Since Fang Chaoyun himself cultivated Confucianism and Daoism, Graceful Heaven was also a plane dominated by Confucianism and Daoism.
This place could be said to be the most perfect interpretation of the phrase "only those who study well do well".
Be it cultivation progress or actual power, it was impossible for martial artists and cultivators to compare with Confucian students. Confucian students were the absolute mainstream here.
Graceful Heaven was very large, but it wasn't divided into numerous regions like many planes. Instead, it was a unified and coordinated whole.
Fang Chaoyun did not divide his astral world into multiple levels of administrative districts. Instead, he built academies of all levels in various places, and the academies controlled regions corresponding to their levels.
In short, he assigned the responsibilities of the people's government to educational institutions that were originally only responsible for teaching.
"The 999 sub-formations we selected are all located in academies at the provincial examination level, but it's not as easy to select locations for the smaller regional formations," Zhuangxuan held a map as he explained to Gu Nan in detail.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "So I suggest we travel to all the sub-formation eyes to leave the aura of the blood sacrifice source there, then let the people below select the specific locations for the regional formations."
"Alright." Gu Nan naturally wasn't against it. "Where do we start?"
"Graceful Academy."
...
"Damn it! Why do they have Heavenly Fire Heavy Crossbows?"
Inside Gu Nan's Divine Kingdom, the vanguard from Graceful Heaven paid a heavy price for their carelessness when they attacked their first city-state.
A young Confucian scholar looked livid as he kept comforting himself.
"We couldn't have expected this variable; it's not because my abilities are lacking… Who knew they'd even have Heaven Level divine weapons?"
Xu Yubin was the commander of the vanguard army. He'd always been fond of the art of war. Now that he finally got an opportunity to lead an army, he thought he could conquer a city-state for his first victory, but he didn't expect…
Without even getting to see the enemy, the Heavenly Fire Heavy Crossbows took out most of his troops.
As a genuine Heaven Level divine weapon, the Heavenly Fire Heavy Crossbow's technology wasn't primitive at all.
Ballistic calibration, automatic lock-on, precision strike, shock wave deflection… Everything modern missiles had and all the features they didn't have were integrated into this weapon. It's just a matter of whether it would be used.
There were many planes in the Myriad Heavens with advanced technology. The reason science couldn't play a role in high-level battles was merely because metaphysical technology was more powerful—it was as simple as that.
"General, this battle can't be fought!" A subordinate ran to Xu Yubin and said anxiously.
"Not only does the enemy have Heavenly Fire Heavy Crossbows, but they also have a Dark Light Barrier prepared. Our elite team can't even sneak in!"
Xu Yubin felt like he was on the verge of collapse.
If a frontal attack failed, the next best method was to send an elite team into the city to coordinate with outside forces. After all, such a crudely constructed city-state was no different from a backwater village in Xu Yubin's eyes.
'But why does such a backwater village have a Dark Light Barrier?'
This was as absurd as a small mountain village having twenty subway lines.
'Just this barrier alone is worth more than your entire city!'
'It can't possibly be a local product. Someone must be secretly helping!' Such a thought flashed through Xu Yubin's mind, and he actually calmed down.
As long as he could confirm the authenticity of this information and send it back to headquarters, the losses suffered by the vanguard were completely acceptable.
However, just when Xu Yubin was about to order a retreat, a voice rang in his ears.
"Hey, do you have money?"
Xu Yubin turned around in surprise and saw a girl standing calmly behind him. She was the one who spoke just now.
Next to the girl was a boy about the same age as her, a rebellious look on his face. He didn't seem to have any intention of conversing.
"Who are you guys?" Xu Yubin turned wary and quickly asked. 99% percent of the people in this astral world were their enemies.
Hearing Xu Yubin's words, the young man said impatiently, "I told you already, no fool would answer your question honestly. Just rob first and ask later!"
Xu Yubin couldn't help sneering in his heart. He was a Void Cutter himself, not to mention he was still inside the battle formation… 'Wait, this is a Star Ruler!'
Moments later, the remaining half of the vanguard army was also killed, leaving only Xu Yubin, their general.
First a frontal attack, then sending in powerful experts for a sneak attack. Xu Yubin did this, and Yan Xiaoxiao also did the same.
Xie Yun hid the bountiful law aura unique to Star Rulers and asked seriously again, "Do you have money?"
...
Graceful Heaven's offensive was fierce, but Fang Chaoyun never would've thought that someone had already snuck inside his backyard.
Graceful Academy was where Fang Chaoyun personally taught, and he also served as the dean. It was also the most powerful academy in Graceful Heaven.
In this plane where academies were responsible for administration, this academy could be said to be the center of the astral world.
Gu Nan and Zhuangxuan didn't hide themselves and openly walked near Graceful Academy, waiting for the grand formation to be completed.
"Nice place." Gu Nan glanced inside the academy. The internal environment was indeed very suitable for studying, and the academic atmosphere could be seen everywhere.
"What a pity…" He then shook his head. All personnel responsible for setting up the formation had already set off, so the next step was to create complete chaos in Graceful Heaven.
Gu Nan sent an order back to his Divine Kingdom, and an army that Yan Xiaoxiao prepared in advance quickly descended upon Graceful Heaven, falling from the sky above Graceful Academy.
Zhuangxuan also knew Gu Nan prepared something for this phase, but he was a little surprised by this army's appearance.
It wasn't because they looked very bizarre—Zhuangxuan was also a knowledgeable person, so he wouldn't lose his composure over something like that.
It was because all members of the army were from the same race. They were even humanoid creatures, and all of them were stunningly beautiful.
This was a succubus army.
Gu Nan accumulated a lot of points, but this would not be a short war, so of course he had to use exactly the right divine servants for the job.
What was most effective against Confucian scholars?
Neither coercion nor bribery would work as well as these scantily-clad succubi who didn't stripping themselves naked.
Because Gu Nan's purpose this time was to disrupt, not simply kill.
"Senior really is full of surprises," Zhuangxuan's expression remained blank as he commented with a shake of his head.
While Zhuangxuan was speaking, the succubus army had gathered into a colorful cloud, then headed in various directions as they quickly fell from the sky.
Almost in the blink of an eye, white bodies could be seen everywhere in Graceful Academy.
These succubi didn't attack anyone and just acted like innocent lost travelers, so exclamations of "Such indecency! I must not look!" and "A danger to public morals!" were heard everywhere in the academy.
It wasn't just inside the academy, but the entire city where the academy was located was also "attacked" by the succubi.
Old Confucian scholars who'd been cultivating for many years might still be able to resist the succubi's temptation, but there weren't many people outside the academy who had this ability.
Just two days later, news reached Fang Chaoyun.
"M-Master…" A disciple stood before Fang Chaoyun and stammered.
Fang Chaoyun frowned slightly. "Was my astral world attacked? I asked your Martial Uncle Lin to stay behind and help out. The astral world should be fine."
"True, the astral world is fine…" the disciple hesitated. "M-Martial Uncle Lin… has already taken ten new concubines, and the academy's esteemed gentlemen are saying they want to kick him out…"