Chapter 134: The Best of This Place

In the moderately spacious room, the group discussed the upcoming Academy Grand Competition. As the conversation progressed, the atmosphere gradually grew quiet. Everyone present breathed calmly and remained hushed, occasionally offering their own opinions. For the most part, however, Director Liu would first outline the details and then leave them for the group to discuss.

While they were occupied with these matters, Ye Junze had already finished a hearty lunch in his dormitory.

After slouching in his chair for a while, Ye Junze rubbed his bloated stomach, feeling as though he couldn't even stand up.

Helplessly shaking his head, he sat there for a while longer before slowly rising from the chair.

Once on his feet, Ye Junze thought to himself, "No point in stalling. Since I'm full, I might as well go practice."

With that, he entered his cultivation mode, stepped into the Void Illusion, and began his training.

Everything remained the same as before. Ye Junze continued his routine, striving to move closer to his goals. He knew that to achieve his objectives, only day-after-day of diligent practice would bring him nearer.

On the path of cultivation, everyone repeats the same tasks every day. Many people eventually accept this fact and adapt to the monotony. Others, however, feeling the growing boredom, let resentment fester in their hearts. Over time, they lose all anticipation for cultivation and fall into decadence, never to recover. Their path to longevity is thus severed, and no matter how much they regret it later, it is too late. They can only spend the rest of their days filled with endless regret and sorrow. On the long road of cultivation, such people are countless.

Fortunately, Ye Junze was the type of person who, once he started something, would persist and see it through to the end. Otherwise, he would not have kept up this dull, tedious practice for two years. During this time, it wasn't as if he had never thought of giving up. But whenever that happened, before Meng Yuan could say anything, a voice from deep within his own heart would tell him, "Perhaps you should hold on a little longer? You aren't the kind of person who gives up easily at the slightest sign of difficulty."

That inner voice constantly encouraged him, and Ye Junze would find the resolve to continue.

Looking back now, he realized that those thoughts were the most authentic expressions of his own heart.

Deep down, Ye Junze knew that no matter how much he acted like he wanted to quit, there was always a part of him that refused to give up. It was as if, no matter how rugged or treacherous the path ahead, one must simply walk it.

Over the two years of cultivation, Ye Junze rarely felt the urge to give up anymore. Furthermore, since arriving at Anze Academy and experiencing its cultivation atmosphere, he had grown accustomed to the environment—or rather, he truly enjoyed this way of practicing. This was a major reason why he no longer felt any resistance toward his training.

In every respect, Anze did an excellent job—or perhaps, it was more than enough.

Imagine a school that provides everything you need for your cultivation journey: techniques, supernatural abilities, spells, spirit stones, and spirit-gathering arrays. Any one of these items, if found in a typical household, would be considered a rare treasure. Yet, Anze had no intention of hoarding them; it provided everything to all its students. Aside from a few items that required achieving good grades, everything else was essentially handed out for free.

"We provide you with everything you need; all you have to do is focus on your cultivation within the school. As for other tasks, you are still too weak, so you don't need to worry about them. If the sky falls, there are those of us who are stronger to hold it up. Therefore, our original intention is simply for you to grow stronger through your daily practice, so that our efforts are not in vain."

Of course, if you were unwilling to work hard and only wanted to slack off and cut corners, then sorry, you would no longer be entitled to those benefits. Furthermore, if you remained unrepentant, you would be asked to leave Anze. As for the methods used for such an expulsion, you would find out clearly when the time came.

In Anze's history, there had been such students, and the school’s approach to dealing with them was never particularly gentle.

Fortunately, as time passed, such people had become increasingly rare. In one particular year, the number of such students at Anze Academy reached an unbelievable zero. When Bai Ze learned of this, the smile on his face was boundless. According to teachers who were lucky enough to see him at the time, the principal was so happy he almost clapped his hands and distributed the school's entire reserve of spirit stones as rewards to the students. Had it not been for the teachers’ desperate dissuasion, the consequences would have been unimaginable. They would have preferred a few more students being expelled for laziness than to have had that happen.

Since that year, the number of students expelled from Anze gradually decreased, and in the last two years, not a single student had been expelled. Consequently, after seeing these statistics, Bai Ze no longer reacted as dramatically as he did at the beginning, merely offering a calm "Mm." However, no matter how he tried to hide it, his joy was evident, though no one would ever call him out on it.

Perhaps it was because more and more people felt the conveniences and the comfortable atmosphere provided by Anze that they developed a sense of belonging and a desire to stay.

In any case, for anyone just setting foot on the path of cultivation, Anze was undoubtedly the best place to safeguard their journey. Imagine having everything you need provided for you—could there be anything better than simply focusing on your training? As it stands, there is absolutely nothing better.

Every class of graduates from Anze felt proud to be a part of the school. After all, they knew that without the many conveniences provided during their time there, their own efforts alone would never have brought them to the heights they reached by graduation. For this reason, they were filled with gratitude toward Anze Academy and would do everything in their power to help whenever the school needed it.

...

Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye, dusk arrived.

At this moment, the meeting held within the Daoist Studies Department was finally drawing to a close.

Director Liu, sitting at the head of the table, clapped his hands and looked up at the group. "Alright, let's end the meeting here for today. Regarding the specific arrangements for the Academy Grand Competition, let's proceed according to the plan we just discussed."

The group responded in unison, "Understood."

Director Liu nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you all for your hard work. Please keep these matters in mind. Whether our Daoist Studies Department can redeem itself in this year's competition depends on your performance."

The group naturally replied with various sentiments like, "It's no trouble," and "It's our duty."

Director Liu waved his hand. "Alright, meeting adjourned. Thank you all for your hard work today; go back and get some rest."

The group stood up and said in unison, "Goodbye, Director Liu."

The door opened, and they filed out in an orderly fashion.

Before long, the room that had been packed with people was left with only Director Liu.

Looking at the empty room, Director Liu waved his hand to close the door. A look of contemplation appeared in his eyes, though it was unclear what he was thinking.

After a long while, Director Liu sighed slowly. "No matter how I look at it, our chances of winning this year are very high. There shouldn't be any surprises. I hope things go as planned this year."

He said no more, and the room fell back into silence, growing dark and cold.

...

On the other side, Ye Junze, who had been practicing in the Void Illusion for a long time, felt the saturation in his dantian and slowly ceased his cultivation.

Ye Junze said to the air, "Meng Yuan, that's all for today. Goodnight."

Meng Yuan’s voice came from nowhere, echoing, "Goodnight."

Ye Junze waved his hand and turned to leave the Void Illusion.

After emerging from the illusion, he saw several notifications on his phone and quickly checked them.

Upon opening the messages, he realized they were from Lin Xin: "Are you there, Junior?"

As if she had waited a long time and noticed no response, she had sent another: "Huh? Not there?"

"I'll talk to you when you see the message, then."

There were no other messages after that, presumably because she was waiting for his reply.

Ye Junze smiled and quickly typed back, "I was just practicing. Sorry to keep you waiting, Senior. Is everything alright? Did you need something?"

He then set his phone aside, waiting for her reply.

Having practiced for so long, the energy he had replenished at lunch was long spent, so he quickly ordered his dinner.

After placing the order, seeing that Lin Xin hadn't replied yet, he thought for a moment, then turned and walked into the bathroom to freshen up.