Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 54 – Ordinary teenagers

The next morning, Su Yun woke up early and went outside of Shen Xiu Building to exercise. His right arm still hurt badly.

These past two days, he finally slept well and felt refreshed. Looking outside, he saw that the snow had stopped and left the academy covered in white.

Taoists with blue hats were sweeping the roads, and people were carrying baskets to pick up feces.

Soon, Hua Hu and the others woke up, and Qing Qiuyue exclaimed, "I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt that Little Yun broke into my dream with a big yellow bell and chased a dark monster."

The little foxes were surprised and said, "I had the same dream!"

"Me too!"

"Little Yun even touched my head and told me to sleep soundly!"

"Second brother, did you have this dream?"

Su Yun approached and listened to their dream experiences, amazed. "I had the exact same dream!"

Li Muge came out of the building and looked around strangely. "Last night, a spiritualist died downstairs, said to have died from demonic possession. He just disappeared..."

At that moment, a beast carriage arrived and stopped in front of Shen Xiu Building. The window on the second floor opened, and Master Tu Ming stuck his head out and said with a smile, "Come up, I have prepared the meal!"

Hu Buping and the others cheered and got on the carriage.

Li Muge did not get on and said, "I need to go home and see my sister. It's been a long time since I've seen her."

Su Yun wanted to ask him what he meant by the bad atmosphere at Wen Chang Academy, but he couldn't say it directly. He could only wave goodbye and say, "Be careful on the road, senior brother."

Li Muge left.

Su Yun was the last to get on the carriage. He saw that a table of vegetarian dishes had already been set up on the second floor. The beast carriage carried them through the academy, and Master Tu Ming sat beside them, introducing the origin of the beast carriage to everyone.

Su Yun also sat down to eat and listened attentively.

The giant beast carrying the wooden building was called Fu Shan. It had four legs and little hair, and its body was very smooth. When it crouched on the ground, it looked like a large hippopotamus, but it had curved fangs in its mouth and was much larger than a hippopotamus. It also had a tail that tapered from thick to thin behind its butt.

Fu Shan was neither a demon nor a monster, without any spiritual attachment. It was simple-minded but incredibly strong, with tough skin and thick flesh.

This kind of beast had little intelligence and little pain, originally bred for food. Later, during the war, people built arrow towers on its back and used it as a mobile arrow tower. Spiritualists guarded on top of the arrow tower.During the peaceful times, as the city grew larger, people started building small houses on the back of Fushan Mountain and using them as carts. This was the type of cart that was often seen in Shuofang City.

Last night, they were driven out of the Youlou and rode on this type of Fushan cart.

Master Tu Ming changed the subject and smiled, "Your Excellency, last night, I discussed with the attendant. The attendant was easy to talk to and said that my Wenchang Academy can cooperate with Your Excellency. Your Excellency's food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, as well as information gathering and hiding your identity, can all be provided by my Wenchang Academy. However, there is one condition."

Su Yun's gaze fell on the finger he raised and asked, "What is the condition?"

Master Tu Ming shook his finger and said in a low voice, "The attendant requires that Your Excellency must surpass all others in the entrance exam and must get the first place! Then, you must apply to my Wenchang Academy to enhance its reputation and surpass the Shuofang Academy, Moxia Academy, and Jiuyuan Academy!"

Su Yun thought for a moment and said, "My right arm is still injured, and it may be difficult to get first place."

Master Tu Ming's heart skipped a beat. "Last night, he fought against the Disaster Grey Beast while injured and even injured the Disaster Grey Beast? He truly is a monster from the Heavenly Dao Academy! If his right arm recovers, how strong will he be?"

"Your Excellency, don't worry. This minor injury won't hinder my Wenchang Academy."

Master Tu Ming regained his composure and smiled, "I will immediately invite the best doctor in the academy to ensure that Your Excellency's right arm injury will be healed within two days!"

Su Yun put down his chopsticks and said, "I know nothing about the official school's techniques in Shuofang and need to learn them."

