Chapter 42: Requesting Permission to Beat Up Huo Churan

Fang Qingyun had made an absolute killing overnight!

Once a student of White Cloud Warrior Academy had gone past the new student phase and stabilized in cultivation base, they would be ranked in their respective year levels.

This ranking was decided after three examinations, and rewards and punishments would be issued based on these rankings.

For each rank of improvement, one would receive a reward of one merit point.

At that point, everyone's cultivation base had already stabilized, making progress much more difficult to come by, so it was very difficult to go up the ranks.

However, Fang Qingyun had completely bucked the trend on this occasion!

Out of the 7,500 second-year students of White Cloud Warrior Academy, he had previously been ranked a pitiful 7,476.

He was at the pinnacle of the Warrior Master tier, and if he couldn't make a breakthrough to the Lesser Grandmaster tier within two months, then he would either be expelled or be forced to repeat a year.

He was very popular with the instructors for his honest and reliable personality, but rules were rules, and they had to be enforced.

However, Fang Qingyun's examination results had shocked not only all of the instructors, even the dean and the assistant deans were struggling to believe their own eyes.

In particular, Huang Yifan had involuntarily let loose a string of shocked profanities.

Not only had Fang Qingyun reached the Lesser Grandmaster tier, his understanding of cultivation arts, combat, and weapons had all improved drastically.

It was an improvement of an unprecedented degree, vaulting him from 7,476 all the way up to 2,999!

A ranking of 2,999 was far from objectively impressive, but the relative improvement was downright staggering!

Tens of thousands of students had recently lost everything betting on the new student tournament, yet Fang Qingyun had just earned himself over 4,400 merit points through a single examination!

The instructors were at a complete loss for what to do.

According to the rules, Fang Qingyun was entitled to a reward of 4,477 merit points, but no student in the history of the academy had ever had that many merit points to their name!

The instructors responsible for awarding merit points had no choice but to raise this matter to the dean.

If they were to issue this reward, then Fang Qingyun would be set for the rest of his time at the academy!

Ultimately, it was decided that the reward had to be issued, but Fang Qingyun refused, stating that having too many merit points would make him prone to complacency.

Hence, he devised a plan of action with his instructors.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

He used three hundred merit points to purchase a large batch of Grandmaster tier pills, only saving a small portion for himself before sending all of the rest back to his clan.

He used four hundred merit points to purchase a pair of high-level combat techniques, two hundred merit points to purchase a mental technique most suited to his physical constitution, and two hundred more merit points to purchase a premium longsword.

He saved only two hundred merit points for himself, and the rest of the merit points, of which there were over three thousand, were spent on treating the entire student body and panel of staff in the academy to a meal!

That was a total of over sixty thousand people, all of whom were able to eat for free for one meal!

There was a sign outside the cafeteria that read: "Fang Qingyun's treat!"

It was truly a historic moment in the academy's history.

Even Fang Che couldn't help but be impressed.

Fang Qingyun was a little simple-minded and naive, but he was very generous and had a plethora of redeeming traits.

Fang Qingyun's merit points weren't enough to treat the entire academy to a meal, but the academy made up the difference, and on that day, Fang Qingyun became the talk of the entire academy.

That afternoon, Fang Qingyun underwent an aptitude reexamination, and after the results came out, his instructors were subjected to a furious tirade.

"This is a student with legendary aptitude, yet you've been teaching him like high B-grade aptitude student for over a year!"

Gao Qingyu was truly furious this time.

There was such a huge disparity between legendary aptitude and high B-grade aptitude that this was a completely unforgivable oversight!

The four instructors hung their heads in dejection and befuddlement.

How did this happen? It doesn't make sense!

In the end, Fang Qingyun provided an explanation, claiming that he had found a fruit while out on a mission searching for natural treasures, and he had felt a massive difference ever since he consumed the fruit.

Only then were the four instructors absolved.

After hearing a description of the fruit that Fang Qingyun had consumed, they deduced that it had most likely been a Heavenly Vein Vermilion Fruit.

