Cultivation begins with the Druid panel

This grand hall is a hundred feet wide, thirty feet deep, and ten feet high. There are ninety-nine steps leading into the hall. Standing in front of this hall, Lu Lin appears incredibly small.

Looking into the main hall from the entrance, one sees only a few people inside, most of whom are sitting alone reading, with few whispering among themselves.

Lu Lin stepped onto the stairs, accompanied by the scholar. After entering the main hall, Lu Lin could see the entire hall. Along the outer wall was a circle of small houses, each marked with a code: A, B, C, D.

In the center of the main hall was a corridor that led to a high platform. There were passageways on all four sides of the platform, with tables and chairs between them. This didn't seem like an assessment venue in a cultivation world, but rather like a concert hall where a pianist from another world held a concert.

The scholar noticed Lu Lin's confusion and said with a smile, "This place used to be a training ground for visiting cultivators. After copying the secret techniques from the library, they could come here to cultivate. Now it's being used as a testing ground."

Lu Lin looked around, still somewhat confused. Without being polite to the scholar, he pointed to the outermost cubicles of the main hall and asked, "What are those cubicles for?"

The scholar looked at the cubicles: "I heard that, like inns, if a cultivator wants to stay overnight at the Cliff Academy, they only need to pay a certain amount of spirit stones to stay in one of those cubicles. However, I don't know exactly how many spirit stones are required, as I never pay attention to such matters."

That must be it. After all, the scholar is a prodigy of the Twenty-Four Solar Terms in this era. How could such a trivial matter attract his attention? Lu Lin shrugged and then stared intently at the cubicles.

It was discovered that all the cubicles appeared to be occupied, indicating that the supply of cubicles was clearly insufficient to meet the demand.

The daily income from spirit stones generated by these cubicles alone at the Cliff Academy is an unimaginable amount for ordinary people. Judging from this, the Cliff Academy certainly has no shortage of cultivation resources.

In addition, these cultivators who come to the Cliff Academy to practice must remember the good things about the Cliff Academy.

"No wonder the Cliffside Academy is a sacred place for cultivation. With such a foundation and resources, unless it decays from within, who could possibly dismantle it from the outside?"

While the scholar was still there, Lu Lin continued, "Was Tianhuo Cliff like Shanya Academy?"

The scholar was taken aback, clearly not expecting Lu Lin to ask such a question, but he still tried his best to explain to Lu Lin:

"There are naturally branch academies similar to the academy at Tianhuo Cliff. However, everything at Tianhuo Cliff, whether it's secret techniques or the spiritual veins under the spirit-gathering array, contains a bit of fire element. Therefore, compared to the academy, Tianhuo Cliff's methods for training disciples are more limited, and each generation of Tianhuo Walkers is the same, without any special characteristics."

When the scholar spoke of Heavenly Fire Cliff, his tone was clearly tinged with personal emotion, as if he genuinely looked down on the so-called Heavenly Fire Walkers of Heavenly Fire Cliff.

And that is indeed the case.

The Heavenly Fire Walkers of Heavenly Fire Cliff are the same as the Twenty-Four Solar Terms of Cliff Academy, the only difference being that there are only twelve Heavenly Fire Walkers in each generation, corresponding to the Chinese zodiac sequence.

The scholar said they were all the same and had no unique characteristics, but in Lu Lin's opinion, they were actually quite different.

The scholar continued, "Aside from their fighting skills, those people from Tianhuo Cliff are utterly incompetent, whether in terms of aesthetics or anything else."

The scholar seemed to be comparing himself to the Heavenly Fire Walker of Heavenly Fire Cliff.

Indeed, only people from the same social circle can ignite a competitive spirit.

Lu Lin coughed lightly. After hearing what the scholar said, he couldn't help but start thinking about Shen Luo. He wondered how Shen Luo's training was going, whether he was injured, or whether he had encountered any danger.

"Does Senior Gu Ling Shan know anything about this?" Lu Lin continued to ask at this moment.

"Guling Mountain is even worse. It always acts so mysterious, but it can't even fight properly. All it can do now is boast about that incident from three thousand years ago." Upon hearing the words "Guling Mountain," the scholar reacted as if he had a stress reaction, shaking his head repeatedly and frantically slandering Guling Mountain.

Lu Lin guessed that the scholar must have fought with the disciples of Guling Mountain during his travels, and most likely lost the fight.

After saying this, the scholar coughed lightly, realizing he had said too much, and took the opportunity to change the subject, saying, "Young master, please find a place to sit down. Now that most people have arrived, I should talk about the matters concerning this Spirit Plant Master assessment."

Lu Lin nodded and found a seat near the central platform of the main hall.

The other disciples in the main hall also noticed the change, quickly closed their books, found seats, and listened attentively to what the scholar had to say next.

However, it was obvious that most of the cultivators taking the exam here had no idea of ​​the scholar's true identity, so they appeared extremely calm at this moment.

The scholar began, "I am a Confucian disciple of the Cliff Academy, named Ye Qin. Ye means leaf and Qin means diligence. I am the examiner for this Spirit Plant Master assessment."

As he spoke, the scholar flicked his sleeve, and using some unknown means, a flowerpot appeared on the table in front of everyone present. The flowerpots themselves were nothing special; in fact, they were quite ordinary.

Ordinary ceramic flowerpots, common soil found everywhere.

"During the assessment, I will give you the seeds. Your task is to plant them in the flowerpots provided by the Cliff Academy and cultivate them to maturity. The assessment will last for seven days. During this time, you can use any means necessary to accelerate the seed's growth, and you can also consult any books on cultivating spiritual plants in the Cliff Academy's library. If, after seven days, the spiritual plant in the flowerpot is still not mature or is of substandard quality, then you will have failed the assessment; otherwise, you will have succeeded."

The assessment results are based on two aspects: the maturity time and quality of the spiritual plants. The person with the highest overall score can choose any treasure from the second level of the treasure vault in the Cliff Academy, the second place will be awarded a spiritual plant, and the third place will be awarded a set of inner armor.

These words were spoken.

For those cultivators who had participated in the assessment several times, they were not excited, but the cultivators who participated for the first time were shocked and excited.

The Cliffside Academy is a sacred place for cultivation, and its treasure trove contains items that ordinary people can only dream of. Perhaps even a single item could change their lives. How could they not be excited?

However, those cultivators who had participated in the assessment did not hold out much hope. They even laughed when they saw the excited people in the examination hall.

Only those cultivators who have participated in the assessment know just how difficult the assessment at the Cliff Academy truly is.

The total number of participants in this assessment should be around three hundred cultivators, but the number who will pass will definitely not exceed thirty. Those thirty who pass are already exceptional individuals; who among them is weaker than the other?

The difficulty involved is enough to make one's scalp crawl.

The scholar continued, "The assessment will officially begin tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM). Those who are late will be disqualified. Fellow Daoists, please go back and prepare well. Please check the flowerpots on the table carefully. If any problems are found before the assessment, they can be replaced. Once the assessment begins, they will not be considered."

"Yes." The cultivators who participated in the assessment stood up at the same time and bowed.