Chapitre 31: Great rewards all according to plan
Fang Yuan's clothes were torn in several places and his feet were full of mud. He carried a bag over his shoulder, having finally left the wild boar king's territory after making a detour to escape from Wang Da.
He slowly ascended the hill where several clan elders were staying, supervising the mid-year assessment.
The hill had a simple tentage and tens of students were nearby as the academy's guards were collating the wild boar tusks in their bags. The few clan elders that were originally stationed here were missing, and only one was left - the Academy Elder.
'Why is the atmosphere so weird?' Fang Yuan frowned slightly, acutely feeling something important had occurred.
When Fang Yuan got near the tentage, he saw the students crowd around Chi Yan in great numbers and discuss.
"Chi Yan, is it true that Fang Zheng was assassinated?"
"Chi Yan, did you really fight the assassin?"
"I heard that several Rank 2 Gu Masters died!"
"Chi Yan, please tell us what happened."
Chi Yan was sitting on a large rock, his three girlfriends sitting very close to him.
Fang Yuan's footsteps halted, focusing on the discussions.
"Shhh." Chi Yan raised his hand, hushing the others' questions. He glanced over as he noticed Fang Yuan appear and then looked back toward the group. He said, "Yes, someone tried to assassinate Fang Zheng. It was a Rank 2 Demonic Gu Master and he killed three Gu Masters of our clan. He also tried to kill Fang Zheng, but was pierced by hair nails from one of our clan's Gu Masters and was stopped in place. At that time I shot a fireball through his head and killed him, but he still managed to reach Fang Zheng and poisoned him."
The teenagers' faces were full of fear, excitement and curiosity as they listened. Even Mo Bei and his bunch were among the crowd, listening with great interest and wide eyes.
"Is Fang Zheng going to die?..." someone asked.
"Even if he doesn't die, his Aptitude might drop," someone else said.
Fang Yuan's eyes flashed, as he guessed the truth behind the matter. 'Was it actually Wang Da that tried to assassinate Fang Zheng by mistake? It seems like he didn't gather enough information that I have a twin brother. No wonder nothing happened to me along the way. Most importantly, I hope that Wang Da really died.'
Wang Da was a thread that connected Fang Yuan to Old Man Wang and the Beast Skin Map, which in turn was connected to him hunting wild boars weekly to feed his White Boar Gu from the Flower Wine Monk's Inheritance. Naturally, Fang Yuan didn't want it to be discovered. He was even extra careful to not run into Chi Yan in the wild, being aware that Chi Yan was going out to practice in the outside world from time to time.
Chi Yan continued, "The assassin used Love Life Separation Gu, the strongest poison Gu at Rank 2. Even a Rank 3 healing Gu cannot heal its poison. Luckily I had the Clearing Heat Gu on me, so I lent it to one of the Rank 2 Gu Masters and they immediately treated Fang Zheng. I think he will be fine."
The students were silent for a while, their expressions varied. Some expressed shock, some admiration, some worry.
"Chi Yan, are you okay?"
"You weren't hurt, were you?"
Chi Yan's three girlfriends huddled closely to him with worried expressions as they clinged to his arms, uncaring of the public.
Chi Yan lightly laughed as wrapped his arms around his girlfriends, hugging them and pulling them closer. He smiled and said, "I'm fine, thank you darlings. The Demonic Gu Master wasn't after me, I was only at the scene."
"Chi Yan, you should be careful."
"Yes, be careful."
"Haha, don't worry, I'm really strong. Thank you for worrying about me, sweethearts. Thank you, Kong Lian…" Chi Yan smiled and began to kiss his girfriends one by one.
Fang Yuan wrinkled his brows. Ignoring Chi Yan's lovey-dovey attitude, he thought, 'Love Life Separation? Could it be the true reason behind Wang Da's wife's death? Hehe, now the clan's higher-ups must be suspecting the other two mountain villages.'
Thinking for a while, Fang Yuan decided to follow his original plan and went to report his wild boar tusks.
Standing nearby, the Academy Elder's expression was ugly, Fang Zheng was actually a target of an assassination.
'The assassin was killed on the spot and Fang Zheng was also treated immediately, but I wonder how his injuries are. Love Life Separation is a strong Gu that works quickly after all,' the Academy Elder thought, and at this moment, his attendant brought him a piece of paper.
The Academy Elder received the paper, reading without paying proper attention, "In this year's examination, the results are as follows… Gu Yue Chi Yan - sixty tusks, Gu Yue Mo Bei - sixteen tusks…"
The surrounding students' attention was obtained. The results were clear.
D-grade students, even if they worked together, could only at best obtain three to four tusks which translated to thirty to forty primeval stones. B and C grades, at most eight to nine tusks in most cases.
