Why stop it?" The academy elder lifted his eyebrows and laughed. He lifted a finger and pointed it at Fang Yuan who was far away and said, "This young man has taken control of the entire situation, and his attacks are fully restrained. Look at the way he cuts at the neck, he only acts on the left or right side, but never cutting at the nape. This is because he knows that striking the neck sides can make a person faint on the spot. Meanwhile attacking the area at the back of the head and neck could cause death, so he automatically abandoned that way of attacking."
"Look at all those youths on the ground, which one of them is actually heavily injured? None! Even if they were badly hurt, so what? Are you saying that our academy's treatment Gu Masters won't be able to cure this sort of traumatic wound?"
"But sir elder, that child is just too arrogant. He blocked the entrance; this is obviously not acknowledging our existence as guards! Being ignored isn't the main problem though, the important matter is how the clan will think of our academy. To actually allow a small petty C grade student make a fuss in the academy and not stop it. If word goes out, we're afraid this might affect your reputation, sir elder." The guard squinted as he said this.
"Hmph, in reality is that because you all were disregarded by the boy, so your own dignity feels challenged?" The academy elder was not too happy. He sneered and shot a gaze as sharp as a sword edge at the guards. They all lowered their heads, all of them disagreeing.
"What's wrong with fighting? As long as lives are not lost, it will stir up the competitive side of the students and temper their will to fight. To stop this kind of fight is to stifle the student's fighting passion! Was there no fighting in the past batches? Every batch had their own battles, and it happened very often. The only difference was that it usually happened in the latter half of the year when the students had already mastered some means of fighting. With strength they itched to fight, and at the same time it is an aggressive age. Why didn't you stop those people back then?" The academy elder questioned in a cold voice.
"Maybe it was because the fights in the previous years were all single battles, there were rarely huge scale fighting like this one. But this Fang Yuan is really good at creating a disturbance!" The chief of the guards replied.
"No, no, no." The academy elder shook his head, "That was because you all did not dare to stop it. Because after half a year, a Gu Master will have the ability to fight beyond a mortal's strength, and with your petty mortal bodies, how are you supposed to stop it? Right now you all want to stop Fang Yuan, perhaps it is because he just started cultivating, so he doesn't have enough power. It's also because you feel that he ignored your existence and offended your dignity. But you must all remember, these students all bear the surname of Gu Yue! They are my Gu Yue clan's clan members, your masters! Even if they are still of young age, no matter how weak, they are still your masters!"
The elder's tone had turned sharply.
"Your surnames are not Gu Yue, what is your worth? Because of your loyalty, you were all given the position of guards, rewarding you with some sweet benefits. But in reality, you are still slaves. Just slaves! A slave dare give preposterous opinions of their masters, caring about the matters of their masters?" The elder's face was dark like water.
"This was not your subordinates idea, not my meaning!"
"I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't dare!"
The guards were ashen-faced as they kneeled down to the ground, spouting nonstop. The academy elder gave a cold snort and pointed at the chief guard who had just called Fang Yuan a person good at creating disturbances. "You gave an outrageous comment on your master. You are relieved of your position."
After a while, the elder said to the others, "After half a month, there will be a re-examination to determine the new chief."
The other guards immediately had eyes that shone, their hearts pumping with enthusiasm.
"The position of chief of the guard! Every month I'll be able to receive half a primeval stone more!"
"To be able to become the chief is to become a man above men. Aside from the masters, I dare to see who else would show displeasure at me?"
"If I became the chief, how cool that would be…"
"Alright, what are you all pestling here for? Get downstairs and wait for the battle to end, then sweep the field!" The elder roared.
"Yes, yes, yes."
"Your subordinate takes his leave!"
The guards left in reverence and awe as they went down. One of the guards on the stairs lost his footing and fell down. Immediately there was a series of sounds implicating a chain of people falling and knocking down.
However under the academy elder's power and influence, the guards reddened their faces and endured in suffering, not letting out a single noise.
