Dawnless Sovereign

Fang Che's repeated abuse of Huo Churan had become a massive story in the academy.

Over the course of three days, he had beaten Huo Churan to the point that he was no longer able to attend lessons, yet even in the infirmary, Huo Churan still wasn't spared!

At this point, what Fang Che was doing was downright demented!

Once again, the four instructors of the first class were being subjected to a furious tirade in the coordinator's office.

"Is this a fucking academy or a prison?! What do we even pay you for?! Four days in a row! This is beyond unacceptable!"

The four instructors could only hang their heads and accept the perfectly valid criticism in silence.

"Fang Che must be punished!" the coordinator snapped.

"I must advise you to reconsider," Li Changkong hurriedly said. "This is just a matter of fighting among students. It happens all the time, and there are several students who lose their lives over fights like this every year in our academy. It's not like Huo Churan was beaten to death..."

"Li Changkong! Do you hear yourself right now? Are we supposed to wait until Huo Churan is dead and buried before we do something?!"

Li Changkong was showered but spittle from the incensed coordinator, but he was in no position to complain.

"If you ask me, this is not a minor incident, but an official punishment would be overkill."

It was Supervisor Meng Chizheng who had spoken, and he had just entered the office.

Everyone immediately stood up.

"I've already looked into this matter, and these are my findings," Meng Chizheng continued. "During the new student tournament, Fang Che made a peace offering to Huo Churan, one that the latter turned down in a rather unfriendly manner, and that marked the beginning of their feud.

“After the tournament, Huo Churan made dissenting remarks on many occasions, claiming that Fang Che didn't deserve the title of champion, and that the tournament had clearly been rigged as Qiu Yunshang surrendered before even fighting in the final. He also directed many threatening remarks at Fang Che, indicating that he was intent on exacting vengeance by any means necessary.

“For Fang Che's part, he refused to engage, but tensions must've been building this entire time, and everything came to a boiling point during their encounter at the cafeteria several days ago. In light of all of this, it's clear that bad blood has been brewing between the two of them for quite some time.

“In conclusion, Fang Che has indeed taken things too far, but Huo Churan is also partially to blame for all the inflammatory remarks that he's been making. If one of us were in Fang Che's ;position, would we be able to stomach these insults in silence? In my opinion, Fang Che's retaliation was warranted, it's just that he's gone a little overboard.

“In principle, both parties are at fault, so it would be unfair to punish only one side, and such an approach could even tarnish the reputation of our academy. Hence, I say we either punish them both, or punish neither one!"

***

Everyone in the office was stunned by this verdict, particularly the four instructors of the eleventh class.

Huo Churan still needs to be dealt a punishment after everything he's been through?!

"Instructor Li, you're one of our academy's finest instructors. What do you think should be done about this?" Meng Chizheng asked. "My personal opinion is that you should let bygones be bygones and spare Huo Churan from punishment."

Li Changkong immediately nodded in agreement. "You're right, Supervisor Meng. I also think Huo Churan should be spared of punishment."

The four instructors of the eleventh class were furious!

What a pair of kind and benevolent saints you are!

Even though Huo Churan was their student, and the top prodigy in their class, at that, they were not very fond of him.

He had a very arrogant and violent personality, and he was always verbally and physically abusing his classmates, thinking them to be beneath him.

However, he was still their student, so they were obligated to look out for his best interests.

"Alright, in that case, let's not punish either of them."

With that, the dilemma was resolved!

Meng Chizheng turned to Li Changkong and said, "Having said that, the four of you still need to keep Fang Che in check. Surely that's not too much to ask!"

Li Changkong hurriedly nodded in agreement.

"Fang Che is obviously at fault for his repeated abuse of Huo Churan, but there will always be feisty and ill-disciplined students, and it's up to us instructors to iron him out. At the end of the day, he's still just a student, so some immaturity is to be expected of him, but we, as instructors, can't also be immature, isn't that right?"

Li Changkong and his colleagues nodded in response with shameful looks on their faces.

With the instructors admonished, Meng Chizheng turned his attention to the coordinator. "With great power comes great responsibility. As the coordinator, you shouldn't be throwing around punishments so casually."

The coordinator also hung his head in shame.

"And the four of you have work to do as well. Huo Churan is a very abrasive and inflammatory child, and he's in need of discipline just as much as Fang Che!"

The four instructors of the eleventh class could only agree with this assessment.

With everyone reprimanded, Meng Chizheng departed without another word.

***

Upon his return to the classroom, Fang Che received a hero's welcome from Mo Ganyun.

