Chapter 125: All Women Are Obstacles In Cultivation (1)
After the chat with Zhou Hui, Su Yu and company had learned a lot more about the academy. Although they had only learned some basic information, knowing more could still help with their anxiousness at being at a new place.
As for the rumors about the internal conflict in the academy, Zhou Hui merely mentioned that it was unrelated to them. In short, they were not qualified to get involved in the conflict yet.
The so-called cutthroat competition mentioned by outsiders only applied to the experts and the geniuses. The weak were unqualified to participate in the game of the strong. In fact, Su Yu could see a look of envy on Zhou Hui's face when talking about conflict.
"Internal conflict? If I am really dragged into the conflict, I would probably be so happy that I can laugh in my sleep."
Envy was plastered all over her face. If one was dragged into a conflict, that would mean that one was a genius, a freak, an expert, an individual of value. In the academy, nobody would care about people with no value.
Who would be willing to waste their time rivaling some weaklings? Geniuses, freaks, experts, all these people would not spare any of their time on weaklings. These weaklings were not even qualified to be bullied by them.
Thus, according to Zhou Hui, if you really found yourself dragged into a conflict, congratulations were in order. You had become a big deal in the academy. That signified strength, power, and merit points.
After listening to Zhou Hui, Su Yu felt enlightened. His mindset had been too rigid previously. Although he had joined the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, he was still unhappy with the internal conflict. He believed that this wasn't how an academy should be. The internal conflict was so serious that even the new students were feeling pressured.
But after hearing Zhou Hui's words, he understood. The academy had not forced the students into conflict. Rather, the students themselves were the ones who were too outstanding.
If one was outstanding, one would get involved in some conflict regardless of whether one was still a student or a researcher.
Geniuses required a lot of merit points, cultivation methods, and resources. That was the same case for the experts as well. And since they needed more, if they didn't compete against each other for the resources, was the sky supposed to rain down resources on them?
As for students like Zhou Hui who would probably only need around 100 merit points over a period of several years in the academy, nobody would think that they were asking for too much.
But would Su Yu be happy with just that much? One ought to know that he had used nearly 80 merit points for his recent cultivation.
…
Back in his room, Su Yu sat on introspection. He felt as though the world had opened up before him. A smile formed on his face. Now that he was looking at things from a different perspective, he had naturally reached a different conclusion from before.
He exhaled deeply and erased those thoughts from his mind. Picking up the student manual beside him, he started reading.
...
Academy introduction section.
The academy was mainly separated into eight major districts.
Education District, Commerce District, Residential District, Visitor District, Grotto District, Dao Preaching District, Heart Cultivating Pavilion, and Elderly District.
The Visitor District was where Su Yu was currently staying. This place was in charge of receiving new students and providing accommodations to the visiting parents.
The Dao Preaching District was a place where some experts would occasionally conduct a public lesson. If one was lucky, one could even observe a willpower text being written or listen to some secret knowledge for free there.
The Heart Cultivating Pavilion was the academy's seat of power.
Meanwhile, the Elderly District was a place provided for the elderly. Most of the old students of the academy were living there. They formed a large community that was independent from the rest of the academy.
As for the other districts, their purpose was obvious enough from their names.
The Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was massive. From the introduction, it was no smaller than Nanyuan. It also had a large population.
There were almost 20,000 students below 30. These were all considered a part of the younger generation. For cultivators, 10 years weren't long. Thus, anyone below 30 would be considered young and full of promise.
There were also nearly 10,000 students between 30 to 50. As for those above 50, there were nearly 20,000 of them. At 50 and above, one had basically run out of potential and could hardly achieve willpower materialization.
Liu Wenyan was simply an exception to the norm. Very few people could replicate what he did. All in all, the academy had around 50,000 students.
And many of the students above 30 were also living in the academy with their significant other, children, and other family members. Including the family members, the academy employees, instructors, and researchers, the academy had nearly 100,000 people.
That was a lot of people. In fact, many of the business owners in the Commerce District were the family members of the students, instructors, or the researchers. These people were inextricably linked with the academy.
"100,000 people..."
Su Yu was stunned by that number. A population of 100,000 in a single academy. One ought to know that even though Nanyuan claimed to have a population of one million, most of those people were actually living outside the city, such as all the surrounding towns and villages. There were only around 300,000 residents in the city itself.
Meanwhile, the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy was not a city yet it already had a third of Nanyuan's population. It was basically a small city in itself. After skimming through the academy introduction section, Su Yu moved on to the people introduction section.
...
People introduction section: Principal.
Principal, Wan Tiansheng.
Sixth principal of the academy.
Strength: Unknown
It was rumored that 50 years ago when the principal took office, he was already a peak Mountainsea cultivator. He was 48 that year.
The introduction on Wan Tiansheng wasn't long. But through the introduction, Su Yu learned that the principal was actually 98 this year. And he was already a peak Mountainsea cultivator 50 years ago. As for his current strength, nobody knew.
He had stayed in the academy for 50 years and rarely fought. Nobody knew his true strength, and even if there was someone out there with that knowledge, it wasn't something mere students would know.
