Inside the open vault of the Great Qian Royal Academy Treasury, seventy-eight-year-old Dean Kong trembled with such violent scholarly rage that his white beard stood out like silver needles.
“Outrageous! Lawless!” Dean Kong slammed his palm against the empty jade pedestal.
“The Thousand-Year Frost-Star Crystal was placed in this vault by the Founding Emperor himself as the sacred trust of the Academy!
While Instructor Lei stalled at the gate, the Second Prince actually used an emergency Imperial Defense Tally to loot our students’ first-place prize from the rear passage! Mister Gu, wait right here—this old man will go knock on the Palace Gate and bash my head against the Dragon Pillar until His Majesty orders the Eastern Palace to return your children’s crystal!”
“Knock your head against a pillar? Dean Kong, you’re seventy-eight years old—if you dent a palace pillar, Grandpa Fu will have to bill you for masonry repairs,” Gu Changsheng said calmly. Patting the old scholar’s shoulder as he tucked Qian Ye’s crimson challenge note into his apron pocket.
“Qian Ye set his trap for midnight at the Imperial Astral Tower because that’s when the northern star-vein aligns over the palace. Going there right now would just scare the weasel back into his hole before he takes the crystal out of its lead box. Since we have seven hours until midnight, let’s take care of a much more urgent Academy crisis first.”
