Phoenix's Requiem

Chapter 327: Reopening the Beastmaster Institute

Yin referred to the female body, and yang to the male body. Putting them together…

When Li Mo saw Yun Ruoyan blush a deeper red than he had ever seen her, his smile widened. He sidled up to Yun Ruoyan. “We’re husband and wife, aren’t we? Yan’er, there’s no need to be so embarrassed.”

Yun Ruoyan cleared her throat and pretended to be calm. “I, I’m not embarrassed, it’s just that… I heard that dual cultivation techniques weren’t mainstream and were considered to be the domain of evil cultivators, and…” Actually, she was just finding excuses for her embarrassment. Faced with Li Mo’s burning gaze and reminded of what had transpired just the night before, Yun Ruoyan blushed deeply again as she lowered her head.

“Yan’er.” Li Mo took her hand in his and said seriously, “Evil is a matter of principle more than anything else. As long as we don’t do anything wicked, we won’t be considered evil.”

Yun Ruoyan agreed with this sentiment: the artificial divide between good and evil was just a matter of morality and ethics.

“Your unique constitution is a great help to me, but my presence doesn’t help you very much. This dual-cultivation technique will allow us to support each other, raising both our cultivation.”

Yun Ruoyan was still mulling things over, so Li Mo continued, “There are only about two months left before we head into the otherworld, and the first thing we have to do is to go to the Pi manor and rescue Qin Feng. Trying to contest the Pi household won’t be an easy feat, and we need the strength to succeed—not one person’s strength, but our combined strength.”

Initially, Li Mo had only wanted to raise Yun Ruoyan’s cultivation for his own purposes, because he needed her to become at least an eighth-rank blademaster to have her constitution be effective on him. Later on, when Li Mo fell in love with Yun Ruoyan, he no longer had much of a drive to keep advancing her cultivation, because he was confident that he would be able to protect and support her.

However, what happened last night, as well as their experience against Pi Batian, had caused Li Mo to change his mind yet again. He knew that Yun Ruoyan wasn’t a woman who would be content to live under his wings, even if he were her husband.

Furthermore, as their enemies grew even stronger, Li Mo had a premonition that Yun Ruoyan would be able to undergo a metamorphosis and gain strength that would rival and awe even him.

As for Yun Ruoyan, she distinctly recalled Li Mo telling her multiple times to rely on him, to not work as hard, but she didn’t think he had ever encouraged her to become strong so directly before.

Yun Ruoyan finally looked at her husband, the embarrassment in her heart morphing into seriousness. Becoming strong was a goal she had sought to achieve from the very beginning, and she would surely continue to work hard to achieve that goal.

“When will we start practicing this technique?” Yun Ruoyan asked, looking straight at Li Mo. By then, her embarrassment had all but faded away, replaced by an iron will.

Yun Ruoyan’s sudden solemnity made Li Mo grin. “Yan’er, if you’re anxious, we can start immediately.”

“I…” Li Mo had ruined her anticipation with a single sentence! She stared angrily at him, who behaved as seriously as an ice cube to everyone else—everyone but her!

“Haha.” Li Mo rapped Yun Ruoyan on the head. “It’s the first day of term, so we all have to head to the plaza in a few moments. Afterwards, there’ll be another meeting convened by the elders to discuss the training plans for the next two months, as well as what to look out for when heading to the alternate dimension, so all students participating in that expedition have to attend. At night, your two cousins will likely seek you out, given how long it’s been since they last saw you.” Li Mo rattled off a list of obligations and events that they had to attend. “We’ll likely be busy all the way until nighttime. When it’s dark and everyone’s asleep, Yan’er, I’ll come find you in bed.”

Although they were husband and wife, they were still master and disciple within Kongming Academy. Yun Ruoyan believed that Kongming Academy was a place for cultivation, not for romance, so she had proposed that they not behave as a couple at least on academy grounds.

Li Mo didn’t agree with Yun Ruoyan’s beliefs. After all, why should he have to hide his consort, whom he’d spent so much time chasing after? They didn’t have to care what anyone else thought, neither in the capital nor in Kongming Academy! But since Yun Ruoyan wasn’t prepared to disclose their relationship to one and all, he acceded to her request.

It was then that a bell by the plaza began to toll, summoning all students and staff to attendance. By the time they got to the plaza, almost all the students had already gathered. Yun Ruoyan headed to join her friends in the southern college, whereas Li Mo stepped up on stage and took the only open seat left there.

“Sister Ruoyan!” Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen both cried out, excited to see her again.

