Chapter 2148

Zhu Yanyi looked at Xi Muzheng and answered very loudly, "Besides the fifty people I personally led, everyone else has offended me. That means the whole academy has offended me.

You know I always get revenge. I don’t believe in waiting ten years. For cultivators, ten years is just a blink. But I don’t like waiting that long for boring things. So I decided to take revenge now.

This time, the Qixia Secret Realm has only fifty spots. And they are for our fifty people. If you want to enter, come challenge us. If you win, you can replace the person you beat. If you lose, stay in the academy. Wait until you learn what true virtue is, then we will decide the next batch."

"How did they offend you?" Xi Muzheng’s heart skipped a beat. She felt something was wrong, but she hadn’t heard anyone deliberately making things hard for Zhu Yanyi.

"Before we came back from the Linlang Training Ground, people laughed at our Sage Academy for having only seventeen students. But we seventeen were united. We never envied or hated anyone. If one had trouble, all helped. We weren’t afraid even if opponents were stronger. We stood together against outsiders. But now?"

Zhu Yanyi looked at Xi Muzheng, her small face very serious. "Now, the students think they are great because they came back from the training ground. They think they did enough to protect us. So they are proud. They look down on others. They only care about themselves. Take Wu Xiong for example. Oh, Wu Xiong is the exchange student from Shangmo Academy. She is also Elder Wu’s relative."

Zhu Yanyi explained, "Wu Xiong is not our student. She is here to experience our learning atmosphere.

It is true we are not good at magic. But we are good at medicine, making pills, and refining elixirs. So outsiders think our herb fields are good. That is understandable.

If we were only seventeen, and Wu Xiong stole our herbs and ruined our fields, someone would have demanded justice immediately. It doesn’t matter whose field it was.

But now? If I hadn’t come back yesterday, I wouldn’t know. Our students have become real 'sages'. They saw their brothers’ and sisters’ fields ruined, but no one said a word. Do you think this is normal, Dean?"

Xi Muzheng’s face looked bad. He knew more people meant more conflicts and competition. But he never thought people’s hearts could become so scary.

If they ignore small things now, what about big things? Will they only care about themselves? Will they ignore their friends? If the academy is in trouble, will they quit to save themselves?

Such students cannot be from the Sage Academy.

"Zhu Yanyi, are you taking this too seriously?" Mu Rongyin spoke slowly from the side. She looked at Xi Muzheng, who was looking down, then turned to Zhu Yanyi.

Zhu Yanyi said helplessly, "I wish I was exaggerating. But seeing small things tells us about the future. This cannot be ignored.

If they don’t care about their brothers and sisters when there is no danger, they won’t worry about me when I am in danger. I think such people don’t deserve to go to the Qixia Secret Realm. Don’t you agree, Dean?"

Xi Muzheng smiled bitterly. "If what you say is true, they indeed don’t deserve to go."

Zhu Yanyi said, "I heard the quota was usually one hundred. This time, because it hasn’t opened for years, it is two hundred and thirty. Plus our fifty, that is two hundred and eighty. I think those two hundred and thirty spots should not be given out. They are not worthy."

There were spots, but Zhu Yanyi would rather let them go to waste. It looked like punishment, but it was also saving them.

People are selfish. Zhu Yanyi knew no one was not selfish. Even the Buddha was selfish; her selfishness was wanting more people to understand the truth.

Selfishness is okay. But there is a reality: people live in groups. Since we are social animals, selfishness must have limits. It cannot hurt the group.

The students’ selfishness seemed small, but it was already breaking the group spirit. If this continues, it will bring great harm to the Sage Academy.

Zhu Yanyi looked at Xi Muzheng. She needed her answer.

Xi Muzheng thought hard. Canceling two hundred and thirty spots was a huge exception. He could delay it to next time. But canceling it now meant delaying the academy’s progress by five years. The academy could afford the time, but Xi Muzheng had many things to consider.

She looked at the girl. She seemed harmless to everyone. But because of this harmlessness, everyone saw her cruelty. A harmless person could analyze the situation calmly and understand everything. That was why she saw through the students so clearly.

This small thing didn’t matter much to Xi Muzheng before. But now that Zhu Yanyi explained it, they realized the Sage Academy had a terrible problem. If not fixed, the academy would become dust in history. Or maybe, history wouldn’t even record it.

"Okay, I agree." Xi Muzheng decided immediately. There might be bad reactions now, but in the long run, this was a very good way.