Gathering Cloud City, City Lord Residence, the study.
"My lord, the Temple of Sages Wanted Decree has been amended." An old man in Hanlin Academician robes stood respectfully at the doorway, looking at the blue-robed Grand Academician behind the desk.
The Grand Academician's temples were graying, yet his smooth face bore not a single wrinkle. With his head lowered, his age was impossible to judge.
The Grand Academician held a purple-haired Literary Treasure Brush. Its long bristles tapered to a sharp point, and the characters beneath it were forceful, straight, and square.
"The wanted decree I temporarily suppressed?"
"Yes."
"Go on." The Grand Academician continued slowly practicing his calligraphy.
"The rewards now include one Dragon Gate Ascension, three drops of Dragon Sage Blood, one strand of Dragon Qi, and a Great Demon King's Dragon Pearl containing the sealed power of a Dragon Sage's strike."
The stiff, straight purple brush tip went limp, leaving a noticeable curve in the second horizontal stroke of the character for "benevolence."
The Grand Academician raised his head. His face was sharply defined, his gaze profound, and his mouth unusually large. On an ordinary face, it would have looked strange, but on his, it lent a distinctive, commanding might.
"The Dragon Race has intervened?"
"Most likely, but we have no definite information."
"It seems they still refuse to give up. Just who is this Fang Yun?"
The Grand Academician dipped the purple brush tip into the brush washer and gently swirled it. Ink spread through the water like smoke.
"We don't know. Contact with the Sacred Academy remains cut off. Under the previous agreement, the Two Worlds Passage cannot be opened until seven years from now. Without any way to contact the Sacred Academy, we cannot learn who Fang Yun is. People from the Sacred Academy