"The first Swordsmanship Academy in the Northern Territory where commoners can study..."
Ye Qingzhou scratched Xiaohuo’s chin. "How many days do you think they’ll last?"
Before the opening ceremony, Edmund stopped Ye Qingzhou in the Rose Garden.
"Really not considering coming to the Imperial Capital?"
The Second Prince personally poured a glass of Ice Wine, a hint of expectation in his gaze: "With your Sun Bloodline, you could beco the Royal Knight Commander within three years."
Ye Qingzhou swirled the wine glass, watching the Ice Crystals crawl frost patterns along the rim: "Your Highness, when you tire of the royal chef’s candied foie gras..."
He suddenly threw the wine into the air, Sword Qi freezing the liquid into countless small Ice Crystal swords, clinking as they fell back onto the silver tray.
"You’ll miss the strong liquor of the Northern Territory."
Edmund’s pupils contracted slightly—this was the signature skill of the "Frost Heart Sword Saint," and the young man before him had already mastered its essence. Such talent was truly terrifying.
"I’m becoming more and more eager for you to beco my brother-in-law."
The prince laughed, pinning a Dragon Scale Badge onto Ye Qingzhou’s collar: "As long as you’re willing to change your mind, the gates of the Lion Heart Knight Order are always open to you."
At noon on the training grounds, five hundred freshn automatically divided into two phalanxes according to their family backgrounds.
The farm children in linen clothes nervously glanced at the well-dressed rchant children in silk, until Aurelian’s heavy boots shattered the ice chips on the lawn.
"The first rule of the Morning Star Knight Academy—" The Duke of the Northern Territory’s voice made the snow on the pine branches fall, "Here, you only have two identities!"
"Citizens of the Northern Territory..."
"And students of the Morning Star Knight Academy!"
The rchants hadn’t yet recovered from their shock when the Second Prince already stood at the front of the platform.
When he removed his gold-threaded coat to reveal the coarse linen training uniform identical to those of the freshn, the place erupted in uproar.
"Grammar, arithtic, natural sciences, swordsmanship."
Edmund clapped the textbooks, unconcerned that the chalk dust turned his silk lining white. "Learn these, and you’ll comprehend land deeds, calculate grain taxes, improve farming tools..."
He suddenly drew the sword from his guard, delivering a standard royal thrust that split the straw man in half, then triumphantly raised his arm: "And protect your own holand!"
The phalanx of farm children erupted with deafening cheers, while several rchant fathers discretely wiped the corners of their eyes.
Ye Qingzhou noticed that Elise was taking note of which rchants showed displeasure on their faces.
After the ceremony, Ye Qingzhou toured the new potion laboratory alone.
The glassware in the potion lab glowed with a cold light under the moonlight.
Ye Qingzhou’s fingertips brushed over the new distillation apparatus, the solder at the copper pipe joints still emitting a pine scent.
He gently opened the valve, and water began circulating under siphon action—this setup, designed from mories of the Cangyuan Realm, was three tis more efficient than the church’s laboratory.
"So the condenser should be tilted fifteen degrees..."
A raspy voice muttered from the corner. Ye Qingzhou’s Sword Qi vibrated, and the candlestick lights ignited, illuminating a small figure huddled behind the herb cabinet.
It was a boy about sixteen or seventeen, his worn linen clothes nded with patches, a handwritten copy of "Basic Pharmacy" spread on his knee.
When he looked up, a pair of amber eyes under disheveled bangs were like a young beast suddenly illuminated in the dark by a torch.
"New student?"
Ye Qingzhou glanced over the brand on his ankle—it was a slave mark: "It’s not visiting hours."
The boy quickly closed his book, his exposed wrists bearing scars from shackles: "S-sorry, my lord! I’m here with Master Roiss..."
Ye Qingzhou raised an eyebrow.
The Roiss family was the Northern Territory’s largest pharmacist, and indeed a cocky fat young master had co to register this morning.
"You can read?"
"Self-taught..."
The boy clutched his clothes hem tightly: "Noted down while accompanying the young master."
Ye Qingzhou suddenly pulled the book from the boy’s arms.
Between the yellowed pages were dense annotations, so formulas even accompanied by improved schematics. The latest page read: "If the ti for extracting White Fresh Peel is extended to..."
The subsequent words were blurred by blood stains.
"They hit you?"
