Chapter 2245: Means
Lu Yin took a deep breath as he stared at Xia Ziheng. "I hope to see all of my enemies there on that day."
"One is already not bad," Xia Ziheng replied. The old man then started to leave, though he spoke over his shoulder before disappearing. "If you have any problems, go see Wu Taibai. He’ll help you deal with anything that comes up."
As far as Xia Ziheng was concerned, “Yu Hao” was already essentially a member of Shenwu's Sky. After all, the young man had no choice but to join his sect.
After Xia Ziheng left, Lu Yin felt quite the headache. How was he supposed to ask Grandmaster Gu Yan to visit Shenwu's Sky? Even if Lu Yin had a way to get Grandmaster Gu Yan to visit Shenwu's Sky, how was the old man supposed to demonstrate that he was willing to join the sect? That was completely impossible.
Everyone knew that the Array Grandmaster had an odd personality, and Lu Yin had seen it for himself. One undeniable fact was that Gu Yan absolutely hated the four ruling powers. That was something that Lu Yin could never change.
Unfortunately, there was no option for Lu Yin but for him to bite the bullet and agree to Xia Ziheng’s demands. The only way for Lu Yin to be exposed even faster would be for Shenwu’s Sky to directly reach out to Grandmaster Gu Yan.
Furthermore, Xia Ziheng’s last comment about Wu Taibai had actually been a warning—Wu Taibai was going to be keeping an eye on “Yu Hao.”
While Wu Taibai was not an Envoy himself, he certainly had the combat strength to fight against one. He was one of the elites of Shenwu’s Sky’s Shen generation, and it was possible that Xia Ziheng believed that a three-tribulation Lockbreaker like Yu Hao would not be able to get rid of Wu Taibai. This was the confidence of one of the four ruling powers.
While Lu Yin could definitely get away from Wu Taibai's surveillance, there were already many things on Lu Yin’s plate; he would need to seclude himself to roll his die or do other things once he arrived in the Higher Realm. He could not constantly be on guard against Wu Taibai, especially since the man was another member of Virtue Archives’ faculty. It was even possible that they would be staying together. This was yet another hassle that Lu Yin needed to deal with.
This meant that Wu Taibai could not be allowed to become one of the chaperones.
Lu Yin continued to stare out at the lake in a daze. Suddenly, a voice spoke up behind him. "Professor, please teach me again."
It was Liu Que. He had been blown away by a flick of Lu Yin's finger before, unable to even see what had happened. He had improved greatly since then, so he was eager to challenge “Yu Hao” again. Liu Que was confident that he could at least see whatever attack was used to defeat him this time.
Lu Yin's eye twitched as he turned around to face Liu Que. "You’re quite persistent, but you clearly don’t understand your own strength."
"I do," Liu Que replied bluntly, "I will be able to clearly see your attack this time."
Lu Yin smiled. "And what if you can't?"
"If I can’t, then I can’t," Liu Que answered as though that were the only possible response.
Lu Yin shook his head. "Being constantly challenged is a bit annoying, especially when I'm enjoying the scenery."
"Then what do you want, Professor?" Liu Que replied.
Lu Yin explained, "If you can see my attack clearly, then I’ll teach you a battle technique. If you reach a high enough level of mastery with it, you can create a chaotic region of the void and overcome practically every battle technique that you face. If you fail, I want you to do one thing for me."
Liu Que's eyes lit up. "A technique that can create a chaotic region of the void and overcome other battle techniques? What is this technique?"
"I’ll only tell you if you win our bet, but there’s no chance of you winning."
The sword left the scabbard on Liu Que’s back and appeared in his hand. The nearby pebbles on the ground rose into the air and shattered. "Professor, please proceed."
"Fine. I’ll attack now. See if you can see it clearly." Lu Yin then stared at Liu Que and did not move, though suddenly, his voice came from behind Liu Que. "Were you able to see it clearly?"
Liu Que stared blankly in front of himself. His fingers were still clenching the hilt of his sword, and a pebble was moved by a bit of wind. He still could not see any of this professor’s movements.
He turned to stare at “Yu Hao” in shock. "Professor, your strength is unbelievable."
Lu Yin laughed. "I just used the battle technique that I mentioned can invert the void. If it can invert the void, then there’s naturally no way that your eyes can track it."
Liu Que's eyes lit up with excitement once again. "How can I learn that technique from you, Professor?"
