The other students’ testing did not last nearly as long nor were they as fierce as when Wu Jian fought Yu Chenguang. Yong Hai had done decently well in his sparring bout. He had seemed rather determined. Wu Jian wondered if maybe seeing his spar had lit a fire under his bum. The young master of the Yong Family seemed like the kind of person who hated losing.

Once every person had been tested with a sparring match, the instructors and Yu Chenguang had congratulated them.

“You have all done well. Do not worry. From here on out, the Shang Kingdom Imperial Academy will ensure that you gain the strength to defend your family and your nation.” He paused here. “Now, look at your tablets. The number on them should have changed.”

Wu Jian and everyone else glanced at their tablets to find that, indeed, the number was now different. His said 2 325. He looked back up just as Yu Chenguang began explaining.

“That number is your room number. The servants here will direct all of you to where you will be staying.”

At those words, almost a dozen servants poured into the testing hall.

“What number did you get?” asked Ding Hong.

“Two, three two five,” said Wu Jian.

“Looks like we’ll be in the same area then.” Ding Hong grinned as he showed Wu Jian his tablet, which read 2 205. The man then turned to his childhood friend. “What about you?”

“Three, four five eight,” Yai Bazhu said.

“Guess that means you’re gonna be in a different building entirely,” Ding Hong looked sad for a moment, then smiled. “Well, we’ll still see each other plenty.”

“Mmm.”

Wu Jian soon found out the numbers represented the building they were living in, the floor, and the door. Wu Jian was in the second pagoda on the third floor in room twenty-five.

The living spaces for Outer Sect Disciples consisted of four large pagodas with ten floors. The Imperial Shang Academy was shaped like a series of rings; the outer court was the outermost ring, and the pagodas were each located at one of the four cardinal directions. Interspersed between the pagodas were training halls, lecture halls, zen gardens, cultivation libraries, and outdoor sparring grounds. It was a lot like the Wu Clan compound but ten or even twenty times larger.

Wu Jian and Ding Hong parted ways with Bai Yazhu, then with each other. Wu Jian looked at the room he had been granted. It was not large, but he wouldn’t say it was small either. It had a bed, a desk, and a closet. There was no restroom. They had been shown the communal restrooms and showers earlier.

Well, I’m here. What should I do now?

There was a hanfu on the bed. It was the martial outfit of the Shang Kingdom Imperial Academy, which everyone was supposed to wear. White and green, they were the mark of an Outer Court Disciple. White and purple were Inner Court Disciples, and white and red were Core Disciples. Wu JIan stripped down and put the hanfu on.

Yu Chenguang said there would be an important seminar for new disciples later that evening, but they were free to wander until then. That meant he had a lot of time to kill.

Should I go see Jingshu? She did say to go see her once I was settled in.

Wu Jian decided to go and see her. He closed the door behind him, pressed his tablet against the lock, and channeled his chi. There was a soft click. He nodded and headed out of the pagoda.

It was still midday. The testing had been done early in the morning and lasted until about noon. It was probably a little past lunch. He thought about grabbing a bite to eat on his way to see Hou Jingshu, but decided against it. They could always eat together.

The outer court was a beautiful place, filled with meandering paths and flowers that led to the various buildings. Several students wandered around. Some were alone and some in groups. He realized he didn’t know where anything was and thought about asking for directions, but he decided against it. Wu Jian was sure he could find his own way.

It took some time. However, after what felt like an hour of walking, he eventually found himself standing before a gate guarded by a pair of Asura Realm cultivators. Both were at the fourth subrealm. That made them decently powerful. They stopped Wu Jian before he could enter.

“Halt! Outer Court Disciples are not allowed past this point,” said one of them.

“I have permission,” said Wu Jian, summoning the medallion Hou Jingshu had given him and showing it to the pair. The guards stiffened. “I can go in if I have this, right?”

“Y-yes, you can! Our apologies. We had not realized you knew one of our Core Disciples. Please, head on in.”

“You’re new here, right? I haven’t seen your face before. You probably don’t know where the Core Disciples are. It’s close to the Inner Court, but they have their own separate area. Once you’re past this gate, keep heading straight until you reach the fountain, then go left. The Core Disciples complex will be there.”

“Thank you.”

He walked through the gate. The Inner Courtyard didn’t look much different from the Outer Courtyard, but he did notice the quality of the air had changed. It felt a lot more austere. The chi within the air was also more potent, which would make it easier for someone to cultivate. The Shang Kingdom Imperial Academy might treat all their disciples fairly, but they still clearly recognized the importance of cultivating talent.

One immediate difference that he noticed upon entering was the hanfu everyone wore. His had green lining, while everyone here had purple lining. He received several looks when he walked by a couple of students. None of them stopped him, but the curiosity in their stares couldn’t be denied.

He soon reached the fountain the man had mentioned. A lot of students were milling about here. Perhaps they were on break? A few were eating with friends. There were a number of tables lining the grounds. This place looked similar to a park.

A lot of people stopped what they were doing when they saw him, and some people began whispering.

“Those are the robes of an Outer Court Disciple.”

“I wonder what an Outer Court Disciple is doing here?”

