Chapter 13: Even Cultivators Have to Do Homework

“T-Teacher… aren’t we supposed to listen to the principal’s address?” On the first day of school, the first class was supposed to be spent listening to the principal speak.

The class’s only “good” student, Yao Beibei, raised her hand and plucked up the courage to ask.

Wu Yongli remained all smiles. “Principal Li is sick, so Vice Principal Gao is speaking right now. He’s just going over some new rules and regulations. The forms will be handed out to everyone later, so there’s no need to waste time.”

With that, he continued, “What is the history of cultivation?”

Wu Yongli glanced across the five students of Class F and tapped a piece of chalk with his fingertip. The chalk rose from the box and began writing on the blackboard of its own accord.

“Simply put, the history of cultivation is the history of human cultivation. It is a discipline that records and explains a series of historical events in human cultivation.”

That was in the textbook. Yao Beibei picked out a green highlighter and marked the sentence.

“Now, the history of cultivation is divided into ancient and modern. We’ll mainly focus on modern cultivation history. Ancient cultivation history is covered in the first three chapters of the textbook, so go read through those on your own.”

Yao Beibei quickly opened her notebook and used a red pen to write “Read Through” in large letters, adding an exclamation mark at the end.

Teacher Wu seemed tired of standing. He pulled up a chair beside the podium, leaned back, crossed his legs, and took a sip of tea from his mug.

He let the chalk scratch away on the blackboard, not even turning his head.

“To study modern cultivation history, the first thing we must talk about is the great cataclysm in human history. You should all know about this, right?”

Just three minutes into class, two of the five were already down. Zhang Tianyu and Yi Ang were sound asleep, one behind the other.

Teacher Wu, still holding his tea mug, waved his hand. Multi-colored chalk began sketching on the blackboard, quickly outlining a map.

The Four Polar Continents sat at the four corners of the board, while the Central Continent occupied the dead center.

Wu Yongli waited until the scratching sound stopped, then turned around to admire his handiwork. “This is our current map.”

“And this one here is the map before the Great Deluge.”

“Throughout human history, many myths and legends about a Great Deluge have been passed down.”

Yet before the second Great Deluge, apart from certain religious believers and researchers who believed a great flood had truly occurred in the past, most people thought the legends were just myths.

Until the second Great Deluge actually arrived.

The original terrain changed. Some places rose, while others sank.

As he lectured, the map drawn on the blackboard split apart, merged back together, and split again.

“…resulting in the map we see today. The landmass shrank, and the oceans expanded from seventy percent of the surface area to ninety percent.”

“Many nations exist now only on old maps, and human civilization nearly failed to survive.”

“The Four Polar Continents surround the four corners of the Central Continent. The Central Continent enjoys the best climate and living environment, so it preserved most of civilization’s achievements, or civilization’s heritage, if you will.”

Wu Yongli blew on his tea and took a sip of his boat sterculia seed and goji berry^[1] brew. “All of this will be on the exam. Have you written it down?”

He directed this question at the remaining two and a half students.

One was Ding Ling, one was Zhou Ziyue, and the half was Yao Beibei.

Yao Beibei was nodding off. Several of the colored pens lined up on her desk remained uncapped, and her notes had barely begun before her eyelids grew heavy.

When Teacher Wu mentioned the exam, her eyes fluttered open for a second. She propped her chin on her hand in a final stand, but the resistance failed, and she slumped onto her desk.

Wu Yongli did not mind. Even if they all fell asleep, he could keep right on talking.

Putting the lid on his tea mug, he glanced over the five students. Some of them had terrible academic grades, while others had poor practical scores. When their averages were tallied, they fell well short of even Class D standards, leaving the school no choice but to open Class F.

Zhang Tianyu and Yi Ang simply did not take their studies seriously. Their academics were a total mess, their practical work was subpar, and with their terrible attitudes, no other class had been willing to take them.

Yao Beibei’s spiritual root had only awakened three months ago. If she applied herself, she would soon be promoted to a higher class.

Zhou Ziyue was at the top of the class academically, but his spiritual energy circulation was probably only a tiny bit better than Ding Ling’s. He seemed to look down on cultivation history as a subject, not even bothering to take out a pen.

As for Ding Ling…

She was taking notes with her left hand, like a toddler just learning how to write.

Ding Ling had never attended a class like this.

Back in the Sanqing Sect, she had learned meditation and spellcraft, but she had never looked at the world from this perspective.

It felt as though someone had once taught her to look at the world, but she could not remember who that person was for the moment.

“Since ancient times, our country has passed down numerous legends of immortals. Perhaps one day in the future, these legends will be proven true.” Wu Yongli produced another small picture. “These are the legendary Seventy-Two Grotto-Heavens and Thirty-Six Blessed Lands^[2].”

“After the revival of spiritual energy, many people went searching for the grotto-heavens and blessed lands recorded in history, and many treasure hunters set off to explore them. But due to tectonic shifts and ocean surges, entire sections of land sank beneath the sea. To this day, only thirteen locations have been verified as authentic grotto-heavens and blessed lands.”

…

Ding Ling remained silent.

Only when the dismissal bell rang was Yao Beibei startled awake!

After trying to be a proper student for just fifteen minutes, she had been corrupted by Class F and ended up taking a glorious thirty-minute nap, likely in deep sleep the entire time.

