When everyone saw the two people striding towards them, they were all stunned. It wasn"t only the bright red banner that shook people"s eyes, but also the two youngsters who were swimming upstream.
If the trend was that no one wished for the Academy to appear in the ranks of the Autumn Ceremony, then their rebellious att.i.tude was extremely shocking.
Nie Qing walked in front, wearing the academy"s black uniform. On his back was tied a black short rod with a heavy metallic l.u.s.ter. It looked to be about a meter long and as thick as a wrist.
In addition, there was a long saber in the style of the Great Yan Army hanging there.
Holding the banner in both hands, he strode forward with his head held high.
Behind Nie Qing, An Zhe, who was also dressed in black, appeared to have matured quite a bit.
He had a longbow tied to his back. Those who were familiar with the military would recognize that bow. It was the Iron Pear Wood from the Cliff that General Ying Yang w.a.n.g Kaitai of the military needed two strong men to carry the weapon.
An arrow shaker hung by his waist, and the Fine Steel Feathered Arrows in the shaker were packed to the brim.
Following behind Nie Qing, his pace wasn"t that big, nor did it seem urgent. However, he still maintained that distance with Nie Qing, appearing very calm.
""That is … the team from the Martial Arts Academy that is partic.i.p.ating in the Autumn Ceremony?""
The crowd sighed, ""Speaking of which, even if those officials from the Military Department decided to rebel against the country, what does that have to do with the students from the Martial Arts Academy?""
However, the world was cold. Most people chose to leave the Martial Arts Academy. Now, only the two of them were representing the Martial Arts Academy.
""In my opinion, this is overestimating oneself.""
What else could the two of them do?
I might as well stay home, or be a spectator like us.
""This also brought me to the podium, there"s no turning back.""
""That"s right!""
I think the two of them just want to show off. ""
An elder beside him shouted, ""Shut up!""
Why are youngsters nowadays so dirty?
Putting aside the military affairs, just the two of them were famous throughout the city.
Do you dare to rely on this limelight and the wind and waves above? ""
The young man who spoke earlier snorted disdainfully, ""That"s stupid.""
The old man sneered, ""I really don"t understand. A group of people who are inferior to others yet are pointing fingers at others from behind their backs, what qualifications do you have?""
Face to face, do you dare say that?
Do you have the talent to cultivate, or do you have the courage to do so?
Or should it be more accurate to say that all of you are hidden cultivators?
""Before we start discussing other people, let"s see if we have the ability to do so!""
The young man"s face turned red, ""What"s wrong, you are not allowed to say what you have made?""
I just looked at them to show off. ""
The old man said, ""That"s why you have been doing nothing your whole life. You will never be able to reach their level.""
The young man opened his mouth, but he was so angry that he didn"t know what to say. He could only glare at the old man.
When the young ladies who had been screaming at the young Taoist in the direction of the Taoist temple saw the two young men striding towards them, they felt inexplicably excited and admiration for them.
Perhaps the two of them were more manly than those who looked prettier in the makeup.
The crowd discussed animatedly, but no one dared to applaud.
Everyone clearly knew what kind of embarra.s.sing position the Martial Arts Academy was in right now. It was indeed admirable for An Zhan and Nie Qing to have the courage to step forward.
However, there were quite a few people who had the same thoughts as that young man. They felt that An Zhe and Nie Qing were idiots and idiots that were destroying their futures.
Empress Dowager Su stood atop the south gate"s tower and watched the two dazzling figures walk over, her heart filled with unhappiness.
""I can"t believe it.""
She said in a low voice, Yan w.a.n.g Mu and Changyan, who were standing beside her, responded, ""I didn"t think of it either.""
The two didn"t expect that it would be completely different.
Chen Zaiyan and the others, who had been escorted to the bottom of the south gate and taken care of, actually started crying when they saw the two people from the Martial Arts Academy coming over.
""It"s actually … just the two of them.""
""There are people, but most of them don"t dare to straighten their backs.""
Chen Zaiyan sighed, ""The two of them forced themselves to a dead end.""
Everyone sighed with emotion, completely forgetting about their current situation.
However, ever since Nie Qing and An Zaiyue pa.s.sed by, there were no longer any cheers from the team that partic.i.p.ated in the Autumn Ceremony.
Everyone had a strange feeling in their hearts. No matter how strong the team was, everyone felt that it was far less shocking than those two people.
The group stopped at the designated place. The larger sects had specially built pavilions for resting, while the smaller sects could only stand.
Regardless of the current situation of the Martial Arts Academy, after all, it was one of the top three academies in Fang Zhucheng. However, when Nie Qing and An Xuan arrived, they discovered that no one had reserved a place for the academy.
No one thought that the Martial Arts Academy would send people to partic.i.p.ate. After all, the name of the academy was already dead.
Nie Qing and An Xuan glanced at each other, then walked over to the official in charge of maintaining order.
""Sir, why is there no place for us in the Martial Arts Academy?""
The official glanced at An Zeng. ""Martial Arts Academy?""
""What kind of place is the Martial Arts Academy?""
An Xuan looked at the list in his hands. ""Could it be that the Martial Arts Academy is not on the Lord"s list?""
The official said with his nose up towards the sky, ""Oh … you"re talking about that martial inst.i.tution.""
There was a Martial Arts Academy on the register, but none of the people in the academy mentioned their names to partic.i.p.ate in the fall ceremony, so it was deemed to have given up on its own.
""I see that there"s still room for you in the crowd over there. Why don"t you guys go over and squeeze?""
An Zaiyue replied, ""What rank are you?""
The official was stunned. ""What do you mean?""
An Xuan said, ""I am a rank 6 general of the Frontier Army, and at least I have the t.i.tle of a First Rated Uncle … If you saw me, could it be that I have such an att.i.tude?""
