Chapter 147: The Dao Academy Suddenly Expands Recruitment

"Is the Dao Academy gone mad? Lowering the threshold to recruit new disciples?" Su Qingniao asked in astonishment.

"Who knows?" Su Cheng replied, equally puzzled.

"Perhaps there is a reason we do not yet know." Su Jin weighed her words carefully.

"Mm, that is my guess too. I briefly recalled the records of the Dao Academy's expansion over the last two hundred years and found something quite interesting. Whenever the sect urgently needs manpower, the Dao Academy and the various families lower the threshold to recruit a portion of young cultivators.

These cultivators are eventually sent by the sect to places where manpower is desperately needed." Su Wuji said.

"You freak, you actually looked into such matters?" Su Cheng couldn't help but retort. Su Qingniao also nodded in agreement.

She felt that besides herself and Su Cheng, the other two were freaks.

"I just casually looked through the books in the family library." Su Wuji said awkwardly.

"Awesome!" Su Jin directly made a gesture meaning "you're awesome." "By the way, what exactly does 'the sect urgently needs manpower' refer to?"

"For instance, newly acquired territories need to be reclaimed, or one's own territory has been seized by enemies, or both sides are fighting too fiercely on a certain front line until neither side has any soldiers left to fill the line, requiring continued reinforcement." Su Wuji said.

The three of Su Jin listened and all drew in a sharp breath of cold air.

"To reclaim land, one must first clear out the remaining enemies on the new territory. This work is not easy; one might be ambushed and killed at any moment.

Trying to take back one's own territory from the enemy's hands is even harder. The sect will issue death orders to urge progress, causing casualties to expand rapidly.

Filling the line is even worse; going up means being cannon fodder. It is almost certain death with no chance of survival." Su Qingniao said with a grim face.

"I heard my grandmother say that the last time the Su clan members were sent to the battlefield as cannon fodder to fill the line was over a hundred years ago.

On that occasion, the sect issued a death order; every family had to contribute four hundred cannon fodder.

The clan simply made the eligible clan members draw lots of life and death.

As a result, sixty percent of the clan members who drew the death lots were replaced by their own elders and closest relatives.

Of those four hundred people, only twelve returned." Su Cheng said.

The other three felt their spines turn ice cold.

"I never expected the sect would issue such an order, making us serve as cannon fodder to fill the line?" Su Jin exclaimed in shock.

"The front-line battlefield changes a thousand times. Once the sect feels the need to cut off a limb to save itself, we are that limb. Sacrificing this small part of our arm is better than throwing the entire sect into the fire.

Therefore, cannon fodder to fill the line must exist if needed." Su Wuji frowned, pondering.

"Then why did the Dao Academy suddenly lower the threshold to recruit new students?" Su Jin also furrowed her brow.

"The information is still too scarce for now; we shall see if our Family Academy also begins to lower the threshold to recruit students." Su Wuji said. "The Family Academy has already been in session for four months. It is not easy to lower the threshold to supplement a batch of students now."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Not long after, Liu Shi came out.

A slight smile curled her lips. After checking off the entire class roster, she led everyone to continue boarding the large flying vehicle to depart.

In fact, all the large flying vehicles of the Family Academy had begun to slowly take off, flying low to the ground in the direction of the city gate.

Liu Shi stood at the front of the flying vehicle's carriage, signaling all the students to be quiet.

When everyone stopped talking, she said, "Some of you have already heard, while others have not.

I will tell you directly then, to save you from baseless speculation.

The four major Dao Academies under Xiancheng have received the sect's order to expand recruitment. This year, they will lower the threshold to recruit a batch of new students. Some parents in our class received the news and plan to transfer their children over.

In fact, it is not just our class; students from other classes will also transfer over.

They all came today to handle their withdrawal procedures.

The family will likely supplement recruit some students as well. As for how the supplementation will be done, I am not entirely clear.

Although the students recruited through supplementation may have slightly inferior talent in cultivation compared to you,

the students selected by the family's secondary screening all possess their own advantages that earned them selection.

You will still have to stay together for several more years; by then, they may not necessarily be inferior to you."

Everyone stared at Liu Shi with wide eyes, their little faces showing nothing but shock.

Liu Shi laughed heartily.

"By the way, the new mission we are going to carry out outside the city this time is to cooperate with cultivators from other families to guard Mount Woniu. This mission will last five days. Since it is a cooperative guard duty, we will all be doing miscellaneous work.

Therefore, as long as you are not punished for your own faults, after five days you can earn at least one Merit Point.

If you perform well, you can earn three Merit Points."

Hearing this, the students looked at each other in bewilderment.

It seemed these Merit Points would not be easy to obtain this time.

What counts as performing well? Is there a specific standard of measurement?

In Su Jin's view, Mount Woniu is a very large mountain.

It is at least four hundred meters high.

The mountain is covered in verdant forests.

However, many trees have now been cut down and transformed into wooden houses. Many civilians and cultivators from outside the city who were injured or rescued live in these wooden houses.

The civilians and cultivators here live mixed together, which is somewhat chaotic.

As soon as Su Jin got off the vehicle, she was almost hit on the head by a stone thrown by a little boy about her age.

Little Su did not stand on ceremony; she swung her gourd vine like a whip and whipped the boy's buttocks until they swelled.

The little boy let out a wail and began to cry loudly.

Hearing this, a stout, fat woman rushed over with fierce momentum.

Without even looking at the situation around her, she rushed to the little boy's side and started cursing: "Who hit my son? Come out! Come out! See if I don't kill you!"

Liu Shi's gaze immediately fell upon that woman.

The cold gaze was like two knives, making the woman slowly raise her head, then freeze in place with her mouth shut.

"I hit your son, and you want to kill me?" The pressure unique to a Foundation Establishment cultivator instantly crashed down upon the woman.

The woman let out a shriek, her legs gave way, and she collapsed onto the ground, clutching the child and trembling.

The woman's agonized cry as she fell and the little boy's wailing drew the attention of many in the nearby wooden huts, who peered over.

"My lord, she is merely a coarse woman; please do not hold it against her." A female cultivator, appearing to be around thirty, rushed over. She looked at Liu Pingping with a pleading expression. "You are Instructor Liu Pingping from the clan school, are you not? Please take the schoolchildren with you and follow me; your wooden hut has been arranged."

Liu Shi snorted, withdrew his pressure, and led his class of young students away.

Before leaving, Su Jin did not look at the mother and son on the ground, but instead glanced toward a certain wooden hut.

Su Wuji noticed and transmitted a soul thought to ask her.

Because the two were close and no one else was around, no one detected it.

"That wooden hut radiates a thick hostility, directed at us and Liu Shi," Su Jin transmitted back in a soul thought.

Su Wuji immediately replied: "Report him."