Chapter 268: Someone From the Academy!
“Everyone sit tight! We’re leaving!”
With that, the old man shouted, and the silver-grey Puppet Armor activated instantly.
“Bzzt—”
Amid a piercing metallic roar, the entire Puppet Armor abruptly accelerated, speeding off into the distance!
A Puppet Armor originally didn’t have a flight module.
It wasn’t that one couldn’t be added. Lu Qingyang simply felt there was no need.
So he had only installed a low-altitude levitation module on a single Puppet Armor.
And even this still thrilled the crowd of youths.
“Wow! So fast, I love it!”
“Look! It’s actually flying!”
“So cool! Just like a cultivator, sir!”
Watching the silver steel war machine suddenly speed into the air, the youths were all shock and envy, shouting and cheering in wild excitement.
They all turned to look at the old man piloting the Puppet, their little faces flushed red, eyes full of admiration.
“Boom!”
Soon, the Puppet had passed through layer after layer of mountains and plains, arriving outside a towering city.
This city was called Yun City, and it was the capital gathering place of the Ancient Great Zhou Kingdom.
As the Puppet Armor slowly descended, the mortals entering and leaving the city gates all looked up at the giant Puppet Armor with faces full of respect and envy.
“That’s the Puppet Armor Academy Master’s, isn’t it? Looks really impressive!”
“Yeah, I heard that if our Yun City Academy can get a few students promoted into the Great Zhou Puppet Armor Prefectural Academy in this year’s Puppet Armor Academic Test, that’d be incredible!”
“That’s right. By then, this Master’s Puppet Armor might even get upgraded to Second Order!”
“…”
The surrounding commoners chattered among themselves.
By now, the old Master had already maneuvered the Puppet Armor to release the youths from the cockpit.
At the same time, he set himself down on the ground.
After steadying himself, he took out that rod-shaped Dharma Artifact once more.
“Puppet Armor, withdraw!”
The old man lightly uttered four words.
Instantly, the massive silver-grey Puppet Armor vanished into thin air before the stunned gazes of the youths.
“Wow!”
“Master, you’re amazing!”
“Master is truly a model for our generation!”
The youths all scrambled to flatter the old Master.
Hearing this, the old Master gave a slight nod, quite pleased.
“Alright, all of you head back quickly. Remember today’s detention assignment!”
“Got it, Master. Goodbye, Master!”
“Goodbye!”
The old Master waved his hand, signaling the youths to disperse.
After all the youths had left.
Only then did the old Master raise his head.
He took a deep breath and strode toward his home.
He lived in a fairly prosperous three-courtyard small residence in Yun City.
The courtyard was clean and tidy.
And upon entering the gate, one could see a spirit tablet enshrined in the main hall.
On it was written: the seat of Family Ancestor Li Fu.
Looking at this spirit tablet, Li Canghai felt a flood of emotions.
Who would have thought that his ancestor, a mere mortal, had once been a fellow disciple of the Saint Venerable himself?
Back then, his Ancestor had been an Outer Gate menial of the orthodox Great Zhou’s Chaotian Sect.
Later, though the Great Zhou was utterly destroyed, fortunately one branch of his Ancestor’s descendants had not been in the Great Zhou at the time.
Thus the family line had been preserved to this day.
“Ancestor above, your unworthy descendant has no Spirit Root in this life and cannot cultivate immortality.”
“Nor can I speak a single word before the Saint Venerable to move your spirit tablet into the Saint Sect Spirit Mountain.”
“But I hope you will bless your descendants from the nine springs, and let me become a high-order Puppet Armor Cultivator sooner!”
“Let my Li family regain its glory!”
Li Canghai knelt before the spirit tablet, kowtowing and praying.
Eighty years ago, the Chaotian Sect had established a new Spirit Mountain, where all the noble and righteous of the Chaotian Sect were buried.
Anyone who could be buried within Spirit Mountain would have their descendants enjoy its protection.
At the time, Li Canghai had still been young. His father had brought their Ancestor’s spirit tablet to the Great Zhou Saint Sect Bureau to handle the matter.
He wanted the Saint Sect to move their Ancestor’s spirit tablet over, so as to secure blessings for future generations.
In the end, the Saint Sect Bureau here insisted that the era was too distant and it could not be verified, and drove his father out.
This had left his father unable to forget the matter even unto death.
Unfortunately, decades had passed, and he still had not fulfilled his father’s dying wish.
This too left Li Canghai unable to forget.
He swore that in this life he would definitely move his Ancestor’s spirit tablet into the Saint Sect Spirit Mountain.
