News of Xue Beng and several of his cronies being crushed to death by a meteor quickly spread throughout Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.
Most people responded to this explosive news with glee or applause.
In short—Xue Beng, that arrogant scoundrel, deserved to die!
But the real bombshell came the next day.
During the imperial court meeting, Emperor Xue Ye publicly listed Xue Beng's many crimes in front of his ministers, including bullying men and women, forcing good people into prostitution, and seizing goods through intimidation.
Finally, he named three additional charges: speaking recklessly, acting with utter arrogance, and disrespecting his elders.
Although these three seemed the least severe on paper, the ministers all understood that they were the real reason Emperor Xue Ye made such a public display.
Had Xue Beng not died under that meteor, even these three charges alone would have been enough to strip him of nobility and reduce him to a commoner.
Of course, with Xue Beng now dead, the punishment fell upon others.
First was his birth mother—punished for her poor parenting, she was banished to the Cold Palace.
Prince Xue Xing was also implicated. He was placed under house arrest for six months, forbidden from leaving his home without the emperor's permission.
His punishment was relatively light—not just because of his status, but also due to the involvement of Dugu Bo.
Everyone knew Dugu Bo owed Prince Xue Xing a favor. Even if Emperor Xue Ye wished to come down hard on the prince, he had to show Dugu Bo some respect.
Others weren't so lucky.
Among the cronies crushed to death with Xue Beng were two earls, three viscounts, and four barons. All of these nobles were stripped of their titles. Those who held important posts in the empire lost their positions entirely.
Naturally, their replacements came from Crown Prince Xue Qinghe's faction.
With Xue Beng's "accidental" death, Xue Qinghe became the empire's sole heir.
This prompted the remaining undecided ministers to begin aligning themselves with the crown prince.
His faction, upon hearing the news, celebrated wildly.
The death of Xue Beng—wasn't this a gift from the heavens?
As for suspicions of foul play? There were none.
After all, how could anyone possibly manipulate a disaster like a falling meteor?
---
Meanwhile, at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy—
On a lush green field, Qi Lin brought Xiao Wu and the others to visit the Heaven Dou Imperial Battle Team's training ground.
The team's training was relatively traditional. During the day, each member trained individually in an environment suited to their abilities. In the afternoon, they regrouped for team combat training.
Qi Lin observed briefly and found that Qin Ming's instruction focused heavily on real combat experience. He carefully analyzed each team member's strengths and weaknesses in battle—among traditional instructors, his teachings were quite solid.
At the very least, his real combat experience far surpassed Yu Xiaogang's.
After all, with Yu Xiaogang's low spirit power level, once Tang San and the others' ranks increased, he wouldn't even be able to keep up with their movements—let alone instruct them properly.
All he could do was devise tactics based on their spirit abilities.
But real spirit master combat wasn't some turn-based game where you cast one skill, then your opponent casts one in return.
What good was a strategy based solely on spirit abilities?
Your teammates wouldn't be with you forever, would they?
On the field, Shi Mo, Shi Mo (the twins), Oslo, and Yu Feng were engaged in two-on-two sparring.
Meanwhile, Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling sat with Qi Lin's group on a bench, watching the match.
Suddenly, Dugu Yan asked curiously, "Qi Lin, little brother—I heard yesterday that Xue Beng tried to pick a fight with you and ended up getting crushed by a meteor?"
Ye Lingling also looked over, curiosity in her eyes. The entire academy—no, the entire Heaven Dou City—was buzzing about it. Everyone was dying to know what really happened.
Qi Lin nodded and gave them a brief recounting of the events.
Dugu Yan was stunned. "What kind of madness possessed Xue Beng? Knowing your talent and status, how did he still have the nerve to come after you so publicly?"
"Even if he hadn't provoked Rongrong or gotten crushed by a meteor, word of this would've reached the emperor. He would've faced serious punishment either way."
"For the life of me, I can't tell if he was genuinely stupid or just pretending."
Qi Lin gave a lazy smile and replied, "Maybe it had something to do with the friendly chat I had with the crown prince the night before."
Dugu Yan and Ye Lingling both froze for a moment.
Dugu Yan asked in surprise, "Are you saying Xue Beng came after you because he saw you getting close to the crown prince?"
"Don't tell me... he still hadn't given up on the throne?"
Qi Lin shrugged, his face calm. "Xue Beng's dead. No point speculating now."
Dugu Yan nodded. "True. A scumbag like him—his death is actually a blessing."
Ning Rongrong smiled. "Sister Yan, since you and Lingling have been at the academy a while, did Xue Beng ever harass you two?"
Dugu Yan snorted. "He dared?"
"My grandfather personally brought me to the academy. That toad wanted to eat swan meat—he kept trying to cozy up to me, so I beat him half to death. Almost crippled his third leg."
Ning Rongrong gave her a big thumbs up. "That's so like you, Sister Yan!"
She turned to Ye Lingling. "And you?"
Ye Lingling's gentle face blushed slightly as she recalled, "He did try something when I first arrived, but Sister Yan stood up for me and beat him up. That shut him up."
The group nodded in understanding.
They chatted a while longer, joking and exchanging stories.
Then Dugu Yan suddenly asked, "Oh right, Qi Lin—you've hit rank 50 already. Why haven't you gone to get your spirit ring yet?"
Qi Lin chuckled. "I already did. The first night after arriving at the academy, Sister Na came back, and I went with her to Sunset Forest to absorb my fifth spirit ring."
"Oh, and I also ran into your grandfather while I was there."
"What?!" Dugu Yan looked over in surprise. "You actually met my grandfather?"
"Yup. The commotion I caused while absorbing my spirit ring drew him in."
Dugu Yan quickly asked, "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"
She knew her grandfather's temper—extremely doting toward her, but cold and eccentric toward everyone else.
That's why she worried Dugu Bo might have done something to Qi Lin.
From her time with him, she'd developed quite a liking for this lazy, laid-back younger brother.
Of course, that wasn't romantic interest—it was more of a sisterly fondness.
After all, who wouldn't like a handsome, talented, sweet-talking, and good-at-cooking little brother?
Especially for someone like Dugu Yan—a strong older-sister type—Qi Lin was exactly her type of "little brother."