Chapter 130: Meeting

With that in mind, Huang Yifan's mood was instantly lifted, and he felt like he was in a position to be able to look down on everyone.

***

Fang Che felt as if he had awoken from a dream, one in which boundless power had flowed into his spirit sense.

Dongfang Sansan had given him a massive care package. Fang Che would've woken up even sooner had it not been for the Formeless Divine Jade, which had been constantly releasing baleful qi to interfere with the integration of his spirit sense.

In his unconscious state, he was unable to channel the Boundless Sutra to expel the baleful qi, and as a result, his spirit sense had appeared extremely chaotic and scattered, which was why everyone had thought that a full recovery would be next to impossible.

Even now that he was awake, his head was still aching intensely, and he hurriedly sat up, much to the alarm of Old Man Shen.

"What're you doing? Lay still and rest! It's a miracle that you were able to recover, don't go pushing your luck further by sitting up like that!"

"I have to get up, Elder Shen," Fang Che said with a pained expression. "If I don't get to a lavatory soon, I'm going to shit the bed!"

"Alright, but be slow and careful, you hear me?"

"I will," Fang Che replied as he rushed out of the room.

There was so much baleful qi in his spirit sense that he felt as if his head were about to explode, and after a brief trip to the lavatory to take care of some bowel movements, he rushed into the nearby forest, where he sat down to rest against a small tree.

As soon as he channeled his Boundless Sutra, wisps of baleful qi instantly began to seep out of his body, forming a cloud of white mist above his head.

Two hours later, Fang Che returned to Old Man Shen's room, feeling completely revitalized.

"I feel fully recovered, Elder Shen. I can go back to cultivating right away!"

"That's good to hear."

Old Man Shen wasn't surprised.

He was aware of how hard-working Fang Che was, and even though he was still a little feeble, this was the best time for him to be capitalizing on all of the benefits he had derived from the Path of Self-Inquisition and from consuming so much soul-nourishing natural treasures.

"What do you think of your trip down the Path of Self-Inquisition?"

"I don't think much of it. Someone tried to plot against me, and that's that."

"You have to be more careful from now on. The academy is a microcosm of the world that you'll be going out into, and you have to take care in managing interpersonal relationships."

"I understand."

"You're still too sharp and abrasive for your own good."

"I'll work on that."

"The academy may impose some restrictions on you from now on. If you need anyone to back you up, come and find me. I may not have my cultivation base anymore, but some people are still willing to listen to me."

"Thank you, Elder Shen."

"Go on now."

Old Man Shen watched with a warm smile as Fang Che departed, and Fang Che couldn't help but find his smile a little strange, as if he knew something that he wasn't letting on.

Fang Che received a hero's welcome upon returning to class.

"Boss!" Mo Ganyun yelled in elation as he rushed to Fang Che before throwing his arms around him.

Fang Che's head was smothered against Mo Ganyun's chest, and he was like a small child being embraced by an overprotective father.

"Let go of me!"

After an almighty struggle, Fang Che finally extricated himself from Mo Ganyun's smothering embrace, then grumbled, "Can't you express your affection some other way?"

The entire class erupted into laughter.

"Are you all better now?"

"I am!"

"Can you cultivate this afternoon?"

"Sure can!"

"Great! There's been no one to beat me during your absence!"

The entire class began looking up at him with disdain upon hearing this.

Mo Ganyun also quickly realized how bad that sounded, and he hurriedly amended, "I've been invincible these past few days! It's been really lonely up at the top! You understand, right?"

"I do, I understand the feeling much better than you."

Mo Ganyun immediately fell into a disgruntled silence.

Fang Che had always been invincible in their group, that was not up for dispute.

"Let's have a sparring match this afternoon!" Mo Ganyun challenged through gritted teeth. "I've made massive strides these past six days! I've definitely surpassed you now!"

"You do look like you can take more of a beating now," Fang Che remarked.

Everyone erupted into laughter once again.

"If you're going to talk, then get out of here! Stop disrupting my lesson!" Bao Feiyu snapped.

"Yes, Sir!" Mo Ganyuan answered before draping an arm across Fang Che's shoulders and leading him outside.

