novel bin Chapter 51 The Bet
Chapter 51 The Bet
Chen Luo was taken aback when Zhou Xiaoliang suddenly brought up Song Ruokui. "What happened to her?"
"Most of my colleagues at the Mountain Guard Command came from private schools, including some from elite martial arts schools. I've heard them mention Song Ruokui..."
Zhou Xiaoliang paused to organize his thoughts before continuing, "They said that Song Ruokui had not made any progress in mastering the Nine Yang Strength for a long time, and the Jingyi Martial Academy had lost patience with her and asked her to leave the academy."
"Song Ruokui has left Jingyi Martial Arts Academy?" Chen Luo was somewhat surprised, not expecting things to develop this way.
"She's gone." Zhou Xiaoliang said slowly, "She hasn't broken through to the next level for a long time, and the disciples of the Elite Martial Arts Academy are very dissatisfied. They feel that she is taking up too many resources, and they even made a fuss about it. In order to appease the disciples' resentment, their academy head had no choice but to let Song Ruokui leave, and was also forced to make a lot of compensation to the other disciples."
"Those private school disciples don't really care whether Song Ruokui leaves or not; what they care about more is compensation," Chen Luo sneered.
Private schools differ from charity schools. From the headmaster to the disciples, everyone is very pragmatic. The teacher-student relationship between disciples and instructors/headmasters is very weak, and it is more of a relationship of interests, that is, I give you money, and you teach me martial arts.
Given this relationship of interests, if a disciple like Song Ruokui appears who can enjoy abundant resources without paying tuition, they will inevitably feel dissatisfied and that their interests have been encroached upon.
Other private schools are fine, especially Licheng Martial Academy and Jingyi Martial Academy. The disciples of these two private schools are basically all from noble families, and some even have experts from the inner realm backing them. For example, in Linzhou, the sound they make when they get together is very loud.
If Song Ruokui can realize her talent, then they won't have to offend an Inner Realm martial artist.
However, if Song Ruokui fails to live up to her talent, these private school disciples will express their dissatisfaction without restraint and take the opportunity to demand the resources that Song Ruokui had taken from them from the headmaster. In other words, they will demand the return of their benefits. Lion Bone Powder might not be necessary, but they will definitely demand things like bone-tempering medicine, qi and blood medicine, and silver.
"Where did Song Ruokui go now? Was she at the Mountain Guard Commandery, or did she return to the Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy?" Chen Luo asked again.
"She's not at Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy," Lu Qun shook his head.
"She didn't come to the Mountain Guard either," Zhou Xiaoliang sighed. "With her sixth-level strength, it would be a waste for her to come to the Mountain Guard, and there's no point in her going back to the Zhengyang Martial Academy. She's probably staying at home cultivating alone..."
He paused, looked at Chen Luo, and hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but couldn't.
"What?" Chen Luo glanced at him, sensing that he never seemed to be holding back anything nice when he had that expression.
"I heard that after she left the Jingyi Martial Arts Academy, many matchmakers in the county went to her, wanting to arrange a marriage for her," Zhou Xiaoliang said. "But she declined them all."
"That's normal," Chen Luo shrugged.
It's normal for matchmakers to come knocking on her door. After all, even after leaving the private school, Song Ruokui is still a sixth-level expert. She's powerful and beautiful, so it's natural that matchmakers from all around would be interested in her.
It's perfectly normal for Song Ruokui to refuse these marriage proposals. Considering her strangely aloof personality, Chen Luo wonders who can keep her in check.
"Ah Luo, Song Ruokui did give you money before, and now she's down on her luck..." Zhou Xiaoliang looked at him, hesitated for a moment, and tentatively said, "I think you should go see her?"
Lu Qun, who was listening nearby, nodded vigorously. "Song Ruokui is a good girl, A Luo, we can't be heartless men."
"..." Chen Luo glared at them. "Shut up."
Even if they didn't gossip, he would still go to see Song Ruokui once, because he was very puzzled by what had happened to her.
Her strangely cold personality was one thing, but what was even stranger was her stagnant progress in the Nine Yang Strength realm.
Chen Luo recalled the day when Song Ruokui demonstrated the Nine Yang Force for him, and how she casually flicked her sleeve to unleash a double force. At that time, he was still inexperienced and didn't fully appreciate what she was seeing, only thinking it was impressive.
