The next day.
The Azure Cloud Ranking had suddenly been updated, breaking with the tradition of changing only at the end of each month. Many disciples stopped to look.
"Isn't it still too early? Why is the Azure Cloud Ranking showing a change?"
"I looked through it from the bottom up. The people on the list are all the same."
"No, look! Everyone's rank has dropped by one!"
One particularly observant disciple said, "Li Er, who was previously at the bottom of the rankings, has fallen off the list!"
"Who is Fang Yuan? How did he rank third?"
"It looks like Fang Yuan is the only new addition to the Azure Cloud Ranking. Everyone else has simply been pushed down one place!"
The disciples gazed up at the list, their eyes full of uncertainty as they tried to guess Fang Yuan's identity.
In all these years, this was the first time they had seen the Azure Cloud Ranking adjusted outside its regular schedule—and all for the sake of one person.
"Fang Yuan isn't a disciple of our academy," someone in the know revealed.
"He isn't a disciple of the academy, so how did he get onto the Azure Cloud Ranking?" one disciple asked, eyes wide.
It was a question no one could answer.
Information was all about timing. Some children of royal and aristocratic families had learned of Fang Yuan's astonishing achievement from their elders.
But that didn't mean they would spread the news far and wide. After all, it would harm others without benefiting them, and might even inadvertently offend the Wangdu Fang Family.
The Azure Cloud Ranking!
Fang Yuan!
Those two words seemed to sprout wings, spreading rapidly throughout the Azure Cloud Academy. Tutors, disciples, and even elders brought them up again and again.
Before long.
The great