Chapter 1: First Day of Clan School

Su Jin hung the small book bag her mother made on her back, placed her lunch box in the little basket, picked up the basket, and set off.

Today was the first day of the clan school’s term. Master Liu, the instructor of the Wood Class, had already been waiting at the entrance of the classroom she oversaw, smiling as she awaited the new students.

The Su clan’s school offers six classes per grade: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, plus a Martial Class.

Each class has no more than thirty students.

Master Liu Pingping of the Wood Class was young and beautiful, a female cultivator of the Wood Dao, only in her early twenties. With an apple-shaped face and large eyes, she always smiled faintly at others—clearly a person of gentle disposition.

“Master Liu, greetings.” Su Jin saw Master Liu standing at the classroom door the moment she entered the corridor and hurried over to bow respectfully.

Respecting one’s instructor at clan school was something her mother had firmly instructed her to do.

“Good morning, little Jin.” Master Liu smiled and took Su Jin’s small hand in hers; she adored sweet, adorable children, which was precisely why she had taken up this post at the clan school.

Six-year-old Su Jin wore a bright green school robe that made her look sharp and spirited.

Master Liu gently touched the little bun on the child’s head. “Who did your hair today?”

“Aunt Yun,” Su Jin answered.

“I heard your parents went on a sect mission and left you in the care of your elder cousin and his wife? Is that right?” Master Liu asked with a smile, though she already knew Su Jin’s family situation well—every child in her classroom had a dossier prepared by the clan school, complete with special notes on precautions.

“Mm-hmm. My parents went on a sect mission—they’ll be gone three years—and they took my younger brothers and Second Brother with them. Only I had to stay behind for school, so I couldn’t go with them. When my father left, he cried so bitterly.”

He held my hand and wouldn’t let go.

It was Grandpa who kicked him, finally shoving him onto the flying vessel.”

Master Liu couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

She had long heard of Su Yan’s reputation as an unreliable father.

“Poor little Jin. Even though your parents are away, don’t worry—you can always come to me if you need help.” Master Liu smiled and gently brushed her fingertip across the child’s soft cheek.

“Yes, Master Liu.”

“Then go inside. Oh—your seat has your name on it. Just find your name and sit there. Do you recognize your own name, little Jin?” Master Liu asked quickly.

“Master Liu, I started learning characters at age three,” Su Jin replied, looking at her with an expression of exasperation.

Was she being underestimated?

Who wouldn’t know their own name?

Su Jin waved goodbye to Master Liu and trotted into the classroom, then found her seat—a nice spot near the window.

She had barely sat down when several other children entered.

But she didn’t know any of them, so she simply watched quietly.

The other children immediately found their own desks; since none knew each other, no one spoke up to initiate conversation.

Soon, however, someone she recognized entered.

It was her childhood friends, Su Yue and Su Lan.

They were all kids from the same neighborhood, having grown up playing together—she never expected they’d end up in the same class at clan school.

“Yueyue and Lanlan, you’re in the Wood Class too?” Su Jin’s face lit up with delight.

“Jinjin! I didn’t expect we’d be in the same class,” Yueyue said happily.

“You’ll have to take good care of us,” Lanlan added with a bow and a smile.

“We’ll take care of each other,” Su Jin bowed back.

“Jinjin, my mother told me the year-end exam at clan school is brutal—if you fail, you get expelled. I don’t want to be expelled. You have to help me. You’ve always been better at recognizing characters than me. When I knew five hundred characters, you already knew over two thousand.”

“I’ll try to help you, Yueyue. But honestly, I don’t even know what we’ll be studying here—maybe you’ll do better than me?” Su Jin thought to herself: I’m not sure I can even help.

“No way. I know I’m dumb. I definitely need your help,” Yueyue immediately countered.

Su Jin: “...”

She thought: Yueyue’s talking just like Mama said—she’s clinging to me!

“Jinjin, you can’t help Yueyue and forget me. We’re best friends—we have to improve together, right?” Lanlan, hearing Su Jin agree to help Yueyue, quickly chimed in, unwilling to be left behind.

Su Jin nodded slowly, dazed.

Lanlan’s behavior also matches Mama’s description of scheming me!

To help her adapt quickly to clan school life, Su Jin’s mother had secretly trained her for three full months in advance.

Soon after, the last child entered with Master Liu.

Master Liu let the children find their own seats, then addressed the group of little figures all dressed in green school robes: “From today, you are all junior students of the Su clan school.”

The Su clan school practices elite education.

That means it trains only elites; mediocrities are eliminated.

So from your very first lesson, you must study seriously, work hard, and be diligent.

From this year until your graduation, you will take the clan school’s year-end examination every year. The exam has two parts: one is the written test, which assesses how much knowledge you’ve acquired over the year.

The written test is scored out of one hundred; sixty is passing. Those who fail are expelled.

In addition to the written test, you will also be assessed on a classroom task.

The classroom task is crucial—even if your written score is below sixty, a strong performance in the task may allow you to stay.

Our Wood Class’s classroom task is cultivation.

Cultivating spirit seeds and harvesting spirit plants.

Each junior student will receive from me one type of Rank One Low-grade spirit seed—two hundred seeds per type.

You take them home, plant them, and by year’s end, you must harvest twenty mature spirit plants and submit them to the school to pass.

Junior students who have never cultivated spirit plants may go to the clan school’s library to find reference books.

Any junior student who fails to complete the cultivation task will also be expelled.

The Su clan school aims to cultivate powerful cultivators, not mediocre waste. Waste is not worth the clan’s resources or instructors.

So if you don’t want to work hard or improve, fine—just sneak off and idle away. After the year-end exam, you can go home.

But inside the school, you are absolutely forbidden from disturbing other students’ studies.

Otherwise, you will be expelled immediately.”

Master Liu spoke sternly to all the children.

Though she loved every adorable little one in her class, she knew that by the time these twenty-six children graduated six years from now, half would be lucky to remain.