Cha Ming felt pain unlike any he’d ever felt. His bones had sustained hairline fractures from blocking the Sea God Emperor’s blow, and most of the flesh had been seared from his bones. Fortunately, he was a peak-marrow-refining cultivator, and a very durable one at that. His flesh recovered in seconds, and his bones healed over. By the time the blue mist faded, Cha Ming was standing before the Sea God Emperor, staff in hand, his clothes immaculate.
“Pardon my intrusion, Your Majesty,” Cha Ming said, bowing lightly. “This entire situation seems orchestrated to pit the North and Haijing against each other, so I think we should take the time to sort out the situation. Would Your Majesty be willing to stay his hand?”
The Sea God Emperor frowned when he saw that his blow had been blocked with no residual damage. “Cha Ming, I truly didn’t expect to see you here,” the Sea God Emperor said. “How is my sister? Is she well?” Fortunately, the Emperor seemed to have none of the animosity Cha Ming had detected when they’d first met.
“Reporting to Your Majesty, she is well but cultivating in the Sea God Clock Tower,” Cha Ming said. “She should be out at any moment. I’m sure she will be happy to hear of your concern for her. About the current conflict…”
“You aren’t qualified to discuss the current conflict,” the prime minister cut in, stepping up beside the Emperor. “You are a mere elder of Haijing Academy.” He then looked over the currently assembled scholars from Haijing. “Where is Headmaster Yao?”
“My apologies, I forgot to clarify,” Cha Ming said. “Headmaster Yao is no longer in this world, and as the only transcendent elder at Haijing Academy, I’ve replaced him temporarily.” He pointed to his gray identity medallion. “As the only transcendent elder in the past few millennia who’s earned his position, I believe I’m uniquely suited to represent Haijing Academy.”
Then he summoned an Alabaster badge given to him by Lu Tianhao. “Moreover, as a junior partner of the Alabaster Group, I represent the North’s angelic faction. Since I belong to both factions, I would hate to see us come to blows.”
“It’s too late for tha—” the prime minister said. He was cut off before he could continue, however.
“My sister may have made a mistake when selecting you as her champion, but she has always been an excellent judge of character,” the Sea God Emperor said. “Speak. What is it you wish to discuss?”
Cha Ming nodded and held his hand out to the assembled group of scholars, and a group of white-robed scholars to the side. “As you know, Haijing Academy has always maintained neutrality. This has allowed it to flourish as this plane’s premier research institution, greatly benefiting both the continent and the Sea God Empire, since the Sea God Empire prefers to focus on body cultivation.”
“And that’s not about to change,” the Sea God Emperor said. “The relationship has always been beneficial to all sides involved. I care not for the conflict between the North and the South. Borders shift between angelic and devilish forces, but the Sea God Empire is eternal.”
“An admirable position,” Cha Ming said. “One I’d normally agree with. But did you know that over the past two months, members of the Alabaster Group were ostracized, denied research budgets, denied workshops, and finally, had ninety percent of their members evicted from the academy under pretense of making room for more productive members? This is all despite having generated a competitive amount of knowledge and grooming many proud citizens of Haijing.”
“Is this true?” the Sea God Emperor asked the prime minister.
The prime minister shrugged. “I’m not fully aware of Headmaster Yao’s actions after his appointment.”
“I find that very hard to believe, given that you chose his appointment,” Cha Ming said. “Furthermore, his faction worked closely with your longtime advisor, Zhou Li. To make matters worse, we were forced to flee to a remote part of the city for our safety. The City Guard avoided our areas, making us prime targets for thugs and criminal organizations. Many of our members died. We would have left the city temporarily, but we feared we’d be killed on the way to Beihai. Am I to believe that this is also not something the grand marshal is aware of?”
“I’ve heard of no such thing,” the grand marshal said. “We’ve always supported the neutrality of Haijing Academy.”
“Until now,” Cha Ming said. “Elders, can you serve as witnesses and assert that everything I’ve said is true?”
“Yes!” they shouted in response, bowing to the Sea God Emperor, whose frown deepened.
“Regardless of these civil matters, this is a military engagement,” the grand marshal said. He extended his hand to the group of cultivators who’d prepared for battle under Feng Ming’s leadership. “They’ve infringed on our sovereignty. We cannot allow this insult to remain.”
“What’s infringed on our sovereignty is our new grand marshal’s reckless actions,” a man said, stepping up beside Cha Ming. He wore elaborate golden epaulettes not seen on most guardsmen. “Ever since the grand marshal took over the guard and replaced us old marshals, over twenty percent of our mounts have been replaced by fiendish mounts from the fissure. Fiendish mounts!”
“I don’t see a problem with fiendish mounts,” the Sea God Emperor said. “Explain yourself.”
“Our ancestors didn’t tame fiendish mounts, and for good reason,” the old marshal said. “I’ve invited the foremost beast tamer in the city to testify.” With that, Ling Dong appeared beside him. “Ling Dong is the city’s best beast tamer and has armed many of our finest soldiers with his skills as the world’s only demonic smith. Yet he was imprisoned and tortured for two months!”
“For refusing to arm our new elite corps,” the grand marshal said. “This was obviously politically motivated, so we had to make an example of him.”
“I refused to arm your elite corps because they are despicable creatures who aren’t even under
