Chapter 411: Meeting Of Elders (1)
The academy had remained peaceful for a few days. Everyone was focused on either cultivating or recovering from their injuries.
But news regarding the Willpower Grotto still started spreading in the academy. When news that even the myriad race students might also be allowed to enter the grotto spread, it was as though a massive stone had been tossed into a calm lake.
...
Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
Yet another meeting was being held between the elders.
For some reason, there were a lot more meetings this year compared to the previous years. It felt as though a meeting would be held every few days. This was also the first meeting Hong Tan attended in this semester.
Meeting room.
When Hong Tan saw Zhou Mingren, he was very friendly. With a big smile on his face, he asked, "Old Zhou, I hope your injuries aren't causing much trouble for you."
Zhou Mingren ignored Hong Tan and sat down before shutting his eyes to wait for the start of the meeting.
Hong Tan mere smiled and cupped his hands at the others, "I have only been away for a few months but the academy seems to have changed completely. We now have myriad race students and even the Willpower Grotto is going to be opened. Good thing I'm back now. Any longer and I might even find myself returning to an academy with an entirely different name."
He looked at Xia Changqing and smiled, "Old Xia, maybe the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy can change its name to Changqing Cultural Research Academy. It has such a nice ring to it, right?"
Xia Changqing said nothing. He decided to ignore the angry old man.
Hong Tan did not mind. He laughed heartily, "Forget it. Sigh. Life sure is hard."
He looked at a different person and asked curiously, "Old Nie, why are you here?"
Old Nie shot Hong Tan a glance and sighed. What a pity. He had accidentally crushed the teapot. Otherwise, this would be the perfect time for him to take out the teapot in front of Hong Tan.
The other elders were similarly surprised to see Old Nie. Vice Principal Su Ziming asked, "Old Nie, what brings you here today? You don't attend these meetings often."
There were six non Mountainsea elders in the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy. Apart from the head manager of the library and the hall master of the Discipline Hall, the other four were in charge of the Grotto District.
The four biggest grottos of the academy, the Source Qi Secret Grotto, the Devil Battling Field Grotto, the Willpower Grotto, and the Imprisoned Demon Grotto, were each left behind by a different deceased principal.
The Great Xia Cultural Research Academy had welcomed six principals in total. Apart from the fifth principal, who had died without leaving a grotto, and Wan Tiansheng, who was still alive, each of the previous principals had left a grotto behind before dying.
Old Nie was the leader of the guards of the Source Qi Secret Grotto and also an elder of the academy.
Zhao Li was supposed to be the one in this position, but back then, he was only focused on weaponsmithing. And after failing his attempt to forge an earth-grade weapon, he was no longer in the mood to manage the grotto.
Hearing Su Ziming's words, Old Nie smiled, "Vice Principal Su, I heard that each of the elders attending this meeting will get a slot. That's why I'm here."
The moment those words were said, Yu Hong said, "Nonsense. I don't know who has been spreading these rumors, but that is nonsense."
Some rumors had indeed been spreading in the academy during the past few days.
First, people were saying that the myriad race students would be allowed to enter the grotto. Next, they were saying that each elder could get a slot. Then, people started saying that all the top 100 students could enter. Some people were also saying that only the myriad race students would be allowed to enter.
These rumors had caused a lot of trouble for the single character faction. Nothing seemed to be going well for them recently. In fact, they had never stopped encountering trouble since the start of the semester.
Elder Sun said, "This is a grotto we are paying a great price to open. If anyone else wishes to enter, they can pay for it as well."
These people were actually trying to reap the rewards of their hard work. This was not something they could accept!
Not more than 50 people could enter the grotto. And there were already plenty of people in the single character faction waiting to enter. But before they had even opened the grotto, a large group of sharks was already waiting to take a bite out of them.
Even Nie Qi, someone who rarely got involved in academy affairs, was here today. And Old Nie was not the only inactive elder that had appeared today. Before long, a few more elders arrived. All of them were in the Cloudbreach Realm.
