The next day.
While a certain reborn demon immortal was still immersed in his Qi Refining Stage cultivation, Yun Heng and Jiang Keke were awakened by the rising and falling sounds of rhythmic chanting.
“Are these people sick in the head?”
Jiang Keke yawned with bleary eyes while grumbling, “What’s with all that ghostly wailing and wolfish howling so early in the morning?”
As soon as Jiang Keke finished her complaint, Yun Heng sat up.
He listened intently for a moment, his face expressionless as he said, “It’s not wailing. It’s morning reading.”
“Morning reading?”
Jiang Keke also scrambled up and hurried to the window, peering out through a gap.
In the small courtyard, a crowd of boys and girls dressed in uniform gray-and-white robes stood or sat packed together.
Most were fifteen or sixteen years old, and every single one held a jade slip or a scroll. With solemn expressions, they faced the morning sun and chanted at the top of their lungs:
“The Heavenly Dao rewards diligence; only through persistence and focus! Discard distracting thoughts, let the mind be undivided!”
“Three years of bitter cultivation ends in one battle! The Dragon Gate is before us, who else but me!”
Their tones were sonorous and repetitive, as if they wanted to carve these words into their very marrow.
Jiang Keke frowned as she listened. “What… what are they even reciting? It sounds like monks chanting scriptures.”
In the courtyard, the leader appeared to be an older student standing atop a waist-high green stone.
Every time a passage ended, he would raise his arm and shout, and the students below would immediately follow, their voices rising another notch:
“Take the sages like the Mochou groom as examples; sacrifice the small self to achieve the great self! Burn your heart’s blood to light the path of the Dao!”
“Break the cauldrons and sink the boats, the 120 passes of Qin finally belong to Chu! Sleep on brushwood and taste gall, 3,000 armored Yue soldiers can swallow Wu!”
“Today we sweat and bleed, tomorrow we ascend as immortals without regret! Abandoning emotions and severing desires is the only way to find the true essence!”
Jiang Keke’s expression turned strange. The more she heard, the more unsettling it felt. “Isn’t this a bit… uh…”
Yun Heng didn’t speak, merely listening quietly.
At that moment, the content of the recitation changed, becoming more specific and even more bizarre:
“Breath circulation at Chen hour, three orbits of Qi! Si hour sutra recitation, firmly remember the Academy Rules! Wu hour law practice, one mistake and ten repetitions!”
“Do not think of food or drink, do not think of entertainment! If a fellow daoist invites you, view it as a demonic obstacle! If affection sprouts, you must sever your own heartstrings!”
“The standard answer is the Heavenly Dao! Those who question shall fall, and those who obey shall rise!”
“Fighting for every minute, every second; an inch of time is an inch of gold! The sleep demon is the enemy, and weariness is a delusion!”
The waves of sound grew louder and louder. In the morning light, the students’ eyes appeared exceptionally bright, yet they also held a faint, hollow excitement, as if they were being pushed beyond their limits.
“To be honest, I find this a bit scary.”
Jiang Keke moved to Yun Heng’s side and whispered, “Aren’t we cultivators supposed to follow ‘nature’s way’ and ‘clarity of mind’? But they look like they’re practicing some kind of mortal demonic art…”
Just then, Jiang Keke caught a glimpse of a schedule posted on the wall out of the corner of her eye.
She was at the third level of the Qi Refining Stage, so her eyesight was excellent. Even from dozens of meters away, she could clearly see what was written on that densely packed schedule.
To put it simply — it didn’t look like a schedule meant for human beings.
Yun Heng’s gaze slowly swept across those young, tense faces, his eyes darkening slightly.
“Perhaps it is because… to them, the ‘immortal seeking grand exam’ is not the beginning of seeking the Dao. It is the ‘only battle’ to change their fate or even decide the rise and fall of their families.”
After a pause, Yun Heng added, “As a result, cultivation is no longer about exploring the truths of heaven and earth or pursuing the freedom of immortality.
Instead, it has been alienated into a highly standardized ‘test-prep.’ These slogans, rules, and schedules are all designed to maximize ‘exam efficiency.’
Emotions, entertainment, friendship, and even independent thought are all viewed as interferences affecting that ‘efficiency’ and must be strictly excluded.”
