Academy Expansion of Enrollment

Before they had finished speaking, the “public bus”—a vehicle shaped like a carriage, with four wheels beneath it—arrived right in front of them and came to a stop.

Wen Xiangzhi took a closer look and discovered that the carriage, which was no larger than an ordinary horse-drawn wagon, had a row of more than a dozen small square openings along its side. They looked like windows, but what astonished him most was that he could actually see people sitting inside through those tiny openings—and there was more than one of them!

Yet the people inside appeared to have shrunk considerably when viewed from outside. Their heads, bodies, and overall outlines were all far smaller than those of ordinary people.

Hu Defu saw Master Wen and the rest of the Wen family staring at Xiushui City’s public bus in amazement. Pride welled up in his heart, but he also knew that if no one boarded, the bus would leave after a while. This was no time to stand around in a daze, so he hurriedly called out, “Master Wen, hurry and get everyone on board!”

Only then did Wen Xiangzhi come back to himself. He pointed at the bus, then looked at Hu Defu, opening and closing his mouth as though he wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out. He turned around, selected several of his sons, and boarded with them, while having the remaining members of the family take a horse-drawn carriage to the western part of the city.

The members of the Wen family were still wondering how so many people could possibly fit inside such a small carriage. Wen Xiangzhi, however, had no such doubts. After all, he had once cultivated in a sect. Although he had never personally experienced this kind of spatial technique, he had at least heard of it before, so he was able to accept it relatively quickly.

Hu Defu took a single copper coin from his storage pouch and dropped it into a small slot on the side of the bus. He then boarded through the tiny door at the front. Wen Xiangzhi and the others followed his example and climbed aboard as well.

Only after everyone had boarded and taken their seats did they look out through the windows, still feeling that everything was somehow unreal.

No one else boarded. A few breaths later, the bus doors closed. After the “jing-ling-ling” of two more ringing chimes, the bus started up and sped toward the next stop.

Watching the streetscape flash past the windows, Wen Xiangzhi felt more and more certain that moving his entire family to Xiushui City had been the right decision.

The conveniences brought about by such magic were things he had never enjoyed even when he had been a disciple of the Shangyang Sect!

Three days later.

“Father! I found a job!” Wen's second son shouted excitedly as he returned home, calling out from the front courtyard.

Wen Xiangzhi had been in the study teaching his eldest grandson. He pushed open the door with a displeased expression and scolded Wen's second son, “Quiet! You’re a father yourself, yet you still behave so improperly! I asked you to inquire about Lingxian Academy’s admissions. Did you find anything out?”

The excitement faded from Wen's second son’s face, and he replied dejectedly, “I did. Lingxian Academy says it will be expanding enrollment this year so that every child in the city can attend school. They also say they’ll be opening some kind of evening academy, specifically for those who are older and need to work during the day, leaving them no time to study or learn to read and write.”

Wen Xiangzhi froze when he heard this.

He had previously heard that Lingxian Academy was extremely difficult to enter. How was it now saying that every child in Xiushui City could attend?

He had already prepared himself to offer gifts and pull strings to get his eldest grandson, Wen Liyun, into Lingxian Academy. Why did it now sound as though there was no need to go to such lengths after all?

In all honesty, in the short few days since arriving in Xiushui City, he had already been overturned and astonished more times than he could count.

“You mean Lingxian Academy will accept every child?” Wen Xiangzhi asked.

His original intention in trying to get his eldest grandson into Lingxian Academy had not truly been to have the boy study for the imperial examinations. He had simply heard that the academy’s teachers were cultivators from the Lingxian Sect, and that its headmaster was said to be a highly accomplished elder of the sect. That was why he had decided that, no matter the cost, he had to get his grandson enrolled as a student.

If they later discovered that his eldest grandson possessed the talent to cultivate, would that not be a case of gaining an advantage by being close to the source?

But after hearing what his second son had just said, Wen Xiangzhi suddenly thought of all his other grandchildren.

The Wen family had accumulated considerable wealth, relying on the savings Wen Xiangzhi had built up while in the sect as well as the businesses he had later established among mortals. However, because he had always kept in mind the possibility of sending his eldest grandson into cultivation, he had never dared to spend lavishly.

As for the other grandchildren—those who appeared to have little or no cultivation talent—he had never concerned himself with whether they studied. He simply left it to his children to make their own arrangements. In any case, after his children had started families, they generally kept their own earnings, and Wen Xiangzhi had never interfered.

Wen's second son nodded. “Yes, Father. Do you think we can send all the children in our family? I heard Lingxian Academy’s tuition isn’t very high. Many people who used to live in the nearby villages are planning to send their children there too.”

Their family had once been wealthy townsfolk, after all. Surely their children could not be worse off than those former country bumpkins?

“Send them all. Every one of them,” Wen Xiangzhi said.

Although his motive differed from that of Wen's second son—he wanted to build as close a connection with the Lingxian Sect as possible—the father and son ultimately reached the same conclusion.

The news that Lingxian Academy was expanding its enrollment was not some difficult-to-obtain secret. In fact, over the past two days, it had become common knowledge throughout the city.

The reason was that notices about Lingxian Academy’s admissions had been posted on every street and in every alley of Xiushui City.

Wen Xiangzhi, however, was accustomed to staying home every day, meditating in seclusion and teaching his eldest grandson. That was why he had remained so poorly informed and needed his sons, who went out more often, to make inquiries for him.

At that moment, the teahouses and drink stalls throughout Xiushui City were filled with people discussing the matter. As they sipped tea and ate fruit, they imagined all sorts of promising futures for their children once they began studying at Lingxian Academy.

Mixed in with those discussions were many conversations about the city’s various novel facilities.

Things such as the “running water,” “heating,” and “cooling” that every household now possessed.

All the houses sold in Xiushui City came ready-built. No vacant lots were sold. However, if a homeowner was dissatisfied with the original structure and wanted to tear it down and rebuild, that was allowed as well. They only needed to report it to the neighborhood head responsible for their street or alley.

As for public facilities such as the buses and streetlamps, they had caused even greater amazement among the people.

Recently, in particular, many rogue cultivators and disciples from various sects had arrived in the city.

Ever since the Lingxian Sect had held its sect conference on New Year’s Eve, it had gained a certain reputation within the cultivation circles of the mortal world.

The sects and imperial families that had attended the conference had not received any requests from the Lingxian Sect to keep its affairs secret. Naturally, they had not hidden the various things they had seen there. Many sect masters and elders had even brought their own disciples and members with them.

After returning home, they exchanged information with sects they were on good terms with. The news then spread outward, passed from one person to the next. In this way, the name of the Lingxian Sect quickly became widely renowned.

However, these sects and imperial families had remained somewhat reserved regarding their cooperation with the Xiushui City Trade Center and had not revealed too much about it. At most, they had casually mentioned that they had shops in Xiushui City which would be opening the following month, and that anyone with time to spare was welcome to visit and look around.