A pair of solemn eyes were staring at the faraway training grounds.
The academy elder stood at the window of the third storey, looking at everything that had transpired at the arena.
He frowned deeply.
The instant Fang Yuan left the stage, he felt a sense of peculiarity in his heart, not expecting Fang Yuan to do this.
"This lad, he is rather hard to catch. He is proficient in the academy's rules, and normally will not commit any wrongdoings. Although he sleeps in class, once he is asked a question he can answer properly, leaving others with no flaws to pick on. Trying to get ahold of a weakness of his to suppress his dominance is going to be difficult."
The academy elder could not help but develop a faint sense of loathing towards Fang Yuan.
As a teacher, he naturally liked obedient and smart students, and hated those naughty students who did not obey the rules.
But being the academy elder for so many years, his experience was extremely rich, he had seen many different types of students. Among them he had seen extremely obedient ones who followed orders without question. There were also those who caused problems day and night, constantly breaking the rules.
His heart had already become still as water, impartial to all. At the same time, he carved the phrase "as a teacher, one must treat all students fairly" onto the right corner of his desk, treating it as his motto.
He had never felt such disgust for a student.
Feeling that sense of detest in his heart, the academy elder was also slightly shocked.
In previous years, even towards the most naughty students, he was able to handle it with a big heart, tolerating their actions. But when it came to Fang Yuan, why did he lose this sense of impartialness?
He thought about it again and again, and finally realized the reason.
This lad called Fang Yuan, he had a form of arrogance in his blood!
It seemed from the fundamentals that Fang Yuan did not respect his teachers for their status. Towards the martial arts instructor earlier, he not only disobeyed him, but even rebuked him in public.
Actually, such cases of retorting against teachers were commonly seen in previous years. However, those kids always had an agitated state of mind. They were either rebellious, furious or stubborn, etc.
The academy elder was clear that the more agitated the youngsters were, the more it implied that they were fearful in their hearts.
But Fang Yuan was not.
He had no fear in his heart at all, as if he had seen through the tricks of the academy.
His expression was aloof, and even after he left the stage, his expression showed no signs of changing, as if he had done something insignificant.
Yes, he treated the matter of disobeying his teachers as a trivial matter that was insignificant!
In simple terms ———-
He was not afraid.
It was just this point that caused the academy elder to already feel unhappy, developing a sense of disgust for him.
The academy elder could endure a student more rebellious than Fang Yuan, or a teenager ten times naughtier than him. That was because these students knew fear and were moving based on their agitated emotions.
As long as they were fearful, as long as they were impulsive, they would be easily manipulated and will not go out of control.
But Fang Yuan was not.
He was calm and uncaring, not treating his teachers with reverence.
He was not respectful!
Someone who has no reverence for the clan, even if they are nurtured, how can they be useful for the clan?
"Once they appear, this sort of person, they have to be suppressed, they must be suppressed! Otherwise, his existence will create a sense of irresistibility in the students. In the long run, it will affect the others, causing them to lose their reverence for their teachers, and as the academy, how else are we going to manage the students?"
The academy elder squinted his eyes, making up the decision in his mind.
But then, his face showed a troubled expression very quickly.
How was he going to suppress Fang Yuan?
Fang Yuan had done nothing wrong, there was no weakness that he could exploit.
Fang Yuan's cunning demeanour gave him a sense of helplessness. He had never met a student like this, one who was so familiar with the academy's rules and regulations.
As the academy elder, he was always impartial to all students. He could not be like a slum gangster and purposely find trouble with a youngster like Fang Yuan.
He had placed his hopes on the martial arts instructor, but now he was deeply disappointed.
"It seems that to suppress Fang Yuan's domination, we can only wait until all the other students advance to Rank one middle stage."
A Gu Master's advancement is mostly influenced by their talents.
With his rich experience as the academy elder, he had calculated before in his heart: the ones who had the greatest chance to advance first are Gu Yue Fang Zheng, Chi Chen and Mo Bei.
They were an A rank and two B grades respectively, and with their elders' help behind them, they had no lack of primeval stones. No matter which one of the three, they were mostly likely to be the first to advance to Rank one middle stage cultivation.
