I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1663 - 102: Breaking the Situation

Chapter 1663: Chapter 102: Breaking the Situation

"Dean, news from Da Lin City states that many students who have passed the Dragon Gate spirit test and intended to enroll in the Soul Casting course have been influenced by Shi Sanke’s testimony, agreeing verbally to come but then turning to prestigious families instead."

During the council meeting, Du Ting expressed his concern: "If these false messages continue to ferment, the reputation of the Academy will be ruined!"

Many mouths can melt gold; although Unparalleled Academy conducts itself with integrity, facing the targeted defamation by Xiehe’s strongest intelligence organization truly leaves them powerless.

Since the channels through which Unparalleled Academy can voice itself are limited, especially after the testimonies of Shi Sanke and others have spread throughout Longzhou, the attitudes of various Wind Media outlets have been somewhat ambiguous.

In such circumstances, unless the Academy presents strong evidence, such as abducting Shi Sanke and others from Luyang and making them admit they were coerced into slandering the Academy.

Actually, if Tang Luo were to act personally, abducting someone from Luyang City wouldn’t be difficult, but unfortunately, he is incarnated as the Dean. If he took action himself, his identity as a Void Spiritual Body would be exposed.

Meanwhile, numbers two, three, and four in terms of combat power in Unparalleled City, Du Sha, Meng Jiao are away seeking talents, and Yun Xiu, who organized the merchant caravan, has not yet returned.

The remaining renowned individuals from Xiling and elders from the Du Family, although warriors from Fierce Realm, jokingly claim to be able to ignore the king’s patrol.

Understanding these difficulties, Du Ting realized they were trapped, yet other officials of Unparalleled City still saw the Dean as their last hope.

In their eyes, as long as the Dean was willing to visit Pingshan City, he could solve the Academy’s dilemmas through diplomatic or martial means, hence a bunch of people at the council eagerly looked at Tang Luo.

"Even if The Academy were to go to Pingshan City, it would be of no help."

Facing everyone’s hopeful eyes, Tang Luo indifferently said, "Lord Dutian using Shi Sanke and others to cause trouble is not just about the indignity from a rejected invitation, but a vendetta of an old party against a new. An Yuanxi’s target isn’t just the Academy, but the people behind it, and this conflict can’t be reconciled."

"Do you mean to say that all of Dutian’s antagonism is aimed at Lord himself?"

Du Ting suddenly realized, yet still puzzled: "If that’s the case, how should we respond?"

"No need to respond."

Scanning the concerned faces before him, Tang Luo calmly stated: "Remember, the operation department is merely a means for Unparalleled Academy to gather resources. But now, due to the scarcity of instructors combined with the explosive increase in students, The Academy along with Lord Shentu have to focus all our efforts on maintaining the operation department’s business, which is putting the cart before the horse."

"Although Dutian’s actions are malicious, they inadvertently prevent the operation department from overworking. Now that resources have been sufficiently accumulated, it is time to focus our energy on more important matters."

"Allowing Dutian to continue his slander—I am afraid I cannot agree,"

Demon Slaughter Palace Master Shentu Jihui, who had actively requested to attend the meeting, spoke solemnly: "The Academy, by lifting the martial ban and generously teaching the treasure-like Soul Casting method to the public, stands as a mentor to all clans. For Dutian to slander us this way, we cannot sit idly and accept it."

"Then, what does the Palace Master want to do?"

"The root of the rumors still lies with Shi Sanke and the others. In my view, they might have gone to rescue a comrade in Luyang and got captured due to failing to withstand torture; they had no choice but to slander,"

Shentu Jihui said firmly: "I will make a trip to Luyang City, rescue them, and bring them to Da Lin City. Then the rumors will self-destruct."

"Storming Luyang and freeing the prisoners is declaring war on Dutian. Even if it proves the Academy’s innocence, the Palace Master will face endless assassination attempts."

Tang Luo smiled and said: "To refute a rumor by losing the only instructor of the Academy, this deal seems rather unprofitable."

"Someone has to stand up against these minor villains defaming the Academy."

Shentu Jihui said solemnly: "Dean has a greater mission; it’s not suitable to confront Dutian head-on. I have no significant attachments; I am the most suitable candidate."

The vigorous plea of the Demon Slaughter Palace Master filled the council hall with respect, erasing much of the wariness and barriers between the individuals present.

Seeing the titled powerhouse in front of him prepared to make a self-sacrificial stand, Tang Luo helplessly shook his head.

Perhaps due to the flourishing martial arts, he has more than once found that most of Xiehe’s powerful warriors have an especially simplistic and crude way of solving problems.

If Dutian Heavenly King defamed the Academy, he must have anticipated reactions from Shentu Jihui, yet they dare to proceed, surely backed by strong confidence and support.

If one were to rush forward relying on their profound martial prowess, apart from falling into a trap, there’s almost no second possibility."

"Let me handle it then."

