16 Arriving at the Academy

Chapter 16: Arriving at the Academy

Liyana didn't want to get disturbed by all those boys, so she moved a few meters away and stood aloof to the side while Hanzo answered the questions of the children.

Then she started looking around from boredom, that's when she noticed Yao Feng sitting not far from her. He was looking to the ground, so she thought that he was deep in thought. She didn't know that he was concentrating on eavesdropping on Rudolf and his group.

She started examining him curiously.

'He choose to be isolated from the other children of the clan. Maybe he feels inadequate because he was a slave, or it could be because he thinks he is better than them. After all, he has great talent in magic.

'I didn't expect him to have such good affinity to the water elementals; It's no wonder Master Rudolf wasted a soul-cleansing potion on him. Humph, his talent still couldn't compare to mine. Master Rudolf said that my talent is one in hundred years occurrence.', She thought.

Then she started to remember how Yao Feng was holding her when she was in a rabbit form and started to get a rosy color on her cheeks. After that, she couldn't help but remember him saying that she was pretty earlier.

Her cheeks turned red and she thought:' Pervert! he is definitely a pervert. I must teach_'

Her thoughts got interrupted by Hanzo's sudden movement. She saw him jump to stand before the children and facing her teacher's group.

Immediately, she became more vigilant and started to survey her surroundings. She saw Wu Ye charging toward Yao Feng who was not far from her. Liyana moved without delay, she started dual casting her frost arrow spell.

' I must stall for time until Master Rudolf takes him out', she thought.

She fired the Two ice arrows and aimed them toward Wu Ye's eyes. She learned in the academy that cultivators have strong bodies, so she knew her ice arrows would've small to no effect on him if it hit him on a normal spot of his body.

'No matter how tough your skin is, your eyes will always be a weak spot.', she thought.

Unfortunately, Wu Ye blocked her first attack with his left hand. However, Liyana wasn't to be underestimated. Right after the first attack, she fired the second barrage.

This time also, Wu Ye blocked her attack. She was prepared to launch her third barrage when she saw the Wu clan head appear behind Wu Ye with a sword in his hand.

Before she knew it, she saw a flash of light and Wu Ye's head was flying in the air, falling toward the ground.

Liyana marveled at the speed of the clan head, she didn't even see his hand move.

'The flash of light I saw must be his sword moving too fast.', she thought.

Liyana didn't relax and kept her guard up until she saw her teacher coming toward her with an approving smile.

"Great job! You kept your calm and acted with a cool head. You attacked his weak spot and your aim was perfect. As expected of an A-class student.", Rudolf said.

Liyana's face lit up with a bright smile. She accepted the praises with happiness and triumphant air.

Rudolf turned toward Hanzo and said:" Nice going! I knew you wouldn't be caught by a surprise attack."

Then Rudolf patted his shoulder while smiling a meaningful smile at Liyana.

She understood Rudolf's hint, thus her arrogance demeanor melted away.

After that, Rudolf examined Yao Feng's body and said:" I see that You are unhurt. You were lucky that Wu Ye wasn't planning on killing you, else you would've died without knowing how."

Rudolf looked toward Wu Ye's body then toward Wu Ye's head. Then he fixed Yao Feng's with his stare. Yao Feng felt uncomfortable, so he moved his head to look toward the pool of blood forming in front of him.

"It doesn't matter if you think you think you can't protect yourself. If you can't defend yourself just do what you can!", Rudolf said.

Yao Feng was forced to look at Rudolf's eyes with confusion.

" What you could do is to never let your guard down, be always prepared to react. If you started running when Wu Ye started moving toward you, you could've run toward Hanzo or Liyana. By only by running those few meters, you would've reduced the risk of your death drastically.", explained Rudolf.

Then, Rudolf searched Wu Ye's body and picked out one storage ring and the soul-binding contract. He smiled after examining the goatskin and thought:' Its condition is not bad. This will make a good gift for Sasruku, he always like to research artifact related to souls.'

