This time, the entire court's civil and military officials were almost completely speechless!

If the Emperor wants to forcibly withdraw some decree, they actually have no way to completely stop him. Not to mention this time, the Emperor actually said he would use his private funds to do this.

In their hearts, although full of confusion, some officials deep down thought disrespectfully if the Emperor might be going a little mad? Otherwise, why would he believe in something as illusory as cultivation?

Although there have always been various legends about cultivation, becoming an immortal, and attaining longevity in this world. But in reality, almost no one would take these legends as truth. Because such things are far beyond people's understanding. Completely incomprehensible.

As for Prince Xia Jing, on that side, he was almost enraged to the point of coughing blood, feeling as if fortune was not on his side.

First, his son was kicked by someone and turned into a eunuch, then a series of incidents followed. Originally, a young man who did not interest him at all suddenly became an incredibly terrifying existence overnight.

His power... was even held in the hands of this young man.

"Cultivation Academy? I think this is madness, going insane, huh?" Prince Xia Jing sat in the study with a livid face, his eyes glinting with a cold light. He then gave orders: "Immediately contact the princes, do what? No, no need to do anything, just keep talking about the Cultivation Academy casually in front of them."

In the room, a man in gray nodded and silently left.

Prince Xia Jing was left sitting in the chair alone. After a long time, his expression finally calmed, and he muttered to himself, "Driven mad by the desire for immortality, setting up some Cultivation Academy? Your sons are all in their prime and strong; they do not wish to become immortals, only emperors!"

The whole of Yanhuang City was filled with news about the Cultivation Academy.

People had not yet recovered from the previous rumors, and now, new news had arrived.

But this time, the sensation was even greater!

Even more unbelievable for people.

"Cultivation Academy? What kind of thing is that? Cultivation? Hahaha, aren't those all legends?"

"Why would the Emperor issue such a decree? Isn't this wasting resources and labor? Doing these meaningless things, what benefit does it bring to the country and the people? What? His own private funds? Hahahahaha, come on, what's the difference between the treasury and the Emperor's private funds? Eh... what are you doing? I'm warning you, I am a person of status..."

"The Emperor is really willful, since he can do such things, why fear people talking? But they even arrested people. Hey, hey, hey, I didn't say anything reckless, what do you want to do?"

This time, it was completely different from any previous occasion. Before, people in Yanhuang City could casually discuss government affairs or even lightly criticize the Emperor without any issues. But this time, anyone who dared to question the Emperor's decision, once heard or reported, would be directly arrested.

So, the whole of Yanhuang City, in just a few days, went from chaos to a state of paranoia.

Almost no one dared to discuss this matter anymore.

However, an imperial decree soon descended.

"Crown Prince Xia Ying, disregarded public opinion, acted arbitrarily and domineeringly, creating a terrifying atmosphere in Yanhuang City. Resulting in the people not daring to complain, let alone speak. Causing great damage to the royal image. Now removed from the position of Crown Prince, retaining only the status of the First Prince, confined to the Eastern Palace..."

The entire decree was excerpted and posted at major intersections in Yanhuang City. Allowing all the common people to see its contents.

Only then did many people understand that the recent arrests were not the Emperor's doing. It was Crown Prince Xia Ying!

A few days later, another decree descended, this time dealing with Second Prince Xia Xiong and Third Prince Xia Hao. Because they also participated in the arrests and poured a lot of dirt towards the First Prince Xia Ying.

This time, there was an uproar across the nation.

All three princes of Great Xia had major issues within a few days.

Although the Emperor is still in his prime and has many offspring, these three princes have always had a high status and image in the minds of Great Xia's people. The future king was almost to be selected from these three men.

Now all three princes had been dealt with consecutively, and there was even a scene of sibling rivalry. This caused their image in the minds of the Great Xia people to plummet.

So in the future, who will be the Crown Prince? Who will be the Emperor? What is happening with the Emperor?

Discussion began to spread throughout the entire court and the populace.

However, the royal palace, from beginning to end, did not provide any response or explanation.

After the three princes were dealt with, although there were endless voices of suspicion, there was less of the previous widespread criticism and denouncement. People, more from confusion and discussion, turned to observation.

In the second month after Chu Mo's return.

The Cultivation Academy swiftly appeared in Yanhuang City, a speed unprecedented in the history of Great Xia.

Subsequently, Chu Mo personally compiled the first batch of textbooks.

The entire academy had only him as the teacher, and besides him, there was no one else.

