I Contracted All Ancient Divine Artifacts

”Huh?”

Han Zhan thought there was something wrong with his ears and he heard wrong. ”How old are you, sir?”

”Eighty-three.” The old man said, trembling, then wobbly walked forward.

”I won’t say anymore, I won’t say anymore, I have to go to class now.”

”I’m already slow at walking, so I easily arrive late at school, and the teacher will punish me.”

Han Zhan watched speechlessly as the old man’s slow-moving figure gradually disappeared from sight, and he started to doubt his life.

At this moment, another elderly woman who looked slightly younger than the old man from before, but surely over sixty, came walking from the other side.

”Are you... also a student of Shang Academy?”

The old woman rolled her eyes. ”What makes me look like a student to you? I’m a teacher at Shang Academy!”

Just as the old woman was about to continue reprimanding Han Zhan irritably, she caught sight of the core member badge purposely attached to Han Zhan’s waist out of the corner of her eye.

Geng Jiu.

Upon seeing the core badge, the old woman paused for a moment, then her face bloomed like an old tree blossoming, squeezing out a wrinkled smile.

”You... you must be the newly appointed Dean of Shang Academy, Lord Geng Jiu!”

”Welcome, welcome!”

Han Zhan couldn’t help but feel the perks of having status as he watched her do a complete 180-degree change in attitude.

”So that eighty-three-year-old man earlier is a student of Shang Academy?” Han Zhan was still a bit resentful about what he had witnessed just now.

The old woman nodded, as a form of acknowledgment.

”Lord Geng Jiu, this is normal.”

”Normal? How is this normal?” Han Zhan couldn’t help but retort.

”They are all ordinary people who have not completed the Spirit Contract Awakening. Compared to Spirit Contract Masters who have completed awakening, their lifespan is much shorter. And they also have no way to rejuvenate themselves; in Shang Academy, there are many older students like this.”

Ordinary people who have not completed the Spiritual Energy Awakening.

This was a very unfamiliar term to Han Zhan.

Because in the outside world, in Great Xia, all adult Great Xia people would get a free chance at Spirit Contract Awakening.

This made him overlook that this is the City of Extreme Evil.

Here is not Great Xia, and there aren’t enough Awakening Stones for everyone to use for awakening, so the proportion of ordinary people here is much higher than outside.

”Then why do they insist on attending school? What’s the point for them?” Han Zhan couldn’t help but ask again.

This time, the old woman did not answer immediately. She first looked around to ensure nobody was nearby, then she began:

”Of course, it’s for extending their life.”

”Extending life?”

”Yes, extending life. Lord Geng Jiu, it’s your first time here, so it’s normal that you don’t know some things.”

”Every year, Shang Academy conducts an assessment of talent. The ten people with the highest scores will get the opportunity for Spirit Contract Awakening with the Awakening Stone.”

”As long as they can complete the Spirit Contract Awakening before their life ends, they will naturally extend their life or even be reborn.”

So that’s how it is.

Listening to the old woman’s explanation, Han Zhan’s understanding of Shang Academy underwent a tremendous change.

”So does everyone qualify to enter Shang Academy for study?”

”Of course not!” The old woman instinctively raised her voice, then suddenly realized her tone was too loud, quickly covering her mouth with her hand and lowering her voice before continuing, ”To get into Shang Academy, one must at least be a family member of an official with a certain status within the Anti-Xia Alliance.”

”Shang Academy is not a place just anyone can enter!”

Han Zhan listened as his brows furrowed even more. ”A noble academy, huh?”

”Lord Geng Jiu, you’ve used just the right word; indeed, Shang Academy is a noble academy established specifically for the families of officials within the Anti-Xia Alliance.” The old woman flatteringly gave Han Zhan a thumbs-up, speaking in an ingratiating tone.

Gongyang Jin and Elder Bing allowed such a noble academy to exist because they needed to stabilize the upper echelons of the Anti-Xia Alliance.

The existence of the noble academy can to some extent divert internal conflicts caused by the scarcity of Awakening Stones.

”Then what about those ordinary people? And those who don’t hold any position within the Anti-Xia Alliance, what about their children?”

Hearing Han Zhan’s question, the old woman’s facial expression turned slightly awkward, as if feeling that Han Zhan’s question was a bit redundant.

Certain things, if laid out on the table, become hard to discuss.

If it were anyone else, the old woman would’ve ignored them and turned away, but it was the newly appointed Dean of Shang Academy, Lord Geng Jiu, asking her.

She had no choice but to reluctantly answer: ”Children of ordinary families, and families without holding any position; their children would have to rely on marriage or be married into other families, and then slowly look for a way.”

”You see, even in Shang Academy, despite them all being in their seventies or eighties, there are some from poor backgrounds who spent their younger years busy with these matters, only to successfully enroll when they’re old.”

”As for those particularly talented or with special opportunities, that’s a different story.”

There is no nobility in the lower classes, and the extraordinary do not exist among the nobles.

This phrase flashed through Han Zhan’s mind instantly.

This is the almost solidified class structure of the Anti-Xia Alliance. While Han Zhan dared not fully agree, he also wouldn’t upset it based on his preferences easily.

After learning more about Shang Academy from this teacher of Shang Academy, the old woman, Han Zhan followed her directions and arrived at his classroom in Shang Academy.

As soon as he walked into the classroom, a sea of white greeted him.

A sea of elderly faces.

To snag seats closer to the front, they even already had a ”scuffle.”

All were frail and elderly, unable to endure even a scratch, and quickly succumbed to defeat.

So, the seats near the front were all occupied by ”young” people in their sixties and seventies.

Further back were the middle-aged in their eighties and nineties.

Even further back were those over a hundred...

Watching them look at him eagerly, Han Zhan suddenly felt under immense pressure.

Where are the Anti-Xia Alliance’s flowers? This is a group of high-ranking connections of the Anti-Xia Alliance, a bunch of obstinate old timers!

Han Zhan finally understood why Chen Tao eagerly nodded in agreement when it was suggested at the core meeting that he should become the Dean of Shang Academy.

Encountering this bunch of obstinate old timers, who wouldn’t be distressed?

Yet.

Han Zhan gently clapped his hands on the podium, making two loud bangs, and the initially murmuring classroom instantly quieted down.

”I am Geng Jiu, also the new Dean of Shang Academy.”

”As the new Dean, I am not particularly familiar with all of you, so I would like to get to know you better through a special method.”

”I’ll give everyone a piece of white paper, and you can freely express yourselves on it.”

”With ’My Relatives in the High-Echelons of the Anti-Xia Alliance’ as the core theme.”