"Is he Fang Yuan, or Fang Zheng?" Some students were muttering, still unable to distinguish between the twin brothers Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng.
"It's Fang Zheng. Fang Yuan always has a face full of indifference. A nervous expression would never appear on his face." Someone answered.
"Oh, then there's something worth watching. Fang Zheng is our mountain village's only A grade genius in three years." Everyone successively cast their gazes over.
Fang Zheng felt the pressure contained in these gazes, which made him even more nervous.
Standing on the field, even his fingers were trembling slightly.
He fired his first moonblade, originally aiming at the scarecrow's chest, but because of his nervousness, it skewed. Ultimately, the moonblade imprinted on the neck area of the scarecrow puppet.
A burst of slight sounds of surprise immediately spread from the youths.
They thought this was done intentionally by Fang Zheng, not hitting the easiest-to-hit puppet chest, but that neck instead. This was a display of confidence in his own attack method.
Involuntarily, they looked forward even more to Fang Zheng's subsequent performance.
The expressions of Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng also sank slightly.
The only ones in the arena who could tell Fang Zheng's mistake were the academy elder and Fang Yuan.
"That was close!" Seeing this moonblade, Fang Zheng exclaimed in his heart, secretly feeling lucky.
He took a few deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, and fired two more moonblades. This time he did not make any mistakes again. Both moonblades hit the scarecrow puppet's chest, hitting accurately.
This result made the academy elder nod his head, while Mo Bei and Chi Cheng calmed down. Fang Zheng's result was evenly matched with theirs; it all depended on how the academy elder scored it.
The other students let out sighs one after another. Fang Zheng's subsequent performance was not outstanding, making them slightly disappointed.
The next few groups had nothing worth watching. No one else could perform better than the three of them—Mo Bei, Chi Cheng, and Fang Zheng.
The youths began to whisper to each other.
"Looking at it this way, the first place for today's assessment should be produced from among the three of them."
"All three of them hit the scarecrow puppet, I wonder who the academy elder thinks more highly of."
"Wait, it's the last group. Fang Yuan is taking the field."
"Oh, that C grade 'cold-blooded genius'? Hehe."
It wasn't until the last group that Fang Yuan unhurriedly took the field.
"It's that Fang Yuan…" Gu Yue Mo Bei raised his head and glanced at Fang Yuan, then lowered his eyelids, not caring very much.
"Last time you had dog-shit luck and accidentally chose a Moonlight Gu with a weak will, which allowed you to take first place. Let's see how you perform this time!" Gu Yue Chi Cheng crossed his arms, waiting to watch Fang Yuan make a joke of himself.
"Older brother… this time is not like the last time. I practiced hard for so long, I will definitely be able to surpass you." In the crowd, Gu Yue Fang Zheng pursed his lips, his fists clenching subconsciously.
During the last vital Gu refinement assessment, he, with an A grade aptitude, had been forced to accept second place, so naturally he was not convinced in his heart.
Especially when he learned that the reason Fang Yuan was able to win was actually because of good luck that he took first place. This made him even more unwilling to accept it.
For Gu Yue Fang Zheng, defeating his older brother Fang Yuan held a special, significant meaning to him.
Quite a few gazes focused on Fang Yuan's body, and the academy elder's gaze also stared fixedly down at him.
Fang Yuan was completely unmoved, his expression indifferent.
After standing firmly, primeval essence surged into the Moonlight Gu in the center of his palm. With a chop of his palm, he fired the first moonblade.
The moonblade flew very high. Not only did it cross over the top of the scarecrow puppet's head, but it was also higher than the bamboo wall. It flew for a distance of nearly fifteen meters before its radiance finally dimmed and it disappeared into the air.
"Pfft…" Someone could not hold back their laughter.
"This is skewing way too outrageously." Someone chuckled coldly.
"Indeed a genius. No wonder he got first place in refining Gu." Someone spoke mocking words.
In his early years, when Fang Yuan created poems and showed premature intelligence, it had aroused the dissatisfaction of these people. Later, gaining first place in refining Gu by relying on "luck" further added a trace of jealousy to their feelings of dissatisfaction.
