Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy

Recently, two major events had taken place in Sunset City. The first was the Breaking Clan, once one of Clear Sky Sect's vassals, relocating its entire clan to Sunset City. The second was the founding of Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy.

As for the latter, the people of Sunset City welcomed it wholeheartedly.

Because an Advanced Spirit Master Academy, even an ordinary one, could increase the number of spirit masters in the city where it was located, thereby driving the development of a whole series of spirit master-related industries.

After all, spirit masters were basically all wealthy people. Even ordinary citizens might make a fortune simply by opening a small restaurant beside an academy.

If that Advanced Spirit Master Academy also happened to be somewhat famous—for example, one that had placed in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament—that would be even more extraordinary. The entire city's reputation would rise dramatically, and the many benefits it brought went without saying.

What puzzled the people of Sunset City, however, was that the dean of Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy was actually a petite Green-Haired Loli.

Why could a loli be a dean?

Some said she was Poison Douluo's granddaughter and had become dean through connections.

Others said she was Poison Douluo herself. After all, how would common folk know whether Poison Douluo was male or female?

However, those who held that view were swiftly scorned by everyone else. They said it was simply absurd. Poison Douluo had to be an elderly person with white hair and beard—how could she possibly be a young girl?

A certain White-Clad Youth who had voiced such an opinion shook his folding fan and lowered his head with an awkward smile.

Regardless of what public opinion said, Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy chose an auspicious day and quietly opened its doors.

As an academy with a conscience, Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy had a broad enrollment range, accepting everyone from high officials and nobles to commoners.

However, as a newly founded academy with little reputation, few noble children thought highly of it. Among all the students currently enrolled, only one came from a declining baronial family.

The rest all came from commoner families, and most of them were locals from Sunset City.

On the one hand, it was close to home. On the other, the fees were cheap.

As for the quality of teaching? That was not something commoners needed to consider. For many people, it was already quite good if an Advanced Spirit Master Academy was willing to accept someone with their talent.

And when it came to spirit master knowledge, as long as someone could teach it, there would definitely be something to learn.

Even the most mediocre certified teacher could teach lower-class spirit master students something.

So, were the teachers of Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy certified? Of course—they could not have been more legitimate.

First were two clan elders from the Breaking Clan, Yang Lu and Yang Shisong.

Though these two veteran Soul Saints were not good with words, they had spent many years teaching the younger generation within their clan, so their teaching ability was quite solid. They were also widely experienced and could offer guidance to all kinds of spirit masters.

Under Ming Lunyu's arrangements, they served as the academy's vice deans and third-year lecturers, participating in its teaching activities.

Some of the other teachers had been recruited directly, while others had been selected from the Breaking Clan.

Across the continent, Advanced Spirit Master Academies did not actually have a unified standard. Or rather, the standards were particularly chaotic.

At most, there was only the graduation requirement that students had to be no older than twenty-five and possess Soul Power above rank thirty. There were no unified rules for anything else.

Thus, some Advanced Spirit Master Academies accepted anyone who came, while others were shady institutions that imposed conditions such as only accepting those under twelve with Soul Power above rank twenty, requiring ten Gold Soul Coins as a registration fee in advance, and refusing refunds if applicants failed to meet the requirements.

Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy's admission standard was that applicants had to be at least twelve years old and possess Soul Power at rank fifteen or above.

In other words, even if a spirit master was already twenty years old and only had rank-fifteen Soul Power, they could still enroll. But if they could not graduate, they could not blame the academy. A graduation certificate from an Advanced Spirit Master Academy still carried some weight.

Sunset Advanced Spirit Master Academy was divided internally into three grades. First-year students were below rank twenty, second-year students were below rank twenty-five, and third-year students were above rank twenty-five.

There was also a mysterious Advanced Competition Class, specifically intended to cultivate exceptionally gifted students and prepare for the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament.

At present, this class had only Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun.

At first, they had discussed whether to hire a Soul Saint as dean while they themselves remained the powers behind the scenes.

This proposal had been raised by Dugu Bo. She wanted to pretend to be young, then use her current youthful appearance to blend in with the younger generation, participate in the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Tournament, and thoroughly crush the weak.

But Ming Lunyu saw through her intentions and rejected the proposal outright.

He also emphasized that this academy would become their talent cultivation base in the future, so it absolutely had to remain entirely in their own hands.

Only then did Dugu Bo give up. She instead volunteered to serve as dean, though who knew what she was secretly planning.

After thinking it over briefly, Ming Lunyu agreed. From every perspective, Dugu Bo truly was a suitable candidate.

Another month passed, and Sunset Academy, having already enrolled its first batch of students, gradually entered a stable routine. All teaching activities proceeded in an orderly manner.

In addition, the academy's various facilities were gradually completed.

Because they were rushing to establish the academy in time for the major academy event two years later, Ming Lunyu and the others had been eager to get it running. The academy had therefore initially been only half-finished, with many facilities completed during this past month.

On this day, Ming Lunyu finally came to the academy again to inspect it.

He usually stayed at the Ice and Fire Twofold Polarity Eyes to cultivate, rarely leaving.

This was his first visit since the academy's construction had been completed.

Naturally, Ma Hongjun accompanied him.

To blend into the surroundings, the two had deliberately put on the academy uniforms.

The male uniform consisted of a white shirt and black trousers. The shirt was relatively loose-fitting and embroidered with golden-green patterns, while the chest bore Sunset Academy's emblem: a black background with a fire-tempered folding fan as its main design. It was paired with leather shoes.

The female uniform consisted of a white shirt and a short skirt, paired with small mid-heeled leather shoes. The shirt likewise had golden-green patterns and the academy emblem, though the female version had additional lace trim.

Ming Lunyu and the others had put a great deal of thought into designing these uniforms.

After several noisy arguments, they finally settled on this design, incorporating elements from each of them.

The gold in the golden-green patterns represented Tang Fu'er, while the green represented Dugu Bo. The black background of the academy emblem represented Yang Wudi, the fan represented Ming Lunyu, and the flames represented Ma Hongjun.

Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun strolled along the broad, clean avenue through the academy. Tall, upright trees lined the road, and students carrying textbooks occasionally hurried past. Others gathered in groups of three or five, laughing, chatting, and fooling around. The air of youth filled every corner of the campus.

Bright sunlight shone upon the pointed roofs of the teaching buildings, and even the reflected light seemed to carry wisdom within it.

"This is wonderful..."

Ma Hongjun sighed from the bottom of her heart.

Ming Lunyu was moved as well.

So this was an academy? Such a tranquil, peaceful ivory tower. Students never had to rack their brains just to survive. They only needed to continuously absorb knowledge and grow strong.

The occasional troubles that arose were nothing more than conflicts with classmates or worries over schoolwork.

Advanced Spirit Master Academies were somewhat more serious, while intermediate and lower-level Spirit Master Academies were even more carefree.

Yet in Ming Lunyu and Ma Hongjun's eyes, even an Advanced Spirit Master Academy could be considered a paradise for spirit masters to grow.

Only after enduring hardship could one truly appreciate a comfortable life.

Shaking his head, Ming Lunyu stopped dwelling too deeply on the academy's atmosphere.

To him, such a life still felt somewhat unreal. Whenever he saw an academy, he could not help thinking of the City of Slaughter, followed by a feeling that a lifetime had passed. Perhaps it was because he had accidentally fallen into the City of Slaughter back then that he had missed out on a place like an academy.

In any case, he always felt out of place amid an academy's atmosphere.

When he asked Ma Hongjun, sure enough, she felt much the same.

The two no longer looked around, instead continuing their inspection of the academy.