Pride and Prejudice

Wei Yuan had to admit that the power of preconceived notions and ingrained prejudice was extraordinarily formidable. Even though three days had passed since the Selection Assembly, looking at the newly minted President of the Academy of Sciences still felt surreal to him. By comparison, Old Daoist Chuhe came from an agricultural and pastoral background, and raising spirit pets was his core vocational skill. Moreover, under the old Daoist's sole stewardship, land reclamation and livestock breeding had expanded at breakneck speed. That the people of Qingming could eat meat was largely to his credit. When it came down to it, half the credit for Wei Yuan's millions of strands of human fortune azure qi belonged to him as well. Thus, when everyone saw that the old Daoist's Dao of Spirit Pets could get an immortal chicken to vouch for him on the platform, all desire to compete fizzled out. After all, the old Daoist had fairly and squarely overwhelmed the competition with his vocational expertise. Under the tacit rules, cultivation duels ranked second, to be invoked only when vocational skills were tied. Thus, while the old Daoist becoming president had come as something of a surprise, it was accepted by all. But Feng Tingyu... Wei Yuan looked at the carefree, nonchalant Feng Tingyu standing before him, truly at a loss for words. He admitted that Feng Tingyu had seized the presidency through sheer ability, triumphing even over Ji Liuli's Linglong True Intent. Any other post would have been fine, but this was the President of the Qingming Academy of Sciences! And a disciple from the Hall of the Bright King had ended up taking it? Seeing Wei Yuan looking so troubled yet silent, Feng Tingyu seemed to catch on. Stepping up to him, she patted her left buttock and said, "One thousand and twenty-four." Then her right buttock: "One thousand and twenty-four." As if that were not enough, she cupped her chest and likewise said, "One thousand and twenty-four..." Wei Yuan felt a bit dizzy watching her—after all, she had only cupped one side. With that, Wei Yuan finally understood just how unfathomable Feng Tingyu was. Perhaps the only person who could go toe-to-toe with Feng Tingyu was Zhang Sheng, who had cultivated five hundred sword-wielding immortals. Now it all came down to how many tasks each sword-wielding immortal could handle on average: fewer than eight meant certain defeat; eight or more was needed for a fighting chance. Wei Yuan was rendered speechless. Then a sudden realization struck him: over the past two years, he had worked day and night calculating grotto-heaven orbits, quadrupling his computing capacity. He had considered himself remarkably intelligent, with few rivals under heaven, only to find he couldn't even match Feng Tingyu's backside? As if knowing what Wei Yuan was thinking, Feng Tingyu turned sideways, leaned forward, and bent at the waist, asking, "Frustrating, isn't it? Want to give it a good spanking?" ... Walking out of his residence, Wei Yuan slammed headlong into a mountain of flesh and rebounded right back into the courtyard. The mountain was not tall, yet it was incomparably hard and solid, capable of crushing anything, and overwhelmingly heavy, subtly warping everything around it. It was none other than the true body of the Hall Master of the Bright King. Wei Yuan was startled and quickly bowed in greeting, wondering why the Hall Master of the Bright King had suddenly turned back. "Inside," the Hall Master said with a stern expression. Wei Yuan ushered him into the main hall, seated himself in the lower position, and respectfully asked the purpose of his visit. The Hall Master said slowly, "I hear that Feng Tingyu was just elected President of the Academy of Sciences. That is a wonderful thing. Yet some people are dissatisfied and slander her in secret, claiming that a disciple of my Hall of the Bright King isn't fit to hold such a post. Is there truth to this?!" Wei Yuan felt somewhat guilty. Besides, he truly couldn't defeat the man before him—not even the slightest chance. Hardening his resolve, Wei Yuan braced himself and said, "There is such a thing? This disciple was unaware as well. But rest assured, Patriarch, I will investigate immediately and be sure to drag out everyone wagging their tongues behind our backs!" The Hall Master stared at Wei Yuan for a long moment before saying, "How is it I heard you were one of them?" Wei Yuan put on a face of righteous indignation. "Pure rumor! This disciple has never said anything of the sort to