The thirty-third day since Gao Nian of the Golden Dragon Gang met his end.
Noon.
Shen Xiuhan and Geng Weizhi disembarked at the ferry crossing and hired an old ox cart. Its wooden wheels creaked as they rolled over the rutted mud road, and after jolting along for an hour, they finally reached the foot of Mang Mountain.
Limitless Academy had been built against Mang Mountain, roughly twenty miles from South Township Prefecture City.
In its early years, this place had been a wilderness haunted by tigers and leopards.
Only after Limitless Academy was established twenty years ago and began widely accepting students did the area gradually gather some life and bustle.
Shen Xiuhan raised his eyes and looked ahead.
A vast complex of blue-brick buildings and dark-tiled roofs climbed the mountainside in layered tiers. Upturned eaves and soaring corners vanished among ancient emerald trees, while mist curled around them, lending the place a solemn and imposing air.
Even for merely a branch academy, its grandeur was truly magnificent.
At the foot of the mountain, traffic was already bustling.
Dozens of carriages of all kinds stood scattered across the broad open ground, their canopies adorned with tassels and their harnessed horses strikingly fine. They belonged to wealthy families from South Township Prefecture and the surrounding counties, all here to bring their children home.
Shen Xiuhan and Geng Weizhi jumped down from the ox cart. Shen Xiuhan took out ten large coins and tossed them to the old driver.
Geng Weizhi headed forward like a man familiar with the place and greeted the steward beneath the covered corridor.
Before long, he led out a spacious, sturdy two-horse carriage from inside. Its body was lacquered jet-black, its curtains hanging low. It was plainly one prepared by the Ji Family.
"Inspector, this is