A Plan Was Set

During his conversation with Du Meng, Qin Shaofeng also learned that the students at Lianyang Academy were divided into different ranks.

Those who passed Lianyang Academy's entrance assessment would become Reserve Students.

That was right—Reserve Students, not Formal Students.

According to Du Meng, becoming a Reserve Student at Lianyang Academy was fairly easy. As long as one was no older than fifteen, had cultivation no lower than the Houtian Martial Artist realm, and could pass the entrance assessment, there would basically be no problem.

Becoming a Reserve Student at Lianyang Academy was not difficult, but becoming a Formal Student was far more challenging.

The reason was simple. The sole requirement for becoming a Formal Student at Lianyang Academy was possessing the potential to break through into the Xiantian Martial Artist realm.

After becoming a Reserve Student at Lianyang Academy, one would undergo a three-month assessment period. Once those three months had passed, the academy's instructors would decide, based on the Reserve Students' cultivation progress and performance during that time, whether they were qualified to become Formal Students at Lianyang Academy.

Those who failed to qualify would naturally be expelled.

Of course, there were also special cases, such as Du Meng.

At fourteen, he had already reached the Houtian Tenth Layer. He absolutely possessed the qualifications to challenge the Xiantian Realm, so as long as Du Meng passed this entrance assessment, he would directly become a Formal Student of Lianyang Academy.

In fact, anyone under fifteen whose cultivation had reached the Houtian Tenth Layer would automatically become a Formal Student at Lianyang Academy once they passed the entrance assessment.

As for the Five-Star Student Du Meng had mentioned, that was a rank above Formal Students—Star Students.

At Lianyang Academy, Star Students were students in the Xiantian Martial Artist realm. Like the Xiantian Tenth Layer, Star Students were likewise divided into ten levels.

A Five-Star Student was a student at the Xiantian Fifth Layer!

Yet Du Meng had said that only upon reaching the Xiantian Fifth Layer would he be qualified to take Lian Chenghao's Senior Brother as his master.

That gave Qin Shaofeng quite a fright.

But then he remembered that he could not see through Lian Chenghao's cultivation level. His Senior Brother must certainly be even stronger.

Especially when they had gone to receive the White-clothed girl earlier, Aunt Qing, the owner of that giant eagle, seemed to have mentioned a thing or two. From those words, Qin Shaofeng learned that Lian Chenghao appeared to be far inferior to his Senior Brother!

Speaking of Aunt Qing, Qin Shaofeng could not help looking toward the White-clothed girl on the white crane beside them and muttering silently to himself.

I wonder how many stars this White-clothed girl can attain.

Stronger than even Lian Chenghao—she had to be at least a Six- or Seven-Star Student, right?

Qin Shaofeng secretly guessed, but not long afterward, he would come to understand just how laughable that guess had been.

As they chatted along the way, Qin Shaofeng gradually became more familiar with Du Meng.

Though Du Meng's build was somewhat exaggerated, his personality was rather reserved. Moreover, he did not look down on Qin Shaofeng just because his cultivation was higher.

That gave Qin Shaofeng a favorable impression of him. After chatting for a while, Du Meng was already calling him Brother Feng.

Meanwhile, Qin Shaofeng gave Du Meng a name that suited his build perfectly—Mengzi!

Several hours later, a magnificent, enormous city appeared before Qin Shaofeng's eyes.

Lianyang City. Though it was not the capital of the Lianyang Kingdom, it was a city named after the kingdom itself.

Because this was where Lianyang Academy was located!

That was right—Lianyang City itself was Lianyang Academy. When Qin Shaofeng learned this, he was utterly shocked.

After all, Lianyang City was large enough to accommodate several million people at once!

Yet because of Lianyang Academy, aside from its students and instructors, the entire city contained only a few servants and hired hands.

Altogether, there were merely two to three hundred thousand people.

In truth, Lianyang City was so enormous because it contained all kinds of training grounds for its students. It was the result of the Lianyang Kingdom spending vast sums of money on its construction.

All of this was to cultivate exceptionally outstanding geniuses for the Lianyang Kingdom's use.

Thus, joining Lianyang Academy was the greatest desire of every young person in the Lianyang Kingdom.

Because once one became an outstanding genius at Lianyang Academy, not only would one be highly valued by the Lianyang Kingdom, one might even receive the kingdom's recommendation to enter one of the powerful empires on the continent for even better cultivation.

After learning all this, Qin Shaofeng set a plan for himself.

He would use Lianyang Academy as a springboard to step onto the stage of the continent's true powerhouses.

Compared with the true continent, Lianyang Academy was good, but there was no shortage across the continent of kingdoms like the Lianyang Kingdom.

What an endlessly wondrous world this was!

Once they arrived at Lianyang Academy, Lian Chenghao found a student and had Qin Shaofeng follow him. Then he left with Du Meng and the White-clothed girl.

Qin Shaofeng was not surprised by this, because both Du Meng and the White-clothed girl could be considered people with connections.

Of course, these two people with connections were genuine geniuses. Even without those connections, they would still have received Lianyang Academy's attention.

Before leaving, Du Meng told Qin Shaofeng that he was going to meet his future master, then would come find him.