anyone!" On this point, Wei Yuan was completely confident. He had only thought it to himself; he hadn't breathed a word to anyone. Objectively, Feng Tingyu had fought for and won the position fair and square under the rules. Personally, his relationship with Feng Tingyu was special; even if she truly made a blunder, Wei Yuan would take responsibility without hesitation to keep her from coming to harm. Satisfied with Wei Yuan's attitude, the Hall Master said, "This seat was originally heading back to the Northern Mountain Gate, but somehow ended up here. I heard Feng Tingyu became the president of that... sci... what was it?" "Academy of Sciences." "Ah, yes, yes, President of the Academy of Sciences, that's it! It ought to be a good thing, but I also heard people dared to slander a disciple of my Hall of the Bright King in secret. Such insolence! Do they think this seat won't kill?!" Wei Yuan hurriedly pacified the Hall Master's temper, then said, "This disciple will investigate at once." The Hall Master said, "No need for all that trouble. Hand over control of the Zhou Tian Celestial Stars Array to me. Three breaths will be enough for this seat." Wei Yuan transferred control. In an instant, countless points of light lit up around the Hall Master by the thousands and tens of thousands, each representing an image fragment captured by the array. In a single breath, the Hall Master reviewed all of them, then switched to another batch, and another. In the span of three breaths, he cycled through five entire batches, totaling more than thirty thousand clips. Wei Yuan watched in awe and wonder. Only now did he understand what it truly meant for great wisdom to appear as foolishness. Yet among those tens of thousands of clips, the Hall Master found only seven or eight that slandered Feng Tingyu. Most of the conversations were between pairs of disciples from the Palace of Grand Beginning; outside the Palace of Grand Beginning, after all, few knew what disciples of the Hall of the Bright King actually did. In contrast, among the images concerning Feng Tingyu, there were tens of thousands praising and admiring her. Some had even secretly painted portraits of her, and because the likenesses were so vivid, many buyers were vying for them at high prices. Seeing a business opportunity, numerous scholars who fancied themselves skilled painters took up their brushes and produced portrait after portrait of Feng Tingyu in various poses, all of which sold remarkably well. It had to be said that Feng Tingyu was exceedingly beautiful, with an exceptionally striking figure, leaving onlookers stunned upon first sight. And upon hearing that she had won the presidency in plain view of the public by fighting her way through countless powerhouses, their admiration grew even deeper. The more Wei Yuan watched, the stranger his expression became. Wasn't this clearly the prelude to gaining immense karmic luck? Moreover, judging by the images captured by the Hall Master, Feng Tingyu was plainly beloved; her popularity was skyrocketing, completely unstoppable. Only now did Wei Yuan realize the power of open public disclosure. Because Feng Tingyu had seized the presidency under the watchful gaze of the multitude, all talk of whether she was suitable or qualified simply dissipated on its own. It only circulated within small cliques of Palace of Grand Beginning disciples who thought they knew the inside story, but it could neither be aired openly nor make any waves. As it turned out, so long as everything was brought into the light of day, winning over the public was that simple. The outcome surprised the Hall Master of the Bright King as well, but his face couldn't help beaming with joy. He slapped Wei Yuan hard on the shoulder and said, "Forget it, forget it. A few juniors from the Palace of Grand Beginning wagging their tongues—let them be! The pride and prejudice in people's hearts is stubborn to the core and can't be shaken at all, so why waste the effort? Just like that Old Thief Chunqiu, who refuses to admit under any circumstance that he isn't as clever as me..." "Who says I'm not as clever as you?!" Xuanyue's voice rang out, laced with unmistakable fury. Wei Yuan hastily bowed. "Patriarch, why have you come as well?" True Monarch Xuanyue said, "With a great war imminent, the enemy immortal could make a move at any moment. By dropping by your place often, his schemes might land on us instead. Old Ming and I have tough lives—even if an immortal's plots hit us, the backlash against him will hurt more than whatever