Chapter 112: Chapter 112: You Call This a Club?

Fang Chen and his group squeezed toward one of the densely packed crowds.

In the center sat a few makeshift tables backed by an eye-catching poster. The words "Celestial Thunder Society" were written on it in bold, flamboyant calligraphy, accompanied by a lightning bolt symbol.

A group of young people who looked like freshmen were lining up to fill out forms at the tables.

Behind the tables stood a male student in the casual uniform of a senior. He wore a smile, but his eyes were shrewd as he loudly pitched to the surrounding teenagers:

"...That’s right, junior! Joining our Celestial Thunder Society is the perfect choice! Our President Yu is an Earth Tier Martial Artist! He’s incredibly strong with a limitless future!

"Furthermore, he is a scion of the Direct Lineage of the Yu family, one of the six great families of Jinchuan City! With connections like that, I guarantee that if you join our Celestial Thunder Society, no one will dare bully you during your years at the academy!"

Hearing this, Fang Chen couldn’t help but ask, "Senior, what exactly does this society... do?"

The promoting student looked at Fang Chen, his smile unwavering.

"Do? We don’t really ’do’ anything specific! It’s just a group of like-minded students banding together for warmth and mutual support.

"Sometimes, when the academy issues tasks or holds internal competitions and trial opportunities, we discuss it within the society first. Keep the good stuff within our own circle, right?

"Our own people secure the benefits first, and the rest of us can get a slice of the pie and share the resources later. Understand?"

Fang Chen understood instantly.

This wasn’t some hobby-based club. This was clearly a gang within the academy!

He had thought it would be like the universities in his past life on Earth, with guitar clubs, basketball clubs, and the like. Now it seemed that in this Martial Arts Academy where martial prowess reigned supreme, these so-called "societies" were essentially small factions—even minor powers—centered around the strong and bound by mutual interests.

His face remained expressionless, but he was already planning his exit.

Wang Pan and Hu Jiasen also looked at Fang Chen, evidently taking their cues from him.

The promoting student read the room. Noticing Fang Chen’s apparent lack of interest, he shifted gears, his tone carrying a faint hint of a warning.

"Junior, I advise you to think it through. In this Cyan Yang Martial Arts Academy, if you don’t join a society, you might seem free and unrestrained, but in reality..."

He chuckled and lowered his voice. "...you’d be a rootless weed—anyone can step on you. If you run into trouble, you won’t even have anyone to speak up for you or have your back. You know what I mean?"

Seeing this, Yuan Xiao hurriedly interjected, "Haha, Senior, we’re just passing by, just getting a feel for things. Um, about these societies in our academy... how’s their strength? Is there a ranking?"

He asked directly.

The senior wasn’t offended. Instead, he saw it as a good opportunity to flex their muscles and smiled.

"Haha, I get what you mean. Alright, since you’re all freshmen today, I’ll give you a rough rundown."

He cleared his throat and puffed out his chest. "Our Cyan Yang Martial Arts Academy has eight great societies! The Celestial Thunder Society, Canglan Society, Liuyun Society, Jinyi Society, Cyan Simurgh Society, Wind and Cloud Society, Dan Yan Society, and the Black Tortoise Society!

"Among them, the Cyan Simurgh Society is all female. As for the Dan Yan Society, it’s where students with Elemental Affinity or those skilled in Alchemy and Medicine Making gather. Those two are a bit special.

"Besides those two, the other six are roughly on par in strength! After all, each of their presidents is an expert who has stepped into the Earth Tier!"

He made a point to emphasize this, his face glowing with reflected glory. "However, if we’re talking about minute differences... the Wind and Cloud Society is indeed a tiny bit stronger."

He pivoted, bringing the conversation back around.

"But! And this is a big ’but’! President Yu of our Celestial Thunder Society and President Gu of the Wind and Cloud Society are sworn brothers in private!

"Absolute best buds!

"The relationship between our two societies is incredibly tight!

"You could say we’re brother societies! A powerful alliance! I don’t even need to spell out the benefits of that!"

He then began to talk endlessly about the advantages of the Celestial Thunder Society, which were nothing more than the president having a solid background, strong allies, fair internal distribution within the society, and so on.

After listening, Yuan Xiao suddenly asked another question, "Then, Senior, what if... we really don’t join any society? What happens then?"

The student’s smile faded slightly.