The Cloudbreach elders who had rarely participated in academy affairs had all arrived. Even a few of the elders that were supposed to be in seclusion were here.
"Jia Wendao, I thought you're in seclusion? Why are you here?"
An elder greeted Jia Wendao, a fatty with an oily face. He looked more like someone who had just left a feast instead of a secluded cultivation session.
Jia Wendao laughed heartily, "I heard we're getting free slots today so I left seclusion. Old Hong, you're back?"
Looking at Hong Tan, Jia Wendao grinned and said, "Old Hong, not long ago, I collected a set of writing tools. The set consists of a dragon-beard brush, profound turtle inkstone, and so on. In fact, that set reminds me of the set you used to have. I have been wanting to have something similar for a while now. Imagine my surprise when I found something similar being sold."
"..."
Hong Tan's face turned stiff. Yeah! Where were his writing tools? Why had he not seen them since his return? Also, where was his teapot? Where were his beloved paintings? Where was his lovely dragon-phoenix jade sculpture?
Damn it! A lot of things seemed to be missing from his room! He had been too busy for the past few days and had forgotten to ask about them.
Jia Wendao continued laughing happily. The other elders were resisting the urge to laugh as well.
Yu Hong did not bother hiding anything. He sneered and said, "Truly a lineage of unfiial disciples and immoral members. A student is actually freely selling the belongings of his teacher. This complete lack of respect toward one's seniors is probably a result of incompetent teachers and elders."
Hong Tan looked at Yu Hong and smiled, "Elder Yu, why beat around the bush if you're trying to attack me with words? I enjoy living in such an environment. What can you do about it? Even if Bai Feng wishes to sell the research center, I won't object. So what?"
He could already guess what Bai Feng had done. He cursed inwardly and decided to teach Bai Feng a really good lesson after this. Naturally, when he was among outsiders, he would have to uphold his reputation.
"In the past, I had merely been too lazy to deal with you guys. Don't think that I'm a pushover just because of that." Hong Tan smiled, "Yes, I don't really get involved in the affairs of the academy that much. However...when someone tries to step all over me...well, you guys need to understand that someone near the Sunmoon Realm is not someone you can afford to provoke. Old hag, use your brain and think about my words after this. I am not interested in waging a war of words with an old hag like you. If you keep running your mouth in front of me, you'll need to consider whether Old Zhou can really protect you from me."
Zhou Mingren frowned slightly and waved his hand, stopping Yu Hong from saying anything else. Yu Hong was only a seventh-stage Mountainsea. She was not weak, but she was far from Hong Tan's match. Of the eight elders in the single character faction, he was the strongest. As for the second strongest elder, it was none other than Elder Zhao who was in a sealed seclusion.
Zheng Yuming was the weakest, followed by Elder Li, a fourth-stage Mountainsea. Above Elder Li was Elder Ma, a fifth-stage Mountainsea who was still stationed at the Allheaven Battlefield. They also had an Elder Fang who was a sixth-stage Mountainsea and Elder Sun who was a seventh-stage Mountainsea.
Apart from Zheng Yuming, the rest of the elders were all powerful individuals. This was also one of the reasons why the single character faction held so much power in Great Xia. They had four late-stage Mountainseas in their ranks.
Hong Tan said nothing else and sat down. Before long, Wu Yuehua and a few other elders arrived. People like He Ji and Fan Jin had arrived with her. The others from the group said nothing. As for Wu Yuehua, she merely shot Su Ziming a glance before sneered with contempt.
Su Ziming remained silent. Back then, he was also a supporter of the multiple character faction. Fifty years later, he had opted to be absent from the major battle between the single and multiple character factions.