Chi Yan clearly dominated the competition and received everyone's admiration and envy, having hunted thirty boars by himself, collecting sixty tusks. Apart from having a great result far ahead of everyone else, according to the exam's rules he would also receive a small mountain of primeval stones later on.
Such an amount of primeval stones that Chi Yan earned in a single day left all the other students fully stumped. It was six hundred primeval stones!
Naturally the clan's higher-ups must have never expected one of their newbie students to hunt so many wild boars, hence they enticed the students with an offer of ten primeval stones for each single tusk. However it was only something they would be happy about.
Mo Bei was second place, having hunted eight boars.
Mo Bei's face had a dark and mixed expression; anger, indignance and utter shame. They were both the same age, but Chi Yan had surpassed him by so much in this examination that it was just too embarrassing! He didn't know how he could now face his grandfather.
The academy elder announced, "As such, I announce, the number one student for this examination is Chi…"
"Halt!" Fang Yuan stepped out at this moment.
"Fang Yuan, you are late! The examination ended an hour ago, according to the rules, the wild boar tusks that you obtain will be deducted by four as punishment." Someone shouted.
Fang Yuan ignored him and opened the bag on his back, grabbing the bottom of the bag and pouring out the contents.
Crash.
Dozens of wild boar tusks gathered into a pile by his feet.
The students stared their eyeballs out at the pile.
"How can there be so many? This is too much!" The Academy Elder looked at Fang Yuan in disbelief: "Fang Yuan, did you hunt all these?"
Fang Yuan cupped his fists. "I only hunted a dozen tusks myself, but I found a bag that could've been hidden by hunters. Inside it were many wild boar tusks. I thought about it, the exam was that we had to obtain as many tusks as possible within a day, and did not specify that we have to kill it ourselves, thus I brought it here."
Once he finished, the crowd burst into discussions.
"How can this be?"
"Way too lucky!"
"This is too fake, could the questions have leaked thus he cheated?"
The academy elder stared at Fang Yuan, looking for a while. A moment later he declared, "This exam, Fang Yuan is the first."
Wei Yanyu, Kong Lian and Shen Guang then consoled Chi Yan, but Chi Yan was completely unaffected. Although he would prefer Fang Yuan to be poor and rely on him, he instead thought of the act of Fang Yuan insinuating that he was supported by a mysterious faction in the clan just like in the novel.
Chi Yan thought, 'It seems that Fang Yuan still wants to be a loner rather than to associate himself with the Chi faction. Well, it isn't too surprising. He has too many secrets.'
…
Meanwhile in the Clan Pavilion's Meeting Hall the atmosphere was heavy.
Gu Yue Bo sat at the leading seat, and the other dozen elders sat in two rows beside him, their faces full of rage.
"Gu Yue Yao Ji, you are the number one healer in our clan, I'm asking you how is Fang Zheng now?" Gu Yue Bo asked a clan elder.
Gu Yue Yao Ji was an old woman with a hunched back, her face full of tree bark-like wrinkles.
She coughed twice, slowly saying, "Reporting to clan head, the situation is stable. Fang Zheng's life is not in danger, but he is still sleeping. Fortunately the poison was quickly detoxified and it did not spread, so I believe he will be fine. And his talent did not drop because of this."
"Good if his talent didn't drop." Gu Yue Bo breathed a sigh of relief, then asked the punishment hall's elder, "Has the assassin's situation been assessed?"
The punishment hall elder was not as senior as Gu Yue Yao Ji, and immediately stood up, lowering his head, "Yes, thirty-five years old, male, identity unknown, possibly a demonic faction Gu Master. He has two Gu worms: Shadow Follower Gu and Love Life Separation."
Gu Yue Bo nodded, "Seems like an assassin, Love Life Separation… The number one Rank 2 poison Gu, no wonder he could kill three of my Gu Masters."
"Clan head, we have to investigate further! It's either the Bai clan or the Xiong clan! If not for Chi Yan also hunting in the same area and having Clearing Heat Gu, Fang Zheng would have already been dead!" Gu Yue Chi Lian shouted, his eyes almost bursting into flames.
"Shadow Follower Gu, Love Life Separation… this is not like the Bai or Xiong clan's pawn pieces. He might be an outside demonic faction Gu Master, wanting to get affiliated with the clans, thus being instructed to assassinate Fang Zheng to prove his loyalty. Regardless, this matter definitely has to do with the two clans," Gu Yue Mo Chen coldly said.
These two clan elders in power, although they did not get along, once an external enemy appears, they would discard their hatred and knit tightly together.
Gu Yue Bo nodded, thinking the same himself.
At this moment, the Academy Elder walked in.
