CHAPTER 75: DONG YUNYU

As they made their way down the stairs, Mo Ganyun's head was bouncing up and down on each step.

He desperately wanted to say something, but he was constantly interrupted by his face slamming down onto the steps.

"How did it feel in there?" Bing Shangxue asked.

"Great!" Fang Che replied, and as his strength slowly returned, his body was practically glowing from the benefits that he had reaped from his four-hour stint in the cultivation chamber.

"I... I... Instructor... Please..."

Mo Ganyun was protesting incessantly with each word punctuated by a dull thud, but Fang Che ignored him as he asked, "Our academy is the only one that has these spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers, right?"

"Looks like you must've heard some things," Bing Shangxue remarked. "That's right, our academy is currently the only one that has them, and they're considered experimental infrastructure because they're very prone to damaging the souls of students. All four top academies once had these chambers, but the other three have since gotten rid of them.

“At the time, our academy was under the leadership of Dean Meng Chuxing, and he refused to remove the chambers, so our academy was the only one left that retained them. Each year, close to a hundred students suffer irreparable damage to their souls or cultivation foundations cultivating in these chambers, but that number is far outweighed by the students who have benefitted from these chambers.

“Dean Meng's stance on the matter was that this is a warrior academy, so if certain students are unable to handle the pressure, then it's better to have them eliminated early as opposed to perishing on the battlefield. Dean Meng had a bit of a hardheaded approach, but I can't argue with the results."

Fang Che nodded in response, and personally, he felt like it was quite a waste that the other academies had gotten rid of their spirit qi gravity cultivation chambers.

"I wanna... stand up..." Mo Ganyun wailed, finally able to squeeze out a semi-coherent sentence between the repeated knocks to the head.

At this point, they had reached the bottom of the staircase, and his aura had recovered somewhat.

Bing Shangxue loosened her lasso from around his ankle, and he laid on the ground with blood slowly trickling out of all of his facial orifices.

"Everyone's aptitude is different!" Bing Shangxue scolded. "Just because Fang Che is able to endure four hours doesn't mean you should do the same thing just to prove a point! You think sustaining damage to your meridians and your brain is a laughing matter?

“Everyone starts off at an hour, why couldn't you have done the same? Even the ones who were only able to endure their first few minutes in there are already considered prodigies! What makes you think you're so much better than them?"

After her stern scolding, a hint of sympathy welled up in her heart at the sight of Mo Ganyun, who was hanging his head like a defeated elephant.

Her tone softened a little as she continued, "I know you want to catch up to Fang Che, but you could've done two two-hour stints with a short break in between. That still amounts to four hours in total, but it mitigates a lot of risk."

"I understand. I'll be more careful next time, Instructor," Mo Ganyun replied in an obedient manner.

"He may have been a little reckless, but I have to say that he's lived up to his title of Red Heavenly Lord!" Fang Che praised.

Mo Ganyun was instantly filled with fury and indignation at this derogatory title, and he roared, "Don't call me that!"

"Don't call you what, Red Heavenly Lord? I think you should wear that headband permanently from now on. At the very least, it's very striking to look at."

"I'll make a few more of these once I get back! I'll surpass you for sure!" Mo Ganyun vowed.

"I believe in you!" Fang Che said as he gave him an encouraging fist pump.

Mo Ganyun didn't want to speak anymore.

Fang Che and Mo Ganyun intentionally arrived at the cafeteria a little later than usual for lunch.

They spotted Ding Jieran sitting in a corner, having already finished half his meal.

In another corner, Wei Zihao was rapidly devouring his food, and he was already almost done.

Fang Che spotted him right away.

He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something when it came to the gradual darkening of Wei Zihao's complexion.

That was definitely not a normal change in complexion.

A tan definitely wouldn't appear so sinister.

With that in mind, he called out enthusiastically, "Slow down there, Brother Wei! What did you have for lunch? Let me take a look."

A look of genuine fear appeared on his face at the sound of Fang Che's voice, and he hurriedly said, "I'm already finished. I'll be leaving now."

"Even if you're finished, I can still take a look," Fang Che said with a smile.

"I'm afraid I've already eaten everything, so there's nothing left to see," Wei Zihao replied as he tried to leave.

