"Junior Sister, how is your cultivation progress?" Ouyang Tianyun asked casually.
"Peak of the Lin Dan stage. I can enter the Hua Xu stage anytime, but I haven't decided to do so yet. So, I sealed my cultivation and will wait for a few days before deciding." Zhu Yanyi smiled.
Hearing the term "Hua Xu," Ouyang Tianyun looked at Zhu Yanyi with a strange expression. "Tell the truth, Little Fifteen. Are you just trying to scare us?"
"Scare you? Really not." Zhu Yanyi denied it.
"Most students in our Sage Academy are at the Golden Core stage. Only Senior Brother is better, at the Nascent Soul stage. And most new entrants are at the Foundation Establishment stage. Yet you are near Hua Xu. Doesn't this mean your combat power will be the highest in the academy?" Ouyang Tianyun asked with a smile.
Zhu Yanyi chuckled lightly. "My cultivation path is different from yours. I started from internal strength, so I didn't face as many difficulties. Moreover, I focus on heart cultivation, so I have no heart demons or mental knots. When the time comes, I advance naturally. It is truly very simple. Actually, it’s fine now. I still have insights from time to time. I’m just worried it won’t be so easy after entering Hua Xu."
Ouyang Tianyun understood. Zhu Yanyi’s rapid progress was inevitable because she had no heart demons. However, lacking heart demons had its price. Each advancement required new insights, unlike their constant cultivation. These insights depended on opportunities. Without them, one’s cultivation might stagnate for centuries.
"Heart cultivation has many benefits, but also many difficulties," Ouyang Tianyun sighed.
"Regardless, since I chose heart cultivation, I have no intention of changing. Besides, cultivation itself is an act against heaven. It is impossible to cultivate without difficulties," Zhu Yanyi smiled. "Moreover, my insights are linked to my experiences outside. So, when there is a chance, I will go out and see the world. Any interaction with others can bring different insights. After all, I am young and in no rush."
Everyone present agreed. Among them, only Zhu Yanyi was twenty-two years old, making her the youngest by far.
"By the way, I heard there will be a competition among the five schools in three months, right?" Mi Xiao looked at Ouyang Tianyun. "Third Senior Brother, you are always in the school. Tell us about this five-school competition."
Ouyang Tianyun nodded. The dishes had just arrived. "Let’s eat and talk."
Everyone didn’t hesitate. They raised their tea cups as if drinking wine, then began eating. After a few bites, Ouyang Tianyun said, "The five-school competition is divided into major, medium, and minor competitions. The major one happens every fifty years, the medium every twenty years, and the minor every ten years. The one in three months is a minor competition. It is mainly for mutual probing, to see if other schools have any new geniuses."
"I remember I never participated in a minor competition. I haven’t even heard of it," Mi Xiao said, looking puzzled. "I’ve been in the academy for so many years, how could I not know about this?"
Ouyang Tianyun glanced at Mi Xiao. "When have you ever cared about these things? Except for eating. I remember the last time you participated was the major competition every fifty years, held at Jingmei Girls’ School. You went there just to eat, and it was quite a hassle. However, the medium and minor competitions are smaller in scale, so people didn’t pay much attention. Plus, some incidents happened in previous years, so the medium and minor competitions were canceled a few times. But this time, it won’t be canceled. All five schools have agreed that the participants in this minor competition should mostly be newcomers. Otherwise, do you think why the teachers in the academy are so eager to find students recently? It’s because we have too few freshmen."
So that was the reason. Zhu Yanyi listened silently, feeling a bit speechless. Unless absolutely necessary, the Sage Academy probably wouldn’t recruit students. "Then why is there a rumor outside that the Sage Academy is declining? That there used to be many students, but now there are fewer and fewer?" Zhu Yanyi was curious about this rumor.
"That is also true. There were indeed many students before, but they either ascended or stayed in the academy as teachers. Anyway, there are very few new students, leading to the current situation," Ouyang Tianyun sighed. "To be honest, it’s not our academy’s fault. The aptitude of current students is what it is. Our academy doesn’t like to fill spots with students of average aptitude, so we simply don’t recruit them. Besides, our academy is famous for medicine. Although we learn other things, medicine is our specialty. Learning medicine is more difficult than learning other skills, and talent is very important."
This point didn’t need Ouyang Tianyun to explain specially. Everyone there had experienced it.
Those who could enter the Sage Academy were rare talents in medicine. But their talent was also earned through hard work. Only those who had worked hard understood how difficult it was to enter the Sage Academy today.
Although Zhu Yanyi had once competed against twenty opponents and seemed relaxed, one mistake could mean losing everything. Zhu Yanyi could be so relaxed because she had solid medical skills, which she had learned through hard work. Whether in the Ruyi Space or in reality, she had worked hard to achieve her current results.
Therefore, she felt deeply about everything in front of her.
Zhu Yanyi sighed slightly, then said, "Learning medicine is very difficult, especially traditional medicine. Inheritance and refinement require both talent and sweat. What others see as easy, we don’t know how much we have sacrificed."
"Yes," Gu Jun also sighed. "So the number of students in our academy decreases year by year. It’s okay now; at least a few more students have joined in recent years. You are already the fifteenth. I heard two more will arrive in a few days. But regardless, these are doctors with talent and temperament whom we recruited after spending a lot of time. Therefore, we can no longer demand quantity."
Everyone fell silent. The Sage Academy’s policy of "rather lack than accept inferior" might seem unkind to others, but Zhu Yanyi believed this was the best approach.
"Fortunately, we are here now. Let’s take it slowly," Zhu Yanyi said with a smile.
Everyone laughed.
The meal didn’t last long, but it brought everyone closer.
"By the way, I noticed that besides us, there are some ordinary people as guests on this street, right?" Zhu Yanyi changed the topic.