Academy Dean Returns (8000)

The light was dazzling and bright. The red light shone through the scroll and turned the entire room into a bright red. This red had a bloody hue, which made people feel a sense of horror.

Xu Bai was the first to react, drawing his Hundred Rifts Blade from his waist and slashing horizontally.

A flash of light, and the scroll was split in two, falling to the ground. The dagger inside rolled out and was also split in two.

The red patterns on the dagger were gradually fading and disappearing completely.

The instant the red light appeared, Xu Bai sensed a strange danger, a danger that made him draw his Hundred Rifts.

"Oh no!" Liu Xu suddenly stood up and turned to look outside the room.

At that moment, along with the booming sound, faint footsteps came from outside the room. The footsteps gradually grew louder, and soon there were sounds of discussion, noisy and irritating.

"Let's go out and take a look." Xu Bai put away the Hundred Rifts, raised an eyebrow, and stepped out of the room first.

The first-rank puppet and Liu Xu followed behind, heading in the direction from which the sound came.

The Academy were very large, especially Azure Cloud Academy, which was outrageously audacious. It housed many scholars, so much so that it took Xu Bai and his companions some time to reach the source of the sound.

At this moment, in a square not far ahead, hundreds of scholars were gathered.

Because of the large number of people, it was impossible to see what was going on inside from the outside.

The only thing that could be heard from the outside world was the constant stream of discussions.

"Who did this? This is outrageous!"

"To dare to do such a thing in the sacred place of scholars is simply outrageous!"

"This is the dean's statue, how could there be such a strange phenomenon?"

A series of sounds emanated from within, some filled with panic, some with anger, and others with complex emotions. In short, the various sounds mingled together, creating a chaotic mess.

"How can such a sacred place be so disrespectful? All of you, leave! Don't gather here!"

Just then, dozens of middle-aged men in uniform walked over and quickly dispersed the scholars in front of them.

After these people were dispersed, Xu Bai and Liu Xu were able to see what was happening inside.

In the center of the square stands a colossal statue, made of stone, depicting an old man.

The craftsman who sculpted this statue is incredibly skilled. The statue is so lifelike that it looks like a living person, and it has an inexplicable scholarly air that makes people feel at ease at first glance.

But at this moment, the statue presents a different sight. Dense cracks have appeared all around the statue, and blackish-red blood is seeping out from within the cracks.

After these dark red bloodstains appeared, they instantly turned into clumps, as if they could dry up immediately upon contact with air.

The dried bloodstains gathered together and formed a strange pattern, giving the originally scholarly statue an eerie feel.

When Xu Bai saw these patterns, he felt a strange jolt in his heart. He had a feeling that the statue had come to life and was looking at him with an eerie gaze.

"This is too strange," Xu Bai thought to himself.

They did not leave with them.

Liu Xu looked in the direction of the crowd and spotted a familiar figure among the group of middle-aged people. She quickly called out, "Teacher!"

She called out as she quickly walked over.

Seeing this, Xu Bai followed behind.

He is now very interested in the anomaly of the statue, especially the blood-red patterns that resemble those on the dagger, and he feels that there must be a connection between the two.

Wang Qingfeng, who was looking at the statue, heard a familiar voice, turned around, and saw Liu Xu walking towards him.

Wang Qingfeng was about to say something when his gaze shifted from Liu Xu to Xu Bai, who was also walking towards him. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Greetings, King Xu."

Wang Qingfeng cupped his hands in greeting and bowed slightly.

Seeing this, the other middle-aged scholars exchanged glances and, imitating Wang Qingfeng, bowed to Xu Bai.

Now, Xu Bai is no longer just a minor postmaster of Shadow Courier Station, but King Xu. Anyone who has ever been in the Great Chu Kingdom must show Xu Bai proper etiquette.

Xu Bai waved his hand, put his hands behind his back, and said, "No need for formalities. I came here just to see Liu Xu, but I didn't expect this to happen. I wonder if any of you have noticed?"

Before Wang Qingfeng could answer, Liu Xu's eyes twitched slightly. She looked at Xu Bai, who was putting on an act, and couldn't help but put her hand to her forehead.

