Chapter 111: Mu Jianyao
As Xu Min reached the classroom, he was shocked to see that there were not only female fairies but also male fairies. Albeit fewer in numbers, that is.
The moment he arrived in the classroom together with the light fairy, everyone turned silent. No one moved, and everyone just stared at the two experts who had appeared together.
"That's the human."
"Why is he with the light fairy?"
"He doesn't look that different."
Murmurs erupted in the classroom from the astonished fairies. The female fairies unabashedly stared at Xu Min with curiosity while the few male fairies had hostility written in their eyes.
To think the fact that he accompanied the light fairy was enough to cause some of them to like him and others to dislike him as a result. It was evident to Xu Min that this light fairy was special. Clearly, all the fairies admired and held her in their hearts, at least the ones from this class.
The lecture itself was relatively simple. The topic focused on the energy of wind. Nevertheless, the contents of what was expounded on were something Xu Min had already known from his own understanding and experience.
The fairy teacher was a man; he was less friendly than the teacher of the elves’ classes. Seeing that Xu Min had not paid much attention to the class, he had often asked him questions only to be answered straightforwardly with the correct answers.
As the class ended, the sun was starting to decline on the beautiful summer sky. Everyone was filled with excitement as they left the classroom.
While the majority were going to spend some time together, Xu Min slipped away easily. Although he was rather popular and quite sought after right now, no one seemed to see him sneak away. Everyone was too busy chatting with their friends.
As Xu Min left the classroom, he noticed that a group of elves was waiting for someone, most likely him, at the entrance to the fairy classroom.
Xu Min pondered for a moment after noticing this group. Should he confront them or not? He eventually decided against it. Xu Min went to the opposite side of the classroom to avoid them; he found a tall wall, which he quickly scaled with the help of the wind.
Jumping down on the other side, Xu Min was unsure of whether or not this was legal, but he would rather run away than being ganged up upon.
When he landed on the ground, he found himself in a place that resembled a garden. There were no students around him, only many medicinal herbs. They seemed to be similar to the ones he had seen in the magical forest where he had first met Cao Cao.
"This ought to be the academy's medicinal garden," Cao Cao, who was hanging on Xu Min’s neck, said slowly as he looked around. He had grown up with medicines, so he knew what exactly each and every one of these herbs were. Xu Min was not interested in them.
He could not take even one medicinal herb, so why care?. These plants belonged to the academy, not him, and if he took them, he was likely to suffer some severe punishments. To obtain these plants, one needed to use contribution points.
Thinking like this, Xu Min quickly wanted to find a way to leave the garden. Suddenly, he saw a figure flashing towards him and felt a hand on his throat.
"Who dares to barge into my medicinal garden?" the voice asked in a low and dangerous growl.
Xu Min wanted to answer, he truly did, but he could not. The hand on his throat was gripping so hard he had problems breathing. The figure even hoisted him up from the ground, making his legs dangle in the air. This was clearly an Immortal, a simple move of his hand had already rendered Xu Min completely incapable of acting, and this was before any force was emitted from the man’s bony fingers.
"Oh right," The figure seemed to understand that Xu Min could not answer. He released the young man, who proceeded to stumble to the ground, gasping for air and holding his neck. He felt indents on his neck from where the fingers had held him.
"I'm Xu Min," he introduced himself with a very low and hoarse voice, "I am a new student. I did not know this area was forbidden. I deeply apologize. All I wanted was to find my way out."
Every word he said was the truth. He truly had never expected that jumping past the wall would cause such drama, nor had he expected that an Immortal would be waiting for him at the other side who was ready to kill him if he said something wrong. Right now, all he wanted was to escape alive.
"I see," the figure said. Some of the hostility in the voice disappeared. Even now, Xu Min was unaware of whether or not the figure in front of him was a fairy or an elf, or even a male or a female.
As Xu Min caught his breath, he slowly rose to his feet once more and dusted off the soil from his clothes. He was standing on a small path made from soil that framed the different patches where the plants were situated. He could only imagine the disaster that might have occurred if he had landed in a patch of land that was filled with these plants. The Immortal would have likely killed him on the spot.
As he thought of this, a shiver ran down his spine. By now, he truly regretted that he did not meet those silly elves that had ganged up on him. As he was thinking this, he felt a hand under his chin lift his head up and move it side to side.
The Immortal in front of him wore a massive cloak much like the Guardians of the Immortal Valley, making it hard to see his or her features. However, the hand out from the cloak, which was lifting his head, appeared youthful with skin as beautiful and white as porcelain, and long fingers that were graceful to look at.
"You look odd," The Immortal said as it cocked its head, looking rather confused at Xu Min.
"You are not an elf, neither are you a fairy. Could you be a human? A human was allowed to join our academy?"
The Immortal was ecstatic and seemed excited. It was as if it was really happy that a human had joined them, but what made Xu Min confused was the fact that this Immortal had not heard about him before.
"I'm a human who can control both spiritual energy and elemental affinities," he explained, "The Guardian Tree approved of me, and I became a student of this academy. Currently, I am living in the small cabin and attending both classes."
Xu Min was not sure why he divulged so much about himself, but this Immortal no longer seemed to have any hostility towards him. Instead, the Immortal released his face and started pacing around him, looking at him from every single angle.
"Interesting," the figure said, "amazing." It was not sarcastic. This was genuine interest. As the Immortal saw the confusion on Xu Min's face, the Immortal stopped. The two porcelain white hands moved to the cloak's hood and took it off, revealed the most stunning beauty Xu Min had ever seen before.
At first, he was blinded by her beauty. He was stunned witless. He was unable to say anything and just stood there jaws agape, staring at the woman in front of him. She seemed to be at most twenty years of age. Looking at her, it was impossible to say if she was a fairy or an elf.
Her ears were pointed like an elf’s, but her appearance was that of fairy. Around her was a frosty air as though she was an ice queen, a woman with no emotions. Even so, she took an unusual interest in Xu Min.
She lifted her hand, and a set of daggers appeared. These daggers were clearly created from spiritual energy. As she lifted these two daggers, the surrounding area suddenly turned gray and rain started to fall. It was rain that fell from a previously cloudless sky. She was clearly in control of this new raincloud.
"I'm not a human," she said with a smile on her face, "But I am half elf and half fairy. It is not normal for fairies and elves to find partners amongst each other. However, when they do, they are usually incapable of producing offspring, but I was born from such a couple. I am the only expert of my kind."
"The cabin you live in now used to be my cabin. When I was a student, they also made me live there since I was neither fairy nor elf. I had to attend both classes, but no one wanted to befriend me since I belonged to neither the elves nor the fairies."
One could sense a small grudge from this immortal as she sighed deeply, "the Academy's teachers did everything they could to make me feel welcome. To them, I was a wondrous genius, almost the future of their joint races, but in the end, I ended up as the teacher in charge of the Medicinal Garden."
She hesitated slightly as she looked at Xu Min. Then a smile appeared on her lips, "Why don't you take me as your master?" She asked. Her smile grew increasingly brilliant.
"If you become a personal disciple of one of the Immortals within the academy, you won’t have to attend classes, but you will have to show up whenever I call for you. I can teach you how to use Spiritual Energy and Elemental Affinity alongside a kind of energy I created when I merged the two."
Everything the woman said made Xu Min more and more interested. Nevertheless, to take a master was no simple matter. Considering the offer he was given, he was thinking about how he wished to improve his strength quickly, and to do so required for him to rely on someone specific. After having considered the merits and demerits for some time, he nodded his head and said, "I already have one master whom I owe my life, but if you are fine with me sharing two masters, then allow me to bow to you," Xu Min explained seriously.
Upon hearing his response, the Immortal hesitated for a moment. A few moments later, her eyes shone with interest in this young man in front of her, and she nodded her head. "I am fine with sharing you with another master. I am sure he has taught you the human ways of fighting, but he cannot teach you about the ways of an elf or a fairy; for that you will need me."
Hearing this, Xu Min did not hesitate and fell to his knees where he bowed three times in front of this beautiful woman. His sincerity shocked her, but soon a warm smile appeared on her handsome face.
"This is not only a chance for you, but also a chance for me," she murmured so low that Xu Min could not hear it.
"Follow me," She said as Xu Min rose to his feet. Slowly, they moved through the mist-filled medicinal garden. The medicinal garden was very large, and it astonishingly took an entire hour to reach the outer perimeter.
"My name is Mu Jianyao." the woman suddenly said with her back turned to Xu Min, "you can call me by my name or call me master, but that is up to you."
Together, the two left the medicinal garden. As they did, everyone in the vicinity stared at them. One was a celestial beauty, while the other was a young man who, although handsome, was far from the otherworldly beauty of the fairies or possessing the strong aura of an elf.
"It's the human! What is he doing together with Miss Mu?"
"Miss Mu is as beautiful as always. How can she walk together with someone as ugly as that human boy?"
"They are both strange; it was only a matter of time before they met each other."
"Jealous! I’m so jealous of how that human waste can walk next to Miss Mu!"
A lot of voices sounded out as Xu Min walked behind Mu Jianyao. Although he did not have the larger ears of an elf, he heard everything as clear as day. A wry smile appeared on his lips, but Xu Min did not act on it. He simply just shook his head. The fairies and elves were going to learn that, although he was a human, he was far from weak. It was soon time for the heavenly rankings to begin!