Even if it's invincible below the level of knowing one's fate, it's still just invincible below the level of knowing one's fate. Two simple sentences that seem repetitive and even a bit tedious, but upon closer reflection, they reveal many other flavors, a flavor called calm and strong self-confidence hidden beneath the surface, because only great practitioners who have entered the realm of knowing their fate are qualified to speak in this way.

  In the world, there are countless people who follow the Tao, but very few can walk on the path of cultivation. Even fewer can finally enter the realm of knowing one's fate, like a morning star in the vast sky. Those rare strong ones either hide in the depths of various sects and temples or sit quietly at the top of the imperial court, rarely appearing before ordinary people. However, today, such a person has appeared within Chang'an Prefecture.

  Zhuge Wuren looked at the young fatty in front of him, his face showing a strange and eerie expression, with some excitement, some fear, and some bewilderment. As the highest official of the Heavenly Axis Sect, he often visited Guo Shi and Huang Yang Dashi, and should be considered one of the most worldly people who had seen the most cultivators in the Knowing Fate realm. However, he was still extremely shocked at this moment, because he simply could not imagine how someone so young could have entered the Knowing Fate realm!

  Even the most valued Longqing Emperor of the Haotian Taoist sect, Wang Jinglue, who was highly expected by the Tang Dynasty, was only considered likely to advance to the rank of Zhiming. But this young fat man easily stepped over that threshold and with a single move sent Wang Jinglue flying into the wall!

  After a while, Zhuge Wuren finally came to. There is only one place in the world where such an incredible cultivation event can occur, and that is the Academy of Books in Chang'an City, south of the city. In connection with Ning Que's identity as a student on the second floor of the Academy, the origin of the young fat man was about to be revealed. His voice was hoarse as he asked: "May I ask which Mr.?"

  This palace staff ultimately overestimated the Academy, so they asked the young fat man to rank, in fact, whether it's the back mountain of the Academy or the Zhiguan Temple or the Xuan Kong Temple, all the unknown places in the world are combined, among this generation of young cultivators, only this young fat man entered the realm of knowing fate a few years ago.

  He is Chen Pippi of course.

  Chen Pi looked at Wang Jinglue, who was struggling to get up from the foot of the wall, and thought about what he had heard in the past. He couldn't help but shake his head and say: "A cultivator should naturally be proud and confident, but being proud and confident is not the same as being arrogant and complacent. I've heard that you used to be a chubby person, but now it seems that even this one advantage has disappeared."

  After finishing this sentence, he shifted the thick quilt to his shoulder and prepared to take Sangsang away. Unexpectedly, Wang Jinglue's voice sounded again behind him: "If you keep killing for months without sleep or rest, you will also lose weight."

  Wang Jinglue wiped away the blood from his lips and continued to speak, looking at his back: "The academy is not allowed to interfere with court politics, I didn't expect that today, the second floor would directly send out Shi'er Sheng to snatch people."

  Zhuge Wuren listened to his words and only then did he realize that this young fat man was the Twelfth Master of the Academy's back mountain. Earlier, he had asked Chen Pippi about it, but Chen Pippi hadn't even bothered to respond, and the official's old face couldn't help but feel a bit sore. Suppressing the shock in his heart, he said coldly: "Doesn't the Twelfth Master need to give an explanation?"

  Chen Pi looked at him with a poker face and said: "With your character of bullying little girls, are you worthy of me explaining to you?"

  Wang Jinglue took out a handkerchief from his sleeve, covering the lips that were coughing up blood nonstop, and said with a cough: "It seems that the academy indeed values its own interests more than the world, not even willing to let the imperial court interrogate a small servant girl?"

  Chen Pi looked at the three with disgust and said, "I hate it when you use imperial politics to discuss matters. You guys are thinking about the dragon chair in the palace, some of you want to use this matter to test Little Shixiong's reaction, and some of you simply don't want my Little Shixiong to be the national master. What qualifications do people like you have to represent the world?"