"Hmph! Those minions are just like dogs. Every once in a while they'd get this itch to misbehave; you'd have to smack them so that they know fear and respect. Then just throw some small victories and bones to them, letting them fight amongst themselves like dogs, letting them compete amongst themselves to serve my clan with their life. To hold a stick in one hand and a carrot in another – This is the unique way of the upper echelons." As the academy elder heard the quiet movements below, he sneered in his heart and turned his head, looking through the window and at the school gates.
A fresh group of ten or so students were on the ground at the entrance. Fang Yuan stood proudly, and there were three young girls back-to-back, huddling at a side opposite him.
"You, you-you better not come over!"
"If you come over, we'll shoot you with the moonblade!!"
In their hands were a layer of blue radiance. It seemed like they were compelled to the point they would actually mobilize their primeval essence and use the Moonlight Gu.
Fang Yuan's body was still that of a normal fifteen-year-old boy, and if they attacked him with the moonblade it would not do him any good. Yet he was not afraid – instead he sneered at them and walked step by step towards the girls. "You girls have pretty big guts huh, have you forgotten the rules of the school? Inside the academy fighting using Gu is forbidden, or else the penalty will be expulsion. If you girls want to be expelled, then just do it."
"This…"The young girls hesitated.
"Indeed there is such a rule." The blue light in their hands faded away.
Fang Yuan's eyes flashed as he caught this opening and dashed forward, his palms waving in the air, cutting down two of them without a shadow of doubt.
Being the last one, her morale dropped and her knees turned weak. She collapsed to the ground crying heavily, begging fang Yuan, "Don't you come over Fang Yuan, please let me go."
Fang Yuan stared down at the young girl with a condescending look, his cold voice sounding in her ears. "A piece of primeval stone."
The girl's body fluttered and she quickly opened her money pouch, realization taking hold of her. She took out three to four pieces of primeval stones and held them in her palm, stretching out her hand to Fang Yuan, "Don't hit me, I'll give them all to you, I'll give all my stones to you!"
Fang Yuan was expressionless as he slowly reached out with his right hand. He lifted his forefinger and thumb, gently pinching at a piece of primeval stone from the girl's hand.
The young maiden could not stop trembling. Fang Yuan's hand had a youth's pale and slender form, but in her eyes his hand was horrifying like a ferocious claw of terror.
"I've said it earlier, I will only take one piece of primeval stone." Fang Yuan paused for a moment, then he said plainly, "You may leave."
The girl stared at Fang Yuan for a good while, then she finally got up. But her limbs were still weak and she could not properly stand. Her heart was already full of fear towards Fang Yuan, and she was afraid to the point that she could not muster a single breath of energy.
When the academy elder saw this, he could not help but shake his head. One of his reasons to remain an observer was to borrow the chance to see each of the student's respective fighting talents.
This girl who collapsed on the ground was only a C grade talent, but with this kind of mentality she could only become a logistics Gu Master. She would be able to be productive in the clan, but there was no expectation for her to be on the battlefield.
"As for this Fang Yuan…" The academy elder rubbed his chin, his eyes squinting with a flash of light. He felt that Fang Yuan was very interesting. Not only did Fang Yuan possess fighting talent, he even had a sense of propriety. To just extort for a piece of primeval stone was not beyond the bounds in the elder's heart. But if fang Yuan wanted to blackmail for two pieces, that would be too much and he would need to intervene.
The academy's allowance was originally three pieces. To have a piece taken away would still be considered harmless. But if he extorted away two stones, then what is the point of giving out subsidy? He might as well just give everything to Fang Yuan.
Very quickly the last group of students arrived. There were only five people, and among them was Fang Yuan's twin younger brother.
"Big brother, how could you be like this?! You are too bold, to actually beat up your classmates at the gates and take away their primeval stones!" Gu Yue Fang Zheng was wide-eyed as he looked at the scene. He could not believe what he was seeing before him, "I advice you to quickly go to the academy elder and take the initiative to admit your mistake, or else with you making such a huge matter, it's not a joke, you might actually get expelled!"
Fang Yuan laughed and said, "You're right."
Fang Zheng heaved a relieved sigh. Seeing that his older brother hadn't gone insane and could still be persuaded, that was good.
But very quickly he heard Fang Yuan say again, "Every one of you, a piece of primeval stone."
