Chapter 118: Emperor
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek
Thud thud.
Beside Qin Mu's legs, the two emptied sword cases fell to the ground and rolled two rounds.
Behind him was startled scholars that were staring blankly. Even the boy that was under Daoist Ling Yun had also turned his head with his neck twisted at a startling degree. They all had their mouths agape as they looked towards the inner hall speechlessly.
Behind Hall of Pure Yang was Imperial College's Hall of Supreme Learning. Hall of Supreme Learning was several times bigger than Hall of Pure Yang. In front of the hall was a long flight of stairs that had nine hundred and ninety-nine steps. On the top of the stairs and in front of the great hall was the Saint Seat, a place that only the empire's Grand Chancellor could seat.
However, at this moment, the one on Saint Seat wasn't the young patriarch of Heavenly Devil Cult who was also the empire's Grand Chancellor. It was a middle-aged man that wore a yellow robe on his body and a crown on his head. The young patriarch of Heavenly Devil Cult was seated below him and below Patriarch were hundreds of civil and military court councilors that were standing on the stairs, as well as a directorate.
Below the stairs were the scholars of all around the world that were currently in a contest.
The scholars that could come here were all divine arts practitioner and the content of their examination was different from scholars like Qin Mu. The scholars who could come here had all gone through tests that were extremely difficult.
When these scholars had reached here after trials and tribulations, some of them fainted and were directly disqualified when they saw the yellow-robed man on Saint Seat along with such a large disposition.
The person on Saint Seat was exactly the current Eternal Peace Empire's Son of Heaven, Emperor Yanfeng.
Emperor Yanfeng had personally graced Imperial College and this wasn't unexpected. Emperor Yanfeng had come here many times to check on the scholars around the world that were seeking knowledge and becoming the students of the Son of Heaven.
Imperial College, colleges and primary schools were weapons for Emperor Yanfeng to confront sects that were deep rooted. Especially so for Imperial College which was the most important of them all, there was no way he would not inspect it.
Below the stairs, there were numerous scholars competing against one another in a fiery battle when suddenly they heard a loud boom. The back door of Hall of Pure Yang which was in front of the Hall of Supreme Learning exploded open and a figure flew backward and crashed into the battlefield!
Closely following behind were wooden swords stabbing towards the figure that was flying backward at an even faster speed.
The sword wind whistled and sounds of collisions kept coming through. Seventy-one sounds rang out continuously and as the swords nailed that figure and smashed him onto the stairs, making him sprawl out on his back.
Below Hall of Supreme Learning, there was absolute silence. The scholars that were competing were all in a daze as they stared blankly at the person on the steps.
There was also absolute silence in front of Hall of Supreme Learning. The hundreds of civil and military court councilors that were on the stairs were also shocked.
After some time, Emperor Yanfeng smiled and said neither too fast nor too slow, "Grand Chancellor, it seems like the competitions for the primary school scholars are much more lively than the college scholars'. Even the directorate was beaten away. Now I'm interested to see the primary school scholars' competitions."
Young patriarch smiled, "If Your Majesty wants to see it, then we'll call these scholars to come forward and have their competition here. Ling Yun, are you still not getting up? Don't you find it embarrassing enough?"
Daoist Ling Yun was embarrassed and ashamed. He quickly got up to his feet and apologized to Emperor Yanfeng.
There was still a wooden sword stabbed in his chest. This wooden sword was the seventy-second one. With seventy-two swords repeatedly stabbing his chest at the same position, the wooden swords had already stabbed into his muscles and nearly stabbed into his heart.
It was lucky he managed to unseal his other divine treasures when he was flying back from the strikes. Only with his magic power regained, he wasn't killed by Qin Mu.
However, he had lost face in front of the entire Imperial College and even in front of the emperor, the court councilors and all the way to foreign countries.
—Among the civil and military court councilors, there were a few that were envoys from foreign countries.
Emperor Yanfeng smiled, "Directorate, you are really capable, to actually get beaten like this by a primary school scholar. Who was the one that beat you? Call him up! I want to see who dares to beat a fourth ranking high official of my imperial court."
Daoist Ling Yun became even more ashamed and wanted more than anything to find a hole to tunnel into.
Young patriarch called another directorate over and let him accompany Daoist Ling Yun over. He then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, Ling Yun must have underestimated the enemy and let the primary school scholar take the upper hand. However, this primary school scholar's ability is also remarkable. To be able to beat Ling Yun like this, even I am starting to get curious and want to see who has this kind of ability."
In front of Hall of Pure Yang, Qin Mu acted as if nothing had happened and turned his head back. He saw that the few scholars behind him still hadn't regained their senses. Only the girl called Si Yunxiang was staring at him with wide eyes and when she saw him turning back his head, this girl immediately retracted her gaze and lowered her head while rubbing the corners of her clothes.
"This shy appearance, she's definitely not Granny Si!" Qin Mu was full of confidence as he thought to himself.
Right at this moment, Daoist Ling Yun quickly walked over with another directorate. That boy immediately welcomed Daoist Ling Yun back by calling out, "Teacher…"
Piak.
That boy tumbled from a slap from Daoist Ling Yun and the other directorate beside him frowned, "Senior brother, why do you have to be so petty and vent your anger on a little kid?"
Daoist Ling Yun had a grim expression as he looked towards Qin Mu with his heart filled with anger that couldn't be quenched, "You, come with me!"
The other directorate looked at the other scholars and said, "The rest of you follow as well. The examination in Hall of Pure Yang will be temporarily stopped."
All the scholars regained their senses and immediately caught up.
