Shi Huaifeng and Bai Yu instantly understood what Leyi was up to—

"Killing with praise!"

"In the world of fame and profit, it was easy to stir up petty minds." According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, people's needs ranged from physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization—in short, survival and reproduction, stable order, love, respect, and ideals, falling into five main categories. "Fame and profit were closely tied to all five."

"If nothing else, just look at Leyi himself—if he wished, he could have easily spent his whole life indulging in luxury and excess in Dongyang District, and all he needed to do was absolutely nothing at all."

"If he just ran the Youth Daily honestly, kept his head down, stayed out of trouble, with the status of Jing Family Patriarch, he wouldn't need to wake up early to find Bai Yu for a main quest update, but could have just lived out the 'and they lived happily ever after' ending straight from the capitalist fairy tales."

Yet Leyi still went ahead, without hesitation.

"Wasn't this dangerous? No."

"Competing with the Ting Family, negotiating with Lanyan, crossing swords with Lord Wang Hai... except for that night burning Silver Blood, Leyi had already survived many crises, every single time on the brink of death, with every single opportunity to just save his own skin and bow out of this dangerous game for good."

"Why did Leyi insist on doing things that didn't do him much good yet were so steeped in risk?"

"Simple—he ate well, drank well, beautiful women in his arms, fame and power in both hands, every one of the first four needs thoroughly satisfied, so now he wanted to reach for the highest tier—self-actualization."

"In short, he was bored out of his mind. If he were still in the Qian Yuliu tutorial stage, how could Leyi have had all this crap going on? Back then, he would have been perfectly happy just getting a cup of honey Five-Flower Tea every day."

"And the ranking lists, they were made exactly for people like him—bored, ambitious schemers."

"Take the 'One against a thousand Power Ranking' for instance: an ambitious guy sees, huh, there's an SSR-level Martial General nearby, I ought to go swear brotherhood with him right now; whoa, my subordinate didn't make the list but another one did, so maybe I should really focus on backing the ones who rank..."

"The Martial Generals look and think, why didn't I make the list but he did, I'm just gonna go cut him down; how come his ranking's higher than mine, I'll go beat him up; his rank is lower than mine, I'll thrash him just to prove my strength..."

"Then the enemies take a look and go, wow, he's that powerful, I really ought to shoot him in the back / assassinate him in advance / set him up for framing and sabotage..."

"Right now, Huiyao mostly saw border skirmishes, a full civil war hadn't broken out yet, and everyone at most knew the big shots in their own region or county, with little knowledge about celebrities elsewhere—nor did they need to, after all, what did it matter to you what the mayor in the next city was called?"

"But as each district gradually became militarized, with civil war looming, suddenly the intel on any 'allies' or 'enemies' became crucial."

"And for Martial Artists, the ranking boards were a brand new way up the ladder."

"Making the list meant you had your résumé sent to bosses across the country—for this age, that was contemporarily the hardest-core version of BossDirectHire. Just imagine how the Martial Artists would fight for this."

"Practice literature and martial skills, and sell them to the emperor's house."

"Those who made the list, they wanted to go even further, climbing upward, or at least maintain their status. A Martial Artist without the will to advance had no business hacking his way through on the path of Combat Technique—there had never been a homebody cultivator in this world, only Martial Artists who had survived a hundred battles."

"And Leyi's devious intent lay exposed for all to see."

"He wanted to create a Number One Under Heaven!"

"Number One Under Heaven—what an exalted title."

"Every district actually already had its own number one—like 'Dragonborn of the Horizon,' 'War God of Youyun,' and 'Sea King of Dongyang'—the 'Sea King of Dongyang' was in fact the Heyang Army's governor Gai Shiwen, who perished heroically fighting against the wicked Linhai Army, for whom the Silver Blood Association held a three-second moment of silence."

"If Leyi officially named Lanyan as Number One Under Heaven, what would happen?"

His father-in-law and boss, Consul Lü, would become wary of him,

His subordinates would covet his reputation,

His enemies would line up, eager to take his head and make a name for themselves...

"But most importantly, with the exception of Lingxu Feihua Martial Artists, an overwhelming majority of Huiyao's Martial Artists were melee types with overwhelming offense and fragile defense!"

"Unlike the entertainment works Leyi consumed before, where Superpower Users had high offense and equally crazy defense so they could fight three hundred rounds—in Huiyao, when Martial Artists fought, the death rate was incredibly high! And since they were melee fighters, there was no even time to run!"

"Even Number One Under Heaven could be taken out with a single bullet!"

"Given such a wonderful thing, Leyi, of course, immediately thought of his buddy Lanyan—it was the least he could do for him."

"If it worked out—say, Lanyan died quickly—then in the future, whenever Leyi disliked someone, he'd just slap them with the title of Number One Under Heaven."

"Number One Under Heaven, reputation with all Martial Artists in the server reduced to 'hostile.'"

"All the gifts given by Leyi came with a price tag clearly attached."

