Ning taught a class full of now familiar students. It had been a few days since he returned from his few months long adventure and was getting back to teaching.
Yola had learned about Ning, but chose to keep it on the low for now. However, she did one thing that confused Ning a little.
She took away all of his gold stars. So now, he had no stars and would have to start back again.
Her thought process was that since it had been so long since he left closed cultivation, he should have forgotten most of the stuff. If he remembered it, then he could surely get his badge back.
Ning happily handed his badges as they would be nothing more than eye magnet for him, which he didn't want. Beside, being a badgeless teacher had a few perks of its own.
Ning finished teaching his class of merely 40 students and left.
He walked to the artifact wing and met up with Ely. During the last few months, the two of them had been together for essentially always, and had since then grown together.
However, Ning never made any advances into elevating their relation to anything other than friends. He felt sad even thinking about being together with someone who would surely die.
Even with his body cultivationo, Ely would die in less than 2 thousand more years.
So, NIng just decided to keep the feelings to himself forever. He didn't want to be heartbroken about it, ever.
Ely seemed to have realized something about this by now, but chose to say nothing about it. Ning was very thankful about that.
Ning had just met up with Ely when he realized that many teachers and students were rushing somewhere.
"What's happening?" Ning asked.
"I think… they said that the Saint Alchemist has shown up," Ely said.
"Oh, that guy isn't dead yet?" Ning asked.
"He might have eaten a pill or something," Ely said.
"Maybe," Ning said. "But those sort of pills are usually bad for you. It hampers your advances in cultivation. Although, I guess that doesn't really matter to people on this planet."
The two of them walked front and saw the crowd circle around a few people. Most of them were either staffs or teachers from the Alchemy wing. They were all bowing to an Elderly looking man who seemed to be at the end of his age.
"It's a pleasure of this sect to have you, senior," Yola said.
"You don't have to show such a response to a dying, old man," the saint alchemist said. "I have come with a request."
Yola's eyes shined. A request from someone who could make 10th grade pills was a big thing. "Please, tell us your request, senior," she said.
"When is your next Alchemy competition?" the old man asked.
"Uhh… in just a year, we will have our Decennial Competition that will take place in the Sun Empire. Students from all the 5 empires will gather there. Alchemy will be a part of that competition too," Yola said.
"Hmm… make the Alchemy portion of the competition big. In fact, I'm planning on calling the people from the Southern Continent as well as the Northern Continent too," the old man said.
"What? Senior, a competition between students of the 3 continents? That's… why go that far?" Yola asked.
"I'm dying, and I'm in need for someone to succeed me. In all of my years, I never took on a disciple. I focused on my work more than anything. Now that life had caught up to me, and I'm dying, I'm starting to realize just how pointless it all was."
"However, even as pointless it is all to me, I'm sure my knowledge can help others. So, I'm trying to find the best person to succeed me. For that, I decided to choose the best alchemy student from the next competition," the old man said.
Gasps rang around and the crowd was stunned. Yola immediately agreed with zero hesitation, and got to work.
Soon, information hit the street at an extremely fast pace. It was not just people from the Galyra Empire that knew the information, or even the Central continent.
The information traveled around the whole world, and every single one of them learned the same thing, then same information.
The Saint Alchemist, one of the only known alchemist to ever create a 10th grade pill, was now looking to pass his entire inheritance to one single student.
And that was very tempting.
Soon, the whole world was in a fire of ambition as everyone made their way to the teleportation formations.
"I can't believe that old man is dying too. We really lived a long time, didn't we?" Ely asked.
"Yes, we did," Ning said. 'Although, it's just a beginning for me,' he thought.
"Well, at least you got the formations working in time. Now the people from the Northern Continent can join the competition as well," Ely said.
"Haha, yeah," Ning said.
"What's wrong? You aren't talking as much," Ely asked.
"I'm… I'm just thinking about stuff," Ning said.
"Like?" Ely inquired.
"Like how I can help you all. Hyesi is getting old. Although he can live for a while longer, his prime age for cultivation is already coming to a close. If I delay even much longer, it will be Anya's turn next," he said.
"Sigh, I could help you by finding the Origin, or whatever it is called, but I can't seem to find that either. I hope I get some information about it all soon," Ning prayed.
"I'm sure you will," Ely said as she held his hand. "Even if you can't, you don't have to feel guilty about it. You already gave us all something the others in this planet could only wish for. That alone is priceless."
"My father wouldn't be alive right now if it weren't for you. My brother and his family wouldn't be as happy or successful without you either. I'm sure Hyesi's and Anya's life is the same," Ely said.
"We are all thankful for what you've done. So, don't feel guilty about it at all. Even if life catches up to us, and we die of old age, that just means our regular cycle ended."
"Remember, we will all return to the reincarnation cycle at the end of the day. Even if we die, you will surely be there to find us again."
