Chapter Seventy-Five: I Will Collect My Eldest Brother’s Body!

Stop fighting. I am taking this disciple.

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Shang Xiulin. Weren’t you the ever-busy dean of the academy? Weren’t you the peerless gentleman Shang Xiulin? And now you are doing something so shameless?

The young martial arts teacher Ran Ran could not accept it and stepped forward to argue. “Dean, you haven’t taken a student in how many years? Can you even teach one? You’re so busy every day—when would you have time to look after a student? If you take him and can’t guide him, aren’t you wasting a fine seedling? Why are you competing with us for students now?”

All the teachers silently applauded her in their hearts.

The girl spoke well.

Young people really do have spirit, daring to fight and compete.

Authority exists to be challenged. Teacher Ran, splendidly done.

Shang Xiulin glanced at her and said, “Who said I can’t teach? I was already taking students before you were born. Chen Yuzhi, Zhao Deqian, Wang Youling, Shang Henshui, and Bai Longzhen—all of them were my students. Did I fail to teach them properly?”

Ran Ran was speechless.

Chen Yuzhi was now one of the Empire’s top three finance officials. Zhao Deqian was the deputy dean of the Office of Supervision. Wang Youling was the leading figure in agriculture. Shang Henshui was Shang Xiulin’s own son, now a senior figure in the Blaze Army. Bai Longzhen was a renowned junior grandmaster across the stars, and was said to be very close to breaking through the veil and entering the realm of grandmaster.

If a teacher like that could not teach students, then where were the rest of them supposed to put their old faces?

Sure enough, coughs broke out all around the hall.

The teachers who had been enjoying the spectacle a moment ago now kept shooting frantic looks at Ran Ran, urging her to stop. If she kept going, she would only be humiliating herself.

And the one humiliated would not be her alone, but all of them together.

“Besides,” Shang Xiulin corrected, “I am taking a disciple, not a student.”

“What?”

Everyone in the hall turned to him in astonishment.

“Dean Shang is taking that chubby boy as a disciple?”

“That can’t be, can it? It’s been years since Dean Shang last accepted a pupil. I heard that when the genius youth Shen Xingyu enrolled back then, he knelt outside the dean’s office for three days, and the dean still refused him.”

“He must have had smoke rising from his ancestors’ graves. What is that boy’s background?”

“Didn’t you see he was brought here by Zhong Yuxiuxue? Is he of the imperial family? I’ve never heard of him.”

“He does look rather like royalty—look at how round he is.”

Shang Xiulin ignored the flattery from the teachers and said to Ran Ran, “His situation is special. He still needs more contact with society. I’ll place him in your class, and you will take him.”

Ran Ran’s chest ached.

You recruit him as your disciple, yet you place him in my class. How am I supposed to treat him in the future? As the dean’s illegitimate son and keep him on a pedestal?

Besides, I am a teacher, not a nanny. Once this student is taught, whose credit is it really—yours or mine?

Then Ran Ran suddenly saw a new horizon, and this matter did not seem quite as useless as she had first thought.

If this student were truly nurtured by the dean into a talent, becoming a martial genius like Bai Longzhen, would she then count as his second teacher?

Moreover, since he is the dean’s disciple, if she went more often to the dean’s home to report on the chubby boy’s progress in cultivation and his living conditions, and made regular home visits there whenever possible, wouldn’t her relationship with the dean’s family become closer as well?

Thinking of it that way, Ran Ran suddenly felt this could be very promising indeed.

“Don’t worry, Dean,” Ran Ran said, patting her ample chest in assurance. “Since Classmate Gong Shulei is in my class, I will give him the most attentive care.”

“Dean, I think our class can do the same.”

“I can also give the chubby classmate the most attentive care.”

“I can make him special meals and accompany him in the gravity chamber every day.”

The other teachers were not fools, of course. They knew this was a lucrative posting, and each of them scrambled for it.

“It’s settled then,” Shang Xiulin said decisively.

His gaze drifted toward the gravity chamber. Just how far could this boy grow?

And there was still that other assessment target.

Could it be that Xiuxue had not lied? Were these two boys truly rare gems in heaven and unmatched beneath the earth?

That was how the princess had described them.

At the time, he had not believed it.

Now, however, he was beginning to look forward to the other boy.

Shang Xiulin looked toward Zhao Lin and asked, “There is still another assessment, is there not?”

