Library of Heaven’s Path

Two months later, in the Elder Hall of the Master Teacher Academy, Mo Zhu, Zhao Bingxu, and the other school heads were seated around a table.

Shortly after Lu Feng was stripped of his position as the head of the Apothecary School, Vice School Head Lu Qing had taken over his position. At the same time, Chen Chengxun had also stepped from his position as the head of the Formation Master School, and another vice school head had taken over it.

In other words, all ten of the school heads were gathered together.

”School Head Mo, how is Principal Zhang’s Empire Building going?” Zhao Bingxu asked.

Their principal taking the 6-star master teacher examination was a major affair for the Master Teacher Academy. As such, School Head Mo had been appointed to keep tabs on the matter so that they could respond should anything major occur.

”Alright, allow me brief you all on the matter.”

School Head Mo stood up and began. ”The Conferred Kingdom that Principal Zhang has chosen for Empire Building is… Xuanyuan Kingdom! It is a nation beneath the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, which is the vassal state of Tier-2 Huanyu Empire.”

Everyone nodded.

To be honest… they hadn’t even heard of Xuanyuan Kingdom before. That was how remote and backward it was.

The Master Teacher Continent was simply too large, and there were far too many kingdoms and empires for one to remember. Despite the vast knowledge that master teachers possessed, it was impossible for them to know all of them.

They had still heard of Huanyu Empire, but they would hardly hear any news about nations beyond that, such as the Myriad Kingdom Alliance, let alone Xuanyuan Kingdom.

To a typical 6-star master teacher, it could be considered as a backward, undeveloped plot of land.

”Principal Zhang arrived at Xuanyuan Kingdom two months ago, but he didn’t announce his arrival. Instead, he immediately headed to the local Master Teacher Pavilion.”

School Head Mo had kept a close eye on Zhang Xuan’s every single action, allowing him to explain everything in detail. ”The local head of the Master Teacher Pavilion is a 3-star pinnacle master teacher known as Luo Qianhong. He once had a conflict with Principal Zhang, and Principal Zhang crashed the Master Teacher Pavilion as a result.”

”Crashed the Master Teacher Pavilion?” Everyone was astonished to hear that.

As master teachers, they understood the immense difficulty in crashing a Master Teacher Pavilion. Not only would one have to subdue every single master teacher in the Master Teacher Pavilion, they would also have to face the wills left behind by preceding master teachers as well.

Based on what they know, back when their principal was still at Xuanyuan Kingdom, he had only been a 2-star master teacher. To successfully crash a Master Teacher Pavilion then, didn’t that mean that he had been superior to 3-star pinnacle or 4-star master teachers despite only being at 2-star?

”According to the rules, Master Teacher Pavilion will have to unconditionally obey the orders of the master teacher who has successfully crashed it. What did Principal Zhang order them to do after heading to the Master Teacher Pavilion?” Wei Ranxue asked.

Crashing a Master Teacher Pavilion was similar to a martial artist crashing a dojo. The loser would have to accept the punishment from the victor regardless of what it was.

”Principal Zhang didn’t order them to do anything. Instead, he held a lecture for them, and within three days, both the cultivation and comprehension of the Way of Teacher of the master teachers in there were raised significantly. This was especially so for Luo Qianhong. Not only did he successfully clear the 4-star master teacher examination within this period of time, he has even advanced to 4-star pinnacle!” School Head Mo said.

”Within three days, he actually raised the capability of a 3-star pinnacle master teacher to 4-star pinnacle?”

”Isn’t this… a little— way too fast?”

The school heads were flabbergasted when they heard the news.

The reason it was hard for master teachers to advance their rank was because there were many aspects they had to improve in order to qualify for and clear each master teacher examination, such as their cultivation, eye of discernment, Soul Depth, and supporting occupations. All of this require considerable time. For Luo Qianhong to advance from 3-star pinnacle to 4-star pinnacle with just three days of guidance, this rate of improvement was unbelievable!

”Not only so, in the past, Xuanyuan Kingdom had a total of a dozen or so 3-star master teachers. However, after those three days, another eight of them has made a breakthrough to 4-star. Even though they are only at 4-star primary, that is still rather frightening!” School Head Mo said with a bitter smile.