Resources are limited, and the Great Dao is heartless…
Jiang Keke suddenly recalled what Yun Heng had told her yesterday. She felt as though she understood a little, yet she didn’t quite grasp it all.
In the courtyard, the morning reading reached the final oath-taking stage.
All the students turned in unison toward the north — the direction of Mochou Lake and the direction where the legendary Mochou groom had “sacrificed” himself.
Pressing their right hands to their left chests, they shouted in voices that were nearly screams:
“We swear: to take the sages’ will as our own, and the academy’s rules as our own! Even if we must peel our skin and shave our bones, we shall ascend as immortals! This vow shall never change, let heaven and earth bear witness!”
The wave of sound made the window frames rattle slightly, echoing through the mountain village for a long time.
Jiang Keke was silenced by the display for quite a while. Eventually, she swallowed hard. “Young Master… even if they pass like this, can they really ‘become immortals’?”
Yun Heng didn’t answer. He simply smoothed out his robes, which were slightly messy from his irregular sleeping posture, and turned his gaze to the other side of the courtyard.
At the door of a building with a plaque reading “Lecture Hall,” stood a middle-aged cultivator dressed in green scholar robes, holding a ruler.
He stood before a desk with a serious expression, waiting for the students to flood in after finishing their morning reading.
Suspended just above the middle-aged man’s head was a tiny drop of water, swaying slightly with his movements.
Clearly, he was the cultivator who had set the array by Mochou Lake.
All the information the water droplet had intercepted last night had already been digested by Yun Heng while Jiang Keke was lamenting.
So, what should a hot-blooded 19-year-old youth do when he knows the opponent intends to capture him today?
The answer was obvious.
“Get the wolf-tooth club ready. I’m afraid the old man might get desperate and try to hit me later.”
Yun Heng gave a slight smile and pushed the door open.
Before Jiang Keke could understand the deeper meaning behind his words, she saw Yun Heng walk straight up to the middle-aged cultivator and speak in a clear voice, “Fellow Daoist, this junior is Yun Heng, an obscure array master.”
“While traveling through here yesterday, I happened upon the loosened array by the banks of Mochou Lake. I attempted to repair it with my shallow skills, only to find I was outmatched. Thus, I have come to seek the source and ask for some guidance. I wonder… do you have a moment?”
Yun Heng acted like a “reckless intruder,” intentionally breaking the tense, anxious atmosphere that the middle-aged cultivator found so satisfying. This caused the latter to frown slightly.
Everyone turned in unison to look at this “array master” who didn’t seem very old.
However, the students’ attention was quickly diverted by someone else.
It couldn’t be helped; a little girl appearing in an academy with a wolf-tooth club in her left hand and a meteor hammer in her right hand was simply too eye-catching…
Especially since this little girl was baring her teeth, looking like a calamity sent from the heavens.
“I told you to get ready, not to get ready right this second.”
Even Yun Heng couldn’t hold it back. He was successfully amused by Jiang Keke, causing his intimidating aura to drop significantly. “Don’t you have a storage bag?”
“Oh… sorry.”
Jiang Keke playfully stuck out her tongue and quickly stowed the two terrifying weapons away.
Master Fang shook his head, his brow gradually smoothing. ‘They are likely just two Qi Refining Stage laymen here to stir up trouble; it’s no big deal,’ he thought. He cleared his throat.
“Fellow Daoist, I am very sorry, but our academy has strict rules. It is currently time for lectures and preaching, so I cannot chat with you.”
Waving his hand, Master Fang signaled for the guards at the door to remove them.
“Furthermore, I am not responsible for the repairs of the Mochou Lake array. I am merely a man of letters. You should seek someone more qualified.”
“That’s wonderful.”
Upon hearing this, Yun Heng didn’t get angry. Instead, he looked excited. “I love listening to lectures the most. “
“Especially a lecture from an array master like Master Fang. It is truly better to see you once than to hear of you a hundred times, and seeing you is even better than your reputation!”
Master Fang, who had just turned to take a step, suddenly froze.
“You know me?”
He turned back, looking at Yun Heng suspiciously.
Because of the haste yesterday, he hadn’t obtained a portrait of Yun Heng, so he didn’t recognize him.
“Allow me to reintroduce myself.”
Yun Heng took a token from his storage bag, his smile becoming even more genial. “This junior is Yun Heng, from the Heavenly Way Academy.”