The Lecture Begins

By the time he reached the Preaching Plaza, the usually empty space was already crowded with people.

Above it, a hemispherical, bowl-shaped barrier lay inverted over the entire plaza, screening for disciples qualified to attend the lecture.

Jiang Yan strode toward the barrier without pausing at all.

The instant he touched it, the Dao register in his Niwan Palace flashed, and he walked into the plaza as though nothing stood in his way.

There were no fixed seats in the Preaching Plaza. Jiang Yan stopped once he reached the middle section.

Although there was still room farther ahead, he went no closer.

He took the meditation cushion he had prepared from his Thumb Ring, set it on the ground, and sat down.

Jiang Yan looked around curiously. Among the disciples attending today's lecture, he saw none above the eighth grade.

Presumably, those disciples who had spent years in the Prefecture Academy were mostly in no hurry to attend lectures after the annual examination ended.

Only disciples who had joined the Dao Academy within the last few years were unwilling to miss a single lecture.

Seeing his young face, the disciples around him also knew he was a newcomer to the Prefecture Academy.

Here and there, people who knew one another used the occasion to start discussing this year's new Prefecture Academy disciples again.

Yet no one took the initiative to speak to Jiang Yan.

He was happy to be left alone, sitting quietly cross-legged and pricking up his ears to listen to the older disciples' conversations.

Quite a few pieces of information were useful to Jiang Yan. Without betraying anything, he committed them to memory one by one.

Another hour passed. Nearly half the vast plaza was now occupied, and presumably these were all the people coming to hear this lecture.

Only then did the instructor responsible for today's lecture finally arrive.

She did not pass through the crowd, but rode a multicolored auspicious cloud through the air above everyone's heads.

The instructor was a female Daoist. She rode her colorful cloud all the way to the center of the plaza before drifting down.

The cloud then transformed into a lotus dais, its main body jade-colored, with a ring of leaves around it, each different and each emitting a faint glow.

Bathed in that light, the female Daoist seated cross-legged at the center of the lotus dais seemed to become much more captivating.

"I am Daoist Caiyun. To begin today, I will lecture on the Qi-Feeding and Method-Practicing Dao."

Today was the beginning of the month, so naturally the lecture concerned one of the two upper Daos.

As luck would have it, this was precisely the Qi-Feeding and Method-Practicing Dao that Jiang Yan cultivated. His timing today could be considered good.

Daoist Caiyun did not drag things out. After briefly introducing herself, she launched straight into the lecture.

"A book from High Antiquity said that all living beings differ from one another.

Those who eat grass are fleet of foot but foolish; those who eat flesh are brave and fierce.

Those who eat grain are intelligent and skillful; those who feed on Qi possess divine clarity and longevity."

"We humans are born with extraordinary intelligence, beyond comparison with the ordinary.

The sages of High Antiquity awakened their wisdom and understood principles; understanding principles led to mastery of methods, and mastery of methods allowed them to feed on Qi..."

Daoist Caiyun began with the sages of High Antiquity to explain the Dao of feeding on Qi.

Clearly, she had a deep understanding of this knowledge pertaining to cultivation below the seventh grade.

As her lips and teeth moved, she explained it from the simple to the profound.

Jiang Yan felt that many minor problems he had encountered during his daily cultivation were now beginning to make sense.

He needed only to seize this opportunity to study them, and he would surely gain something.

Daoist Caiyun lectured above, while everyone present listened, utterly enthralled.

Even the least accomplished among them were ordained Daoists of the Immortal Dynasty who had successfully cultivated a cultivation method and possessed Law Power.

The lecture lasted an entire day and night.

During that time, Jiang Yan only spared a moment to swallow a Grain-Avoidance Pill to stave off hunger.

Apart from that, he did nothing else that would waste time.

Only when the golden crow once again replaced the jade rabbit did Daoist Caiyun stop lecturing.

She began calling on people in the audience to answer the questions they had yet to understand.

Perhaps because Jiang Yan was young and rather pleasing to her eye, he was fortunate enough to be called on as well.

"You in the blue-green Daoist robe, do you have any questions?"

"Instructor, this disciple has a question."

