"Have you heard? A beauty came to take this year's exam!"
"A beauty? How beautiful could she be? Prettier than the campus belles at our academy?"
Two senior students chatted idly, swapping bits of news. The latter did not think much of it.
Great Zhou Royal Academy was the academic heart of all Great Zhou. Any accomplished cultivator, successful official, or prosperous merchant would rack their brains to forge some connection with the academy, thereby flaunting their status. Those nobles and dignitaries would sharpen their heads to a point just to send their sons and daughters here to study. It could be said that the children of the entire upper class were gathered at the academy.
Those cultivators, officials, and merchants might not have been much to look at themselves, but with their influence, finding beautiful wives was no difficult matter. Thus, their children were often quite attractive as well.
For example, Li Changyue, daughter of the Vigorous and Martial Great General; Princess Huailing, daughter of Prince Gong; and Nan Jin, granddaughter of the Grand Scholar of the Inner Cabinet—all were peerless beauties, difficult to rank above one another, with countless admirers.
"They can't even be compared!" His companion grew somewhat excited. He only hated that his words were too feeble to describe that woman's charm. "You haven't seen the new junior sister. She is absolutely a beauty rarely found beneath the heavens. One glimpse of her, and you'll never forget her for the rest of your life!"
"Hey, hey, hey, she hasn't even passed the exam yet. How did she become your junior sister already?"
"She'll definitely pass! If she, she, she doesn't pass, I'll help her cheat!"
The other man rolled his eyes at him. "Do you not know how strict our academy's exams are? Cheat? You'd be courting death, more like it. The vice principal personally proctors the exam, and the principal personally grades the papers. What ability do you have to cheat? Your Qi Refining Stage eighth-layer cultivation?"
Being at the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Stage yet able to attend the finest academy in the Imperial Dynasty was unimaginable in other Imperial Dynasties. In their words, "Even Qi Refining Stage cultivators think they deserve to study here?" The greatest difference between Great Zhou Royal Academy and the academies of other Imperial Dynasties lay precisely here. Great Zhou valued laws and placed less emphasis on striving for supremacy through ruthless combat. Cultivators in Great Zhou were not required to be particularly skilled fighters. This created a strong academic atmosphere, and Great Zhou Royal Academy's admission standards did not depend on cultivation level, but on one's memory and comprehension of books.
Memory depended on Divine Sense. The stronger one's Divine Sense, the stronger one's memory.
One only began to come into contact with Divine Sense in the Nascent Soul Realm, and could only train it in the middle to late stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. Meanwhile, Great Zhou Royal Academy required applicants to be under twenty-five.
If anyone could cultivate to the middle or late Nascent Soul Realm before the age of twenty-five, Great Zhou Royal Academy would not recommend enrolling. It would instead recommend becoming a Dao Sect Emissary at the Dao Sect.
Yet his companion's attitude had piqued his interest. He asked, "What is that beauty called?"
"Jiang Jingxin."
Jiang Li happened to pass by and overhear their conversation. His steps paused, and he felt that this name carried a distinctly absurd air.
"Was the woman you mentioned the kind whose soft, flowing hair drifted gently in the wind, whose dark brows were as slender as willow leaves, whose bright eyes shimmered like water, whose skin was as delicate as jade, whose beauty was like a dream bubble and phantom, leaving anyone who saw her tossing and turning, unable to sleep?"
The man seemed to have suddenly seen the light and understood what his companion meant by a beautiful junior sister.
"Yes, yes, yes! You finally understand what I mean." His companion was overjoyed, then immediately became wary. Could there be another competitor now?
"Look, isn't that person the beautiful junior sister you were talking about?"
Following the direction of the man's finger, his companion saw an ordinary-looking young man standing together with the beautiful junior sister he would never forget for the rest of his life. They appeared to be extremely close!
Jiang Li looked at the Pure Heart Saintess before him, who had not even changed her appearance, and felt somewhat surprised.
"Human Emperor Jiang, I never thought we would meet here. What fate," the Pure Heart Saintess said delightedly.
The upheaval in her sect had left her in poor spirits, so she had wanted to visit a place where Jiang Li had once stayed and lift her mood. She had not expected to run directly into Jiang Li here.
What an unexpected delight!
Jiang Li changed his face slightly every time because he feared being recognized. He was too famous; his statues stood everywhere across the Nine Provinces.
The Pure Heart Saintess, however, had only descended the mountain for a few years of training several centuries ago. After that, she had rarely left the Red Dust Pure Land. Few people knew her, so she could go out using her true appearance without fear of being recognized.
"So you're Jiang Jingxin?" Jiang Li felt that the name was rather strange.
"Mhm." The Pure Heart Saintess answered softly, her cheeks faintly flushing. Naturally, the name held a selfish desire—but who could have expected to meet Jiang Li here? How embarrassing! "What are you called now?" She did not believe Jiang Li would use his real name.
"Kong Li. Kong Li as in Kong Rong Yields Pears."
The Pure Heart Saintess did not understand the latter phrase, but she understood that Jiang Li was now called Kong Li.
She felt that she needed to be a clever girl so that the man she liked would like her too, so she did not ask what Kong Rong Yields Pears meant.
"You came to take the entrance exam?" Jiang Li could not understand why he had encountered the Pure Heart Saintess here.
What could Great Zhou Royal Academy possibly have that was worth the Holy Maiden of the Red Dust Pure Land coming here to study?
Even if there were something, she did not need to pretend to be a student.
The Pure Heart Saintess looked at fellow applicant Kong Li and smiled without speaking.
Jiang Li coughed dryly. "Reliving childhood. Reliving childhood."
"I remember that you entered the academy at twenty. Fellow student Kong Li certainly has a long childhood."
Although he did not know why she knew the age at which he had enrolled, Jiang Li still felt a little embarrassed at being exposed so bluntly.
The Pure Heart Saintess let out a soft laugh and stopped teasing Jiang Li. "Since we are both here to take the exam, how about a contest to see who takes first place?"
Jiang Li became interested and agreed. "Sure. Let's add a wager. The loser must agree to one condition from the winner!"
The two clapped hands to seal the agreement, making the two senior students gaze at Jiang Li with envy.
"By the way, has the Red Dust Fairy awakened?"
More than two months had passed. The Red Dust Fairy should have awakened by now.
"She has awakened several times. She stays awake longer than before, but she still sleeps longer than she is awake. After the Patriarch awakens, she does not speak much either. She simply walks around the Pure Land, lingering longest beneath the Immortal Peach Tree."
"It seems the Red Dust Fairy's condition is still unstable." Jiang Li continued, "I spoke with Meng Jiang Emperor and the Wei Emperor and told those two to keep their mouths shut. You must keep the Red Dust Fairy's matter secret. If any news leaks out, who knows which old monster who saw the Red Dust Fairy back then might charge straight into the Red Dust Pure Land."
"I understand. But if the Patriarch wants to run away, we cannot stop her either."
The two chatted casually and walked away beneath the envious gazes of the senior students, stirring murderous intent within them.
"Kill that guy?"
"I'll hire an assassin from Heavenly Killing Pavilion!"
"I don't have money."
"Neither do I."
"Then forget it."
"Oh."
A calamity that would have brought Heavenly Killing Pavilion to utter ruin vanished amid the casual conversation of two senior students.
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