Sighing softly, Tang Luo stood up, and instructed the astonished Shentu Jihui: "Please take over a few classes of the Soul Casting course for a while, it may take up to a month or as short as ten days—The Academy will resolve this rumor issue."

"Dean, you must not!"

Hearing this, Du Ting, thinking Tang Luo was about to reveal his identity and cause a big scene, quickly stood up and gestured desperately: "Why not wait for Du Sha to return and let him do it."

"No more words."

Tang Luo replied indifferently: "It’s decided, take care of Unparalleled City in my absence."

...

To truly resolve the rumors scattered outside, relying on fighting and killing is obviously ineffective, yet doing nothing and expecting the rumors to halt out of wisdom is even more absurd.

After all, the world is full of fools who follow the crowd rather than intellectuals.

To completely resolve a matter, one must first understand the cause of the event. In fact, these rumors are spreading so quickly mainly due to the suspicions and prejudices of the scattered cultivators and various small families.

There are no unprovoked acts of kindness in the world, and Unparalleled Academy’s decision to sell the Soul Casting course classes externally is seemingly unfathomable in its motives to outsiders.

Ten million pounds of tuition fee might be a huge amount for ordinary people, but for martial artists who have accumulated wealth at the peak of their transformation over decades, it is not considered a huge sum.

Take for instance, even a low-quality spirit armor sold at an auction fetches tens of millions of gold, let alone a guaranteed successful Soul Casting technique.

Most of the disciples who sign up for the course initially harbor suspicions, doubting that the academy might sabotage during the teachings or set some kind of restriction.

This time, the rumors precisely hit the hidden worries of these people. Although many graduates are advocating for the academy, countering such prejudices ultimately seems somewhat inadequate.

The cleverness of those behind these schemes is in exploiting this mentality of people, while keeping themselves untainted by karma.

Since this is Shi Sanke’s testimony and not Wang Xun’s judgment, importantly, because the person is in their hands, they hold the advantage.

In such an unfair game, to break the game one must step out of Wang Xun’s trap.

The key is not in Shi Sanke or the testimony, but in how to resolve the people’s prejudice against Unparalleled Academy.

Once this issue is dealt with, the rumors will collapse on their own. If this issue cannot be resolved, even without Shi Sanke, there will be thousands of other methods waiting in the future.

He certainly does not have the energy to constantly counter every move of Dutian Heavenly King, so he plans to decisively block all of the opponent’s backup strategies once and for all.

Ten days later, Tang Luo returned to Unparalleled Academy and informed everyone that the issue had been resolved, then resumed normal classes.

Yet, the rumors outside about the academy using soul charms to control the students continued to fly everywhere, and more and more people started to watch and scrutinize the academy.

Although the Five-turn Dragon Gate in Da Lin City remains extremely lively, the number of cultivators intending to enroll in the academy’s courses is decreasing.

The situation is clearly getting worse, with no signs of resolution.

"Dean, how about I make a trip to Luyang City?"

Shentu Jihui once again proposed his solution to Tang Luo.

"Palace Master need not worry, it will all become clear after some time."

Dragon Continent Calendar 1792, mid-December

Just as the rumors about the academy were still rampant, a huge merchant ship from Yuanzhou docked in the South Sea.

With a Yuanzhou Xu Clan merchant ship docking, Liu Tang and a group from the Chaochang clan naturally had to go personally to welcome them.

The solemn lined up teams on both sides were a sign of respect for the Yuanzhou Holy Land and fear of the Yuanzhou Xu Clan.

However, when everyone saw the Flame Sun Sword Master and hundreds of young children debarking, they were suddenly puzzled.

After all, such a pairing was quite odd; the head of a Sword Sect might occasionally travel, but it is rare for him to come to Longzhou, especially bringing such young six or seven-year-old children if it were for training.

Yet, when it’s about the actions of a Holy Land, who are outsiders to comment? Liu Tang’s duty was just to express the attitude of the Chaochang clans towards the Xu Clan.

"The Chaochang noble families respectfully welcome the great presence of Flame Sun Sword Master, willing to fully cooperate with all the Sword Master’s needs."

The heads of the Chaochang families on either side bowed deeply, as if the Flame Sun Sword Master descending from the ship was the real ruler of Chaochang.

This sort of honor surprised Xu Changhao, who quickly stepped forward to help the bowing Liu Tang up, saying, "Head of the Liu Family, you flatter me too much. This docking is merely for gathering some supplies, it is my fault if it has disturbed everyone."

"Sword Master is too modest."

Liu Tang earnestly said, "Leave the gathering of supplies to the steward, I have already prepared a banquet in the city, may I have the honor of listening to your teachings?"

"A banquet... that won’t be necessary."

Xu Changhao waved his hand, "I have a mission this time, once I return, I will definitely drink heartily with everyone."

"May I know what kind of mission requires the Sword Master’s personal effort?"

Liu Tang asked curiously.

"Under the command of the Sword Master, to send three hundred Xu Clan age-appropriate disciples to Unparalleled Academy."