Elder Fang

Chapter 32: Elder Fang

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The sudden pressure shattered the gloomy atmosphere that had been building up, and for a moment no one spoke as they all tried to see where the voice had come from.

It wasn't long before everyone noticed a figure making his way through the crowd, and when they saw him, many were shocked, as they began to murmur:

"Holy crap, isn't that the fourth elder? I didn't think he'd be here today," someone said, recognizing who it was.

The academy had several elders managing its important areas, and among them, the fourth elder was the one in charge of running and ensuring the proper functioning of the mission hall.

Normally, a figure like that wouldn't step forward unless necessary, so people were surprised to see him appear in a small matter like this.

They figured he was probably just passing by and had been drawn in by the crowd that had gathered in the hall.

After all, this was the academy's mission hall, a place where fighting or causing any kind of commotion and disturbing others was forbidden.

The mission hall guards were already on alert, and if it hadn't been for the elder's arrival, they probably would've stepped in the moment they noticed the signs of a fight breaking out.

That said, here they all were, under the hawk like gaze of the fourth elder.

Even though he was just looking at them with a blank expression, he was releasing an invisible pressure that made it so none of the three dared to move in front of him.

"This isn't the place where you can do as you please.

If you want to fight, do it in the proper areas of the academy.

If I catch you making trouble here again, no matter who started it, all three of you will pay the consequences," he said in an authoritative tone.

Li Duoji, Yao Jianbo, and Zhu Rong all nodded, with Yao Jianbo speaking up:

"Forgive us, Elder Fang. That wasn't our intention. Sorry for disturbing you," he said apologetically.

Li Duoji didn't say a word either, but he too didn't continue, instead throwing a scornful glance at Zhu Rong before heading off on his way.

As for Zhu Rong, he didn't bother with the other guy and instead made a brief salute towards the elder before leaving as well.

And just like that, what could've turned into a conflict between three disciples was cut short before it started.

The crowd that had been watching from the side began to disperse, each person going back to their own business,

some disappointed they wouldn't get to see a good bit of drama, others not caring much about the matter to begin with.

As the atmosphere in the hall returned to normal, no one noticed that the fourth elder's gaze was now fixed on Zhu Rong's figure.

His expression remained as unchanging as before, but his eyes were slightly sharper as he recalled what had just happened.

'If I'm not mistaken… that's the infamous fiancé of Instructor Liang,' he thought.

The fact that Zhu Rong was engaged to Liang Yuexin was common knowledge to everyone, and it was also the reason many looked down on him.

After seeing Zhu Rong's poor talent, most didn't consider him worthy of being her partner.

After all, she was beautiful, talented, and a descendant of one of the four main families of the capital.

Who wouldn't fall in love with her?

Seeing that the woman countless people saw as a goddess was engaged to a guy like that had stirred up no small amount of resentment,

and over Zhu Rong's two years at the academy, it caused him no shortage of problems.

It was also why Elder Fang immediately recognized him.

He'd heard about him plenty of times, though he'd never personally interacted with him.

In fact, the number of times he'd even seen him could probably be counted on one hand.

But precisely because of that, he was a little surprised in that moment.

'He wasn't affected by my mental pressure at all,' he thought, slightly confused and at the same time skeptical.

He'd released his mental strength to suppress the three of them and while at first glance it had seemed effective,

he hadn't failed to notice that out of the three, the one who didn't seem affected in the slightest by it was this kid.

He was surprised and for a moment thought maybe he'd imagined it.

In the end, he shook his head and turned to get back to his duties.

As the situation returned to peace, Zhu Rong, who had just left the hall, finally arrived in front of a large Mission Board covered with sheets of paper.

Around the area, several people were gathered, just like him, checking out the various sheets pinned to the board.

Each paper had several lines of description, with the mission title at the top, its origin, and more importantly, its difficulty grade.

This was marked by a star based system, with one star being the lowest rank and five stars being the highest and most dangerous.

The stars themselves also had different colors depending on their danger level,

green stars posed no apparent risk to one's life,

while black stars represented a life threatening danger of over 90%.

Needless to say, the cultivation level requirement for those missions was extremely high.

But none of that interested him.

They came in different types, hunting missions, material gathering, information collecting, and more.

Most of the missions here were issued by the academy to help train its disciples while also taking care of minor matters the academy didn't want to deal with directly.

This allowed the academy to lighten its load while giving its disciples opportunities to grow and gain more experience out in the world.

That said, since there were different kinds of classes and specializations, the missions varied a lot too.

Zhu Rong glanced at the hunting and material gathering ones before moving over to the next board.

Right now, none of those were a good fit for him.

The gathering missions weren't profitable enough in his eyes, and the hunting ones were still a little dangerous for him at his current level.

Even though he already had the strength to handle a first grade beast or opponent, he knew it wouldn't be easy, and considering his limited time left, those missions were out of the question for now.

He walked along, checking out each mission board as he went.

There were ones related to alchemy, arrays, runes, even forging, but none of those suited him either.

In no time, he'd gone from the most crowded boards to the least visited ones, until he finally reached the end.

'Tch, seriously… isn't there a single suitable mission here?' he thought, a little irritated.

He'd found a few simple and quick missions, but unfortunately those gave barely any points.

By his quick estimate, even if he completed several of those missions, he'd only have enough for a couple of hours in the training room.

He was a little frustrated and for a moment he thought that maybe he should give up, and settle for the little he could get with those missions,

but then, his attention was caught by another board nearby.

"Oh, right… I forgot about that one."