"Li Qianhu, the man up ahead is Ye Jing."
Sure enough, as soon as he stepped into the Hanlin Academy's inner hall, a Hanlin Academy Official came over with several constables to question him.
"You're Ye Jing?"
"This humble one is Ye Jing."
Ye Jing remained calm, showing no sign of panic.
"Ye Jing, Hu Jie slandered His Majesty, incited the people, and plotted rebellion. If you know where he is, tell me everything."
"If you dare hide anything, don't blame me for showing no mercy with my blade."
Li Qianhu, who was questioning him, drew the saber at his waist. Its blade flashed, radiating a chill.
His aura surged as well. He tried to use the might of the Innate Realm to pressure Ye Jing and intimidate him.
If Ye Jing were still the Qi Refining Fifth Layer novice he had once been, he might really have been cowed by that aura.
But Ye Jing was now at Innate Perfection. To him, this sort of aura was no more than a mayfly trying to shake a tree.
Even so, Ye Jing put on a panicked expression and stammered, "I... I report to you, Li... Qianhu, I truly don't know where Hu Jie is!"
"I spent all of yesterday compiling historical records here at the Hanlin Academy. I had no contact with Hu Jie at all."
Seeing how flustered Ye Jing looked, Li Qianhu didn't press him further.
Before Ye Jing had even come to the Hanlin Academy, Li Qianhu had already gotten a full account of what happened yesterday. What Ye Jing had just said matched what he had learned.
After getting through Li Qianhu's questioning, Ye Jing returned to his desk and picked up the historical records from the table, though his mind wasn't on them.
From what Li Qianhu had said, Hu Jie's actions had surely brought disaster down on him. If he were caught, at the very least he'd lose his head.
But judging by Li Qianhu's words, Hu Jie had escaped for now and was safe.
Who knew where Hu Jie was now?
Ye Jing had a good impression of Hu Jie. He was also Ye Jing's only friend at the Hanlin Academy.
Hu Jie was upright by nature and had a keen eye. Some of his arguments were so striking that even Ye Jing, a man from a later age, couldn't help but be impressed.
Hopefully Hu Jie could survive this calamity!
Ye Jing was only a minor expert at Innate Perfection. He might have just enough strength to protect himself, but in a matter like this, there was truly nothing he could do.
If he were a God of Heaven and Earth, the first to appear in Dali in five hundred years, then even if Hu Jie had assassinated the emperor, he'd be confident he could keep him safe.
There was nothing for it. Ye Jing could only silently pray that Hu Jie would come through unharmed.
Suppressing his worry for Hu Jie, Ye Jing soon picked up the book on his desk and began reading, immersing himself in its pages.
The book recounted the life of Wei Donglai, a peerless genius of his age.
Wei Donglai had a troubled past. Though he was a prince of Great Wei, he was born after Emperor Wei had drunkenly favored a palace maid.
In the vast Imperial Palace, he had been all but invisible. From the day he was born, Emperor Wei had never once looked at him.
Not only was he unloved by Emperor Wei, but as a child, Wei Donglai had also suffered constant abuse at the hands of eunuchs and palace maids.
But Wei Donglai had astonishing talent. Though no one paid him any mind, he mastered any cultivation method at a glance. More than that, he could turn the rotten into the miraculous, unleashing power that was truly astonishing.
His talent was extraordinary, and his comprehension was unmatched for a thousand years. At just seven, he created his own cultivation method, and at thirteen, he became a Grandmaster.
At eighteen, during the Great Wei Royal Clan Tournament, Wei Donglai made a stunning debut. As a Great Grandmaster, he overwhelmed the many princes of Great Wei and easily claimed first place.
But a tree that rose above the forest was bound to be struck by the wind. Though winning first place made Wei Donglai the center of attention and earned him Emperor Wei's favor, it also brought him a deadly calamity.
Half a year later, the eldest, second, and third princes—the strongest contenders for the crown prince's position—joined forces to lay a trap. They got Wei Donglai drunk on Thousand-Year Drunk.
