Chapter 196: Who is worthy?

Before heading to the meeting, Wang Wei began to ponder about all the information he knows about the Emperor Enlightening Academy in order to further tune out his plans.

Despite being the second most powerful faction currently in the Myriad Emperor World, the Academy is actually very new compared to all the other factions as it was created during the Middle Emperor Era. To be precise, the Academy started that era. 

After the Devil Era, the Myriad Emperor World had gone through another catastrophe that almost ruined it. As a result countless Emperor Lineages and other factions were destroyed in the process. During a brief period between these two Eras, many Great Emperors were born and they tried to revitalize the world, but they failed. 

That was until Emperor Kong--also known by the name Kong Meng. Emperor Kong was a very powerful cultivator born during that period. According to information left over from that time period, Kong Meng was a very enlightened person who preached the idea or notion that all cultivators should have access to education, to knowledge—no matter their background, status, or talents.

As you can expect, no other factions supported this idea. For countless eras, the idea of only hoarding knowledge has been practiced. And in this world where knowledge equates to power, no faction wants to release their techniques or methods to outsiders—especially without receiving any benefit.

Not to mention that the cultivation world was at an all time weakness and low morale after the Devil Era. At that time, precious cultivation techniques were even more valuable given that a large majority of them were destroyed.

However, Kong Meng did not see it that way. He believed that only by circulating more techniques that other people will be inspired to create or renovate the already existing one, thus pushing the cultivation world back to recovery and further development. And it turned out that he was right.

After the Heaven Will Battle, Kong Meng proved the Dao and took the name Emperor Kong. Then, he created the Emperor Enlightenment Academy. To be precise, he created or invented the concept of "Academy".

Before Emperor Kong's time, there was no such thing as an academy. All factions in the world could be divided into two branches: families and sects.

When it comes to families or clans, all cultivation techniques or methods were passed between people with the same bloodline or the same surname. This method was used because cultivators believed that this was the safest way to guard these techniques. After all, it is very difficult to betray your own family, your own blood.

As for sects, they allowed talented people from outside into their groups. However, these people were usually taken from a young age so that they can be brainwashed into being loyal to their sects. These kids were usually taught to place the sect before everything else, even their family or own death.

However, even that method had many problems due to unfair distribution of power and resources. A perfect example of that is the Dao Opening Sect.

Although the sect is ruled by four factions, it was not always like that. In the early stage of its creation, the majority of power and resources were in the hands of the Wang, Li, and Yan family. As for the sectarian faction, they usually hold the lowest of positions in the sects. The resources that they received were the least amount, they did not have access to all the powerful techniques, and they were forced to do the most dangerous tasks like being trained as Death Slaves or Suicide Soldiers.

It was not until the Shadow Ruler Emperor appeared in the sect that they realized the importance of the sectarian faction and the benefit that they could bring to the sect as a whole. So, more power and resources were granted to them—elevating them to the status of one of the main factions of the Dao Opening Sect.

However, the Emperor Enlightenment Academy created another  system of inheritance. A system that allows all cultivators access to techniques and resources as long as they enter the Academy. Of course, the Academy did not give them all this for free, but granted them the opportunity to acquire precious cultivation resources.

An example of that is a loose cultivator that does not belong to any faction nor wanted to join one. If he wants some rare material that is strictly controlled by the powerful Emperor Lineages of the world, he can join the Academy and serve there for a few years. Then, using contribution points, he could get such rare material.

Theoretically speaking, according to the rules of the Academy, even their Emperor's Scriptures could be bought with the right amount of contribution point. However, Wang Wei knew that this was one of the biggest lies ever.

The amount of contribution points needed for a cultivator to buy such a thing was so outrageous that they could spend their entire lives slaving for the academy without even coming remotely close. Not to mention all the secret conditions are required to be eligible to get access to these powerful cultivating scriptures.

The Academy used this method to lure in countless cultivators all over the world to join them with false promises and hope for a possible better future. The only people that have access to these scriptures or very rare and precious resources are the disciples that are personally trained by the Academy, as they know that these people are loyal to them.

Back to Emperor Kong, after creating this new system, the Academy started to thrive throughout the entire world. Many cultivators knew that their chances of having enough resources in their path of cultivation finally arrived, so they rushed to attend.

Then, something amazing happened that shocked the entire world. The next four Great Emperors after Emperor Kong all came from the Emperor Enlightenment Academy. The Academy dominated the world for five generations by successfully cultivating five consecutive Great Emperors.

All the cultivators of the world freaked out as they realized that this new system was effective. More importantly, they feared that the Academy would become like the Buddhist Sect in the Incense Era and dominate the entire era. So, they copied the system and used it on their own.

Many other academies were also build across the Myriad Emperor World. The sects then copied some aspect of it. They were not as strict when recruiting outside disciples. They created branch sects that recruited disciples all over the world and from different backgrounds. Then, the best of these disciples in the branch sects will be sent to the main sect in order to get access to better techniques and resources.

With this new system, the Myriad Emperor World began to rapidly recuperate as a newfound vigor was instilled in it. Then a new and prosperous era started.

As a matter of fact, that period of time used to be called the Academy Enlightenment Era, but was renamed Middle Emperor Era. The Emperor Enlightenment Academy tried hard to fight this name change, but the sects of the world were determined to change the name in the history book in order to reduce the influence of the Academy on the world, and reduced their Qi Luck.

Of course there is one benefit that the Academy still retains to this day: the Heaven Chosen Selection Trial or the Heaven Chosen Worthy Trial.

As the name implies, this is a trial held by the Academy to designate who is worthy to hold the title or position of Heaven Chosen. Ever since the Middle Emperor Era, countless "genius" cultivators have come to the Academy to attend this trial, the top 30 will receive the title of Heaven Chosen.

This process has been going on for millions of years and many other factions have tried to take this honor from the Emperor Enlightenment Academy, however, they have failed and are still forced to send their geniuses to attend the trial.

One of the reasons for that was the fact the Academy is recognized by the majority of cultivators, thus having more credibility than the other factions. The second reason being that the Heaven Chosens will have access to the 3000 Dao Tablets.

These Dao Tablets have been blessed by countless Great Emperors during the past two Eras. Due to the fact that the Academy is open to anyone, many Great Emperors from different factions have been helped by the academy during their rises—not to mention that they received the position of Heaven Chosen there.

So, in order to repay their karma, these Great Emperors would leave their understanding of the Dao in these tablets, making them the best treasure for enlightenment on the Laws of the world. Many people drooled to gain access to these Dao Tablets as a result of this—including Wang Wei himself.

Of course this was not the main reason that the Emperor Enlightenment Academy can hold the power of holding this trial for so long. It was mainly because of something called "Heavenly Dao Protection" which secured their unshakable positions against so many factions.