"Don't go! You can just show me what you ate by throwing it all back up!"

The entire cafeteria instantly fell silent, and Ding Jieran turned to Fang Che with a contemplative look in his eyes, then turned his attention back to his meal.

In his mind, Wei Zihao had definitely done something to deserve this treatment from Fang Che.

From what he had heard, Wei Zihao had once sent people to try and rob Fang Che, so this was well-deserved retribution.

However, others were not so understanding, feeling as if Fang Che were going too far.

What could Wei Zihao possibly have done to warrant this level of mistreatment?

Some were already preparing to step in and stand up for him.

Wei Zihao could clearly sense that he had the public on his side, and that granted him the courage to stand up for himself.

"You're going too far, Fang Che! I admit that I once sent people to confront you, but that was only to test out your abilities! Those two were killed on the spot by you, yet you've repeatedly targeted me with brutal beatings ever since then! What do you want from me?"

“What do I want? I just want to see what you had for lunch!”

"You think you can just keep getting away with this, Fang Che? Is there no justice in this world? Do students like us deserve to be bullied by you just because we're weaker?" Wei Zihao yelled in fury and indignation.

"Shut the hell up!" Fang Che snapped as he sent Wei Zihao flying out the window with a vicious slap.

He then jumped out the window after Wei Zihao, administering a brutal beating while keenly observing the darkness on his face.

The darkness was an inexplicable sight to Fang Che, and he had no evidence to claim that Wei Zihao had been possessed by some type of evil entity.

Hence, the most direct and simple course of action was simply to beat the truth out of Wei Zihao!

As punches rained down mercilessly upon him, Wei Zihao screamed for mercy, and sure enough, as the beating continued, the darkness over his face began to quickly move as if it had been enraged.

The darkness had taken on the form of an indistinct face that appeared to be roaring at him in fury.

This was something he had never seen before.

However, as he continued to rain down punches, the darkness was gradually scattered, and he could sense that it had been beaten into a feeble state.

"Fang Che! How dare you!"

Right at this moment, a white-robed figure descended from the sky.

It was a handsome, white-robed young man with a slightly arrogant look on his face, and as he drifted down from above, he had one hand clasped behind his back, while the other was resting atop the hilt of his sword.

He landed around ten feet away from Fang Che, where he looked down at him with a disdainful expression. "You've gone too far, Fang Che! If it isn't for the fact that we're not allowed to challenge students of lower year levels, I would've taught you a lesson long ago! What gives you the right to bully your fellow students and cause so much unrest in the academy?"

He spoke with a justified air about him, as if he were talking down to Fang Che from the moral high ground.

"May I ask your name, Senior Brother?"

"I wouldn't dare to call myself your senior brother, Prodigy Fang. My name is Dong Yunyu."

"Ah, Master Dong, I've heard that you received an official post in the Hall of Protectionists as just a fourth-year student. If you're stepping in, then I'll let him off the hook for now."

"You think you can just leave without any repercussions?"

"If you want to disregard the academy's rules and beat down on a first-year student like me, then go right ahead. It's just a matter of beating others or being beaten anyway. I've dished out plenty of beatings, so it hardly matters to me if I occasionally receive a beating here and there."

"You're trying to goad me into breaking the academy's rules!" Dong Yunyu harrumphed. "I'll be breaking the rules if I attack you, and that'll play right into your hands, landing me in hot water with the academy, isn't that right, you conniving little scoundrel!"

Fang Che was completely unfazed by this accusation, but before he had a chance to say anything, Mo Ganyun spoke up in his stead.

"You're the one who decided to get involved, yet now, you're too scared to do anything because you'll be breaking the rules. If that's the case, then why'd you even step in at all?"

Ding Jieran had already joined Fang Che and Mo Ganyun outside the cafeteria, and he scoffed, "He wants to make an example out of Brother Fang to prop himself up, but he's too scared of the rules to actually do anything. He thought that Brother Fang would be overawed by his presence and bow down to him, but that didn't happen, so he doesn't know what to do now."

Mo Ganyun burst into laughter.

That was a perfect analysis of the situation.

At the same time, Fang Che and Mo Ganyun were taken aback by how much Ding Jieran had spoken in one go.

Could it be that he had undergone a personality change?