A lane of trees was planted on the side of the road. These were all cherry trees, and they were in full bloom; beautiful pale pink petals were dropping from the trees like snow, glistening in the sunshine that was cascading down from high above.
The road had a few people going back and forth, but this was by no means a bustling atmosphere. There were only a few low conversations that were being drowned out by the sound of singing birds.
Xue Wei was looking at this picturesque scene in front of him, and he could not help but smile.
They had left the Imperial Palace and walked for half an hour before they reached this road of cherry blossoms trees, and this was the road leading to the Garden of Shadows. As a matter of fact, only the students and the teachers of the academy would traverse this path, which was why it was not overly crowded.
The vast majority of these people on the road had three eyes. There was one with four and another with two.
All of the students bowed in greeting when they saw Elder Sun while looking inquisitively towards Xue Wei and his friends.
Elder Sun gently nodded to the people, but not even coming across the other teachers made him stop to answer any questions they might have.
The cherry trail was rather long, and it took them a full hour before they stood in front of a massive gate. There were ten guards, five on each side, in front of the gate, and there were also many guards on top of the walls that stretched far to each side.
These guards all looked with reverence at Elder Sun when he appeared in front of them, and they quickly opened the doors with a deep bow.
They could not help but look at Xue Wei and his friends with curiosity. After walking through the gate, Xue Wei noticed that they kept observing him and his group while sometimes glancing at one another.
It was clear that they were communicating through a mental link, most likely discussing the identity of Xue Wei and the others.
Although the amount of people on the road outside the academy had been scant, it was an entirely different sight when they stepped inside of the Garden of Shadows itself. There were scores of students running back and forth in every direction, from building to building.
Some were walking alone, others in groups, but all of them looked curiously at the entourage that arrived together with Elder Sun.
Elder Sun smiled wryly due to the strange glances that were sent their way, but he said nothing and walked deeper and deeper into the academy itself.
There were many buildings in the academy. The entire east and north of the academy encompassed the residential area, while the center had the most important buildings at the academy, and the west and south comprised other buildings and facilities important to the academy such as classrooms, libraries, training fields and so on.
"In the center of the academy, you will find the Soul Tower," Elder Sun explained. "The Soul tower has a number of functions. Where we are going is the house right next to the center, the mansion you can see right there." He pointed at a magnificent mansion that was built with spires and arches, looking like an old medieval mansion that was built from some sort of black stone.
In fact, the entire Garden of Shadow was built from some sort of black stone that seemed much tougher than most metals. It also seemed to draw the ambient soul energy towards it, which one could refine into spiritual energy, which then can be absorbed by the surrounding experts.
"In our world, many die every day, and as a result there is much soul energy in our surroundings." Elder Sun could see Xue Wei's curiosity pertaining to the density of the soul energy in this place and decided to explain it. It was no secret after all.
"When someone dies, the soul energy starts to dissipate rather fast, and if you do not absorb it just as fast, you will miss out."
"Fortunately, these Black Nebula Stones that we have used to build the Garden of Shadow is actually able to make the speed at which the soul energy dissipates much slower. In fact, they absorb the soul energy and anchor it to itself instead of allowing it to dissipate."
"Black Nebula Stones are incredibly rare. They can be considered a treasure and someone who cultivates spiritual energy getting their hands on a fist-sized stone of it can be considered tremendously lucky," Bai Tianyi said with a frown as he looked around them. "How was it possible for you to gather this much Black Nebula Stone?"
Elder Sun looked at Bai Tianyi with some surprise. This young boy had not spoken much in their previous conversations. In fact, he had always had an amiable smile on his face and seemed rather aloof and carefree until now, but now his brows were furrowed and his question was incredibly sensible.
"I had not expected this young master to know about the Black Nebula Stone," Elder Sun admitted readily, but then he grinned. "The Garden of Shadow is a place where the sun never shines. It is a garden filled with shadows and it has been like this for many thousands of years."
"Black Nebula Stone is created in places such as this, and this place happened to have a giant vein of Black Nebula Stone which we used to create the academy from."
"I see." Bai Tianyi was quiet for a short while before he looked at the Soul Tower in front of him. "If I am not incorrect, you have fused the heart of the vein with the Soul Tower, making it a wondrous place to cultivate spiritual energy?"
Although this was a question, it sounded more like a statement. Hearing it, Elder Sun raised an eyebrow in surprise and nodded his head.
"It is indeed like this," he answered, agreeing readily. Although it was not something that most students knew about, it was not some great secret either. They usually just did not talk about how the Soul Tower worked, but now it seemed as if Bai Tianyi understood it well on his own.
Xue Wei pondered on the words Bai Tianyi had said. The heart of the vein had to be filled with soul energy and be much stronger than the stones themselves, making this Soul Tower a wonderful place to cultivate.
