Pupil

Wu Xue took a cushion from his space ring and put it on the ground, "Sit there with your legs crossed."

Jasmine didn't ask questions and just obeyed.

"Anyone can be a scholar and be a literati," Wu Xue began to preach, "But not anyone can set foot on the true extraordinary literary path, something hidden from the brightest mortal minds.

"And the reason for that is the barrier called life."

Wu Xue took a deep breath, "Life is what separates the inward and the outwards. The selfless from the self. The inner world from the outer world."

"You can understand that our Will is the sovereign of the inner world called Self, and the world's will is the sovereign of the outer world called, simply, World."

Wu Xue took a deep look at her and smiled, "Is your mind in the right place or do you have questions?"

"You can continue," Jasmine said with dull eyes.

"Very well, I will speed up a little bit," Wu Xue giggled and snapped his fingers. He instantly covered himself and Jasmine with his literary power.

Jasmine saw the black and white begin to twist violently and myriad colors began to originate from it, as if the world was being opened.

In her vision, a beautiful landscape took form. It was nothing short of a true paradise, with floating islands surrounding the green mountain peaks and clear water rivers crossing the valleys.

"An illusion?" she asked while deeply shocked.

"No," Wu Xue answered, "This is the world in my heart. This is my poem, my masterpiece, and my world."

"The world in your heart?" Jasmine asked with confusion.

"More precisely, the world within my literary heart," Wu Xue elaborated, "Do you remember what I said earlier? About my inner literary path being imitation?

"This world is exactly what I have in my mind, it is created by my literary power and is completely within my control.

"Therefore it is not an illusion, but it's not a real world either. It's simply my thoughts taking shape with the help of my literary power."

Jasmine looked around, they were above a huge floating platform and not far away was a huge castle, "How can it be possible? How can someone create an image of the world within themselves? Even if it is not real, to do this would require astronomical amounts of magic power."

"Literary power makes everything simple," Wu Xue shook his head, "At least, mine and my master's literary power. I guess others' wouldn't be able to do the same thing I do at the same level."

"Can I really do something like this?" flames set Jasmine's usually dull eyes ablaze.

Wu Xue shook his head, "Unfortunately, I very much doubt you can do it like me, you will need a much higher standing and power than the one I possess. After all, you probably won't be able to understand the Order Artistic Conception with the same level of strength I have."

"I don't understand," Jasmine frowned.

"There were many things you need to learn," Wu Xue chuckled, "But I guess that's fine, I did accept you as my pupil after all."

"Wait, I don't remember such a thing," Jasmine's eyebrow curved.

"Then you don't want to be my pupil?" Wu Xue smiled mischievously.

Jasmine was silent and suddenly wanted to vent her frustration, she really couldn't bear to refuse, she wanted to learn everything Wu Xue could teach her.

"Anyway, a pupil is almost the same thing as a student, it's far from being an official disciple," Wu Xue waved his hand, "I'm only doing this because I suddenly felt like it would be fun."

Jasmine twitched the corners of her mouth and stayed silent, she suddenly discovered Wu Xue was a bit... childish, just like his appearance.

A bulb of light was lit on her head and she asked with shock, "Wait, are you really a kid?"

Suddenly, she remembered the fact he wasn't a mage and therefore wasn't someone who reached the Eighth Star and rejuvenated.

"Well~ It seems you are sharper than I thought," Wu Xue chuckled and didn't care about her discovering, "Please don't go around telling this to everyone, okay? It would bring me a little bit of trouble, that would be a pain in the ass."

"You are a professor and possess such abilities with... What's your age again?" Jasmine forced herself to calm down.

"About thirteen years," Wu Xue shrugged, "But you better not treat me like others my age, I'm... quite eccentric, you see."

"You bet," Jasmine bitterly smiled.

Wu Xue snapped his fingers again and everything returned to normal, "I showed this to you so you can broaden your horizons and think more out of the box called Vast World, understand?"

"Yes," Jasmine nodded.

"To form your literary heart, you don't need much effort. Even a mortal can do it, although they wouldn't perceive it," Wu Xue began to advance his preaching, "But to condense the literary heart is another matter, it requires a very deep understanding of both yourself and the world around you, and also... unwavering belief in your choice."

Jasmine frowned and asked, "What kind of choice?"

"That's a bit soon for you to ask," Wu Xue shook his head, "Let's first start with forming your literary heart."

He condensed a ball of black and white light above his palm, it was full of his soul power.

"Another energy?" Jasmine was shocked.

"Don't be eager to be surprised," Wu Xue said and made the ball of light enter Jasmine's head in a flash, she didn't have the time to react.

Instantly, a huge flow of information began to surge in the depths of her mind, it was like a galloping river clashing against her soul.

A cry of pain came out of her mouth and she held her head with her hands, "What did you do?"

Wu Xue said nothing and just waited for her to sort everything by herself.

