Chapter 94: The Price of Profound Water Pills Has Dropped? It's Furina's Plan
Furina gracefully tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her crisp, clear voice resonating through the classroom. "First, I'd like to ask Teacher—what practical results can be achieved by making all the students run a hundred laps right from the start? Isn't this requirement somewhat excessively harsh?"
Zhou Yi lifted her chin slightly and responded with an air of seasoned experience. "Running is the most fundamental form of physical conditioning. It effectively strengthens the body. A true powerhouse must have a robust physique as their foundation. Only then, supplemented by soul master abilities or the aid of soul tools, can one truly soar like a tiger given wings."
Her voice carried an unquestionable authority. "On the battlefield, being able to run just a bit faster than your enemy gives you an extra sliver of hope for survival."
"Is that so?" Furina arched an eyebrow delicately. "But among our cohort of students, there are men and women, battle soul masters and tool soul masters, as well as support-type and food-type soul masters. Each person's innate physical constitution is different. Shouldn't a teacher take these individual differences into account?"
"Do I take these individual conditions into account? Do our enemies take them into account?" Zhou Yi shot back coldly.
Furina's gaze abruptly sharpened. "Is Teacher cultivating her students purely to deliver high-quality cannon fodder to the battlefield? Must every student who graduates from Shrek Academy throw themselves into war?"
Zhou Yi instinctively wanted to refute her, but she suddenly realized just how dangerous this question was. Shrek Academy absolutely could not leave any handle suggesting it forced its students onto the battlefield. Where students went after graduation was their own choice. No one could be allowed to think the academy was compelling them to "shine and contribute" on the front lines.
"I..." Zhou Yi was momentarily tongue-tied, at a complete loss for how to respond.
But Furina's face suddenly blossomed into a smile, her tone turning light and breezy. "Still, I'm certain that as an outstanding teacher, you would never think such a thing. After all—what kind of teacher would treat their own students like cannon fodder and send them off to the battlefield?"
Zhou Yi couldn't tell whether Furina was mocking her or graciously offering her a way out, but her instincts told her the former was far more likely.
And she was right. Furina was indeed subtly ridiculing her, yet she'd done it in such a way that no fault could be found. On the surface, at least, Furina appeared to be speaking in her defense. If Zhou Yi were to erupt in anger now, she would only seem to be in the wrong.
"Regarding the running regimen," Furina continued confidently, "I believe it should be accompanied by proper training equipment. Running on a flat track yields only limited results. If you truly want to push students to their limits, the training should take place in complex terrain. Additionally—has Teacher prepared medicinal baths to help the students relieve fatigue and strengthen their bodies after training?"
Zhou Yi fell into a heavy silence. She had never once considered so many details.
"Ten thousand years ago, this kind of training method might have made sense. After all, there were no soul tools back then." Furina shifted her approach. "But times have changed. Faced with the vast array of long-range soul tools now available, unless you're an agility-type soul master, no matter how fast you run, dodging such attacks is nearly impossible."
She swept her gaze across the faces of her classmates and continued, "Rather than purely tempering physical stamina, why not equip everyone with flight-type soul tools? They allow flight and are fast—especially for support-type soul masters, this is the essential gear they need. Wouldn't that be far more practical than simple physical conditioning?"
The students nodded in agreement one after another. Every word Furina spoke resonated deeply with them.
Zhou Yi couldn't help but retort, "You make it sound so easy! Flight-type soul tools are by no means cheap. Not every soul master's family can afford them."
"But most of those who can enter Shrek Academy are either wealthy or of noble birth," Furina countered with unruffled ease. "Even if they can't afford them now, once their soul power rank rises, earning enough to purchase a flight-type soul tool in the future won't be so difficult."
She paused briefly, then added, "Furthermore, if a support-type soul master finds themselves needing to flee, that's usually not their own fault—it's a failure of team coordination. After all, ninety-nine percent of support-type soul masters have no offensive capabilities whatsoever. Under normal circumstances, how could an enemy be allowed to directly threaten your side's support soul masters? Unless the enemy is overwhelmingly powerful and all one's teammates have already fallen—a truly exceptional situation."
