Barbaric Rules of Society
After collecting the 15 spirit stones from the top three youngsters, the sun on the edge of the horizon looked like blood already. The afterglow rays poured into the school where around fifty students sat upright. On the stage above, the academy elder was reading out names one by one, distributing allowance to them.
This was the academy's weekly subsidy where every seven days allowance would be distributed. One could say it was financial aid for these young teens. After all with their capabilities, to raise their own Spirit was a lot of financial pressure.
"Mu Di Lan." The elder read aloud.
Di Lan got up from the seat by the window at the last row. He walked up the stage, receiving two moneybags. In one bag was three spirit stones – the clan's allowance. The other bag held the reward of ten spirit stones.
"Work hard," the elder said. He gave Di Lan a deep look. Di Lan had continuously achieved number one, and this had let those elders who were originally disappointed in him started paying slight attention.
Di Lan nodded his head and took the purse into his arms, returning to his seat.
"Damn it, he actually got number one again…" Mu Mo Chen fixed his gaze onto Di Lan firmly, his heart rather furious.
"Those two fangblades consecutively hit the neck of the puppet. Is this because of sheer luck or real skill?" Mu Shi Cheng narrowed his eyes. Since the end of the assessment until now, this question had been hovering in his mind.
It was not just him – many students unconsciously drifted their sights towards Di Lan. This question haunted them. Although they had lost, their hearts were unsatisfied and they wanted to question what actually had happened.
When the day was about to end, the academy elder announced a matter. "You all have been in the academy for an amount of time now, and you are familiar with how to use your vital Spirit as well. In the next few days I will teach you all how to nourish your spiritual core, advancing a Spirit Master's cultivation realm. The higher the realm of a Spirit Master, the more concise your spiritual essence becomes. A Rank one Spirit Master has bronze spiritual essence; a Rank two Spirit Master has silver essence and a Rank three Spirit Master possesses gold spiritual essence. A portion of silver essence is comparable to ten portions of bronze essence. A portion of gold essence is equals to a hundred portions of silver essence!"
"You must all remember, the Spirit are just tools that we use. Cultivation is the foundation of us Spirit Masters. The higher your rank, the stronger the Spirit you are able to use or it becomes. In the next five months, whoever can take the lead and promote to Rank one middle stage will receive a reward of 60 spirit stones. After five months, we will elect a class monitor and two vice-class monitors based on the results. The class monitor will enjoy a subsidy of fifteen spirit stones while the vice-class monitor will have an allowance of ten pieces! Alright, that's all for today. You can all leave."
The elder's words made the academy burst with noise.
"Time to elect the class monitor and vice-class monitor!" Someone clenched his fist in excitement.
"The class monitor receives 15 spirit stones every seven days, and the vice-class monitor gets ten pieces? If I am able to be the first to reach Rank one middle stage, I will definitely be able to become the class monitor." Another had lights in his eyes.
"The spirit stones are not the important focus. What matters here is the position of class monitor and vice-class monitor – it represents glory and places one's identity over others. When normal students sees the class monitor they must all bow and greet him." Mu Mo Chen and Shi Cheng did not lack spirit stones, but they deemed the glory of the position very important.
"To become the class monitor, without mistake it is the first person who promotes to Rank one middle stage first! That means when big brother see me in future, he would have to bow and automatically greet me. Hold up, where is big brother?" Mu Di Lang subconsciously looked back, but Di Lan's seat was empty.
The students walked out of the academy.
"Where's Mu Di Lan?" Mu Mo Chen wanted to look for Di Lan and ask him face to face. However Di Lan was one step ahead and had long left.
"Hmph, he sure ran away fast. Is he afraid? Looks like he got lucky again in today's test." Mu Shi Cheng sneered.
"Whatever, it's just ten spirit stones. I don't need to care about this small matter, right now what's important is to advance to middle stage and get that class monitor position." Mu Mo Chen narrowed his eyes, looking at his side where Mu Shi Cheng and Mu Di Lang were.
These two figures were his real enemy, while Di Lan was just a small mortal grade talent; he was not on par.
"In the first two times, Di Lan got lucky and got number one. However this time it is a cultivation test, and the focus is on the talent of cultivation. When the talent is higher by a grade, the advantage becomes much greater," Mu Shi Cheng thought, depressed in his heart. His real grade talent was only a bronze grade; it was only because of cheating that let him gain the illusion of having silver grade.
"Just a mere class monitor and two vice-class monitor positions got them itching their fists. Kids at this age are really hot-blooded and naïve," Di Lan sneered as he leaned against the gateway of the academy.
