Chapter Thirty-Four: Registration Teacher Li Haizhu’s Shock
The Outer Courtyard’s Divine Ability Pavilion at Yunhai Academy consists of four floors. The first floor displays various cultivation techniques, all of which are of the Yellow-rank. The upper three floors contain divine abilities. Divine abilities are essentially martial techniques; employing them allows a martial artist to push their power to its absolute limit. Some powerful divine abilities can even enable low-level martial artists to defeat opponents of a higher rank.
Cultivation techniques and divine abilities are ranked from high to low as Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow, with each rank further divided into superior, middle, and inferior grades. For instance, there are middle-grade Yellow-rank techniques, inferior-grade Mysterious-rank abilities, and superior-grade Heaven-rank abilities. It is said that beyond the Heaven-rank exist the Saint-rank and even the Emperor-rank, though those two levels exist only in legends.
Chu Tianchen, having received the inheritance of the Eternal Dragon Emperor, possessed the strongest divine abilities, yet even those were only of the Heaven-rank. However, a Heaven-rank divine ability already possesses the power to topple mountains and overturn seas. Of course, this is predicated on one having sufficient strength to wield such domineering techniques; otherwise, the backlash from the ability alone would shatter a martial artist’s body. Although Chu Tianchen’s martial body had undergone two rebirths and was incredibly robust, he dared not touch the Heaven-rank abilities from the Dragon Emperor’s inheritance just yet. He estimated that he would need to reach at least the Heaven Martial Realm before he could attempt them.
Out of more than four hundred new students, only a few did not enter the pavilion; these were mostly sons and daughters from prestigious families who looked down upon the divine abilities and techniques offered by the Outer Courtyard. Although Chu Tianchen hailed from the former General’s Mansion, he possessed very few divine abilities, save for a superior-grade Mysterious-rank sword technique called the "Flame Shadow Sword Art." Because he had cultivated fire-attribute techniques when he first opened his pulse-wheels and began cultivating primordial energy, this sword art had been specifically purchased for him by his grandfather, tailored to his needs. Once mastered, the sword light would be as brilliant as flames, with formidable attack power and range. After all, this was a superior-grade Mysterious-rank sword art, a rarity even within the entire Great Gan Empire. At thirteen, Chu Tianchen had already mastered this sword art, and its power was astonishing.
But now, as he rebuilt his foundation, the technique he practiced, the "Nine Dragons Heaven-Swallowing Art," was divided into nine attributes. The first volume was the inheritance of the Ice Yi Divine Dragon and belonged to the ice attribute. Although he possessed the heart-fire of an alchemist, he could not utilize the "Flame Shadow Sword Art" to its full potential, and its power would be greatly diminished. Thus, as his usable martial techniques were currently near zero, he naturally had to go inside and have a look.
Yunhai Academy was indeed worthy of being the head of the eight great academies of the Great Gan Empire. Even in this Outer Courtyard, there were over six hundred divine abilities accumulated. Although they were all low-level, the sheer quantity was terrifying. One must know that even the Royal Library was said to contain only a few dozen low-level divine abilities, and the old General’s Mansion had only possessed a dozen or so. This shows just how formidable Yunhai Academy is, which is a major reason why many new students choose it. This is only the Outer Courtyard; in the Inner Courtyard, there are over a dozen Mysterious-rank divine abilities. A single Mysterious-rank divine ability, if placed on the market, would be worth millions of low-grade primordial stones.
Some special Mysterious-rank divine abilities, such as Chu Tianchen’s "Flame Shadow Sword Art," were rare and even more valuable. Because the path of the sword is the pinnacle of martial arts, and sword cultivators are the most difficult to train, sword techniques are naturally harder to come by and command even more exorbitant prices.