"What?" Fang Zheng opened his mouth wide with surprise, "Even I need to pay up?"
"My dearest little brother, of course you can choose not to." Fang Yuan's tone was very gentle. "But you will end up just like them," he said and pointed at those fallen on the ground. Some of them had fainted, and some of them were moaning in pain.
"Even his own younger brother isn't spared!"
"This Fang Yuan is crazy, he's too vicious…"
"We cannot defeat him, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. We better hand it over and overcome the trouble."
"That's right, we'll just pass up the primeval stone first. It's just one piece anyway, when we go back and report to the teachers, he'll be getting it!"
With the lesson drawn from their classmate's mistakes, the remaining youngsters obediently accepted Fang Yuan's blackmail with gazes of defiance.
"Hold up." Just as they were about to leave, Fang Yuan shouted at them to halt.
"Fang Yuan, are you actually going to go back on your word?" The youths started to become nervous.
Fang Yuan faced the teenagers on the ground, gently sighing. "Do you guys really think that I would squat down and search through their bodies one by one?"
The youths stared blankly, then they were hit by realization one by one. Each of them turned red in the face and stood at the spot hesitatingly.
Fang Yuan stared at them, narrowing his eyes. There was a flash of cold light in his gaze; immediately the five youngsters felt their heart beating fast, their scalps going numb at the same time.
"Alright, Fang Yuan. We understand your meaning."
"We'll just help you this once."
Under Fang Yuan's despotic aura, they could only lower their heads and search through each of the young teen's money pouches on the ground, taking out a piece of primeval stone from each bag. Then they brought it together and passed it to Fang Yuan.
The entire class had a total of fifty-seven people. By extorting a piece of primeval stone from every single one of them, Fang Yuan held fifty-six pieces.
He originally had twenty pieces, but he spent ten to buy a few jars of green bamboo wine. Adding the number of primeval stones from his own allowance and reward, the total number of primeval stones he had in his possession amounted up to seventy-nine pieces.
"This sort of capital free business that consists of extortion and plundering is really the most profitable business." Fang Yuan pocketed his money pouch that had suddenly expanded greatly into his bosom and strutted away, leaving behind a floor full of teenagers, lying like corpses on the ground.
And a few teenagers, Fang Zheng among them, blankly stared after Fang Yuan's gradually disappearing shadow.
"Get out there fast."
"All of you, faster! Arrange the little masters properly."
"The treatment Gu Master, where is he, ask him to come over fast!"
The guards were yelling as they all rushed forward, falling over each other in their eagerness to present themselves. They willingly gave their all for the small position of being the chief guard.
Author's Note: There were some problems with the layout yesterday, but they've been corrected now. Really sorry about it, I gave you all obstacles to your reading. Hmm, with my new book on the list of new books, I'm really happy; this is all due to all my new friend's support! I've seen the power of you all, the popularity is also rising. Due to the uniqueness of the book's style, I hope those of the same type will support it. This book will be written all the way, and will have stable updates. All my books have always been finished, the aspect of integrity in this matter is full drop! "Put all the wine jars under the bed." Fang Yuan pointed and directed four workers from the inn. In each man's hands were jars of green bamboo wine. Right after Fang Yuan successfully extorted his peers, he went to the inn and bought twenty jars in one go.
Each jar cost two pieces of primeval stones, and Fang Yuan pumped in forty primeval stones for the sake of the Liquor worm.
The money pouch that had bulged out not long ago inflated by half in an instant, leaving thirty-nine pieces of primeval stones behind. However it was worth the money – these wine would be able to support the Liquor worm for a long time.
"Alright," the workers immediately replied. They would not dare to show any hint of disrespect to a Gu Master. Add on to the fact that Fang Yuan had bought so much wine, he could be said as the inn's big customer. With just a casual word before the innkeeper, the workers were able to easily put down their current activities and workload.
After the inn servants left, Fang Yuan closed the dormitory door and sat cross-legged on his bed.
It was already nighttime. The stars and moon in the sky were bright, and the night breeze flowed with a hint of scented fragrance.
There was no light in the room. Fang Yuan calmed his state of mind, letting his focus slip into the primeval sea.
