"Huh? What did you say?" The Emperor asked from the other side.
"You heard me. Give up on your royal status and leave," the Superior said with a nasty smile on your face.
"Hahaha, is this some kind of joke? Why would you try this? Did you think I would just say 'Okay, I give up? Of course not, idiot. Hah! Useless bastard, disturbing me for no reason," the Emperor said and was about to close the communication.
"You can choose not to do what I say, either works for me actually. Only, I wouldn't want the blood of the innocents on my hands before becoming the next Emperor."
"But then again, I am willing to do whatever it takes to ruin your life," the Superior said.
"What? What do you mean by the blood of the innocents?" the Emperor asked.
"See for yourself," the Superior suddenly turned on the visual capabilities of the talisman and showed what was in front of him to the Emperor.
On the emperor's side, he saw dozens of staff, and thousands of students sitting down inside a large underground hall.
"What is this? Who are they?" The Emperor asked.
"Hah! The emperor doesn't know his own empire? Look closely," the Superior said as he pushed the talisman next to the principal's chest wherein the Emperor could see many gold stars and silver stars.
"My God! Yo-You took hostage of the Five Professions Academy?" The Emperor finally realized what was happening.
"Haha, you finally understand the severity of the situation, don't you? Good. You have less than a day o give up on your royal status and return to being a commoner."
"If that happens, I will spare these people. If that doesn't happen, I will kill all of these people with bright futures here and leave the mess for you to clean up," The Superior said.
"You dare threaten me, The Emperor?" the Emperor shouted from the other side of the communication.
"Yes., what will you do about that?" the Superior then cut off the communication leaving the Emperor on his own to make some decision.
"We will find out soon what the Emperor thinks of you and your people, Principal Singeer," the Superior said.
"Who are you? You don't want anything with us. Your grudge seems entirely on the emperor. Why bring us into the mix?" The principal asked.
"You should know what importance your academy has, Principal Singeer," The Superior said.
The principal thought for a bit and suddenly his eyes went wide. "You gave the emperor an ultimatum," he said.
"Yes. I don't really wish to kill you people; I will need some good men after I become the emperor. However, that also doesn't mean I'm not willing to get rid of what will be important to me later on just for what I can gain today," The Superior said.
"You… Do I know you?" The Principal said. The superior's eyes flashed for a second before looking elsewhere, not choosing to answer.
Ning had heard all of it. 'How is threatening to kill the academy members an ultimatum,' he wondered.
However, as soon as he added the context of wanting the emperor to leave his throne into the mix, he immediately got the answer.
'If he were to kill the people here… that would incite the anger of all the neighboring 3 countries who look at these students as the pillars of their future.'
'If they all die here while learning that the Emperor could have done something about it, then they will get together to attack the Wyan Dynasty. That would mean the fall of the emperor.'
'I see. So either way, he wants to see the Emperor no longer be an emperor. So… does he have some sort of undying grudge against the emperor?' Ning wondered.
The two men the superior had sent after Ning finally saw him.
"Huh? Who are yo—"
Suddenly, they both disappeared. When Ning returned back to the same spot, they were both gone.
"Shit!" he said.
The superior had already noticed something weird with the first person disappearing, and now suddenly two of them disappeared only confirming his suspicion that there was something wrong.
"Everyone, take care. We might have a guest down here along with us," he said.
Everyone got alert as they sent out their spiritual sense, but no one could see anything.
"You can come out now. I know you are out there," the superior said.
Ning however didn't say anything. He was still thinking about how to get out of this situation.
"Alright men, get ready to attack the crowd without any hesitation if that person doesn't show themselves in 3 seconds," the superior said.
"One!"
All the people encircling the thousands of academy folks got ready with their weapons.
"Two!"
The academy folks got scared for their lives. With their measly cultivation base, they couldn't survive dozens of Nascent Soul cultivators attacking at once.
"Thr—"
"I'm here," Ning showed himself just in time.
"Teacher Ning?" Maeve, who was in the group, said in surprise.
The students made whispers about who he was. Most of the Alchemy and Beast master wing's students already knew about Ning even though they didn't visit him.
"Oh, and who might you be?" the Superior said.
"I'm a teacher here," Ning said.
"I… see," the Superior said as he scanned through Ning using his divine sense but couldn't see anything with it.
"This is most curious. How are you in front of me, yet I can't sense a single thing about you?" the Superior asked.
"Alchemy," Ning said.
"Ah, I see. You do indeed have the Alchemy badge. Then, where are my subordinates that I just sent up the stairs?" The Superior asked
"Dead," Ning said without a single hesitation.
The superior's eyes flashed in surprise. The other people were surprised too. They didn't know what to do so they kept the weapons targeted at the hostage.
"Hmm, what about my people up there?" the Superior asked.
"Dead as well," Ning said.
"I see," the Superior said.. "That is very problematic for me."