Many people were waiting to watch a good show, waiting for this "genius" Fang Yuan to make a fool of himself, and this moonblade of Fang Yuan's did not let them down.
Snickers connected into a whole piece in the crowd.
The academy elder shook his head slightly, laughing at himself in his heart. Why was he paying attention to Fang Yuan for no reason? He was merely a C grade; he only took first place in refining Gu due to a moment of luck.
He had already made up his mind in his heart that although the results of Mo Bei, Chi Cheng, and Fang Zheng were the same, he would choose Fang Zheng as first place.
The struggle between Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng was a microcosm of the political struggle between the two great power-holding elders in the clan. The academy elder had always been neutral and did not want to get involved in the political whirlpool.
The academy elder leaned more towards clan leader Gu Yue Bo, and Fang Zheng was precisely someone of the clan leader's faction. Adding on the fact that he was an A grade aptitude, choosing him for first place would show some biased care towards him, which could also be accepted by the higher-ups of the clan.
A burst of warm spring breeze blew over, with waves of floral fragrance drifting into the martial arts arena.
The sunlight shone on Fang Yuan's body, illuminating a solitary dark shadow on the ground.
His expression remained indifferent as he quietly looked at the scarecrow puppet over ten meters away. The moonblade mark in the center of his palm was faintly emitting water-blue radiance.
The first moonblade, he had naturally skewed it intentionally. Now he only had two chances left to strike. Furthermore, considering the academy elder's standpoint, to seize first place, he had to create an attack effect that far surpassed everyone else within the only two attacks he had.
"With only two chances left to strike, it's impossible. Older brother, I have finally won against you." Gu Yue Fang Zheng's eyes stared at Fang Yuan without blinking.
The life shadow his older brother had brought upon him since childhood was finally gradually fading away at this moment.
Fang Zheng felt that victory was already close at hand. He subconsciously clenched his fists tightly, his entire body trembling slightly from excitement.
"Older brother, winning against you this time is merely a beginning. Next, I will win against you time and time again, until all the shadows in my heart are dispelled. I will prove to the clansmen the excellence of an A grade genius!" Fang Zheng said to himself in his heart.
However, right at this moment, Fang Yuan made his move.
His right palm was like a knife, chopping right into the empty air.
With a soft hiss, the water-blue radiance shrouding his palm broke away, flew into the air, transformed into a curved blue light moonblade, and shot towards the scarecrow puppet.
Just in the very next second, a layer of blue light lit up again on Fang Yuan's right palm.
With a flip of his palm, he slashed out the third moonblade diagonally.
These two attacks of his connected as smoothly as flowing water and moving clouds, perfectly executed.
Two moonblades flew out in succession, separated by a distance of barely half a meter in the air.
Under everyone's astounded gazes, both moonblades successfully hit the scarecrow puppet's neck accurately.
"This…" Fang Zheng's pupils shrank drastically, and a feeling of something amiss abruptly emerged in his heart.
In the next moment, the students slowly opened their mouths wide with astonished expressions.
They saw the scarecrow's head first slowly tilt to one side, then fall off its neck, and finally drop to the ground, bouncing once and rolling a distance of two to three meters.
Fang Yuan had chopped off the head!
Such a result was beyond the expectations of everyone present.
"Is this luck or sheer strength?" The academy elder frowned.
Such doubts similarly hovered in the hearts of the rest of the students.
For a time, the martial arts arena fell into silence.
"How could this happen…" Fang Zheng murmured, having lost his voice. He stared blankly at Fang Yuan, the surging feeling in his heart suddenly falling flat, plunging into a deep abyss.
Fang Yuan squinted his eyes, seeming entirely unaware of the gazes from the crowd falling upon his body.
Coo coo coo…
Under the blue sky and white clouds, a group of colorful sparrow parrots suddenly flapped their wings and flew up into midair. Trailing their magnificently slender tails, they cooed and played while spiraling in the air.
Fang Yuan stood in the center of the martial arts arena, looking up. Under the brilliant sunlight, the birds' multicolored feathers were evidently even more dazzling and radiant.
His expression was entirely unconcerned, as if the one who had just severed the scarecrow's head was not him at all.
"The spring sunlight is truly radiant…" He sighed in his heart.