Douluo Continent
Eastsea City.
Eastsea Academy.
"Fan Lin. That kid has the habit of spacing out in classes regularly but his grades never dropped in the theory tests that I took. His cultivation and physique wasn't behind his peers as well."
"He does have the bad habit of replying back when in his spaced out state."
"Deal with him? Leave him on his own. He likes to do everything on his own, interfering will just be a delay to his growth."
"Anything else?"
This were the answers that Ye Yingrong got from Wu Zhangkong when she went to ask about Fan Lin.
Wu Zhangkong's attitude towards the other students of the Class 5 was that of a good instructor that teaches and just teaches, it was up to the students if they want to learn or could learn from his lessons.
He will help the students if they have any doubts and came to him to clear their doubts but if they never came to him, he would not take the first step even if he knew that the students had doubts.
Asking for help when needed was one of the things that his teachings were ingrained with.
This wasn't how Ye Yingrong taught though.
Her teaching style was to let every student open up to her so she could help the students own her accord. This required trust and belief between both the students and herself.
She will properly guide them into the next year, helping them in whatever problem they couldn't deal by themselves or needed an adult supervision for.
If Fan Lin didn't even paid any attention to Wu Zhangkong's class then it was going to be really hard to make him interested into her classes.
Adding to the fact that Fan Lin was said be a lone wolf by Wu Zhangkong, he was an outcast, a problem student who won't mix in with the others.
[Wu Zhangkong never said that. He said that Fan Lin likes to be alone.]
She had went to know of his behaviour in Wu Zhangkong's classes and came with a serious case of a problem child.
'How should I deal with him?'
'Does he think that everything that he learns in the classes are mediocre knowledge?'
'Or is it that he had some childhood trauma in his previous school?'
'His Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul would have been a topic of discussion among the children, maybe their rash behaviour and actions might have hurted him.'
'He may also be a victim of bullying as well. The teacher never helped him and that's why he has a distrust of teachers. He must have decided to learn everything on his own, being neglected by the teachers and shunned by the students. What a cruel thing to do to a child!'
'I read that he was an orphan as well. Maybe he was even bullied in the orphanage as well.'
'How do I help him get over his pain?'
Ye Yingrong slowly began to think of the various possibilities that might have lead to the current situation of Fan Lin, becoming sad as she continued to think.
She didn't know if it was the truth, but she didn't know if it wasn't the truth as well.
She was conflicted.
'I should ask his classmates. They should have noticed something that Teacher Wu had missed.'
And Ye Yingrong went on a search for all the Class 5 students that were shuffled into various classes.
Her search made many students gave up their class time to fulfill her curiosity. By the end of the period, she was bombarded with so many different pieces of information that made her mental image of Class 5 shake a lot.
Some students said that Fan Lin liked to sit in the girls group and stare at Wu Zhangkong with an intense gaze.
Some said that Fan Lin often sneaked looks at Tang Wulin in 'that' way but Gu Yue always stopped their interactions.
Some said that he always ate carrots in weird ways with a creepy smile on his face.
Some said that he often sneaked into the girls dorms every night.
Some said that he often went to the Eastsea Park at night where he did some unspeakable stuff.
Some said that he never ate canteens food because he spent all his money on gambling.
Some said that he was often seen sneaking around the woman's bathroom.
Some said that he was a vegetarian.
Some said that he was a gigolo, gaining things from different women.
And one even said that Fan Lin often had difficulty staying up in the class because he often drank tons of alcohol every night.
Fan Lin knew about these rumours and he knew the main reason for these kinds of rumours as well.
It was the two keywords, Tang Wulin and Wu Zhangkong.
Everyone wanted to know about the Icily arrogant Prince Charming and Class 5 was ready to tell others about him as well.
This was the only prideful thing that they had anyways.
Adding to the fact that Wu Zhangkong never punished Fan Lin or made things terrible for him after the first time, this made the other students who were often at the brunt of Wu Zhangkong's sharp tongue feel indignant towards Fan Lin thinking it was favouritism where in truth, it was Wu Zhangkong abandoning Fan Lin.
This lead to various rumours on Fan Lin outside the Class 5 because they thought that rumours might hurt Fan Lin or something. The actual reason was something that no one knows.
That's what Fan Lin thought as the reason.
As all the students of Class 5 got shuffled into various classes but not a single of them was able to achieve the cultivation growth of Fan Lin, that is, 3 small ranks in three months with his Blue Silver Grass martial soul!
Along with Tang Wulin's rapid growth that took the centre stage as the Class 5 was often related to him in any conversations that they had.
