Su Yun, Ye Luo and Bai Yuelou are all scholars of the Tiandao Academy. Bai Yuelou made contributions during the Shuobei turmoil and was rewarded by the emperor to become a scholar of the Tiandao Academy. He was not directly admitted to the Tiandao Academy through examination.
Because of this, Su Yun became the chief doctor of Tiandao Academy, and Ye Luo also became the chief teacher of Tiandao Academy. They were teachers in Tiandao Academy, holding official positions and representing Tiandao Academy.
The three of them coming to the place where new and old learnings were debated could not but attract attention.
Tiandao Academy was established relatively late, during the reign of Emperor Yuan. Emperor Yuan reformed education and promoted official education. At that time, the highest academy in Yuanshuo was Taixue Academy, but Emperor Yuan believed that although the academic research of Taixue Academy was excellent, it was not much better than that of other academies.
He wanted to build a place to study the knowledge of saints, a place to carry on the unique knowledge of the old saints, and a place where saints could be born!
Therefore, Emperor Yuan selected the most talented and insightful scholars in the world to form the Tiandao Academy.
In this debate between new and old schools of thought, even scholars from the second-ranked Tai Academy came to participate. The new students who came to challenge were scholars sent by Tai Academy to disrupt Tiandao Academy. Naturally, their cultivation strength was outstanding and formidable.
When Su Yun and the other two came over, people looked at them everywhere with expectations, suspicion, contempt, and uneasiness.
Su Yun had always been blind and turned a blind eye to the situation, and walked straight to where the debate was most intense.
Ye Luo reported to him the news he had gathered during this period, and whispered: "The situation in the Eastern Capital this time is extremely strange. Sixty to seventy scholars have been killed or injured in the debate between the new and old schools. These scholars are extraordinary. In addition to being from official schools in various places, there are also scholars from the Imperial Academy. Many of them came to take the entrance exam for the Tiandao Academy. They died just like that, and the Praetorian Guards were not even alerted!"
Su Yun's heart moved slightly. The Praefectus Urbi controlled the Northern Army of the Eastern Capital. Nominally, it was under the charge of Qiu Shuijing, but in fact, he had enormous power and controlled the military power. He was a powerful person!
It was indeed strange that the Praefectus Urbi did not intervene.
"The Eastern Capital Prefectural Guards sat back and watched the debate, and Mr. Shuijing did not even order the Prefectural Guards to intervene. Saint Xue did not ask anything, and neither did Prime Minister Wen. The strange thing is that this time, Prime Minister Wen's son Wen Yanfeng also showed up, supporting the new school."
Young Master Ye Luo continued, "Besides that, I also heard that the dispute between the new and old schools of thought was related to the internal struggle of the royal family. This time, Prince Yuan Wuji returned from overseas, and he had some people from the royal family behind him, so Di Ping did not ask about this matter, but watched from the sidelines."
He hesitated for a moment, and said, "If the emperor does not move, it's fine. But if he does, blood will flow like a river. I'm afraid that Dongdu will be a hundred times more dangerous than Shuofang before the turmoil!"
Su Yun's heart moved slightly.
The Three Dukes, namely the Prime Minister, the Grand Marshal and the Censor, are extremely powerful. Each of them has civil and military officials under his command who are like a small court. They represent the three largest forces in the Eastern Capital besides the Emperor!
The open and secret struggles between Prime Minister Wen Guanshan, Grand Marshal Xue Qingfu, and Censor Qiu Shuijing are probably related to the dispute between the new and old schools of thought.
The struggle between the royal family and Emperor Ping was probably also related to the new and old schools of thought.
"This time, all the officials under Prime Minister Wen, including the Sizhi, Changshi, Zhengshi, Shaoshi, Caoyuan, Yicao, Facao, etc., are high-ranking officials from aristocratic families. They all sent their sons to stand on Wen Yanfeng's side."
Young Master Ye Luo hesitated and said, "Big Brother, you know that I have always been good at picking up bargains, and my vision is very accurate, but this bargain is really hard to pick up now. If you are not careful, you will be crushed to pieces! You must not make a move—"
Su Yun smiled and said, "Don't worry, my first thought when I entered Dongdu was to keep a low profile. Dongdu is not like Shuofang. In Shuofang, I still have the title of the envoy. But in Dongdu, let alone the envoy, even the title of Tongtian Pavilion Master is useless."
Young Master Ye Luo felt relieved and said with a smile: "I'm glad that you understand, Senior Brother."
Bai Yuelou was also extremely nervous and murmured, "I am a disciple of the Saint. I think I should not get involved in this matter to avoid suspicion..."
Su Yun stopped him and said with a smile: "Brother Bai, don't worry. We are from Tiandao Academy. No matter if it is the new school or the old school, no matter if it is Prime Minister Wen or Saint Xue and Censor Qiu, we will not take sides."
Bai Yuelou asked with caution: "Are you serious?"
"really."
As they were talking, the three of them passed through the crowd and saw that the forum for the debate between the new and old schools of thought was not a whole, but was divided into more than a dozen debate areas by scholars who had mastered the art of architecture using magical weapons such as bridges, houses, tile houses, steles, towers, and buildings.
In these debate venues, many scholars debated and discussed the advantages and disadvantages of traditional sage knowledge and new knowledge, and they often started fighting while talking.
Su Yun and the other two passed by a place where a debate had been taking place, and saw that there was a high platform connected to a hibiscus tree. The hibiscus tree was as tall as a spear, about twenty-four or twenty-five feet high. At the top, a cloud-like branch grew to one side, and on the branch was a chessboard, covering an area of several acres.
Many scholars were standing on the leaves of the Fusang tree, watching the fight between the two players on the chessboard.
