"Why should we stop it?" The academy elder raised his eyebrows and laughed. He stretched out his finger, pointing at Fang Yuan from afar, and added, "This child has already taken control of the overall situation, and his strikes are extremely measured. Look at him chopping people's necks, he only chops the left and right sides, never hitting the back of the head or the back of the neck. This is because he also knows that chopping the left and right sides of the neck can make a person faint on the spot. Chopping the back of the head and neck, however, has a possibility of causing death, so he actively abandoned that kind of attack method."
"Look at these youths collapsed on the ground, which one of them is heavily injured? None! Even if they were heavily injured, so what? Relying on the healing Gu Masters in our academy, can't we heal these sorts of physical trauma?"
"But Lord Elder, this child is truly too arrogant. Blocking right at the main gate, he simply does not put us guards in his eyes. It is fine if we are ignored, but the crux is how the clansmen will view our academy. To actually allow a tiny C grade student to cause a huge ruckus in the academy without going to stop him. If the matter spreads out, I am afraid it will also have a bad impact on your Lordship's reputation." The guard narrowed his eyes and offered his counsel.
"Hmph, is it that you feel your own dignity has been offended because you were ignored by this rascal?" The academy elder was displeased. He gave a cold sneer, his gaze sharp as a blade sweeping down, and the guards all successively lowered their heads, saying in unison that they would not dare.
"What is bad about brawling? As long as no human lives are lost, it can better stimulate the students' competitive mindset and temper their fighting will. If we were to prohibit such brawling, it would be strangling the students' fighting passion! Could it be that there was no brawling in previous batches? Every batch has it, and it happens very frequently. It is just that in the past, it was always in the latter half of the year, when the youths had mastered some combat methods. Having strength, they could not suppress their itching skills, and it is exactly an aggressive age. Why did you not stop those people in the past?" The academy elder questioned in a cold voice.
"Perhaps because the struggles in previous batches were all single combats, and rarely on such a large scale. But this Fang Yuan is also truly too capable of causing a ruckus!" The head guard replied.
"No, no, no." The academy elder shook his head. "This is because you do not dare to stop them. Because after the latter half of the year, the Gu Masters will have combat strength that surpasses mortals. With your mere mortal bodies, what will you use to stop them? Now you want to stop Fang Yuan, perhaps you feel that he has just begun his cultivation and lacks strength. And you feel that he holds you in contempt, offending your dignity. Yet you must remember, the surname of these students is Gu Yue! They are clansmen of my Gu Yue clan, they are your masters! No matter how young they are or how weak their strength is, they are still your masters!"
The elder's tone abruptly turned severe.
"If your surname is not Gu Yue, what kind of things are you? Seeing your loyalty, you were given the position of guards and rewarded with some sweet benefits. But in essence, you are still slaves. Merely slaves! Does a slave also dare to make wild remarks about their master and manage their master's affairs?" The elder's expression was as gloomy as water.
"Your subordinate did not mean this, did not mean this ah!"
"Your subordinate would not dare! Your subordinate would not dare!"
The guards were all scared so much their faces turned the color of dirt, successively kneeling on the ground, kowtowing ceaselessly.
The academy elder let out a cold snort and pointed at the head guard who had just said Fang Yuan was causing too much of a ruckus: "You made wild remarks about your master. You are stripped of your position as head."
Pausing for a moment, the elder then said to the others: "Half a month later, there will be a new assessment for the new head position."
The other guards' eyes instantly shone, their hearts abruptly invigorated.
"The head guard can take an extra half a primeval stone every month!"
"Being able to become the head means being someone above others. Aside from the masters, who else will dare give me a look?"
"If I became this head, how glorious would it be…"
"Alright, what are you all doing standing here? Roll down there already, and wait until the brawl is over to clean up the venue!" The elder scolded.
"Yes, yes, yes."
"Your subordinates will take their leave!"
Trembling with fear, the guards went downstairs. Walking on the staircase, someone's steps became chaotic and they tumbled down. This instantly implicated a whole continuous series of tumbling and crashing sounds.
However, intimidated by the prestige and power of the academy elder, the guards all suppressed it until their faces turned red, working hard to endure it without letting out the slightest other noise.
"Hmph, slaves are like dogs, every set period of time the bones in their bodies will itch, and they must be beaten a bit to let them know reverence. Then toss out some dog bones of petty profits, letting them bite each other as dogs do, competing to exert themselves for my clan. The so-called stick in one hand and carrot in the other, this is the absolute standard method for those in superior positions." Hearing the commotions downstairs, the academy elder sneered proudly in his heart. Then he turned his head, looked through the window, and gazed at the academy's main gate.
On the ground at the gateway, roughly ten more students had been newly added.
Fang Yuan stood tall and proud, holding his head high. Opposite him, three young girls had their backs facing each other, huddled to one side.
"You, you, you don't come over!"
"If you come closer, we will shoot you with moonblades!!"
A layer of water-blue radiance emerged in their hands. It seemed that having been pushed to desperation, they actually mobilized their primeval essence to urge the Moonlight Gu.
Fang Yuan's body was still that of an ordinary fifteen-year-old youth. If they fired moonblade attacks, it would truly be a bit hard to deal with.
However, he was not afraid. Sneering disdainfully, he approached the young girls step by step: "You have quite the big guts. Did you forget the academy's rules? Fighting using Gu insects is not allowed inside the academy, otherwise you will be expelled. If you want to be expelled, then just go ahead and attack."
"This…" The young girls hesitated.
"There indeed is this rule." The blue light in their hands gradually dissipated.
