I've announced that I'm destined to have many children, and my father has bestowed upon me

"I see... I see..."

Lin Haitao laughed bitterly, his laughter filled with self-mockery and sorrow.

"No wonder...no wonder you were so willing to let your daughter marry him...His Majesty has indeed bestowed upon you an immense reward!"

"For the sake of a powerful cultivation technique, you've betrayed the dignity of a military general! Li Qingcang, I despise you!"

Li Qingcang walked up to him expressionlessly, looking down at him condescendingly.

"Have you finished talking nonsense?"

"Now that we've finished talking, let's get going."

As soon as he finished speaking, he raised his palm and slapped Lin Haitao on the top of his head without hesitation!

At this critical moment.

An ancient and distant voice, as if coming from the heavens, echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

"Spare his life for my sake."

As the ancient and distant voice faded, Li Qingcang's hand, which was about to strike Lin Haitao's crown, froze in mid-air.

An invisible yet vast and powerful pressure descended from the sky, enveloping the entire West Gate.

Under this oppressive force, neither the three hundred female soldiers in black armor nor the hundreds of students from the Jixia Academy were affected.

They all felt like ants, and even breathing became incredibly difficult.

Li Qingcang, a powerful expert who had just made great progress in his strength at the Fourth Extreme Realm, also felt a suffocating feeling as if Mount Tai was pressing down on him.

He suddenly looked up and gazed into the void.

An elderly man dressed in a simple gray robe appeared there at some point.

He looked ordinary, yet he made Li Qingcang's hair stand on end.

Dragon Transformation Realm!

This is definitely a Dragon Transformation Realm expert!

That oppressive aura was far beyond what the Four Extremes Realm could match!

Li Qingcang's bones were creaking, but his burly body remained ramrod straight.

His stubbornness as a military general and his loyalty to the imperial authority made him not back down in the slightest.

He addressed the old man in the void with a deep voice, questioning him.

"Does Your Excellency also intend to stop this grand wedding and become an enemy of my Great Zhou?"

The old man ignored him, his cloudy eyes, which seemed to see through everything, fell on Lin Haitao, who was lying on the ground, barely alive.

"Traitor!"

A silent rebuke, though uttered, was filled with disappointment and heartache.

"Are you determined to destroy the academy's millennia-old foundation in an instant? Are you determined to drag all your classmates down with you?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Lin Haitao trembled violently. He struggled to lift his head, and when he saw the figure, a maniacal smile appeared on his face.

"Dean! You've finally come out!"

He coughed up blood and retorted loudly:

"I am not destroying the academy, I am saving it!"

"Don't you understand? What His Majesty wanted was never a Jixia Academy that could please everyone; he wanted complete control!"

"He's making us the private property of his Zhao royal family!"

"Even if Her Highness were to marry into the royal family today, it would only be a case of drinking poison to quench thirst! It would merely delay his plan to annex the academy!"

"The Jixia Academy was wrong from the moment it sent its students to serve as officials in various states!"

"Completely wrong! We thought we could gain the respect and fear of other countries by cultivating talent, but little did we know that in the eyes of those ambitious individuals, we were merely fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered!"

"It's not just Emperor Zhou! Every emperor in the world wants to annex us!"

"It's just that Zhao Daoting struck first, schemed against his disciple, and found the most opportune moment!"

Lin Haitao's roar echoed before the deathly silent city gate.

All the students fell silent, their grief and indignation gradually turning into confusion and deep thought.

The old dean in the void also fell silent.

An indescribable sadness was evident on his wrinkled face.

He was well aware that Lin Haitao was right.

This was a decision-making error that the academy had made for hundreds of years, thinking that it could remain aloof and rely on sending out talented people to secure its survival.

But in the end, they can only be gradually devoured by those ambitious people who hold power, and eventually become tools for them to rule the world.

After a long while, the old dean let out a long sigh.

He stopped looking at Lin Haitao and instead turned his gaze to the depths of the imperial city, to the magnificent palace complex.

"Your Majesty, now that you're here, why hide yourself? Why not show yourself?"

The voice just fell.

Above the imperial city, a majestic figure clad in a nine-dragon imperial robe appeared out of thin air.

It was none other than the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhao Daoting!

He stood in the void, his dragon might overwhelming, facing the old dean from afar, making the atmosphere in the entire imperial city extremely oppressive.

The old dean looked at Zhao Daoting and slowly spoke:

"I originally intended to arrange a marriage between Ruoshuang and the academy to buy the academy some breathing room, so that it could quickly reorganize its internal affairs and win over allies."

"But now it seems that it was Lin Haitao, that rebellious disciple, who woke us up from our dream."

"On the contrary, I am too old-fashioned and fussy."

Zhao Daoting stood with his hands behind his back, a playful smile on his face.

"It's normal for older people to not react as well as younger people."

He glanced at the chaos below, his gaze finally settling on the old dean.

"Now that the old dean has come to his senses, what are your plans for today?"

"Right here at the gates of the imperial city, shall we... fight you?"

Upon hearing this, the old dean threw his head back and burst into laughter, a laugh that was both desolate and heroic.

"Since Your Majesty is in such a refined mood, this old man will gladly oblige!"

"Then let's have a fight!"

"If I am so lucky as to win even a single move, I beg Your Majesty to rescind your order, spare Ruoshuang, and give Jixia Academy ten years to develop in peace and protect ourselves."

"If I lose..."

The old dean changed his tone abruptly, his words becoming resolute.

"We also implore Your Majesty to cancel the engagement and spare Ruoshuang! The entire Jixia Academy is willing to submit to the Great Zhou, to serve the royal family from now on, and to bring peace to the Great Zhou for all eternity!"

These words caused an uproar in the room!

Regardless of whether they win or lose, the engagement must be cancelled?

Zhao Chen'an stood on horseback, completely stunned.

isn't it?

How did the situation change so quickly?

The wife I've been waiting for so long!

Is it going to fly like that?

This old man is definitely here to cause trouble!

Just when everyone thought the marriage was about to end in farce.

The magnificent phoenix carriage had its red curtains gently lifted by a slender, jade-like hand.

A stunningly beautiful figure, adorned in a phoenix coronet and embroidered robe, stepped out of the carriage.

It was Liu Ruoshuang.

She didn't look at anyone, but instead bowed gracefully to the old dean and Zhao Daoting in the void.

His clear and firm voice resonated throughout the venue.

"Thank you for your care, Dean, and thank you for Your Majesty's grace."

"Whether Ruoshuang wins or loses this battle, she will marry His Highness Prince Wei."

In an instant, the whole world fell silent.

Everyone froze in their tracks.

The old dean's resolute expression turned to astonishment.

The playful look on Zhao Daoting's face also froze.

Lin Haitao, coughing up blood on the ground, abruptly stopped his maniacal laughter.

Even Zhao Chen'an was completely dumbfounded.