"I object!" A faint voice rang out.

Everyone turned their eyes toward the source of the voice. The speaker was none other than Eric Clark.

Eric Clark showed no sign of nervousness, his face calm and composed to the extreme, as if he had no awareness at all of the impending heavy punishment and expulsion from the academy.

"What objection do you have? Are you saying I have wronged you?" Grace Foster said coldly.

Eric Clark fixed his gaze on Grace Foster, suddenly smiled, and said, "I am absolutely being wronged. Senior brother David Grant and I are well-known as close brothers. How could we possibly get into a fight over a disagreement? As for our relationship, Master, you can ask any of the senior or junior brothers present. I am not lying!"

Grace Foster was taken aback, her expression shifting several times, and she said coldly, "You are clearly making excuses. That... Scott Stone, stand up. Tell us about the relationship between Eric Clark and David Grant..."

Scott Stone stood up in a daze, glanced at Eric Clark, then at David Grant. A strange look appeared on his gentle face, and he said softly, "Reporting to Master, they really are good brothers. Senior brother David Grant has always been Eric Clark's follower. He... he even helped senior brother Eric Clark deliver love letters..."

"Ha!" The crowd erupted, the scene once again spiraling out of control. Everyone wore odd expressions, and some disciples even doubled over with laughter.

The disciples of Building 103 were a motley crew, troublemakers who thrived on chaos. Scott Stone looked gentle and refined, with an air of otherworldliness, but deep down he was just as full of mischief.

He was clearly stirring things up, looking for excitement. Would the people around him not play along?

Chapter Six: Competing with an Innate Cultivator?

The once-serious lecture hall had descended into chaos, and Grace Foster actually felt a momentary panic.

She had long heard that the low-level disciples of Dormitory 103 were all scoundrels and troublemakers. Seeing them in person, she realized the rumors were true.

These guys never put effort into cultivation, but when it came to gossip and stirring up trouble, they acted as if they'd been injected with chicken blood, desperate to create chaos. At this rate, Grace Foster even began to doubt whether she would have any dignity as a master in the future.

If she followed her temper, she would have loved to draw her flying sword and cut down every one of the hundreds of people before her.

Keeping this rabble in the academy was a waste of resources. If they were cast out, who knew how much more of the cultivation world's resources they would ruin.

Eric Clark remained calm throughout, his heart filled not with pride, but with cold laughter.

He was not at all surprised by the scene before him.

Most of the low-level disciples in Dormitory 103 were hopeless cases, mud that couldn't stick to a wall—this was probably true.

But the weak, as a group, possessed the solidarity born of inferiority. Eric Clark had a notorious reputation, poor relationships, was looked down upon and ridiculed.

But Eric Clark was also a member of Dormitory 103 in the black robes. Grace Foster, relying on her superior cultivation, wanted to expel Eric Clark from the academy with a single word. This would inevitably arouse the shared sense of indignation among all the underdogs in Dormitory 103.

In the cultivation world, strength is everything; the strong are respected.

Those in a weak position had no status, no dignity. Usually, Dormitory 103 was the butt of everyone's jokes throughout the academy.

Having grown used to being despised, they had become thick-skinned, but deep down, everyone still had a shred of dignity, no matter how deeply hidden, no matter how afraid to show it—it was always there.

Even a prostitute trampled by thousands still has her dignity!

Grace Foster, high and mighty, an innate cultivator, could wipe out a low-level disciple with a single offhand remark. This had stirred up the righteous anger deep in the bones of the underdogs.

With her superior cultivation, there was no way to resist her head-on, so all they could do was make trouble in secret, disrupt things, joke around, muddy the waters. Isn't this how underdogs and the weak struggle to survive?

"Quiet! Everyone quiet! No more noise!" Grace Foster raised her voice once again.

As an innate cultivator, who among them didn't have a firm mind? Grace Foster adjusted herself slightly and pressed on once more.

This time, she no longer concealed her murderous intent. She stared coldly at Eric Clark and said, "Eric Clark, you and David Grant were dueling with spells. I saw it with my own eyes just now, and you still dare to deny it? Do you think the academy's ban is just for show? And you openly challenged your master's authority and disrupted the order of the lecture hall. What more excuses do you have?"

Eric Clark remained composed, still wearing a smile, and said, "Master Foster, David Grant and I did have a brief confrontation with magical power just now, but we were only studying a few of the more advanced techniques for controlling the 'Peachwood Talisman Sword.' He was asking me for advice, so we exchanged a few moves and studied together.

The academy's ban forbids disciples from dueling in the lecture hall, but it does not prohibit disciples from discussing and verifying spells in the lecture hall.

Moreover, I am a low-level black-robed disciple. I would never dare to challenge my master's authority, much less disrupt the order of the lecture hall. Everyone knows that only elite disciples dare to challenge the master's authority in our academy—we are nowhere near that level!"

"Heh heh, haha..."

Naturally, someone started jeering and laughing again, and others loudly cheered.

David Grant, who had been slumped in his seat like a dead dog, immediately said when he heard Eric Clark's words, "Master, every word senior brother Eric Clark said is true. Senior brother Eric Clark's mastery of the 'Peachwood Talisman Sword' is extraordinary. We all admire him and often ask him for guidance."