Chapter 44: The Nine Great Branch Institutes

  Night comes quietly.

  Lu Fan sat in the room, cultivating his Blazing Golden Body Technique.

  Martial arts have no bounds, every moment can't be wasted, Lu Fan has already gotten used to using cultivation in place of sleep.

  The surrounding heavenly and earthly powers were stirred up by Lu Fan, like a crucible, forging his body.

  Breathe out.

  A faint mist rose from his body, drop by drop, strengthening his physique.

  Since he had the ring given by his family, Lu Fan felt that his cultivation speed had increased significantly. Its effect was surprisingly better than the Ice Heart Meteorite, which was something Lu Fan hadn't expected.

  Suddenly there was a knock at the door outside.

  "Lu Fan."

  Lu Fan slowly opened his eyes and withdrew his aura.

  Getting up and opening the door, what entered his line of sight was Lu Ming's figure.

  Lu Ming said lightly: "I'm going to the main hall to eat something, are you coming with me?"

  Lu Fan said: "Good, from entering until now, I haven't drunk a drop of water either, it's time for something."

  As soon as he heard about eating, Xiao Hei, who was sleeping soundly, woke up and jumped onto Lu Fan's shoulder.

  Lu Ming looked at Xiao Hei and said: "Be careful, this wild beast will make you poor."

  Lu Fan smiled lightly.

  They closed the door and walked towards the main hall.

  At this time, there were many guests eating in the hall. Lu Fan and the other person found a table to sit down and casually ordered two small dishes.

  Two men drank wine, Lu Ming slowly said: "Lu Fan, the two of us at home do not get along with each other. But going out, as members of the Lu family, we still need to unite and cooperate a bit more. The overall situation is important, I always feel that tonight is not very safe, so let's just sit here for one night."

  "What's unsafe about it?"

  Lu Ming said slowly, "The owner of the Beast Inn we met during the day will probably not let things go easily. It's very likely that he'll send someone to cause us trouble again tonight. Don't think I'm joking. When I was at the Academy, I personally saw a student who envied a senior's sword and deliberately plotted to kill him. The outside world is far more treacherous than Jiang City."

  Lu Fan slightly raised an eyebrow. He wasn't very afraid of the owner of that Beast Taming Pavilion, even if he was a strong expert from outside the city.

  Lu Fan was more interested in the affairs of the Martial Arts Academy and said: "The Martial Arts Academy actually has such a thing?"

  "Of course there is. You'll know when you go, it's a place where people are forced to grow up quickly, or they'll be eliminated."

  Lu Fangdao said: "Oh, can you tell me about Wudao Academy? It's better to have a bottom line in mind."

  "Alright. First, I need to tell you something. The Martial Arts Academy isn't what you think it is - a simple academy. It's divided into nine branches, like nine different schools of thought. Each branch teaches different things and has varying levels of strength. When you arrive at the academy, you'll first go through a round of trials to determine which branch you'll be assigned to. New students who perform well will be assigned to better branches, while those who don't do as well will end up in weaker ones. You need to mentally prepare yourself."

  Lu Fan nodded in understanding, knowing that his master wanted him to enter the one-yuan branch division. He knew nothing about the other divisions. As for the matter of competing for allocation, he had never even heard of it.

  Lu Fan spoke up and asked: "Among the nine branches, which one is the strongest?"

  Lu Ming smiled and said, "Your goal is quite high. The strongest branch is the Yin Yang Institute. Last year, thirty new students were admitted, and this year it's estimated to be around the same number. If you want to get in, try your best to rank within the top thirty during the trial."

  Lu Fan hummed in surprise, the strongest branch was unexpectedly not the Yuan Branch that his master had mentioned, which made him feel a bit strange.

  Lu Fan continued to ask: "What about the second branch and the third branch? Why don't you tell me the ranking of the nine colleges?"

  Lu Mingdao said: "The second strongest branch is Qingjian Institute, which mainly recruits students who intend to practice swordsmanship. It should be more suitable for you."

  At this point, Lu Ming glanced at the heavy sword behind Lu Fan's back.

  "Third is the Floating Cloud Institute, which mainly focuses on body techniques. Fourth is the Horizontal Mountain Institute, where physical training is emphasized. Fifth is the Thunderbolt Institute, which doesn't have any special features, but it's known for its powerful and overbearing martial art, the Thunder Road Wu Shen Quan. Sixth is the Craggy Peak Institute, whose martial arts skills are average, but they excel in stability and balance. Seventh is the Thousand Ridges Institute, where students practice a variety of skills, including those related to different types of weapons. Eighth is the Clear Mind Institute, whose members are all gentle and dislike conflict, with little desire for victory or defeat, and rarely interact with people from other institutes. Ninth is the Unity Institute, which I don't know much about except that it's one of the nine major institutes, but has very few students, reportedly only three to five people."

  Lu Fan was shocked, three to five people? Ranked last, how could the First-Rate Academy be like this.

  Master won't be intentionally framing him, will he?

  Lu Fan swallowed his saliva and said: "Is this Yuan courtyard so poor?"

  "It's hard to evaluate. I heard from the instructor that since the establishment of the Martial Arts Academy, one of the three earliest branches was the Yiyuan Branch. At first, the Yiyuan Branch was also the face of the Martial Arts Academy, and all the disciples under its gate were masters, but people only knew about the Yiyuan Branch, not the Martial Arts Academy itself. Later on, however, the Yiyuan Branch gradually declined, ranking at the bottom every year, as if it had never produced any outstanding talents. But those students who graduated from the Yiyuan Branch and went out into the world all ended up making a name for themselves. It's really a strange branch. If you say it's strong, you don't know where its strength lies. If you say it's weak, but its disciples are all very promising, at least they're very promising after leaving the academy."