After that, Rudolf stored away Wu Ye's belongings, then he turned toward Wu Dianming.

"Your actions were decisive and swift. You may have some use after all.", Rudolf said.

He stamped the ground while murmuring. Slowly a slab of rock come out of the surface to formed a small platform before him.

Then, he took out a piece of paper, a goose feather, and a small bottle of ink. He started writing without saying any words.

After a few minutes, Rudolf passed the paper to the Wu clan head.

Wu Dianming examined the document in his hand. The text written on it was divided into two parts:

The first part was jotted down in common language. The second part was formed by strange symbols and signs not completely obscure for the clan chief. he was at least able to understand that it was some sort of contact.

Wu Dianming decided to stop paying attention to the second part and focus only on the first part. It reads:' I, Wu Dianming, will adhere to the terms of this contact at the cost of my life. With my blood as a witness, I will not betray the New Hope Academy and honor My engagements with its members'

After reading it a second time he Looked toward Rudolf.

"As you can see, it's not as sinister as the soul binding contract that you use on Yao Feng. It's a blood contract with loose terms. It only a form of security so you won't plot something sinister against us." Rudolf said.

The Wu clan head said:" I already owe my life to your leniency."

"Good! All you need do is to say' blood of my heart, be a witness to my resolve', and drop one droplet on the text with magic symbols."

Wu Dianming made a small cut on his finger and let a droplet of blood fall on the contract. He didn't feel any change at all.

Rudolf said:" You have three tasks: Firstly, you have to excavate the mana quarry and sell them to us at market value. We will schedule dates every month and one of our contacts will come to make the transaction. You must make sure he has a badge of the academy.

"Secondly, collect as much information as you can, on Dulan city's auction house. Try to do it discreetly.

"Thirdly, every year, you must perform the magic test for the young children before your Qi awakening ritual. If there are good talents you have to inform us in the next magic crystals collection date."

The clan head nodded in understanding.

Rudolf clapped his hands and said to no one in particular:" Now that our business here is done we are going back to Skull island"

Hanzo seemed to understand what to do, he guided Yao Feng and the others to board the flying-ship.

the ship was vast enough to accommodate them all.

Wu Liang took a last look at his father's corpse before also boarding. The clan head shook his head with mixed emotions.

Liyana and Rudolf were the last to go onboard.

The flying flashed throw the air with lightning speed. Yao Feng watched as different indistinct shapes and colors flashed by them. He still couldn't get used to how fast they were moving.

During their first day of travel, Wu Ma and the other future nights kept asking Hanzo all sorts of questions, but he mostly answered with a nod or by granting 'you will see'.

Nobody asked Liyana or even talked to her. Rudolf only sat cross-legged on the bow of the ship drinking wine directly from a spatial jar.

They traveled a whole day and a night to reach the edge of the Risen Sun continent. Then they stopped to rest and eat on the shore of the shallow sea.

Liyana ran off to train her morphing spells. while Hanzo sat under a tree with some scrolls in his hands.

Yao Feng was taken aback by the vastness of the world. He estimates that It would've have taken them at least four months riding on horseback to cross the same distance they crossed in less than a day.

After two hours, they resumed their travel. Yao Feng and Wu Liang each sat in a corner without talking to anybody.

It took them another three days to reach their destination. Each day, they stopped their travel for two hours to rest and eat.

Yao Feng thought that skull island was too big to be called an island. it would've been more appropriate to call it a continent. It was a large stretch of land about six hundred kilometers in length. most of the island was covered with dense forest. Yao Feng could see small lakes and planes, but he couldn't be sure the flying-boat was simply moving too fast.

Suddenly, they started descending in a valley between two mountain peaks.

The mountain peaks were enormous and covered with snow. Yao Feng saw only gray stones around him. There was no vegetation at all.

The flying-ship moved slowly to the side of the mountain and went right through it. The children were choked with emotions. They were excited, curious, hopeful, unnerved and shocked. Before they could calm down they saw a small but exquisite city appear before their eyes.