Qin Yi stared at Ye Futian fiercely. Seeing the smile on his face, she was reminded of what had happened three years ago at the Academy Entry Talent Inspection. Ye Futian had only been 12-years-old at the time. In front of all the masters at the Academy, his smile still remained natural and proud, completely different from the nervousness of the other youngsters.
The test had finally determined his talent to be of the highest level, which meant that his perception of Spirit and Qi was great. This made him a natural at martial arts.
Now that three years had passed, his perception had not changed, unfortunately, nor had his plane. He had remained casual, lazy, and frequently absent from classes. However, his eyes were still bright and clear.
"What if you can't?" Qin Yi asked.
"It's your call," Ye Futian said.
"Please, do not put Mr. Yu Sheng's future in jeopardy." Qin Yi looked up at the resolute boy sitting behind Ye Futian.
Yu Sheng's metal-element perception was of the highest level. He was already in the eighth Awakened Plane, the Metamorph Plane, and was even stronger than Qin Yi, who was at the seventh Awakened Plane, the Mystery. His future should not be tampered with.
"Sure," Ye Futian promised. But was this possible?
Qin Yi walked back to the podium. Her beautiful eyes looked around at all the students, then she said, "There is only one month before the Fall Quarter Examination. Please use this time wisely. If you wait until next spring, another batch of new students will join and compete. Especially you, Ling Xiao. You are on the sixth Awakened Plane, the Invincible; and Feng Feng Qingxue, you have stayed on the fifth Awakened Plane, the Juggernaut, for too long. I want you guys to make progress on the Spring Quarter Examination next year."
The first level of development was Awakening, which was then divided into nine planes: Collection, Enhancement, Venation, Adamance, Juggernaut, Invincible, Mystery, Metamorphosis, and Unmaker.
To become an official student in Qingzhou Academy, one had to reach the seventh Awakened Plane, the Mystery, before the age of eighteen, and perform accordingly in the Spring Quarter Examination.
"I will, Ms. Qin," Ling Xiao nodded. Feng Qingxue made a fist, feeling more determined to reach his goal.
"You are dismissed," Qin Yi murmured. She then began to walk outside, her graceful figure followed by the eyes of the boys in the room. Finally, after the figure was gone, they all viciously looked at Ye Futian, the bastard who, in their eyes, had just been disrespectful toward their Goddess.
"Ye Futian, turn around," a cold voice said in Ye Futian's ears, attracting a lot of looks. It was Feng Qingxue, who was seated behind Ye Futian.
Even at just fifteen-years-old, she was already a beauty, with delicate eyes and exquisite facial features. Her body was full of youthfulness, endowing her with a sense of purity and attractiveness. When she stood up, her legs appeared slim and graceful.
"How could you do this?" Feng Qingxue stared at Ye Futian with anger.
Ye Futian suddenly realized what had happened and laughed. "You are jealous, aren't you?"
Feng Qingxue suddenly froze, speechless. A little while later, she continued, "How will you explain this to your father?"
"Explain what?" Ye Futian blinked, then remembered his father having spoken about Feng Qingxue and how she would be a good mother because of her childbearing hips. He couldn't take his eyes off of her curves.
"Stop thinking of weird stuff. We are still young; it's not time to be talking about having kids yet."
Ye Futian's words suddenly brought silence upon the class. The other boys felt nothing but anger. They believed this bastard was shameless. Just minutes ago he had been flirting with Ms. Qin Yi, and now he was talking dirty to Feng Qingxue, who was so gorgeous and young. What was wrong with this guy?
Feng Qingxue completely froze. She suddenly remembered that Ye Futian's dad had made an inappropriate joke to her dad about her and Ye Futian having kids together. She blushed badly, thinking this shameless bastard was intentionally making fun of her.
"I meant if you were to be expelled from the Academy after the Fall Quarter Examination. How would you explain that to your dad?" Feng Qingxue was breathing hard. Her chest heaved She was confused about what Ye Futian was even thinking about. Apparently she did not believe Ye Futian would pass the Fall Quarter Examination with only the first Awakened Plane.
"I will pass," Ye Futian said as he looked at her, shaking his head a bit.
"Come on, you have been stuck on the first Awakened Plane for three years, yet you are still confident? Seriously, Ye Futian, please spell the word 'shame' for me," another cold voice said from behind him. People looked back and saw that it was Ling Xiao, the boy sitting behind Feng Qingxue.
Ling Xiao had already reached the sixth Awakened Plane, the Invincible. He was such a talented wind-element mage that he was considered extraordinary in the 15-year-old class of Qingzhou Academy. He would hopefully become an official cultivator after passing the Spring Quarter Examination next year.
While he was speaking, he did not look at Ye Futian for even a moment. His eyes were drawn to Feng Qingxue. He continued, "Ye Futian, you are the worst in this class, yet you are talking nonsense to a talented girl like Feng Qingxue. You are obviously getting your confidence from nowhere. No wonder people say 'he who knows not, fears not.'"
Ling Xiao was actually speaking on behalf of the rest of the class, who were now looking at Ye Futian. They believed that he was definitely the most shameless in the class.
Yu Sheng walked beside Ye Futian without any attention. His mere existence gave him an aura of power, which suddenly demanded the respect of the others' eyes.
"Brother Yu," Feng Qingxue mumbled.
"Hi," Yu Sheng casually nodded, his eyes locked onto Ling Xiao. He was giving him such a powerful look.
