The Eastern Treasured Vial Continent had always been split up into the north and the south with Lake View Academy acting as the point that divided the two.0

Those in the north were considered to be savages, while the south was considered to be more civilized.3

Those in the south had always held a natural disdain for northerners, and even the renowned scholars of Great Sui Nation were willing to concede their inferiority to the scholars of Southern Stream Nation. Hence, for those who came from affluent clans in the south, it was considered to be a disgrace to be married into a clan in the north.0

The end of the year was quickly approaching, and a barefoot middle-aged monk with a square and angular face was walking slowly through a busy market in the south, carrying a bowl in his hands.0

There was a streetside performer pulling out all the stops, attracting loud cheers from the crowd of spectators. The monk spotted a little monkey tied to a wooden pole. It was extremely emaciated, which made its eyes appear particularly large.0

The monk crouched down as he pulled out half a piece of stale biscuit, then pulled off a chunk before placing it onto the palm of his hand and offering it to the scraggy monkey.0

However, the monkey was frightened by the monk's kind gesture, and it scrambled to rush back in a panicked fashion, only for the metal chain it was bound by to be instantly pulled taut, causing it to fall to the ground. The monkey's entire body was riddled with whip lashes, and it curled up into a ball and began sobbing to itself.2

The monk gently set down the piece of biscuit near the wooden pole,...0