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Pshew!!
Tap! Tap!
Several people landed on the ground with an air of authority to them. By the looks of it though, all of them appeared to be the teachers and senior teachers of the academy, including Duan Li"s mother and the Princ.i.p.al himself!
However, their robes right now were entirely different than their usual attire. These two groups of people wore red while the other black robes!
It was no wonder why they couldn"t recognize most of them from a distance before.
"Eh Princ.i.p.al, why are you here?" Duan Li asked as soon as the other party landed on the ground.
"It"s an emergency. I"m sure Zhuge Liang of the Seventh Squad had already informed everyone here of the change in situation?" the Princ.i.p.al replied, his usual temperament no longer indifferent and casual, but was now replaced with a serious expression and carried on a different air to his disposition, seemingly more powerful and sharp than when he donted the Princ.i.p.al"s uniform before.
"Don"t worry, we will update on the battle plan, make sure you listen carefully okay?" Meng Yue said, her expression was solemn as well.
Previously, when they landed on the Grand Canyon using the Airship, she suddenly received a message through her communication jade slip and then decided to remain there for a while to wait for people coming over and would catch up to them later.
But who could have thought that she would catch up and brought the Princ.i.p.al as well as the other teachers and senior teachers with her?
"Let me take over." the Princ.i.p.al said to Zhuge Liang as he walked over.
"Yes, Princ.i.p.al!" Zhuge Liang replied.
When the Princ.i.p.al stood at the center, the crowd quickly simmered down.
"Some of you might have already guessed the reason as to why we came here. But let me just say it, as of now, I am Bian Tianyu, leader of the Ninth Subjugation Squad!"
EH?
The Princ.i.p.al is the leader of THE Ninth Squad?!
Is he pranking people? I thought that Subjugation Squads would only consist of students?
The Princ.i.p.al happened to cast a glance onto Duan Li at this moment, and couldn"t help but to notice the other party giving him a suspicious look.
"This brat.." he sighed.
Ignoring Duan Li, he continued on, "As everyone here is already informed regarding the appearance of 3 Star monsters among the 1 Star monsters, we thus came here with an additional battle plan set up so that the situation tomorrow would be as safe as possible for everyone!"
"The Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Squad would specifically deal with the 3 Star monsters tomorrow by method of securing air superiority and hunt them down from the air. Meanwhile, the Second, Third and Fifth Squad will join everyone else on the ground to watch out for your back."
"You can view them as your support or rear-guard while you handle the majority of the 1 Star monsters, thus this way, there won"t be any major changes to the original plan and you guys can head out tomorrow without any confusion."
"One last thing though, I"m sure that most of you are aware, that no matter how much we tried to make the situation safe for you, there will always be a risk. Furthermore, before you are a student of the academy, know that you are a cultivator, and a cultivator should not be stopped by the mere thought of a risk."
"That is all."
The students broke out into discussion as soon as the Princ.i.p.al finished.
"Will just that be fine?" Meng Yue asked towards the latter as she furrowed her brows.
Isn"t that speech a little too short?
The Princ.i.p.al nodded, "It"s best for us not to over-complicate things with them. They needed to focus on their task at hand and not worry some needless things that they can"t change."
"Anyway, come with me." he beckoned towards them to follow him as they entered the main tent.
Jiu Yinxing whom was resting on her tent was also called for a meeting between them.
"Now that everyone is here, there are a few things that I must say and must not be mentioned to anyone else, understood?" said the Princ.i.p.al with a strict tone.
All of them nodded.
"Good. From these recent appearance of the 3 Star monsters, we have reason to believe that it was not due to the scout and the recon team were negligent in their duties, but that these 3 Star monsters seems to have appeared, well.. randomly!" he explained.
"Randomly? How could that possibly be?" the rest of them murmurred.
Even the Princ.i.p.al has his own doubt, but its not like he could just say the things going on in his mind right now.
For one, he had a conjecture that this might be related to the retaliation from "time"!
After all, they had yet to fully understood how "time" would retaliate against their resistance to change their future.
But since they were not yet qualified to know this secret, the Princ.i.p.al couldn"t possibly voiced it out towards them.
"It can"t be on random.. there must be something that we might have missed!" Shen Lu said as he knitted his brows.
The Princ.i.p.al nodded, "That"s highly likely. Secondly, this might sounds weird for some of you here, but heed this command, it is his Majesty"s decree personally to everyone here!"
Wenggg!!
"T-That is!!"
The moment the Princ.i.p.al took out a golden scroll with the symbol of a crowned phoenix from his spatial ring, all of them were shocked and immediately kneeled down including Duan Li.
Ultimately, no matter how a country-b.u.mpkin someone was, they should have at least been taught what a golden scroll with the symbol of a crowned phoenix meant!
The Princ.i.p.al then threw the golden scroll lightly into the air as it floated gently and then stopped.
Fluurrr!
When the scroll unrolled itself, hints of a unique aura carrying the utmost disposition of a royal blood was exuded from it!
"This is the aura from the Emperor!" Zhuge Liang"s eyes brightened.
There was only one occasion where he had witnessed the Emperor before, and that was when he was selected as the leader of the Seventh Subjugation Squad!
The rest of the squad leaders also seemed to be excited by this as well.
