Calm Waters

Over the next few days, all remained calm and quiet. Having broken through to the Kaiyuan Fourth Layer, Su Yu told no one. Instead, he continued painstakingly cultivating the Kaiyuan Art to consolidate his newfound realm. Consuming blood essence always came with some side effects, though the album had absorbed the bulk of it. After two or three days, Su Yu's body returned to normal, and the swelling ache faded away completely. With only one drop of Ironwing Bird blood essence left, Su Yu chose not to use it right away. Otherwise, he would advance too quickly. Who knew if activating the Yuan Absorption Art again might push him straight into the Kaiyuan Fifth Layer? That would be far too monstrous. He should wait at least half a month, shouldn't he? Su Yu was in no rush. There were still over two months until the higher academy examinations. If he broke through one layer every half a month, he might already be at the Kaiyuan Ninth Layer by the time the exams arrived. *** "Yu, you're still not going to the academy today?" "I am!" "Must be nice not going. Can't you help me request leave too..." Chen Hao spoke on autopilot before freezing in place. Bewildered, he asked, "Wait, you're actually going to school?" This guy hadn't attended classes for days, and even when he did show up, he slipped away almost immediately. Chen Hao had been sick with envy. Why was he suddenly going back today? Su Yu could not be bothered to indulge his nonsense. Walking forward, he said, "There are still over two months until the exams. I'm going to see the instructor to find out if I can learn a few more All-Races languages." "You want to learn more?" Chen Hao clicked his tongue. What a freak. Then, suddenly remembering something, Chen Hao chuckled. "Yu, I used to think you were amazing for mastering eighteen All-Races languages, but now I found out someone at our academy is even more incredible than you!" "Liu Yue from Class One—do you know her? I heard people saying she's even more monstrous than you. Yesterday she went and took the qualification exam for her twentieth All-Races language. Freaking insane!" Su Yu raised an eyebrow. "Liu Yue? Twenty languages?" Of course he knew Liu Yue. He had run into her plenty of times in the library. Last time, she was even the one who directed him toward the Kaiyuan acceleration methods, useless though they turned out to be. He knew she had a strong grasp of multiple All-Races languages. She was even more dedicated than he was, and almost every time he visited the library, he crossed paths with her. Still, twenty languages... Even though Su Yu claimed he didn't care if others were better than him, hearing this left a slightly sour taste in his mouth. In the past, there had been quite a few students at the academy who mastered a respectable number of foreign languages, but at most they were on par with him. He had never heard of Liu Yue mastering so many before. What was more, she wasn't even Liu Wenyan's student. Almost everyone in the academy who studied All-Races languages and commanded a large repertoire had been taught by Liu Wenyan. Who had Liu Yue been studying under? *** Su Yu asked no more questions. The two walked toward the academy as usual. Although there were vehicles on the road and bus fares were cheap, most students chose to walk unless the distance was extreme. It was considered a form of training in its own right. Along the way, uniform-clad traffic supervisors appeared from time to time. Seeing those familiar uniforms stirred a pang of longing within Su Yu. His father had been gone for five days now. He wondered how things were going on the All-Heavens Battlefield. Aside from the green-uniformed traffic supervisors, they also crossed paths twice with patrol squads from the Wind Arrest Hall dressed in black uniforms. The Wind Arrest Hall was primarily responsible for internal security within the borders. "Hao, has the Wind Arrest Hall been patrolling everywhere these past few days?" "Yeah." Hearing Su Yu's question, Chen Hao, who was busy looking around, answered immediately. "Didn't people say the All-Races Sect has been active across the Great Xia Prefecture? That's why the Wind Arrest Hall stepped up patrols lately. "Heh, Yu, have you been watching TV the last few days? The Prefecture Lord deployed the Longwu Guards to patrol every district. They've arrested a bunch of bastards from the All-Races Sect and have been lopping off heads daily—hundreds by now!" Su Yu had naturally seen the news. A slight frown formed on his face. "Strange." "What's strange?" Chen Hao grinned. "It's not like executions have never happened before." "I'm not talking about that." Su Yu frowned. "Those beasts from the All-Races Sect never do anything without an angle; whenever they stir, it's to sow chaos. But this time in the Great Xia Prefecture, have you heard of any turmoil breaking out? All that's happened is them getting their heads cut off. Did those bastards come to the Great Xia Prefecture just to throw their lives away?" He found it rather odd. Over the past few days, the TV broadcasts had reported nothing but executions, yet the All-Races Sect seemed to have caused no disruptions whatsoever. Could the Longwu Guards truly be so formidable that they detected every move in advance? That was certainly possible. Su Yu gave a slight shake of his head; matters like this were not his place to manage. Still, this worked out well. With things like this, the All-Races Sect likely had no leeway to plot an assassination against Instructor Liu. Chatting as they walked, they soon arrived at Nanyuan Secondary Academy. *** At the same time. Outside Nanyuan Secondary Academy. On the top floor of a tall building, a middle-aged man drew back his gaze, no longer staring down at Nanyuan Secondary Academy. Turning around, he looked toward a woman preparing food, his lips moving softly. "Nanyuan Secondary Academy has 3,200 students and 210 instructors. The students are all in the Kaiyuan Realm, while the instructors are all in the Qianjun Realm. Academy Head Chen Shu is at the Wanshi Second Layer. "The security department has fifty men: one at the Qianjun Ninth Layer, six at the Qianjun Seventh Layer or above. Among the instructors, twenty-eight are at the Qianjun Seventh Layer or above. That makes a combined total of thirty-five cultivators at the high Qianjun layers. "In addition, a thirty-man squad from the Wind Arrest Hall is currently providing