Even if the other party came knocking, Wu Changkong would hold them off. He himself would lose nothing and could take the opportunity to see how capable his teacher really was.
He had also done Tang Wulin and Xie Xie a favor along the way.
Several birds with one stone.
He had worked that abacus far too shrewdly.
Gu Yue stood where she was and shook her head.
This guy really never took a loss.
She paused, then turned and headed toward the academy dormitories as well.
Meanwhile, Hu Fangyuan had already returned to his little courtyard.
He pushed the gate open and closed it behind him.
The courtyard was quiet, moonlight spilling down to cover the ground in silver. The old locust tree cast a dappled, uneven shadow across the ground.
Hu Fangyuan sat down beside the stone table and moved his left arm around.
It still ached a little from taking several blows head-on earlier.
He took the materials he had bought that day out of his Storage Soul Tool and laid them on the stone table one by one.
Century-old copper essence, silver thread grass, iron armor beetle shell, and brute bull essence blood.
Four portions of materials for three new Gu worms.
Silver Tendon Gu, Iron Skin Gu, and Brute Flesh Gu.
Together with Copper Bone Gu, that covered skin, flesh, tendons, and bones-all four fronts.
Hu Fangyuan tapped the stone table lightly with his fingertips, a hint of excitement in his eyes.
Four Rank One Gu worms were only the beginning.
Once the Four-Image Combined Refinement succeeded and the Rank Three Four Symbols Iron Body Gu was complete, his physical strength would leap several levels. When that happened, he could meet opponents head-on with his body alone, even when fighting above his rank.
With that thought, Hu Fangyuan wasted no time.
With a beckoning motion of his fingertips, the Heaven Refining Furnace Soul Spirit emerged from his body. Azure Cicada perched on its rim, wings fluttering gently.
The four portions of materials-century-old copper essence, silver thread grass, iron armor beetle shell, and brute bull essence blood-flew into the furnace in succession.
Scarlet Sun True Fire rose from the bottom of the furnace, enveloping the materials and slowly refining them.
The night passed without further incident.
Early the next morning.
When Hu Fangyuan pushed open the courtyard gate, his expression was black as thunder.
Faint dark circles lay beneath his eyes, and his lips had little color. A heavy, unapproachable gloom hung over him.
Last night, he had run three furnaces at once to refine three new Gu worms, draining rather too much of both his Soul Power and Spiritual Power.
And... only two of the three Gu worms had been successfully refined.
At the thought of having to shell out money for more Gu materials today, Bai Yushan's expression had not improved at all.
He said nothing along the way; even the wind seemed to soften.
Once he reached the academy, the morning lessons were unremarkable.
Hu Fangyuan lay slumped over his desk, recovering his energy for most of a lesson. The teacher did not even dare come over to intervene.
At last, he made it through to the end of afternoon classes.
The Intermediate Division's sports field had filled with people well in advance.
Today was the second day of the Class Promotion Tournament.
It was nothing like yesterday's sparse, subdued turnout.
Ever since word had spread of Hu Fangyuan fighting four opponents alone yesterday, crushing them from start to finish and even beating the two-ring Ironclad Dragon, Guang Long, until he spat blood, the entire First Year had erupted.
Everyone wanted to see just how strong Hu Fangyuan was, having entered the academy with two-ring cultivation and practicing bizarre Gu arts.
Thus, for today's Class Promotion Tournament, practically every member of First Grade Class One and First-Year Class Two had turned out, packed in a dark mass around the arena and standing on tiptoe to look up at it.
Even quite a few second-year students had come specifically to watch, standing in twos and threes around the edge of the sports field and craning their necks toward the arena.
The buzz of conversation filled the sports field.
"Is that him? Hu Fangyuan?"
"Yeah, he fought four people by himself yesterday!"
"Seriously? He's only a first-year newcomer?"
"Why would I lie? Loads of people saw it! Sure, it was two rings against one, but it was still one against four!"
"He's that fierce? Doesn't that mean Class Five has this year's Class Promotion Tournament in the bag?"
"Hard to say. They're facing Class Three's triplets today. Those three brothers are downright uncanny when they join forces!"
At the very front of the crowd, First-Year Class Three stood in neat formation.
Their homeroom teacher, Ye Yingrong, stood at the head of the group in a pale green dress, her long hair pinned behind her head. Holding a lesson-plan book, her silver-rimmed glasses resting on the tip of her nose, she gazed calmly toward the arena.
Behind her stood three boys with delicate features.
The three actually looked identical-their brows and eyes, the bridges of their noses, the corners of their mouths, even their heights matched exactly.
Dressed in pale blue academy uniforms and standing in a row, they looked like three reflected copies.
Unless someone knew them extremely well, there was no telling who was who.
These three were First-Year Class Three's aces, the triplet brothers Gu Tianri, Gu Tianyue, and Gu Tianming.
The Gu Brothers' Martial Soul was called the Sky-reaching War Eagle, an avian Martial Soul with an extremely high flight speed.
The Sky-reaching War Eagle was not a particularly powerful kind of eagle; it won through speed. As a Soul Beast, a Sky-reaching War Eagle could fly above three thousand meters and maintain high speed for long periods. Thus, all three brothers had taken the path of an Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Master.
Behind the three stood a timid girl.
She was small, her head slightly lowered, her fingers clutching the hem of her clothes. Her eyes darted timidly into the crowd, as though frightened by so many people.
Her name was Su Xiaoyu, and she was First-Year Class Three's fourth team member.
Her Martial Soul was glimmer grass, a support type that could release a faint glow to soothe the mind and dispel negative conditions.
Although her combat strength was average, its support effects were quite good.
First-Year Class Three was relying on these four for this Class Promotion Tournament.
Wu Changkong also arrived with First-Year Class Five. Hu Fangyuan walked half a step behind him, with Tang Wulin and the others following closely.
After witnessing Hu Fangyuan's individual strength, the students of First-Year Class Five all began looking forward to what things would be like after their class promotion!
After all, they had yet to send out their full lineup!
Ye Yingrong approached with a smile.
"Hello, Teacher Wu." She smiled and nodded to Wu Changkong.
Ye Yingrong was indeed beautiful. She stood over a hundred and seventy centimeters tall and had an extremely well-proportioned figure. Her large eyes were bright and lively, and her exceptionally rare pale green hair was tied into a neat ponytail. She had fair skin, an oval face, and a small, cherry-like mouth. Judging by her appearance alone, people would surely have believed she was a student in the Advanced Department.
She had begun teaching at Eastsea Academy at twenty-three and was a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor. At her age, that was already quite outstanding.
"Hello." Wu Changkong nodded to her as well.
"I'm Ye Yingrong, Class Three's homeroom teacher."
Ye Yingrong emphasized her name, because she was quite certain this cold, proud heartthrob had absolutely no idea who she was. This legendary heartthrob, who lived only in his own world, probably could not remember the names of more than a few women in the entire academy.
"Mm." With that acknowledgment, Wu Changkong's gaze drifted toward the competition platform.
Standing nearby, Xie Xie watched with a gleam in his eyes. What he admired most was Wu Changkong's cold, proud manner. It was absolutely no act; he was simply born that way. Compared with Teacher Wu, he really was far, far behind!
Ye Yingrong took no offense at all. She beckoned to her students, and the students of First-Year Class Three quickly ran over and lined up behind her.
Ye Yingrong told her students, "Friendship first, competition second. Keep that in mind out there in a moment. Understood?"
"Yes, Teacher Ye!" the three identical triplets answered in unison, sounding like a single person.
A beat late, Su Xiaoyu said, "U-understood."
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