"You just reminded me of something," Bai Yu said, taking a sip of tea, "About four hundred years ago, National Academy had sprouted everywhere in Huiyao, the number of Martial Artists skyrocketed, and the Imperial Court, noticing this, once held a 'Number One Under Heaven Martial Tournament.'"

Shi Huaifeng exclaimed, "That actually happened? But I've never heard of it."

Bai Yu laughed, "Of course you haven't, because the whole thing got called off halfway through planning. Why do you think that happened?"

"Because people were unhappy," Leyi said, "Only Martial Generals at the Peak of Perfection level could get a national event like that canceled. These generals were all hardened veterans—arrogant as hell—no way were they gonna show up to amuse the Imperial officials at some tournament."

"That's exactly right," Bai Yu nodded, "Moreover, every truly battle-hardened champion had to garrison the frontiers anyway—they never had time to come to Yanjing for some tournament. Missing those people, this so-called Number One Under Heaven tourney would have been pointless anyway, might as well skip it."

"If you forced it to happen, you'd just piss off the Martial Artists, and if they started causing trouble in the capital... if it triggered a second 'Night Parade of Hundred Demons,' the first ones to lose their heads would be the bigwigs themselves."

Hearing that historical phrase, emotion flickered in Leyi and Shi Huaifeng's eyes.

"The Night Parade of Hundred Demons—now, that was one of Huiyao's most infamous cases of 'knights breaking the law for justice.' In simple terms, some Emperor of Huiyao decided his Grand Ancestor was a fool, every former emperor was a fool, why the hell should regular folks get handed Combat Technique, when he could just keep it to himself?"

"So he ordered Mongolian Studies canceled, banned private civilians from learning Combat Technique at all, and completely blocked off social mobility for commoners."

"Plenty of the Nobility thought 'about time, too'—as the ruling class, they'd already had enough of people climbing up to steal a share of cake, and they were only too happy to let the decree go through."

"Then every Martial Artist lost their shit, including border Generals and Imperial officials—everyone swarmed into the capital, raising hell."

"At first it was just a battle of words, until one Martial Artist separated a chatterbox official from his head, and suddenly everybody realized, 'Right, what's the point talking to these guys? Might as well save my breath.'"

"Yanjing instantly plunged into night after night of bloody chaos; every Noble who'd sided with the Emperor died, and the Emperor had to abdicate quietly to his son and disappear into palace retirement."

"The new Emperor took the throne and immediately scrapped the decree, brandished the Holy Sword Huiyao, and only then did the Martial Artists quietly go back home as if nothing had happened. History called this the 'Night Parade of Hundred Demons.'"

"And since so many Nobility died in the Night Parade, a bunch of cake got freed up, and the new emperor promoted a bunch of commoners. In the end, it kicked off a flourishing age—a brief golden period written in the history books."

"Actually, ending the Night Parade wouldn't have been hard—the old emperor could have used the Holy Sword Huiyao to massacre every troublemaker in the capital all by himself. But an emperor dumb enough to issue that kind of order was never going to risk his life force by wielding an Absolute Divine Weapon himself."

"The new emperor wasn't stupid, either—it's possible breaking the chain of Martial Artist inheritance wasn't an inherently bad thing, but restoring the system made him look like a wise ruler anyway, and hell, let his old man take the blame—what did it have to do with him?"

Bai Yu suddenly bringing up the Night Parade of Hundred Demons—Leyi understood what he meant.

"There's always a dynamic balance between the Imperial Court and Martial Artists—because with the Holy Sword Huiyao, no official or Martial Artist would dare try to usurp the throne. If the Son of Heaven got pissed, he really could stack up a million corpses. But at the same time, because there were 'earthly immortals' among the people, the Court couldn't mess with Martial Artists too hard; otherwise, all it took was one Martial Artist blowing up, and it would be heads rolling and the Night Parade again."

"Holding a 'Number One Under Heaven Martial Tournament,' or even putting out a ranking list, these were insults thrown at the entire Martial Artist community."

"Nobody was stupid. Besides the stuff Leyi imported, anything he could think of, someone in Huiyao definitely had as well. Ranking boards weren't even anything new—ancient China had its own 'Shen Wansan the greatest of the Ming dynasty,' 'the four top officials,' 'only the governor and Cao, none but them,' and so on. Killing with praise, in short, was an ancient human tradition."

"The only reason the Imperial Court never forced a 'Number One Under Heaven Martial Tournament' was because they were terrified of Martial Artists' backlash."

"These times aren't what they used to be, Fire Prison," Leyi said, grinning, "If you're worried the generals might start another Night Parade, don't be—because... anyone who makes the list won't dare set foot in the capital."

Shi Huaifeng looked bewildered, "Why wouldn't they dare?"

Leyi knocked the table, "Because they'd have guilty consciences."

Bai Yu nodded slightly, "I get it."

"For Martial Artists to stage trouble, two conditions were necessary: first, the Imperial Court messed with the interests of all Martial Artists; second, Martial Artists could join forces."

