The Fourth Prince (2)

Sean had disclosed the ongoing drama in the capital to William beforehand.

The current King had five sons. The first prince, Jasper Harwell, was already twenty-two, and no longer attended the royal academy. The other four sons, however, were still enrolled.

The second prince, Joshua Harwell, was born from the Queen, and he was a prodigy who had reached Foundation Establishment stage at the age of eight. He was sixteen now, standing at the peak of Core Formation stage. His ability allowed him to be a core disciple under the Fist Saint Elder.

The third prince, Jonathan Harwell, was born from the second concubine. He shared the same mother with the fifth prince, Jacob Harwell. At thirteen years old, Jonathan was an inner disciple in the middle rank of Foundation Establishment stage, while the younger Jacob, age eight, was a core disciple in the late stage of Qi Condensation stage under the Unblemished Edge Elder.

There had been a lot of frictions between the princes. The third prince was dissatisfied because his younger brother was more talented than him. Meanwhile, the second prince's talent had positioned him as the most likely candidate of the crown prince, earning the ire of the first prince.

Outside, they maintained an appearance of harmonious siblings. Under the table, schemes were launched by their respective maternal families in their attempt to protect the princes and at the same time undermining their rivals.

In short, it was a chaotic mess.

As for the fourth prince, Elias Harwell...

He was born from the first concubine. It was said that he was a genius at the level of his older brother, the second prince. However, upon reaching the peak of qi condensation stage, an unfortunate incident happened, causing him to undergo qi deviation. He failed to subdue the rampaging qi, permanently damaging his meridian.

His life was saved, but his cultivation had degenerated to early rank elementary stage, not much different from normal people. Worse, he could no longer gather qi, dooming him unable to cultivate for the rest of his life.

That was two years ago. Currently, he was ten, and he had reached the middle rank of elementary stage after a long period of physical training.

However, that was it. Without being able to gather qi, it was all futile.

His mother had also died not long after because of weak constitution. After tragedy upon tragedy, the fourth prince was both pitied and ridiculed by the other members of the royal family.

The King allowed the fourth prince to attend the academy as an inner disciple, hoping that constant training would one day restore his son back to normal. However, it was as unlikely as the sky suddenly crashing down. In reality, he had already given up all hope.

That was how the fourth prince turned from a prodigy to a discarded horse.

The next day, William met up with Sean and the rest of his friends in the outer disciples' cafeteria.

"Seriously? Your roommate is the fourth prince? Talk about trouble, man..."

Sean swiped imaginary sweat off his forehead.

"Is it that bad?" William questioned.

From what he'd seen so far, the fourth prince was a cold individual. However, he merely kept to himself, never bothering William or acting haughty. In the end, the both of them slept in silence.

For a roommate, that wasn't too bad.

"It's not the fourth prince that's bad, it's the situation around him," Gilbert followed. "The second, third, and fifth prince attends this academy as well. And we all know about the princes' relationship..."

"But the fourth prince couldn't get the throne though?"

How could a cripple become the King? Won't their kingdom become a laughingstock then?

"It's not that simple," Gilbert shook his head. "As long as the fourth prince is still alive, there's always a slight chance that he might recover his meridian. When that time comes, the princes will get another rival. I'd say they will never let that to happen. That's why the fourth prince's stay in the academy can't be called... good."

William was reminded with how those nobles glanced at him with mockery when they knew that he was the fourth prince's roommate. Did they do the same to that boy?

"It feels wrong," William murmured.

"Just stay away from it, okay, good brother?" Sean patted his shoulder.

He reluctantly nodded. He knew these people were advising him for his own good.

After breakfast came the first lesson. It was a part of general orientation for new recruits, so both outer disciples and inner disciples could attend it together. Core disciples would be taught about the material by their masters.

The instructor flashed a warm smile at these new students. When her lips parted, a clear and sonorous voice rang through the classroom.

"We'll start with the basics of cultivation. As you all know, martial artists trained their body in order to achieve perfection. This is the elementary stage. However, humans have the potential to go beyond that, to raise against the heaven and achieve immortality of legends! This is what we call true cultivations, and it is achieved by gathering and refining qi."

In short, there were five known stages above elementary stage.

The first stage was qi condensation, where cultivators gathered as much qi as possible and refined them within their body. The higher the density of qi that a cultivator accumulated, the better its cultivation would be. At this stage, a martal artists could infuse qi into their techniques, projecting the so-called aura.

The second stage was foundation establishment, where cultivators consolidated the sea of qi into solid foundation for further cultivation. The quality of the foundation would determine whether a cultivator could proceed to the next stage.

The third stage was core formation, where cultivators formed their 'golden core' with the foundation as a base. This core would serve like a second heart, further strengthening their meridian and allowing cultivator to utilize qi to a new level.

The fourth stage was nascent soul. It was the formation of 'qi body' within the meridian, a metaphysical representation of the cultivator. At this point, qi had been infused in the cultivator's body, and physical shackles could no longer bound the cultivator.

The final and the most coveted stage was immortal ascension. Sadly, nobody in the continent had reached this stage yet, even after thousands of years. However, the most powerful sect leaders were rumored to be a half-step into this realm, infinitely close yet barely out of their reach!

"We instructors sincerely hope that everyone here will one day be able to reach that stage!"

