Chapter 67: Wang Family Visitor

This admiration came from the heart, clear and bright, impossible to fake. A gaze like that could only mean genuine admiration, completely unadulterated. With just one look, Elder Mo Xiang knew that Liu Yang truly admired Teacher Zhang; there was no way the Heart-Reflecting Crystal was broken!

"Silence!" Knowing this, Elder Mo's face darkened, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. "The Heart-Reflecting Crystal can probe one's inner thoughts and guide them to the most correct choice. It has never malfunctioned; it's impossible for it to be broken! Continue with your nonsense, and I'll throw you out!"

"I..."

Seeing Elder Mo so angry, Shang Bin and Cao Xiong fell silent simultaneously, not daring to utter another word.

"How... how did you do that?"

On the side, Shen Biru covered her mouth in shock, finding the result hard to believe. A trust level of sixty-four—even the star teachers at Hongtian Academy, who had taught students for years, hadn't achieved such a high level of trust! This young man had been surprising her since yesterday, but today's surprise was even greater! No wonder he was so confident; it seemed he had known he would win all along!

"Since I've won, shouldn't the bet be honored? That means revoking Teacher Cao's teaching qualification and giving him a hundred strikes with the God-Slaying Rod, right?" Zhang Xuan looked at them. If they wanted to pick a fight with him, they should be prepared for the consequences! "I'm a modern person with unique advantages; I won't let an ancient person bully me."

"This..."

Elder Shang Chen's face was etched with conflict. He had intended to avenge his grandson this time, but instead of getting satisfaction, he was humiliated again, leaving him feeling awkward and unsure what to do.

"Show some mercy, Teacher Zhang. Since you've already won, how about Teacher Cao simply apologizes to you, and we forget about the other parts of the bet?" Elder Shang Chen said a moment later.

"Forget about it? If I had lost, I doubt Elder Shang would be saying that!" Zhang Xuan frowned. He could easily imagine that if he had lost today, the Dean of Instruction would have hounded him relentlessly and would not have hesitated to expel him! But now that he had won, they casually suggested forgetting it... What kind of joke was that?!

"Impudent!" Elder Shang Chen's face darkened. "Mind your place! You're just a junior teacher. You stumbled into some luck to increase a student's trust level; it's an isolated case. What's there to be proud of? If you truly have skill, raise their cultivation levels first! What good is gaining just one person's trust?"

"Exactly. This Zhang Xuan has a natural talent for manipulation. What good is a high trust level? If I'm not mistaken, the student who suffered qi deviation last time did so because they trusted him too much, which led to them being misled and ultimately regretting it for life!" Hearing the reprimand, Teacher Cao Xiong reacted and quickly spoke.

Trust level is merely one criterion for evaluating a teacher's proficiency; it doesn't represent true ability. The only thing that truly reflects a teacher's skill is... their ability to rapidly increase a student's strength! What's the point if students trust you like a parent? Without genuine knowledge to impart, you're still not a qualified teacher!

"Qi deviation?" Elder Mo, standing to the side, frowned.

"Elder Mo might not know, but a student Zhang Xuan once taught suffered qi deviation! Because of that incident, all his students left, which is why he scored zero on the teacher qualification assessment!" Cao Xiong's face twisted grimly. "Given how much Liu Yang trusted him just now, I suspect he used some special manipulative trick! Otherwise, how could someone who scored zero on the assessment get a student's trust level to over sixty in just two days?"

"This..."

What the other person said wasn't impossible. There was once a teacher who, in pursuit of becoming a renowned teacher, used special methods to manipulate students, similar to hypnosis. Even subconsciously, students would come to believe the teacher was trustworthy! Such methods have a time limit; once it expires, the students' minds suffer significant damage! Could it be... that Zhang Xuan also used the same method? If that were true, he would be disregarding students' lives, making him not just a bad teacher but a criminal!

"Teachers should prioritize educating and nurturing students. Gaining their trust without imparting relevant knowledge will only mislead them and cause greater harm! That's precisely why no one inside or outside the academy trusts him, and he can't attract many students! Even if this semester is better than the last, he still only has five students!" Shang Bin interjected dismissively.

"Only five students recruited, that is indeed too few..." Elder Mo nodded.

"It doesn't matter how many students I recruit, nor whether I can teach them well. This is the Heart-Probing Pagoda, and I brought my student to participate in the Heart Interrogation, which involved a bet. Now that I've won, shouldn't the losing party honor the bet? Or are you trying to renege?" Zhang Xuan stated. "Stop with these irrelevant points. If you lost, you should promptly fulfill your end."

"Impudent! How can a teacher's qualification be arbitrarily revoked over a mere bet? Would that not make a mockery of everything? Teacher Cao Xiong has been diligent since joining the academy last year, teaching a Martial Artist Second Realm mid-stage practitioner and attracting countless geniuses who specifically sought him out as their mentor, bringing honor to the academy! And you? The first person in Hongtian Academy's hundred-year history to score zero on the teacher assessment, what right do you have to talk nonsense here?" Elder Shang Chen flung his sleeve. "Alright, revoking the teaching qualification is out of the question! When you can cultivate a Martial Artist Second Realm mid-stage practitioner and have more students seeking you as their master, then we can talk!"

"Elder Shang..."

Shen Biru's eyebrows shot up. She hadn't intended to speak, but the fact that a respected elder was openly helping Teacher Cao Xiong cheat filled her with anger. Either don't bet, or if you bet, then honor the loss! To have the audacity to make a bet and then try to renege was simply too shameless!

"Teacher Shen, my grandfather is right. Teacher Cao Xiong is a well-known teacher in our academy, regardless. Expelling him over such a minor issue would be making a mountain out of a molehill! Besides, dismissing such a talent would be a loss for the academy..." Shang Bin said with a smile.

"You... that's simply twisting words!" Shen Biru's pretty face flushed with anger. "Just as Zhang Xuan said, if he had lost, would you have let him off?"

"What is he? Can he compare to Teacher Cao Xiong? Can he cultivate Martial Artist Second Realm students? Can he attract countless students to seek him out..." Shang Bin sneered.

Knock, knock, knock!

Before he could finish speaking, a knocking sound came from outside the main hall.

"What is it?"

Elder Shang Chen frowned, and then the duty teacher pushed the door open and entered.

"Elder Shang, someone is requesting an audience outside. They say it's... Wang Hong, the clan leader of the Wang family from Tianxuan City, and their elders!" the teacher said.

"Clan Leader Wang Hong? Invite them in at once!"

Hearing that Clan Leader Wang Hong himself had come, Elder Shang Chen abruptly stood up, his eyes filled with excitement. Tianxuan Royal City was a mixed bag, and for the Wang family to be one of its four major clans, standing strong for a century, their profound heritage was self-evident! It could be said that Clan Leader Wang Hong's status was no weaker than that of their Vice Dean! For such a person to visit him today with his clan elders—the sheer honor of it was enough to make one ecstatic. Speaking of it later would undoubtedly add a brilliant stroke to his resume!