A meeting of the upper echelons took place after news of Fan Li’s death spread out quicker than any wildfires. All the teachers had a frown on their faces, rendering the atmosphere in the room quite somber and dreary.
"How is the situation?" asked headmaster Bai Han after a while, finally breaking the silence and starting the meeting.
"As bad as one would expect," replied the teacher in charge of gathering information for the Academy. "The rumors that we killed Fan Li for his inheritance have dramatically increased. No doubt that the people of the Dao Opening Sect are using this opportunity to further ruin our reputation.
"On top of that, many factions have started to ask our Academy for an explanation, putting pressure on us."
"So, what if they ask us for an explanation?" said one teacher. "Since when has our Academy ever been afraid of anyone?"
"In many situations, this might be the case, but when all of them have the opportunity to ally to fight against us, adding the possibility that the Dao Opening Sect might join in the situation, there is really nothing we can do at this point.
"On top of that, many of our allies have started to doubt us, thinking that we are selfish for taking the inheritance for ourselves without given them any benefits--even though they supported us during our lowest point. Some of them have even threatened to stop supporting us if we do not give them a proper explanation."
After hearing this explanation, a collective sigh could be heard inside the meeting room. This sigh symbolized all the grievances that these teachers have suffered in the past few decades; they wanted to lash out, but could not find a person or thing to lash out to--especially the person truly responsible for all their pain and suffering.
After a few seconds of silence, headmaster Bai Han asked: "Is there any good news at all?"
"Well the only good news is the fact that no sect or faction has brought the possibility of an Emperor Dao War so far; despite the rising tension, everything seemed to be under certain control. To be honest, headmaster, I find this fact very disturbing; it was as if everybody was waiting for something, but I do not know what exactly."
All the teachers had a serious look on their faces after hearing this. They did not doubt this teacher’s words as he was in charge of not just gathering information for the Academy, but analyzing them as well. And until the recent events, he had been excellent at his job.
He had been with the headmaster since they were young. And in many of his confrontations with the Shadow of the Dao Opening Sect, his information has granted Bai Han many advantages over Wang Tian.
As for Bai Han, he too believed in his agent’s words, but since they could not discover any concrete evidence, nor was there any speculation of what truly was going on, he had to move on.
"Keep a lookout for any sudden change in the situation. Now, what about how the person who killed Fan Li? Do we have any clues whatsoever--especially how that person managed to disarm all the formations?"
The Information Gathering Teacher looked in a certain direction for a brief moment before answering the question. There lied a group of teachers that had strongly disagreed with Bai Han’s decision to rig the competition. Ever since that event, there has been a little rift among the upper echelons of the Emperor Enlightening Academy.
"One of our teachers opened the formation for someone else. After an investigation, we discovered that the teacher had committed suicide while leaving a note claiming that the people of the Dao Opening Sect forced him.
"However, after betraying the Academy, he felt ashamed of his actions, so he killed himself to atone for his sins."
"Was that person controlled? And how reliable is this suicide note?" asked Bai Han with a heavy tone.
"After our investigation, we could not determine whether he was under any spell or origin artifacts as his soul was annihilated. As for the note, there was no sign of tampering, meaning that the note was indeed written by the teacher., however..."
"This note means nothing," replied Bai Han. "Even if we were to announce it to the public, they will just think that we were trying to frame the Dao Opening Sect to get out of this sticky situation.
"Not to mention the fact that whoever did this is trying to further increase our conflict with the Dao Opening Sect."
"So. our Academy lost a Saint Realm powerhouse, our reputation was further tarnished, and the whole world appeared to be our enemy. Yet, we cannot do anything about it?" asked one teacher.
The room was once again covered by a depressing silence. The fact that what that person said was true and the fact that he stated such a fact as plainly and straightforward as possible made the entire situation even worse.
"What about divination? Could we divine the perpetrator? Or ask the Heaven Mystery Pavilion to do it for us?" said one person with hope and yearning.
"Divination did not have any result. As for the Heaven Mystery Pavilion, they said that they did not want to have anything to do with this situation."
"So, what do we do now?" asked one teacher with a weak and helpless voice.
Unfortunately, no one answered him, not even headmaster Bai Han. However, this time, the silence did not last long as one of the teachers in the faction that was opposing Bai Han slowly said:
"I think that there is plenty of room and time to salvage the situation. First, we could have the headmaster swear both a heavenly Dao Oath and Dao Oath that the Academy did not have anything to do with Fan Li’s death in front of the entire world.
"Second, we can pay certain remuneration to all our allies for the support they have given us during these stressful times; this act should greatly appease them and strengthen our alliance.
"Finally, we can talk to Sacred Son Wang Wei and the people of the Dao Opening Sect. We can agree to allow him to enter the Secret Realm of the 3000 Dao Tablets. We can even negotiate to give him as much time as the champion of the Tournament."
The room became silent again, this time the teachers were thinking about the feasibility of this plan; the positive and negative of doing such a thing.
"This plan is feasible. Although our Emperor Enlightening Academy would lose a lot of resources and a little bit of face, it will not affect us too much."
"Plus, if Lin Fan manages to prove the Dao, who would care about the little loss of face. So, I think the best solution is to go through this rough time as quickly as possible, then, later on, we can repay 100 fold all the humiliation we suffered."
"1000 fold would be better."
"I agree."
"Me too."
The majority of people agreed with this plan. To be precise, the majority of people in the opposite faction agreed with this plan--especially since one of their own came up with it.
So, after coming with a preliminary decision, they all looked at headmaster Bai Han for his final decision. After all, he is the one who has the final say.
"I agree with your first two points, but Wang Wei cannot get access to the Dao Tablets."
"Headmaster, this is not the time to be stubborn," yelled one teacher. "Please place your personal feeling aside for the benefit of the Academy."
"This is not about my personal feeling," replied Bai Han. "It’s just too late. The plan for Li Jun has already been set in motion. Ji Song has already got his hands on the Demon God Bone; so, it is too late to stop our actions."
The people of the opposing factions looked at the stubborn Bai Han, then they looked at the people who supported him no matter what, hoping that someone with enough reason would try to persuade him. But it was useless as no one spoke.
As a matter of fact, many people felt as indignant as Bai Han. After going through so much effort, after sacrificing so much, they did not want to stop their actions. They can agree for the Academy to bow its head to the world, but not to a member of the younger generation--no matter how talented he was.
Maybe at first, these people supported Bai Han because they had faith in their leader or the fact that they were used to always supporting him. However, the recent events have changed their minds. Subconsciously, many people in Bai Han’s faction blamed Wang Wei for all that has happened to them and the Academy.
Hence, the reason that they were adamant about stopping.
After realizing the situation, the opposing faction sighed melancholy, but they did not say anything. So, the Academy’s plan for the current situation was established.
After the meeting, all the teachers went their separate ways. However, another secret meeting took place somewhere in the Academy. This time it was all the True Monarchs who were meeting.
"Have you guys noticed?" asked one of the True Monarchs communicating through Divine Sense.
"Yes, Bai Han and his supporters are enveloped by Qi of Calamity!" replied one of the True Monarch.
"So, should we intervene?"
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