Danyang City.
It was already the hour before dawn. Scattered lights still lingered in the city, but the Academy at the end of Wencheng Street lay in darkness.
A tremendous upheaval had struck the Capital City. Mu Yunling had already hurried over to investigate, and Xu Hunli had been urgently summoned to repair the Eight Directions Illumination Tower. Only the boarding students, long since asleep, remained among the sprawling buildings.
The three-story Confucius Temple stood directly behind the Academy. Within it were enshrined the sages of successive generations of Confucianism, with a plaque overhead bearing the words "Righteous Vitality Endures." Before it lay a white stone plaza, edged with flower beds and sculptures, ordinary and seemingly unremarkable.
The night wind swept over the white stone paving before the Confucius Temple, and several figures appeared before its steps.
Xu Tong held the Worn Sword in one hand and gazed at the four large characters Ye Sheng had personally inscribed on the plaque:
"We searched for so many years, never imagining it was hidden here. Ancestor Hu slaughtered countless living souls. Using the Confucian sages to suppress him does make sense."
He Tianqi stood beside him, a trace of surprise in his eyes as well.
After the incident in Western Rong, he and Wei Jili had still clung to a sliver of hope. But there had also been the earlier tampering with the Eldest Princess and the others. After analyzing matters, their superiors had decided they could not gamble and had proceeded on the assumption that "Wei Wuyi has already been exposed."
Thus, while Xie Jinhuan hurried back, they had raced to shed their tail to survive, while securing as much benefit as possible before leaving.
Their rough plan had been to first send Monk Wuxin away and have someone hold Xie