The waves of the primeval sea rose and fell, the seawater giving out green copper coloured light. Every drop of seawater was the green copper primeval essence that a Rank one Gu Master specially had. The primeval sea took up 44%(2) of the entire aperture; this was Fang Yuan's C grade talent's limitation.
The four walls of the aperture were a thin layer of white light, supporting and encasing the aperture. In the sky above the primeval sea there was nothing. The Spring Autumn Cicada had already hidden itself away under Fang Yuan's command, restoring itself under a deep sleep.
Floating on the primeval sea was a cute and chubby white Liquor worm. It frisked about with its heart's content on the seawater, sometimes diving into the sea, other times shaking its head and tail, splashing and splattering water droplets around.
Fang Yuan sent a thought through his mind, and the Liquor worm immediately responded. It stopped playing and curled up into the shape of a rice dumpling, leisurely floating into the air. It rose up to the middle of the aperture and out of the green copper sea.
"Go." Fang Yuan mobilized a tenth of his primeval essence, transforming it into a narrow flow, thrusting it all into the Liquor worm. The Liquor worm had already been refined by him, so this time it did not resist. It took in the entire jet of primeval essence and absorbed everything into its body.
Immediately the sea surface dropped by a small cut. The curled up Liquor worm turned the primeval essence into a driving force and began to radiate out white light. Inside the soft light, an enshrouding mist of wine fumes were gradually produced, finally converging into a pale white wine mist.
The wine mist was marvelous. It did not drift apart, instead enveloping around the Liquor worm.
"Rise." Fang Yuan gave a thought, transferring another 10% of his primeval essence. The green copper seawater dived into the wine mist; as the wine mist melted into the seawater, it gradually lessened, and eventually there was no trace of it left. As for that 10% of green copper primeval essence, it also lost its general volume and was left with 5%.
However this 5% of primeval essence was even more condensed than before. The original primeval essence was a jade green, giving out a copper luster. Right now although this new primeval essence had the same copper luster, the green was a darker shade – it was pale green.
Pale green coloured primeval essence was the primeval essence that only a Rank one middle stage Gu Master would have. The Liquor worm's use was to condense the primeval essence and increase it by a small realm rank!
A Gu Master had 9 great realms, from the bottom – Rank one, Rank two, all the way to Rank nine. Every great realm was split into four smaller realms, which were initial stage, middle stage, upper stage and peak stage.
Fang Yuan was only a Rank one initial stage Gu Master right now, but with the Liquor worm's help he had 5% of a Rank one middle stage Gu Master's primeval essence!
"If I want to condense out 5% of middle stage primeval essence I would need to use 20% of initial stage primeval essence. I want to convert all the 44% of my primeval sea into middle stage primeval essence, so I'd need to use around 180% of initial stage primeval essence. To reach this target as soon as possible, I'd need to borrow the help of primeval stones."
As he thought of this, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and took out a complete primeval stone the size of a duck egg from his bag. The primeval stone was a sort of ellipsoidal shaped, translucent grey stone. As the natural essence inside it is consumed, its size would continue shrinking.
His right hand slowly closed, the primeval stone tightly clenched in his palm. He absorbed the natural primeval essence inside the stone, continuously replenishing his own aperture. The level of the sea surface that had fallen in his aperture slowly began to rise.
The primeval stone was meant to be used. Fang Yuan was not stingy by one bit, and he would not save it up.
"I do not have someone to back me up, and I do not have support from friends and family, thus I can only rely on extortion and plundering. Today was just the first time, but after this, every seven days when the academy gives out the school allowance, I will continue blocking the academy gates."
How could robbing and blackmailing once satisfy Fang Yuan's appetite? In a Gu Master's cultivation, the primeval stone was the most scarce thing. As for the consequences of his plundering actions, Fang Yuan was not the least worried.
This world was not the same as Earth.
On Earth, schools would always prohibit fights to mainly stabilize harmony. But in this world, fighting was the main theme.
No matter a Gu Master or common mortal, they would fight for survival. Sometimes it would be a fight with a scary wild beast. Sometimes it would be a battle against the raging weather, and other times if could be a fight against other Gu Masters over resources.
