Volume One, Chapter Two: An Argument in the Library

"Director Han, our Yuncheng Academy’s library is quite well built, wouldn’t you say?" Among the two middle-aged men who entered the library, one suddenly spoke.

"Hmph." The man at his side snorted disdainfully. "There’s not enough depth. What good is size alone? How many years has it been since your academy produced a noteworthy martial artist?"

At these words, the other man’s veins bulged with anger, and he couldn’t help retorting, "Think back ten years—Yuncheng Academy was still in its prime. If the funding hadn’t dried up, we wouldn’t be in this situation now."

Hearing their bickering, Liu He glanced over, intrigued.

One of the men was Lu Caiyuan, the president of Yuncheng Academy, who had personally approved Liu He’s appointment to the faculty back in the day. The other, however, was a stranger to him.

Whatever their grudge, it ran deep enough that neither bothered to maintain even a veneer of civility. Here they were, in broad daylight, quarreling openly in the library.

Meanwhile, Director Han’s contempt was written plainly across his face. He didn’t even bother to hide it, his tone sharp and mocking. "The past is the past, and the present is the present. If you rest on your laurels forever, how will you ever advance in martial arts?"

"In the end, isn’t the problem your academy’s faculty system? I’ve long reported to the province: your academy’s entire leadership should be dismissed. All the new hires these past years should be thoroughly investigated, and the dead weight—those loafers—should be thrown out!"

"Director Han, as the deputy director overseeing us from the provincial education department, does the province know you’re suppressing Yuncheng Academy like this?" Lu Caiyuan’s face was livid from the humiliation.

"Suppressing you? I’m your superior; it’s my duty to push you toward improvement!" Han sneered, his voice even more shrill. "In the end, this is for your own good. For ten years straight, your assessment scores have ranked at the bottom of the province, and you still can’t find the problem? No one’s even allowed to point it out?"

The students in the library had already burst into an uproar at the heated exchange.

"Why does this Director Han sound so spiteful? It’s nauseating."

"I know who he is—Han Kun. He has a huge grudge against our President Lu, which is why he never gives Yuncheng Academy a break."

"Really? President Lu is such a mild man—who could bear a grudge against him?"

"Who knows? I heard they had a major falling out years ago in the Yuncheng interdimensional rift, and even the Alliance couldn’t resolve it afterward."

"When Han Kun was transferred to the provincial education department ten years ago, that’s when he started suppressing our academy."

"Now that you mention it, every year before the martial arts college entrance exams, something goes wrong—registration delays, or good students suddenly transferring out for various reasons. Our academy’s reputation keeps sinking."

"Dammit, Han Kun is just using his power for personal revenge!"

"And who can do anything about him?"

Liu He shook his head as he listened. He couldn’t help but feel a touch of sympathy for Lu Caiyuan, who had run into such a petty and vengeful man.

But Liu He himself was only an ordinary teacher in the high school division, and his martial cultivation was just at the peak of the second realm. In terms of both political standing and martial prowess, he was in no position to help. He could do nothing about Lu Caiyuan’s predicament.

With that thought, he opened another book on exotic beasts, considering what topic he could quickly organize into a few research papers.

"The blood of exotic beasts has a strong stimulating effect on martial artists. It can be used to temper one’s vital energy, or to hone mental strength through the sinister will it contains. But excess is as bad as deficiency—if used in excess, or if one consumes blood above their own rank, it will instead taint the martial artist’s core."

"The current common method is to blend several types of beast blood in set proportions..."

Just as Liu He fell into contemplation, Director Han was still unrelenting in his attack on Lu Caiyuan.

"President Lu, a martial artist is no mindless brute—sheer strength alone gets you nowhere. Aren’t you yourself the best example?" he said, his gaze sweeping across the library.

"Look at your students. All they do is train day and night—what’s the point? I bet they wouldn’t recognize an exotic beast from the interdimensional space if they saw one. Even if they made it to the battlefield, they’d be utterly clueless!"

Lu Caiyuan could no longer be bothered to argue. No matter what he said, Han Kun would always find something to mock, and in the end, would give him a failing grade in his report to the province.

If not for a few people in the provincial office who understood the real situation at Yuncheng Academy, he’d have been dismissed long ago. Unfortunately, Han Kun now surpassed him in both martial prowess and political influence—he’d even aligned himself early on with a newly appointed high-ranking official, making his grip even tighter.

Seeing Lu Caiyuan resigned to silent endurance, Han Kun smirked, clearly enjoying himself. For someone like him, taunting an old rival face-to-face was intensely satisfying.

Back in the day, during the Yuncheng Rift incident, Han Kun had killed a teammate over a treasure. Lu Caiyuan had nearly exposed him, and he’d barely escaped death at a military tribunal thanks only to his father-in-law’s intervention.

From that moment, Han Kun had nursed a deep-seated grudge against Lu Caiyuan. If not for Lu’s meddling, would he have been stuck in his current position, unable to rise further?

Now, the tables had turned, and Han Kun was determined to vent his resentment to the fullest.

Suddenly, his gaze flicked to a corner of the library and lit up as if he’d spotted something unusual. He strode quickly over.

"You’ve collected quite a few texts on exotic beasts here at Yuncheng Academy," he remarked, snatching a book from the hands of a delicate-looking girl with unabashed rudeness. "But I wonder, how much of this can you actually understand?"

Lu Caiyuan followed, looking distinctly uneasy. He had no idea what Han Kun was up to, but he knew that whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

"Director Han, is there any need to make things difficult for a high schooler? Let them study in peace," Lu Caiyuan pleaded.

Han Kun waved him off. "Even high schoolers should have some prior understanding of the exotic beasts they’ll face one day. The Alliance provides compulsory education not to nurture a bunch of useless layabouts."

"But, you do have a point," he said suddenly, as if genuinely considering Lu’s suggestion. With an exaggerated gesture, he pointed into the crowd. "Let’s leave the high schoolers. I’ll see what your academy’s teachers are made of!"

"You—come here!"