Villains Aren't Stepping Stones!-Chapter 60: Imperial Academy

"So? How long are you planning to stay?" Huo Yue asked, her voice carrying a hint of a tremor she tried to mask with casual curiosity.

She leaned against the cool stone of the balcony, the desert breeze tugging at her hair, her eyes searching his face for any sign of a lingering attachment to the present moment.

"I’ll leave for the Central Region in three days," said Haoran.

He didn’t look at her as he spoke, his gaze still fixed on the distant horizon where the stars were beginning to pierce through the veil of the sky.

"I wanted to stay for a bit more, the air in this wasteland has a certain... uncomplicated quality to it, but my mother has sent word that she wants me to return because there’s an unfinished business that needs to be taken care of. A matter of lineage and legacy that cannot be deferred any longer."

"I see." Huo Yue looked a bit sad, her shoulders slumping almost imperceptibly.

The silence that followed was heavy with the things she couldn’t say. She wanted to spend more time with him, after all two years was a vast ocean of time to have spent apart, and three days felt like a cruel, microscopic drop of water offered to someone dying of thirst.

She had imagined their reunion would involve long discussions, shared breakthroughs, and perhaps a moment of intimacy only for those who are to be wed, like holding hands, or kissing, or even something even more intimate.

But instead, the countdown had already begun.

"Don’t worry," Haoran said, sensing the shift in her mood as he turned slightly, his eyes reflecting the flickering torchlight from the streets below. "At your current level, and with the talent you’ve reclaimed, it won’t be long before you will have enough strength to leave this Desolate Region, after all the borders of the Eastern Region are only a prison for the weak."

He paused, calculating her path with the same clinical precision he used for everything else. "Hmm, once you reach Nascent Soul, yes... no, preferably Spirit Ascension. By then, you’d probably already explored the entire Eastern Region and found its limitations stifling. And with that level, even if you don’t have any background, you don’t have to be afraid of forces in outer layer in the Central Region."

In the novel about the Flame Empress that he got from his cousin, Huo Yue would actually travel to Central Region a year from now, when she was only at 7th Stage of Golden Core Realm.

One of the reason why she dared venture into the Central Region with such a weak cultivation is because of her confidence in Fairy Liu, and also because Queen Medusa, who was at Nirvana Rebirth realm, was helping her.

Oh yes, there is also that poison girl, but Haoran doesn’t know if Huo Yue already met her, or maybe Zhu Ziyan replaced that poison girl?

"Spirit Ascension... that’s too long," said Huo Yue, a frown deepening on her face.

To a cultivator in the Eastern Region, Spirit Ascension was a realm of legends, a peak that many spent centuries failing to climb.

So the idea of waiting that long to stand by his side in the Central Region felt like an eternity she wasn’t prepared to endure.

Haoran thought for a moment and nodded, his expression darkening with a rare moment of agreement. "Indeed. For the average talent, it is a lifetime."

Huo Yue nodded at that.

"If you wanted a shortcut, or rather, if you don’t want to wait until you are Spirit Ascension, then your only choice is the decennial Imperial Academy Recruitment."

"...What’s that?" asked Huo Yue, her interest piqued.

Haoran stared at her and thought. In the Flame Empress novel, the Imperial Academy didn’t make any appearance.

Or rather, the Imperial Family didn’t make any appearance, and only the 9 Immortal Clans, all of whom are at the same level as Shen Clan, made an appearance.

"It is the crucible of the Empire," Haoran explained, his voice taking on a rhythmic, instructional quality. "Once every ten years, the Imperial Academy opens its gates to recruit talents from every corner of the empire. It is a winnowing process designed to find the gold amidst the dross."

Huo Yue nodded. I see, it’s understandable. After all, the Empire needed talents so that they won’t decline or stagnate, so having this recruitment was a logical action for them.

"But, although anyone from the Central Region can apply with relative ease, the rules for the Four Cardinal Regions are much more stringent."

Huo Yue tilted her head, "How so?"

Haoran explained, "For the outskirts, they only grant ten slots per region. That means the Eastern, Western, Northern, and Southern regions can only send ten geniuses each to try and pass the grueling entry exams."

Huo Yue frowned, her mind already racing through the implications. "Exams... so it’s not guaranteed that they will get accepted, right?"

Ten slots for an entire region containing billions of cultivators was a terrifyingly narrow gate.

"Yes. It is far from a guarantee," Haoran replied, a cold smirk touching his lips. "In fact, it is a slaughterhouse for ambition. From what I can remember, in the past one hundred years, no one from the Four Cardinal Regions has managed to pass the examinations. It’s kind of funny, really. They arrive with the titles of ’Number One Genius’ from their home provinces, only to realize they are nothing more than frogs at the bottom of a very deep, and very crowded well."

