They'd been squeezing every last drop out of them for two and a half months, making them get up at six in the morning and go to bed at midnight. Now they'd let them rest for a day so they could recruit new students properly the day after tomorrow.
But they could rest. Chen An couldn't.
Although the Technique Pavilion had been renovated, with arrays and barriers installed, the conditions for entering and leaving still needed some fine-tuning.
He spent half an hour adjusting the arrays, then had a friendly chat and exchange with the book spirits. Given the circumstances, they had no choice but to compromise.
The innermost, most core techniques would require a token. The outer areas would require visitors to prove their strength.
"There's also the Heart-Forging Hall and the Herb Garden."
The Heart-Forging Hall was easy enough. It was essentially a place for examining one's heart; all he had to do was find a building and renovate it a little.
Sitting quietly inside would bring a cleansing effect. The only thing he needed to decide was what kind of cleansing to use.
In the end, he decided to have all three teachings practiced together, dividing the hall into three main areas.
Of course, this would use a tiny bit of the Library's source.
Not much—just enough for the prodigies to make several trips through the Dragon Grounds and seek the Way. It would recover on its own.
As for the Library's source, there was plenty of it, and it recovered quickly. It was inexhaustible; Chen An simply had access to only a small portion of it for now.
Once his own source had replenished, Chen An hurried to the next location.
"The Herb Garden, then."
It was the same thing as a medicinal herb garden. Before, it had only cultivated herbs and allowed them to be harvested; now, he just needed to bring it into the real world.
After thinking it over, the only suitable place on campus for this secret realm was the back mountain.
So he set up a teleportation array and installed a secret-realm gate as a backup.
On the other side of the gate was now a small world, brimming with spiritual energy.
The array he had laid down was simply to keep the true qi inside from leaking into the Douluo World.
After all, the spiritual energy in that little world wasn't enough to let it assimilate the Douluo World.
"Phew, that leaves only the Myriad Beast Arena and the Soul Tower, and I don't meet the requirements for either."
"But after recruitment, the most important thing will be to gather spiritual energy and renovate the Academy."
The spiritual energy on campus was enough for the few of them to absorb, but it would inevitably grow thin once more people arrived. The Spirit-Gathering Array couldn't be changed until he advanced to level 90, either.
His Myriad Weapons were also tied to his level.
Looking at this source stone, he had an idea. He'd wait until he reached level 90, then put it to use.
"All right, it's late. Time to get some sleep."
The moon had already climbed into the sky, spilling its light over the forest.
Waves of sweet dreams washed over him. Chen An dreamed that he had taken on countless disciples from all kinds of worlds, and that they all revered him as their founding master.
"You all know today's task, right?"
"We do."
Early in the morning, Chen An got up and gathered the trio to assign their tasks for the day.
Each of them would be responsible for recruiting in one area. They weren't in Suotuo City, of course, which was why he'd called them together so early. They would travel today and officially start recruiting tomorrow.
"Good. Get moving."
Chen An clapped his hands. He was only missing a cigar; otherwise, he looked just like some big boss clapping his hands as he gave orders to his underlings.
"Yes, sir."
Chen An had specifically insisted they call him "sir." "My lord" and "boss" didn't suit him.
After all, he was the head of an academy, not some noble or gangster. Even if he was putting on airs, he had to do it with a touch of elegance.
Once they'd left, Chen An continued organizing the Academy.
Fortunately, today's work didn't require anything as elaborate as yesterday's. It was just the livestock pens, the fruit and vegetable plots, and places like that.
He could have imported the supplies, but he didn't trust that approach. He might not even realize if someone had poisoned them, and besides, importing them was expensive.
The profits from reselling medicinal herbs would only be enough to support the new students until they enrolled.
Originally, all these things had been growing inside the secret realm. Now he was merely setting them up in fixed locations. Afterward, he could leave them to others to manage, with students taking them on as side jobs, for example.
By the time he finished, it was already the next day.
Zhu Zhuqing and Luo Xiaoshi came to find him. When they saw Chen An wasn't in his room, they knew their teacher had stayed up all night.
After all, Chen An was famous among them for never getting out of bed before the sun was high in the sky.
"Master, are you all right? You haven't slept all night. Should we go recruit students instead?"
Girls really were more attentive. Luo Xiaoshi would never have blurted out something like that.
Chen An patted Zhu Zhuqing on the shoulder, then said,
"I'm fine. My level's high; I can handle a sleepless night."