"Xu Bai, this is my teacher, Wang Qingfeng," Liu Xu introduced.

Before Xu Bai could speak, Wang Qingfeng spoke first.

Wang Qingfeng glared at Liu Xu and scolded, "Liu Xu, you mustn't be rude. This person in front of you is King Xu of the Great Chu Kingdom. If word gets out that you are being so disrespectful, wouldn't it damage the reputation of the Azure Cloud Academy? Moreover, you are the Director of the Bureau of Surveillance, so you should not address King Xu by his full name, both out of courtesy and reason."

Liu Xu: "..."

Suddenly, she felt a huge gap between her and Xu Bai's status. Before, the two had treated each other as equals, but now, seeing her teacher's solemn expression, she finally realized that Xu Bai was no longer the same as before.

Xu Bai waved his hand and said, "Don't bother with these formalities in special times. By the way, Mr. Wang hasn't told me yet if he's discovered anything?"

He would speak of etiquette when it was appropriate, but now was not the time to be so formal, so Xu Bai told them not to be bound by formalities.

The statue in front of me, in particular, is simply unbelievable.

The statue couldn't have cracked for no reason, nor could it have bled inexplicably. So there's only one possibility: someone did it on purpose.

This statue is of the Academy's dean. To dare to tamper with the statue of the Academy Dean is tantamount to declaring war on the Azure Cloud Academy.

Azure Cloud Academy is a powerful institution, one of the top in the Great Chu Kingdom. Countless officials have graduated from the Azure Cloud Academy.

Being enemies with Qingyun Book is even more difficult than being enemies with other top-tier forces.

"Who else could it be?" Wang Qingfeng said with a wry smile, "Apart from those scholars who have gone astray, no one would deliberately tamper with things here."

"This is the Blood Imprint Method, created by the Dean's junior sister. It can carve a scholar's life's work into a piece."

"Back then, the dean and his junior sister went down completely opposite paths because of their different philosophies."

"Well..."

As he spoke, Wang Qingfeng sighed, his tone filled with helplessness and sadness.

"Oh?" Xu Bai stroked his chin and said, "Have you considered that the person who can get close to this statue might be within this Academy?"

Hearing about some old stories is certainly something to gossip about, but Xu Bai was really thinking about the statue in front of him, especially about the Blood Imprint Method that Wang Qingfeng had mentioned earlier.

The fact that they were able to tamper with things at the Azure Cloud Academy and leave these things inside the statues suggests that they were most likely inside the Academy.

Wang Qingfeng nodded and said, "That's what we were thinking too. We were just about to investigate. King Xu is interested in this matter, so why don't we go together?"

They weren't stupid, and of course they had already anticipated this situation. Just as they were about to investigate, they happened to run into Xu Bai, which led to the current scene.

Xu Bai agreed.

Since the other party has already set their sights on him, if he doesn't take the initiative, they'll think he's easy to bully.

The most important thing in navigating the world is to be able to complain directly.

If you cut me once, I'll cut you twice; if you cut my hand, I'll cut off all four of your limbs.

When Wang Qingfeng saw that Xu Bai had agreed, he planned to lead the way, but before he could take two steps, the statue in front of him began to act strangely.

The cracks were widening and connecting in the blink of an eye, and countless stones fell out from them.

In an instant, the statue turned into a pile of rubble, and where the statue had once stood, a scholar covered in blood stood inside, his eyes tightly closed.

The scholar was covered in blood, his clothes were soaked in blood, and his face was covered in blood. Although his eyes were closed, his chest was heaving violently, so he was obviously alive.

"Long Fu!"

Among the group of middle-aged people, one of them shouted with a sorrowful expression.

This scene unfolded so quickly that as soon as the middle-aged man uttered those two words, the scholar who had been standing in the position of the statue stirred and suddenly opened his tightly closed eyes.

The next moment, intense flames erupted from the scholar's entire body, turning him to ashes. However, two beams of light suddenly shot out from where his eyes had been opened.

