“You…” Kong Yiru was at a loss for words.
In the end, he could only surrender.
Ding Hao shook his head as he looked at Kong Yiru’s frustrated expression.
It was true that sometimes it was better to only know someone by repute than actually meeting in person.
Ding Hao was a little disappointed by the old man.
He had thought that the famous Great Sage from the Snow Province would be a man of great vision. He didn’t expect him to be an unrealistic and pedantic old man who was an idealist at best. If there were no martial artists in this world, perhaps the Human Clan would no longer exist.
However, there was one thing that Kong Yiru was right about—
With a history of thousands of years, the Tranquility Academy was indeed significant for the Human Clan in the Snow Province. After his visit, Ding Hao was surer of this. If such a deep-rooted sect was destroyed, it would indeed be a great loss for the Human Clan.
But it wasn’t realistic for the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect to tame that behemoth. They wouldn’t be able to manage taking in so many people, all at once.
After some consideration, Ding Hao decided to get rid of the people loyal to Fang Xiaoan in the Tranquility Academy, and to let the Tranquility Academy develop in the direction he had envisioned.
People like Kong Yiru were ideal candidates for the new head of the Tranquility Academy. First of all, he was a prestigious member of the academy, so he wouldn’t be resisted by its disciples. Moreover, such a pedantic and lofty idealist would never lead the Tranquility Academy to expand aggressively again.
Ding Hao had never thought of annexing the Tranquility Academy.
Because the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect didn’t have that capacity.
After so many setbacks, the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had become the dominating power in the Snow Province. If nothing unexpected happened at least in thousands of years, no other sect would threaten the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect in the Snow Province.
Ding Hao’s thoughts and will were the thoughts and will of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
Li Lan and the others didn’t object.
Even though some people didn’t quite understand it, they obeyed Ding Hao in the end.
Many people in the Tranquility Academy didn’t expect that their sect would be preserved in this way.
Not long before, when the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect broke through their protective formation with the invincible stone puppets, many disciples of the Tranquility Academy thought that what awaited them would be a massacre and destruction. They thought there would be no Tranquility Academy in the Snow Province…
But they didn’t expect that the legendary devil, Ding Hao, would end his revenge in this way.
Many super masters in the Tranquility Academy had been mercilessly killed that day; so were many of those who had attacked the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. All the masters whose hands were stained with the blood of innocent disciples were also executed.
For those people, Ding Hao was completely merciless.
Besides, more than half of the manuals and cultivation resources that had been stored in the academy library were taken away by the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
But they didn’t kill indiscriminately, nor did they destroy the academy in the end. This was a chance to survive for the Tranquility Academy.
However, the Tranquility Academy was completely transformed after that battle.
They bid farewell to the aggressiveness. Scholars from the Confucius College such as Kong Yiru were currently in power. Some factions that were undervalued in the academy before had received secret backing by the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
After all, the Tranquility Academy was not unbreakable. Li Lan had divided them with the use of some tricks. Some factions took the initiative to join the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
The dominant power in the Tranquility Academy had been removed. The faction that Fang Xiaoan and Lu Xiongfei belonged to was dissolved under severe pressure. Many experts above the Primordial Grandmaster Realm were also kept under restraint and would never be able to step out of the Tranquility Academy for the rest of their lives.
To some extent, the Tranquility Academy had only kept its name. It remained unchanged on the surface, but everything had been silently transformed.
And this reform would be carried through with time under Li Lan’s supervision.
To use the terms of Ding Hao’s previous life, it was a peaceful evolution.
This had indeed been so brilliant that many disciples of the Tranquility Academy began to be grateful to Ding Hao in their hearts.
In the past, when Fang Xiaoan was the leader, he acted as a dictator in the academy. He accepted no objection and believed in the use of iron and blood. The rebels were eliminated with cruelty. He had almost destroyed the atmosphere and spirit that the academy had been relying on for thousands of years. It aroused great dissatisfaction and criticism inside the Tranquility Academy. However, no one dared to say anything.
After this incident, Kong Yiru became the new head of the academy.
