In the battlefield where a great deal of tress that were cut down by sword light were scattered across, Liu Xiuwei’s body was lying on the ground in broken wood and c.o.ke, raising dense clouds of dust.
The blade went straight through his throat with no margin of error. Li Tianlan didn’t know how Liu Xiuwei felt about his own death, but he, as the killer, felt upset for the dead man.
An expert at the peak of the Fire-flaming Realm died in the hands of a n.o.body who was a newcomer of the Qi-controlling Realm, which was probably the way Liu Xiuwei never thought even in his dreams.
Silence prevailed over the woods.
Li Tianlan took a light breath and tried to suppress the taste of blood in his throat. After a good while, he moved and joined the two swords in his hands. With that, the two thin long swords disappeared and the Human Emperor again changed into the inconspicuous metal pipe. He then put it in his sleeve.
Lying on the ground, Liu Xiuwei’s body was covered in dust. A moment ago he was the majestic-looking deputy director of the Sky Academy, but now in broken clothes, he looked as disheveled as an ordinary dog.
Li Tianlan held out his hand and shut Liu Xiuwei’s eyes, which he did not close even if he were dead. Li Tianlan said calmly, “It’s a great place in geomancy, suitable for the final resting sleep. What’s your discontent about it?”
In the dust, Liu Xiuwei’s eyes that were forced to close opened again, and there seemed to be a trace of unwilling and regret in his dim pupils.
He probably did die with grudge unsatisfied.
Li Tianlan t.i.tled the corners of his mouth with an indifferent look in his eyes. As he told Liu Xiuwei in the maze, his back was to the wall.
To hand over his Human Emperor?
To break his arms?
Li Tianlan definitely couldn’t accept that. If Liu Xiuwei had left him a way out in the maze, apart from what he would do in the future, he wouldn’t have killed him today at least.
When Liu Xiuwei cut off Li Tianlan’s way of escape, he also completely destroyed his own chances of survival.
“You only got what you deserved.”
Li Tianlan added. He then stood up, identified the direction, and rushed toward the end of the maneuver in the southeast.
Behind him, countless drops of water appeared in the air all of a sudden. These drops fell down in a messy way, completely extinguishing the fire on the ground and washing away the dust on Liu Xiuwei’s face.
The leaves that were flying in the air fluttered down and covered the battlefield.
As the satellite was not screened any longer, teachers at the end of the maneuver in the east of the woods finally got a view of the battlefield from it.
What they saw were branches charred by fire, pieces of ice scattered here and there, trunks cut by sword light, pits in the ground, falling leaves, and flying dust. The whole battlefield was torn apart in the terrifying and fierce fighting. All the viewers subconsciously held their breath, their eyes moving with the fluttering leaves on the screen, eager to know the final result of this battle.
Then they saw Liu Xiuwei lying on the ground, eyes wide open.
Gasps suddenly swept through the end of the maneuver. Some of the teachers stared at Liu Xiuwei’s body on the screen in amazement, even thinking that they were wrong.
But the sword wound in Liu Xiuwei’s throat was so clear that it was offending to eyes. All this showed that Liu Xiuwei was stabbed to death by the freshman.
“How on earth did he do it?” Everyone wondered in shock.
Even in the whole Sky Academy, Liu Xiuwei was one of the outstanding experts. Perhaps his strength was not the top, but absolutely ranked in the top several ones. But now such a powerful man had been killed by a freshman. Such an unexpected result really put many teachers under great pressure.
Actually more people automatically turned to observe Gu Yunxia’s expression.
Liu Xiuwei’s death was definitely a big blow for Gu Yunxia. The educational administration of the Sky Academy appointed a director and three deputy directors. Of the four directors, Liu Xiuwei was the only one who was not in the Thunder-shocking Realm. When establishing the school’s leadership before the beginning of the Sky Academy, Gu Yunxia made great efforts to recommend Liu Xiuwei into the educational administration. In fact, the relatively young Qin Ke became a deputy director partly because Gu Yunxia made concessions to Zhuang Huayang.