After all the elders were gathered, Wan Tiansheng leisurely walked through the door. With a cup of tea in hand, he sat down and started sipping on it.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Wan Tiansheng smiled, "Since everyone is here, let's make this short. It's only a Willpower Grotto. It is unrelated to most of us. Why is everyone making a big deal out of it? When Old Zhou proposed to open the grotto previously, I had given my agreement."
Zhou Mingren said, "I agree that there isn't even a need to call for this meeting. It's very simple. Anyone capable of opening the grotto can do it as well. We won't stop anyone. Since we are paying ourselves to open the grotto, what is the point of calling for a meeting about it? It's only a grotto. You're making too big of a deal out of it. There is no need to gather over a dozen elders to talk about this."
"Yeah!" Wan Tiansheng nodded, "Everyone here is a busy person. Don't waste more time and voice any objections you guys have."
An old man smiled and said, "I have nothing much to say. I believe everyone here knows who my student is. He is Zhan Hai, someone on the verge of reaching the Skysoar Realm, and occupies the first place in the top 100. He deserves a slot, right? Old Zhou, I'm willing to pay 2,000 merit points for it."
Zhou Mingren frowned. He looked at the old man and nodded, "Sure."
There was no need to offend this person. This person was not weak. And Zhan Hai wasn't a member of the multiple character faction. He was more of a neutral individual. It wasn't an issue to give Zhan Hai a slot.
"My grandstudent, Jiang Mu..."
Yet another elder opened his mouth.
Zhou Mingren frowned and raised his hand, "There are a lot of students under all of you. And there are also a lot of students in our faction. There are tens of thousands of students in the academy. It is impossible to allow all of them to enter. Everyone, you are free to open the grotto yourself if you want. As for this opening, we can only offer three slots."
A lot of elders frowned after hearing that.
Wu Yuehua coldly said, "Five of the slots are mine."
"Not anymore." Zhou Mingren calmly said, "Wu Yuehua, you should understand the meaning behind the slots I promised you before. And you are aware of what you did after that. In that case, why should we still give you those slots?"
Why would he help his enemies when the hostility between them had escalated to such a level? He was no fool.
Zhou Mingren looked at a few specific elders and ignored the weaker elders. He spoke directly to the late-stage Mountainsea elders, "The slots I promised Wu Yuehua can also be given out. In total, eight slots will be given out."
The moment those words were said, the elders who had been preparing to speak out against the injustice looked at each other and decided to shut their mouths.
Only 24 elders were present at the meeting. Excluding those from the single character faction and those allied with Wu Yuehua, there weren't a lot of elders left. Thus, eight slots would be sufficient for the rest of them.
Wu Yuehua had a cold expression. She knew that there was probably nothing she could do about this.
Unwilling to give up, she said, "In that case, I'll object to the opening of this grotto. This grotto was left behind by the first principal. It belongs to the multiple character faction. The first principal was the teacher of the third principal and the fifth principal was the student of the third principal. Thus, you guys are not entitled to make any decisions regarding this grotto."
Zhou Mingren calmly said, "The first principal left the grotto to the academy, not the individuals in it. Unless a successor related by blood can be found, the grotto will only belong to the academy.
"That is not the only grotto in the academy. A decent number of them were left behind by the predecessors of the single character faction as well, including the Source Qi Secret Grotto left behind by the fourth principal and the Imprisoned Demon Grotto left behind by the second principal of the beast taming faction. Following your logic, is everyone forbidden to open these grottos as well?"
Wu Yuehua was rendered completely speechless.
At this time, Hong Tan smiled, "True. Old Zhou is right."
Wu Yuehua glared at him.
Hong Tan ignored her. He was already used to her temper. He smiled and said, "Old Zhou is relying on his own ability to open the grotto. It would be a waste to let the Willpower Grotto remain shut. It is a good idea to open it and increase the strength of our students. I approve of this."
Zhou Mingren said nothing. He knew that Hong Tan would not be saying all that to support him.
