Chapter 66

After entering Canglan City, Zuoqiu, Zongyan, and others needed to find a place to stay first. Chen Xun, Zong Ling, Nan Xi, Gu Jianxi, and Zuo Qianlan, along with other tribal descendants who possessed the trial iron plates, directly moved into the disciples' courtyard of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion in the city, following Ge Yi and others.

Although it was called a courtyard, it was incredibly vast, occupying an area in the northern part of Canglan City that was not smaller than the Wumang Stone Fort.

Two middle-aged stewards were mainly in charge of the courtyard. They seemed to have reached the peak of the True Yang Realm. They spoke very little, and after verifying the trial iron plates carried by Chen Xun and others, they handed over the responsibility to Ge Yi and others.

After registering their names, Chen Xun and others moved into the courtyard with the two stewards.

A faint cloud of mist gathered above the courtyard, seemingly held in place by invisible ropes, changing shape with the wind but never dispersing.

Chen Xun, with his extraordinary spiritual senses, could feel a faint gathering of the essence of heaven and earth within the mist, as if an invisible stream flowed above his head. He couldn't tell if it was due to the terrain of the courtyard or some special talismanic restrictions around it.

Because this mist that gathered the essence of heaven and earth remained above the courtyard without dispersing, even though the snow on the mountain ridges in the distance had not yet melted, the courtyard was already filled with the sounds of birds and the fragrance of flowers, with green willows and zhitong trees providing shade around the artificial hills and ponds.

In the northern mountains of Mangya Ridge, herbs like Yuyang grass and Dikui, which were considered spiritual medicines, grew everywhere in the courtyard, looking as if they had been there for many years, yet no one had picked them—Chen Xun couldn't help but want to pick them all and refine a couple of bottles of Yuan-gathering ointment first.

Each independent courtyard was connected by winding ponds and stone pools, where large fish with colorful scales played among the lotus flowers, their movements full of spiritual charm.

Chen Xun and others, once they moved into the courtyard, were restricted from going out at will. However, from this courtyard, one could see the depth of the Su Clan and the Canglan Academy. The northern mountain tribes might take a thousand years to catch up.

Chen Xun and the others were like Liu Laolao entering the Grand View Garden, their eyes dazzled by the splendor.

Don't think that Gu Jianfeng and Nan Xi, who were young tribal leaders in their villages, were any different; they were now completely like country bumpkins, shrinking their heads and feeling constrained in their movements.

In addition to the twenty tribal descendants who had received the trial iron plates from the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, there were already nearly sixty others from the Su Clan, other small and medium-sized clans, and even those selected from commoner families, who had already moved into this courtyard before Chen Xun and the others.

To avoid chaos, the disciple trial selections for the Three Orders and Nine Marshals' Mansions were conducted in two batches.

Chen Xun and the others were the first batch and had to stay in the courtyard for fifteen days before the other mansions' trial selections were completed. Only then would they all enter the academy to begin their studies in Canglan City.

This courtyard, belonging to the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, was also exceptionally vast. With over eighty disciples staying, each one could have their own independent courtyard with plenty of room to spare.

Life and daily routines here were taken care of by others. Ge Yi and the others were only responsible for delivering Chen Xun to the courtyard, and after the handover, they left without a trace.

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Chen Xun, with a mindset of making the best of the situation, decided to stay in the courtyard with Gu Jianfeng and the others for the time being.

The pavilion where Chen Xun stayed was located in the northeast corner of the courtyard, a half-acre independent courtyard with a main house and side rooms. The courtyard, though not large, was very quiet and elegant.

Two zhitong trees were planted in the courtyard, only as tall as the eaves.

For cultivators, zhitong trees had a calming effect, and at this time, they were in full bloom, filling the courtyard with a fragrant aroma, making one feel incredibly refreshed.

In the corner, spiritual herbs grew, exuding a subtle spiritual aura. A shallow pond flowed into the stone troughs along the courtyard walls, with the sound of water trickling.

The pavilion was equipped with exquisite beds, desks, utensils, and various living tools. There were several sets of fine cotton and silk clothes for changing, and the medicinal dishes provided at each meal had a good amount of spiritual energy.

In addition, there was a maid named Cai'er in Chen Xun's courtyard, who took care of his daily life.

Even if one didn't consider the opportunity to study high-level mystic arts in the Canglan Academy and eventually bring them back to the tribe, just the daily life here was a world apart from Wumang.

Moving into the courtyard was like stepping from hell into heaven, making one feel that the bloody trials along the way were finally worth it, and the Su Clan wasn't so detestable after all.

Cai'er was only about fourteen or fifteen years old, with a youthful and beautiful face, a slender and well-proportioned figure, and a soft, timid voice. Her black, lively eyes always avoided people.

When Chen Xun spoke to her, she dared not say more than a few words.

It took Chen Xun several days to learn about the Canglan Academy from her.

