The sky above Mount Hongwu parted like a sea of burning amber.
Four huge, winged dragon-steeds—creatures of pure white scaled muscle, with manes of crackling azure lightning and wings spanning forty feet—burst through the midnight clouds. Behind them, gliding on runners of solid condensed starlight, rode a sky flying carriage crafted from purple sandalwood and inlaid with thousands of glowing spiritual pearls.
On the carriage doors gleamed a nine-tiered silver-and-gold crest: the inviolable seal of the Great Da-Qi Imperial Master Teacher Pavilion.
The sheer, overwhelming pressure of a royal delegation dropped upon the mountain like an invisible sky mountain.
Down in the academy pavilions, Dean Shang and fifty senior elders dropped to their knees on the snowy flat stone slabs. Their foreheads were pressed against the stone in stunned submission.
“An Imperial Envoy from the Central Capital...” Dean Shang gasped in scared reverie, warning his elders with a harsh whisper: “Silence! Don’t dare breathe loudly! If a royal master teacher is displeased, our entire principality could face academic censure!”
The sky carriage didn’t halt at the Grand Plaza.
It swept across the mountain ridge, its runner-lights casting dazzling beams of brilliant white soft glow that pierced the darkness, heading directly toward the isolated western cliff!
CREAK.
The solid pine door of Classroom 404 swung open.
Frank stepped onto the cedar porch, wearing his heavy wool overcoat over his canvas trousers, a half-eaten sesame biscuit in his left hand. He raised his right hand to shield his eyes from the blinding glare, his face twisted in deep, deep annoyance.
“Turn down the high beams!” Frank yelled toward the sky, his voice flat, gritty, and unbending. “Who wired those ten-thousand-lumen xenon searchlights without an inline dimmer switch?! You’re causing severe eye glare across the entire job site! Turn them down before someone walks off the edge of the retaining wall!”
Behind Frank, Shitou, Ling’er, and Niu Mang rushed onto the porch, their yellow gourd hard hats strapped firmly in place, their trade tools raised in defensive vigilance.
Ling’er’s breath hitched as she stared at the royal seal on the carriage doors. Her silver eyes darkened with complex, buried memories of the royal court she had fled five months ago. But one look at Frank’s annoyed, calm expression anchored her soul like an iron ballast.
The four winged dragon-steeds folded their wings. They settled lightly onto the crushed gravel of the western courtyard without disturbing a single peach petal.
The sandalwood carriage door swung open with a soft, sharp air hiss.
Stepping down the floating crystal-clear stairs was a man of majestic, imposing stature. He wore robes of pure silver-trimmed moonlight silk, an official scholar’s crown of carved purple jade. A heavy bronze medallion depicting a quill crossed with a measuring rod. A approved 1-Star Master Teacher of the Great Da-Qi Empire!
Flanking him were six royal armored paladins, each streaming the terrifying, choking aura of the Core Formation Realm!
The 1-Star Master Teacher, Envoy Mo, stood in the courtyard.
He took in the blooming peach trees in the middle of winter. He stepped toward the porch, his boots touching the warm cedar boards. To Envoy Mo’s shock, there was not a single spirit-gathering magic charm or defensive formation carved into the wood. Instead, he felt a smooth, rhythmic pulse of pure hydronic warmth beneath his soles and a nonstop grounding current that drained away all static noise!
And finally, his piercing gaze landed upon the three students. Their flawless, flawless Tier 2 Qi Seas, their silver-steel-dense spirit veins, and the bright yellow gourd helmets perched atop their heads.
Envoy Mo’s royal composure slipped. His high-born lips twitched wildly.
‘A Ancient Earth-Vein Physique... A Solar Dragon Core... An Ancient Bulldozer Bloodline...’ Envoy Mo thought, his heart thundering like an ancient war drum. ‘All three perfectly unblocked, devoid of a single grain of pill toxin or spirit vein friction! The rumors were true! In this remote, barren borderland academy, an unlisted sky grandmaster has showed up!’
Envoy Mo stepped forward, cleared his throat. Then he unrolled an exquisite scroll woven from golden royal dragon-silk.
The scroll flared with golden script, projecting words of roaring light into the night sky:
“By the supreme decree of the Regional Master Teacher Pavilion of Bounded Cloud Prefecture!” Envoy Mo proclaimed, his voice echoing across the mountains with legal royal power.
“An unlisted Tier-1 Heavenly Anomaly and Primordial Teacher Dao has showed up within the borders of Mount Hongwu! Disregarding traditional vanity, this master transformed three crippled outcasts into Tier-Two foundational champions within thirty solar days, triggering the Grand Founding Bell and commanding withered wood to bloom in the dead of winter!”
Envoy Mo lowered the scroll and bowed at a solemn sixty-degree angle to Frank.
“Teacher Lu Zhen! By royal mandate, you’re hereby formally summoned to Bounded Cloud Prefecture to present your students and undergo the official One-Star Master Teacher Test!”
Dean Shang and the elders, who had hurried up the path, fell to their knees in the snow. They gasped in breathless awe.
The Master Teacher Test!
