Hearing those words, the youth froze for a moment. Then, his eyes reddened, and tears finally burst forth, uncontrollable.
With a thud, he knelt in the standing water and kowtowed to Lu Chenzhou, his voice so choked with sobs that he could barely form words.
“Stu... student Su Muyun of Longxi... pays respects... pays respects to the Mountain Lord.”
Lu Chenzhou bent down to help him up and looked back at Old Master Cheng.
“Brother Cheng, take this child to the clinic to have his wound dressed. Then, have the kitchen brew him a bowl of ginger soup and cook a bowl of hot noodles.”
Old Master Cheng hurried forward, supporting the youth named Su Muyun as they walked into the Academy.
The youth limped for a few steps before turning back to look at Chen Zui, who was still standing in the rain. His lips moved slightly.
Chen Zui waved him off with a grin.
“Go on. Get your injuries healed first. Only when you’re healed can you get a good score on the exam.”
The youth nodded vigorously, more tears falling. He still didn't make a sound, merely wiping his eyes harshly with the back of his hand before following Old Master Cheng into the Academy.
Lu Chenzhou watched the child enter before turning around to face Cao Zhengchun, who stood under the porch.
The inner lining of his green robe was already soaked through, and his white hair was disheveled in the wind, yet he stood there like a mountain unmoving amidst the storm.
“Eunuch Cao, you asked me if Qingya Academy is a peaceful place for teaching and nurturing people, or a haven for martial world figures?”
His voice was not loud, yet it made the tiles on the porch hum with vibration.
“Today, this old man will tell you.”
He took a step forward, the rain splashing in ripples beneath his feet.
“Qingya Academy is a place where there is education for all, without distinction.
Whether they are a child of a great family or a poor orphan.
Whether they are the son of a wealthy merchant from Jiangnan or a destitute youth from Longxi.
As long as they have a heart that seeks knowledge, as long as they are willing to read the books of the sages, the gates of Qingya Academy will forever be open to them.”
He took another step forward.
“You say the Academy forms factions to discuss politics.
I ask you: if the Academy teaches students to distinguish right from wrong and discern good from evil, is that forming a faction?
If the Academy teaches students to stand up when they see injustice, is that discussing politics?
If that is forming a faction, if that is discussing politics...
Then everyone in our Qingya Academy, from top to bottom, is a co-conspirator, and everyone is discussing politics!”
He took a third step forward, now standing directly in front of Cao Zhengchun, barely three feet away.
“As for Young Hero Chen.”
He turned his head to look at the young man standing with his spear, a trace of warmth appearing in his gaze.
“Though he is a man of the martial world, he did what the Academy should have done.
He protected that child, he protected the face of the Academy, and he protected the principles passed down by the sages.
He is not a guest of the Academy; he is the Academy’s benefactor.”
He turned back, his gaze as sharp as a blade as he stared directly at Cao Zhengchun.
“Eunuch Cao, earlier in the hall, you asked me if I would make other plans.”
He raised his hand and swept his large sleeve toward the Academy gate.
“This is my plan.”
The smile on Cao Zhengchun’s face finally collapsed.
He narrowed his bright black eyes, looking coldly at Lu Chenzhou. After a long silence, he squeezed a few words through his teeth.
“Good, very good. Mountain Lord Lu, I have been in the palace for forty years, and I have never suffered the insult of being driven out like this.”
He paused, his voice suddenly turning dark.
“Since Mountain Lord Lu has issued an order to leave, I will not be thick-skinned enough to linger.
However, everything I have seen at the Academy gates today will be reported truthfully to His Highness the Second Prince.
At that time, the memorial to seal the Academy will likely contain more than just the crime of forming factions to discuss politics.”
He looked at Chen Zui again, suddenly revealing a meaningful smile.
“Young man, I heard you possess the sword legacy of the Sword Attendant, Gu Yiyou.
Just now, you even claimed you wanted to trade blows with me.
Then I shall satisfy you!”
He slowly stepped out from under the porch and into the curtain of rain.
The rain fell onto his dark purple python robe, but it was as if it hit something invisible, sliding off to both sides. Not a single drop touched his body.
Chen Zui tightened his grip on his red-tasseled spear.
“I may be a eunuch.
But to sit in the position of the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial for decades...
I rely on more than just reading people’s faces and guessing the Emperor's thoughts.”
He raised a hand. His fingers were long, fair, and well-maintained.
It looked like the hand of a scholar.
But when his fingers slowly curled inward, an invisible force radiated from his palm, shattering every raindrop within three feet into a fine mist.
“Today, I shall experience the high skills of Young Hero Chen.
I heard you withstood two punches from He Bailou in Luoyan City.
That was only because He Bailou felt a sense of appreciation for your talent.
I will not be as soft-hearted as he was.”
Upon hearing this, Chen Zui held his long spear horizontally, the rain spinning off the shaft in an arc. A half-smile played on his lips.
“I heard that you, dog eunuch, have bypassed the Abyss-Facing Realm and reached the Wind-Riding Realm, which can be called a Grandmaster.
I am truly curious: how does someone as physically incomplete as you cross the hurdle of the Abyss-Facing Realm?”
He paused, the tip of his spear pointing distantly at Cao Zhengchun.
“The Abyss-Facing Realm is like standing on the edge of an abyss, like treading on thin ice; one must face the power of heaven and earth and their own inner demons.
May I ask, Eunuch Cao, when you stood at the edge of that abyss and looked down, did you see your own shadow, or did you see the restless souls of those you’ve murdered over these forty years?”
The area fell into a dead silence.
The gentle and soft mask on Cao Zhengchun’s face shattered completely in that instant.
He narrowed his bright black eyes, a trace of extremely sinister cold light flashing in the depths of his pupils, yet the corners of his mouth curled even higher.
“Good, very good. I have lived for over sixty years, and this is the first time anyone has dared to say such things to my face.”
His voice suddenly became sharp and shrill, causing even the curtain of rain to tremble.
“Kid, today I shall show you what a Martial Arts Grandmaster is!”
Before his voice had even faded, Cao Zhengchun’s figure vanished from where he stood.
He seemed to merge into the torrential rain, his very aura disappearing completely.
Chen Zui’s pupils shrank. Without hesitation, he activated the Dragon Roam movement technique to retreat violently.
In the exact moment he backed away, a fair and slender hand emerged out of thin air from the rain where he had just been standing!
The fingers formed a claw, grasping at empty air.
After missing, the hand did not withdraw but instead pressed downward!
Five streaks of invisible force shot from the fingertips, piercing five thumb-sized holes into the bluestone ground. Web-like cracks spread in all directions from the holes!
Chen Zui’s heart chilled at the sight.
If he had been half a beat slower, those five holes would have been in his own body.
“You run fast.”
Cao Zhengchun’s voice came from all directions, making it impossible to tell which way he was.
His figure flickered in and out of the rain. Every time he appeared, it was accompanied by a sharp claw shadow, each one aimed at Chen Zui’s vital points.
Wherever the wind from the claws passed, the raindrops exploded, turning into a haze of mist.
This was the Wind-Riding Realm.
Unlike the trepidation of the Abyss-Facing Realm, a martial artist who stepped into the Wind-Riding Realm had already crossed that most dangerous mental hurdle.
The body merges with heaven and earth; the breath connects with all things.
Cao Zhengchun’s movement could no longer be described as fast.
It was a freedom that was almost entirely at will.
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