Everyone came to the bottom of the stairs in front of Hall of Supreme Learning and their hearts couldn't help pumping violently. None of them knew that there were so many people here and they were all prestigious figures in the empire, even the emperor was among them!
Qin Mu looked around and exercised restraint in his eyes to look downwards. Wei Yong was also standing under the stairs but he didn't take any examination. When he saw Qin Mu, he wanted to greet him but he held it back as he tweaked his ears and scratched his cheeks in frustration.
Emperor Yanfeng smiled, "Who was the primary school scholar that had blown away my directorate? Let me have a look."
Qin Mu took a step forward and raised his head to look directly at the emperor, thinking to himself, "This is Emperor Yanfeng, the current emperor of Eternal Peace Empire?"
Emperor Yanfeng was different from how he imagined him to be. In his imagination, Emperor Yanfeng should be a wise and divine existence, having an awe-inspiring presence like a heavenly god; however, this Emperor Yanfeng looked amiable. He wore a yellow dragon robe on his body and had a red belt embedded with gold and jade. His face was slightly plump and the area between his brows was wide. He had a high nose bridge and had a mustache and beard.
The mustache grew above his upper lips and the bear grew below his lower lips which was much shorter than the mustache above; however, it wasn't too jarring. Someone must have often helped him trim his mustache and beard thus it was tidy and not messy, looking stylish.
Emperor Yanfeng looked at him curiously and smiled, "Pretty young, it's really rare for one to have such ability. Where are you from?"
Qin Mu bowed and wanted to say Lizhou Prefecture when he changed his mind. He replied honestly, "I'm from Great Ruins."
Just as he said it, a little general suddenly came out from the ranks and bowed, "Your Majesty, please give the order to capture this person! He's an abandoned person from Great Ruins!"
The moment he said it, the whole audiences were instantly in a commotion.
Looking towards the source of the sound, Qin Mu was slightly worried. He saw that little general was Qin Feiyue, Little General Qin. Qin Feiyue naturally wouldn't be unfamiliar with him. They had not only met once and had even chatted with each other in the inn in Border Dragon City.
Qin Feiyue knew some of his background.
At this moment, an old minister beside Emperor Yanfeng said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, this little brother here is the Flower Alley Divine Physician that I had found."
"Flower Alley Divine Physician, so young?"
Emperor Yanfeng was startled for a moment and smiled, "Step down, Little General Qin. He had already said he was from Great Ruins so why should you be flustered?"
Qin Feiyue protested, "Your Majesty, this person has a dubious background and is related to Heavenly Devil Cult. Your Majesty, please perceive it!"
Emperor Yanfeng frowned and said, "Heavenly Devil Cult is also a cult under my rule, and they are also my people. You are now making me take down my own people, then how am I going to govern Heavenly Devil Cult?"
Qin Feiyue still wanted to argue, "But…"
Emperor Yanfeng's expression turned slightly grim as he waved his hand, "Step down. Among my court councilors, there are elites from every sect and every cult. Based on their origins, there is half of them that are from devil cults and devil sects. Little General Qin, you are going slightly overboard!"
Qin Feiyue could only step down.
Emperor Yanfeng took a look at Qin Mu and smiled, "Under the whole heaven, every spot is the emperor's ground. To the borders of the land, every individual is the emperor's minister. My lands are not only restricted to Eternal Peace, even people of Great Ruins are my people. You're a disciple of Heavenly Devil Cult?"
Qin Mu bowed and replied, "That's right."
Emperor Yanfeng laughed loudly as he looked at the civil and military court councilors at his left and right, "Heavenly Devil Cult has always been elusive and now even their cult's disciples are entered Imperial College to seek knowledge. Grand Chancellor, you have done a great deed!"
Young patriarch bowed, "This is Your Majesty's good fortune."
A cabinet minister beside him said, "Your Majesty, this person may be an abandoned person."
"Abandoned person?"
Emperor Yanfeng was unconcerned and replied leisurely, "For the people abandoned by gods, it doesn't mean that I would also abandon them. Gods can abandon all living things but I can't. When they come to my land, no matter what their origins are, they are my people. So there's no abandoned person!"
An old minister went forward and bowed, "But Your Majesty, recently there are sects creating havoc and I'm afraid that Heavenly Devil Cult is also getting restless. If this person is a spy from Heavenly Devil Cult…"
"These sects of the martial world always wanted to make a big fuss to scare me."
Emperor Yanfeng also had a slight headache and sneered, "On the surface, they are rebelling Imperial Preceptor but they are actually rebelling me! They want me to move my ass and let them sit on the Dragon Throne. What a wishful thinking! In the past, country depended on sects and the sects decided who should be the emperor. These sects rested themselves on the country and the common people to suck their blood, killing off any emperor that wasn't to their liking. The present is now different from the past. Sects can only be dependent on the country now!"
As he said it, it wasn't known which of his heartstring had been moved, as he stood up excitedly, "Imperial Preceptor and I are pushing for a transformation and it is exactly to change the situation that sects control the lifelines of the common people and country. I don't just want a change, I also want a revolution, to change the lives of these sects and to change my life! If these sects don't want to change, they will just have to wait for me to change their lives! The resources that sects control will all belong to the empire and they can forget about using coercion against me! Now only the sects need to change, even the imperial court has to change. If the imperial court doesn't change, sooner or later we'll be done for! You all say Imperial Preceptor is extreme but he's not as extreme as I am. Imperial Preceptor's actions are following my intentions! Rebelling Imperial Preceptor means to rebel me!"