The Grand Tutor was enraged. "You're spewing utter nonsense! I'm discussing the matter of fact – I'm not pinpointing anything specific!"

Fang Qingtian sneered and said, "This old man is also talking about facts, but I'm also making specific mentions. History is proof, evidence of the rise and fall of ent.i.ties – it's the truth of this world… Now, this old man is going to work. It's up to you whether you come or not. If you don't, I'll report it to His Majesty! If you come and you work sluggishly, I'll also report it to His Majesty! If you don't work, all the more I'll report it to His Majesty! If you do a lousy job, I'll report it too!"

"Fang Qingtian, Old Useless Fang, Old Useless Fang, you – you – you…" The Grand Tutor's lips were already trembling with rage.

Fang Qingtian's chin was lifted up high. "What about me? Didn't you intellects like impeaching the most previously? Casting doubts on this and questioning that every day, saying 'Your Majesty, this official has a report to make!'... Hmph, we'll do the same in the future. It's practically living on rumors – who doesn't know how to do that?"

"Don't want to work? Accept the stipend but refuse to put in the hours? How can there be something so generous in this world?"

Fang Qingtian said loudly, "In future, we'll be His Majesty's ears, the speakers of the censure among the martial ministers! I'll just report whatever I don't like – I'll do just that!"

The Grand Tutor was shaking with fury while Fang Qingtian was already leaving with wide strides.

"Coming? I'm asking if you're coming or not."

"… I'll go!"

"Then what are you waiting for?"

"This task is a complex and heavy one. How can it be completed with only a few people?"

"No one's stopping you from recruiting more helpers!"

"Where am I supposed to find them? Why aren't you the one to find them?"

"You're the main person in charge as declared by His Majesty. You're slacking off if you don't find helpers, you're practically defying the imperial dictum. This will be the first line this old man says when I impeach you later on! Do you think I dare not do it?"

"You – you…"

The Grand Tutor was close to spitting blood.

The three great rogues of the capital were still razor-sharp and abrasive despite their age!

"Me too, I'm going to raise questions about you too! This old man has taken everything in with my eyes – I'd be ill if I don't say it out!" Qiu Jianhan sprang out of the blue.

"Precisely! I'll bring a case against you as well!" It was Leng Daoyin.

"Let's keep making statements from now on! We'll press cases every day!"

"Yes!"

Who could defend themselves against the combined attack of the capital's three greatest rogues?

The civil ministers were riled up. Watching these old rogues who were getting increasingly insufferable, they felt only speechlessness and disgruntlement within…

…

"Brother, are you really reopening the imperial martial arts examination?" asked Yun Xiaoyao.

"Of course. Not only do I want to reopen it, but I'm also reopening it with superb remuneration," said the emperor, "I'm setting up the policy of three generations of emperors to thoroughly take over the martial arts of Yutang and reign over the world! I want the martial artists of the world to accept the imperial martial arts examination and be proud of it!"

"If this is the case, the issue of warriors breaking the law with their martial skills may really…" started Yun Xiaoyao with no small amount of worry.

His Majesty asked with a smile, "We haven't done this now, but does the said issue lessen?"

"Uh…" Yun Xiaoyao was tongue-tied. Indeed, such an issue would never cease, whenever it was.

"Since we can't stop it, we might as well try to sort it out," His Majesty said, "Better unclogged than congested."

Yun Xiaoyao replied, "Makes sense, brother. Still, why did you say it's a policy of only three generations of emperors? This is long-term security, an ongoing national affair."

The emperor looked at him with a smile as he answered, "When three generations pa.s.s, hundreds of years would have gone by…"

His voice sounded distant. "By then, all of the world's heroes are basically recruited by the imperial martial arts examination. It'll definitely form the situation where the imperial martial arts stream contains the martial world."

"After three generations, how much of the martial world will still be left?"

"Then, the existence of the imperial martial arts examination will be damaging to the people and economy. The policy of eternal longevity will come into shape when the imperial martial arts stream is refined to an acceptable extent by the empire after three generations!"

"Only when the contrast between civil and martial becomes insignificant, only when it's the compet.i.tion of careers and not the disparity of forces, will the time of the great union come. Only then will the world's land truly become the ruler's land and the land's people are the ruler's people. These two lines are still just a farfetched dream now."

His Majesty was obviously in a bright mood as he spoke of the matter openly with Yun Xiaoyao.

"I see." Yun Xiaoyao could not help but sigh inwardly.

The path of a martial artist was still so difficult, was it not? Could there really be no future for one?

"This is an emperor's art…" His Majesty patted Yun Xiaoyao's shoulders. "Brother, an emperor has no right to have any personal preferences."

Yun Xiaoyao remained silent, only heaving a sigh after a long, long time.

…

"I'm afraid I can only ask both elder brothers for help regarding the extermination of the School of Kismet State," Yun Yang said with a blush as he walked out of the palace.

Dugu Chou raised his doubts. "Why aren't you going? It's no problem for both of us to go but without you along, it's hardly official – we have no official reason to go after them!"

Yun Yang grinned.

"It's still inappropriate for me to be in the public eye, for now. There's a high chance the Four Seasons Tower's men are already in the capital. If I expose myself needlessly, I'm afraid the situation will only get worse. The consequences will be grim. As for being unofficial, I've made a voice delivery to King Yun. He, Bai Yixue, Fang Mofei, and Lao Mei will a.s.sist both seniors in wiping out the School of Kismet State. It'll then be a matter of course, an official agenda."

Dugu Chou wanted to retort that Yun Yang could transform into a fog of cloud or disguise as someone else since he had already used a similar tactic many times before; there was hardly a worry, but his words remained unspoken.

"Even so, annihilating the School of Kismet State is still a troublesome affair. After all, not only do we have to eliminate those members who have come to the capital, we have to destroy the entire school. This is what you mean, right?" Ling Xiaozui spoke up from the side.

"Exactly so," said Yun Yang.

Ling Xiaozui smiled meaningfully. "There may be more to this. The School of Kismet State has established themselves as a true oracle for so many years and has even helped the continent's main ruler unite their territories, a.s.sisted some emperors in building their empires, with all they could – there must be a crucial reason behind all these… Don't you want to know these details?"

"Precisely what senior says. This is another reason I don't want to go," Yun Yang answered with an easy grin. He paused for a while before saying, "For some things, the best state is not to hear or ask about it. It would be best for them to become extinct from this world, from now on."

Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou exchanged glances, both of them aware of Yun Yang's exhaustive train of thought, and nodded in agreement.

"Wiping out the School of Kismet State…" Yun Yang was silent for a beat before he said, "I'm guessing that the school must have their confidentialities… plenty of them."

He gazed at Ling Xiaozui and Dugu Chou as he smiled. "However, I have no interest at all to know about any of them."

"I understand," Ling Xiaozui answered softly with a deep breath.

Dugu Chou, on the other hand, looked at Yun Yang admiringly and was even rather touched.

By doing so, Yun Yang was basically presenting the abundance of resources and secrets that the School of Kismet State had kept for tens of millenniums of years to the both of them.

As the saying went, stones from other hills could serve to polish one's jade, especially when they were proficient cultivators whose cultivation base had gotten to their current level. Putting aside anything else, just the literature on martial arts the School of Kismet State housed would suffice for the two of them to remedy any shortcomings and improve themselves further.