Chapter 4316 — The Standing of a Disciple
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
"Of course, even a genius has to learn to latch onto someone powerful once they get there—learn to keep their head down and scrape by. If you've got no real skill to speak of and still walk around full of arrogance, you'll probably be done in before long. Hmph, I'd say that hedgehog-head won't escape that fate either," Ge Wei sneered.
"So by your account, unless someone is overwhelmingly powerful and domineering, the more conspicuous and showy a genius is, the more likely they are to fall?" Wei Zhao said, arching an eyebrow.
"Exactly, that's the idea. Of course, if after getting there you don't fight or grab, keep a low profile and play the dutiful grandson, and don't go thinking you're exceptionally gifted—don't go chasing after the Three Fairies just because you fancy yourself a genius—if you avoid that sort of foolishness, then you might just live a bit longer. Otherwise you won't even know how you died," Ge Wei said with a click of his tongue.
This was a far cry from what Wei Zhao had imagined. He had assumed that a cultivator academy would be a place where everyone devoted themselves single-mindedly to training, with a relatively peaceful and serene atmosphere. Never had he expected that, from the mouth of this Southern Continent's Ge the Informant, it would sound so brutal—a place drenched in blood and slaughter!
Seen in that light, the North Island Welcome Pavilion really was a greenhouse by comparison.
"Doesn't the academy manage any of this? They go to such great lengths, finally recruit a few genius disciples, and then those disciples get killed off by their own people before you know it—there's no justifying that, is there?" Wei Zhao asked, puzzled.
"Manage? How would they manage it?" Ge Wei said dismissively. "Anyone capable of striking from the shadows is hardly a simple character—those are the cream of the geniuses. Besides, without competition, how would stronger and more outstanding disciples ever emerge? Those who survive other people's schemes and now spend their days oppressing and plotting against others—every last one of them clawed their way out of the jaws of wolves and tigers, fighting their way up the whole way."
"That's true enough, but in that case, each class suppresses the one below it. Wouldn't the newcomers never get their day?" Wei Zhao couldn't help but wonder.
"Not necessarily. As long as you can hold out, then even in a place like Morning Star Academy you can still rise to the top—it just takes the right timing, the right place, and the right people," Ge Wei explained. "Such a person needs not only sufficient strength and capital, but also to catch the right opportunity. For instance, when the batch of geniuses originally suppressing them has grown into a new realm—either taking up important posts in the academy or already gone off to higher Mystic-Rank academies for training—that naturally frees up a batch of positions, and the newcomers can move up."
"Heh, that sounds like no small feat—the sheer ferocity of the competition really is appalling," Wei Zhao said with a laugh and a sigh.
"Isn't it just? That's why I say a creature like hedgehog-head—modest ability but with his eyes fixed above the clouds—going off to Morning Star Academy, I'll bet you anything he won't last three months. If he does, I, Southern Continent's Ge the Informant, will eat shit on the spot!" Ge Wei declared with utter certainty.