Urgent Summons from the Palace for Qiu Yan!

"It had come so quickly—only a few days!"

Though he sighed inwardly, Qiu Yan's expression did not change. He merely fell silent, a glint of cold light flashing through his eyes.

Rumble!

The ground trembled once, then fell still. Yet the thunderous roar swept out from the Imperial Palace, stirring up a fierce gale that spread outward from Prosperity Capital in every direction.

Even the village town where Qiu Yan and the others were located was affected.

In the fields, the wind whipped at the Imperial Academy students' robes. Following the sound, they looked toward the city, all wearing puzzled expressions. Some had glimpsed a flash of pitch-black lightning, but there was no trace of it in the city now, so they took it for an illusion. Still, seeing the reactions of those around them, they felt something was amiss.

However, such an anomaly was ultimately less important than the situation before them. Besides, out in the fields, the tremor had not been very obvious. Thus, after only a brief distraction, the students turned their attention back to Qiu Yan and Lu Han.

Qiu Yan's few words had left Lu Han flushed with embarrassment. The two instructors sitting nearby with lowered heads were about to come over and smooth things over.

But before they could speak, Qiu Yan shook his head and returned to the field, intending to continue working.

Lu Han finally let out a breath of relief. Only then did he recall that Qiu Yan had not spoken solely to him, but had swept his gaze over the crowd as he spoke. That gave him a way to step down. "I truly did not think these matters through. But these two soldiers are being far too unreasonable. They stand here watching us work in the fields while we