Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Saint's Resolve
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At exactly ten in the morning, explosive news swept across the entire empire.
The Saint had been assassinated at the opening ceremony of Kunlun Academy.
Media outlets of every size and political leaning, without exception, pushed the story onto their front pages and headlines.
Shocking titles accompanied by the Saint’s official portrait instantly drew countless eyes, sending click rates and online discussion soaring at a geometric rate.
Furious netizens condemned the assassins, Lars and Momoko Ito, in the harshest possible terms.
The anger even spread further, with many turning their accusations against the entire Progressive Party and questioning its loyalty to the Saint.
Yet a strange phenomenon soon emerged.
The Second Administrative District, long renowned for its enthusiasm for demonstrations and public expression, was now eerily silent. No one organized a march.
The Conservative Party, the Progressive Party’s sworn enemy, chose to remain silent.
The air was thick with the tense stillness before a storm.
No one could decipher the Saint’s intentions.
After this assassination attempt, did the Saint merely intend to discipline the Progressive Party, or was he planning to uproot it entirely?
If the Progressive Party truly fell, the Conservatives would be next in line. Could they really remain untouched?
The sudden escalation in political tensions sent the capital markets into violent turmoil.
The stock prices of the major publicly traded companies in the Second Administrative District plunged like kites whose strings had been severed.
In a matter of moments, trillions in market value evaporated into thin air.
The stock-market storm was so devastating that even some people unaffiliated with the Progressive Party were driven to the brink of suicide.
In stark contrast to the panic gripping the outside world, Kunlun Academy remained immersed in a tranquil atmosphere of cultivation.
Warm sunlight spilled over Hinata Mion, seeming to gild her in a faint layer of radiance.
Her long eyelashes trembled slightly as her consciousness sank inward.
Deep within her dantian, a wisp of energy so faint it was nearly impossible to detect circled quietly, like a tender shoot breaking through the soil in early spring.
The current was exceedingly weak.
If she lost focus for even a moment, it seemed liable to vanish into nothingness.
Yet Hinata Mion had no energy to wonder whether she had truly succeeded in drawing energy into her body.
She felt more exhausted than ever before.
Her mind seemed to have been hollowed out, while her body was so heavy it felt filled with lead.
She slowly opened her eyes.
Standing before her was a tall, ethereally elegant woman.
Her beauty transcended reality, like a fairy stepping out of the cinematic scenes of a top-tier triple-A game.
Even more astonishing were her proportions.
Her full breasts, slender waist, shapely hips, and long, graceful legs were wrapped in an apparently simple white gown that outlined an almost fantastical, comic-book figure, radiating an indescribable allure.
“Teacher Nangong!”
Hinata Mion jumped in surprise, only then realizing that the square had already emptied considerably.
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Jenny and the other students were nowhere to be seen. They had presumably already entered the teaching building.
Nangong Rin’s voice was ethereal and gentle, like a clear spring flowing through a mountain ravine.
“What is your name?”
“H-Hinata Mion.”
She answered with a stammer. In the presence of such a perfect being, anyone would instinctively feel inferior.
Nangong Rin gave a slight nod, a trace of almost imperceptible approval flashing through her eyes.
“You possess excellent aptitude. To draw energy into your body during your very first meditation session would make you an exceedingly rare genius even on the Divine Continent, where I was born.”
“R-Really?”
A look of astonishment crossed Hinata Mion’s face.
Never, from childhood to adulthood, had any teacher affirmed her so wholeheartedly.
In their eyes, she was nothing more than a “big-breasted airhead,” a fool who perpetually struggled along the edge of passing her examinations.
She had always acted as though she did not care, but in truth, she had secretly tried hard once or twice. The cruel reality, however, had taught her that effort could not change anything, and so she had abandoned the attempt.
“With your talent, as long as you cultivate diligently, you may one day have hope of reaching the Tribulation Transcendence stage.”
That was precisely why she had deliberately left a clone behind to keep watch here.
She admired uncarved jade with exceptional talent.
“From now on, you will cultivate with me privately.”
“Oh.”
Hinata Mion obediently nodded, her gaze instinctively drifting toward the teaching building in the distance.
