Chapter 7: Important Lesson (2)

"But honor, not money, is the issue. Are you truly a good person, willing to make this sacrifice for your friend? Or are you too selfish to keep it for yourself?" Guo Yang asked with a smile as Tristan, grudgingly, took out a rainbow-colored gourd and removed the blood binding, handing it over with his nails digging into his free hand. "Good boy."

Guo Yang bound the gourd with his own blood and took a swig. Upon doing so, he confirmed Tristan's claims. Three magical chambers existed within the gourd, each with seemingly infinite capacity. However, each chamber could only contain a single type of liquid, and the contents could not be mixed. If Guo Yang died, whatever was stored in the main chamber would be destroyed, while the empty chamber and the one filled with monkey wine would remain intact.

He would have to be cautious about what he placed inside, reserving the most valuable liquid for the main chamber. That way, if anyone killed him, they'd find their efforts futile. He smiled with satisfaction, tapped Robert on the chest, stored the gourd, and began to leave the cafeteria.

"Wait! You said you’d heal him!" Tristan shouted.

"Did you not see me tap him? Look again," Guo Yang said, gesturing toward Robert, who fell to his knees, panting heavily and clutching his chest. "See? I'm a man of my word. You can't do business without trust. Otherwise, who would risk buying and selling goods with someone unreliable? I thank you both for teaching me the importance of respect and concern for others. This lesson has been invaluable. I will engrave it in my heart."

The students stood frozen in shock, even as the second-year students arrived long after Guo Yang had left. They had learned a harsh truth: words could be a more dangerous weapon than fists. Guo Yang had manipulated Tristan and struck without mercy. His triple attributes were no longer a secret, and it was clear to everyone that he was far from weak, even as a first-year.

"Ugh. That might be the longest human conversation I've ever had. So troublesome, but the wine tastes good," Guo Yang muttered as he drank more monkey wine. "I used to eat and crush monkeys. Who knew they could make such powerful, spiritual wine? I should be careful with what I fill the other chambers with—I don’t want to accidentally replace the wine with something less valuable."

An hour past noon, Guo Yang’s classmates arrived at the combat grounds and saw him staring at the giant blue phoenix behind their teacher. The phoenix, as tall as a giraffe, terrified many of the children, but Guo Mei was worried for a different reason. She knew her brother’s inexplicable hatred for birds. He never explained why he disliked them, but he always made sure not to go too far in hurting them.

"Oh my god! That’s a mythical-type magical beast! Our teacher must have some sort of background. Even the more powerful clans of the city struggle to possess one," said a boy with glasses, pulling out an encyclopedia of magical beasts from his storage ring.

"What kind is it?" a student asked.

"Let me check..." the boy muttered, his eyes widening as he found the entry. "A Phoenix-type magical beast. That’s a Blue Heart String Phoenix. Its attributes are wind and water. It’s native to the northern lands of our Tang City's continent, Pangu, specifically the snow mountain regions. This phoenix specializes in freezing its prey and breaking frozen skin, hair, and even metal with blades of wind. Recommended combat strategy: flee on sight. Engaging in close combat means certain death."

"Why is it called the Blue Heart String Phoenix?" Guo Mei asked.

Guo Yang, however, answered for her. "It’s named for its innate ability to encase its heart in strings of nearly unbreakable ice. If you kill the phoenix without destroying the heart, it will be reborn," Guo Yang growled.

He remembered fighting three of them before, losing many precious scales as they resurrected and returned to attack him each week. Only after discovering their weakness was he able to finally defeat them. This was one of many reasons mythical-type magical beasts were the strongest among all others.

"How do you know that?" Professor Lei Xuan asked. "Very few people should know that information."

"I could ask you the same thing. How did you get your hands on one of them? Either you or someone you know must have stolen an egg from their nest," Guo Yang replied. "Does anyone have fire attribute spiritual energy?"

"I only have wind," said the boy with glasses. "My name is Sun Yi, a commoner. My father is the head librarian of Tang City."

