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  “Cha Ming, you’re so talented! You’re much better off than Xun and I!” exclaimed Xin. They were both going to be classmates, so Xin was very happy right now. Xun was also smiling to the side while Uncle Hong grinned from ear to ear.

  “Don’t worry about those old farts,” Uncle Hong said, taking another puff of his cigarette. “They were so shocked by Zhou Li’s recruitment that they missed the shining star of the show. They’ll be crying once they figure out that they made a big mistake by not pouncing on you when they had the chance. Who cares what they think right now—effort proves everything. Besides, you’re quite a bit better off than my children. They both have Grade 3 talent and a single affinity for fire, since they take after me. However, they don’t have innate soul force or any elements matching to specific professions. Comparatively, your future is full of choices. Make sure you select a good dual-element affinity practice. With luck, you’ll be able to become a decent alchemist or spirit doctor and be set for life!”

  Cha Ming gave Uncle Hong a light smile as he sighed inwardly. This was much too similar to his past life. While he had been talented in many things, people had urged him to go to school to learn engineering because it was in demand everywhere. He was not intelligent or hardworking enough to be a doctor or pharmacist, so he had to give up on those career paths. In the end, he had disappeared from the world, dissatisfied after being dragged along through life by everyone else’s whims.

  Uncle Hong didn’t notice Cha Ming’s brooding and brought the children back home. They had a dozen dishes to celebrate his success that night. Uncle Hong could now rest assured that his daughter Xin and his son Xun would not be lonely at school; good friends were always in short supply.

  Cha Ming, Xin, and Xun woke up early the next morning, eagerly making their way to the school gates. Cha Ming had thanked Aunt Xu profusely before leaving. He promised to come visit often and made a mental note to come and help her with chores when he was free. He hadn’t felt the warmth of family in over a year now. Once they arrived at the gates, Xun promptly left to join his second-year class. Xin walked with Cha Ming as they joined the roughly one thousand people that had been recruited over the past week.

  The new students had already gathered into cliques, a scene that resembled the recruitment platform earlier. Cha Ming noticed that not every student had a bronze badge like he and Xin. About one in ten people had a bronze badge and nine in ten students had a white badge. According to his understanding of talent distribution, the badges must have represented grades. More talented students tended to gather together, as their future growth prospects were correspondingly greater. There were twelve Grade 4 talents this year, and they were all clustered together in their own little group.

  There were no Grade 5 students, as the only one had been pilfered by the royal family. This was considered an honor to Green Leaf Academy. The academy would surely see its yearly funding increase over the next few decades. Of course, there were other peripheral benefits to being in such a talented individual’s hometown, such as preferential treatment from other entities to curry favor. But there were still a handful of Grade 5 talents, which the academy had accumulated over the past few years. These talents would eventually be referred to higher-level academies once they reached a certain level in their cultivation.

  The students waited for the time it takes an incense stick to burn before a group of teachers, elders, and older students walked toward the crowd of youngsters. Elder Wang, who was standing toward the front of the group of elders, bellowed out in a loud voice, “Silence!”

  The student’s voices turned to whispers, and finally the whispers were too loud, and the speaking ceased entirely.

  Elder Wang looked at the students from left to right, nodding in satisfaction at their obedient behavior. “First of all, you will now separate into your respective talent groups. Everyone with a white badge, line up to my left in forty rows. People with fire affinity will go to rows one through eight, those with earth affinity the next eight, followed by metal, water, and wood. Those with bronze badges will line up beside them in six rows, one for each element, and the sixth row will be for those with dual-element proficiencies. Those with silver badges will line up in a single row. These badges represent your talent and potential future achievements. Those of you with white badges will have to work twice as hard and encounter many strokes of luck to achieve what the others will achieve. Life is unfair that way.

  “The heavens never seal off all exits. You currently have different badges, but each badge starts at the number one. This represents your current level in the academy. There are nine levels in total, and from now on, you will attend classes corresponding to your level. Students will graduate if they meet the minimum requirements in five years’ time. The minimum requirement for graduation is reaching the fifth level of qi condensation, and perhaps half of you will be able to achieve this threshold.

  “Another way to graduate is to break through to foundation establishment. Anyone who breaks through to foundation establishment will immediately become a nominal elder of the academy. While the position has no immediate responsibilities, an elder of the academy is entitled to VIP treatment in the Song Dynasty. The opportunities for employment are boundless once a person reaches foundation establishment.

  “Now that these trivial matters are out of the way, I would like each group of students with single element specialties to follow their teachers.”

  A group of forty-five teachers and a hundred assistants broke out from behind Elder Wang and ushered off over ninety-five percent of the students. Cha Ming said goodbye to Hong Xin and made plans to meet for supper later that evening. Only twenty-eight students remained out of the original group.

  “There are many of you remaining this year. It has truly been a good harvest!” Elder Wang said with a smile. He continued. “There are a total of twenty-eight new students with dual affinities. One of you has already been recruited by the alchemy department, another by our spiritual blacksmith, and two of you have been recruited by our spirit doctor teacher. Each of you can go ahead and follow your teachers in each field. These professions are often best pursued with a specific cultivation technique, so be sure to follow their recommendations.” These four students departed with their three teachers.