In that fleeting glance, she seemed to see a familiar figure flash behind the window of one of the classrooms.
It was Nangong Rin.
“That is my clone. The person standing here now is also a clone.”
Nangong Rin saw through her confusion and explained calmly, “My true body is with the Saint.”
“Oh…”
A barely perceptible sense of disappointment welled up in Hinata Mion’s heart.
But after thinking it over, she realized that the Saint had to deal with countless affairs every day and bore responsibility for the entire empire. Even as the academy’s principal, how could he possibly remain here at all times?
Nangong Rin caught the fleeting emotion that crossed her face and said softly, “As long as you cultivate diligently and continue improving yourself, the day will come when you have an opportunity to serve the Saint.”
“Yes!”
Hinata Mion’s spirits soared. She nodded vigorously and immediately rose to her feet.
“Teacher, what should we do next?”
“First, perform a set of the Clear Radiance Return-to-Origin Form to gather your spirit and energy and replenish the mental strength you expended during meditation.”
With that, Nangong Rin calmly demonstrated the movements before her.
She had already drawn up a detailed and comprehensive curriculum for teaching this group of new students, and Bai Yujing had approved it.
The emperor was entirely different from her.
She understood everything and was accustomed to interfering in every affair of the Great Qian Empire.
Bai Yujing, on the other hand, understood little about most matters, but he knew how to place the most professional people in the positions best suited to them.
Of course, deep down, Nangong Rin did not believe Bai Yujing’s method was superior to her own.
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She believed that if Bai Yujing knew everything as she did and possessed the art of creating clones, he too would choose to personally handle every affair.
…
At three-thirty in the afternoon, at the Saint Palace’s private racing circuit.
On the empty track, the roar of an engine thundered like an enraged beast, tearing through the tranquil atmosphere.
Bai Yujing straddled an extremely rugged heavy motorcycle, its tires nearly as large as those of a heavy truck.
At that moment, he was hurtling around the circuit at the terrifying speed of 670 kilometers per hour.
The gale was left far behind him, while the engine’s roar became the most beautiful symphony in his ears.
Speed racing was one of his hobbies.
Lucia stood beside the starting line like a statue and shouted, “Saint, Chief Steward Gao has an urgent report!”
Boom!
Bai Yujing abruptly released the throttle, abandoning his intention to continue racing.
Carrying enormous momentum, the heavy motorcycle coasted toward the starting line. The engine’s roar gradually subsided before finally settling into a steady purr.
He removed his heavy helmet with both hands and asked, “What is it?”
Gao J忠 immediately stepped forward and bowed.
“Your Majesty, a message has arrived from Miss Nangong’s clone in the Imperial Study. The preliminary nationwide screening for suspicious demonic targets has been completed. One hundred and thirty-two highly suspicious individuals have been identified. Should we continue monitoring them comprehensively, or proceed with immediate arrests?”
Bai Yujing knitted his brows and weighed the matter swiftly.
One hundred and thirty-two people. Maintaining close surveillance over all of them would require enormous resources, and there was no way to confirm their identities with absolute certainty. It was not worth the cost.
He soon reached a decision.
“Notify every legion commander, as well as the Director-General of the National Police Administration. Have them come to the main hall for a meeting at once.”
“By your command!”
Gao Jinzong did not hesitate for even a moment. He quickly pulled out his phone, called the assistant to the chief steward of the Imperial Study, and urgently relayed the order.
Beside him, Lucia’s expression instantly became grave.
Summoning every legion commander for a meeting meant that the Saint was preparing to take decisive action.
At some point, Nangong Rin had closed the book in her hands. She walked slowly to Bai Yujing’s side and said in her still-gentle voice, “No matter how you arrange your forces, the arrival of the extramundane demons will not be delayed by so much as a moment.”
“Perhaps not.”
Bai Yujing smiled.
As an individual, how could he not wish for those extramundane demons to appear before him at once, so that he could fight to his heart’s content?
But as the emperor of the Great Han Empire, he could not indulge in such selfishness.
The preparations that had to be made and the responsibilities he had to shoulder—he had to fulfill every one of them without omission.
The words “there is nothing I can do” could be spoken only after a person had exhausted every possible effort.
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