BTTH: Auto Cultivation System

"Besides, I can always purchase a Heavenly Flame from the A-C System. However, what I need isn't just any ordinary Heavenly Flame like the one Xiao Yan, the future Flame Emperor, wields. The Heavenly Flame I require was born during the creation of the Great Thousand World. These flames were refined by Chaos itself for eons until they gained consciousness, becoming what are known as Fire Spirits."

A Fire Spirit is a being with its own intelligence, comparable to an ultimate Magical Beast, capable of assuming human form.

Xiao Hua pondered the specific Heavenly Flame required to upgrade his Chaos Mantra, as specified by the system. Naturally, he wondered about the origins of this Qi Method, but the System offered no details.

He speculated that the Chaos Mantra might be similar to Xiao Yan's Flame Mantra, where everyone believed Tou She Ancient God had created the Qi Method since he was a Heavenly Flame that gained intelligence and consciousness. However, it was later revealed that he had merely stumbled upon it during a lost state.

'If that's the case, then this Chaos Mantra must have been created by the will of the Great Thousand World. Normally, it shouldn't even exist, but thanks to the almighty, though extortionate, System, I managed to obtain it. Additionally, the System referred to them as 'Primordial Heavenly Flames'—the original templates used to create all other Heavenly Flames in this plane,' Xiao Hua thought.

He sighed wearily at the System's demands, knowing there was no chance these Primordial Flames could be easily found without its help. In moments like this, he couldn't help but envy Xiao Yan's heavenly luck.

"Is something troubling you, Brother Xiao Hua?" Xiao Xun Er asked with concern.

"I just realized there's no such thing as a free lunch in this world," Xiao Hua replied with a wry smile.

"Ufufufu. Of course not. If there were, people wouldn't bother putting in effort—they'd just take whatever is in front of them," Xiao Xun Er giggled softly at his remark.

Xiao Hua had no response because she was right. It was precisely because there was no such thing as a free lunch that he was willing to put in the effort to grow stronger, to break the cage that trapped Xiao Xun Er, and to let her soar freely while he protected her, no matter who stood in his way.

‘Now that I think about it, the Primordial Heavenly Flame costs 500,000 ACP and has a high chance of possessing me, but it might be worth it in the end. With the immense power of the Primordial Heavenly Flame, I'd be a fool not to accept it.’

‘And I have the 1x Primordial Heavenly Flame, which grants me a random Primordial Heavenly Flame for free. Though I won’t use it now unless I have a death wish.’

Xiao Hua smiles at the prospect of having all of these Primordial Heavenly Flames. However, he also understands that he’s currently too weak and need to be even stronger before buying and absorb one of these Primordial Heavenly Flame.

---

After a full day of rest, Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun Er left the courtyard at dawn. Alongside them were Xiao Tao and Xiao Yang, and together, they made their way toward the plaza. Upon arrival, they were greeted by several carriages and the sight of instructors awaiting their arrival. Standing beside them was a majestic magical beast—a Gryphon—whose regal presence elicited a mix of awe and fear among the new students.

“I see some familiar faces,” Xiao Yang remarked.

“You mean Instructor Li, Instructor Hei, and Instructor Ming, right? Be respectful, or you might get punished later, Yang’er,” Xiao Tao admonished him.

“It's fine, brother. We’re this far away, so there’s no way they can hear us…”

Xiao Yang’s words were abruptly cut off as he noticed the three instructors glaring at him. He immediately regretted his loose tongue, wishing he could turn back time and keep quiet. Xiao Tao and Xiao Hua laughed at his misfortune, while Xiao Xun Er smiled wryly, shaking her head at their childish antics.

“Brats, what are you laughing at!? Get over here, now! We’re checking attendance, and anyone who’s not here will be left behind!” Instructor Li bellowed.

The brothers flinched and hurriedly joined the line, a response that was mirrored by the other students who had been casually making their way to the plaza. They had assumed the instructors would wait, not expecting such urgency.

Meanwhile, Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun Er walked toward the queue calmly, unaffected by the instructor's words. There was no need to panic when they were already close to the plaza.

Once the attendance was taken and it was confirmed that no one was missing, the instructors stood at the front, facing the new students. After scanning their excited and nervous faces, the instructors nodded to one another and stepped aside, allowing Old Ming to step forward and deliver his speech.

“Although I’ve said this before, I’ll say it again: congratulations on being selected as students of Jia Nan Academy. However, you should understand by now that, no matter how much you or those around you believe in your talent, there are hundreds of others here with equal or greater ability. You may feel proud, but never arrogant, lest you find yourself outmatched,” Old Ming advised the new students.

“Do you understand?!” Instructor Li shouted, snapping some of the more drowsy students out of their daydreams.

“Yes, Instructor Li!” the students responded in unison, their voices tinged with fear.

“Good. Now, board the carriages. We depart immediately,” Instructor Hei instructed, pointing toward the waiting vehicles.

The students hurried to the carriages, some joining friends, while others simply found a seat wherever they could. Once everyone was aboard, Instructor Li gave the signal to depart. The Gryphons let out high-pitched cries before lifting the carriages into the air, beginning their journey.

---

Inside one of the carriages, the members of the Xiao Clan were happily chatting and laughing, reminiscing about past events. Suddenly, Xiao Yang recalled something that happened about five days ago.

"Oh! By the way, Cousin Xiao Hua, your popularity in the clan has risen again."

"Indeed. After the results were announced, the elders were celebrating, and the younger generation started to idolize you. Although, for Young Master Xiao Yan, it must have been a frustrating situation," Xiao Tao added with a nod.

