32: Chapter 32 The Saintess's Intuition, and a Large-Scale "Playing the Fool" Scene
Below the Cloud Platform, a desolate breeze stirred, unable to dispel the almost palpable, solidified silence.
Thousands of gazes, like countless searchlights, were nailed firmly onto the gray-robed Servant in the corner of the crowd.
Li Mo was so embarrassed he could almost dig out a new Scripture Pavilion with his toes inside his shoes.
He could clearly feel Su Qianqian's gaze. It wasn't like looking at a person, but more like flipping through an ancient text encrypted with countless layers.
This 【Eye of True Sight】 is just too overbearing!
Three layers of 【Concealment Talismans】, one 【heaven-deceiving stone】, layers of physical barriers, and yet she could still sniff out the 'ink-stain' deep within my Soul!
"Senior Brother, why are you silent?"
Su Qianqian took another step closer.
That faint, elusive scent of cool sandalwood, mixed with the aroma of old books, drifted into Li Mo's nostrils.
Her starry eyes no longer held mere curiosity, but a burning obsession, like a bibliophile who had found a legendary, unique tome.
"Your Soul aura is chaotic, impure, muddled."
"But beneath this chaotic surface, I can read a kind of... terrifyingly profound logic."
Her voice was ethereal, yet each word struck at the heart.
"Like a book of sages... written in countless lines of garbled code."
Li Mo's heart gave a violent lurch.
Damn!
A Reincarnation of the Literary Star is this terrifying!
This assessment was so accurate it made his scalp tingle. The forbidden books, secret manuals, 'troll guides', and 'hater's lexicon' stuffed into the System in his Sea of Consciousness—weren't they precisely a 'book of sages composed of garbled code'?
"F-Fairy... I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else?"
The profound expression on Li Mo's face instantly crumbled, replaced by an extreme look of bewilderment and humility.
He gave a sharp sniffle, his back bending like a boiled shrimp, his voice taking on a fawning tremble.
"This lowly one is just a floor sweeper, illiterate..."
"What you said about books, logic... this lowly one... this lowly one doesn't understand a single word!"
He tried his best to put on a stupid expression, a mix of being overwhelmed by the honor and terrified.
"A floor sweeper?"
Su Qianqian's beautiful brows lightly furrowed, as if lamenting a good book covered in dust.
She extended a jade-white finger and gently pointed through the air.
The movement was extremely light, yet Li Mo felt a chill in his chest.
The corner of the spine of the book 《The Self-Cultivation of a Professional Contrarian》 he had just finished comprehending slipped out from the folds of his robe on its own.
"A floor sweeper, yet carrying 《The Great Zhou Treatise on Self-Cultivation》 on his person?" Su Qianqian's tone held a hint of amusement.
"Aiya!"
Li Mo, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, frantically pressed the book back into his chest, his old face flushing crimson.
"This... this lowly one picked it up to prop up a table leg! To prop up a table leg!"
"The Fairy's reprimand is just! Such cultured things are indeed unfit for a coarse person like me, it would dirty the book! I'll use it for kindling later!"
On the other side of the training grounds, Dugu Yun, the Grand Elder of the Heavenly River Sword Sect, watched Li Mo's earth-shattering performance, the corner of his mouth twitching madly.
This kid, lying without blushing or his heart skipping a beat, it's practically innate talent.
"Saintess Su."
Sect Master Ye Gucheng finally snapped out of his shock. Despite the turmoil in his heart, he steeled himself and stepped forward to mediate.
"This youth is indeed a Servant of our Sect's Scripture Pavilion, born dull-witted. The Saintess, perhaps fatigued from the long journey, may have misjudged."
On the spirit boat, Zhao Wuji of Jixia Academy watched this scene, his eyes first filled with suspicion, then turning to thick jealousy and disdain.
He snorted coldly.
"Junior Sister Su, wasting time on such a lowly Servant, what kind of behavior is that? Do not delay the proper business of the Dao Debate."
Su Qianqian, however, paid no heed to the words of those behind her.
She looked deeply at Li Mo, her gaze as if wanting to imprint every character of his Soul.
Suddenly, she moved, leaning close to Li Mo's ear.
Her breath carried the fragrance of orchids, but her voice was cold as ice.
"Can you hide from the eyes of all living beings? Can you hide from the mandate of the Heavenly Dao?"
"This 'book' of yours, I will read it word for word sooner or later."
Having said that, she turned gracefully, her white robes purer than snow, her lotus steps light as she elegantly ascended the white marble Cloud Platform once more.
That mysterious perception that seemed to want to flay his Soul and dismantle his bones abruptly withdrew.
Li Mo's whole body relaxed, only then realizing his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
"This woman..."
"Is just too damn bizarre."
As the leaders of the four major powers retook their seats, the Southern Wilderness Dao Debate Conference finally officially commenced.
In the sky above, a massive ancient bronze mirror materialized out of thin air. Its surface was smooth as water, reflecting the entire Cloud Break Mountain Range.
This was a treasure of the Central Continent's Heavenly Dao Alliance—the heart-questioning mirror.
Not only could it monitor the entire venue to prevent cheating, but after the debate began, it could also materialize the 'legal principles' and 'Dao essence' of both sides.
Whose reasoning was more correct, whose logic was stronger—the spectacle manifested in the mirror would be all the more magnificent and vast.
"Heavenly River Sword Sect, Ye Gucheng."
Zhao Wuji, holding a folding fan, was the first to step forward, his tone arrogant, seeking to dominate from the outset.
"Since this is a Dao debate, let us first debate 'upholding the Dao'!"