As a result, moderate fighting was instead encouraged and advocated by people.
From young to old, from simple brawls to battles determining life and death, this was the portrayal of most of the human lives here.
This surface of this world was boundless. Just the Southern Border alone that Fang Yuan stayed in now, it was bigger than seven to eight times the entire surface of Earth itself. The living environment here was hostile and cruel, so humans would often construct mountain villages in the form of clans, holing up together.
Every now and then there would be waves of beasts, or perhaps extremely bad weather assaulting a village. The Gu Master would become the core force of a village's protection, and every year the situation of attrition would become more serious.
Surviving requires men with strong fighting will. A clan needs battle Gu Masters, there is never too much. Moreover, Fang Yuan's attacks were within the proper limit.
He never attacked the lower jaw, as this would easily cause the skull to fracture and cause the loss of a human life. He also never struck the back of the head. When fighting he did not use his fists or elbow, or even jabbing with his fingers, but he used his palm. The number of kicks he used could also be numbered.
The students that fell were not heavily injured; at most they were lightly wounded.
Fang Yuan was not bloodthirsty, he just treated killing as a type of means.
Every time he acted, he would have a clear goal. Whatever the type of method, whichever would let him reach his goal the fastest, he would use it. In other words, he was unscrupulous in doing things.
...
The clouds floated over, covering the moonlight. A shadow enveloped over the Gu Yue village.
The watchman banged on his clappers, prompting people to know that it was already deep in the night – Be careful of fires, be on guard of beast assaults, as well as the possibility of foreign Gu Masters sneaking into the village.
There were still a lot of lights in the village.
In the Chi family branch home, Gu Yue Chi Lian stayed in his study, the lights radiantly bright. This high authority old man spoke with a gentle tone, expressing sympathy as he asked his own grandson Gu Yue Chi Cheng, "I heard you were beaten up by that Fang Yuan today?"
Gu Yue Chi Cheng had a black right eye, and he angrily said, "Yes, grandpa. That Fang Yuan was just a petty C grade, yet he dared to act so arrogant. He blocked us all at the entrance, not caring about the friendly sentiments of his classmates, and he robbed us of our primeval stones. What's more, the academy just opened one eye and closed one eye over the incident. It was only when Fang Yuan strode away that the guards hurried over. Grandpa, this time you have to help me expel this angry resentment of mine!"
Instead Gu Yue Chi Lian shook his head. "This is between you and your juniors. You were blackmailed to lose a piece of primeval stone, and you did not suffer heavy injuries – Grandpa cannot act without any justifiable excuse. Even if you were heavily wounded, I will not stand up for you, do you understand why?"
Gu Yue Chi Cheng was stunned. He struggled to think, and after a long while he hesitatingly said, "Grandpa, I think I understand your meaning. You are hoping that I will rely on my own strength to find my way, right?"
"You only understood one aspect." Gu Yue Chi Lian nodded his head and added, "You must remember, you are not just an individual representative, but you are the image on behalf of our Chi family branch. For many years we have confronted the Mo family branch, and your every move will represent the hope of the future of the Chi family branch. Grandpa may help you in the shadows, but you must stand up and erect a self-reliant and strong image. Otherwise the elders who are supporting our family will not see the hope for our future, and they will abandon the Chi family."
As he said this, Gu Yue Chi Lian heaved a sigh. "This is also why grandpa helped you to cheat and let you impersonate a B grade talent. Our Chi family needs a strong successor to hold on to those who are supporting us."
Gu Yue Chi Cheng was then enlightened. "Grandpa, I understand now."
Gu Yue Chi Lian shook his head. "Just understanding won't do any good. You must work hard. Fang Yuan is just small trouble; next up you must study hard and train diligently on your basic martial arts and get your dignity back. At the same time do not forget to work hard on cultivating, promoting to middle stage as soon as possible. The best you can do is to win the position of class monitor, this will be great honor and a kind of help to our Chi family."
"Alright, grandpa!" Gu Yue Chi Cheng replied loudly.
"Heh heh heh, this spirit is how the heir to our Chi branch should be like. Grandson, you must work hard, I will do my best to help you."