The boy instinctively covered his ribs: "I-I botched the young master’s incense formula..."
At dawn, Ye Qingzhou kicked open Roiss family’s caravan tent.
"Young Master Laine?!"
The fat rchant rolled off the bed, his nightcap askew: "What are you—"
The indenture contract burned at the sword’s tip, ash falling into the oatal cooking for breakfast.
"Hank is now my student."
Ye Qingzhou tossed a bag of gold coins into the porridge pot: "Enough to buy ten slaves?"
The fat rchant watched the bubbling money pouch with distress: "But he’s a family-born servant, three generations..."
The sword flashed, the rchant’s ticulously grood beard falling to the ground.
"Not anymore."
By the stream behind the academy, Ye Qingzhou scattered the ashes into the water.
"The decree banning the slave trade in the Morning Star Territory was issued last year."
Ye Qingzhou flicked the water droplets from his sword: "You should have been a free man."
Hank knelt on the pebbles, trembling fingers touching his reflection in the water—the brand was gradually fading under the burn of the Sun’s fire.
"Why choose ?"
"The improved hemostatic ointnt formula of yours..."
Ye Qingzhou tossed him a Crystal Bottle, with light green gel suspended inside: "It’s twice as effective as the one sold by the Church Court. I appreciate talented individuals; you deserve to be favored."
The boy suddenly grasped his sword scabbard: "Please, let follow you! I-I can identify all dicinal herbs! I also discovered last night that the delivered White Fresh Peel was mixed with Poison Spider Grass!"
Ye Qingzhou’s pupils shrank slightly.
Poison Spider Grass looks almost identical to White Fresh Peel, but the forr releases neurotoxins when heated—it seed soone had tampered with the school’s dicinal supplies, thankfully discovered in ti.
"Starting tomorrow."
Ye Qingzhou turned and walked towards the academy, "You are responsible for inspecting all dicinal supplies."
Hank heavily kowtowed at the retreating figure, unaware of the smile at the corner of his benefactor’s mouth.
The stream washed away the last remnant of the brand, the first dawn rays piercing through the clouds, illuminating the boy’s straightened back for the first ti.
The herb fields of the Morning Star Knight Academy shimred silver amidst the twilight.
Hank crouched between the ridges, his fingertips gently caressing the leaves of a Poison Spider Grass.
His pupils constricted into thin lines under the setting sun—a side effect of taking his self-prepared "Night Vision Potion," allowing him to see the colors of the juices flowing in the plant veins clearly.
"As expected..."
Hank pinched off the grass stem, and when its purple-black juice oozed out, a faint rancid sll spread: "The third bed is contaminated too."
Behind him ca the sound of a dead branch snapping.
Hank reflexively curled up, a reflex born from ten years of servitude. Only after seeing it was the farr’s son, Alger, holding textbooks, did he slowly relax his tensed shoulders.
"The professors are looking for you."
Alger nudged the bamboo basket at his feet, filled with samples of poisonous grass: "The Roiss family’s people barged into the auditorium with a Church Priest."
The glow of the crystal lamps in the auditorium was split by the blood-red robes.
The fat rchant Roiss eloquently accused: "This wretched slave learned our family’s secret formulas! According to the ’Sacred Knowledge Protection Order’..."
"According to the newly promulgated ’General Education Technique’ by the Imperial Family."
Ye Qingzhou’s voice descended from above, stepping down slowly on suspended Sword Qi, his gaze cold: "All citizens of the Empire have the right to learn—or is Mr. Roiss suggesting that the Church’s laws are above Imperial Authority?"
The fat rchant was instantly silenced.
As the priest beside him raised his Holy Emblem, Xiaohuo suddenly leaped from the beam, the Dragon Breath turning the Holy Emblem into a glowing red iron block.
"Evidence."
Ye Qingzhou flicked his fingers, launching a ledger. The sheepskin pages unfolded above the crowd, revealing dense records of poisonous grass purchases, "Do I need to recite your transaction dates with the Thief’s Guild?"
Black fire suddenly erupted from the priest’s sleeve, turning the ledger into ash. Yet the ash coalesced into the shape of a Poison Spider Grass, fluttering onto Roiss’s greasy forehead.
"Divine Art backlash?"
The watching students exclaid.
Ye Qingzhou chuckled: "It seems the Holy Sun’s radiance also disdains the actions of certain believers."
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