Tales of Herding Gods

Chapter 119: Off With Your Head

Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish_Creek

The entire Imperial College was absolutely silent and no sound could be heard.

Emperor Yanfeng obviously made the comment out of his own personal feeling, taking the chance to intimidate his ministers. It was also to aggregate the hearts of a ruler and his ministers so that they could work as one.

After some time, Emperor Yanfeng revealed a smile and sat back down in his seat, “I’ve lost my composure. Directorate, bring the name register over.”

Daoist Ling Yun immediately handed the name register over and Emperor Yanfeng picked up a vermillion brush and wrote a few words under Qin Mu’s name, “From today onwards, he’s a student of the Son of Heaven.” Once he was done, he closed the register and handed it back to Daoist Ling Yun.

Emperor Yan Feng looked at the young patriarch and said, “Grand Chancellor, choosing scholars is originally your job. Now I have taken matters into my own hands and chose for you, what’s your opinion?”

Young patriarch smiled, “Your Majesty is a brilliant master that has great talent and bold vision. This is the good fortune of Great Ruins.”

Emperor Yanfeng laughed out loud and shook his head repeatedly, “Boot-licking, you’re boot-licking me again. All right, let the scholars continue their competition.”

The directorate of Imperial College received the order and let the numerous scholars continue their competitions. There were still some people that had yet completed their test among the primary school scholars so they also continued their test in front of Hall of Supreme Learning. Daoist Ling Yun was still the one testing them.

Even if Daoist Ling Yun wanted to go easy on the younger generations of those high officials and nobles, he was helpless. After all, all the participants here now were strong practitioners that had sharp eyes. If he dared to mess around, he would be seen through!

This examination lasted all the way to the evening before it ended. There were people elated and people dejected, especially so for college’s scholars. Their competitions were even harsher and crueler, thus the one that could enter Imperial College was one in a hundred!

Only five places were left for primary school scholars and the ones that came from prestigious houses were still more learned and excelled the disciples from poor families. Among these five scholars, only Si Yunxiang managed to pass the examination and became an imperial scholar of Imperial College.

The other four people were all from famous families.

It wasn’t that the scholars from poor family weren’t hard working enough, they were just limited by resources.

The martial arts, spells and sword skills taught by all the primary schools and colleges were the same, and no matter how proficient they were, it was impossible for them to break through this barrier. Other than cultivating what primary schools and colleges taught, with experts in their own families guiding them, the heirs of famous families also cultivated their own ultimate arts that were handed down in their families, by their ancestors and even by their sects. That’s why the proportion of scholars from poor families entering Imperial College wasn’t high.

This was all reflected in Qin Mu’s eyes and he thought to himself, “If this continues for a long time, the higher-ups in Eternal Peace Empire will always be grasped by the influence of famous families and sects. The disciples of the poor will never have a chance to get out of their predicament and will never occupy an important position in the imperial court. In this way, the empire will not last long. Emperor Yanfeng has the heart to change; however, I wonder if he could change this situation?”

In this kind of situation, the rulers would always be the rulers and the hierarchy would solidify. And so some influences would grow more powerful among the rulers and the bigger they grew, the more resources they would gain, finally becoming malignant tumors in the empire.

When the day came, the poor scholars revolted. The malignant tumors would take the chance to stir havoc and the collapse of the empire could happen in just a night.

When the examinations were over, the directorate arranged for their lodgings. Everyone that had become an imperial scholar had their own residence at Imperial College. This place was called Scholars Residence, the place where scholars stayed. Every scholar had a courtyard with two entrances and two exits and the imperial scholars normally lived in their own residence as there was everything they needed there. There were even servants helping them to clean their houses, washing their clothes and preparing meals for them. This way, the scholars wouldn’t be vexed by their daily trifles.

If they were people who had statuses, they could even bring their own servants or maids over. Qin Mu had nothing at all so he naturally didn’t have any trifles.

“I wonder if I can bring Hu Ling’er over too? When I’ve settled down and seen Patriarch, I’ll bring her over.”

Qin Mu took a look around and discovered that the jade mountain which Imperial College was on was much bigger than it seemed. There were mountains on mountains and caves in caves. Other than Hall of Pure Yang, Hall of Azure Yang and Hall of Supreme Learning, there were also about a dozen palace halls of all kinds and there was also Floor of Heavenly Records.

Floor of Heavenly Records was the place where books were stored, having secretaries. As the name implied, secretaries meant to look after the books of secrets. The books stored in Floor of Heavenly Records were the ancient records that the empire had collected from the sects in this world. These records were looked after by the secretaries.

Qin Mu stopped and looked around. He also saw people walking to and fro in Floor of Heavenly Records which was bustling with activities. Most of them were imperial scholars and there were also the young generations of the Imperial Family.

“How does Young Cult Master feel after coming all the way here?”

An old voice came from his back and Qin Mu turned around to bow in greeting, “Patriarch.”

The person that had come was the young patriarch. Even though he had an appearance of a youth, his voice was very ancient. He smiled, “No need for formalities.”