"Clan leader…" He looked worried and was about to speak when Gu Yue Bo answered: "Academy elder, Fang Zheng is fine, his talent is still A-grade."
The academy elder's face became relaxed.
"Oh yes, are the other students safe? What about Chi Yan? And for this examination, how are their results, which place is Fang Zheng?" Gu Yue Bo asked conveniently.
The Academy Elder answered truthfully. Firstly he talked about Chi Yan's and everyone's genuine hunting results, including Mo Bei and Fang Zheng.
Chi Yan dominating his peers so much, including Fang Zheng, surprised the elders. Since Chi Yan was also someone present during Fang Zheng's assassination, the elders put their focus on him.
"Chi Yan hunted thirty wild boars in just a single day, while Mo Bei and Fang Zheng hunted eight? Isn't it too much?" an elder asked.
"Chi Yan has a genuine Rank 1 peak stage cultivation and nearly A-grade talent. He has a huge advantage. The other students are mostly still at Rank 1 middle stage," someone replied.
"Right, Chi Yan cultivated with a Liquor Worm, rapidly raising his cultivation. Thanks to a Liquor Worm, even C-grade Fang Yuan reached the middle stage before A-grade Fang Zheng."
"But even then, his hunting results are amazing for a junior."
The room fell into silence. Regardless of the reason, Chi Yan had outstanding hunting results and incredibly rapid cultivation. He was obviously a genius and his results were something that he should be praised for.
"Congratulations, Elder Chi Lian."
"You have a great grandson."
The elders cupped their fists toward Gu Yue Chi Lian with flattering smiles, taking this chance to bootlick him.
Only Gu Yue Mo Chen's face was dark. Having hunted eight boars versus thirty boars. His grandson's result was just too embarrassing.
Chi Lian lightly laughed, stroking his beard. He said, "Chi Yan has been going out to train in the wilderness these last few weeks, so he already had experience hunting. It is not too surprising that he did well."
"Not only hard working in cultivation, but also training diligently," someone bootlicked.
The clan leader nodded. He thought, 'Chi Yan did well, not only taking first place with his hunting results, but he also deserves credit for saving Fang Zheng's life with Clearing Heat Gu. Fang Zheng also told me that Chi Yan lent him his Liquor Worm after he had reached peak stage himself. I'm afraid that without the condensed peak stage primeval essence, Fang Zheng's Jade Skin Gu might have not been able to protect him. We'll reward Chi Yan with five hundred primeval stones.'
'No! Even though Chi Yan and Fang Zheng are from opposite factions, Chi Yan still helped Fang Zheng to raise his cultivation faster, and it would be greatly beneficial for Fang Zheng to get rid of his trauma caused by his elder brother. It might have been Gu Yue Chi Lian's political move, but this kind of clan cohesiveness needs to be encouraged. Gu Yue Chi Yan is so outstanding, but is slightly antisocial, it would be good to encourage his loyalty with an attractive reward.'
'In the end, Chi Yan saved Fang Zheng's life. As a rank 1 Gu Apprentice he bravely fought a Rank 2 Demonic Gu Master for a fellow clansman.'
As an A-grade, Fang Zheng's importance to the Gu Yue clan was monumental. It was especially so due to the pressure of the A-grade Bai Ning Bing from the Bai clan.
With these thoughts, the clan head decided to reward Chi Yan with a Lesser Prize Token instead.
This Prize Token is generally only issued to Gu Masters who have made great contributions to the clan. With this token one is able to go down to the clan's underground Gu cave and choose any single Gu worm he wishes.
The underground cave holds many rare, precious Gu worms ranging from Rank 2 to Rank 4. To obtain the Gu worms from the secret cave, one needed to have made great contributions and should also be loyal to the clan.
If there was a reward that promoted loyalty to the clan, then nothing was better than the Prize Token!
As for the Lesser Prize Token that Chi Yan would receive, it would allow him to only choose among the Rank 2 Gu, but these were all rare and valuable Gu worms that were stored.
Gu Yue Bo announced Chi Yan's reward and none of the elders had a problem with it.
The Academy elder then clarified something: "Sir clan leader, it's true that Gu Yue Chi Yan had the best hunting result, but he didn't take first place. The first place belongs to Gu Yue Fang Yuan."
"What?" Gu Yue Bo voiced out reflexively, feeling slapped.
Just a while ago Gu Yue Bo subconsciously thought that in this competition Fang Yuan finally did worse than Chi Yan, Mo Bei and Fang Zheng being dragged down by his low aptitude, so he wasn't even mentioned by the academy elder when talking about the top 3.
Thinking that Fang Zheng beat Fang Yuan despite being brought out of the competition early, the clan head was very happy. But now it turned out that it didn't seem to be the full truth.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone