Class Four classroom.
"Hello, Class Monitor. Hello, Sister Nannan." All the students in Class Four greeted Zhu Ziyang proactively. In the past month, Zhu Ziyang had established a high level of prestige in Class Four. Jiang Nannan, on the other hand, had earned the respect of most students with her record of five consecutive victories in practical lessons.
Both of them responded to everyone with a smile.
The class bell rang, and Xia Yu walked into the classroom.
"For this new month, I hope those of you who have stayed will continue to work hard," Xia Yu said, as usual, before officially starting the lesson.
This month, after five rounds of combat assessments, Class Four now only had ninety-five students. Four students had been dismissed by Xia Yu for having a record of all losses. Because some people had already been dismissed, all the students in Class Four now felt a sense of urgency.
No one was dissatisfied with Xia Yu, because compared to the homeroom teachers of other classes, Xia Yu was simply an angel. Among the other classes, Class Two had the fewest students expelled, with only seven students. Class One had the most, with a total of seventeen people leaving! The most terrifying thing was that seventeen people left in a single day, which truly scared the students in the other classes.
It was really scary!
The morning classes quickly ended, and Zhu Ziyang found Xia Yu.
"...So, that little girl Tang Ya went to hunt for her second spirit ring? Alright then, I won't count her as absent!" Xia Yu said, a smile on his face. He took out a piece of paper, handed it to Zhu Ziyang, and instructed, "This is this month's grouping. Announce it this afternoon. Cross out Tang Ya's name, after all, I said that as long as one breaks through a realm, they don't need to participate in practical combat lessons."
"Understood," Zhu Ziyang responded, taking the list.
"Here, this is what you wanted," Xia Yu then pulled out a Spirit tool ring, threw it to Zhu Ziyang, and said, "Remember to return the ring to me."
"You got it so quickly?!" Zhu Ziyang exclaimed in surprise, taking the ring. "I will, thank you, Yu-ge!"
"Alright, go!" Xia Yu smiled, waving his hand. "If you refine any pills, remember to let me see them. I want to see if your 'not doing proper work' is actually worth it."
"Hehehe!" Zhu Ziyang chuckled, leaving the office.
"Brother, how was it? Did Teacher Xia blame Xiao Ya?" Jiang Nannan walked up, hugging Zhu Ziyang's arm, and asked.
"No, Yu-ge is still quite easy to talk to," Zhu Ziyang said.
"Mhm, mhm, I think so too. Teacher Xia is really a good person!" Jiang Nannan nodded, smiling as she spoke.
If Xia Yu knew that such a cute girl had given him a 'good person' card, he would definitely be very happy.
—
Evening.
New student dormitory building.
"Brother, see you tomorrow. I'm going back to cultivate," Jiang Nannan said to Zhu Ziyang.
"Mhm! Go ahead," Zhu Ziyang nodded and said.
In one month, not only did Tang Ya make a breakthrough, but Jiang Nannan also advanced from Level 25 to Level 26. As for Zhu Ziyang, due to his higher realm and dual ultimate Spirits, he required more spirit power for advancement, so his cultivation speed was inevitably a bit slow. However, thanks to the Great Bright Art, his spirit power growth rate did not decrease, so it wasn't too bad. Therefore, his spirit power level was still Level 35.
After Jiang Nannan left, Zhu Ziyang also returned to his dormitory.
In the dormitory, Zhu Ziyang took out the spatial ring Xia Yu had given him, then took out the items inside one by one. Besides the alchemy materials he had entrusted Xia Yu to purchase, there was nothing else.
That's right, alchemy materials.
After a month of preparation, Zhu Ziyang had already learned all the theoretical knowledge of alchemy, only lacking practical experience. After finding a pill recipe for a cultivation-assisting pill, he didn't hesitate and directly went to Shrek City to purchase alchemy materials.