Qin Mu composed himself and said, “Coming all the way here, I’ve seen Eternal Peace Empire’s circumstances and that gave me a very huge impact. My heart is in turmoil.”

Young patriarch became interested and walked forward, “Oh, tell me about it.”

Qin Mu followed his footsteps and talked as he walked, “When I came here, I observed along the way. I saw the entire Eternal Peace Empire having the omen of great fortune. Their paths and divine arts are for the everyday use of commoners and develops every day. They summon rain when there’s drought and chase the clouds when there’s flood, which is close to miracles. There are flying ships in the air, traveling boats on land and even the arts of pill refinement are used into the everyday life of commoners, creating miracles. Eternal Peace Empire may be in a turmoil now but it won’t last long and they will become incomparably strong after this!”

Young patriarch brought him to a lake on the mountain. Standing beside the lake and under the shade of the jade willows, he asked curiously, “In your point of view, which has a more promising future, a sect or a country? From what you said, you believe that a sect can never be a match for a country?”

Qin Mu nodded his head, “Primary schools, colleges, and Imperial College have confirmed that Eternal Peace Empire is the biggest sect in the world. The other sects are all just primary schools and colleges for this sect, merely providing scholars for Eternal Peace Empire. How could these sects fight against Eternal Peace Empire?”

Young patriarch sat down and on the shore were two sets of fishing rods. He gave Qin Mu one and took one for himself. He then threw a fish bait into the water and smiled, “However, now the whole country is in rebellion, many sects took this chance to revolt. A spark can cause a forest fire and with Imperial Preceptor getting severely injured, I see Eternal Peace Empire approaching a crisis and the empire may perish anytime!”

Qin Mu also threw the fishing line and bait into the water, laughing involuntarily, “Patriarch, you’re trying to mislead me right? Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor is loosening the reins only to grasp them better. He wants to take this chance to capture all rebelling powers in the world in one fell swoop. This point didn’t elude me thus it naturally couldn’t hide from Patriarch.”

The young patriarch had a calm expression as he looked at the surface of the lake. After a while, he said, “It’s not just loosening the reins to grasp them better. You missed out the trick of injuring himself to gain the enemies’ confidence. Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was indeed severely damaged and suffered serious injuries. Or else he wouldn’t be able to trick all the sects in the world.”

Qin Mu was shocked and cried out, “Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor injured himself?”

Young patriarch shook his head, “It was someone else who had injured him. It is said that three old monsters from my generation had attacked together and severely injured him. I had visited him after he had returned to the capital city and he was indeed heavily injured.”

Qin Mu was stumped for words. He had always thought Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was using the loosening reins method to lure the rebelling forces out. Never did he expect Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was really injured.

“He beat them at their own game and used this to lure these people out.”

Young patriarch continued neither too fast nor too slow, “If these sects think that they could get rid of Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor in this way and ruin Eternal Peace Empire, they are probably going to suffer losses. Young Cult Master, what’s your opinion on Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor?”

Qin Mu replied in awe, “Hero among men, broad-minded and open, an incomparable talent.”

Young patriarch revealed a smile, “When he came to me to ask the way then, I had also thought so. I had originally wanted to take him as my disciple but his vast talent already had the tendency to vaguely surpass me, therefore I had dropped this thought so as not to hold him back. Now Eternal Peace Empire is above all the sects, schools and cults in the world, their forces are matchless, and Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor is also an incomparable talent. In that case, how can our sacred cult settle down?”

There was the intention to test him in his words.

Ever since the first sentence he had said after meeting Qin Mu, he had already started his test on Qin Mu.

Attending Imperial College’s examinations and becoming an imperial scholar of Imperial College was only the first test on Qin Mu, which tested his strength. And now he was testing his wisdom. If he had the wisdom to manage Heavenly Devil Cult and if he had the wisdom to become a cult master.

Qin Mu contemplated for a moment and said, “There are two paths for our sacred cult. The first path is to transform the cult into a country, to let our sacred cult found a country. If our sacred cult found a country, we must leave far away from Eternal Peace. As the fate of Eternal Peace Empire becomes increasingly prosperous, Imperial Preceptor will definitely move his troops outside to swallow up the neighboring territories after he quells the rebellion. In the empire, we’ll be unable to contend against Eternal Peace Empire and if we are too close, we’ll also be unable to contend against Eternal Peace Empire. If we leave far away from Eternal Peace, there’s no foundation for our sacred cult and I’m afraid it would be hard for us to pick up even after dozens of years.”

Young patriarch nodded his head and said, “The first path is incomparably difficult. Our sacred cult is based on the common people. Leaving Eternal Peace means that our foundation would be ruined. This path is infeasible. What’s the second path?”

“The second path is to depend on.”

Qin Mu continued, “The sacred cult dependent on Eternal Peace Empire.”

Young patriarch’s expression changed slightly and he laughed coldly, “You being the cult master is to exterminate our sacred cult? How dare you, off with your head!”

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