A month passed in a flash, and the Gu Yue Clan Academy's First Assessment arrived as scheduled. The content of the assessment was straightforward and simple—activate the moonlight gu to condense a Moonblade and shoot the straw puppet.
The straw puppet was originally transformed from a Rank One Wood Path Gu, making it extremely durable. Even if a Moonblade left a deep mark, it would heal on its own and recover completely after a brief period of stillness. However, this was completely ineffective against Fang Yuan.
His primeval essence, refined by the wine worm, allowed the activated Moonblades to carry a fierce Strength Path. All the straw puppets he shot were completely ruined, showing no signs of recovery whatsoever.
A few days ago, relying on the white boar gu, Fang Yuan gained the strength of one boar. With this brute force, combined with his own strength, he forcibly pushed open the massive rock in the Rock Crevice Secret Cave and stepped into another sealed secret room.
Inside the new secret room, a heavy stone door lay ahead, and an earth hiding flower grew beside it. The stone door was as heavy as a mountain; if the white boar gu hadn't added that strength of one boar, his previous strength would never have been enough to move it even slightly.
Behind the stone door was a dark underground stone forest, where hundreds of Jade Eye Stone Monkeys were entrenched—the eyes of these stone monkeys were made of natural jade.
Sleeping within the earth hiding flower was a jade skin gu. This Gu was also Rank One, belonging to the defensive type. Once activated, it could condense a layer of jade light to wrap around the entire body, blocking ordinary attacks.
The jade skin gu fed on jade, and the stone eyes of the Jade Eye Stone Monkeys in the stone forest were coincidentally the best rations to feed it.
Last night was also the time of Fang Yuan's cultivation Breakthrough.
A-grade aptitude already guaranteed rapid progress, and coupled with the wine worm refining his primeval essence, he instantly broke through the shackles of Rank One Initial Stage and stepped into the middle stage.
Inside his aperture, the aperture wall had shed its original light membrane and transformed into a water membrane.
Under the gentle glow of the water, the spring autumn cicada sat firmly in the center, its blood-red compound eyes scanning the surroundings. The pressure originating from the immortal gu caused the moonlight gu, white boar gu, jade skin gu, and even the wine worm to shrink to the side, trembling.
Only the Bronze Sarira Gu had been taken out of his aperture—this Gu could help a Gu Master raise their Realm by one minor stage, but Fang Yuan had other plans: he intended to save it until Rank One upper stage, using its assistance to directly charge toward Rank One Peak.
At this moment, Fang Yuan was firmly at Rank One Middle Stage, leaving the rest of the Students in the academy far behind. When the assessment ended, he won first place without any suspense, and naturally exposed his Rank One Middle Stage cultivation to everyone.
"Rank... Rank One Middle Stage! How is this possible!"
The School Elder was greatly alarmed. Even if Fang Yuan possessed A-grade aptitude and had the wine worm assisting his cultivation, this rate of progress was far too fast—so fast that there was no precedent in previous years.
Fang Yuan could achieve this speed only because he possessed the memories and cultivation experience from his previous life of five hundred years.
Those unique techniques for nourishing the aperture and those profound cultivation insights were far beyond even Rank Four Clan Leader.
"Brother actually broke through to Rank One Middle Stage... I've been working so hard, yet he spends all day drinking and sleeping..."
Upon hearing the news, Fang Zheng felt as if he had been struck by lightning, completely unable to accept it.
"We both have A-grade aptitude, but Brother is gluttonous and lazy, so why is he the one who broke through to Rank One Middle Stage first?"
He felt as if the heavens had played a huge joke on him. When they were young, the poems *song of liangzhou* and *bring in the wine*, casually written by his brother Fang Yuan, spread throughout the entire Qing Mao Mountain, and he was hailed by everyone as an unparalleled Genius.
Yet he, the Genius's younger brother, could only follow silently, living in the shadows of others.
Later, during the Aperture Opening Ceremony, when he tested for A-grade aptitude, it was the first time he dared to look up at his radiant brother, his heart filled with pleasant surprise.
Even later, Fang Yuan would sleep soundly during class, drink during breaks, and even steal Students' primeval stones after drinking.
Just a few days ago, when Fang Yuan's personal maid Shen Cui served him wine and dishes, he flew into a rage and shouted angrily:
"You dare to seduce me with your meager looks? Uncle, Aunt, what a fine honey trap... Shen Cui, do you think I can kill you?"
That night, Shen Cui cried and tried to run out of Fang Yuan's demonic room, and Fang Zheng couldn't stop her no matter how hard he tried.
It was from that moment that he resolved to surpass his lofty brother in this lifetime.
But now, all his efforts had become a joke in front of his brother. He was like a petty clown, jumping around in front of Fang Yuan for so long, merely a monkey baring its teeth and hopping up and down for the audience.
The School Elder was also full of dissatisfaction toward Fang Yuan. Although Fang Yuan suppressed his classmates everywhere, he acted with extreme restraint. Even if the Elder deliberately sought a pretext to suppress him, there was no way to start.
Furthermore, as the School Elder, he had to be fair and just, and could not bend the law for personal gain.
Seeing that the other fifty-six Students had been completely subdued by Fang Yuan and could no longer raise their heads,
the School Elder finally couldn't sit still. He immediately rushed to the Clan Leader Pavilion to seek help from Clan Leader.
"This Fang Yuan is quite interesting."
After hearing the report, Clan Leader's tone actually carried a hint of admiration:
"Although his conduct is improper and his character is worrying, to possess such shrewdness and ability at the age of fifteen, perhaps even the Bai Family Genius Bai Ning Bing cannot compare."
Clan Leader was quite satisfied with this—as long as Fang Yuan could grow smoothly, the Gu Yue Clan might produce another Rank Five Gu Master. However, in his view, Fang Yuan was still slightly inferior to Bai Ning Bing.