"Don’t join? That means you’re an independent neutral. Heh, being neutral... optimistically, it means you don’t offend anyone. Pessimistically..."

He dragged out his tone. "...you might be targeted by all the societies. After all, you’re not one of us. Some of the rules and conveniences within the academy might just be out of your reach."

They listened to a few more sentences. Seeing that Fang Chen truly had no intention of joining immediately, the student lost his patience. Muttering, "Think it over carefully yourselves," he turned to greet other freshmen who looked more interested.

Fang Chen and his group left the Celestial Thunder Society’s recruitment booth and strolled around the academy a bit more.

Sure enough, many of the bustling areas were occupied by various societies setting up stalls for recruitment. The seniors performing flashy Martial Skills in the Martial Arts Arena—leaping dozens of feet into the air with howling Fist Winds—were also flexing their muscles and displaying their strength to attract freshmen to their respective societies.

Through observing the different recruitment booths and occasionally eavesdropping on the seniors’ idle chatter, they gained a clearer understanding of the power dynamics among the eight great societies in the academy.

First place indeed belonged to the Wind and Cloud Society. They were the strongest, faintly holding the position of the leading authority.

The Celestial Thunder Society was indeed closely affiliated with the Wind and Cloud Society, but as for their strength... rumor had it they ranked dead last.

Second place was the Canglan Society. Their strength was roughly on par with the Wind and Cloud Society, but they were lone wolves without any allied societies.

The remaining Liuyun Society, Jinyi Society, Black Tortoise Society, and the all-female Cyan Simurgh Society seemed to have formed a loose alliance. Banding together for warmth, their strength was relatively balanced, and they jointly contended against the top two factions.

Having seen enough, the group found a quiet, sparsely populated corner to rest.

Yuan Xiao scratched his head and looked at Fang Chen. "Old Fang, after listening to all that, my head is spinning. Tell me, if we have to choose one, which should we pick?"

Fang Chen pondered for a moment and shook his head. "To be honest, I don’t want to pick any of them."

"That won’t do!" Yuan Xiao said anxiously. "Didn’t you hear the underlying meaning in those seniors’ words? If we don’t choose, we’ll have endless trouble in the future!"

"That’s exactly it," Fang Chen replied, his gaze calm. "Since we have to pick one from a bunch of ’unwilling’ options, we need to consider the balance."

He analyzed, "Look at the Wind and Cloud Society. Although they’re the strongest, their threshold is also high. I heard a senior muttering nearby that joining requires a membership fee of three million. Which one of us can afford that?"

Wang Pan and Hu Jiasen both shook their heads. Three million was simply an astronomical figure to them.

"Rule them out completely."

Fang Chen continued, "As for the Celestial Thunder Society, it seems like they’re backed by a large tree, but did you notice? Aside from an Earth Tier president propping up their image, the strength of the members below seems highly uneven. The gap in power is obvious.

"The way I see it, the Celestial Thunder Society exists merely to act as a battery for the Wind and Cloud Society. They’re targets for internal exploitation. We can’t go there."

"What about the second-ranked Canglan Society?" Hu Jiasen asked.

Fang Chen shook his head again. "This society isn’t weak, but they don’t have a single ally. Either their president is too arrogant and aloof, their internal rules are overly harsh, or they’ve made too many external enemies. If nobodies with no background like us join, we’ll very likely end up being exploited and bullied just the same. It might not be much better than the Celestial Thunder Society."

"Then what you mean is..." Yuan Xiao and Wang Pan both looked at Fang Chen.

Fang Chen was just about to state his preference when suddenly, his Spiritual Power perceived a trace of anomaly. Not far behind him, a gaze seemed to have locked onto him. It carried a complex fluctuation of emotions—a hint of recognition mixed with faint resentment.

He immediately turned to look.

Not far away, a young woman was walking toward him. She had a tall, well-proportioned figure with her hair tied back in a ponytail. She was beautiful and elegant, but at the moment, her brows were slightly furrowed. Her gaze fell upon him without any attempt to hide it.

Fang Chen thought she looked familiar, but he couldn’t immediately recall where he had seen her before.

Seeing Fang Chen turn around, the woman frowned even deeper. Taking two steps forward, she spoke with an inexplicable mix of annoyance and teasing:

"What? I got beaten up so badly that day, my face all black and blue. It hasn’t even been that long, and you already don’t recognize me?"

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