Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
Upon hearing Vice School Head Yuan's words, Luo Qiqi pondered for a moment before nodding, "Teacher is indeed in his twenties, and he does have fair complexion..."
After cultivating the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, his body became as smooth and flawless as an infant. It wouldn't be inaccurate to describe him as possessing "fair complexion".
"Zhang Xuan, a freshman, and in his twenties..." Yuan Hong felt frenzied.
The person who had just caused immense destruction in the Blacksmith Guild also went by the same name, and the description fits to a T as well...
"What's wrong, Vice School Head Yuan?" Seeing Yuan Hong going into a daze after asking that question, Zhao Bingxu couldn't help but ask doubtfully. "Could it be that you know Zhang shi?"
"I..." Yuan Hong had no idea how he should answer that question. Still in disbelief, he turned to Luo Qiqi and asked once again, "Does Zhang shi has a formidable teacher who is a master teacher beyond 6-star?"
"Are you referring to Yang shi? I'm not too sure about the details, but it does seem like he possesses means beyond a normal 6-star master teacher!" Luo Qiqi nodded.
"Yang shi... Yang Xuan..." Yuan Hong's body shook intensely.
There was no need to ask any further, there was overwhelming evidence to say that the two people described were the same person.
That fellow had reported himself as Yang Xuan's student. He was also a freshman in his twenties, and the names were similar too... No matter how you look at it, they were definitely the same person!
What the heck was this!
As soon as he arrived at the academy, the first thing he did was to destroy the Chamber of Earth Flame before reducing the entire Passageway of Records to ruins, leaving the Blacksmith Guild in tatters.
He thought that he might be a student sent from the other schools to wreak havoc in the Blacksmith School, but who could have thought that he had such a background?
Putting his life on the line to face the Otherworldly Demons alone, giving away Wu Yangzi's heritage without any hesitation... Every single one of these deeds was incredibly noble, leaving those who have heard of them with nothing but awe for him.
A conceited God of Destruction and a selfless master teacher...
How could they possibly be the same person!
This... Was he suffering from dissociative identity disorder?
"What's wrong?" Seeing Yuan Hong's face slowly being reduced to tears, Zhao Bingxu asked once more.
As a 6-star master teacher, Yuan Hong should have at least reached a level where he could conceal his emotions. Why would he still show such a depressed expression?
"It's like this. Didn't I just said that I had something I needed to report to you?" Hearing School Head Zhao's question, Yuan Hong swiftly recovered and clasped his fist.
"Un." Zhao Bingxu nodded. "What is it?"
Previously, right after Vice School Head Xiong spoke, Yuan Hong did say that he had something to report as well.
"That is... the Passageway of Records has collapsed, and half of the Blacksmith Guild has been destroyed..." Yuan Hong's face reddened in embarrassment.
Despite being the person-in-charge of the examination facilities in the Blacksmith School, the area under his jurisdiction ended up being destroyed by a record challenger. He would probably become a laughingstock for the other vice school heads.
"The Passageway of Records and half of the Blacksmith Guild has been destroyed? Is there an attack by the Otherworldly Demons?" Zhao Bingxu's eyebrows shot up in alarm.
As they had been busy discussing inside the office, and communication with the external world had been terminated, they hadn't received news about the matter yet.
However, the Passageway of Records was constructed and reinforced with incredibly resilient materials, allowing it to withstand the trial of time over several millenniums. Unless there was an invasion by the Otherworldly Demons, how could it collapse all of the sudden?
"That's not it!" Not expecting School Head Zhao to actually make such a connection, Yuan Hong hurriedly clarified it awkwardly. "Someone came to challenge the Chamber of Earth Flame..."
Yuan Hong swiftly went through the happenings of the incident.
"You are saying that... someone survived in the Chamber of Earth Flame for over two hours? And when he finally came out, the chamber collapsed, and the Earth Flame Hearts were completely depleted?
"On top of that, he used Earth Flame to substitute as a catalyst for the Earth Flame Hearts and successfully repaired the chamber. However, as soon as you stepped in... it exploded?"
...
After hearing Yuan Hong's recount, the other vice school heads stared at him as if they had seen a ghost.
To survive the blistering heat in the Chamber of Earth Flame for two hours straight, and even recreating it with Earth Flame... Are you for real?
Was that even something a 4-star master teacher was capable of?
One must know that even they, as 6-star master teachers, were incapable of doing the same!
"Yes..." Yuan Hong nodded. "The person who caused the commotion also goes by the name of... Zhang Xuan, and he's a freshman as well."
"His name is Zhang Xuan? Could they be the same person?"
"To be able to save his peers from the Otherworldly Demon puppets and destroy the underground chamber to trap them down there, Zhang shi possessed both courage and wits. Only a someone like him could possess such great capability!"
...
The other vice school heads remarked.
If someone had told them that a person had endured two hours in the Chamber of Earth Flame and destroyed half of the Blacksmith Guild, they would have never believed it.
However, after hearing about the incredible exploits of Zhang shi, these feats seemed to be nothing much in comparison.
"The Chamber of Earth Flame serves to test the resilience of one's physical body. The longer one can remain in there, the stronger one's physical body is deemed to be. If the both Zhang shi are the same person, considering that he had inherited Elder Wu Yangzi's heritage and cultivated the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body, it wouldn't be too difficult for him to last two hours inside!" Zhao Bingxu nodded.
His first thought upon hearing that someone had lasted two hours in the Chamber of Earth Flame was disbelief as well, but as he recalled the matter regarding Wu Yangzi's heritage, he couldn't help but consider the possibility.
Even though he had never seen the Quintuple Incandescence Golden Body before, it was famed to be the best physical body cultivation technique in Hongyuan Empire, paving the way for Wu Yangzi to become the best blacksmith here.