The light was blood red and rushed straight towards Xu Bai.

This happened so fast that no one around could react, especially Wang Qingfeng, who was very close to Xu Bai, but the red light was just too fast.

Xu Bai had been on guard, and when the red light appeared, his True Yuan Power began to circulate wildly.

Gold and grayish-white appeared all around, constantly intertwining with each other.

A chaotic aura emerged from the grayish-white color, quickly confusing the surroundings.

Xu Bai simply drew his Hundred Rifts sword and slashed it out.

The Hundred Rifts instantly shattered into hundreds of fragments, which streaked through the air.

The fragments, like an inverted Milky Way, filled with chaos and despair, instantly formed a tornado in front of Xu Bai.

The two crimson beams of light entered the tornado formed by the fragments, and were gradually worn away by the chaotic tornado.

By the time the crimson light reached Xu Bai, it had vanished without a trace.

"Boom!"

Xu Bai gently swung his sword, and chaos and despair began to stir.

The fragments surged forth, surrounding the middle-aged man who had just shouted. At Xu Bai's command, these fragments, carrying chaos and despair, would all burrow into the middle-aged man's body.

This all happened incredibly fast; from the moment Xu Bai swung his sword to this moment, it was only a split second.

The chaos sent chills down the spines of everyone present.

Especially the middle-aged scholar who was surrounded by Hundred Rifts fragments; cold sweat had already appeared on his forehead.

"Do you know that person from earlier?" Xu Bai asked casually.

The middle-aged scholar remained silent, his face still pale.

Wang Qingfeng said, "King Xu, that person is his student, and his most prized student at that."

"I didn't ask you." Xu Bai's tone remained calm, yet it carried a hint of murderous intent.

"This guy came for me, and the power he represents is related to your Azure Cloud Academy. Can I assume that your Azure Cloud Academy might be colluding with this power?"

"In other words, even your Academy cannot bear the responsibility of plotting against the current king who is not of the same surname."

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

Wang Qingfeng's face also turned pale.

The reason is simple: Xu Bai just said is correct.

Not only is there no problem, it's absolutely correct.

The middle-aged scholar, who was surrounded by fragments, finally came to his senses and hurriedly said...

"King Xu, this matter has nothing to do with the Azure Cloud Academy, and I have no idea what my disciple's situation is..."

Before he could finish speaking, a melodious tune began to play.

The middle-aged scholar's face went blank, and he finished speaking.

"I really don't know. This is the first time I've ever seen something like this. My disciple told me a few days ago that he wanted to go home, but I never expected that he would stay inside the statue."

"Controlling the soul?"

The middle-aged scholars around them looked at this scene with strange expressions.

Just how many abilities does this King Xu possess?

Ignoring all of this, Xu Bai removed Hundred Rifts and the power controlling his soul, then put Hundred Rifts back into his waistband.

The next moment, Xu Bai, who had been full of murderous intent, smiled, as if the cold winter had been melted by the sun. Surprisingly, everyone present felt that the young man in front of them was a very positive and sunny person.

The surrounding chaos of gold and gray disappeared.

"I see, it seems I misunderstood you." Xu Bai smiled kindly. If it weren't for his previous behavior, everyone present would have definitely misunderstood.

But no one bothered to investigate this misunderstanding.

It was a foregone conclusion that King Xu would be attacked here.

Wang Qingfeng said, "King Xu, Azure Cloud Academy will definitely give you an explanation for this matter. We will do everything in our power to find out who is behind this."

Xu Bai smiled and said, "Then I'll have to trouble you. If there's any news, you can have Liu Xu inform me."

Wang Qingfeng nodded and agreed.

Xu Bai did not follow them, but instead asked Liu Xu to arrange a room for him.

However, before leaving, he raised his right hand and performed Feng Shui Arithmetic.

The next moment, a golden compass appeared, but unfortunately, no clues were found. The compass needle kept bobbing and wouldn't stop.

Either the other party has a way to evade, or the other party's strength is higher than that of the Feng Shui Arithmetic.

However, since Wang Qingfeng said he would investigate thoroughly, Xu Bai would just wait. He had something more important to do than investigate these clues.

