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Mo Shubai seemed accustomed to this and smiled faintly as he entered. All the disciples rose in unison to bow and address him respectfully as Immortal Master.

Mo Shubai gestured for everyone to be seated, then introduced himself with a voice as fresh and lingering as the wind through a bamboo forest, smiling gently.

“My surname is Mo, given name Shubai. For the coming year, I will be your instructor.”

Only one year, then. It seemed the divine young master had taken a liking to mortals and come to teach this group of newcomers. The disciples immediately exchanged knowing glances.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been granted such a rare opportunity to be guided by a genius.

Before Mo Shubai began his teachings, he asked everyone to hand over their identity jade talismans.

Each disciple clenched their talisman tightly, but with a sweep of his spiritual power, Mo Shubai gathered them effortlessly into his hand.

As the talismans flew over, each one's name, aptitude, and spiritual roots showed clearly.

Song Chi quickly scanned the data. No one had three spiritual roots all below eighty like she did. Most had at least one root above eighty-five. It was said that many disciples with excellent spiritual roots had recently emerged, and the data confirmed this.

Her low spiritual roots drew glances from fellow disciples—some pitying, some mocking, and others simply amused, their expressions varied.

The boy beside Song Chi smirked crookedly, whispering, “Three roots at seventy-seven.”

His name was Qi Zhenmo. His spiritual roots were impressive—metal, water, and earth—with the metal and earth roots both at ninety-five, and water at eighty-seven. Among the new inner disciples, he likely ranked within the top thirty. Only one or two in the class surpassed him.

Not only was he gifted, but he was also quite handsome. Slender and well-proportioned, not very tall but with elegant features, a smooth facial outline, dark eyes beneath thick lashes that usually half-closed as he looked at others, and a sharply defined chin that carried a hint of rebelliousness.

Song Chi thought he had potential as a secondary male lead, especially since a few girls in the class gazed at him with bright eyes upon learning of his spiritual roots.

Qi Zhenmo didn’t seem to care; his expression grew even colder, as if disliking the attention.

That kind of attitude only made him more appealing. Song Chi remembered such types being popular in middle school—usually the top students.

Song Chi, now twenty-six, studied music and specialized in canine research. She pursued graduate studies mainly to avoid entering the workforce. Her family was quite well-off, so relying on them was not an issue. But after a fatal car accident, she found herself in this new world, now the family's hope. No matter how lazy she was, she had to shoulder their expectations.

But that was a tangent. At her age, she was naturally uninterested in a boy like Qi Zhenmo, who seemed to be about a year older, fifteen years old.

In fact, most in the class were older than her, as she had only just turned fourteen the day before entering the sect. But that didn’t matter; her mindset was mature.

After collecting the disciples’ life talismans, Mo Shubai explained that these talismans were kept in the sect’s master hall. Should a disciple perish outside, their talisman would shatter.

Then, with a sweep of his hand, each disciple received a new pale jade talisman. Each person dripped blood into it and infused it with spiritual power. From then on, this would be their inner sect disciple pass.

Previously, the life talisman would display name, origin, birth date, and aptitude at a touch—essentially handing a knife to enemies, possibly leading to the destruction of their entire family. The new jade talisman revealed nothing.

Mo Shubai’s first lecture covered the sect’s history, the composition of spiritual power, and the human body’s meridians and acupoints—basic foundational knowledge.

This took about half an hour. Then the disciples practiced circulating their spiritual power while the Immortal Master checked each in turn.

Though the inner sect disciples had excellent spiritual roots and were not easily hindered, the sheer presence of such a stunningly handsome master was overwhelming. Even Mo Shubai’s gentle demeanor could not reduce the aura that stretched nearly two meters and eight centimeters.

Male disciples grew nervous as he placed his fingers on their pulse points to check their spiritual circulation; several flushed for unknown reasons.

The female disciples gasped softly, their cheeks flushed after being examined.

Song Chi felt the sect should persuade this divine young master to leave soon, lest the disciples’ resolve weaken.

If she were in their place… well, she didn't really feel her heart flutter.

But when Mo Shubai’s fingers rested on her pulse, she lifted her eyelids slightly to steal another glance at his divine countenance, receiving a faint smile in return.

Her heart fluttered lightly, just enough to be stirred.

Still, Qi Zhenmo beside her laughed quietly. While Mo Shubai checked his wrist, Qi’s gaze swept over to Song Chi, scanning her cheeks with half-closed eyes that clearly mocked her.

Song Chi wiped her cheek, feeling a slight heat. As expected, she was no different from the other female disciples—bewitched by the beautiful man’s charm. But she told herself this was normal; only the heroine would disdain beauty. She was just an ordinary person.

Though infatuation was out of the question. She had never been interested in romance and had once been scolded for being heartless by a childhood friend who was practically a playmate.