"Before, the second bit wasn't even hard—most Martial Artists had the attitude of 'better to die with honor than live in shame.' The harder the Court pushed, the harder they pushed back."

"But like Leyi said, these days were different now. On the eve of a national free-for-all, Martial Artists who'd become the backbone of every district's warlord faction already had their own camps, their own enemies."

"Where before the only common enemy was the Court, now, they'd become rivals among each other, too."

"Without any foundation of trust, even if they knew the rankings were meant to kill them with praise, they'd still have to swallow the poison and wouldn't dare cause trouble in the capital."

"In times past, if all Martial Artists united in Yanjing, the city would surely fall; but if the Martial Artists were all split apart, Yanjing could just wipe out as many as showed up."

Bai Yu closed his eyes and thought aloud for a good while before responding slowly, "I can't give you an answer on this right away... Even if we go forward, we'll need to work hand-in-hand with the Intelligence Guard and Righteous Guard, sharing their network, and the ranking board must be run under the Imperial Court's umbrella, with all interests clarified. It's not something just you and I could pull off."

Leyi nodded to show he understood. Unlike with the newspaper, he couldn't just make up rankings in his study—they needed an intelligence network to back it up, and Huiyao's Four Guards just happened to be set up for the job.

"Then if this really goes through, could I be in charge?" Leyi asked, looking as cute as possible, "Trust me, I've got all kinds of ranking list ideas—Beauty Rankings to stir up drama, Richest Lists to kick off infighting, Strategist Rankings to trigger paranoia..."

"If the ranking board goes through, as the originator and liaison, our Ritual Guard would have first rights for the nomination..." Bai Yu glanced between them, then nodded. "I'd recommend you, Hongle, to be in charge."

"Hell yeah!"

"But you still have to go to school."

"Qin Leyin, use the Blood-Drinking Eight Rice Streams on him."

Leyi pulled a face.

"In just a few seconds, his mood went from elation to devastation."

"So what about him?" Leyi pointed at Shi Huaifeng.

"He'll be your deputy. Since you'll be attending classes, you'll handle the overall planning, but any tedious errands can be handled by your disciple Beifeng."

"Fengzi!" Leyi clapped Shi Huaifeng on the shoulder, "Are you really okay with this? Back in Dongyang you were my lapdog, here in Yanjing, don't you want to break out of my shadow at the Royal Academy, build a legendary name for yourself in Huiyao history?"

"Hongle, I—I!" Shi Huaifeng grabbed Leyi's hand with a look of devotion. "Of course I'm loyal as hell! Please, just let me keep being your lapdog!"

Leyi: "..."

"You're so good to me, and you look good, and you're way smarter than me—it's honestly the best working for you. I thought I'd never manage this whole operation on my own, but now, with you to keep bossing me around, I'm like a sunflower seeing the sun, a dung beetle diving into a latrine, a fox spirit finding her benefactor..."

"Alright, stop with the dirty metaphors." Leyi glared daggers at Shi Huaifeng, who just grinned shyly and obediently.

"Shi Huaifeng wasn't dumb—he could see it plain as day: Bai Yu had already officially handed this off to Qin Leyin, so there was no need for him to volunteer for extra work."

"And he wasn't wrong, either—the ranking plan was loads better than his brother's 'Underwear King' idea, and at least getting in on this with Qin Leyin meant he'd get a little cut."

"Just like how intercepting Lanyan's military budget had netted the Shi Family a fat sum—last night, Shi Huaifeng saw the Medical Officer and brought all three lady doctors for his treatment. Now that was luxury."

Leyi asked helplessly, "So why do I have to go to school?"

Just then, Bai Yu glanced out the window at the sun and said, "Seems like it's almost noon."

He took a card out of his desk and slid it to Shi Huaifeng. "This is a Luminous Stone Card, works at the Royal Academy dining hall, and the cafeteria is open today."

Shi Huaifeng took the card and asked, "So are we eating now?"

Bai Yu shook his head. "No, just you."

"So I'll bring you both something back later?"

"We're headed out to eat. When you're finished, just drop the card off with the canteen manager, no need to come back."

Shi Huaifeng's face turned as black as soot as he left the office.

"Only Leyi and Bai Yu were left alone for a private conversation. Suddenly, Bai Yu remembered something and poured Leyi a cup of tea."

"Watching from outside the window, Shi Huaifeng's face got darker still as he hurried away."

Leyi drank tea while asking, "Now can you tell me why you had to make me a transfer student, sneaking into the Royal Academy through the back door?"

"Transfer student? No." Bai Yu shook his head. "You're not coming in as a transfer student."

"Then maybe as a full-time student? Can't be a true freshman, surely you cooked up some 'chronic illness, bedridden' cover identity for me? But my background isn't a secret, anyone could dig up the truth..."

"True, your reputation in Dongyang is huge, we can't hide your history at all—unless you changed your name, which isn't necessary. Your background is exactly what qualifies you for the Royal Academy."

Leyi blinked. "You mean..."

"Exactly," Bai Yu said, "You'll attend the Royal Academy as a teacher."

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.