Unsheathed

Cui Dongshan remained seated on the shoulder of his Dao Manifestation as he sighed, “That’s quite sneaky of you, but unfortunately, you’re no match for me when it comes to playing tricks and hatching schemes.”

One of the sagely Confucian projections clapped its hands together to destroy the yin soul that was fleeing in that direction, and it disintegrated into spiritual energy that acted as some form of reciprocation for Eastern Splendor Mountain.

As for the yang soul avatar, it was struck down into a lake in the academy by another Dao Manifestation, following which the Dao Manifestation stomped a foot down into the lake, sending massive waves sweeping over its surface in all directions, while the avatar was stomped to bits.

With his yin soul and yang soul avatar destroyed, and his bonded flying sword trapped in Shi Rou’s abdomen, the Nascent Tier swordsman had been backed into a corner, and he decided to detonate his own golden core to destroy the entire courtyard.

However, right at this moment, his entire body abruptly stiffened.

Cui Dongshan’s immortal flying sword, Golden Autumn, had pierced into the Nascent Tier swordsman’s golden core, shattering it into pieces.

Immediately thereafter, countless strange black and golden characters began spreading over his body, and these characters were slightly different in coloration from the golden characters formed by the righteous energy in Mao Xiaodong’s small world.

Cui Dongshan strode over to the Nascent Tier swordsman, then wiped a hand over his face to remove a premium Mohist facade that had soaked in blood. After that, he used the tip of his finger to tear away the swordsman’s actual face, and he shook it around a few times to remove the blood and flesh clinging to it before stowing it up his sleeve.

He then raised his head to look back at the swordsman’s horrific, skinned face, and he smiled as he said, “I have to thank you for contributing to my collection.”

The swordsman was no longer able to speak. Not only was all of the skin on his body riddled with cracks like a piece of broken porcelain, even his eyeballs were riddled with crack, but he was still glowering intently at Cui Dongshan with immense resentment and indignation in his eyes.

Cui Dongshan’s eyes widened slightly as he stepped forward, looking straight into the swordsman’s eyes as he goaded, “What are you trying to do? Are you trying to kill me with your looks? Come on then, do your worst!”

He then flicked a finger into the swordsman’s forehead, sending his lifeless body flying back through the air, and it exploded into a fountain of blood that rained down from above.

After that, Cui Dongshan made his way toward the main room of the courtyard, and on the way, he passed by the unconscious Xie Xie.

“Useless piece of trash!” he denounced with a furious expression as he sent her flying into a wall with a disdainful kick.

Yu Lu remained rooted to the spot, looking on with a wry smile.

Cui Dongshan merely strode past him as he grumbled, “I can’t even be bothered to reprimand you.”

Right as he was about to reach the stone steps leading up to the main room, Cui Dongshan suddenly slapped a hand to his own forehead as it dawned on him that Chen Ping’an and Mao Xiaodong were most likely going to return soon.

With that in mind, he hurriedly picked up Xie Xie before arranging her into an upright seated position in the bamboo-paved corridor. After that, he crouched down in front of her before frantically wiping his hands over her face.

As he stepped back, it was revealed that Xie Xie was now seated with a smile on her face.

Cui Dongshan was quite pleased with his own handiwork, but the longer he looked at Xie Xie, the more enraged he became, and he slapped her across her face to rouse her from her unconscious state.

She opened her eyes with a dazed expression, but before she had a chance to say anything, Cui Dongshan slapped her unconscious again as he murmured to himself, “On second thought, I prefer it when you’re unconscious and can’t speak.”

After some more fiddling, Xie Xie was restored to her previous seated and smiling state.

Meanwhile, Shi Rou was also still unconscious, and the Li Fire flying sword trapped in her abdomen was trembling in a grief-stricken manner.

Only after verifying that the flying sword was still trapped did Cui Dongshan raise his hands up high before clapping them together, withdrawing on Eastern Splendor Mountain.

Zhu Lian returned to the courtyard, then sat down onto a stone stool as he looked down at his own abdomen with a rather disappointed expression. The Nascent Tier swordsman had the majority of his attention focused on assassinating the children in the courtyard, while Zhu Lian hadn’t sustained injuries that were as severe as he would’ve liked, so it seemed that neither of them had been able to fully enjoy their battle.

Cui Dongshan rushed into the main room, then knocked on the door of the study as he called out in a fawning voice, “Guess who I am, Little Baoping!”

————

With that, the crisis was averted.

Mao Xiaodong informed the deputy mountain masters and several of the senior teachers of what had happened through voice transmission, following which they began to clean up the mess left behind in the wake of the battle.

Over at the entrance of the academy, Mao Xiaodong and Chen Ping’an were making their way up the hill together.

