Watching the bloody scene before him, Mo Yunxuan smiled and said flippantly,
"Tieniu, your technique was still a little rough. Look at all that tomato juice on the ground. Be more careful next time."
Li Tieniu was the one who had just crushed Yun Congnan's head with his bare hands. Hearing Mo Yunxuan's words, he nodded.
"Yes, Duke."
Mo Yunxuan looked toward the crowd, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Let me see who's next. The Dean is dead, so the Vice Dean should be next, right?"
"Well? Lü Qingjian, I remember you swaggering around in front of me just a couple of days ago!"
Called out by name, Lü Qingjian shuddered. The fear in his heart swelled to unbearable proportions, and he suddenly realized that he wasn't as unafraid of death as he'd thought!
He immediately let out a heart-rending wail.
"Duke of Wei, I was wrong before. I shouldn't have used my cultivation to bully you, and I shouldn't have insulted the dignity of the Wei State Duke Mansion."
"But I know I was wrong now! Please, Your Grace, be magnanimous and let me go like a fart in the wind!"
Looking at Lü Qingjian's wretched state, Mo Yunxuan sneered.
"Oh? Is this really the arrogant Vice Dean Lü I know? You don't look much like him!"
Then he turned to Li Tieniu and Chen Yuanshan, his voice turning cold.
"I suspect our Taihua Academy's Vice Dean Lü Qingjian has been replaced. This one is an enemy spy. Take care of him."
At his words, Lü Qingjian fell silent. The people behind him fell silent, too.
A phrase flashed through Ye Chen's mind: calling a deer a horse.
But while they stood there stunned, Chen Yuanshan and Li Tieniu didn't hesitate.
Li Tieniu had learned from his earlier mistake. He took a step, and in an instant was behind Lü Qingjian at his side.
He struck the back of Lü Qingjian's head with his palm. The spiritual energy gathered in it pierced through the back of his skull and into his brain, killing him on the spot.
Then he grabbed Lü Qingjian by the collar and disappeared into the crowd. When he appeared again, he was beside Yun Congnan's corpse.
He casually tossed the body in his hand onto Yun Congnan's, piling them together.
Seeing Lü Qingjian's corpse, Lin Fan shuddered with fear.
He hadn't forgotten what had really started all this: he'd coveted the Duke of Wei's fiancée!
Now his master was dead, and he had lost his backing. The fate awaiting him was easy to imagine.
Panic began to show on his face.
Watching this, Ye Chen felt a pang of emotion. He had never imagined
that the Academy's Number One Genius, who had always been a cut above him, could reveal such an ugly side.
How laughable!
But in truth, he was no less afraid than Lin Fan. The Dean and the Vice Dean had already died!
The only Vice Dean left was his master. Did that mean his master would be next?
In other words, his situation was no different from Lin Fan's. One of them was merely destined to die sooner, the other later.
But to his surprise, Mo Yunxuan didn't go after his master.
Instead, he looked as if he'd grown bored of the whole thing and said coldly,
"Drag Lin Fan out."
This time, neither Li Tieniu nor Chen Yuanshan moved.
That gave Qiu Ziqin a little courage to step forward and try to intervene.
But after using her spiritual sense to assess the cultivation of the thirty people surrounding them from the Wei State Duke Mansion,
a bitter smile appeared on her lips.
"They're all Void Refinement Realm cultivators, and they're all... Body Cultivators!"
Everyone from the Academy around her was stunned by her words. What did it mean that they were all Body Cultivators?
It meant that with these thirty people, Mo Yunxuan could easily crush thirty Void Refinement Realm cultivators of equal numbers.
And Great Gan had fewer than a hundred Void Refinement Realm cultivators in total. Taihua Academy had three only because it was backed by the Wei State Duke Mansion—
they had so many resources they couldn't use them all!
Lin Fan looked at the people surrounding him, his face drained of color. He had no desire to resist.
Two men dragged him out of the crowd, one holding each arm.
Looking down at him from above, Mo Yunxuan asked with indifference,
"Mr. Lin, when you did that thing, did you ever consider how it would end for you?"
But Lin Fan was so immersed in despair that he no longer had the strength to answer.
There wasn't the slightest change in Mo Yunxuan's eyes. He was bored now.
Why waste time chatting with people who were as good as dead when he could go back and play games with the Meng sisters, Meng Zhirou and Meng Qianxue?
When Lin Fan still didn't respond, Mo Yunxuan lost interest.
"Kill him."
His tone was casual, as if he were talking about something that had nothing to do with him.
As the body hit the ground with a thud, Mo Yunxuan looked back at the crowd.
He surveyed everyone present. Seeing that no one else volunteered to come forward,
he had no interest in savoring other people's despair and wails. He turned to leave, intending to let the Elite Vanguard do as they pleased.
As if she'd seen through his intentions, Qiu Ziqin stepped out of the crowd the moment he turned.
"Duke of Wei, please wait."
Mo Yunxuan lowered the foot he'd just lifted and turned back, looking the woman up and down.
"Early Void Refinement Realm. I presume you're the other Vice Dean, Qiu Ziqin."
His words stirred a storm in Qiu Ziqin's heart.
She hadn't expected Mo Yunxuan, the newly appointed Duke of Wei, to see through her cultivation at a glance.
That meant Mo Yunxuan was at least in the Early Void Refinement Realm himself.
But if he was also in the Early Void Refinement Realm, why had he put up with Lü Qingjian's bullying a few days ago?
But the situation now left her no time to dwell on it. She'd taken so long to think that Mo Yunxuan was starting to look impatient.
Qiu Ziqin hurriedly spoke.
"Duke of Wei, the principal offenders and their accomplices have all been punished. Would you be willing to spare the rest of us? We're prepared to pay any price!"
There was a measure of gamble in Qiu Ziqin's plea. If she lost, they would all die anyway—she had nothing to lose.
But if she won, and the price she offered could move Mo Yunxuan, she could survive with Ye Chen.
"That's right! Duke of Wei, we have elders and children to care for. Please spare us!"
"Duke of Wei, everything was Lü Qingjian and Lin Fan's decision. It had absolutely nothing to do with us!"
"Yes! If you spare me, I'll hand over all my family's property to buy my freedom!"
"That's right! I'll do the same!"
"Me too!"
Watching the teachers scramble to buy their freedom, Mo Yunxuan smiled disdainfully.
He swept his gaze over them, then turned his attention back to Qiu Ziqin.
He had to admit, Qiu Ziqin wore her hanfu-like robes with striking flair. That was a talent in its own right.
And her face was lovely, with skin like polished jade and beauty enough to outshine the moon.
He used his spiritual sense to look her over from head to toe. This old woman in the Void Refinement Realm had somehow preserved her primordial yin.
That was truly a rarity.
Since it's come to this, I suppose I can give her a chance, Mo Yunxuan thought.
So he didn't bother beating around the bush and said bluntly, "Take the Slave Seal, and I'll let you live."
Before you continue