  "Who wants to be the national teacher? Who cares who sits on that dragon chair? You people are not on the same level as those in the imperial academy, you see a different world, so stop playing these boring tricks. Always learning from those rural women thinking about whether the queen eats scallion pancakes with sauce or not, it's just laughable."

  What Chen Pippi said in this passage doesn't contain any heavily toned words, but simply states the seemingly insurmountable gap between them as if it were a natural phenomenon, and naturally reveals an unquestionable sense of superiority and condescension.

  Mr. Zhuge's body trembled with anger, He Mingchi fell silent in thought, his lips curled into a bitter and complex smile, only Wang Jingluo looked at him as if he was thinking of something, seemingly because of his words that reminded him of some other things.

  Chen Pi looked at the three of them and thought to himself, "If my younger brother were here in Chang'an now, heaven knows what kind of disaster would befall those who dared to bully his beloved little servant girl, whom he cherished more than money."

  He immediately thought of the serious expression of his second senior brother, and couldn't help but shudder at the thought that if he really let Sang Sang get hurt today, he would probably be beaten to death by his senior brother.

  Since Second Master Yan is in charge, let alone the Tian Shu and Nan Men Guan, even if it were the Emperor and Empress themselves who came hand in hand, they would not be able to stop Chen Pippi from taking Sangsang away.

  Chen Pi carried the bedding and took Sang Sang with him, leaving the heavily guarded Chang'an Mansion in three steps. Before he left, he said one last thing: "This matter is not over yet, let's talk about it when Ning Que comes back."

  Mr. Zhuge's expression was slightly stern, He Mingchi let out a light sigh and Wang Jinglue smiled self-deprecatingly and left.

  Half a time later, the red sun rising picture on the background wall of Chang'an Prefecture suddenly cracked with a loud crack, and the red sun and the blue ocean were cut into two worlds, causing a burst of exclamations from the crowd.

  Perhaps it was because it felt the danger hidden in those words.

  Perhaps this was just a warning from a fat student on the second floor of the book institute to Datang Ce Ting.

  General's Mansion of the Defender of the Nation

  Xu Shi gazed calmly at the winter plum blossoms outside the window, his white hair combed neatly without a single strand out of place. The wrinkles on his face seemed to be arranged in a battle formation. The occasional coughing sounds behind him couldn't disturb him in the slightest.

  As the most accomplished general in the empire's military history, he had enough confidence to face many things. However, when he really did that, he found that the development of things was not as he imagined.

  "Because of the interference of the twelve masters of the academy, I was unable to keep that maid, and it is still unclear how Wei Guangming managed to hide in Chang'an for so long, what the true relationship between him and that maid is, and what kind of responsibility Tian Shu and Nanmen Guan should bear for the death of Yan Se Da Shi."

  Wang Jinglue looked at the bloodstains on his handkerchief and couldn't help but furrow his brow.

  Xu Shi turned his head and looked at him, saying: "You will still cough up blood for half a month."

  Wang Jinglue stuffed his handkerchief into his sleeve and calmly replied, "Being able to see the legendary Zhishou Guan's heavenly creek spirit finger, being able to personally experience the Book Institute's unyielding will, even if it means coughing up blood for half a year, seems worth it."

  Hearing this answer, Xu Shi was somewhat satisfied and nodded slowly.

  Wang Jinglue looked at the old general with a faint smile.

  He was nominally a disciple of Longhushan, but in fact he was a loose cultivator. The so-called breaking through the boundary and cultivating all relied on self-enlightenment. He knew that the unlearnable places like Shuyuan Buqi and Tianxia Xigong were all heard from Xu Shi's place.

  For the past two years, Your Majesty has ordered him to follow General La in the southern border of the Great Tang Dynasty. Although General La is a man of few words and strict temperament, he has been kind to him, teaching and nurturing him with all his heart. After being together for so long, he has developed a deep respect and affection for this old man, like a teacher or father.