Song Chi glanced askance at Qi Zhenmo, unwilling to argue with him.

After examining the last disciple, Mo Shubai presented a history of the continent. He then left, along with several other Immortal Masters in the building, who went to the courtyard and then to the plum grove in the west, laughing as they departed.

They likely would not return until the next class.

This casualness was probably only on the first day. According to the sect’s curriculum, the next lessons would cover identification of spiritual herbs, types of beasts, talismans, formation arrays, divination, basics of refining instruments and alchemy, swordsmanship fundamentals, and musical theory—an all-encompassing syllabus.

These were morning courses; the afternoon was dedicated to specialized electives for each disciple, lasting only an hour and a half.

This arrangement lasted the first three years; in the following seven, disciplines such as alchemy and swordsmanship would be taught separately.

For example, after studying herbalism this morning, Mo Shubai announced before dismissal that he would remain in the classroom in the afternoon to teach musical theory. Those wishing to pursue music cultivation could stay behind.

He had one requirement: “You must have metal, water, and wood spiritual roots, or at least metal and water. The rest of you should learn from the Immortal Master suited to your cultivation path. The academy will post notices outside listing each master’s specialty.”

This caused a wave of small sighs and disappointed murmurs throughout the classroom.

The male disciples likely felt disheartened at not receiving instruction from a renowned master, while the female disciples, burdened with the extra “divine young master” bonus, found their spiritual roots unsuitable for music cultivation. They dared not waste time and naturally planned to attend their chosen majors in swordsmanship sects, alchemy sects, the Divination Pavilion, or the Exquisite Pavilion. The Divination Pavilion specialized in talismans, formations, and divination arts; the Exquisite Pavilion suited water and wood spiritual roots with its vitality and spirit arts.

Song Chi did not need to change her seat and looked forward to the classes.

Mastering the path of music cultivation might allow her to take on music-related missions, which offered double the spirit stone rewards and mission points—quite lucrative.

Therefore, after lunch, Song Chi remained in the classroom instead of resting.

There were three Immortal Masters teaching music cultivation, and the Azure Sword Sect naturally had the most disciples studying swordsmanship and music cultivation. Song Chi guessed that the top music talents would most likely come to Class Guihai to study under Mo Shubai.

Other music-suited disciples from Guihai Class thought the same and gathered in the classroom after lunch.

Song Chi noticed Dai Jia, with his metal and water roots most suited for swordsmanship, also remained seated. His face had flushed brightly when Mo Shubai checked his spiritual circulation earlier.

What a disappointment. He was suited for swordsmanship but instead lingered here for music cultivation.

Song Chi glanced over; Dai Jia’s face was bright red, both angry and embarrassed. It was clear he knew he was acting against his best interests but refused to budge. Likely, he wanted to witness Mo Shubai’s immortal poise while playing the zither before returning to sword cultivation.

As for Cheng Yao, with his metal, water, and wood roots, he was naturally suited for music cultivation and belonged here.

Xi Ya, true to her character, was not swayed by beauty and did not come to Guihai Class in the afternoon.

Song Chi found it amusing that Qi Zhenmo also leisurely took his seat. With his metal, water, and earth roots, he was best suited for the Divination Pavilion, where an excellent earth root was essential for crafting talismans. His sharp intellect also suited the Divination Pavilion’s arts of divination and formation mechanisms.

Yet he insisted on studying music.

When Song Chi gave him a sidelong look, he rested his cheek on his hand, a faint glint flickering beneath his thick lashes. His careless expression seemed to say, “I’m just being wayward; what are you going to do about it?”

Song Chi shrugged inwardly. Not my concern.

As she predicted, soon nearly all the music cultivation prodigies from the other nine classes crowded into Guihai Class.

Among them were Su Xiwu and Jiang Linyue, who took seats in the back row—unfortunately right in front of Song Chi and Qi Zhenmo.

Many other disciples naturally wanted to join Guihai Class as well. They amusingly compared their spiritual roots, and those with poorer aptitude withdrew on their own.

Thus, aside from the original Guihai students like Song Chi with poorer aptitude, the rest were those with excellent metal, water, and wood roots, all with spiritual roots no lower than eighty.

Soon, the afternoon hour arrived. Mo Shubai, dressed in flowing azure robes, strode onto the stage like a divine young master.

Many female disciples from other classes secretly gasped, clearly enchanted, shyly gazing at the podium.

By now, Mo Shubai’s self-introduction was lost on them; their eyes and hearts were fully captured by his handsome, refined face.

After a morning spent admiring this beauty, even a brief sighting at noon made Song Chi’s heart skip a beat. The Four Beauties of the cultivation world were truly renowned for good reason. She wondered what the other three great beauties looked like!