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nRight now, it was in the middle of the night. The ploy to kill the officer had begun at nightfall, and just a couple of hours had passed since then.

nShang walked over to the side gate since the main gates were closed during the night.

n“Space Ring,” the guard said with boredom.

nShang put his Space Ring on the table.

nAfter that, the guard took out a crystal and moved it all over Shang’s body.

nThis crystal was a smaller version of the bigger crystals above the gate. The big crystals had the ability to penetrate a Space Ring’s defense and scan the insides, but the smaller one didn’t.

nHowever, it could see if someone wore a Space Ring or not.

nThis crystal was basically there to stop people from smuggling any illegal goods into the city.

nThe crystal didn’t show any alarm, and the guard put it away.

nThen, the guard looked through the Space Ring.

nThere was just some random stuff in there. Nothing special.

nThe guard handed it back to Shang and opened the side gate for him.

nShang nodded and entered the city.

nJust like the first time Shang had arrived in Warrior’s Paradise, it was deathly silent.

nShang immediately went to the main square and then to the academy.

nIn front of the academy gates, Shang saw a sleeping, middle-aged man..

n‘Isn’t that a familiar image?’ Shang thought as he looked at teacher Loran.

nShang ignored teacher Loran and went to the gate.

n“Wait a second,” teacher Loran said as he suddenly opened his eyes.

nShang didn’t look at him.

n“I don’t know you,” teacher Loran said. “Who are you?”

nShang deepened his voice. “My identity doesn’t concern you.”

nRight now, basically everything regarding Shang was a secret, even in the academy.

nThe last time anyone had seen Shang had been about a year ago, during the Day of Chaos.

nAfter that, Shang had completely vanished.

nShang had been underground for a month preparing for the trial.

nThen, another eight months had passed in preparation for Shang’s new job.

nLastly, a bit more than two months had passed while Shang had been on a mission.

nIn short, it had been nearly a year since anyone had seen him, and he had changed tremendously during that year.

nIt was no surprise that teacher Loran didn’t recognize him.

nWhen teacher Loran heard Shang’s words, he snorted. “Doesn’t concern me?” he asked. “I’m the guard. I’m responsible for only letting in people that are allowed to enter.”

n“You will tell me who you are.”

nAt that moment, teacher Loran’s eyes narrowed.

nWHOOOM!

nShang felt an incredible pressure appear around him.

nRight now, Shang felt like he was in front of an incredibly powerful Commander Stage beast.

nThe pressure teacher Loran gave off was even higher than the pressure the superior had given off.

nTeacher Loran was definitely more powerful than the traitorous superior.

n‘He’s truly powerful,’ Shang thought. ‘If he wanted to do something to me, I wouldn’t even have the slightest ability to resist.’

nAt that moment, something appeared in Shang’s hand, and he pointed it to teacher Loran.

nIt was the Duke’s emblem.

nTeacher Loran narrowed his eyes when he saw the emblem, and his pressure lessened.

nHowever, it didn’t completely vanish.

n“We might be in Duke Whirlwind’s territory, but the warrior’s academy is politically neutral,” teacher Loran said. “I can let you in, but I still need to look at you in case you do something we don’t want you to do and escape.”

nThis put Shang in a troublesome situation.

nNo one was allowed to see his identity, but he also had to enter the academy.

n“Fine,” Shang said as he put the emblem away.

nTeacher Loran waited for Shang to take off his cloak.

nHowever, Shang simply turned around and walked away.

n“Where are you going?” teacher Loran asked with furrowed brows.

n“I will return during the day. You won’t let me in, but Soran will,” Shang said.

nShang hadn’t met his disciple brother Soran very often in the last couple of months, but as the Dean’s student, he had still gotten the privilege to refer to Soran with just his first name.

nSoran and Shang didn’t get along very well, which was why they avoided each other most of the time.

nHowever, Soran and Shang still knew that they had to work together at least.

nTeacher Loran looked at the leaving Shang with a bitter expression.

nThis was suspicious!

nHowever, he also couldn’t stop him from leaving. After all, he hadn’t tried to forcefully enter the academy.

n“You’re back.”

nThe two stopped suddenly as a third person appeared in front of Shang.

nIt was the Dean.

n“Yes, I’m back,” Shang said.

nThe Dean nodded. “Let’s go inside. The city can defend itself for a night without me.”

nThen, the Dean looked at teacher Loran. “Good work.”

nTeacher Loran stood up respectfully and bowed a slight bit. “Just doing my job.”

nTeacher Loran had handled the situation perfectly.

nOne had to remember that, at this moment, Shang represented Duke Whirlwind’s faction.

nThe academy was inside Duke Whirlwind’s territory, but just as teacher Loran said, the academy was politically neutral.

nLetting a political figure enter the academy just like that was bad.

nHowever, the academy also had to show respect to Duke Whirlwind’s faction.

nBecause of that, teacher Loran had said that Shang could enter, but he would need to show his identity.

nAdditionally, he would have probably also been followed around during the night until one of the Vice-Deans returned in the morning.

nTeacher Loran’s job was only to deal with visitors during the night and only as long as no one higher ranked than him was available. After that, it would be their job.

nIn short, teacher Loran did his job the same way Shang did it.

nIt wasn’t his job to judge the visitor, but it was his job to keep everything in order while the superiors weren’t available.

nShang and the Dean jumped over the gate and entered the academy.

nThe academy was mostly empty during the night, but there were still the occasional students training during the night.

nThe two of them entered the main building and went into the secret basement.

nAfter walking for a while, they entered Shang’s old room.

nShang put his cloak and spear away before summoning Sword.

n“I’m back,” Sword said to Shang.

nShang smiled a little. “You are.”

nSurprisingly, this had been the very first time the two of them had been apart without being able to see each other.

nEver since Shang had entered the world, the two of them had always been in each other’s presence.

n“How did the job go?” Shang’s teacher asked.

n“I met with a group of about 30 warriors in the morning of…”

nOver the next hour, Shang told the Dean everything he had done during his job.

nThe Dean listened and commented on a couple of things Shang could have done better.

nShang listened to everything his teacher told him. After all, the Dean had a lot of experience.

nAfter Shang was done retelling everything, the Dean nodded. “You did well.”

nAnd then, something surprising happened.

nWhen the Inquisitor had praised Shang, he hadn’t felt anything.

nBut now that the Dean said it…

nShang didn’t feel so bad.

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