Alexander's Children's Class Life

The next day, the sun shone brightly.

Early in the morning, Zhou Ling was sent to the Dao Academy by his mother.

Together with the children who had successfully enrolled yesterday, he arrived at Jiaqi Study Hall on the east side of the main courtyard.

The study hall was spacious and bright, its floor spotless.

Round cushions were arranged in neat rows.

A long Green Sandalwood Table stood atop the lectern, with a Bronze Incense Burner resting upon it, wisps of green smoke curling from within.

The Instructor had yet to arrive, and the children chattered and played among themselves.

"Hello! My name is Yuan Hu."

Seated in front of Zhou Ling, a dark-skinned child dressed in a short hemp outfit greeted him in a forthright manner.

"Hello! My name is Zhou Ling."

Zhou Ling, who was energetically drawing deep breaths, could only return the greeting perfunctorily.

[You are breathing in spiritual energy. Spiritual Energy Affinity +1, spiritual energy +1]

[Total times breathing in spiritual energy: 82/1000]

After spending most of yesterday at the Dao Academy, he had gained more than fifty instances of breathing in spiritual energy.

At this rate, he would achieve [Spiritual Energy Affinity] in less than half a month.

"Once my sense of qi improves a little more, I can try cultivating a basic cultivation method!"

Feeling his body's affinity with the surrounding spiritual energy seemingly improve once more, Zhou Ling quietly calculated to himself.

Having read quite a few books on cultivation, he had gained some understanding of it.

Cultivators in this realm were chiefly Magic Cultivators, though there were also Body Cultivators, Soul Cultivators, and others.

Once Magic Cultivators gathered a sense of qi and could absorb spiritual power, they could select a cultivation method matching the attribute of their Spiritual Root and begin cultivating.

Then, once they activated the Spiritual Acupoints within their bodies, they could become Qi Refining Cultivators.

A cultivator's meridians were intricately tangled, like countless veins crisscrossing one another.

Scattered along those meridians were Spiritual Acupoints of varying sizes.

These Spiritual Acupoints were waystations for spiritual energy.

During the Qi Condensation Early Stage, most of the spiritual energy cultivators absorbed from heaven and earth was stored within the Spiritual Acupoints.

Only after the Qi Sea gradually expanded would it slowly flow into the Qi Sea.

Once the Qi Sea expanded to three inches in diameter, it signified that one had become a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

And activating the first Spiritual Acupoint meant becoming a true Qi Refining Cultivator.

After that, every nine Spiritual Acupoints formed one layer; after eighty-one Spiritual Acupoints came the Ninth Layer of Qi Condensation.

Seeing that Zhou Ling was ignoring him, Yuan Hu scratched his head in boredom.

He glanced at his deskmate. Seeing the boy dressed in splendid brocade robes and adorned with costly jade ornaments, Yuan Hu instinctively did not dare strike up a conversation.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside the study hall, and a maiden in a yellow dress entered.

She was their Instructor, Liu Yan.

The children, who had been somewhat noisy, quickly quieted down.

With a gentle smile on her face, Liu Yan slowly walked onto the platform. Looking at the children, she said with a smile, "Children, starting today, you can be considered Outer Sect Disciples of the Lingxia Sect."

"Whether you can become Inner Disciples in the future will depend on your cultivation over the next few years."

Liu Yan did not rush into the lesson.

Instead, she asked the children what they had eaten that morning, what the most delicious food they had ever eaten was, and other everyday questions.

She also shared some amusing stories from her own experiences in the Wild Domain.

She spoke of encountering Golden Horned Sheep, Green-eyed Snow Wolves, enormous Black Fur Pigs, and the like.

Once, she and several fellow disciples had formed a party to enter the mountains, only for someone to accidentally eat poisonous grass. Fortunately, one of them was an Alchemist, and with the aid of medicinal pills, they narrowly managed to save that person's life.

Another time, a senior fellow disciple had been lucky enough to find an Ancient Bloodline Beast Egg. He had directly exchanged it with the sect for a Foundation Establishment Pill and successfully established his foundation.

The children listened with rapt attention, yearning written across every face.

