Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Meng Qi and his friends stared at Zhou Xin who was standing at the entrance to Zhao Bai’s manor.
Zhou Xin put on a calm facade and said, “Mr. Su, the Lord has given his orders. You and your companions must leave the fiefdom immediately. If you’re still here when evening falls, you will be forcefully evicted. When that time comes, please don’t blame us for not showing you any courtesy!”
Zhao Bai, the talent under Lord Bo’Le’s patronage, hurriedly said, “Mr. Zhou, the Lord has always been one to appreciate the wise and talented, not to mention he is generous and lenient as well. Why would he evict Mr. Su and his companions? They’re all people of great talent!”
“Their doctrines are arrogant, unreasonable, and contradict the ways of the world. They’re fools who don’t know what’s good for them! The Lord gave this order because he can’t bear to see the ordinary citizens of the fiefdom bewitched!” Zhou Xin said with a grim expression.
Zhao Bai was about to argue but Meng Qi raised his hand and calmly said, “We’ll leave immediately.”
There was no change in the expression of his companions as if they had expected this outcome.
Zhou Xin nodded. “Mr. Su understands how to survive in this world.”
With the Lord’s command communicated, he turned around and led several Exterior-realm talents away.
“Mr. Su, why didn’t you justify yourself?” Zhao Bai had always thought that the talent and intelligence of Mr. Su and his companions would be worthy of polite, even deferential, treatment from feudal princes and aristocrats. They only had to explain themselves well enough. After all, Lord Bo’Le was not a stupid person!
Meng Qi smiled. “It’s evident that Lord Bo’Le has made up his mind considering that he made such a decision after listening to Zhou Xin’s reiteration of our lectures. Furthermore, he has few talents for the size of his ambition. His narrow-mindedness underlies his apparent frankness. If we try to speak up for ourselves, we may incur a great disaster instead. In any case, it doesn’t bode well for us to scheme when our paths are different. So why not leave now and seek a suitable feudal vassal to lobby?”
Lord Bo’Le himself was a grandmaster and one of the most high-standing aristocrats in Han state. He had no shortage of high-ranking officials and senior officials by his side, some of them grandmasters or even in the peak realm of the Exterior. He was not someone Meng Qi and his friends could make an enemy out of, thus they took advantage of his order and left the fiefdom.
Based on the information that the Immortals had provided, there was no Dharmakaya in any of the nations in the Apotheosized World. The strongest master in this world was in the realm of Half-step to the Exterior Scenery. Furthermore, the secret Taoism sects and Buddhism veins behind the various great nations seemed to lack Dharmakayas as well – or at least, Primogenitor Lingbao had yet to come across any. However, they possessed strange, magical divine weapons to hold down their forts. Their legends about immortals were endless as well. Not even Primogenitor Lingbao would treat them lightly. Who knew when a powerful and unyielding Dharmakaya who had participated in the Apotheosis War would pop up out of nowhere?
The Dharmakayas of Six Hegemons that had once lived among the various nations in the past.
“Mr. Su’s words are true.” Bai Song, the man with a short beard under his chin, turned to look at Zhao Bai. “Brother Zhao, Brother Wang and I have always turned down your repeated attempts to persuade us to seek refuge under Lord Bo’Le. That’s because we can tell that he doesn’t truly appreciate the wise and talented. He appears generous and disregards one’s background, but he is, in fact, a proud and narrow-minded person. He’s so arrogant that he holds no one in his regard.”
His words momentarily stunned Zhao Bai, who then gritted his teeth. “Since I’ve become a follower of the School of Mo, I’ll naturally follow Mr. Su. I’ll go and gather the rest of the followers now.”
Meng Qi shook his head. “There’s no need. If you gather them, you’ll be harming them instead.”
“Harming them?” Both Zhao Bai and Wang Qi looked puzzled.
“You’re all muddled in the head! Lord Bo’Le insisted on expelling Mr. Su and his companions even if he had to damage his reputation of being a patron of the wise and talented. Did you think he would’ve done so without a wicked intention?”
“Correct.” Meng Qi glanced at Bai Song. This person was thoughtful and capable of making good judgments. If not for his lack of experience, he would make a decent strategist, unlike Zhao Bai and Wang Qi who were more adept in martial arts.
Vital Qi could be found in abundance in the Apotheosized World. The boundary between heaven and man was weaker than in their own world and even weaker than in the world of Sword Emperor and Devil Empress. Thus the requirement of one’s heart to advance into the Exterior realm was not as high here.
