Both top figures were staring at Tai Xuanzi, having witnessed with their own eyes as she beat Karisto half to death.
Crossing two levels to assault a superior with intent to kill—anywhere else, this would warrant severe punishment.
By rights, they should immediately speak out, take the moral high ground, and condemn Tai Xuanzi’s violence.
But when they met Tai Xuanzi’s golden vertical pupils, they felt a chill run down their spines.
Too terrifying—it was as if they were facing an ancient beast, not a human.
They fell silent, but Tai Xuanzi said, “As you’ve seen, I did it.”
Her voice was calm, her expression indifferent, but in everyone’s ears, it sounded as if she was saying: “I did it—so what?”
The rain still poured, soaking the ground, the humidity making the air sticky and uncomfortable.
The Supervisor’s eyes nearly rolled back at her words, nearly fainting from rage.
‘You just crippled an S-rank Divine Proxy! And you say it so casually, showing not the slightest remorse?!’
In fact, Karisto was S-rank, while he was only A-rank—Karisto was even his superior!
How did Tai Xuanzi dare?
Was she trying to defy the Ministry of Education itself?
He took a deep breath, his face steely, “No matter what mistakes he made, there is a process for judgment and punishment through the Ministry of Education.”
“How could you take the law into your own hands?!”
“Tai Xuanzi!” the Supervisor finally roared, unable to hold back, “Are you rebelling?!”
Zhou Lian also hadn’t expected Tai Xuanzi to be so arrogant, his voice burning with fury, “Supervisor, on behalf of the Olympus Family, I demand severe punishment for Tai Xuanzi!”
Hearing this, Tai Xuanzi only sighed softly.
She stared straight at the Olympus Family Patriarch, then stepped forward.
Zhou Lian reflexively retreated a step, only to realize it was just his projection, not his real body facing Tai Xuanzi.
But this realization only made him angrier.
“I’m disappointed, truly,” Tai Xuanzi said quietly, “You’ve come here, but instead of asking what he did, all you do is blame me?”
The Supervisor was stunned by the question, and before he could react, Karisto crawled toward him in desperation.
“Help me… Supervisor… help me!” Karisto’s voice was hoarse with despair.
“Please, save me!”
By rights, the Supervisor should have intervened immediately, but Tai Xuanzi turned and fixed her gaze on him, and a voice in his head screamed: ‘Don’t move! Whatever you do, don’t move!’
He stood rooted to the spot, rain soaking through his collar, sending chills down his spine.
“In that case,” Tai Xuanzi’s voice sounded softly through the rain, “I’ll just have to seek justice myself for the grievance done to my disciple.”
Both the Supervisor and Zhou Lian felt a jolt in their hearts.
‘What did she mean? She’d already beaten Karisto half to death—was that not enough revenge?’
The next second, space itself suddenly split open, and Tai Xuanzi’s figure instantly vanished from her spot.
Before they could react, a giant dragon tail appeared above Karisto’s head out of thin air.
With a whoosh, it smashed down with earth-shattering force!
“Bang—!”
The sound exploded, blood splattering and spreading through the rain.
Tai Xuanzi’s figure appeared by Karisto’s side.
She opened her hands, her expression calm as she said, “All done. Now he’s dead for sure.”
A deathly silence filled the square.
Only now did everyone process what had happened, their scalps tingling, cold chills shooting up from their feet to their skulls.
They finally realized—
From beginning to end, Tai Xuanzi had never planned to let Karisto go!
She’d dragged things out, only to kill him right in front of the Olympus Patriarch!
So arrogant—this was sheer arrogance!
Not only that, but also right in front of the Second Star Ring Supervisor!
She’d killed her own superior’s superior, in front of both!
Heavens, how did she dare do that?
Just for Su Fu’s sake?
Because they tried to kill her disciple?
Whether they succeeded or not, the mere attempt was enough.
If you dared try, you die!
No bargaining, no holding back, just pure intimidation.
The Supervisor stood dumbfounded for a long while.
When Karisto’s blood was nearly washed away by the rain, he finally snapped out of it, his voice trembling with anger and disbelief: “Tai Xuanzi!”
Tai Xuanzi had actually killed Karisto right before his eyes!
“Do you know what the consequences of this are?!”
Zhou Lian also recovered, his eyes boiling with killing intent, “Tai Xuanzi!”
He could hardly restrain his fury, “How dare you kill my Olympus Family’s genius! I’ll make you pay!”
Su Fu was startled by the volume of their voices, ‘They sure could yell. But why did neither of them dare to step forward?’
Tai Xuanzi looked at Zhou Lian with an indifferent, mocking smile.
“Pay?”
With Karisto dead, she felt a rare satisfaction, speaking leisurely: “All you can do is send a projection. Someone as cowardly as you, hiding your head, is in no position to make me pay.”
“Hmm? Dare to come face me in person?”
Su Fu: “!!!”
‘Goodness, she just challenged him directly.’
As expected, only the highest level of conflict could use the simplest tactics!
“And you,” Tai Xuanzi turned her gaze to the Supervisor, enunciating every word: “Don’t you shout at me.”
The Supervisor immediately froze, his voice dying in his throat.
He trembled, wanting to point at Tai Xuanzi and curse, but ultimately did not dare.
So he turned and pulled out his light-brain.
He was going to report this!
Report it to Central!
Surely someone would be able to deal with this disaster!
Su Fu: “…..”
‘And here I thought you’d do something big.’
Just then, a long sigh suddenly sounded across the square, cutting through the rain and echoing in everyone’s ears.
Everyone instinctively looked at Tai Xuanzi, but soon realized it wasn’t her.
