Chapter 4: Academy

Shen Qingyi wanted to look around the Market District to see if there were any good methods she could find.

As she made her way through, she realized that the little silver money she had was truly of no use at all.

Wandering about, many shopkeepers saw that she was a mortal child without any Cultivation or Spiritual Power. They gave her only a glance before looking away.

In the end, Shen Qingyi did not find any useful method.

But she did not give up. Right now, she couldn’t even enter the inner areas of the Chores Peak of the Zedi Sect, let alone the Outer Sect or Inner Sect.

Only that Market District was a place she could go to look around.

So every day after that, she would get up early and go to the Market District to walk and wander.

The Market District was very large. Even though each time she walked back and forth it was very tiring, Shen Qingyi did not stop.

While Shen Qingyi searched for an opportunity, she also treated this as a kind of physical exercise.

Her thin, small body and sallow little face moved through the crowd.

And on the ninth day of Shen Qingyi repeating this routine, she discovered a place that was both interesting and useful.

In the eastern part of the Market District, there was a teaching place similar to an Academy. At first, she was drawn by the sound of reading coming from inside.

In the current Cultivation World, people admired martial strength and focused on Cultivation. With Jade Slips and Divine Sense available, there were very few places that taught reading.

The Academy located in the east had a dedicated teaching elder who gave lectures.

Shen Qingyi deliberately lingered around the Academy for a long time and heard much news about that Academy.

The Academy was not large. The reading sounds she heard came from the outer area of the Academy.

Inside the Academy was a place dedicated to teaching spells and Cultivation. Only the outer area was specially for teaching young children who were just beginning to learn.

The students enrolled ranged from three to five years old.

Her body had never been taught since she was little. Apart from not knowing how to speak well, she could not recognize any words at all.

And even though she had memories from her past life, the written language of this world was different from that of her past life.

Right now, she was completely illiterate.

Shen Qingyi felt that to better blend into this world, learning to read was necessary.

Shen Qingyi lingered for a long time. Every day, she stayed outside the Academy’s outer wall, listening to the pleasant reading sounds inside, and struggled to learn some things.

Perhaps even the heavens thought she was too pitiful. Finally, at a corner of the Academy wall, she found a place that was like a dog hole.

Shen Qingyi looked at the dog hole and stayed silent for a moment.

Without too much hesitation, she pulled up her sleeves, lowered her body, and headed toward the dog hole.

After passing through the narrow dog hole, the world before her eyes suddenly opened up.

The reading sounds that had been unclear for so long became distinct.

Shen Qingyi carefully climbed up from the ground and patted the dust off her clothes.

Leaning against a hidden corner, she secretly watched a group of little children studying not far away.

There was an open room with about thirty-some little kids inside.

The teaching elder was an old man with graying hair.

The book scroll in the old man’s hand covered half his face. His exposed eyes were half-lidded, not paying much attention to the children below.

And most of the little kids who were reading were also in a rather inattentive state.

In this world where martial Cultivation was prevalent, they had been taught from a young age about the knowledge of powerful beings.

Only by Cultivating well would they have a future. Learning to recognize words and read was mostly about knowing a few characters so that when they encountered some ancient texts, they wouldn’t miss opportunities—it was enough just to be able to use them.

If you took this seriously, then you were a fool.

Shen Qingyi hid at the corner of the wall, listening attentively.

The old man kept his head lowered the whole time. Instead, the Page Boy serving nearby helped manage things and occasionally explained a thing or two.

When noon arrived, the little children who had not yet achieved grain avoidance all left to go eat at the Academy’s inner dining hall.

Only the old man, still with his head half lowered, remained.

The book scroll in the old gentleman’s hand had not been turned once all morning.

Shen Qingyi heard a faint rumbling sound coming from her own stomach and couldn’t help but rub it.

Glancing at the now quiet hall, she thought that for a while, there probably wouldn’t be any more teaching.

Quietly, she crawled out through the dog hole once more.

The noisy sounds of the street reached her ears. Shen Qingyi let out a breath.

Following her memory from her morning journey, she found a small shop selling steamed buns.

She asked the auntie for two buns.

The warm buns felt good in her hands, and their aroma filled the air. Her already hungry stomach seemed to grow even hungrier.