Writer's Note

Chapter 4: Unspeakably Important Lesson

Guo Yang entered the cafeteria and looked around. No one was there. It was nice and quiet, save for the fighting in the classrooms nearby. He rubbed his hands and stared at the food, taking a tray and piling it with all kinds of magical beast meat. Unlike his siblings, he could survive on a meat only diet. Naturally, he protested when he had to eat vegetables. Snakes were not vegetarian, at least he was not.

He stared at the door as students walked in, all third year students. Like his own class, very few had dragon crests. Only one human had spiritual energy of note: a girl with long red hair with pure fire attributes. He shrugged, as students could not fight students of other years, and returned his attention to his meal. She would have been an interesting opponent. One of the boys saw him looking at her and shouted at him.

Guo Yang took out a vial of poisonous herbs and smelled it as if it were a treasure. Enraged at being ignored, the boy shouted louder. Guo Yang turned to him and yawned before smelling the vial again. The ground cracked under the boy and students that entered the cafeteria stared at him as he stormed to Guo Yang.

"Did you not hear me?" the boy roared.

"I did and didn't care," Guo Yang smiled. "This vial is more interesting than you. You just don't get art. Screaming boys? How is that interesting?"

"Give me that! Just what the fuck are you smelling? You lowly first year. I'll bet this is thing isn't even that expensive," the boy snapped and Guo Yang grinned as the boy stole and smelled the vial.

"Did I forget to mention it is rather hazardous to smell the mist of the vial? Oh. I supposed I forgot to mention that," Guo Yang chuckled as he retrieved the vial and sealed it, storing it away as the boy was as still as a statue. "White porcupine powder. Made by mixing a rather poisonous herbs commonly found by homes of porcupine magical beasts. My grandfather brought it to the select herb garden only harvested by me. It is not poisonous in terms of taking your life. It is more like a paralytic poison caused by smelling or touching the herb. I bring it with me to admire the smell. It actually has a nice fragrance. Pity the range is short and very hazardous to other people. Well, you can only blame yourself for yanking it out of my hand."

"Robert!" a boy cried and rushed to him.

"Oh, a foreigner. It seems he did not know the Guo Clan's means of business. Tut tut. No wonder he was so shameless and made a scene," Guo Yang shrugged.

"Cure him!" the boy shouted.

"Is that anyway to ask for a favor? He did it to himself. What would I gain by him doing it? Nothing. Third years are not to cause conflicts with first years and vice versa. He yelled at me, threatened me, insulted me, and took my vial. I don't think he deserves to be cured. Don't worry though. The cure is sold at the Alchemist Association for a measly twenty thousand demon spirit coins.

"What? You carry that around?" the boy cried, everyone turning to him in shock.

"What are you talking about? I just grounded the herb after harvesting it. I don't know how to make the cure," Guo Yang smiled. "You see this face. It's the face of someone who doesn't know any alchemy. I just harvest and grow herbs. That's all. Of course, I heard wind attribute practitioners could cleanse the poisonous mist from his body. However, the process is quite, messy. Sometimes, they take out more than what was put in. Nasty business that one. You might want to hurry. His heart will paralyze in thirty minutes. Again, his problem caused by his unacceptable behavior."

"There must be a way to cure him!" the boy cried, the students leaning forward with interest. This was a much more entertaining scene that bloody fighting as they were barely teenagers and unused to blood and violence.

"Of course there is. I might not own a cure, but I can take the poison out of him. However, nothing is free unless it is caused by your own fault," Guo Yang smiled as he clapped his hands. "Let me just say I have no concern for money and delight in all treasures magical. Oh, you have twenty eight minutes now. Tick tock."

"Evil!" the students muttered as they shivered gazing at the smiling, seemingly innocent boy.

"Is that my little brother?" Guo Mei asked incredulously as the first years all arrived, only the second year students still fighting with each other. "Guo Yang, what are you doing?"

