Chapter 12: Placing Bets

Gao Qingyu continued to call out one name after another, while all of the students present concentrated on memorizing those names.

They knew that they were surely going to be hearing more from those names, particularly those at the top.

"Second place, Huo Churan with 285 points."

"Third place, Ding Jieran with 281 points."

"Fourth place, Qiu Yunshang with 280 points."

"Fifth place, Xie Gongping with 279 points."

"Sixth place, Mo Ganyun with 269 points."

"Seventh place, Ximen Xuri with 251 points."

......

"Tenth place, Jing Shuanggao with 242 points."

......

"One hundred, Kang Zijian with 201 points."

Fang Che was rather surprised that Kang Zijian was able to scrape his way into the top hundred.

The other ninety-nine students on the stage were all looking at Fang Che with different emotions in their eyes.

The top-ranking students like Ding Jieran and Huo Churan were all glowering at Fang Che with intense animosity, having heard about the unscrupulous means with which he had secured the top spot.

You can cheat while earning points, but let's see how you cheat in battle! I'm going to embarrass you in front of everyone!

Huo Churan was particularly resentful of Fang Che in light of his less than stellar looks.

He was determined to beat Fang Che's face black and blue during their battle!

"I will now lay out the rules for the tournament."

Lü Jiaoshan had taken Gao Qingyu's place, and he declared, "There will be five platforms on which battles are to take place. The top three and the top ten will be decided, while the rest will all be unranked. The top one hundred students receive a high-grade Warrior Master tier Soul Pill, ten high-grade Warrior Master tier Qi Gathering Pills, and ten merit points.

“Those who place fourth to tenth will receive a premium Warrior Master tier Soul Pill, ten premium Warrior Master tier Qi Gathering Pills, a high-grade Meridian Expansion Pill, a high-grade True Origin Pill, and thirty merit points. Second and third place will receive a premium Soul Pill, ten premium Qi Gathering Pills, a premium Meridian Expansion Pill, and a premium True Origin Pill, as well as fifty merit points.

“The champion will receive two premium Soul Pills, twenty premium Qi Gathering Pills, two premium Meridian Expansion Pills, two premium True Origin Pills, and one hundred merit points, as well as a gold medal. On the day the champion arises, all students of the same cohort can challenge him, and anyone who is victorious will be able to claim the medal.

“An additional reward will be given for holding onto the champion title for a month, as well as each successive month, and the reward will be doubled after half a year, then doubled again after one year! If the champion is able to remain undefeated all the way until graduation, then they will enter the academy hall of fame."

This announcement created a massive stir among the new students.

The title of champion was both a blessing and a burden.

Of course, this was a burden that everyone was eager to take on.

To conclude, Lü Jiaoshan declared, "Gambling is prohibited in the academy, but bets can be placed on the battles in the tournament. However, bets can only be placed in the form of merit points."

The eight thousand new students were stunned again upon hearing this.

Merit points were extremely important in the academy.

A single merit point could exchange for a high-grade Blood Qi Pill of the student's corresponding cultivation base.

In the outside world, a high-grade Warrior Master tier Blood Qi Pills would cost around fifty thousand taels of silver, and even at that price, one wasn't guaranteed to be able to purchase one.

Hence, betting with merit points was extremely extravagant, and each new student only received ten in total.

In the academy, no form of currency was accepted outside of merit points.

This included expenditure on things like food and cultivation resources, and one could take out loans on merit points, but upon graduation, they would have to repay each merit point earned with two merit points' worth of resources.

Of course, it was also possible to borrow, but understandably, not everyone was willing to lend.

Some of the students that were in major debt were extremely excited, seeing this as an opportunity to erase their debts once and for all!

A small mountain of files on the top one hundred new students had already been carried out onto the stage.

"The battles will commence tomorrow morning, and betting stations will be set up then. I advise all of you to bet wisely," Lü Jiaoshan said in a cautionary manner, but the gamblers present were already too excited to listen to reason.

As soon as the assembly was adjourned, the files were instantly gone.

"Get me one!"

"I want one too!"

"Holy shit, I'm 'boutta get rich!"

Lü Jiaoshan looked on in an expressionless manner while rolling his eyes internally.

