Graduation from the Dao Academy, Each to Their Own Future (Bonus Chapter for Monthly Votes)

At dawn the next day, the sky was just beginning to brighten.

Chu Bai went early to Zhou Changkong's Quiet Chamber.

The formalities were simple. The White Ordination he carried was the best proof of all.

Zhou Changkong looked at his prized student with pride in his eyes. After reminding him not to slack off in his cultivation, he stamped a red seal on the graduation document that marked Chu Bai as a Dao Academy student.

From that moment on, Chu Bai was no longer a first-year student at the Great Wall Prefecture Dao Academy. He was an Immortal Clerk of Great Zhou awaiting an appointment.

The Dao Academy's walls could no longer hold him.

Meanwhile, news that Chu Bai had taken first place in the Immortal Official Examination as a first-year student spread through the entire year as though it had grown wings.

The students were in the thick of preparing for their graduation exam. Their first reaction to the news was disbelief, followed swiftly by shock and envy.

When Chu Bai left the academic affairs office with his document and walked down the familiar corridor, the clamor around him seemed to quiet.

Many stopped to watch the blue-robed figure walk away, their gazes complicated.

There was awe and envy, but also the dejection of knowing they could never catch up.

At the entrance to the Class Two classroom, Li Han leaned against the railing, a yellowed book in his hand and a vacant look in his eyes.

As someone who had also come from Anping County, he knew Chu Bai's beginnings better than most.

Back in the county, there had been a gap between them, but they had still been splashing about in the same pond. Since entering the Great Wall Prefecture Dao Academy, everything had changed.