Chapter 150: The Lingyun Rankings

The Academy has a back door, but it never lets anyone use the back door.

These few sentences are simple, and their meaning is even more clear and straightforward.

Although the Academy has no threshold, it is nonetheless one of the sacred grounds. Ordinary Academy disciples consider merely meeting that Master to be an exceedingly rare event, let alone him being a disciple of the Daoist Sect now—how could he see him just because he wished to? Entering the inner grounds of the Academy in the first place would likely be a tremendously difficult task.

Shen Yu glanced at Su Mo.

He remembered that Su Mo shared an unusual relationship with the Academy.

Su Mo smiled and shook his head, saying, "I can't let you use the back door either, you know. I'd get scolded for that."

Shen Yu was silent for a moment, then asked, "Then how am I supposed to get in?"

Su Mo looked toward the depths of the grounds and said earnestly, "When certain people in the Academy decide that you are allowed to enter."

Earlier on the main street, Su Mo had asked Shen Yu twice what impression he had of the Academy, and Shen Yu had replied that it was not bad.

Now, it was time to quietly wait for the Academy's impression of Shen Yu. Once both sides aligned, perhaps they could discuss what came next.

This indeed suited the Academy's usual style of doing things.

Shen Yu's expression remained calm; patience had always been his most fundamental virtue.

After a moment, he suddenly raised his brows and asked, "Where am I supposed to stay then?"

"There are many inns on the streets of the Imperial City, and there are also immortal towers specially designated for disciples of the sacred grounds to cultivate within the city. The environment is quite nice," Su Mo said.

Shen Yu looked up at the sky and said indifferently, "Sounds boring."

Su Mo thought for a moment and said, "Actually, you could also do something here. By staying close, perhaps the time it takes for you to enter the Academy will be shortened as well."

Shen Yu asked, "Do what?"

"How about..."

Su Mo looked toward the grand entrance, hesitated for a moment, and uncertainly asked, "Guarding the gate?"

...

To have the personal successor and direct disciple of the Daoist Sect's sect master—who was also a supreme genius of the Spirit Wasteland—guarding a gate would, if heard by certain people in the Spirit Wasteland, provoke some very harsh remarks.

For instance, they might say the Academy had airs far too grand, turning the Daoist Sect master's disciple into a mere gatekeeper, or that Shen Yu was utterly shameless, completely throwing away the face of everyone in the Daoist Sect, and so on.

Yet at this moment, neither of the two people present thought guarding the gate was a shameful thing; they simply regarded it as a means to solve a problem.

Shen Yu was merely curious about how such a matter could be negotiated, and whether the Academy would agree.

After all, this went against the rules, and the Academy was the place that valued rules above all else.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the tree leaves, the air mixed with the sound of cicadas and a touch of summer heat.

Su Mo walked through the main gate alone and emerged again less than an hour later.

He was holding a broom, which he casually handed over to Shen Yu.

With the relaxed demeanor of someone who had successfully resolved a matter, Su Mo said, "All done."

Shen Yu looked at this scene, somewhat speechless.

Was that what they called a successful handover?

Su Mo patted Shen Yu's shoulder and said with a gratified expression, "Do a good job. I told them I have high hopes for you."

Shen Yu narrowed his eyes and asked, "Then what about you..."

Su Mo blinked and said as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "I'm going inside to sleep, of course."

Shen Yu twitched the corner of his mouth. Who was it that said just a moment ago that one couldn't use the back door?

Unable to hold back any longer, Shen Yu asked, "You have a pretty good relationship with certain people in the Academy?"

Whether back in the Daoist Sect or even now, Su Mo's relationship with the Academy had never been as simple as mere acquaintances, yet Su Mo had never taken the initiative to explain it.

Su Mo thought for a moment and said, "There are two uncles in the Academy who indeed have a very good relationship with me."

Shen Yu asked directly, "Two of the Three Masters?"

Su Mo nodded.

Shen Yu glanced at him. "And which one has an ordinary relationship with you?"

Su Mo thought for a moment, a rare trace of hesitation crossing his face, and said, "Should be... the Dean?"

Shen Yu looked at him with a pitying gaze. "What a pity. You picked the wrong person to have a good relationship with."

Hearing this, Su Mo's expression grew even more peculiar.

...

Sunlight paved another golden path across the bluestone slabs of the ground.

Su Mo walked along the path alone, as relaxed and casual as if strolling through his own courtyard. No one stopped him, and in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, he reached the depths of the Academy.

There were many world-renowned places within the Academy, such as the Scripture Pavilion, the Platform of Veneration, and... that three-story pavilion.

There were two simplest descriptions concerning that small pavilion.

First, it came into being in accordance with the Great Dao itself, with the Master of the Divine Temple personally participating in its construction.

Second, the Lingyun Rankings, which recorded the absolute peak practitioners of the human race every hundred years, were housed within that three-story pavilion.

Deep within the Academy stood an ordinary three-story pavilion with green bricks and grey tiles.

Su Mo stopped and stood still on the steps outside the pavilion, looking up.

A mysterious golden scroll, fully a hundred zhang in length, stood suspended in the void above the pavilion. True dragons and phoenixes circled its edges, blazing with golden light.

