To expedite the reopening of his research center, Su Yu decided to start his recruitment. He received a list of names from Hu Xiansheng, including the profiles of these recommended individuals.
No matter what, he still needed to recruit some people for his research center. Sure, he could consume blood essence for new cultivation methods, but he still needed a cover for the cultivation methods he was going to release.
He had already exposed enough secrets that many people believed that he had inherited a ruin. But nobody was aware that there was a book in his mind.
***
While Su Yu was enjoying the rare peace and preparing for the reopening of his research center, things had yet to fully calm down in Great Xia.
The disturbance caused by the single character faction's attack on Su Yu had slowly subsided after the executions of several Mountainseas. But some things couldn't be forgotten just by killing a few people.
The populace of Great Xia could not forget the conflict between the single and multiple character factions, the conflict that had caused Su Yu's departure. This incident remained deep in everyone's mind. If Su Yu were to cause a great ruckus in the future, everyone would once again recall what he had experienced in Great Xia.
Great Xia Cultural Research Academy.
A new semester had started, but the academy was a lot more quiet than before. Or to be precise, the academy appeared cold and desolate. They had lost multiple elders. Additionally, a large number of Cloudbreach researchers had died as well. Because of that, the single character faction was greatly weakened.
Without Su Yu, Bai Feng, and Hong Tan around, the multiple character faction also looked dead. Even Wu Jia couldn't find the mood to go out as often anymore. As for Chen Yong, he remained hidden in the books depository.16th of January.
Suddenly, a guard shouted outside the books depository, "Elder Chen, a meeting between elders is being held. You have been invited to the meeting as well."
"I'm not interested."
Chen Yong's indifferent voice rang out.
The guard hurriedly said, "Elder, the new vice principal has arrived. Principal Wan is calling for all the elders not in seclusion to meet and get to know him."
"Just say that I'm in seclusion."
"Elder..." The guard was starting to get nervous. He anxiously said, "Vice Principal Yuan also wishes to see everyone. He also intends to talk about Su Yu during the meeting."
After a short while, Chen Yong appeared outside the building.
He calmly asked, "Vice Principal Yuan intends to talk about Su Yu? What is there to talk about? He's not even here anymore."
The guard hurriedly lowered his head. After his previous breakthrough, Head Manager Chen had been scarily silent. For some reason, the guard's heart was thumping heavily now that he was in the presence of Head Manager Chen. He softly said, "Elder, I have no idea. You will find out when you're there."
"What a waste of time." Chen Yong frowned. While walking, he asked, "Did Principal Wan say anything?"
"No."
"What about the other two vice principals, Xia Changqing and Su Ziming?"
"They said nothing as well."
Chen Yong stopped asking. With an expressionless face, he started heading toward the Heart Cultivating Pavilion.
***
A short while later, inside the Heart Cultivating Pavilion's meeting room.
One elder after another arrived.
Of the original thirty-six elders, three were dead while Chen Yong had been promoted, leaving them with thirty-four elders. But a lot of these elders were either in seclusion or away from the academy. Thus, only about twenty of them had arrived.
When Chen Yong arrived, the vice principals were still nowhere to be seen. With Chen Yong's arrival, silence descended.
Elder Fang of the single character faction was present as well. He did not make any noise. In the past, they had eight elders. But now, with Elder Zheng and Elder Ma at the Vanguard Regiment, Elder Zhao and Elder Zhou in seclusion, and three dead, Elder Fang was the sole active single character faction elder left. It almost felt like the single character faction had started declining out of nowhere.
And Su Yu was the culprit. Chen Yong did not bother with greeting anyone. He sat down and maintained his silence. After a while, the door swung open. Wan Tiansheng and the others had arrived.
Apart from Wan Tiansheng, Xia Changqing, and Su Ziming, there was a young-looking man with them. A gentle smile hung on his face. His aura seemed slightly stronger than Wan Tiansheng's. That was a Sunmoon.
They all sat down. The new Sunmoon sat at the first seat to the left of Wan Tiansheng, surpassing even Su Ziming. As for Xia Changqing, he took the first seat to the right since he represented the Xia Family.
The silence persisted. Nobody said anything even with the principal and vice principals here. After some time, yet another person arrived. It was Ji Hong.
He strode through the door and raised a command token in his hand as he said, "As ordered by the Knowledge Seeking Realm, Yuan Qingdong is hereby appointed as the first vice principal of Great Xia Cultural Research Academy."
That used to be Zhou Mingren's position. Due to the incident involving Di Feng and the others, he had been removed from his position.
