Before his second visit to Mingyi Hall, Pan Long had never imagined things would take such an unexpected turn.
He had thought he might be turned away at the door. Or perhaps he would win over Master Mingyi and get an analysis of the state of the realm. Even in his most optimistic guess, that was as far as he had gone.
As for his mighty presence making everyone tremble and sending civil officials and generals bowing before him... that was the stuff of stage plays, and even plays were rarely so crude about it.
Only now did he realize that reality was often more absurd than a play.
The Three Sages of Eastern Lu had considered themselves disciples of the Confucian School all along. The moment they learned that he was one too, they concluded that his meteoric rise in such a short time must be the result of the school's reclusive masters throwing their full weight behind his training.
From there, everything fell into place: Pan Long had emerged to see whether there was a chance to contend for the realm. That meant the Confucian School was preparing to end its thousand-year hibernation and step onto the stage of history once more, to reclaim the honor it had lost and the dignity that had been trampled underfoot, and to walk openly beneath the sun again.
Seeing this, the three self-proclaimed disciples who had long concealed their true identities were swept up in excitement. Even Master Mingyi, steady and seasoned as he was, could not help talking about "killing and setting fires."
In their eyes, this was no longer a somewhat lost young man of the Martial World seeking advice on affairs of the realm. This was their school's representative abroad, bringing word to "make ready for battle."
What