CHAPTER 308: CHAPTER 306: THE EMPEROR’S CLASSMATE

Not being able to spank Qian Chenchen before entering the academy might become a regret that Le Yu can’t shake off.

Although he had long anticipated that one day those girls would dress him up extravagantly like a blooming black rose, their origins extraordinary, seeing them get off the car at the school gate still made Le Yu’s heart skip a beat. He ducked into the crowd and ran away.

Escaping is meaningless, he knows. If they are also students of the Imperial Academy, they will meet again sooner or later — especially since Qin Le Yin’s red hair is like a firefly in the dark night, how can it be hidden if he wants to?

Shave his head? Or dye the hair back?

Le Yu weighed in his mind the shame of ’women’s clothing’ and ’shaved head’ while pulling his suitcase across the Starfall Lake, heading to the classroom dormitory area.

In the Sword Seeker competition, there are two absolutely safe zones: one is the student dormitory area, and the other is the teacher dormitory area — if you have to be on guard against attacks even when sleeping, then it’s not a game, but a grand escape!

Of course, although these are safe zones, one must always remain vigilant. Even if someone kills you, they will also be executed, but you’ll still be dead — you have the reason on your side, but for most people, there is only one life.

More than half a month ago, while discussing Yao future and national affairs with Bai Yu, Le Yu had already scouted the Royal Academy, focusing on these two safe zones.

Truth be told, the student dormitory isn’t much: large suites, old buildings, few beds, very fitting the image of Le Yu’s previous life college dormitories, but the occupancy rate isn’t high.

After all, the vast majority of Imperial Academy students choose off-campus housing or are local natives, only poor out-of-town students qualify to apply for on-campus accommodation.

Even so, the academy conducts multiple reviews. Students with good looks are directly referred to part-time jobs with meals and accommodation, those with skills are diverted to the home tutoring industry — hiring Imperial Academy students to tutor their children is a trend among Yanjing tycoons — only a very few completely incapable students might exploit the academy’s resources.

In contrast, the teacher dormitories can be considered a ’benefit’: single suites, independent bathroom facilities, complete furniture, even advanced shower sprayers — not even the Qin Mansion has them — even for laundry, you can hire an aunt. Le Yu’s life in the academy won’t be much different from in the Qin Mansion.

Le Yu’s teacher certificate, keys, and all necessary items were delivered to him a few days ago. He looked at the note on the keys.

"B-21..." Arriving at the first room on the second floor of Building B, just as Le Yu was unlocking the door, the next room opened.

"Good morning."

A young man with gray-white hair came out, locking his door, and smiled: "Are you the new... Swift Blade class teacher?"

Le Yu hesitated slightly, only to realize that the Imperial Academy no longer had a dean or Swift Blade class teacher.

"No, I am an elective course teacher, honored to be invited by the principal to teach at the Imperial Academy." Le Yu said: "I expect to live here for half a year, in which we’ll be neighbors."

After opening the door and putting down his luggage, he extended his hand to the gray-white-haired man: "Nice to meet you, my name is Qin Le Yin."

"Hello." The gray-white-haired man shook his hand: "Ancient Studies lecturer, Wei Weiwei."

They both focused their eyes on each other’s hair color. Dust-like gray-white, blood-like crimson, each having thoughts in their minds, but on the surface, they exchanged a smile. Wei Weiwei said: "The opening ceremony is about to start. Why not come with me to avoid the awkwardness of being alone among strangers?"

Le Yu gladly agreed, after putting down his suitcase, accompanied Wei Weiwei to the Grand Martial Arts Arena. Passing by Starfall Lake, Wei Weiwei kicked a small stone, making it skip across the lake, and with a smile asked: "What kind of elective courses is Mr. Qin planning to offer?"

Looking at the stone skipping over twenty times across the lake, Le Yu said: "Some this and that."

"This and that?"

"You can tell from my accent, I am from Dongyang. For the Imperial Academy students, they must be unfamiliar with Dongyang, even if they know, they definitely don’t know as much as I do. I’ll talk about Dongyang’s political system, and the operational structure of the Silver Blood Association, half a year will pass quickly."

"Is the rise and fall of the last president of the Silver Blood Association, Jing Zhengwei, included in your teaching outline?"

Le Yu glanced at Wei Weiwei and shook his head.

"I don’t have a teaching outline."

"I earnestly request you to discuss this topic." Wei Weiwei blinked: "The ’Youth Daily’ he founded has always been my must-read publication. After he disappeared, ’Youth Daily’ seems to lack the spirit and vigor of ridicule and bravado against heaven and earth."

"I will consider it."

As they spoke, the two had already arrived at the Grand Martial Arts Arena. By this time, it was filled with students; the morning sun shining down turned into flowing golden rivers. The students carelessly unleashed their spiritual power, the halos shifting unpredictably, warping the world.

