Arrangements

"I've already agreed to Cao Ya's proposal. I'm going back this time to persuade the others," Angers said.

Professor Goodman finally couldn't help speaking up:

"Why bother? Cassell College has such a long history, so many glorious achievements... Would he really go and..."

Angers cut him off:

"He would! If I refused, Cao Ya would really fight his way through Cassell College. Everything he took a fancy to, he would haul away."

He paused, then said somberly:

"Cao Ya isn't someone who jokes about these things. If he says he'll strip Cassell College bare, he'll do exactly that. And who could stop him?"

Angers didn't want Cassell College absorbed into Cao Ya's school, which didn't even exist yet, either. But what choice did he have?

When your strength fell short of someone else's, sometimes you simply had to swallow your helplessness.

Just as he had forcefully brought the Japanese Branch to heel back then.

Besides, Cao Ya was far more ruthless than he was. He could sense that. For the sake of slaying dragons, Angers could tolerate a certain amount of outward obedience and secret defiance. Cao Ya, clearly, would simply batter his way forward: submit or die.

Of course, if someone possessed greater strength and could pin Cao Ya down and beat him instead, everything would be fine.

But was there anyone like that?

Angers didn't believe such a person existed in the world.

Cao Ya's strength made him seem like a walking Dragon King in human form.

Ye Sheng asked worriedly:

"Will the board agree?"

Cassell College's board members wanted to keep even Angers under their thumb. How could an outsider like Cao Ya bring these great families and powerful financial interests to heel?

Sake Tokiko was worried, too:

"Would the students and teachers be willing to join a new school that doesn't even exist yet?"

Nono considered it. Given the nature of Cassell College, she felt that as long as Principal Angers agreed and Cao Ya demonstrated strength capable of crushing everything in his path, there probably wouldn't be much opposition.

Of course, that only applied within the campus.

She could guess what those board members would think, too.

There definitely wouldn't be many who agreed!

Angers laughed heartily:

"Let Cao Ya handle that. If he wants to absorb Cassell College, he can't just stand by with his hands tucked into his sleeves. Besides, knowing his temperament, he'll probably sweep right through them. Anyone who refuses gets beaten to death."

Professor Goodman muttered that those board members wouldn't be able to swagger around anymore.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and asked urgently:

"Principal, what about Lu Mingfei..."

Professor Goodman had still been hoping to take on Lu Mingfei, an S-rank student, so he could advance his professorial standing and secure it a little more firmly.

"Don't worry. The college will be absorbed into Cao Ya's school anyway. You can teach Lu Mingfei then. Besides, the new school's rules may differ from ours," Angers said.

"All right." Professor Goodman was resigned. There was nothing else he could do.

Nono knitted her lovely brows and asked:

"Does Cao Ya's strength come from a Word Spirit, or... did he gain it through training?"

Her profiling ability was formidable. Though it hadn't been much use when she faced Cao Ya, she had still gleaned a few things when he made no effort to conceal himself.

Cao Ya seemed to know nothing about Word Spirits?

But how was that possible? Someone powerful enough to defeat Principal Angers had to possess an exceptionally pure bloodline, and his Word Spirit absolutely had to be a high-risk one!

Angers chuckled:

"On that point, I don't think Cao Ya was lying. His strength came entirely from training. That's why he wants to establish a university and spread it far and wide."

A flicker of burning eagerness crossed his eyes. Angers coveted Cao Ya's cultivation method, and he didn't deny it.

If cultivation could give him strength like Cao Ya's, then combined with his existing abilities, Angers was confident he could face a Dragon King head-on!

He considered himself inferior to no one.

That was also one of the reasons he had accepted Cao Ya's proposal.

Nono, Sake Tokiko, and Ye Sheng all sucked in a sharp breath.

Strength like that had come entirely from training, without relying on even a trace of dragon blood?!

That went somewhat beyond the limits of their understanding.

As for where Cao Ya, a high school senior, had obtained such a cultivation method, or when he had achieved results with it, no matter how many questions they had, they could only bury them deep inside. Go interrogate Cao Ya? Were they looking for death?

After seeing off the party from Cassell College, Cao Ya made some work arrangements and went home.

He also knew that Cassell College's board members wouldn't readily agree to the merger.

But he had never intended to persuade them in the first place.

They wouldn't agree?

Then he would knock every last one of them down!

Of course, before that, he would still provide all the compensation they were due.

The authorities expressed their support for him on that point.

After he defeated Angers, the authorities gained an even clearer understanding of how terrifying Cao Ya's strength was.

Since he was willing to stand on their side, why go against his wishes and push him into the opposing camp?

However, after discussing Cao Ya's idea of revealing everything to the public, the authorities believed it would be better to proceed gradually. Tearing the whole veil away at once might cause unrest and disrupt public order. If they were given a year or two to lay the groundwork, people would have a rough idea of the truth, and announcing it then wouldn't cause any major upheaval.

Cao Ya thought it over and had to admit that the authorities made a great deal of sense. He had been a little careless.

Thus, he agreed to their request to delay the public announcement and the opening of enrollment to everyone.

Meanwhile, in accordance with his requirements, the authorities urgently mobilized various departments to design and build a school that would cover an enormous area.

Construction would take quite some time.

Seeing that it couldn't open in the near future, Cao Ya simply set his sights on Cassell College.

Since Cassell College would be absorbed into his school, he would focus his efforts there for the next two years. It would also give him a chance to try teaching, and he could make adjustments later if any problems arose.

Besides, in the dragon-slaying profession, even after his school opened, it would take quite a few years to produce students capable of joining the battlefield. Cassell College's strength still couldn't be overlooked.

So he called Angers and told him he wanted to stay at Cassell College for a while. Students like Lu Mingfei should enter Cassell College first.

He didn't hide the related matters from Angers.

Angers readily agreed with a smile, adding that Cassell College welcomed its new principal's esteemed arrival. He was now merely the dean of Cassell College, serving beneath Principal Cao Ya.

He also asked what Cao Ya's university was actually called. Cao Ya replied that it was the First Martial Arts University.

Angers said it was a wonderful name, tossed out a string of casual compliments, then hung up.

Soon, Cao Ya called Angers again.

Rather surprised, Angers asked what had happened.

Cao Ya only told him not to rush into the Bronze and Fire King's lair at the Three Gorges. They should surround it for now. Once he had made a trip to the United States and taken care of a few things, he would return and raze the Bronze and Fire King's lair.

Angers asked why he wanted to arrange things that way. Cao Ya didn't answer, merely saying with a smile that he would find out when the time came.

Then he hung up.

Cao Ya's plan was simple. Twins sat upon the throne, and there were two Bronze and Fire Kings. One had already emerged: Lu Mingfei's good friend, Old Tang, a man of Chinese descent who wasn't a bad person.

So why awaken Norton's will and kill a person?