  “There are now twenty-four students remaining. Jin Lingfu, Song Jia, Wang Lin, please follow Elder Xing. Lin Chen, Feng Ming…”

  Elder Wang continued until all students with dual-element specialties were divided up amongst their respective teachers, until only Cha Ming and a young man called Zai Chen remained. The group of eight remaining elders discussed amongst themselves for a few minutes before finally deciding how to allocate the two students.

  “Zai Chen,” said Elder Wang, “you will follow me for the time being since your elemental affinities in water, wood, and fire happen to match my own. Cha Ming, your case is a bit special since you have five-element affinities and full innate soul force. We’ll have Elder Ling show you around.”

  A kindly elder man stepped forward. He was quite disheveled and balding with a few white hairs remaining. His wrinkled hands were stained in ink. Despite his unkempt appearance, he seemed to receive a lot of respectful glances from the surrounding elders. Cha Ming bowed to Elder Wang and the other teachers and followed the aged man obediently.

  Elder Ling was a very efficient walker. He walked as though he didn’t see anyone in front of him and he was the only man in the world. Most people would follow roadways and avoid grassy areas out of courtesy to the gardeners. This old man showed no such regard as he cut across lawns, wandered through rows of trees, and cut through long lines. Cha Ming, a little embarrassed, followed after him swiftly. At times, Cha Ming almost had to break into a run. At other times, Elder Ling would suddenly stop to admire a group of flowers. Unpredictable, erratic, and disorganized would describe Elder Ling perfectly.

  “Kid, you may call me Elder Ling. Usually kids with your level of talent don’t get their own perso
nal tour guide, but your five-element affinity and high innate soul force have made you an exception. While I have quite a bit of experience, you’re someone who has the ability to choose what you want to do. Regretfully, you aren’t a top-grade talent, so your achievements will be very dependent on how much effort you put in. Luck is also very key. Aim to be lucky.”

  Cha Ming gave Elder Ling a fake smile as he broke into an embarrassed sweat.

  Aim to be lucky? Yep, I’ll give it my all! thought Cha Ming bitterly.

  Elder Ling didn’t seem to notice his fake expression. He simply assumed that this youngster knew how to take good advice.

  “Most people have their own predispositions on what is better. I myself am not very talented, but I cultivate three elements. I had an innate soul talent of five, and later I learned to craft talismans. My teacher let me pick what I wanted to do, and I’ve never regretted the decisions I’ve made in life.

  “Contrary to those other nagging elders in various factions, I’m going to do the same. More to the point, I believe a great deal in destiny. Your destiny has given you a path with many forks, and you are the most equipped person to choose your own path than I’ve ever seen. People who are too talented often get forced down a specific road. In fact, you would likely have been forced down a specific road if that genius Zhou Li hadn’t popped up. While you might think that you’ve been overshadowed, I personally believe this is your good fortune.”

  Cha Ming pondered Ling’s words a bit as he considered this. Most people would indeed see it as a stroke of bad luck, but unlimited choice was not a bad thing. He had always been lacking in this respect.

  As they finished speaking, they arrived at the school library. The library was the third-largest building on campus, and it was built out of red cubic stones that looked like brick. These stones were three feet by three feet and just as deep. They were held together with a pristine white binding agent, forming a flush surface with the wall itself. The walls seemed as though they had been recently washed. He could see students on scaffolding with large brushes washing the sides of the buildings. These students were performing these menial tasks to earn extra income and contribute to the school.

  The largest building on campus was naturally the cultivation pavilion, where the students spent the majority of their time training during the day. The second-largest building was the student dormitory, and the fourth largest was the treasure pavilion.

  Various other buildings and specialized training grounds were scattered around campus, which was located at the very north of the city and was one of the few parts of the city that overlapped with the forest. From a bird’s-eye view, the campus looked like a circle within a circle, the larger circle being Green Leaf City itself. It occupied five percent of the total surface area in the city, slightly larger in size than the city lord’s manor.

  This sizing arrangement was according to status, and the city lord’s manor would never dare encroach on this status, at least not officially. While the city lord was the highest official authority in the city, Green Leaf Academy represented the Empire. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that the school head could cause a change in government over the span of a year or so. This authority was usually never exercised, but the threat of such a maneuver gave the academy a lot of influence in city politics.

  As they approached the dazzling red library, they bypassed a long queue of groups and entered the side door. They were allowed in once Elder Ling was recognized. The teachers guarding the entrance let them through with a mixture of reverence and fear. Cha Ming shot him a surprised look while the elder simply smiled.

  “There are privileges to being old. One of them is not having to wait in line. While I don’t have the highest authority, I will be able to get you access to the best cultivation techniques in this academy.” They walked for a short while and climbed two sets of stairs to the fourth floor of the library.

  This floor contained many large study rooms and twenty mahogany bookshelves. A quarter of the bookshelves were filled with various technique scrolls, while the other three-quarters seemed to be filled with crafting recipes, encyclopedias, and other such things relating to professions. The last shelf was only a quarter filled and contained a few dozen scrolls.

