Chapter 42 (continued)

Unfortunately, this diner doesn't possess absolute power that transcends everything, so...

Li Yang felt a bad premonition. "The plight of our human race..."

Si Kui calmly replied, "Public enemy of the Astral Realm."

Li Yang's vision went black.

She vaguely understood why the teachers stopped telling their students about the Astral Realm beforehand... What was the point of telling them? It would only damage their Dao Heart!

For example, this cowardly girl is now starting to wonder: Is it absolutely necessary to go to the Astral Realm? Is it absolutely necessary to become the public enemy of the Astral Realm? She's perfectly content just staying in Huaxia!

However, military academies are not a waste of resources to train people.

Once they reach the Third Grade Realm, they all have to be sent to the Astral Realm for training, unless she's stuck at the Peak Second Grade Realm for the rest of her life.

That's enough...

Li Yang was just thinking about it casually.

She can't even survive in the Huaxia Realm now. If she doesn't improve herself, another Fourth Grade or Fifth Grade Star Wielders could easily kill her.

Li Yang asked, "What happened to our Agronomy Department back then?"

Si Kui said softly, "Actually, in the Astral Realm, we are called Nature Department."

"Nature Department?" Li Yang blinked.

Si Kui said, "Most Astral Realm beings consider the term 'agriculture' to be too cruel, especially Star Plant races, who believe that our domestication of Star Plant into crops is an extremely evil and brutal act..."

Li Yang was stunned. "Ah, this..." She considered herself to have a strong ability to empathize, but now she found it difficult to empathize.

Si Kui continued, "We also want to live in harmony with the various races of the Astral Realm, so we changed the Agronomy Department to the Nature Department. This sounds more harmless and makes it easier for us to travel within the Astral Realm..."

Li Yang wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "That's only right. We don't need to create controversy over how we address people."

They're already enemies of the Astral Realm; there's no need for them to be labeled "evil" and "brutal" any further.

Si Kui added, "Another reason is that 'nature' also aligns with the cultivation principles of our lineage."

Li Yang reacted quickly and asked, "Is it because we don't use pills to break through realms and insist on comprehending Star Skill on our own?"

Si Kui nodded and said, "That's right. The Nature Department respects the most 'natural' way of cultivation, especially in breaking through realms and comprehending Star Skill. Realm-Breaking Pill and already identified Star Core cannot be used."

"The reason why your Martial Uncle Cheng and the others built the Tree Tower is because it's extremely difficult for students below the Third Grade Realm to comprehend Star Skill. And without Star Skill, how can they break through to the next realm through combat? Therefore, before the Tree Tower was built, students of the Nature Department generally progressed slowly..."

"It wasn't until the Tree Tower was completed that our Nature Department experienced a period of rapid development. In those hundreds of the Third Grade Realm began to distinguish themselves in the Astral Realm, defeating Star Wielders at the Fourth Grade or even Fifth Grade Realm..."

Li Yang listened with longing and murmured, "Amazing!"

The Agronomy Department was once so glorious, how did it fall to such a miserable state?

Si Kui finally spoke of what happened twenty-eight years ago, saying, "The rise of the Nature Department caused the theory of the human threat to surge in the Astral Realm, and several powerful Realm Domain once again conceived the idea of breaking through the entrance to the Huaxia Realm and annihilating the entire human race."

"Twenty-eight years ago, led by the Fenglie Clan, more than a dozen Realm Domain launched Strong Attack on the human race's Astral Realm base..."

Li Yang: "!"

Si Kui's eyelashes trembled slightly as she softly said, "Foreign invasions are certainly terrifying, but the internal strife within the human race is even more chilling. In those hundreds of years, the Nature Department brought unparalleled glory to the human race, but it also brought death to those who were killed. Some even proposed handing over all members of the Nature Department to appease the invaders' anger."

Li Yang grabbed the armrest of the rattan chair and said, "Foolish!"

Si Kui said, "Of course, the Star Nexus Pavilion wouldn't agree to such an absurd plan, but it did shake the morale of the army... Your grandmaster, who is also my master, ordered all the disciples of the Nature Department to launch a surprise attack on the Starport City of the Fenglie Clan. In the end, we killed several Ninth-Grade Supreme and dozens of Grandmaster of the Fenglie Clan, forcing them to withdraw their troops and abandon their invasion of the Huaxia Realm Domain..."

Li Yang was stunned; this was a scene she could hardly have imagined.

She had never seen war, and even if there was war in her past life, it was very, very far away from her.

Si Kui said in a suppressed voice, "We won, but we suffered heavy losses. Your grandmaster... perished in Starport City! Nearly 40% of us survived, but on the way back to the Huaxia Main City from Starport City, they were ambushed..."

Li Yang's fingernails dug into the armrests of the rattan chair, her body involuntarily leaning forward, even her breathing slowed down.

Si Kui looked up at Li Yang, her usually indifferent eyes now brimming with tears. She choked out, "It's my fault! I stayed in Starport City for months for a Supreme treasure, only to find out after returning to the Huaxia Realm Domain they... they were all killed in battle, not a single one survived."

Li Yang suddenly stood up and hugged her teacher tightly. She felt a hot, wet sensation on her neck; it was Si Kui's silent tears.

Li Yang hugged her tightly, her throat feeling like it was blocked by a boulder. She had never met the seniors from the Nature Department before, but at this moment she deeply felt Si Kui's pain and despair.