covert protection inside the academy. They have one captain in the Wanshi Realm, while the rest are all at the high Qianjun layers. "In total: sixty-four high-layer Qianjun and two Wanshi. "The City Lord's Manor is seven thousand meters from Nanyuan Secondary Academy. Given City Lord Wu Wenhai's Tengkong Second Layer cultivation, it would take him just over two minutes to rush here." The middle-aged man gave a succinct breakdown of the situation. In the kitchen, the woman stirring dishes over the stove used the sizzle of cooking oil to mask her low, rhythmic murmurs: "Nanyuan Secondary Academy... the finest secondary academy in Nanyuan City, and a reserve pool for the premier higher academies... "This time, we are not acting alone. Six cities will strike simultaneously, and the targets are all the local secondary academies. "Xia Longwu... heh!" A frigid sneer touched the woman's face. "Xia Longwu is swollen with arrogance. Just because he crushed a few ordinary strongholds, he thinks we're vulnerable to a single blow! This time, we'll give Xia Longwu a heavy fall to swallow. The Great Xia Prefecture... is nothing remarkable!" The middle-aged man did not pick up on that thread, continuing instead, "A squad of Longwu Guards is stationed in Nanyuan as well, ten men in total. Nine range from Wanshi Fourth Layer to Ninth Layer, and Squad Leader Xia Bing is at Tengkong Second Layer. Their exact encampment hasn't been discovered yet. We must guard against their sudden appearance!" "The Longwu Guards!" This time, the woman's sneer faded, replaced by gravity. "Investigate. Find their encampment!" "Their numbers are few; we have no way to pinpoint them cleanly..." "Then manufacture chaos to lure them out." The woman said coldly, "Send people outside the city to butcher a few outlying villages. Faced with such a massive bloodbath, the Longwu Guards will certainly intervene." The middle-aged man hesitated. "Many of our people have died lately, and morale among the lower ranks is already wavering. If we send them to their deaths again..." "They don't need to know they'll be facing the Longwu Guards. Send the people from the Blood Fire Faction. Those lunatics aren't in their right minds anyway and crave slaughter above all else. Let them scout the path!" With that, the woman added, "Once the Longwu Guards are drawn away, we strike! Mobilize our forces to ensure a decisive blow, slaughter Nanyuan Secondary Academy, and withdraw immediately! "This time... kill every last one of them!" The woman's expression was ruthless. "Wipe out the teachers and students of six secondary academies, and barely anyone from those six cities will make it into the higher academies this year. Xia Longwu can choke on his own blood after that! He thinks we're only playing petty games... Little does he know... why would our target ever be a handful of insignificant instructors?" The woman looked entirely indifferent. Protecting Liu Wenyan? Their target was never Liu Wenyan! What did killing one Liu Wenyan amount to? Massacring Nanyuan Secondary Academy, and six secondary academies in total, would tear into the very sinews of the Great Xia Prefecture despite its deep foundations. The effect might not show today, but years from now, the bleeding would show. The middle-aged man exhaled softly, sounding troubled. "You and I are both in the Tengkong Realm, which is more than enough to deal with City Lord Wu Wenhai. But if Xia Bing rushes over, we are no match for him." The Longwu Guards were the elite spearhead of the Great Xia Prefecture. Even a squad leader possessed terrifying might. Even at the same cultivation realm, the two of them were almost certainly outmatched. "No matter!" The woman scoffed. "If they truly show themselves, someone will handle them!" "Reinforcements from above?" "Don't ask about what doesn't concern you!" The woman cut him short and returned to stirring her dishes. She had lurked here for six full years. Once this operation succeeded, it would be time for her to depart. She wondered if returning to headquarters would grant her a chance to climb higher. While they were speaking, a young girl stumbled groggily out of a bedroom. "Mom, I smell food. What are we having for breakfast?" "Be patient, sweetheart, it'll be ready in a moment." The woman's voice was bright and filled with warmth, but her eyes remained as cold as frost. Not a sliver of genuine affection showed; this so-called daughter was nothing more than a cover for deep cover. The man also spoke with a smile, yet his eyes held the exact same chill. Sensing nothing amiss, the little girl skipped cheerfully into the bathroom. The moment she disappeared, the living room and kitchen fell dead silent. A moment later, the man asked, "What about her?" "Kill her!" The woman did not hesitate in the slightest. "Not now, though. Kill her when we're ready to leave, and burn her blood to ash so expert bloodline trackers can't trace us. She carries our blood, after all." Yes, she was their biological child. Yet giving birth to her back then had merely been to conceal their identities. Now that they were preparing to pull out, there was no need to keep an encumbrance and liability alive. Over the past six years, the two had hidden themselves impeccably. No one had ever suspected them. Settling down here for six years and raising a daughter, who would have imagined that this hardworking, honest couple were both Tengkong experts—and members of the All-Races Sect? "Contact the others tonight and prepare to move. Remember: slaughter everyone, and evacuate within three minutes!" "Understood!" The middle-aged man gave a barely audible response. Turning his head toward the window, he looked out at Nanyuan Secondary Academy not far away, a faint smile surfacing on his lips. In a few days, Nanyuan Secondary Academy would cease to exist. What a pity. Such a vibrant bunch of youths. Perhaps a few remarkable figures might have emerged among them in the years to come, but now they would never get the chance. "Xia Longwu... The Great Xia Prefecture has enjoyed peace for so many years. Even you probably never saw this coming." Thinking of the sect's grand operation, the man couldn't help feeling a tremor of excitement. After all these years, they had finally made the Great Xia Prefecture their target. Xia Longwu still believed the sect was merely stirring up minor trouble, entirely unaware that the sect's primary strength had already shifted right here.