Eternal Heavenly Emperor

"Hey, hey, hey, have you heard? There's a new Fortune Full Building that opened recently. The cheapest table costs ten taels of silver, and you need to book in advance. They only offer fifty tables a day."

"Tsk, that's just the lowest grade Sliver Full Building. I heard that Guest Full Building only serves three tables a day and to eat at one table costs a thousand taels of silver."

"Tsk, so expensive. Does anyone actually eat there?"

"Brother Zhang, if you had the money, wouldn't you want to try how good the food is at one thousand taels per table? Besides, people there are not just eating the food, but savoring the taste."

"Ah, I really wish I were rich!"

Amid the aggressive media campaign, the most talked-about topic in Eastern Cloud City is now the Fortune Full Building. If you haven't heard of Fortune Full Building by now, you are definitely out of the loop.

Liu Family.

"Hahaha, is this the foolish idea he came up with?" Liu Heng laughed coldly, "A minimum spend of ten taels of silver per table. What a joke. Guest Full Building asks for a thousand taels per table—why doesn't that kid just rob people instead?"

"Pah, not a single person has made a reservation up to now. I really want to see the look on that little bastard's face."

"A fool will always be a fool, treating others as fools too."

"Hmph, in no more than ten days, that kid will surely beg me to go back and take charge again. I will definitely give him a hard time."

Lin Family.

"Sister, that idiot actually came up with such a lousy idea, it's killing me with laughter," said Lin Ziming, clutching his belly in laughter.

Lin Yuqi managed a more restrained laughter. To be fair, the idea wasn't bad, it was just that the charges are far too high. She calmly said, "Don't bother about that fool anymore, Ma Long will take care of him for us."

"However, I didn't expect that the Mo Family's Mo Feihong would be so powerful. It leaves a question as to who will become the new nobility next year," suddenly stated Lin Ziming.

Lin Yuqi's brows furrowed. The composition of the Eight Great Nobles was not likely to change next year. Only the noble position left vacant after Chu Tianyun's death would be available for a new contender.

She had thought that Ma Jicheng would undoubtedly reach the top, but unexpectedly, Mo Feihong suddenly appeared, supposedly with strength not inferior to Ma Jicheng.

The two families were now at odds, and she could not possibly maintain a perfect relation, being on good terms with Ma Long while also keeping a good relationship with the Mo Family's second young master, Mo Xuannan.

Anyway, Chu Hao was not foolish at all right now.

Had he been pretending all along?

But why? Even at the cost of Chu Tianyun, a Vajra Realm powerhouse dying on Fire Cloud Mountain, and even losing the nobility title—the cost of pretending to be foolish was too great.

However, whether Chu Hao was truly foolish before or just pretending, this world still belonged to the Martial Artists. No matter how wealthy you are, without sufficient strength to guard it, you would just be creating wealth for others in the end.

No matter, she had her own pile of problems to sort out; who has time to care about what's happening to that fool? Anyway, that fool won't ever turn his fate around in this lifetime.

...

Today in the morning, instead of his usual practice, Chu Hao did not train since it was the opening day of the school year at Thousand Winds Academy.

Like schools on Earth, Thousand Winds Academy also had the concept of "grades," but they were not divided by age but by strength.

Thousand Winds Academy was divided into two institutes: Heavenly Court and Earthly Institute.

Anyone who could afford the tuition could enter Earthly Institute, but only those who had reached the Middle Mahayana realm could enter Heavenly Court. However, one thing was common—the entry age was at least 15 and at most 20 years old.

After turning 20, no matter your cultivation or how much money you had, you had to leave the academy.

As for the future, that was up to you. The wealthy could return to take over family businesses; the less fortunate could become mercenaries, slay ferocious beasts, harvest Spiritual Medicine, and earn a lot of money. This way, they could enjoy their later years and also give their next generation a higher starting point.

Thus, every year after the holidays when school reopened, some old students would leave, and new students would join.

But the tuition was exorbitantly high, which prevented more than ninety percent of the families from even considering it. Otherwise, why would the vast Eastern Cloud City have only one educational institution like Thousand Winds Academy with just over four thousand students?

The academy was not far from home. After about fifteen minutes, Chu Hao arrived at the entrance. The main gate was closed, but there were smaller doors on both sides that were open. It was still early, and only a few students were arriving, entering through the doors on either side.

Strangely, some people who were clearly closer to the left door would take a few extra steps to enter through the right one, and some who were closer to the right did the same to go through the left.

There was a reason for this.

Over a hundred years ago, the principal of Thousand Winds Academy passed away unexpectedly, leading to a struggle for the position between two extremely strong vice-principals. In the end, neither could overpower the other, dragging on indefinitely.

With sharp divisions, they each rallied under different banners, splitting the Academy into two factions, now known as the Eastern and Western Factions.

Since then, Thousand Winds Academy has never had a new principal, just the two vice-principals each leading their respective factions in competition. Everything was contested, from which faction enrolled more students to which had stronger students or more beautiful women. The students from the two factions often fought group brawls, with private fights being common. As long as it did not result in death, maiming, or serious injury, the academy did not intervene. Conversely, if anyone tried to involve their family elders, the academy would actually cover for them.

