Hot-blooded and cold-blooded
The crowd turns on Fang Yuan, students shouting for Fang Zheng to rise and recalling how Fang Yuan extorted their primeval stone allowances all year. Gu Yue Mo Yan watches Fang Zheng’s fall with open satisfaction. ch. 85
Under the shouting, memories surface in Fang Zheng’s mind: clansmen praising Fang Yuan’s poetry while forgetting his own name, his uncle and aunt urging him to learn from his brother, and the clan leader telling him under moonlight that only he can dispel his own shadow. Shen Cui had promised him the night before the exam that she believes he can take first place. One flashback shows a female classmate reduced to two primeval stones after Fang Yuan took one from her three-stone allowance; Fang Zheng lends her his own stone, and she begs him in tears to defeat his brother and end his tyranny. A knot of classmates tell him they are behind him, and Fang Zheng resolves that he cannot fall here with so many people expecting him to win. ch. 85
Fang Zheng forces himself upright as green light spreads over his body: the Jade Skin Gu, a trump card he has kept hidden from everyone until now. The clan leader rises from his seat at the sight. Qing Shu judges that Fang Zheng’s heavier reserve of primeval essence should now carry the match, since the jade barrier can absorb a moonblade even reinforced by the Little Light Gu. ch. 85
Fang Yuan tells Fang Zheng he is still far from beating him, then answers with his fists instead of words: a right hook shatters the jade barrier on Fang Zheng’s cheek, and a following left drops him after three staggering steps. Fang Zheng collapses unconscious, his fists left bloody down to the bone, and Fang Yuan tells the silent arena, “Sorry, I’ve let you all disappointed.” ch. 85
