The Crossroads of Fate, Emerging Possibilities (Part 1)

Watching Shi Tiexin furiously writing, Gu Shaohuai's first thought was to report him. He'd say Shi Tiexin was disregarding school rules, sneaking into unauthorized areas with ill intentions, and deserved severe punishment, preferably a direct report to the dean's office. But the problem was, how could he extricate himself from the situation? After all, if he said that, he was in the exact same predicament.

However, after a moment's thought, Gu Shaohuai suppressed the urge to report him.

Shi Tiexin had already been demoted to the Trash Class. Reporting him or not made little difference. It wouldn't further damage his confidence, nor would it wear down his fighting spirit—it would be as effective as yelling at a comatose person.

Therefore, Gu Shaohuai felt the best course of action now was not to alert the enemy, but to observe Shi Tiexin's situation. He'd stumbled right into his sight; wouldn't it be his style not to investigate thoroughly? If he discovered this Scholar Stone showing signs of a comeback, then, hehehe, he wouldn't be blamed for being ruthless!

Today, he'd vaguely heard that something had happened in the Trash Class, something about a few delinquent youths fighting particularly fiercely. The students in the Key Class weren't paying much attention to the specifics. In fact, the disturbances in the Trash Class rarely drew the attention of students in the Key Class or the Elite Class.

But Gu Shaohuai found it perfectly normal.

Hmph, trash in the Trash Class should be like this, rotting into humus at the very bottom of society. But before they completely moldered, contributing to Old Master Gu's grand plan would be their honor.

If this Scholar Stone truly intended to defy the odds and play some kind of underdog comeback trick—Gu Shaohuai secretly calculated his available funds—it would be enough for the Scholar Stone to enjoy the full treatment!

So, what exactly was this Scholar Stone doing? He looked like he was studying with great enthusiasm...

Gu Shaohuai glanced around, pretending to go to the restroom, and stood up from his seat, circling towards Shi Tiexin. To prevent Shi Tiexin from noticing, Gu Shaohuai observed him as he walked. Seeing that Shi Tiexin was completely absorbed and had no intention of looking up, he boldly walked closer.

Let's see what kind of trick you're pulling, you scoundrel!

As it happened, Shi Tiexin was sitting by the edge. Gu Shaohuai tiptoed to Shi Tiexin's side and back, stretching his neck to look over—Gu Shaohuai couldn't help but freeze, thinking he might be mistaken. He rubbed his eyes, wiped his glasses, tiptoed again, and stretched his neck to look once more—he wasn't mistaken, it was indeed that thing.

An elementary school mathematics textbook, the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations!

A sense of absurdity rose in Gu Shaohuai's heart. What was going on? What was this Scholar Stone doing? Why was he doing elementary school problems out of the blue? Was it some kind of illusion?

Gu Shaohuai no longer bothered to hide. He stretched his neck out again to look closely, discovering that Shi Tiexin's scratchpad was densely filled with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. He wasn't faking it. Moreover, Shi Tiexin had just finished the third-grade math book and pulled out another workbook from his bag to continue.

At that moment, Gu Shaohuai's sharp eyes noticed more than ten workbooks in the bag, all on the Four Basic Arithmetic Operations. The topmost one was clearly visible to him, labeled "Little Genius" or something similar, with cartoon drawings.

No doubt about it, this Scholar Stone was indeed studying elementary school math!

Seeing this, Gu Shaohuai no longer intended to pretend to go to the restroom. He could barely resist letting out a cold, disdainful snort from his nose. He turned around and walked back to his seat.

This Shi Tiexin no longer needed his attention.

No need to investigate him further, no need to consider him, he was completely finished.

Instead of diligently reviewing and previewing his studies, he was wasting time learning addition and subtraction. It seemed this Scholar Stone couldn't handle the blow and had gone mentally insane. "Little Genius"? I think you're a "Little Neurotic"!

If he couldn't handle such a small setback, he still wanted to compete with me? Pah!

As expected, my journey, Gu Shaohuai's journey, is clear and unobstructed.

Gu Shaohuai shook his head and ambled away, pleased with himself.

Shi Tiexin, however, hadn't noticed any of this. He was also pleased with himself, and this pleasure was something he couldn't share with anyone.

The "integrated learning and practice" problems were completely finished. The icon on the right was completely filled with light, and with a flash, a beam of light erupted, bursting into five stars that flew towards the progress bar. Amidst the crackling impact sounds, the progress bar extended forward by another twentieth, bringing great joy to Shi Tiexin.

It seemed that completing a full set of practice problems provided additional progress for his Heart Arts cultivation. Of course, Shi Tiexin wasn't entirely sure if this was the case for every Auxiliary Cultivation Manual, or if it was a special effect unique to this top-tier Heart Arts manual.

Whichever it was, Shi Tiexin didn't care. If both had it, even better. If not, it didn't matter. He was currently making unstoppable progress, and while the five-star progress was excellent, he could obtain it with a little time.

Glancing at the time, it was past ten o'clock. Not a single person had left the Elite Class study room.

Truly worthy of being a sacred land for Heart Arts; the practitioners were so diligent!

Then I can't fall behind either!

Shi Tiexin put down "Integrated Learning and Practice" and took out a workbook. After some consideration, Shi Tiexin finally decided against taking out the premium workbook with the "High Difficulty" attribute, opting instead to proceed steadily from the basics.

After all, his current level had just surpassed "Good," and he was still far from "Excellent." Although the premium workbook could increase cultivation speed, reflected in his vision as getting more stars, the difficulty of each problem would correspondingly slow down his pace and increase the chance of errors. Thus, in the end, it wasn't as suitable for him as a regular-quality workbook.

After all, he was just a novice who had just found the feeling of Heart Arts cultivation. He shouldn't aim too high; recognizing himself and moving forward steadily, one step at a time, was the most important thing.

Besides, the Auxiliary Cultivation Manual was in his hands; it wouldn't grow legs and run away, so what was the rush?

Charge! Charge! Charge! Let's start doing problems again!

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, the clock hands moved backward relentlessly. Time flowed, Shi Tiexin studied, and Gu Shaohuai investigated. In the same amount of time, both felt they had gained a lot, but in completely different directions.

At eleven o'clock, Gu Shaohuai packed his things and left. He had other targets for his investigation and needed to observe the situation in the Key Class. He deliberately passed by Shi Tiexin, saw that Shi Tiexin was indeed still doing elementary school math, and then, with a proud and disdainful smile, walked away like a rooster.

At half-past eleven, people began to pack their things, drink some water, go to the restroom, or leave in a hurry. Shi Tiexin, relying on his enormous bladder capacity, remained seated, as steady as a mountain.