Although he wasn’t a strong martial artist, he was admired by many people in the college for his conduct and philosophy. Perhaps Kong Yiru would be unable to lead the Tranquility Academy to rise again as the overlord of martial arts in the Snow Province, but at least he had been able to restore and nurture the spirit of the academy. It would also be rewarding for him to fulfill the great wish of the founders.
Ding Hao was praised and chanted by countless people in later generations for what he had done.
When the storytellers talked about the legends of Ding Hao, the “Saber and Sword Addict,” they would always elaborate on his decision to preserve the Tranquility Academy. It never failed to arouse the admiration of countless future generations.
Of course, the Falling Star Sect and the Leiyin Sect were not as lucky as the Tranquility Academy.
They were just pure martial arts sects whose influence was no match for that of the Tranquility Academy. They willfully acted with insidiousness and cruelty. Although claiming to protect the people, they were actually exploiters who hovered above the major inhabited areas.
The Swordsmanship-seeking Sect wiped out those sects one by one, sparing none of the high-level members.
Ding Hao didn’t even make a move this time.
Li Lan led the planning and execution of those operations.
Given the relentless attack of the invincible stone puppets of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, any resistance was useless. Li Lan didn’t even summon The Mighty. She could sweep through the entire Snow Province with just the other 20 Martial King Realm puppets with strange names, such as Red Spider and Bumblebee.
In less than five days, three of the nine sects in the Snow Province had been completely removed.
Li Lan’s reputation surged during this process.
The nickname of “Asura Fairy” was spread around and became the new title for Li Jianyi’s sole daughter, the Sword Intent King in the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
Not many people knew how Li Jianyi suddenly had a daughter, let alone one with such an outstanding talent. Not only was she beautiful and elegant, more importantly, but also she was exceptional in both strength and tactics. With the exception of Ding Hao and Zhang Fan, the two top masters, Li Lan could definitely be regarded as the top cultivator of the Human Clan in the Snow Province.
After eliminating these big sects, Li Lan made some arrangements and turned them into branches of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect.
In terms of management, Li Lan was much better than Ding Hao.
Under her leadership, everything worked in an orderly manner.
Moreover, she was of noble origin, given that she was daughter of the late head of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. Besides Ding Hao, Wang Juefeng, and a few others with high seniority in the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect, Li Lan’s prestige had also increased madly. With her incomparable beauty, powerful aura, unfathomable strength, and unique charm, she had won the admiration of countless disciples of the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect. Apart from Ding Hao, she received the greatest support.
Snow Province changed drastically in a short period.
In less than half a month, the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect had become the overlord of the Snow Province.
The Snow Province slowly entered a new era.
Ding Hao would rarely appear in the public eye, ever since the fall of the Tranquility Academy and his return to the sect.
Li Lan was in charge of most of the revenge missions.
Ding Hao received Song Que and Bai Quanshui on the Sword-hidden Peak. After a whole day of secret talks, the two prodigies of the Snow Province left the Swordsmanship-seeking Sect on the second day.
Ding Hao stayed. In addition to cultivation, he still devoted himself to reforming the sect.
In addition to transforming the giant mysterious crystal in the abyss of the landfill area in the back mountain into a top-secret practice ground, Ding Hao helped Ximen Qianxue build a new small herb garden in the depths of the Magical Herb Pharmacy. He planted many divine materials and precious medicines obtained in the Sage Battlefield.
In theory, the tides of the Land of Infinity were unable or insufficient to nourish those divine materials and precious medicines.
However, the Saber Master and the Sword Master had broken the ancient primordial runes. With their support, Ding Hao had placed a new primeval formation around the small herb garden. It could change the tidal energy on that spot in order for those rare herbs to survive.
Not to mention, Ding Hao had a treasure like the Taiyi True Water Essence.
If such an elixir was thrown into the well next to the herb garden, it would eventually be able to change the water quality. Although it wouldn’t produce pure Taiyi True Water, it was enough to nurture the growth of divine herbs and precious medicines, making sure they survive.
Although it was just a small herb garden of less than three or four acres, the herbs planted in it were enough to make outsiders feel shocked and crazy if they knew of their existence.
Because they were incredibly precious.
Any one of them was enough to drive countless sects crazy.
That small herb garden was basically a mini Divine Herb Garden.
