Unbeknownst to the academy elder, and also to Fang Yuan for that matter, there was indeed a fourth pro-Fang Yuan faction among the student body, regardless of how small it was.
"Thanks for joining," Li Mei said to Yu Sai after he agreed to join her in her movement to support Fang Yuan. "With you joining us, our numbers have doubled!"
"Wait- are you telling me that before I joined, you were the only member?"
"Yup, but now are numbers have doubled."
"You can't count that as doubling- we went from having one person to having two people."
"But that's literally what it means to double. One times two is two, just like eight times eight is eighty-eight."
"Eight times eight is not eighty-eight!"
"Sorry, I'm bad with Maths. But honestly I don't know why it isn't- it just makes sense for eight and eight to make eighty-eight, you know?"
Yu Sai sighed. "Okay, maybe this is a number you can wrap your head around. Both of us have only 20% aptitude, meaning that we both have about a zero percent chance of doing anything remotely worthy of noticing."
Li Mei's face fell. Inwardly, she knew that what Yu Sai was saying was the truth, she just wished that he wouldn't frame it so. "Maybe... but who knows? We're both Fang Yuan's first supporters, right? Maybe that will mean that we will get noticed?"
"Does he even know that we exist?"
"About that uh... I don't think so. But hey, you joined, so now we have two people! This is just the beginning!"
"Hey, I only joined because I felt sorry for you being on your own..." Yu Sai said.
"The other groups didn't want you, did they?"
"No! Well, maybe kinda..."
As the two of them were busy doing nothing of value, Fang Yuan spent his time cultivating.
Before leaving for class that day, as was his daily ritual, Fang Yuan examined the mysterious Rank 3 gu worm that he'd gotten. It still looked as healthy as ever, despite him not feeding it anything.
He continued to keep it mostly hidden for now. Even if no one knew what it would do, the mere fact that it was Rank 3 would be more than enough to entice many a thief, especially as he himself was not Rank 3.
"Alright everyone," the martial arts instructor said later that day during lessons. He had been trying to encourage everyone to start paying more attention to martial arts and the like, but his efforts had fallen on deaf ears. He now tried a new approach. "I'll be hosting a martial arts tournament! Winner gets forty primeval stones!"
That got some of the students talking.
Most of them had no chance at winning at the usual contests because of their aptitudes- but what did that matter when it came to fighting? They were all on a more even playing field when it came to hand-to-hand combat, and forty primeval stones was not a small amount.
It was not insignificant even to someone like Fang Yuan.
"Alright, who's up first?" the martial arts instructor asked two days later when the contest actually began.
Fang Yuan stepped forward without hesitation.
"Good! As expected of our class president, being a great inspiration to the others," the martial arts instructor nodded in approval.
The others were a bit more hesitant, but soon enough, Mo Bei stepped up, cracking his knuckles.
'Fang Yuan, I'm going to repay you for all the misery and humiliation you've caused me until now!' he thought to himself.
This was wonderful- perfect even. This was one of the ways that he could get back at Fang Yuan and not get in trouble for it. After all, the academy did not exist to nurture weaklings. It existed to make the students stronger, and fights to some extent were encouraged. This was not even a brawl, but an official fight, so it was even more in line with things. Mo Bei couldn't just throw hands with Fang Yuan normally given he had a reputation to uphold, but this was completely within societal norms.
That is to say, it would not be a problem at all if Mo Bei punched Fang Yuan right in the face! Who wouldn't want to do that- to be able to beat up your boss who often gave you unpaid overtime, whom you deeply hated without suffering any consequences?
Of course, lethal blows were forbidden, but Mo Bei wouldn't have been able to kill someone anyway. He had not tempered his heart enough, and was not like Fang Yuan in that aspect.
Everyone watching felt that Mo Bei absolutely had an advantage over Fang Yuan and was likely going to win. After all, Mo Bei stood a head taller than Fang Yuan and likely weighed at least ten kilograms more. His body was more toned and tempered, while Fang Yuan was standing there with what looked like noodle arms.
Neither of them had much time to practice, so things like weight class and build overall were of great importance.
No one had high hopes for Fang Yuan.
"Hehe... let's see Fang Yuan cough up blood and beg for mercy!"
"Heh, Mo Bei's gonna beat him so bad he's going to end up crying for his mother!"
"Oh wait- he doesn't have one!"
The supporters of the Mo faction began laughing loudly, though they quieted down at the glares they got from Fang Zheng's faction.
After all, although the Fang Zheng faction had beef with Fang Yuan more than anyone, insulting Fang Yuan for being an orphan was basically doing the same to Fang Zheng!
"Do you think that Fang Yuan's going to get hurt?" Li Mei asked Yu Sai worriedly.
"I'd estimate his chances of winning at being less than ten percent," Yu Sai said.
The martial arts instructor did nothing to stop the fight, as this is precisely what he and the academy wanted- competition!
'Fang Yuan, I'm going to plant my fist firmly in your face!' Mo Bei said. He still didn't say something like that out loud, he had to maintain some sense of decorum after all, but he was fuming inside as the martial arts instructor said that it was time for the round to start.
Mo Bei rushed forward without hesitation, intending to use his larger frame and momentum to earn a decisive victory against Fang Yuan.
Two moves later, he was lying down on the floor, unconscious.
....
"What the hell just happened!?" someone from the crowd finally yelled out, breaking the awkward silence.
To their eyes, it seemed as if Fang Yuan had just moved and in the next instant, Mo Bei was lying down on the floor. The only person who had clearly seen what had happened was the martial arts instructor - the students did not have enough experience to gauge what was going on, and were distracted by other things.
The martial arts instructor, though, saw things clearly. He saw as Fang Yuan used Mo Bei's momentum against him, sidestepping and tripping him before striking fluidly at a pressure point, knocking Mo Bei out. It was so fast to the students it looked like it was instantaneous.
"Oh no, Fang Yuan killed Mo Bei!" someone yelled out, who couldn't see that Mo Bei's chest was still rising.
"Relax, he's only unconscious," Fang Yuan said. "I wouldn't kill him- not when I need him to stand outside my room this evening to deal with things while I cultivate."