All this Blood Essence had mostly come from converting the Fierce Beast corpses he'd purchased. The Wei State Duke Mansion had spent nearly ten years' worth of savings on it.
But at that moment, Mo Yunxuan was burning with rage and clearly didn't care about such material possessions. He'd also lost all interest in hoarding them like a little squirrel.
He had the 200 men sit cross-legged at a set distance from one another, then strengthened them.
Throughout the entire process, Mo Yunxuan never left Training Ground No. 3. No one knew what was happening inside.
Even when Meng Zhirou came in person to persuade him, Wang Yuan and the Imperial Guard—who had received orders in advance—turned her away.
Fortunately, the aura released during the system's strengthening seemed to be limited. Aside from occasional bursts of air, there wasn't much commotion.
People outside couldn't sense what was going on in the training ground. Otherwise, with breakthrough after breakthrough unleashing surges of spiritual energy, anyone would have realized something was wrong.
Then it wouldn't just be outsiders who couldn't sit still. The Imperial Guard would also have forced their way in, worried for his safety.
Meanwhile,
Lü Qingjian was in a foul mood after returning to Taihua Academy.
Having spent so long in a high position, he'd grown accustomed to looking down on others and to the flattery he received from students and teachers alike.
Mo Yunxuan's indifference toward him that day, his icy gaze, and his murderous warning had all left Lü Qingjian deeply displeased.
If he hadn't worried that acting against Mo Yunxuan would bring unwelcome consequences, he would have slapped the little pest to death long ago.
What irritated him even more was that he'd barely been back in his office for half a quarter of an hour when the Dean of Academic Affairs at the academy showed up.
He'd brought several stacks of resignation letters and applications to withdraw from the academy.
Lü Qingjian casually flipped through a few of them, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Zhang Feng, you're sure this isn't some kind of joke?"
Zhang Feng, the Dean of Academic Affairs at Taihua Academy, answered helplessly,
"Vice Dean Lü, it's all real. How could I joke with you about something like this?"
"But... but this is far too many! How could there be so many?"
"Even at the busiest times, didn't we only get one or two? And most of those were applications for a leave of absence."
Faced with Lü Qingjian's confusion, Zhang Feng couldn't tell whether he was pretending to be stupid or genuinely was. Cursing him as a fool, he replied coldly,
"Shouldn't you be asking yourself that? Don't you know what you've done?"
With that, Zhang Feng shot him a look of contempt.
Zhang Feng had already reached Peak Spirit Transmutation. He could be said to have one foot over the threshold of Void Refinement Realm, and in another year or two at most, he would cross it and become a true Void Refinement Realm Expert.
Even now, he was confident he could hold Lü Qingjian off for a while. If he couldn't win, he could still escape.
Besides, both he and Lü Qingjian belonged to the Management appointed by the imperial family to Taihua Academy. Lü Qingjian had no higher rank than he did.
If Lü Qingjian lost his temper and attacked him, and the matter reached the imperial family, Zhang Feng certainly wouldn't be the one to suffer.
So he felt no particular awe toward Lü Qingjian. And since this mess had been caused by Lü Qingjian in the first place, Zhang Feng wished he could break through to Void Refinement Realm on the spot and strip every bone from his body!
Expecting him to show a good attitude would be like expecting the Empress to open her Imperial Harem wide!
Hearing Zhang Feng's sarcasm and seeing the contempt in his eyes only made Lü Qingjian more agitated.
He wanted to attack, but he was wary of Zhang Feng's strength and the forces backing him. All he could do was snap in exasperation,
"Reject them! From now on, reject every application like this!"
"Fine, but this is a serious matter. I'll leave you, Vice Dean Lü, to handle it personally. I'm just a lowly Dean of Academic Affairs. I can't take responsibility for this."
Zhang Feng didn't particularly care what Lü Qingjian did. All he wanted was to shift away a responsibility that had never been his to begin with.
Otherwise, even if everyone knew the matter had nothing to do with him, it would still leave a stain on his record.
And the best scapegoat was naturally the culprit standing right in front of him.
Did Lü Qingjian not understand what Zhang Feng was getting at? Of course he did. He understood perfectly.
Zhang Feng hadn't tried to hide his intentions at all since entering the room. If Lü Qingjian couldn't figure that out, he wouldn't have been fit to be Vice Dean.
But what could he do, knowing that? This was his mess, and now he had to take the blame whether he wanted to or not.
He looked at the pile of applications and swept his hand over them, rejecting every last one.
After Lü Qingjian had approved the rejections, Zhang Feng simply took all the applications back with him.
He hadn't interfered at all throughout the process, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
After Zhang Feng left, the office filled with the crash of breaking objects and low, stifled roars.
At the Wei State Duke Mansion,
By the time Mo Yunxuan emerged from the training ground, a day and a night had passed. He now officially possessed the cultivation of Body Integration Realm Early Stage.
All 200 Elite Vanguard Soldiers had advanced to Early Stage Spirit Transmutation Realm.
Thirty of them had been strengthened to Early Stage Void Refinement Realm, while Li Tieniu and Chen Yuanshan had both been raised directly to Early Stage Body Integration Realm.
With his strength now, those 200 Elite Vanguard Soldiers alone could make Taihua Academy die a hundred times over.
But there were still people on his side in there. He had to get them out first, and avoid hurting his own people if he could.
As for those who refused to leave, well, if they were that firm in their stance, then they were his enemies.
Once they were enemies, it was kill or be killed. The outcome spoke for itself.
But to strike a snake, you had to hit it seven inches from the head; to pull up the grass, you had to uproot it. He didn't want Lin Fan to get away, grow stronger, and come back to make trouble for him.
Besides, he had no way to steal a Child of Fortune's fortune. Killing him outright would be simpler.
Mo Yunxuan considered this, then looked at Li Tieniu and Chen Yuanshan and said,
"Li Tieniu, Chen Yuanshan, take 24 Spirit Transmutation Realm Elite Vanguard Soldiers each and take over the Left and Right Wei Guard, respectively."
Chen Yuanshan clasped his fists and accepted the order. He knew that over the past week, Meng Qianxue, the current Commander of Right Wei Guard, had sent him several letters urging him to come.
She was probably eager to hand over the Commander's position, so he didn't expect any trouble on his end.
By contrast, Li Tieniu looked conflicted. As far as he knew, the current Commander of Left Wei Guard wasn't under the Wei State Duke Mansion's control.
He wasn't afraid of making the change, but he worried it would disrupt Mo Yunxuan's hibernation plan.
He had no choice but to remind him, "Duke, your hibernation plan has three weeks left. Shouldn't you think it over?"
If Li Tieniu hadn't brought up the hibernation plan, Mo Yunxuan might have been fine. But the moment he did, Mo Yunxuan's anger flared all over again.
He'd thought that after handing over his military authority and showing his fangs, and after cutting off Lin Fan's chance to meet Meng Zhirou, nothing much would happen for a month.
Then he could spend his days romancing Meng Zhirou, while the Blood Essence he collected piled up without him needing to spend time using it.
But they'd attacked him after just a week. It was downright absurd!
If these people wouldn't let Mo Yunxuan live in peace, then he'd flip the table.
Hibernation plan? What a load of crap!
He wanted to drag the version of himself from a week ago out and beat him up. What kind of stupid plan had he come up with?
Now that he was being bullied, there wasn't even anyone he could complain to!
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