The carriage continued on its route, picking up a few more children before merging onto the main road toward Flame City.
Flame City was the closest city to Ox Horn Village; it was a third-rank city, meaning a third-rank spiritual vein lay beneath it. Even the weakest third-rank spiritual vein could support the cultivation of a Golden Core cultivator, plus multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators. There were no first-rank spiritual veins—or rather, the entire Great Desolate was a first-rank spiritual vein.
The energy required for a Qi Refining cultivator was everywhere. But from Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and realms above, all required a corresponding spiritual vein or massive amounts of spiritual stones to sustain cultivation. Some individuals with extremely high-grade spiritual roots could cultivate to higher realms without these, but such people were exceedingly rare. Therefore, spiritual veins were incredibly precious and generally under the control of powerful factions.
Moreover, Flame City sat atop a third-rank, high-grade spiritual vein. Additionally, the city had a Flame Origin Mine nearby and was connected to the Misty Flame Mountains. The mines produced various fire-element ores, ranging from first-rank low-grade to third-rank high-grade. The Misty Flame Mountains also hosted many powerful desolate beasts, with rumors even speaking of third-rank desolate beasts deep within. Therefore, despite its simple name, Flame City was a very rich and grand artifact-refining hub in the region, making every bit of land within its walls incredibly expensive.
Hence, even though Yu Xin's parents were both late-stage Qi Refining cultivators, they still lived in nearby Ox Horn Village. Yu Xin had to commute daily to the enlightenment class, which was organized by the Qin Dynasty. It was free for all citizens' children to attend. The Qin Court had unified the fragmented Central Plains and created a unified script and language. The enlightenment class ensured children could better understand the cultivation world, develop patriotic sentiments, and learn the unified script, language, and measurements—serving multiple purposes at once. This policy worked exceptionally well, especially for the children of loose cultivators who were too busy with their own cultivation to afford proper tutors.
The main road, paved with beautiful bluestones, connected multiple cities. Black-armored Qin soldier posts stood every few miles, so the journey was quite safe, and they reached the north gate of Flame City quickly. The city walls towered, at least as high as a six- or seven-story pavilion, black with a hint of red and incomparably magnificent. Young Yu Xin was always amazed whenever he saw them, but today he was too restless to appreciate the view.
He kept thinking about the unified spiritual root assessment. He had no idea what his spiritual root would be; he might not even have one.
What will Mother and Father think? They definitely won't be happy, and they might not take me out to play anymore…
By the time he came to his senses, the carriage had already entered the city. Inside, the roads were bustling. Carriages came and went, and pavilions lined both sides. People walked along the footpaths, with cultivators and mortals mingling together. Many of those entering were merchant cultivators coming to buy relatively cheap fire-element artifacts. The mortals were likely servants living in the city, doing odd jobs for cultivators—cleaning rooms, washing clothes, serving tea. Flame City did not restrict the number of mortals living within its walls as it did with cultivators.
The main reason was that mortals could not absorb spiritual energy, while cultivators could. Therefore, the city had a limited quota for the number of cultivators who could reside permanently in a given area.
The carriage continued until it reached the central district. Before them stood a magnificent four-story pavilion, dark black with a hint of red, just like the city walls. This was the city lord's mansion.
The carriage stopped before a side gate. The door opened, and the children poured out. Only when all were clear did the old man smile and say, "Good luck, little ones. May your Dao path be boundless and your longevity achieved."
The children had been taught to be polite, so they immediately bowed to the old man and chorused, "Thank you, Old Mr. Feng!"
Their voices mixed, making the words hard to distinguish. Old Mr. Feng said nothing but nodded calmly and drove the carriage away.
The other children didn't think much of it and continued their chatter. But Little Yu Xin watched Old Mr. Feng's retreating back, finding it incredibly desolate. The feeling was the same as the loneliness and despair he had felt in his dream. Little Yu Xin couldn't help but feel sad, though he didn't fully understand why.
He was quickly pulled back to the present by the sounds of other carriages stopping and dropping off children in front of the side gate. The noise of many carriages and children talking made it hard to understand anything. Fortunately, Little Yu Xin had been coming to the city lord's manor for about two years now.
He quickly found his class with Jiang Dali, located in an inconspicuous ground-floor room of the mansion.
The classroom was classic in layout: wooden chairs and tables, with a blackboard at the front. Surprisingly, there was no chalk or eraser on the teacher's desk.
After Yu Xin and Jiang Dali took their seats in the third row, last column, their teacher entered.
He was a strict-looking middle-aged man wearing a black robe adorned with red ornaments. He had short black hair with hints of grey at the temples. Instructor Yan looked rather intimidating, especially to these five-year-old children.
