"You see? I told you. Once that bunch can't get what they want, they won't let anyone else have an easy time either."
"The Military Affairs Office's Conscription Department and Langhuan Blessed Land Academy—they're dead set on making sure the development of the new method can't continue."
"Old Bai, what are you planning to do? Knowing that bunch's nature, they'll definitely rack their brains to trample the new method's students underfoot, using their lives and blood to prove that its development was a failure."
The voice was heavy, as though it had already foreseen what would happen in the future.
Elder Bai silently placed the royal decree into a brocade box, then carefully set it on the highest shelf of the bookcase behind him. "This is a good thing," he said mildly.
"A good thing? What's good about it?" The voice froze, its tone filled with disbelief.
"Old Bi, do you know what my original plan was?" Elder Bai returned to his desk, looking at the documents that still had not been dealt with, and spoke softly.
"Bullshit. You act all mysterious from morning till night—how would I know what you're thinking?"
Elder Bai suddenly asked, "Old Bi, do you still remember how we followed the King and fought to establish the dynasty as it stands today?"
"Huh?" The voice stalled. The abrupt turn in topic had caught him completely off guard.
He drew a breath, and his voice seemed to sink into memories from long ago. Recalling the things that had once happened, he could not help but be pulled into them whenever they were mentioned, no matter how many years had passed. After all, they were memories both unimaginably distant and carved deep into the bone.
"How could I not remember?"
"At that time, the great calamity had