Yama Rising

Qin Ye didn’t say anything more. He had already opened the envelope by now. There were over ten sheets of paper inside. He did a quick count and confirmed that there were fifteen sheets of paper.

He scanned the papers. The first column represented the psychological evaluation.

The third column: Teaching experience.

His eyes scanned quickly through the papers. Instructor Huang, Instructor Bai, Instructor Meng and Instructor Li were all in the region of sixty years old, and all of them were given the preliminary assessment of an A-grade. Yet when he flipped to the end of the papers, the letter ‘C’ quickly caught his eye.

“C?” He furrowed his brows and exclaimed in bewilderment. Yet, after repeatedly reviewing the papers, he finally confirmed that there was no mistake - it was indeed his name.

“No. Your track record is unmatched by all instructors of the academy who are under the age of thirty.”

“No. An eighteen years old Soul Hunter is unprecedented.”

It suddenly occurred to him why the schedule wasn’t released yet. He understood why Tao Ran had informed him that the students didn’t know the schedule, and that everything would only be disseminated at 7.00 p.m.

The teaching schedule had only been disclosed to instructors thus far, and there was still two and a half hours before the rest of the school was to be officially notified of the same.

“Then, forgive me, but I find it difficult to accept their preliminary assessment of me.” He pushed the information sheets back slightly and leaned back languidly on his chair, “Taking a step back, what’s their preliminary evaluation got to do with the First Academy of Cultivators in the first place? Does the academy really need to look to other organizations for approval before endorsing their own instructors? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“That said…” Tao Ran and Zhou Xianlong exchanged a knowing glance, before Tao Ran continued on his behalf, “Head of Faculty Zhou was the one who received these preliminary assessments at that time. As soon as he scanned through the documents, he immediately gave them a piece of his mind. That said, their explanation isn’t completely unreasonable.”

“Although we might not understand exactly the life you used to lead, the fact that you’re able to attain the rank of a Soul Hunter despite being only at the age of eighteen and having no organization to lean on, necessarily lends credence to a life of bloodshed and carnage. Growing up in such an environment would generally give rise to a hidden character flaw in some way or another.”

“Nevertheless, what the evaluation team means is this - you may have a deep and profound understanding of Yin spirits, but doing is completely different from teaching. Furthermore, would you be able to build rapport with the students? You’ve got a lot of hands-on experience, but would you be able to gradually ease your students into the waters before bringing them to the deep end? Furthermore, you’ve never had any teaching experience nor any experience working in an office with civilians. They don’t have any intentions of going against you in particular. This was essentially a judgment call that was based solely on your experiences and the data they have on hand. Truth be told, your combat experience rating was A+. This was their assessment.”

All of the other instructors giving a lecture tomorrow had either served in the SRC or the Special Investigations Department for some time, the shortest term of which was at least several years. Apart from that, they had even experienced other terms of service with various military departments or civilian offices. That was how they had been chosen for the First Academy of Cultivators. These extensive resumes were all stored in the archives of the SRC and the Special Investigations Department. But what about Qin Ye?

The only thing he had was the results from that night of chaos in the City of Salvation.

“This is the Faculty of Combat.” Qin Ye solemnly pointed to the sign outside the door, “How else are we supposed to speak if not with our fists?”

Zhou Xianlong had never heard Qin Ye speak such incisive words before, and he immediately looked at him with some measure of surprise. However, he nodded, “That’s right.”

“The academy answers to only the heavens.”

Qin Ye was somewhat bewildered, “Then what about you?”

“As for us, we stand on the side of our instructors at the Faculty of Combat.” Zhou Xianlong took over from Tao Ran, “We’re willing to extend you this opportunity. This was our original decision in the first place in any event. I do think that your age would in fact work in your favour. After all, it’s more likely to stir the passion of the students and motivate them to work harder. That said…”

He continued meaningfully, “I’m not going to lie to you. The Faculty of Combat is the most important faculty in the First Academy of Cultivators, and it’s naturally receiving the most resources and benefits from them. However… this will only continue if they deem us worthy of the resources in the first place.”

Rivalry and competition existed where people gathered.

He wasn’t certain. But the fact that the country was even willing to open its vault of precious national treasures meant that the amount of support given couldn’t possibly have been insignificant! In turn, the academy would also have to allocate its resources among its five different faculties.

Or should they split it equally among everyone?

It was a well known fact that healthy competition begets a collective sense of identity.

And this was a form of protection as well.

After all, this was an academy.

“Thank you.” Qin Ye responded sincerely, and then smiled, “But there’s no need.”

Qin Ye stood up and cupped his hands with a wide grin on his face, “Don’t worry. My opening lecture… will most certainly be an eye-opener.”

And the reinforcement that I’ve prepared isn’t any less influential than any of the leaders at our academy…

Qin Ye left. Zhou Xianlong and Tao Ran exchanged glances, and none spoke a single word for some time. Dozens of seconds later, Tao Ran broke the silence, “What do you think?”

Tao Ran was just about to interject when Zhou Xianlong shook his head, “But, so what?”

“If he does well, we’ll applaud him. If he doesn’t, it’s not necessarily a bad thing either.”

“In the worst case scenario, the Faculty of Combat will only be given a poor evaluation. Who’s to say we can’t get it back next year?”

Qin Ye was oblivious to all of these things.

He didn’t want to brag. However, the first obstacle that any instructor should overcome is their self-consciousness. Those who aren’t thick-skinned enough would immediately panic and seize up as soon as they took the stage and saw the innumerable pairs of eyes transfixed on them.

And as for the content?

He was standing on the shoulders of giants and backed by Hell’s depository of information accumulated over thousands of years on end. Besides, who is to disprove the contents of his lecture when all of these treatises have already been lost to the effluxion of time?

At 7.00 p.m. sharp, Zhou Xianlong issued an announcement officially - “Tomorrow morning at 9.00 a.m., S9527, Instructor Qin, shall be giving the Faculty of Combat’s opening lecture at its corresponding tiered lecture Hall.” The entire group exploded with great excitement!

“Looking forward.” “Looking forward +1.” “Looking forward +2.” “Looking forward +10086.”

The Insignia University lecture halls were all well-built and fully equipped with the flair of modern technology. The tiered lecture hall was large enough to hold a thousand people all at once. He stepped into the lecture hall at 8.48 a.m. As soon as he opened the door, the uproarious chatter in the lecture hall immediately died down.

In fact, it was so silent that one could hear each step he took as he walked towards the lectern.

1. This isn’t to say that there are 10086 people who are looking forward to it. Rather, the 10086 here is a reference to the number to dial for the 24-hour customer service hotline that provides professional services relating to mobile communications, business consulting, complaints, etc. Someone was just trying to be funny here.