Only Zhou Ling continued to draw quiet, deep breaths.

The moment he had been born, he had seen the corpse of a Black Fur Wolf, and he had entered the mountains twice with his parents.

He naturally understood the bloodshed, danger, and brutality of entering the mountains. The Instructor was merely deliberately playing down some of the risks.

Liu Yan continued speaking with a smiling, cheerful manner, but she also kept an eye on the children's emotions. Seeing the atmosphere grow quite lively, she asked with a smile, "Children, which of you has already developed a sense of qi and activated the Spiritual Acupoints within your body?"

Normally, it was rare for children this age to have awakened Spiritual Acupoints.

But some children were born into prominent families, and if their aptitude was decent as well—

They would generally be nurtured from a young age. Awakening the Spiritual Acupoints within their bodies at two or three years old was perfectly normal.

"Instructor, I've already awakened six Spiritual Acupoints!"

The chubby boy with a round face and small eyes sitting beside Tu Hu raised his hand, his tone somewhat smug.

Liu Yan smiled and nodded. "You're Zheng Youwei, right? Your Zheng Family is a Foundation Establishment family."

"Instructor, I have three!"

"Instructor, I have five!"

For a moment, the children all responded enthusiastically.

"Not bad! Not bad!"

Liu Yan praised them repeatedly.

Zhou Ling was startled. Out of thirty-six children, ten had already awakened Spiritual Acupoints. The highest number among them was seven.

Wang Xin, beside him, seemed to want to raise her hand, but lowered it again in embarrassment.

Helplessness flickered through Zhou Ling's eyes. He had originally thought that with his talent boost, he would surely be ahead of these little brats.

But now, it seemed he had been thinking too much.

The talents of children in this realm were far better than he had expected.

And this was only a mid-grade class.

The pressure suddenly felt immense.

As an adult with a cheat, losing to these children would be far too embarrassing.

Liu Yan swept her gaze across the classroom and said with a smile, "The rest of you children who have not awakened Spiritual Acupoints need not worry either. You just need to cultivate diligently from now on."

"According to the Dao Academy's requirements, if you cannot reach the Mid Qi Refining Stage before the age of ten, you will have to leave the Dao Academy."

"Likewise, if you cannot enter the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining before sixteen, you will also have to leave the Dao Academy."

"Only Outer Sect Disciples who enter the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining are qualified to remain at the Dao Academy and take the Inner Disciple assessment."

"If you fail to pass within three years, you will still have to leave."

Ah, so this is straight-up the rhythm of moving from middle school into high school! Zhou Ling thought in surprise, and could only continue taking deep breaths faster.

[You are breathing in spiritual energy. Spiritual Energy Affinity +1, spiritual energy +1]

Reaching the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation by the age of ten—was that something an ordinary Rogue Cultivator's child could achieve?

After all, his mother was only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Condensation even now.

This was no kindergarten. It was clearly a college entrance exam class.

Competition among cultivators began right from the children's Dao Academy.

With Zhou Ling's knowledge, he understood this clearly as well.

There were differences between people, after all. The quality of one's Spiritual Root Aptitude was right there for all to see.

Yet after hearing Liu Yan's words, the other children seemed to relax as well, regaining some confidence.

The Dao Academy's first lesson quietly passed in this atmosphere.

At noon, the children each took out the food their families had prepared.

In an instant, the Study Hall was filled with the fragrance of all kinds of food.

For lunch, Li Ru had prepared Spirit Rice, Stir-fried Bamboo Shoots with Meat, and a bowl of Spirit Egg and Herbal Soup for Zhou Ling.

For a Rogue Cultivator, this was already quite a lavish meal.

Wang Xin's lunch was exquisitely prepared, with delicate Spirit Pastries, Spirit Vegetables, Spirit Fruit, and Spirit Chicken Soup.

They were all Spirit Stones. Though there was not much of it, it looked expensive.

Zheng Youwei's food was all Spirit Food as well, though it was mostly Spirit Beast Meat.

Only Yuan Hu had ordinary ingredients.

Even so, he ate with great relish.