Seeking Truth with a Sword

Chapter 414 - 365: Dread

"Fate is a marvel beyond words. The Former Sui Emperors’ yearning for immortality heralded the age of sea voyages that continues to this day. Countless ships sail across the ocean, transporting goods and ants. In the unknown, they saved our lives."

Pu Liuxuan said, "Jun Qianzi and I, relying on Insect Honey, finally emerged from the Desolate Mountain’s dense forest. That incident changed us forever. I felt grateful for everything in the world and secretly resolved to live well, not to waste this stroke of luck. But he... he became much quieter, often lost in thought. At the time, I didn’t understand what he was thinking, assuming he was still scared from nearly dying in the mountains, so I ceded my position at Dongjun Tower to him, giving him something to focus on. Looking back now... he must have felt disappointed."

Pu Liuxuan gave a bitter smile and said, "Individually, ants are incredibly weak. As a society, they often fight and kill among themselves. Yet once they began to unite and work together, in just one hundred and seventy years, they were able to establish an unprecedented ant colony amidst the perilous Desolate Mountain and find a way to survive. The person who facilitated such a change, however, failed to achieve the same. He remained immersed in hatred, killing, and exploitation of his own kind. You probably already know what happened after. He stole several Mutated Objects from Dongjun Tower, killed the pursuers, and defected from the Academic Palace. And because I vouched for him, I was implicated as well."

Pu Liuxuan held his wine cup, downing the clear liquor in one gulp, and said indifferently, "The events are seventeen or eighteen years in the past now, and the Jun Qianzi I knew, who cared for Yu Country, who cared for the world, has long since ceased to exist."

WHOOSH—

A gust of night wind swept through, blowing open the slightly ajar door.

Pu Liuxuan set down his wine cup, rose to his feet, and said, "It’s getting late, and your teacher’s wife and I still have to go to the Academic Palace, so I’ll take my leave now."

Li Ang also stood up and asked, "Teacher, don’t you live in Chang’an City?"

"No, from now on, I’ll be living in the Academic Palace."

Pu Liuxuan paused for a moment, then added, "That way, everyone can feel more at ease."

His Qi Sea in the Cloud Patrol Realm had been sealed, and he had lived in obscurity in Yizhou for the past seventeen years, as atonement for being implicated in Jun Qianzi’s rebellion. But for Jun Qianzi, who had neither father nor mother, the person he valued most in life was Pu Liuxuan. The Supervision Department had Pu Liuxuan’s family live in the Academic Palace; this was both for their protection and to keep them under surveillance. And even... to use them as bargaining chips if necessary.

Li Ang pressed his lips together and looked at the departing figures of Pu Liuxuan’s family, letting out a long sigh.

"Young Master?"

Chai Chai entered the room, looking at him with concern.

"I’m fine."

Li Ang shook his head. I suddenly understood why, when I first entered the Academic Palace, I would always hear rumors—that like Jun Qianzi, I was from Yizhou, both of us without parents, both exceptionally talented. Jun Qianzi had no earthly attachments and delved too deeply into contemplation, which led him astray. As for myself... I was different from him.

Li Ang gently patted Chai Chai’s hand and smiled, "Go to sleep first; I’ll clean up here."

The third year at the Academic Palace was also known as the practical year. This academic year brought new elements to many courses.

For Agricultural Science, students were required to farm without using any Spiritual Power assistance. With their own hands, they had to cultivate more farmland and breed poultry and livestock. According to the agricultural doctor, Shepherd Chief Mu Changgeng, only by doing so could the Academic Palace Disciples understand the hardships of the common people, so that they wouldn’t regard those beneath them as pigs or dogs when in a position of power.

Many complained bitterly, for they were all accustomed to using their Spiritual Power to do everything. Suddenly having to personally plow, weed, sow, shovel manure, and fertilize was very hard to adapt to.

The students specializing in Body Refinement didn’t mind at all. They had to carry stone weights and run around the Academic Palace two or three times each day, so the physical effort involved in farming and cattle raising was nothing to them. As for entering the animal sheds, shoveling dung, and dealing with the foul smell, the Body Refinement students said it wasn’t a problem. They could hold their breath for a long time and weren’t fazed by the stench at all.

The Yu Law curriculum required students to help out at the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Justice, and the Chang’an Wannian County Government with the backlog of cases. The cases were of varying severity, with neighborhood disputes, family conflicts, burglaries, as well as murder cases that the local State Mansions found difficult to investigate.

Li Ang heard that three classmates from the next class showed an immense enthusiasm for investigating murder cases and would even ride on Flying Swords to various State Mansions and inspect the cases themselves after class.

These three each bore the surnames Fu, Ke, and Jin... Hmm... there was a strange sense of déjà vu.

The curriculum for Military Studies became much richer, too. Students were taught how to construct and use siege and defense equipment and learned how to coordinate and work with armies and soldiers. Cultivators were powerful; a spell or a single talisman could wipe out dozens or hundreds of elite soldiers.

Yet Cultivators themselves were also fragile; a stray arrow or a sharp dagger could disrupt their casting and could even be fatal.

Therefore, on the battlefield, Cultivators usually had a small protective squad of dozens of people around them. These people would wear the thickest armor that could weaken the power of spells and would protect the former at all costs, fighting for time for them to cast spells.

Furthermore, Military Studies began to overlap with Mathematics and Natural Science. A good general had to consider things a hundred, even a thousand times more complex than an ordinary soldier. This included how to repair bridges and pave roads to ensure logistics; how to set up camps to avoid attacks by floods or insects; and how to devise codes that the enemy couldn’t crack. Compared to the brawling content of the first and second years’ Military Studies classes, the current curriculum was undoubtedly much more complex and tedious.

Many students complained privately, believing that learning these things was pointless; the Academic Palace wasn’t going to train each and every student to become a General. But Li Ang felt that the Academic Palace might indeed think so—every Academic Palace Disciple who studied seriously and passed the exams was an excellent candidate to become a General, county official, Imperial Censor, agricultural officer, and so on. If the Emperor ever wished to clean out the noble families, he would simply need to pick out some individuals from past graduates. They could instantly fill the gaps left by the noble families in the court, allowing the vast empire to continue functioning.

Moreover, Pu Liuxuan, who returned to the Academic Palace low-key, also undid his Cultivation Seal at Dongjun Tower, gradually recovered to the Cloud Patrol Realm, and obtained a job at the Book Collection Pavilion. Even though, because of the incident with Jun Qianzi, he temporarily couldn’t restore his honor as a Doctor or resume teaching, he was at least much better off than before.

Talismanic study, Mind Study, national history, Hundred Beasts... Li Ang was content amidst the heavy course load, nearly forgetting about the Ten Thousand Spirit Book altogether. He was still wary because of Mo Si’s loss of control and kept the Ten Thousand Spirit Book on his person, not once having used it or even tested it.

Just when Li Ang thought this autumn would pass uneventfully, the unexpected actively knocked on his door.