A round, red sun slowly slid down towards the mountains and earth in the west.
Its light was no longer glaring and dazzling, but seeped a kind of soft brightness.
The western sky was thoroughly dyed red by it, the evening glow stretching out endlessly, like a concubine who had received a reward, joyfully surrounding the emperor, wanting to sleep late together.
Everything on Qing Mao Mountain was enveloped in a hazy rose color.
The row upon row of tall stilt houses also wore a layer of golden gauze.
The woods planted around the academy seemed to be smeared with a faint layer of oil.
The wind blew gently. The students, holding the primeval stone subsidies they had just received, walked out of the classroom, each of them looking refreshed and energized.
"I really don't know what Fang Yuan is thinking, to actually give up the class head position!"
"Hehehe, his brain is broken. He's probably thinking about killing people all day long. Let's ignore this kind of madman."
"Speaking of which, the day he barged into the academy, I was really startled. Too terrifying. After going back that day, I had nightmares all night."
The students walked in groups of twos and threes.
"Hello, Class Head."
"Mm."
"Hello, Class Head."
"Mm, mm."
Gu Yue Mo Bei walked with a swagger. Wherever he went, the students all bowed and greeted him without exception.
His face held an irrepressible excitement and intoxication.
This is the charm of power.
Even just a little bit of differential treatment can make people more affirming of their own value.
At this time, the setting sun was descending, and the remnant sun was like blood. Looking at it, Mo Bei thought joyfully in his heart: "How come I never noticed before, this setting sun is so rosy and truly cute…"
"Hmph, getting cocky just because he became a class head, what's so great about it." Gu Yue Chi Cheng purposefully walked behind, precisely because he didn't want to bow and greet Gu Yue Mo Bei.
"I really don't know exactly what Fang Yuan is thinking, giving up a perfectly good class head position to not do it. But fortunately this happened; otherwise, as the third place, how could I have gotten the vice class head position?" In Gu Yue Chi Cheng's heart, there was incomprehension, but also rejoicing.
"Hello, Vice Class Head." At this time, an ordinary student walked past him and immediately bowed to greet him.
"Hehe, hello to you too." Gu Yue Chi Cheng instantly nodded, his face blooming with a smile.
After the student walked past, he naturally thought: "This vice class head taste is not bad. I imagine the class head's taste would be even more wonderful. If I wasn't the vice class head but the class head, how great would that be!"
Chi Cheng, who was just rejoicing over this moments ago, was already looking towards Sichuan while grasping Long, generating expectations for the class head position.
Under the clan's system, the authority and positions, one layer higher than the next, were like carrots bigger than the last, deeply tempting him ahead.
"Although I only have C grade aptitude, I believe everything will become better and better." Gu Yue Chi Cheng harbored hope for the future.
However, at this moment, Gu Yue Fang Zheng, who was also a vice class head, was in a very bad mood, his face extremely ugly.
"Brother, you!" He stared dumbfounded at the main gate of the academy, where a lonely figure was blocking the way.
"Old rules, one primeval stone per person." Fang Yuan stood with his arms crossed, his tone indifferent.
Fang Zheng opened his mouth, and after several efforts, he finally said: "Brother, I am a vice class head now!"
"Indeed." Fang Yuan nodded expressionlessly and cast an indifferent glance at Fang Zheng, "A vice class head's subsidy is as much as five pieces every time. Then you can hand over three pieces."
Fang Zheng was left dumbfounded; for a time, he actually couldn't speak.
A group of youths crowded around Gu Yue Mo Bei and walked over.
Seeing Fang Yuan blocking the school gate, Gu Yue Mo Bei was furious. Pointing a finger at Fang Yuan: "Fang Yuan! You have a lot of nerve, to actually dare to block us again?! I am already the class head now. As an ordinary student, when you see me, you must first bow and greet me!"
Answering him was Fang Yuan's fist.
Caught off guard, Gu Yue Mo Bei was struck by a punch, inevitably staggering back several large steps, his face full of disbelief: "You hit me, you actually dare to hit me? But I am the class head!"
Answering him once again was still Fang Yuan's fist.
Pow pow pow.
After a few exchanges of offense and defense, Gu Yue Mo Bei was knocked to the ground by Fang Yuan, falling unconscious.
The surrounding youths were all staring dumbfounded. For a time, they didn't know how to react.
Everything was different from what they had imagined!
Watching all this happen right under their noses, the guards at the door couldn't help but whisper among themselves.
"Fang Yuan beat down the newly appointed class head. What do we do?"
"Serve it cold!"
"What does that mean?"
"It means just watch, and then call the others to clean up the scene."
"But…"
"Hmph hmph, what kind of person is Fang Yuan, you still want to provoke him? Think about what kind of ending Wang Da and Wu Er ended up with!"
The guard who asked the question instantly shuddered, not saying anything more.
The two guards at the main gate both stood with their bodies impeccably straight, allowing a robbery to happen right beside them, as if they were both deaf and blind, unable to hear or see anything.
After Fang Yuan took care of Gu Yue Mo Bei, he also took care of Fang Zheng and Chi Cheng.
Only then did the other youths realize that, originally, nothing had changed at all. Fang Yuan was still that Fang Yuan, and the robbery would still arrive exactly as scheduled.
"One primeval stone per person, three pieces for a vice class head, eight pieces for the class head." Fang Yuan announced the new rules.
The youths sighed, obediently taking out their primeval stones.
When they walked out of the academy gates, someone suddenly slapped their thigh and shouted loudly: "I've thought of it. No wonder Fang Yuan didn't want the class head position, he wants to continue extorting us!"
"That's right. Every time he extorted us, he got fifty-nine primeval stones. Now it has increased to sixty-eight pieces. If he were the class head, he would at most only get ten pieces." Many people followed, suddenly seeing the light.
