Chapter 27: Aftermath Chapter
The wild boar king was ZONKED OUT in its mud spa, snoring like a Discord mod after a 72-hour Genshin Impact binge. Each breath sent shockwaves through the forest - nature's own bass boost. Fang Yuan moved through the bushes with that sigma "if I don't make eye contact it can't see me" rizz, his Moonrizz Gu strapped tight like a middle-aged dad's fanny pack.
"GYATT DAMN that's a thick boi," Fang Yuan thought, eyeing the beast's DUMP TRUCK physique. Those tusks could YEET a man straight into next week's clan meeting. One wrong move and he'd be clapped harder than a Twitch streamer's ban button.
By the time he reached the exam site, bro looked ROUGH:
Robes shredded like a Walmart Halloween costume
Hair full of enough sticks to build a bird condo
Mud-caked boots weighing more than his dignity
That one stubborn leaf still stuck to his back like a bad Discord meme
The student chatter hit like a TikTok comment section:
"Bro got that 'fought a lawnmower and lost' aesthetic"
"Is that... MUD in his EAR??"
"Sigma rule #420: If you're not covered in filth, are you even grinding?"
Then came the SPICY TEA - Fang Zheng got JUMPED by some malding assassin with a poison kink! Fang Yuan's poker face stayed strong but inside he was like "LMAO GET FUKT" - absolute cinema.
When exam results came up, Fang Yuan pulled the ultimate sigma move. While Chi Cheng was busy flexing his 16 tusks like a League of Legends ranked sweat, Fang Yuan just "oops found these" and DUMPED a whole Walmart's worth of tusks on the ground.
The crowd's reaction:
🤯 - 🤡 - 💀
Academy elder's eye twitched like a broken emoji before sighing "...Fang Yuan wins I guess."
CLAN MEETING (DRAMA ALERT 🚨):
Gu Yue Bo looked more stressed than a Minecraft speedrunner with 1 HP. The elders were MALDING:
"IT'S THE BAI CLAN!"
"NO THE XIONG CLAN!"
"MAYBE THE ASSASSIN JUST BUILT DIFFERENT?" (This elder got yeeted out the window)
Then they heard about Fang Yuan's "luck" and the room went QUIETER than a Valorant lobby when someone picks Yoru.
Fang Yuan's Rewards
The clan leader's hall was thick with tension, the air heavy like the moment before a storm breaks. Gu Yue Bo sat motionless upon his carved jade throne, his deep-set eyes scanning the assembled elders with the precision of a hawk observing its prey. The flickering candlelight cast dancing shadows across the stone walls, illuminating the carefully neutral expressions of the clan's most powerful figures.
Each elder sat rigidly in their seat, their gazes lowered just enough to appear respectful while still stealing glances at one another through their peripheral vision. The silence was deafening—no one dared speak first, lest they reveal too much.
"Fang Yuan's sudden rise to first place... it cannot be a coincidence," Gu Yue Chi Lian thought, his fingers tightening around the armrest of his chair. "Someone is moving behind the scenes. But who?"
Across the room, Gu Yue Mo Chen stroked his beard thoughtfully, his sharp eyes flickering between the clan leader and the other elders. "If it wasn't me, and it wasn't Chi Lian... then who is playing this game?"
The implications were clear. Fang Zheng, the A-grade prodigy, had already been claimed by the clan leader's faction. But Fang Yuan, his brother, a mere C-grade talent, was now being positioned as a piece in the clan's intricate power struggle.
Gu Yue Bo finally broke the silence, his voice measured and deliberate.
"Thirty primeval stones for Fang Yuan."
The words landed like a boulder in still water. A few elders twitched, their carefully maintained composure cracking for the briefest moment. Thirty stones? It was a paltry sum in the grand scheme of things, but the message was clear: someone had taken an interest in Fang Yuan, and the clan leader was acknowledging it.
Was it a test? A warning? A subtle move in the clan's endless political game?
No one spoke.
The Aftermath
Three days later, the truth of Wang Da's demise spread through the clan like wildfire. The assassin was dead, his body identified as a rogue demonic cultivator; no ties to any major faction. The two hunters who had accompanied him into the mountains had mysteriously vanished, and the third, the one whose hand Fang Yuan had shattered, was found dead in his home.
Jiang He, the village's stationed Gu Master, delivered the news to Fang Yuan with a carefully blank expression.
"The matter is settled," he said, his voice low. "From now on, my cousin's shop will offer you a discount."
The unspoken meaning was clear: We both know what happened. Let's never speak of it again.
Fang Yuan accepted the offer with a nod, his face as unreadable as ever.
The Spring Autumn Rizz pulsed quietly in his aperture, its presence a silent reminder of the path ahead.
...
Ten days passed in a blur of cultivation and quiet maneuvering.
Fang Zheng, recovering from the assassination attempt, had been taken under the clan leader's personal tutelage—a privilege that sent ripples through the clan's hierarchy. Mo Bei and Chi Cheng had broken through to the upper stage, their progress celebrated with thinly veiled arrogance.
And then there was Fang Yuan.
He advanced alongside them, his cultivation surging forward with an eerie, deliberate precision. The academy elder watched him with newfound respect, mistaking his silence for humility, his restraint for loyalty.
"He has finally accepted his place," the elder thought, pleased.
Little did he know, every step Fang Yuan took, every resource he claimed, every subtle shift in the clan's dynamics, was all part of a greater design.
Sigma games had only just begun.