The principal’s office.

Every day, Mr Lu would recline on a chaise lounge for some rest after he was done with his cultivation.

A young servant gingerly entered the room and whispered something in Mr Lu’s ear.

Grand Secretary Fang and Priest Wu were here together? Weren’t those two fighting all the time? He wondered what the fight was about this time.

Rubbing his forehead, Mr Lu smiled wryly. It seemed that he wasn’t going to get that rest this evening after all.

“Please show them in.” Mr Lu gave a wave of his hand.

Before long, Grand Secretary Fang and Priest Wu walked in together.

“Old Lu, there you are. Good.” Grand Secretary Fang greeted the president with those words.

Priest Wu looked delighted as well. “Hahaha, Old Lu. Here, sit with me and let’s talk.”

“Huh?”

Mr Lu found this very unusual.

Weren’t these two at each other’s throats all the time? Especially the proud Grand Secretary Fang, who looked down on Priest Wu for not being professionally trained.

Whereas Priest Wu had a short temper and despised those that thought highly of themselves.

Hence, these two people would start a cock fight whenever they ran into each other, which was such a pain in the neck… However, they didn’t seem to be fighting at all today.

Mr Lu looked at the two of them in bewilderment.

Priest Wu pulled Mr Lu near, then sat the latter down at the table. “There, Old Lu. Take a seat first.”

That gave Mr Lu the creeps.

On the other side, Grand Secretary Fang laid a piece of paper in front of him and rubbed an ink stick on an inkstone himself.

Mr Lu was astonished!

Was this an illusion?

Grand Secretary Fang was such a proud figure that his most common posture was his hands crossed behind his back and his chin raised.Read more chapter on our vipnovel.com

Even Mr Lu himself wasn’t treated much differently from everyone else.

But now —

The old man had laid out a piece of paper for him?

And he was even preparing the ink?

What was more —

Grand Secretary Fang even dipped the writing brush in the ink, then handed it to Mr Lu.

Mr Lu didn’t know how to react. “What on earth is going on here?”

He was so flustered.

Priest Wu said, “We ran into a girl recently and she has an amazing gift for formations. But cultivation-wise… she’s a little bit behind… and she wants to become a student of Imperial College.”

Mr Lu gave him a wry smile. “Let her apply for the formation department, then.” He didn’t understand what was bothering these two.

Priest Wu and Grand Secretary Fang both gave Mr Lu woeful looks.

“What?” Those expressions made Mr Lu rather jumpy.

Priest Wu said with a long face, “We wouldn’t have come here if she could apply for the formation department.”

Grand Secretary Fang sighed. “To be honest, what more can we teach her there?”

Priest Wu sighed along with him. “The girl is as good as either of us in formations. How are we supposed to teach her when she gets in?”

Mr Lu’s eyes lit up. They had found such a promising student? He was instantly intrigued.

For Priest Wu and Grand Secretary Fang had never recommended anyone before. This time, however, they couldn’t stop praising this girl and were doing things that were so out of character for them.

Mr Lu was so curious.

“And?”

“The girl wants to get into the martial arts department.” Both Priest Wu and Grand Secretary Fang gave Mr Lu woeful looks.

“Take the exam, then.”

Mr Lu shrugged. “What’s wrong with that? If she passes the exam, she can get in.”

Priest Wu and Grand Secretary Fang exchanged looks and Priest Wu said in the end, “The girl wanted to, but —”

“But what?”

“But she’s not as strong in all the subjects. Her cultivation level… is a little…”

“Not as strong? You mean that she hasn’t reached Level 9 yet?”

“Yes —”

“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Mr Lu waved his hand matter-of-factly. “Real talent is hard to come by. Don’t we have an exemption rule here in Imperial College? As long as three members of the education board —”

He stopped abruptly and looked from Grand Secretary Fang to Priest Wu.

And those two nodded back at him.

Mr Lu said, “That’s why you’ve been fawning on me the whole time. You’re here for that letter.”

Priest Wu chuckled. “Brother Lu, Boss Lu, it’s like you said. She has real talent and that’s so hard to come by.”

“You also said she’s not as strong in all subjects.” Mr Lu was disgruntled. “Exactly how weak is she in the other subjects that you two have to go this far?”

Mr Lu couldn’t understand. Both old men were valuable assets of the empire. One was usually arrogant and the other irascible, and both were equally stubborn. It was amazing to see them work as a team to ingratiate themselves with Mr Lu.

“Well —” Both old men were embarrassed to bring up the subject and looked at one another.

Mr Lu rubbed his chin. “If her performance is so lopsided and her formation skills so amazing, it has to be her cultivation level that’s not as advanced… How bad? Level 9?”

Both old men shook their heads.

“Level 8?”

They shook their heads again.

“Level 7?”

Still shaking.

“Level 6?” The look on Mr Lu’s face began to change.

Both old men remained silent.

“Don’t tell me that she’s only a Level 5!” Mr Lu jumped to his feet.

That wasn’t lopsided, but was completely…

“No…” Priest Wu said gingerly after glancing at Mr Lu.

Mr Lu asked, “So what level is she?”

He had lost all hope after hearing that she wasn’t even a Level 5.

“She has none…” Grand Secretary Fang scratched his head awkwardly.

“Pfft —”

Mr Lu burst into laughter. “Hahaha, you two are really… Have you come all this way just to tell me a joke? None? That makes her an ordinary non-cultivator. You —”

Seeing the looks on Grand Secretary Fang and Priest Wu’s faces, Mr Lu stopped short. “You… you’re telling the truth?”

Grand Secretary Fang and Priest Wu smiled at him in embarrassment.

Mr Lu made a last-ditch attempt. “If her spiritual essence hasn’t been activated…”

Priest Wu smiled bitterly. “To be more precise, the girl… lost all her cultivation ability. She has no spiritual essence at all.”

Mr Lu was speechless.

To have lost her cultivation ability was worse than to have unactivated spiritual essence.

He sat back down, leaned back in his chair, and became very quiet.

He sat up all of a sudden, stared at the other two, and said in a solemn tone, “You do realize that spiritual essence is fundamental to formations? Without it, the girl won’t be able to get too far in the study of formations…”

Priest Wu and Grand Secretary Fang exchanged looks and both smiled bitterly.

“Old Lu, how much further do you want her formation skills to go?”

“At her current level, the things she has shown us are already as advanced as what we can do.”

And these two old men were top formation masters in all of the empire.

Mr Lu rubbed his chin. “It’s not that I don’t believe you… but at least, I need to see her first.”