"Of course!"

Master Tu Ming decisively said, "Xianyun Daoist from the Qingmiao Academy is the best teacher for the official school's techniques. He teaches the Bi Fang Divine Movement and Qi Cultivation Method. I will arrange for him to teach Your Excellency immediately!"

Su Yun nodded.

Master Tu Ming jumped off the Fushan cart and quickly left.

Su Yun picked up his chopsticks and continued to eat.

Hua Hu looked around and whispered, "Xiaoyun, let's escape now! While no one has discovered us, we can leave the Wenchang Academy!"

Su Yun was puzzled, "Why do we need to escape?"

Hua Hu gritted her teeth and lowered her voice, "We are not attendants. Why are we investigating a case? How do we investigate it? Where do we start? Even if we find something, what can we do about it? Who can we give the case to? If our true identity is discovered, what will happen? Also, can we really get first place in the entrance exam with only ten days of teaching from Shuijing?"Su Yun picked up a piece of tofu and said lightly, "Second brother, we come from Tian Shi Yuan and the uninhabited area. Haven't you noticed? Scholars from other academies have identities, but only those in the uninhabited area don't. Without an identity, we cannot study in Shuo Fang. If we want Xiao Fan and Xiao Yue to go to school, we have to pretend to be students from Tian Dao Yuan."

Hua Hu fell silent for a moment and said in a hoarse voice, "Is there no other way?"

"There is no other way!"

Su Yun looked out the window and saw the man who had been hung on the lake last night being bitten by a giant fish with teeth over a meter long. The fish did not let go, and the man was bouncing on the surface of the lake. On the shore, a teacher was reeling in his fishing rod, dragging the man and the fish onto the shore.

The man was still alive and cursing at the teacher.

Su Yun withdrew his gaze and said in a deep voice, "We have no support in Shuo Fang, we can only pretend to be students from Tian Dao Yuan or the emperor's envoys. If we can fool them for a day, we can learn for another day. If we can fool them for a month, we can learn for another month! No matter how you look at it, it's a gain!"

Hua Hu's eyes turned red, and his voice was hoarse, "That eunuch wants you to defeat 30,000 scholars and take first place. Can you..."

"What can 30,000 scholars do?"

Su Yun ate his rice vigorously, chewed hard a few times, swallowed it down with a gulp, and said fiercely, "I will win this first place! Even if it's 30,000 dragons, I can beat them all!"

In the center of Shuo Fang City.

Here is the tallest building in Shuo Fang City, the busiest street, the richest people, and the most powerful families.

The top floors of these buildings are thousands of feet above the ground, with a dome made of glass and a golden seal of the sun, moon, stars, and zodiacs. There are also rockeries, lakes, forests, small bridges, and palaces below, almost like a fairyland.

This place is called Shen Xian Ju, which means the place where immortals live.

"Mr. Shuijing, your students should be able to get a good ranking in this exam, right?"

In the Tian Yang Palace of Shen Xian Ju, Qiu Shuijing sat on the ground, and an old man dressed plainly next to him stroked his beard and smiled, "It has been a year since you came to Shuo Fang, and it should be a test of your achievements."

Qiu Shuijing drank his wine and said lightly, "If nothing unexpected happens, all the top twenty scholars in the 30,000-scholar exam will be my students."

The old man laughed heartily, "Mr. Shuijing is really ambitious. No wonder you are the emperor's teacher at Tian Dao Yuan! I wonder what you mean by 'unexpected'?"Qiu Shuijing looked out the window with a deep gaze, "This unexpected talent refers to someone like Tian Dao Yuan's genius. If there is such a talent in Shuofang, he will enter the top twenty. If he is taught by a famous teacher, he will be ranked first."

The old man breathed a sigh of relief and laughed, "It is almost impossible to find a genius like Tian Dao Yuan in Shuofang, let alone a master like Shuijing. After all, Shuofang is still a remote and small place. It's impossible to find a great dragon like Mr. Shuijing."

