Zhang Ping fell into the endless darkness.

After falling for who knew how long, his body suddenly stopped, as if he smashed into a large mountain.

He could sense that after his body became completely still while falling, as he continued to fall, in the darkness, his body seemed to have been ripped apart. Then, he lost all consciousness.

After who knew how much time passed, while half conscious, he felt like there seemed to be many sticky tongues wrapped around his body.

He felt extreme fear, frantically struggling, howling, scratching and biting.

After what felt like an eternity, he slowly became clear-headed in the absolute darkness and silence.

He discovered that he was floating in somewhat warm water.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, he saw that he was floating in a deep pond.

He recalled some things.

He remembered that he jumped down from that human face’s mouth.

Then, while still feeling fear, he began to release heh heh sounds.

It was because with a single look, he could see this deep pool’s surroundings. However, above this deep pool seemed to be a perfectly straight chimney, the inner walls smooth to the point where there wasn’t a single part sticking out. What made him feel even greater fear was that when he looked up, he couldn’t even see a single wisp of heavenly radiance, unable to see how far he was from that human face’s mouth at all.

It was as if he had truly fallen into a subterranean underworld.

Under his unpleasant breathing sounds, layers of splashes suddenly surged on the water surface.

There were many thick things which looked like black kelp that swam towards him, sweeping against his body.

He frantically struggled, but discovered that he didn’t have much strength at all. His arms and legs couldn’t peel off these black kelp-like things. As such, he began to wail in fear, using his teeth to tear at it like a wild beast.

The black kelp-like thing was extremely soft and brittle, easily ripped apart by his teeth and chewed. It seemed to have realized what he was doing, feeling fear as well, starting to scatter.

However, within the opening he tore apart with his teeth, Zhang Ping then saw many snake-like internal organs.

He began to continuously vomit, going crazy as he swam towards one end of the pool, frantically climbing upwards.

However, his fingers couldn’t hold onto the smooth and solid rock surface at all. Whenever he tried to climb upwards, he wouldn’t succeed at all, only falling heavily back into the water again.

He howled. He wanted to dive down, find a way out underwater. However, even when he dove to the point where his body couldn’t take it anymore, he still didn’t see how deep this place was.

He screamed like he was completely crazy, once again climbing up endlessly, yet he fell back into the waters again and again.

…

“Green Luan Academy and Young Sir Lin definitely wouldn’t go against the law out of personal spite. He definitely has a reason for his actions.”

“Even if the prince breaks the law, he must be punished like the people. Father, isn’t this something else that isn’t reasonable… Our Yunqin was established through martial might, ruled through law. What all of our Yunqin people protect is precisely this law. Now, Young Sir Lin doesn’t even care about the law anymore. Regardless of whether there is a reason or not, the law is the law… This is the root of our Yunqin. If all those who had the ability and believed they were right acted like him, how would our Yunqin end up?”

“You unfilial son, do you know how much Green Luan Academy has done for our Yunqin? For the sake of Yunqin, they don’t even care about their own lives! Would they do anything that would let our Yunqin down? Moreover, didn’t the news say that it was only because his majesty was pressuring Green Luan Academy that this happened?”

“Right now, it is Green Luan Academy who wishes to rebel, his majesty is acting under the mandate of heaven. Moreover, his majesty has never issued any decrees to deal with Green Luan Academy, so I am more willing to believe that Green Luan Academy is the one treating his majesty unfavorably, and not his majesty treating Green Luan Academy unfavorably. It is because even when he was in Central Continent City, his majesty didn’t restrict Young Sir Lin’s actions at all, it was instead Young Sir Lin who wantonly unleashed a massacre!”

“You… you… you…”

Within an ordinary private school, a father and son pair were currently arguing intensely. The elder whose hair was already entirely white couldn’t convince his own son at all, angered to the point where his heart was filled with rage, a mouthful of blood shooting out from his mouth.

His son who was also already more than fifty years old released a cry of alarm, rushing forward to support his father.

This type of debate was happening everywhere across Yunqin.

As time passed, all of Yunqin’s people knew what happened in Central Continent City. Everyone began to make their own conclusions.

A tall middle-aged man dressed in a white cotton-padded jacket walked past this private school with his head lowered.

He was Huang Punan, this city’s City Supervisor. He had another identity, which was that he was a Green Luan Academy student from a certain past generation.

Since his mood was extremely heavy, he didn’t even notice the intense voices of quarreling and cries of alarm inside the private school.

He walked towards the City Supervisor Manor along the street he was familiar with.

Inside the City Supervisor Manor, he completed all of the official business on hand. Then, he wrote a letter of resignation, applying his own official seal.

