A pair of deep eyes watched the martial arts arena from afar.
The academy elder stood by the window on the third floor, taking in everything that happened in the martial arts arena.
He furrowed his brows deeply.
At the moment Fang Yuan took the initiative to step down, his heart couldn't help but feel a bit surprised. He had not expected Fang Yuan to do this either.
"This kid is somewhat slippery. He himself is proficient in the academy's rules, and normally commits no faults. Although he often sleeps in class, once asked a question, his answers are always comprehensive, making it impossible for anyone to pick out a mistake. Wanting to grasp onto something to seize against him and suppress his imposing aura is truly a bit difficult to manage."
Unwittingly, a faint trace of disgust towards Fang Yuan arose in the academy elder's heart.
As a teacher, one naturally likes obedient, well-behaved, and intelligent students. And dislikes those bad children who do not follow the rules and are mischievous troublemakers.
But the academy elder had been in charge of the academy for many years; his experience was extremely abundant, having seen countless students. Among them were those impeccably well-behaved who obeyed every command, and also those who caused trouble all day long and constantly violated discipline.
He had long since achieved a state where his heart was like still water, treating everyone equally. At the same time, he had carved the eight characters, "Model for others, education without discrimination," on the right-hand corner of his desk as a motto.
He had never felt such disgust towards a student.
Sensing this feeling of disgust in his heart, the academy elder was also somewhat surprised.
In previous classes, even with the most mischievous students, he could bear it with a magnanimous heart. How come when facing Fang Yuan, he lost this ordinary state of mind?
He carefully pondered and reflected for a moment, finally discovering the reason.
This kid Fang Yuan held a kind of arrogance hidden in his bones!
It seemed that at a fundamental level, he did not place his teachers in his eyes. He not only ignored the martial arts instructor's words just now, but also publicly rebuked him.
In fact, the phenomenon of publicly rebutting teachers often occurred in previous classes as well. But those children always had agitated emotions. It was either a rebellious psychology, or anger, untamed stubbornness, and so on.
The academy elder knew very clearly that the more agitated the youths' emotions were, the more it meant there was fear in their hearts.
But Fang Yuan did not.
There was not a single bit of fear in his heart; he seemed to have already seen through the academy's tricks.
He had a face of indifference, and even after stepping down, the expression on his face did not change in the slightest. It was as if he had done an insignificant little thing.
Yes, he treated the matter of disobeying his teacher as an insignificant little thing!
Simply put—
He was not afraid.
It was exactly this point that made the academy elder feel displeased and generated a feeling of disgust!
The academy elder could tolerate youths who were thornier and ten times more mischievous than Fang Yuan, because those students all knew fear, and were all controlled by agitated emotions.
As long as there was fear, as long as there was impulsiveness, they were easy to manipulate and would not escape his control.
But Fang Yuan was not.
He was calm, collected, and did not put his teachers in his eyes.
He lacked reverence!
A person who did not generate reverence towards the clan, even if nurtured, how could they be used by the clan?
"Once such a person appears, they must be suppressed, absolutely must be suppressed! Otherwise, his existence will bury the seeds of resistance in the hearts of other students. Over a long period, it will infect the others, making them all lack reverence for teachers. As an academy, how could we still manage the students then?"
The academy elder narrowed his eyes, making up his mind in his heart.
But soon, a look of sorrow surfaced on his face again.
How to suppress Fang Yuan?
Fang Yuan had not committed any faults; not a single piece of evidence to hold against him could be found.
Fang Yuan's slipperiness gave him a helpless feeling of not knowing where to start. He had never met such a student who was so thoroughly familiar with all the various rules of the academy.
As the academy elder, he had always shown people a face of fairness and justice. He couldn't just act like a local ruffian and actively pick faults with this youth Fang Yuan.
He originally pinned his hopes on the martial arts instructor, but right now he was deeply disappointed.
"It seems that to suppress Fang Yuan's limelight, I can only wait until other students take the lead in advancing to the Rank one middle stage."
For a Gu Master to advance, the biggest influencing factor was aptitude.
Relying on his abundant experience, the academy elder had long estimated in his heart: the only ones who truly had hope of advancing first were Gu Yue Fang Zheng, Chi Cheng, and Mo Bei, these three people.
One of them had A grade, two had B grade, and behind them, they had the financial support of their elders, lacking no primeval stones. Regardless of which one, it was possible for them to become the first Rank one middle stage of this class.
