The Coach Bus slowly pulled away from the Wilderness Zone.
The atmosphere inside was much livelier than it had been on the way there.
The students in each group quietly discussed the day's haul.
Of course, the hottest topic was still the two bull horns Bai Yu and Liu Shiyu were holding.
Those things were so enormous that it was hard not to notice them.
Chu Yun sat in the back row, acting as though he wasn't injured at all, and shouted at the top of his lungs to the entire bus:
"Do you guys know what these are?"
Without waiting for an answer, he eagerly supplied one himself:
"A third-tier ferocious beast! A Black-Horned Savage Bull! My buddy beat it to death all by himself!"
The entire bus fell silent for a second, then erupted.
"Third-tier?"
"No way!"
"Are those horns even real?"
Whispers rose from every direction, and countless eyes turned toward Jiang Lan.
Jiang Lan leaned against his seat with his eyes closed, a faint twitch at his temple.
Was Chu Yun born with a megaphone for a mouth?
Still, the horns really were conspicuous, and he hadn't intended to hide anything anyway.
An hour later, the Coach Bus entered the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy.
The students filed off and assembled again in the plaza.
Xiao Feng stood on the raised platform at the front, holding the assessment records as he surveyed the crowd.
"I'll now announce the assessment results."
The plaza instantly fell silent.
"First place in the overall rankings goes to Group A of the Rocket Class."
"Jiang Lan, Bai Yu, and Liu Shiyu."
"Thirteen kills in total: ten first-tier, two second-tier, and one third-tier."
The moment he finished, a wave of sharp gasps swept across the plaza.
Thirteen kills.
And one of them was a third-tier ferocious beast.
Many students turned to look at Jiang Lan, their eyes filled with shock.
The second-place team had only seven kills, all first-tier.
The gap was so wide there was nothing to compare.
Xiao Feng's expression remained unchanged as he continued:
"First place in the individual rankings, Jiang Lan."
"Solo kills: one Third-Tier Black-Horned Bull, two second-tier Red-Scaled Lizards, and several first-tier ferocious beasts."
"The reward for first place is twenty bottles of first-tier essence blood and two bottles of second-tier essence blood."
The eyes of all two hundred students in the plaza landed on Jiang Lan at once.
Back on the bus, everyone had still been somewhat doubtful of Chu Yun's claims.
Now that Xiao Feng had personally confirmed them, there was no room left for doubt.
Chu Yun let out a yell from the crowd.
"You're fucking awesome, bro! Fucking awesome!"
Xiao Feng shot Chu Yun a look and was about to announce that everyone could collect their rewards.
Just then, however, a figure approached slowly from the edge of the plaza.
Xiao Feng glanced over. The instant he recognized the newcomer, his expression shifted slightly, and he straightened up.
"Vice Dean Zhou."
At those words, the commotion in the plaza abruptly stopped.
The vice dean?
The vice dean of the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy?
Chu Yun's eyes widened, and he lowered his voice.
"Holy shit, the vice dean? I've been at the Academy for over half a year, and this is the first time I've seen him in person."
Jiang Lan raised his head and looked at the newcomer.
He was a tall, well-built middle-aged man with slightly graying temples, a sharply defined face, and piercing eyes.
Jiang Lan had seen his photograph on the Academy's photo wall.
Zhou Qing, vice dean of the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy, was in the middle stage of the divine strength realm.
Apart from the dean and the three resident elders, he was the strongest person in the entire Academy.
Even though Jiang Lan wasn't particularly sensitive to auras, he could clearly feel that this man's oppressive presence far exceeded that of anyone he had met before.
Zhou Qing walked up to the platform, swept his gaze over the crowd, and finally settled on Jiang Lan.
"Are you Jiang Lan?"
Something stirred in Jiang Lan's heart. He met the vice dean's gaze and nodded.
"Hello, Vice Dean."
Zhou Qing wasted no time on pleasantries and went straight to the point.
"Starting next month, your monthly essence blood allotment will be adjusted to fifty bottles of first-tier and three bottles of second-tier."
"The Academy's advanced training grounds are open to you effective immediately. You may use the gang condensation level training rooms whenever you wish."
"You don't need to wait until the end of the year for your slot in the Spiritual Energy Chamber, either. Pick a time this week and have Xiao Feng take you there."
Those three statements were crisp and direct, without a single unnecessary word.
Yet each one made the students in the plaza open their eyes a little wider.
Fifty bottles of first-tier essence blood, plus three bottles of second-tier?
Gang condensation level training rooms?
Early access to the Spiritual Energy Chamber?
Even if someone received the same treatment in the future, surely no one in the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy had ever enjoyed it before?
The two hundred people in the plaza exchanged looks, unable to conceal their envy.
But none of them felt jealous.
There really was no point.
Someone who could kill a third-tier ferocious beast alone was on an entirely different level. Jealousy wouldn't change that.
People might be jealous of someone slightly better than themselves, but an ordinary person would never be jealous of the richest person in the world.
The same principle applied here.
After finishing, Zhou Qing gave Jiang Lan another look. "The Academy has never shortchanged those with ability."
With that, he turned and left the way he had come.
The plaza remained quiet for several seconds before a hum of conversation rose again.
Watching Zhou Qing walk away, Xiao Feng marveled inwardly.
The call he had made earlier had been to Lin Yu.
He hadn't expected it to bring the vice dean himself out here.
He had worked at the Ultimate Dao Martial Academy for several years and had never seen anything like this.
Below the platform, Chu Yun sidled up to Jiang Lan and whispered excitedly:
"Big bro, don't forget to help your little brother out when you make it big."
"I let it slide when you called me your big bro before, but now you'd better rethink that. What should you call me?"
"Honored adoptive father!" Chu Yun immediately declared. "I, Yun, have wandered half my life, lamenting only that I have never found a worthy lord. If you do not disdain me, I wish to honor you as my adoptive father!"
"Good, good, good." Jiang Lan smiled. "Rise, my son. Your adoptive father will treat you all to a meal later. Everyone's invited."
"You're fucking awesome, Father!"
On the platform, Xiao Feng said, "All right. Next, come up to collect your reward when I call your name."
Jiang Lan immediately perked up.
Since he had placed first, he naturally didn't need to wait in line and went straight up to collect his reward.
Holding the case, he began doing the math in his head.
I had eighteen bottles of first-tier essence blood left.
Add the ten bottles from today's kills...
Wait, Bai Yu and Liu Shiyu were my teammates. They should get a share, too.
Then another thought occurred to Jiang Lan.
I don't necessarily have to give them essence blood. Giving the two girls the Beast Cores should do.
That means, with those ten bottles of essence blood and the assessment rewards I just received...
Forty-eight bottles of first-tier, four bottles of second-tier, and one bottle of third-tier in total.
I'm still eighty bottles short of a hundred and twenty-eight.
But my monthly allotment has already increased from thirty bottles to fifty.
With a few more trips outside the city to hunt ferocious beasts, getting a hundred and twenty-eight bottles together next month shouldn't be a problem.
Besides, he still hadn't cashed in today's Beast Cores and the Savage Bull Materials.
All of those together would probably fetch a hefty sum of credit points.
I'm rich! I'm rich!
If the Beast Cores and materials were valuable enough, he might not even have to wait until next month. He could get enough credit points to buy the first-tier essence blood right away.