Chapter 378: “Zephyr Academy (2)”
Fusing your spiritual powers with a ring spirit by itself was already an incredible notion and had never been tried before. Needless to say, no one else knew how to carry it out. That was the reason why the Zephyr Academy was the one and only place under the skies that one could learn to become a spirit healer.
Even if only a single person in the family successfully becomes a spirit healer, their entire family would be able to live a life of luxury.
Among all the hopeful youths that had come to the Zephyr Academy, at least eight or nine out of ten of them targeted to become a spirit healer.
A wide sea of young youths were currently crowded before the gates of the Zephyr Academy.
They were all craning their necks, huddled in small groups, whispering among themselves. You could see the smiling faces, all eager with anticipation.
A tiny figure darted quickly through the huge crowd, squeezing past several groups of people and finally stopped under a tree that was less crowded. Under that tree, four other figures were waiting patiently.
Qiao Chu held a piece of paper in his hand, his face was gloomy as he walked up to his companions. “Is this an institution of learning or is this place a money grabbing slaughterhouse? They are slaughtering people without batting an eyelid!”
“What is it?” Fei Yan asked, looking at Qiao Chu, her eyes blinking in incomprehension.
Qiao Chu shoved the piece of paper over to them and Fei Yan looked at the it with his other companions.
Their faces all turned dark at the same time.
“The fees for three years….. Three hundred thousand….. And lodging and meals not included!? This….. this is outright robbery!!” Fei Yan stared at the piece of paper, his eyes wide with incredulity.
To this motley gang who needed to even split one tael carefully between themselves to spend, three hundred thousand taels was a figure that was impossible for them to grasp…..
They wouldn’t be able to raise that amount even if you sold all of them.
At that moment, all their eyes turned to the smallest figure among them all, looking at Jun Wu Xie, the only one among them with any money!
“Little Xie….. the money…..” Qiao Chu eyes was almost going to tear.
For all five of them, it would come up to a staggering one and a half million taels. And that was just to be enrolled into the academy and they had not included the fees for food and lodging. Looking at the astronomical sum the academy was asking, they estimated that they would need at least two whole million taels or they should not even think about it.
Jun Wu Xie raised her head amongst the expectant looks thrown at her and she replied in a calm voice: “Not enough.”
“……..”
The other four were thunderstruck. Such an imaginable sum, even the Mr Moneybags among them did not have enough.
When Jun Wu Xie set out from the Qi Kingdom, she had a little bit more than a million taels on her. She had splurged most of her money while in the Phoenix Academy and she had only eight hundred thousand on her now, which was less than half of the amount they needed for the enrollment for five of them.
“How beastly!? Such a ridiculous amount for their fees and the place is still so packed! Do they all just dredge up the money from the sea?” Qiao Chu stared at the wall to wall sea of people and his heart started to bleed as he counted the unimaginable sum involved here with more than a thousand applicants before him. Out of those, only less than ten percent of them would be selected to to be admitted into the main division. The other ninety percent of them would just be throwing good money into the sea.
Three hundred thousand taels. Enough to allow a well to do family to live a life without worries. Gambling such a large amount of money betting on a kid’s potential almost broke Qiao Chu’s fragile glass heart.
“If their fees were not set that high, I think even if the Zephyr Academy’s campus were to be ten times bigger, they still would not have enough space for the wave of disciples that would come here.” Hua Yao reasoned with a soft voice.
The only place that provides a cradle for aspiring spirit healers. That point alone was enough for hordes of people to fight for a spot in the academy.
“But….. we still do not have that much money…..” Qiao Chu’s shoulders slumped immediately.
Jun Wu Xie’s eyes narrowed and she asked suddenly: “Is there an auction house anywhere near here?”
Qiao Chu was startled by Jun Wu Xie’s question.
“Little Xie, why would you want to go to an auction house? We do not have anything valuable on us to put up for sale.” The most expensive things they had on them were those clothes from the Moon Weavers Pavilion they were wearing and even if they sold them, it would not contribute the least bit to the amount they needed.
“Just tell me.” Jun Wu Xie insisted.