Spirit Pagoda (I)

"What... how did you do that?"

Watching those four opponents—who could not beat him one-on-one but could still hold him back together, whose combat power could be called pseudo-ninth rank—die without surviving even a single move against Ye Qingcang, even a battle-hardened old assassin like Saint Moon could not help staring blankly for a moment before instinctively asking.

However, the moment the words left his mouth,

Saint Moon realized what was wrong.

Because this was already probing into Ye Qingcang's intelligence.

As the ancients put it,

Neither rites nor military power could be entrusted to others.

Rites referred to sacrifices, meaning legitimacy and the granting of favors.

Just like how Ye Qingcang controlled Blue Tyrant Academy.

He set the true system of rewards and punishments.

He personally handled the true granting of favors as well.

He did not stop Violet from doing the same, but Violet was the only exception. Everyone else was appointed by him alone.

Such as rewarding Yue Ye.

Such as supporting the Nine-Heart Begonia family to which Ye Lingling belonged.

Such as subduing the Speed Clan behind Bai Chenxiang.

These were all results of his personal efforts, used to better establish his own authority. To others, it meant building prestige.

Compared with that,

so-called status was merely something illusory.

Put simply, Liu Erlong might have been Blue Tyrant Academy's dean and its nominal highest commander, but if Ye Qingcang's opinion conflicted with hers, one word from Ye Qingcang was enough for Blue Tyrant Academy to obey. They could even turn around and throw Liu Erlong out as dean, declaring that they did not recognize her as Blue Tyrant Academy's dean. That was prestige.

Most of Blue Tyrant Academy's students, including its teachers,

sincerely respected Ye Qingcang.

That included Dugu Bo, who had later taken up the