Chapter 64 - The Best in Xifeng Empire!

Being slandered in that way made Lin Zhengyin’s blood boil, and the teachers present also looked quite embarrassed.

If it were not for the fact that this guy came on a white crane and appeared overwhelmingly arrogant, Lin Zhengyin was eager to rush over and beat him up.

Every school considered it a fine tradition to put up the Hero List every year, and the day the list was released was seen as a gala day. The names of the outstanding candidates would be written on the red silk, which was accessible to all the students to check the results. By making every student think that being on the list was a great honor, these schools believed that it could encourage the other students to strive hard for their future.

“But how could our Hero List become something as smelly and ugly as an old woman’s foot-washing cloth in this guy’s words?” Lin Zhengyin thought.

“How should I address you?” Lin Zhengyin looked at man who came on the crane, and asked.

“I am Xie Wuyou, sir.” The youth in the white robe cupped his hands in greeting and answered with a smile. He seemed not to realize that he had just greatly humiliated him.

“Well, Xie Wuyou, you have not answered my question yet. As Li Muyang said, he has never applied for Starry-Sky Academy, and all of us have never heard of this academy. It is not that we are suspicious. It is just that there are too many swindlers in the outside world. As the headmaster of this school, I have to think about the future of my students and I cannot let them lose both their money and time because of the trickery of others.” Lin Zhengyin looked at Xie Wuyou and asked, “Excuse me, but do you have any evidence to prove the authenticity of your academy?”

“Evidence?” The smile on Xie Wuyou’s face gradually disappeared and he said aloud, “You are free to choose, whether you believe or not, it is up to you… But what has that got to do with me? I am just a messenger who is here to deliver the offer.”

“…” Lin Zhengyin was speechless.

Lin Zhengyin wanted very much to roar and even curse Xie Wuyou’s mother. However, perhaps because he had read too many books of rites written by ancient and modern sages and men of virtue, he managed to maintain his cool but secretly grumbled, “Can’t you talk nicely to me?”

He meant that ‘Even if you believe it or not, I will not explain anything to you.’ What sort of attitude is that? Where did you get this type of attitude?”

Lin Zhengyin thought that he was exceedingly arrogant!

But after listening to the conversation, Li Muyang became more interested in Xie Wuyou. He bowed to him and said with a smile, “Greetings, Senior Brother Wuyou.”

Xie Wuyou was arrogant to others, but very polite to Li Muyang. He also cupped his hands in greeting and said while smiling, “Junior Brother Muyang, you don’t have to be so polite. If you have any doubts, just ask me. I entered the academy a year earlier than you, so it is my responsibility to remove your doubts.”

“Senior Brother Wuyou, thank you for specially coming to Jiangnan City to notify me this time. I feel very grateful.” Li Muyang said with a sincere look, “But I do have a lot of questions about this matter. I did not apply for the Starry-Sky Academy, so why would it accept me?”

“I don’t know the key factor that led to this result,” Xie Wuyou said with a smile. “I just came here to recruit a student in Jiangnan City according to the order of our academy’s president. Since today is the day that your school is announcing the examination results, I hurried all the way here. Finally, I managed to arrive in Jiangnan City at this time. I hope that I did not let you down, Junior Brother Muyang.”

“I am not disappointed. Instead, I feel excited,” Li Muyang said frankly. Initially, he thought that he failed in this entrance examination. To his surprise, an academy with a resounding name sent someone riding on a crane to tell him the good news. The situation of this big rise and fall in his life was stimulating. He then asked, “So, Starry-Sky Academy is a formal school, right?”

“Of course,” Xie Wuyou nodded and said.

“How does it compare with Xifeng University?”

“We never compare our academy with any other schools.”

“So, it is still a diploma mill.” Zhang Chen said, sarcasm written all over his face. “This academy sounds awesome, but no one knows anything about it. Its name has never appeared on the Hero List. Perhaps, the school is not even entered in the records of the education system. Only the person who fails to get on the Hero List would treat such a poor academy as a treasure. Do you guys think so?”

Everyone laughed.

Zhang Chen’s words were funny. Besides, what he said sounded like the truth. Reputation was like an owl in a bag. The more famous the school was, the louder the owl would hoot and others would naturally hear the owl. There was no way to hide an exceedingly famous school.

Starry-Sky Academy appeared to be very prestigious, but no one had ever known of its existence. Even the headmaster Lin Zhengyin did not know it. The most important thing was that even Li Muyang himself said that he had never applied for this school.

In this way, how could it not be a diploma mill?

Xie Wuyou frowned slightly and took out a box and said, “I have an admission notice…”

Lin Zhengyin stretched out his hand to take it. However, Xie Wuyou handed the box to Li Muyang and said, “It is for Li Muyang.”

Li Sinian ran to take the box and looked happily at the white crane. Then, with reluctance, she ran back.

Li Muyang took the box and opened it. There was an ancient cowhide scroll in it.

No words, but a very crude map was painted on it.

“It shows the school’s address.” Xie Wuyou explained.

“Thank you, Senior Brother Wuyou.” Li Muyang thanked him again.

“Muyang, be careful. You may be cheated.” Lin Zhengyin reminded him out of kindness.

“Yes, headmaster, I will be cautious.” Li Muyang, who heard Lin Zhengyin’s kindly reminder with a modest look, promised.