Mao Xiaodong smiled as he said, “Someday, you’ll also be able to protect the people that you care about. You’ll be able to keep them safe in that courtyard, and regardless of how much turmoil unfolds outside, you’ll be able to ensure that they don’t come to any harm. Of course, once they grow up and leave the courtyard, then they’ll be all on their own, unless they encounter some people who pick on them on a completely unreasonable basis.

“Otherwise, let them bleed, let them cry, and let them learn their own lessons in life. Only then will they truly grow up and mature. Even parents and teachers cannot protect someone their entire life. Even the Paramount Sage, with all his boundless power and knowledge, cannot take care of all of the living beings in the Majestic World.”

“That’s indeed the case,” Chen Ping’an concurred with a nod.

The thought of his imminent meeting with Cui Dongshan immediately put Mao Xiaodong in a sour mood.

He was silent for a long while as he made his way along the severely ravaged path outside the courtyard, then suddenly said some things that were very surprising to Chen Ping’an.

“I think that problems can arise anywhere in a nation, even in the imperial court or the cultivation world, and things will still be salvageable, but if problems arise in the schools of a nation, then it’ll be close to a lost cause.

“There are many bitter scholars out there who have no chance of ever doing well in the imperial examination, so they settle for teaching at schools and pass on their bitterness to the children under their tutelage, thereby dooming the future of the nation.

“Cui Dongshan has done many abhorrent things in the Great Li Empire, both on the surface and behind the scenes, but in my opinion, there’s one thing that he’s done that even the Paramount Sage won’t be able to fault him for. Imperial Preceptor Cui Chan established the idea that if a nation is to prosper, then teachers must be respected, and education must be taken seriously.

“In accordance with this idea, he implemented many policies that are beneficial to teachers, and he’s been personally keeping an eye on regional officials to ensure that these policies are carried out as intended. This is something that an imperial preceptor should be doing.

“The Great Sui Nation is inferior in this regard in that most of its scholars are more theoretically inclined and not very pragmatic, whereas the scholars of the Great Li Empire are much more pragmatic and focused on putting their knowledge into practice.”

Mao Xiaodong stopped in his tracks, then continued, “It’s not good to talk badly of someone behind their back, but there are some things that I feel inclined to say to you. Right now, Cui Dongshan is closely tied to your Great Dao, but there’s no one in this world that would screw over themselves.

“Ultimately, he’s going to be closer to Cui Chan than he is with you. They’ll never be able to combine as one, but you still have to make sure to be on your guard. Those two scoundrels are full of nasty ideas, and they’re constantly thinking about how to plot against others.”

Over at the entrance of the courtyard, a furious look appeared on Cui Dongshan’s face as he yelled, “What the hell’s your problem, Mao Xiaodong?! Have I dug up your family grave or slept with your wife?! Why do you insist on speaking badly of me to my respected teacher at every opportunity that you get?!”

Mao Xiaodong swept a sleeve through the air to draw the jade tablet that Cui Dongshan was hiding into his grasp, then said, “Come with me and Chen Ping’an to my study. This may not be the end of this matter, and we have to conduct an in-depth analysis of the situation.”

Cui Dongshan was just about to continue his tirade against Mao Xiaodong when in the next instant, the three of them abruptly appeared in the study.

All of them sat down in silence, and Mao Xiaodong was rather taken aback by the fact that Cui Dongshan had let him off the hook so easily.

From there, Mao Xiaodong gave Cui Dongshan a brief recount of his Chen Ping’an’s visit to the Confucian temple and the assassination attempt on them, while Chen Ping’an filled in some details here and there.

After hearing their story, Cui Dongshan stared blankly at Mao Xiaodong, who grumbled, “Don’t look at me with your putrid eyes!”

Cui Dongshan heaved a forlorn sigh, then said, “Yuan Gaofeng has already told you the answer, hasn’t he? It’s just that you lack the intelligence to see the answer. Yuan Gaofeng has gone out of his way to tip you off, only stopping just short of revealing the answer to you outright, yet you still don’t understand what we’re dealing with here?

“Think about what he said to you. He specifically said: ‘Quit making me barter with you like a Commercialist!’ Is that still not obvious enough?”

Mao Xiaodong’s brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this.

“Are you saying that the Commercialists are involved in this?”

A cold sneer appeared on Cui Dongshan’s face as he replied, “That’s not all. There is a man who has stayed in the Great Sui Nation for many years under the false alias of Zhang Dai, and he’s most likely a direct disciple of a powerful Diplomatist cultivator, currently undergoing a secret examination.”

“So you’re saying that there were two separate groups of assassins? But in that case, how were they able to hide their plot so well and strike with such perfect timing?” Mao Xiaodong asked with a perplexed expression.

“There are smart people out there, many of whom are smarter than you,” Cui Dongshan sneered.

