Evil Samurai In Cultivation World

Claude looked around and saw Ian Jefferson standing behind the crowd, glaring at him with an angry expression on his face. 

'I guess this idiot still hasn't learned his lesson yet,' Claude thought to himself. He knew that this could've happened. After all, people weren't going to change so easily. However, he couldn't kill this young man so easily. Not yet. 

'No matter, I still have time.' Claude whispered softly and he grinned at Ian, staring right at him which caught him off guard. 

Claude's stare sent a chill down Ian's spine and he couldn't help but tremble in fear. When he realised that Claude was messing with him, he grit his teeth. But before he could do anything, Elder Kenneth appeared from the second floor and shouted loudly, "Attention! The Headmaster is here!"

Although it was a simple announcement, the Elder's words carried a certain might, and as his words began reverberating in every disciple's ears, they immediately turned silent and turned to look at Elder Kenneth, focusing all of their attention on him and showing no intention of disobeying his words.

Elder Kenneth had infused a part of his spiritual energy into his words, which resulted in the disciples feeling his aura pressing down on them. Claude, although he was at the sky realm, was also able to feel the pressure that the Elder was emitting, and couldn't help but be surprised by his strength.

He was extremely powerful! Almost everyone who was gathered there had the same thought.

Elder Kenneth scanned each and every one of the disciples with his eyes and was satisfied with their reaction to his words.

"Good!" He muttered to himself as he looked at the disciples who were staring at him, and then pointed to his side and said, "Now, pay respects to the new Headmaster of the Golden- no, the Royal Academy of Argria!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a figure appeared next to him in an instant, and all the disciples knelt down on one leg and bowed their heads in sync, collectively yelling out; "Greetings Headmaster!"

A faint smile was revealed on the Headmaster's face and he waved his hands at his disciples and said, "At ease, my young disciples!"

-------- EVIL SAMURAI IN CULTIVATION WORLD --------

The disciples looked at each other for a brief second before bowing their heads at the Headmaster once again and got up from the floor.

The Headmaster stared at his disciples for a second before opening his mouth to speak, "My precious disciples! You might've already heard of this rumour before, but for those who haven't; with the help of the Royal Family, the Golden Avarice Academy is going to be merging with the two of the remaining academies in the Clawferry Prefecture: Silver Moon Academy of Vercester and Trinity Academy of Orefield. Of course, the merging doesn't mean that the students from all three academies will move to a single and combined Academy - or at least not this soon - but it does mean that there'll be more chances of interacting with the students of these academies."

The disciples looked at each other and began murmuring to themselves, curious of what the Headmaster was talking about. Only Claude looked at the Headmaster with an understanding expression on his face.

"Everyone, be quiet!" Elder Kenneth decided to interject. He didn't speak loudly, but every disciple became silent at once. After making sure that the students had become quiet, Elder Kenneth nodded his head towards the Headmaster, who nodded back with a smile. "Now, although we are all technically part of the same academy, it is to note that there are going to be people within the academy who are not going to see it that way," The Headmaster continued speaking, and everyone fixed their gazes back to him. "Although this kind of mindset might be changeable, it would most definitely take a good amount of time to do so. So instead, I suggest that we try and stay together, as a faction and as a team! We need to learn to have each other's back because once the merging is complete, we'll be interacting with various groups of students and faculties, and some of them who approach you might have ulterior motives."

Claude listened to the words of the Headmaster and let out a chuckle inside his mind. 

'Isn't this fear mongering and propaganda?' Claude was intrigued by the techniques that the Headmaster was using to bring his faction even closer to him. He knew that although the backing of the Royal Family and gaining the position of the Headmaster was a step up in power and authority, it had still come with a catch, which was the merging of the three academies. 

The alliance of the three academies were necessary to end the conflict between the Royal Family and the Academies as well as saving the country of Argria. But the new Headmaster knew that the merging of the three academies meant his disciples would have more chances of being influenced by ideas and techniques of Elders from the other two academies. Elders who weren't under him. 

Such a situation was a threat to the Headmaster, especially since he was new to the position. Which was why he was using such shady methods to manipulate his disciples' mind, to make them fear and be cautious of new encounters. And most of these disciples were studying under the Third Elder since they were fifteen and were probably their only mentor, someone who had their trust. 

Of course, Claude didn't have a problem with the methods that the Headmaster was using. Although he was covering up his shady methods by talking about being a team and sticking together, Claude had to agree that it wouldn't be such a good idea to welcome the other academies with open arms and no doubts. 

After all, they were the same group who backstabbed their peers for a better position of power. It would be absolutely idiotic for them to actually trust each other after all that. In fact, Claude was pretty sure that most of these Elders would be utilising a similar technique to the ones the new Headmaster was using to manipulate their disciples as well.

Of course, Claude also knew that the Headmaster also wasn't going to completely trust him either. After all, he was someone who betrayed his own master. How on earth could he trust Claude?

In fact, Claude knew that the only reason that the Headmaster was allowing him to live was because of him helping out the Prince and successfully catching his eye, and because he had his usefulness. The Headmaster knew that Claude had no good reason to betray him right now, for he would have nowhere else to turn to, and it would be extremely hard to betray someone who's already cautious about him. 

"Learn to trust each other! Learn to fight for each other!" As Claude thought about his symbiotic relationship with his new master, the Headmaster continued to speak, spouting out nonsense for his disciples.

'I would have said that no one would believe this, but from the looks of it, it's actually working,' Claude scanned his surroundings and realized that almost all the disciples had excited expressions on their faces, clearly feeling joy from the Headmaster's words, and he let out a sigh inside his mind. 

Clap! Clap!

"Now that that's over…." The Headmaster clapped his hands together as he spoke. "We have to talk about the Golden Crown tournament that is coming up!"

In an instant, the eyes of the disciples lit up, and Claude shook his head. 

"As you all know, now that the three academies have combined together to form the Royal Academy, we would still be fighting as factions against each other." The Headmaster said with a smile on his face, and the disciples nodded their heads.

The Headmaster paused for a second, before continuing. "What most of you need right now is experience and understanding. You may be at a high rank, but without experience in fighting, you would be unable to fully utilize your skills and techniques and reach your true potential. And it is only through continuous sparring that you learn more about your shortcomings as well. You can only identify your complete set of weaknesses if you place yourself in different kinds of situations. A single fight might tell you one weakness, but another might provide you with an entirely different one. Different people fight in different ways, and you need to learn to adapt to various situations."

The disciples nodded their heads again, as if they were saying they understood his words.

"Although it would be a better option for you to have real battles, I'm afraid we don't have sufficient time until the tournament, and it would definitely be terrible if our most powerful members ended up not being able to recover, or even worse, succumb to death." The Headmaster snapped his fingers as he said. "Which is why I have decided to conduct a sparring contest between the members!"