter the middle-aged man’s cold grasp.
With Han Li’s vast spiritual sense, he had no fear of being seen through. Regardless of his spiritual roots, attributes, or even his bones, Senior Teacher Lu would only see what Han Li wanted to.
However, Han Li didn’t wish to be too eye-catching so that he would be allowed to cultivate in the academy without notice. As such, he revealed his true apt.i.tude and spirit roots, revealing the lowest acceptable apt.i.tude to enter the cultivation world, his own four attribute spirit roots. As for his bones, he simply concealed their age so that there wasn’t anything strange about them.
After Senior Teacher Lu finished his examination, he let go of Han Li’s wrist and calmly said, “Four attribute spirit roots lacking metal. It will be quite difficult for him to enter the academy, but from the magic power on his body, it seems he’s already cultivated a few low-grade magic techniques. Fortunately, he’s cultivated a pure wood attribute cultivation art instead of a wicked devilish one. There will be no problems with this aspect. However, his age is rather large and the possibility of reaching Foundation Establishment stage is next to nothing. It will be likely that he will only reach to the eighth layer of Qi Condensation in this lifetime. In that case, you may as well be a loose cultivator and allow yourself more freedom!”
Han Li drooped his head in a display of helplessly and said in a sincere tone, “This Junior have heard this evaluation before from other seniors, but I believe that my effort will be able to overcome my deficiencies. I wish to give the path of cultivation a try.”
Senior Teacher Lu’s expression stirred and took a look at Teacher Yan. He then nodded and said, “I have nothing to say in front of your unwavering will to tread the path of cultivation, but since you’re a loose cultivator entering the sect, have you cultivated any various techniques you are skilled in?”
When Han Li heard this, he was stunned. He didn’t think that he would ask a Qi Condensation cultivator this question. Could it be that he was testing him on behalf of Teacher Yan?
Han Li’s thoughts quickly stirred and he replied without the slightest hesitation, “This Junior has touched upon the Dao of tool refinement. But with my cultivation and experience, I was only able to refine a few of the most basic tools. It can’t be considered true tool refinement.” Afterwards, Han Li displayed an embarra.s.sed expression.
“Oh? You understand tool refinement? There are very few vagrant cultivators that have learned tool refinement techniques. After all, they consume much time to master.”
When the Daoist nun heard this, an odd expression appeared on her face.
“I acquired a tool refinement jade slip and casually practiced it.” Han Li belittled his tool refinement techniques as much as he could. Simply mentioning this would greatly influence his odds of entering the sect, but showing true skill would just be asking for trouble.
Also, there are far fewer people capable of pill refinement and spell formations compared to tool refinement. It would be far too eye-catching to mention the other two.
“Fellow Daoist Han, you understand tool refinement? That is great. Senior Lu, it seems I won’t need to borrow any tool refinement disciples from your sect. Since this Fellow Daoist Han has yet to be a disciple here, how about he enter the Royal Serenity Monastery?”
The Daoist nun’s suggestion came as a great shock to both Han Li and Teacher Yan.
Teacher Yan couldn’t help but sternly say, “Nun Hualian, this isn’t very appropriate! Your monastery is for nuns. How can a man like Han Li enter?”
The Daoist nun pursed her lips in a smile and said, “Although the Royal Serenity Monastery is a female inst.i.tution, there are a few fire-attribute Daoist priests and men that have enter our sect, but they reside outside of the monastery, so there is no need for Teacher Yan to worry.”
“So it was like that... I knew far too little of the Royal Serenity Monastery. However, Esteemed Nephew Han wishes to enter Pure Revelations Academy. It is still inappropriate for him to enter your sect.” Teacher Yan seemed set on having Han Li enter the academy. Despite clearly knowing that he was facing an existence beyond his own, he still decided to raise a dispute.
Unconcerned, Nun Hualian smiled and explained, “With Fellow Daoist Han’s apt.i.tude, even if he were to enter your academy, he would only be a common disciple with no future prospects. However, my sect is preparing to refine many treasures and we are currently lacking a low-grade disciple that understands tool refinement. So long as he is willing to enter my monastery, your tool refinement techniques will improve and I will even make sure that your cultivation will be looked after. I won’t conceal this from you, Teacher Yan, but I’ve come to borrow a disciple from the academy that understands tool refinement. Now that one has appeared before me I no longer have to trouble Fellow Daoist Lu.”
Teacher Yan hesitated for a moment and then turned to Senior Teacher Lu, asking, “Brother Lu, what do you think?”
With a calm expression, Senior Teacher Lu said with a deep voice, “Young Friend Han had yet to be a disciple, so he is still free. It is naturally up to him if he wishes to enter the Royal Serenity Monastery or the academy, but it is as Nun Hualian says. Even if he were to enter the academy, I cannot offer him any a.s.sistance, and she has come to borrow a low-grade tool refinement disciple. Entering the monastery isn’t a bad choice at all.”
With that said, the three in the room turned to look at Han Li with worry, curiosity, and even excitement.
“Royal Serenity Monastery?” When Han Li heard this name, he recalled it to be a Daoist monastery on Jadefield Mountain. However, he hadn’t known that was a female monastery and didn’t know much about it. He found himself at a complete loss.