Chapter 134: Minor Cultivation (1)
Downstairs.
A lot of students had arrived. A middle-aged man of about 40 years old walked out and introduced himself, "I am Chen Feng, the leader of block 3's student committee. I will be taking you on a tour around the academy."
Su Yu narrowed his eyes. This Chen Feng felt like a blinding dot of light to his senses. Large amount of source qi converged around him. This was a cultivator at the Infinite Strength Realm or above.
Was he at the Infinite Strength Realm? Or stronger? The guards committee was basically the security of their apartment block. The academy was using an Infinite Strength cultivator as a security guard?
Since Su Yu could sense the guard's strength, the other students had naturally sensed the same. These students were mostly in the Mental Tempering Stage without much combat strength, but their senses were far sharper than warriors of similar cultivation level.
One of the students asked, "What is your strength, Committee Leader Chen? I'm curious. Can you tell us?"
Chen Feng looked at the students and smiled before answering, "Seventh-stage Infinite Strength Realm. There are five of us in the committee for block 3. The other four are in the Infinite Strength Realm too.
"We are members of the regiment of guards stationed here at the Mental Tempering Garden. In the Mental Tempering Garden, there are three 100-man units. The academy places a lot of importance on you people. Therefore, the guards here are stronger than the guards of the other areas."
The students here were all geniuses. Apart from some important secret grottos, the Mental Tempering Garden was the most important part of the academy. After all, eliminating the Mental Tempering Garden was basically the same as ridding the academy of its successors.
A seventh-stage Infinite Strength cultivator as the leader of a security team for a single apartment block. Nobody in Nanyuan would dare to even imagine something like that happening.
Chen Feng checked the time and said, "I guess this is everyone. The other students are probably already familiar with the academy. Follow me and don't run off alone."
...
There weren't a lot of students in this tour group. There were around 50 of them. Su Yu had no idea how many students there were in block 3. But if it was fully occupied, it would have 120 residents.
Xia Huyou wasn't part of the group. That fellow was already familiar with the academy so it was understandable that he wasn't interested in this tour.
"There are eight main districts in the academy. Those who have read the student manual should know that. Today, I'll show you the Education District, Dao Preaching District, and Grotto District.
"The Mental Tempering Garden is part of the Residential District. After leaving the Mental Tempering Garden, you will reach the ordinary dorms."
It was clear Chen Feng had no talent in being a tour guide. His introductions were dry and stiff.
The first place they reached was the Education District. The district was massive, and it was filled with numerous buildings. The books depository and library were all in the Education District as well. Chen Feng only showed the students the buildings from the outside as they needed to pay to enter.
Apart from Su Yu's group, other groups of students were also being shown around the academy. Those were probably all new students.
Before long, they arrived in front of an old building. Numerous people could be seen coming in and out of the building. Chen Feng turned and faced the students before saying, "Some of you probably know this place. This is the House of Hundred, a building allocated by the academy to serve the top 100 students.
"They can accept missions, cultivate, or spar here. The biggest dream of many students is to enter this building, becoming a top 100 student. In the academy, a top 100 student is different from a regular student. Of the previous year's top 100 students, 16 of them have stepped into the Skysoar Realm in June this year.
"That is proof of how authoritative the Top 100 Ranking is when it comes to judging the potential of the students. As for those in this year's top 100, I reckon a lot of them would be able to graduate by next year as well."
Su Yu asked doubtfully, "Committee Leader Chen, is the Top 100 Ranking updated once per year?"
"No." Chen Feng shook his head and said, "The ranking is updated once per month. The 16 graduates I mentioned did not graduate at the same time. They graduate throughout the year, but we will lump them together. For example, the students graduating from July this year until June next year would be lumped together as well.
"The ranking will refresh on the 3rd of each month. Students not on the ranking can challenge those on the ranking from the 3rd until the 25th. After the 25th, challenges will stop."
Beside Su Yu, a tall and slim student asked, "Committee Leader Chen, I heard that we need to pay 10 merit points per challenge. Isn't that too expensive?"
"That is put in place to ensure that the students would be self-aware." Chen Feng explained, "What if a student is not self-aware enough and repeatedly challenges the students on the ranking? How are the top students supposed to cultivate? But if the challenger needs to pay 10 merit points, that would serve as a lesson to not overestimate themselves.
"Of course, if you're rich enough, you can even challenge the ranking 10 times per day. You will be able to find an opponent each time."
