The next morning, the air in the academy was thick. The students, barely fifteen, whispered in terror. "Did you hear what Fang Yuan said yesterday?" "He's insane; the clan won't let him extort us!"
Fang Yuan sat in his usual seat, his eyes half-closed. He wasn't sleeping; he was practicing "Void Meditation" to increase his primeval essence recovery rate by an additional 0.5%.
Fang Yuan's Mental Calculations:
"Number of students: 57. If everyone pays, I will obtain 57 primeval stones. This will accelerate my cultivation to the peak of Rank 1 by 300%. Probabilities: 10% will pay out of fear, 70% will wait to see what happens, and 20% will rebel, led by Gu Yue Bei. Forecast: I need one victim to establish the rule."
Gu Yue Bei, a burly student with B-grade talent, stepped forward and slammed his fist onto Fang Yuan's desk. "Fang Yuan! Who do you think you are? Demanding our stones? Try taking them from me if you're a man!"
Fang Yuan opened his eyes. There was no anger, no hatred. It was the gaze of a surgeon looking at a piece of redundant flesh that needed excision.
"Bei," Fang Yuan said in an incredibly calm voice. "You are consuming 15% of my precious time. That is a high price."
With an almost invisible movement, Fang Yuan didn't even stand up. Instead, he kicked Bei's kneecap at a precise anatomical angle that caused the nerve to compress agonizingly. As Bei stumbled, Fang Yuan grabbed his head and slammed it onto the desk with chilling indifference.
The Simple Killer Move:
Fang Yuan utilized his secretly upgraded Moonlight Gu. He didn't fire it as a blade; instead, he kept it in his palm, turning his hand into a searing blade of energy. He pressed his palm onto Bei's hand, which was pinned to the desk.
"AAAAAHHH!" Bei let out a scream that shattered the silence of the hall. Smoke began to rise from his hand as the Gu's energy slowly bypassed the skin to destroy his sensory nerves permanently.
"Stop! I'll kill you!" Bei shrieked, writhing.
Fang Yuan increased the pressure, staring into Bei's eyes from centimeters away. "Pain is the language of the weak. Now, will you pay the stone, or must I refine this hand of yours into fertilizer for the academy's flowers?"
The students witnessed a scene they weren't used to: Fang Yuan wasn't fighting like a boy; he was torturing like an ancient demon. In that moment, everyone realized that the laws protecting them in the village did not apply to this person.
The Result:
A trembling Bei pulled out two stones, not one, and placed them on the desk with a shaking hand. Fang Yuan released him coldly and wiped his hands with a paper napkin.
"The rest of you," Fang Yuan said, scanning the room. "The line starts here. Anyone who is late... I will consider a volunteer for the next lesson in anatomy."