Progress bar! The travelogue I got from Liu Xu at the beginning still needs to be worked on. It's a good thing. Judging from the slow progress bar, it's definitely not a low-level skill.

Nothing is more important than the progress bar; it's a good way to keep grinding while waiting.

Liu Xu reacted quickly and led Xu Bai to a superior room. After Xu Bai pushed open the door and entered, Liu Xu also came in.

Liu Xu entered the room and appeared very silent, her eyes filled with a complex expression, and it was unclear what she was thinking.

Xu Bai frowned and asked, "What are you thinking about? You seem so engrossed in your thoughts."

When Liu Xu heard Xu Bai speak, she came back to her senses and said with a wry smile, "I never thought that the gap between us would be this big today."

She really didn't expect it; perhaps before, she didn't understand the concept of the three words "King Xu".

But today, seeing her own teacher treating Xu Bai with utmost respect, she finally understood what this concept represented.

This concept represents the vast difference in their current status.

Xu Bai teased, "Are you going to kowtow to me?"

Liu Xu spat lightly. "You wish! I will work twice as hard until I catch up with you."

As she spoke, Liu Xu seemed to have been given a shot of adrenaline, and without saying anything more to Xu Bai, she turned around and left.

He was so excited when he left that he didn't even close the door behind him.

Xu Bai was quite helpless, so he went forward to close the door before returning to his chair.

He first pondered the events of the day, and after finding no clues, he took out the travelogue he had obtained earlier.

Seeing the golden progress bar moving slowly, Xu Bai couldn't help but sigh.

"It's the same recipe, the same taste."

He hadn't encountered such a slow-moving situation in a long time, and couldn't help but think back to when he first got the progress bar; he felt the same way back then.

This situation is like visiting a brothel, where a courtesan you know suddenly becomes a respectable woman, and you don't see her for a long time.

But after a long time, you bump into them again on the street, and they even invite you to exercise.

This sense of novelty is extremely strong.

Xu Bai lay back, watching the progress bar steadily increase.

Beside him, a first-rank puppet stood guard, carrying a sword.

While Xu Bai was on his progress bar, Wang Qingfeng called all the teachers in the academy together for a meeting.

The meeting's content was simple: to thoroughly investigate the Academy from top to bottom and find all the clues.

After the meeting ended, the teachers followed Wang Qingfeng's method and began to clean up the college layer by layer.

One of the teachers was quietly leaving. He didn't look for any clues, but left Azure Cloud Academy directly. He wandered through various alleys and, after confirming that no one was following him, came to a secluded alley.

At the very end of this secluded alley, there was a hidden house. The teacher came to the door, looked around, and only after confirming that no one was there did he push the door open and enter.

The door was opened, and a terrifying crimson light flashed inside. The door was quickly closed, and the crimson light vanished instantly.

The house was pitch black, with the windows tightly shut; the intense darkness was somewhat eerie.

The teacher looked around and asked softly, "Are you there?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a blood-red light suddenly shone into the dark room, turning the entire room crimson. In the corner of the room, a shadowy figure, its face unseen, suddenly appeared.

"Zhuge Wen, what if you come to see me at this time and are followed? Are you crazy?"

A hoarse voice came from the shadows, carrying an inexplicable eeriness that sent shivers down one's spine.

Zhuge Wen shuddered and said, "It's alright. I checked before I came. No one was following me. You can rest assured."

The shadow fell silent, saying nothing.

Zhuge Wen seemed to perk up instantly, his voice becoming louder. "Why did you suddenly appear, and why did you attack Xu Bai? Do you know his current status? If we anger the Great Chu Kingdom, we might be in big trouble."

Upon hearing this, the shadow twisted slightly, and as it twisted, the surrounding crimson light intensified.

Is this something you should be concerned about?

Zhuge Wen's breath hitched, and after a moment, he slowly said, "If you don't tell me, I won't do anything for you."

"Are you threatening me?" the shadow said calmly.

