Standing in the outer regions, Rong Yuan had the students gather round in a large circle. He motioned for Yuan Zheng to bring over a first-order low grade beast for a personal demonstration on how to control fire-based spiritual energy.

Yuan Zheng was already familiar with the syllabus and knew what he needed to do. Furthermore, in order to help the students see clearly what he was doing, he deliberately slowed down his actions.

Meanwhile, Rong Yuan stood at the side, doing a step-by-step explanation of Yuan Zheng's demonstration.

“Low grade beasts like these have a small body, so in order to deal with it, it's important to be quick with your eyes and hands. If you can't match its speed, create some obstacles to slow it down, then you can properly attack it.”

Coordinating with Rong Yuan, Yuan Zheng acted as if he could not keep up with the beast's speed. Then, he created a few fireb.a.l.l.s the size of his fingernails, throwing them in the beast's path.

“Scree!” The nimble beast shrieked, stopping and turning in another direction. Before it could go far, however, another ring of fireb.a.l.l.s appeared in its way, causing it to turn again. Its nimble motions were quickly stopped.

Meanwhile, Rong Yuan walked calmly in front of it, casually grabbing it and subduing the struggling beast. He lectured, “When it comes to battle, it's not always about strength. Intelligently using your spiritual energy will allow you to achieve things you never thought possible.”

The students in the cla.s.s erupted in a chorus of “oohs” and “aahs”, as comprehension dawned on them. Gu Lingzhi just stared at Yuan Zheng, who was working very hard. Hmph, it's really smart of the Third Prince to bring an a.s.sistant for his cla.s.s.

After the demonstration, it was time for the students to experience it for themselves. Rong Yuan threw the struggling beast in his grasp aside and pointed to the Red Leaf Hill. He started to explain the day's a.s.signment, “Using the method I just taught you, I want each of you to catch a live beast. Also, the beast must not be harmed too badly, those who do so will have one point deducted.”

The students immediately sucked in their breaths. These students had just received their student medallions and none of them wanted to get a negative point count.

“Third Prince, what if we successfully complete the task? Do we get awarded points?” a clever-looking student asked.

Rong Yuan looked at him as though he were an idiot. “Do you think catching a powerless first-order low grade beast is something worth awarding points for?”

The youth grimaced. For the Third Prince might not find it a challenge, but for the students, it was a much greater challenge than killing the beast.

While Yuan Zheng's demonstration seemed easy, it required a fine control over one's spiritual energy, as well as good battle awareness. If the fireb.a.l.l.s were released prematurely, the beast would easily avoid the trap, but if it were too slow, they might end up hitting the beast and injuring it too much. Still, even though many students wanted to argue, they were dissuaded the moment they saw the apathetic look on Rong Yuan's face.

When it came to someone they idolized, whatever they did was acceptable. The challenge he gave them was nothing to get worked up over.

Just as they were resigned to beginning the task, Rong Yuan suddenly exclaimed, “Now that you mentioned it, yes, I think it is only fair to award points to those who succeed.”

Hearing this, the youth who spoke earlier looked at the Third Prince, wide-eyed, eagerly antic.i.p.ating that the prince was going to agree to his suggestion. The rest of the students also waited to hear what the Third Prince was going to do.

Rong Yuan swept his gaze over the students and pointed at Gu Lingzhi.

“Student Gu Lingzhi, once you have finished the task, come over here. I'll award you five points.”

Five points!

Everyone sucked in their breaths. They had heard that earning points in the Royal School was extremely difficult, but it did not seem to be the case now. One simple cla.s.s activity could give them five points!

Hold up… did the Third Prince say that only Gu Lingzhi would get points? What about the rest of them?

Someone immediately raised the issue.

“Your Highness, what about us?”

“All of you?” Rong Yuan raised an eyebrow. “Why are you comparing yourselves to her? She is only a Level Four Martial Student. Don't you think she should get a prize for completing the same task as the rest of you?”

The students did not try to raise any more protests after that.

Meanwhile, Yuan Zheng, who already knew that Gu Lingzhi was the Black Thorn, could not help but smile in amus.e.m.e.nt as he watched Rong Yuan. Such blatant favoritism was definitely something only his master would do.

Gu Lingzhi merely blinked her eyes and prepared to catch the beast.

Five points! That was worth five victories in the arena. If Rong Yuan continued to give her points like this, she was certain that she no longer needed to battle in the arena anymore. Just attending cla.s.ses like this would give her enough points for all her subjects, and perhaps more to spare.

Catching a live beast was a test of spiritual energy control. Gu Lingzhi had already practiced this as she was studying the techniques pa.s.sed down to her by the Spirit Tribe, thus she was already proficient at it.

Still, looking at the difficulty the other students were having, Gu Lingzhi felt that it would be inappropriate for her to complete it too easily. She acted as though she was also having difficulty completing the task. Seeing this, Yuan Zheng could only shake his head.

Though Yuan Zheng's master was a good actor, so was Gu Lingzhi. Anyone else would have believed that she was actually having difficulty if they did not know about her true cultivation level.

As time pa.s.sed, more and more students completed the task Rong Yuan had set. Those who succeeded were relieved that they did, while those who did not could only report their failure to Yuan Zheng in misery.

In Yuan Zheng's hand was a book that recorded the names of the students who had failed the task, so that their points could be deducted once they had earned some. The Third Prince meant it when he said he would deduct points, which crushed the hopes of some who wished that he would not be so strict. They looked at their names on the book with reddened eyes, swearing in their hearts that they would train in controlling their spiritual energy so that this would not happen again.

Most importantly, they realized how difficult it was to get points.

Finally, after most of the students were done, Gu Lingzhi brought over the beast that she had “luckily” captured, beaming as she presented it to Rong Yuan.

“Your Highness, I did it!”