When Meng Qi saw that understanding still eluded Zhao Bai and Wang Qi, he explained, “Lord Bo’Le recruits many talents under his patronage to put on the pretense of being an admirer of the wise and talented. That shows that he has considerable ambition. Not only did he not request for an explanation after listening to our lectures yesterday, he even risked damaging his reputation by expelling us. From this, you can tell that he lacks the talent to make up for his lofty ambition and is merely angling for fame with a narrow mind underneath a generous appearance. It’s precisely because of this that he wouldn’t let us off so easily. If we allow other followers to come with us and Lord Bo’Le’s men give chase, it’ll be difficult for us to protect them all.”
During last night’s discussion, Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu had suggested that if Lord Bo’Le immediately expelled them instead of protecting his reputation by allowing them to come and go as they pleased, he would definitely be harboring a wicked intention. That was why Meng Qi said what he said.
Zhao Bai sank into momentary silence. “You’re right. We can’t travel around with so many people.”
Meng Qi smiled, appearing not the least panicked. “The others have done nothing but attend the lectures. Being a follower of the School of Mo is but child’s play in their eyes. Since I’ve abandoned them, I believe Lord Bo’Le would definitely not blame them. Perhaps he’ll even show them more favor as a way of demonstrating his magnanimity.
“It’s up to them whether they’ll continue being followers of the School of Mo or not, but if they do, they mustn’t let it slip and must wait for us to contact them. If there are people who are interested in becoming a follower, they must gain the approval and guarantee from two existing followers.”
When Meng Qi was done speaking, Jiang Zhiwei took out several bamboo slips and said, “This is the enlightening the Apertures skill of our School of Mo. Whoever who becomes a follower can learn this immediately.”
In the past few days, with Meng Qi and Jiang Zhiwei at the helm, they had combed over all the enlightening the Apertures-enlightening skills that they had ever seen and combined them. With their current knowledge, they merged all of those skills into a set of scripts that encompassed sword art, bladesmanship, palm art, fist art, heart sutras, and Lightness Skill and dubbed it the ‘Book of Mo’!
Compared with the current martial arts, Book of Mo had a clear advantage in that it was exceptionally efficient in inhaling and exhaling Sky Qi and Vital Qi. The world of Meng Qi and his friends had, after all, undergone great changes. It was unlike the abundant Vital Qi found during ancient times where a person could make a breakthrough after simple cultivation. Thus, the masters after the medieval times had to rely on putting in laborious effort in an environment with thin Vital Qi. This made Book of Mo a greater skill than those found in ancient times.
This did not mean that the ancient powers were inferior to their counterparts in later generations; they simply had no need for such skills. However, the Apertures-enlightening cultivation would be faster for martial artists in the Apotheosized World that concealed a sense of dilapidatedness.
In the beginning, Meng Qi had wanted to spread the stratagem technique that was unique to the School of Mo. Even if it was an act, he had to make it as believable as possible. However, the intricacies of the stratagem technique completely escaped his understanding. He could only make available to the public the skills of realms beneath that of the Exterior in order to replace it.
“They’re really going to disseminate the skill?” The news came as a happy surprise for Zhao Bai. He had never seen any aristocrat impart their skill upon ordinary people without a prior agreement. Furthermore, Mr. Su had even said that it was up to the person whether or not he wanted to continue to be a follower of the School of Mo.
“This is what it means to love with impartiality!”
“The same holds true for all of you as well. It’s up to you whether to come along with us or not. I’d advise you to stay if you have family here.” Meng Qi did not want to cheat Zhao Bai and the others because he and his companions would dust themselves off and leave once the deadline of three months arrived.
“The world is like an everlasting night. It’s difficult enough with me alone; how could I shoulder the burden of having a family?” Bai Song cupped his hand in the other before his chest. “I’m willing to follow you and listen to your guidance, Mr. Su.”
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Zhao Bai and Wang Qi expressed the same thoughts.
“This is good.” Meng Qi put on a show of sighing. “Someday, I’ll talk to you all about my reflection upon the way of the world.”
The so-called ways of the world, in fact, referred to a worldview or perspective on the world at large. Meng Qi was certain that the ‘ways’ were something that had been considered in the past. The various schools of thought, besides not discussing the concept of righteousness, all had their respective reflections upon the malpractices of the world as well as corresponding solutions as the foundation of their systems. There was no shortage of rumination over the world and universe. Each of the schools had their own worldview and perspective on life.
A master who did not ponder over such questions had no right to be called a “child” of the world!
Whether or not their answers were correct was irrelevant. After all, not even the schools of thought from the medieval times dared to make the bold statement that their own answers were right.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Su!” The three Exterior experts who lacked knowledge and experience were overjoyed.
Zhao Bai and the other two managed to find other followers of the School of Mo in record time, relaying Meng Qi’s words as well as secretly passing on copies of the Book of Mo.