"Mind your business. Little brother is making a transaction," Guo Yang snapped. "Friend of Robert, I wouldn't just stand there and contemplate my options. You have none. Twenty six minutes now. Uh oh. Is his breathing accelerating? He's panicking. The tension is just too much for him, but you can save him."

"He should be class president," the noble girl said, all the other students nodding. He was talented and incredibly cunning. He just might make a better leader if he wanted the position.

"Ah, twenty three minutes. I really wonder if you and this Robert are truly friends. I know I would not take seven minutes to say four simple words: What do you want?" Guo Yang said, motioning with both hands with each of the four words. "You're quite evil. Hanging out with someone stronger than you and running away when it suits you. You're a real nice guy."

"What do you want?" the boy gave in, his heart heavy as all the students shouted at him to say the words as they wanted to know what happens next.

"Those are very beautiful words. Your friendship is truly inspirational. What do I want? It's simple really. A question for a question to resolve a situation. Let me ask you eight words in exchange. What do you think someone like me needs?" Guo Yang asked.

Some people coughed blood upon hearing his words. He was really too much, but he was right. He did nothing wrong and the boy, named Robert, did. He didn't need to save him, but the boy would die without him. By saying those eight words, the other boy would have to make a truly horrifying offer to save Robert. Some third years knew the boy and Robert's relations. Just as Guo Yang surmised, the other boy followed Robert around as he was strong. The other boy was backed into a corner and had no choice but to save Robert or risk losing any friends he had in school.

"I have.....a jar of demon crystals. They can increase cultivation for darkness attribute practitioners," the boy said.

"What's you name?" Guo Yang asked.

"Tristan," the boy answered.

"Ah, Tristan. Well, sorry to say that I don't have that element attribute. Sorry. You have to hurry. You may have...sixteen minutes but I'll need longer than a few seconds to cure him," the boy urged, the almost all the students fooled by the regret in his voice. Guo Yang was looking more like someone trying to be helpful, but the more wise students knew he was just pressuring Tristan with the time limit.

"That little...he's not even that strong," Guo mei said, but Guo Lin stepped forward and whispered to her. "Big sister, Guo Yang isn't as weak as you think. You didn't feel it as you were envious of me, but I felt enormous amounts of spiritual energy within Guo Yang as he awakened. It amounted to a practitioner who cultivated for over a dozen years. I think he's actually been cultivating, in secret, since he was born."

"That's impossible," Guo Mei whispered.

"I'm not the only one who noticed. Dad was mad at Guo Yang, right? Well, dad paid attention to him and also confirmed my suspicions. Why do you think dad did not bother him lately?" Guo Lin asked, his sister's eyes bulging as she learned the truth and stared at her youngest brother in shock and awe.

"I have this bottle of monkey wine," the boy said, tightening his fists. "The gourd is a magical treasure that holds a incredible ability of a limitless capacity to store three types of liquid put within. Up to three chambers are within the gourd, the main chamber left empty. I only have monkey wine inside one of the two sub chambers. It will give you incredible strength and increase your body's toughness. This gourd's special ability would make it priceless to beer and wine experts. However, I only have seven barrels of monkey wine put inside the gourd. However, it is still worth a lot of demon spirit coins, way more than twenty thousand. The price of the gourd aside, a single barrel of monkey wine is three thousand demon spirit coins each."

"But honor, not money, is the issue. Are you truly a good person so as to make this sacrifice for your friend? Are you not so selfish as to keep it to yourself?" Guo Yang asked and smiled as the boy grudgingly took out a rainbow colored gourd and took out the blood binding, giving it to Guo Yang with his nails biting into his free hand. "That's a good boy."

Guo Yang bound it with blood and took a swig. Upon binding the gourd, he learned Tristan told the truth. Three magical chambers were in the gourd, each one's capacity seemingly infinite. However, only each chamber could contain a single type liquid and could not be mixed. If he died, whatever was in the main chamber would be destroyed, the empty chamber and chamber with monkey wine left intact.

