Literally, a waste of time

"Alright class, listen up! Yesterday we left of at the most common uses demon beasts serve for us cultivators and the different categorisations their abilities are sorted into. Not that many of you will ever have any use for that knowledge anyway, but even commoners should be educated in matters concerning Glory city, to some degree at least…" The red-haired teacher began and Hao was immediately made aware of the fact that the disparity between the different ranks of the nobility and the lower class of the population didn't stop at the entrance to the Institute.

"Today, we will cover more so the utility functions demon beasts can provide for us, be it through arrays, formations, inscriptions, alchemy or mundane things like blacksmithing and leatherworking." The red-head continued.

Turning around to the blackboard, which resulted in quite a few boys to start ogling at their female teachers ass, simply because it was well shaped and nice to look at, Shen Xiu began to quickly write down a few things on the blackboard while an assistant of hers began handing out one book to each table, the title reading 'demon beasts-utility for the novice', which immediately caused Hao to grimace a little at that particular piece of literature.

'Gods, safe me from dumbed down books for children…' Hao drawled in his mind, never having been much of a fan of books that were unspecific and shortened in their content, simply to cover more ground as a result.

In his opinion, if you wanted to write about something, do it properly and to the entirety of your knowledge, instead of producing some literary abomination that would only help those that never had any real interest in the subject covered to begin with!

Flapping open the book on their table, Hao leafed through its contents with rather obvious contempt, as his table partner Ning'er put her hand to her mouth to smoother a small giggle that nearly escaped her mouth at the expression Hao must be making while leafing through this thing.

'If this is all they are covering in this class, without truly diving into those topics at all, then I see no reason why anybody would ever actually come here, or stay in the academy…' He thought, after all, wasn't the Holy Orchid Institute supposed to build up a solid foundation for the future generations of their last stronghold? Wasting years upon years with nothing but superfluous drivel that had no content whatsoever was most certainly not the best course of action they could take to achieve that goal.

Though, maybe Hao was simply forming his opinion too early. He resolved himself to keep his mind open and give the teacher at least some more time to impress him. Though, from what he had glimpsed of the woman so far, he doubted that would ever happen.

Her soul was weak, tainted and disturbed by negative emotions that raged through her body, while her unfounded pride in her cultivation base kept her from truly advancing on her path, if she ever even cultivated anymore that is.

Glancing around the room, while shutting out the lecture from Shen Xiu upon the different uses of demon blood and its applications, Hao observed the different individuals gathered in the class.

Some of the youngsters wore refined clothes and carried with them that ridiculous aura of undeserved arrogance only prepubescent noble children could carry, while other children either wore normal clothes and had determination shining in their eyes or wore simple clothes and were more subdued in their appearance.

Shifting his focus from his normal eyes to his inner eye, namely his Reishi, and removing some of the mental shields around his mind's eye, Hao's perception of the mortal world around him immediately widened, enabling him to gaze upon the innermost desires and thoughts of the people around him.

Honestly, he had no real reason to do so and simply did that out of boredom and the wish to flex his mind's eye a little, so not to get too rusty.

Though, as soon as he did so, he regretted his action immediately. 'Jeez, I forgot what puberty does to teenagers. I hope at least some of them learn to grow out of their fantasies though. Quite embarrassing, this worship they have for some of these women…' Hao thought while he couldn't help himself but grin a little in chagrin.

Even when he had been a teenager, millennia ago which felt like an eternity to him, he had been more focused on his search for knowledge then chasing after women.

Of course, Hao had in the end, in order to found the Asakura family, married and fathered children, but he had never been very attached to them to begin with. While he had never felt any negative emotions towards his family, he also had never truly loved them, not even when he had reincarnated into a body that shared a womb with his former twin brother, Asakura Yoh.

Hao had always, without exception, been able to differentiate between want and actual need when it came to his life choices, no matter if it concerned his family or something mundane as food.

Hence, he had been, rather often at that, regarded as cold, calculating or even evil. Even though Hao knew that he had been rather warped and twisted in the end, mainly due to his Reishi overwhelming his mind and soul, but that had happened a little later in life, only strengthening those traits of his until they transformed him into this twisted version of himself.

Closing his Reishi off from the outside world once again, Hao only half-heartedly refocused on the ongoing lecture of Shen Xiu, though he was surprised to find an ongoing argument being held between the arrogant teacher and a student in the back of the class.

Apparently, their 'conversation', if it could even be called that anymore, was about some inscription that the Sacred family had stolen, renamed and presented to Glory city as their own discovery.

"Teacher Shen Xiu, where you not aware of this? Or were you aware and simply wanted to keep basking in the glory of your family's apparent accomplishments?" The boy in the back, a youngster with orange spiky hair and a mocking expression on his face, asked the red-headed teacher who seemed to nearly shake in supressed fury. The whole thing brought an amused smile to Hao's face.

"How dare you spout such lies! Do you know who you're insulting here, you little brat?!" Shen Xiu responded, causing quite a few children in the room to gulp under the heated glare of the teacher, while Ning'er glanced in his direction, seemingly a little surprised to find Hao smiling at the exchange, which surprised him a little as well if he was honest with himself.

'Heh, I had wondered where my previous yearning for battle had disappeared to. Seems like it simply was asleep for a little bit longer inside my formerly slumbering soul. Seems I'll need to leave Glory City soon, to look for my spirit and get myself some action in the process…' The grin that nearly threatened to split his face was a sight to behold, his inner fire roaring to life with the lust for battle. Who would have thought the boring and innocently heated spat between a teacher and its student would be the alarm clock to rouse his slumbering desire to burn his problems away like he had done in the past so often.

Calming his rousing soul force with but a nudge, Hao prevented his control from slipping, which would have had disastrous consequences for all those children around him, and would have been quite the blow to his pride as well.

With amusement he thought about which was actually more important to him, after all souls were souls, no matter if they belonged to children or adults and they would simply return to the great spirit if their mortal forms were destroyed, while his pride would stay with him, as diminished as it had gotten over the years, but still. It was still there and would probably always stay.

Returning his attention back to the confrontation going on before him, he slowly grew bored at the back and forth, never actually getting to the core of the issue, like two dancing animals too afraid or cautious to actually pounce. Pathetic.

"Since you seem to know so much already, why don't you leave my lecture then?! I've got no need for a braggart like you in my class. Now get the hell out of here!" Shen Xiu finally seemed to have enough and simply told the precocious brat to get out.

Though, before the brat could retort something in return the Institute's bell rang, signalling for the course to come to an end.

Logically, immediately most of the children swiftly left the class, amongst them the youngster with his group of friends alongside him, while Shen Xiu remained at the front of the class. She seemed like she needed to vent on something, let of some steam so to speak, in Hao's opinion but he didn't care enough about her to concern himself with her problems so he shoved the woman out of his mind.

"So? What's your verdict?" Ning'er asked from his side, and with but a glance in her direction Hao made his opinion known rather prominently, if Ning'er's reaction had anything to say about it.

Once again, she put a hand before her mouth to stop the sound of her bell like laughter from sounding too far in the already rather clear classroom, with only a few students remaining behind.

And Hao couldn't blame her for her reaction. Really, that lesson had been a joke, from the beginning to the end. Never again would he subject himself or Ning'er for that matter to such a waste of time again. Fuck that!

With that, the both of them swiftly left the classroom, many eyes lingering on the passing pair all the while, with one pair of eyes belonging to a girl with purple hair that couldn't help but be intrigued by the duo. Though, before she could do anything about her curiosity, both Hao and Ning'er were already gone.