It was a gentle yet slightly weathered voice, “Sigh, little Xuanzi’s temper is still so hot-headed.”
Tai Xuanzi: “……”
‘Address me by my title in public! Don’t you understand?’
As soon as the voice finished, the Supervisor’s face lit up with joy, exclaiming: “Principal!”
The Principal had arrived!
Su Fu looked up towards the source of the voice.
Not far away, a swirl of white mist appeared out of nowhere, condensing into a wooden door.
It stood in the rain, untouched by even a single drop.
“Creak—”
The door slowly opened.
Even with the pouring rain, the sound was clear to all present.
Then, an elderly man walked out through the door.
He looked about seventy or eighty, yet stood tall and straight as a pine, his silver hair shining.
This was Mu Erfeisi Ai’o, Principal of Tianqiong Path Academy.
After stepping out, Mu Erfeisi sighed and waved his hand casually.
Instantly, a milky white aura surrounded every examinee.
The aura shielded them completely from the rain.
At the same time, their fatigue, cold, and even wounds rapidly faded away.
No one was missed; all were enveloped by the light.
First surprised, the examinees and teachers quickly relaxed.
It was their Principal, their protector, who had arrived.
Su Fu’s first impression of Mu Erfeisi was how gentle he seemed.
But everyone knew—the Principal was the strongest person in the entire academy, the one holding back the greatest catastrophe beneath the school.
In a sense, he was the core of the entire academy.
If he disappeared, disaster would erupt and everyone would perish.
To the school, the Principal was like a lighthouse that never went out, standing tall at the edge of the chaos.
Especially since Tianqiong Path Academy was the first among the Six Great Academies—the disaster it suppressed was surely the greatest and most far-reaching, and only someone truly extraordinary could serve as Principal.
At least to Su Fu, she could faintly sense that the Principal was as deep and unfathomable as an abyss.
In fact, no one really knew how strong he was.
Could someone like him even be measured by S or SS rank?
Probably not.
Someone of his level could summon storms with a thought, shatter mountains with a glance.
Their very existence was a miracle—an incomprehensible power to mortals and no one knew how long the Principal had truly lived.
In short, from as far back as anyone could remember, Mu Erfeisi Ai’o had always been Principal of Tianqiong Path Academy.
There was even an absurd rumor that he had witnessed the very first descent of the gods.
As soon as the Principal appeared, the Supervisor immediately fell silent, straightened his back, and respectfully performed a standard salute.
Olympus Patriarch Zhou Lian did the same, even though he was only a projection.
He dared not show the slightest disrespect and bowed at once.
Tai Xuanzi also turned to face the Principal.
But Su Fu suddenly realized—the rain had lessened a lot.
What was once a torrential downpour was now a fine drizzle.
She wondered if the Principal was preparing to mediate.
It made sense.
Since this all happened within Tianqiong Path Academy’s grounds, the Principal certainly had the authority to resolve it.
And with his qualifications and position, these people would surely submit to his judgment.
But…
Su Fu had a strange feeling that something was off.
The timing was too perfect.
A figure of the Principal’s level, and yet he only appeared right after Karisto was dead?
It felt off, not fitting the Principal’s lofty image.
Unless—he intended it that way.
Su Fu’s mind raced, ‘If this was a grand chess game, how would it unfold?’
Thinking ahead, with the Olympus Family’s Central Inspector dead, a power vacuum was created.
The examinees had been forced by the Family to sign harsh contracts and had witnessed everything first-hand.
Their resentment and hostility toward the Family would only grow…
She looked up at the representatives of the great families on the dais.
They had watched Tai Xuanzi kill Karisto with their own eyes—their souls must have been scared out of them.
Their lofty posture and elegance were all gone, replaced by quivering terror.
“Tsk—looks like the families really lost big this time!!”
Not only had they been thoroughly intimidated, they had lost the Second Star Ring’s greatest protector.
Meanwhile, the Principal arrived just in time to turn the tide…
Su Fu suddenly had a strange premonition, ‘Was this really a game between old foxes?’
The more she thought, the more likely it seemed.
Without the Family’s Inspector, the Academy was now the biggest winner.
And this whole string of events had dealt a heavy blow to the Family’s power—plus, the newest batch of students now had a terrible impression of the families, and would naturally gravitate to the Academy’s side.
She got it.
That meant her master would be fine.
The families were the ones hit hardest by this crisis.
Her master would surely be protected.
In that case… Su Fu looked up at the Olympus Patriarch.
‘But here’s the problem: with such a big loss, will the families really accept it?’
‘And since Karisto did hold a key post and was killed in violation of protocol, how would this be resolved?’
‘Wait, where was Teacher Zhuge?’
Seeing the Principal, Zhou Lian finally found someone to reason with, shouting in anger, “Principal! Tai Xuanzi killed Karisto—I must demand an explanation!”
“Of course.”
The Principal responded, “Here’s what we’ll do. We must provide generous compensation. Until the other side is satisfied.”
Hearing this, Zhou Lian paused, his gaze flickering.
If he could use this chance to acquire Kunlun Academy…
But he quickly realized it was impossible to seize an entire academy at once.
Still, if he could claim half, Karisto’s death might be worth it.
After all, even with the Inspector’s authority, it was nothing compared to possessing an academy.
If Tai Xuanzi would offer such a concession, he would accept it—maybe even profit a bit.
But as he schemed, the Principal looked at him and sighed, “This time, you almost killed Tai Xuanzi’s disciple. That truly is inexcusable.”
Then he turned to Su Fu, his tone warm and kind: “So, Su Fu, what compensation do you want? Don’t be afraid—the Principal will stand up for you.”
Su Fu: “???”
Goodness, so you’re here to play favorites!