Getting Liu Xiuwei into the educational administration, Gu Yunxia must have meant to expand her voice in the Sky Academy. However, Liu Xiuwei was now already killed by a freshman as the semester just began. Regardless of how shameful Gu Yunxia was, she would be bound to have a harder time in the Sky Academy from now on.
In full view of the public, Gu Yunxia wore a scowl face and stared at the screens with her eyes full of poison. Her indignation was growing, almost overpowering her reason, and the glances of sympathy, pity, or gloating from all sides poured oil on the flames of her anger, causing her rage to explode.
She suddenly stood up, looked at Zhuang Huayang beside her and said in a sullen tone, “Headmaster, Deputy Director Liu has been killed!”
“I know. What a pity.”
Compared with Gu Yunxia’s rage, Zhuang Huayang looked calm and breezy. When he spoke, he even had a smile on his face.
Gu Yunxia became more and more irritable, and her eyes on Zhuang Huayang also turned undisguised cold. “Headmaster, I think we must do something, Deputy Director Liu’s sacrifice must not be in vain!”
She used the word “sacrifice”.
It was undoubtedly one of the most serious words in a Special Warfare Academy with a very strong military atmosphere like the Sky Academy.
Zhuang Huayang raised his eyebrows and asked with a half-smile, “Oh? What are you going to do, Director Gu?”
“I’m going to take the little beast Li Tianlan right now. I’ll abolish his martial arts, expel him from the Sky Academy, report the case to Kunlun City and the Ministry of State Security, and take him to the Special Warfare Court!”
Gu Yunxia answered without hesitation. She gritted her teeth, and her grave voice carried infinitely malevolence. “It is a complete disaster to still keep him, a beast, disrespectful to his teacher and elders!”
At her words, a few ordinary teachers near her felt a sudden pang of fear and were on pins and needles. It was already extremely severe punishment to abolish his martial arts and expel him from the Sky Academy, while the report to Kunlun City and the Ministry of State Security was tantamount to labeling Li Tianlan as never employed by the Special Warfare System of the Zhongzhou State.
The worst of the punishment she mentioned was to send Li Tianlan to the Special Warfare Court. The role of the Special Warfare Court was a.n.a.logous to that of the military court, but the Special Warfare Court was more stringent. Once a person was taken to the court, few came to good end. It was obvious to everyone present that Gu Yunxia intended to kill Li Tianlan.
“What a joke!”
Before Zhuang Huayang could say a word, a wild voice suddenly sounded, with naked contempt. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the freshman. On what basis do you abolish his martial arts and expel him from the Sky Academy? That’s ridiculous!”
“When Liu Xiuwei shamelessly broke the rules of the maneuver first, couldn’t that freshman fight back? Gu Yunxia, are you blind or deaf?” “Liu Xiuwei himself said he didn’t show up as the deputy director of the Sky Academy. What the h.e.l.l are you talking about? He was disrespectful to his teacher? And elders? Nonsense! What he has done today is self-defense. If he hadn’t done it but had handed over his weapon and broken one of his arms, you would be now very glad, right, Director Gu? Does our Sky Academy need such a spineless softie? Say it!”
“You!”
Gu Yunxia flew into a rage, and her face, giving a mean impression, was flushed, but she could not make a retort.
Near Zhuang Huayang, a middle-aged man stood up. He then nodded to Zhuang Huayang casually and said with a smile, “Headmaster, do you think I have a point? What kind of a respectable elder is Liu Xiuwei, given what he did today? It’s a disgrace to the Sky Academy. For personal revenge he even broke the rules of the maneuver, and tried to murder a talent of the Imperial Special Warfare System. What the h.e.l.l? Does such a man deserve the word ‘sacrifice’? I suggest that his body be thrown out of the Sky Academy, so as not to pollute the land of the Sky Academy!”
“Ye Fengcheng! You’re going too far!”