"Clan Chief, this Fang Yuan is far too arrogant! The other Students are so suppressed by him that they can't raise their heads. This situation is harmful and not beneficial for the growth of new Gu Masters," the School Elder urgently advised.
"Mm, you are right. This Fang Yuan is indeed arrogant, and he should be taught a lesson."
After a moment, Clan Leader said in a deep voice: "Starting today, I will personally instruct both Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng."
"Lord Clan Chief... this, this isn't according to the rules, is it?" The School Elder was slightly startled.
"Why not?" Clan Leader countered:
"They are both A-grade Geniuses; how can they be treated with the standards of ordinary Students? Back then, Ren Zu used the Rule and Regulation Gu to capture all the Gu in the world, but he coincidentally lost the wisdom gu. A Family is a Family in the end; blood is thicker than water. We can't just blindly use rules to suppress people."
"Lord Clan Chief, it's not an issue of rules..." The School Elder looked troubled. "The relationship between Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng is already not very harmonious..."
Saying this, the School Elder reported all of Fang Yuan's actions to Clan Leader in detail: how he beat his younger brother in the academy, stole his primeval stones, and often referred to Fang Zheng as "My foolish younger brother" during conversations, suppressing him at every turn.
"What! He even steals his own brother's primeval stones?!" Clan Leader's tone suddenly sank upon hearing this.
"That is correct," the School Elder replied with his head lowered.
"This... so be it."
Clan Leader pondered for a moment before finally relenting:
"Fang Yuan is still a Student, and youthful greed for wealth is understandable. He is destined to inherit the position of Clan Chief one day, and Fang Zheng, also possessing A-grade aptitude, is naturally a political ally for the Family. Perhaps I should try to ease the relationship between the brothers."
Clan Leader had his own calculations: since Fang Yuan had already discovered the flower wine inheritance, his future promotion to Rank Five was not an empty boast; and Fang Zheng, with his A-grade aptitude, could reach at least Rank Four in the future.
If the two brothers could reconcile, with Fang Yuan's assistance, Fang Zheng might not be unable to step into the Rank Five Realm.
If they truly reached that stage, the Gu Yue Clan would genuinely rise up and might even usher in unprecedented prosperity.
"Alright, I understand everything now. You may leave first."
Clan Leader waved his hand and instructed:
"School Elder, just devote yourself to teaching. The future of the Family rests upon your contributions. I believe you can do better."
That night, guided by the guards, Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan entered the Clan Leader Pavilion and met Clan Leader. Clan Leader personally taught the two of them battle techniques.
Fang Zheng studied extremely diligently. At this time, Fang Yuan's body was controlled by Yuan Fang, who could not skillfully use the moonlight gu, so he also followed along to learn Clan Leader's battle methods.
What surprised Clan Leader greatly was that the tactical thinking displayed by Yuan Fang was exceptionally tricky.
Although his method of activating Gu still showed the awkwardness of a Student, his application of battle techniques everywhere revealed a cunning and experience inappropriate for his age.
"Fang Yuan, your accuracy is too poor when activating the Moonblade like this," Clan Leader couldn't help but correct him.
"Lord Clan Chief, I believe that activating the Moonblade in this manner can prevent the enemy from guessing the direction of my next attack, achieving an element of surprise," Yuan Fang replied neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"But... but it really misses the mark. If you encounter a moving target..."
Before Clan Leader could finish speaking, Yuan Fang handed control of the body back to Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan smiled slightly, and with a lift of his hand, a Moonblade shot out the window as fast as lightning, flying at an extremely tricky angle.
With a soft "chi" sound, a small sparrow flying past was instantly sliced into two by the Moonblade.
"A moving target... uh..."
Clan Leader's words stopped abruptly, and a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart—he secretly felt the urge to take Fang Yuan as his teacher right then and there.
However, constrained by the Clan Chief's Face, he could only cough a few times and comment unnaturally:
"Fang Yuan, I must say, you are the most intelligent Student I have ever met. It's just that your battle techniques... are not yet proficient. If you are willing to learn properly from me, your combat ability could surpass even my adopted son Gu Yue Qing Shu within a year."
Fang Yuan smirked, and simultaneously activated two Moonblades in his hand, slicing a leaf floating in from outside the window straight into three pieces.
Seeing this, Clan Leader looked embarrassed. Just as he was about to say something else, Fang Yuan shot out another Moonblade, precisely slicing the half-piece of remaining leaf that was currently falling—it must be known that the leaf was continuously descending, its position changing instantaneously.
"Fang Yuan, you are indeed outstanding... worthy of being the number one Genius of our Family!"
Clan Leader quickly smoothed things over, pulled out thirty primeval stones, and handed them over: "This is your reward."
Fang Yuan didn't even blink, raising his hand to put the primeval stones away.
"Uh... it's getting late. You two should rest early," Clan Leader said, looking slightly awkward.
"Yes, Lord Clan Chief." Fang Yuan replied, then turned and left.
Watching Fang Yuan's retreating figure, Clan Leader actually felt a trace of chill in his heart—he seemed to see a monster in the making. Perhaps even Bai Ning Bing of the Bai Family was only this good.
Another month passed, and the academy began selecting class leaders. Fang Yuan, just as in the original work, refused the opportunity to become a class leader.
After the class leaders were chosen, it was time for the Students to select their second Gu:
Fang Yuan chose a small light gu, Fang Zheng chose the copper skin gu, Chi Cheng chose the Dragon Pill Cricket Gu, and Mo Bei chose the Yellow Camel Beetle Gu.
The Mid-Year Assessment was imminent, and Fang Yuan successfully broke through to Rank One upper stage on the eve of the assessment. At this point, he was about to break through to Rank One Peak.