All this combined led to an unfair anger in them and this led to the rumours of Fan Lin and Tang Wulin with Gu Yue as an extra character due to her cold behaviour to everyone except Wulin.
And guess what, the various rumour spreading children went to various classes and were faithfully doing their job causing the intense rumours on him in just two days.
Most of them didn't even know if the things that they heard from others or told Ye Yingrong were true or not.
They were just saying it to anyone that asked about Class 5 and its students.
If someone asks about Wulin, they will tell him about Fan Lin as well. They felt this weird sense of superiority whenever the others talked trash about him.
To the students of Class 5, they would have been happy if Tang Wulin was the only one who took the spotlight at the class representative and captain of Class 5 because they had seen his hard work and good nature.
They could admire and be filled with awe and wonder with his performance because of the mere fact that they had a been a part of his journey (?) and that Wulin was worthy of the things he got.
Fan Lin on the other hand, faced the combined jealousy of the class, be it because Wu Zhangkong never punished him, or the fact that they had never seen him cultivate or work hard in anything.
The only parts of him that the Class 5 knew was him spacing out in classes, him eating tomatoes in dinning hall and him sitting among the girls!
Most of the time they saw him, he was all alone (except the girls one), never talked to anyone and had an air of blankness around him, blankness not calmness.
Whenever they were near him, whenever they looked at him, or whenever their eyes met with his, they felt blank or stunned. It was like standing in front of a calm lake but the more you stay there, the more eerier it becomes.
That's why not a single student of Class 5 came forward to show Fan Lin his 'place'. They were just that uncomfortable around him, also the reason why he didn't have any prospective friends because those so called students had made a small announcement that anyone who gets near Fan Lin will be an outcast, a betrayer.
Fan Lin knew about this as well but he never cared for stupid stuff like that nor was he interested in forming 'friendship' with a bunch of stupid kids. Again.
And Fan Lin wasn't the only 'victim' of this, one more person was also a part of this.
It was Gu Yue.
The whole Class 5 knew her for two reasons, first, her being the strongest and second her icy cold nature to anyone except Wulin.
But once again, some students can't do anything to her because she was the top predator of Class 5.
But it all changed when the students of Class 5 were transferred to different classes and got questioned by their classmates about contestants of Class Promotion exams. Mainly Tang Wulin and Gu Yue. Xie Xie was left forgotten.
At that time, the students realised that Tang Wulin and Gu Yue were the Class 5 that everyone was talking about. It wasn't them. It was never them.
That moment became something that couldn't change, something that they had to accept.
That whatever they do, they accomplishments will be shadowed by the simple fact that Tang Wulin or Gu Yue existed.
How valiantly Tang Wulin saved Gu Yue!
How Gu Yue brilliantly showed her strength!
People were going to remember only that.
Not them, nor their efforts, nor their mediocre achievements.
As time passed, the joy that they felt when Wulin and Gu Yue won the Class promotion exams felt bitter to them.
The previous thought of 'It's our Class 5's achievement' became 'it's theirs only.'
They were just 9 year old kids and for them things changed that fast.
So when someone said that they saw Fan Lin's cultivation rank as Level 14 Spirit Master.
The students of the previous Class 5 became surprised, confused and felt that it wasn't possible.
They were from the lowest class in the academy and all of them knew just how hard cultivation was. Many a times, it would have been a miracle to raise their current cultivation by one small one in three to four months, yet someone was saying that Fan Lin, that spaced-out outcast did it.
That wasn't possible but the reality hit when more students said the same stuff.
Someone even got proof from the teacher and the previous students of a class 5 felt it once again.
"Why him?"
"How can he raise his cultivation that much?"
"Something is wrong, right? Did Teacher Wu help him?"
"Did he take some special medicine?
And many more. The previous students of Class 5 discussed with each other. They all somehow knew about Fan Lin's cultivation rank. Someone from Class 5 told them but they couldn't point out who?
Later they even forgot who told them about it and most weird thing was that it happened in a mere two days.
And in just two days, the students created and spread rumours in the whole grade 1.
[Now coming to the present.]
So after hearing all the weird things that the students of Class 5 said, Ye Yingrong came to a single conclusion: No one in the Class 5 was normal.
"How could kids even think of those kind of things at this age. They aren't even 10!"
Ye Yingrong exclaimed to her sister on her soul guide.
"I am in the middle of my class, don't disturb me now and TELL THE SUBJECT FIRST before you said the ending."
*Toot*
The call ended and Ye Yingrong looked at the soul guide.
