Standing in front of the entrance of the medicinal wing, a white rectangular building that was actually comprised of three separate buildings placed together into a somewhat stiff Z, were Chen Hong and Song Yi. Both of them were smirking at Huang Ying, who could already see himself getting drenched with alcohol on a regular basis from now on. Chen Hong used his thumb to point over his shoulder, gesturing with his head at the same time.
"Alright, Prisoner, follow us to your cell."
Huang Ying raised an eyebrow after Chen Hong spoke, not because of what he said, but because of what direction he pointed. He glanced at the edge of the medicinal building, at the lake stretching out behind it, and pointed at a small path running adjacent to the lake.
"Dingju said that the dorm should be just past the lake, wouldn't it be faster to just pass by the lake using that path?"
Huang Ying didn't doubt that Chen Hong's path would take them to the dorm, but it would likely be a large detour. Chen Hong's lips twitched for a second, his eyes flickering before he put on a somewhat bitter expression and spoke simply.
"You're not wrong, that way is indeed faster. But I'll be honest, I don't want to walk past the lake."
Huang Ying moved his gaze between Chen Hong and the lake after receiving the answer, even glancing at Song Yi once. She simply shrugged her shoulders, evidently already used to this. Huang Ying ended up just shrugging his shoulders, as long as he knew the reason for the detour he didn't mind.
"Alright, then we won't walk by that lake. But that detour better take us past the massive pillar, I wanna take a good look at it."
Chen Hong clearly wasn't comfortable talking about why he didn't want to walk past the lake so Huang Ying didn't bother asking about it. After all, the three of them didn't really know each other that well yet, they just got along really well due to their rather similar temperaments. Chen Hong nodded his head with a smile, turning his body as a gesture for Huang Ying to follow him.
"Thank you. And of course the path'll go past the pillar, it's the only thing other than the pretty ladies that there is to see in this place!"
Song Yi rolled her eyes at Chen Hong's remarks, already completely exasperated by them. Huang Ying let out a chuckle and followed the two people down the path they had chosen, walking past small mountains, strangely shaped buildings, and bent pagodas, even a100 meter wide and tall block of ice that was completely square in shape.
It didn't take them long to reach the ten-meter thick granite pillar serving as the symbol of the academy, Huang Yingæs gaze landing on the violent crimson flame burning atop it. Chen Hong and Song Yi also looked at it, their eyes flickering slightly, none of them able to notice Huang Ying talking with Li Jun.
"Grampa Jun, you know more than me, exactly what is that flame? Why does it seem to resonate with me?"
Huang Ying hadn't been able to sense it earlier, but after entering the academy he could feel a faint connection with the fire burning atop the pillar. It felt like his devouring element and the flame was pulsating at the same frequency, a very faint resonating feeling appearing in Huang Ying's body. Li Jun gave his response after a short moment, hesitating slightly.
"That flame... is one of the reasons I suggested you to come here. Or rather, the source of that flame is the reason. In truth, that's no flame up there, it's just an illusion appearing due to the energy given off by a drop of blood sealed away up there. In truth, the being that left that drop of blood has nothing to do with the fire element, far from it actually, the energy is just so violent that it distorts the air and the light around it to create that illusion. The source of that drop of blood lies within that Forge of Heroes, it should be your main goal when you enter there, devouring it will give you great benefits."
Huang Ying gave a faint nod of his head after learning the truth, not questioning it further. He was a bit annoyed that Li Jun hadn't told him earlier, but he also knew that telling him earlier wouldn't have done anything. It was just like now, Huang Ying knew the truth but there was nothing he could do, he could just focus on improving ahead of the competition within the Forge of Heroes.
The three people only gazed at the fake flame above the pillar for half a minute before continuing on their way, Chen Hong's gaze drifting around as they were walking. A female student would occasionally enter his eyes, a smile appearing on his face as he practically pranced over to greet them. Song Yi simply rolled her eyes at the scene, Huang Ying joining her in her eye-rolling after the fourth time.
They were a bit delayed, but after walking for about twenty minutes they finally reached their dorm area, a small clearing in the forest located about two hundred meters away from the lake by the medicinal building. The dorm buildings were in fact just small two-room cottages, each one affixed with a small fifty-meter wide garden that the student could use as they wished.
There were five cottages in this clearing but two of them were dim, the orange paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling unlit, a sign that no one was living there. Chen Hong and Song Yi pointed at the cottage furthest to the left, smirks on their faces.
"That one's yours, have fun."
Huang Ying followed their fingers, a sense of unease spreading in his heart before he even saw the cottage. And then he saw the reason for their smirks, two groups of students gathered in front of his cottage, currently engaging in an argument.
"We already told you to leave, this is the cabin of Senior Brother Ying!"
"And we must leave simply because you said so? We simply wish to introduce ourselves."
"Introduce yourselves? Peh, you just want to try to bribe him to join your faction so that you can feel superior."
"NONSENSE! We truly only wish to greet him so that we can get along better in the future, it would be best for you to take your slander elsewhere."
Huang Ying rubbed his temples, he hadn't even been here for a week but he could already tell that things were going to get annoying. He turned his head to glance at Song Yi and Chen Hong, who were both doing their best to hold back their laughter while Song Yi was explaining.
"Don't look at us, this isn't our fault. You were temporarily given the third spot on the first year rankings so there are quite a few eyes on you. Half the Burning Cloud faction adores you while the other half wants to surpass you, as for the Silver Cloud faction, half of them want to get you on their side as their dog while the other side wants to crush you just in case you can become dangerous and prevent them from entering the Forge of Heroes. Congratulations, you're a celebrity, now you get to deal with how shit it can be."
Song Yi pushed Huang Ying's back while talking, pushing him forward so that he would head over to the group of students. Her actions caused them to quickly be discovered by the two groups of people, which each consisted of about seven people. By the time Huang Ying and the two others reached the front of his cabin, they were completely surrounded by the two groups who started to talk at them, some of them even winking at Huang Ying seductively.
"Senior Brother Ying, Senior Brother Hong, Senior Sister Yi, I am..."
"You've finally arrived, Senior Brother Ying, how was your stay in the medicinal wing?"
"Senior Brother Ying, I tried to visit you multiple times but was rejected by Teacher Dingju each time, did you receive any of my gifts?"
"Senior Brother Ying, this medicinal liquid is a gift from my Silver cloud faction, please take it."
"Senior Brother Ying, would you like to join me for tea sometime soon?"
"Senior Brother Ying, I am having some issues with my cultivation, is there a chance that you could enlighten me in private sometime?"
Huang Ying couldn't help but rub his temples again when all the people started talking, Chen Hong and Song Yi finally unable to contain their laughter when they saw how exasperated he was. Huang Ying didn't mind a bit of attention and flattering, even he had some vanity to satisfy, but there was such a thing as too much of a good thing. Huang Ying spent a few seconds trying to figure out how to deal with these people that were clearly trying to rope him into their factions. In the end, he placed the bottom of his fist into his palm and decided on the simplest approach.
"Sorry, but I have no interest in joining your factions, so could you kindly fuck off?"