Looking at it now, he dares to say that even a master instructor of the Nine Yang Strength from the Licheng Martial Arts Academy could not be as effortlessly adaptable as she was.
This shows that Song Ruokui's understanding of the Nine Yang Force must be extremely profound, and logically speaking, it is impossible for her to be trapped in the Sixth Force.
Chen Luo felt that something was definitely wrong, but he was only at the fourth level of cultivation, so even if he went to find Song Ruokui, he probably wouldn't find anything. Therefore, he planned to go to her after he reached the sixth level of cultivation.
In this way, even if Song Ruokui has just encountered a bottleneck, he can still point out the problem with his sixth level of strength and his vertical pupils' ability to see the subtle details.
With that thought in mind, he chatted and laughed with Lu Qun and Zhou Xiaoliang for a while, and then the banquet ended.
Considering that Lu Qun was still at Zhengyang Martial Arts Academy and didn't have much money, Chen Luo and Zhou Xiaoliang split the cost of the meal.
After bidding farewell to the two, he returned to Licheng Martial Arts Academy. Just as he arrived at the gate, he saw Gu Youcai seeing off several distinguished-looking men, his face still bearing his usual bright smile.
It had been a long time since Chen Luo had seen Gu Youcai. After Gu Youcai saw the others off to their carriages, Chen Luo stepped forward to greet him, "Senior Brother Gu."
"It's Junior Brother Chen." Gu Youcai flashed his signature bright smile. "You went out for a while?"
"I met up with some friends." Chen Luo looked at the departing cars and asked curiously, "Who were those people just now?"
He seemed to have frequently encountered those distinguished-looking people over the past two weeks.
Gu Youcai stood there for a while before smiling and saying, "They actually came because of Junior Brother Chen."
"Because I came?" Chen Luo was puzzled.
"I've heard that Junior Brother Chen seems to have some connection with Miss Song Ruokui of the Jingyi Martial Arts Academy, is that right?" Gu Youcai asked in return.
"..." Chen Luo really wanted to know just how famous this matter was, so he nodded, "Yes."
"Junior Brother Chen should be aware of Miss Song's situation at the Elite Martial Arts Academy," Gu Youcai sighed. "Because she consumed too many resources, her Nine Yang Strength cultivation stagnated, which ultimately led to dissatisfaction among the other disciples, who then used this as an excuse to cause trouble and demand compensation from their academy head."
Hearing this, Chen Luo vaguely understood, "So those people just now..."
"That's right." Gu Youcai smiled helplessly. "They are all elders of our martial arts school disciples. They learned that Headmaster Huang had given Junior Brother Chen such generous treatment, even giving him Lion Bone Powder, so they came to Headmaster Huang to ask for an explanation."
Chen Luo frowned immediately. "I've only just arrived at Licheng Martial Arts Academy, and they're already here in such a hurry?"
He had long suspected that these private school students would take action, but he didn't expect them to be in such a hurry.
You know, it was only after Song Ruokui's progress stalled at the sixth level of her cultivation that those private school disciples dared to cause trouble. How come it's only been less than a month since she arrived that people are already coming to demand an explanation?
"Right now, we're just expressing our dissatisfaction to Headmaster Huang. The sooner we express our dissatisfaction, the more compensation they can demand if Junior Brother Chen fails to realize his potential like Miss Song did in the future," Gu Youcai said.
"That's true." Chen Luo understood. The sooner they caused trouble, the bigger the trouble would be if he failed to enter the inner realm later. The bigger the trouble, the greater the benefits would be.
He found it somewhat amusing. It seemed that what happened to Song Ruokui at Jingyi Martial Arts Academy had served as a model for the disciples of Licheng Martial Arts Academy, which was why their response was more mature.
First, show him goodwill and indicate that you have no ill intentions towards him. Then, put pressure on the headmaster in advance. This way, you can avoid offending him and lay the groundwork for what will happen if he doesn't enter the inner realm later. It can be described as taking every step carefully.
"To put it another way, right now it's a gamble between Master Huang and the private school disciples, betting on whether Junior Brother Chen can realize his talent, and how much talent he can realize."
Gu Youcai looked at him and said, "If Principal Huang wins the bet, he will receive the reward from the Martial Arts Selection Division; if the private school disciples win the bet, they can demand sufficient compensation from Principal Huang."