Chương 26: Do You Think They Are Better Than Me?
"Law phenomena..." Lu Zhiying repeated instinctively.
Gu Qiansi petted Lu Zhiying's lowered hand with a smile before putting her finger to her lips. After which, she turned her attention back to the lecture.
She had already spoken too much.
Anymore talking and those around them might no longer remain as understanding.
Seeing Gu Qiansi's actions, Lu Zhiying quickly shook herself out of her daze before doing the same.
Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi had repeatedly emphasised the importance of these cultivation lectures, so she did not wish to miss too much of it from being distracted either.
Mo Tianfeng's lecture today focused on one of the most basic concepts of cultivation – essence energy.
Foundation Building, Essence Gathering, followed by Essence Physique.
These were the three cultivation levels that marked the beginning of the cultivation path, with just about all outer disciples belonging to one of these three groups.
The Foundation Building realm was where cultivators formed their spiritual meridians, preparing their bodies for the gathering of world origin energy. At this stage, they become capable of using simple combat techniques by tapping on world origin energy. However, world origin energy was different from essence energy.
Cultivators only gained the ability to tap on essence energy after opening the dantian, which was also known as the breakthrough to the Essence Gathering realm.
The Essence Gathering realm was where cultivators gained access to the power of essence energy. By refining world origin energy and storing it in their dantian as essence energy that they could tap on at any time, cultivators dramatically reduced their reliance on world origin energy in their immediate surroundings.
Not only that, but because essence energy was essentially world origin energy that had been refined to suit them better, cultivators basically obtain a more potent source of energy, allowing cultivators to explode with a higher level of strength despite performing the same moves.
As for the Essence Physique realm that followed, as its name suggested, those who successfully broke through to this cultivation level continued to rely on essence energy as their source of power.
This made it especially important to understand essence energy in its entirety, as well as its fundamental properties.
In order to go far on the arduous cultivation path, one had to first understand the self.
And when it came to the self, there were not many aspects more essential to cultivators than the very energy residing in their body!
Because of that, Mo Tianfeng's lecture easily struck a chord with all of those present.
Still, because different individuals would need to refine world origin energy into essence energy with differing properties that was most compatible with themselves, Mo Tianfeng could only give pointers that applied on a general sense.
Ultimately, it was up to each individual present to interpret and digest these pointers, then learn to apply it to themselves.
Everyone might have different takeaways from the lecture, but it was difficult to say if one was absolutely right and another was absolutely wrong.
Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi, just like the many others present, fell into deep thought as they continued to listen.
Many concepts that they had learnt in the past began to intertwine in their heads, some becoming the keys to unlock others, while at the same time forming even more locks that would hopefully be untangled in the future.
Managing to resolve previous doubts was an exciting experience, but they were simultaneously humbled as they discovered that there was so much more that they had yet to understand.
Of course, even this discovery of their own weaknesses was a step forward by itself, one that they were more than thankful for.
Just like his previous lectures, Mo Tianfeng's lecture today on the fundamentals of essence energy was an eye opener for them, providing them with the impetus for enlightenment on various fronts.
It also helped that he kept his speech to a simple manner, not wanting to confuse the outer disciples who were certainly nowhere near his level when it came to the understanding of cultivation profundities.
Unfortunately, even this toned-down version was too much for Lu Zhiying, who had only joined the world of cultivators just four days ago.
She had yet to even enter the Foundation Building realm, not to mention come close to being able to employ essence energy.
Still, while she did not fully understand most of what was being said, Lu Zhiying did her best to memorise and analyse whatever was being said, extrapolating concepts from whatever she had learnt thus far.
It was a tall order considering her inadequate foundations, but she tried nevertheless.
What she did not expect was that under the effect of the grand array overhead, her efforts yielded far greater effects, amplified several times as though the information was voluntarily flowing into her head.
Of course, analysing and understanding was one thing, but whether the conclusion was correct was another matter altogether.
In the end, that was something that she would only find out in the future.
Everyone listened closely as though they were in an entranced state, and time flowed by before they knew it.
"...And that concludes today's lecture."
To all these outer disciples who were enjoying the injection of knowledge, those simple words sounded like a terrible curse that brought them straight out of this information paradise.
Disappointed expressions could be seen on almost all their faces, as if they had suddenly lost something important to them.
Nevertheless, all good things had to come to an end.
"Think through what I've said, and I hope that it will bring you some benefits," Mo Tianfeng said with an amiable smile. "If there's nothing else, let's see each other again at the New Year's celebration."
Hearing that, everyone in the lecture hall promptly stood up and clasped their fists towards Mo Tianfeng in genuine respect.
Zhao Yunxiao was no exception.
Just like everyone else, he bowed his head slightly and shouted in unison with the others. "Thank you for the lecture, Elder Mo!"
But immediately after saying that, Zhao Yunxiao froze.
That was because from the corner of his eyes, he saw Lu Zhiying suddenly raising her hand.
"What are you doing? Quickly put your hand down!" Zhao Yunxiao hurriedly urged in a suppressed whisper.
"Eh?" Lu Zhiying seemed to have sensed the urgency in his voice and immediately put her hand down. "Wait, are we not allowed to ask questions here?"
"This is a lecture, not a discussion!" Zhao Yunxiao answered in exasperation. "On top of that, do you know how many people are attending the lecture? If everyone were to just freely ask what they have in mind, it will take forever for the elder to answer everyone's questions! Someone as important as the elder simply does not have the time for that!"
At this moment, he was actually cursing internally, unable to believe his luck for Lu Zhiying to do something like this.
This was not a senior disciple or a deacon they were talking about, but an elder!
An elder was an existence that stood among the highest echelons of the sect, someone whom they could not afford to offend in any way.
If they were to irritate Elder Mo somehow, their future in the Black Tortoise Sect would be done for!
Even if Elder Mo did not care to do anything about it himself, those who wished to butter up to him might still end up using them as means to do so!
But at the same time, Zhao Yunxiao also understood that he only had himself to blame for not having told Lu Zhiying about all the dos and don'ts in advance.
After all, this was only Lu Zhiying's fourth day in the sect, so how could she possibly have known?
As he thought that, Zhao Yunxiao's internal curses turned into silent sighs of resignation.
Zhao Yunxiao had always thought himself to be a careful and meticulous person, always making sure that he had things planned out perfectly before putting himself in any situations.
In order to prevent ending up in any type of disadvantageous situations, he always tried to make sure to think through all possible scenarios and plan out the corresponding action plans.
However, ever since meeting Lu Zhiying, he started to feel more and more like he was not nearly as prepared for everything as he thought he was.
He really had to spend some time reflecting on himself tonight!
"What is it, young lady? Do you have a question?"
Elder Mo's usually familiar and amiable voice felt completely different this time, as if it was an arrow that pierced straight into his heart.
In the end, even though Lu Zhiying had put down her hand almost immediately, Elder Mo still caught onto it.
It was not just Elder Mo either.
Everyone in the lecture hall had their eyes fixed on Lu Zhiying right now.
These gazes were filled with shock and irritation, though a majority were simply dumbfounded and unable to believe what Lu Zhiying just did, a similar response to that of Zhao Yunxiao.
"Please don't worry about it, Elder Mo," Liang Wenshao suddenly spoke up. "We will make sure to take care of junior martial sister and answer any question she has later."
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but look over in surprise.
He thought that Liang Wenshao had a grudge against Lu Zhiying, so why was he stepping in to bail her out all of a sudden?
However, his joy was doomed to be short-lived.
"Is Elder Mo talking to you? Who are you to interrupt?" Hua Sheng said from his seat that was similar at the front row.
Liang Wenshao froze, then quietly put his head down.
He might have chosen to come up with a rebuttal if it was someone else, but Hua Sheng was not someone whom he dared trifle with.
But along with Hua Sheng's remark, the atmosphere in the lecture hall turned even colder.
"My apologies, Elder Mo. I was slightly confused earlier, but I think I have roughly figured things out," Lu Zhiying added with an embarrassed smile. "If I have any more doubts, I will approach my senior martial brothers and sisters just like what Senior Martial Brother Liang suggested."
"Is that so?" Elder Mo smiled back in response. "I'm curious, so do indulge me this once. Who exactly will you be approaching if you do have other doubts that arise?"
"This..." Lu Zhiying awkwardly turned towards her side. "I will probably approach Senior Martial Brother Zhao and Senior Martial Sister Gu..."
Zhao Yunxiao: "..."
Gu Qiansi: "..."
It was nice to be appreciated by their junior martial sister, but this was not exactly the type of situation where they wanted to be named.
"I see," Elder Mo nodded before continuing. "So let me clarify one thing. I am giving you an opportunity to clarify your doubts with me now, but you are choosing to turn to them instead. Does that mean you think they are better than me?"
Thud-! Thud-!
In an instant, Zhao Yunxiao and Gu Qiansi had fallen to their knees.
"Please pardon our mistakes!" the two of them called out in unison.
Elder Mo had spoken in his usual amiable tone, but his words sent a chill right down their spines.
Imagine claiming that an elder of the sect was not as good as a pair of outer disciples, that was something that could be regarded as downright disrespect and disloyalty towards their sect!
If such allegations were found to be true, the resulting punishment would not be light by any measure, and could even end in exile from the sect!
"Hurry up, kneel and seek forgiveness!" Zhao Yunxiao quickly urged upon seeing that Lu Zhiying had remained standing.
"But why would I? That is not what I said at all!" Lu Zhiying frowned. "You should be standing back up instead. I'm sure Elder Mo is not someone who will jump to such conclusions, and is probably just joking about it."
Zhao Yunxiao felt like fainting upon hearing that.
Of course, he thought the same way as well – that it was unlikely that someone like Elder Mo would be so easily offended.
However, it was also a fact that while they were used to seeing Elder Mo during the monthly lectures, they did not have many interactions with Elder Mo on a personal basis, and thus did not know his exact personality.
With that in mind, the rational way to act would be by considering the worst-case scenario.
After all, there were some indeed some powerful people who were rather eccentric.
In the slightest chance that Elder Mo was truly this petty, taking his words lightly would only end up landing themselves in deeper trouble!
But now Lu Zhiying had gone and said it anyway.
This was akin to a random mortal peasant meeting his emperor for the first time, then walking over to those whom the emperor was about to punish, and proceeding to tell them not to worry since the emperor was probably just joking.
Such actions were completely inconceivable!
But what's done is done.
Now, he could only pray that Lu Zhiying was right, and that her read on the situation was actually the correct one.
Otherwise, all of them were doomed.
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