Zhuge Wen nodded and said, "I know. I have read your Evil Book and you have something on me. But compared to my life, I can live even if I lose my reputation. If you don't tell me your purpose, I will never work for you again, and I might even expose you."

The shadows remained silent.

Zhuge Wen stopped speaking, waiting for the shadow's reply. He appeared calm on the surface, but cold sweat slowly trickled down his brow.

After a long while, the shadow finally spoke again.

"Xu Bai deciphered Prime Minister Wen's ' Everlasting Righteousness, and he did it perfectly. Do you know what that means?"

"He is definitely not a flawless person, much less a person with a righteous heart. I know this better than anyone else, because I understand him better than anyone else."

"Then there is only one answer: he has something stronger in his heart than the Everlasting Righteousness, and this is exactly what we need."

Zhuge Wen frowned and asked, "What is that?"

"Something that can change our situation," the shadow slowly spoke. "If we could force out something in his possession that's even more powerful than the Everlasting Righteousness,' perhaps we could change our circumstances."

I didn't intend to kill him, but only to plant a seed in his heart. The initial attack was for that purpose, but unexpectedly, he broke through it. Once the seed is planted, I can make it take root and sprout, just like when you first saw those so-called Evil Book. At that time, he will be one of us.

Zhuge Wen took a deep breath and said, "I understand."

The shadow said, "Now, do you still want to expose me?"

Zhuge Wen shook his head. "I will continue to assist you until your grand plan succeeds."

The shadow waved his hand, indicating that he should leave quickly, and didn't say anything more to him.

Zhuge Wen turned around, preparing to leave the room, and approached the door step by step.

Just as he was about to get close, the next moment, something unexpected suddenly happened.

The surrounding crimson light suddenly surged, then transformed into boundless blades that pierced through Zhuge Wen.

Zhuge Wen turned his head with difficulty, his face full of confusion. He was in pain, but his confusion was stronger than his pain.

"Why?"

"Since you have already harbored thoughts of rebellion, I cannot spare your life. Rest assured, if I succeed, I will etch your name into history," the shadow said slowly.

"And... you know what I really think."

The surrounding crimson light flickered constantly, creating an eerie atmosphere in conjunction with the shadows.

Blood trickled from the corner of Zhuge Wen's mouth, and countless cracks appeared on his body. "I never imagined that when you took over this body, it would become so vicious. My teacher, stop being so stubborn. Why are you doing this to yourself..."

"Of course I know what you're thinking. You're not doing this for us at all. You're currently occupying this body, but you haven't completely devoured the soul. You're just trying to find a more suitable vessel."

"After all, if you completely devour the soul, you will never be able to get out again, while Xu Bai is a perfect shell, am I right?"

"You..."

Before he could finish speaking, more and more cracks appeared on Zhuge Wen's body. The cracks gradually shattered, and with the shattering of the cracks, Zhuge Wen turned to ashes.

The shadow emerged, and the surrounding red light faded. "I had no choice, and besides, doing this is a legitimate way for me to help you."

The door opened, and the shadowy figure walked toward the Academy.

Time passed by, and several days had gone by in the blink of an eye.

Over this period of time, Xu Bai has truly experienced the power of the progress bar in the past.

Slow, really slow.

It felt like I'd gotten used to fast-paced life, but suddenly, I'd slowed down again.

As the saying goes, it's hard to go from extravagance to frugality, and that's exactly his situation now; that feeling of boredom has returned.

At this point, only a small portion of the progress bar remains.

Xu Bai estimated that it would take another day or two to finish this travelogue.

It must be said that this is truly a masterpiece worthy of the Academy Dean, which shows just how terrifying the dean's strength is.

Over the past few days, Wang Qingfeng still hasn't found any information, but Xu Bai has received a message from Wang Qingfeng.

One of their teachers, named Zhuge Wen, disappeared, making the matter even more perplexing.

Xu Bai tried Feng Shui Arithmetic, but the result was that there were no clues at all; it was still all nothing.

He wasn't anxious about this outcome, but Wang Qingfeng and the others became increasingly agitated.