He had specifically investigated and found that there were over a dozen merchant guilds in Shrek City. Among them, besides the transcendent status of super-large merchant guilds like Jubao Pavilion, the other merchant guilds were led by the Five Great Merchant Guilds. These five great merchant guilds were all large merchant guilds second only to Jubao Pavilion, namely the Nine Treasure Chamber of Commerce, the Heavenly Soul Merchant Guild, the Dou Ling Merchant Guild, the Star Luo Merchant Guild, and the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association. Among them, the Nine Treasure Chamber of Commerce was a branch of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School's main Nine Treasure Chamber of Commerce opened in Shrek City. The Heavenly Soul Merchant Guild, Dou Ling Merchant Guild, and Star Luo Merchant Guild were supported by the royalty and nobility of the Three Great Empires, respectively. Only the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association seemed to have no backing force.
But how could that be? A merchant guild capable of establishing itself in Shrek City and capturing market share from Jubao Pavilion, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School, and the three great merchant guilds supported by the Three Great Empires, how could it not have a backer? Indeed, with Zhu Ziyang's careful attention, he heard a rumor that the founder of the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association was the illegitimate son of a former Shrek Academy dean... Regardless of whether this legend was true or false, the fact that the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association was backed by Shrek Academy was undoubtedly true.
Since it was a merchant guild supported by Shrek Academy, Zhu Ziyang, as a student of Shrek Academy, naturally had no reason not to choose it. Moreover, as one of the largest merchant guilds in Shrek City, the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association's prices were the most affordable, being the one with the lowest average commodity prices among the Five Great Merchant Guilds. Just for this reason alone, Zhu Ziyang had no reason not to choose it.
When he went to the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association to purchase alchemy materials, he coincidentally met Xia Yu.
That's right, it was Xia Yu, his homeroom teacher. Zhu Ziyang only then realized that Xia Yu, besides being a teacher at Shrek Academy, was actually the Young Master of the Flowing Cloud Merchant Association! Good heavens, he knew he was rich, but he didn't expect him to be *that* rich.
When Xia Yu saw Zhu Ziyang, he was also very surprised and asked about it. Zhu Ziyang didn't think much of it and told Xia Yu about his desire to refine pills to earn money. To his surprise, Xia Yu became very interested upon hearing it and immediately offered to sponsor Zhu Ziyang's alchemy for free.
While surprised, Zhu Ziyang naturally became wary. Free things were often the most expensive. He immediately asked for the reason, but to his surprise, Xia Yu actually said it was simply because he found it interesting!
Good heavens, Zhu Ziyang exclaimed 'good heavens'. Just because he found it interesting, he could generously spend tens of thousands of gold coins.
Just like that, he easily saved one hundred thousand gold coins and also got a Spirit tool alchemy furnace and a large batch of alchemy materials for free.
The recollection ended, and Zhu Ziyang began to inspect the alchemy materials.
"This is a Millennium Converging Yuan Flower?!" Zhu Ziyang picked up a small, pale white flower with yellow spots, and his mouth immediately dropped open in surprise. "Didn't I ask for a Hundred Year Converging Yuan Flower? This Millennium Converging Yuan Flower must cost at least five thousand gold coins per stalk, right?"
"Millennium Jade Ganoderma, Millennium Astragalus Grass, Hundred Year Sacred Origin Fruit, Millennium Azure Grain Beast essence blood..." Zhu Ziyang looked through the alchemy materials Xia Yu had sent, one by one, his heart growing more surprised and delighted.
The quality of these materials was generally one or two grades higher than he had planned, meaning the price would at least quintuple! One must know, according to Zhu Ziyang's original standards, these materials would cost at most fifty thousand gold coins, but now, it was at least two hundred and fifty thousand!
"Now, I owe a great favor..." Zhu Ziyang's eyes gleamed as he calculated in his mind, speaking aloud.
Subsequently, his gaze turned to the alchemy furnace nearby, his expression calm, his eyes serene.
Time to start alchemy!