Glory is forged with courage and loyalty, and the blood of the academy's seniors ensures that their achievements endure through the ages.
The Border Folk, the Golden Spoons, and the Country Bumps were all singing, and the dreams and brilliance of those who came before them made the song full of a powerful, soul-stirring force.
The song was heard more than once, and only faded slowly as the night deepened.
Meng Bai, Zhang Ping, and the others nearby chose tents to sleep in.
"Beef jerky... delicious..."
Occasionally, from a tent beside Lin Xi, Meng Bai, still asleep, would mumble a few words in his dreams.
Although Lin Xi was also very tired, he couldn't fall asleep with his eyes closed for a while.
The lingering song gradually began to shape the image of this "Director Zhang" that Lin Xi wanted to know more about.
Sixty years ago, a middle-aged man, accompanied by a monster covered in lumps and another resembling a duck, first walked into the Zhongzhou Imperial City.
That year, the middle-aged man crossed the main range of the Sea of Mountains, entered the Four Seasons Plain, and arrived at the then-unknown Qingluan Academy.
Fifty years ago, the fifteen Western tribes invaded eastward, drawing closer to the Zhongzhou Imperial City. This middle-aged man, along with seventeen Qingluan Academy students, left the academy and, in a single night, decapitated the heads of thirty generals from the Western tribes. They pushed the Western tribes back to the west of the Bi Luo Ridge, ultimately expanding the territory of the Yun Qin Empire by one-third.
It was also that year that the Southern Mo Kingdom seized the opportunity to invade from the north. With the southern border forces of the Yun Qin Empire in disarray, the middle-aged man and seventeen Qingluan Academy students, along with 5,000 border soldiers, held out for thirteen days at the Starfall Tomb by Starfall Lake. They killed 300,000 soldiers from the Southern Mo Kingdom, with the bodies piling up as high as the walls of the Starfall Tomb. Ultimately, this forced the Southern Mo Kingdom to retreat, leaving the Yun Qin Empire untouched for fifty years.
It was still that year that the middle-aged man traveled around the border of the Yun Qin Empire, and many infamous bandits completely vanished without a trace.
During that decade, Qingluan Academy, once an unknown small school, transformed into a place of imperial glory. The once precarious territory of the Yun Qin Empire expanded by a half during that period.
But it was the songs praising these deeds, becoming a belief fueled by legendary courage and the bloodshed that stained Starfall Lake, that inspired the youth of the Yun Qin Empire to pursue that glory and swear to protect it at all costs.
"Talent can be found anywhere. In my previous class, there was always that one student who never studied, slept through engineering math lectures, but would study through the night just before the final exams and still get a perfect score. With this kind of glory, you must be a genius, right? But why did you change the academy to a department, and start calling teachers 'lecturers' and 'professors'?"
Lin Xi closed his eyes, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. His emotions were unsettled. If meeting this middle-aged man from fifty years ago meant entering the academy, he was determined to take tomorrow's entrance exam and enter Qingluan Academy, the sacred place in the hearts of all young people in the empire.
The entire camp was silent. The bonfire had gradually extinguished, leaving only the ethereal glow of fireflies. Lin Xi counted sheep, slowly drifting into sleep.
"Little sister... Mom and Dad, I miss you... Little sister... This Qingluan Academy is really interesting..." The long journey had left Lin Xi quite tired, and occasionally, faint mumbles and murmurs could be heard from inside his tent.
The next morning, Lin Xi was woken up by a voice calling him.
"Lin Xi, are you still not awake? It's time to prepare, the entrance exam is about to begin."
When Lin Xi finally opened his eyes, he saw Meng Bai, Li Kaiyun, Zhang Ping, and Xiang Lin standing at the entrance of his tent, with a sliver of sunlight streaming in between them.
All four of them were dressed in fresh clothes, their hair neatly combed, their faces full of excitement and nervousness.
The noisy sounds from outside the tent made Lin Xi, who hadn't slept enough, feel a bit dizzy.
"He really arrived a bit late," Zhang Ping said as he looked at Lin Xi, who was blinking hard. He understood very well what it was like to be sleep-deprived after a month of travel. He didn't want Lin Xi to still be groggy when the exam started and get eliminated. "Lin Xi, go wash up by the lake. It'll help you wake up."
"Hurry up, there's a lot of good food outside," Meng Bai said, his cheeks puffed up, clearly chewing on something.
"Okay, I'll change into some new clothes too." Lin Xi rubbed his eyes, slowly sat up, and pulled out a light red silk robe from his pack.
"Why is it red? Lin Xi, you already have a fair complexion. With that red robe, it looks a bit feminine on you."
"My mother picked it for me, she said red is lucky."
"You're not getting married. But there are quite a few beauties coming to the entrance exam, maybe one of them will take a liking to you. You might end up becoming a groom after all."
Lin Xi walked out of the tent, and the first ray of sunlight hit his face, making him feel warm inside. These "Country Bumps" were as cute as his university classmates, and although the new light red robe looked a bit plain, it was carefully chosen by his mother. Every corner had been meticulously ironed, which made him feel that the world was a beautiful place.
"Why are there so many people?" Lin Xi was immediately surprised.
At the lakeside camp, there were over a hundred long tables stacked with the food Meng Bai had mentioned. Various meats, pastries, and fruits were available, many types of which Lin Xi had never seen before. The thousands of horse-drawn carriages that had gathered last night were now accompanied by at least five or six hundred more, and people and carriages were still coming from the distant plains and hills.
The noisy sounds came mostly from the carriages and horses. The lakeside camp, however, remained surprisingly quiet. It still housed over a thousand exam participants, most of whom were whispering to each other.
Some were looking towards the stage where the entrance exam was being held, others were trying to chat with their neighbors, while a few people were pacing nervously around the camp.
Lin Xi glanced at the vast expanse of people. Everyone appeared nervous but hopeful. He felt the nerves in his own stomach twist.
"You should get in line." Meng Bai nudged Lin Xi, noticing his hesitation.
"Oh, right." Lin Xi, feeling the heat of the moment, took a deep breath and walked toward the entrance exam area.
The entrance exam began shortly after. As Lin Xi walked through the gates of Qingluan Academy, he couldn't help but feel a rush of emotions. The stories of the brave, the loyal, and the glorious echoes of the academy's past were now something he was a part of. The start of his journey was just beginning, and it promised to be one filled with trials, victories, and stories of its own.