  He paused for a moment, and then continued: "Moreover, the Daoguang Master of the First Yuan Court is a strange-tempered person. He looks down on those who are considered geniuses by others, but instead likes to teach those weaklings who are often bullied."

  Lu Fan's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he listened, and it seemed like it might be somewhat interesting.

  "Which college are you in?" Lu Fan asked casually.

  Lu Mingdao said, "The foundation is not enough, the trial results are not good, and entered Qianren Institute. Ah, Zhang Yuehuan from the Zhang family was originally a person of Qianren Institute, but later she got close to an older brother from Piaomiao Institute. She actually let her mix into Piaomiao Institute too, hehe."

  Lu Fan slightly raised an eyebrow and made no comment.

  At this time, the dishes were finally ready, and Xiao Hei took the lead in eating. Lu Fan and Lu Ming also ate while chatting, continuing to ask about the situation at Wudao Academy.

  In the dark corner of the hall, Lu Fan and Lu Ming did not notice that the fat shopkeeper of Yu Shou Zhai was sitting there.

  The darkness completely obscured the fat shopkeeper's body, looking at Lu Fan and Lu Ming who were chatting happily. The fat shopkeeper's face looked a bit ugly.

  He was originally going to come over tonight and steal Xiao Hei away directly, but unexpectedly, at this time, Lu Fan and Lu Ming were not staying in the room, but ran to the main hall to eat. It seems that he will have to wait for a while longer.

  The fat shopkeeper stared intently at the small black object on Lu Fan's shoulder, his eyes burning with desire and filled with covetousness.

  This wild beast, if he wasn't mistaken, was a dragon demon hybrid, extremely rare, and most importantly, it was still an immature young beast.

  With just a bit of nurturing, it will surely become a powerful mount in the future, with strength rivaling that of Earthly Warriors, and even Heavenly Warriors.

  Such a young beast, how can it be measured with money, its value is worth a whole city.

  The fat shopkeeper made up his mind and was determined to get this wild beast in hand.

  Fat shopkeeper quietly waiting for Lu Fan and Lu Ming to return to their room, he can make his move. But he didn't know that Lu Ming and Lu Fan had no intention of returning to their room tonight, they were prepared to chat until dawn.

  People around gradually left, either going back to their rooms to sleep or returning home.

  But Lu Fan and Lu Ming were still sitting there, with wine being poured one jug after another, without any intention of getting up.

  The fat shopkeeper and the others were getting impatient, so they might as well take advantage of the night to rob him. Anyway, as long as they didn't admit it afterwards, what could these two outsiders do to them?

  Having made up his mind, Fatty Chu prepared to take action.

  Just then, a beautiful figure walked out. When he saw the girl, the fat shopkeeper's body suddenly stopped.

  "Bring dishes, bring dishes, serve this girl a delicious table of food."

  The sound was crisp and pleasant to hear, causing everyone who was still in the hall to turn their heads and look over, and suddenly their eyes lit up.

  What a beautiful woman! Rarely seen!

  Lu Fan also turned his head and looked back, when he saw the girl's face, Lu Fan was suddenly shocked.

  She wasn't at Xishan that day...

  The girl's eyes also swept around, and suddenly, her gaze collided with Lu Fan's.

  "It's you!"

  Lu Fan and the girl almost shouted out at the same time.

  The girl immediately stood up and said to Lu Fan: "You little rascal, where are you going to run this time?"

  As she spoke, a fiery red dagger appeared in the girl's hand, and with a swift movement like lightning, she charged straight at Lu Fan.

  Lu Ming didn't even have time to react before the girl kicked him flying. In mid-air, she turned around and directly plunged a dagger down towards Lu Fang.

  Lu Fan's reaction was also extremely swift, and at the moment the girl made her move, he drew out the heavy sword behind him.

  Dong Dong Dong!

  Three consecutive muffled sounds, seemingly a single move of the Fire Flame Dagger, but in reality it was threefold power, causing Lu Fan's arm to slightly tremble.

  Heavy Sword Incantation, Bursting Air Technique!

  Lu Fan's heavy sword swung violently, aiming at the girl who was falling down.

  The two men clashed swords, and the table in front of them was instantly shattered into splinters. Both parties retreated three steps at the same time.

  Xiao Hei had already jumped onto Lu Fan's shoulder at this moment, with black flames surging in his mouth, spewing towards the girl.

  The girl saw Xiao Hei and Hei Yan, and her face instantly lost color. At this time, the fat shopkeeper finally rushed out.

  "Miss Huan Yue!"

  Fat shopkeeper shouted and waved his hand to block the dark flames.

  The flames were quickly extinguished in the hands of Pao Zhanggui. The crowd around was shocked, and they all dodged and retreated, peeking out from the second floor to see what was happening below.

  Lu Ming finally stood up, and Huan Yue's casual kick almost made him lose his ability to act.

  Looking at Fat Shopkeeper again and then at Huan Yue, Lu Ming gritted his teeth and said: "So, you're in cahoots with each other."

  Huan Yue furrowed his brow and said, "What's going on here? Fatty, who are you?"

  The fat shopkeeper's face trembled with a quiver of his fatty flesh, he really didn't want to come out, but had no choice, and spoke up: "Miss Huan Yue, I am the shopkeeper of Dongshan City's Beast Inn, my name is Xu Dan."

  "Hmph!" Huan Yue snorted, then said: "You're quite bold. Understood, you can leave first. I have a score to settle with this guy."