10 Fudi Academy

The village chief's residence was a rather large compound, comprising of one administrative building, as well as one large house for the village chief's family. The entire residence was laid with a well-tended lawn with beautiful grass.

The residence was surrounded by a low wooden fence. The administrative building was painted lime green. Upon entering it, one would enter the reception area. The entire room was painted white. There was a reception desk filled with drawers, along with some couches.

Further in, there was a bookshelf behind the desk filled with ledgers, containing records of various things, such as births, deaths, imports, exports, academy enrolments and other data.

Early in the morning, the bids were chirping, gentle winds blowing, and the grass was glistening with dew. At this time, in the village chief's residence, a young man dressed in simple brown robes came with a bamboo sword strapped to his waist and a bamboo hat on his head.

"Good morning, sister Hua." he greeted the receptionist with a smile.

"Good morning, Jiang Ting. You've grown so much. What brings you here today?" replied the receptionist. She was Hua Yue, a receptionist, at the village chief's residence. She was twenty-five years old. She was very close to the village chief's family and had married his grandson a few years back. The village chief thus allowed her to work at the village chief's residence. Jiang Ting and the other villagers were rather fond of her since she always maintained a friendly demeanor when they came to the residence for their matters.

"I want to enroll in the village academy."

"The academy?" Hua Yue was surprised. Jiang Ting had shown strong martial arts talent since childhood, defeating all the village's youth several years elder to him. The village chief, as well as the academy's headmaster had personally visited Jiang Junjie several times to obtain permission for Jiang Ting to train at the academy. Rumor had it that the village chief had even promised to let Jiang Ting date his prettiest granddaughter if he agreed...

'Anyways, both grandfather and grandson had been extremely stubborn during the incident, refusing training until the age of fourteen. Even though it was the recommended age for children generally, Jiang Ting was obviously an abnormality. Shouldn't he take different routes? Of course, since the kid is here, better late than never,' thought the young lady.

"Since you're here, you must have turned fourteen recently, right? Happy birthday, Jiang Ting!"

"Thank you, sister Hua." smiled Jiang Ting.

"Let me fill up the paperwork for you." She grabbed a form from one of the desks before asking. "You'll be going to the martial section, I presume?"

"That would be correct."

"I've filled in your personal details, take this copy of the form and this badge to the Tavern in the Martial section of the Academy. They will take care of the rest." She flashed him a brilliant smile, thinking to herself, 'I say that, but the village chief had the form filled up years ago.'

"Many thanks, sister Hua." Jiang Ting returned a smile before turning around to leave.

As he left, she turned and went to the storeroom to deposit the original form to the storeroom, before asking a guard to send news to the academy headmaster.

Upon doing that, she quickly stepped out, going to the house behind the administrative building.

She directly headed to the roof of the house, coming across an old man enjoying the breeze. She stood beside him quietly, enjoying the morning with him.

"So, what brings you here to see this old man so early in the morning, Lil Yue?" He asked, a grin forming across his face.

"Granny told me to ask you to come down now, so that means you've been here long enough to see him, haven't you? Besides, you've been on the roof every morning for a week now. I've already informed the Headmaster. Are you finally satisfied?"

Hua Yue was slightly confused, why would the village chief be so interested in the future of the boy. Sure, he was talented, but at most he would be the next person to be the strongest in the village. In this village where people maintained friendly relations with one another, he would be important to the community, but there was no need for the Chief to be so impatient, right?

"Hahahahaha. That's right, I saw him, I saw him." The village chief laughed crazily, ignoring the stunned young lady staring at him.

* * *

"Is that right. So, he's finally enrolled at the academy?" The middle-aged man sitting cross legged in the middle of the room could barely contain the burning passion in his eyes as he stared at the young man in front of him.

"Zhao Song, hear me carefully. Bring him to me.' The middle-aged man couldn't stop the overflowing emotions as he ordered.

The young disciple was shaken, looking up at his master. The headmaster of the academy was always too busy with his own cultivation. He had only taken Zhao Song as his disciple and taught him very rarely. Even that had always seen too half-hearted.

Things changed three years ago, when his master found out about an extremely talented child. He and the village chief had gone to the boy's house to request him personally, for reasons unknown to any. Even Zhao Song didn't know. Ever since then, his master had him keep an eye on news regarding the boy, and now, the boy had finally come to the academy.

Someone so talented that the Headmaster, the strongest cultivator of the village, had been keeping tabs on him for years, obviously waiting for him to start cultivation, Zhao Song was curious. 'Jiang Ting, huh? Just what kind of person is this monster, and just how will he shake up the academy?' Zhao Song couldn't help but look forward to meeting Jiang Ting.

* * *

At this time, Jiang Ting, after leaving the Village Chief's residence, came to a wooden gate. Beyond the gate, lay some buildings, surrounded by what was an expansive grassland. On top of the the gates were the words, 'Fudi Academy'.