  "The power of the unknown land behind the academy is too great." After a moment of silence, Wang Jinglue decided to confess his true thoughts to the general, "If they don't have any intention of interfering with state affairs, I think we shouldn't challenge them."

  Listening to this, the wrinkles on Xu Shi's face deepened even more, and he said: "What is the strongest in the world? Not the emperor, not the prime minister, but the cultivator. I am also a famous cultivator, and I have met Master Fu once. I spent decades in the military, so I know better than anyone how powerful the Academy is. But first and foremost, I am a soldier of the Great Tang, so I must be vigilant against those powerful cultivators, I must be vigilant against the Academy. If I don't, it would be dereliction of duty as a soldier."

  Wang Jing said in a low voice, "If General, you are trying to use this matter to see if the academy still respects the Tang law, I think it's not appropriate, because the existing evidence is difficult to link that little maid with harboring an escaped convict."

  "I really want to see the attitude of the book institute."

  Xu Shi turned around, looking at the thin sky outside the window, and said in a slightly cold tone: "But I'd rather know, what's the relationship between Wei Guangming and that little maid? And what does this have to do with Ning Que?"

  Wang Jing slightly furrowed his brow and shook his head, saying: "This warning... seems to be quite unreasonable."

  Xu Shi said, "As a Tang person, no one wants to provoke the Academy, but this time there are so many people who want to make a move. Firstly, because of the humble status of that maid, even if they move her, it won't touch the foundation of the Academy, she is the best target. Secondly, the imperial court's civil and military officials, as well as some nobles in the palace, have begun to feel wary of the Academy like me."

  Wang Jinglue still couldn't understand where this vigilance towards the academy came from.

  Xu Shi said: "Why are there so many people in the world who are wary of book academies? Because this world is composed of the sacred and the mundane, and everything in the mundane world is actually being controlled by the sacred. The emperor of the Moon Wheel Country must be enthroned after being touched by the elder of the White Tower Temple, and the succession of the rulers of other countries requires the consent of the Western Mausoleum Temple. Therefore, the Taoist masters on Peach Mountain and the Three Gods' Throne are the true masters of this world, but behind them lies an unknown realm of Buddhism and Taoism. If they can communicate with each other, it would be a saintly feat... But to communicate, one needs to enter the mundane world, so why do book academies need to enter the mundane world?"

  Wang Jinglue finally understood the words, and in this cold winter, sweat instantly wet his back. Since they are all in the world, there is no so-called outside the world. Except for the Great Tang Empire, other places have already been controlled by cultivators. If the Academy also enters the world to intervene in the mundane world like the Xiling Temple, who can stop them?

  "The academy is not allowed to interfere with state affairs, it's a rule set by Confucius." He seemed to be suppressing the unease in his heart, and said in a hoarse voice: "If the academy really wants to act like the Western Hill Temple, they would have taken action years ago."

  Xu Shi gazed at the dull sun outside the clouds, his eyes flickering with a faint light, and said in a low voice: "I have never doubted Master, but you should know that even the greatest figures will eventually grow old and die. Once Master leaves this world, what if those people behind the academy's mountain become restless? If they start interfering with court politics, imperial power declines, and the country is no longer a country... Is it still the Great Tang of today?"

  "It's now certain that Ning Que is a worldly person, otherwise the Academy wouldn't have agreed to let him go to the border and wilderness. I've seen his record in the military department, and I must admit he's an excellent soldier, but the more so, the more I'm on guard, because an excellent soldier must be cold-blooded and ruthless, and must have ambition, whether it's for military merit or territory, that kind of ambition is like a wildfire that can't be extinguished."

  Xu Shichen said in a low voice, "The great Tang's powerful prestige has not declined for thousands of years, because we are not like those pitiful worms crawling at the feet of the gods. We have always been vigilant and respectful to outsiders, never surrendering."

  I'm exhausted... I've written a lot over the past two days, so please ignore any rough or missing parts, timing issues, and questionable areas for now. I'll try to refine it again in a few days.