"And one more point," Furina's voice took on an even more serious edge, "every person's constitution is different. Support-type soul masters and female soul masters are inherently weaker in terms of physical stamina. Requiring them to complete a hundred laps within a single shichen—are you trying to exhaust them to the point of collapse? High-intensity training of this nature, without a gradual, progressive acclimatization process, can cause serious harm to the body."
Zhou Yi was rendered utterly speechless. She desperately wanted to explode with rage, yet found that every single point Furina had made was soundly reasoned and irrefutable.
Furina seized the opportunity to press her suggestion. "Rather than this meaningless running punishment, why not organize practical combat drills and team competitions? After all, the freshman assessment places its primary emphasis on teamwork and combat ability—and the use of soul tools is forbidden during the examination."
Zhou Yi couldn't help but be astonished at how much Furina knew about the academy's internal workings. But on second thought, given the talent and bearing Furina had displayed, she must come from an extraordinary background. It wasn't so strange that she would be privy to such information.
Though inwardly she had to admit Furina's arguments held weight, Zhou Yi was still thoroughly infuriated by her flagrant defiance. "You talk a fine game. And since you have so many objections to my teaching methods..."
Zhou Yi let out a cold scoff. "Why don't we let our genius student here play the role of teacher for once? I'd like to see just how much better you can teach than I can."
A flash of delighted surprise lit up Furina's eyes. She hadn't expected Zhou Yi to make such a proposal. This was the perfect opportunity to showcase her abilities and attract talented individuals. In her mind, this was undoubtedly a golden chance to recruit even more outstanding students in the future.
At the same time, on a tree-lined path in another part of the academy, Xu Sanshi was pacing restlessly, so lost in his troubled thoughts that he didn't even notice Bei Bei approaching.
"What's wrong, Xu Sanshi?" Bei Bei asked with concern. "You look completely weighed down by worry. Don't tell me Nannan gave you a harsh dressing-down and you've finally decided to give up pursuing her?"
Xu Sanshi waved a listless hand. "How could that be? Even if Nannan rejects me a thousand times over, I'll never give up."
"Then what is it that's troubling you so much?" Bei Bei pressed, puzzled.
Xu Sanshi let out a sigh and explained, "It's not really a big deal. Just some trouble with the family business."
"The Black Tortoise Sect, running into business trouble?" Bei Bei was genuinely surprised. "Tell me about it... that is, if it's not confidential."
"It's about the Profound Water Pills," Xu Sanshi said, lowering his voice.
"Profound Water Pills? The Black Tortoise Sect's signature elixir. Every soul master knows about them." Bei Bei was even more confused now. "Could the problem really lie with the Profound Water Pills?"
Xu Sanshi nodded heavily. "Exactly. Somehow, recently, some smaller auction houses have been auctioning Profound Water Pills. The quantities aren't large, but they've already exceeded the annual production limit our Black Tortoise Sect can produce. With them doing this, the market price of Profound Water Pills has been driven way down."
He rubbed his temples in frustration. "And the most maddening part is—even when our Black Tortoise Sect personally intervenes, we can't get any information about the source from those auction houses. It's like they've all reached some kind of tacit agreement and are keeping completely tight-lipped to the outside world."
"Lately, I keep hearing my family talk about these things. It's driving me to distraction."
Bei Bei immediately thought of Furina. When they first met, she had generously gifted Tang Ya Profound Water Pills. The Church of the Water God was immensely wealthy—they could even produce the long-lost complete version of the Mysterious Heaven Technique. That they would possess the formula for Profound Water Pills was hardly surprising.
Though he had already guessed the answer in his heart, Bei Bei couldn't tell Xu Sanshi directly. After all, he was now, in a sense, half a member of the Church of the Water God himself.
"Ah... just let things take their course," was all Bei Bei could offer as consolation.
"I suppose that's all I can do," Xu Sanshi sighed helplessly.
The two walked side by side down the academy's shaded path, each wrapped in his own thoughts. Bei Bei was pondering the true depths of the Church of the Water God's strength, while Xu Sanshi fretted over his family's business woes. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves above, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow over them, as if heralding the extraordinary changes soon to sweep through Shrek Academy.