Chapter 46: A Bet

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Due to the appearance of the Marrow Cleansing Pill, people visited the Lou Clan like an endless stream.
Annoyed, Lou Mu Yan secretly returned to the Imperial Academy’s small building to cultivate and arranged an Array around the courtyard.

Ruan Li paid a lot of attention to Lou Mu Yan as she was an Alchemist.
Knowing that she wanted to avoid those who wanted to obtain some information, he asked people to guard her courtyard and not allow any outsiders to bother her.

In the small building, Lou Mu Yan naturally knew what Ruan Li did, and was happy to accept this personal favour.

After taking a Spiritual Energy Enhancing Pill, she began to absorb the Spiritual Force of Heaven and earth and convert it into Spiritual Energy.

The Spiritual Force was much more abundant in the Academy than in the Lou Clan, while the dan’tian in her body was like a bottomless pit, so every day she absorbed Spiritual Force madly, causing some spectacular phenomenon around the small building.

For example, even though there’s no advancement, there would be a dense amount of Spirit Clouds, and because she could comprehend all the elements in this world, some Spirit Clouds that formed were even of different colours: gold, cyan, red, yellow, and blue alternated.

Such a spectacle also attracted the attention of the Academy’s superiors and other students, but the Principal had addressed the issue early on, otherwise Lou Mu Yan’s small building would’ve been swarmed with people who wanted to investigate.

In a majestic and quaint hall within the Academy, there sat six high-ranked people of the Academy.
Aside from Principal Ruan Li being a Sword Monarch expert, the other five were all Sword Kings.

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“Principal, just what kind of skill is Lou Mu Yan cultivating? How can there be so many Spirit Clouds gathering every day, not to mention this situation had been going on for nearly a month.” A tall and thin middle-aged man asked with knitted brows, carrying with his words a sense of inquiry into the situation.

Ruan Li held a blue and white porcelain teacup with inked bamboo, brushed the top of the cup with the lid to cool the tea, and took a sip, “Even I don’t know.” He was also very curious as to why Lou Mu Yan could attract Spirit Clouds for such a long period of time, but this was her secret, and he wouldn’t look into it.

“Her cultivating like this has attracted the attention of other students in the Academy.
During this period, students often loiter around her courtyard.
I’m afraid that the longer this extends, it will negatively affect the Academy.” The middle-aged man continued after pondering.
He had a good relationship with the King of Zhen’xi, Yun Tian Zong, so he had the intent to suppress Lou Mu Yan.

A tall, sexy and glamourous woman beside the middle-aged man curled her lips into a smile and said disapprovingly: “I don’t think Lou Mu Yan’s behaviour would have any negative effects.
The fact that she could borrow the effects of the Marrow Cleansing Pill to eradicate her Terminal Meridians constitution, break through to a Great Sword Master cultivation base, and could now even gather Spirit Clouds when cultivating, meant that her talent was very good.
Our Academy should raise her vigorously.”

Amongst them, a woman with a cold attitude and ordinary face replied with a sense of rivalry, “The ability to attract Spirit Clouds does not equate to good talent.
There are many students at the Great Sword Master cultivation base.
It’s too hasty to say we should raise her vigorously based on those two points.”

Before the glamourous woman could reply, her expression unhappy, a rotund old man that sat across her with red hair and a red beard stroked his beard and said with a smile: “I heard that Lou Clan’s little girl is also a Grade 1 Alchemist.
Such a good seedling can’t be wasted.
How about you throw her to me to teach?”

The red-haired old man was named Ruan Yang and was not only Ruan Li’s younger brother of the same parents, but was also the only Grade 3 Alchemist in the Yan’zhou Empire.
He held a very high status and was highly respected.
In terms of the power to rally supporters, it even surpassed the Principal, Ruan Li.
But he was usually indifferent to fame and fortune, devoting himself to Alchemy, and rarely appeared in the Academy.

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This time he was only here because Ruan Li recalled him to discuss matters about the Marrow Cleansing Pill and the Energy Nourishing Pill.
Of course, he, himself, was also very interested in the girl Lou Mu Yan.
If the rumours were true, then such a good seedling couldn’t be given up.

Upon hearing Ruan Yang’s words, the faces of the people present changed, except Ruan Li.
The face of the ordinary-looking woman sank, while the expression of the middle-aged man who disliked Lou Mu Yan was even more obscure.