"Holy shit, bro, you're insane! I can't believe you went to beat him up in the infirmary!" Mo Ganyun exclaimed with a look of idolization in his eyes.

"There's no need to make such a big fuss over something so trivial," Fang Che said with a casual smile.

"Bro, you're my idol!" Mo Ganyun exclaimed. "I wanna go next time! I'm from a way more affluent clan than you, yet somehow, I'm worse at picking on others than you! It's downright embarrassing."

Fang Che remained silent as he took a glance behind Mo Ganyun.

A loud slap rang out as Mo Ganyun was dashed to the ground from behind by Li Changkong, following which he also received a couple of kicks.

"You wanna go do the same thing, is that right? You still think we don't have enough on our plates?!"

"I'm sorry, Instructor Li! I was just kidding!" Mo Ganyun wailed.

However, the four instructors didn't relent.

Fang Che was clearly already a lost cause, but they were determined to beat Mo Ganyun into submission.

A short while later, Mo Ganyun was laying on his back in a spreadeagled manner, barely clinging onto life.

It had to be said that the academy instructors were extremely experienced when it came to physical punishment.

There was not a single injury on his body, yet it had still been an excruciating ordeal, nonetheless.

"Fang Che! Come with us!"

Fang Che was summoned for another disciplinary session, but to his surprise, he didn't receive a beating this time.

Instead, the four instructors took turns trying to reason with him and appeal to him emotionally.

Bing Shangxue even had tears welling up in her eyes, and in the end, Fang Che could only relent and promise them not to be so rash and brazen in the future.

In any case, he had already done enough.

If he were in Huo Churan's shoes, there was no way he would be able to stomach such humiliation without retaliation.

If Huo Churan could resist the urge to try and get back at him even after all of the suffering that he had endured, then Fang Che would have no choice but to concede his defeat.

"I thought I would be dealt an official punishment for sure. Thank you for looking out for me, instructors," Fang Che said in a sheepish manner.

By Fang Che's estimates, there was no way that Li Changkong and his colleagues would have the jurisdictive power to completely spare him of punishment over such a major transgression.

Hence, there had to have been someone else involved, and Fang Che was determined to find out who it was.

He knew that there was an undercover agent for the One Heart Church among the top brass of the academy, and that person was aware of his identity.

Hence, Fang Che hadn't done all of this just to target Huo Churan and Wei Zihao. Instead, he was also trying to see who would be protecting him in the academy.

Given that he had Ye Meng by his side, all of the high-ranking staff in the academy should've already been aware that he was a member of the One Heart Church.

What he wanted to do was to narrow down the list of suspects to a few names as soon as possible.

The one who had protected him wasn't necessarily guaranteed to be an undercover agent, but they would certainly be highly suspicious in Fang Che's eyes.

Unbeknownst to Fang Che, due to the confidentiality measures taken by those in high-up places, there weren't actually many people even among the academy's top brass who were aware that he was a member of the One Heart Church.

"Don't thank us, we didn't do anything!" Bing Shangxue scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "It was Supervisor Meng Chizheng who personally stepped in to settle this matter. He was clearly acting on behalf of the academy's top brass, so it seems like they never wanted to punish you in the first place."

"I want to go and offer my gratitude to Supervisor Meng," Fang Che said.

"Why don't you go see the dean as well while you're at it?" Duan Zhongliu sneered. "Do you not feel ashamed going to see Supervisor Meng when you're not even a Lesser Grandmaster yet?"

A sheepish look appeared on Fang Che's face, but internally, he had just marked Meng Chizheng down as his primary suspect.

That afternoon, Fang Che returned to his manor to find Ye Meng practicing her sword techniques in the courtyard.

"Young Master! I made a breakthrough to the ninth rank!"

"And that's supposed to be a worthy cause for celebration? Piss off! All you do is eat and sleep every day! Be careful you don't become a pig!"

Ye Meng's expression instantly fell.

She felt like she had never received even a single word of encouragement from Fang Che!

I haven't gotten fat at all! I have become a little... perkier in some places. Is that what he means?

With that in mind, her cheeks became flushed with embarrassment, and she gave a disgruntled harrumph before returning to her sword practice.

Over time, she had become much more casual and relaxed in her interactions with Fang Che.

"Make sure to keep an eye open while sleeping for the next few nights. There's most likely going to be an attempt made on my life soon," Fang Che said.

Ye Meng hurriedly turned back to him with a fearful expression.

"Why?"

Surely the Protectionists aren't sending anyone to assassinate him. If they want to have him killed, they would've just instructed me to do it. In that case, is it the church? But Fang Che is a church member, why would they try to kill him?