Academy

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Academy (书院)
Affiliation	Great Qi 253
Occupation/Role	Premier institution of scholarship, cultivation, and state education; a sacred destination for scholars across Great Qi 253 306
First Appearance	253

History

Founding and Early Influence

The Academy was founded by the Master, later identified as Master Dong (Dong Cheng). Its founder personally selected Great Qi's crown-prince candidates, reprimanded unworthy emperors, and was regarded as central to the dynasty's long national fortune. 253 383

Under the Master, academies were established throughout Great Qi's provinces and circuits, with seventy-two Academy heads personally selected by him. By the present era, only five of those great academies remained. 322

The Academy's internal history is marked by the four Sirs joining forces to kill their Master. Despite this, the Master's corpse remained alive within Self-Cultivation Hall and continued to influence Great Qi. 375

Decline and Internal Division

A century before Xie Guan's arrival, First Sir departed for Great Sui in anger, while Second Sir became gravely ill. Third Sir subsequently took charge of Academy affairs, while Fourth Sir, Su Jing, entered court politics as Great Qi's chancellor. 253

The divide between Third Sir and Fourth Sir reflects the broader conflict between the Academy and Great Qi's court. Following the estrangement of the four Sirs, the Academy was said to have withdrawn from worldly and political affairs to focus on learning. 253 431

After Yu'an's ascension, Self-Cultivation Hall collapsed and exposed a message left by the Master ordering that Xie Guan be killed in five years. 399 The Master later ascended after leaving behind his Dao inheritance. 481

Organization and Education

Leadership

Position	Holder / Condition
Founder and Master	Master Dong (Dong Cheng) 383
First Sir	Left for Great Sui a century earlier; possesses the natal ability Free and Easy Wandering 253 300
Second Sir	A sword-bearing wanderer with the natal ability Immortal-Slaying; gravely ill and secluded in Self-Cultivation Hall 253 300 343
Third Sir	Presides over Academy affairs; protects Xie Guan and invited him to enter the Academy 253 375
Fourth Sir	Su Jing, Great Qi's chancellor and a major court figure 253 325

• The Master accepted only four personal disciples, while his direct pupils numbered only around a dozen. 253
• The wider Academy student body was said to contain only two or three hundred people, including great Confucians and specialists in statecraft, astronomy, waterworks, and military affairs. 306

Admission and Instruction

• Admission requires the approval of the Master's disciples. 253
• The Academy preserves Confucian classics alongside secret cultivation manuals gathered by the Master; cultivation methods are kept above the fourth floor. 253
• Academy students are exempt from the child-scholar examination and directly receive the xiucai scholarly rank. 306
• Academy teachers supervise Great Qi's child-scholar examinations to prevent favoritism and cheating. 306
• The Academy's curriculum encompasses scholarship and cultivation, with its grounds arranged around self-cultivation, poetry, classics, rites, changes, arithmetic, riding, archery, and miscellaneous studies. 343

Campus

The Academy stands at the end of Peach Talisman Street in Bianjing. Its plain plaque bears only the two characters “Academy,” yet its name is sufficient to overawe nobles and officials throughout the capital. 343 389

• Diligent Study Lake — a lake excavated before the Academy's pavilions. 343
• Self-Cultivation Hall — the Academy's holiest site and its highest structure, where the Master once taught and cultivated. 343
  • The Second and Third Sirs reside there. 343
  • Second Sir occupies the fifth floor, while the Master's corpse was kept on the fourth floor. 343
• No building in the Academy or on Peach Talisman Street is permitted to exceed Self-Cultivation Hall's five stories, out of respect for the Master. 343 389

Influence

Political Authority

The Academy historically exercised authority over Great Qi's succession and rulers: the Master chose crown-prince candidates and punished incompetent emperors. 253

The Academy's standing remains politically significant even amid its internal division. At the Gathering of Beauties Banquet, the highest floor of Immortal-Inviting Tower was reserved for Chancellor Su, Su Jing, and Third Sir; even Great Qi's emperor was not qualified to enter it. 353

Martial Strength

The Academy is also a major martial power. Forty deeply cultivated students gathered outside Self-Cultivation Hall, and the institution alone held twenty of Great Qi's few ninth-realm Xuan Core martial artists. It was said to account for half of Great Qi's upper-three-realm martial experts. 343

Relationships

• Master Dong — Founder and Master of the Academy; his long life, corpse liberation, and ascension shape the Academy's hidden history. 375 383 481
• First Sir — The Master's eldest disciple; departed for Great Sui after a dispute. 253
• Second Sir — The Master's sword-wielding disciple; gravely ill and secluded in Self-Cultivation Hall. 253 343
• Third Sir — Current presider of Academy affairs; invited Xie Guan to join and offered Academy protection over the Three Truths Lineage matter. 253 375
• Su Jing / Fourth Sir — The Master's fourth disciple and Great Qi's chancellor; his political path places him at odds with Third Sir. 253 325
• Great Qi Court — Historically influenced by the Academy, but increasingly divided from it through Fourth Sir's control of court politics. 253
• Xie Guan — Invited into the Academy by Third Sir after impressing him with his interpretation of an “immortal realm.” 375
• Academy Students — Dozens stood outside Xie Manor in the rain to offer to bear Xie Guan's punishment in his place. 436 437

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Xie Guan first learns of the Academy as Great Qi's foremost destination for scholars and cultivators, with admission dependent on the approval of the Master's disciples. 253
• Third Sir invites Xie Guan to study and cultivate at the Academy, promising to vouch for him against the Three Truths Lineage issue. 375
• Academy students publicly support Xie Guan when the Xie Clan seeks to punish him, turning his conflict with the clan into a display of scholarly solidarity. 436 437
• The Academy's buried history emerges through revelations that the four Sirs killed the Master and that his living corpse still affects Great Qi. 375
• The collapse of Self-Cultivation Hall reveals the Master's threat against Xie Guan, making the Academy's legacy a direct danger to him. 399

Notable Quotes

“Five years hence, blood-wash the past. Xie Guan must be killed!” — Message left by the Master within the collapsed Self-Cultivation Hall. 399