A fierce glint flashed across Fang Yuan's eyes. Spotting this flaw, he abruptly charged forward, waving his palms, acting ruthlessly towards the beauties, bang bang, knocking two unconscious.
There was one left, her fighting spirit lost, her knees went soft, and she collapsed on the ground. Crying a storm of tears, she begged Fang Yuan, "Fang Yuan don't come over, I beg you to let me go."
Fang Yuan stood tall, looking down at the young girl, his cold voice coming over: "One primeval stone."
The young girl's delicate body trembled, suddenly realizing the situation. She hurriedly opened her money pouch, took out three or four primeval stones, cupped them in her palms, and held them up to Fang Yuan: "Don't hit me, I'll give them all to you, I'll give them all to you!"
With an expressionless face, Fang Yuan slowly reached out his right hand, extended his index finger and thumb, and gently pinched one primeval stone from the young girl's hands.
The young girl's delicate body trembled non-stop. Fang Yuan's hand carried the characteristic pale slenderness of a youth, but in her eyes, it was as hideous and terrifying as demonic claws,
"I said long ago, I will only take one primeval stone." Fang Yuan paused for a moment and said flatly, "You can go."
The young girl stared blankly at Fang Yuan for a good while, only then remembering to get up, but her limbs were soft and she could not even stand.
Her heart was already entirely filled with fear towards Fang Yuan, being so afraid that she could not exert even a little bit of strength.
Seeing this scene, the academy elder could not help but shake his head.
Seizing this good opportunity to discover the students' respective combat talents was also one of his purposes in observing.
Although this young girl collapsed on the ground had a C grade aptitude, with such a disposition, she could only serve as a logistics Gu Master, engaging in production within the clan; one could forget expecting her to go to the battlefield.
"It is this Fang Yuan on the other hand…" The academy elder rubbed his chin, his eyes narrowing, a sharp light flashing across.
He found this Fang Yuan to be truly interesting. Not only did he have combat talent, he understood boundaries even better. Extorting only one primeval stone had not exceeded his inner bottom line. But if Fang Yuan had wanted to extort two pieces, that would be going too far, and he would have to step in and interfere.
The allowance in the academy was only three pieces to begin with. Being extorted of one was harmless. But if two pieces were extorted, then what was the point of distributing an allowance? It would be better to directly give it all to Fang Yuan.
Soon, the last batch of students also arrived. There were only five of them, and among them was Fang Yuan's twin brother.
"Older brother, how could you be like this?! Your guts are too big, to actually beat up your classmates directly at the main gate and extort their primeval stones!" Gu Yue Fang Zheng watched dumbfounded, he simply could not believe the scene before his eyes, "I advise you to quickly take the initiative to admit your mistake to the academy elder, otherwise causing such a huge matter is no joke, you might say you'll get expelled!"
Fang Yuan smiled: "What you said makes a lot of sense."
Fang Zheng let out a sigh of relief. It seemed his older brother was not completely crazy yet; it was good if he could listen to persuasion.
But soon he heard Fang Yuan speak again: "One primeval stone per person."
"What?" Fang Zheng opened his mouth wide in surprise, "Even I have to hand it over?"
"My dear younger brother, of course you can choose not to hand it over." Fang Yuan's tone was very gentle, "But the outcome will be the same as theirs."
Fang Yuan pointed at the youths collapsed on the ground, either unconscious or groaning.
"Not even letting off his own blood brother ah!"
"This Fang Yuan is crazy, too cruel…"
"We cannot defeat him, a wise man does not fight when the odds are against him. It's better to hand it over first and get past the immediate crisis."
"That's right, we'll hand over the primeval stone first. Anyway it's only handing over one piece. After we go back and report this to the elders, he'll have his fill of suffering!"
Having the lessons of the past before them, the remaining youths carried looks of indignation and obediently accepted Fang Yuan's extortion.
"Wait a minute." They were just about to leave when they were stopped by Fang Yuan.
"Fang Yuan, could it be you want to go back on your word?" The youths instantly became nervous.
Fang Yuan sighed softly towards the ground full of youths: "Would you guys really think I would squat down and search their bodies one by one?"
The youths froze for a moment, then successively realized it, their faces turning red one by one as they stood fully hesitant in place.
Fang Yuan stared at them, narrowing his eyes.
A cold glint flashed through the slit of his eyes, and the five youths instantly felt their hearts palpitate, their scalps turning numb at the same time.
"Alright, Fang Yuan, we understand your meaning."
"We will help you just this once."
Forced by Fang Yuan's despotic power, they had no choice but to selectively lower their heads one by one, search the money pouches of the youths on the ground, and take out one primeval stone from within. Then they gathered them together and handed them to Fang Yuan.
The entire class had a total of fifty-seven people. Extorting and robbing one primeval stone from each person, Fang Yuan now had fifty-six pieces in his hands.
He originally had twenty pieces before, but spent ten pieces to buy a few jars of green bamboo wine. Adding his own allowance and reward, he now had seventy-nine primeval stones on hand.
"This no-capital business of robbery and extortion is the most profitable ah." Fang Yuan tucked his abruptly swollen money pouch into his chest and walked away with a swagger.
Leaving behind the ground full of youths, acting as corpses on the floor.
There were still a few youths, Fang Zheng mixed among them, staring blankly at Fang Yuan's gradually departing back figure.
"Quickly get on."
"Everyone speed up, arrange the little masters properly."
"Where are the healing Gu Masters, quickly invite them over!"
The guards shouted loudly, swarming over, competing to show off. For the sake of a tiny head position, they were full of vigor.