“You said that we were not excellent enough, so we are not qualified to know which diploma mill your academy is.” Zhang Chen shouted and said, “Then, do you dare to tell us what Li Muyang’s liberal-arts Exam result is, so that the diploma mill where you came from has decided to recruit him?”

What he asked was a crucial question.

Generally speaking, students with high scores would enter famous universities while those with lower grades would go to second-class schools. If Zhang Chen and others who got higher scores than Li Muyang were not admitted to Starry-Sky Academy, then it was easy to see that Starry-Sky Academy was not a good school at all.

“Slap him in the face.” Xie Wuyou shouted angrily. This person had repeatedly insulted Starry-Sky Academy in front of him. Even though he was broad-minded, he felt Zhang Chen’s actions were hard to tolerate.

The white crane that he rode on, suddenly leaped into the air and pounced upon Zhang Chen with incredible speed.

Zhang Chen’s mouth and eyes were wide open in surprise. Before he could react, the white crane had already flapped its left-wing hard against his head.

It was merely a flap from the crane’s wing. However, because it exerted too much force, this flap created a great gust of wind. Zhang Chen had no time to dodge at all. The strong wind blew him off the ground and sent him flying into the distance.

The white crane had flown such a long way, and felt this trip was a little boring. Now it inadvertently had such a toy, so how could it easily give up playing with Zhang Chen?

She flew fast to catch up with Zhang Chen, who was still in the air. Then, she waved her wings at him again.

“Ah! Ah! Ah! Help! Help! Mum, I am going to die!”

“Thump!”

Zhang Chen fell dozens of meters away, He landed heavily on the hard stone pavement.

He screamed a few times, desperately trying to get up from the ground. But in the end, he gave up, thinking that all the bones of his body must have fallen apart.

The white crane returned to the Hero Platform and stood triumphantly behind Xie Wuyou, holding its little head high.

Those people below the platform did not expect that the smart white crane could understand a human being’s words and intentions. Many students even applauded its act. Of course, Li Sinian was the one who clapped most vigorously.

“What is its name?” Li Sinian asked loudly.

“Clown.” Xie Wuyou liked the sweet-looking Li Sinian, who seemed to be an innocent and lovely girl.

“But it is not ugly at all.” Li Sinian defended the white crane against the injustice.

Xie Wuyou smiled but did not explain why the crane had such a name.

Again, he took out a roll of cloth from the pocket near his chest and flicked it. Then, the roll of cloth floated toward Lin Zhengyin.

Lin Zhengyin stretched out his hand to take it and the roll of cloth landed in his hand.

“It is the result list of the Liberal-arts Exam written by the emperor, who read the exam papers himself and decided on the rankings. Li Muyang is the best in Xifeng Empire.” Xie Wuyou said with a smile, “If you don’t doubt that this result list is fake, then you should know its real value.”

“Did Li Muyang really win the first place in the Liberal-arts Exam?”

“He is the best one in Xifeng Empire!”

Lin Zhenyin exclaimed in his heart, his face turned red, and his hand that was holding the cloth roll began to tremble involuntarily.

He had been imparting knowledge and educating students for decades, but Li Muyang was his first student who had achieved the first place in the entire empire.

How lucky he was! What a tremendous honor it was!

Be it for any candidate or Li Muyang, such a result would make the Liberal-arts Exam the most glorious moment in his life.

Of course, those teachers who cultivated such an outstanding student would share the honor.

“Headmaster…” Zhao Mingzhu was so excited that she could not speak. A student from her class got the best result among all the candidates in Xifeng Empire. Besides, this student was the useless person whom she had accused falsely of cheating in an exam. She could not help thinking secretly, “No way. The winner is Li Muyang, the young man called Coal by others. But how can this be possible? How can this happen? Can it be that he just pretended to be asleep whenever I was lecturing? Perhaps, in the class, he had been thinking hard in his heart. Also, can it be that he deliberately cheated in every previous exams only to shock the world with his achievement today?”

“Only these possibilities can explain his exam result and everything that happened today.”

“Otherwise, how could it be possible for him to get the first place in the empire with only a month’s effort? Unless he was possessed by some ancient saint when he was taking the exam…”

“I was merely a famous teacher in Jiangnan City, but soon I will become a famous teacher in the empire!” Thinking of this, Zhao Mingzhu just could not help feeling excited.

“Fortunately, I was not deceived by the false impression that Li Muyang gave deliberately. Thus, I showed my understanding and supported him at the critical moment. In this way, I can claim the credit for half of his success… Well, a small part. Er, no, one-third of his success. Okay, a sixth. It can’t be less than that…”

“It is true,” Lin Zhengyin said in a trembling voice. “This list is made of the finest ancient silk which is exclusively used by the imperial household. The handwriting is the Capital Heaven Ancient Font, and there is a stamp printed by the emperor’s treasure seal… Such things can’t be faked, and no one would dare to do it. Once every year, our school would receive such a roll, but we just filed it because it had nothing to do with our school. However, I did not expect that a student from our school would actually get a first in the Liberal-arts Exam and win the first place on the list…”

The old headmaster was so excited that he burst into tears. He wiped away his tears with his sleeves and said with red-rimmed eyes, “Given such an honor, there will be no regrets in my life! There will be no regrets in my life!”