Chapter 150 (2/2)

The female professor did not turn around, but answered calmly, ”It is true.”

Ning Que raised his palm to his forehead and smiled, ”Is it too late to regret?”

The female professor answered with a tilt to her mouth, ”I already gave you a chance.”

Thoughts, perseverance, ego, ambition, sword.

The female professor's words were like layers of gauze. He could not decipher the true meaning of her words. However, Ning Que did understand some things somewhat. The female professor must have seen his nature if she had said something like that to him. Ever since he fled Chang'an when he was four, Ning Que had relied on his mental strength to sustain him and he was able to gradually prosper from it.

As he thought about what Chen Pipi had said solemnly about ”staying true to himself”, and ”doing the extreme”, Ning Que realized that what the female professor had said was just about the same. As he ruminated over it, he could guess what the exam ahead of him would be about even though he did not know how he would be tested on.

”This should be something I am good at.”

Ning Que fisted his hand tightly and walked through the lake and quiet lanes before he reached the front of the Academy which was bustling with activity.

It was not clear when so many people had turned up before the Academy. The professors and doctors who usually spent their time studying their own topics had all moved various seats outside. They held hot cups of teas while discussing fervently what will happen on the Second floor today. Some had even placed bets.

The students of the Academy had gathered even earlier today. While most of them did not even dare think of entering the Second floor, no one wanted to miss an event like this. They had gathered around all six students from the course of magic skills and tried to encourage them. Xie Chengyun from the South Jin Kingdom was the focus of this attention.

It was almost noon.

The Emperor of Tang, Lee Peiyan, and the princess, Lee Yu walked towards the Academy to the ritual music. Several court officials emerged from the meadow followed by envoys from various countries as well as several Taoists from the West-Hill Divine Palace.

The trees by the path down the middle of the meadow had already blossomed. The hues of pink were beautiful against the skies. The peach trees right in front of the front gates of the Academy was at its peak and it waved in the light spring breeze.

A young man in dark robes walked down the path. The beauty of the blossoming flowers dimmed beside his beautiful face. This man was Prince Long Qing from the Yan Kingdom.

All the officials under West-Hill's Yutian Court's a.s.sistant Director, Mo Li, stood up along with the envoys from various countries. The students who were just bustling with noise moments ago went silent. Even the professors who were used to the opening ceremony of the Second floor could not help but sigh in admiration at the young prince walking beneath sunlight and blossoming flowers.

Ning Que watched the scene from a corner away from the crowd. Even after that day, no one would take an ordinary Academy student like him as an opponent of Prince Long Qing.

A professor from the Academy walked over.

Upon the entrance of the professor, everyone including the prince, princess and various other important figures from the West-Hill Divine Palace rose and bowed. This professor was a revered Divine Talisman Master who had been cultivating in the Academy. Everyone respected him, and furthermore, he was presiding over the opening ceremony of the Academy's Second floor.

”Only one will enter the Second floor today.”

The professor said to the ma.s.ses before him. It was unknown what talisman he had used, but his voice, which was musky with age, rang clearly but not overly loud in everyone's ears.

”The exam is simple.”

He pointed at the hill covered in mists behind the Academy and said, ”There is a path winding around the mountain. Whoever who wishes to enter the second floor should climb up the mountain. You may enter the Second floor if you reach the peak. If n.o.body can reach it, the person who reaches the highest spot will win.”

Are they judging one's ability to enter the Second floor of the Academy by mountain climbing?

The people gathered in front of the Academy had looks of bewilderment on their faces. They thought that this was the most ludicrous method to determine one's ability to enter the Second floor. But Prince Lee Peiyan and priest Moli remained stoic. They have seen the opening ceremonies of previous years and knew that while the Academy liked to play at being mysterious, they would never joke about it.

Everyone looked at the large mountain behind the Academy. The sun had already risen to the peak and its rays were scorching. However, it did nothing to dispel the mist on the mountain and no one could make out the features of the mountains clearly. They could only see that there was indeed a steep path beneath the fog.

It was at this point in time when many students suddenly thought that of the large mountain right behind the Academy. They had never paid much mind to it because it was so silent it was as if it did not exist.

The mountain was there. It had always been there. If so, why did they have to go see it now especially?

The path to the mountain laid behind the quiet alley of the Academy. It was a distance away from the fence near the Second floor. One could clearly see the foot of the mountain and the somewhat straight path up the mountain if they stood on the pavement near the fence.

All was silent. n.o.body spoke.

As the seconds ticked by, no one made a move towards the mountain.

”It seems that I shall make the first move.”

A voice suddenly rang in the tense silence. It was too much surprise that the person who would lead the move towards the Second floor was not a student of the Academy or the devout disciple of the Haotian Taoism, Prince Long Qing, but a young monk.

The monk was about twenty. He was quite handsome and had on tattered but clean monk robes. He also wore a pair of straw slippers that were frayed. It looked as if he had walked through mountains and seas in them, but if you looked closely; his feet were completely clean with no trace of mud at all.

They were white and clean, like lotus flowers.

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