'How come no one's caring about the fact that it(bullying) could have been the reason why they (Gu Yue and Fan Lin) don't like to associate with others.'
"Teacher Wu had Gu Yue and I have Fan Lin. I will try my best to understand his pain and help him get over it."
"I still haven't talked to Tang Wulin, Gu Yue and Xie Xie of Class Zero though. Tang Wulin was from the same town as Fan Lin, he could help me to find something on him. Gu Yue and Fan Lin are also said to be in bad terms but I highly doubt that statement, considering all the weird things they said."
"Teacher Wu said that he was taking the Class Zero to the training area reserved for the advanced students for the rest of the day, intruding on them again will definitely make the students and Teacher Wu uncomfortable. I should meet with the students after their classes are over."
"I don't have that much time left, I should prepare for the next class. Should I take the Class 3 on training field? Everyone should be excited since the Class promotion exams and I can have an appropriate estimate of exactly how good each student is."
Ye Yingrong went to check if the training area was available for her class.
🏞️
That night.
In Ye Yingrong's room.
"... So as I was saying that kid Fan Lin got defeated by a girl in a single hit but Teacher Wu said that his physique was good. So I later took a soul power test on him and he is rank 15 Spirit Master. One rank higher than what was recorded. He gained 4 small ranks in just three months!" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong exclaimed to her sister while telling her about her day.
"I have seen many who had done that. Have you seen the Class 1's three fighting candidates, they were all rank 20 Spirit Grandmaster at the age of 9! That's more impressive in my sight." [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingrong's sister, Ye Yingluo, said while drinking. She had been listening to her sister rant on about how a student in her class was amazing once again.
Again for the fact that Ye Yingrong did the same antics when she got the three flying martial soul triplets.
"Yeah but they were innate full soul power (aka rank 10 innate soul power) awakened students with top class Martial Souls at that, them being rank 20 Spirit Grandmaster at 9 is quite normal but he is an innate rank 2 Soul power awakened with the trashiest Martial Soul Blue Silver Grass!" [Ye Yingrong]
"Him being able to reach rank 10 in three years is a miracle in itself, and his cultivation rose to rank 15 from his rank 11 soul power in the beginning of the school, in just three and a half months." [Ye Yingrong]
"Just think about it, 4 ranks in three months, what about three months later? He would be either rank 18 or even 19. Don't you feel it's weird? What if he has a mutated Blue Silver Grass... or what if he has the Blue Silver Emperor that couldn't awaken before for some reasons?" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong took a sip as she excitedly explained her thoughts to her sister.
Her sister looked at her with an uninterested face.
"What about Tang Wulin. He has a Blue Silver Martial Soul as well, he is better than that Fan Lin kid you are talking about, like just compare, good looks, good grades, is strong and has a powerful bloodline as well." [Ye Yingluo]
"That's what I am saying! Two students with Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul that somehow have soul power and entered the same Academy at the same time and they both are showing faster growth than their peers. Like they even have the same name 'Lin'. It can't be a coincidence." [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong mouthed while taking another sip of her drink. Her cheerful face becoming flushed with excitement and alcohol.
"Are you saying that some powerful rando is impregnating everyone in the town they came from? That's too absurd." [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingrong's sister said in confusion.
"Not that! How the heck did you even think about that? Is your head in the gutters? What the heck is happening to the world? How can everyone have this type of thoughts?" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong strongly denied her sister's words and said, " What I meant was that maybe the Glorybound town had some powerful cultivater with Blue Silver Grass bloodline in him in the past. His descendants must have settled in the same town and now after many generations they must have become different families." [Ye Yingrong]
"Fan Lin and Tang Wulin might have a connection to each other, be it the same ancestor or his bloodline. Like just think, the powerful cultivater would have married someone with a strong Bloodline. That could be the reason why Tang Wulin has his bloodline claws and Fan Lin could also be related to him as he is also showing some signs of differentiation from the others." [Ye Yingrong]
"And I am not joking, just look at his eyes, that extremely calm gaze doesn't feel like a child's and I met Tang Wulin as well, his eyes are also different than normal child." [Ye Yingrong]
"All this can't be mere coincidences right?" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong said enthusiastically.
"Yeah, you are right, the child killer is from the same town, maybe he is the child killer or his ancestor is the child killer as well."
Ye Yingrong's sister said nonchalantly.
