Xu Jin was in the queue at the National Taoist Institute’s Foreign Affairs Hall when he heard about Lv Kun being specially recruited by the Great Academician Fang Shihan as a core disciple.
According to the rules of the National Taoist Institute, each of the twelve vice academicians had the right to specially recruit one inner court disciple.
And each of the four great academicians had the right to recruit one core disciple.
However, the special recruitment ended at the core disciple tier.
True disciples could only come from the autumn exam and were then assessed internally for advancement or demotion.
To be honest, Xu Jin had no good feelings toward Lv Kun and even despised him.
It wasn’t for no reason: Lv Kun had nearly destroyed his path of cultivation, and regardless of his character or strength, Xu Jin had no choice but to dislike him.
Xu Jin was not petty, but he wasn’t broad-minded enough to focus solely on the bigger picture either.
As for the process of Lv Kun’s special recruitment by the Great Academician Fang Shihan, Xu Jin could see through it; it was probably the Great Academician’s way of showing the public why he didn’t take Xu Jin, the leading true disciple candidate, as his own but instead recruited a student who had failed to be admitted.
Xu Jin wouldn’t go about clarifying it, much less explain to anyone that the reason he didn’t pledge loyalty to Academician Fang was that there was no affinity and it didn’t feel right in his heart.
He should just focus on his cultivation.
But the next instant, Xu Jin felt he could barely stand it.
"Have you guys heard? The leading true disciple of this session, Xu Jin, is a top-notch lecher! Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ignored several great academicians to pledge loyalty to the lowest-ranked Vice Academician Liu Qingzhu.
What he’s after are the beautiful sisters from the Feiyan Hall."
"Damn, isn’t that like inviting a wolf into the sheep’s pen?"
"More like inviting a wolf into a flock of sheep."
"Some senior brothers are already getting anxious."
"Why else would he be called a lecher? Feiyan Hall has only admitted him as a male disciple in recent years, and he actually had the gall to join."
"That bastard is shameless."
Xu Jin’s face turned completely dark.
It was only a matter of a great academician recruiting an apprentice, and he was seeking mentorship, yet somehow it had turned into accusations of him being a lecher, and it had spread.
"Senior brother, how has Xu Jin come to be known as a lecher? What did he do?"
"What does he need to do? Joining Feiyan Hall isn’t that basically being a lecher?"
"Everyone is saying that."
Xu Jin’s face turned completely black.
Damn it, it had only been one day since he joined Feiyan Hall, he hadn’t even had a few good looks at the long-legged maidens before he became known as a lecher.
He’d have to find out who was trying to pin this on him.
Xu Jin had queued in the National Taoist Institute’s Foreign Affairs Hall for a full quarter of an hour before it was his turn to enter.
This made Xu Jin somewhat nostalgic for the Foreign Affairs Hall at Jinshan Taoist Institute, where he had been treated as a super VIP; he was received directly by the hall master each time he visited.
Over here, he had to wait for ages...
Suddenly, the master in charge who was attending Xu Jin rapidly left and was replaced by a man of average height, slightly chubby, with a goatee and a smile on his face, his eyes full of shrewdness.
What drew Xu Jin’s attention was not the man himself but the string of sparkling gemstone beads in the man’s hand.
All of a sudden, it made Xu Jin think back to many things from his past life, when wearing and playing with bead strings had been all the rage.
"I’m Ling Mao, acting as the Vice Hall Master at the National Taoist Institute’s Foreign Affairs Hall, fortune smiles upon me to meet the leading candidate of this session, truly a striking figure."
Xu Jin was taken aback as a vice hall master actually appeared, and he hurried forward to pay his respects.
The man before him was not putting on airs, appearing utterly fortuitous; in fact, it was probably just his professional instinct.
In terms of position, the Vice Hall Master of the Da Chen National Daoist School’s Foreign Affairs Hall was on par with the current Vice Supervisor Dong Zhao, and perhaps even wielded slightly more real power.
"That’s right, the State Preceptor had previously given orders that the star cores you brought back from the Fire Radiant Star Domain have all been tallied. I just heard you’ve arrived, so I hurried over to settle the account with you," Ling Mao said, twirling the bead string.
"Thank you for your hard work, Hall Master Ling."
Xu Jin had come over intending to exchange a fourth-tier Green Jade for some Starlight from the Star-picking Tower and then purchase pills for cultivation.
That’s because Xu Jin was almost out of both Taoist merit and Starlight.
The more than two hundred Taoist merits he had saved up were depleted after renting a B level courtyard for a year and getting a cafeteria card for his sister—they were all gone.
He originally had more than four hundred strands of Starlight in the Star-picking Tower, which was considered a considerable wealth.
But wealth accumulates slowly and spends too quickly.
The saying goes, ’spending money like water,’ and so it is.
Yesterday, he bought a bottle of One Qi Returning Star Pills and two bottles of Four Mysterious Star Recovery Pills for Ning Yuchan to nourish her. One bottle of the Four Mysterious Star Recovery Pills was priced at forty strands of Starlight—eighty for two.
But a One Qi Returning Star Pill was priced at an astonishing ten Starlight strands per pill, amounting to one hundred strands per bottle.
For Ning Yuchan’s safety, Xu Jin gritted his teeth and made the purchase.
But in the end, there was a small surprise; Xu Jin bought two more One Qi Returning Star Pills for his own use, totaling two hundred Starlight strands but saved two strands, paying 198 strands instead.
The title of ’Plain Field Starlight’ was still somewhat useful.
Under the significant shrinkage of wealth, Xu Jin planned to exchange the fourth-tier Green Jade for some Starlight from the Star-picking Tower for use, but then his Taoist merit came through.
"Xu Jin, you’ve handed over a total of three hundred and forty-four third-tier star cores. Among them, nine upper third-tier star cores with a basic Taoist merit of fifty-four points, ninety middle third-tier star cores with a basic Taoist merit of three hundred and sixty points, and the rest were lower third-tier star cores, with a basic Taoist merit of four hundred and ninety points.
Among them, ninety-three star cores were rated as middle grade, earning an additional one hundred and eighty-six Taoist merit points.