"'He who knows not, fears not?'" Ye Futian did not seem agitated by Ling Xiao's words. In fact, he had heard so many insults over these last three years that it was no longer a big deal. It was common for people to insult others in an effort to make themselves look superior, especially when someone beautiful was present.
"You think you are the doctor, don't you?" Ye Futian said.
"For development? That's not even a question, especially compared to you, loser." Ling Xiao was confident because Ye Futian had been stuck on the first Awakened Plane for so long, and he was always absent from class.
"Okay, then tell me how a warrior could beat a double-element fire/metal mage?" Ye Futian suddenly asked.
Ling Xiao hesitated for a second, then answered sarcastically, "Are you kidding me? Even a single-element mage would easily defeat a warrior unless the mage were such an idiot that he let the warrior get into melee range. In a one-on-one battle this would be the only way, let alone a double-element mage."
The spells of a mage could attack a warrior from a far distance, which could cause a clear advantage for the mage over the warrior in battle.
"You idiot. A warrior wins when he is on a higher level plane," Ye Futian said satirically. Ling Xiao looked gloomy. People looked at Ye Futian and wondered how shameless he really was to have asked such a question.
"You raised a question about battle between different classes without telling me they were on different planes. Is this question even meaningful at all?" Ling Xiao fired back.
"Same plane, huh? What if the warrior had increased strength and enhanced agility?" Ye Futian asked again. People suddenly realized that he was making some sense. A warrior that had increased strength would be good at blitzing. With enhanced agility, the warrior would be able to get in close range quickly.
"Come on, you are talking about a double-element fire/metal mage. He would have a fire shield spell and enhanced armor from metal-element spells. Even in close range combat, there is no chance the mage loses," Ling Xiao sneered.
"Then what if this warrior knew rampage cleavage? This is a specialized armor-breaking technique. With the power from Strength-concentration, metal-element armor would be nothing more than a piece of paper," Ye Futian continued, "As for the attack from the mage, you know it is nothing."
Ling Xiao became gloomier. In fact, a Strength-concentration warrior with enhanced agility would surely evade the attacks of a mage. Ye Futian was making a good point.
"This conversation is nothing but strategy on paper. Just stop it." Ling Xiao was reluctant to admit his loss in the debate.
"Right, how could a mage ever lose to a warrior?" someone followed.
"You are just repeating what you know from books, pretending you know everything and that everyone else is ignorant. Okay, then answer this simple one: How do people differ in development over the first Awakened Plane, the Collection?" Ye Futian kept asking.
"A cultivator feels the Spiritual Qi from the universe and collects them in this plane. A mage possesses better perception over the Qi of a certain element, thus more pure power is gained from the collection. Therefore, if we are talking about collection of a certain Qi element, there is a major difference. However, for general development, there would be little difference. For mage collection, each mage definitely differs in their respective Collection Plane because of their different elements," Ling Xiao answered slowly, confident that he was including every possibility.
"Idiot." Ye Futian glanced at Ling Xiao with scorn, then turned his back and walked away.
"What do you mean?" Ling Xiao said, frowning at Ye Futian's back. "Pretending to have the last word by walking away when you can't answer? You loser."
"Ye Futian is a douche," people murmured.
Suddenly, a piercing glow burst out from Ye Futian's back. It was a cloud of Qi, spreading all around him like a brilliant rainbow. The students dropped their jaws in amazement, completely shocked.
Ye Futian was trying to make a statement. Even people in the Collection Plane could be different; some could be superior, like he was.
Ling Xiao seemed upset about this scene. The glow from Ye Futian was so brilliant that he could not believe he was only on the first Awakened Plane, the Collection. Could it be true?
Yu Sheng followed Ye Futian and they left. After they had disappeared, the class was still blown away by what they had just seen.
"I gotta admit, this douche is unique in the Collection Plane."
"So what? He has been stuck on this plane for three years, of course there is going to be a difference. If we ever got trapped on the first plane we would be the sam."
"That's right. He has been stuck for three years already. How the hell does he have the nerve to be so arrogant?"
"And how dare he talk dirty to Ms. Qin and Feng Qingxue like that? Damn this scumbag."
"Ling Xiao, take it easy. No matter how much he talks, you would beat him in an instant if he ever dared to challenge you," someone told Ling Xiao. Others mumbled in agreement.
Ling Xiao hesitated for a while, then felt confident again. The others were right; a low level cultivator like Ye Futian was not going to confuse him.
"Feng Qingxue, that boy is a prodigy. I know you have known each other since you were very young, but still. Stay away from him," Murong Qing said. She was Feng Qingxue's friend, and was trying to persuade Feng Qingxue to stay away from Ye Futian. She had always looked down on Ye Futian, mostly because she believed Ye Futian was always showing off when he had no actual ability at all.
"He is out of line, isn't he?" Feng Qingxue also seemed mad.
Murong Qing noticed that Feng Qingxue seemed distracted. She began speaking seriously. "Wake up, girl. You are going to be an official cultivator soon. It's time for you to seriously think about your future. Even being around him will ruin your reputation, but you don't seem to care about this at all. Can you imagine what people will think of you in the future? Is it even worth it for a guy like him?"
Feng Qingxue frowned. She was speechless. She had not thought that far ahead yet.
"Time to grow up. Stay away from him, forever," Murong Qing said.