—After all, what Thousand Winds Academy cultivates are Martial Artists. Being able to fight is what makes someone truly talented.

Eastern Faction students used the east door, Western Faction students used the west door. The distinction was clear. The main gate was only opened when a VIP visited—otherwise, using the east door would upset the Western Faction, and using the west door would upset the Eastern Faction.

Chu Hao belonged to the Eastern Faction, Earthly Institute.

He halted and observed, Eastern Cloud City was very ancient, its true age was beyond trace, and so was Thousand Winds Academy, possessing a history so extensive it was startling. The gate at the entrance alone displayed its age, emitting an endless aura of antiquity.

Chu Hao's predecessor was an explorer, well-versed in ancient objects. Although the civilizations of the two worlds were completely different, he still recognized the extraordinary nature of this gate.

Whoosh!

As he was engrossed, a gust of wind struck, and Chu Hao instinctively reacted, powering his waist and tilting his body. Swish, he saw a palm strike miss its mark.

He turned his head to look and saw a young man of similar age to him, but with a brigand's air about his face, clearly of the ruffian type. Behind this young man were two others, exuding the same aura.

"Idiot, after the New Year, you must have gotten quite a bit of pocket money, right? Let us help you spend it," said the youth who had tried to hit Chu Hao.

Three names immediately came to Chu Hao's mind: Feng Ming, Li Shuangyuan, Zhou Ding.

These three were from the Western Faction, not strong at all, having not even stepped into the Lesser Mahayana realm. Still, they had no problem bullying the former Chu Hao. Moreover, since the previous Chu Hao was timid and dared not speak out when bullied, coupled with his background as a noble, Feng Ming and his group loved to extract "pocket money" from him, treating him like an ATM.

More often, they took pleasure in bullying Chu Hao, satisfying their "superior" mentality.

Anger immediately surged in Chu Hao's heart. After the fusion of two memories, there was no differentiation between the former him and the current him.

"What do you want to do?" Just as he was about to make a move, he saw a very tall youth stride over and yell at Feng Ming's group.

"Sun Yi?" Feng Ming turned his head to look at the youth, sneered, and said, "None of your business, scram."

"You bully our Eastern Sect people in front of me, do you think I'm dead or blind?" Sun Yi retorted with a snort.

Feng Ming and his group exchanged glances, one of them said, "Since you want to meddle, stand aside. We'll beat you too. From now on, there will be one more person to give us pocket money."

Fighting at the academy entrance was prohibited, after all, it left a bad impression.

Sun Yi was fearless. He possessed the strength of 900 pounds and was close to entering the Lesser Mahayana realm. Moreover, his skill in the Wildfire Fist was profoundly deep, handling these three ruffians would be no issue.

He didn't actually have any relationship with Chu Hao, but standing up for others at his age was quite flashy and gave a great sense of accomplishment. Besides, Eastern Sect fighting Western Faction, did he need a reason?

The five moved to a small alley at the side, with Feng Ming's trio blocking the way outside.

"You watch from the side, I will protect you," Sun Yi turned to Chu Hao and said, displaying a big brother's demeanor.

Chu Hao smiled and stepped back a bit as he hadn't seen people from this world fight before.

Sun Yi took his stance, displaying the attacking form of the Wildfire Fist.

"Beat him," Feng Ming and his group shouted, charging all at once.

They weren't about to follow any rules, defeating the opponent was most important.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Their fists flew, the force howling and crackling through the air.

Although none of the three had reached the Lesser Mahayana realm, each wielded a strength of four to five hundred pounds, which was still somewhat formidable.

Chu Hao's eyes dilated slightly; in that instant, the entire world seemed to slow down. Whether it was Feng Ming's trio or Sun Yi, everyone's movements were ridiculously slow.

But he immediately realized it wasn't that their movements had slowed, rather his brain was performing high-speed deductions, his consciousness was operating so fast that the real world seemed to slow down.

After his eyes received each person's movements, his brain automatically began to analyze. His formidable deductive ability completely parsed the motions of the four people, predicting each punch's trajectory.

Clear, distinct.

Chu Hao was surprised, he hadn't anticipated his deductive ability to have such an effect. This was definitely an evolution; he didn't have this ability on Earth.

Whoosh!

The four's motions accelerated to normal in his eyes, but he already grasped all of their methods of attack. However, knowing an opponent's attack trajectory was one thing, successfully dodging or blocking was another.

Just like if an opponent's punch carried the weight of ten thousand pounds, even if he knew it was aimed at his chest, how could he withstand it? And if the opponent's speed was incredibly fast, and his body couldn't keep up, how could he dodge?

Thus, one's own strength couldn't lag too far behind; otherwise, neither blocking nor dodging would be possible. What use would seeing through the opponent's attack be?

Of course, these four before him now seemed like a piece of cake.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In just a few moves, Sun Yi was completely at a disadvantage, staggered by their beating, staggering back like a drunkard. He exclaimed in shock, pointing at Feng Ming, "How can your strength be greater than mine?"

This punk could have at most four or five hundred pounds of force, but now the force he burst forth with was terrifying, absolutely abnormal.

"Hehe," Feng Ming lifted his right hand and shook it, a string of beads on his wrist catching the light, one bead even glowing brightly.

"Treasure Artifact!" Sun Yi blurted out.