"I... I didn't know. I thought that he was intentionally causing trouble, so I demanded him to compensate for the damages..." Hong Yuan said anxiously.
If he had known that Zhang Xuan had really endured the heat in the Chamber of Earth Flame with his own strength, he wouldn't have caused such a fuss.
Ultimately, the Chamber of Earth Flame was a record challenge. If Zhang shi had truly endured the heat in the Chamber of Earth Flame with his own capability, it could only be said that the Chamber of Earth Flame was not sufficiently well-built to match up to his capability... To demand the challenger to pay for the reparation under such circumstances was a massive humiliation for the Blacksmith School.
And if Yuan Hong hadn't asked for compensation, the mess that came afterward wouldn't have occurred either.
"We can't blame him for this issue. There is indeed a huge flaw with the design of the Chamber of Earth Flame, resulting in its inability to hold up in the face of a true expert..." Zhao Bingxu sighed.
"You're right." Yuan Hong nodded. "But now, the damage is no longer limited to just the Chamber of Earth Flame. The entire Passageway of Records and half of the guild has been destroyed. What should we do about that?"
If it had just been the Chamber of Earth Flame, they could easily forgo it. After all, ten high-tier spirit stones wasn't a huge sum for the Blacksmith School. However, the damage had gone way farther than that.
"Regarding that... let's just call off the debt!" After a long contemplation, Zhao Bingxu waved his hand and sighed.
"Call it off? How can we..." Yuan Hong exclaimed in shock.
If they were to simply call it off, the Blacksmith School would be incurring a debt of several thousand high-tier spirit stones! As rich as they were, that was still an immense burden on them!
"Are you thinking about the loss? His contribution of the Zither Forging Technique to our Blacksmith School goes way farther than a few thousand high-tier spirit stones!" Zhao Bingxu shook his head.
Wu Yangzi's heritage would boost the skills of the members of the Blacksmith School by leaps and bounds. Zhang Xuan's contribution would benefit generations of students to come, and that was worth far more than a few thousand high-tier spirit stones.
If needed, the Blacksmith School was willing to fork out even several ten thousand high-tier spirit stones for Wu Yangzi's heritage if it had to.
The Zither Forging Technique was not only elegant, it made smithing into an art form. This encouraged immersion in their work, allowing them to raise their understanding of smithing subconsciously as they worked.
With this secret manual in hand, the Blacksmith School could very well overtake the Apothecary School within a decade, becoming the number school in Hongyuan Master Teacher Academy!
Even Zhao Bingxu, the head of the Blacksmith School, was incapable of such a feat, so how could such contribution be valued only at a few thousand high-tier spirit stones?
They were on two totally different levels!
Given the immense contributions that Zhang Xuan had made to the school, if they were to continue demanding compensation from the other party over such a minor matter, wouldn't they make the other students disillusioned about the school?
"Indeed! Not only should we cancel the compensation, we should reward him even!"
"It's only right for us to reward such talents to retain them in our Blacksmith School!"
The other vice school heads expressed their support on the matter as well.
There were many schools in the master teacher, so the competition over talents was extremely rife. No matter what, they had to retain a talent like Zhang shi in the Blacksmith School and have it become his main supporting occupation. This way, if he were to make his name in the world, the school's reputation would also rise along with his!
On the other hand, Yuan Hong's mouth twitched.
That fellow had nearly destroyed the entire branch, and not only were they not going to penalize him, they were going to reward him even... If that was the case, wouldn't he lose his authority among the students?
Nevertheless, he had no choice but to acknowledge School Head Zhao's words.
Contributing the Zither Forging Technique to the Blacksmith School was indeed a huge merit. Even if Zhang Xuan were to wreak havoc upon the entire Blacksmith School, as long as no students were hurt in the process, his merit could easily wipe off his wrongdoings.
In the end, the core of the Master Teacher Academy lay in its people. As long as they had sufficient talents, the academy could always be rebuilt.
The Master Teacher Pavilion in the higher ranked empires had been assaulted by the Otherworldly Demonic Tribe many times, and its facilities and libraries had been destroyed again and again. However, the heritage of master teachers still lived on, guiding humanity to greater heights.
"Alright, the matter is decided then. Right, didn't you say that he intends to take the 5-star blacksmith examination? Bring him to the Ocean of Weapons then. As long as he clears the examination, I'll take him in as my student..." Zhao Bingxu chuckled.
It would be ideal if he could accept such a genius as his student!
"Yes!" Yuan Hong nodded.
"As for the rest of you, you have done well in the mission as well. I'll obtain a few pills from the Apothecary School for you and conduct a Meridian and Bone Cleansing for you personally!" Zhao Bingxu turned to Luo Qiqi and the others and said.
"Meridian and Bone Cleansing? Thank you, School Head Zhao!" Upon hearing those words, the faces of Luo Qiqi and the others flushed in agitation.
Considering that it was a Meridian and Bone Cleansing by one of the Ten Great Master Teachers, were it to succeed, they would be able to progress from straight to Half-Saint without facing any bottlenecks in their cultivation!
Meridian and Bone Cleansing was an extremely exhausting process. Even a Saint realm expert wouldn't do so easily. In that aspect, this was the best reward they could receive.
It was far better than earning Academic Credits!
"Yuan Hong, you should bring Zhang shi to the examination hall now. Make sure to treat him amiably, don't give him the idea that our Blacksmith School mistreats meritorious students!" Zhao Bingxu instructed sternly.
"Yes!" With a lowered head, Yuan Hong walked out from the office, and a bitter smile emerged on his lips.
When he first arrived at the office, he was still thinking about having the school head to issue a severe punishment to Zhang Xuan... Who could have thought that there would be such a huge turnaround?
How did things turn to this?
Just the thought of it left him extremely stifled within.