After a few minutes, Jasmine calmed down and was focused on the knowledge flooding her mind, "You can transmit knowledge like this? What kind of..."

"It would waste too much time to speak everything word by word," Wu Xue explained, "My masters most of the time taught me like this as well."

Jasmine was a bit curious about his master but didn't ask questions about it, and instead focused on digesting the knowledge in her mind. She closed her eyes and shut her senses off.

After about an hour, Jasmine opened her eyes and saw that Wu Xue was still in the same place, he stayed still for a whole hour.

"I understand, but..." Jasmine said with a frown, "It is..."

"Too unimaginable? Too easy?" Wu Xue giggled, "It's just the formation, there's not much complexity. Now, I will give you two choices.

"First, study by yourself and slowly form your literary heart.

"Second, skip those steps and painfully accept a part of my own literary knowledge in one go."

"What are the pros and cons?" Jasmine asked with narrowed eyes

"Nice question," Wu Xue nodded, "If you do it by yourself, your foundation will be solid and it will be a little bit easier to condense the heart. If you accept my knowledge, not only it will be painful, but you might even go crazy for the first few days."

"Why?" Jasmine asked with a frown.

"Because my literary knowledge naturally contains my own sensibility," Wu Xue explained, "And no person has the same mind as another, everyone has a different mind. If you accept my literary knowledge without any soul cultivation, you might suffer from psychological problems until your mind sorts everything properly."

"Can't I just do this 'soul cultivation' thing?" Jasmine asked with interest.

"I don't want to teach this to you just yet," Wu Xue chuckled, "You have a long way to go until you build enough appreciation in my heart for me to be willing to teach it to you."

"You are..." Jasmine sighed with a tired look, "Too complicated."

"Right?" Wu Xue didn't care and just laughed, "But I guess you are lucky to have met someone like me."

"I... guess," Jasmine sighed again, "Thank you for teaching me those things, although I know you have your own motives."

"No need to be overly polite," Wu Xue waved his hand and shook his head in disapproval, "I like it when people treat me normally."

"Isn't it normal for me to be polite to my professor?" Jasmine was confused.

"...I guess?" Wu Xue coughed, "In any case, forget about being polite when we aren't in public."

"Okay," Jasmine just nodded.

After that, Wu Xue explained a few more things to her and asked, "Then, what's your choice?"

"Just teach me directly, I don't want to waste time," Jasmine said with firm eyes.

Wu Xue smiled and just did like before, transferring huge amounts of knowledge directly into her mind.

Jasmine cried out of pain and immediately passed out, blood flowed out of her nose.

"I hope she doesn't regret it," Wu Xue sighed with a complex look, he didn't like to make other people suffer just because it was convenient to him, that was the reason he explained to her the pros and cons of the matter and made her choose.

He took her in his arms but then thought it could cause misunderstandings if she suddenly awakened, so he cast a floating spell on her and carried her away.

He went to the infirmary of the academy and met the doctor in charge, she was a woman in her twenties with long brown hair and beautiful brown eyes, she was wearing glasses that accentuated her professional demeanor.

"Excuse me, this student needs to rest a bit here," Wu Xue explained to the doctor, "She overexerted herself in training."

"Place her on that bed over there," the doctor pointed at a bed, "A nurse will soon check on her."

Wu Xue made a gesture with his hand and the floating jasmine slowly fell on the bed.

"I will leave her under your care, her name is Jasmine and she is a student of the 1E Class," Wu Xue nodded to the doctor, "I'm her professor of Life Magic."

"You are a new face on my album, my name is Violet," the doctor smiled and gave her hand to him, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Equally," Wu Xue shook hands with her, "My name is Wu Xue."

"The new professor said to be a pioneer on an unknown path," Violet smiled, "Your fame goes far."

"I'm not really a pioneer, " Wu Xue shook his head and sighed, "But people like to imagine this kind of thing."

"I hope you find yourself at home here," Violet giggled, "This academy loves talents."

"You don't speak like an ordinary staff," Wu Xue smiled and looked at her eyes, "Are you perhaps related to the big shots running this place?"

Violet just smiled and didn't answer, "Do you wish to leave a few words for your student?"

"Tell her to take her time and don't feel pressured," he waved his hand and walked outside, "I'm not strict when it comes to speed."

Violet watched him leave and narrowed her eyes as if in deep thought.

After leaving the infirmary, Wu Xue went to his residence to change clothes, he had agreed to meet with other members of the neutral faction that night, mainly the ones of high status.

He wore simple dark blue clothes with a long coat, which added a sense of mystery to his childish figure. A social black hat added to that sense.

He also began to use a long black cane as if he was a kind of noble or rich businessman, it was both funny and intriguing when coupled with his young frame.

The place of the meeting was the headquarters of the neutral faction, which was unsurprisingly in one of the academy's main buildings. He walked there with an anticipating look on his face.

On the way, he met Yor. The old man was as carefree as ever and he didn't even bother to wear formal clothing.