Above the Galaxy
Chapter 185 - 135, White Crane Academy!

Chapter 185: Chapter 135, White Crane Academy!

Winters on New Star were much warmer, and even the snowflakes were gentler than those on Old Land.

Early in the morning, Tang Fei went to the courtyard to practice his swordsmanship and, seeing the gently descending white snowflakes, couldn’t help but catch a few with his hands.

"It’s snowing," Tang Fei’s heart filled with joy.

Back on Old Land, he was actually the one who hated the snow the most.

Because they didn’t have thick clothes, and no matter how much they wore, it wasn’t very warm.

He was a Cultivator, and his constitution had long since become extraordinary, so ordinary heat and cold didn’t affect him much.

But it wasn’t the same for Little Fatty, fat as he might have seemed; every gram of fat was burning calories for warmth.

Every winter, he would shiver and not want to get out of bed, wishing he could wear all his clothes at once.

At these times, the old man would come forward with a heroic spirit and assign him three times the workload...

Crushing stones did indeed produce sweat that could warm the body.

But the ordinary people couldn’t bear it.

In the open mountains and in those drafty houses, without air conditioning or heating, and not even large animal hides and materials for wind blockage, they truly had to endure with their physical resilience alone.

However, in the years of poor and insufficient food, everyone’s physical strength really wasn’t that great.

Those who could endure would live; those who couldn’t would die.

After each snow disaster, several stone houses would be emptied.

What was worse, hunting was difficult in winter, and finding wild beasts was a challenge.

Most animals feared the cold; by the time the severe freeze came, they would already have gathered enough food and sought refuge in caves to hibernate.

But what about the Hunters who relied on them for their livelihood?

Ordinary people couldn’t even satisfy their daily food needs, let alone store up a large vat of meat like Tang Fei and the others.

So every time the deep snow fell, another group would die...

Tang Fei liked New Star; everything was better here.

The fresh air, safe environment, and hearts bound by law and morality.

You could watch the television you liked, play the games you wanted, have food and clothing, no worries about sustenance, and you didn’t have to come up with ways to battle little monsters every day.

In the half-year on New Star, his horizons had broadened, he learned many new things, and acquired quite a few high-tech skills...

If only there were no enemies, how good that would be.

When Tang Fei and Little Fatty first arrived, they yearned for the old man every day, thinking how great it would be if he were here.

Now, Tang Fei deeply regretted it and cursed the old man every day; how good it would be if the old man had not come...

Tang Fei’s life and mindset were completely changed.

The beautiful life where he could win just lying down was forcefully turned around by the old man, who put a dagger in his hand and said, "Fight for me."

"..."

Resentment value +100000000000.

"Bro, why did you get up so early?" Little Fatty came out holding the Skull Hammer.

Seeing the snowflakes in Tang Fei’s hand, Little Fatty also immediately became happy and said, "Oh, it’s snowing."

"Weren’t you always the one who hated snow the most?" Tang Fei asked with a smile.

"It’s different," Little Fatty replied. "Back on Blue Star, there was no food, no clothes, and no heating; in winter, people could freeze into popsicles. The snow would pile higher than a person, even blocking the doors, it was so boring to death..."

"How great is New Star, where homes are warm, winds can’t touch you, snow can’t crush you, and where you can eat hot pot inside the house during snowfall; isn’t that wonderful?"

Thinking about hot pot, the smile on Little Fatty’s face grew even brighter and he said, "Bro, shall we have hot pot tonight?"

"Sure," Tang Fei nodded and said, "If the assessment goes well, we’ll celebrate with hot pot. If it doesn’t, we’ll drown our sorrows in drink."

"Oh..." Little Fatty suddenly remembered, his face full of surprise as he looked at Tang Fei, "Bro, is today the recruitment day for White Crane Academy?"

"Yep," Tang Fei nodded.

Months ago, Tang Fei had already communicated with Phoenix Creek that he wanted to enter White Crane Academy.

Phoenix’s advice was for him to wait two more years before going, so that he would have a firmer foundation and a higher chance of success.

After all, the admission requirements for White Crane Academy were truly too stringent, the recruitment standards too high, too high.

They would rather have vacancies than accept mediocre students; they’d prefer no new recruits than to have too many.

Even for top-tier prestigious schools like Imperial First Military Academy, there was only one spot, and it’s likely that ordinary schools would not have a single student able to get in for many years.

This was the reason why countless people from New Star considered admission to White Crane Academy the ultimate honor...

Indeed, it was no easy task.

Three months earlier, Tang Fei had Ran Ran help him register, after which he threw himself wholeheartedly into Cultivation and Training.

The Imperial Court Scripture that Phoenix had gifted him was really good stuff. Tang Fei practiced it every morning and evening, even Cultivating according to the Qi Cultivation Method in his sleep. Recently, he distinctly felt the Yin Yang Qi inside his body become much thicker, even more natural to mobilize.

He truly achieved "Qi follows the heart" and "In a single thought." At least he wouldn’t show any flaws in his Swordsmanship due to stagnation of True Qi inside his body like in his battle against Shen Qingping.

Of course, because his presence was daunting, putting on a terrifying front as if he was ready to fight Shen Qingping to the death, Shen Qingping’s spirit was rattled and missed that fleeting opportunity.