The so-called glory was just a valuable tool the upper levels used to motivate those below them. In the end, it was just a layer of illusionary glory, it was useless!
Living alone in his previous years of experience had long allowed Di Lan to understand some of the dao of life.
"Whether it comes to a clan or a sect, whether it is this world or earth, all organizations are like this. The high and low positions are established, making the law of promotion clear, letting those in the organization climb up non-stop from the bottom. Because chasing after profit is the nature of humans, and positions of authority often make people have superiority, creating the illusion that oneself is living a more valuable life than others."
"Power is like the bait dangling in front of a fish. The desires of humans are stimulated by it, and each of them secure their personal gains with someone with authority for it. After climbing up one level, there will be a higher level. While they are busy currying favour for personal gain, their hard work is squeezed out from them and their value is exploited by the upper position."
"In every organization, as long as there is a chain of command, it is to give serve to those at the upper ranks. The so-called class monitor and vice-class monitor position is like the smallest carrot, luring everyone else into the structure of the clan. And to stop those below from realizing the truth, those at the higher positions integrate shared values, clear-cutting the idea of glory, meritorious deeds etc. The establishment of high and low positions are made along with unequal benefits. Sometimes the use of religion is done to dominate people's hearts."
"This is the real truth, yet it is a pity that too many people in the world do not understand; they foolishly work hard for others. And for every organization in the world, the most fundamental of its essence is just one thing, and that is – The redistribution of resources, where the higher the position the more resources they can enjoy."
In his previous life, Di Lan had become this kind of person also. He became a fish that doesn't hesitate to gobble the bait dangled in front of him. This experience allowed Di Lan to understand clearly the way of thinking in this principle.
"Thus any organization is just a representation, while the real basis is just one word – resources. Without food resources, one will die of starvation. Without water resources, one will die of thirst. Without cultivation resources, one will become weak and sooner or later, be preyed to death."
"And for a Spirit Master, spirit stones are the most important resource!" Di Lan's two eyes were deep like an ancient pond, and as his mind reached this point, the corners of his lips curled up slightly, creating the outline of a sneer.
He had long left the academy, and right now he stood at the gate entrance of the school. He saw the first batch of students coming out, gradually walking closer towards him.
"It's Di Lan."
"What's he doing at the middle of the gate entrance?"
"Hmph, every time I see his dead dysfunctional state, I feel so pissed off."
"Don't worry about him, he's probably waiting for someone."
The young teens paid no attention to him. Just as they were about to walk over, Di Lan strode across and blocked them. "I'm plundering. Ladies must surrender a piece of spirit stone before they can leave, while the gentlemen will surrender two pieces."
The young teens were instantly shocked and angry.
"What, I didn't hear wrongly, did I?"
"Di Lan, your head must have overheated and gone confused. You would actually stand at the gates of the academy and extort us?!"
"Who gave you the guts to put your ideas on us?"
"Scram, you're just a petty mortal grade, how dare you block our way!"
"What's going on here?!" Mu Mo Chen arrived and exclaimed. He saw that Di Lan stood at the entrance of the academy gates.
"This Di Lan, he wants to extort our spirit stones!" One of the students shouted angrily.
"Wow, you are really full of energy huh." Di Lan's expression was flat as he kicked fiercely at the abdomen of the boy who just yelled.
Oww!
The youngster immediately cried out in pain, his body curling up like a shrimp. Fear emerged from his face, his tears streaming down as he dared not to speak again.
As they saw this scene, the students that came over all felt Di Lan's fierce savageness and cruelty, their hearts throbbing.
"Alright, all of you be good and hand out a piece of primeval stone. Then I'll let you go, or else, these people on the ground here will be your fate." Di Lan made a big step forward, his tone callous as his face was ever smiling.
"In your mother's face! You petty little mortal grade would even dare to win me, a silver grade?" Mu Mo Chen flew into a rage, swinging his fists as he rushed toward Di Lan before they knew it.
With a slight turn of his ankle, Di Lan swerved gently sideways and let Mo Chen's fist fly past. Then he stretched out his left hand, accurately jabbing the center of Mo Chen's diaphragm.
Mo Chen's breathing was halted and immediately blacked out, falling onto the ground with a thump, fainting on the spot.
Hiss…
As they saw what just happened, the young students that planned to rush forward quickly stopped, each of them releasing a mouthful of cold air.
In the eyes of these youngsters, Di Lan's attack was easy yet profound to be understood. They did not pay attention to basic martial arts, but in reality it was vaguely mentioned during class. The human body had many vulnerable parts, and several parts that Di Lan had struck were one of those vulnerable places.
"Are you going to give me your stones or not?"