Chapter 557: 556. Chapter 551: Respect and Trust

556. Chapter 551: Respect and Trust

"Master Ding, I have ten million high-grade immortal crystals." Another student stood up and placed a ring on the table before Ding Huan.

"What's your name?" Ding Huan was surprised.

Ten million high-grade immortal crystals at once—this wasn't a small sum even for an Immortal King, yet the man was only a Mid-Stage Immortal.

"My name is Zhuo Qi," the student replied with great deference.

Ding Huan knew Ji Xing was poor; otherwise, he wouldn't have come to the lecture hall just to absorb immortal qi.

Yet such a poor student had just produced ten thousand high-grade immortal crystals.

Ding Huan's spiritual sense fell upon the rings of Ji Xing and Zhuo Qi.

Ji Xing's ring held less than ten thousand high-grade immortal crystals; Zhuo Qi's held one to two million.

Among Immortals of the Foundation Establishment realm, those who could produce ten million high-grade immortal crystals were exceedingly rare in the Pangu Great World.

Yet these two students had nearly emptied their rings.

Ding Huan sighed. His method had been wrong.

In the Dao Corridor, many students held deep respect for Dao Masters—so deep it was ingrained in their bones.

When he revealed he was merely an intern Dao Master and lacked immortal crystals,

even those who suspected he was here just to collect crystals still offered nearly all their own.

This was the quiet, unspoken respect and trust cultivated toward Dao Masters.

No wonder only eight students remained.

"The rest of you students, when you bring your crystals, state your names—let's get to know each other."

Ding Huan's mindset shifted.

He did want to secure a promotion to Immortal Sovereign as soon as possible, but he didn't share the mindset of most Immortals—that only his own advancement mattered, and everything else was trash.

No matter how this respect and trust had been formed, he now felt a resonance within himself.

In his view, even if he had come with an agenda, as a Dao Master who had taught them, he deserved their respect.

"Master Ding, I'm Fan Qingsi. I have three million high-grade immortal crystals." A female cultivator stood and placed a ring before Ding Huan.

"I'm Lin Zhenruo. I have one million high-grade immortal crystals…"

"I'm Lei Zuocheng…"

In just a short time, eight rings lay neatly arranged before Ding Huan.

Ding Huan now knew the names of his eight students: Ji Xing, Zhuo Qi, Fan Qingsi, Lin Zhenruo, Lei Zuocheng, Li Yunmu, Qian Xun Haoyi, Long Xiyue.

Three were female: Fan Qingsi, Lin Zhenruo, Long Xiyue.

Long Xiyue had contributed the most crystals—two hundred and thirty million alone.

The crystals in these five rings totaled roughly fifty million high-grade immortal crystals.

Ding Huan looked at his eight students. Though they were considered failures in the Yonghuang Divine Art Academy—even expelled—

it wasn't because they lacked talent. The cultivators in the Dao Corridor had been nurtured since childhood by countless Dao academies; outstanding students were simply too numerous.

Take the Dao Class alone: the rule that no cultivator over five hundred years old may remain in a Dao academy—there were barely a handful in the entire Pangu Great World who met that standard.

How many Immortals under five hundred years old could there be?

None of these so-called failures were over five hundred years old; a few had cultivated for only two or three hundred years.

That meant they weren't much older than Ding Huan himself.

Ding Huan scanned the eight students once more, then said slowly: "All of you, since you trust me, Ding Huan, I won't let you come here in vain.

I've studied the events open for individual registration outside the academy: individual categories include Spell, Dao, Artifact, Pill, Array, Talisman, Plant, and Refinement. But Plant and Refinement take too long—unsuitable for our study.

Group events include Exploring Secret Realms, Forming Sword Arrays, Breaking Arrays, Tower Stairways, and more. I plan for all of you to compete, so now tell me what you're skilled in."

The eight students didn't hesitate—each named their strength.

Dao techniques involved too many foundational concepts; no student showed interest.

Ji Xing, Zhuo Qi, and Fan Qingsi favored Spell—specifically, divine art combat.

Lin Zhenruo and Li Yunmu excelled in Arrays; both could set up Level-Two Immortal Arrays.

Lei Zuocheng specialized in Artifact Refinement and could forge Lower-Grade Immortal Artifacts.

Qian Xun Haoyi liked crafting Immortal Talismans, but his skill was limited—he'd studied this long and could barely produce Level-One Immortal Talismans.

Long Xiyue had contributed the most crystals, yet was proficient in nothing—knew a little of everything, mastered nothing.

Ding Huan said bluntly: "Ji Xing, Zhuo Qi, Fan Qingsi, and Long Xiyue—you four will compete in the Combat Solo Event.

Lin Zhenruo and Li Yunmu—you two will compete in the Array Solo Event. Lei Zuocheng will compete in Artifact Refinement. Qian Xun Haoyi will compete in Talisman Refinement.

For the group event, all eight of you will join a Sword Array."

Though everyone believed they were merely filler competitors, no one objected—after all, the Dao Master had spoken.

Ding Huan gathered all the crystals, sorted out fifty million high-grade immortal crystals, placed them in one ring, and handed it to Ban Zhi Li Jiuqing:

"We're registering as a class for the Dao Academy Grand Competition in three and a half months. Five events total. Here's the registration fee—Li Ban Zhi, please handle the registration for us."

Though Li Jiuqing found Ding Huan's actions baffling, he followed procedure precisely: "Yes. But Master Ding, did you mean the method you just described?"

