"Everyone... please get up! Our academy is a place for pure cultivation, and we do not care for mundane formalities. In the future, these unnecessary etiquettes should be minimized where possible!" Zhao Sheng extended his hand in gesture, lightly addressing the crowd.

Chen Danwang felt a stir in his heart upon hearing this. He rose quietly, maintaining a solemn and unsmiling demeanor.

The other Nascent Soul cultivators also stood up one after another, then stepped aside. As for what they were thinking at that moment, only they themselves knew.

At this point, the elder with a jade crown smiled and said, "Dean, we have already prepared a welcoming banquet for you. Would you..."

Zhao Sheng glanced at him, instantly recalling the relevant information about this person.

This person's real name was Dai Yiping, with the title Fudai Mountain Man, at the Nascent Soul Ninth Layer. He was a trusted aide of the previous dean, assisting in managing the affairs of the Taoist Academy and overseeing all industries of the Beihai Daoist School.

He was nominally ranked first among the three Vice Masters, but in truth, Chen Danwang was the real leader of the three.

The Jinlan Chen Family is considered the Crownless King of the Jinlan Spiritual Domain, with countless experts in the family, possessing unfathomable strength.

Of the eight deans of the Beihai Daoist School, four bore the surname Chen, and Chen Danwang was precisely a pawn pushed by the Chen Family to "remotely control" the Taoist Academy.

As for Daoist Qing Nian... he was a cultivation genius who came from the very bottom of the mortal world...

Torrents of information flowed through Zhao Sheng's mind, quickly matching each piece of intelligence with the corresponding person, and then he smiled, saying, "Haha, I happen to want to sample some of the local delicacies. You all have truly been thoughtful!"

Upon hearing this, the jade-crowned elder Dai Yiping was overjoyed, fervently echoing with flattering words, almost writing "I want to pledge allegiance" on his face.

Having just arrived and being unfamiliar with the academy's situation, Zhao Sheng naturally did not reject Dai Yiping's proactive "surrender."

Of course, whether this person is truly loyal will depend on his actions in the future; it's too early to speak of unwavering loyalty now.

At the subsequent welcoming banquet, Zhao Sheng gently encouraged Dai Yiping a few times, proactively extending "goodwill."

Seeing this, not only Dai Yiping but also several Peak Masters were greatly inspired and soon scrambled to express their allegiance.

Through this banquet, Zhao Sheng also discerned that the Beihai Daoist School was effectively divided into three major factions: the dean, the local, and the neutral.

The faction led by Dai Yiping was born out of dependence on the old dean, and they were the most blatantly supportive during the banquet.

The local faction, headed by Chen Danwang, mostly consisted of cultivation families that had developed from the Jinlan Spiritual Domain.

The neutral faction, however, was more of a "grassroots" collection. While led by Daoist Qing Nian, the faction was not tightly organized, seemingly more of a mutual support group. Most members of this faction were from the lower echelons of the cultivation world, primarily building networks through master-disciple relationships.

After the welcoming banquet, Dai Yiping's faction swiftly leaned toward the new dean, and Zhao Sheng, in turn, smoothly inherited this group of confidants left behind by the old dean.

Within a few short days, he already had a large number of people at his disposal, and the authority of the dean was initially established.

However, after assuming leadership of the academy, Zhao Sheng continued to "hold back from action," which greatly troubled Chen Danwang and others, as they were unsure where the dean's first move would strike.

The more they couldn't understand, the more anxious they became, fearing that one day the dean's first sword might fall upon their own heads.

As a result, the Nascent Soul Peak Masters became extremely diligent, quickly handling the accumulated old affairs, and seizing the opportunity to report matters they couldn't handle to the dean, to probe the new dean's intent.

For the time being, Longevity Peak, where the dean resided, became very lively, with high-ranking Nascent Soul Peak Masters frequently coming to pay their respects to the dean.

Zhao Sheng was quite annoyed by this. Seeing people visiting more frequently, he delegated most of the affairs to Dai Yiping, while he entered the Spirit Vein Secret Realm to focus on cultivation, subtly revealing a notion of "Governance without Action."

The entire academy soon "understood" the new dean's intent, and most people breathed a sigh of relief and became delighted, as no one wished to see a new dean who "loved to be unconventional."

Within the hearts of the people in the Beihai Daoist School, stability trumped everything, and handling all academy matters step by step would suffice, as the status quo meant that interests needn't be redistributed.

Of course, the portion of interests that should belong to the dean would not be reduced by even a dime in the future!

Is there anyone who doesn't favor or would dare not support a dean who knows how to "blend in with the crowd"?!

Blending in with the crowd? Governance without action?

Everyone was completely mistaken!

The reason Zhao Sheng acted this way, first of all, was because he looked down on those meager interests, and secondly, because he was "afraid of trouble," hence reluctant to deal with those useless individuals!

With his insight, it was easy to see that among the Vice Masters and Peak Masters, only Chen Danwang had a slim chance of advancing to the Divinity Transformation, while others had exhausted their potential, being forever stuck at the Nascent Soul stage unless they encountered great opportunities to change their destiny.

In fact, when his Master Yan Wuxiu instructed him to take over the role of academy dean, he had already discerned the underlying intentions of his Master.

Using mundane matters as an excuse to sharpen him was false; inspecting whether his Dao heart was firm was true!

Hence, before assuming the role, Zhao Sheng had decided on "Governance without Action," projecting an attitude of ignoring mundane affairs and focusing solely on the Dao.

And indeed, when the dean devoted himself wholeheartedly to closed-door cultivation, the Beihai Daoist School not only did not fall into disorder but became even more orderly,

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