Chapter 187 An Anomaly

An Anomaly

Though Feng Hai was the Head of the Academy, he didn't live in an over-the-top home like his niece but rather lived in a simple bamboo hut at the top of the Academy's mountain.

It was simple and basic. However, Feng Hai loved the simplistic lifestyle and didn't care about what others said. Moreover, he was a man with only a few years left to live, so what would a few more years living in a luxurious home do for him?

Knowing this and which path to take to get to Feng Hai's home, Xue Bai activated his physique and slowly traveled through the void toward his destination.

Sure, it was possible to reach Feng Hai by asking around and getting a guide, but Xue Bai didn't want to do that, and sneaking into the man's house mysteriously would be good for his image.

So after three activations of his physique, Xue Bai found the simple bamboo hut that sat at the top of the Academy's mountain.

Lonely, desolate, and calm were some of the emotions that Xue Bai felt as he looked at Feng Hai's house. It was both calm and serene.

'Living here could even calm the heart of a demon.' Xue Bai thought to himself.

Deactivating his physique, Xue Bai appeared at the door of Feng Hai's house. But just before he was going to knock on the door, the Academy Head did it himself.

Sitting on the floor with a Kang Table in front of him, Feng Hai calmly waved his hand and summoned a small gust of wind that opened the door for Xue Bai.

"Wonderful ability you have, young friend. I couldn't even sense a trace of you until you were about to knock on the door!" Feng Hai praised as he motioned for Xue Bai to sit down.

Xue Bai ignored the praise, but he still obeyed the request and sat across from the man.

On top of the Kang Table was a tea set with two cups of tea already pre-poured. Obviously, Feng Hai knew Xue Bai would be coming soon and prepared accordingly.

However, since Xue Bai didn't like tea very much, he ignored it and instead waited for the Academy Head to get to business.

This didn't take long as, after a minute of silence, the man broke the silence first.

"Young friend, since I assume you're not a man for nonsense, I will cut to the chase. Our Feng Imperial Family's situation is less than hopeful." Feng Hai sighed before he explained the situation of his clan.

While Feng Fei had told him many details about the Empire, she wasn't let in on many core details of the Empire mainly because Feng Hai didn't want to further stress the mortal girl and kept the secrets to himself.

And even if he did tell her, what would it do? She couldn't even leave her home without an extremely important reason. So how could she solve the core problems that plagued the Empire?

Telling her would only give Feng Fei a hard life.

The first detail is that beyond Long Tian and the many internal problems that plagued the Empire, there was actually another huge problem that threatened the livelihood of every citizen of the Empire.

Right next door to the Gen Empire was the much stronger and dominant neighboring Earth Province and, with it, the Kun Empire.

Unlike the Gen Empire, the Kun Empire was not only much stronger, but they also had an actual backing making them a threat to their existence, but also something they could never really retaliate at.

The Northern Continent had a ranking that was decided every 10 years. And the Gen Empire was ranked 7th. Pitiful, but at least they weren't the last ranking one.

But there was a problem. Their neighbor was the up-and-coming Kun Empire, which was the 5th-ranked Empire, and also something they could never really contest.

And to make matters worse, the Kun Empire was backed by the 2nd ranked Empire, the Zhen Empire.

Funny enough, the Kun Empire used to be the 7th ranked Empire, behind the Gen Empire, which was then ranked 6th.

But after the death of Feng Fei's grandfather and the enthronement of her father, the two switched places. And since the two Empires had been neighbors for centuries, it went without reason that the two certainly had grudges.

So while the Gen Empire got weaker and weaker, the Kun Empire got stronger and stronger.

Now years later, with the death of Feng Fei's father and the Kun Empire subordinating themselves to the Zhen Empire, the gap only increased.

With a newfound strength, and a rage that had been bottled up for centuries, the now much stronger Kun Empire had a belly full of anger that it wanted to release, and the shell of the former Gen Empire was the perfect punching bag.

After Xue Bai heard Feng Hai's complaints, he fell silent for a few minutes as he mulled over his next words.

"What are the strengths of the Kun Empire's powerhouses? For example, their version of Long Tian and Zhenyu." Xue Bai asked.

First, in order to create a plan, he needed to know their strengths.

As the saying goes, if you know the enemy and yourself, you need not fear a hundred battles.

"That's where the problem is, young friend." While Xue Bai's question was simple, Feng Hai couldn't answer it well.

