That afternoon, the siblings kept busy until evening before finally moving into the martial academy and settling in.
Their landlord returned their deposit of eight taels of Demon Silver, slightly improving their finances.
Chu Yunyun felt deeply ashamed. Their rental deposit had originally been fifteen taels; the seven taels deducted were all for the various pieces of furniture, doors, windows, and five floor tiles damaged at her hands.
The utility courtyard, however, was a lovely place, enclosed by white walls capped with black tiles, with shady green trees within, secluded and tranquil.
Chu Yunyun was thoroughly satisfied, and Chu Xisheng was delighted too. This saved him an expense.
Chu Xisheng had no choice but to count every penny, because another major expense lay ahead.
In a few days, their tuition at the martial academy would be due.
This so-called tuition was the ancient fee paid to a teacher.
The Zhengyang Martial Academy could not possibly teach martial arts for free. Every disciple had to pay tuition each month.
For inner disciples, it was twelve taels of Demon Silver per person per month.
In their household, Chu Yunyun was an inner disciple of the academy as well as Chu Xisheng.
With little hope of recovering her martial abilities anytime soon, she had been forced to switch to sorcery and was currently studying at the Zhengyang Martial Academy's Sorcerer Academy.
Chu Xisheng was already prepared to find a way to resolve their financial problems once he had secured his footing among the inner disciples.
His first priority, of course, was to study his system.
When Chu Xisheng was alone that evening, he first redeemed the other beginner special, "Eagle Eye."
As his martial dao points dropped to "5," Chu Xisheng immediately felt a warm current flow into his eyes.
The sensation was exactly the same as when he had redeemed "Wind-Chasing, Lightning-Pursuing Hands" earlier that day.
In less than a breath, Chu Xisheng discovered that the world before him was completely different from before.
It was like someone with minus-six-diopter nearsightedness putting on glasses, or a 480p video changing to 8K high definition.
Chu Xisheng had heard that a goshawk could clearly see the movements of prey from ten kilometers away.
He now had a similar ability. Chu Xisheng could distinguish the patterns on a mosquito's or fly's wings twenty zhang away, and could gaze into the distance and clearly see every detail of Xiushui City's walls five hundred zhang away.
Like a child with a new toy, Chu Xisheng tried using his Eagle Eye in all sorts of ways.
He found it endlessly novel, and his spirits soared.
For a martial cultivator, the value of "Eagle Eye" was immeasurable, no less than that of Wind-Chasing, Lightning-Pursuing Hands.
His powerful dynamic vision would let him distinguish every detail of an enemy's movements, allowing him to anticipate their every intention in combat.
Only after nearly an hour did Chu Xisheng settle down.
Looking at the illusory screen before him, he began wondering just what sort of advancement mechanism this system used. How exactly was he supposed to obtain martial dao points?
A single remark from Ye Zhiqiu on the platform that day had changed his reputation field from "None" to "Ninth-Rank Lower (nominal)."
His fight with Long Sheng had then changed his reputation from "Ninth-Rank Lower (nominal)" to "Ninth-Rank Lower (confirmed)."
Clearly, this system was connected to his reputation.
The greater my reputation, the more benefits I can get from the system?
As Chu Xisheng looked at the words "Ninth-Rank Lower (confirmed)" on the screen, he vaguely felt it was not that simple.
He had several ideas that would require some experimentation.
Also, the first change in reputation had given him five martial dao points, while the second had given him six.
Was there some reason for that?
Or would every future improvement in this system yield progressively more?
Next, Chu Xisheng looked at the "Martial Dao Treasury" in the lower right corner. Only twelve colored icons remained inside.
Autumn Sky Saber-A seventh-grade treasured saber capable of unleashing saber Gang. Its blade is like autumn frost, sharp enough to sever a hair blown against it.
There was little description for this saber, yet it cost five martial dao points.
Divine Strength Pill-Temporarily increases strength by two hundred percent, speed by sixty percent, and reaction speed by sixty percent. Lasts twenty-four hours.
The advantage of this pill was that it had no side effects. It cost one martial dao point.
All twelve items had their uses, leaving Chu Xisheng quite covetous.
But what tempted him most was the icon in first place.
Virtual Training-Practice martial arts within simulated dream scenarios. Virtual Training produces the same cultivation results as training in real scenarios, without consuming physical or mental energy.
One martial dao point could be exchanged for two hundred and forty hours of cultivation time-ten whole days.
Chu Xisheng gave the icon a long look before continuing downward.