At his level, he could go more than ten days without closing his eyes. A little Soul Power to guide his body was all it took.
He simply liked to hold on to ordinary people's habits in daily life.
He had no interest in becoming a god, nor did he want to stop being human just because he'd grown stronger.
"That's true."
Zhu Zhuqing murmured, but Chen An could hear her perfectly well. His hearing was sharp, after all, so he said,
"Let's set out, too. Those other teachers have probably started recruiting already."
Strictly speaking, Zhu Zhuqing and Luo Xiaoshi outranked the trio, but when they were working, they had to use their job titles. That was the rule. Nothing wrong with that.
"ヽ(￣▽￣)و"
It only took a few steps to reach Suotuo City, thanks to Chen An having bought several carriages.
While looking for the trio, he'd sold a few things and auctioned off some valuables.
So he had a little more money on hand.
He hadn't done this before for one simple reason: he'd been too lazy to run around selling things.
If he sold too much, too often, people would recognize him and start coveting what he had.
"Master, where are we going to recruit students?"
When they arrived in Suotuo City, the two kids were a little bewildered. It was their first time doing this, so it was only natural that they didn't know the ropes.
All they knew was that the various intermediate academies had just started their holidays or held their graduation ceremonies.
"Heh heh. Our job is to pick up the students other people have taught."
Chen An gave a sly grin. He wasn't planning to set up a proper recruitment station; that was too slow. Besides, someone else had already gathered the students for him.
And since they weren't taking in those students anyway, Chen An was happy to scoop them up.
"Zhuqing knows where we should go to find students."
Luo Xiaoshi was baffled. His master and senior sister were always sneaking off to do things without telling him.
But he'd already learned the Great Sage Scripture—no, wait, he'd already grasped its basics. He'd also inherited the Great Sage's cleverness.
He guessed it had something to do with the day his senior sister had gone out, but for now, it was better to keep quiet.
"Oh, I understand, Master."
"Good. Then you two can go."
"Huh? We're going? What about you, Master?"
Zhu Zhuqing asked in astonishment, her mouth hanging open.
"This is such a good chance to practice. Of course I'm leaving it to you."
Luo Xiaoshi tugged on Zhu Zhuqing's sleeve and said,
"Then we'll head out first. See you later, Teacher."
As sharp as a monkey, he understood what Chen An meant. He simply wanted to slack off for a while.
Since they'd come to Suotuo City anyway, if anything happened, they could always find him. There was nothing to worry about.
Zhu Zhuqing understood, too, when Luo Xiaoshi tugged at her. They were about equally perceptive; if he could figure something out, so could she.
Otherwise, how would she have survived that hellish place?
"Ah, you've misunderstood me again."
Chen An sighed. Who started things off by playing their trump card?
Besides, he really did have something to take care of.
He made his way into Suotuo City's commoners' quarter and knocked on the door of a house.
"Who is it?"
A woman's voice came from inside. From the sound of it, she was exhausted.
When she opened the door, she looked desolate, as though her heart had been torn to pieces. She'd clearly just suffered a major blow.
"Sis Ran, long time no see."
When she saw Chen An, the other person tried to shut the door.
"Hey, Sis Ran, don't. I'm not here to laugh at you."
But she shut the door anyway. After a while, she opened it again. This time, she'd touched up her appearance and didn't look quite as haggard as before.
"What does the handsome Chen want with a fallen woman who's been kicked out?"
"Come on, is visiting an old friend so wrong? Though I do have something to ask you."
"I knew you wouldn't come see me without a reason. Go on, then. But I don't work for the Heaven Dou Imperial Family anymore. If this involves them, I can't help you."
Lin Ran gave a bitter laugh, as if mocking herself. There was also a hint of distance in her words.
"Sis Ran, I'd like to invite you to serve as the administrative director of my Academy. You're skilled at mental arithmetic and statistics, and you're a woman of great integrity. My Academy would be lucky to have you."
Chen An had known Lin Ran for a long time and understood her. Why else would he have rushed over to invite her as soon as he heard she'd offended the Heaven Dou Imperial Family?
"Sure. As long as you're not afraid of my enemies."
He'd thought he might need to persuade her, but she'd agreed so readily.
"I'm not afraid. But don't you want to think it over first?"
Lin Ran wondered if her old friend was sick, but she still explained,
"First, this is your invitation. You wouldn't set me up, would you? Second, I've already fallen this far, and I'm carrying the Imperial Family's grudge against me. You're still willing to hire me, so what do I have to be afraid of?"
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