In a quiet, secluded corner of the academy grounds, a beautiful woman stood alone. She appeared to be in her thirties, dressed in a simple, unadorned green cloth dress. Despite the simplicity of her attire, it could not hide her natural grace and noble bearing. A cloth scarf gathered her dark green hair, framing a face that was somewhat pale but exquisitely moving. Her features were delicate, like a painting brought to life, and her large black eyes, though currently lost in a daze, still held a captivating spirit. beneath her modest robes, her figure was mature and alluring, possessing a charm that no young girl could hope to match.
She stood by a wooden fence, gazing into the distance with a look of profound longing. A melodious, sorrowful voice drifted from her lips, sounding like a quiet murmur meant only for herself and the wind.
"This song... you wrote it for me back then. Xiaogang, do you know? My heart is in such a mess right now. Where are you, really? I have waited for so long."
Yin Shu, a teacher at the academy, approached the area quietly. adhering to proper etiquette, he stopped a few paces away from the fence, not daring to intrude too closely. He bowed respectfully toward the beautiful woman's back.
"Dean, I apologize for interrupting, but two mysterious Spirit Masters have arrived at the Academy. They claim to be from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and say they have important matters to discuss with you. Since they are from such a prestigious clan, we cannot make a decision ourselves, so we specifically ask you to decide how to handle them."
There was a sudden blur of movement. In a flash, the beautiful woman had vanished from her spot inside the garden and was standing directly in front of Yin Shu outside the fence. Yin Shu was slightly startled, his expression showing a hint of surprise. He hadn't seen how the Dean had moved at all; one moment she was there, and the next she was here. This simple movement demonstrated her terrifying speed and powerful strength.
"Where are they right now?" Liu Erlong asked, her voice deep and commanding.
"They are waiting outside the main reception area," Yin Shu replied quickly, recovering his composure.
"Bring them in," Liu Erlong said calmly, her face returning to a mask of indifference.
After Yin Shu bowed again, he retreated to carry out her orders. As he walked away, he couldn't help but think that the feeling Liu Erlong gave people was quite peculiar. There was a significant disparity between her words, her actions, and her appearance. If she were to wear an extravagant noble dress, she would look like a high-born noblewoman in every possible way. However, her tone of voice was often full of aggression and a barely suppressed desire to fight.
In the legends of the Spirit Master world, the famous Golden Iron Triangle had three corners. Flender was known as the Flying Corner, and Yu Xiaogang was known as the Wise Corner. Liu Erlong, however, was known as the Slaughtering Corner. Despite her beauty, she possessed a very fiery and explosive temper that terrified her enemies.
Meanwhile, at the recruitment office of the academy, the atmosphere was quite different. The teacher in charge of the testing hall felt like his blood pressure was about to skyrocket. He stared at the middle-aged man standing in front of him, who was applying for a position as an Academy teacher.
The man looked stiff and serious, but the results of the spirit power test were undeniable.
"Your spirit power is only at the twenty-ninth rank?" the person in charge asked, looking at the man with disbelief. "Is this a joke? This is an advanced Spirit Master academy. How can you teach students when your own rank is not even at the Spirit Elder level?"
Yu Xiaogang stood tall, refusing to back down despite the ridicule. He looked at the recruiter with a serious expression.
"Although my spirit power isn't high, I possess endless theoretical knowledge that is unmatched in this world. I am perfectly suited to be a teacher! Strength is not the only measure of a good instructor; understanding the essence of Spirits is far more important."
Seeing that the person in charge was completely unmoved by his declaration, Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth and tried a different approach. He pulled the young boy beside him forward.
"My disciple's talent is also very good. If you hire me, can he enter the Academy to study?"
However, the person in charge seemed to have lost all patience. He acted as if he hadn't heard Yu Xiaogang at all and was already packing up his papers, preparing to leave the desk. Although Yu Xiaogang was very angry in his heart at being ignored, he knew their situation was desperate. They had nowhere else to go, and they needed a place to stay.
Swallowing his pride, Yu Xiaogang called out to the man's retreating back.
"Wait! I heard your esteemed Academy still needs two cleaners to maintain the grounds. What do you think about us filling those positions?"
Finally, the person in charge stopped. He turned around and looked at the two of them with a mixture of pity and annoyance. A Grandmaster and his disciple reduced to asking for cleaning jobs? It was pathetic, but the academy did need the help.
"Fine," the man grunted. "I'll keep the two of you. But don't cause trouble."
After the awkward interview, Tang San and Yu Xiaogang went outside to wait while the paperwork was processed. Standing in the grounds of the Lanba Academy—also known as the Blue Tyrant Academy—what greeted their eyes was a magnificent forest directly in front of them. This forest was the largest within Heaven Dou City, and the entire area belonged to the Academy's resources. Although the buildings and facilities here were not quite as luxurious as those of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy, they were not too far off in quality.