"What are you talking about?" [ Ye Yingrong]
"Well, the child killer also showed up a few years ago, approximately 3, I think. Fan Lin and Wulin awakened at the same time, right? Maybe the reason why they don't feel childlike is because they have been murdering everyone. Just think about it for a second, Fan Lin's awakening, the child killer in the Glorybound bound and the mass murder that happened some time ago, it was also done by the child killer. What if they are the child killer? Like think, it can't be a coincidence that two Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul awakened students came from the same town that the child killer came, what if they are an Evil Soul Master?" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingrong's sister said seriously.
"Don't joke around like that, your words don't make any sense." [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong said, now sobered up from her sister's words.
"THAT'S WHAT I AM SAYING! YOUR WORDS DON'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingrong's sister said aggressively while flicking her head.
"Now get your head out of all this conspiracy theories and think about the other students and their curriculum." [Ye Yingluo]
"Don't waste my precious night on some stupid child's stuff that's common throughout the continent." [Ye Yingluo]
She said and took a big gulp of her drink. Ye Yingrong looked at her sister feeling aggrieved by her words.
"Okay. So I just wanted to ask about another thing." [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong slowly said after a moment of thought.
"Speak then." [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingrong's sister looked at her, sighed and signalled at Ye Yingrong to continue.
"So I wanted to know what I can do about bullying?" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong asked while hoping for an answer from her experienced sister.
Ye Yingluo stared at her for a full 30 seconds causing Ye Yingrong to avert her eyes from her.
"Now you are asking for proper stuff. Good job. So who's it about and how?" [Ye Yingluo]
"Well it's about Fan Lin. He-" [Ye Yingrong]
"Stop right there!" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo looked at Ye Yingrong with a blank stare.
"Really? Didn't I say to not just focus on a single kid just now? And you are asking about him again?" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo looked at the quiet Ye Yingrong and have up with a sigh.
"Okay, in cases of bullying, either you take out the cause or you punish the rest." [Ye Yingluo]
"Normally the reason for being bullying is not the bullies but the bystanders that do nothing about it." [YE YINGLUO]
"And it's pretty common in students. A small group of students often targeting student(s) because of childish reasons like jealousy, anger, envy and even shame. The reason why they could do what they want is because the rest of the class doesn't do anything about or against it." [Ye Yingluo]
"So if you want to stop bullying, either punish those that don't take any actions because they aren't fit to be Spirit Masters as that rate. Just root them out, even if you have to suspend an entire class to save one student. Take Wu Zhangkong's example in that." [Ye Yingluo]
"Or you could just deal with the bullies in a simple manner, just send them to the training area of the advanced course. They will turn to a new leaf in just a single day. And keep your 'I will heal their wounds with my trust and love' to yourself. They are Spirit Masters, not some random stupid children. How we teach them could affect far more lives than you think." [Ye Yingluo]
"So who's the bully? You can send them to my Class 1 as well. I will make sure to 'train' them into proper kids."
Ye Yingluo gulped down her entire drink and said while licking her lips.
"It's Fan Lin. Tang Wulin told me that he was the bully in the academy they graduated from."
Ye Yingrong slowly said while filling Ye Yingluo's glass.
"Wait a second, how many Fan Lin do you have in your class?" [Ye Yingluo]
"Just one. Didn't I already tell you about it?" [Ye Yingrong]
"The same student that got defeated in a strike." [Ye Yingluo]
"Yeah, I told you about that as well. Are you drunk?" [Ye Yingrong]
"Was the girl that defeated him the strongest in your class?" [Ye Yingluo]
"No, she is in the lower middle ranges." [Ye Yingrong]
"Does he have a rich family?" [Ye Yingluo]
"No, I told you that he is an orphan and he isn't adopted by anyone as well." [Ye Yingrong]
"So you are saying that Fan Lin, a normal chap with no background or strength; the same person who got defeated by an, let's say, average student of your class is bullying others... Does that make any sense to you?" [Ye Yingluo]
"That's what the problem is. Most of the students didn't have any association with him in Class 5 but that could be attributed to the past, not a single student of Class 3 is associating with him as well." [Ye Yingrong]
"He is the only Class 5 student that is in Class 3 and they are just 9 year olds. Yet the Class 3 students ignore him." [Ye Yingrong]
"If he is a bully, then it can be reasoned as the students being afraid of him. That could also explain the various rumours that he had on him, they must be because of hate." [Ye Yingrong]
"I couldn't attend the class yesterday, maybe something did happen when I wasn't there. I really want them to happily clear their grade 1. I really do." [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong said while drooping her head. Ye Yingluo looked at her and then asked.
"First of all, what were the instances where he acted like a bully? How is his behaviour with the staff at the school and lastly, what's his spiritual power at?"