When he first heard this news, he could hardly believe his ears. He’d had to confirm the matter several times before he could finally come to a conclusion—true geniuses were existences whom ordinary men like them couldn’t hope to fathom.

”So, all in all, Xuanyuan Kingdom has nine 4-star master teachers… That is a big step forward, that it is still insufficient for a kingdom to advance to an empire,” one of the school heads remarked.

It was true that the foundation required for a kingdom to advance to an empire was the Master Teacher Pavilion, but it would still take considerable time for the other aspects to rise up to the required level as well, such as the economy and the military force of the nation. With just a few 4-star master teachers, it was still infeasible to accomplish Empire Building within a short period of time.

It was for this reason that Empire Building was indubitably the hardest test of the 6-star master teacher examination.

”It’s indeed insufficient, but on the tenth day that Principal Zhang arrived at Xuanyuan Kingdom, many master teachers and Transcendent Mortal experts from the surrounding Unranked Empire, sects, and powers suddenly came flooding into the nation, joining its ranks.”

”They joined Xuanyuan Kingdom?”

”Many? How many people do you mean by that?”

Everyone frowned.

One of the school heads shook his head. ”A Conferred Kingdom will at least have a population of several hundred million, and the addition of a couple of master teachers and experts won’t make much of a difference…”

Experts had their own pride, so it was highly unlikely that they would lower themselves to join a lower-ranked nation. After all, that would be equivalent to regressing, and it would make it harder for them to advance their cultivation and capability as well.

As such, in the school heads’ view, even if some of the experts and master teachers decided to join Xuanyuan Kingdom, it was unlikely that there would be too many of them. Even at most, there would only be dozens of master teachers and several hundred experts. However, such numbers were like a drop in the ocean for a nation with a population of several hundred million, and their presence wouldn’t make a significant difference.

Empire Building required the raise in the overall prowess of the nation, the average cultivation of the entire populace. This was not something that could be achieved just by a couple of master teachers and experts coming in.

”A couple of master teachers and experts you say?” Hearing those words, a bitter smile emerged on School Head Mo’s lips.

”You are severely underestimating Principal Zhang’s rallying ability in the Myriad Kingdom Alliance! Within just ten days, more than three thousand 4-star master teachers and a hundred thousand Transcendent Mortal experts joined Xuanyuan Kingdom.”

”Three thousand 4-star master teachers?”

”A hundred thousand Transcendent Mortal experts?”

Everyone was dumbstruck.

That number of master teachers and experts… Even an average Unranked Empire wouldn’t have such numbers!

”But the sudden arrival of so many experts in Xuanyuan Kingdom could potentially destabilize the nation and undermine the authority of the royal family. If they rise up and start a rebellion, how will the royal family quell the insurrection?” Jiang Qingqin asked with a frown.

Even though he usually maintained a low profile within Hongyuan Empire, he was still aware of the balance of power between the royal family, the officials, and the populace.

Considering that the arriving experts were far stronger than the officials and the royal family, how could the nation impose their laws and govern them? Should they choose not to submit, would the nation have any way of dealing with them?

One must know that in an average Conferred Kingdom, even the strongest old ancestor would only be at Transcendent Mortal 1-dan, and the emperor would only be at Half-Transcension at most, usually. The sudden influx of over a hundred thousand experts was not necessarily good news for the country.

”There is no need to worry about it; Principal Zhang already has everything thought out. After spending three days in the Master Teacher Pavilion, he spent the next seven days, before the influx of the master teachers and experts, in the Xuanyuan royal palace… Within the seven days, he raised Empress Mo Yu’s cultivation to Transcendent Mortal 5-dan, and the other officials who have a close relationship with her have also reached Transcendent Mortal 2-dan or 3-dan,” said School Head Mo.

To induce such an unbelievable increase in the cultivation of those within the Xuanyuan royal palace within seven days… They would have never been able to think this possible had it been in the past.

However, after witnessing the huge commotion resulting from Principal Zhang’s public lecture, how innumerable animals had made the breakthrough to become savage beasts, they had come to realize that whenever he was involved, miracles were nothing more than a normal occurrence.