"We don't know much of their strengths. The only major powerhouse we know is actually the person who is always terrorizing us. And to make things worse, this person is only one of their Supreme Generals. His name is Xiao Yuan. And his strength is not a bit inferior to mine, with his cultivation being at the half-step Xiantian Great Realm like my own. However, unlike me, he doesn't have a fatal wound suppressing his strength, meaning that he is much stronger than me." Feng Hai said awkwardly.

Xue Bai felt exasperated.

'How the hell do you not even know the strength of your mortal enemy?'

However, since these were the cards he was dealt, Xue Bai could only sigh and move on.

"Since you can't even answer a simple question like that, I'll go even simpler." Xue Bai sighed. The cup of tea on the table was looking for and more appetizing now.

"Why did the Zhen Empire choose to take the Kun Empire as a subordinate? Sure, they were up and coming, but I know that the Zhen Empire has powerhouses in the Spirit Severing realm and even one at the peak of the realm. Surely a mere Kun Empire that was once ranked 7th didn't have so much potential to make the Zhen Empire notice them."

Feng Hai's tired face lit up after he heard that.

"I can answer this, young friend! The reason is actually not secret news at all." Feng Hai spoke with a small passion.

"The Emperor of the Kun Empire is a rather lecherous individual. And from his dozens of concubines, he has already sired hundreds of children just from what we know! If we include the illegitimate children that he never acknowledged or even abandoned, it could easily be in the thousands range."

Feng Hai would continue to talk about the lustful adventures of the Kun Empire Emperor for another minute, but since Xue Bai had no care for the pervert, he interrupted the Academy Head.

"Feng Hai cut to the chase!" Xue Bai said as he rapped his knuckles on the table impatiently.

Slightly scared at Xue Bai's interruption, Feng Hai stopped his lecture and got to the main point.

"Oh yes! Sorry young friend. I'll simplify it. Of Xiao Yunfeng's many children and grandchildren, there is one that has recently been in the limelight. And because of this boy's talents and recent feats, the Zhen Empire's Grand Tutor made an appearance and took the boy as a disciple! After that, the Kun Empire also submitted to the Zhen Empire and made the relationship official."

Feng Hai did as he said and simplified the story, but as he did, he also lost Xue Bai's attention.

Something in the Academy Head's words didn't match Xue Bai's knowledge of the game.

The Zhen Empire's Grand Tutor was a rather important individual since he was also the 5th strongest man on the entire continent. He was at the peak of the Spirit Severing realm, several stages above Xue Bai's Master Yue Zifeng.

However, beyond his strength, the Zhen Empire's Grand Tutor also had another trait during the story of 'Children of the Plane.'

He never took on a disciple!

So how the hell did he have one now?

"Tell me more about this disciple of the Grand Tutor." But, of course, Xue Bai didn't show, and of the confusion he was feeling on his face, but instead looked calm and smoothly asked a question.

"The more, the better, Feng Hai."

Feng Hai nodded and gave Xue Bai a detailed overview of the Prince.

The Prince's name was Xiao Xuan. Born to one of the dozens of concubines to the Emperor, With only a low Yellow-grade Martial Vein and no special physiques, Xiao Xuan was destined to be a nobody his entire life and die in the same home he was born in.

Knowing this, the Prince spent the first 15 years of his life following in his father's footsteps and drowning himself in debauchery. He even seemingly gave up on cultivation, and even at 15, his cultivation base was still at the peak of the Vein Transformation realm.

However, one day, everything changed during a fight with one of his Prince brothers. After one of his half-brothers tried to bully him, Xiao Xuan revealed something shocking. His cultivation, which was previously only at the 5th stage of the Vein Transformation realm a few weeks ago, advanced to the peak of the Blood Exchange realm!

And after his mother was insulted by his half-brother, the two started a fight.

No one was confident in Xiao Xuan's chances in the fight since his half-brother had a cultivation base of the 4th stage of the Muscle Nourishing realm. But in front of everyone, Xiao Xuan shocked everyone and beat his half-brother in a fight.

After that, Xiao Xuan's reputation went from playboy trash to a genius capable of fighting 5 stages above his cultivation base!

Feng Hai continued to describe more and more details of this Prince, but Xue Bai stopped paying attention after he heard the name and the first few feats.

'Isn't this a fucking protagonist? Why the hell is there another protagonist template on the Northern Continent?!'