After bidding farewell to An Shaoning and Chu Pengfei, Lou Qianxue returned home.
Lou Potion was not at home, so she decided to train on her own.
After closing the door, she entered the Mountain River Space.
The little beast in Mountain River Space excitedly yelped and shot into her arms like a canon. Its huge body almost toppled her onto the ground.
Lou Qianxue patted its head. “Little beast, become smaller.”
Whoosh!
The little beast instantly shrunk into a mini-version of itself and lay in Lou Qianxue’s arms.
Stroking its head, Lou Qianxue stared at the Thousand thread vine and fell into deep thought.
“Now that I have the Thousand thread vine, the next thing I should do is to find a way to nurture the vine into the shape of an adult’s meridians. However…”
A frown appeared on her face. She closed her eyes and thought for a while. When she opened her eyes again, she said to herself, “To replace the meridians with the Thousand thread vine, I’ll need the power of the inscriptions.”
“In the memory of the Alchemy God, someone had managed to do it. However, the memories do not describe the exact procedure. Plus, it was a collaboration between an alchemist and a refiner.”
“Inscription… Refiner…” Lou Qianxue spread her right palm.
Whoosh!
A bright yellow flame appeared in her palm.
“If I combine the weapon flame with the flame core and practice alchemy, I can refine a fourth-grade pill. However, I have no idea how to refine a weapon. Looks like I should start learning how to create inscriptions and refine weapons.”
***
The next day.
“The reporting period has ended, and Teacher Mo has returned. Today, you’re going to formally start your lessons.”
“Like how it was for us two years ago, Teacher Mo will be your first teacher. Well, I must tell you something, Qianxue…
“It’s neither easy to enter the Imperial Academy nor exit. The academy operates on a point-based system. Regardless of how high your cultivation is, you can only graduate after you accumulate ten thousand points.”
On the way to school, Lou Xiaoxiao and the juniors of the Lou family eagerly explained the Imperial Academy’s rules to Lou Qianxue.
“Okay. How can I get the points? What are they used for?”
“The academy distributes the points. You’ll be rewarded if you get good grades or improve significantly. The academy also organizes a lot of competitions. Those who emerge at the top get rewards. Students can also bet on fights with their points! Oh, right! There’s a training hall in the academy. If you train there, you’ll be awarded points based on how long you stay there and which fights you participate in.”
“If there are so many ways to earn points, shouldn’t it be very easy to graduate?” Lou Qianxue asked as she raised her eyebrows.
“Qianxue! You’re too naive! Points are equivalent to the Imperial Academy’s currency. Did you think that we’ll only earn points and not spend them? No! I’ll tell you this. Most students in the academy spend points faster than they earn!”
“Huh? Why?”
“Because, in the academy, you need to exchange your points for training resources and martial arts techniques! The academy doesn’t provide them for free.”
As Lou Xiaoxiao spoke, she became a bit embarrassed. “I’m an example. After exchanging points for opportunities to enter the training hall, I have just five hundred points left…”
“…” She just has five hundred points despite being here for two years…
Looks like it’s quite hard to accumulate ten thousand points…
Lou Qianxue was thinking about it, when…
“Hey! Isn’t this Lou Xiaoxiao? I heard that you almost married an old pervert! I thought that I won’t see you in the academy anymore, but I didn’t expect you to appear everywhere… Well, this is so annoying. I wonder when all these irritating people will disappear from this world.” A nasal voice suddenly rang out.
The juniors of the Lou family stopped and glanced at the person walking toward them.