The dean looks like a good man, so why is he so evil? He's dug a huge trap for all of the new students on their first day!

Unbeknownst to everyone, records were going to be made of all of the bets placed!

Essentially, all those who took part in gambling would have their reputations tarnished. Those who only made small bets wouldn't suffer any consequences, but those who made large bets would have come under the scrutiny of the academy.

Regardless of how powerful or capable they turned out to be following graduation, they would not be assigned with any lucrative jobs as they had already shown themselves to be compulsive gamblers.

Hence, the elimination process was already commencing on the first day.

There were undoubtedly going to be countless students who lost all of their merit points. Those students still had to feed themselves and cultivate, so they would have to work extra hard to earn merit points, and that would be beneficial to ensuring a strong work ethic.

Overall, this was a good idea, but also a very devious one that revealed the dean's true nature.

***

The students from Fang Qingyun's class wanted to approach Fang Che for a conversation, but to their disappointment, he was already gone.

However, they quickly became excited again at the prospect of gambling.

"Qingyun, who do you think we should bet on?"

"You know I never gamble," Fang Qingyun replied. "I didn't even place any bets last year."

"And that's why you've done far better for yourself this year than all of us."

Everyone heaved a collective sigh.

"You're going to bet again this year? Haven't you learned your lesson from last year? Some of you have year-long debts that you're still yet to pay off!"

"It's fine! We just have to win this year, and all our debts will be gone!"

"You can decide who to bet on yourselves, I'm not giving you any ideas," Fang Qingyun said with a shake of his head, then promptly departed.

Over these past few days, he suddenly felt like his memory had improved significantly, and he was also progressing much faster in his cultivation.

As a result, he was extremely keen to cultivate and had no interest in much else.

In the wake of his departure, his friends continued to discuss betting strategies.

"Who we betting on?"

"Fang Che, of course!" the six girls present answered in unison.

They were betting on him purely because of his looks, and they felt no shame in admitting that!

However, the male students were a bit more hesitant.

"I heard he borderline cheated to get first place, so we don't know how powerful he actually is."

"Let's see you cheat and get first place then!"

"Perhaps it's not cheating, but it's still unscrupulous, nevertheless."

"I agree."

The girls immediately swooped in to protect their knight in shining armor.

"What a load of nonsense! All he did was put his intellect on display, how is that cheating?"

The male students immediately conceded.

"Yes, yes, you're right, he's smarter than us all."

At the same time, they exchanged a few glances with one another, deciding that it was best to discuss this matter without the girls present.

***

As Fang Che returned to his manor, Sun Yuan was already waiting for him.

Sun Yuan had recently traveled close to five thousand kilometers, robbing, extorting, and looting around a dozen warrior clans.

His disciple wasn't lacking in aptitude, cultivation arts, or cultivation resources, so what could he do for him?

He had decided that he could only help Fang Che by sourcing pills that could enhance his soul and body.

As a King, Sun Yuan's biggest regret looking back over his cultivation journey was having nothing back when he was laying down his foundation. As a result, he was unable to progress any further beyond the King tier.

Now that he was placing all of his hopes on his disciple, he was determined not to let his disciple go down the same path!

For this objective, he had looted almost all of the small warrior clans affiliated to the One Heart Church.

As he was robbing his fourteenth clan, he received news from the One Heart Church that the new student tournament was about to begin, and he had immediately traveled to the academy as quickly as he could.

***

"Come inside and have a seat, Master. Ye Meng, get us some tea."

Ye Meng went to brew tea, while Fang Che and Sun Yuan entered the study.

Sun Yuan was very pleased to see the progress that Fang Che had made. "You're growing so fast! You're already a fourth-rank Warrior Master now! I came here under instructions from..."

Fang Che raised a hand to interrupt him right as Ye Meng entered the room with the brewed tea.

"You can go now. And close the door behind you."

Ye Meng departed in a submissive manner.

"It's best for both her and us that she knows as little as possible," Fang Che said as he turned his gaze back to Sun Yuan.

Sun Yuan was extremely pleased by the cautionary measures that Fang Che was taking.

"It puts my heart at ease to see you being so careful," he said as he patted Fang Che on the shoulder. "I'm sure the pope will also be pleased when he hears this."