Several meters away from the bar, between two buildings, the young man in the dazzling and luxurious clothes was standing in front of the youth, who was now caught in a multicolored palm.
The expression on the youth's face was one of annoyance as he looked at the young man. After he had made his escape out the window, the youth thought he had gotten off scot-free.
But who would have thought that the version of his brother, who had tried to capture him in the bar, was only a clone?
And what the youth find more frustrating, was the fact that several more of his older brother's clones were outside, waiting in ambush for him to spring into their net.
He had managed to evade his four clones, but his real body, which was in front of him, had cornered him when he was catching his breath and finally captured him.
With the same annoyed expression on his face, the youth said, "It's not fair!! When were you able to conjure four clones? Your limit had only been two five months ago!"
The young man who was the youth's older brother, only gave him an indifferent look before saying, "I could ask you the same thing about your Spectral Steps. It was only at the Greater Mastery Stage around that time as well, but now it's at the Perfection Stage. You're even one stage away from completion."
The youth snorted and said, "I was holding back, how else could you have caught me?"
"Oh?"
As fs he wanted to damped his little brother's false bravado, the young continue to say
"And how do you know my limit is only four clones?"
Upon hearing that, the youth's expression fell.
The young man's body then began to shine, making his already dazzling clothes dazzle even more. What followed was a plum blossom appearing on his forehead that had six petals, each with different colors ranging from gold, red, violet, azure, pink and black.
After the multicolored plum blossom appeared, five petals duplicated and fell from his forehead. They were the golden petal, the violet petal, the red petal, the pink petal, and the azure petal.
All five petals were still visible on his forehead, but the duplicates spread out and then began to form clones of himself.
Five clones identical to the handsome young man were now standing behind him, each with a different color petal on their foreheads.
The youth's face contorted into various expressions before he angrily yelled, "Fu Wei you bastard! Do you think your so-called Divine Lotus is special or something?"
'Who the hell do think gave it to you? The only problem is that you weren't supposed to unlock those plum blossom petals until you were a couple of hundred years old, much less the fifth one when you're barely twenty, bastard. My initial plans are all off now because of that.'
The youth wanted to say those last few words as well, but he simply held back his tongue.
The young man hearing the youths words frowned and then raised his hand to flick his forehead while saying, "That's elder brother to you, you little shit. And are you drunk?"
He said those last words after smelling the wine from his breath.
The youth grunted as the finger made contact with his forehead.
"Hiccup... what? No I'm not! It's just water with with coloring in it, that I definitely didn't switch with my own wine! Ouch..."
Even though there was no force behind hit, just a casual flick of his brother's finger was enough to crack a normal person's head open. Though the only outcome was a bright red mark appearing on the youth's forehead, and a sudden migraine racking his brain.
With a strange expression on his face, Fu Wei said, "Father said to come and get you. The Disciple Selection Ceremony for the Celestial Academy is about to start."
Hearing that, the youth sighed and said.
"Why do I have to attend an Academy? As the second prince of the Maple Continent's Royal Family, couldn't I just get one of those old bones hiding away in the Imperial Palace to teach me cultivation? Attending an Academy is just a waste of my time."
Hearing that, Fu Wei's tone became serious as he said, "Little Shen, an Academy contains a vast amount of knowledge about cultivation and has as many techniques as there are clouds in the sky. Even if you could get one of the ancestors to teach you, he would only be teaching you the techniques he knows. But who's to say those techniques would be right for you? If you start on the path of cultivation and it's the wrong one for you, then there's no way to turn back. Those ancestors have already found their own path of cultivation to reach the Great Dao. Being influenced by them and following in their foots-steps will lead you to a fake Dao, practically a dead end with no return."
As Fu Wei spoke to Xi Shen like a teacher teaching his student, Xi Shen had the same look of annoyance on his face, however, his mind was thinking something completely different.
'Look at this ugly bastard trying to preach the Dao to me. As someone who was reincarnated from the God era and with sufficient knowledge to boot, if anyone should be preaching about the path to the Great Dao, it should be ME! And the most ironic thing of all is the fact that the method used in this era to reach the 'Great Dao', was invented by who's research?... you guessed it, yours truly! Truly, my knowledge knows no bounds, going to that academy is just a waste of my time.'
