In this world, there are a thousand Daos and ten thousand Laws.
Yet, few things were more helpless than this.
Seeing the three of them leave without a word, Ran Qingqiu breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at Li Chang’an and said, "This should be fine now, right?"
Li Chang’an watched her, pondering for a moment before suddenly smiling. "I’ve figured out what to do with you. I’ll undo part of your Seal, and in return, you’ll help me train some talent!"
’Killing one of the six great Saintesses of the Demon Sect so casually would be a waste.’
Li Chang’an undid a part of Ran Qingqiu’s Seal, turning her into a human punching bag to train and temper Cao Tianlong, Cao Dilong, and the many beggar orphans the Champion Scholar’s Mansion had taken in.
The Demon Sect had a wide array of methods.
Many of which were more than enough to make these hothouse flowers suffer.
Sure enough, ever since Li Chang’an started using this Demoness as a villain, cultivation at the Champion Scholar’s Mansion was anything but dull.
This was especially true for Cao Tianlong and Cao Dilong.
Every time the two brothers saw Ran Qingqiu, their eyes would turn red with rage. Their cultivation speed soared, and they felt like they had an endless supply of energy each day.
...
Another month passed in the blink of an eye.
During that time, Li Chang’an paid a visit to the Sun Family and returned with Sun Zhaorui’s head.
The Sun Family was indeed garrisoned with members of the Demon Sect.
It had become one of the Demon Sect’s forward operating bases in Mountain City.
Not wanting to expose himself, Li Chang’an didn’t annihilate the entire Sun Family.
However, Sun Zhaorui’s death still caused quite a stir. The Sun Family searched for a long time but couldn’t find the culprit, so they suspected the Champion Scholar’s Mansion was behind it. They sent many people to investigate, but Li Chang’an cut off all their feelers.
...
「Ninth Month.」
The Liyang Dynasty’s Martial Arts Examination began.
In this world, the Martial Arts Examination was as important as the one for scholars, perhaps even more so. Experts selected through the Martial Arts Examination could hold positions in the military. If they possessed some literary talent on top of their Martial Arts skills, their future prospects were even more limitless.
On the other hand, scholars who only knew how to study could only become Civil Servants.
And most Civil Servants ended up as deputies or were simply dispatched to less important departments to serve as idle mascots.
"All pursuits are lowly; only scholarship is noble."
This was a phrase scholars loved to parrot.
Because aside from using such slogans to emphasize their own importance, there was little Civil Servants could actually do against Military Generals.
As this ploy was repeated over and over, it ended up brainwashing quite a few people.
Tian Fugui, at least, was one of the victims of this ideology.
In recent years, the Liyang Dynasty had weakened. Besides the deep-seated problems that came with its long history, a major reason was that all the real talent was being snatched up by the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect.
Every year at the Martial Arts Examination, the Imperial Court could only pick the best of the worst, scraping the bottom of the barrel after the Demon Sect and Buddhist Sect took their pick. After years of this, decline was inevitable.
...
It was time for the annual Martial Arts Examination again.
Li Chang’an left Chun’an and arrived at the examination grounds in Shanghang Prefecture, the State and County Government City.
Only then did he realize that the participants weren’t just Martial Artists from poor families or the young masters and ladies of the great houses trying their luck. There were even more disciples from the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect.
The scene left Li Chang’an a little puzzled.
He turned to a fellow examinee from his hometown whom he knew and asked, "This is clearly the Liyang Dynasty’s Martial Arts Examination. What are these Demons from the Demon Sect and bald donkeys from the Buddhist Sect doing here, joining the fun?"
His fellow countryman was named Ma Dongyang, and like Li Chang’an, he was the young master of a landlord family.
Practicing Martial Arts required even more money than studying; a family without some savings couldn’t afford to support it.
What Li Chang’an called "poor families" were, at the very least, landlords. Otherwise, just the cost of the gift required to become an apprentice would be enough to deter an ordinary family.
Hearing his question, the originally strong and sturdy Ma Dongyang was instantly scared into acting like a timid cat.
He took several steps back, terrified that when Li Chang’an was attacked, the blood would splatter onto him.
After waiting a moment and confirming no one was coming to cause trouble for Li Chang’an, Ma Dongyang finally let out a heavy sigh of relief and whispered, "Brother Li, you must not shout like that! The Demon Sect hates being called Demons, and the Buddhist Sect hates being called bald donkeys. You’ve offended both sides with a single sentence!"
"If they heard you, getting your skin flayed would be a light punishment. Losing your life over it would be truly worthless!"
To prevent Li Chang’an from offending someone else with his careless words, Ma Dongyang continued to explain, "The Imperial Court holds the Martial Arts Examination, so of course the Demon Sect and Buddhist Sect are here to crash the party!"
"Don’t be fooled by how Shanghang County is still nominally under the Imperial Court’s control. In reality, it’s long been occupied by the Demon Sect and the Buddhist Sect!"
"For the past few years, the Buddhist Sect has been trying to build a Buddhist Temple in Shanghang to preach, while the Demon Sect plans to establish a branch here. Both sides have been scheming in secret and in the open. The Martial Arts Examination grounds are naturally another arena for their power struggle!"
"These disciples from the Demon Sect and Buddhist Sect will compete for the top spot. But after winning, they won’t actually join the Li Yang Imperial Court. This way, they can both cut off the Li Yang Imperial Court’s path to recruiting talent and show the world the might of their respective Sects. They kill multiple birds with one stone!"
Hearing his explanation, Li Chang’an finally understood.
The Buddhist Sect and the Demon Sect were, nominally, also under the rule of the Liyang Dynasty, so strictly speaking, there was no problem with the two Sects sending disciples to participate in the Martial Arts Examination.
The problem was, as the saying goes: in scholarship, there is no first; in martial arts, there is no second.
If an examination was dominated by disciples from these two Sects, who then refused to join the Liyang Dynasty after winning their titles, it would be a direct slap in the face to the Liyang Dynasty.