“Sister Ruoyan, Sister Qingchen and I went looking for you after your wedding, but you were already gone!” Lin Qingxue grumbled. “Have you forgotten about the two of us now? You didn’t even tell us that you were leaving! Oh, I’m so upset!”

Lin Qingchen didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t hide the wide smile on her face. Yun Ruoyan rapped Lin Qingxue on the head.

“Ouch! Sister Ruoyan, what’s the matter?”

“I’m greeting you, aren’t I? I can’t let my dear cousin be upset, so I’ll greet you like that every day.”

“Ah! In that case, there’s no need,” Lin Qingxue quickly backpedaled.

Yun Ruoyan greeted her peers nearby, then noticed a contingent of sixteen students nearby, forming a group right in front of everyone’s eyes. Yun Ruoyan wasn’t the only student to have noticed; Lin Qingxue, Lin Qingchen, and quite a lot of other new students had also sensed something amiss, and many of them were pointing at and murmuring about them.

“Yun Ruoyan!” Just then, Zong Yang called out to her.

“Senior Brother Zong Yang,” Yun Ruoyan greeted.

“Who are these sixteen students? Do you know where they’re from?” he asked, and all the southern college students perked up as they waited for her answer. Few of the students knew that Li Mo and Yun Ruoyan had gotten married, but since Yun Ruoyan was Li Mo’s disciple, she was likely privy to the most up-to-date information.

As such, they would always seek her out whenever something unexpected happened in Kongming Academy. As long as it wasn’t a big secret, Yun Ruoyan would answer their questions, so she was well-respected by all.

“Senior Zong Yang, do you remember the students from the beastmaster institute that you told me about once? The ones that disappeared?” Yun Ruoyan replied, turning to Guan Ruliu.

Zong Yang and Guan Ruliu glanced at each other before they both nodded. Then, Guan Ruliu’s eyes turned wide. “You mean—they’re those students?!”

Yun Ruoyan nodded.

“Really?!”

“The students from the beastmaster institute are back!”

The gathered students all cried out in surprise. Zong Yang in particular was so agitated that he was starting to tremble. “In that case, is the beastmaster institute reopening? I’ve always felt that I have some latent talent in becoming a beastmaster, and it’s finally time for my star to shine!”

“Shh!” Yun Ruoyan hurriedly shushed the students around her, then pointed at the stage. The provost of the southern college, Cang Song, had stood up from his chair. He bowed to the elders seated behind him, then stepped up to the podium and began to give a speech.

His opening remarks was the basic spiel on working hard now that the holidays were over, but then he cleared his throat, and his expression turned serious. His gaze swept over the gathered crowd, then landed on the sixteen students standing by themselves.

“Today, I have important news to announce. I’m sure everyone has already noticed that we have sixteen additional students with us today.” Cang Song’s voice was infused with spiritual energy, and his words rang through the plaza.

Everyone’s attention was focused on those sixteen.

“Our older students are undoubtedly familiar with the fact that we used to have four specialized institutions and four colleges. Three years ago, however, the provost of the beastmaster institute, Qin Feng, led his students into a certain training ground, from which they never returned. This was a huge blow to the beastmaster institute, and it has remained closed for the intervening three years.”

Cang Song’s voice grew louder. “But, not long ago, those students from the beastmaster institute returned! These sixteen students are all from the institute, and the elders have decided that the beastmaster institute shall be reopened once more.”

“Provost Cang, where’s Provost Qin?” one of the instructors of the central college called out. That instructor had once been part of the beastmaster institute, and had only moved to the central college after its closure.

“Right, where’s Provost Qin?” some of the older students also called out.

“That’s exactly what I’ll be discussing next.” Cang Song gestured for silence, then continued, “Certain matters have prevented Provost Qin from resuming his post at present, so I and the northern college’s Master Rong will be taking over the position for the moment as we await Master Qin’s return.”

“Ruoyan, do you know what’s going on? Why didn’t Master Qin return with the other students? And far more than sixteen students from the beastmaster institute went on that expedition!” As a senior student of Kongming Academy, Zong Yang knew far more than most of the other gathered students, so he had particularly incisive questions.

“It’s a complicated situation, so I’ll talk to you about the specifics later,” Yun Ruoyan finally answered.

After Cang Song’s announcement was the usual roll call and advancement routine. Kongming Academy’s identification tokens were divided into five ranks: red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. This time, their advancement was primarily dictated by their cultivation. As one of the only students to have become an eighth-rank blademaster after a single term, her token skipped over the yellow and green ranks and went straight to blue.