Xue Wei felt his head hurt from all the information that was being dumped on him in one go. He decided it was time to get heads and tails of everything that had been said and looked at Elder Sun while straightening his thoughts.

"So Yan Dalu has contact with the Demon Phoenix Continent, but only once every tenth year?" he started out asking. Elder Sun nodded his head.

The Elder had realized that he had been a bit too hasty with his explanation, but he had been very eager to make them stay for those two years. There were some secrets on Yan Dalu that the common people did not know about, but as a member of the higher echelons of society and as the vice-principal of Garden of Shadows, he was aware of most of these secrets.

"There are now two years until the next delegation will be sent to the Demon Phoenix Continent, and if we contribute enough, we will be allowed to tag along on the boat?" Xue Wei continued. Elder Sun once more nodded his head, while also adding: "Not only will you be allowed on the boat, you will also be treated as a great guest. A guest like that will have a much easier time in the Demon Phoenix Continent than if you had to fight for your standing from the get go."

Now it was Xue Wei’s turn to nod his head. Being regarded as esteemed guests from outside in the Demon Phoenix Continent would definitely be a great benefit for when they were aiming for the Thunder Flame Crown.

"So, until then we are to stay in Yan Dalu the next two years and rake in merits. However, how can we do so? Is there a war ongoing on the continent or are there some other kind of issues that need help to be dealt with?"

This was the point that worried Xue Wei the most. How exactly could they earn merit points? This continent seemed very calm compared to Chang’an. There was no war for supremacy, and the hierarchy was already properly established.

"Merits can be earned in many ways," Elder Sun smiled. "One of these ways is to participate in the event we have ongoing now, but only students can participate so I need you to swear a heavenly oath to never betray the Garden of Shadows before you can: the oath is quite flexible though, it states that as long as the Garden of Shadows does not treat you unfairly, you cannot betray it. However should we treat you unfairly, then we are the ones who have betrayed you."

Xue Wei frowned. Was this not too good a situation for him and his friends? What was it exactly that this Elder Sun wanted from them? His personality seemed very friendly, to the point that it was suspicious.

Looking at Bai Tianyi, Lin Xiao, and Hei Gou, he noticed that all of them were looking at him with the same suspicion in their eyes. They wanted Xue Wei to take the final decision, and this was something that weighed heavily on his mind.

"I understand your worry," Elder Sun said understandingly. He looked at Xue Wei but did not pressure him. He was willing to wait for Xue Wei to reach a decision on his own.

Truthfully, it was his personal wish that he joined the Garden of Shadows. It was not necessary for Xue Wei and his comrades to do that.

"It is easier to gain merit points while being in our academy," Elder Sun said after a bit of time. "We give out missions that you can take and earn merit points, which you can then use to exchange for various things."

"Do it," Bai Tianyi was the first to speak. "Just make sure to include that the academy cannot betray you. Then it doesn’t matter if you cannot betray them either."

"Yeah, we were not planning on staying here for two years, but considering the fact that they only send out a delegation every tenth year, this is already considered fortunate," Hei Gou added.

Xue Wei then looked at Lin Xiao, who shrugged his shoulders. "I have always wanted to go to school," he grinned, looking rather excited.

Seeing the support he was getting from his three friends, Xue Wei could not help but chuckle and nod his head. "Okay," he said after a bit of time. "We will do it like that, then."

Elder Sun was excited to hear that Xue Wei agreed. This was without a doubt what he had been wishing for.

"Follow me," he said with a big grin on his four-eyed face and turned to enter the camp. The other people in the camp gave them disdainful as they passed by.

Even if they were outsiders, they only had two eyes. It was clear to these people that having only two eyes meant they were lesser.

"This is almost as bad as the beast war on Chang’an," Hei Gou muttered when he saw the clear contempt that these experts felt for them.

There were many experts with three eyes among the inhabitants here. In fact, ninety-five percent of the people who they saw had three eyes, while the final five had four. They did not encounter anyone with five eyes, but when Xue Wei brought up this question, Elder Sun looked at him as if he heard the biggest joke.

"Five eyes are the monarchs in this world," he said seriously. "Anyone who is born with five eyes will instantly be adopted by the Emperor, becoming royalty. Their talent is so outstanding and their abilities are otherworldly. They cannot be sent out on a mission like this."

Xue Wei finally understood that the five-eyed experts were incredibly rare. "How many five-eyed experts exist?" He asked curiously, half expecting that Elder Sun would not answer as it could be considered a secret of their continent.

Unexpected, Elder Sun did not hesitate and answered right away, "We have a full two hundred and seven five-eyed experts right now. Although the number sounds like a lot, we have to remember that this continent has billions of people. To only have two hundred and seven already shows how rare they are."