It's now very clear that their target is Xu Bai. If this happens a few more times, and word gets out, not only will Azure Cloud Academy's reputation be damaged, but they'll also likely lose favor with the Chu Emperor.

But some things are harder to accomplish the more you rush them.

In this somber atmosphere, Wang Qingfeng appeared increasingly distressed.

Inside the room, Liu Xu chatted with Xu Bai in a disjointed manner.

She originally wanted to leave, since Xu Bai had also come.

She is the Director of the Bureau of Surveillance, and she still has a lot to do.

But now that this has happened, it would be rather inappropriate for her to leave suddenly.

According to Xu Bai, Liu Xu could leave if she wanted to. After all, Xu Bai wasn't an unreasonable person and wouldn't think bad of her just because Liu Xu suddenly left.

But Liu Xu was stubborn and insisted on staying there, determined to get to the bottom of the matter.

Liu Xu has been trying her best to help during this time, but still to no avail.

"Sigh..." Liu Xu sighed.

Xu Bai was delighted to see this.

"I, the person involved, am not worried at all, but you, an outsider, are extremely anxious. What is there to worry about? Things will work themselves out."

Liu Xu raised her head, her eyes filled with speechlessness, and rolled her eyes at her. "You're quite open-minded."

Xu Bai chuckled but didn't say anything.

How could he not be able to let it go? As long as there's progress, he can be happy no matter what.

If you threw dozens of these progress bars at him now, he'd be happy to stay here for a year or two.

Seeing Xu Bai's helpless expression, Liu Xu rolled her eyes even more, and was about to say a few angry words.

Unexpectedly, before she could even speak, a commotion broke out outside.

"Um?"

Xu Bai sat up from his half-lying position, his ears twitching slightly.

With their current strength, they were certainly able to discern the details, and he extracted important information from these sounds.

After hearing the most important information, Xu Bai handed the book to the first-rank puppet and walked towards the door.

Liu Xu heard this too, and her face lit up with joy as she followed behind Xu Bai.

Without lingering, the two went out and headed towards the largest courtyard of the Academy.

At this moment, in the largest courtyard of the Academy, not only the scholars gathered, but also the Academy's teachers.

What used to be a large courtyard now feels unusually crowded.

There was a very spacious area in the courtyard, and even though it was crowded around, no one dared to step into it.

In that open space, there was an ordinary-looking old man with white hair.

Although the old man was dressed simply, he had white hair but a youthful face, bright eyes, and rosy cheeks.

He looks even more energetic than many young people.

His back was ramrod straight, and a strong scholarly aura emanated from him, so strong that even ordinary people could sense it.

Next to the elderly man was a young man lying on a stretcher.

The young man was handsome and dressed in a white robe, but he looked sickly and pale as paper. However, his eyes were particularly bright as he looked around.

The old man's appearance caused a sensation, but the scholars around him left a large space and dared not approach.

Xu Bai and Liu Xu also arrived, but there were too many scholars now, and they couldn't squeeze in for a while.

Through a gap in the crowd, Liu Xu saw the old man whisper in Xu Bai's ear, "It's the Dean."

Dean?

These two words alone are enough to cause a sensation throughout the entire Nanhua Dao.

Xu Bai came here at the invitation of the Dean, who was a top expert comparable to Eunuch Wei.

To be honest, Xu Bai also really wanted to meet him, after all, he had long admired him for a long time.

I obtained my Strengthening Kidney Gathering Art from the hospital director.

There were too many people around. Xu Bai thought for a moment and was about to speak loudly and use his status to make the group of people in front of him make way.

Unexpectedly, the dean noticed Xu Bai first and waved to him.

With a wave of his sleeves, Righteous Qi emanated from him, and the scholars present involuntarily took a step back, making way for him.

At the end of the road is Xu Bai.

"King Xu, please come over," the dean said softly, but his voice carried throughout the entire Academy.

His voice was devoid of emotional fluctuations, exuding a peaceful quality. Just hearing his voice brought Xu Bai a sense of calm.

But when Xu Bai's gaze fell on the young man lying on the ground, his calm was instantly shattered.

—Yun Zihai!