The next day, later in the afternoon...
The academy elder examined Fang Yuan's aperture. He only saw what he expected. A Liquor Worm, and a Moonlight Gu, both in a sea of green primeval essence surrounded by the water membrane walls of Fang Yuan's aperture.
The primeval essence was darker and more concentrated than expected, but that was thanks to the Liquor Worm.
All around Fang Yuan, there were exclamations as they realized what had happened. Everyone was just waiting for the academy elder to confirm it.
"Fang Yuan, congratulations on reaching Rank 1 Middle Stage," the academy elder said with a heavy sigh.
"No way- I'm not even 20% done yet!"
"He beat everyone else!"
"Isn't this a new record!"
"Well think about it, first of all he has B-grade aptitude. On top of that, he has the Liquor Worm, so his aptitude is basically even higher than A-grade. Then, he has a mountain of primeval stones with him! No wonder he got this far!"
The academy elder noted that this was a new record regarding the speed of someone reaching this level. Most people could only reach this level after a whole year of cultivating, and Fang Yuan was already here. However, no one suspected anything was off with Fang Yuan thanks to those three factors.
If anything, Fang Yuan had been more concerned about his true aptitude getting revealed, but it seemed that something in the system still was functional in keeping that hidden.
As it was, only 4% more and this would no longer be a lie, but truth.
The elder had a complicated expression. In a normal class, this would be fine, but there was Fang Zheng to take note of.
If Fang Zheng noticed this and became despondent, wouldn't that be an issue?
Though Fang Yuan was a future elder, Fang Zheng was a potential future clan head. Who would pick Fang Yuan over Fang Zheng?
The easiest thing to do in order to fix this would be to take Fang Yuan's Liquor Worm and remove this advantage. However, he lacked any justification to do so.
This was the drawback of the righteous path, after all.
And yet at the same time, he could not disregard Fang Yuan entirely. He had shown great fortitude, and though one might call his encounter with the Flower Wine Monk entirely due to luck, he had turned it over to the clan. He also possessed knowledge, therefore, that could hurt the clan.
If the academy elder did something, could he prevent Fang Yuan from opening his trap?
Because of this, he could only bit his lip.
Fang Zheng, noticeably, was quite dejected.
'Is this how things are always going to be?' he thought to himself.
Back home, he had always been second-best compared to Fang Yuan. People often only knew him as 'Fang Yuan's little brother.'
However, when their aptitudes had been revealed, he had thought that things might be different. Now, he would be in the spotlight. If anything, Fang Yuan would now be 'Fang Zheng's brother!'
Instead, more of the same was continuing!
Even now, Fang Yuan overshadowed him. He had beaten him not just once, but three times!
Even when it came to reputation, Fang Yuan's greatly surpassed him. Initially, Fang Zheng had been the new hot topic in town.
Now though, the only person that anyone mentioned was Fang Yuan. His acts of kindness, though small, had earned him small fame at first - but the matter with the Flower Wine Monk had basically etched his name into the clan's history permanently!
'Am I always going to trail behind him ...?' Fang Zheng wondered.
Fang Zheng was despondent, but there were two people even worse off than him: Chi Chen and Mo Bei.
If Fang Zheng could not keep up with Fang Yuan despite his A-grade aptitude, what hope did the two of them have?
"Wait a moment," someone intoned. "The Liquor Worm only works till Rank 1 Upper Stage! After that, Fang Yuan's speed is going to decline!"
This brightened up some people's moods, but the fact remained that right now, Fang Yuan would rocket past them so long as it was their first year.
Of course, the ceiling was different, Fang Zheng thought. Fang Yuan might rise faster, but he would also peak faster as well. 'Eventually, I'll beat him!' he thought to himself, though also sighed. When would this 'eventually' come?
Neither Chi Chen nor Mo Bei had this small consolation, however.
"Fang Yuan, given your exemplary performance, from now on, you will be class president," the academy elder said. If it were not for Fang Zheng, his praise would come truly from the heart, but right now, it was mixed with bitterness.
There was applause, but it was only genuinely coming from some students - Li Mei being foremost among them. 'I was wrong!' she thought to herself. 'Heaven truly does reward the righteous! How else could Fang Yuan climb ahead !'
Mission accomplished!
One With Scenery Gu (x 1) added to your inventory!
Fang Yuan would have to take a look at that later.
Mission accomplished!
Every week, will gain 2 Human Path dao marks.
For now, Fang Yuan would not use these dao marks and keep them in his inventory.
"Of course," the academy elder said, turning to everyone. "Only the position of president has been decided. There are still two vice-president positions!" He said this to try and encourage everyone, but it had little effect.
'Even if I become vice-president, I would have to call big brother 'sir' and bow my head whenever I see him!' - Fang Zheng thought, dejectedly. The mere thought caused his stomach to do somersaults in his belly and he felt sick. He would probably find breaking an arm to be less painful in the large term.
Mo Bei and Chi Cheng, however, suddenly lit up. There were three main contenders now, and only two spots.
'I might not be able to beat Fang Zheng, but I can beat him!' - they thought to themselves, the 'him' being each other.
Both of their families were set against each other, and one of them was likely guaranteed to lose. They had passed it off as a foregone conclusion that Fang Zheng would win one of the positions.
Whoever lost though, would end up losing face not just for themselves, but also their families. They could not let that happen!
Fang Yuan's victory had far-reaching implications in the village.
First off, were his aunt and uncle. Both of them tried to console Fang Zheng that he could still do well, but inwardly, they were panicking.
What were they going to do about Fang Yuan now?
"What can we do now?" aunt asked. "Isn't there some way to stop him?"
Uncle shook his head. There was no scheme at this point that would work.
Uncle felt that he should've been a bit more diplomatic earlier, as he realized that there was little in the path to prevent Fang Yuan's meteoric rise now. If he had been a bit nicer, it might've been possible to reach an understanding. 'If he gets to Rank Two before the year is over, we really will be done for!' he thought to himself.
The Mo and Chi families were also somewhat perturbed by events that were unfolding.