"Too sinister, too cunning, too vicious!" Someone slapped their thigh, indignant and resentful.
"Sigh, looking at it this way, there's nothing so great about the class head and vice class heads. They are robbed just the same, and the remaining primeval stones are still only two pieces, completely the same as us."
Unknown who said this sentence, but upon hearing it, the youths inadvertently fell silent.
Bang!
The academy elder slammed his hand fiercely onto the table, flying into a sudden rage.
"This Fang Yuan is too excessive. What does he want to do? He actually still dared to rob, robbing eight primeval stones from the class head and three from the vice class heads. In this way, what difference is there between the class head, vice class heads, and the other ordinary students?!" The academy elder tried hard to lower his voice, his words full of angry emotions.
Fang Yuan rejecting the class head position meant refusing to integrate himself into the clan's system. Speaking more seriously, it was a kind of betrayal to the clan.
This alone already made the academy elder very angry.
Immediately following, Fang Yuan robbed his classmates again. His hand was reaching longer and longer, already exceeding the academy elder's bottom line.
Being extorted like this, the power and status of the class head and vice class heads were thoroughly weakened.
As time went by, the ordinary students would also lose their reverence and interest in these two positions.
This action of Fang Yuan seemed small, but the significance was immense.
He was already challenging the clan's system purely with his own power!
This was a scene the academy elder absolutely did not want to see. What he was cultivating were the clan's new hopes, not betrayers of the clan.
However, even though this action of Fang Yuan challenged his bottom line, the academy elder knew that he could not personally make a move to handle this matter.
If he truly did so, the first person he couldn't bypass would be the clan leader. The second and third people who would have issues with him would be Gu Yue Chi Lian and Gu Yue Mo Chen.
The clan leader pinned his hopes on Gu Yue Fang Zheng. After all, Fang Zheng was the only A grade genius in three years. The clan leader needed a tenacious and independent genius, not a delicate flower cared for and coddled.
At the same time, for Chi Lian and Mo Chen, they also hoped their respective grandsons would be able to grow amidst such setbacks.
If the academy elder made a move to punish Fang Yuan on behalf of the students, when word spread, it would be: "The future successors of the Mo family and Chi family couldn't beat Fang Yuan, so they had to seek help from their elders."
How ugly would that sound.
This would definitely be a massive blow to the reputations of the Mo family and Chi family.
The academy elder naturally wasn't afraid of a mere Fang Yuan, but he worried that once he interfered in this matter, it would draw the triple pressure of the clan leader, the Mo faction, and the Chi faction, which was practically the entire Gu Yue higher-ups. How could a mere elder like him bear that?
"The root of this matter still lies in that secret of Fang Yuan's. Exactly what did he rely on to lead the way and advance to the middle stage?" The academy elder suppressed the fire in his heart and focused his gaze back onto the three investigation reports on his desk.
The first report detailed Fang Yuan's family background.
This child Fang Yuan had proper roots and a good background. His identity held no oddities, and his background was crystal clear. His parents died early, and he was taken in by his uncle and aunt. However, the relationship was disharmonious. After entering the academy, Fang Yuan had stayed in the academy dormitories the entire time.
The second report recorded Fang Yuan's past life.
He possessed early wisdom from a young age and was highly regarded by the clansmen, thought to possibly be an A grade aptitude. However, after the Awakening Ceremony, he was tested as C grade, greatly disappointing the clansmen.
The third report detailed Fang Yuan's recent whereabouts.
His daily life was extremely simple, almost a straight line between three points. During the day, he attended classes at the academy, and at night, he slept in the dormitory. His cultivation was extremely bitter and hard-working. Every night he engaged in Gu Master cultivation to warm and nourish his aperture. Sometimes he would go out on a trip to the only inn in the village to improve his meals and buy wine to drink.
He had a special fondness for wine, liking to drink green bamboo wine. Beneath the bed in his dormitory, dozens of jars of green bamboo wine were placed.
The academy elder read these three reports in detail again, and his impression of Fang Yuan in his heart grew a fraction deeper and more vivid.
"Parents died early, and at odds with his uncle and aunt… No wonder this kid Fang Yuan has no sense of belonging to the clan. He was personally crowned with the title of genius by the clansmen, and then had it personally snatched away, falling from high up in the sky to the ground… It's no wonder he is untamed, rebellious, eccentric, and aloof. His life is so simple, his cultivation so bitter; he is just holding in a breath of air, refusing to admit defeat, wanting to prove to the clansmen that he can do it! So that's why when I suppressed him, he counterattacked so fiercely…"
Thinking up to this point, the academy elder couldn't help but sigh gently.
The more he understood Fang Yuan, the more he empathized with Fang Yuan.
Of course, empathy did not mean forgiveness. Fang Yuan talking back to him, offending his dignity, refusing to take the class head position, and flagrantly robbing his classmates; these were all things he could not tolerate.
Shaking the documents in his hand, the academy elder frowned again: "Although these materials are detailed, they don't touch upon Fang Yuan's advancement secret at all. It's been several days already, this bunch of people is too outrageous!"
Thump thump thump.
Right at this moment, the sound of knocking on the door rang out.
"Come in." The academy elder said.
The door opened.
It was actually Gu Yue Bo's personal guard: "The clan leader has ordered, asking Lord Elder to hurry to the Clan Head Pavilion. There is an important matter to discuss."
"Oh, what important matter?" The academy elder stood up from his seat. He felt the gravity of this matter from the guard's tone and demeanor.
"Lord Jia Fu, the Rank four Gu Master, has returned again, and his younger brother Jia Jinsheng's whereabouts are unknown!" The personal guard replied.
"Hiss…" The academy elder instantly drew in a breath of cold air.