In Yanhuang City, many people were waiting to see a joke. They all thought the emperor had lost his mind, engaging in nonsense with a ten-year-old child. However, among the people, there was also a saying that the child picked up by the old General Fan Wudi was actually a god descended to the mortal world. Previously, his memory had been sealed, but this year the seal was lifted, which is why he suddenly became formidable. This explanation also had its market. Those who believed were not only the common folks but even many high-ranking officials and notable figures also believed.

Because apart from this explanation, no other explanation could account for the great changes in Chu Mo.

At this moment, the entire cultivation academy had only three students.

Xu Fufu, Miao Yi Niang, Liu Mei'er.

Miao Yi Niang and Xu Fufu entered the cultivation academy with the mindset of: go ahead and laugh at us if you want, anyway, we must help our own people, akin to facing death with stoic resolve. As for Liu Mei'er, she was forcibly brought in by Xu Fufu.

However, Liu Mei'er's upbringing made her not pay much attention to this matter. She was already accustomed to the various views of the mundane world.

The era of three students quickly passed. Three months later, more than thirty boys and girls aged between four and twelve from the Imperial Clan of Great Xia joined the cultivation academy.

From that point on, the gates of the cultivation academy were closed directly.

Even when Fan Wudi returned, he only met Chu Mo once, then took a scripture from Chu Mo and returned to the army, never to return again.

All the commotion in Yanhuang City caused by the cultivation academy gradually attracted less attention over time.

After all, life goes on. One cannot keep fixating on the cultivation academy all day, right? Besides, even if someone wanted to keep an eye on it, they wouldn't get any useful information.

Because the entire cultivation academy remained in a closed state from beginning to end, guarded by the palace guards outside, whose security was so stringent that it was almost exaggerated to the point where not even a fly could get in.

In Great Xia, this matter seemed to have gradually calmed down, but by this time it had already spread to neighboring countries.

They didn't care what the emperor of Great Xia would feel; in any case, there was no end to the sound of ridicule from top to bottom. Some literati even went as far as to compile all sorts of stories to mockingly laugh at the Great Xia emperor being bewitched by a boy.

Some "enlightened individuals" even wept with joy, exclaiming that their country finally had the opportunity to expand its territory!

Because in their eyes, what the Great Xia emperor was doing was practically courting death. It wouldn't take long for the entire Great Xia to likely face extinction.

This matter even stirred top-tier major powers like Longevity Heaven, who specially sent disciples to inquire.

Unlike the voices in secular society, Longevity Heaven was, one could say, the sect closest to cultivators in this world. So, their attitude towards this matter was much more serious.

But what was somewhat unexpected was that the high and mighty disciples of Longevity Heaven, even as they traveled the world, were also refused entry at the cultivation academy in Great Xia's Yanhuang City!

They were furious, never having encountered such a situation before. With their status and position, wherever they went in any country of the world, the monarch of that country would personally come out to receive them. But here in Great Xia, the emperor didn't show up, sending only a chief eunuch to accompany them. Upon arriving at the cultivation academy, they were outright refused entry, not even making it past the gates!

The disciple from Longevity Heaven, in anger, returned and announced publicly.

"Great Xia Kingdom, prepare to face extinction!"

This was not a threat but a declaration, plainly and directly informing the world that the Great Xia Kingdom was done for!

On the day this news was received, the Great Xia emperor made a trip to the cultivation academy. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he emerged, and it was said that upon leaving, there was an irrepressible joyful smile on his face.

The smile was so bright that it made some people around him feel the emperor was somewhat unfamiliar.

And then, that was it. The emperor continued to hold court every day as usual, taking a few elixirs from the cultivation academy daily. The Imperial Medical Bureau had some opinions about this; they didn't want the emperor to take something of unknown origin. But since the emperor insisted, they couldn't change his mind. All they could do was pray that nothing untoward would happen.

Although the emperor remained calm, throughout the Great Xia court and the country, the same irrepressible voices of doubt began to rise once again. This time, there was no human factor pushing it; the three princes were very well-behaved, and Prince Xia Jing was even more so.

After all, this time it concerned the fate of the entire Great Xia. The Longevity Heaven disciple had personally declared that Great Xia would perish; could that be wrong?

In this world, who could be a match for Longevity Heaven?

True to their word, half a month later, three disciples of Longevity Heaven walked through the void and appeared above Yanhuang City.

------

Update delivered.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.