“But even so, it should not be capable of producing too much of a difference in the soul power from the outside. Is there other secrets hidden within the Soul Tower?”
Hearing the question Elder Sun’s face turned awkward and slightly horrified, “I do not know,” he finally sighed after a bit of time.
After hearing these words, Xue Wei was slightly stunned but he also felt that this Soul Tower was quite important for him to explore if he wanted to solve the mystery of the academy.
If he had the chance, he definitely had to step inside this tower later on and see for himself just how wondrous its effects could be.
With a glance at the towering Soul Tower that rose so high that one could not see the top, Xue Wei followed Elder Sun into the mansion on the side.
The guards once again bowed deeply when Elder Sun entered, and the same curious eyes as before were glancing at Xue Wei and his friends.
Elder Sun nodded in greeting and then led Xue Wei and his friends towards the stairs leading up to the upper levels of the mansion.
After reaching the upper levels, they walked straight down a large corridor towards a door at the end.
When they knocked on the door, a hoarse voice came from within, "Come in," and Elder Sun pushed the door open, gesturing for Xue Wei and the others to follow behind him.
"Headmaster, these are the young experts I told you about," Elder Sun said, and for the first time, Xue Wei saw the elder bow his body.
Seeing the greeting, Xue Wei also did a slight bow towards the man, before straightening himself and looking at the expert in front of him.
This man had five eyes! So far, the only five-eyed expert he had encountered was the King. Now he encountered one more, and this man seemed much older.
His hair was white from old age; his eyebrows large and unruly; and a long beard could be seen on his chin.
"Welcome to the Garden of Shadows," the slightly hoarse voice fell as the wizened man looked curiously at Xue Wei and the others.
"I imagine that you are not average experts since you managed to get here through a trans-dimensional tunnel," he continued. "I look forward to your performance!"
Xue Wei nodded his head, not completely sure how to answer. He had not been given any real information about what it was they wanted from him. All of them were just putting their hopes on him, and truthfully, although he did wish to help them in exchange for a spot for him and his friends on the boat to the Demon Phoenix Empire, he was still somewhat annoyed by the lack of information concerning the things he had to do.
"Headmaster, sir, could you please perhaps tell me what exactly it is you require from us?" he asked with a furrowed brow and a slight frown on his face.
"We cannot explain it to you." The headmaster shook his head in apology. "You will have to notice it on your own while staying in the academy."
"In this academy the residential area is split up into districts for the outer students, inner students and core students."
"Since you have come to save us, we will grant you the token to be core students. We have lectures every morning for spiritual energy class, and every afternoon for Qi refinement class."
"You can attend them as you please."
Having said this, the man waved his hand and four badges appeared on the table. "These are your lasting student identity cards. Keep them with you at all time, and do not lose them."
Nodding their heads, Xue Wei and his friends took one each and waited for more to be said, but Elder Sun started leading them out of the room right away. They left the mansion and headed towards the core area of the northern district of the Garden of Shadows.
The northern district was rather impressive. In the eastern district, the houses were all cramped together, but the further north they went, the bigger the residences became to even becoming pavilions.
Every last thing was made from Black Nebula Stone and Xue Wei could feel the soul power rushing into his body, which the golden dragon ceaselessly refined into its own energy, becoming his spiritual energy.
"Although there are classes twice a day, there are no rules about attendance," Elder Sun explained. "You can study exactly as you please."
"The Garden of Shadows is the only academy for spiritual energy students in the entire continent," he continued. "Which is also why it is as massive as it is. Here you will meet many three, four and even a few five eyed experts. You will also encounter Primordial Beasts."
"Oh right," he looked at Da Jia, who had followed them all along but said absolutely nothing. He had not taken a token either. "What is your plan for this guy?" he asked curiously. Xue Wei looked at Da Jia while contemplating.
"You take him," he said after considering for some time. "Send him to jail and give him a trial."
"I can do that," Elder Sun said with a nod, and then Lin Xiao traded the ownership of the boar to Elder Sun.
"This will be your home in the future," Elder Sun said as he pointed at a courtyard in front of him. It was big enough to house at least ten people, but it seemed that the only ones who were going to live within it was the four of them.
"I have already prepared servants to attend to your needs and everything should be ready for you to move into."
"I hope that you will be pleased with our preparations," he continued. "Originally, I would have stayed longer, but I need to deal with this big bandit leader now, so please make yourselves at home. Should you have any problems, feel free to come find me at any time."
Hearing this, Xue Wei did not forget to thank him and nodded his head before he turned around and looked at the courtyard in front of him.
"This will be our home for the next year at least," he muttered before stepping over the threshold leading into the courtyard itself.