He would have to be careful in what he placed inside and put the most valuable liquid in the main chamber. That way, he would have the last laugh if they killed him and found their efforts for naught. He had such a satisfied look on his face and tapped Robert on the chest. He stored the gourd and started to walk out of the cafeteria.

"Wait! You said you would heal him!" Tristan cried.

"Did you not see me tap him? Look again," Guo Yang said and everyone stared as Robert fell to his knees panting loudly as he clutched his chest. "See? I'm a man of my word. You can't do business without trust. Otherwise, who would risk buying and selling goods with such a person? I thank you both for teaching me the value of having respect and concern for others. I really enjoyed this unspeakably important lesson. You both are truly wise and an inspiration for me, a lowly first year. Robert and Tristan, I thank you both for teaching this first year. I will be sure to engrave it in my heart."

All the students were frozen speechless, even as the second years came long after Guo Yang left. They had truly learned that words could be a more dangerous weapon than fists. Guo Yang had Tristan in the palm of his hand and struck without mercy. Also, he had triple attributes and no one could believe he was weak to antagonize two third year students.

"Ugh. That might be the longest human conversation I ever had. So troublesome but wine does taste good," Guo Yang shrugged as he drank more monkey wine. "I used to eat and crush monkeys. Who knew they could make such powerful, spiritual wine? I would have had legions of them as my servants to make this wine. I should take care when picking what to fill the other two chambers and not accidentally replacing the wine with something of lesser value."

An hour past noon, his classmates arrived at the combat grounds and saw Guo Yang staring at the giant blue phoenix behind their teacher. The phoenix was as tall as a giraffe, scaring many children while Guo Mei was scared for an entirely different reason. After all, she knew her brother's inexplicable hate for birds. He would never answer why he had such feelings, just ensured that he never went too far in hurting them.

"Oh my god! That's a mythical type magical beast! Our teacher must have some sort of background. Even the more powerful clans of the city struggle just to possess one mythical type magical beast," the boy with glasses said, taking out an encyclopedia on magical beasts from his storage ring.

"What kind is it?" a student asked.

"Um. Let me see. Let me see," the boy muttered and his eyes widened as he found the page. "Phoenix type magical beast. That's a Blue Heart String Phoenix. Known attributes: wind and water. Native to the northern lands of our Tang City's continent: Pangu. A phoenix of the snow mountain regions. It specializes in freezing its prey before breaking frozen skin, hair, and metal with blades of wind. Method of combat: flee on sight. Close combat means certain death."

"Why is it called Blue Heart String Phoenix?" Guo Mei asked but Guo Yang answered.

"It is known for its innate ability to make its heart covered in strings of near unbreakable ice. If you kill the phoenix without destroying the heart, the phoenix will be reborn," Guo Yang growled.

He remembered fighting three of them before, losing many of his precious scales as he discovered they kept resurrecting and returning to kill him a week after with each death. It was only after he discovered their weakness, that he could finally kill them. That innate ability is just one of many reasons why mythical type magical beasts were the strongest over all others.

"How do you know that weakness?" Professor Lei Xuan asked. "Very few people should know that."

"I'd ask you the same thing. How'd you even get your hands on one of them? Either you, or whoever gave you the phoenix, must have stolen into one of their nests and taken its egg," Guo Yang replied. "Does anyone have flame attribute spiritual energy?"

"I have only wind," the boy with glasses said. "My name is Sun Yi, commoner. My father is the Tang City's head librarian."

"I am Gu Zhou and this is Lady Mu Xing," the boy behind the noble girl said. "I have the water attribute while my brother, Gu Zheng, had the darkness attribute. He was injured by that boy who smashed through the third and second floor and crashed on him. Lady Xing has fire, light, and wind attributes."

"It is why I am a noble. I apologize as my actions before were unbecoming of one. I am a noble because my father is one of the noble clans distantly related to the emperor and one of the top ten clans in the entire Song Dynasty. In Tang City, my Mu Clan is the top and I possess the light attribute, the most scared of all with the fastest speed and healing practitioner arts in history," the girl said.