This is often the case with other forums. These forums are very high and often have cloud bridges connecting them.
The two people on the chessboard caught Su Yun's attention, and he couldn't help but stop and watch.
I saw that one of the scholars was a woman. The magical power she used was very strange. It seemed that she could control plants and trees. With a wave of her hand, vines grew wildly and chased the scholar who was fighting with her in the air.
"The descendant of the Shennong clan."
Su Yun's eyes flashed. When he was in the Shuofang Thunder Valley, Chi Xiaoyao had seen this kind of magical power and had also mentioned the Shennong lineage to him.
The magical powers of the Shennong lineage are mainly based on agriculture and medicine, so Chi Xiaoyao is very concerned about them.
However, the Shennong lineage is extremely ancient, and even in the Imperial Academy, there are only a handful of people studying this lineage, so it is no longer considered a prominent discipline.
"Since there are very few scholars in the lineage of Shennong, is this woman the girl who appeared in the Thunder Valley that day?"
The light in Su Yun's eyes faded: "If that's the case, then this woman first appeared in Shuofang, and now appears in Dongdu, which is extremely suspicious."
"Junior Brother Ye Luo, I want all the information about this girl in half an hour!" Su Yun said, tilting his head.
Young Master Ye Luo quickly wrote it down and said with a wry smile, “I’ll go to Tiandao Academy and ask Bu Qiurong to help me investigate.”
Su Yun nodded and walked forward. In front of him was the most magnificent place of this debate, the Jade Emperor's Ascension to the Capital!
The Jade Emperor's Ascension to the Capital is a spiritual weapon of the Yuan clan, a royal family. When Lou Ban built the Eastern Capital, Emperor Ai invited the best painter to paint the appearance of the newly built Eastern Capital, and the royal family treasured it.
Although the Jade Emperor's Map of the Capital is not a Great Holy Spirit Soldier, it is also the result of the joint efforts of countless painters. It is rumored that if this treasure is spread out, an Eastern Capital can be recreated in the sky!
This time, the royal family took out the picture of the Jade Emperor ascending to the capital as the biggest altar for this debate.
The scroll of the Jade Emperor's Map of Beijing was spread from the air to the ground. On the ground, it was still paper with a thick scroll, but in the air, it was a magnificent metropolis with jade palaces, beautiful towers, and curling white clouds. It was impossible to find the boundary of the painting at all!
It was as if another Dongdu appeared before them!
However, this one is much smaller, and the buildings appear very miniature. However, Jade Emperor Mountain is hidden and does not appear.
It seems that a huge amount of magical power is needed to activate this spiritual weapon, so the Jade Emperor's map of the capital only shows the lowest city in the Eastern Capital.
But even so, it is still amazing.
At this moment, the Eastern Capital City in the painting looked like a huge platform. Cloud bridges extended from outside the painting and actually penetrated into the world in the painting and connected with the Eastern Capital City in the painting.
Painting and reality are strangely combined.
In the painting, cloud bridges crisscrossed over the sky above the Eastern Capital. Scholars, dignitaries and even common people were standing on the bridges, clearly separated from each other. It was obvious that each had their own thoughts, and they all looked at Su Yun, Ye Luo and Bai Yuelou.
"Su Jijiu, Qiu Taichang is not here. Since you are the Jijiu, you are also the head of Tiandaoyuan. So, does your Tiandaoyuan support the new school of thought or the old school of thought?" A man who looked like an official asked loudly.
Young Master Ye Luo became nervous and lowered his voice and said, "Big Brother, this is a bargain—"
Su Yun nodded: "Don't worry, Junior Brother. I know that Dongdu is unfathomable. If you say something wrong, you may be shattered to pieces."
Young Master Ye Luo breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Yun looked around and saw that the eyes of thousands of people, scholars and officials in the Eastern Capital in the painting were all on him.
Su Yun said, "Old learning is the classics of all saints, and it has the virtue of benefiting all living beings. Our Tiandao Academy started out by studying old learning."
The people who supported the old sacred learning gradually showed joy on their faces, and some cheered: "Tiandao Academy supports the old learning!"
Young Master Ye Luo gritted his teeth and lowered his voice to remind: "Big Brother, don't take sides!"
"But the old sacred skills are outdated."
Su Yun changed the subject and said, "The new learning originated from overseas. It is advancing with great courage and perseverance, striving for perfection. It can write what the old saints could not write, and explore what the old saints could not explore. Whether in terms of magical powers, changes, or application, the new learning is stronger than the old saints' unique learning."
The cheers stopped abruptly, and the expressions on the faces of those who supported the old school turned into shame and anger. Some people gnashed their teeth and said sternly: "Tiandao Academy is a place to study the old saints' unique skills, but you became a traitor!"
Su Yun changed the subject again and said loudly: "However, after developing for so long, the new school has not been able to break out of the scope of the old saints' classics. Although it has made some achievements, it is still in the shadow of the old saints and has not been able to find a new path."
Master Ye Luo's mind was buzzing: "I'm asking you not to take sides, not to offend both sides... But it's okay to be a fence-sitter. Although it's embarrassing to be a fence-sitter, it's better than being beaten..."
"so."
Su Yun looked around and said with a smile: "Whether it is the old school or the new school, whether you are studying the old school or the new school, in the eyes of my Tiandao Academy, you are all a pile of trash and cannot withstand a single blow."
"Big Brother, you are not a fence-sitter!"
Master Ye Luo's face turned pale: "It's over..."
Su Yun's voice was clear and loud, spreading throughout the Eastern Capital in the painting, and also to the places of debate outside: "We brothers are here to prove this to you all. You are all fools and cannot stand a single blow."