Conflict Escalates, the Authorities Crack Down, an Orthodox Confucian Takes a Stand, and Xu Qingxiao Seeks to Save Lives

That night.

Outside a residence on North Street.

Voices rang out one after another, brimming with anger.

"Master, we were truly wronged! Xu Qingxiao had people beat us for no reason whatsoever. This is an utterly intolerable humiliation!"

"Exactly! Xu Qingxiao didn't dare confront us openly, so he resorted to dirty tricks behind our backs. He's beneath contempt!"

"To think he wrote an unparalleled article. In my eyes, he's nothing but a petty, narrow-minded man."

"Master, if the Prefectural Lord hadn't arrived with soldiers, we might have been beaten to death! If we don't submit a memorial reporting this, who knows how much bolder Xu Qingxiao will be next time?"

The scholars' cries filled the residence. Some angrily protested the injustice, while others wept, bandages wrapped around their heads.

These students of Bright Dawn Academy would never have imagined, even in their wildest dreams, that they would one day take a beating.

And such a vicious one at that.

But what angered them most wasn't the beating. It was the loss of face.

Who were they?

They were scholars.

Heaven's favored sons, drawing countless envious gazes whenever they walked down the street. They had always been the ones condemning others; nothing like this had ever happened to them.

The Great Wei Dynasty, in particular, held scholars in high esteem.

Those with scholarly honors could not even be subjected to corporal punishment.

Yet the beating they had suffered today felt worse than corporal punishment.

"Enough!"

As the clamor rose and fell, Wan Anguo's voice rang out, instantly silencing everyone.

He looked at them, but showed no anger. Instead, he spoke with utter calm.

"Stop talking nonsense."

"Xu Qingxiao has reached the eighth rank in Confucian cultivation. Clearly, he is not someone with such a crooked heart. Besides, he has no feud