He had to be certain—any mistake would be his fault as Ban Zhi.

"Correct. Go." Ding Huan gave Li Jiuqing a firm affirmation.

Once Li Jiuqing left, Ding Huan said: "I don't yet know your cultivation levels or progress. Everyone, begin cultivating now—I'll assess your flaws."

Seeing the eight students immediately sit cross-legged and activate their Zhou Tian cultivation methods, Ding Huan felt deeply moved.

These students were even easier to guide than students on Earth—no troublemakers, not even a single objection.

It showed just how deeply they trusted Dao Masters—even one as lowly as an intern.

Clearly, Dao Masters here are truly inadequate—after nurturing students for so many years, they've produced this result.

Eight immortal-spirit qi vortices, neither too large nor too small, enveloped the eight people, each with a different flow of Dao resonance.

Ding Huan quickly determined that Long Xiyue's cultivation art was the best, but her cultivation was the worst—not because her aptitude was poor, but because she simply couldn't settle her mind when cultivating.

Ding Huan's divine sense seeped in, and it turned out this was also related to the cultivation art—the art didn't suit her.

Then Ding Huan's divine sense seeped into the Zhou Tian vortices of all the cultivator-students' cultivation, sensing the flaws in each person's cultivation.

No matter how good a cultivation art is, it isn't necessarily suited to every single person.

Even the Great Cosmos Art that Ding Huan himself cultivated was only suited to himself.

This cultivation lasted three whole days, and Ding Huan did not call a halt.

After the three days had passed, Li Jiuqing brought sixteen competition qualification tokens to the Contention Dao Class, and only then did Ding Huan call a halt for the eight cultivator-students.

After three days of cultivation, the eight people's progress was not great.

Li Jiuqing came in and saw the eight cultivator-students who had just finished cultivating, and shook his head helplessly.

"Dao Master Ding, these are sixteen qualification tokens for participating in the Grand Dao Corridor Dao Law Competition."

Li Jiuqing handed the qualification tokens in his hand to Ding Huan, hesitated for a moment, then still said:

"Dao Master Ding, Steward Fang has been watching you the whole time. The reason he hasn't come to find you is probably because he's waiting for you to finish leading this one class."

Ding Huan was actually surprised by Li Jiuqing's words. He patted Li Jiuqing:

"Many thanks for the reminder, Class Steward. I need to take my students to cultivate elsewhere. I'll leave the Contention Dao Class to you. If anything comes up, contact me directly."

While Li Jiuqing was still wondering where Ding Huan was going to take these eight people to cultivate, Ding Huan had already called the eight people and headed off to his own residence.

Although the Contention Dao Class was at the edge of an immortal-spirit vein, the immortal-spirit qi here was far too lacking for Ding Huan.

Naturally, he couldn't waste time here.

After Ding Huan had disappeared with his people, Li Jiuqing finally sighed.

Actually, he also hoped Ding Huan could bring out good results. Ding Huan was the Dao Master of the Contention Dao Class, and he was the Class Steward.

If the Contention Dao Class achieved excellent results, he could also gain benefits.

He just knew this was probably wishful thinking.

"Dao Master Ding, this place seems much more suitable for cultivation." The moment they entered Ding Huan's courtyard, Zhuo Qi couldn't help but say.

Ding Huan signaled everyone to find their own positions and sit down before saying: "We will strive to advance to the Mysterious Immortal Perfection realm within one month."

The Mysterious Dao Class cannot advance to Grand Yi Immortal, otherwise they will lose their competition qualification.

Hearing Ding Huan's words, everyone was stunned.

Could it be that Dao Master Ding didn't know their situation?

In the Dao Law Academy, if you can't keep up with the pace, you'll be expelled from the academy.

In order to step into higher levels as quickly as possible, each of them had taken a pile of advancement immortal pills.

So their early-stage advancement was very fast. By the time they reached Mysterious Immortal, their foundations were basically exhausted, and advancing further was already extremely difficult.

Not only was there pill poison, their foundations were also unstable.

Otherwise they wouldn't have been expelled from their respective Mysterious Dao classes.

Let alone one month—even a few years, they might not necessarily be able to cultivate to Mysterious Immortal Perfection.

"To advance to Mysterious Immortal Perfection within one month, the flaws in your cultivation arts are too great. I spent three days earlier helping you modify them."

After speaking, Ding Huan took out eight jade slips and gave them to the eight people respectively: "From now on, you will begin cultivating according to the qi-circulation method in my jade slips. The points of attention are also clearly marked on the jade slips. Any questions?"

The eight people all impatiently took the jade slips and swept their divine sense into them.

Although in such a short time the eight people still couldn't understand the meaning of these modifications, they could feel that the Zhou Tian modifications to their respective arts' circulation were quite significant.

Only, before this, there had never been a Dao Master willing to help them modify their cultivation arts.

Their cultivation arts were either selected from the academy or family inheritances, all tempered and refined—how could they be modified?

Ding Huan simply gave everyone no time to think it over carefully. After everyone had looked at the jade slips, he said: "Good, begin cultivating now."

He didn't say what would happen if they couldn't cultivate to Mysterious Immortal Perfection within one month.

Because he was certain all of them could cultivate to Mysterious Immortal Perfection.

As everyone began cultivating, Ding Huan once again took out a hundred jin of immortal-spirit rice and laid it into the Gathering Immortal Array.

The pill poison on these eight cultivator-students was far too heavy—it had to be removed.