In his words, he was merely going to greet and pay respects to his future master. Afterward, he would participate in the entrance assessment according to the normal rules, join Lianyang Academy, rely on his own strength to become a Five-Star Student, and only then formally take a master.

Moreover, this counted as the first test Lian Chenghao's Senior Brother had set for Du Meng.

Before Du Meng became his disciple, Lian Chenghao's Senior Brother would not give him any help. At Lianyang Academy, Du Meng could only rely on himself for everything.

As for the White-clothed girl, Qin Shaofeng had some guesses. She definitely would not need to take the admission assessment to join Lianyang Academy directly, and she would certainly be highly valued.

However, none of that had anything to do with Qin Shaofeng anymore.

Because of Bai Xue, Qin Shaofeng had always felt a slight resistance toward the White-clothed girl. Especially when she was leaving and Qin Shaofeng recalled Bai Xue, he had clearly sensed the White-clothed girl's disappointment.

Did she really think that just because she could communicate with Bai Xue, she could make Bai Xue betray me?

With a cold sneer in his heart, Qin Shaofeng found the White-clothed girl even more disagreeable.

Although she was exceptionally beautiful, Qin Shaofeng did not consider himself some lecher who forgot everything at the sight of a beautiful woman.

Thus, when the White-clothed girl left, not only did he feel no regret or disappointment, he actually let out a sigh of relief and felt a little pleased.

It would be best if we never met again, so she won't keep setting her sights on my Bai Xue.

With that thought in mind, Qin Shaofeng thanked Lian Chenghao a few times, then quickly left with the student assigned to guide him.

From the way he acted, it was as though he feared that if he slowed down even a little, the White-clothed girl would change her mind and forcibly keep Bai Xue behind.

As for his departure, aside from Du Meng being somewhat concerned, neither Lian Chenghao nor the White-clothed girl showed any emotional change.

The White-clothed girl's disappointment was because Bai Xue had left.

Lian Chenghao, on the other hand, did not care in the slightest. He turned around and left with the White-clothed girl and Du Meng.

Yet Lian Chenghao did not know that when he met Qin Shaofeng again, Qin Shaofeng would bring him a change he could never have imagined.

Under the guidance of the student Lian Chenghao had instructed, Qin Shaofeng was quickly brought to the lodgings Lianyang Academy had specially prepared for examinees.

Perhaps because of Lian Chenghao, that student was rather polite to Qin Shaofeng and even specially arranged a private room for him.

Qin Shaofeng thanked the student for this. As the other party was leaving, he secretly slipped him some Gold Notes.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this was Lianyang Academy, a gathering place for cultivating geniuses. Wealth was just as important here.

Aside from the cultivation resources Lianyang Academy distributed every month according to a student's rank, students could only rely on themselves if they wanted more cultivation resources.

Thus, Gold Notes still played an irreplaceable role here.

In fact, Qin Shaofeng had made the right move.

After he slipped over Gold Notes worth a thousand taels of gold, the student's businesslike expression instantly turned into a smile. He even chatted with Qin Shaofeng a little longer before finally handing him a small booklet.

This made Qin Shaofeng understand that money truly was the most direct means of communication between people.

In the room, Qin Shaofeng lowered his head to look at the small booklet in his hands, bought with a thousand taels of gold.

Although he had spent a thousand taels, after reading the booklet, Qin Shaofeng felt that the gold had been well spent!

There was not much in the booklet. It was mostly basic information about Lianyang Academy that Du Meng had already told Qin Shaofeng.

However, besides that, the booklet also introduced the content of this admission assessment.

In truth, there was nothing confidential about the assessment. It was basically the same as in previous years.

The first test was age. Those over eighteen basically had no hope unless they were Xiantian Martial Artists; otherwise, Lianyang Academy would not accept them at all.

And even for Xiantian Martial Artists, once they were over twenty, it became very difficult to enter Lianyang Academy.

In fact, Xiantian Martial Artists over eighteen were no longer particularly valued by Lianyang Academy.

This was where the recommendation slots from the various towns and cities of Lianyang Kingdom played a considerable role.

Because once someone possessed a recommendation slot, as long as they passed the assessment, even if they were not Xiantian Martial Artists and were over twenty years old, they could still enter Lianyang Academy to study.

However, they could study for no more than three months!

After three months, if they had not shown anything astonishing, they would basically leave Lianyang Academy.

From this alone, one could see just how strict Lianyang Academy's admissions were.

Yet even so, the chance to study at Lianyang Academy for three months was enough to make people yearn for it.

That was why recommendation slots were exceptionally precious as well!

The second test was cultivation. The younger one was and the higher one's cultivation, the more highly Lianyang Academy would value them.

Some exceptional geniuses even broke through to the Xiantian Martial Artist realm at fifteen. Such geniuses did not need to take the admission assessment to enter Lianyang Academy, and upon entering, they would even skip past Formal Student status to become Star Students directly.

Of course, such geniuses were relatively rare.

Whenever one appeared, they would basically draw the attention of quite a few Lianyang Academy mentors.

They would then be accepted as disciples by some of Lianyang Academy's powerful experts.

Beyond that, some geniuses with outstanding aptitude could very possibly be accepted as disciples by certain academy experts even if their cultivation had not yet reached the Xiantian Martial Artist realm.

Therefore, whenever Lianyang Academy held its admission assessment, there were always some academy experts watching.