"Don't do that!" Fang Che snapped as he struggled free from Mo Ganyun's arm.

The height difference between the two was so significant that it felt like Mo Ganyun taking a stroll with his girlfriend!

Prior to coming to the academy, never had Fang Che envisioned that he would be made to appear like a petite girlfriend by one of his peers, but then again, anyone else in the academy would appear much the same with Mo Ganyun's arm slung across their shoulders.

As they walked along side by side, a serious look appeared on Mo Ganyun's face as he said, "Some things happened during your absence, and I feel like I should give you a heads-up."

"What happened?"

"The first thing concerns Xie Gongping..."

After providing a brief recount of events, Mo Ganyun asked, "What do you think?"

"I can't do anything about that," Fang Che sighed.

"There's also the matter of you being reported by a major clan, and I should tell you about Yu Zhongge's handling of recent events as well..."

Fang Che listened carefully to what Mo Ganyun had to say, then asked, "What do you think about all of this?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, there's no way I can become the leader of this group," Mo Ganyun replied.

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm not suited for such a role. Everyone says I'm really simple-minded, stupid, even, but I never really cared. I know that I'm much smarter than I look. I can see everything that everyone else sees, and I can also see a lot of things that others can't. However, I'm not good when it comes to complex strategizing and calculation.

“Ever since I was a kid, the seniors of my clan have always said that my personality is too straightforward, and that this can be both beneficial and detrimental. It makes me ill-suited to lead a group, so my clan's suggestion for me is to become the second or third-in-command of a group. That way, my shortcomings will be masked, and I'll be able to best serve whichever group I'm in."

Fang Che was extremely impressed with the Mo Clan after hearing this.

If it weren't for the fact that he possessed the experience of an entire past lifetime, there was no way he would've had the foresight to match Mo Ganyun's seniors.

At such a young age, he had already been shown the best path forward by his clan, setting him up for the best possible future outcomes.

The foresight and wisdom of these major clans were truly unmatched.

Fang Che was in full agreement with Mo Ganyun's seniors, and this was precisely the role that he had envisioned for Mo Ganyun in the future.

Another benefit of having Mo Ganyun serve as the second or third-in-command of a group was that given his direct and straightforward personality, he could always be relied on to speak up as a voice of reason, and he could even rebuke the leader of the group if he felt like they were doing something wrong.

If some injustice were to arise in the group, he would be able to address it, and no one would feel as if he were overstepping his boundaries.

Essentially, he would be the glue guy in the team, ensuring cohesion and harmony.

"I need to have a think about this first, so I'll tell you and everyone else what I think after our sparring matches this afternoon."

"No problem!" Mo Ganyun replied with a wide grin.

That afternoon, Fang Che returned to the spirit qi gravity cultivation chamber, and after four hours, he was able to successfully reach the sixth-rank Great Grandmaster tier.

Upon arriving at the drill grounds, Qiu Yunshang and the others were already there, and they were bewildered to see that all of the trees had shed their leaves, even though it still wasn't winter yet.

"How did this happen?"

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Fang Che knew exactly how this had happened, but he couldn't tell everyone, so he changed the subject as he said, "Long time no see. Let me see how much all of you have improved over the past few days."

"Boss! You’re back!"

Xie Gongping was on the verge of tears as he rushed over from afar.

"Boss! I'm sorry, I made a mistake..."

Fang Che gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder, then smiled as he said, "It's alright, let's have a little meeting after the sparring matches today, and we'll talk everything out then."

"Boss is right, we need to lay some things out in the open," Yu Zhongge said with a smile.

With that, the sparring matches commenced.

Fang Che was able to retain the top spot, and ranked below him in sequential order were Mo Ganyun, Yu Zhongge, Qiu Yunshang, Ding Jieran, and Jing Shuanggao.

Much to Xie Gongping's dismay, he was defeated in just a single attack by everyone that he challenged, leaving him full of self-doubt.

When did I become so weak?

Fang Che wiped the sweat from his face, then said, "Let's all have a seat. Xie Gongping, you can join us as well."

The seven of them sat down in a circle together.

***

Concealed in the nearby forest, Wu Zhibing chuckled, "Looks like things are about to come to a head."