He stood up and came to the window, overlooking the entire city, "In this examination, the top twenty scholars have all applied to my Moxia Academy! The reputation of Moxia Academy will overwhelm Shuofang Academy and make it decline! As for Jiuyuan Academy, they aren't even worthy to polish our shoes!"

Qiu Shuijing came to his side, "Tian Prefect, don't forget about Wen Chang Academy."

"Wen Chang Academy?"

Tian Prefect laughed, "Even if they score in the top one hundred, who would apply to Wen Chang Academy? In recent years, Wen Chang Academy has been picking up scraps. The only thing to be careful of is the home of the saint."

He looked into the distance, "The only saint in Shuofang City, his scholars should also participate in this examination, right?"

Qiu Shuijing also looked over there. There were no buildings, but an ancient and low palace.

"The saint..."

Qiu Shuijing's gaze flickered, "Is it him? He wants to become a saint? Who crowned him?"

Fu Shan Nian continued to climb up the mountain. He stopped by the roadside halfway up the mountain, watching Master Tu Ming and another physician climb up the wooden tower with a wooden box.

After a while, Su Yun's right arm was full of needles of varying thickness. The hollow needles were thinner than hair, and the physician carefully guided the congestion out of his right arm using the silver needles.

Su Yun suddenly felt much more comfortable with his right arm.

The physician changed to another set of silver needles and sent some boiled medicine into Su Yun's right arm through the hollow needles.

After half an hour of treatment, the physician collected the silver needles and put them back in his wooden box. He smiled kindly and said, "Fortunately, it's just a flesh wound. If it was a spiritual injury, it would be beyond the reach of medicine and stones, and it would be difficult to cure."

Su Yun moved his muscles and bones a bit, and the pain disappeared. This kind of injury would need to be treated by Luo Dama in Tianmen Town, but this unremarkable physician from Wen Chang Academy had cured it!

Could it be that the physician was even more skilled than Luo Dama?

The physician's gaze flickered, "Baldy, come down and talk."Master Tu Ming followed him down the small wooden tower, looking at him suspiciously. Doctor Dong smiled ambiguously and asked, "Who is this young man?"

Master Tu Ming smiled and said, "He's just an ordinary young man."

Doctor Dong sneered, "An ordinary young man? The only ordinary young man who can hurt himself like this in the world!"

Master Tu Ming was shocked and asked, "Did he cause his own injuries?"

Doctor Dong nodded and said, "His injuries were caused by the impact of his own qi and blood. When he used a terrifying move, an extremely strong surge of qi and blood rushed into his right arm, exceeding the range that his right arm could bear. The blood was so thick that it tore apart countless muscles, ligaments, fascia, cartilage, and tiny blood vessels!"

Master Tu Ming widened his eyes and looked at him in disbelief.

He could imagine how terrifying the flow of qi and blood was when Su Yun used that move, and how powerful the move was!

"I examined his body, and he has the strongest physique among the scholars of the same realm. His body can withstand stronger impacts of qi and blood, but he couldn't bear the power of that move."

Doctor Dong said in a deep voice, "What kind of explosive power can be so terrifying? If it were a spiritual master like us, the explosive power would probably increase a hundredfold! I even suspect that this is not a human technique! So, I ask you, who is this young man?"

Master Tu Ming suppressed his shock and smiled slightly, saying, "He's just an ordinary young man from our Wen Chang Academy."

"An ordinary young man?"

Doctor Dong sneered and turned away, saying, "If he's an ordinary young man, then you're just an ordinary monk!"

Master Tu Ming watched him leave and returned to Mount Fu Shan, saying to Su Yun with a smile, "Let's go to the Qingmiao Academy to learn the Bi Fang Shen Xing Yang Qi Pian."

Su Yun looked out the window and saw Doctor Dong angrily walking away, asking, "Master, who is this Doctor Dong?"

Master Tu Ming smiled and said, "Just an ordinary doctor."