“What I want to know is which senior let him in. He wouldn’t be able to slip past the guards without a medallion.”

“So he knows one of the Core Disciples? But which one?”

Wu Jian briefly examined the fountain, which depicted a carp entering a gate. He could only tell it was a fish because of the tail end. The half that was on the other side of the gate had shifted into a dragon.

In ancient legends, The Dragon Gate was located at the top of a waterfall cascading from a legendary mountain. The legend stated that while many carp swim upstream against the river’s current, few are capable or brave enough for the final leap over the waterfall. If a carp successfully made the jump, it transformed into a powerful dragon. The legend was so famous in the Shang Kingdom that the phrase “a cultivator’s ascension is like a carp attempting to leap the Dragon Gate” became commonplace.

He wondered if other countries had a similar phrase.

“You there. You’re an Outer Court Disciple, right?”

Wu Jian turned around to find a young man with fair skin, dark hair with a blue tint, and light gray eyes. His hair was shorter than normal. Most men kept their hair long and tied it behind them in a ponytail. Even Wu Jian’s hair went down past his shoulders. Still, the style seemed to compliment the young man’s features. While everyone else around them wore hanfu with purple lining, his were red.

The colors of a Core Disciple.

“I am,” Wu Jian answered politely.

The young man furrowed his brow when he saw the mask, but then shrugged. “I assume you entered with permission, so you must have a medallion. Only Core Disciples can hand those out. Would you like me to escort you to the Core Disciple’s complex? It can be easy to get lost here.”

Wu Jian briefly considered declining the man but thought better of it. He placed his right fist in the palm of his left hand and bowed.

“I would appreciate your guidance… senior…?”

“Yu Qiang.”

“Yu… you wouldn’t happen to be related to Yu Chenguang, would you?”

“So you noticed. He’s my uncle.”

“Hmmm. That makes sense. I didn’t think he’d be your father. I heard he only had a daughter. Ahem. In either event, you have my gratitude.”

Yu Qiang grinned. “It’s no trouble. I also wanted to talk to you anyway.”

“You did?”

Yu Qiang began walking, so Wu Jian turned and followed the man. They were heading in the direction that the guard had told him to.

“Of course,” Yu Qiang said. “No one here can sense your cultivation because it’s so high, but I can. It’s pretty unheard of for someone at the Seventh Subrealm of the Asura Realm to be an Outer Court Disciple.”

“Ah. Yeah, I can see why you’d be curious.”

Yu Qiang was at the Eighth Subrealm of the Asura Realm, meaning he was probably the strongest person at this academy.

Wu Jian wondered what he should tell this man. He decided to give him a very basic but honest description of who he was. He did not tell the man about his clan, but he did say that he had left the Shang Kingdom almost a year ago and had been traveling to acquire strength.

“So you were a rogue cultivator until now?” he asked.

“More or less.”

“What convinced you to come here?”

“Jing… Ahem. I met Her Highness during my travels. We met inside of the White Tiger Sect Ruins and decided to team up. After braving the dangers of the ruins together, she asked me if I would follow her to the Shang Kingdom. I had no reason to refuse. I might have left the nation, but it is still my home.”

“So… the person you’re here to see is Her Highness?”

“Yes.”

A brief flash of something crossed the young man’s face, but it was gone quickly--just not quickly enough that Wu Jian would miss it.

“Are you jealous?” he asked.

Yu Qiang smiled helplessly. “I would be lying if I said I wasn’t. I’ve known Her Highness for a very long time and made several attempts to get closer to her… but I was rebuffed every time. I can’t say it feels good to learn that a man she met in some ruins is closer to her than me.”

Those words made Wu Jian pause, but then he nodded slightly. “Well, I guess I can see where you’re coming from.”

Wu Jian would feel the same way if he were in Yu Qiang’s place. Just imagining another man getting close to Hou Jingshu made him sick to his stomach.

There were slight differences, of course. Wu Jian was officially Hou Jingshu’s fiance, and they had been close for several years before now… but no one else knew that. As far as the world was concerned, Wu Jian was dead.

They soon entered a compound shaped in the classical architecture of Shang Kingdom noble families. It was a fairly wide compound with numerous buildings--he counted twenty in total. The buildings along the edges belonged to the Core Disciples. The ones in the center were a training hall, dining hall, library, and the massive pagoda standing in the middle was a Chi Gathering Pagoda like the one Wu Jian had seen inside of the Zhou Clan’s compound back in Zahn City.

“Knowing Her Highness, she is probably at either the library or training hall during this time,” said Yu Qiang.

“She’s at the training hall,” Wu Jian said quickly.

Yu Qiang raised an eyebrow. “You’re pretty certain.”

Wu Jian smiled but said nothing, causing the young man to shrug and lead him toward the training hall.

There were very few people walking around. While the Inner Courtyard consisted of over a hundred disciples, there were only thirteen Core Disciples, and many of them were very diligent about their cultivation.

They made it to the training hall without anyone stopping them and discovered that practically all the Core Disciples were already inside. A crowd had gathered near one of several sparring mats. Wu Jian didn’t need to ask anyone why this was.

Standing on the mat, tossing her fellow disciple around like a ragdoll, was none other than Hou Jingshu.