Chapter 210: Encounters In The Senior Class (1)
Senior class.
The Character Faculty's batch of year 350 had a decent number of students at about 100 people.
Almost all of them were high-tier students.
This year, a total of eight students had joined the academy as freaks. Six of them had joined the Character Faculty, one had joined the Willpower Faculty, and one had joined the Talisman Faculty.
Hu Qiusheng, Xia Chan, Zheng Yunhui, Wan Mingze, Zhao Shiji, and Zheng Hong. All six of them were evaluated as freaks. It wasn’t an understatement when people said that 75 percent of the academy's geniuses came from the Character Faculty.
Not all the students of the senior class would be present for the regular classes. But today, the classroom was filled with people. However, the atmosphere was cold and cheerless.
A bunch of prideful youths had been gathered in one room. None bothered to take the initiative to greet anyone. The mood was repressive.
Jia Mingzhen and company were present as well. At the moment, Jia Mingzhen was feeling regretful as he transmitted his voice, "Release that little fatty from the Xia Family. With him around, there would at least be some life here. It's too boring without him."
"Release him?"
"What are we going to do with him otherwise?"
They started complaining that it was not lively enough without that little fatty around. It was pointless to keep Xia Huyou locked up anyway. Marquis Xia would not pay anything for him. They could stop dreaming about getting some money from the marquis.
In the midst of his boredom, Jia Mingzhen saw someone. His eyes lit up as he said, "Lin Yao, you're here as well? Are you here to welcome Su Yu because you know he's coming today?"
Lin Yao sat down alone at an empty corner. When he heard Jia Mingzhen's voice, he looked over. There was fear in his eyes when he was looking at Jia Mingzhen, but his expression quickly returned to normal as he replied, "Yes. I'm here to wait for Su Yu."
Jia Mingzhen’s words were caught in his throat.
Lin Yao's eyes were bright as he said, "I lost. Even without fighting him, there is no denying that I lost. But so what? Even Invincible experts had tasted defeat in their young age. A single victory does not mean that one would be victorious for life. Today, Su Yu is stronger than me. In the future...who knows?"
Lin Yao's tone turned excited as he said, "This is an era where everything is possible. Today, I'm not here to submit to Su Yu. Today, I am here to tell myself that there is someone above me, someone I need to surpass!"
"..."
Jia MIngzhen looked at Lin Yao speechlessly before looking at the other students. Finally, he looked at his old friends and transmitted his voice, "Did this kid hit his head somewhere this morning?"
One of them said, "Why are you so surprised? Have you forgotten about Liu Hong? That kid is good enough with his words that he can even convince you that pigs can fly. Lin Yao has probably been brainwashed by his teacher. Don't get too surprised."
Jia Mingzhen had nothing to say.
When he looked at Lin Yao once again, he didn't know if he should laugh or cry. Fine, this was probably good as well. This fellow was on the verge of collapse before. But now, he was filled with spirit and motivation. Jia Mingzhen couldn't help but wonder if this brat would grow stronger or weaker after this.
Jia Mingzhen did not let his thoughts show on his face. He smiled and said, "You're right. But it seems like there are quite a lot of individuals above you. Including Su Yu, there are 98 students in this class. Excluding you, there are 97. And there are probably around 20 or 30 above you. But it doesn't matter! Keep working hard!"
"..."
Lin Yao's face stiffened. He was slightly upset. He had been filled with fighting spirit just a moment ago. Why was this fellow showing him the cruel reality?
What a bastard.
If he wasn't fearful of Jia Mingzhen's strength, he would have challenged Jia Mingzhen then and there.
Done with making fun of Lin Yao, Jia Mingzhen looked at Wu Lan and grinned, "Wu Lan, your old rival Su Yu is coming. You're not doing very well, are you? He's not even viewing you as a rival anymore."
Wu Lan turned her head and looked at Jia Mingzhen. She thought for a bit before saying, "I read your profile before. You're 20 this year. That's 2 years older than me yet you only have this much strength! Garbage! Two years later, I will definitely be stronger than you! You are not qualified to even talk to me!"
"..."
Jia Mingzhen's face stiffened. Back when they had created their fake profiles, they had increased their ages to make their strength more believable. It would be too suspicious for all of them to be 18. But because of that, he had been looked down on? This little girl was calling him garbage?
Sounds of muffled laughter rang out in the classroom.
Even the other elders were laughing. Jia Mingzhen deserved that. Why did he insist on provoking that girl? Didn't he know how arrogant she was? He had the identity of a 20 years old genius. An old genius like that was nothing in Wu Lan's eyes.
How did that feel?
Wu Lan ignored the reactions of the others. She seriously said, "Two years later, I will definitely be far stronger than you. Jia Mingzhen, you might be strong now, but you are not qualified to look down at me."
Jia Mingzhen was infuriated. With an unsightly expression, he decided to ignore that girl. Damn that stinky girl! If it wasn't for her grandaunt, he would have sent her flying with one slap.
While the students were roaring with laughter, Su Yu arrived.
With a bag in hand, he knocked on the door. With a gentle smile, he said, "This is my first day here. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."
There were a lot of familiar faces in this class. There was no need to mention Wu Lan and the few students who had arrived at the capital with him like Hu Zongji.
There was also Jia Mingzhen, the student who had walked the furthest during the monthly examination. His teacher had reminded him to watch out for these people as they were too abnormal.
Wan Mingze stood up with a friendly smile and said, "Come on in, Su Yu. The instructor is not here yet. Just pick a random seat."
"Thank you, Student Wan."
Su Yu flashed a smile that looked even brighter than Wan Mingze's smile and stepped into the classroom.
