Chapter 55: Public Lecture

The next day.

The sunlight, filtering through the foliage, sprinkled a thin layer of silver frost on the ground. The door creaked slowly open and Zhang Xuan stepped out.

Dao Li, being fearful, was not very cooperative. It took until late to find the Source Pool for it. Since there was no Heavenly Mandate Vitality, no evaluation was carried out, but as a Thousand-Li Horse with a strong innate constitution, it could absorb Origin Qi directly, albeit slowly.

It seemed there was an opportunity to find some Heavenly Mandate Vitality to stabilize it.

Next up was igniting the Furnace.

Although Dao Li was not a master of a realm and couldn’t contain primordial energy, with a hint of it, igniting the Furnace smoothly was still an easily achievable task.

Just like when he first taught Zhao Ya and others the cultivation technique, the normal version could not be practiced as it involved the Heavenly Dao, but the impotent version posed no serious issues.

Upon igniting the Furnace, Dao Li indeed transformed into a Primordial Beast, albeit the lowest grade one.

Under his coercion, it succeeded in forging Origin Qi, but since he was unaware of the horse’s meridians, they struggled through the night to only unblock one of the hundreds of meridians in its body.

As for the speed, because too few meridians were opened, it could only absorb about ten strands of Origin Qi daily, not much different from a low-grade Furnace that used plants as Fire-Starting Material.

“The structure of a horse differs from a human, and being larger, it should be able to absorb faster…only this little, probably the method is incorrect…”

Zhang Xuan was somewhat frustrated.

The speed was too slow!

However, there was nothing he could do; a Primordial Beast’s body structure was entirely different from a human’s. If he wanted to increase its absorption speed, he would have to unblock its meridians… It seemed he could only wait to find the corresponding books later.

Of course, unblocking a single meridian allowed it to absorb ten strands of Origin Qi overnight. If all over a hundred meridians were unblocked, he couldn’t imagine how fast the cultivation speed would be. Thinking about it, he was quite looking forward to it.

After dealing with Dao Li, he didn’t rest but continued to nurse his injuries and practice.

Since the focus was on healing, the speed of absorbing Origin Qi was not fast, but the prolonged time paid off. By night, the Suspended Realm was nearly filled with forged Origin Qi, meaning he had reached the late stage of the Accumulative Realm.

Although the increase in strength was minimal, he had stored enough Origin Qi to lay a solid foundation for future cultivation.

“Reflect well here, figure out how to unblock the meridians by yourself; I need to go teach my class!”

After giving instructions, Zhang Xuan walked out of the courtyard. He had only taken a couple of steps when he heard Dao Li’s aggrieved cry, followed immediately by the sound of its stomach rumbling.

“This…”

Zhang Xuan scratched his head awkwardly, only then remembering that this courtyard didn’t have any fodder for the horse. The poor creature was already very hungry!

“Wait till I finish my class, and I will buy you something…”

He consoled it and headed to the classroom assigned to him by School Head Lu, arriving shortly after.

“Why are there so many people?”

Before he even got there, he saw a massive crowd of teachers and students, easily numbering in the thousands.

He had only recruited two students. Why had so many people come, making it look like a concert?

“The first lesson of newly recruited teachers is a public lesson. You didn’t know that, did you?”

Seeing his puzzled face, a student couldn’t help but speak up.

“Public class?”

Zhang Xuan blinked.

A public class, by definition, was a lesson open to all faculty and students for observation… He was about to teach a public class? But he hadn’t prepared anything in advance!

“Well, it’ll have to do!”

Zhang Xuan shook his head.

As the World’s Teacher, he had taught public classes in his previous life attended by several hundred thousand spectators. To him, a crowd of thousands was nothing.

…

In a small building not far from the crowd, School Head Lu and others were seated alongside each other.

Each of them wore a somber expression, creating a gloomy atmosphere.

“To be honest, we were somewhat reckless in this matter!”

The First Elder, Ran Qingxu, couldn’t help but remark, “It’s not that I don’t trust him, but having a high cultivation talent doesn’t guarantee good teaching abilities, something we’ve proven many times before!”