It had been ten years since the Academy was founded. The founder had a specific rule: the academy only accepted commoner Spirit Masters. They did not accept nobles. Because of this, the quality of the Spirit Masters' inherited Spirits here was generally inferior to that of ordinary advanced Spirit Master Academies, where students often came from powerful families with strong lineages.
However, this disadvantage became their greatest strength. Because all the students came from commoner backgrounds, they knew they had to work harder to succeed. They trained with a desperate intensity that those from large families or noble houses could never understand.
In the previous Continental Spirit Master Tournament, the Blue Tyrant Academy Team had overcome many strong opponents through sheer grit and determination. Finally, they had made it all the way into the top eight. Their results were only slightly worse than the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's first team, which was filled with elites. In fact, the Heaven Dou Royal Academy's second team had been eliminated directly by the Blue Tyrant Academy Team.
Although the entire Academy only had a little over two hundred students, it was well-known in the Spirit Master world of the Heaven Dou Empire. Even Spirit Masters from noble backgrounds had to begrudgingly admit Lanba Academy's contribution to the world. It could be said to be the true cradle of commoner Spirit Masters. Although it had only been open for a decade, it had produced many commoner Spirit Masters with considerable strength. Even the supreme Spirit Hall had expressed hope to cooperate with Lanba Academy, recognizing its potential.
While the facilities here were not as golden and glittering as the Royal Academy, they were much better and more focused than their previous home, Shrek Academy.
Just then, in the distance, Liu Erlong had finished her meeting and was seeing off the two people from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. She turned to walk back toward her residence, and her departing back was coincidentally caught by Yu Xiaogang's peripheral vision.
He froze. That figure... that silhouette... it was incredibly familiar. It triggered a flood of memories he had tried to bury. Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but let out a long, heavy sigh. He looked down at Tang San beside him, his eyes filled with a complex mixture of nostalgia and pain.
"Little San," he spoke softly, "let me tell you a story."
Tang San nodded lightly, sensing his teacher's serious mood. Yu Xiaogang looked toward the forest and began to speak.
"More than twenty years ago, there was a young man from a prestigious family. However, fate played a cruel joke on him. Because his own Spirit mutated in a negative direction, he failed to inherit his clan's powerful Spirit legacy. He was considered trash and was ostracized by his family. To prove himself, he left home and diligently studied Spirit Master knowledge, researching the deeper meanings of Spirits that others ignored. He hoped that one day, he could gain recognition from the world through his wisdom, even if he lacked power."
Yu Xiaogang paused for a moment, his eyes distant.
"When he was traveling abroad, he met a like-minded young Spirit Master. This man was strong, ambitious, and free-spirited. The two of them hit it off immediately and decided to venture into the Spirit Master world together. One day, while hunting Spirit Beasts in a large forest, they met a beautiful young girl. She was alone, singing in the woods. Her lively, straightforward, and fiery personality quickly attracted these two young men. The three became good friends, and their original two-person team grew to three traveling together."
"As time passed, traversing life and death together, both young men fell deeply in love with the young girl, who possessed a powerful Fire Dragon Spirit. But because of their deep brotherhood, neither was willing to express it. They didn't want to hurt the other. Especially the first young man—the one with the mutated Spirit. Because he couldn't possess great strength, he felt inferior. He buried this love even deeper in his heart, thinking he wasn't worthy."
"Later, the three of them accidentally discovered that their Spirits resonated. Their cooperation could unleash a powerful Martial Soul Fusion Skill, something incredibly rare. Relying on their combined strength, they gradually made a name for themselves in the Spirit Master world. They were called the Golden Iron Triangle."
At this point, Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but sigh again, his voice trembling slightly.
"Feelings are something that accumulate over time. You cannot stop them. The deeper they are hidden, sometimes the stronger they become when they finally burst out. As the three of them grew older, their feelings for each other also deepened. Finally, the young man with considerable strength couldn't endure the torment of his inner emotions any longer. He confessed his love to the young girl."
"But a result that greatly surprised both young men appeared before them. The young girl wasn't oblivious; she had always known that both young men liked her. And precisely because of this reason, she was afraid of hurting the friendship by revealing her choice. But now, facing the direct confession of the strong young man, she finally couldn't hide it anymore. She called both young men in front of her. She looked them in the eye and said that the one she liked... was the young man whose Spirit had mutated. She loved the one whose strength was low, but who, through perseverance and effort, possessed excellent theoretical knowledge."
At this point, Yu Xiaogang suddenly stopped speaking. The memory seemed to be too much for him, or perhaps he didn't know how to continue.
Tang San, who had been listening intently, asked with a face full of curiosity, "Teacher, what happened then? Did they get together?"
Before Yu Xiaogang could answer, a loud, impatient voice shouted from behind them, breaking the atmosphere.
"Hey! What are you two doing standing there chatting? Are you still going to process the paperwork or not? If you want the job, get moving!"
It was the voice of the person in charge from earlier, holding a stack of forms and looking very disgruntled.
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