This was the legendary Lingyun Rankings.

Su Mo's gaze slowly drifted downward. The very first page of the Lingyun Rankings was inscribed with countless dense, tiny characters.

The top three lines at the very head were completely shrouded in a wisp of chaotic primal vapor, making them almost impossible to glimpse with any mystical art whatsoever.

Su Mo looked further down.

Fourth: Wan Jianyi of Kunlun.
Fifth: Huike of Liyin Temple.
Sixth: He Pianpian of Jade Pool.
Seventh: ...
Eighth: ...

The positions in the top ten of the Lingyun Rankings had shifted slightly, but the names remained those familiar figures. Wan Jianyi of Kunlun had surpassed Huike of Liyin Temple on the rankings, He Pianpian of Jade Pool still firmly held the sixth spot, the monk Huike was unfathomably deep, and members of the nine sacred grounds occupied the vast majority of the spots.

It seemed not much had truly changed.

Su Mo's gaze swept lightly across them, and the Lingyun Rankings turned pages automatically of its own spiritual accord, reaching the top fifty. Yet, he still could not find the name he wished to see.

This was very strange.

Su Mo's gaze was calm, and his expression remained gentle.

His line of sight shifted once more, and the Lingyun Rankings returned to its previous opening page.

Su Mo began to look toward the top three positions obscured by the unknowable force, scanning them one by one. The contention for the second and third spots belonged to Li Yi of Azure Emperor City and another reclusive disciple; it might be unexpected, but it should be within reason.

Su Mo finally paused his gaze on the very highest position. He lingered there for a long, long time, deep in unknown thoughts.

"If you had chosen to cultivate back then, then there would surely be no need to guess who holds the first place."

A gentle, mellow voice rang out, followed closely by an elderly man dressed in a grey robe, with a jade pendant hanging at his waist and white hair and beard, standing quietly behind Su Mo.

There were no superfluous decorations on the old man, nor any affected posturing, yet he naturally exuded a vast and upright aura akin to a spring breeze nurturing peach and plum blossoms everywhere.

There were many statuses of varying prominence within the Academy, but looking straight toward the summit offered a panoramic view of everything.

There were three Sage-realm Masters who openly anchored the Academy, and they were among the highest-ranking figures in both the Academy and this Imperial City.

The Dean of the Academy was one of them, and this old man before him was naturally another.

Su Mo bowed from the waist in salute, wearing a smile without any excessive restraint.

The grey-robed old man looked at Su Mo, took one look, and chuckled through his amusement, "I originally thought that when you went to the Daoist Sect, you had suddenly figured things out and chosen to cultivate, so the three of us old fellows felt that whether you became a Confucian sage or a carefree true immortal, we would let you be happy as you pleased. But look at you... you really didn't learn a single thing at all!"

There was not the slightest trace of scholarly pedantry or musty staleness in his words; instead, they were grand, natural, and utterly genuine.

Su Mo smiled gently and said, "Uncle Wen, to be honest, ever since I was young, I've had a premonition that if I rashly chose to cultivate, something irreversible and catastrophic would happen. It's not that I was unwilling, but rather that I truly dared not."

The grey-robed old man did not dwell on this explanation, true or false, and said, "The Master is traveling the four seas, and that other old fellow spends his entire day cooped up in the Scripture Pavilion. Right now, the entire Academy is managed by me."

The old man paused for a moment and asked, "So what brings you here this time?"

Su Mo recounted the whole matter from beginning to end, and the grey-robed old man looked at him, his face full of smiles.

Su Mo blinked, shook his head, and said, "I didn't expect Uncle Wen to do anything. I just came to have a look and let nature take its course."

The grey-robed old man pointed at Su Mo and suddenly laughed and scolded, "You little rascal, you're getting craftier by the day these days! Knowing that you'd owe your Uncle Wen a favor, you simply dropped the burden right here and washed your hands of it. Well, that's true enough—after all, that fellow named Shen Yu is standing right outside the gate. Even if I wanted to play the blind man and pretend I couldn't see him, I couldn't, could I?"

Su Mo smiled slightly.

The grey-robed old man thought for a moment and said, "However, letting nature take its course is indeed the right approach. That unprecedented situation of Shen Yu's is something the old fellow Meng Gui excels at handling, but you already know his temper. Just let nature take its course."

Su Mo nodded and said, "Understood."

After a brief chat, the old man encountered a matter that required his attention, and his figure vanished into the fabric of heaven and earth, disappearing in a flash.

Su Mo turned around and once more began gazing forward alone.

Behind the Lingyun Rankings stood dozens of other similar massive books. The Lingyun Rankings emerged once every hundred years, so there must have been dozens of them by now.

Those dense, tiny characters within the rankings represented every single proud prodigy and mighty figure in the history of cultivation.

Those characters were like scrolls in the long river of history—magnificent, turbulent, and recording every single scene.

"If you were willing to cultivate, the number one spot on the Lingyun Rankings would undoubtedly be yours."

Su Mo gazed at the Lingyun Rankings, his expression indifferent.

In this silent tableau, it felt as though one person were facing all the favored children of heaven from several millennia.

Ascending to the very peak,
Gazing down upon all lesser mountains.