Protect Our Chief-Chapter 487 - 13: Liyao! Academy, Here I Come_3

This Qianqiu Hall has accompanied generations of academy disciples and witnessed countless of them grow from small figures to become prominent figures.

Outside Qianqiu Hall.

There is a large square paved with heavy blue stones, with a large beast pen built on one side.

Disciples of the academy can store their mounts in the beast pen. Just a little academic credit, and there will be someone to feed and care for them. Those without mounts can also rent a spirit rider from the beast pen to travel faster when going on missions or visiting family.

There is an array of mounts available, from Tier One to Tier Three spirit beasts, including majestic spirit horses of various elements and large, stable spirit oxen, as well as camels, elephants, even turtles, and very rare flying mounts.

Due to the wide expanse of the peaks and lineages, scattered throughout the entire Purple Mansion Sacred Mountain, ordinary horse mounts can’t cope with such complex terrain, and their speed can’t meet the demands of the academy disciples, making spirit beast mounts the preferred method of travel.

However, spirit beast mounts are expensive, unaffordable, and unbearable for most academy disciples.

At this point, academy disciples can rent spirit beast mounts from the academy. One credit can rent for a month, saving a lot of time.

Still, there are always some academy disciples who are so short on cash that they can’t even afford to rent a spirit beast mount from the academy, so they have to rely on their own legs and body techniques to get around.

Lu Xianghui comes from a small Ninth-Grade Lower-Rank Noble Family in the Langzuo Guard.

Within the territory of Langzuo Guard, which has seen eight or nine hundred years of development with many large families established, the survival of lower-tier noble families is particularly difficult due to gradually solidified class distinctions and clear profit distribution. Most lower-rank families have to partially rely on the support of Eighth-Grade noble families, becoming part of their industry chain, responsible for planting and producing raw materials, thereby gaining a bit of survival space.

And the Eighth-Grade noble families often need to rely on Seventh-Grade noble families, becoming part of the Seventh-Grade’s family industry chain.

Layer upon layer, the distinctions are clear.

For lower-rank noble families, advancing is much more challenging than in remote guardian cities like Changning Guard.

Thus, the academy has become a path for many minor lower-rank families to rise up. As long as someone from the family manages to gain a relatively high position in the academy, the entire family would gain more opportunities, completing a class leap. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Lu Xianghui was endowed with outstanding bloodline talent from a young age, reaching the peak of the Lower Grade A level. Therefore, the family scrimped and saved, sparing no effort to nurture him.

Fortunately, Lu Xianghui did not disappoint expectations. Four years ago, he stood out in the preliminary examination in Langzuo Guard, then successfully passed the retest assessment at the Purple Mansion Academy, becoming an honorable ordinary academy disciple.

On the somewhat steep mountain path, Lu Xianghui was using body techniques to travel.

With every step, he could cover more than a zhang in distance, his body leaving behind a faint blue shadow.

This was one of the Upper Grade body techniques from the Yuan Water Celestial Lake lineage at the Purple Mansion Academy—"Water Flowing Shadow."

This isn’t a body technique known for speed, but when cultivated to a profound level, it allows one to move like water, formless yet with substance, even creating water flow shadows, mysterious and very powerful.

Since entering the academy, for a few years, Lu Xianghui has diligently cultivated while actively taking on academy tasks. From running errands everywhere to simple tasks like tilling, harvesting, and mending in spirit fields, he roughly earns thirty to forty academic credits annually.

Don’t underestimate these thirty to forty credits. According to the value of academy credits, each credit is worth about ten Qian Gold. Lu Xianghui relies on these credits and the annual resource subsidy of about two hundred Qian Gold from his family to gradually establish his foothold in the academy.

He even saved some credits to exchange for the Qi Refining Chapter of the lineage’s "Primordial Water True Technique," the first two layers of the "Water Flowing Shadow" body technique, and the first two layers of the "Primordial Water Spirit Shield" cultivation technique.

In his current situation, it’s estimated that by the age of thirty-eight or thirty-nine, he can complete the long Qi Refining Realm journey, qualifying him to apply to the academy for breakthrough materials, including the "Celestial Spirit Pill."

Of course, the academy won’t give him these precious breakthrough materials for free; instead, they’ll be provided on credit, to be repaid with academic credits. However, once reaching the Spirit Platform Realm, it’s easier to earn credits with increased strength, and the debt can eventually be repaid.

Furthermore, he can secretly support his family when the time comes. As his family prospers, the subsidies they can give him will increase, creating a positive cycle.

Therefore, Lu Xianghui’s life in the academy is full of motivation.

Among various tasks, his favorite is running errands, which allows him to earn money while also practicing the Water Flowing Shadow body technique.

Yuan Water Celestial Lake is quite far from Qianqiu Hall, and when some senior sisters and brothers are too lazy to run for errands, he would undertake the tasks one by one for them.

Just about seven or eight zhang from the Qianqiu Hall square, Lu Xianghui suddenly accelerated, gliding through the air, leaving a long, faint blue water shadow behind, and then landed steadily on the heavy blue stone ground.

"Phew~"

Lu Xianghui exhaled a breath of stale air, revealing a satisfied smile. After more than two years of hard training, the first layer of the "Water Flowing Shadow" body technique is now perfect, and next, he’ll cultivate the second layer, further increasing his speed for errands.

"Congratulations, Junior Brother Lu! Not only have you reached the middle of the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Realm, but you’ve also mastered the first layer of the Water Flowing Shadow," a tall and robust young man not far away said with a grin.