Zhao Lin was the deputy director of the martial arts hall. Since Chen Bing had gone to check on the chubby boy, he was handling affairs here. He nodded and said, “Anyone entering the ancient martial arts department must undergo an assessment.”

“That Tang Fei is a cultivator, and his strength has already reached the level of Energy Control. So he will need to take the assessment as a cultivator.”

“I see,” Shang Xiulin said with a nod.

The chubby boy did not understand cultivation, so this was a special accommodation for him. All he needed to do was display his strength in the gravity chamber.

No one had expected him to surprise everyone so greatly.

Tang Fei was different. He was a cultivator himself, and not a weak one—he had already reached Energy Control.

So he would have to enroll as a cultivator.

Hearing that there was still one more student to assess, the eyes of the ancient martial arts teachers in the hall lit up at once.

The chubby boy had just said he was proud of his elder brother.

It seemed this elder brother was even more outstanding.

No, this one had to be fought for.

Must be fought for.

“Is the one to be assessed that young man who was standing beside him earlier? He looks mature and steady, which suits my teaching style perfectly,” said Chen Meng.

“I think he has that flexible, changeable type of nature, with a sly intelligence hidden in his eyes that none of you noticed,” Qu Bo said immediately, also making clear his desire.

“Such a young man needs guidance from a veteran teacher to avoid taking detours. I’ve been in the profession for almost twenty years, so I count as your senior, don’t I?” Chao Xianghui brought out his senior credentials again.

“The dean has already gained a beloved disciple, so he probably won’t want this one as well, right? Heh heh heh,” Wang Yang said, thinking they should first unite against the greatest threat. What if Dean Shang suddenly jumped out and said, I want him too?

Ran Ran also wanted to compete, but she realized that with the chubby boy already as her “burden,” asking for another would make her seem greedy.

But what woman would willingly stop there?

So she looked at Shang Xiulin with a pitiful expression.

Dean, please look at me. I’m already taking the fall for you; you should give me some compensation, shouldn’t you?

That was roughly what her gaze conveyed.

Shang Xiulin ignored their squabbling and Ran Ran’s pleading eyes, saying, “Let’s watch first.”

After the chubby boy fainted, Tang Fei and the Phoenix rushed to the door of the gravity chamber at once.

At the same time, the martial arts hall director, Chen Bing, and the hall’s resident medical staff hurried over as well.

Chen Bing reached out to check the chubby boy’s heart and pulse, and found that his heartbeat was still strong and forceful, which immediately put him at ease.

“It’s just fainting from exhaustion.”

As Chen Bing spoke, he sent a gentle flow of yin and yang energy into the boy’s body.

At the same time, the medical staff used various instruments to examine the boy’s bodily data.

After the examination, they said to Chen Bing and Tang Fei, “The patient’s bodily functions are weak. He needs rest for a while before he can wake up.”

No sooner had he spoken than the chubby boy opened his eyes, saw Tang Fei and the Phoenix right in front of him, and grinned foolishly.

The medical staff were deeply wounded.

Do you know how humiliating that is for us?

What are you, some sunflower? Bright when the sunlight comes out, and opening your eyes the moment you get a bit of yin and yang energy?

“Brother, I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you anymore,” the chubby boy said weakly.

“Impossible.” Tang Fei held his hand and smiled. “You’re younger than me, so you’ll die after I do.”

“Okay. Then I’ll die after you… and collect your body for you,” the chubby boy said.

Tang Fei understood the boy’s feelings, but those words still sounded a little unfortunate.

Still, now that the chubby boy was all right, Tang Fei finally relaxed.

He walked up to Shang Xiulin and asked, “Is it my turn now?”

Shang Xiulin nodded and looked at him. “I’m very much looking forward to seeing just how exceptional the elder brother is, the one his younger brother regards as his pride.”

“I won’t disappoint him,” Tang Fei said.

Thank you to platinum author Little Saber’s Silver Alliance gift. Love you.

Also, the first-day sales have exceeded ten thousand. Thank you to all my friends for your love and support. Love you all as well.

Yesterday was Sunday, and it was also May 21st, so many friends did not get to read.

Therefore, this old Liu must shamelessly continue asking for subscriptions and monthly votes!

If you do not give them, I will ask again in the next chapter.

I’ll keep asking until I scare you.

End of chapter.