As Xi Shen mocked his elder brother in his mind while shamelessly boasting about himself, Fu Wei had finished his rant and then said,
"So, now do you understand why you must attend the Celestial Academy?"
Rolling his eyes Xi Shen mumbled a responded. "Whatever, I'll just enter and then run away when no one is looking."
Picking up on that quite easily, Fu Wei couldn't help but let out a sigh of resignation.
"You're too much for me to handle alone, I'll just hand you over to father and let him deal with you."
As Fu Wei said that, he dissipated his five clones and flew off with a swoosh. A bored looking Xi Shen following in tow within the firmly clenched multicolored hand behind him.
----
The Celestial Academy was the most prestigious cultivation institute on the Maple Continent. It was the goal of many youths, whether they were from affluent families or poor backgrounds, to enter through their doors and embark on their path of cultivation.
If the youths from affluent families were able to enter the Celestial Academy, then they'll have access to numerous cultivation techniques and martial arts, that their own clan couldn't give to them. While if the youths from poor backgrounds could get into the Celestial Academy, they could become a carp that jumped over the golden gate and turn into a dragon in one fell swoop.
All in all, if those youth's dreams could be realized, then their status and fortune could become much higher than before.
However, the one thing that stands between them and living a life of prestige was having enough talent.
The Celestial Academy placed talent above all else, and only heavenly prodigies would have a chance of entering through their doors.
During their Disciple Selection Ceremony, they would test youths for their innate talent to determine their qualifications to enter. Out of their two qualifications, the first one was simple, that a person would have to be at most 13 years old or younger.
The second qualification was where the youth's looking to change their fate become filled with trepidation.
The Celestial Academy's second qualification that someone has to pass, is to have at least a Sky-Grade Foundation, a Sky-Grade soul, and a Sky-Grade comprehension.
This can also be known as, having a Sky-Grade innate talent.
This to some would leave them reeling in shock.
On the Maple Continent, the grades of those three attributes, Foundation grade, soul grade, and comprehension grade, determine how far a person can reach on their path of cultivation.
All three are categorized by the same levels, Human-Grade, Earth-Grade, Sky-Grade, Heaven-Grade, and Supreme-Grade.
Someone who possesses a Human-Grade foundation, a Human-Grade soul, and a Human-Grade comprehension, is known to have a Human-Grade innate talent.
For persons to be classified as having an Earth-Grade innate talent, or any higher grade innate talent, they needed to have all three of their attributes in the Earth-Grade level. Even if their Foundation, and comprehension were Earth-Grade and their soul was still in the Human-Grade, they would still be classified as having a Human-Grade innate talent.
The most common innate talent among the youth's taking the test was Human-Grade, with Earth-grade appearing several times.
Having someone who possesses a Sky-Grade for any one of their attributes, would mark that person as a prodigy that several sects would fight over.
However, finding someone who has a Sky-Grade for one of their attributes was already difficult, to begin with, but finding someone with all three was near impossible.
Yes, there were heavenly prodigies that pop up from time to time that has all three as their attributes, with some even possessing Heaven-Grade for one them, but out of a single batch of youths, the amount of Sky-Grade geniuses discovered were only a handful.
The fact that the Celestial Academy had such a requirement made people lament that the academy was being too rigid. But even after their numerous complaints, the Celestial Academy still held strong with keeping this requirement, despite their less than average disciples.
They simply said, that there were other institutions and sects that would be willing to open their doors to those complaining.
After all, as long as a person possesses the lowest innate talent, the Human-Grade, they would be able to join a sect and cultivate.
Though there would be times when a person possesses a Human-Grade for their soul, and comprehension, but possesses no foundation grade. In these circumstances, a person would be unable to cultivate, as having a foundation was the most important aspect for someone seeking to cultivate Spiritual Qi.
With that being said, it was easy to find disciples who had a Human-Grade for all their attributes, because they were as common as they are clouds in the sky. But having the lowest grade means their time spent cultivating would be arduous, and there will eventually come a time when they reach a bottleneck in their cultivation that they are unable to pass.
The higher the grades of their attributes are, the greater their cultivation talent would be.
That's why, despite having lesser disciples than normal sects, the Celestial Academy was still the number one cultivation institute on the Maple Continent, as all of their disciples were heavenly phoenixes and dragons.
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