"Do you know any fire attribute arts?" Guo Mei asked, being polite as the girl no longer seemed arrogant.

"I only know how to make my spiritual energy possess the fire attribute. I don't know any element practitioner arts," she shook her head.

"And know you get along good. Today's lesson ends if you can make contact with my phoenix. Be warned. Phoenix and dragon type magical beasts are the ones with the most pride and hate to lose," the professor smiled as the phoenix shrieked as it spread its beautiful sky blue wings.

As the students charged forward behind Guo Mei and Mu Xing, Guo Yang stayed back as he closed his eyes and had his hands across his chest. One palm rested on the other and slowly separated as a sphere of sand, earth, and rock rose from the ground and formed in between them. Element attribute arts required a certain level of understanding and becoming one with them.

"This one is talented. He's already attuning himself to the earth. He should be experimenting and making his move soon. What earth practitioner art will he use?" Lei Xuan thought as the other children charged at the phoenix, only to be swept away with a single flap of its wings.

Guo Yang could feel the vibrations beneath his feet as his sphere began to revolve and glow. His eyes still closed, he could see white images, feedback of the vibrations his sphere made. The phoenix was flying, but he could sense where the wind made contact with the ground. He opened his eyes as he located the area directly underneath the phoenix and sphere expanded. It covered him in sand, earth, and rock and he vanished in a flash. Lei Xuan was surprised as he seemed to appear in random places between his former location and the phoenix.

"He's using earth type movement arts!" Mu Xing cried, everyone gasping as Guo Yang appeared and disappeared past them. The movement skill he was using was known as the Snake Specter Art, an earth type practitioner art that saved his life countless times when he was a weak little snake. Later, it became the reason even dragons and phoenixes feared him. His current range was limited to five yards, but it was enough to anger the phoenix.

The phoenix shrieked and made gusts of wind, Guo Yang barely dodging them. He always teleported to areas where the earth felt the least amount of wind, his eyes seemingly glowing with a sand-colored aura. He moved as a snake did, never straight and seemingly mysterious changes in direction.

Annoyed, the phoenix closed its wings and suddenly burst them out. Ice seemed to cover the very ground around it with a blast of freezing winds. However, Guo Yang had appeared behind it, using his Stone Breaker Art to encompass his fist with small rocks.

"I really hate birds, but I hate your kind even more!" he screamed and expelled the fist of rock at the square of its back, sending a small, magical boulder between its wings. He obviously used more spirit energy than his body could handle and lost consciousness, regret in his heart as his vision turned dark right before the small boulder hit the phoenix. The phoenix barely felt a thing as Guo Yang fell onto the ground. Angered, the phoenix turned to him but was stopped by Lei Xuan.

"Is he your class president?" Lei Xuan said as she ensured Guo Yang was alright.

"No, I am," Mu Xing said, the students seeing the professor sigh.

"You have much to prove if you are the class president. The boy is alright, just fainted due to too much spirit energy consumed at once. You were all supposed to lose and I would explain the cultivation stages, as they applied to you now. However, student Guo Yang succeeded and made contact with my phoenix. Today's lesson is over. Guo Mei, please take your brother home. Class is dismissed," the professor shook her head, still shocked as she rode her phoenix out of the combat grounds.

"I hate it when Guo Lin is right. Now both of my little brothers are stronger than me. I have to tell our parents and the patriarch about this. Maybe they'll even teach me privately," Guo Mei said, determination to grow strong in her heart as she carried her brother home with Sun Yi's help. Sun Yi was impressed and decided to be friends with Guo Yang as he was both strong and smart.

"Whoa! What happened to little brother?" Guo Lin asked as he soon appeared behind them as they left the school.

"It's a long story," Guo Mei said as he helped Sun Yi carry Guo Yang while Guo Mei walked in front of them. "Still, youngest brother looks like a normal boy when he's asleep."

"I'm afraid that's the only time he will be," Guo Lin sighed and the three laughed as they headed to the Guo Clan's territory.