There were no more item icons below, only a passage of text: "Treasury items refresh once per calendar month. You may also pay one martial dao point to refresh them."
What Chu Xisheng did not know was that while he studied the system, Chu Yunyun was leafing through a slightly yellowed booklet in another room, just one wall away.
It was a handwritten copy of a court gazette. One section held Chu Yunyun's attention for a long time.
[Fourth month, seventh day: Qin Muge, Great General Who Pacifies the North and Marquis Weiyuan, died suddenly of illness at his residence. The emperor came to mourn him and suspended court for three days. On the eighth day, he was posthumously appointed Grand Guardian and enfeoffed as Overlord Martial King.]
[Fourth month, twelfth day: General of the Cloud Banner Qin Sheng was promoted to succeed as Marquis Weiyuan and Great General Who Pacifies the North, commanding all military affairs in the four provinces of Bing, You, Ji, and Jue.]
[Fourth month, seventeenth day: Qin Xiyan, younger sister of the late Great General Who Pacifies the North, Qin Muge, was enfeoffed as Commandery Princess Tieshan.]
After a long while, Chu Yunyun expressionlessly crushed the gazette in her hands into scraps, then silently stepped out of her room and glanced into Chu Xisheng's room through a gap in the window lattice.
Inside, Chu Xisheng was sitting on his bed, staring ahead with a dazed smile on his face. Drool was actually trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Chu Yunyun immediately knitted her brows. What was this fellow thinking about?
Surely he wasn't thinking about women? His Highness Prince Kang, universally acknowledged at court as a fiend of lust, wore exactly this rutting, piggish expression whenever he saw a beautiful woman.
For some reason, Chu Yunyun felt a little uncomfortable.
Then she put aside her stray thoughts, abruptly floated into the air, and vaulted over the courtyard wall.
Like an extraordinarily nimble cat, Chu Yunyun swiftly threaded through the night.
She could not use her martial true essence, but her flesh still possessed the "Impervious Golden Body" of a first-grade martial cultivator. Not only were her movements utterly silent, but her aura was also suppressed to the utmost.
Although martial instructors from the Zhengyang Martial Academy patrolled along the way on night watch, they failed to detect the slightest trace of her.
Even when Chu Yunyun passed right beside them, the instructors remained completely unaware.
Chu Yunyun went all the way to the academy's rear courtyard, then vaulted over a stone wall four zhang high.
The courtyard enclosed by the high wall measured roughly twenty zhang on each side. There was no one inside, and not a blade of grass or a tree grew there.
At its center stood two enormous, pitch-black iron pillars.
The pillars rose ten zhang high, one on the left and one on the right, crossing as they plunged into the ground.
An unusual gleam appeared in Chu Yunyun's eyes. Then she drifted over like a weightless feather, landing between the two pillars.
First, she slit the vein at her wrist and smeared her blood onto the surfaces of both iron pillars. Then she pressed a hand against each pillar, closed her eyes, and concentrated on sensing them.
The next instant, Chu Yunyun heard savage bestial roars, and two strange divine senses surged into her mind simultaneously.
These divine senses were only at the eighth grade, beneath her notice.
Yet they were incomparably refined and pure, utterly focused and undivided, sharp and domineering beyond measure.
Chu Yunyun vaguely sensed two pitch-black ferocious beasts beneath the ground, their bodies pierced by blade after blade, unable to move, roaring furiously at her.
One had a jackal's body and a dragon's head, resembling a "yazi"; the other resembled a lion, wreathed in smoke and fire, like a "suanni."
Their bodies were extremely small, however, slightly smaller even than a six-month-old kitten.
These were not true ferocious beasts, but baleful intent condensed by this location's peculiar environment.
Now, however, the baleful intent had gained sentience. They lay hidden, enduring, waiting for a chance to become dragons.
The corners of Chu Yunyun's lips could not help lifting slightly, and intense desire appeared in her eyes.
At that very instant, a warning of danger stirred in Chu Yunyun's heart.
"Who's there?"
With that voice, a burly figure abruptly came rushing through the night.
Chu Yunyun looked into the distance and discovered that it was Academy Master Lei Yuan.
She clicked her tongue with some reluctance, quickly wiped the blood off the iron pillars, then moved like a fleeting shadow, silently vanishing into the darkness once more.
When Lei Yuan arrived through the air, no one remained, nor was there anything unusual.
His brows furrowed deeply. Had what he sensed just now been an illusion?