Jiang Yan first stood and bowed respectfully as he answered, then asked:

"When this disciple practices his cultivation method each day, I occasionally feel heart palpitations during the last few circuits of Qi circulation. How might this be resolved?"

Daoist Caiyun shook her head slightly.

"Cultivation is not accomplished in a moment. This is pressure caused by your excessive haste. Set aside your urgency, and a calm mind will resolve it."

Jiang Yan was inwardly disappointed. If anything put him under pressure, it was naturally those two fellows, Jiang Chi and the Desire Corpse Daoist.

Although he had already resolved to devote himself to cultivation and never set foot outside the town,

those two were like bones stuck in his throat. How could he stop thinking about them merely by telling himself not to?

Although he had gained no solution, Jiang Yan still bowed respectfully to Daoist Caiyun before obediently sitting down.

Daoist Caiyun nodded and called on another person to ask his question.

Unexpectedly, after standing and hesitating for a moment, this person actually asked the same question.

"Instructor, this disciple is in the same situation as that fellow Daoist just now. Besides setting aside the pressure, is there any other way to resolve it?"

Jiang Yan looked toward the voice. The man looked quite familiar: he was the very Daoist Jiang Yan had seen on the way here, the one who seemed to have implanted a variant white tiger bloodline.

On the road earlier, the man had been brimming with vigor, but now, speaking of the pressure in his heart, he too looked troubled.

It seemed that although these older disciples appeared carefree, they were not entirely free of pressure in private.

That was true enough. Who could go through life without encountering things that went against their wishes?

Those without wealth sought wealth, those with wealth sought immortality, and those cultivating immortality sought higher realms. It was nothing more than that.

"With new disciples entering the academy, I ought to pass down a technique today.

Since you all share this trouble, I shall teach a 'Heart-Calming Incantation' this time."

From what she said, Jiang Yan gathered that after new disciples first arrived at the Prefecture Academy,

the instructors were supposed to impart a Daoist technique during their lectures.

Daoist techniques differed from cultivation methods: methods cultivated Law Power, while techniques protected one's Dao and person.

The Ingestion Method Jiang Yan had obtained actually counted as a Daoist technique that assisted cultivation.

Teaching Daoist techniques was probably a requirement of the Prefecture Academy. He wondered whether every lecture included one.

But why had Jiang Yunyao not told him about this?

What he did not know was that this, too, was the Prefecture Academy's intention. If a new disciple was diligent, they naturally would not miss out on the Daoist technique.

If they were the sort to shirk work and play tricks, they deserved to miss out.

As for those whose cultivation was insufficient to attend the lecture, they had all the more reason to look for the problem within themselves.

Daoist Caiyun had not been seeking everyone's opinion with her words. She had simply made the decision.

Receiving such instruction for the first time, every new disciple present treated it with solemn attention.

Although the older disciples had experienced similar things before, they were all excited as well.

The Heart-Calming Incantation was not long, consisting of only a scant hundred words. After Daoist Caiyun recited it several times, everyone present had committed it firmly to memory.

"A pity it's an auxiliary Daoist technique."

Not far behind Jiang Yan, a Daoist sighed in a low voice.

"Be content. This Heart-Calming Incantation is just right for people at our level.

Even if she taught you a combat technique, how big a splash could we make with our little bit of Law Power?"

"That's true enough..."

Perhaps out of consideration for Daoist Caiyun above them, the two said no more.

Yet every word they had spoken reached Daoist Caiyun's ears.

She shook her head and paid them no further attention. Even upon cultivating to the upper stage, a ninth-grade Daoist acolyte possessed a mere nine strands of Law Power.

That little Law Power was woefully inadequate for casting spells, though sufficient to activate talismans and formations or control law artifacts.

After all, Daoist acolytes were merely children on the Dao. How much ability did they expect to have?

After imparting the Heart-Calming Incantation, Daoist Caiyun continued calling on people to answer their questions.

Another eight to ten hours passed before she finally stopped and called on no one else.

At this, the older disciples in the plaza seemed to know something, and every one of them fixed their gaze on Daoist Caiyun.

Noticing the shift in everyone's mood, Jiang Yan also looked over curiously.