Martial Cultivator

Upon entering the academy, as expected, a group of students stopped in their tracks upon seeing Chen Chao and Xie Nandu.

Many people looked over with ugly expressions.

Some who had not seen Chen Chao and Xie Nandu before looked puzzled, but soon, their fellow students who knew the truth whispered softly, "It's that young martial artist and the Dean's final disciple, Xie Nandu!"

Upon hearing this, a low murmur quickly spread through the crowd. There was naturally no need to bring up who Chen Chao was. From the verbal altercation at South Lake to becoming the champion in the Myriad Willow Convention's martial examination, then becoming the deputy commander of the Left Guard, and even briefly serving as the commander. In the spy-catching incident last winter, he gained quite a bit of infamy. Now, being granted the right to bear arms by His Majesty the Emperor, he was indeed a prominent figure in the Divine Capital. As for Xie Nandu, just being the Dean's final disciple was enough for everyone to remember her. From being the champion in the literary examination at Myriad Willow Convention to now being known as a sword cultivator, it could be said that among the younger generation of the Great Liang Dynasty, there was no one comparable to Chen Chao, and among the women, none could match even a tenth of Xie Nandu's brilliance.

Now that the two appeared in front of everyone like this, it was obvious what it meant.

"Have these two confirmed their relationship?"

A student from the academy whispered under his breath in disbelief. Apart from jealousy, there was only envy left.

After all, Xie Nandu had always been the most admired figure among the current generation of students in the academy. Whether it was her family background or her own qualities, there was nothing to pick on.

Xie Nandu was the fairy in the hearts of countless people.

It was just that the foreign cultivation world's so-called fairies did not include the Great Liang Dynasty's cultivators. Otherwise, Xie Nandu would be a part of them too.

Strolling along the lakeside, Chen Chao muttered softly, "If looks could kill, I'd have died countless times already."

Xie Nandu whispered back, "It's okay, you have thick skin."

Chen Chao was speechless, but after he looked up, he felt even more distressed. At this moment, before he even reached the courtyard, more and more students were gathering by the lake. Presumably, the news of their arrival had spread among the students when they entered the academy. Now, the entire academy knew about it.

Chen Chao felt his hair standing on end being stared at by these people.

However, he was currently seriously injured. It was impossible to go any faster.

……

……

Outside the crowd, in the small pavilion at the center of the lake, the Dean held a handful of fish food and gently tossed it into the lake. Then, he glanced over in this direction and muttered discontentedly, "This kid is so scheming. What does your little junior sister see in him?"

The scholar standing beside him smiled and said, "Chen Chao is not without his merits. Among the youngsters in the Great Liang Dynasty, there are few who can match him."

The Dean frowned and said, "Well, I still don't like him."

Listening to his teacher's childish words, Wei Xu just smiled and then said, "Perhaps every father in the world thinks that every young man interested in his daughter is a heinous criminal. Is Teacher having similar thoughts now?"

The Dean remained silent. He had no Dao companion. Although he had a relationship in his youth, in the end, he failed to become Dao companions with the woman due to various reasons. So it was naturally impossible for him to have any children. Without descendants, he saw his students as his children.

As the Dean's only female disciple, he thought differently about Xie Nandu.

The Dean said softly, "Nandu will surely achieve great success in the future. Perhaps she'll be the most remarkable woman in the history of the Great Liang Dynasty... No, she'll be the most extraordinary woman in the past thousand years!" The Dean's words were the highest praise for Xie Nandu.

Perhaps any praise for Xie Nandu in the world could not compare to the Dean's words now.

Wei Xu was taken aback. He did not expect his teacher to have such a high opinion of his little junior sister.

He looked into the distance with a complicated expression and did not speak.

The Dean said, "The conflict between you two seems to involve me, but it's actually between you two. However, no matter what, I hope neither of you will have the blood of your fellow disciples on your hands. Fratricide among disciples, what kind of situation is that?"

He did not look at Wei Xu, so there was no need for Wei Xu to respond. Thus, Wei Xu remained silent, just nodding silently.

The Dean did not see it.

"Let's go back. This kid has so many enemies, he probably won't live long."

With these words, the Dean dumped the fish food in his hand into the lake.