"I don't know the last two but Tang Wulin told me that Fan Lin once beat some girl because she did something he hated, he was also suspended for a month because he broke someone's leg one time and another persons spine at another, he also beat up around two to three senior students for reasons unknown."
Ye Yingrong quoted.
"Hmm. Anything else?" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo added.
"None." [Ye Yingrong]
"Hmmm, then he only takes action when he wants to. Considering that you got nothing else on him, he had not done anything bad in the Eastsea Academy or Wu Zhangkong would have already dealt with him." [Ye Yingluo]
"So in simple words, he isn't the one at fault or a bully. You told me that you asked Wu Zhangkong about him, what did he say?" [Ye Yingluo]
"Well, he told me to leave Fan Lin on his own accord." [Ye Yingrong]
"As I expected. Follow what he said and you won't have any problems with that kid." [Ye Yingluo]
"Huh! But what about all those malicious rumours? What about his rude behaviour? What if others are influenced by him?" [Ye Yingrong]
"You know that I hate most of the men. It's because whenever I talk to them, I can see exactly where there intentions are. Disgusting shits." [Ye Yingluo]
*An awkward silent moment*
"So as I was saying, I hate men because I find them unbearable, those kids(Fan Lin and Gu Yue) must be like me as well. They must either find the others irritating or just wanted to be alone." [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo continued, signalling Ye Yingrong to listen to her till the end.
"About the rumours, you say? Have you asked the people that are in the rumours about what they feel about it? If I am not wrong, both Fan Lin and Gu Yue don't care about those so called malicious rumours that are against them. So let the time go on and you will realise that the rumours had gone as well." [Ye Yingluo]
"Onto your next behaviour stuff; you have taught him for a single day, he is just a growing kid and kids aren't the same everyday. They can have mood swings due to various reasons, well even adults have it, not that uncommon. At least teach him for a week and then decide if he's rude or not and as I said, focus on the whole class, that way, you can understand what and why students take most of their decisions against their classmates, what lead to them doing it and what should be done to improve the situation." [Ye Yingluo]
"Once again, YOU have to focus on the whole class, that way students will come to you to tell about the different things happening in the class, on their own accord at that. Show them that you are a teacher who listens and cares for all, fool them into thinking you are reliable, gain their trust, take their information and use it to prepare the different curriculums for them." [Ye Yingluo]
[cough cough is she indirectly hinting at a popular social media company?]
"You can also find that single student who gets along with everyone in the class, they are often the best snitches, providing valuable information, even personal information and the family tree of the students." [Ye Yingluo]
"Lastly, he had been studying for three months under Wu Zhangkong, did he tell you that he was a bad influence on the students of Class 5 or did the students of Class 5 acted the same way he did?" [Ye Yingluo]
"Nope, right? That kid Fan Lin might just like to be alone or he just doesn't like the stupid kids around him. There are many like him, you know, individuality. Everyone's different." [Ye Yingluo]
"So leave that kid on his own accord and focus on the rest of the class. Help him only when you think he needs it the most." [Ye Yingluo]
"Okay... what about his spiritual power? Why did you ask about that?" [Ye Yingrong]
"You already know that spiritual power can be used to pressurise others spiritually. Spirit Masters who had trained their spirit power can control it to do various other things as well." [Ye Yingluo]
"Yeah." [Ye Yingrong]
"Some kids are either awakened with higher spiritual power than the others or had an intense surge in their spiritual power when they take a spirit panacea. Those kids that don't have any training to control their spiritual power end of leaking it to their surroundings." [Ye Yingluo]
"This often causes those that have lower spiritual power than them to be uncomfortable or even downright scared around them. Fan Lin might have a similar case. As for Gu Yue, her control of spiritual power surpasses everyone in the grade 1, possibly even grade 2 as well. So that leaves the fact that she also finds the others as annoyance." [Ye Yingluo]
"Here, I solved all of your problems. Anything else?" [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo finished another glass and asked. Ye Yingrong quickly filled her glass and said.
"What if--- " [Ye Yingrong]
"There are no what if's in real life. Come to me when something happens, we will solve it then. Don't waste my time into solving stupid scenarios that aren't feasible. They are kids, one day they are fighting together, another day they will be eating happily together. They are that stupid." [Ye Yingluo]
Ye Yingluo shook her glass and thought of the rejection that she got from Wu Zhangkong.
"If only adults were not that troublesome to deal with." [Ye Yingluo]
"Okay~" [Ye Yingrong]
Ye Yingrong slowly muttered.
"Good. Now stop drinking and go to sleep."
Ye Yingluo said to her sister and went to her room to cultivate. It was right next of Ye Yingrong's.