In the minds of the pupils of the Holy Academy, Leng Ling Shuang had already left a not-so-good impression. In the subsequent cooperative mission, this impression continued to deepen.
“Who’s the other young man?” The Blue Peak’s female pupil asked curiously.
Cheng Zhuo didn’t keep it a secret either and replied with a smile: “That man is Shui Yan Yu, a prince of Shui Si Kingdom. He’s of the same mother as Shui Yan Ze, the crown prince of Shui Si Kingdom, but his talent is excellent in all three categories, even better than Shui Yan Ze.
“But because he was weak when he was a child, he rarely showed up and was very low-profile. Not many people know of him.”
“Since he’s the prince of Shui Si Kingdom and has excellent talents in three categories, why’s he assigned to the White Palace of the Imperial Academy?” A Purple Peak pupil asked in puzzlement: “Based on his background and talent, he should go to the Black Palace.
“Not only that, he’s also a pupil who was admitted by the Imperial Academy as an exception this year. His age isn’t much different from that of Junior Sister Yu.”
Cheng Zhuo paused, then said: “Putting him in the White Palace was ordered by an Ancestor of the Imperial Academy. It’s rumoured that this was Shui Yan Yu’s own request. Some people say that Shui Yan Yu was assigned to the White Palace because of his weak body, but whatever the real situation is, probably only the superiors of the Imperial Academy know.”
“Shui Yan Yu’s1 talent is really strong, but his weak body since childhood is also a defect.” The female pupil sighed, as if regretful.
Hearing her say this, Yu Qing Qian also discovered a problem—it seemed that pupils with excellent talents in all three categories all had ups and downs in their early lives.
For example, she was born prematurely and was weak, and her blood essence was taken away from her, which almost killed her; Feng Chen was poisoned since childhood, which troubled his cultivation and tortured his body the entire time; and also for example her elder brother Chi Mo Ran suffered from a chronic disease since childhood, and if he didn’t have the blood essence, he might not even be alive right now.
Then there was also Mu’rong Jiao. She had heard that the eldest daughter of the Mu’rong Clan had blocked meridians, and finally encountered an opportunity to cure it, soaring high to the sky.
Did it mean that people with excellent talents for all three categories needed to go through hardships since childhood?
But it wasn’t impossible after thinking about it. After all, the way of Heaven was fair. It gave talents that ordinary people couldn’t reach, but they had to go through painful hardships. Whether they were dragons or snakes depended on whether they could persist in the end.
However, the pupil’s words had a loophole, so Yu Qing Qian added: “If physical weakness is a defect, then they wouldn’t have three excellent talents.”
One should know that the three talents included physical fitness. If Shui Yan Yu was weak and sickly after entering the Imperial Academy, how could he have tested as having excellent physical fitness—unless there was a hidden disease or poisoning that had nothing to do with the strength of physical fitness. Yu Qing Qian didn’t observe Shui Yan Yu carefully before, so now that she thought about it, she couldn’t help but want to explore more.
However, she didn’t plan to go to Shui Yan Yu herself. After all, it was their privacy, and it needed to be respected.
“Junior Sister Yu is right, I thought wrong.” The female pupil from the Blue Peak was startled, clearly not having thought about the problem of excellent physical fitness.
Cheng Zhuo said with a smile: “We’re competing fiercely against the Imperial Academy in private. This time, we should try our best to snatch more resources. It’s not only for our own consideration, but also for the glory of the Holy Academy, so don’t underestimate anyone in the Imperial Academy, even the two pupils from the White Palace. Maybe they’ll unexpectedly be the killer weapon of the Imperial Academy.”
“Senior Brother is right. If the two of them aren’t special, they wouldn’t have such an opportunity this time.” A pupil said.
Yu Qing Qian took note of Shui Yan Yu. She suddenly became interested in his weak body.
1Author wrote Shui Yan Ze, but definitely meant Shui Yan Yu. Also, random note, their names ‘Ze’ and ‘Yu’ are also related to water. ‘泽 ze’ means ‘pond/pool’, and ‘雨 yu’ means rain.