Wait a minute, where is my master?

Alas, the sense of safety was gone.

Jin Xu was currently visiting the "old friend" of safety, trying to bring it back.

Walking up the bamboo steps, Jin Xu reached the second floor of the bamboo building and found it deserted; only a collapsed bed piled haphazardly with ancient books.

Just as he was about to continue to the third floor, he encountered an elderly man at the stairway entrance, the very one his master had pinned to the ground and beaten that day.

"Are you the little Taoist who followed Tianxing that day?"

The old man's mouth did not move, yet his voice echoed inside Jin Xu's mind.

Jin Xu felt that he must learn a spell that could protect his Sea of Consciousness.

Otherwise, having voices popping up in his mind every day was far too frightening.

"Elder..."

The little Taoist Jin Xu felt that he must be polite when visiting his master's "old friend."

Respecting them was akin to respecting his own master.

So he spoke with due respect, only to be interrupted.

"Boy, you entered without my permission, today I will teach you on behalf of Tianxing Sect what manners are!"

"Huh?"

Jin Xu, aggrieved.

He had knocked on the door and even waited for a while.

Yet this elderly man accused him of being impolite.

A green-golden ruler flew out from behind the old man, heading straight for Jin Xu's face!

The force seemed intent on claiming the life of the little Taoist!

"This old man wants to kill me!"

"Why? Because I was impolite?"

Seeing the ruler flying towards him, Jin Xu's heart raced, adrenaline surged, and he had no time to speak up for himself; he only managed to reflexively raise his right hand and channel a Hand Palm Thunder, blocking the ruler upwards at an angle.

...

Outside the bamboo building, Yaoer was fidgeting with a red jade bracelet on her wrist, attempting to fit a bamboo stick from behind the bamboo grove into it; if her noble master found his teacher, she would use the bamboo to develop a new recipe to celebrate this great joyful event.

"Boom!"

A thick golden thunderbolt shot out diagonally from the bamboo building! Any cave prohibitions or academy arrays were utterly destroyed in the mix.

Half the bamboo building in front of her exploded into fragments...

Causing the Little Fish Demon who was pulling out a bamboo stick to tremble with fright.

Then, Yaoer saw a figure smash out from the second-floor wall of the bamboo building—it was her noble master.

"Isn't this the Gentleman Bamboo Building, out he crashes!"

"'Cultivation World Artifact Refining Material Guide' records that gentle bamboo ranks in the top five for hardness in the Cultivation World."

"Run fast!"

"That old man inside wants to kill me!!!"

From Jin Xu's perspective, had that green-golden ruler struck his head, he would surely be gone.

His master was right, the cultivators of this world truly "disregard life."

It was his first time encountering someone who wanted to kill over a lack of manners.

That was exceptionally horrifying!

Yaoer was also stunned when she heard, the old man inside wanting to kill the master meant that the Old Dean of Qingmu Academy wanted to kill her master!

Jin Xu landed on the ground, grabbed Yaoer's hand, and without looking back, ran towards the distant hill where Xuanxu Temple was located.

"We need to run faster! Even faster!"

Moments later.

The two dashed into Xuanxu Temple, which had just started to lift off the ground amidst the rising fog and soared into the sky.

...

Revisiting the Gentleman Bamboo Building.

Splinters of bamboo still continuously fell, and after a chunk of bamboo landed.

The tremendous bamboo building could no longer bear the strain and collapsed thunderously.

On the debris, the Old Dean of Qingmu Academy slumped on the remaining staircase, with a broken green gold ruler in front of him.

Dressed in a tattered green robe, his face was scorched, the corners of his mouth tinged with dry brown blood, and occasionally, golden thunder arcs danced on his face. Anyone passing by could catch a whiff of roasted meat.

"Who am I?"

"Where am I?"

"What have I done?"

The Dean of the Academy questioned his life.

...

Not long ago, Tianxing Taoist inexplicably came to fight him, and although both constrained themselves to using only physical strength, he still suffered minor injuries.

He had just healed from his injuries in the evening, yet that old Taoist returned in his dilapidated Xuanxu Temple, smashing the roof of his Gentleman Bamboo Building, claiming he made him lose face in front of his disciple, and sought another fight.

This exacerbated his injuries, which he had only recovered from yesterday.

You won, didn't you? What face did you lose?

