Chapter 396 - 190: Seeking Revenge 2

At this thought, a flicker of excitement naturally ignited in everyone’s hearts.

And Liu Zongming was no simple man.

The Fragrance Academy was quite unique. When it was first founded, much like the Shuiyue Sword Sect, it did not accept male disciples.

It was originally a gathering place for women to read and pass the time.

Unexpectedly, however, the first Headmaster comprehended a system of Inner Energy from within those very scrolls.

This laid the foundation for the Fragrance Academy to establish itself as a proper sect.

As it gradually grew, it continued to accept only women, no men.

However, the world was ultimately unfair to women.

When the female scholars of the Fragrance Academy traveled the Jianghu, they were often met with criticism and slander.

These women had read the classics of sages and had backbones of steel. At that time, the second Headmaster was in charge of the Fragrance Academy, and as gossip about them grew louder in the Jianghu, she decisively issued a new sect rule.

It stated that any disciple who joined the Fragrance Academy was forbidden to marry for life.

She hoped this would put an end to the rampant rumors from the outside world.

At the time, the rule was met with resounding approval within the sect. Cries of "The Academy is our home!" and even the outrageous "The Academy is our husband!" were heard.

But after only a few years, rumors began to spread about Fragrance Academy disciples getting pregnant and having children out of wedlock.

With that, all manner of nasty gossip followed.

Some said the Fragrance Academy was "playing the whore while demanding a monument to its chastity." Others claimed that while they didn’t openly accept male disciples, they secretly took male patrons, calling the Academy a den of filth...

The accusations were endless.

The second Headmaster was furious.

Especially since this wasn’t a rumor—it was true.

And the one responsible was none other than the second Headmaster’s most beloved disciple.

After repeated questioning, the disciple refused to reveal the man’s name. Thus, to make an example of her and restore the Academy’s reputation in the Jianghu, the Headmaster made a decision.

In a fit of rage, the second Headmaster announced to the entire Jianghu that she would execute her own disciple.

The incident caused a huge uproar at the time.

The young woman, knowing she had wronged her master, did not resist.

But how could the father of the child in her womb bear to watch his beloved suffer such a fate?

On the day of the execution, in front of everyone from the Jianghu, he confessed his love for the young woman and declared he would take her away.

The second Headmaster, of course, refused.

A chaotic battle erupted.

In the end, the man was outnumbered and overwhelmed. He was captured by the scholars of the Fragrance Academy, who were about to kill him.

Seeing her beloved’s life hanging by a thread, the young woman desperately begged the second Headmaster to spare him.

But how could the Headmaster possibly agree to release him then?

Whether for the reputation of the Fragrance Academy or for the man’s own actions, she could not let him go.

But no one expected what happened next. At that critical moment, the young woman took a sword to her own throat, ending two lives with one act.

Her only hope was that her death might soften her master’s heart and move her to pity her lover and spare his life.

In truth, the second Headmaster had orchestrated such a grand spectacle partly to draw out her disciple’s lover.

In her eyes, though her disciple was at fault, the root of the problem was the man.

It’s unlikely she could have ever brought herself to be truly cruel to her own disciple.

She never imagined things would end up this way.

At that moment, she was overwhelmed with grief, regret, and utter despair.

And so, she did let the man go.

But the man did not leave. He just cradled his beloved’s body, his spirit broken, murmuring the vows of eternal love they had once shared. In the end, still holding her, he severed his own heart’s meridians and died.

This human tragedy became a widely told tale.

The second Headmaster, too, eventually died of grief over the matter.

When the third Headmaster took her place, she relaxed this sect rule.

But one concession only led to another.

Decades ago, they even began making special exceptions, allowing men to join the Fragrance Academy.

However, the Fragrance Academy remained a female-dominated space.

The "yin" flourished while the "yang" waned, and no man ever managed to rise to prominence.

That is, until the appearance of Liu Zongming.

The man was a heaven-sent prodigy, blessed with a photographic memory and the ability to grasp complex concepts from a single example.

Whether it was the sect’s classic texts or its martial arts, he mastered them instantly... By the age of fifteen, he had already far surpassed his peers.

By the time he was twenty, his martial skill was no less than that of the Headmaster at the time.

Yet it wasn’t until he was thirty-five that he finally became the Headmaster of the Fragrance Academy.

This delay wasn’t just because the previous Headmaster was long-lived. More importantly, Liu Zongming was, after all, a man. In the Fragrance Academy, even if you truly surpassed all your peers, you would still face suppression.

To prevent him from taking the position, the seat of Headmaster of the Fragrance Academy remained vacant for three years.

In the end, it took an attack from an expert of a heretical sect. With the Fragrance Academy leaderless and suffering defeat after defeat, Liu Zongming finally stepped forward to lead a counterattack. He not only repelled the invaders but pursued them for over a thousand li through the night, completely eradicating their group before dragging his heavily wounded body back to the Academy.

After this battle, everyone in the Academy, from top to bottom, was completely won over by Liu Zongming.

Only then did he truly secure his position as Headmaster of the Fragrance Academy.

As of today, Liu Zongming has been the Headmaster for over twenty years.

Under his leadership, the Fragrance Academy’s strength has grown to become unfathomable. While it has not yet joined the ranks of the Seven Sects, the main speculation among the Jianghu people is whether the Seven Sects will become the Eight Sects while Liu Zongming is still alive, or if that can only happen after he is gone...