The official seemed to have forgotten his ident.i.ty in the war and laughed dryly, ""This … This lowly official greets your Lordship.""
He pointed to the chair behind him. ""Get your place out of here. I need it.""
The official said awkwardly, ""My lord, this isn"t a good idea …""
""If you feel like you can"t move, I can always hold you up like this. I"ll hold you up to let you see better when I go on stage later.""
The official hurriedly begged, ""My lord, I will vacate this place for you.""
After An Zhe put him down, that official immediately trotted away. He found a few guards who were maintaining order and started pointing at An Zhe and Nie Qing.
Before long, the guards quickly walked over.
The guard in the lead glanced at An Zeng and said, ""Master An, this is not easy to deal with. He said that the Martial Arts Academy didn"t mention your names at all.""
An Zhan shook his head. ""That"s impossible. Chang Huan, the Vice Dean of the Martial Arts Academy, has already reported our names before the deadline. It"s impossible that he hasn"t.""
The guard replied, ""But we can only act in accordance with justice. We don"t have any of you on the list. We can only ask you to leave.""
As he spoke, a squad of elite soldiers approached from afar. There weren"t many of them, only sixteen or sixteen people.
But when these sixteen people arrived, it was as though a ma.s.sive wave had smashed against them.
When the guards saw this, they couldn"t help but retreat backwards.
Leading these soldiers was the Soldier General, the Fourth-rank General Ying Yang.
Behind him were fifteen or sixteen Flowing Fire Heavy Cavalry.
Each and every one of these soldiers came from the mountains of corpses and the sea of blood. The killing intent they emitted was so strong that it caused the air around them to become frigid.
Fang Dao pointed with his finger. ""Let"s tear this place down.""
As the dozen or so heavy cavalry soldiers pa.s.sed by, a dozen or so heavy sabers descended, and the pavilion where the official had rested earlier instantly turned into ruins.
Over a dozen heavy cavalry soldiers were casually moving their heavy sabers across the ground, clearing up the ground and then standing around.
When the dozen or so heavy sabers stabbed the ground, the sound of a bang seemed to strike deep into the hearts of everyone present.
Fang Dao carried two chairs with him and placed them on the ground. They were surrounded by the heavy riders who served as guards for them.
Fang Dao stared at Nie Qing and An Zhe, ""Sit right here. If there"s anything you need, I"ll carry it.""
Nie Qing and An Ying clasped their hands and sat down.
Nie Qing inserted the banner in his hand into the ground. With a ""peng"" sound, the banner pole pierced deep into the hard stone floor, directly pa.s.sing through.
The two of them sat down next to the banner, and everyone around was dumbfounded.
The guards who had wanted to politely invite An Xuan out looked at each other before turning around and leaving as if they didn"t see anything.
An Zhan himself had the status of a first-rate uncle, so it wasn"t easy for them to offend him.
As for Fang Daozhang, his ident.i.ty was even more sensitive. The general"s intimate friend was still leading troops and fighting against the Nether Realm on the front lines. Even the empress dowager didn"t dare to do anything to him at this time.
Just look at the Soldiers Division. There were so many people who had been implicated, and only Fang Dao was as steady as Mt. Tai.
On the southern gate tower, Empress Dowager Su didn"t know what was going on because she was far away.
Soon enough, however, someone told her about this seemingly insignificant matter, which made Empress Dowager Su wrinkle her eyebrows.
""Let him be. Wait until after the war with You.""
She raised her hand. ""I"m a little tired, so I won"t keep looking.""
The newly appointed head eunuch of the brocade palace, Zhen Dao, quickly took her hand. Empress Dowager Su stood up and looked at the distant Duke Yan. ""Have someone inform the king, tell him that I"m going back first.""
Then, she said with some disgust, ""Chen Zaiyan and those people don"t feel good just looking at him.""
Zhen Dao naturally understood what he meant. He glanced at the general Su Zong who was standing beside him.
Su Zong nodded. ""Empress Dowager, you can go back and rest. This subject will keep an eye on this matter.""
Empress Dowager Su nodded before turning to leave.
Actually, those with discerning eyes could tell that something wasn"t right. The Duke of Yan actually didn"t sit next to the empress dowager. Such an obvious att.i.tude couldn"t be seen in the past.
This showed that the conflict between the two of them had already reached a point where it was obvious to see how it would progress.
However, everyone was clear that the King of Swallow … did not have a single chance of winning.
At this time, the scene was bustling with noise and excitement.
A group of several hundred people seemed to be pa.s.sing by the main road of the Golden Court. It was said that they were the envoys sent by the State of Zhao. They had specially come to congratulate Zhao on the beginning of the Autumn Ceremony.
Because they had always been allies, the Yan had a sense of familiarity with the Zhao people.
However, many people could tell that this diplomatic team was a bit strange.
They were all military officials.
King Yan, Mu Changyan, saw the troops from Zhao pa.s.s by from the top of Nanmen City. His expression turned cold as he said, ""Proud of your might … But no one can forget that this place is still the capital of Great Yan. This Great Yan is still the big Yan of the Mu Clan.""
An Chengli lowered his voice and said behind him, ""Rest a.s.sured, Your Majesty. There is a saying that … The more eager the opponent is to see their strength, the more guilty they are.""
Mu Changyan smiled. ""You sure know how to talk. Send someone to watch Chen Zaiyan and the others. I feel that the empress dowager"s place is unusually quiet today.""
An Chengli nodded. ""Rest a.s.sured, my King. The people of the Vermillion Bird and White Tiger Battalion are pretending to be civilians among the crowd. If anything happens, they will immediately rush over.""
""Also … Chen Shaobai is back.""
Mu Changyan grunted in relief. ""I don"t have many people I can count on now …""