"Gu Yue Fang Zheng, Chi Cheng, and Mo Bei, these three, are the hopeful seeds of this class." The academy elder looked at the martial arts arena and sighed with emotion.
With his shrewd gaze, he had already discovered: on the martial arts arena, the students seemed to be standing randomly, but in reality, they had already faintly formed into three circles.
In one circle, Gu Yue Chi Cheng was clutching his shoulder, with a group of peers crowding around him.
The center of the second circle was Gu Yue Fang Zheng. The descendants of the clan leader's faction faintly attached themselves to this A grade genius.
The third circle was Gu Yue Mo Bei. His internal injuries had already been treated; currently standing in the arena, his face was pale. The classmates beside him were inquiring about his well-being.
"This is the significance of indulging their fights." Looking at these three circles, the academy elder smiled with deep gratification.
Indulging the students in fighting was not only to cultivate their combat awareness, but more importantly, to filter out the leading figures in advance.
In previous classes, small circles wouldn't be differentiated until the second half of the year. But in this class, because Fang Yuan appeared out of nowhere to rob and extort, the infighting was greatly brought forward.
Facing Fang Yuan, the only ones who always dared to boldly resist and challenge him were Fang Zheng, Mo Bei, and Chi Cheng.
As the days went by, after imperceptible influence, the other youths naturally took these three as their leaders.
As long as there were no accidents, these three circles were microscosmic layouts of the future clan's higher-ups.
"However, these circles are not yet stable, and personnel between the circles are still circulating. Wait until the three of them take the lead to advance to the middle stage, and assume the positions of class head and vice class head. Being differentiated and having power will initially consolidate these circles," the academy elder thought to himself.
Of course, there was also someone not in these three circles.
Only one, and that was Fang Yuan.
Depending on the strong is human nature. In fact, even though Fang Yuan extorted all the students and stood on the opposing side of everybody, it was not that there were no youths who proactively wanted to attach themselves to him.
However, these people were all rejected by Fang Yuan. To him, only those that were useful could be chess pieces; the utilization value of these peers was too low.
This was exactly another reason why the academy elder detested Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan was too aloof and eccentric, not integrating into this collective. Towards such a figure, the clan's control over him was far less than over the other youths.
The academy elder's gaze once again fell upon Fang Yuan in the arena.
Fang Yuan stood there isolated, hands behind his back, eyelids slightly lowered. Despite the youths in the arena fighting heatedly to compete for the reward, there was not the slightest fluctuation on his face.
Around him was a blank area; no youth was willing to stand with him.
Obviously, he also did not want these people to stand with him.
He stood alone, loneliness wrapping around him.
He was detached away from the collective.
"However, there is no need to worry too much. This Fang Yuan is still young and can be slowly molded," the academy elder thought secretly, a bright glint flashing in his eyes.
"Next will be the establishment of the class head and vice class heads. After a year, they will be divided into small groups, establishing group leaders and vice group leaders. Every school year, there are also various honors and rewards, such as the Little Red Flower Award, the Blue Scarf Award, and the Five-Good Student Award. If he wants to cultivate, he will need resources, and will inevitably have to compete for these positions and rewards. As time passes and they interact, he will naturally form bonds of familial affection, friendship, and romantic love. There's no need to worry about him escaping the clan's control in the future."
Over these years, the academy elder had also gradually come to see it clearly.
Once new clan members were born, the clan would brainwash them.
First was instilling the values of the clan holding supreme importance. Then popularizing moral concepts to them, letting them realize the beauty and importance of familial affection, friendship, and romantic love.
Also instilling them with concepts of honor, and during the process of growing up, continuously utilizing material rewards to attract them. Using the powerful positions established by the clan to filter and recruit the most loyal clansmen.
Do not look down on these class head and vice class head positions as being too small; once one became such, it meant entering into the clan's system.
Under this system, constantly seeing and hearing it all. On one side were the benefits and sweet tastes of power; on the other side were the disadvantages of leaving the system. With a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other, who could possibly break away?
No matter how untamed and rebellious a person was, no matter how aloof and eccentric, they would step by step be assimilated into a member of the clan. Having no loyalty, loyalty would still be cultivated. Lacking familial affection, friendship, and romantic love, they would also be drawn out.
This was the mighty power of the system.
This was the power of rules.
This was the clan's way of survival!