They arranged for Wei Donglai to sleep with the consorts of the imperial harem, then beat him to the punch by accusing him before Emperor Wei.
When Emperor Wei saw this, he flew into a rage. He stripped Wei Donglai of all his cultivation and confined him in the imperial mausoleum, sentencing him to spend the rest of his life there.
Yet Wei Donglai was blessed with great fortune. In the Great Wei Imperial Mausoleum, he discovered the Marrow Washing Scripture left behind by a eunuch of the previous dynasty.
With the Marrow Washing Scripture, Wei Donglai soon remade his meridians and returned to the path of cultivation.
Spring turned to autumn, and sixty years passed in Great Wei. In the imperial mausoleum, Wei Donglai did nothing but clean each day and cultivate in his remaining hours.
After sixty years of arduous cultivation, Wei Donglai had become one of the foremost figures at the Peak of Humanity. His cultivation was complete, and at last he broke out of the imperial mausoleum.
During those sixty years of cultivation, Wei Donglai had already learned the whole truth about what had happened back then. The moment he left the mausoleum, he went after the three princes to settle the score.
In those sixty years, Great Wei had undergone a world-shaking transformation. The reigning Emperor Wei had reached the end of his Lifespan, and the new Emperor Wei was the former eldest prince.
The second and third princes were also Princes wielding real power, each surrounded by countless experts. Great Grandmasters were at their beck and call, and even figures at the Peak of Humanity worked for them.
Wei Donglai wasn't afraid in the least. Dressed in white, he strode through the air and charged toward the estates of the second and third princes.
Whether you were a renowned Great Grandmaster or a Martial Saint of Humanity at the Peak of Humanity, no one could withstand a single palm strike from Wei Donglai.
He arrived dressed in white and left dressed in white, without a drop of blood on him.
After dealing with the second and third princes, Wei Donglai didn't stop. He shattered the void and headed straight for the Great Wei Imperial Palace.
The Great Wei dynasty was a thousand years older than Dali, with unfathomable reserves of strength. Though it had declined in recent years, five hundred years ago it had unquestionably been the mightiest dynasty in the Canglan Domain.
The Great Wei Imperial Family alone had no fewer than twenty figures at the Peak of Humanity, and no one knew how much strength it had secretly accumulated.
Yet Wei Donglai still entered the Great Wei Imperial Palace alone, clad in white.
No one knew what kind of earth-shaking battle had taken place inside the Great Wei Imperial Palace that day.
All anyone knew was that after that day, Great Wei had a new ruler: Wei Donglai.
Under Wei Donglai's rule, Great Wei reached its peak. It not only dominated the Canglan Domain but also became a formidable power across the Eastern Continent.
After becoming Emperor Wei, Wei Donglai's cultivation grew ever more unfathomable. Before he was even a hundred, he had already touched the bottleneck of the Heaven and Earth God Realm.
But in those days, spiritual energy was in decline, and the Heaven and Earth Shackles simply would not allow a God of Heaven and Earth to exist.
Wei Donglai defied the heavens, gathering martial arts from across the world in search of a path to defy fate and attain the Dao.
Twenty years later, Wei Donglai had fused the world's martial arts and created the Imperial Pole Dao Proving Scripture. In the end, he used it to break the Heaven and Earth Shackles and set off overseas to seek the Great Dao.
Wei Donglai truly lived up to his reputation as the most peerless genius Great Wei had seen in millennia. In the Age of Dharma's End, he had broken the Heaven and Earth Shackles, defied fate to attain the Dao, and advanced to the Heaven and Earth God Realm.
His astonishing brilliance surpassed even that of Emperor Li Long Zhan, the first Emperor of Dali, and Yao Xingchen, the King of Medicine.
[You have witnessed Wei Donglai's life. You were fully focused, activating Heaven-Defying Comprehension.]
[Your comprehension defies the heavens. You have comprehended the Imperial Pole Dao Proving Scripture.]
Hearing the system notification, Ye Jing immediately closed his eyes and carefully contemplated the mysteries of the Imperial Pole Dao Proving Scripture.
Before you continue