The challenge fee was basically an obstacle. The challenger would get the merit points back upon winning. But if they lose, they won't get anything.
The tall and slim student asked, "Do we have to start our challenge from the student on the 100th place?"
"No. You can challenge those from the 91st to the 100th place. If you win, you can get on the ranking and challenge those in the next category. Thus, to challenge those in the top 10, you need to be in the top 20.
"The Top 100 Ranking is only a ranking measuring your combat strength. The academy has many other rankings as well. You can give those a try. For a cultural research academy, combat strength isn't a priority prior to graduation."
The Top 100 Ranking mainly measured one's combat strength. Some students would not have much combat strength prior to graduation. Thus, this ranking was unfair to them. After all, those walking the path of pillmaking, weaponsmithing, and so on were quite weak during the early stages.
At that time, a crew-cut youth walked out of the building in front of them. He looked straight ahead, not sparing Chen Feng even a single glance.
Chen Feng hurriedly stepped aside and softly said, "Don't block the way!"
The students behind him hurriedly parted. Meanwhile, the crew-cut youth continued walking ahead, completely ignoring them.
"A top 10 student," said Chen Feng after the youth left. "He is Jiang Mu, number six on the ranking. At the sixth-stage Infinite Strength Realm and Mental Tempering Stage, he is very strong."
Chen Feng added with a self-mocking tone, "Don't look down on him just because he's at the sixth-stage Infinite Strength Realm. If I fight him, I won't be able to last more than 30 seconds."
The students' expressions turned solemn. Chen Feng was a seventh-stage Infinite Strength cultivator. He was quite strong already. But someone like him wouldn't even last 30 seconds against Jiang Mu.
And that came from Chen Feng himself, not a random rumor off the street. And from Chen Feng's expression, he wasn't speaking those words to fawn on that student. He was speaking the truth.
A student asked, "Committee Head Chen, how about Zhan Hai, the number one student on the ranking?"
"Zhan Hai?" Chen Feng smiled, "You should ground yourself in reality. Forget about Zhan Hai. He once fought a Skysoar cultivator. He did not lose."
He didn't lose! Did he win? Nobody knew if it was a victory or a draw, but that was still shocking news. This was a genius capable of fighting someone in the Skysoar Realm.
One of the students said enviously, "This House of Hundred will be our new target. I hope I can reach this place as fast as possible."
Chen Feng merely smiled silently, not bothering to say anything to smash their confidence. How many students were there in the academy? There were over 10,000 students below 30. And only 100 of them could get on the ranking.
Most people would enter the academy at 18. In short, the ranking was a ranking for 12 batches of students. Some of the older geniuses had naturally reached the Skysoar Realm and graduated by now.
But some of the more ordinary students who had joined 12 years ago had also grown to a rather terrifying degree by now. Generally speaking, even the best among the top-tier students would need around three years to enter the ranking.
"Don't look down on the top 100 students. Even the one on the last place has the combat strength of a third-stage Infinite Strength cultivator." Chen Feng reminded, "As for those on the top 50, they had the combat strength of sixth-stage Infinite Strength cultivators. Those on the top 30 had the strength of seventh-stage Infinite Strength cultivators. As for those in the top 10, they had the combat strength of peak Infinite Strength cultivators."
Some of the new students were disheartened after hearing all that. Even the one on the last place was nearly as strong as a middle-stage Infinite Strength cultivator. It was truly hard to get on the Top 100 Ranking.
"Alright. We're done here. I'll show you the outside of the Grotto District. You still can't enter that district for now."
As the students followed Chen Feng away, many of them looked back at the House of Hundred. Since a lot of them were also high-tier geniuses, they naturally longed to enter that house. Nobody would be willing to stay mediocre.
...
They couldn't see too much of the Grotto District since they were only allowed to take a look from the outside. The only impression Su Yu got out of it was that there were a lot of experts around.
The researchers they saw along the way were akin to small suns to his senses. They were so blinding that he did not dare to use his senses on them. In fact, before his senses could reach them, his extended willpower was already on the brink of collapse.
Even the weakest researcher in the academy would be in the Skysoar Realm. As for the Foreign Student Faculty, they weren't allowed to visit. They had not seen any foreign students either.
The foreign students were staying in a different area from the human students. In fact, their residential area was actually near the residential area of the teachers. Evidently, the academy was also afraid that things would get out of control so they arranged for the foreign students to stay near the teachers.
After all, that was a place filled with experts. Hundreds of experts would appear at the first sign of trouble there.