Suddenly, dozens of students exerted their strength together, creating a roaring giant tiger of flowing light, sending out tremendous sound waves. However, the other students weren’t to be outdone and cooperatively created Light Illusions. For a time, golden eagles and giant tigers flew together, Sword Immortals and Blade Kings combined in a frenzy as if the world were crumbling.

Le Yu raised his eyebrows slightly; although he had already heard of Imperial Academy students, he didn’t expect to see them casually form a ’group light explosion’ at the opening ceremony.

The ’group light explosion’ is divided into ’Illusion Light’ and ’War Light’. Illusion Light is used in civilian theater, capable of producing various spectacular light effects on stage. Though Le Yu isn’t fond of plays, occasionally catching a glimpse from afar feels that the theatrical combat effects could be described as ’sweeping through the ages’ or ’shattering the sun, moon, and stars’ epically.

However, ’War Light’ creates light explosion illusions with real destructive power, often only used in military contexts. But even in the military, not every army is proficient in war light techniques. Every practical war light requires generations of iteration and the operation of elite personnel. Armies like the Heyang Army, corrupted by capitalism, clearly wouldn’t have war light.

Since classical war light requires the synchronization of the spiritual power of thousands to tens of thousands of people, the activation time of war light often needs to be measured in hours. But once activated, it’s almost unstoppable, toppling any immortal or fortress relentlessly - however, if hit by artillery, it still flattens the ground — times have changed!

Subsequently, the Border Army discovered that if small, elite firearms units used war light, they could significantly enhance group range and bullet power, so grand army war light declined, but light sniper teams rose — the times changed back again!

These students of the Imperial Academy can easily perform war light, even if limited to synchronizing dozens, it means they are already qualified to join the elite remote units of the Border Army.

"They’re in trouble." Wei Weiwei sighed.

Almost as if on cue, the central tower of the Royal Academy suddenly burst into brightness, a halo blooming while the light illusions over the Martial Arts Arena vanished in an instant, transforming into hundreds of hovering light swords, pinning down every trouble-making student!

Thwack, thwack, thwack—

The light swords slapped like hands onto the students’ foreheads, making them clutch their heads in pain. The other students who just watched found schadenfreude in their suffering and laughed heartily.

Le Yu raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at the platinum tower that had just shone: "That is..."

"Platinum Tower, Spirit Tower, Observatory, or you can call it by its formal name—the Principal’s Office." Wei Wei said, "Surprised? The power shown by that recent punishment has far surpassed the capability of the Peak of Perfection realm... But if I tell you, this was achieved by the principal using the power of the Sea of Consciousness, perhaps you wouldn’t be so surprised."

"The Sea of Consciousness?"

"Every place you step into at the Royal Academy has the presence of the Sea of Consciousness," Wei Wei said, "A school that has been passed down for over a thousand years, countless zealous students have studied and practiced here, and their surging mental imprints have long been deeply embedded in every blade of grass, wood, and soil."

"You might have heard the saying: during every historical upheaval, no one dared to disturb the Royal Academy. Not only because they respect this institution, but also because the principal alone possesses the ability to resist external enemies—with the help of the Platinum Tower and the Sea of Consciousness, every principal of the Peak of Perfection realm can fend off thousands alone."

Le Yuxin thought to himself but said nothing, following Wei Wei to the faculty area. As they approached, one of the elders glanced at Le Yu’s red hair and snorted, "Another newcomer."

’Another’? Le Yu noticed that quite a few people were scrutinizing him with peculiar looks. He stood quietly at the side without saying a word, aware that the Sword Seeker’s succession battle had already begun.

Without a doubt, entering the academy as an elective teacher was the ideal way to infiltrate, followed by an older transfer student, and lastly, miscellaneous workers like canteen chefs.

But if it comes to concealment, then unquestionably, miscellaneous workers are the easiest to hide, followed by students, while new teachers are almost exposed as soon as they appear—new teachers are too conspicuous, especially when a handsome and charming teacher arrives; a keen person can easily find out who the new Sword Sheath is by simple comparison.

However, no one knows anything about the Sword Seeker’s succession, and the Sword Holder hasn’t released any information, so the four guards, after weighing the options, still arranged a higher status teacher role for Le Yu.

Which is more beneficial to the Sword Seeker’s succession, concealment or academy status, no one knows the right choice before the game officially begins; everyone can only rely on gambling.

Exposure doesn’t really matter; choosing the academy as the location for the Sword Seeker’s succession has already limited the intensity of the battles—in this place filled with a student body young and aspiring to save the world, if you dare to make a move, be prepared to be overwhelmed by dozens of stout young fellows.

The ability of the Platinum Tower principal to deploy force anywhere in the Imperial Academy also indirectly proves this: any major malicious event happening within the academy will be dealt with by the principal without reservation.

Le Yuxin considered whether the Sword Holder could be the principal but quickly dismissed the thought—if the principal were the Sword Holder, he couldn’t possibly conceal it, everyone would be able to see it, too obvious.

More likely, the Sword Holder knew about the special nature of the Imperial Academy and determined that the Platinum Tower principal could effectively suppress the intensity of the Sword Seeker’s succession battles, so he chose to hold the game at the Imperial Academy.

Speaking of which, Le Yu still didn’t know who his Sword Master was up to now. He had asked Juzuo through the Heart of Nesserna, and Juzuo said he would tell him the name when he was about to meet the Sword Seeker.

"Mr. Wei, could you introduce me to the pillars of the academy?"

Wei Wei nodded, "The elder who spoke just now is the Vice Principal and Close Guard Department instructor, teaching ’Luminous Stone Mechanics,’ Professor Zhu Yan; next to him is the Heavenly Radiance Department instructor, teaching ’Administration and Political Science,’ Professor Yan Yi; the man wearing sunglasses on the other side is the Disaster Department instructor and also the chief coach of Combat Technique, Professor Lou Yinhai..."

While Le Yu was recognizing people, suddenly a ray of light soared from the Platinum Tower, crossed a hundred-meter distance to land lightly on the podium at the Grand Martial Arts Arena, stepping down along a golden thread of light, revealing the figure inside.

It was a glamorous, exquisite, and wild-looking old man, wearing an immaculate purple-gold robe, all white hair and beard straightened and smooth like clouds on the horizon, each wrinkle and spot on his face fitting perfectly into his majestic countenance, back straight, waist tied, fully outlining the vigorous physique hidden under the clothes.

Time had not taken away any of his arrogance, instead, he honored time with glory.

"That is our current principal, Cha Huan." Wei Wei said with a smile, "Doesn’t he look more like a warrior ready to chop at any moment rather than a principal?"

"Honestly, indeed." Le Yu couldn’t help but nod, for the first time thinking that if he could become like Principal Cha when older, the approaching age would turn into an elegant wait.

Clap.

Old Principal Cha Huan stomped his foot, the entire Grand Martial Arts Arena trembled, instantly falling silent save for the sound of heartbeats and breathing.

"First, welcome everyone back to school."

"Second, you know what nonsense I’m going to say."

"Third, so I won’t say that nonsense."

After a moment of silence, the students erupted into thunderous cheers, while the teachers seemed rather critical, even Wei Wei beside Le Yu sighed, "The principal should at least suppress these kids’ enthusiasm a bit..."

"Additionally, I have one more thing, or rather, a student needs to share something with you."

The old principal looked at the student group: "Please welcome Xia Shuangli, third-year student from the Nightmare Department, Luminous Stone Alchemy major."

"Here I am!"

A graceful and tall girl stepped out from the student lineup, ran towards the podium with her head held high, and used the Lingxu Step to jump up when near, turned to wave at the students, and said loudly using Aiki Combat Technique: "Good morning everyone, my name is Xia Shuangli, I am also the president of the Double Fish Gunpowder Club, but you can forget about that introduction now, it’s not important at all."

"I have bad news and good news. First, the bad news. Over the last two years, my cousin, cousin, uncle, second uncle, and a total of a dozen or so relatives have all died. Although unrelated to everyone, I hope you can mourn them for three seconds."

The crowd shuddered at the news. What kind of tactic is it to start off with death news?

After three seconds, she continued, "Having mentioned the bad news, now comes the good news. Because my relatives are all gone, the inheritance rights of my most illustrious relative have fallen onto me. To inherit this great legacy, I have to abandon the surname I’ve used for over twenty years and write my name into the oldest family genealogy..."

"Now, my new name is, Ming Shuangli."

Ming Shuangli...

Ming...

Ming!?

"Yes, you heard it right, and didn’t think wrong," Ming Shuangli spread her hands and said, "Standing before you is one of the heirs to the Radiant Throne, the Palace Master of Shuangli Palace in the Radiant Imperial Court, and the future owner of the Holy Sword Radiance, Ming Shuangli!"

"But, but," she gestured downwards with her hands in the air, "besides me, the Radiant Imperial Family has six other legitimate heirs. Coincidentally, my six sisters, for the same reason, are all studying here in the Imperial Academy."

"In other words, all candidates for the Radiant Emperor are, at this moment, in this place, sharing your same identity."

"Now, start cheering!" Ming Shuangli raised her hands high and laughed, "No matter the outcome, you will all become classmates of the next Radiant Emperor!"