A flicker of alarm flashed through Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu's eyes, but in the blink of an eye, the two old foxes immediately put on expressions of surprise and indignation.
"May I ask what Your Majesty means by this?" Xia Yangming stared wide-eyed at Zhang Tie, his words brimming with outrage, as if he had suffered the greatest insult and injustice. "I, Xia Yangming, have been utterly loyal to the Dragon Emperor Temple. Does Your Majesty suspect that I am one of the Dark Emperor Temple?"
"Even before Your Majesty became the Dragon Emperor, because of the grudge between my disciple and Your Majesty, I knew that Your Majesty held certain prejudices against me. If Your Majesty finds me displeasing to the eye, you need only say so. I will naturally know to leave the Dragon Emperor Temple. Why must Your Majesty go this far..." Shi Zhongyu, too, let out a sigh, his face full of grief and indignation. "If Your Majesty is joking, then this joke has truly gone too far. Does Your Majesty know what a storm these words will cause once they spread?"
The other elders looked at Zhang Tie, then at Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu. They were all bewildered, uncertain whom to believe for the moment.
Even the elders were like this; the same went for those who headed the Dragon Emperor Temple's academies. Yet some among them were sharp-minded and instantly thought of one possibility: if Xia Yangming and Shi Zhongyu belonged to the Dark Emperor Temple, then did Tang Shenghou and Huo Xianlai also have problems?
Had Zhang Tie been speaking of some ordinary matter, the other elders would certainly have believed him at once. But what he had said was simply too horrifying and shocking, and the people upon whom he