"Your Heavenly River Sword Sect, as the orthodox Sword path of the Southern Wilderness, yet you secretly harbor the 'sinful blood' of the previous dynasty, collude with demonic cultivators—this is disloyal!"
"You do not obey the Imperial command, you resist the Celestial Master's decree—this is unrighteous!"
"Those who are disloyal and unrighteous, what qualifications do you have to discuss the sword? What face do you have to establish a Sect?!"
His voice, infused with the Confucian Vast Righteous Qi, transformed into rolling thunder, pressing down on the Heavenly River Sword Sect Disciples until their faces turned pale and their minds wavered.
This tactic of leading with a major accusation was always Jixia Academy's specialty.
Ye Gucheng's face darkened. Subconsciously, he cast a pleading look towards Dugu Yun.
Dugu Yun, however, remained expressionless, only using the corner of his eye to subtly sweep over the special group of 'cheerleaders' below.
The signal had arrived.
Among the ten Disciples specially trained by Li Mo, an outer Sect deacon in charge of Sect procurement—Zhang San—sauntered out with a swagger.
On his face was a smile identical to Li Mo's from moments before—a 'I'm a scoundrel, who's afraid of whom' grin.
"Lord Zhao, your words are truly lacking in sophistication."
Zhang San had his hands tucked in his sleeves, his neck crooked, looking askance at Zhao Wuji on the platform.
"You keep talking about 'sinful blood'. May I ask, who determined this 'sin'? Was it the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, or is it your personal grudge, Lord Zhao?"
"If it's the laws of Great Zhou, then may I ask, has Great Zhou unified the Southern Wilderness under its royal domain? Using the sword of a previous dynasty to behead an official of the current dynasty—have you listened to too many stories and lost your mind?"
"You!" Zhao Wuji was taken aback, almost dropping his folding fan. "Impudent youth! Great Zhou is ordained by heaven..."
"Aiyo! Here we go again, here we go again, starting with the 'heaven's mandate' nonsense!"
Zhang San directly cut him off, his voice suddenly rising an octave, resounding throughout the venue.
"Since you understand heaven's mandate so well, you must know 'heaven has a virtue of cherishing life,' right? We take in orphans—that's 'benevolence'! We protect the peace of this region—that's 'righteousness'! How come in the mouth of a Disciple of the sages like you, we have to slaughter all the orphans in the world to be considered loyal and righteous?"
"Did you read your sage books to the dogs?!"
"You... you are insolent!" Zhao Wuji trembled with rage, his handsome face turning the color of pig liver.
*Hummm—!*
The heart-questioning mirror in the sky suddenly trembled violently.
On its surface, white light blazed brilliantly, actually materializing a faint, blurry phantom of a 'Benevolence and Righteousness Memorial Archway,' which came crashing down towards Zhao Wuji's direction!
That was Zhang San's 'sophistry'—in the judgment of the heart-questioning mirror, it had actually formed a logically self-consistent 'fallacy'!
The reasoning was crude, but it held!
The entire venue erupted in uproar!
"Holy shit? This generation of the Heavenly River Sword Sect... why aren't they following the script?"
"Weren't Sword Cultivators supposed to be unyielding, preferring to break rather than bend? Why did they send a street thug up to curse?"
Several Elders from Jixia Academy could no longer sit still.
They had anticipated countless ways the Heavenly River Sword Sect might refute—like using 'Sword Cultivator integrity' to resist stubbornly, or arguing with 'Southern Wilderness autonomy.'
They never expected the other side to flip the table entirely, sending a professional hater to dig up their ancestral graves!
At the head seat, Su Qianqian sat upright, her beautiful eyes calm and unruffled.
She watched Zhang San, who was single-handedly taking on the Confucian scholars and infuriating Zhao Wuji, but the corner of her eye remained fixed on the Servant with his head bowed at the back of the crowd.
She keenly noticed that several times, when Zhang San's speech showed a momentary hesitation, that Servant's fingers hidden in his sleeves would make imperceptible, subtle movements.
Profound, and precise.
The next moment, Zhang San would seem enlightened, and the logical traps he spat out would become even more vicious, even more flawless.
"So..."
"You are the invisible 'pen'."
Su Qianqian murmured inwardly, a hint of an undetectable, playful smile curling at the corner of her mouth.
She slowly stood up, her clear, melodious voice cutting through the debate that had already descended into a dead loop.
"For the first round of 'debating principles,' the Senior Brothers of the Heavenly River Sword Sect are knowledgeable and eloquent. Let us call it a draw."
As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Wuji felt as if granted a reprieve, while Ye Gucheng's heart leapt into his throat.
Su Qianqian stood gracefully on the Cloud Platform, extending a slender, jade-like finger to point gently at the Void Realm.
"Next, let us debate the second item—'Dharma Manifestations.'"
"The Confucian school advocates the unity of all things, nurturing the universe with Qi. I have heard your Sect's Scripture Pavilion is an ancient structure of a thousand years, with profoundheritage."
Her voice carried a hint of a young maiden's coquettishness, but the content made Li Mo's Soul almost flee in terror.
"I wonder if today, it can withstand this little lady's... 《Demon-Suppressing Scroll》?"
Before her words even finished, the air before her solidified out of thin air into a massive sheet of rice paper stretching across heaven and earth!
Spiritual power burst from her fingertips, transforming into the tip of a brush!
She intended to use the heavens and earth as paper, spiritual power as ink, to write a magical scroll in the air!
With each character she wrote, the entire earth veins of the Cloud Break Mountain Range trembled violently!
She was going to directly bombard the Scripture Pavilion with a Spell from a thousand li away!
Ten thousand grass-mud horses stampeded through Li Mo's heart.
This crazy woman, after all this circling, was indeed still aiming to demolish my home base!