harm we take. Let him suffer a few setbacks, and he'll learn to behave..." The Hall Master raged, "My surname is Xu, not Old Ming!" "You are the Hall Master of the Bright King, and you're older than me, so of course I should call you Old Ming." Just as the two Perfected Persons were about to come to blows, the Hall Master of the Bright King suddenly shuddered and let out a muffled grunt. His eyes turned blood-red, and two trails of blood trickled down from them. Without a word, True Monarch Xuanyue threw his entire body forward, unexpectedly knocking the Hall Master out of his spot and taking his place. Immediately after, True Monarch Xuanyue grunted as well, his left arm dangling limply, completely immobilized. His sleeve was gone without a trace, and his arm was dripping with blood, more than half the flesh stripped away to expose arm bones gleaming with an azure luster. Wei Yuan was horrified and started forward, but the Hall Master pushed him gently aside and barked, "The follow-up attack isn't over yet! Stay back!" At that very moment, in the distant City of the Moon, Huiye withdrew her left hand. Blood dripped from the tips of her index and middle fingers, their long nails vanished without a trace. Staring at her fingers where the blood refused to stop flowing, she murmured softly, "Someone actually took the tribulation in his stead? That makes things rather difficult." After a tense standoff, the Hall Master sensed the terrifying pressure dissipate and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He grabbed a handful of medicinal powder and sprinkled it over True Monarch Xuanyue's arm, followed by a mouthful of fresh blood spat right onto it. The mouthful of blood spat out by the Hall Master shifted on its own, settled into place, and transformed directly into Xuanyue's flesh and blood! With that, the healing speed instantly surged several dozen times over, though the Hall Master's aura weakened noticeably. Having treated Xuanyue's wound, the Hall Master fumed, "I could have easily endured the second strike! Your dharma body is like paper-mache—what did you rush in to meddle for?!" True Monarch Xuanyue coughed repeatedly and said, "With me here, I naturally couldn't stand by and watch a fellow sect member take two consecutive hits. Even if you deserve to take a few extra." Only now did Wei Yuan find room to speak. He hurried over to inspect Xuanyue's injury. True Monarch Xuanyue waved his hand impatiently, shooing Wei Yuan away. "A minor injury is nothing..." The Hall Master sneered. "A minor injury? Without that mouthful of blood from me, you'd need ten years of recuperation at the very least." Xuanyue felt a bit awkward and didn't take the bait. Instead, he asked Wei Yuan, "Do you have fresh robes?" "Patriarch, please wait a moment." Wei Yuan turned and went to the bedroom, returning with seven robes and presenting them all together. True Monarch Xuanyue was immensely pleased. Accepting them with a chuckle, he turned to the Hall Master and said, "Look at my grand-disciple, then look at yours!" The Hall Master gave a snort and said nothing. Having gained the upper hand in their bickering, True Monarch Xuanyue didn't press the matter further. He said to Wei Yuan, "The other side indeed had a Heavenly Shaman make a move. It seems Old Ming's and my premonition was not mistaken. But striking across such a distance incurs a massive price, and with the immortal dog's head presiding here in Qingming, the backlash was even more severe. So despite how badly the two of us are wounded, that Heavenly Shaman is certainly in worse shape than us and suffered a major loss this time." The Hall Master added, "Yanshi told me to pass a word to you: contending with immortals is no ordinary matter; do not forget angling." Wei Yuan nodded in agreement. It seemed the role of karmic destiny angling was far greater than he had anticipated. "Over the next few days, Old Ming and I will tell you about the daily routines of immortals. Since the other side has an immortal stepping onto the board to play pieces, you need to understand more. Know yourself and know your enemy," True Monarch Xuanyue said. Having finished the serious business, True Monarch Xuanyue pulled a long face and said coldly, "Across the three academies there are thirty-six academicians in total. How is it that my Sky Azure Hall doesn't have a single academician? Is someone targeting us?" Wei Yuan dared not answer. He naturally couldn't come right out and say that one didn't participate, and the other couldn't get elected.