Gu Yunxia totally lost her temper, screaming at the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man paused for a moment and then burst into laughter. He had an average figure, even a little short, but there was something indescribably proud and sharp about him when he stood there. He looked handsome, but a scar on his left cheek, five or six centimeters long, ruined the beauty of the whole, making him look a little fierce and tough.
“Am I going too far or are you angry from shame, Gu Yunxia? Look at the disgusting things your person has done. It’s good that Li Tianlan killed the black sheep. Throwing his body out of the Sky Academy is light punishment. You want to expel Li Tianlan and take him to the Special Warfare Court? How shameless you are! I’m telling you today, if you dare to deal with this freshman, you must get past me first. Or shall we fight to the death now? Do you dare, Gu Yunxia?”
Gu Yunxia’s shriveled body trembled with anger. “You, you, you… ” She pointed at Ye Fengcheng and stammered, unable to say what would follow.
As for the ordinary teachers behind them, they were more afraid to say anything. For them, it was almost a fight between the G.o.ds.
This year, the leaders of the Sky Academy were almost distinctly divided into three forces.
The force headed by the headmaster Zhuang Huayang was undoubtedly the largest.
The second most powerful force was led by Gu Yunxia, the director of educational administration. Her backer was Kunlun City, the power center of the Special Warfare System of the Zhongzhou State. Therefore, even though her force was weaker than Zhuang Huayang’s, she was full of confidence in many cases.
The last force was headed by Ye Fengcheng, the director of the Political Department of the Sky Academy. The power of this force had existed almost since the establishment of the Sky Academy. Thus it had a solid foundation. Ye Fengcheng himself was the core member of a top wealthy family in the capital Youzhou, so this force also had great potential for future development.
Out of the Sky Academy, these three people were now the backbone of the three superpowers in the Zhongzhou State, so who dared to speak up when it was impossible to predict the end of this fierce conflict?
In case the conflict spread outside the Sky Academy and the three super giants took some actions, no ordinary teacher could withstand the pressure from them.
“Enough.”
Seeing that Gu Yunxia was about to start a fight with Ye Fengcheng in anger, Zhuang Huayang finally said, “On the first day of school, you two, as the leaders of the school, are quarreling with each other. Do you think it’s decent?”
He then waved, and ordered in an unmistakable tone, “Sit down!”
Ye Fengcheng threw Gu Yunxia a disdainful glance, and sat down idly. With that, his eyes continued to fix on the two big screens in front.
Gu Yunxia, on the other hand, stood still and looked at Zhuang Huayang coldly.
“Headmaster, Deputy Director Liu… ”
“What? Deputy Director Liu?”
Zhuang Huayang smiled and said, “The dead man I’m looking at is Liu Dongchao’s uncle. Liu Xiuwei said it himself. Didn’t you hear him, Yunxia?”
“I… ”
Gu Yunxia was tongue-tied. What Zhuang Huayang pointed out was just what she couldn’t explain away. She used to be sharp-tongued, but Liu Xiuwei really went too far in this matter, and now she had no idea what to say to defend him even though she had the heart to help him.
“Yunxia, what do you think of the Sky Academy? How do you see the leadership of our Sky Academy? Can we leaders give up our principles for a relative? When you want to kill someone, you throw your official ident.i.ty away, and when you get killed, you take your official ident.i.ty back? So our official ident.i.ties provide us with an umbrella that rationalizes our murder? What’s more, it wasn’t the enemy that Liu Xiuwei tried to kill, it was our student. In your eyes, such a leadership of the Sky Academy is normal and reasonable?”
Zhuang Huayang looked at Gu Yunxia and slowly put his questions. He spoke word by word, which caused enormous pressure on Gu Yunxia. Though he had not been harsh, his words were equally critical.
“That’s not what I meant, headmaster.”
Gu Yunxia argued subconsciously.
“I don’t care what you mean.”