Sure enough, as soon as the children saw Mr. Yan, the bustling classroom instantly quieted.
All the children stood and performed a student's bow, saying with practiced ease, "Good morning, Mr. Yan."
But a tremor lingered in most of their voices. After all, today would largely determine their futures.
Mr. Yan noticed but paid it no mind. There was no point discussing spiritual roots—you either had one or you didn't. Instead, he said in a slightly solemn tone, "Today is your last class with me. I will not teach basic writing, reading, or the principles of cultivation arts. Today, you could be selected by any sect or academy. You might need to travel to distant places. So, I will briefly tell you about the boundless Great Desolate and its five regions…"
Hearing this, the classroom grew even quieter, and the children's faces turned serious. Whether they fully understood the class's importance or not, almost all were deeply interested in learning more about the world they lived in.
Mr. Yan walked to the blackboard. Using his finger as a pen and his fire-element spiritual power as ink, he drew a pair of concentric circles.
With red spiritual power, he wrote 'Earth/Central' inside the inner circle. The outer ring was divided into four equal regions: 'Water/Northern,' 'Wood/Eastern,' 'Fire/Southern,' and 'Metal/Western,' each occupying a quarter of the area between the circles. Then he drew another circle, slightly larger than the central one, and wrote 'Qin Dynasty' inside it.
After drawing this, he continued in a measured tone, "The land of the Great Desolate is divided into five regions. The Northern Region is controlled by the Black Tortoise Clan, a clan of water-element divine beasts with immense divine abilities and innate defensive power…
"The Eastern Region is under the control of the Azure Dragon Clan, known for their physical strength and magical abilities to aid the growth of plant life. The Southern Region is the land of the Vermilion Bird, known for their healing power and innate ability of rebirth. The Western Region is the territory of the White Tiger Clan, regarded as the most lethally formidable of the divine beasts when enraged.
"The Central Region and small parts of the surrounding areas are under the territory of the Qin Dynasty. But don't think the ruling class is the only difference between the regions. Each region has a corresponding element that is most abundant there. For example, we are currently in the Southern Region, so fire-element energy is densest here. Fire-element cultivators will find cultivation much easier in the south than elsewhere."
Just then, a bright-eyed boy in the front row raised his hand.
Mr. Yan didn't get angry at the interruption but gently encouraged him, nodding. "You may speak."
Considering Mr. Yan's generally stern temper, this was significant encouragement. Emboldened, the boy asked the question on his mind: "Instructor, why are you telling us about the five regions when humans only control one of them?"
Mr. Yan nodded and countered, "Who said that not being the rulers means humanity doesn't exist there, or that there are no sects in those regions?"
The boy looked awestruck.
Mr. Yan continued, "All powerful and innately talented beings in heaven and earth have great difficulty reproducing. Not to mention, a single region is immeasurable by mortal standards. No divine beast clan can completely occupy an entire region. The only difference from the Qin Dynasty is that powers in other regions must follow local customs and pay tribute to the respective divine beast clan, rather than taxes to the Qin court."
Just then, another girl, seeing Mr. Yan was talkative today, seized the chance to ask a question. Her clear, bell-like voice was pleasant, and Mr. Yan couldn't find a reason to refuse, so he nodded gently.
"Mr. Yan, why don't you speak about the Central Region? Do we also have divine beasts?"
Mr. Yan's expression turned subtle, but he still said what was necessary. "The Central Region has earth-element energy as the most abundant. It is also famous for huge harvests of spiritual plants and herbs, making it the most resource-rich region. The overall spiritual energy density is slightly higher than in other regions. As for divine beasts… we don't worship any, but we have a marriage alliance with the Qilin. They also hold a position as guardian beasts within the Qin Dynasty. They are known for their peace-loving nature and their innate ability to increase the vitality of their surroundings—just as the earth benefits all beings with profound virtue."
While speaking, Mr. Yan clearly looked somewhat uncomfortable. Discussing the emperor's marriage alliance with the Qilin clan in front of children was awkward. Thankfully, another child rescued him by raising a small hand.
Mr. Yan looked at the child with gratitude and said, "Ask whatever you wish."
The child asked, "Mr. Yan, why is our world called the Great Desolate?"
Mr. Yan looked troubled. This matter was somewhat taboo. But then he thought, Since I've already said this much, I might as well tell the truth. Most cultivators know about it anyway.
He gazed solemnly at all the children in the classroom and said, "It is said that in ancient times, a secret realm from the Immortal Realm was destroyed, and a fragment of that realm fell into our world."
Mr. Yan continued, his voice low and grave, "The name of the fallen realm… was 'The Great Desolate.'"