"Welcome, welcome, one and only, to my Step Cultivation Program. You'll learn all about excavating potential, discovering latent talent and forcing yourself to surpass your limits to become the best version of you that you can be!"
Hei Shisan struck a chalkboard with a stick as he stood within a small classroom. There were almost thirty desks and chairs, but only one of them was occupied.
Jin Huang looked on excitedly as Hei Shisan continued, moving the stick toward the writing on the chalboard.
"Step One: Setting the stage and creating pressure. No true genius grew without adversity. In order to truly become the best version of yourself, and bring out your potential, you need more adversity than you've ever experienced! Thankfully, you- my lovely young viewer- were able to complete fifty percent of this step by merely existing!"
"Yeah!" Jin Huang raised his fist in celebration without thinking, then awkwardly withdrew it as he thought about whether that was truly something to be happy about.
"Now, you've become the self-proclaimed 'Fourteenth Unteachable Student.' The adversity you face will only increase, thanks to my genius plan to parade you around the academy, wearing the uniform with the number fourteen, the headband and the flag! We've made it known to the entire student body that you are the Fourteenth Unteachable Student, and that you will find your own path toward surpassing them all!"
Jin Huang nodded, growing more and more excited.
"Now that their disdain for you is ripe, and they're all anticipating the date of the upcoming duels, you need to vanish from the public eye!"
Frowning, Jin Huang raised his hand.
"Yes, you, the young man in the front." Hei Shisan pointed with the stick.
"By vanish, do you mean I'm just going to go into hiding and... train?"
Hei Shisan guffawed, "Not at all. You're going to go off on an adventure. Which leads us to..."
"Step Two: Pressure, Pressure and More Pressure! You need to throw yourself into the boiling water- surround yourself with overwhelmingly stressful encounters and give yourself only one way out."
His differently colored eyes coupled with his excessive excitement and volume made Hei Shisan look like a deranged psychopath, but Jin Huang only saw his savior and guide toward finally finding his own cultivation path.
Weeks and weeks had gone by where all he did was attempt various cultivation methods- ones that he didn't even know were invented specifically for him by Nagira and the others in an attempt to try to assist him.
Of course, they also needed him to start cultivating so they could try to figure out more about him, but that was beside the point.
"Okay," Jin Huang nodded, "and how am I going to do that."
Hei Shisan's hand moved, adjacent to the writing on the chalkboard for Step Two, there was a hastily drawn diagram that said: "Missions! Merit Tasks! Commisions!"
"Now," Hei Shisan smacked the diagram with the stick, "first-years usually aren't qualified to accept academy-issued missions, but exceptions can be made if they're being accompanied by a senior student."
"Of course, that student is also limited by the risk-level assessment of the mission. If a senior student only has clearance for up to yellow-level risks, then they can't accept a red, gold or black-level mission."
Jin Huang committed that to memory, "And what are these missions?"
"The academy has close relations with a lot of powerhouses in various galaxies, and sometimes they submit a request to the academy since there are a lot of talented cultivators here who are also looking for world-experience. Sometimes they ask for someone to travel somewhere and retrieve an item, or make a delivery, or to visit them and assist with something."
"Got it," Jin Huang affirmed.
"The most important point to note is that you, a first-year, can accompany a senior on a mission. Using that, and my black-level clearance, we're going to go on a mission together."
Licking his lips and rubbing his palms together, Jin Huang leaned in, "What mission will we be going on?"
Snickering, Hei Shisan held up a scroll. "I already found the perfect one. Read it and weep, Huang," He said as he tossed the scroll to a curious Jin Huang.
As Jin Huang read it, his brows climbed higher and his eyes grew wider.
"This sounds like hell!" He finally blurted out, the scroll dropping onto the table.
"That's the point! You go on this mission, you suffer, you struggle, survive and become much stronger for it. You'll definitely see an improvement in no time at all! Hahaha!" Hei Shisan smacked the chalkboard again, laughing maniacally.
"Are you sure about this?" Jin Huang gulped, looking down at his hands. "What if I really don't have any potential? What if I'm actually just a weakl-"
There was a crisp crack as Hei Shisan smacked Jin Huang with the skin, an immediate red mark forming on the latter's arm where he was struck.
"Ow! That hurts!"
"Of course it hurts, you idiot! I'm strong!" Hei Shisan fumed. "I'm allergic to the words of weak minds, and your mind isn't weak. If it were, I'd have hated you since the moment we meet. Never say such words about yourself again. Understand!?"