The Academy’s grand competition is going to be held in three days.
Let’s wait for after the competition to discuss this matter.” Ruan Li observed the expressions of the several people and smiled softly, “Don’t forget the grand competition this time is related to the selection of people for the Empire’s Trials.
The once every twenty-year event is approaching.
Tian’ling Continent’s society structure will also change accordingly.
Our Imperial Academy is one of the pillars of Yan’zhou Country, so I don’t wish for anyone to suppress the students of this Academy simply because of their personal feelings.”

After he finished speaking, he glanced sharply at the middle-aged man.
Lou Mu Yan had already been listed by him and the Imperial Family as an important person to protect and raise, so whoever dared to scheme against her needed to weigh their consequences.

Of course, they wouldn’t make a move if it didn’t involve any life and death situations.
If Lou Mu Yan wanted to enjoy the resources they provided, then she also needed to demonstrate strength that they could recognise.

Startled, the middle-aged man’s face changed, a little ugly.
Ruan Li’s sharp gaze made his heart tremble.
It seemed that it would be impossible to deal with Lou Mu Yan in the near future.

“Do you think anyone in the Earth Class would stand out and become a member of the Trial?” The glamorous woman from before chuckled, “I have high hopes for Lou Mu Yan.”

“Why don’t we make a bet?” A handsome young man, who had been silent the entire time, spoke up with some interest in his eyes, “Let’s bet on whether she can win Gu Yan Ran or not, and win the single quota set for the Earth Class.”

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“Sure!” The glamorous woman was also interested, raised her eyebrows and said: “How should we bet? I’m going to bet Lou Mu Yan wins.”

“We’ll take out a Spirit Treasure each and bet on whether they win or lose.” The young man took out a golden treasured sword and placed it on the desk, a meaningful smile playing about his lips, “I bet Lou Mu Yan wins.”

The middle-aged man sneered and took out a ring-shaped attack Magic Tool, “I bet that Gu Yan Ran wins.” These two people were truly underestimating the Gu Clan, and underestimating Gu Yan Ran.
He knew Gu Yan Ran’s strength wasn’t as simple as it was on the surface.

“I also bet Gu Yan Ran.” The ordinary-looking woman took out a round bead and placed it on the table.

Ruan Yang swept the Spirit Treasures on the table, and said: “I don’t have any extra Spirit Tools on me, can I bet pills?”

“Of course.” The others agreed in unison.
Elder Yang’s pills were much more valuable than Spirit Treasures.

Seeing that three of them bet on Lou Mu Yan, Ruan Li raised his eyebrows with a smile and said: “Is this interesting for you all? If Lou Mu Yan wins, how will the three of you divide the spoils?”

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“We’re just looking for some fun.
If Lou Mu Yan wins, then we’ll sell the Spirit Tools from Hu Fei and Kang Rong1 and just take the money.” The young man didn’t care—he was just looking for a little fun in his boring life.

Ruan Li also knew this person’s personality—it was as if he feared there wasn’t enough chaos in the world.
He also didn’t want to stop it.
For a long time, they never liked Hu Fei, and letting them bet wasn’t anything serious, “I won’t participate in your bet.
I’ll just be a witness.”

In his heart, Lou Mu Yan was more promising, so he hoped the little girl wouldn’t let him down.

Meanwhile, Lou Mu Yan didn’t know at all that her results in the grand competition were being used by several people as a bet and was currently attempting to breakthrough to Advanced-Phase Great Sword Master Stage.

Half a month ago, she already used the Spiritual Energy accrued in her body to breakthrough to Middle-Phase Great Sword Master Stage.

Recently, her dan’tian had been ceaselessly absorbing numerous Spirit Clouds again, to the point that the speed of conversion into Spiritual Energy was not as fast as the absorption speed.
She decided to slow down and use the Spiritual Energy in her body to breakthrough once more, heading to Advanced-Phase Great Sword Master.
As such, she could not only stabilise her cultivation base, but also provide more guarantees for the grand competition.

1based on the characters used for the names, Hu Fei is the middle-aged man who dislikes Lou Mu Yan and Kang Rong is the normal-looking woman.

Note: due to the start of daylight savings, this chapter and my following chapters may update at a different time where you guys live.