Not for any blessings for future descendants, but to vindicate his Ancestor and his father.
To fulfill their dying wishes.
And this academy academic test was the best opportunity to fulfill his father’s wish!
When academy students were promoted into the Prefectural Academy, they would draw the attention of disciples from the Saint Sect’s Outer Gate Puppet Armor Hall!
At that time, he would have the chance to speak with a Core Disciple of the Saint Sect.
For him, this was undoubtedly the best opportunity.
He just didn’t know whether he could actually pull it off.
“Sigh!”
With a sigh, Li Canghai shook his head, pulling his thoughts back.
“No matter what, I’ll cultivate first! Raise my realm first!”
Li Canghai muttered to himself, then sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind.
What he cultivated was naturally not a cultivation technique.
Rather, it was a wondrous method called the Spirit Training Method, which the Chaotian Sect had developed specifically for mortal Puppet Armor Cultivators.
This method was designed to enhance and nourish the spirit of mortals.
It allowed mortal Puppet Armor Cultivators to control their Puppet Armor with more agile thoughts and more focused attention.
Apart from preparing Puppet Armor lesson materials, Li Canghai’s main daily task was cultivating this method.
And time flew by. Soon, dozens of days had passed.
On this day, at the Yun City Puppet Armor Prefectural Academy, ten youths stood nervously in place, eyes fixed on the sky above.
Because today was the most important day of their lives!
Li Canghai now also stood before the group of youths, full of trepidation.
The tension in his heart was even greater than that of the youths behind him.
And amid the expectant, anxious gazes of the group.
On this day, on the training grounds of the Cloud Layer City Puppet Armor Prefectural Academy.
The ten youths were like willow catkins blown by the wind, each wearing an expression of tension, their hearts churning like a stormy sea.
Their eyes were bright and piercing, fixed tightly on the high heavens.
As if they wanted to pierce through that thin layer of clouds and glimpse the direction of fate.
Sunlight spilled down through the clouds.
Golden radiance flickered across their faces.
Adding a touch of warmth to the originally heavy atmosphere.
Li Canghai now also stood at the front of the line, the tension in his heart surging like the tide.
His heartbeat seemed loud enough to shake the heavens.
The whispered words of the other youths beside him all seemed distant and blurred at this moment.
Recalling all the past events.
His heart was filled with boundless anticipation and trepidation for the academic test about to come.
His hands trembled slightly. The fine beads of sweat on his forehead glistened under the sunlight.
Like a true reflection of the unease in his heart.
“This is the most important day of my life.”
Li Canghai recited silently, clenching both fists, trying to suppress the fear in his heart.
His gaze swept over the youths beside him from time to time.
Seeing their tightly clenched jaws and slightly pale cheeks.
Li Canghai could feel that shared sense of urgency.
And within this tense atmosphere, the clouds at the edge of the sky suddenly began to churn.
As if brewing some ominous omen.
Li Canghai’s heart sank sharply, as if he had sensed something unusual about to happen.
He thought to himself: Could this be the legendary heavenly phenomenon?
He couldn’t help but look upward. The dark clouds gradually gathered and took shape in his eyes.
The blurry outlines twisted in the air, like some colossal beast, striking fear into the heart.
And amid the expectant, tense gazes of the group.
A thunderous roar suddenly came from the sky, like a giant beast bellowing in fury.
It shook every heart along with it.
That massive sound seemed to announce something, instantly pressing down on their chests, making it hard to breathe.
Li Canghai’s heart nearly leapt out of his chest, his gaze involuntarily shifting upward.
What’s going on?
He was inwardly astonished, and what followed was an ever-strengthening pressure, as if pouring down from the sky.
Amid the dark clouds, several massive black silhouettes were faintly visible, blotting out the sky, as if they had come from ancient times.
Those enormous outlines, like gods descending.
Emitting a suffocating pressure, causing every youth present to involuntarily hold their breath.
This is… Third Order Puppet Armor?!
Li Canghai’s heart shook violently, terrified thoughts surging into his mind.
The arrivals aren’t from the Prefectural Academy! They’re from the Academy!
That can’t be right!
Li Canghai’s pupils contracted sharply, and he cried out in shock.
Third Order Puppet Armor, though perhaps common within the Academy.
To outsiders, these Third Order Puppet Armor were existences akin to gods.
What on earth was going on!
Li Canghai’s mind immediately flooded with endless associations!
He felt that this academic test was not so simple.
And just as Li Canghai was dazed.
An icy shout suddenly rang out beside his ear.
“Are you the Academy Master of this place?”