"I am Gu Zhou, and this is Lady Mu Xing," said the boy standing behind the noble girl. "I have the water attribute, while my brother, Gu Zheng, has the darkness attribute. He was injured by that boy who smashed through the third and second floors and landed on him. Lady Xing has fire, light, and wind attributes."

"It is why I am a noble," the girl added. "I apologize for my previous behavior. My father is part of the noble Mu Clan, distantly related to the emperor and one of the top ten clans in the Song Dynasty. In Tang City, my Mu Clan is the most powerful. I also possess the light attribute, the most sacred of all, known for the fastest speed and healing arts in history."

"Do you know any fire attribute arts?" Guo Mei asked, sensing a change in the girl’s attitude.

"I can only imbue my spiritual energy with the fire attribute. I don’t know any elemental practitioner arts," Lady Mu Xing replied, shaking her head.

"Good. Now that you're getting along, today's lesson is simple: touch my phoenix. Be warned, phoenixes and dragons are the most prideful of all magical beasts—they hate losing," the professor smiled as the phoenix spread its sky-blue wings and let out a shriek.

As the students charged forward behind Guo Mei and Mu Xing, Guo Yang stayed behind. He closed his eyes, folding his arms with one palm resting on the other. Slowly, sand, earth, and rock rose from the ground, forming a sphere between his hands. Mastering elemental arts required a deep understanding and attunement.

"This one is talented. He’s already attuning himself to the earth," Lei Xuan thought, watching as Guo Yang manipulated the sphere. His classmates charged the phoenix, only to be swept away by a single flap of its wings.

Guo Yang could feel the vibrations beneath his feet as the sphere in his hands began to revolve and glow. With his eyes closed, he saw white images in his mind, feedback from the vibrations his sphere emitted. Though the phoenix was flying, he could sense where the wind touched the ground. He opened his eyes and expanded the sphere, enveloping himself in sand, earth, and rock. In a flash, he vanished, reappearing in random locations between his starting point and the phoenix.

"He’s using earth-type movement arts!" Mu Xing cried, as gasps erupted from the students. Guo Yang was employing the Snake Specter Art, an earth-based practitioner technique that had saved him countless times as a weak snake. It was a reason even dragons and phoenixes had come to fear him. Though his current range was limited to five yards, it was enough to provoke the phoenix.

The bird shrieked, creating gusts of wind that Guo Yang barely dodged. He teleported to areas where the wind’s effect on the earth was weakest, his eyes glowing with a sand-colored aura as he moved unpredictably, like a snake.

Frustrated, the phoenix closed its wings, then flared them out, releasing a blast of freezing wind that covered the ground in ice. Guo Yang, however, had appeared behind it, his fist enveloped in small rocks as he activated his Stone Breaker Art.

"I really hate birds, but I hate your kind even more!" he screamed, releasing his rock-covered fist. A small magical boulder shot out between the phoenix’s wings. Guo Yang had used more spirit energy than his body could handle, and as his vision darkened, he fell unconscious just as the boulder struck the phoenix.

The phoenix barely felt the attack, and it turned angrily toward him. But Lei Xuan intervened before it could retaliate.

"Is he your class president?" Lei Xuan asked as she checked to make sure Guo Yang was alright.

"No, I am," Mu Xing replied, as the students watched the professor sigh.

"You have much to prove, then. Guo Yang is fine; he just overexerted himself. You were all supposed to lose, and I would have explained the cultivation stages. However, student Guo Yang succeeded in making contact with my phoenix. Class is dismissed. Guo Mei, please take your brother home," Professor Lei Xuan said, still in disbelief as she rode her phoenix out of the combat grounds.

"I hate it when Guo Lin is right. Now both of my little brothers are stronger than me," Guo Mei muttered as she and Sun Yi carried Guo Yang home.

"What happened to little brother?" Guo Lin asked, appearing behind them.

"It’s a long story," Guo Mei replied, as Guo Lin helped carry Guo Yang. "Still, he looks like a normal boy when he’s asleep."

"That’s the only time he will," Guo Lin sighed, and the three of them laughed as they headed back to the Guo Clan's territory.