When it was close to evening, the three of them drove with Meng Qi and his friends out of the city. They had not been out of the city for long when they abandoned their carriage in favor of flying through the clouds.
After they had been flying for some time, Meng Qi suddenly called for them to stop. He turned to Bai Song and the other two. “We’ll head northeast.”
“Mr. Su, are we not going to Huan state anymore?” Bai Song asked in surprise. Meng Qi and his friends had been gathering news all this while, ultimately choosing to obtain specific information on Huan state. Thus, he had guessed that they were planning to head for Huan state and give lectures there.
However, they were not going to Huan state, which was located southeast, but to the northeast instead?
Having been reminded by Bai Song’s question, Wang Qi and Zhao Bai also felt that they ‘ought’ to be heading to Huan state. They, too, were perplexed by the sudden change in plans.
Meng Qi smiled at them. “Since you were able to figure out that we’re planning to head to Huan state, do you think it would have escaped Lord Bo’Le’s knowledge?”
“I see. To be honest, Huan state is a good choice. What a pity indeed…” Bai Song nodded, secretly feeling quite sorry for all the effort that he and his companions had put into news-gathering.
Meng Qi smiled as he looked at them. “With all of you and your knowledge of the situations in our surroundings, is there a need to worry about not being able to find a more suitable state?”
“Oh, that’s right…” Zhao Bai looked clearly stunned. He had forgotten that he, Wang Qi, and Bai Song had a rather good grasp of their surroundings.
“So the news-gathering had been a sham in order to mislead Lord Bo’Le!”
From the perspective of Meng Qi and his companions, the reaction of a high-ranking aristocrat like Lord Bo’Le had shaped the new and improved Mo school of thought. When they carry out lobbying acts in the future, they already knew how to screen for appropriate targets and which concepts to conceal.
Running between Han and Huan states was a steep mountain range shrouded in dense fog that extended forever into the distance. There was no shortage of tyrannical monsters hidden in its depths. Even experts of the Exterior would take only several of the predetermined passages to go through the mountain range.
It was precisely due to this geography and environment – compounded by the fact that the main forces of Han state needed to guard against Qin and Tang states – that the small and weak Huan state was never annexed by Han state.
Two figures were floating among the clouds, looking a little impatient as the sky began to darken.
“Junior Brother, are they up to anything?” the taller, brown-robed one asked.
The one with the child-like short stature and a massive head had a red robe draped over his shoulders. His ears shook along with the whistling wind. “No.”
The brown-robed Senior Brother was suddenly enveloped in a golden glow, radiating a light that pierced the void and spread far and wide. Reflected in his eyes was the midair situation of Bo’Le City.
So it turned out that he possessed a pair of Far-seeing Eyes!
Moments later, the child-sized Junior Brother jumped a little and gnashed his teeth. “They’re heading northeast! How cunning! If Senior Brother hadn’t been watching their movements, they’d probably have fooled us. If we lose track of them, it’ll be a challenge to see and hear them again!”
The Senior Brother smirked. “It’s all thanks to Uncle Master of Palm Sect dispatching us here. We’re only succeeding because of our extraordinary innate skills of Far-seeing Eyes and Omniscient Ears. If it were up to someone else, I fear even Half-step to Dharmakaya masters would lose track of them!”
They cautiously relied on their Far-seeing Eyes and Omniscient Ears, taking care to follow Meng Qi and his friends from a great distance. Moreover, they were even able to circle around Meng Qi and the others with the speed of Peerless Master Pros.
“Junior Brother, Lord Bo’Le said the five of them are great talents and don’t make for easy targets. We must be careful.” The brown-robed Senior Brother had received guidance time and again, thus he did not make any hasty movements.
His Junior Brother nodded. “Uncle Master of Palm Sect had bestowed a secret treasure on me. Now’s the time to use it!”
Even as he spoke, he continued listening to the movements carefully, “It seems that they have yet to pass the first step of the Celestial Ladder, but the breath of Mr. Su appears dense. It is impossible to judge at the moment. In case there are any variables, we’ll deal with him first!”
“Good idea.” The brown-robed Senior Brother nodded.
He took out a secret treasure—a dark-colored ancient clock engraved with strange patterns. Two simple seal scripts were etched on it: “Mind-bending”!
The big-headed Junior Brother also took out an ink painting of mountains and rivers from within his clothes.
He gently shook the scroll of painting and it began to unravel and merge with the surrounding void. It materialized white clouds against a backdrop of blue, replacing the sky. It made the void seem as ordinary as ever.
This was the secret treasure called the Map of Mountains and Rivers!