“Yeah, he should have at least notified us in advance about teaching the class to give us time to pass on some experience. Or perhaps had time to come and sit in on our classes to study properly! To start without any announcement, and even to commence with critical courses like igniting the Furnace… If he fails, it’s not just about getting reprimanded, Baiyan Academy may face various criticisms.”

The Second Elder, Wu Liuyun, also nodded, his face twisted in conflict.

Super geniuses were not good at teaching. They had encountered many before. What seemed easy in their eyes was exceedingly difficult for ordinary cultivators, their thoughts not on the same level…

Because of this, hearing that this kid had only learned the cultivation method yesterday and was going to help ignite the Furnace today, and that it was a public class, nearly everyone present went mad.

Too reckless!

They thought absorbing Origin Qi frantically to the point of almost creating an Origin Qi vacuum was extreme enough, but the crazier part was yet to come…

“Should I go and suggest canceling this public class? To avoid the embarrassment of failing to help Yu Xiaoyu and Liu Mingyue ignite their Furnaces?”

After hesitating for a moment, The Third Elder, He Qin, couldn’t help but speak up.

“Don’t rush. The news has already spread, and so many people have come. Canceling hastily will definitely cause even more controversy…”

School Head Lu forced a smile.

Their strength had been completely drained by the other party, and they had only returned after struggling until midnight. Just as they walked out of the Book Collection Vault, they heard the news and felt as if the sky had fallen…

Brother, can’t we just cultivate peacefully for a few days?

Not even a day into the academy, he had already caused us trouble three times…

At this rate, we won’t be able to hold on!

Wu Yunzhou: “What should we do? I don’t know who purposely stirred this up, but now not only does the entire school know, but all of Baiyan City knows as well. I’m afraid failure will greatly impact your reputation, Head, especially since you personally approved his teacher appointment…”

Lu Mingrong: “I’ve considered everything you mentioned. Let’s just see… If he fails to help Liu Mingyue and Yu Xiaoyu ignite their Furnaces, we’ll immediately intervene and say… The Fire-Starting Material is inactive!”

“That’s all we can do…”

Everyone forced a smile.

The Fire-Starting Material came in many grades, but even the higher grades didn’t guarantee ignition.

Though this excuse was far-fetched, it was better than losing face outright, as it could still preserve some dignity…

“Look quickly, Zhang Xuan has arrived; the public class is about to start!”

While everyone was worrying, they saw Zhang Xuan had already arrived at the classroom doorway, approaching Yu Xiaoyu and Liu Mingyue who were waiting there.

Although Liu Mingyue’s face had swelled down, it was still very red, clearly having been beaten… of course, no one dared to ask about it directly and could only mutter quietly to themselves.

“Teacher Zhang!” Both women greeted with a fist salute.

“Hmm! Have you prepared the Fire-Starting Materials you were asked to bring?”

Zhang Xuan nodded, not mincing words, and asked directly.

“I have prepared the blood essence of the Qingguang Beast!” Yu Xiaoyu handed over the Luo Zhi Bird blood essence given to her by Steward Liao.

“I have prepared the blood essence of the Lingyun Beast…” Liu Mingyue handed over the Cold-Backed Turtle’s blood essence.

“Qingguang Beast?”

“Lingyun Beast?”

“These are both Heavenly Destiny Primeval Beasts, truly generous of the City Lord Residence and the Liu Clan!”

“Miss Yu and Miss Liu are both super geniuses, of course, they need to prepare powerful Fire-Starting Materials, it’s for their own good!”

“Such artifacts, even if successful, can’t really be credited to this guy!”

…

Hearing their conversation, a murmur swept through the crowd of onlooking students and teachers, all of them filled with shock.

Whether it was the Lingyun Beast or the Qingguang Beast, both were the limit of Baiyan City’s Fire-Starting Materials, and with them, couldn’t one ignite even with their eyes closed as long as there were no accidents?

“If Dad has prepared such a fine artifact for Xiaoyu and she still can’t ignite a Pinnacle Furnace, I’ll make sure he pays!”

Within the crowd, Yu Feng clenched his fists.

It was the blood essence of the Qingguang Beast!

Even he hadn’t received such resources.

As long as there were no accidents, a Pinnacle Furnace was guaranteed…

If not, it would only show the incompetence of this Miscellaneous Duties Teacher!