God-Slaying Blade

Seeing Qin Jue's resolute attitude, Ye Juanyun decided not to try to persuade him any further.

"Besides this matter, is there anything else? Have those three sects been completely silent for the past six months? And the Grand Gathering of Myriad Laws is no longer being held?" Qin Jue asked.

Ye Juanyun laughed and said, "They've been very quiet for the past six months. No one has come, and no one has contacted us secretly. I guess they know that now that the Nine Provinces have the Nine Provinces Academy and the Dean instructed to popularize the Spirit Transformation Technique, not many people will go to the Myriad Laws Gathering, so no one has bothered with it."

However, they should be coming in about a month. After all, the end of the year is approaching, and they will be coming to collect the annual tribute.

Qin Jue narrowed his eyes and said, "Ten billion spirit stones a year, that's thirty billion spirit stones for the three sects. You guys are really willing to spend that much."

Ye Juanyun said with a bitter smile, "Who could really bear to part with this? His Majesty's heart is bleeding too! But the situation is beyond our control. If we don't hand over this annual tribute, there will be no peace in the land of Kyushu."

In the beginning, without the protection of the three sects, people from the Spirit Realm would often infiltrate the Nine Provinces, causing trouble in secret, plundering property, and taking lives. The power of the Nine Provinces was powerless to resist, and countless unsolved cases of family massacres piled up every year.

Finally, having no other choice, they sought refuge. With that refuge, Kyushu indeed experienced much less turmoil. This can be considered a case of paying to avoid disaster.

Qin Jue sneered, "The three sects are all in the Spirit Domain. Can they really protect the Nine Provinces? Perhaps those who caused trouble in secret before were themselves. However, after you sought their protection, they replaced their plundering with the annual tribute you paid. In this way, they not only got ten billion spirit stones for free, but also gained a good reputation."

"Alas, His Majesty and I have thought so too. But even if that is the truth, what can we do? At present, it is only a financial loss, and at least some families in Kyushu have not suffered any more undeserved disasters," Ye Juanyun said.

Qin Jue narrowed his eyes and said, "People from the Spirit Realm enter the mortal world simply through the Sealed Spirit Gate and the Chaotic Spirit Realm. As long as we guard these exits, wouldn't we be able to stop people from the Spirit Realm from wreaking havoc on the mortal world?"

Ye Juanyun chuckled, "The problem is, we can't stop them... Of the hundreds of dynasties in the Tianwu Continent, only our Kyushu Martial Dynasty is lucky enough to produce someone like you, the King of Kyushu. The strongest spiritual cultivators in the other major dynasties are still only at the Spirit River Realm. With such power, even if we set up defenses at the exit, those harmful things can still easily break in."

Qin Jue nodded and said, "Weakness is the original sin."

Ye Juanyun looked bitter. The weak will be beaten and bullied. This may sound like a nonsensical statement, but it is true.

The law of the jungle prevails; it has always been so.

"So this year, you're planning to send tribute to the Spirit Refining Sect as well?" Qin Jue asked.

Ye Juanyun shook his head and said, "His Majesty said that since the King of Kyushu personally said that the Kyushu Martial Dynasty would no longer be under the protection of the Spirit Refining Sect, they naturally don't need to pay their share. His Majesty has decided to hand over the ten billion spirit stones originally to them to the King of Kyushu. After all, it is the King of Kyushu who is truly protecting Kyushu now."

Qin Jue was surprised, not expecting Wu Xuantong to actually stand up for himself.

Isn't Wu Xuantong afraid that he won't be able to protect the Wu Dynasty of the Nine Provinces?

This is a huge gamble.

After all, if the gamble is lost, even if the Nine Provinces can still exist in the future, the dynasty will most likely have to change its name.

What surprised him most was that Wu Xuantong actually planned to give him the ten billion spirit stones that he had originally intended to give as a tribute to the Spirit Refining Sect.

"With such ambition, Your Majesty the Martial Emperor, why worry that the Nine Provinces cannot rise again? However, there's no need to give me these ten billion spirit stones. The imperial treasury has already been taken by me, so what use do I have for these ten billion spirit stones? It would be better to use half of them for the imperial treasury and the other half for the academy. The sooner we cultivate the disciples of the academy, the sooner the Nine Provinces will have its own base of strong individuals. The Spirit River Realm is far from enough," Qin Jue said with a smile.

Ye Juanyun said excitedly, "King of Kyushu is so righteous, I will speak to His Majesty about it later."

As they spoke, the three of them entered the Qinglian Courtyard.

The initial courses ended two months ago.

Now, Lu Tingxiao and Su Ning have moved into Qin Jue's small courtyard in Qinglian Courtyard and are focusing on their cultivation.

Qin Jue stood outside the courtyard and probed with his spiritual sense, seeing that the two junior disciples were cultivating diligently.

It has been almost seven months since they entered the academy, and with the resources of the academy, their cultivation levels have skyrocketed.

Currently, they are all at the peak of the ninth level of the Grandmaster realm.

Reaching the Grandmaster realm is just around the corner.

"Without worrying about resources, cultivation is so much easier. Without the academy's unconditional and unlimited supply of resources, even if these two have some talent and are cultivating top-tier spiritual techniques, their improvement speed wouldn't be this fast." Qin Jue couldn't help but feel envious.

Back then, his talent was only slightly inferior to those two junior disciples, but it took him five years to advance from the eighth rank of Martial Realm to the peak of Grandmaster.

The reason he progressed so slowly at that time was because he didn't have enough resources.

"Tingxiao, Ning'er, let's rest for a while!" Qin Jue said with a smile.

Inside the house, Lu Tingxiao and Su Ning, who were cultivating in their respective rooms, were overjoyed to hear Qin Jue's voice.

They quickly finished their practice and rushed out together.

"Disciple Lu Tingxiao (Su Ning) greets Master and Vice Dean Ye!" The two quickly bowed.

Qin Jue smiled and said, "That's right, you haven't slacked off in the past six months."

"Hehe, Dean, these two children are really hardworking. Other children cultivate for a maximum of six or seven hours a day, but these two cultivate for at least eight hours every day!" Ye Juanyun praised with a smile.

"Junior brothers and sisters, you're going too far!" Lin Shiyue exclaimed.

At least eight hours, so does that mean sleeping and eating would only take four hours?

Lin Shiyue considers herself diligent, but she hasn't worked this hard.

Lu Tingxiao and Su Ning looked at Lin Shiyue in surprise, only then realizing her identity. They quickly bowed and said, "Greetings, Senior Sister!"

"Hehe, hello junior brothers and sisters. Senior sister will treat you to candy later!" Lin Shiyue said with a smile.

Lu Tingxiao's lips twitched slightly. Eating candy?

However, upon seeing that his senior sister was a little girl even younger than him and Su Ning, he could only smile helplessly to himself.

"Vice Dean Ye, you go ahead with your work. I'll stay with my three disciples for a while," Qin Jue said with a smile.

Ye Juanyun chuckled and said, "Alright, then this old man will not disturb your reunion any longer."

After Ye Juanyun left, Qin Jue led his three disciples into the courtyard.

He checked Lu Tingxiao and Su Ning's bodies and, seeing that they hadn't suffered any health problems from rushing to improve their cultivation, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The disciple knew that hard work was a good thing, but he didn't want to ruin such a promising talent by being too eager for quick success.

"Now that I'm here, I'll help you break through to the Grandmaster realm in a few days. But I need you to leave Huanglong City early tomorrow morning," Qin Jue said with a smile.