Haoran had seen many people from the cardinal regions completely lose all hope after seeing the geniuses of the central Region, with some even suffering from a heart demon.

"...What?" Huo Yue’s eyes widened, her breath catching in her throat. "Not one? In a century?"

Haoran nodded, seemingly unfazed by the dismal statistics.

"The gap in resources, techniques, and early-stage tempering between the Central Region and the outskirts is a chasm most cannot leap. So, after hearing all that..." he tilted his head, his eyes locking onto hers, "would you like to try? Would you like to be the one to break a century of failure?"

The sadness of Haoran’s departure and shock of century of failure that had clouded Huo Yue’s face moments ago vanished, replaced by a fierce, burning light.

Huo Yue grinned brightly, immediately regained her determination and nodded. "Of course! The only reason why no one from the four cardinal regions have managed to pass is because I wasn’t born yet! If they want a genius, I’ll give them one they’ll never forget."

Haoran smiled, a genuine flash of amusement and perhaps a sliver of pride crossing his features. "Indeed. That is the spirit I expect from my fiancée."

"So? How can I apply for those slots? And what are the requirements?" asked Huo Yue, her practical mind already shifting toward the logistics of her new goal.

"The specific information and the tokens for the slots will be given to the dominant power of a region," Haoran said. "In the Eastern Region’s case, that power is the Spirit Hall. They act as the gatekeepers for the Empire, and as for the requirements, if I remember it correctly, then an applicant must be at least twenty years old and no older than fifty. And most importantly, they must at least have a Golden Core realm cultivation just to step through the door for the first test."

Huo Yue furrowed her brows in thought, her fingers tracing the edge of her sleeve. "Golden Core... I’m at the Peak of Core Formation now. With the right environment and a bit of luck, I can reach that level soon in about a three months, one or two if I’m lucky."

She began to ponder of her training...well, she’ll leave it all to Fairy Liu, after all, she’s the master, right?

"By the way, Haoran, when will this recruitment start? How much time do I have to prepare?"

Haoran thought for a moment, calculating the celestial cycles and the Imperial calendar in his head. "Counting the time... it should be in about three years. That will be the day when the star of the Great Emperor aligns with the Imperial Pillar."

"Three years..." Huo Yue breathed a sigh of relief, her mind spinning with a training schedule. "Within three years, with the foundation I have and the momentum I’m building, I can probably reach the Nascent Soul realm. If I enter the exams as a Nascent Soul instead of a mere Golden Core, my chances will skyrocket."

She looked at him then, a sudden thought occurring to her. "Haoran, will you also attend the academy?"

Haoran nodded, his gaze turning serious. "Yes, I will be there. Although you may not know this, but Yue’er, the Imperial Academy is more than just a school. It gathers all the ’Luck’ of the empire into a single geographic point, so studying there, walking its halls, and being recognized as a student basically guarantees various opportunities that the heavens would otherwise deny."

"Luck?" Huo Yue frowned.

Haoran nodded, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "Luck is a nigh-intangible resource even for those at the highest levels of cultivation. But in short, think of being able to avoid calamities that should have killed you, finding treasures in a pile of trash because you felt a ’whim’ to look, surviving life-or-death situations by a hair’s breadth, having a higher chance of a smooth breakthrough without heart-demons... those things are all governed by the invisible flow of Providence. Once you are enrolled in the Imperial Academy, you are tethered to the Empire’s destiny and you will receive a share of that collective luck."

It is also for this reason why despite Immortal Clans like the Shen Clan would like to send their heirs to the Imperial Academy, because the luck would simply be incredibly useful for them.

Not just them, even other Academies and Sects posessed luck, just not as potent as the Imperial Academy.

"I see. I understand," Huo Yue said, her voice quiet.

Luck, huh. For some reason, she couldn’t help but think of herself and the bizarre trajectory of her life.

Those kinds of things like the narrow escapes, the sudden windfalls, finding some hidden legacy, or even being able to find herbs and such that she desperately needed.

All of those had happened to her so frequently in the last two years.

So, was she already being guided by some unseen force? Or was she simply an anomaly in the weave of fate?

The heavy atmosphere of the balcony began to lift as the stars fully claimed the sky, the weight of the future was still there, but for a moment, the present felt more vital.

"Come," Haoran said, breaking her reverie as he reached out and took her hand, his fingers cool but his grip firm. "Let’s go and enjoy our reunion. We have three days before the world demands our attention again. It has been two years, after all. Let us not waste the tonight on talk of exams and empires."

Huo Yue shook her head to rid herself of the lingering thoughts of destiny and luck as she smiled at him, her eyes bright with a warmth that rivaled the torches of the city below. "Alright. Let’s go."

As they walked back into the palace, the long, golden shadows of the setting sun were replaced by the silver glow of the moon, casting a serene light over a pair whose journey was only just beginning to truly entwine.