"May I ask how to address you, sir?" Fang Chen asked politely.
The middle-aged scholar shook his head with a smile. "I'm not a sir; there are only six instructors in the Desolate Academy, and Era Immortal King, whom you met earlier, is one of them."
"Then how should we address you, senior?" Xia Ji inquired.
"I am a teacher in the Desolate Academy. In fact, like all of you, I am also a student here; I've just been here longer and have higher cultivation, so I assist the instructors in teaching," the middle-aged scholar explained with a smile. "You can call me Teacher Li or Brother Li; it's up to you."
"I know you, I know you!" The Fifth Princess exclaimed proudly. "Before we came here, my mother told me that aside from the headmaster, the Desolate Academy has six instructors, twenty-two Spiritual Teachers, and fifty-three Teachers. Brother Li is one of the fifty-three Teachers."
"The Spiritual teachers are at the Profound Immortal level, the Teachers at the Dao Union Realm, and the Instructors are all Immortal Kings."
"The Desolate Academy is truly impressive," Ning Tieniu couldn't help but marvel.
The Ning family only had one Profound Immortal, barely qualifying as an Immortal Manor.
The Desolate Academy had twenty-two Profound Immortals, and they were certainly powerful ones.
The Fifth Princess frowned. "Seventh Prince, are you so eager to go back just after arriving? Fourth Sister is counting on you to achieve success in alchemy; marrying her later won't draw any criticism."
"Who said I wanted to marry your Fourth Sister? That's my adoptive father's idea, not mine," Xia Ji replied bluntly without holding back.
"That's not something you can decide," the Fifth Princess huffed.
Brother Li glanced at the two and faintly smiled. "After you register, you will receive a Desolate Token. You can leave using the Desolate Token anytime you want. However, you must remember that you'll have to wait a year between each use of the Desolate Token.
"Once you enter the Desolate Academy, you can only stay for a year. So if you leave now, you will have wasted a year and will have to wait another year to enter again."
Fang Chen and Xia Ji exchanged glances.
"Fang Da, I'm worried about my senior sister being alone," Xia Ji said.
"Yeah, I don't plan to stay too long either. Let's get the token and see how things go; perhaps we'll leave today," Fang Chen agreed.
Before long, Brother Li led the four to a very quiet hall. An old man was sitting in the middle of the large hall, yawning repeatedly.
"Are you here? These are the ones, right? Take these four Desolate Tokens. I've only slept for thirty years and was woken up by Era Immortal King. It's really infuriating," the old man said, immediately tossing four talismans to Brother Li and then getting up to leave. ȑ𝓪Ν𝘖βÈş
After a pause, he continued, "You'll need to drop your blood essence on the token to refine it. After this, the token will symbolize your identity as disciples of the Desolate Academy."
The four immediately followed Brother Li's instructions to refine the token. Fang Chen was surprised to find that it resembled the stone beads from the Realm of Three Thousand Dao. Once refined, it fused with their physical bodies.
Brother Li softly explained, "The Desolate Academy is divided into six departments: the Combat Department, the Achievement Department, the Technique Department, the Artifact Department, the Alchemy Department, and the Talisman Department.
"Since you four were accepted by the Era Immortal King, you will naturally be admitted to the Alchemy Department. I am also one of the Alchemy Department's Teachers, so if you have any questions about alchemy in the future, feel free to come ask me. As long as I have the time, I will explain things to you."
"Ah, I actually wanted to join the Combat Department. I've heard they teach all kinds of fighting techniques." Ning Tieniu sighed. "I've always felt that I'm more suited for this path rather than alchemy. It's a pity that my family's connections lie with Era Immortal King, and the other teachers don't seem to care much."
Brother Li pretended not to hear Ning Tieniu's bluntness and then led the four to the Alchemy Department.
Including them, the department had had only 132 students in its lifetime. Of these 132 students, 60 had already passed away, leaving only 72 behind.
Twenty-two of these seventy-two people were in the Middle Three Realms and were already over a thousand years old. Five were in the Upper Three Realms, aged over two thousand. The rest were all at the Nascent Soul Realm, with ages not exceeding eight hundred.
Brother Li smiled and began, "The Desolate Academy has a long-standing tradition, and through the efforts of generations of leaders, we have collected countless ancient texts from the world. If you encounter any issues in your cultivation, you can attend lectures in the Achievement Department or consult the archives in the Hall of Ancient Records.
"I recommend that in your first year, you explore and observe more, rather than diving directly into the study of alchemy. Of course, do not intrude into others' cave dwellings; that is against the rules. If you violate this rule, you will be expelled from the academy. Please do not test the waters."
As they spoke, the group arrived at a place of lush green mountains and clear waters, shrouded in mist. They were already quite far from the previous cluster of buildings. Here, they could see some scattered cave dwellings, each situated at a considerable distance from one another.
"You can establish your own cave dwellings here, as long as you don't disturb others," Brother Li said.
He then led the four of them deeper into the area, quickly arriving at another cluster of buildings.
This area housed several alchemy rooms.
The four could see vast fields of spirit crops, where various spiritual herbs and materials were being cultivated. Among them, some are extremely rare and highly valuable.
In fact, Fang Chen sensed the aura of the Vast Origin Fruit and also the aura of the Three Solar Fruit.
"What is alchemy? I believe that when one masters the art of alchemy to its peak, one should refine oneself into a pill, blending the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transcending the causes and effects of the world. Ultimately, upon achieving perfection, one can transform into a free immortal. Even if one ascends to the Immortal Realm, they will not be an ordinary person."
In a large cluster of buildings, there was an open space where an elderly man, whose age was apparent, was bent over with his hands clasped behind his back, addressing a group of people and sharing his insights on alchemy.
In front of him stood dozens of people, most in the Nascent Soul Realm, with a few in the Middle Three Realms. As they listened to the elderly man's insights, some appeared thoughtful, some shook their heads gently, some showed dissatisfaction, and others furrowed their brows.
Brother Li introduced the four newcomers. "That is Spiritual Teacher Qian, currently the oldest and most experienced among the remaining seventy-two disciples in the department."
At this moment, Spiritual Teacher Qian noticed Brother Li, glanced at Fang Chen and the others, and chuckled, "We have four new junior brothers in the Alchemy Department!"
People turned to look.
The gazes directed at the four varied. Some were indifferent; some were curious. However, most of them didn't even turn to look at them and instead focused on their own thoughts.