"Gu Yue Fang Zheng, Chi Chen and Mo Bei, these three are our hopeful seeds this season." The academy elder looked at the arena and sighed.
With his experienced gaze, he could tell: in the arena, although the students seem to be standing casually, they had subtly already split into three factions.
In one circle was Gu Yue Chi Chen and a bunch of similarly-aged clansmen, all crowding around him.
The second circle's core was Gu Yue Fang Zheng, and the clan leader's faction's younger generation were subtly supporting this A grade talent genius.
The third circle was led by Gu Yue Mo Bei. He had already been treated of his internal injury and stood on the arena with a pale face. The classmates beside him were asking him about his condition.
"This is the meaning of letting them compete with each other." Seeing the three factions, the academy elder was overjoyed and laughed.
Allowing the students free reign to compete, this was not just to nurture their battle senses, but also to prematurely choose the leader-type characters.
In past seasons, they had to wait until the end of the year to have the capacity to develop their own circles. But in this year, because of Fang Yuan's appearance, his extortion had brought forth the divergence much faster.
Against Fang Yuan, the only ones who dared to compete against him were Fang Zheng, Mo Bei and Chi Chen.
After a long time under imperceptible influence, the other youngsters would automatically regard these three as the leaders.
As long as there were no mishaps, these three social circles would be the layout of the future family's higher-ups.
"But these factions are still not stable. Within them, there are still students moving around. Once the three take the lead and advance to the middle stage first, I will give them the positions of class chairman and vice chairman. With that differentiation, they would gain authority, and this will strengthen their social circles," the academy elder thought.
Of course, there was someone not within either factions.
Just one person, and that was Fang Yuan.
Getting close to stronger people is human nature. In fact, although Fang Yuan extorted the students and acted against the students, there were a number of youngsters who wanted to attach themselves to him.
However, they were rejected by Fang Yuan. To him, only those who were useful were pawns, and these youngsters had too little value.
This was also another reason the academy elder hated Fang Yuan. He was too antisocial, not willing to integrate into the team. To such people like him, the clan's control over them was not as much as the other youngsters.
The academy elder's gaze once again shot towards Fang Yuan in the arena.
Fang Yuan stood alone at one corner with his hands behind his back, his eyelids slightly closed, allowing the students to fight for their prize. Even with the heated competition, his expression did not change the slightest.
His surrounding was vacant, no youngster was willing to stand with him.
Very evidently, he also did not wish for these people to be near him.
Fang Yuan stood there alone, enshrouded in loneliness.
He floated outside the factions.
"But I don't have to be too worried. This Fang Yuan is still young and can be changed slowly." The academy elder's gaze shone and he thought deeply.
"Next up will be the establishment of the class chairman and vice chairman. A year later, we will split into groups, creating team leaders and assistant leaders. Every academic year also has all sorts of honor and rewards, like the Small Redflower Award, Blue Neckcloth Prize and Five Outstanding Student Prize.
He wants to cultivate so he needs resources, thus he has to compete for these positions and prizes. As time passes, with interaction among the students, he is bound to have kinship, friendship and love as his restraints. I don't have to worry about him going beyond the clan's control."
These years, the academy elder had gradually understood something.
When a new clan member is born, they would be brainwashed by the clan.
First, they would be taught the clan's utmost value system. Next they would go into moral education and learn about the beauty and importance of kinship, friendship, love.
After that, they would be taught honor, and in the process of growing up, many resources such as prizes would be used to attract them. Using the family's assigned roles, they would choose and recruit the most loyal clansmen into their factions.
Do not look down on the small roles like chairman or vice chairman, for once they become one of these roles, they would be part of the clan's administration.
Under such a system with constant influence, on the one hand it brings about the benefits of having authority and the sweetness of power, while on the other hand, it brings the problem of detaching from the system. A carrot in hand and a stick in the other, who can break away from this system?
Even the wildest of people or the most lonesome ones would gradually become a part of the family. One without loyalty would also be nurtured into one with loyalty. Without kinship, friendship or love, they would still be developed.
This is the power of the system.
This is the power of rules.
This is the clan's way of survival!