Bab 53: Gathering of Scholars, Impressions and Questions
Within the Grand Assembly hall of the Royal Palace of the Guozhi Kingdom, everything was already set up.
A grand hall, tables filled with the best delicacies within the Kingdom, the types that mortals could only dream about. Beauties were serving wine and drinks, refilling glasses at the slightest sign of drink running out.
The second floor of the Banquet hall was empty, as only the first would be used this time. A stage had been set up at the front of the room, a raised platform where the main subject of the meeting would stand, where he would be bombarded with questions.
The room was filled with old men, each varying degrees more wrinkled than the last. The King and the Princes were the only younger presences in the hall.
They were off to the side, sitting in their chairs whilst waiting on the main star of the show to arrive.
The King held onto his still fractured arm with a hint of hidden frustration, he wasn't showing any pain, but his thoughts still lingered on the swiftness of the Monk's movements.
'Those were not the moves of a young man that has just stumbled upon strength... You'd struggle to find many within the Kingdom who could move with such decisiveness and skill.
Maybe only Kong Tingfeng, but he's an old and experienced dog of war, not some 17-year-old young man...'
It was scary to the King. He found it hard to understand what had happened to have made Mo Yangling into a powerhouse within a year. He simply couldn't put his finger on what might have occurred during that one year.
As he was lost in thought, the old decrepit scholars were all frolicking about, mingling with each other and doing what they knew best... Complaining.
"This is preposterous... To make this many people wait for him! And he is nothing more than a snotty brat as well!"
"You tell me? I hear he's only 17, and hasn't even forgotten the taste of his mother's milk, yet the King decided to name him a Sage? A joke... What a fucking joke..."
"Indeed! To think we would be wasting our time on something so trivial when there is still so much research left to do. This Mo Yangling is truly the disgrace of the scholarly community!"
"Oh please! Don't even begin to put that child on the same stage as us hardworking scholars! He's clearly just some delinquent, he went and got lost right after receiving such an important title..."
Of course, their complaints went unheard, as the King chose to ignore them.
His children were also staying quiet by their father's side. Guo Cuifen had been in a rather strange mood lately, especially after Mo Yangling had gone on to 'become a cultivator for her' and then became a Sage, a position that even her father had to respect.
During the time he was missing, she had genuinely thought that he had passed away. She simply couldn't shake his speech about the impermanence of life from her mind.
'All conditioned phenomena...
Are like a dream, an illusion, a bubble, a shadow,
Like dew, or a flash of lightning!'
His words still rang endlessly in her mind, she had repeated that phrase so much in her mind. She had already progressed to a Martial Master thanks to the understanding she had achieved.
She felt extreme gratitude, and she couldn't forget his muscled physique and relaxed smile, even as the skin from his leg was decaying from her older brother's Mystic Art.
He had truly become a man that she could see herself spending her life cultivating alongside... But unfortunately, his life was not going to be that long.
Her older brother, Guo Shen, was also lamenting the Monk's words, as well as his strength.
He knew better than anyone just how out of his depth he was when fighting the Monk back then. He felt as if he was facing his father instead of a boy younger than him.
The monk had not even displayed a strength much greater than his, but his use of his power was so well refined and experienced that the First Prince stood no chance.
He couldn't help but feel a tinge of pity. Such a talent had been born into their Guozhi Kingdom, yet it was bound to not last long. Alas, flowers tended not to bloom eternally.
Meanwhile, the Second Prince, Guo Shihong just yawned. He had been intrigued by Mo Yangling's entire existence, but not enough to seek him out and take a break from going to the brothel.
The entire banquet was just something to fill the schedule for him.
The Royal Family waited for quite a while, with the scholars growing more and more restless by the second, until finally, the oldest among them broke.
"That's it! I have had enough of this disrespect! I am returning to my Caizhi Kingdom! I shall inform the king of this disgrace!"
It was none other than Cai Qing, a brother of the current king of the Caizhi Kingdom, and a renowned great scholar.
His research had gone far and wide throughout the continent, and his books sold in the millions. He was essentially the figurehead of the scholars that had gathered there.
The Caizhi Kingdom itself was the Guozhi Kingdom's Northen Neighbor, they shared a border and were, therefor, bitter rivals.
All countries that shared borders were essentially former enemies in the Vermillion Continent, after all every kingdom fought hard to establish their borders.
Thousands of lives were lost just to gain an inch of land within those borders. Countless atrocities were committed by all sides, as was customary in wars.
So it was no wonder that all Kingdoms were still in a state of 'Cold War', pointing their fangs at each other's throats constantly.
Such a political incident was going to be pretty big news and a rather bad time for Guo Zhu politically... But thankfully, Cai Qing didn't even get to the wide doors before they swung open with force.
"Amitabha, this Monk had finally graced you all with his presence~"
In walked the figure of none other than Mo Yangling, each step of his held a swagger that just got on the nerves of everyone present.
His torn sleeve and shirtless, loose robe combination also made him look like he had just come out of the shower.
"You- You bastard! How dare you make us all wait for you?!"
"A youngster like you should learn some respect"
"Monk?! Spoken and acted like a hooligan! Truly a disgrace!"
The hall immediately broke in loud shouts as anger levels rose.
The monk just picked his ear with a finger and looked at all of them with a bored expression.
"Wow, you all are a lot more pretentious than I expected."
He couldn't help but sigh as he already felt a migrane creeping onto him as he looked around the sea of screaming old men.
'They... They are like a flock of endlessly honking goose... Or was it geese? Amitabha, I can't be fucked to remember...'
"Pretentious?! You find yourself in front of the greatest minds of the Vermilion Continent you cretin!"
"Hah! A young man that thinks he has it all figured out, how original!"
"King Guo! You really should have picked a better fake Sage to represent you!"
The Monk just looked at all of them and scowled, getting a bit annoyed at their antics by now. His saintly patience did have a habit of running thin quite often unfortunately.
"Ok, that's it! Speak one at a time or do not speak at all! Are you screaming monkeys or scholars!?"
The Monk's voice shook the hall and echoed off the walls, many of the scholars were forced to cover their ears despite also being cultivators.
The strongest among them was still stuck at the Martial Grandmaster stage. The only exception was none other than Cai Qing, their only Golden Core Realm cultivator, who also paled when hearing the strength in the Monk's voice.
Thankfully, the King decided to finally intervene.
"Alright, now that we're done with the greetings...
Mo Yangling, take your place on the podium. You all will be asking questions one at a time, order will be decided by Cai Qing.
The questions themselves can be asked by him if the scholars in question do not wish to speak directly."
Order quickly returned to the room as the Scholars parted like the Red Sea in front of Moses, allowing the Monk to pass through.
Some held a bit of fear in their gaze as they looked at the wild young man they were about to interrogate, but at the same time they also felt safe when looking at the King and Cai Qing.
They were protected, in a public meeting. They were not going to be intimidated by the young man just because he was stronger than them.
The Monk finally walked to the podium, finding a nice cushioned chair for him to plop his ass onto before finally eyeing the gathering of scholars.
"Very well... Out of respect for King Guo I shall entertain your curiosities for a bit. What is your first question?"
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone