Chapter Four Hundred and Fifty Six – Off With A Bang
Famous!
Turtle Island cultivation classes became famous across Xu Ling City.
People crowded around every registration place for the cultivation classes, countless people waving their jingshi in hopes of getting a spot. The Vermillion Bird Camp xiuzhe that had never seen such a spectacle before were rushed and clumsy as they hurried.
The one that was most orderly was Wei Sheng’ Sword Teaching Hall. All incomers were respectful as they sincerely presented their jingshi and then found a corner to sit silently after receiving permission to wait for class to start.
Wei Sheng’s powerful sword essence shook all of Xu Ling City. Even jindan sword xiu came to register.
The first day passed in a hurry.
The people that thought they could take a rest found to their shock that on the second day the number of people coming to register had exploded. Many people had held doubts the first day, but the skill level of Zong Ru and the others had been shown during their first classes. The xiuzhe that had been wavering hurried in.
The busy scene in front of them seemed unexpected to everyone. Even Zuo Mo felt his scalp prickle.
After a long time, Zuo Mo finally understood the cause.
All the cultivation classes on the market were actually very low in terms of the skills they imparted. What did they have to do if they wanted to learn some substantial spells? Enter a sect. The cultivation classes that were on the market were really just used to get students to enter sects. Sects would have exams when they chose disciples.
So when Zuo Mo and the others opened their cultivation classes, it was like a crane among chickens, and the skills they taught were much higher than other cultivation classes.
The spells and tricks that Zuo Mo and the others passed on in their eyes were just the simple basics, but for the elementary xiuzhe that were stuck outside the doors of the sects, they were profound truths.
In one day, the name of the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes rose greatly. The xiuzhe that attended the first day of classes were excited and passed the news on to their friends. What were they most afraid of when attending cultivation classes? Afraid that they would pay the jingshi but would not learn anything. Now they found that the teachers of these cultivation classes were all powerful. How could these people not go crazy?
Because these cultivation classes came from Turtle Island, everyone called them by the general name of Turtle Island Cultivation Classes.
The beginner cultivators were the largest group and also the group that was paid the least amount of attention. Most of them were not very talented, and it was very hard to even get admitted into a small sect. Most of the time, they survived as hired employees, learning one or two of the most basic spells and had difficulty eking out a living.
No matter what jie, mastering one more spell meant one more hope of finding a job. The more profound the spell, the better the job.
For example, first grade fire spells were the most basic and elementary fire spells. They could only do the most labor-intensive and difficult fire-related work, such as stoking fires. Second-grade fire spells meant they could enter a kitchen and cook some simple ling dishes. Third-grade fire spells meant they could enter specialized medicine houses to treat all kinds of materials.
There were enormous differences between the income of different grades of spells.
But who held all the spells? Those small and large sects. In order to learn these spells, they could only enter these sects in order to learn them. Like the Wu Kong Sword Sect that Zuo Mo was in before. Now, it seemed a tiny sect, but even the second-grade sword scriptures of the sect were things that outer sect disciples had to pay contribution points to view.
Just paying a certain amount of jingshi and being able to learn a pretty good spell, this was fatally attractive to elementary xiuzhe.
Zuo Mo definitely would not have thought that the effect produced by the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes spread at astounding speed in Xu Ling City and even into more distant areas.
———
Looking at the empty hall, Tian Zhong Zhou showed a puzzled expression.
In a few short days, his cultivation class went from two hundred people to three people!
The last three students looked at each other and silently gathered their things to leave the hall. They had only come with their last hopes. Seeing the Tian cultivation class like this, they instantly understood.
No one was dumb!
The Turtle Island Cultivation Classes were not cheap, but the spells they taught were much more profound than other cultivation classes. In the past, the Tian cultivation class was the oldest and most reputable ling plant cultivation class in Xu Ling City. Yet the students who had attended the Turtle Island ling plant cultivation class never came back after that.
Tian Zhong Zhou looked on woodenly as the last three students left. His mind was dazed.
A few days ago, the upper levels had asked to them to blow away this cultivation class. Tian Zhong Zhou and the others had been full of motivation, each of them using all of their power and were waiting to beat the other down!
In other areas, the Tian Family didn’t dare, but in ling plants, who was a match for them in Xu Ling City?
Each teacher of the Tian cultivation class was full of motivation. The stuff that the Turtle Island Cultivation Class had taught on the first day were just tricks in the eyes of Tian Zhong Zhou and the others. It showed that the other was not as strong as they were so they would put their efforts on those unorthodox methods.
Cultivation class, they were about strength in the end!
Tian Zhong Zhou and the others were full of confidence.
Yet the suddenly change turned everyone dumbstruck.
No one had expected the Turtle Island Cultivation Classes that they thought of as clowns to gain such popularity and become unstoppable! In the span of a few short days, the students of the Tian cultivation classes quickly left.
At the start, Tian Zhong Zhou had thought, these students should never think about coming back to class ever again. Including him, the teachers of the classes had used all their skills. They had never worked so hard before, never been so professional! They hoped to use this method to stem the tide.
Yet they quickly found that all efforts were useless.
The number of students that came everywhere lessened.
Coming out of his thoughts, Tian Zhong Zhou’s eyes filled with blood. His hands unconsciously balled together and his discontent erupted!
Why was it like this!
Why!
He suddenly walked out. His face was determined. He was going to see just how evil the other’s cultivation class really was!
He wasn’t even in the mood to clean up what was on his table and left without a glance back.
He was going to expose the other’s tricks in front of the public!
A light drizzle came down as he walked. Tian Zhong Zhou walked quickly and did not detect the pitter-patter of rain against his body.
It was very easy to find the ling plant cultivation class of the Turtle Island. He only need to make a few inquiries and found the general location. Tian Zhong Zhou was very familiar with Xu Ling City and quickly found the place.
The deep little alley was completely silent.
It seemed these people were not very wealthy. The location of this little alley was not good and it used to be one of the most remote areas where no one would come. Tian Zhong Zhou recovered some of his confidence. Compared to this place, the location of their Tian cultivation class was in the golden stretch of the inner city.
Yet when Tian Zhong Zhou turned the corner to the alley, he seemed to be paralyzed.
People sat on the ground of the long and narrow alley. Their faces were upraised as they listened intently to the sound coming from the end of the alley. The entire alley was filled to the brim but silent. No one was speaking.
Tian Zhong Zhou was astounded!
Suddenly, an unspeakable feeling filled his chest and his lips uncontrollably trembled. His cultivation talent was normal and he did not have much status in the family. Otherwise, he would not have been sent to be the teacher for the ling plant cultivation class.
He had been a teacher of the ling plant cultivation class for ten whole years.
But in his ten years of teaching, he had never seen such a shocking scene!
He didn’t have good feelings about the students in his class. These xiuzhe that lived on the lowest level of society always had exhaustion-filled faces, and were never focused. The great majority of them were rough and crude, hard to like. They were the examples of the lowest level of xiuzhe in society, they were without any hint of refinement or beauty or the otherworldliness that came with cultivation.
Yet, it was also this group of people sitting quietly in rapt attention… …
Tian Zhong Zhou’s mind was dazed. The students that were sitting wore serious expressions that were slightly pious. There was no exhaustion or tiredness in their expressions, their focused faces shone with another kind of light.
Tian Zhong Zhou looked dazedly at this group of unfamiliar students.
The voice came from the end of the valley. It was not very loud but very clear. The teacher inside had seemed to predict this scene and had used a sound amplifying talisman.
“The five elements of ling plants have their own wonders. We are going to talk about the water element today. There are many water element spells, but does that mean that all water element spells are suited to ling plants? No. The water element spells that are able to be used on ling plants must have warm and nurturing effects. Today, I am going to talk of a water element spell called [Little Art of Cloud and Rain]. It is not a profound spell, but for us ling plant farmers, it is very useful. Here, I must remind everyone to not always pursue high grade spells. High grade spells are better than low grade spells but the consumption of ling power is also higher. This is likely to cause you to land in the awkward state of not having enough ling power when using it … …”
After listening for a little while, Tian Zhong Zhou showed shock on his face.
They also taught [Little Art of Cloud and Rain] but only just the most basic variations. The higher level variations were only permitted to be taught after the student entered the Tian Family. Many of the wondrous parts this person talked about were ones that even Tian Zhong Zhou felt were novel. In this little while, he felt as though he had learned greatly!
But he did not feel happy, but disbelieving!
He did not wonder at this person’s deep comprehension of spells, but rather that this person would publicly teach such exquisite content!
Was this person crazy?
Did he not know what he was talking about were things no sect would easily make public?
If he only passed it on to a few people, no one would pay attention to him! But to publicly teach it like this, to so easily pass high grade spells, there was only one result, offending all the sects!
Why were the sects so powerful? Wasn’t it because they held the great majority of resources? And spells, that was the most important kind of resource that the sects possessed!
The monopoly sects had over spells was one of the foundations that they used to monopolize in reality. Due to this, in these thousands of years, all the sects and factions maintained this unusual and unspoken agreement.
This guy’s conduct intruded onto the profits of all the sects and factions around Xu Ling City!
He really was crazy!
Tian Zhong Zhou shook his head. But looking at the scene in front of him, for some unknown reason, all he felt it was pity.
Translator Ramblings: Zuo Mo is accidentally … … breaking unspoken norms. I’m not sure of the exact chapter but way back in the beginning, there had been a paragraph on how the “training classes” offered in Dong Fu were not actually very good and just gateways to entering a sect. Well, here’s more on how sects keeps knowledge under barriers.