Zhuang Huayang simply waved her to silence and replied, “I just know that what you’ve just proposed is very unreasonable. As for Liu Xiuwei, he broke the rules of the maneuver as Liu Dongchao’s uncle, and now he was killed also as Liu Dongchao’s uncle. Thus it’s a personal feud. Whoever lives or dies, it serves him right. You have to accept that if you don’t want to discredit the Sky Academy. Do you understand?”
“What a brilliant idea, headmaster.”
Sitting nearby, Ye Fengcheng chuckled and threw a cigarette to Zhuang Huayang, saying, “During the entrance maneuver, the deputy director of the educational administration publicly abandoned his official ident.i.ty, and flouted the rules of the maneuver, trying to kill a freshman, but finally he was killed instead. Tut, tut, if word of this gets out, questions will be raised not only about the ethics of the leadership of the Sky Academy, but also about the leadership’s strength. What a f**king deputy director was he? He did nothing but discredited our Sky Academy. It serves him right to die. As for the freshman, well, he’s a talent, and the school should focus on training him.”
Zhuang Huayang smiled. That he said that it served Liu Xiuwei right was totally different from what Ye Fengcheng said. However, at this moment, he didn’t bother to explain anything, but just looked at Ye Fengcheng and said with a smile, “Are you also interested in that freshman, Fengcheng?”
He said “also”.
Ye Fengcheng captured the word keenly. His eyes became stern, and his smile faded a little. “Ah, after all, talent is rare,” he replied.
Zhuang Huayang nodded and said no more, but he was sure in his heart that Ye Fengcheng opposed Gu Yunxia openly, not only because Liu Xiuwei was a little rude to w.a.n.g Yuetong, but also because he really wanted to draw Li Tianlan to his side.
He then turned to watch the screen and laid his eyes on Li Tianlan. With a sigh in his heart, he shook his head.
Gu Yunxia, too, was looking at Li Tianlan on the screen.
With her back to Ye Fengcheng and Zhuang Huayang, she narrowed her eyes tightly, and the resentment and killing intent in her eyes kept surging, as if never stopped.
On the screens, Li Tianlan was walking through the woods, looking down and opening the Credit-counting Watch on his wrist.
Gu Yunxia gave a sneer, gritted her teeth, and resumed her seat.
…
The Sky Academy’s Credit-counting Watch had many functions, and it was not complicated to use. In the student code of conduct, there were instructions on how to use it, and Li Tianlan basically could master it after he carefully studied it.
The Credit-counting Watch had the function of positioning and calling. To prevent Li Baitian and others from taking the same risks as him, Li Tianlan turned off his wrist.w.a.tch as soon as he ran out of the maze. Now that Liu Xiuwei was dead, he opened the map of his wrist.w.a.tch and found two red dots on the map immediately.
Ning Qiancheng and Li Baitian were the only friends on his wrist.w.a.tch, so he could only locate them. As for w.a.n.g Yuetong and Yu Qingyan, they must still be with them.
Li Tianlan pushed a b.u.t.ton and directly said, “h.e.l.lo, Baitian, how are things going with you?”
At the other end of the woods, Li Baitian and the other three, who walked all the way to the east, had sensed something was wrong. They had even confirmed that Li Tianlan did not travel all the way east, and they were now considering searching for Li Tianlan separately. Upon hearing Li Tianlan’s voice, Li Baitian replied, his voice carrying anxiety with surprise coming directly through the wrist.w.a.tch. “Tianlan, how are you? d.a.m.n it, why did you turn off your positioning? Don’t you understand that many hands make light work? You’re so stupid, stupid as a pig. If you were killed, what should I tell them…?”
Li Baitian made a pause before he continued, “What about the old b.a.s.t.a.r.d Liu Xiuwei?”
“I’m still alive, so of course he’s dead.”
Li Tianlan, who was in the Qi-controlling Realm but forced to use the power of the Ice-condensing Realm, was freezing cold at this moment. But listening to Li Baitian’s remarks, he felt as warm as a fire burning in his heart and couldn’t help smiling. Afterwards, he looked at the location on the screen and said, “I’m not far from you. I’ll join you soon.”