The Star Wielders of the Nature Department fought a life-or-death battle against the Fenglie Clan to protect the Huaxia Realm Domain.

In the end, they won.

They repelled the powerful enemy, defended the Realm Domain, and protected the hundreds of millions of people behind them.

But they died on their way home!

"Who are the attackers?" Li Yang released Si Kui and looked into her eyes.

Si Kui's eyes were no longer wet with tears, her face was clean, and even her voice was as cold and clear as ten thousand years of ice. She said, "The attackers were the Huoxing Clan, allies of the Fenglie Clan, but the most fatal thing was that someone in the Huaxia Main City passed on false intelligence to us, giving us this doomed route, which led them to the Huoxing Clan's ambush."

Who was the person who passed on the wrong information?

"I killed him long ago, but he was just a puppet."

At this point, Li Yang finally understood the whole story.

Foreign enemies are certainly hateful, but internal traitors are even more heartbreaking!

Li Yang said, "So, the Fifth Grade Star Wielders who ambushed me was also arranged by this person behind the scenes."

Si Kui nodded. "Mm."

"Has the teacher found anything over the years?"

"I can't find anything," Si Kui sneered. "The Star Nexus Pavilion doesn't want me to continue investigating either."

Li Yang felt a surge of anger rising within her. If she were truly a seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy, she would have already been furious and vehemently condemning the injustice of the world.

But having lived two lives, she had witnessed the fickleness of human relationships and the sycophancy between the powerful and the weak.

Compared to the declining Nature Department, the Star Nexus Pavilion clearly prefers to stabilize the overall situation.

Having just finished a major battle, they only wanted to seize the time to recuperate and rebuild their strength, and neither wanted nor dared to start any more internal strife.

Si Kui added, "As long as you don't leave the school gates, they won't dare to touch you. As for your breakthrough to the Second Grade Realm..."

"That's not a big problem," Li Yang said. "I'll have Dean Shen protect me then."

Si Kui: "..." Yes, her apprentice is more cunning than her and had already made all the arrangements.

Si Kui added, "However, once you reach the Third Grade Realm, you will have to go to the Astral Realm, and Shen Binghua, as the dean of the Star Magic Department, cannot leave the Huaxia Realm Domain without being summoned."

By then, Shen Binghua will no longer be able to protect her.

Si Kui couldn't go to the Astral Realm either, because of the Ninth-Grade Lianxin... She steeled her resolve and said, "I will break through to the Ninth Grade as soon as possible, then I can protect you in the Astral Realm..."

Li Yang replied, "Teacher, there's no need to force yourself. Cultivation requires a steady and methodical approach." If advancing from the Eighth Grade to the Ninth Grade were so easy, Teacher would probably already be Ninth-Grade Supreme being.

She continued, "Besides, you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days if you're a thief for a thousand days. We need to regain the initiative! They want to extinguish the spark of the Nature Department, right? I'll ignite it myself, so that a single spark can start a prairie fire!"

Si Kui was taken aback.

Li Yang already had a plan in mind. She looked at Si Kui and said, "Teacher, don't worry. So what if you advance to the Ninth-Grade Supreme? Does the Star Nexus Pavilion lack Ninth-Grade Supreme? The person behind the scenes might just be a Ninth-Grade Supreme!"

"Therefore, we cannot just rely on force; we also need to amplify our influence and rally support."

Si Kui said, "Those old fogies in the Star Nexus Pavilion all have their own stance, and they've remained silent all these years, which is tantamount to..."

"They didn't speak up before for short-term gains, but what if speaking up would bring even greater benefits?" Li Yang added, "If all else fails, we can force them to take sides, like Teacher Shen... Is she willing to side with the Department of the Nature Department?"

"I don't want to."

"So now, has she taken sides?"

Si Kui paused for a moment, then said, "Stand."

Li Yang said, "Right!"

Si Kui still found it difficult. She said, "But other people..." wouldn't offer themselves up like Shen Binghua would for the sake of the Tree Tower.

Li Yang said, "If we can't fool the big shots, we'll start with the small ones... The person behind this simply wants to sever the inheritance of the Nature Department, so we'll do the opposite and recruit people in a high-profile manner to expand the scale of the Nature Department."

"If ordinary students come, they'll just be throwing themselves into the lion's den..." This is also why Si Kui hasn't accepted students all these years.

Li Yang blurted out, "Then let's be snobbish and not accept ordinary students, only those from aristocratic families!"

Si Kui: "?"

"I originally intended to keep a low profile, but now they're making it impossible for me to!" Li Yang thought for a moment and said, "Starting with this monthly exam, I'll crush them all and show them with my strength Nature Department is all about. It's all thanks to your excellent teaching, Teacher, that my cultivation has progressed by leaps and bounds, reaching the Second Grade Initial Stage in less than a month... the middle stage!"

At worst, we can have Teacher Shen accompany her to break through the barrier again. Once you've practiced, you'll get used to it, and she won't be afraid of cultists anymore.

Si Kui's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this.

Li Yang continued, "Teacher, think about it. When the descendants of the Shen Family, Lin Family, Ying Family, Zhong Family... all these elders of the Star Nexus Pavilion transfer to the Nature Department and become your students, how will their ancestors choose sides?"