Chapter 52

Fang Yuan reports to the academy elder before the assembled students, pointing at the fainted guard and claiming that the two guards broke into his room with impure motives while he was at the crucial moment of a breakthrough, scolded the Gu Yue ancestors, and falsely claimed the elder himself had ordered the intrusion. He says he fought for his life against their martial arts, only cutting off one guard’s arm and the other’s leg rather than killing them, and asks the elder to uphold justice for him. ^{ch. 52}

The students argue over what he said, doubting that a C grade could have advanced to the middle stage first, and the academy elder warns Fang Yuan coldly that lies are easily seen through before Fang Yuan invites him to inspect him. Placing his hand on Fang Yuan’s abdomen, the elder finds no Gu within the aperture, since the Spring Autumn Cicada has hidden itself as a rank six Gu far beyond a rank three academy elder’s detection, and instead sees a green copper primeval sea of middle stage essence and aperture walls flowing like water, confirming that Fang Yuan has indeed reached the middle stage. ^{ch. 52}

The verdict stuns the academy, since a C grade advancing first defies expectation, and Gu Yue Fang Zheng’s face turns pale as he sinks to the ground while Gu Yue Mo Bei clenches his fists and Gu Yue Chi Chen grits his teeth. Asked to explain, Fang Yuan credits heaven rewarding the hard-working, an answer the students reject, but his calm and fearless bearing under the elder’s pressuring gaze convinces the elder that forcing a confession is not worth the risk and that the matter is better investigated privately. ^{ch. 52}

The academy elder recognizes that Fang Yuan’s account of the guards scolding the clan’s ancestors is implausible, since men he chose himself would not be so reckless, and reads the whole report as a deliberate trap: punishing Fang Yuan would look like suppressing a talented junior over two outsiders, while letting the matter go risks little since the guards have no standing to contest it. He resolves to treat the guards as expendable and praise Fang Yuan instead, then pats his shoulder and calls him a good lad, to which Fang Yuan replies that it is all thanks to the academy’s nurturing. ^{ch. 52}