"Hear my command.." the voice of Emperor Jiu Xian Ping that seemed to be filled with archaic wisdom in it began to echoed out from the scroll as everyone"s heart pulsated nervously.
What will be the Emperor"s personal command for us?
"No matter what.. you must do this, and you should do it discreetly without attracting anyone"s attention.."
What could possibly be so important that the Emperor wanted us to do something so stealthily?!
"Protect the person named Duan Li.. at all cost! That is all."
Suupp!!
Flashh!
Right after the Emperor"s words finished playing, the golden scroll immediately disintegrated into flames.
"..." everyone.
"What the heck.." Duan Li subconsciously said.
Thankfully, everyone was in a daze so no one could heard what he just said. The Princ.i.p.al had expected this scene to happen so he just shook his head helplessly.
It was only when Zhuge Liang turned his head towards Duan Li and spoke out that everyone finally stepped out from their stupor!
"To think that the Emperor would request from us personally to protect Sir Duan Li.. c-can it be?" he said with his eyes wide open, as if realizing something entirely bizarre!
"H-Huh? What are you getting at?" Duan Li stepped back a little bit.
Thud!
Zhuge Liang suddenly kneeled with one leg as if paying respect to a t.i.tled knight, but with one hand crossing on his chest.
"Forgive me for being blind! With such medical capabilities that could even heal me to recovery.. you must be a certain hidden expert within the Jiu Empire!" he said out loud with extreme confidence in it.
Thud! Thud!
The rest of the squad leaders followed suit, kneeling with similar posture to Zhuge Liang"s!
After all, even though each of them might have a different conjecture as to what Duan Li"s real ident.i.ty would be, their kneeling posture was meant to be for those with high status in the Jiu Empire, in other words..
For the Royal family!
This indicates that they had theorized Duan Li"s ident.i.ty to be either a "hidden prince" or one of the Emperor"s personal Enforcer!
But from the way that the Emperor had voiced out his request, makes them feels like the former was far more likely than the latter!
To think that there would be a hidden prince!
"This is indeed a grave secret that we must hold until our deathbed at all cost!" they simultaneously thought.
If words were to spread that the Emperor had hidden an illegitimate son, the whole Jiu Empire would be thrown into a state of disarray!
"T-This..!" seeing this, Duan Li was lost for words and turned towards the Princ.i.p.al for help, but the latter only chuckled lightly.
Even Meng Yue - his mother, only nodded proudly with a smug look. As if it was only natural for them to kneel as such!
Hais!
While their conjectures were all wrong and stemmed from their premature a.s.sumptions, they were at least right in one area, and that was - that Duan Li was indeed, a hidden expert of the Jiu Empire!
The Imperial Overseer! A position even higher than the Emperor himself!
When the kneeling squad leaders realized that they were not reprimanded for using such a kneeling posture meant for the Royal family, their conviction of it grew even stronger than before!
In reality however, the only reason why they were not reprimanded was because there were no other forms of kneeling posture that was used specifically to address an Imperial Overseer!
At least, not yet!
And even if there were, it was impossible for them to know that Duan Li was the Imperial Overseer.
Ahem!
Duan Li made a dry cough to ease the awkward atmosphere.
Hmph! Since you don"t want to clear this misunderstanding for me, I"ll just talk to my mother first then!
"Mother, perhaps.. the sudden appearance of these 3 Star monsters are not random after all.." Duan Li said.
Hearing that Duan Li was calling the other party his "mother", the squad leaders once again let out a pair of wide eyes with a pale expression as they look towards each other and swiftly nodded. Stepping up to the front at the same time, they kneeled once more in front of Meng Yue.
"We humbly greet High Lady! Please excuse us for not realizing sooner!" they said in a harmony.
Right now, they were feeling extremely scared. Not only was there an illegitimate prince here, but also the Emperor"s second "hidden" wife, that should be similar in status to the Empress herself!
"Curses! If I ever mention this out even once to anyone, I refuse to call myself a human and will just commit suicide!" they all swore an oath deep inside their hearts that this secret must never be leaked out at all cost!
"Ohh, isn"t that the kneeling posture one must show to the Empress?" Duan Li"s mother was a little bit surprised by their sudden kneeling posture towards her.
Ting!
An idea flashed inside her mind as she grinned.
"Rise." she said with a solemn tone, giving out an air of authority to her voice.
"Yes, High Lady!" they replied quickly and then swiftly rose from their kneeling posture, keeping their head down as a symbol of respect and reverence for her status.
But because Duan Li"s mother was short, they appeared to be staring straight right at the ground instead.
"En!" Meng Yue nodded, but inwardly, she was laughing out loud, full of satisfaction!
"Ahhh this feeling is so good!"
Duan Li could only drop his lower jaw to the floor when he witnessed this.
M-Mother! Aren"t you being too shameless here!
Even the Princ.i.p.al could only shook his head helplessly.
"Oh! What is it you were trying to tell me earlier?" she said as she realized a more important matter and turned back towards Duan Li.
Hais!
"It was this object mother, take a look.." Duan Li replied as he took out the infected monster core from his spatial ring.
Wengg!!
"!!" Meng Yue quickly dashed backwards in a sudden panic and her eyes reflected a certain fear to the object on Duan Li"s hand.
"W-Where did you get those?!!!"
...