When he looked around, he noticed something weird. In the class, two individuals in particular had a lot of empty seats around them. One was Lin Yao and the other was Wu Lan.
After giving it some thought, Su Yu decided to not sit near Lin Yao. He was too embarrassed as he had just won 300 merit points from that fellow. As he walked toward Wu Lan, he wondered if this woman was really that bad at making friends. There were nearly 100 students in the class yet not a single student was sitting around her. They would rather squeeze together than to sit near her.
A lot of the students had a toying look on their faces when they saw Su Yu walking toward Wu Lan. Wu Lan was a genius of the Wu Family. She possessed both background and talent. She was also good looking. Thus, many people would still be willing to befriend her if not for her unbridled arrogance.
It had already been a month since they entered the academy. Everyone knew about the temper of that young lady.
Xia Chan was merely lofty and disdained talking to others. Wu Lan, on the other hand, had quite a sharp tongue that could stab straight at the most tender part of one's heart. It was fine if she arrogantly ignored them. But she just had to keep using words like garbage, mediocre, and qualified when talking to others. And when she spoke, she was extremely serious, making it clear that she was not kidding. Who could stand her?
At times, when a random student tried sitting near her, she would say, "Sit further away. A mediocre person is not qualified to sit near me."
The only reason she hadn't been beaten up yet was because of her formidable family. Someone would have thrown a sack over her and beat her up long ago otherwise. Thus, when the students saw Su Yu walking toward Wu Lan, they were ready to see yet another student making a fool of himself.
However, Wu Lan did not say a single word even after Su Yu sat down near her. Envy brimmed in the hearts of many students.
Damn it!
Sure enough, she was only looking down on the others who had tried sitting near her. She was completely fine with a high-high student sitting near her. Then again, not all high-high students would be accepted by her. For example, Lin Yao. He had received a lot of insults from Wu Lan in the past when he tried approaching her.
Su Yu was unaware of all that. He was stealthily studying the students of the class. He noticed a lot of people looking at him. He did not say anything. He was still new here so he decided to keep a low profile. He was quite curious since Xia Huyou was nowhere to be found. Where was that little fatty?
Su Yu was somewhat regretful that Xia Huyou wasn't around. If that little fatty was around, there would at least be a person he could talk to. He knew too little about the senior class and there wasn't a single person here he could ask more about the class.
Thus, he softly asked, "Student Wu Lan, where is Xia Huyou? Why is he absent from the class?"
"That person?" Wu Lan frowned before saying with disdain, "He was caught for illegal gambling. He has been locked up for a few days."
"..."
Su Yu was dumbfounded. He was caught? Why was that fatty so unlucky? Didn't that fatty say that he was very well connected in the academy and everything would be fine? But he ended up caught?
Su Yu could only show some sympathy toward the little fatty mentally. He wasn't too worried about Xia Huyou. That fellow would be fine. At worst, he would only receive a fine.
Wu Lan had not intended to say anything to Su Yu, but now that Su Yu had started a conversation, she decided that it was fine for her to talk to him now. She said, "Since you asked me a question, it's my turn to ask you a question. Why are you at the third-stage Great Strength Realm already?"
That question caught the attention of many students. They did not look over, but many were paying attention to the conversation.
Su Yu had been growing too quickly.
Everyone knew that he was still at the Source Opening Realm when he first joined the academy. Only a month had passed yet he was already at the third-stage Great Strength Realm. That was a terrifying speed.
Su Yu was somewhat speechless. Was she not aware that she was asking a rather private question?
But he was a good and honest man, so he flashed an honest smile and answered, "All high-high students are given a free chance to enter the grotto, right? I went once and reached the third-stage Great Strength Realm there."
"I see."
Understanding dawned on Wu Lan. She was only at the ninth-stage Source Opening Realm and her breakthrough into the Great Strength Realm was still quite far away. Thus, she had yet to visit the grotto.
She didn't think too much about Su Yu's reply. She decided to perform her breakthrough in the grotto as well. She could probably reach the third-stage Great Strength Realm too.
But some of the other students were shocked by Su Yu's words.
Everyone had been making guesses about his breakthrough previously. One of them asked, "Su Yu, you reached the third-stage directly in the grotto?"
Su Yu smiled, "Yeah. I used the mountainbreak bull blood essence for my breakthrough. It worked splendidly, allowing me to open 36 acupoints that day."
When Lin Yao heard that, he felt like someone was stabbing his heart with a needle.
Mountainbreak bull blood essence!
He had nearly gotten the blood essence for himself.
Xia Chan and the other freaks raised their brow. Su Yu wasn't the only one who had broken through with the mountainbreak bull blood essence. They had used the same blood essence as well. But none of them had reached the third-stage at one go.
Wan Mingze smiled and said, "Su Yu, I heard that you were still at the fourth-stage Source Opening Realm a few months ago. Do you have any secrets for your rapid progress?"
Su Yu thought about it and said, "I guess you can say so."
Everyone paid close attention to what he was going to say next.
Fourth-stage Source Opening Realm. Third-stage Great Strength Realm.
Even the freaks who were supplied with endless source qi liquid would need a lot of time to grow that much. In truth, excluding Su Yu, none of the students in this class lacked source qi liquid.
One wouldn't need too many resources to reach the Great Strength Realm. Even a single Skysoar in their family would be enough to supply them with all the cultivation resources they needed.
After all, Skysoar cultivators could start forming their own source qi liquid. Thus, the gap between the students in this class wasn't due to resources. Rather, it was truly due to their talent and effort.
Apart from the freaks, only the high-high students in the class had reached the Great Strength Realm so far. A majority of them were still stuck in the Source Opening Realm.
That included people like Wu Lan and Hu Zongji. Lin Yao had broken through, but his advancement had been rather difficult.