LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 216: Zhai Xingzi?
The Teaching Elder guessed that Tian Lin was hiding his true abilities because of Elder Xue's influence as a Nascent Soul expert.
The other students, however, didn't have as many thoughts and scheming as the Teaching Elder. Someone couldn't help but say:
"Rumor has it that junior brother Tian came from a background of Huahua Lang, so his foundation is inevitably weak. I reckon not only does he lack accomplishments in Array Formation but he probably won't achieve anything remarkable in Alchemy Dao either."
This wasn't to belittle Tian Lin, but to state his actual situation.
Indeed, Tian Lin, who stood within the circle on the right, just stood there foolishly, without any intention to arrange an array.
The Teaching Elder outside the circle was both angry and amused. If Elder Xue weren't there, he would certainly have fiercely scolded Tian Lin.
A quarter of an hour passed, and the number four on the left had already finished array formation. Eventually, Elder Xue said, "Now, begin breaking each other's arrays."
When the prohibitions were lifted, number four on the other side finally saw Tian Lin.
He and Tian Lin exchanged a salutation and switched places.
Putting aside the fact that number four was extremely cautious about Tian Lin's arrangement, Tian Lin now took out a Compass in the left circle.
The Array Compass he held was borrowed from Ju Yunhai; as soon as the Array Compass entered the circle, it started to click rapidly.
But Tian Lin didn't need the Array Compass to guide him; his True Eye was cultivated from the True Eye Fruit found in the tomb of Nine-Life True Man.
The engraving array stones disguised as weeds, mud, and stones couldn't escape his penetrating vision.
Tian Lin circled around, using the Array Compass to demonstrate and mark several positions of the engraving array stones.
His actions immediately earned the admiration of the onlooking students.
Finally, after Tian Lin used his flying sword to clear the marked weeds and stones, number four's array formation was broken as well.
Elder Xue remained expressionless, like an ancient well without waves, but the Teaching Elder beside him looked much more pleased.
"Not too bad; let's rate it as lower high-class."
The monthly exam continued. Elder Xue only left after watching all of Tian Lin's examinations.
Among the five courses Tian Lin took, only Sword Dao received a top-class rating.
As for Alchemy, Array Formation, and talisman making, all earned a lower high-class rating.
Funeral Science, the course most favored by the students, even a new student like Tian Lin managed to receive an intermediate high-class evaluation.
All in all, Tian Lin's three Heterodox courses were rated low-class, and he only had one intermediate and one top-class, far from enough to qualify as a Class C disciple.
This month's exam saw not a single person from Class D successfully enter Class C. On the contrary, some students from Class C performed poorly in the monthly exam and ultimately descended into Class D.
Thus, Class D's twenty-two students at mid-month grew to twenty-five by month's end.
The three new students, similarly to Senior Brother Changxue, had dropped down from Class C.
Everyone knew they were the ones most likely to re-enter Class C, so no one dared to ridicule them.
But while others didn't mock these three, one of them, with a sensitive nature, always felt that the students from Class D were laughing at him, their smiles filled with mockery and derision.
The next day during the break, a student from Class D was slapped by a brother named Zhao Tong, who had come down from Class C.
The reason was that the student, smiling, got too close to Zhao Tong during mealtime—
After being slapped, the student, feeling wronged, wanted to fight Zhao Tong.
But Zhao Tong, worthy of being from Class C, gave the student two more slaps.
It took Senior Brother Changxue's intervention to stop Zhao Tong.
From then on, students from Class D stopped considering befriending the three who fell from Class C.
This led Senior Brother Zhou Jin and junior sister Wang Yanyu, who also came from Class C, to be isolated by students from Class D.
"Speaking of which, it's enough that Class D has Senior Brother Changxue teaching. But why did things change this month, with the Teaching Elder personally teaching in Class D?"
Senior sister Wang Yanyu, in her early twenties, boasted a youthful cultivator's flawless skin.
Her beauty and amiable manner made everyone willing to answer her questions.
But her question was also that of the students from Class D.
The Teaching Elder of Class D did not seem the type to be so diligent.
"Perhaps it has been a long time since Class D produced someone who could advance to Class C. Embarrassed, the Teaching Elder decided to take things to heart and teach personally."
Senior Brother Changxue spoke up with an unnatural expression.
He suspected the Teaching Elder was dissatisfied with him, blaming him for failing to properly teach his junior brothers. Otherwise, the Elder would not forsake his precious time to meddle in Class D's teaching.
Moreover, Senior Brother Changxue regretted that with the Teaching Elder teaching personally, his role as Senior Brother Changxue was redundant.
He would thus lose the reward of sixty top-grade Spirit Stones each month.
His family was quite poor, unlike other Outer Disciples who received one to two hundred top-grade Spirit Stones from their families each month.
"Actually, the Teaching Elder's personal teaching is a big boon to the junior brothers from Class D, and even favorable to you, Senior Brother Xiao."
Wang Yanyu was empathetic and said with a smile:
"Senior Brother, you have delayed yourself for a long time for the sake of teaching. Otherwise, how could it be possible for you with your strength to not reach Class C all year round?"
Senior Brother Changxue thought for a moment, sweeping away the dejection on his face, put down his eating utensils, and gave Wang Yanyu a clasped hand salute: "Thank you, Junior Sister Wang, for the enlightenment. It is indeed time for Xiao to focus on his studies."
He secretly swore to himself that he must reach Class C next month.
Besides Senior Brother Changxue, Zhou Jin, who was new, also took the same vow to reach Class C.
However, Zhou Jin did not stay by Wang Yanyu's side and instead approached where Tian Lin was.
His sword holder placed the food box down, spread a seat mat on the ground, and took out a desk from the Storage Bag to place on the mat.
As fine dishes and wine were laid out on the table, Zhou Jin invited Tian Lin with a smile: "If Junior Brother Tian doesn't mind, how about we drink together?"
Tian Lin had brought his own meal, but compared to others' meals, Tian Lin's were always meager.
He had long considered selling items to get by. Aside from finding ingredients to cultivate the Five Elements Dharma Body, it was also because the ten Spirit Stones distributed by the sect were not enough for him to buy Alchemy Furnaces and engraving array stones, amongst other materials.
Cultivation was always an expensive affair, and Tian Lin did not have a family behind him giving him pocket money every month.
"Thank you for your kind offer, Senior Brother Zhou."
Tian Lin didn't hesitate too much, guessing that Zhou Jin's invitation was mostly regarding the matter of 'Sword Intent'.
He glanced at the dishes on the table, feeling slightly disappointed.
There were several top-grade Divine Skills auxiliary elixirs on the table, but not the Divine Skills for cultivating the Five Elements Dharma Body that Tian Lin hoped for.
"I see that Junior Brother Tian is very frugal in his clothing and daily expenses, could it be that you're short of funds? If you are indeed tight on money, feel free to speak to your Senior Brother."
Zhou Jin raised his cup and made a gesture to clink it with Tian Lin.
After drinking, Tian Lin then spoke to Zhou Jin:
"Senior Brother Zhou must be asking about 'Sword Intent', but unfortunately, although I have cultivated Sword Intent, I truly don't know how to teach others to comprehend it."
But Zhou Jin shook his head and said: "Junior Brother, please don't misunderstand. When I was in Class C, I got along well with Senior Brother Ju Yunhai from Class B. Since you are his friend, there is no need for such formalities between us."
Tian Lin realized and said: "Speaking of which, I haven't seen Senior Brother Ju for some time now."
"Class B is different from us; they don't necessarily have all their classes in the Academy and often go outside to practice what they've learned. So if Junior Brother Tian wants to see him, you'll have to wait until mid or even the end of the month."
As he said this, Zhou Jin suddenly asked Tian Lin in a whisper: "Junior Brother Tian, do you like Junior Sister Wang?"
Hearing him say this, Tian Lin began to doubt his purpose.
Zhou Jin, who looked to be in his twenties and had a handsome appearance, seemed to match Wang Yanyu very well.
Could it be that he regarded him as a rival in love, and that was why he was hosting this meal as a warning?
"Senior Brother, please don't misunderstand, I only respect Senior Sister Wang and it does not involve any romantic feelings."
Tian Lin did not reply in secret but looked again towards Senior Brother Changxue nearby and said candidly:
"I'm just a bit curious about Senior Sister Wang's tea, if I remember correctly, the tea leaves in Senior Sister's cup seem to be a product of the Goddess Sect."
At this, Zhou Jin laughed, and at that moment, Wang Yanyu beside Senior Brother Changxue turned her head to look at Tian Lin.
She nodded at Tian Lin and Zhou Jin with a smile that blossomed like flowers, then whispered a few words to her sword holder.
Her sword holder frowned slightly but still nodded and walked over to Tian Lin and Zhou Jin, handing them each a small packet of tea leaves.
Listening to Wang Yanyu's transmitted message to Zhou Jin and Tian Lin:
"Junior Brother Tian likes Cold Fragrance Leaves, and I happened to have stored a few packs. However, I don't have many Cold Fragrance Leaves, so I can only gift one pack to both Junior Brother Tian and Senior Brother Zhou."
Suddenly receiving such a great gift, Tian Lin quickly stood up to refuse.
But Zhou Jin grabbed Tian Lin's hand and laughed:
"Cold Fragrance Leaf is a good item, one leaf for five Mid-grade Spirit Stones. Junior Brother Tian doesn't need to worry about Senior Sister Wang's loss, this item is rare for us but it's nothing much for Senior Sister Wang."
Tian Lin pondered upon hearing this, while Wang Yanyu on the other side chuckled:
"Senior Brother Zhou is joking. If we talk about wealth, how could I compare to Senior Brother? Senior Brother's family owns a spirit mine; if you wanted some Cold Fragrance Leaf, you could simply buy Brother Zhuang's Divine Lady Tree on Jade Peak."
After thanking Wang Yanyu, Tian Lin sat down holding the pack of Cold Fragrance Leaf in front of him and asked Zhou Jin: "Does our sect also have a Divine Lady Tree?"
But Senior Brother Zhou shook his head: "The Divine Lady Tree in the sect belongs to Brother Zhuang, not the sect. If Junior Brother really likes Cold Fragrance Leaf, you can spend Spirit Stones to buy some to brew tea.
Although delicious and helpful in enhancing Spiritual Sense, it's still too expensive. We don't cultivate the ways of the Goddess Sect, so would we drink it just for a small improvement in Spiritual Sense?"
Tian Lin couldn't stop thinking about the Divine Lady Tree, but he knew that the Goddess Sect only recruited female disciples. Moreover, if a man wanted to enter the Goddess Sect, he must become a son-in-law.
Tian Lin had no intention of becoming a son-in-law, yet he desired the Cold Fragrance Leaf from the Divine Lady Tree.
"Is this Brother Zhuang currently in the sect?"
After Tian Lin asked, Senior Brother Zhou smiled and said:
"Brother Zhuang is a disciple in Class A and will probably enter the inner sect soon. Speaking of which, Brother Zhuang is not much older than you, Junior Brother Tian, but is already renowned near and far as 'Zhai Xingzi'."
Zhai Xingzi?