During this deep winter evening, he left the City Supervisor Manor, leaving Yunqin’s royal court. While riding a horse, he was just like an ordinary marketplace person, staying far from the royal court’s struggle, roaming about Yunqin’s mountains and rivers.

Li Kaiyun was killed in battle, and then Lin Xi entered Central Continent City, yet even when Lin Xi killed Di Choufei in Central Continent City’s public streets, there wasn’t a single message from Green Luan Academy that entered his hands.

He didn’t feel as if he was neglected or abandoned, he understood extremely clearly that this was because Vice Principal Xia and the academy didn’t wish to bring him any pressure, they only wished for him to make his own decision.

Within many places in the empire, within the various supervisor manors and military, when many people wanted to report to their superiors, they discovered that their superiors already properly folded their uniforms, leaving after applying their seal on their resignation letters.

…

There were some people who chose to remain neutral, some who chose to fight against the emperor, and some who chose to remain loyal to the emperor.

While many Yunqin people were still feeling perplexed and despair, scared if Yunqin could still continue like before without Green Luan Academy, still arguing who they should trust, a Yunqin fleet numbering over a hundred thousand already received orders to pass through Four Seasons Plains, thus arrive at the foot of Heaven Ascension Mountain Range, starting to press towards Green Luan Academy!

The one who led this army was Yunqin’s youngest Provincial Supervisor, Liu Ziyu’s father.

Previously, everyone, including Lin Xi, couldn’t understand why when Wen Xuanshu carried out the heaven denouncement that day, when the entire situation looked to be in Wen Xuanshu’s favor, when Wen Xuanshu looked like he would achieve inevitable victory, while all those local officials who grasped large forces were hesitating, why Liu Family would so decisively express their loyalty towards the emperor.

In reality, Lin Xi only overlooked a certain link.

When he was in Jadefall City, for the sake of getting rid of Liu Family’s pressure towards Chen Feirong, he used an instance of thunder power, this making Liu Family produce a serious misguidance, making Provincial Supervisor Liu believe that the emperor was even more profound than what everyone imagined, even more terrifying[1].

Right now, this misguided Provincial Supervisor was nervously looking at Heaven Ascension Mountain Range before him.

Today’s weather was sunny and cloudless, not a single cloud for tens of thousands of li in the blue sky. Heaven Ascension Mountain Range looked majestic and beautiful.

He knew that Green Luan Academy definitely didn’t have a hundred Sacred Experts, but he also knew that even if it was an army of a hundred thousand, they still might not necessarily be able to take down Green Luan Academy.

He also understood the emperor’s thoughts clearly.

Yunqin had many armies numbering over a hundred thousand, but there was only one Green Luan Academy.

The emperor only wished to deliver as much harm to Green Luan Academy as possible, to wear down some of Green Luan Academy’s strength.

That was why he always remained at the very back of the military. Around him were completely heavy armored soldiers or heavy cavalry. Regardless of whether the remaining ninety thousand great army up ahead could enter Green Luan Academy, he himself definitely wouldn’t take a single step up Heaven Ascension Mountain Range.

Everything seemed to be extremely calm.

The vanguard army already began to ascend the precipitous slope.

However, right at this time, a huge rumbling noise sounded.

The entire world began to quake in chaos. Countless war horses lost their heads out of fear, this place becoming completely chaotic.

Everyone saw that in the clouds above, large amounts of snow began to descend, forming an incomparably terrifying avalanche.

Their faces were all filled with shock and horror.

The wave of snow that was several dozen meters tall, just its wind and speed made the vanguard army completely freeze into puppets.

The terrifying snow instantly devoured this army.

After who knew how much time had passed, everyone could finally see the scene before their eyes clearly again.

Only then did everyone discover with shock that they didn’t die.

All of them saw that the avalanche stopped at a depression several hundred meters in front of them, only blocking up all of the paths before their line of sight.

Many Yunqin soldiers could no longer hold the weapons in their hands, the heavy blades falling.

All of them understood clearly that it wasn’t Green Luan Academy calculating incorrectly… it was just that Green Luan Academy didn’t wish for soldiers like them to die on this slope.

Green Luan Academy only sealed up their mountains, sealing themselves up within.

…

A faint streak of yellow light passed through the thick layers of clouds when the snow collapsed, landing in Green Luan Academy whose four seasons all seemed to be spring.

On Self Defense Department’s slope, in the plaza where the new students first gathered, the aged Vice Principal Xia smiled as he raised his head towards the sky, looking at that descending Divine Wooden Flying Crane.

“Welcome home.”

He said towards An Keyi, Lin Xi and Leng Qiuyu on the Divine Wooden Flying Crane.

1. B12C40