Within each stages, an individual was ranked depending on how much training and comprehension they had earned in that stage. Commoners divided these ranks as early, middle, and peak rank, but the academy further divided them into nine ranks. First to third would correspond to early rank, fourth to sixth correspond to middle rank, and the last three were to peak rank.

The instructor then took the children into the training ground. She brought a bluish crystal ball with her. Those who knew recognized it as an artifact, magical items made by master craftmen that could react to qi and perform various functions.

This item in particular was nicknamed the 'talent evaluator'. Since it would be hard to determine one's cultivation before they could show their aura, this artifact was used instead.

When a disciple put her palm on the crystal's surface, a flicker of light appeared inside. It looked like a miniature flame, yet its color was dark, impure.

The instructor stared at the crystal ball for a few seconds before declaring firmly:

"Elementary stage, fourth rank."

The children repeated these actions one by one. Meanwhile, the instructor relayed the result.

Sean was elementary stage, fifth rank. He felt slightly down since among his friends, he was considered average.

"Fifth rank is good, right? It's easy to train in elementary stage. Now that we'll receive pills and proper cultivation technique, we'll rose up in no time."

"Easy for you to say, you damned archer! You're eighth rank!"

Gilbert laughed out loud. He was feeling happy for receiving such a high evaluation.

Half of the nobles were already at early qi condensation stage. They fluctuated between first to third rank. The rest were at peak elementary stage.

When it was time for William, the flame within crystal ball flared up instantly. Dark color, and with such intense flame... it should be the peak rank! And the ninth one at that!

Before the instructor could say it, the flame suddenly died out. Only a small speck was left. However, that small speck was red, like a normal flame.

"Eh? Half step to qi condensation stage! And really close at that!"

The instructor was pleasantly surprised. The peak elementary stage disciples here still need to train a bit more until they could reach the next stage. This kid, however, was at the edge. What he needed was the last push!

The instructor ran off to the side to call for other instructors. Meanwhile, the other disciples stared at William with differing emotions.

The commoners were mostly in awe at William, while his friends seemed jealous but genuinely happy. The nobles, however, weren't hiding their disdain.

Honestly, it made William a bit uncomfortable...

"Kid, come with me."

A middle-aged man returned with the previous instructor. He was a huge, burly man, but an innocent smile hanged on his lips, making such a stark contrast. After saying a few more words to the previous instructor, he took William away.

"No need to feel anxious, kid. The name's Robert. Call me instructor Bob from now on!"

"Yes, instructor!"

The man's jolly attitude eased William's heart somewhat.

After a while, they reached yet another training ground, albeit smaller in size. Nobody else was there at the moment.

"Alright, kiddo. Have you learned how to gather qi?"

"Yes, instructor."

"Good. Do it right now. Be at ease, just do it as usual."

William nodded, and then began to relax his body. He first sensed the qi of the world, and then used his breathing to slowly gather the qi into his meridian.

Inhale... exhale...

Alongside his breathing, qi flowed in, circulating within the veins of his meridian. Since his cultivation stage wasn't sufficient, most of the qi escaped when he breathed out. However, some part still remained. His meridian then began to refine them, separating the dregs of physical world and turning them into pure, unblemished energy.

'Weird... everything is normal... why hasn't he undergone breakthrough yet?'

"Kid, stop for a bit."

Instructor Bob placed his fingers on William's back.

"Resume."

As qi flowed back in and out of William's meridian, the instructor was trying to find what went wrong. Soon, he thought of something. He moved his fingers around, until he stopped at William's waist. He was frowning.

"There's a blockade. Your meridian can't form properly with that."

It wasn't a permanent damage. A blockade in the meridian was commonplace. However, it usually only happened if the qi was moved in the wrong direction. From what he'd seen, the kid had done it perfectly by the book.

He was puzzled.

Only one explanation could be probable. The blockade must had formed in the kid's early training, and then went unresolved for years. That way, even if the flow was corrected later, it would still take time until all the dregs blocking the flow could disappear.

Robert clicked his tongue. He wanted to go see this child's previous master and slap them in the face. Their talented pupil was suffering like this and they didn't notice? Despicable!

"Alright, kid, stop the qi flow for now. We can't heal this in short time. Thankfully, you're still young. There's still time to resolve this!"

Robert was confident with the pills in the royal academy. Removing blockade wasn't a problem at all!

"Instructor, what should I do now?" William frowned. It turned out that the reason for him getting stuck in elementary stage was because of a blockade. He was impatient to solve it and undergo breakthrough as soon as possible.

"Easy, boy. Tomorrow, I'll give you some cleansing pills. These are used to corrode the dregs in your veins. But you also have to keep gathering qi. The more you flow qi over the dregs, the faster they would go away. No need to follow any technique class for now, they won't do you any good. Just do some basic workout everyday to keep in shape. Focus on recovering your meridian first!"

"Understood, instructor!"

There was a light of hope! William was extremely grateful to Robert. The problem that had plagued him this entire time was finally going to be solved!

Seeing the youth getting fired up, Robert couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, alright, I only gave you some advice, no need to kowtow! Go along now, remember to keep circulating qi!"

After giving the instructor a respectful bow, William ran back to the training ground to share this news with his friends.