Chapter 90: All for Nothing

In the rear mountain议事 hall, six elders sat in separate seats.

Besides the two vice deans and Su Yubai, there were three other elders. These six, together with the dean, constituted the highest authority of the Danwu Academy.

Of course, the dean's authority was supreme; he could decide all matters of the academy with a single word!

Because he represented the Youyun Sect!

"Two deans, all elders, a ground-level student of the academy has become lawless, killing two fellow disciples in broad daylight. Today I have called this council to discuss how to deal with this student!"

Su Yubai, as the convener, naturally initiated the discussion.

"A ground-level student, so audacious! What's there to discuss? Just kill him directly!" A vice dean said angrily upon hearing this.

"Yes, according to academy rules, killing a fellow disciple warrants death! Why even hold a council?" Another elder chimed in.

"Elder Su, may I ask who this student is?" At this moment, another vice dean spoke up.

Su Yubai looked at him with some displeasure; this guy never cooperated, which was truly annoying.

The Danwu Academy typically had two vice deans, one for alchemy and one for martial arts.

The vice dean who had spoken earlier was Zhang Songtao, the vice dean specializing in martial arts; the one who asked the question was Hu Changsheng, the vice dean of alchemy.

Hu Changsheng was a staunch follower of Jiang Yunhe, a man who disliked power struggles and was solely devoted to the path of alchemy. Over the years, he had been virtually invisible, and at council meetings he basically abstained from voting.

Today he wasn't deliberately causing trouble; he just instinctively wanted to understand more.

After all, students were precious resources of the Danwu Academy, and mistakenly killing a genius would be a loss outweighing the gain.

Although killing a fellow disciple was essentially a death sentence, he always wanted to find out the reason.

Who knew if the Danwu Academy of Qin might produce a second Mo Yuntian?

"This student is named Ye Yuan, a deranged person! He had a bad record before entering the academy. A few days ago, he somehow obtained some opportunity and his strength surged. But unexpectedly, today he killed two fellow disciples in a row. I suspect he may have obtained a demonic cultivation method, causing him to lose his mind and commit such cruelty!"

Su Yubai downplayed the key points, portraying Ye Yuan as a murderous maniac.

Most of the elders were already on his side, so there was nothing more to say.

"In that case, there's no need to discuss further. Once he arrives at the hall, we'll just sentence him to death directly," Zhang Songtao said indifferently.

As vice dean, his words carried great weight.

Over the years, Su Yubai had secretly given him countless treasures to win him over, and the two had long become birds of a feather.

As for the other elders, they had less authority and strength than Su Yubai, and under his combination of carrot and stick, they naturally became his followers.

"I second the motion. Such a deranged person, why keep him alive?" An elder said.

"I also second!"

Seeing everyone in favor of killing Ye Yuan, Hu Changsheng's vote no longer mattered, so he simply remained silent.

Su Yubai felt secretly pleased; that brat Ye Yuan was lawless, not only daring to kill fellow disciples but also calling him an old thing.

Even if it weren't for the Su and Ye family feud, he would still want him dead today!

As for the reason, Su Yubai had already found out clearly: it was indeed Lin Tiancheng who provoked first, severely injuring Ye Yuan's maid to the point of death!

But so what? Ye Yuan was asking for death; he had no one to blame.

Thus, with a few exchanges, they decided the life and death of a ground-level student without even asking the reason.

But they waited for a long time, and instead of Ye Yuan, they got Feng Ruoqing and Hu Yan Yong.

"What are you doing? Where is Ye Yuan? Did you help him flee to escape punishment?"

Before Feng Ruoqing and Hu Yan Yong could speak, Su Yubai had already characterized their actions.

Hu Yan Yong looked at Su Yubai with a cold smile: "If he had fled to escape punishment, wouldn't that be exactly what you wanted? Don't worry, Ye Yuan isn't that stupid!"

Hu Yan Yong hadn't really understood the ins and outs, but on the way, Feng Ruoqing had enlightened him, and he finally saw the whole picture.

In fact, he had considered helping Ye Yuan leave and return only after the dean came back, but Ye Yuan had rejected the idea.

If Ye Yuan ran away, the Su family would seize the opportunity to attack, joining forces with the Wan family against the Ye family.

Ye Hang was in seclusion and could not be disturbed; Ye Yuan wanted to bear this matter alone!

Hu Yan Yong was devoted to martial arts and couldn't wrap his head around these intrigues.

But Feng Ruoqing, born into the royal family, was naturally sensitive to such things.

"Since he hasn't fled, why hasn't he come? Does he expect me, an elder, to go invite him?" Su Yubai said in a deep voice.

"Hmph! Why would he come? You've probably already twisted the facts and fooled the two deans and elders into sentencing Ye Yuan to death, haven't you? Would he come to die?" Hu Yan Yong sneered.

"How dare you! Do you question the authority of the council? Do you still want your position as instructor?" Su Yubai roared.

"Is it the authority of the council, or your authority? Don't confuse the issue!" Hu Yan Yong did not back down, confronting Su Yubai head-on.

"Alright, alright, you two stop arguing. The main party isn't here, so what's the use of arguing? Hu Yan, you say Elder Su twisted the facts; does that mean Ye Yuan didn't kill anyone?" Hu Changsheng interjected at this point.

Hu Yan Yong had a good impression of Hu Changsheng, so naturally he wouldn't contradict him.

Hu Yan Yong respectfully made a bow and said, "Ye Yuan did kill, but there was a reason, not because he's a demonic cultivator as Su Yubai claims!"

Hu Yan Yong recounted how Lü'er was humiliated and near death, provoking Ye Yuan's anger. Hu Changsheng frowned deeply as he listened.

Wasn't this a replay of the Mo Yuntian incident?

Hu Changsheng turned to Su Yubai and said, "Elder Su, it seems the Miscellaneous Affairs Office really needs a thorough rectification!"

Su Yubai's status was lower than Hu Changsheng's, so he dared not refute and could only say, "Dean Hu is right. Even if you hadn't mentioned it, I would have rectified the Miscellaneous Affairs Office afterward. But the urgent matter now is to deal with Ye Yuan. No matter his reason, killing two people is a challenge to the academy rules; we cannot set such a precedent! And even if he had a reason, his rapid progress is abnormal; it's very likely he practiced demonic techniques. How can we let such a person go?"

"Exactly! The Danwu Academy forbids killing fellow disciples; killers have always been executed. Should we make an exception for Ye Yuan? What qualifies him? My opinion is still to kill him!" Zhang Songtao said.

"I agree with Dean Zhang; this trend cannot be encouraged!"

"I also agree!"

Seeing this, Feng Ruoqing stepped forward, bowed gracefully to them, and said, "I am not here to plead for Ye Yuan, but to inform the two deans and elders that Ye Yuan plans to challenge the Nine Heavens Path in three days, so he will not attend this council."

"What? He wants to challenge the Nine Heavens Path? A Qi Refinement sixth layer challenging the Nine Heavens Path? Hahaha, does he think this will escape the death penalty? Since he's asking for death, I'll just watch how he dies on the Nine Heavens Path!" Su Yubai laughed loudly.