For humanity, the information of those at the Mountainsea Realm would always be incomplete and unclear. The public could barely gain any information about these experts.
"Understandable. Without that strength, he wouldn't have been able to take the position."
Su Yu wasn't too surprised. Since Wan Tiansheng could ascend to the position 50 years ago and forcefully restore order in the academy, his strength was definitely not to be underestimated.
In any case, he was definitely one of those standing at the peak of humanity. As for those in the fabled Invincible Realm, Su Yu wouldn't even dare to think about those people.
...
People introduction section: Vice principal
There were three vice principals in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
First vice principal: Zhou Mingren (Peak Mountainsea Realm)
Second vice principal: Xia Changqing (Peak Mountainsea Realm)
Third vice principal: Su Ziming (Peak Mountainsea Realm)
There wasn't much information about the three vice principals. Most of the information about their strength was guesswork. The only one of them with additional information provided was Xia Changqing. According to the manual, he was someone from the Xia Family, the ruling family of Great Xia.
The next section was about the senior researchers. Not all the researchers were listed. Only a few of the more popular ones were introduced. Su Yu saw a familiar name in the list.
Senior researcher: Hong Tan.
He knew that this was Bai Feng's teacher and Liu Wenyan's junior brother.
Hong Tan, senior researcher walking the path of Divine Characters. Cultivation of eighth-stage Mountainsea Realm and specializing in Divine Character fusions. Deputy head of the Divine Character Faculty.
As for the faculty head, the position was held by Vice Principal Zhou Mingren. The Character Faculty was basically the headquarters of those walking the path of Divine Characters.
But according to the introduction, Hong Tan was rarely involved in the faculty affairs. Apart from the time when he accepted Bai Feng as his student a few years ago, he had rarely made any public appearances.
Su Yu continued reading and noted another name.
Senior researcher: Wu Yuehua.
Wu Yuehua, a senior researcher walking the path of pillmaking and an eighth-stage Mountainsea cultivator.
The introduction was short and simple. There was also an addendum noting that she was the grandaunt of the genius teaching assistant, Wu Qi.
Wu Qi!
Su Yu knew that name. That was Wu Lan's elder sister, a genius of the academy. A lot of people compared her with Bai Feng and according to many people, she was the stronger one between the two.
"Wu Family!"
Su Yu exhaled deeply. It was no wonder Wu Lan had so much confidence in herself. She actually had an eighth-stage Mountainsea cultivator as her grandaunt. It would be weird if someone like her wasn't confident.
If Su Yu had a backer like that, he would be confident as well. After skimming through the senior researcher section, he reached the intermediate researcher section.
Zhao Li, intermediate researcher walking the path of weaponsmithing. Specializing in forging weapons and a seventh-stage Cloudbreach cultivator. A leading figure among the weaponsmithing faction. Eccentric nature.
"Eccentric?" Su Yu raised his brow.
Zhao Li felt pretty normal the last time they met. Su Yu also noted that Zhao Li was actually ranked quite high among the intermediate researchers. He was actually in the top three. That was surprising to learn. Su Yu had thought that this fellow was merely bragging, but it turned out that he was really quite capable.
Su Yu searched through the section but he couldn't find Hu Youhui's introduction. That could only mean that Researcher Hu wasn't a prominent one among the intermediate researchers. After all, he was still a seventh-stage Cloudbreach cultivator yet there wasn't even a mention of him in the manual.
As for the junior researchers, Su Yu did not pay them much attention. Before long, he reached the assistant researcher section.
Xia Yuwen, assistant researcher, ninth-stage Skysoar Realm. A member of the Xia Family, number one on the Top 100 Ranking prior to his graduation, and the number one teaching assistant of the academy.
Hu Wensheng, assistant researcher, ninth-stage Skysoar Realm. Number two on the Top 100 Ranking prior to his graduation, number two teaching assistant.
Wu Qi...eighth-stage Skysoar Realm...
...
Bai Feng...seventh-stage Skysoar Realm...
From the introduction, Bai Feng's ranking wasn't that high. He was ranked 11th among the teaching assistants. But a few of the assistants ranked above him were already quite old. Those were all ninth-stage Skysoar cultivators. If only those below 30 were compared, Bai Feng could rank in the top five. Apart from Xia Yuwen, Hu Wensheng, and Wu Qi, nobody else was his match.
"Looks like he's really quite strong..."
From the manual, Su Yu understood that Bai Feng was actually quite strong even if he was only a seventh-stage Skysoar cultivator. After all, he was still young. Very few people could reach the Skysoar Realm before 30.
He also saw the name of Bai Feng's rival, Liu Hong. That person was a seventh-stage Skysoar cultivator as well. Ranked 14th, he was only slightly behind Bai Feng.
Previously, Researcher Huang had told him that Liu Hong was still at the sixth-stage and he didn't need to worry too much since Liu Hong wouldn't be Bai Feng's match. But now, Liu Hong had reached the seventh-stage as well. Su Yu couldn't help but to be impressed at the speed in which these geniuses were growing.
Liu Hong was definitely a genius. If even he couldn't be considered one, then Bai Feng couldn't be considered one either.