At first, Xue Wei had indeed thought that two hundred and seven was a high number, but when it was put into the perspective of the continent’s total population, it was indeed very few.

Continuing forward, they reached the middle of the camp. Many were looking curiously at them at the beginning, especially since Vice-Principal Sun had brought them himself, but when they saw that the four only had two eyes each, all of them lost their interest.

Even if there was a chance that they could be Primordial Beasts, their rank would still be beneath the three, four and five-eyed experts due to their bloodline being different.

Xue Wei and the others ignored the contempt that was sent their way. Their aloof behavior caused the many-eyed experts to feel perplexed and rather shocked. No one with only two eyes had previously been so casual in front of them!

Some snorted with arrogance and swore that they would get back at them with time, others were amazed and felt that perhaps these experts were different and yet some did not care.

Elder Sun was astounded by the fact that Xue Wei and his comrades were capable of completely ignoring the many people who looked down upon them. Apparently their mental fortitude was much stronger than he had expected.

It required some mental fortitude to completely ignore such a large quantity of disdain.

"Come inside this tent and take your oath," Elder Sun said smilingly. "We will explain the details of the mission to you when you have taken the oath."

"Okay." Having already decided upon what to do, Xue Wei did not cause a fuss or question the oath. He had already accepted it, and he was not one to change his mind.

Seeing his straightforward way of acting, Elder Sun was very pleased and felt incredibly satisfied.

This tent was ten times bigger than the other tents. When they entered inside, they saw that multiple walls of fabric had been erected, splitting the tent into different ’rooms’ and that there were people in some of these rooms.

Xue Wei, who had trained with formations, could instantly sense that there were formations all over the tent; every room was covered in multiple formations he had never seen before.

Noticing Xue Wei’s glance at the many runes that had been inscribed on the fabric around the tents, a chuckle escaped Elder Sun’s lips.

"Have you dabbled in formations before?" He asked as he saw the curiosity in Xue Wei’s eyes. Xue Wei, not hiding this fact, nodded his head.

"I have indeed had something to do with formations before, but I cannot recognize these formations," he admitted.

"Here in Yan Dalu we specialize in spiritual energy. The more eyes you have, the more talented you are in spiritual energy. Those who cultivate Qi as their main base for cultivation are often looked down upon. However, even if a two-eyed cultivates spiritual energy, they will never have a high standing compared to their many-eyed counterparts. Also, those who cultivates Qi are mainly those with two eyes."

"Of course, there are some exceptions where a Qi cultivator has become outstanding. Unfortunately, they are exceedingly rare."

"From what I can sense of the four of you, three of you have high Qi levels, while the fourth has no Qi level at all. Peculiar."

"Although the other three of you have cultivated your Qi, I have to admit that you, Xue Wei, have achieved quite a good result in the field of Spiritual Energy. If you did not try to cultivate both parts, your results would have been even more outstanding."

"I like cultivating Qi, though," Xue Wei said after a bit of contemplation. To him both spiritual energy and Qi was equally important.

"Well, we do have a Qi department in the academy," Elder Sun said after a bit of time. "We mainly invite Primordial Beasts to participate in that class, but considering the current achievements of the three of you, you are all eligible to join the Qi Cultivation Class."

Xue Wei nodded his head. For Lin Xiao and Hei Gou, it was obvious what class they would enter, just as it was obvious which class Bai Tianyi would enter. The only one left was Xue Wei. He had higher Qi cultivation rank than his spiritual energy.

His Qi had risen all the way to the eight layer of the Ordinary Knight rank after he finished refining the cultivation bases of all those people his Devouring Dragon ate back in Heping Kingdom. His spiritual energy level was still at the sixth layer of the Ordinary Knight rank. Although it was lower than the Qi layer, his performance in this aspect was indeed not bad.

"Think it through," Elder Sun understood that it was not an easy decision. "Well, first off, I will recite the oath that you are to take for you. If the oath is not too terrible in your opinion, then you should take it and then consider where to go from there."

"The oath is as following," Elder Sun started, "I swear to the heavens above that I will never betray the Garden of Shadows as long as the Garden of Shadows does not betray me or treat me unfairly."

"That was simple," Hei Gou muttered. Elder Sun snickered. "It is better to be straightforward and simple," he said, grinning. "So what do you think?"

Xue Wei considered it for a moment and then nodded his head. "Those words, we can say them," he said and then repeated the oath verbatim.

Not long after, Bai Tianyi did the same, and then Hei Gou and Lin Xiao followed suit.

historical

Seeing the four of them swear the oath, Elder Sun’s face was so filled with smiles that his eyes were narrowed into slits. He looked rather odd with his four eyes narrowed like that and a smile that wide.