The Old Dean of Qingmu Academy felt aggrieved.

He wouldn't deny that deep down inside, he did harbor a little thought of "if I can't beat the older ones, why not bully the younger ones?"

Anyway, since he couldn't kill them outright, he might as well scare them a bit.

His original intention was to stop the Green Gold Ruler right in front of Jin Xu to see this little Taoist beg for mercy.

But what had just happened?

How had his Lifebound Ruler been shattered?

And what in the world was that golden thunderbolt? Why did it feel even more terrifying than Heavenly Tribulation?

The initial posture did look a bit like the basic spell "Hand Palm Thunder."

Just that, without even hitting him directly, merely grazing him, he almost died.

Is this little Taoist really a disciple of Tianxing Taoist, or is Tianxing Taoist the disciple of this little Taoist?

...

Huge golden thunderbolts slantingly pierced the sky.

It was like pouring a bowl of water into a bubbling pot of oil, making the quiet Qingmu Academy suddenly boil over.

Qingmu Academy, teaching area.

In a room marked with a plaque that reads "Three Friends of Winter."

Three scholars who appeared to be in their prime, dressed in crossed collar scholarly robes, were enjoying tea and discussing philosophy.

One of them, wearing a plum-colored crossed-collar robe.

Sat by the window, holding a celadon tea cup. He was just about to sip from it when he saw a thick golden thunderbolt slant across the sky through the window lattice, followed by a loud rumbling sound.

His hand holding the tea cup paused slightly while he joyfully said,

"The Old Dean is undergoing a great Heavenly Tribulation,"

Hearing this, another scholar dressed in emerald-colored robe also turned to look outside the window.

Muttering,

"Why is this Heavenly Tribulation golden?"

The scholar in a dark-green robe slammed his tea cup onto the table and cursed loudly.

"Mei Shouyi and Zhu Chuanren, have you two taught yourselves stupid? Has there ever been a tribulation that strikes from the ground to the sky? Or one that is slanted?"

Without waiting for a response, the scholar in the dark-green robe rushed out of the room toward the location of the golden thunderbolt burst, his voice echoing from afar,

"There must be trouble! Hurry and check it out!"

Qingmu Academy's protective Array was originally non-flying, otherwise, with many students, flying around would be indecorous.

Scholars moved around the campus in designated carriages that served as substitutes.

But now that the protective Array was shattered and the no-fly rule was disabled, in their urgency, a large group of scholars flew toward the direction of the bamboo buildings.

Qingmu Academy was mainly dressed in green long robes, appearing from afar like a swarm of grasshoppers in the spring and summer months.

"Cultivate one's morality and rectify one's heart!"

A booming voice rose, bringing slight calm to the boiling pot that was Qingmu Academy.

Then, the voice secretly transmitted,

"Let each school's teachers lead their students to form the Three Talents Formation and stand by at their locations."

"Scholars gather at my place, set up the Gentleman Six Arts Formation, and protect the students first."

After arranging all this, that figure then called out loudly,

"I do not know which esteemed guest has arrived at our Qingmu Academy, secretly breaking my great array is not the act of a true man. Why not show yourself openly?"

...

...

"Dean, it seems like no one is paying attention to you."

Professor Mei Shouyi gently reminded.

"Shut up,"

Mr. Song from the Three Friends of Winter scolded.

The person who came out swiftly to control the situation was Qingyun, the current Dean of Qingmu Academy.

He had sensed something was wrong the moment the golden thunderbolt appeared and it was already too late when he tried to control the protective array to counter it.

Then, he used his Divine Sense to scan the Old Dean's location, ensuring that only the Old Dean's presence remained around the bamboo building and no one else's.

He then let out a slight sigh of relief.

It seemed that the external enemy might have been handled by the Old Dean

However, to prevent the attacker from having a contingency plan, he still cautiously ordered his disciples to set up formations just in case.

A quarter of an hour passed.

"Dean, it seems like nobody really is paying attention to you,"

Professor Mei Shouyi once again gently reminded.

"You shut your mouth,"

If it weren't for still being within the formation, Mr. Song would have definitely gone up and beaten him.

Standing in the sky overseeing the grand formation, Qingyun's face twitched almost imperceptibly.

He decided, in his heart, to halve the allowances for the Three Friends of Winter next quarter and to let those two beat up this Mr. Mei!