After entering the second floor, Chu Tianchen began to search carefully for ice-attribute divine abilities. The first volume of the Heaven-Swallowing Art he was currently practicing was ice-attributed, so ice-attribute divine abilities would allow him to reach his maximum potential. However, after circling the second floor, he only found two inferior-grade Yellow-rank palm techniques, three inferior-grade Yellow-rank blade techniques, and a few ice-attribute fist and spear techniques. Chu Tianchen flipped through them, but felt no interest. Consequently, he headed toward the third floor.
About half an hour later, he shook his head with a bitter smile and made his way to the fourth floor. Upon arriving, he noticed there were far fewer people here than on the previous three floors. The entire fourth floor held only thirty or forty sets of divine abilities, and a dozen or so people were flipping through them one by one. Chu Tianchen knew exactly why there were so few people here: because the divine abilities on this floor were almost all superior-grade Yellow-rank. Furthermore, Yunhai Academy’s regulations stated that any single divine ability could only be borrowed once every three months, and the borrowing period was limited to one month. For a martial artist at the Pulse-Opening Realm, mastering a superior-grade Yellow-rank divine ability in one month was extremely difficult. These were prepared for the Origin-Opening Realm martial artists of the Outer Courtyard.
At this moment, the dozen or so martial artists on the fourth floor, with the exception of him, all had a cultivation level of at least the seventh level of the Pulse-Opening Realm. Two of them were even at the first level of the Origin-Opening Realm. They were all younger than Chu Tianchen, and those two at the Origin-Opening Realm could easily reach the third level of the Origin-Opening Realm before the age of twenty and enter the Inner Courtyard.
When Chu Tianchen stepped onto the fourth floor, the registrar, a teacher, glanced at his cultivation and couldn’t help but stop him. "This place is not for you; go downstairs to choose," the registrar said bluntly, then lowered his head to continue studying his own divine abilities.
This registrar, named Li Haizhu, was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old and had a cultivation level of the sixth level of the Origin-Opening Realm. His age in Yunhai Academy was rather awkward; he belonged to that group of people who had some talent, but not much. Ultimately, he chose to stay at the academy to be an Outer Courtyard instructor or, as he was now, a registrar. This not only allowed him to receive some cultivation resources from the academy every month, but also gave him most of his time to study divine abilities—a rare and coveted job. Without some connections, one really couldn’t get this position.
Hearing this, the martial artists on the fourth floor also looked toward the stairs. When they saw someone at only the second level of the Pulse-Opening Realm attempting to reach the fourth floor, most of them sneered and returned to selecting their own divine abilities.
"Teacher Li, I have already checked everything downstairs, and there is nothing I want. That is why I came here to try my luck," Chu Tianchen said.
"I am doing this for your own good. Even if you fancy the divine abilities here, with your current cultivation, you won't be able to learn them; it would be a complete waste of time," Li Haizhu replied. "Young man, do not be overly ambitious. You only get one chance to borrow every three months; do not waste the opportunity. Your foundation is already much worse than others. If you continue to have high aspirations but low abilities, I fear you won’t last a month in this academy before being expelled."
"I notice Teacher Li has been stuck on this sentence for a long time. Why don't you try channeling your primordial energy to the Neiguan acupoint, then to the Shaofu acupoint, and finally to the Laogong acupoint?" Chu Tianchen suggested with a smile.
Hearing Chu Tianchen’s words, Li Haizhu suddenly looked up. "This is a superior-grade Yellow-rank palm technique. You can understand this? Besides, where does it say anything about the Neiguan and Shaofu acupoints on here? Are you playing with me? Get downstairs immediately!" Li Haizhu said, clearly annoyed.
However, just as his voice fell, Chu Tianchen’s two pulse-wheels surged, a burst of primordial energy erupted, and he struck out with a palm. The palm force generated a faint, explosive sound as it frictioned against the air. "Palm wind like thunder, the Rushing Thunder Palm!"
"You have learned this?" Li Haizhu asked, stunned. He then followed Chu Tianchen’s instructions and struck out with a palm. Immediately, a brilliant smile appeared on his face.
"It really works?" Li Haizhu said, shocked. "Could it be that this divine ability was transcribed incorrectly?"