“I’m doomed, I’m doomed, I’m doomed, I didn’t take my notes!” Yao Beibei looked down at her notebook. The handwriting on the first page was quite neat, but by the last page it had grown increasingly crooked, until the final few words were entirely illegible, looking like seventeen or eighteen worms wriggling across the page.

She quickly grabbed Ding Ling’s notebook, flipped it open, and her eyes went wide. “What on earth did you write?”

“Notes.” Since she was taking notes, she naturally used the characters and symbols she was familiar with.

“And what does this line say?”

“It’s the homework.”

Right, of course. Having class meant having homework. Even cultivators had to do homework.

“What homework?”

“‘What effective measures did the state take to safeguard the lives of the populace after the revival of spiritual energy?’ We have to write at least eight hundred words^[3], due next class.”

Yao Beibei’s jaw dropped. Wasn’t this class supposed to be about the Great Deluge?

This was only the first class! Why was a cultivation high school so fiercely competitive too?!

Zhou Ziyue looked half-dead, Zhang Tianyu and Yi Ang had fallen asleep even before she did, and Ding Ling… she couldn’t make heads or tails of Ding Ling’s handwriting. What was she going to do? Whose homework could she possibly copy?

Just as she was trying to come up with a plan, Ding Ling stood up, her eyes bright and sharp. “Next is the spiritual herbology class. Let’s go to Greenhouse No. 1.”

“Huh?”

Before Yao Beibei could even react, Ding Ling dragged her off toward Greenhouse No. 1.

There was a fifteen-minute break after class! Couldn’t they use the bathroom or grab a snack first?

“Are you really that into spiritual herbology?”

Ding Ling gave Yao Beibei a meaningful look.

Across two lifetimes, Yao Beibei was the first fellow disciple to treat her so well; she had to give something back. “The longer you stay there, the more beneficial it is.”

Ding Ling made it sound profoundly mysterious. Thoroughly bewildered, Yao Beibei followed her into Greenhouse No. 1.

Then she saw Ding Ling expertly kick off her shoes, roll up her pant legs, and step barefoot into the mud. Picking up a watering can, Ding Ling walked over to a small patch of dark soil where several young shoots were growing, a sign planted in front of them.

Written on it in ancient Chinese was Ding Ling’s name. Yao Beibei recognized the character for “Ling.”

When had she started farming a plot of land here?

Wait, Ding Ling actually had land at No. 1 High School?

When Teacher Miao arrived, he saw Ding Ling already there. “Here so early?”

Ding Ling hadn’t just finished her own tasks; she had also set Yao Beibei up to pick a planter and fill it with soil. Yao Beibei had shoe covers and gloves on, head down as she diligently shoveled dirt.

Teacher Miao smiled and said, “No rush, take your time. By the way, since your class is so small, hands-on practical classes like this will be held together with A Class.”

Class F was a new addition this year, so the old schedule couldn’t be reused. With no room left in the timetable, their practical classes had to be combined with A Class.

The other classes had nearly thirty students each, making it hard to squeeze anyone in.

Chen Dahai had protested this schedule, but Vice Principal Gao had replied, “Isn’t that perfect? Let the advanced students guide the stragglers.”

“The gap between the two classes is far too wide. There’s bound to be friction…”

Vice Principal Gao chuckled. “Then it certainly won’t be the good students’ fault.” There were only five students in Class F in total, three of whom had caused trouble before. Keeping them at the school served no purpose anyway; finding an excuse to expel them would be all the better.

With Principal Li on long-term medical leave, Chen Dahai’s protests were futile, and the schedule was finalized as planned.

Before the bell even rang, the students of A Class trickled in one after another, naturally lining up in a separate row.

Next, Zhang Tianyu and Yi Ang stormed into Greenhouse No. 1 fuming with anger, while Zhou Ziyue followed behind with a dark, sullen face.

Yao Beibei was curious but hesitant to ask. Zhang Tianyu took the initiative and came over. “Do you guys know what new system that… Vice Principal Gao just announced?”

“What new system?”

Zhang Tianyu pulled a sheet of paper from his jacket and shoved it to Yao Beibei.

Written at the top was the Notice for the New Academic Year.

The school store had been expanded, the new dormitory building was opening, specialty food counters had been added to the cafeteria, and the new gymnasium was being put into use this year.

Yao Beibei looked up. “Aren’t these all good things?”

“Keep reading down!” Zhang Tianyu gritted his teeth.

Yao Beibei continued reading, and when she reached the final paragraph, she couldn’t help reading it aloud: “‘To motivate students to make progress, the school will pilot an incentive system, classifying students by class tier and unlocking privileges according to rank…'”

In the dormitory building, A Class students would live on an exclusive floor, each with their own private bathroom. B Class got double rooms, C Class triple rooms, and D Class quad rooms.

Cafeteria counters would no longer be labeled Window 1 or Window 2, but A, B, C, and D.

“‘Please wear your badge according to your tier. Violators will face point deductions.'”

Following that was a campus card policy: cash would no longer be accepted, campus spirit stones would be distributed based on academic performance, and all purchases within the school had to be made using campus spirit stones.

…

“What is this supposed to be?!”

Only then did Yao Beibei notice that the A Class students already had golden Rank A badges pinned to the left chest of their school uniforms.