At Grand Emperor Academy, the cousins Fang Qing and Yang Qi entered two halls with vastly different styles.
Eternal Hall was situated deep within an ancient mountain range shrouded year-round in hazy temporal mist.
The buildings here were mostly constructed from unknown bluish-gray ancient stone, plain in style and rugged in line. Many stone walls still bore the marks of wind, rain, and the erosion of time, covered in dark green moss and vines, exuding a silent, distant sense of weathered isolation from the world.
The air was filled with the faint scent of old books and a tranquil rhythm that seemed capable of soothing the restlessness of the soul.
After Elder Gu Chen brought Fang Qing and the others back to Eternal Hall, he did not exchange much small talk and directly granted them their respective identities, permissions, and resources.
As an inner disciple, Fang Qing was assigned a relatively secluded and quiet stone courtyard halfway up the mountain, named Listening Pines Courtyard.
The courtyard was not large, but it was fully equipped, with its own Spirit Gathering Array and defensive formations.
Han Che, Tai Cangyi, and the others were arranged in relatively concentrated disciple courtyards at the foot of the mountain. Though they could not compare with Fang Qing's courtyard, the environment was still vastly superior to the academy's ordinary D-grade district.
"Fang Qing, as an inner disciple of Eternal Hall, you have the authority to read all texts within the first three floors of Eternal Hall's Eternal Scripture Repository."
Elder Gu Chen handed Fang Qing a dark-gray jade token. "The Scripture Repository is the core of our hall. It contains countless ancient secrets, lost histories, remnants of bygone eras, and a vast number of cultivation arts and divine abilities. You may freely enter and leave the first