But such a flaw was tremendously dangerous in the eyes of an expert like Shen Xinglan.

Tang Fei knew that if he were facing Shen Xinglan, in an instant, there would be dozens of ways he could be killed.

Different realms, different perspectives, different things seen.

Apart from consolidating his foundation, he went to the school’s Gravity Room to practice his sword every day.

Shang Xiulin, though he didn’t like me, still offered some pretty good benefits after I was wronged.

Such as waiving the school fees, such as the freedom to use all of the school’s training equipment and medical facilities...

Every day he would go to the school to report to Teacher Ran Ran, who kept her word and put him through the Devil Plan 2.0 intense training.

She would apply in the name of Tang Fei for half an hour’s time in the Gravity Room daily, which was an appropriate amount of time; applying for too much time might be hard to get approved.

If one person monopolizes the Gravity Room, what about the other students who want to use it?

When all is said and done, it’s still a society where resources and connections compete.

Moreover, half an hour was the limit Tang Fei could bear.

After all, he had gotten used to practicing the "Netherworld Scroll" with ten times the normal gravity in the Gravity Room...

Such behavior made Teacher Ran Ran think Tang Fei was a bit of a freak.

Not the kind of freak who likes to peep on others bathing or sniffing people’s feet, but freakishly diligent to a certain extent...

After returning home, he also needed to practice ten thousand sword strikes in the Training Room every night.

Tang Fei had considered installing a Gravity Room at home, but that was just wishful thinking—conditions did not permit it...

"Brother, do you have confidence?" Little Fatty asked.

Tang Fei shook his head and said, "No."

The Imperial First Military Academy is one of the three prestigious academies of the Empire, a hiding place for dragons and crouching tigers, filled with countless experts.

Even Phoenix, so proud and arrogant, advised him to wait another two years, showing that she too thought Tang Fei was too hasty this time.

Tang Fei was not so deluded to think that just because he had dealt with Shen Qingping and defeated Qin Jianyi, he could strut around in this school.

If it really came to a fight, he was not even Qin Jianyi’s match...

Could it be that there were no experts in this school stronger than Qin Jianyi?

"Brother, I have confidence in you," Little Fatty said with determination.

"How can it be that easy?" Tang Fei replied with a bitter smile.

He had the heart to reach White Crane Academy, but whether he could or not was still a matter of fate.

Despite his insane training lately, he still wasn’t sure if he could snatch that ’first’ place.

In this world, there are many things that "effort" alone cannot achieve.

"Brother, think about it, from childhood to now, which of the things you wanted to do didn’t you succeed at?" Little Fatty asked Tang Fei seriously.

Tang Fei looked into his sincere eyes, thought seriously, and said, "I wanted to make you lose weight, and never succeeded."

"..."

The brothers chatted for a while, then Tang Fei started practicing the sword, and Little Fatty began smashing rocks with a crunch.

Morning training and evening sword practice had become the brothers’ habit.

Because they were both very clear that in this seemingly quiet and peaceful world, it was actually more dangerous than the Old Land.

Only with enough strength could they feel genuinely safe.

Otherwise, the foreign land may be nice, but they would just be passing through.

Should their identities be exposed, both of their lives would be in jeopardy.

After finishing their morning training, they returned to their room to take a shower, and Tang Fei started preparing breakfast for both of them.

A bowl of noodles for each, plus a couple of boiled eggs.

Little Fatty said to Tang Fei, "Brother, if each of us eats an egg, it means you will definitely pass."

Tang Fei glanced at Little Fatty and said, "No youtiao, does that mean we’ll get two zeros?"

Little Fatty suddenly panicked, looking everywhere for stick-shaped food.

After thinking for a while, he ran to the fridge, found a cucumber, and ate it raw...

As soon as Tang Fei arrived at the school, Ran Ran pulled him aside and said, "You finally got here, the assessment’s about to start."

"So soon?" Tang Fei asked, looking at his watch, "Isn’t there still half an hour left?"

"There’s some preparation to do in advance," Ran Ran said impatiently. "We have to report to the Martial Arts Hall too."

"Is today’s assessment at the Martial Arts Hall?" Tang Fei asked.

Ran Ran nodded and said, "This time it’s a virtual battlefield; only the Martial Arts Hall has that many neural interfaces."

"Understood," Tang Fei said.

After his battle with Shen Qingping, he was already familiar with virtual combat. To prepare for this assessment, he had also been practicing in the virtual world.

He hoped for a forest map.

In that case, he would be the boss of the forest, whoever went in would have to crawl out...

With that, he would have confidence in getting that first place.

It’s just uncertain if Bai Lu Academy would grant his wish.

Thinking of Bai Lu Academy, he couldn’t help but think of Shen Xing Lan.

What role was that guy playing at Bai Lu Academy? Could he influence anything?

Although he had publicly invited him, in his heart, he must not want to see Tang Fei join, right?

Besides Tang Fei, the Ancient Martial Department had six senior students participating in the White Crane Academy recruitment, and there were no freshmen like Tang Fei, the number being exceptionally few.

Obviously, more people believed it was better to hide their clumsiness rather than making a fool of themselves.

Bai Lu is nice, but not a bird I can ride.