A dark look appeared on Mao Xiaodong’s face as he said, “Fine. If you’re so smart, then give us your analysis of the situation.”

Cui Dongshan cleared his throat, then asked, “Is there no tea here for me to drink, Little Dong?”

Mao Xiaodong paid no heed to him as he closed his eyes in a stoic silence.

Cui Dongshan heaved a faint sigh, then turned to Chen Ping’an with a smile as he said, “My insights are far from profound, but please listen to what this humble student of yours has to say, respected teacher.”

Mao Xiaodong was unable to bear listening in silence any longer, and he snapped in a furious voice, “Can you not be such a shameless bastard? I’m getting nauseous just listening to you!”

“It’s fine once you get used to it,” Chen Ping’an consoled with a smile.

Cui Dongshan took a glance at Mao Xiaodong out of the corner of his eye with a smug expression, then said, “You’ve improved quite a bit since coming to the Great Sui Nation, Little Dong. It seems like some of my wisdom has rubbed off on you, giving you the foresight to make preparations to move your mountain in advance.

“Not only did that give you a decisive advantage over the assassins, you even managed to identify the formation cultivator as the foremost threat and knew to kill him first. Otherwise, if that Militarian cultivator had managed to get close to you before detonating that golden core, then you would surely be dead!

“It doesn’t really matter if you die, but if my teacher had sustained even the slightest injury because of your oversight, then I would’ve desecrated your corpse to no end!”

Chen Ping’an gave him a kick on the leg as he interjected, “Get back on topic!”

Cui Dongshan immediately extended a respectful half-bow toward him as he replied, “Whatever you say, respected teacher.”

Mao Xiaodong closed his eyes again, unwilling to watch any longer.

After taking a moment to arrange his thoughts, Cui Dongshan stood up from his chair, then began to habitually pace around the room as he said, “The current situation can be split up into roughly four levels. Those involved in the first level include the likes of Cai Feng.

“Their official ranks aren’t particularly lofty, but thanks to their numbers, they’re able to control public opinion in the imperial court, and they use that to their advantage with the objective of leaving behind glowing legacies for themselves in the history books. Among them, Cai Feng is actually not so bad.

“He has a Nascent Tier ancestor, and he harbors lofty ambitions of securing the posthumous title of Civil Justice for himself someday. As for the rest of the people on this level, most of them are completely unpragmatic scholars whose ambitions are matched only by their incompetence. If they can achieve anything meaningful, then they must be blessed by the heavens. If they can’t, then they’re not afraid to die.

“There are many stories of heroic officials meeting their demise for opposing their emperors in just and righteous causes, so in their eyes, regardless of whether they live or die, they’ll go down in history as lauded heroes or martyrs. As for whether they’ll be leaving behind a mess for everyone and just how messy that mess is, that’s not something that they’re going to care about because they won’t even have considered that.

“There are many stories in the history books detailing actions that were intended to be heroic resulting in catastrophic consequences, but those stories are too far away from them to be taken seriously in their eyes. I’ve witnessed many such stories play out in my time, and I’m sure you’ve also witnessed similar things in the Lotus Flower Blessed Land, Teacher.

“The second level of people consist of the likes of Left Minister Guo Xin of the Ministry of Rites and Dragon and Bull General Miao Ren. They are descendants of figures of great merit in the history of the Great Sui Nation, and they reside in the capital city, seemingly leading glorious lives of wealth and power, but in reality, they sit upon empty laurels and view the capital city and the imperial court as their prison.

“They yearn to replicate the feats of their ancestors and shine on the battlefield, and they’re in close contact with many generals who serve on the borders and possess actual jurisdictive power in the military. Relatively speaking, Right Minister Tao Jiu of the Ministry of War and Vice Commander Song Shan of the Infantry Commander’s Office are in more practical positions of power, and they’re more familiar with war-related affairs.

“The death of Song Zhengchun is an extremely rare and fleeting opportunity that’s not to be missed. Furthermore, the entirety of the Great Sui Nation currently harbors intense animosity toward the Great Li Empire, so if the Great Sui Nation were to revoke the agreement and turn on the Great Li Empire now, such a decision would be met with widespread support from the people.

“The border forces of the Great Sui Nation are quite formidable, and they can use that to their advantage to go all-in on a massive gamble to try and turn the tables, rather than allow the burgeoning Great Li Empire to slowly establish more and more control over the Great Sui Nation until the latter is no longer able to resist.

“These people have arrived at their conclusion after weighing up the options, and there are many of them in the imperial court and on the borders. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that these people form the foundation of the nation’s strength. The poor emperor of the Great Sui Nation falls into the third group.