Wei Xu murmured softly, "If that kid doesn't live long, Junior Sister wouldn't be happy either."

The Dean was about to say something when suddenly he heard a shout in the distance, "The rankings have changed!"

Within the academy, someone was currently running over here with a list in their hands.

The Dean stood on the spot, feeling a bit perplexed.

But Wei Xu quickly realized what was happening and whispered, "It should be the change in the Latent Dragon List from the foreign lands. It's about time."

The Dean frowned, "If it's just a ranking update, what's with the shouting and wrangling?"

The Latent Dragon List had always only included young geniuses from the foreign lands, showing disdain for the cultivators of the Great Liang Dynasty. Therefore, the Great Liang Dynasty had no thoughts about it, let alone any expectations. As for the academy, although it was included, there had not been any outstanding young geniuses worthy of being listed in the rankings in recent years. However, there was indeed a deliberate reason behind this by the Dean. Otherwise, both Wei Xu and Liu Banbi would have made it onto the Latent Dragon List in the past.

After all, these two could be considered true geniuses.

With this in mind, the Dean suddenly asked, "Is your little junior sister on the list?"

Unlike Wei Xu and Liu Banbi, the fact that Xie Nandu was a genius had never been concealed. It was only natural for her to make it onto the list.

Wei Xu thought for a moment and whispered, "Although Little Junior Sister is exceptionally talented, her cultivation time is short, so her ranking won't be very high."

The Dean laughed coldly, "Even if her cultivation realm is sufficient, I'm afraid those self-righteous folks from the foreign lands won't rank her too high."

While he was conversing with Wei Xu, the person holding the list had already arrived at the pavilion in the center of the lake.

Wei Xu took a few steps forward, took the list, and smiled, "Thank you."

The person naturally recognized Wei Xu and immediately replied, "No trouble at all, Mr. Wei."

After Wei Xu took the list, a group of students from the academy had already arrived at the lakeside. When they saw the pavilion in the center of the lake, they became excited when they spotted the scholar in the pavilion.

"It's Mr. Wei!"

The Divine Capital boasted the most famous scholars in the world, and that scholar was in the academy, currently under the pavilion in the center of the lake..

Since that person was Mr. Wei, then who was the figure whose face was not very clear?

An answer quickly came to mind.

Countless gazes became fervent, filled with respect as they looked toward the pavilion in the heart of the lake..

Before long, someone exclaimed loudly, "Greetings, Lord Dean!"

Then a series of voices sounded out, one after another.

Towards the Dean of the academy, they only held respect, and nothing else.

As the voices subsided, under the scrutiny of countless eyes, Wei Xu slowly unfurled the list, appearing somewhat absent-minded.

After a moment, he came back to his senses looked at the students by the lake, saying softly, "In this Latent Dragon List update, one of our academy's students made it onto the list."

The students immediately widened their eyes. After so many years, had someone from the academy finally made it onto the Latent Dragon List again?

Many already had an answer in mind.

Wei Xu did not leave them hanging, announcing loudly, "Tenth on the Latent Dragon List, from our academy, Xie Nandu!"

Tenth?!

The lakeside erupted into exclamations. Everyone could have guessed that Xie Nandu would make it onto the list this time, but absolutely no one could have expected that Xie Nandu would enter the top ten as soon as she got on the list. Even though she was only tenth, one had to know that her cultivation time was much shorter compared to the other young geniuses of the current era.

Being able to rank tenth already spoke volumes.

The Dean grumbled with dissatisfaction, "Just tenth."

Wei Xu did not explain, he just looked at the students of the academy and said, "Take this as an example, everyone. Study and cultivate diligently to bring glory to our Great Liang!"

The students responded with a resounding roar, their voices echoing like thunder.

However, after saying this, Wei Xu did not put away the list. Instead, he looked at the students by the lake and said, "In this Latent Dragon List update, only one person from our academy made it onto the list, but our Great Liang has more than one."

This immediately caused an uproar among the students, and discussions erupted all around.

But it was the next sentence from Wei Xu that was like dropping a huge boulder into the South Lake, causing countless ripples.

"Third on the Latent Dragon List, Great Liang's Chen Chao!"