Zhu Yanyi made a gesture with her fingers, showing the number seventeen. A hint of helplessness appeared on her face. "The admission standards for the academy are strict. It is truly hard to find suitable students. The Dean refuses to accept anyone who doesn't meet the criteria. So, we have fewer students. With fewer students, it is easier to accommodate everyone. You know, our biggest trait is that we simply cannot miss out on good food."
"Exactly," Ouyang Tianyun said, stirring various vegetables in the pan. "As cultivators, we have long lives. But these years are earned through our cultivation. So, we must cherish every single day."
Zhu Yanyi nodded in agreement. "Especially for us, as healers. We witness more life and death than anyone else. We can ignore the arrival of death, but we cannot refuse it. Unless one day we ascend to become gods or immortals.
But even gods and immortals, after countless long years, will feel tired. Eventually, they might not want such long lives anymore. They will turn into chaos and nothingness to protect all living beings. However, this contradicts our philosophy as healers.
As healers, we must cherish life and every day we are alive. Therefore, the most important thing is to plan each day well, so we can live happier lives every day."
"So, we need delicious food," Mi Xiao chimed in with a smile. "Everyone has different pursuits, but we all share one common wish: to enjoy good food.
This is different from just filling our stomachs. For people like us, we wouldn't die even if we didn't eat. But why should we refuse good food just because we won't die without it? Enjoying food is a way to enjoy life."
"So, you came here to enjoy life?" Sikong Xuran seemed to understand.
"More or less. Although we will fight evil demons every day in the future, and we know it might be dangerous, that doesn't conflict with enjoying food. To live is to make oneself happy," Ouyang Tianyun laughed.
"That is exactly why I chose to become a culinary cultivator. Every time I see my senior brothers and sisters showing happy expressions after eating my food, I feel very happy."
Sikong Xuran was slightly stunned. "So, no matter the environment, making oneself happy is the most important thing?"
"Yes! Senior Brother is indeed a Senior Brother. He understood our words right away," Gu Jun said with a grin from the side.
Sikong Xuran felt as if his heart had suddenly opened up. He sat down quickly. Spiritual energy around him rushed into his body continuously.
"Senior Brother Sikong is about to break through!" Everyone was slightly stunned. Yi Yunfei and others looked at each other in confusion. Had they said something so important that it triggered a breakthrough?
However, this was not the time to worry about that. The most important thing was to protect Sikong Xuran and ensure his breakthrough was safe.
Yi Yunfei made a hand gesture. Everyone stood around Sikong Xuran with high morale. Wen Ziyuan and his group did the same.
Wen Ziyuan hadn't expected his leader to break through at this moment. Seeing Yi Yunfei's actions, he nodded in satisfaction. He didn't mind having members with lower cultivation levels; he feared those who were not clear-minded. Looking at the ten new members, they seemed fine. At least, they were not the kind of people who would betray their brothers behind their backs.
Of course, students from the Sage Academy only sacrificed for their brothers; betrayal had never occurred.
In the area, except for Ouyang Tianyun and Zhu Yanyi who were busy preparing food, everyone carefully watched the surroundings to ensure no one disturbed Sikong Xuran's breakthrough.
The sudden surge of spiritual energy around Sikong Xuran naturally attracted the attention of Elder Chen, who was talking with Elder Wu. Elder Chen hurried over. Seeing the situation, he felt slightly relieved and said to Elder Wu, "These children are really good."
Elder Wu smiled proudly. "These children are naturally good. Think about it, they confronted evil demons as soon as they arrived. Could those who protect students from other academies be bad?"
Elder Chen looked at Sikong Xuran, who was sitting in meditation, and confirmed that things were going smoothly for now. He then said to Elder Wu, "You are handling the evil demons. The people from the other four academies haven't taken action."
"No. They were already shocked by this group of kids and girls below.
You don't know, these guys have different personalities, but they share one common hobby: laziness. Generally, if they can lie down, they don't want to sit. If they can walk, they don't want to run.
Not just them, but the seven left in the academy have the same temperament. But strangely, because of this laziness, they always find quick ways to solve problems.
For example, when facing those evil demons, I was originally worried about their safety. But instead of fighting directly and wasting energy, they chose to use medicine. If it hadn't gotten dark, I think they would have used medicine on the entire evil demon base."
Elder Wu didn't know why these children had become like this, but he couldn't deny that such actions could reduce harm.
"They actually used medicine in battle?" Elder Chen knew his academy was famous for medicine, so using medicine wasn't surprising. But he hadn't expected them to use it on the battlefield.
Elder Wu laughed. "That's not all."
She continued, "Didn't the five academies hold a small competition recently? Our academy won. The problem is, others could only watch us win helplessly. Because our children won fairly and in a very interesting way."
She then explained the rock-paper-scissors match on the field. Elder Chen was left dumbfounded. It had been many years since she had encountered such interesting students.
Elder Chen looked at Elder Wu. "Do you plan to stay here for a long time, or return after a while?"
"I will stay here. Later, some elders here can go back to rest. Also, Dean Guan Feng from Shangmo Academy might return. However, during this period, it is best to let the Shangmo Academy experience the battle with evil demons," Elder Wu suggested.
"Why?" Elder Chen asked curiously.
Elder Wu said, "You don't know what the Shangmo Plane and Jingmei Plane have become like. I won't say much. Just look at the students from those academies."
"Actually, I observed them just now," Elder Chen said slowly. "I felt that the students from Shangmo Academy seemed unclear in their minds. And the students from Jingmei Girls' School seemed to have an extra charm."