The relationship between Xuanye City’s Third High School and Jingwei Academy is easily understood: the former is a subsidiary of the latter. The vast majority of Third High students never reach the threshold required for elite status; they are ordinary pupils studying in a standard environment. While they receive instruction from capable teachers, they do not truly enjoy the resources that Third High is known for.
However, those who earn recognition—the truly outstanding students—gain access to Jingwei Academy privileges unavailable to the general student body. From that point on, they can utilize array formations superior to the spiritual gathering rooms of Third High, enter the academy’s laboratories to study techniques, and forge deep connections with other elite students. Should they all eventually enter the higher Daoist academies, they will already be natural allies.
The same logic applies to Xuanye City as a whole. "Third High" is merely a changing label; all the names of these secondary schools are, in essence, just fronts for the fierce competition between the academies behind them. Jingwei Academy has been ranked as the "First High" twice before. In truth, all of the top eight secondary schools have held the title of First High at one point or another. They are the true competitors, maintaining an obsessive watch over one another’s every development.
Chapter 632