Jin Huang nodded fiercely as he rubbed his arm, still wincing.
"Good. Don't you worry, I'll be right there to step in if things go sour. Now come on, we don't have time to waste." Hei Shisan dropped the stick, grabbed the scroll and made to exit the class.
As Jin Huang stood up and started following him out of the classroom and back out into the campus itself, he asked, "Where are we going now? To prepare for the mission?"
Chuckling, Hei Shisan shook his head as he led the way, "Who do you think I am? We're all set! All that's left is to go through the Void-Crossing Array and get to work completing our mission."
Jin Huang gave an 'Oh' and followed Hei Shisan through the campus, toward an isolated district dedicated to missions. There was a wide open area with nothing but a number of mission boards, and various staff members posted to facilitate the acceptance and completion of missions.
Here, he walked past the mission boards area and stepped onto a circular mosaic, some kind of decorative flooring that was also covered in various arrays and runes. The entire mosaic thrummed with pure energy, indicating the direct flow of qi it received from the universe itself.
It was one with the academy and an extremely valuable piece of array formation mastery- the Void-Crossing Array.
There was a staff member posted at the array that was in charge of activating it, and he was currently holding an illusory star chart. On it, a singular point was flashing steadily.
"Activation confirmed, returning student: Jadefire."
The star chart lingered in the air despite being let go of, and the elder placed his feet atop two array points before he used his own energy to activate the Void-Crossing Array. The entire mosaic lit up, the various designs forming a massive symbol that Jin Huang did not recognize.
Then, with no indication, a senior student appeared at the center of the structure as it dimmed and returned to dormancy. A third-year student with bright green hair and similar verdant eyes appeared, clothed in an orange uniform.
"Thank you, sir," She cupped her fists at the staff member before heading off to confirm the completion of her mission.
Then, the man turned his attention to Hei Shisan, and he frowned. "Shisan."
"Mr. Yuanshi," Hei Shisan nodded, then brought out the scroll. "Going on mission."
After looking over the mission details, the man looked at them both. "You're taking a first-year with you on a red-level mission? You must have a lot of faith in him, Shisan," Mr. Yuanshi said with measuring eyes, then he seemed to realize something.
"Wait, isn't it supposed to be-" Jin Huang started, only to be cut off.
"Indeed! He is my successor, Number Fourteen! He can handle a mere red-level mission." Hei Shisan said as he clapped Jin Huang on the back a bit harshly, smiling all the while.
The man shook his head and sighed, "Whatever."
He took something out of his spatial ring and handed it to Hei Shisan, "That bead is so that I can track your movements on the star chart. When you activate it with some of your energy, I'll be able to see where you are. You'll need it so that I can bring you back. If you lose it, you're on your own."
Hei Shisan waved his hand dismissively, "I know, I know," then he grinned at Jin Huang. "This guy, am I right?"
Jin Huang chuckled as he shook his head, also noticing the annoyance on Mr. Yuanshi's face.
"Just step onto the array with the scroll. When it activates, it will read the scroll and take you to that location."
They both stood atop the Void-Crossing Array, and Mr. Yuanshi prepared to activate it. At the same time, Hei Shisan looked over at Jin Huang, passing the bead to him. As the array came to life, and lit up more and more, Hei Shisan's smile grew wider and wider.
"Jin Huang," he said softly, the energy pouring out of the array masking the sound of his voice.
"I showed Mr. Yuanshi the wrong scroll," he said as he smilingly passed the correct scroll to Jin Huang.
"Why would you do that? Would he have stopped you from taking me along if he had seen the right one?"
"Oh, most definitely," Hei Shisan chuckled, then handed the bead to Jin Huang as well.
Unassuming, Jin Huang held onto the scroll that Hei Shisan had showed him initially, which detailed a black-level mission- the highest risk level.
Then, Hei Shisan took out the scroll that he had showed Mr. Yuanshi, right before the array was fully activated, and said, "You have almost two months left, Jin Huang. I'll come looking for you if you haven't returned by then. Good luck."
Despair painted itself across Jin Huang's face; he looked at the scroll in his hand, the bead, and then the scroll in Hei Shisan's hands.
Before he could say anything else, the array was fully activated, reading both the scrolls individually.
In quickly dissolving streams of light, Hei Shisan and Jin Huang hurtled off into the void... in two entirely different directions!