When Hei Gou and Lin Xiao made it to the challenger’s platforms, they found that almost everyone was looking at them with curiosity.
The two of them were new people whom they had never seen before, and there was much curiosity towards them. Although the two-eyed experts were the most numerous in Yan Dalu, they were also the least talented and thus they would rarely make it into the Garden of Shadows.
Seeing two new people with two eyes only meant one of two things; they were either Primordial Beasts, or talented Qi cultivators.
When the students in the crowd observed them using their spiritual energy, they were incapable of sensing the level their Qi had reached, but they could sense their spiritual energy was rather pitiful, and thus their curiosity was piqued.
“Hello, I am Shen Longyue, a core student of the academy,” a young man stepped forward to greet them. “I think I have previously seen you and two other experts in the core area of the academy, and all of you seem to have only two eyes. Are all of you Primordial Beasts?”
Everyone nearby listened in as Shen Longyue asked this. Some were pretending to do other stuff, while others completely ignored common etiquette and openly eavesdropped.
Normally, it would be unpopular to eavesdrop, but Lin Xiao really needed to get attention from everyone; he needed them to be paying attention to them and to become friendly to gain information and therefore he just smiled amiably and answered the question.
“Amongst our group of four, only one is a Primordial Beast. That is my friend here, Hei Gou.”
Lin Xiao spoke casually, but everyone within range heard it and their hearts leapt with excitement. Only one Primordial Beast out of four new experts with only two eyes. Then if there was only one Primordial Beast, what were the other three?
“Are you human?” Shen Longyue could not help but ask, his eyes narrowed as if he did not truly believe what Lin Xiao was insinuating. Lin Xiao just chuckled. “I am indeed a human,” he acknowledged readily.
“How can this be? I thought humans were incapable of cultivating Qi above the Heavenly Warrior rank!” someone muttered in the crowd. But then a loud voice cut through the silence, “That’s not true, have you not heard about the seniors who came back from the bandit hunt? All of them were Ordinary Knights at their return, and they claimed to have been assisted in their breakthrough by a group of experts who just joined the academy!”
“I thought that was just a rumor?” someone else asked. The person who had argued before vehemently returned, “It is true! I have seen it myself—their strength really did break through!”
“Then do you think that their breakthroughs have something to do with this Lin Xiao?”
At this point, all of them looked at Lin Xiao with a bit of suppressed greed in their eyes.
They knew that they prioritized in spiritual energy, but even though they did not cultivate their Qi as the main focus, they still wished for breakthroughs as they could assist them and even turn into a life-saving power at a later time.
Xue Wei had since discovering their cultivation system suspected that there would be others who were eager to break into the Ordinary Knight rank, and he had concocted many pills to use in exchange for information or merit points.
In their last full-party meeting, Xue Wei had handed these pills to Hei Gou and Lin Xiao to be used as bargaining chips when the two of them were out snooping for information.
And now it was already possible to gain something without even having to pull the classic power move with a show of strength to impress and befriend them. They had already become the subject of everyone’s attention.
“I can help you,” Lin Xiao spoke slowly, pronouncing each word clearly. He looked at the many people that were staring at him and noticed how they all lit up with glee.
“My comrade Xue Wei is a dual cultivator of both Qi and spiritual energy. He is also a formation master and an alchemist. We come from outside of your continent, from a continent where the majority cultivates Qi, and thus we have many pills which can help you break through to the Ordinary Knight rank.
“Xue Wei already gave me a few of these pills, but I need you to do something for me in return.”
The truth was that he actually had enough pills to supply the entire student body, but Lin Xiao had no intention of telling them this. By telling them all that he only had a few, they would definitely do their utmost to satisfy his demands. On the other hand, if he were to act generously, it was likely they would only do a halfhearted job.
Just as he had expected, the moment the others heard his words, all of them were eagerly crowding around him.
“What do you need from us?” one of them asked curiously, lightly licking his lips while imagining himself becoming an Ordinary Knight.
“Information!” Lin Xiao grinned. “We are very new to this academy, and even the continent. We know nothing about this place, so we would like to know all the information that you might have.”
“That is it?” Shen Longyue looked at him skeptically. “You will give us a pill that makes us break through into the Ordinary Knight rank as long as we can provide you with information that you deem useful?”
“It’s true,” Lin Xiao replied and nodded his head seriously. “I will not lie. If you tell us something that is useful to us, then we will gift you a pill.”
The many experts looked at one another as if it was too good a deal to be true. No one wanted to be the first to speak because they were afraid of being tricked, but after some time went by, Shen Longyue stepped up to Lin Xiao and smiled. “What kind of information do you want?” he inquired.
“I am interested in anything, but I mainly want to know how there can be so much soul power around here.”
Lin Xiao had wanted to add a question about missing people and massacres, but he stopped himself in time. If he had asked this question right after asking about the oversaturation of soul power in the air, then the implication behind the initial question would be obvious, and as students of the academy, they would without a doubt feel insulted.
Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were here to make friends, not to insult anyone, and as such he could only take it slowly and get some information one step at a time.
“We are interested in any kind of information you might have,” Hei Gou piped up for once. It was the first thing he had said since their appearance and the others looked at him with narrowed eyes, trying to decipher if he had any authority to come with such a comment.
Lin Xiao continued to smile and he nodded his head. “We are indeed interested in everything,” he said, making all of the others smile and relax.
“Well, in that case, let me go first,” Shen Longyue started without hesitation. “The Black Nebula Stone is the reason there is so much soul power in our surroundings. There is a spiritual vein under us and the heart of the vein is in the Soul Tower, which gathers the soul power inside the floors for us to absorb as we want.”
“The rest of the academy is fueled by the Black Nebula Stones. They attract soul power from the surrounding air and concentrate it in one spot”
“These stones and the vein are the reason for the dense soul power that is present within the Academy,” Shen Longyue smiled as if this was all there was to it, but Lin Xiao had already heard Bai Tianyi say that it was impossible for the vein and the Black Nebula Stones to produce as much soul power as was evident here.
Unfortunately, it seemed that these students knew nothing more about it. All of them seemed to be of the impression that these stones and the vein were all that maintained the high levels of soul power.
Noting that the students were unaware of anything behind the soul power, or even questioning it, Lin Xiao still smiled amiably and waved his hand, taking out a pill from his storage treasure and passed it to Shen Longyue.
“Thank you for your information,” he said with a grin. “This is a pill specialized for Qi cultivators. It allows you to absorb the heaven and earth essence much faster and refine it at a higher rate than normal. Although it does not sound like much, it is exactly what you need to break through into the Ordinary Knight rank when you consider the fact that you have never taken Qi medication before.”
Shen Longyue accepted the pill with shaking hands. His face had a massive grin spread across it and he was all giddy as he rushed back from the training field back to his residence with excitement in his eyes.
Seeing that Shen Longyue received one of those pills, the others’ eyes shone brightly. While they were apprehensive to share before, all of them rushed forward now.
“I can tell you about the teachers of the academy,” one of them said, but before he had the time to begin, another cut in, claiming their story about a hidden expert in the academy was better.
“No one wants to listen to the story about the hidden expert. It is just a legend, why not listen to my rumors about who is dating who?”
“No, I think it is better to tell them concrete information like the Cloud Monument and the rankings of the students!”
Like this everyone suddenly started yelling over each other and both Lin Xiao and Hei Gou were overwhelmed.
“Okay, one at a time,” Lin Xiao laughed. “Queue up and tell us the stories one after another.”
Although the experts were not eager to do so, they knew that Lin Xiao was the one who set the rules. He was the owner of the pills they desired, so all of them ended up doing exactly as he said.
The first person who appeared told them about the teachers and elders of the academy. Although it was good to know about the elders and the teachers, Lin Xiao found no useful information in his story, but he still gifted him a medicinal pill.
The next expert talked about the different factions in the academy, the main families who had created groups within the academy and about who were neutral of the stronger experts. Although this did not help with the mystery, it was useful information nonetheless and Lin Xiao gladly gifted him a pill.
After him came a young expert who told them about the different places within the academy. There was the training field they were on already, but there were also the school buildings, the skill buildings for spiritual energy, and a desolate place for Qi techniques. There was the Cloud Monument, a place where one could see the ranking of all the students in the academy, and there were other places mentioned in the explanation, including the forbidden area that was placed in the east side of the academy.
Lin Xiao was suddenly interested. He quickly gave him a pill and asked a few questions about the forbidden area, but the student knew nothing about it other than it being forbidden and that no one went there.
Then came another expert, and his eyes were shining brightly. “I know about the forbidden area,” he grinned.
Lin Xiao was immediately hooked. “What do you know?” he asked curiously. The young man looked around before he began telling them about the story of a legendary hidden expert.