Although she had not the slightest self-awareness of it, in reality, the Immortal Fairy had long become a prominent figure in the Imperial City, with factions on every side closely watching Lu Yang's every move.
The Second Prince and the Fifth Prince paid especially close attention to Lu Yang's actions.
They knew that the remnants of the Fourth Prince's faction would definitely strike against Lu Yang; such was the price of crossing an imperial prince.
Though they were rivals with the Fourth Prince, at the end of the day, it was still an internal imperial affair—when was it ever an outsider like Lu Yang's place to meddle?
And to resort to a tactic as dirty as reporting him to the authorities, no less.
He had to pay a bloody price!
Yet they waited and waited, only for the Fourth Prince's remnants to vanish without a trace, leaving behind not even a single corpse, only several massive craters pressed into the ground where they had knelt.
"Tribulation Transcendence! There's more than one Tribulation Transcendence expert by Lu Yang's side!" Both arrived at the same conclusion at once. If only a single Tribulation Transcendence expert had acted, it would have been impossible to clean things up so thoroughly!
"No wonder Lu Yang has always been fearless! We thought his backing was the Dao Seeking Sect, but to think he has Tribulation Transcendence masters right by his side!"
Both were shaken with doubt and dread. The more contact they had with Lu Yang, the more terrifying he seemed—his strength was an unfathomable abyss!
Yet none of them knew that the peerlessly illustrious Lu Yang had long had his body seized by an ancient immortal. The present Lu Yang was merely a puppet toyed with at whim by an ancient immortal—how tragic, how lamentable.
Returning to the Meng Residence, under normal circumstances, outsiders could never set foot inside because the Meng family was beset by enemies on all sides. However, Meng Potian held high hopes for Lu Yang's future, granting him privileges within the Meng family on par with Meng Jingzhou's.
In other words, every single right short of inheritance rights, which included bringing outsiders through the doors.
Especially after Meng Potian heard that Lu Yang had eliminated the Fourth Prince by the hand of the Ministry of Justice, he felt all the more that Lu Yang shared a special affinity with the Meng family.
"Brother Lu Yang, you're back?" Seeing Lu Yang return, Meng Jingyu ran over excitedly.
"Who is this older brother?" Meng Jingyu asked, curiously looking at Xia Tian behind Lu Yang.
Hearing Meng Jingyu call him "older brother," Emperor Xia's cheek twitched.
He knew Meng Jingyu; he had even personally attended her hundred-day banquet.
Meng Jingzhou and his sister's mother was Emperor Xia's eldest sister, the Grand Princess. In terms of generational rank, Meng Jingzhou and his sister were his niece and nephew.
"His name is Xia Tian. Although his cultivation isn't much to write home about, he has a sharp head on his shoulders. He's rolling with me now," the Immortal Fairy declared in the tone of a bandit mountain lord, sounding inexplicably impressive to Meng Jingyu.
Meng Jingyu blinked, then greeted cutely, "Hello, Brother Xia."
Emperor Xia was already starting to regret his choices. How could he have forgotten? While following this Lu Yang kid would certainly broaden his horizons, Lu Yang was on such close terms with Meng Jingzhou that he was bound to interact frequently with members of the Meng family.
What was he supposed to do then?
He had barely stepped through the Meng Residence's gates, and he had already dropped a generation in seniority.
Meng Jingyu had little interest in Xia Tian; pulling Lu Yang by the hand, she ran toward the study.
"Brother Lu Yang, the teacher left me some homework to do about ancient history. Can you teach me? My brother always praises you, saying you're especially good at ancient history."
The Meng family placed great emphasis on well-rounded education for their children, and that included history.
The moment the Immortal Fairy heard this, she agreed on the spot.
"A piece of cake."
When it came to ancient history, who could possibly be more familiar with it than her?
***
Meng Jingyu was a diligent, studious child. Neatly arranged books lined the study, their covers slightly soiled—evidently the result of frequent perusal, entirely unlike the Immortal Fairy, who tossed books into a study only to let them gather dust.
"How do I answer this question: 'In the ancient era, an immortal once forged the Mountain Cleaving Axe. What was the reason for forging it?'"