In the entire Tianxuan Principality, not a single educator had received an official royal summons from the Bounded Cloud Pavilion in over fifty years! It was an ascension that moved an educator from a petty mountain teacher to a royal peer of the realm!
Frank looked at the golden scroll, then took another bite of his sesame biscuit, chewing thoughtfully.
“Bounded Cloud Prefecture?” Frank asked, scratching his chin. “That’s three hundred miles to the northeast across the mountain passes. The travel logistics are terrible. I have a whole workshop to winterize here, three cords of seasoned firewood to stack. The spring drainage swale needs grading. Traveling three hundred miles just to sit in an academic lecture hall and take a written pop quiz sounds like an incredible waste of billable hours.”
Dean Shang nearly choked on his tongue in sheer terror. ‘He’s refusing an Imperial Master Teacher Summons because he has firewood to stack?!’
Envoy Mo blinked, fully caught off guard. In his forty years of service, every teacher who received this summons cried tears of thanks, banged their heads against the dirt. Then they sacrificed three oxen to their ancestors.
Before Envoy Mo could speak, Frank’s DAO-QA screen flickered with neon-amber tracking data, scanning the fine print at the bottom of the golden dragon-silk decree.
Frank stopped chewing.
His eyes narrowed onto the tiny royal legal clauses hovering in his HUD.
Statutory Benefit 1: 100% Freight Tariff Exemption on all inter-country transport...
Statutory Benefit 2: Unlimited transit permits for heavy trade tools, raw lumber, and bulk aggregates across all prefectural borders...
Statutory Benefit 3: Open wholesale purchasing privileges at the Regional Ore and Smelting Exchanges...
Frank’s breath hitched.
“Wait a minute,” Frank said. He stepped down from the porch, his eyes locked onto Envoy Mo. “Read that lawful clause again. If I pass this One-Star Master Teacher audit, does my approved license grant zero-heavy tax shipping across the entire Bounded Cloud Prefecture?”
Envoy Mo blinked in utter confusion. “Uh... Yes, Teacher Lu. Holders of the One-Star Master Teacher Token are exempt from all country tolls, excise taxes, and freight tariffs. You may transport whatever cargo you deem necessary for teaching purposes.”
“No weight limits on iron ore?” Frank pressed, leaning in.
“None whatsoever.”
“No town permits needed to move three-ton seasoned oak timbers through the city gates?”
“None. The royal crest overrides all regional customs checkpoints.”
A slow, brilliant, radiant smile spread across Frank’s face.
In Frank’s eyes, the entire world transformed. Bounded Cloud Prefecture was no longer a noisy training hub. It was a huge, untaxed regional wholesale hardware market! A wonderland of heavy mining equipment, high-thickness alloy smelting yards, and exotic building materials that common borderland towns could only dream of!
“Free shipping across the whole prefecture,” Frank whispered, a spark of pure, pure builder passion blazing in his eyes.
Frank turned to Dean Shang. He handed the old man a small brass key and a handwritten checklist on brown butcher paper.
“Dean Shang. While we’re away at the regional exchange, you’re the temporary property caretaker for Classroom 404. Here are your instructions: check the stone oil level in the hydronic pool once a week. Don’t touch the dark rock core under any circumstances. If a pipe joint drips, wrap it with three layers of hemp thread. And don’t let anyone rake leaves near the peach tree roots.”
Dean Shang accepted the brass key with respectful hands, cradling it like a royal seal of state: “This old man will protect Classroom 404 with his life! Not a single fallen leaf shall be disturbed!”
Frank turned to his three students, who were standing at attention on the porch.
“Crew!” Frank barked, clapping his hands together with a sharp, resounding CLACK!
“Here, Teacher!” Shitou, Ling’er, and Niu Mang snapped to attention all at once.
“Pack the heavy toolboxes,” Frank commanded, his voice filled with never seen before vigor. “Oil the sledgehammers, sharpen the chisels, and wrap the spare spade blades in greased burlap. Tie down the eighty-four-pound Black-Gold metal bar beneath the wagon bed. We’re expanding our operations to the regional market!”
“Students OBEY!” the three roared with boundless enthusiasm, their voices echoing off the mountain peaks!
Envoy Mo stood in the blooming courtyard. He stared at the three peerless prodigies eagerly packing crowbars, grease pots, and pipe wrenches into heavy iron-heavy chests.
He looked at Frank, who was already inspecting the dragon-steeds’ carriage hitch with a tape measure, checking the axle clearance and load spreading.
‘He treats the Imperial Master Teacher Test... Like a commercial business spreading...’ Envoy Mo thought. It shook his head with a mixture of deep awe and helpless amusement. ‘The Bounded Cloud Prefecture has no idea what kind of storm is about to hit them.’
High in the midnight sky, the four winged dragon-steeds let out a clarion cry, their lightning-manes crackling in the cold wind.
Behind them, Classroom 404 stood proud and true on the western ridge—its foundation square, its framing plumb, its underfloor heating purring like a gentle beast, and its future stretching across the boundless heavens of the Great Da-Qi Empire!
***