"However..." Hong Tan sighed, "Old Zhou must have forgotten about this. I am actually the deputy faculty head of the Character Faculty. The resources Old Zhou is planning to use for the opening actually belong to the faculty, right?
"I am not normally the type of person to care about things like this. The resources allocated to us from the Knowledge Seeking Realm and the prefectural government are meant to help strengthen the academy and the students. This really has nothing much to do with me.
"Increasing the strength of our students will benefit both the academy and Great Xia. I have not helped much in running the faculty, so I am not interested in profiting off the hard labor of others.
"Nevertheless, I am still the deputy faculty head. And all those resources belong to the faculty, right? Old Zhou, I believe we need to think carefully about this before touching the faculty's treasury. I think I should get involved in the discussion regarding the opening of the grotto."
Zhou Mingren said nothing. Yu Hong was the one who frowned and said, "Those resources had all been obtained through the hard work of the students from our single character faction! It has nothing to do with you."
Hong Tan yawned and said, "You're right. But...I'm also a member of the single character faction! The multiple character faction has been officially deregistered from the academy. It no longer exists. Now, the entire Character Faculty is the single character faction. Are you not aware of this? Have you forgotten, Elder Yu? Sigh. I suppose you're really getting old if your memory is this bad."
"..."
All the other elders blanked out.
Zhou Mingren gave Hong Tan a deep gaze.
Hong Tan smiled and shrugged helplessly, "It's not like I want this to happen. I want to preserve the multiple character faction as well. With the multiple character faction around, you guys can keep using the excuse that we're not from the same faction. But now...well, I have no choice, right? The multiple character faction no longer exists. What faction would I be in if not the single character faction? How about this? You guys help me reinstate the multiple character faction and give me a few genius students. That way, we will no longer be in the same faction."
Hong Tan smiled, "According to the academy rules, each faction needs to spend over 10,000 merit points per year on their students. Free willpower texts and sufficient qualified teachers will also be provided by the faction to their members. And all these are funded by the faculty treasury."
Hong Tan said, "Thus, we have two options. I can veto everything with my position as the deputy faculty head and a member of the single character faction. As for the second option, we can reinstate the multiple character faction and give them their share of the resources."
Hong Tan looked at the single character faction elders and smiled, "What is your choice?"
They looked at him coldly. Damn these rules! Did the members of the multiple character faction have too much time in their hands? Why did it feel like reading the rules was the only thing they have been doing?
Hong Tan was actually right. Those were the only two options available to them. Reinstating the multiple character faction? What a joke!
Why had they deregistered the multiple character faction? To suppress them. As long as they existed, they would continue getting a share of the faculty's resources, such as research centers, data rooms, pills, talismans, weapons, and so on.
All those resources had never crossed Su Yu's mind. That was because he had never received any of them. But in truth, he was entitled to get a share as well. As a new student, he was eligible for some benefits from the academy after entering the Mental Tempering Stage. Every single student was entitled to these benefits.
Without these benefits, the ordinary students would not be able to survive in the academy.
How would they be able to afford to own cultural weapons?
How would they be able to afford pills and talismans?
All these things were supposed to be allocated to them. But the premise for that was for the students to be a part of a faction. Since the multiple character faction no longer existed, Su Yu could actually ask for all these resources as a member of the single character faction if he was willing to be shameless.
That was what Hong Tan was doing.
He had a wide smile on his face. With the multiple character faction being deregistered, they were no longer receiving any support from the academy, the prefecture, and the Knowledge Seeking Realm. Thus, they had actually been supporting themselves after their faction was deregistered.
Hong Tan thought that he might as well become an elder of the single character faction.
Wan Tiansheng merely looked on silently with a smile.
Xia Changqing remained silent as well. Not far away, Su Ziming's eyes were still shut.
Zhou Mingren gave Hong Tan a deep look and said, "How many slots do you want?"
"Twenty."
"Hmph!"
The elders snorted. In his dreams!