"Well, you can't really blame them," Xiao Yang said with a helpless shake of his head. "After all, the elders have started comparing you to Young Master Xiao Yan. With their dislike for Xiao Yan, it's not surprising they'd seize this opportunity to tease the Third Young Master."

"Their frustration is understandable," Xiao Tao said with a wry smile. "Since he was three, the Third Young Master has been a menace, always pranking everyone and causing problems. Meanwhile, Cousin Xiao Hua has behaved maturely and well despite his young age."

Hearing these two talking, Xiao Hua couldn’t help but shake his head. With the elders don’t really like Xiao Yan, it’s not surprising that they would use him to mock Xiao Yan. But hearing Xiao Tao talked about Xiao Yan when he was three, Xiao Hua remembered something Xiao Yan had done when he was four before Xiao Xun Er arrived.

"True. The one I pity the most is the Second Young Master. When he accidentally exposed his love letter to Xiao Lei, it caused everyone in the family to find out, straining his relationship with her," Xiao Hua said, feeling sympathy for Xiao Li during that time.

Even though he awakened the memories of his previous life much later, he still retained the memories of this life, including the incident caused by Xiao Yan to his older brother.

The incident became so well-known that countless people, including his older brother Xiao Ding, the First Young Master, and even their father, have been teasing Xiao Li about it. Worse still, the lady he wrote the love letter to has despised him ever since and won't even give him a second glance.

“Brother Xiao Hua, aren’t we talking about a child here? If that’s true, then he’s a bit too much wasn't he…?” Xiao Xun Er was shocked to hear about Xiao Yan's childish behavior.

“““Tell us about it…!””” Xiao Hua, Xiao Tao and Xiao Yang said in unison.

The instructors interrupted their talks. They were introducing and explaining about Jia Nan Academy. How they located in Jia Nan City which is in Black-Corner Region and it’s in the vicinity of Jia Mia Empire’s borders intersected with two other large empires and how in that no man’s land, Jia Nan Academy was almost like a small country in itself.

How if the Jia Nan Academy doesn’t have enough strength, the other three empire would swallow them and after experiencing plenty of growth over many years, the current Jia Nan Academy has become the most famous institutions of higher learning, but also quite reputable between citizens of the three empires due to kind of concealed cooperation between it and the three empires.

Since this is something that Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun’er already heard of from Ling Ying, they decided to ignore it and just played with each other. However, what caught their attention was the next one. A couple of warnings about when one goes to the Black-Corner Region.

The two most important warning are concealing money and treasures while the second one is to never underestimate anyone in Black-Corner Region, whether they are children, women, or elderly. For a simple reason: They have managed to survive in that place.

Jia Nan City and Jia Nan Academy has wiped the slate clean of murder and maintaining order in the surrounding area, with them constantly patrolled by members of the Law Enforcement Unit, consisting of instructors and students alike, killing anyone from Black-Corner Region who had malicious intentions toward the academy.

---

Time passed by for few days and they finally reached Jia Nan City.

“Get up and pack your belongings! We’re here!”

Instructor Li woke the students who were still sleeping. To prevent the students from rushing when reaching the landing center, he woke everyone beforehand and told them to prepare themselves. Unfortunately, not all students woke up from his shouts.

“Hey! Yang’er, wake up! I’m not going to clean up for you!” Xiao Tao shaking Xiao Yang to wake him up.

“Ughhh… Brother Tao! How about couple of minutes?” Xiao Yang groaned.

“And let them leave us once we landed?! Come on, wake up or I’m burn you to death!” Xiao Tao raged at his sloven brother and one could feel the temperature is slowly rising.

“We leave first Cousin Xiao Tao!” Xiao Hua announce their leave.

“Oh! Let me take care of this oaf!” Xiao Tao waves his hand to Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun Er, telling them to leave Xiao Yang to him.

After travelling for few days with each other, Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun Er know the difficulties of waking Xiao Yang, so they leave first to gaze at Jia Nan Academy from the corridor. As Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun Er enjoyed the beautiful sunrise, the flying magical beasts let out a low roar and swooped down on the huge city.

After Instructor Li confirmed no one was left behind, he brought us to Jia Nan Academy. Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun’er saw the other students, including Xiao Tao and Xiao Yang, were surprised after seeing Jia Nan City.

Not surprising since the city was many times bigger and more beautiful than Wu Tan City. With their streets, paved with dark-red brick, overflows with people walking and laughing. This type of atmosphere was something that was impossible to see in Wu Tan City.

However, Xiao Hua wasn’t surprised as he had seen this kind of scene in his previous lives, while Xiao Xun’er lived in a place that seemed like an immortal palace. Nevertheless, what’s beautiful is beautiful and there is nothing wrong with appreciating the scenery.

“If you’re done, then close your mouth. We already reached our destination.”

Instructor Li commented on their behaviors and announced their arrival to the new students. Hearing his announcement, the students snapped out of their stupor and turned their attention to Instructors Li.

“Now that you guys are paying attention, I will tell you something that I didn’t on the way here.”

“First of all, your treatment would be different according to your potential value that we have received. For example, Xiao Hua and Xiao Xun’er would be given a preferential treatment, while there rest would be given a different type of treatment.”

“Of course, if you caught the eyes of the instructors, the treatment you get would also change. However, please note that we can also removed you depending on your manner and etiquette.”

Hearing the instructors can also remove any students that they have been taking care of wasn’t surprising to anyone. After all, if the students that they teach personally caused a huge problem, it may affect their reputations and created a black dot on their records.