If the real Lu Yang were here, he would tactfully tell Meng Jingyu that ancient history was not worth researching, and that studying modern history was perfectly fine.
However, the current Lu Yang was being "possessed," and the Immortal Fairy only spoke the honest-to-goodness truth.
"If you're asking about that, then there's quite a story to tell..."
***
The next day, the private school teacher coldly surveyed the fidgeting younger generation of the Meng family. He was notorious for his foul temper, stubborn dogmatism, and fear of no one.
"Yesterday's assigned homework was indeed rather difficult, especially regarding the origins of the Mountain Cleaving Axe."
"As everyone knows, the Mountain Cleaving Axe is an ancient magical treasure. Although its might falls far short of the immortal artifact, the Heaven Splitting Axe, its renown is not inferior in the slightest."
Both the Mountain Cleaving Axe and the Heaven Splitting Axe were extraordinarily famous. Back during the Dao Seeking Sect's entrance examination, what the river spirit had produced from the river was an ordinary axe, the Mountain Cleaving Axe, and the Heaven Splitting Axe.
"Regarding the origins of the Mountain Cleaving Axe, not a single ancient text contains an explicit record. However, as long as you carefully studied the supplementary reading I assigned, the answer could be deduced."
"The Mountain Cleaving Axe was forged by the ancient immortal, Immortal Ying Tian, before he attained immortality."
"According to records, the ancient forebears were trapped in the Hundred Thousand Mountains. Travel was arduous, every step perilous, and communication with the outside world nearly impossible. Immortal Ying Tian forged an axe, cleaved open the mountains, and carved out a path. The ancient forebears reverently named this axe the Mountain Cleaving Axe."
The teacher's voice grew colder and colder. "Yet look at you all—handing in blank sheets! Of course, there are also those who didn't hand in a blank sheet. Meng Jingyu, for example. Come, tell everyone what you wrote!"
Meng Jingyu spoke up openly, recounting the story the Immortal Fairy had told her the previous day: "In the ancient era, Immortal Ying Tian was impoverished and destitute. To make a living, he cleaved open a mountain to collect tolls. He laid the axe across the middle of the road, and whenever anyone passed by, he would say: 'This mountain was opened by me, this tree was planted by me; if you want to pass this way, leave your toll behind!' Only after they paid the money would Immortal Ying Tian lift the axe and let them pass."
"'The ancient forebears thus called this axe the Mountain Cleaving Axe.'"
"You learned this from reading books?" The teacher's expression turned bizarre. Which pirated book had been poisoning young minds like this?
"Brother Lu Yang told me so himself. It's definitely not wrong." Meng Jingyu possessed absolute trust in Lu Yang.
"Lu Yang? Call him over; I'll debate him on this!" The teacher naturally knew Lu Yang's reputation, but Lu Yang was renowned as a cultivation genius, not a historical savant. After painstakingly researching ancient history for so many years, how could he fear Lu Yang in this realm?
Meng Jingyu hurriedly went and brought the Immortal Fairy over.
"Brother Lu Yang, the teacher says what you told me yesterday was wrong."
"Ah? What was wrong about it?" The Immortal Fairy was baffled. Had she remembered it wrong? That couldn't be; she was the one who had come up with that catchphrase for Immortal Ying Tian in the first place!
The teacher recited the standard answer, which was also the answer universally accepted across academia.
"Isn't that pretty much the same as what I said?"
The teacher glared, his beard bristling with fury. "It's miles apart! In your words, Immortal Ying Tian was a highwayman robbing passersby!"
The Immortal Fairy retorted with absolute righteousness, "How does that make him a bandit? Immortal Ying Tian worked hard chiseling through the mountain with his axe to carve out a passage, and cultivated the Tree Planting Art to plant trees. Shouldn't he collect a little money for his trouble?"
"Even then, Immortal Ying Tian could never have said, 'This mountain was opened by me'!" The teacher felt this was outright defamation of an ancient immortal's image!
The Immortal Fairy grew even more perplexed. "If you didn't say that, how would anyone know you were the one who opened the mountain, and how would they pay the toll willingly?"
Chapter 929