Unsheathed

According to his agreement with Cui Chan, Cui Minghuang should've left Lake View Academy in an honorable manner to become a deputy mountain master of Forest Deer Academy, while the first-ever mountain master of the academy would've been the old flood dragon posing as a past minister of the Yellow Court Nation.

The second deputy mountain master would've been a reputable local Confucian scholar of the Great Li Empire, but that was only a temporary arrangement. Once Forest Deer Academy claimed the title of one of the seventy-two academies, Cheng Shuidong would resign from his role as mountain master, and the old Confucian scholar of the Great Li Empire wouldn't have possessed the ambition or drive to compete for the position, so it would've automatically fallen into Cui Minghuang's lap.

If everything had gone according to plan, Lake View Academy would've been satisfied, while Cui Chan stood to benefit the most. As for Cui Minghuang, he would certainly also have nothing to complain about, becoming the mountain master of his own academy, one of the seventy-two academies, no less.

This was a tremendous honor, essentially the pinnacle pursuit for all scholars. Given Cui Chan's ability to manipulate the fate of others, as long as Cui Minghuang remained in the Dragon Spring Prefecture, he would have to be content with serving as a teacher, regardless of how lofty his ambitions were.

However, things had not gone according to plan, and even Cui Chan himself had failed to anticipate many of the events that had transpired.

For example, the White Jade Capital replica constructed by the Great Li Empire had almost been reduced to a worldwide laughing stock, while Song Zhengchun had also been severely wounded.

The Great Li Empire's forces had also commenced its southbound march earlier than planned, while Cui Chan had also begun to execute many of his plans in the central region of the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent. Lake View Academy had vehemently opposed the Great Li Empire, sending out many noble and virtuous scholars to various nations across the continent to quell the turmoil there.

In particular, there was the destruction of the intercontinental ship from Ceremony Mountain within the territory of the Luminous Vermilion Empire and the subsequent emergence of Heavenly Lord Xie Shi, who had exerted immense pressure on Lake View Academy.

Not only had this sparked widespread fury among the cultivators of the continent, what little goodwill that Lake View Academy and the Great Li Empire had harbored toward one another had been completely eradicated. Thus, Cui Minghuang was forced to remain in Lake View Academy and was unable to travel to Forest Deer Academy to become the deputy mountain master.

Apparently, he had been working conscientiously over the past few years to further hone his knowledge, and the entire academy had been full of praise to him for his diligence and hard work.

Chen Ping'an was a little perplexed.