Ji Hong left as fast as he had arrived. Before leaving, he said, "Talk among yourselves and decide on your task allocations. I'll have to trouble you, Principal Wan. See you."
Then, he vanished into thin air.
Yuan Qingdong said with astonishment, "Director Ji sure is a busy man."
With a laugh, he said, "Everyone, it is my honor to be here. I feel overwhelmed by this heavy responsibility that has been placed on my shoulders."
Nobody replied.
A short while later, Elder Fang of the single character faction laughed and said, "We are also honored to have you, Vice Principal Yuan."
Yuan Qingdong raised his brow. But he smiled and said nothing. The people of Great Xia were truly arrogant. Was this their way of rejecting him? But the same did not happen back when Wan Tiansheng first took office here.
At this time, Wan Tiansheng said, "Let's not waste our time with idle talks. Vice Principal Yuan is a Sunmoon expert. Our academy used to be one of the three strongest academies in the Human Realm. Today, we have a lot of Mountainseas. But we don't even have a single Sunmoon."
"Cough, cough, cough!"
A lot of people coughed awkwardly, but Wan Tiansheng indifferently continued, "Finally, we have our own Sunmoon as well. I guess we can be proud of this.
"As for Vice Principal Yuan's tasks...he'll take over Zhou Mingren's job and take charge of the Character Faculty. Vice Principal Yuan, you can have the remaining time. Since you're new here, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us more about you?"
Yuan Qingdong smiled and said, "Thank you, Principal Wan. A lot of people here know me. As for the ones who have been to the Knowledge Seeking Realm before, you know me even better. Since I'm a newcomer, I don't have much to say. The biggest recent event of the academy is Su Yu's defection..."
The moment those words were said, Chen Yong stared at him. A few other elders also frowned.
An elder with a bad temper protested, "Vice Principal Yuan, I advise you to take back the word 'defection'. Things have finally settled down. Are you trying to create a ruckus right after arriving?"
The elder continued unhesitatingly, "The entire scandal is a disgrace. Even a Sunmoon was killed. Why mention it again? Are you here to work or are you here to pick fights? If you're here to pick fights, go talk to the Xia Family."
Yuan Qingdong frowned. He was just about to speak when Old Huang cleared his throat and said, "The long journey here must have taken its toll on Vice Principal Yuan. He's still asleep. In that case, let's end this meeting for now. We'll talk again after Vice Principal Yuan recovers from his exhaustion."
With a frown, Yuan Qingdong said, "Everyone, I know this is not something you want to hear. But we still need to make some things clear. I'm not doing this to pick a fight or create trouble. I believe some of you understand the truth. You are merely pretending to be ignorant..."
His gaze landed on Chen Yong. Chen Yong said nothing.
Yuan Qingdong said, "From what we can see, some single character faction members had lost their minds due to greed, did something stupid, and forced Su Yu to leave. I agree that these people deserve death."
The elders were surprised to hear that, but they said nothing.
Yuan Qingdong said, "But all of you also know that the entire incident was premeditated. Prefect Zhu's appearance is the best proof of that. Of course, I'm not saying that this is Su Yu’s fault. This alone is not enough to claim that he is a traitor. Since he is talented enough to gain Prefect Zhu's support, so be it. But did none of you notice something?"
He scanned the crowd and said, "The videos Su Yu released have been edited. I don't have the complete recording, but I have personally gone to the Starfall Mountain to investigate the incident. And I discovered something..."
At that, he waved his hand. A projection appeared in front of him. "Everyone, do you know who this is?"
The elders looked at the projection. Instantly, their expressions turned odd.
Yuan Qingdong smiled, "I believe a lot of you know him, right? This person used to be a genius of the academy, Feng Ji."
"Isn't he dead?"
Someone asked in surprise.
Yuan Qingdong said, "He faked his death. In truth, the Knowledge Seeking Realm was already aware of him since some time ago. He has joined the Myriad Race Cult after faking his death with a fake identity. He is now a member of the Six-Winged Divine Sect."
Even more expressions changed upon hearing that.
Yuan Qingdong said, "He is one of the leaders of the sect. In fact, his position is quite high. As a Mountainsea who was once a genius of the Great Xia Cultural Research Academy, he has a formidable combat strength. Even a regular fifth-stage Mountainsea might not be his match.
"Yet traces of his appearance have been found at the Starfall Mountain. I also have proof that he is one of Su Yu's helpers. He was also the person who had sneak attacked Elder Li..."