  “These are the best cultivation techniques in our school’s possession,” explained Elder Ling. “For each basic element, we generally have two or three training scrolls. Rarer affinities only have one. For example, we only have one wind-related cultivation technique. Technique scrolls at the mortal level are typically classified as mortal, bronze, silver, and gold class. We aren’t a top-ranking school, so our best cultivation techniques are silver class. For certain uncommon disciplines, we only have bronze-class cultivation techniques. For example, we only have bronze techniques for wind, fate, and space. The other single elements all have silver-grade cultivation techniques.

  “If you want to choose a single element, you can choose the Frozen Heart Sutra, the Burning Heart Mantra, the Growing Strong method, the Blade Melody, or the Desolate Earth method. These are all silver ranked, and in my humble opinion they are the best of the bunch. The advantage of a single-element cultivation technique is that you only need to comprehend the usage of one element.

  “In addition, there is no need to split your qi pool between elements, as I will explain later. This makes it much easier to cultivate higher-ranked battle or auxiliary techniques, as you will have a much higher capacity for each element. Treasures specialized for each element will be easy to come by, medicinal pills will not need to be tailored for you, and many natural treasures will respond very well to your specialized constitution. The downside is that you lose any flexibility in techniques, and you lose out on a principle called augmentation or fueling.”

  Elder Ling eyed Cha Ming. “This brings me to my next point, dual affinities!”

  Chapter 5: The White Brush

  Elder Ling scratched his scraggly white five-o’clock shadow before continuing.

  “Typically, dual affinities are viewed as the best type of cultivation. This type of cultivation requires twice the insight compared to single-element cultivators. People with higher innate soul talent will be able to comprehend these insights quickly, overcoming the hurdle. In addition, you must evenly split your qi between two elements. In a sense, you are forced to learn techniques from two elements. Failing to master the different techniques will leave you with only half the stamina of a normal cultivator.

  “Since there are drawbacks, there are surely benefits. The first benefit is that you can use battle and support techniques from two elements. The second benefit is that you can choose a supporting profession if you possess strong enough soul force. For example, dual wood and fire attribute cultivators with strong soul force can become alchemists, and metal and fire attribute cultivators can become spiritual blacksmiths. The third and final benefit is that with the right combination of elements, you can fuel the techniques of one of your elements with another.”

  “How does fueling work?” he asked. Elder Ling, sensing his interest, was quite pleased to continue.

  “Fueling is a phenomenon that takes place through the augmentation in the five elements,” said Elder Ling. “Wood fuels fire, fire creates earth through volcanoes and the like, metal is found in the earth, metal carries water, and finally, water feeds wood to complete the cycle. Conversely, some elements have a destructive relationship. Water extinguishes fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood grows in the earth, and soil soaks up water.

  “If one were to cultivate metal and water, for example, one could use the metal qi that is cultivated to fuel a water technique. As a result, that person's ability to execute water techniques will approach that of a pure-element water cultivator, despite only cultivating half of his qi as water qi. That person would also gain the ability to use metal-based techniques.

  “That said, few people choose to cultivate elements in the destructive cycle. Destructive relationships, such as metal and wood,
only harm each other. Not only can one not reinforce wood with metal, using metal qi on wood techniques would weaken the technique. Therefore, people rarely choose such combinations. Spiritual blacksmiths are an exception to the rule—you can’t forge metal without fire, and so this sacrifice is necessary to become a spiritual blacksmith.

  “On the plus side, body-refinement techniques usually require destructive interactions. For example, a person can strengthen their body with metal and subsequently refine their body with fire, gaining great defense and physical strength. These body refiners will have lower battle prowess when utilizing their qi in battle, but some of this loss will be made up with physical strength.

  “Given these characteristics, the academy has a couple of silver-level cultivation techniques in each of the five augmentation relationships, as well as fire and metal destructive cultivation techniques. The best of these techniques in the academy are Burning Forest Script, the Lord of Magma method, the Total Defense Sword Cultivation Art, the Frost Sword Sutra, the Healing Heart Sutra, and finally the Forged by Iron and Fire body-cultivation method.

  “Similar rules apply to triple affinities. Five of the three-elemental affinities have an augmentation relationship and five of them have a destructive relationship. Likewise, we also have one silver-level cultivation technique for each augmentation type. I myself cultivate the ‘Living Inferno’ cultivation technique, due to my three affinities in water, wood, and fire. Likewise, I split my qi into three parts. My water qi can reinforce my wood techniques, and my wood qi can fuel my fire techniques. Coincidentally, I am also able to dabble in alchemy and healing due to cultivating these three elements.”

  Cha Ming pondered this for a few minutes before he looked back at Elder Ling and asked, “Can you feed water to wood, and use wood to fuel fire? Conversely, can you fuel fire with wood and use the stronger fire to refine metal? If you use metal refined by fire, can you better destroy wood due to the higher quality of the metal qi remaining? Does refined metal carry water better, or is cut wood a higher-quality fuel for fire?” If there was one thing Cha Ming was good at, it was asking questions.