The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

If not for the Confucian school's doctrine of entering the world to serve as officials, Bailu Academy would have surely become a superpower feared by the Court, just like the Dragon Tiger Sect.

In the thousand years since the founding of Xuan Yang, Bailu Academy has produced eight great Confucian scholars who rose to the rank of the Three Excellencies.

This staggering number accounts for half of the total.

The current Grand Tutor, Liang Yuan Kang, studied at Bailu Academy before placing first in the imperial examinations and steadily rising to the rank of the Three Excellencies.

In fact, most high-ranking officials in Xuan Yang have followed a similar path.

Bai Yuan had spent most of his time in the Northern Territory and never had the chance to see the world-renowned Bailu Academy.

When Mr. Yuan heard that Bai Yuan had never been to Bailu Academy, he shook his head in regret. "That's a real pity. There's an Orchid Forest at Bailu Academy where the most beautiful orchids bloom."

Bai Yuan recalled the rumors Elder Pei had told him about Mr. Yuan.

He asked tentatively, "Did you once study at Bailu Academy, sir?"

Mr. Yuan seemed to recall something amusing, and the smile on his face widened. "Bailu Academy... I've dreamed of going. A pity, the closest I ever got was the foot of its mountain. I couldn't even find the gate."

Bai Yuan asked again, "Then which academy did you attend, sir?"

Mr. Yuan puffed out his chest. "Sansong Academy."

Bai Yuan's brow furrowed.

'Sansong Academy?'

'I consider myself quite knowledgeable by now, but not only is Sansong Academy not one of the Four Great Academies, it probably doesn't even rank in the top hundred.'

Seeing Bai Yuan racking his brain, Mr. Yuan chuckled. "No need to think so hard. It's just an academy next to a small city. It only had twenty or thirty students in total, and just three teachers."

Bai Yuan was speechless.

No wonder he couldn't place Sansong Academy.

Mr. Yuan asked again, "The plums at the Imperial Inspection Office should be ripe by now, shouldn't they?"

Bai Yuan remembered again what Elder Pei had said: Mr. Yuan had spent time at the Imperial Inspection Office, but because his rank was too low, he was never entered into the official records.

"They were chopped down when Imperial Censor Du was there."

Mr. Yuan said, "Xiaodu... Yes, that sounds like something he would do."

Bai Yuan was a little surprised. "You know Imperial Censor Du, sir?"

Mr. Yuan replied, "We only met a few times. He had just joined the Imperial Inspection Office, and a few days later, I resigned and returned to my hometown."

'It's true!'

'Who knew Elder Pei's little rumors were so accurate? Mr. Yuan really was an official at the Imperial Inspection Office.'

Bai Yuan couldn't help but ask, "Why did you resign, sir?"

Mr. Yuan said, "I had doubts in my heart that I could not resolve."

"What doubts?"

Mr. Yuan, who had answered every question until now, did not reply this time.

He said to himself, "I was actually very good at studying. I was the only one in my entire county to become a Scholar. Later, I even went to the capital to become an official. How could that not be considered bringing honor to my ancestors?"

Bai Yuan listened quietly.

'This time, Elder Pei's information was a bit inaccurate.'

'Mr. Yuan didn't come from a family with any background; he entered the Imperial Inspection Office solely because he had become a Scholar.'

For a Scholar to enter the Imperial Inspection Office, while not the best possible outcome, was certainly not bad.

After all, not every Scholar aimed for the positions of the Six Ministers or even the Three Excellencies. Just becoming a fourth-grade official was a cause for such celebration that it was said smoke was rising from one's ancestral graves.

Even families as powerful as the Fang Family and the Yang Family only had third-grade officials.

This showed that the path of an official was not necessarily easier than the Martial Dao.

A single word from the Emperor could doom you to eternal damnation.

"I was actually very happy to be able to enter the Imperial Inspection Office. Before leaving my academy, I was too excited to sleep all night."

For a student from a small county town, becoming an Imperial Censor in the capital's Imperial Inspection Office was indeed something to cause sleepless nights from excitement.

"But when I arrived at the Imperial Inspection Office, I discovered it was not what I had imagined."

"I began to feel lost."

"Could it be that the teachings of the Saints I had learned were all wrong?"

"Or were the Saints themselves wrong from the start?"

"For the first time, I doubted whether what I had learned was truly right. So, I resigned from my position as an Imperial Censor."

