Chapter 512 - The Mystic Stone (2/2)

Those purple-badged disciples could be considered as the seniors of those senior disciples, who were rarely seen by new disciples. They had their own cultivation caves. Besides, they were taught by their seniors or masters and would not have their lessons with the new disciples. Therefore, their treatment in the Cloud Mist Academy was completely different from that of newcomers.

Sure enough, their strength was strong enough, which far exceeded Xiao Chen’s strength. The strength here was not just limited to a person’s cultivation level.

After a quarter, they finally reached the so-called Long-Gate Pass. There were several towering stone pillars at the pass, and behind the stone pillars, there was an open square that could hold ten thousand people. Beyond these, many magnificent buildings, great places for cultivation, halls, and pavilions were built inside.

When these new disciples saw the scene, great longings for their bright future immediately welled up in their hearts. But to their surprise, next to these stone pillars, three persons with green badges blocked their way. The two men and the woman all looked ice-cold. Like door-gods, they stood in the way that everyone had to pass. On the square behind the stone pillars, many green-badged senior disciples were standing there, watching the fun.

Not knowing what had happened, these new disciples looked at each other with concern and turned to look at the four Senior Brothers who had shown them the way earlier. However, as the four Senior Brothers saw the three people by the stone pillars, they all silently retreated aside.

Xiao Chen, Chu Qi, Jiang Qianqian, and Yumu Shisan walked at the forefront. Thus, Xiao Chen could feel the cultivation of these three people next to the stone pillars. They all had actually reached the initial stage of the Nirvana Realm. Moreover, their cultivation was very pure and did not appear to be superficial. Knowing this, Xiao Chen could not help exclaiming with surprise, “This Cloud Mist Academy is indeed full of hidden talents, which is incomparable to organizations in the outside world.”

“Senior Sister, why don’t you let us go in there?” Xiao Chen, as a leader of the new disciples, felt obliged to ask for the reason.

“I’m Bai Ling,” a woman who carried a long green sword on her back said flatly. She then turned to look at the four senior disciples who were responsible for the arrival of the new disciples. Frowned slightly, she asked, “Haven’t you told them the rule?”

“Well…” The senior disciple, who had always been very friendly to the newcomers, wanted to say something, but in the end, he lowered his head without uttering another word. At this moment, those new disciples were even more surprised. “Are there any other rules?”

Xiao Chen frowned, thinking, “I’m afraid that this Long-Gate Pass is the last barrier that the four senior disciples had mysteriously talked about yesterday.” He then asked, “We are all newcomers of this year. If you have any rules, you can just tell us.”

Bai Ling looked at him. She seemed to have realized that Xiao Chen was different from the rest of the new disciples. Frowning, she said, “Each one of you should give me three Mystic Stones. You’ll have to do that every month from now on.” The moment she finished speaking, the two senior Nirvana Realm disciples behind her also said indifferently, “You must give us the equal number of Mystic Stones.”

After hearing this, the newcomers looked at each other in dismay. “We can only receive ten Mystic Stones per mouth. If each of them gets three stones, will there only be one left for each of us? Besides, do we really have to pay them every month in the following months?” The crowd knew that the four Senior Brothers who welcomed them could no longer protect them now, so they had no choice but to turn to look at Xiao Chen and the other few people.

Xiao Chen frowned a little and asked, “Why? Since we are all disciples of the Cloud Mist Academy, you should give us a reason for that first.” In fact, he wanted to say that they could not always be bullied only because they were newcomers. But in the end, he swallowed these words.

“Because this is the rule. When we just came here, we also had to hand over the Mystic Stones to our Senior Brothers and Sisters every month. Up until now, we still have to give them the Mystic Stones,” Bai Ling said in a flat voice as if she took the rule for granted and thought that there was nothing strange about it.

“Then, I have a question. Is it a rule set by the Cloud Mist Academy?” Xiao Chen gazed at her, asking with a tone that was neither humble nor pushy.

However, as his voice fell, the atmosphere inside and outside the square suddenly became rather tense. Even the four Senior Brothers’ faces darkened, for they feared something terrible would happen.

Obviously, this was not the rule of the Cloud Mist Academy. Though everyone knew it in their hearts, they would not say it out like Xiao Chen. In fact, this unwritten rule formed a long time ago. They did not know when this rule was put into effect at first. The masters of the Cloud Mist Academy and even the three Perfected Immortals knew about it, but they would not interfere with the matters between the disciples.

At the very beginning, it had been made clear that the Cloud Mist Academy was never a shelter, nor was it a greenhouse for cultivating people as delicate as flowers. In the Cloud Mist Academy, only the strong would be respected, and most of the time, it was very cruel here. People in the Cloud Mist Academy believed that the weak were destined to be stepped on. Nevertheless, just because of this atmosphere of competition, people in the academy tried their best to climb up, even being willing to risking their lives to make themselves stronger.

Therefore, those who graduated from the Cloud Mist Academy were all experts that were fully capable of becoming great leaders. They were not those tender flowers that would wither under the wind and rain after leaving the greenhouse. In contrast, many disciples of the Cultivators’ sects in the Violet Manor could not defeat those from the Devils’ sects once they left their safety zone, just like those withered flowers that had left their greenhouses.

It could be said that the Cloud Mist Academy was a scaled-down Wastelands. The strength-oriented Wastelands didn’t make such a huge distinction between the good and evil like the Violet Manor, in which people always liked presenting facts and reasoning things out. In the Wastelands, whoever had the greater strength would be the master of the truth. Of course, the strength here didn’t just refer to a person’s cultivation.

Xiao Chen looked at the three senior Nirvana Realm disciples and finally figured out what was going on. When he, the three princes, and the others just entered the Sunset Peak of the Three Pure Sect, they were also asked to hand over Spirit Stones to Ye Fei and the other senior disciples. The matter that was happening now was the same story.

However, Xiao Chen would never make compromises at some certain things. Once he did that, he knew he would have to make concessions on many more things for the rest of his life. In the past, he didn’t give in. Now, he wouldn’t yield, either.

Therefore, Xiao Chen fixed his eyes on the three senior disciples before him and said with a determined look, “I’m sorry. But since it’s not an expressly agreed rule of the Cloud Mist Academy, we won’t hand over three Mystic Stones now and each of the following months.”