"Let's not talk about that right now. You just agreed to do something for me if you lost. Does this count as your loss?"
"Of course. Please tell me what you want, Professor."
"I want you to stop the other students from voting for Wu Taibai to become one of the chaperones, though you can’t reveal the fact that I asked you to do this," Lu Yin explained. This was what he had come up with. Whether or not it actually worked all depended on Liu Que, though Lu Yin was quite confident in Liu Que. The swordsman’s personality essentially ensured that he would not let Lu Yin down.
Liu Que sheathed his sword. "Very well."
He then turned and left without even asking why he had been given such a task. He would simply accomplish what he felt obligated to do.
Lu Yin quite liked interacting with such straightforward people, as he did not have to put in too much effort. They people were generally quite determined and focused, which made them very reliable. Still, Lu Yin was curious to see how Liu Que would handle his task.
Liu Que was quite straight-forward, but not particularly cunning. Thus, he directly approached the other students and challenged them. After defeating the various students, Liu Que would make them swear to not vote for Wu Taibai as one of the faculty chaperones for the upcoming excursion. Liu Que did not hide his purpose, and his actions were also very public.
Word quickly spread throughout Virtue Archives, as every student who encountered Liu Que was forced to swear to not vote for Wu Taibai. It only took a few days before nearly half the students were forced to swear to Liu Que’s demand. As news of his actions spread, a few people started to spread rumors that Liu Que was targeting Shenwu's Sky, while others claimed that the swordsman was retaliating against Wu Taibai, who had refused a challenge from Liu Que.
All kinds of rumors started to spread.
Lu Yin was not surprised by Liu Que’s actions when he learned of them. After all, such a straightforward method of accomplishing his goals was right in line with Liu Que's style, as it was direct and simple.
Lu Yin's goal had already been achieved. Liu Que was frantically seeking out various students, and his determination left Wu Taibai speechless. He actually went to speak with Liu Que and ask what had happened and why Liu Que was doing such a thing. However, Liu Que would not even respond. He simply ignored Wu Taibai and continued as before.
Wu Taibai tried to stop Liu Que on several occasions, but Liu Que simply turned around and went elsewhere. The one time that Wu Taibai tried to forcibly stop Liu Que, the student instantly drew his sword. Liu Que was not afraid of fighting Wu Taibai, and in fact, he was eager to do so.
Not all rumors floating around Virtue Archives were false or baseless. It was true that Liu Que had challenged more than just Lu Yin and Xia Shenguang after entering the academy; the rest of the faculty had been included as well, including Wu Taibai. After all, Wu Taibai was the only Enlighter among the faculty who had broken through the Eighteen Lines Array, and naturally Liu Que was very curious to compare himself to Wu Taibai’s strength.
However, Wu Taibai had always refused the student’s challenge, and Liu Que had stopped trying to challenge the instructor after being denied several times. When Wu Taibai tried to stop Liu Que from interfering with the student vote, Liu Que was more than happy to fight against the instructor.
Unfortunately for Liu Que, Wu Taibai was not truly willing to fight with the student.
Things continued, and Liu Que roamed through almost the entire academy, and every student he encountered was forced to swear that they would not vote for Wu Taibai. Eventually, Wu Taibai gave up on trying to stop the determined swordsman.
Only a short time later, Virtue Archives officially tallied the students’ votes, and three instructors were selected to lead a team of students on a training excursion.
Unsurprisingly, Wu Taibai lost without receiving even a single vote. This was not because Liu Que had forced all the students to swear to not vote for Wu Taibai. Liu Que had only approached the majority of the students. It was simply that the rest of the students were afraid that voting for Wu Taibai would offend Liu Que. So, rather than invite trouble upon themselves, they simply refused to vote for the instructor. As for Xia Shenguang and others at that level, they did not even vote for the chaperones, which was why Wu Taibai ended up not receiving even a single vote.
Lu Yin and the other faculty members watched the students from a distance. Not even Lu Yin had expected Liu Que to be so ruthless and efficient in his task. In fact, Lu Yin had assumed that Wu Taibai would approach Liu Que directly and settle the matter so that he could be selected to be one of the faculty chaperones, but life rarely went as expected.
Prof. Huai gasped in surprise. "Prof. Wu, you didn’t get even a vote? Liu Que is quite cruel. Did you do something to offend him?"
Wu Taibai smiled, but he appeared to be completely calm. "He wants to spar with me, but I’ve never agreed to it."