School Head Mo continued his explanation. ”Not only that, Principal Zhang also took more than a thousand of the spirit beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge with him, and each of them possesses a cultivation of at least Transcendent Mortal 6-dan. He has instructed them to obey the commands of no one but Mo Yu. With such a powerful hand, even an average Tier-2 Empire will dare not provoke Xuanyuan Kingdom, let more those cultivators…”

”Over a thousand Transcendent Mortal 6-dan spirit beasts? Hahaha, only Principal Zhang is capable of playing such a big hand!”

”Indeed, there is probably no one else in the world who can take out so many loyal spirit beasts so easily!”

”With the royal family wielding such a powerful force, it could be said that the security of the nation is guaranteed.”

Everyone was astonished for a moment after hearing the news before nodding excitedly in approval.

Typically speaking, an average beast tamer would only have a tamed beast or two, and considering the effort he would have had to put into taming them, it was impossible for him to give his tamed beasts away to another. However, their principal had made the hundred thousand spirit beasts of the Cloudmist Ridge submit to him! As such, giving away a thousand weaker spirit beasts was truly nothing at all to him.

But while it was nothing to their principal, it was of vital importance to Xuanyuan Kingdom. In the first place, the lifespan of a spirit beast was far longer than that of a human. On top of that, the strength of each of them was far higher than the strongest expert in the kingdom. With them guarding the royal family, who would dare show the slightest disrespect to them?

School Head Mo still wasn’t finished. ”Shortly after the influx of experts and master teachers into Xuanyuan Royal City, Principal Zhang conducted his first public lecture. In the lecture, his voice could be heard even from a distance of several hundred kilometers away, and the cultivators of the capital benefited greatly for his lecture, with over half of them achieving a breakthrough on the spot. On top of that, his Spirit Gathering Diction has caused spiritual energy to concentrate within Xuanyuan Royal City, not dissipating even after the end of the lecture, thus turning the entire area into a blessed land for cultivation.”

”Spirit Gathering Diction, Rain of the Heavenly Flowers… Principal Zhang does wield the capability to raise the cultivation of others swiftly. With this, many powerful cultivators will emerge in Xuanyuan Kingdom very soon. However, the strength of a nation lies not only within its cultivators, but the development of the occupations as well,” the head of the Painter School, Song Danqing, remarked.

In assessing the overall strength of a nation, the average cultivation of the populace was only one of the factors involved. More important was the development and prosperity of the occupations.

National power covered not only potential military might but a nation’s economic development, culture, and the individual’s standard of living too.

Many of these factors were intricately tied with the occupations within the nation. An empire, even if an unranked one, needed not only a powerful Master Teacher Pavilion, but the existence of a capable Painter Guild, Apothecary Guild, Blacksmith Guild, and such. Only then would they be able to attract and retain talents to further the prosperity of the nation.

”Maybe you have been too busy recently, so you didn’t notice it, but on the very day that Principal Zhang left Hongyuan City, the Shen Clan and Liu Clan of the Four Great Clans announced that they would be establishing a trading branch in Xuanyuan Kingdom so as to expand their business there. As soon as that announcement was made, many huge merchants in the vassal states quickly made plans to enter Xuanyuan Kingdom as well. As a result, the number of businesses within Xuanyuan Kingdom at the current moment is on par with even some Tier-2 Empires.

”As for occupations, Principal Zhang spent the ten days imparting painting, pill forging, smithing, demonic tunes, and such occupation skills to the locals, and this has caught the attention of many occupation guilds. To date, another seven occupation have already opened a branch in Xuanyuan Kingdom,” School Head Mo said.

After hearing those words, a school head couldn’t help but mutter beneath his breath, ”The average strength of the populace, military strength, economic development, and presence of occupations are all in place. Doesn’t that mean that Xuanyuan Kingdom is already qualified to be an empire?”

These were the main indicators to determine if a nation was qualified to be considered an empire. In less than two months, their principal had induced an overwhelming change within Xuanyuan Kingdom. Could it be that… he had already completed the Empire Building test?

School Head Mo nodded. ”That’s right. Twenty days ago, the headquarters sent a representative down to check on the situation in Xuanyuan Kingdom, and the reason I have called for this gathering is to officially announce the result to you all.

”Principal Zhang has successfully cleared his 6-star master teacher examination, Empire Building, and thus, from this day forth, he is officially a 6-star master teacher!”