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When the Su Clan first moved to Yunzhou, they were a small clan of only a few hundred people. Over the next two to three hundred years, they took root in Canglan and eventually won the struggle for dominance over Canglan from the Wumang, a process that took four hundred years.

However, from the time the Su Clan moved to Canglan, it has been a thousand years.

During this thousand years, the Su Clan has flourished and multiplied in Canglan. There are tens of thousands of Su Clan descendants living in Canglan City alone. However, apart from the most prestigious Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions, the other Su Clan descendants are considered collateral branches and have no special status in Canglan City.

Although the Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions are all led by Su Clan descendants, they are not solely based on bloodline inheritance.

This is a world where the strong are respected.

The current head of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, Su Junyuan, has been in seclusion for cultivation for over a decade and has not been involved in worldly affairs. The internal and external affairs of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion are mainly managed by his two sons, Su Qingfeng and Su Quan.

If Su Junyuan, Su Qingfeng, and Su Quan fail to advance to the Tianyuan Realm in the next thirty to fifty years and fall due to their lifespan or other reasons, and if their descendants do not produce sufficiently powerful successors, they will have to hand over the power of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion to other rising Su Clan branches.

Even the core of the Su Clan, the Zongling Mansion led by the Su Clan's patriarch, has always been occupied by the strongest members of the Su Clan.

This is how the Su Clan ensures that there are enough Huan Tai Realm experts in the clan and that one or two Tianyuan Realm supreme experts will appear in the clan every hundred years, consolidating their ruling position in Canglan and preventing it from being taken by other clans.

The Canglan Academy, responsible for the transmission of mystic arts, is the foundation of the Su Clan's establishment in Canglan, holding an extremely revered status and absolute authority in Canglan. It is actually divided into nine branches, represented by the Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions.

After Chen Xun entered the Canglan Academy, his name was still registered under the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, making him a disciple of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion.

Apart from some public resources, the cultivation of mystic arts, daily life, and various trials of the disciples are mainly managed by the Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions.

Only the most elite disciples, after passing the selection and assessment, have the opportunity to enter the inner courtyard of the academy and directly study the core mystic arts and secret techniques of the Su Clan.

Therefore, although the Canglan Academy has four to five thousand disciples, the vast majority are outer courtyard disciples, with the true elites in the inner courtyard.

The Canglan Academy admits new disciples every three years. Apart from this courtyard, the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion has three other courtyards for disciples to live in.

If Chen Xun fails to meet the standards to enter the inner courtyard of the academy after nine years of study, he will have to become a guest scholar and serve the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion for ten years.

This is the basic condition that tribal, Su Clan, and other small and medium-sized clan descendants must agree to when they pass the trials and enter the Canglan Academy.

After serving the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion for ten years, Chen Xun can choose to leave the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion and return to his tribe with the mystic arts he has cultivated; he can also stay in the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion and take on a long-term position to support his family; or he can stay in Canglan and establish his own clan.

The Su Clan is the rightful ruler of Canglan, and apart from the Su Clan and the native tribes of this wilderness, there are countless small and medium-sized clans and sects, all of which have intricate ties with the Su Clan and the Canglan Academy.

Although Grandfather Zongtu said that the Su Clan has over a hundred experts above the Huan Tai Realm, the true strength of the Canglan Academy and the Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions is even more formidable and unimaginable.

As one of the Six Marshals' Mansions and one of the nine direct branches of the Su Clan, the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion has declined somewhat in recent years and ranks at the bottom.

Even so, apart from the head of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, Su Junyuan, who is at the peak of the Huan Tai Realm and is just a step away from the Tianyuan Realm, Su Qingfeng and Su Quan have also reached the peak of the Huan Tai Realm.

The Xuwu Marshal's Mansion has nearly three hundred disciples, over four hundred guest scholars, and nearly a hundred stewards responsible for internal and external affairs.

Apart from the cultivation of disciples, the internal and external affairs of Canglan City are mainly managed by the Three Orders and Six Marshals' Mansions.

The six Marshals' Mansions, including the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion, are responsible for the defense and protection of the six directions outside the Su Clan, including the protection of trade routes. The three Orders' Mansions, including the Zongling Mansion, are mainly responsible for the internal affairs of Canglan City.

The Xuwu Marshal's Mansion is mainly responsible for the northern wilderness and the Mangya Ridge, which means that the nearly three hundred native tribes in this region, including the powerful tribes like Guixi, are considered peripheral forces of the Xuwu Marshal's Mansion.

In the event of a conflict with external forces like the Xuanhan Sect, the powerful tribes like Guixi must also provide manpower and resources.

Chen Xun was secretly amazed. The Su Clan governs a vast area of thousands of miles in Canglan and controls the only pass between Yunzhou and the Western Wilderness. Having only three to five Tianyuan Realm supreme experts is not enough; ultimately, they rely on this extremely strict and complex system.