“At the moment, he’s in the most awkward and undesirable position out of everyone. He was already prepared to be denounced by the entire nation for his decision to sign an agreement of one-sided appeasement with the Great Li Empire, and he’s even been forced to send his favorite son, Gao Xuan, to Forest Deer Academy on Cloud Drape Mountain as what is essentially a glorified hostage.

“However, in the end, he still underestimated just how vehement the backlash to his decision was going to be. Cai Feng and the others had hatched an assassination plot against Mao Xiaodong without his knowledge, and if they had succeeded, then they would’ve been free to tell any story that they pleased.

“They could’ve proclaimed that Mao Xiaodong was a scholastic parasite who had been trying to undermine the foundation of the Great Sui Nation’s scholarly fortune through Mountain Cliff Academy, and that he deserved to die a thousand times over for his crimes against the Great Sui Nation.”

Mao Xiaodong offered no retort to this.

In fact, he felt like Cui Dongshan was praising him.

After all, who had once been considered the most prominent scholastic parasite in the entire Majestic World?

That had been none other than his and Cui Chan’s teacher, the Scholarly Sage.

Cui Dongshan smiled as he continued, “Of course, it’s unclear whether the emperor of the Great Sui Empire is aware of what Cai Feng and the others are up to. It’s probably a bit more likely that he’s oblivious to everything, given that he’s currently not a very popular emperor. However, none of that is important.

“Unbeknownst to Cai Feng and the others, the Song Clan of the Great Li Empire doesn’t care at all whether Mao Xiaodong lives or dies. The emperor of the Great Sui Nation will care a little more, but in any case, it won’t have any bearing on that hundred-year agreement. This is something that Cai Feng and the others will never be able to wrap their heads around.

“Their plan was definitely to kill Mao Xiaodong first, then go after Little Baoping, Li Huai, Lin Shouyi, and the other scholars from the Great Li Empire. The emperor of the Great Sui Nation had no intention of revoking the agreement, so he would’ve definitely intervened to try and stop them. However, it appears that his resolve has loosened in the wake of Song Zhengchun’s death.

“As an emperor, of course he doesn’t want to be viewed as a spineless coward by his entire nation. If he abides by this agreement, eventually, the Great Sui Nation will be entirely surrounded by the Great Li Empire’s territory, and once that happens, the Great Sui Nation will truly be doomed.

“This is a future that even the likes of Tao Jiu and Song Shan have the foresight to envision, and the emperor will only be able to see even further into the future than them. At the moment, he’s sitting on his throne, watching Cai Feng and the others hatch their little plots, and I think he’ll have very mixed feelings about this.

“It’ll be very encouraging for him to see that there are countless people willing to lay down their lives for the Great Sui Nation and reciprocate the Gao Clan, but at the same time, this is a gamble that he has no confidence in. If the agreement is revoked, then there will be no alternative for the two nations but to go to war, and if the Great Sui Nation is defeated, then it will truly be at the mercy of the Great Li Empire.

“It took me a great deal of effort to dissuade Song Changjing from attacking the Great Sui Nation. At the time, Song Changjing had erupted into a furious fit and gotten into an intense verbal argument with His Majesty, saying that by refraining from attacking the Great Sui Nation, we’re actively allowing them to grow into a threat, and in doing so, we’ll be putting the lives of countless soldiers of the empire at risk.

“It was quite a comical scene, now that I think about it. A martial artist like Song Changjing was reprimanding the emperor using a bunch of rhetoric commonly employed by the scholarly officials of the imperial court. At the time, His Majesty was hiding the fact that he only had three years to live from everyone, proclaiming that it was ten years instead, and he had most likely done that out of wariness of those Mohist and Naturalist cultivators.

“As it turned out, he was correct to have been wary of them. That Naturalist cultivator did indeed harbor sinister intentions of slowly turning His Majesty into a mindless puppet. If it wasn’t for A’Liang severing His Majesty’s bridge of immortality, the Song Clan of the Great Li Empire would’ve most likely gone on to become the biggest laughing stock on the entire Eastern Treasured Vial Continent.”

Chen Ping’an fell deep into thought upon hearing this.

Cui Dongshan strode over to the window to look at the mountain outside, following which he suddenly turned around with a smile as he said, “Esteemed teacher, I have a question for you, and I hope that you can enlighten me.”

“Go ahead,” Chen Ping’an prompted with a smile.

Mao Xiaodong appeared to have been taking a nap, but in reality, he was intently focused on the conversation taking place.

“If the incorrect method is used to pursue a correct outcome, is that correct or not?” Cui Dongshan asked.

Chen Ping’an merely smiled in response.

He had discussed this exact topic with Liu Qingfeng in the past.

“Then how about this?” Cui Dongshan continued. “If the incorrect method is used to obtain an extremely rare correct outcome that would’ve otherwise been very difficult to obtain, is that wrong?”