"I stayed in a Daoist Temple for ten years. I thought the words of the Daoist Ancestor would surely be correct, but in the end, they still could not resolve the doubts in my heart."

"So I became a monk. But the teachings of the Buddha could neither save others nor save myself."

"I began to despair. None of the three teachings—Buddhism, Daoism, or Confucianism—could answer the questions in my heart."

"Later, I heard there was another teaching in the Northern Plains, so I traveled north. In a mountain cave, I met the Demon God. I made a deal with the Demon God, and I have now completed the first two parts of that deal."

Mr. Yuan said a great deal all at once.

An image gradually formed in Bai Yuan's mind.

A Confucian scholar, his ideals shattered, conversing with a Demon God alone amidst a world of ice and snow, trying to find answers to the doubts in his heart.

So, the Demon God had truly given Mr. Yuan an answer.

Bai Yuan had already guessed the nature of Mr. Yuan's doubts.

He himself had spent time at the Imperial Inspection Office; he was even now the Right Chief Imperial Censor, its nominal leader.

Yet the supposedly purer a place was, the filthier it turned out to be.

The Black Prison of the Imperial Inspection Office didn't just hold irredeemably evil criminals; it held even more innocent people.

Any Confucian scholar new to officialdom would have their convictions shaken upon seeing it.

Of course, for Bai Yuan, this wasn't an issue at all.

Because he simply didn't care.

In the end, their paths were different. He pursued only his own goals; the fate of the world had nothing to do with him.

Besides, he knew very well that this was not something he could change alone.

Mr. Yuan walked slowly until he stood before Bai Yuan. "Originally, I was supposed to take you directly to complete the third part of the deal. However, I've changed my mind. I want to add to the stakes."

"The stakes?"

Bai Yuan was puzzled again.

Mr. Yuan said, "A great change is coming to the world, but your growth is still a bit too slow. So, I want to help you."

Bai Yuan asked, "And how will you help me?"

Mr. Yuan replied, "There is a unique method of martial cultivation in this world: to prove the Dao through killing. Although I don't know if that is the path you follow, there is likely no one in this world more suited to it than you."

"..."

Bai Yuan was silent.

He didn't know how Mr. Yuan had deduced it, but he was very close to the truth.

'But Mr. Yuan could rack his brain and still never guess that I have a system...'

'Proving the Dao through killing?'

'It's a plausible enough reason.'

Mr. Yuan said, "Since you want to kill, I know a good place for it."

Bai Yuan's eyebrow twitched. He was just about to ask what place that was.

When he saw Mr. Yuan reach a hand out toward him.

Against Mr. Yuan's hand, Bai Yuan had no ability to dodge whatsoever.

The hand wasn't fast, nor did it seem to contain much power, but Bai Yuan simply couldn't evade it. It was as if some mysterious force had locked him in place. Such were the methods of a Divinity Grandmaster!

Big Beard once said that Mr. Yuan was not skilled in combat.

If you were to pair Mr. Yuan with another Divinity-level expert, what you'd face would be the equivalent of four Divinity Grandmasters.

Simply put, Mr. Yuan was a legendary top-tier support character.

Of course, in terms of individual strength, Mr. Yuan was also extraordinary.

Being proficient in the methods of all three teachings, his endless arsenal of skills alone was enough to give anyone a headache.

Since he couldn't resist, Bai Yuan chose to just go limp, allowing Mr. Yuan to grab his sleeve before they shot up into the sky.

Mr. Yuan actually knew Cloud Ladder Leap!

Bai Yuan was flying high in the sky, but he wasn't the one actively using a Lightweight Technique—Mr. Yuan was pulling him along.

And he was certain that Mr. Yuan's proficiency in Cloud Ladder Leap even surpassed his own.

Truly impeccable.

From the abilities Mr. Yuan had displayed so far, although he had no single, overwhelmingly powerful technique, he also had no weaknesses. Or perhaps, having no weaknesses was his greatest strength.

Mr. Yuan's Cloud Ladder Leap was incredibly fast. He carried Bai Yuan for what must have been thousands of miles before finally landing on a snowy field in the Northern Plains.

"This is the place."

Mr. Yuan took the lead, walking out onto the snowy plains.

Bai Yuan had no choice but to follow closely behind him.

As he walked ahead, Mr. Yuan said, "This is where I was, all those years ago, when I encountered the remnant soul of the Demon God."

"What?!"

Bai Yuan's eyes widened dramatically.