Before long, the incident had blown over, but as a result, Fang Qingyun was now being touted as a prodigy.

The instructors really liked Fang Qingyun's personality, but they were also very concerned for him.

He was too innocent, too honest, too nice...

"Never have I imagined that a student having too many positive personality traits would be a cause for concern for me," an instructor sighed.

The other instructors nodded in agreement with wry smiles.

Indeed, given Fang Qingyun's kind, honest, and noble personality, he would've definitely been a worthy leader for the Fang Clan.

However, in light of his newfound aptitude, his future definitely lied beyond the confines of Green Wave City.

As his cultivation base progressed, he would find himself in more and more danger, and his personality would become more of a curse than a boon.

"Looks like we'll have to make an effort to teach him just how dangerous and cruel the world can be."

As soon as Fang Qingyun was set free, he immediately went to see Fang Che.

"What's up?" Fang Che asked.

Fang Qingyun stared into Fang Che's eyes for a long while, then said, "Thank you."

A faint smile appeared on Fang Che's face.

He knew that Fang Qingyun had figured everything out, but hadn't said anything for fear of causing him trouble.

"We're family, aren't we?" Fang Che asked with a smile.

Fang Qingyun burst into laughter as he slung an arm across Fang Che's shoulders and declared, "This is the happiest day of my life!"

"Why? Because you're no longer ranked 7,476?" Fang Che jibed.

"Way to ruin the moment!"

The two of them burst into laughter in unison.

Fang Qingyun departed shortly thereafter, only expressing his gratitude to Fang Che once.

It was as if he had only come here to tell Fang Che that he knew, but for Fang Che, that was enough.

Certain things didn't have to be said.

***

Ye Meng's latest report was already receiving a great deal of attention.

In particular, this so-called injection of divine power had been deemed a matter of such great importance that it had been reported all the way up to Dongfang Sansan, accompanied by a log of everything that Ye Meng had overheard from Fang Che verbatim.

Why is a mere King like Sun Yuan being sent to the headquarters? And why is this considered such a good thing? What is this injection of divine power? What is the Church of the Self-Righteous up to?

Dongfang Sansan had a feeling that this was very important.

At the moment, the capital of the New Chu Nation, Xuanwu City, was in a state of complete lockdown, making it impossible to gather any intelligence from there.

Anyone who tried to infiltrate the city would be caught by the spirit sense of God tier church members stationed in the city.

After some deep thought, Dongfang Sansan's eyes suddenly lit up as exclaimed, "Could it be that there really does exist a deity? If that's the case, then our plans will have to change..."

***

Fang Che had already done everything that he could to spread the word without putting himself at excessive risk of exposure.

Hopefully, the Guardians would be able to piece together the truth on their own.

If they couldn't, then he would just have to help them out in the future.

At the moment, there was something else on his mind.

There was something that he had been waiting for for all this time, yet it still hadn't come to pass.

I killed Ximen Xuri, the seeded prodigy of the Divine Heavenly Church! Why have they still not sent anyone to assassinate me?! I'm even living outside the academy for their sake! Surely they have to be tempted!

Fang Che's cultivation base had reached the eighth-rank Warrior Master tier, and he was about to reach the Lesser Grandmaster tier soon.

Furthermore, as he continued to improve his understanding of the Four Kingly Arms, he could feel his own combat prowess growing rapidly by the day.

Fang Che was beginning to grow very agitated.

According to the rules of the academy, new students were to focus solely on their studies for the first half-year, and they weren't even permitted to take on low-level missions like sourcing spirit medicines.

Hence, if he didn't make something happen, then he wouldn't be able to do anything for the next half-year, and that would be an unacceptable waste of time.

Hence, he decided to seize the initiative.

If the Divine Heavenly Church wasn't going to come after him, then he would go after the Three Saints Church.

With that in mind, he used his communication jade to send Yin Shengong a message that night: "Pope Yin, Subordinate Night Demon wishes to secure permission to beat up Huo Churan, the seeded prodigy of the Three Saints Church.”