Prof. Huai sighed. "He’s still too young and impulsive."
Wu Taibai did not receive any votes, so Lu Yin expected Prof. Zheng to replace Wu Taibai. As for Lu Yin himself and Mr. Tang, the students’ discussions had already revealed that both of them were guaranteed to be selected as chaperones. Wu Taibai’s absence was the only surprise, as Liu Que’s interference had changed things at the last minute.
However, Wu Taibai’s replacement was another surprise; it was not Prof. Zheng who received the most votes, but rather Prof. Wei. This was not only surprising to Lu Yin and the other instructors, but also to Headmaster Wen. "Is Prof. Wei really that popular with the students?"
Prof. Xiao Wen shrugged. "Everyone who voted for her were male students."
Headmaster Wen shook his head. "That makes sense."
He then glanced over at Professor Xiao Wen. "Look at you. Even a woman disguising herself as a man is more attractive than you."
The woman blushed and refused to even meet Headmaster Wen’s eyes.
The votes were tallied, and the results were announced; the chaperones who would lead the team of students on their training excursion would be Prof. Hao Yu, Mr. Tang, and Prof. Wei. Prof. Wei tried to refuse, but the rules were the rules. Since the students had voted for her, she had to go.
Headmaster Wen immediately called the three chaperones to meet with him. "Our students will first choose the chaperones for the training team, and then the selected chaperones will choose the students to participate. Each of you will select twenty five students to go on the trip, while I will choose another twenty-five. Thus, we will send a team of 100 students to represent Virtue Archives on this training excursion to visit the four ruling powers.”
"Headmaster, this joke has gone too far. Prof. Wei is unwilling to chaperone the team, so how can he be chosen? If anything happens in the Higher Realm, he won’t be capable of protecting the students." Prof. Zheng arrived at the meeting place with the intention of replacing Prof. Wei.
Prof. Wei jumped in. "It would be best if I were replaced by Prof. Zheng."
Prof. Zheng apologized to Prof. Wei. "I’m not trying to look down on you, Prof. Wei. It's just that you only teach history, and this training excursion to visit the four ruling powers is not some small matter. I ask that you please forgive me."
Prof. Wei smiled. "I completely understand."
Headmaster Wen actually yelled at the instructor, "What do you think the academy’s rules are for? What do you think you are doing to the students’ choices?"
Everyone fell silent.
Headmaster Wen stared at Prof. Wei. "Regardless of why it happened, the students voted for you, and you are obligated to go. Luck is another aspect of strength. Everyone has some qualities that are superior to others, the purpose of our academy is not to send powerhouses to the forefront and fight. You may take your leave, since it has been decided, no changes are allowed."
As the headmaster reached the end of his explanation, he turned to give Prof. Zheng a pointed glare. The man had no choice but to acquiesce. "Yes, Headmaster."
After Prof. Zheng left, the headmaster glanced at Lu Yin and the other two instructors. "Remember that our academy is always an academy. Regardless of what may happen elsewhere, here, we are always teachers. That will never change."
…
There was still a month left before the training team would leave Virtue Archives, and Lu Yin eventually settled on his selection of twenty five students, assisted by Nong Siniang. After delivering the list to the headmaster, Lu Yin readied himself to roll his die again.
He wanted to learn what the four ruling powers were up to now.
If the four ruling powers hoped to use Star Alliance as bait to force Forgotten Ruins God to take action, then there was no way that word of the matter would not spread. Leaks were unavoidable. Still, the only ones who would hear even about these rumors would have high positions, as Forgotten Ruins God would quickly grow suspicious if people too far down the line knew of it as well.
Lu Yin’s targets for Possession were Envoys. Such people could not be considered to hold too high or too low of a position within the four ruling powers, so they were the perfect targets to acquire the information that he needed.
Lu Yin’s only obstacle was that it was often too difficult to roll six pips, and it was also practically impossible to control who he Possessed. It was also possible that he would end up Possessing someone in the Fifth Mainland again, which would be a complete waste of a roll.
There were complicated emotions as Lu Yin raised a hand and brought out his die. A tap of a finger caused it to start spinning.
He shook his head when he saw five pips. While there were many students and instructors in Virtue Archives who had innate gifts, he could not approach and touch them without a valid reason, as it would cause misunderstandings.
The next roll showed one pip. Again.
Next was six pips, and Lu Yin did not even register the outcome before his consciousness returned to the mysterious dark space.
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