Lin Feng stood at the grand entrance of Spirit Spring Academy, his hands clasped behind his back as he quietly observed the endless stream of people passing through the towering gates.
The stone pillars were engraved with great runes meant to stabilize qi, and faint spiritual mist drifted through the air, giving the place an air of dignity and prestige.
Students, servants, guards, and elders alike moved in orderly lines, their footsteps echoing softly against the polished ground.
Normally, Lin Feng would simply remain in his courtyard and wait for students to enroll under his tutelage.
That was how things were supposed to work.
Teachers announced their classes, and students chose based on reputation, strength, and achievements.
Unfortunately, Lin Feng had none of those.
Since he began teaching at Spirit Spring Academy, his record could only be described as disastrous.
Not a single outstanding disciple had emerged from his instruction, and rumors had long since spread that his classes were dull, ineffective, or outright useless.
At this point, it would take either a miracle or a truly clueless student for anyone to willingly place their future in his hands.
The academy's primary students were children between five and ten years old.
These youngsters were at the age where their meridians were still pure and untainted, making it the best time to lay a foundation for cultivation.
Spirit Spring Academy existed for this exact purpose: to temper bodies, awaken qi sensitivity, and guide students onto the path of the Body Refining Realm.
Under the academy's curriculum, most children would reach the second or third stage of Body Refining before graduation.
The truly gifted could push themselves to the fifth stage by the age of ten, earning praise from elders and attracting the attention of recruiters.
Once they graduated, these prodigies would apply to join one of the great sects of the Golden Lotus Empire, where resources, techniques, and fierce competition awaited them.
But Lin Feng wasn't watching the children.
His gaze passed over their excited faces, the way they clutched jade slips or cultivation manuals, the nervous pride of parents watching their offspring take their first steps toward immortality.
There was nothing wrong with them at all.
They were exactly what the academy was designed to nurture.
Instead, Lin Feng's attention lingered on those who followed behind.
Maidservants carrying bags of supplies. Guards with rigid postures and restrained breathing.
Middle-aged attendants who kept their heads lowered yet moved with the ease of experienced fighters.
There was a reason Spirit Spring Academy existed in the first place.
Its fees were exorbitant, far beyond what common families could afford.
Only rich clans, noble houses, and influential families sent their children here.
And wherever wealthy clans gathered, their shadows followed as well... retainers, protectors, fallen experts, and loyal servants bound by contracts or gratitude.
As for cultivator clans, there was none here to be found.
Of course, no cultivator clans would send their treasured children here.
They had their own masters, capable of training their clansmen far more effectively than any teacher at the academy.
Lin Feng slowly exhaled, turning his focus away from the children and onto the adults.
It was a bold gamble, but a faint, confident smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
If the academy wouldn't give him students… then he would find his own.
And perhaps, hidden among these overlooked shadows, there existed someone far more valuable than a so-called prodigy.
His gaze swept across the crowd, and instantly, streams of information flooded his mind.
He could see each person's cultivation base, their strengths, and most glaringly their weaknesses.
Even more absurdly, trivial details surfaced as well like the number of sexual partners they'd had, the names of their lovers, past habits, hidden injuries, and all sorts of other miscellaneous fragments of their lives.
The sheer volume of data threatened to overwhelm him.
Lin Feng steadied his breathing and focused.
With a thought, he organized the chaotic influx into neat lines of text, filtering the useless details and retaining only what mattered.
Only then did the world before him regain clarity.
His eyes settled on a young man walking beside a much smaller boy.
Judging from their similar features, the child was likely his younger brother.
***
Name: Zhang Wei
Cultivation Base: Fifth Stage of the Body Refining Realm
Strengths: Reliable, steady, basically your go-to guy for carrying groceries or surviving a minor apocalypse
Weaknesses: Yang qi permanently on "low battery," chronic pelvic protests, and a body so weakened from overindulgence and self pleasure that sitting still feels like a heroic feat
***
"Tsk…" Lin Feng scoffed at what he saw, though he couldn't truly judge.
In his past life, he had been a single dog through and through, with his right hand as his one and only loyal companion.
But that was the past.
Now, he was handsome, capable, and standing at the threshold of a completely different fate.
He was a cultivator destined for immortality, someone who has now stood above trillions, looking down upon the world itself.
Lin Feng continued to look around for more prospective students.
***
Name: Li Jing
Cultivation Base: Third Stage of the Body Refining Realm
Strengths: Quiet, serene, so calm that even mosquitoes hesitate to bite
Weaknesses: Attention span shorter than a stick of incense, loses focus faster than spiritual qi leaking from a cracked dantian.
***
Name: Chen Siyuan
Cultivation Base: Ninth Stage of the Body Refining Realm
Strengths: Body so tough it could wrestle a demon beast to death
Weaknesses: Terminal laziness, if cultivation required lying down and doing nothing, he'd already be immortal.
***
"Sigh." Lin Feng drew a deep breath, forcing himself to stay focused.
The crowd in Clear Moon City, streaming back and forth through the Spirit Spring Academy, moved like a restless river, each person carrying their own aura and harboring their own secrets.
He scanned them one by one, noting cultivation bases, strengths, weaknesses, and more.
Hours passed... well, nearly two, before he finally found what he had been searching for.
His eyes passed over countless children, barely old enough to wield a sword, and over young men in their twenties, brimming with untamed energy but not quite suitable for his purpose.
And then, finally, his gaze settled on someone different.
A woman, radiant yet composed, standing gracefully among the crowd.
She exuded a presence that was neither boastful nor timid, a balance that could only come from maturity and experience.
She was in her prime, twenty-five years old, the same age as Lin Feng.
He scanned her details and grinned, knowing he had just found a prime target to be his first student in a long while.
He straightened his posture and took a step closer, his voice calm but carrying the weight of authority. "Excuse me, young miss. Would you be willing to become my student?"