Once a month, the Academy gave students a free day.
No classes. No training. No lectures about meridian pathways or the seventeen types of spiritual herbs that could kill you if prepared incorrectly. Students were allowed to leave the mountain and visit the nearby town of Qinghe, a bustling market settlement that existed almost entirely to separate Academy students from their spirit stones.
Tang Xiaoli had been planning this trip for a week.
"I need fire crystals. Grade three, not that garbage grade two the Academy supplies. And moon lotus extract for my new pill formula. And there's a shop that sells honey cakes the size of your face." She counted items on her fingers. "Also I need new robes because General Fluffbottom ate my spare set."
"How does a sparrow eat an entire set of robes?" Chen Mei asked.
"Aggressively."
