Time passed quickly, and before Lu Yuan realized it, a few hours had gone by, and the other students in the Academy began waking up.
The sound of footsteps, conversations, and loud laughter soon woke Lu Yuan up. For the first time in hours, he opened his eyes.
A light flashed in his blue eyes as he did, but it quickly faded away.
"Only a few hours have passed, yet I can feel that my strength has improved significantly.", Lu Yuan thought as he clenched his fists, feeling the power contained within them.
Unfortunately, there were still only 82 open acupoints in his body, and he was still far away from opening the eighty-third.
Lu Yuan glanced at the faint white hue in one of his acupoints and estimated the time it would take him to fully infuse it with spiritual energy.
"About three days...", he muttered.
Judging by his current progress, it would take him approximately four months to open the 40 acupoints required to break through the 3rd Level of the Spirit Gathering Realm.
Such speed was already quite fast, and even the previous owner of this body had spent more than a year to break through from the 2nd Level to the 3rd. But Lu Yuan wasn't satisfied.
He hadn't forgotten that there might be someone out there who wanted to take his life.
"I need to find a way to speed up my progress.", Lu Yuan thought and was about to continue his practice, when a sudden knock at the door brought him back to reality.
"Who has time to visit me so early in the morning?", he wondered and didn't rush to open the door. Instead, he picked up the saber that was lying on the table and held it behind his back before walking to the door and opening it.
"Brother Yuan! Good morning! Did I wake you up?", a joyful female voice greeted him as soon as he opened the door.
Lu Yuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief upon recognizing the owner of this voice, and his tense nerves relaxed.
"Chen Yao, what are you doing here so early? You almost scared me.", he complained while subconsciously examining the visitor.
It was a young woman who looked only a couple of years older than him, with long, silky black hair and a pair of piercing, captivating black eyes. She wore a long white dress that reached her knees, while a sword sheath hung from her left side.
Going through his memories, Lu Yuan recognized this woman as one of the students in the same batch as him and arguably the closest friend of the previous owner of this body.
Chen Yao didn't seem to mind Lu Yuan's rude "greeting", and with a smile on her face, she shook her head.
"Have you forgotten what day it is? It's the first day of the month! The Elders are going to give us a lecture!", she said, her voice betraying her inner excitement.
Her words seemed to have woken Lu Yuan up, and he immediately remembered what she was talking about. On the first day of each month, the Azure Cloud Academy's Elders held lectures for the students.
These lectures were not only to impart knowledge regarding cultivation, but the Elders would also take it as an opportunity to teach them some common sense about this world.
Just as Lu Yuan was hesitating whether to go or not, he felt Chen Yao grab his hand and pull him away.
"Let's go! We're going to be late!"
Her voice reached his ears, and although Lu Yuan felt that he could easily escape her clutches, he chose to follow her instead..
**
The Lecture Hall was very close to Lu Yuan's residence, and the duo arrived in just a few minutes. However, even though they arrived early, most students were already here.
These students varied in age, either a few years younger or older than Lu Yuan, and their cultivation levels were also different.
The majority were still at the 1st Level of the Spirit Gathering Realm, some had reached the 2nd Level, while those who had reached the 3rd Level were very few.
Specifically, apart from the original Lu Yuan, only two other students had reached the 3rd Level. A male named Yang Chen and a female named Su Ling'er.
The two had completely different temperaments, with Su Ling'er sitting alone at the back of the Lecture Hall with a cold expression and Yang Chen sitting at the front, surrounded by numerous students.
Both Lu Yuan and Chen Yao were quite well-known in the Azure Cloud Academy, Lu Yuan for his talent and Chen Yao for her cheerful personality and beauty. As a result, their arrival drew the attention of some students.
"Look! It's Senior Brother Lu and Sister Chen!", one of the students pointed and whispered to his friend. Although his voice was low, his words reached the ears of a certain person.
Lu Yuan sensed a gaze on him and turned his head, only to find that it was Yang Chen.
A hint of doubt flashed in Yang Chen's eyes, and even though he reacted quickly and changed his expression, Lu Yuan, who had been observing him, immediately noticed it.
"Sure enough! This guy must know something!", Lu Yuan thought inwardly, but on the surface, he pretended not to notice and looked away.
In the front row, one of the students surrounding Yang Chen watched as Lu Yuan and Chen Yao took their seats and grumbled, "Senior Brother Yang, look at that guy! He doesn't even come to greet you! It seems that he doesn't respect you at all!"
His words received the unanimous approval of his companions, one of whom seized the opportunity to flatter Yang Chen.
"That's right! Who does he think he is? Just because he has a little talent, he thinks that he can go against you, Senior Brother Yang!"
A hint of happiness flashed across Yang Chen's eyes when he heard his flattering words, but his expression remained serious, and he shook his head, seemingly in disappointment.
"Please don't say such words ever again. No matter what, we're all classmates. We should support one another."
"As expected of Senior Brother Yang! He is truly magnanimous, unlike some other people!", his subordinates rushed to praise.