Chapter 978: Merit and Cancerous Tumor (1/2)

Headmaster Lu Yun!

Heaven and earth froze in their trajectory and the academy disciples surrounding Lu Yun sagged to the ground. They all knew very well what they were doing—making up crimes to seize a connate treasure from someone pretending to be an academy disciple!

A connate treasure elicited so much greed from immortals that they were willing to do something out of bounds to obtain it. But who would’ve thought that their sights would be trained on the headmaster this time?! Headmaster Lu Yun, founder of the Dao Academy, the one who’d established a calendar for the world of immortals, found and recorded its history, pioneered countless combat arts and secret methods, the hand responsible for pushing the world to its current heights!

The Dao Academy has done great good for the world?

No, the one to whom that credit belonged to was its headmaster. Those of the world of immortals had never felt that it was the academy’s people who had done anything for the world. The immortals from that establishment were just another one of Headmaster Lu Yun’s acts of benevolence!

After thinking over everything that had occurred recently, those present finally understood that Headmaster Lu Yun was also the mastermind behind the battle to recover Dustfall Realm. Only he had the ability and charisma to lead immortals in defense of a realm about to fall to the yin spirits.

……

“No, impossible!” A Lu disciple from the academy suddenly stepped forward and roared, “You posed as an academy disciple moments ago and now pretend to be the headmaster. Who are you really?!”

This Lu clansman was going out of his mind. The one nailed to the ground was his blood brother; it ran beyond the limits of acceptance that their target had suddenly turned into the headmaster!

Lu Yun’s words were very clear. If it hadn’t been him today, would their hapless target really be pinned with fictitious crimes and die for the sake of their treasure? Though this was just one mishap, it was also a prime example of the bigger picture at large. Such incidents had likely occurred countless times already in the past.

Lu Yun could barely suppress his killing intent. These cancerous tumors in the Dao Academy had to be rooted out, or the academy itself would be a plague upon the world before long.

However, the Lu immortal’s challenge ignited new hope in the academy disciples. What if, just what if the headmaster before them really was fake?

After all, various cultivation methods flourished in the world these days and all manner of shapeshifting techniques abounded. It wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that an imposter was posing as their headmaster.

Hope lifting their hearts, some of the academy disciples drew themselves up straight and prepared to spring at the fake headmaster.

“Xingzi.” Lu Yun ignored the disciples.

“Xingzi?” Hearts quailed when they heard this name.

Xingzi was the administrator of justice within the Dao Academy and also the dean of shamanic dao. She was one of the most terrifying people within the school. Though she looked to be a charming, harmless sixteen-year-old, her methods were among the most brutal of the institution.

Someone had once slain several experts in a row in a challenge of the academy’s authority. The regular protectors had been hard pressed to deal with him, so Xingzi stepped forward to handle the situation and skinned the man alive, hanging him in front of the academy gates.

There the dao immortal swung for three months, wailing in agony all the while before finally scattering upon the wind. Such was the style of the administrator of justice.

“This fake headmaster is really committing to the scam—eh?! EH??” Still skeptical, the crowd’s eyes bulged out the next second and everyone fell silent in horrified incomprehension. Fear finally dawned in their eyes.

A small ripple widened in the void as Xingzi walked out of it. She looked the same as always, in her true form of a sixteen year old wearing long black robes.

“Xingzi greets the honored master!” Xingzi fell to a single knee in front of Lu Yun and greeted him with utmost respect.

Her gesture and honorific sent a wave of shocked gasps through the crowd. Honored master, not headmaster!

Honored master?!

As the Dao Academy’s sovereign of justice and a great master of martial dao, Xingzi’s status in the academy was second to only Lu Yun’s. They should’ve been fellow daoists! But she called him “master”, making them master and servant!

“Investigate,” Lu Yun commanded coldly. “Find every single person who has ever bullied the weak, profited off of their authority, oppressed others with their influence, and falsified charges on others for the purpose of stealing their treasures. Identify every offender since the founding of the academy and execute them all!”

The last order echoed in the air like an indomitable rule.

“Understood.” Xingzi remained kneeling on the ground, clearly sensing her master’s towering wrath. Lightning flashed and thunder roared inside hell while all of the netherworld’s inhabitants crouched on the ground.

“And these academy disciples in front of us, execute them all,” Lu Yun concluded indifferently.

“No… no! Mercy, mercy, Headmaster! Please, mercy! We’ll never dare do it again!” The academy disciples had been hoping to somehow walk away from the situation immediately panicked when they heard Lu Yun wanted to kill them now.