My Wife Is A Sword Immortal-Chapter 89 - 78 Tranquility and Inaction

Chapter 89: Chapter 78 Tranquility and Inaction

“Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap—”

The Scripture Platform was greeted with the most thunderous applause since the beginning of the event.

It was overwhelming, deafening.

Among the more than two thousand attendees, many with a casual and unrestrained demeanor began to straighten their backs, sitting upright with a serious expression.

Because.

Before them now was a gentleman from among the hundred schools of thought!

And it was not just any gentleman, but one from the influential Daoist schools, with an exceptionally high status.

Many even felt as though they were dreaming.

To see a living Daoist gentleman today?

In present-day Wangque Continent, a gentleman from the hundred schools might be even rarer than a cultivator of the Seventh Realm, not numbering more than a handful.

Of course, this might be because Wangque Continent is just too small, something made apparent by the mere presence of two Confucian Academies from seventy-two academies.

The storm that had taken place in Tunan Continent had little impact on the distant Wangque Continent.

Chen Muzhi had an unpleasant look on his face; he shifted his gaze away from the platform, turned his head, and said to Lin Wenruo with a bitter tone, “Brother Wenruo, this, this…”

Lin Wenruo’s expression was solemn; he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening his eyes, he said, “We haven’t lost yet.”

However, his voice trembled slightly, and the certainty in his tone was like a fragile leaf boat in a storm—likely to be crushed by a beast-like wave at any second.

His gaze was slightly dim.

As for what a gentleman represented among the hundred schools, he was probably one of the most knowledgeable people at the event.

Because he was a scholar from Siqi Academy, a Confucian scholar.

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Among the scholars all over the world, not to mention the hundred schools, even just within Confucianism, anyone who fails to enter a Confucian Academy remains a commoner.

Only by becoming a student of the Academy, can one acquire the status of a scholar.

And above the scholars, there are the gentlemen.

On the surface, it seems to be a mere step away, but to cross it is like facing a chasm as deep as a hibernating insect under the ground.

The weight of these two words was as heavy as a barbaric mountain.

In his own Siqi Academy, there were only three gentlemen— one was the Mountain Master of the Academy, another was a low-profile, dedicated Scripture Studies Teacher, and the third was his junior, who had recently been granted the title by the Confucian Temple.

Gentlemen, in the hundred schools, are pillars of the community. The title is extremely difficult to obtain, and it’s unrelated to one’s cultivation—it’s all about scholarship and virtue.

Thinking of the junior he had met several times, Lin Wenruo pursed his lips, knowing full well how “fearsome” a person capable of becoming a gentleman could be. And now, standing on the platform facing his good friend, poised to engage in a scholastic debate, was one such individual.

Not far off, at the very front of several hundred blue-clothed Daoists,

Lan Yuqing had been expressionless since she took her gaze away from the Lin brothers. When the elderly man with the Nanhua turban announced her identity—already well known to her—she suddenly felt indifferent, not just about this Confucian-Daoist debate.

In the midst of the deafening applause, she did not mock someone as she had previously planned, to tell him that all this was within her calculations, to ridicule him for believing that under the weight of absolute power, trickery was laughable and ephemeral. Instead, she just calmly watched the fallen Jade Ruyi, neither joyful nor sorrowful.

“Niece need not worry.”

Qing Yuanzi glanced at Lan Yuqing and said with a smile, “The Lin family of Lanxi will certainly not turn the tide. Teacher Tao is not only a Daoist gentleman but also a Great Cultivator of the Nascent Soul Realm. Both in scholarship and experience, he surpasses that yellow-haired lad who hasn’t even reached maturity countless times over. What can he use to compare with Teacher Tao?”

“He only came out of his mother’s womb a dozen or so years ago, even if he did nothing but read every day without eating, could he have attained the ability to ‘comprehend heaven and earth’? Unless he was born with the innate knowledge of a Saint, ha, had I not been worried that he was a disciple of the Mountain Master from the Academy, I would have chosen him in the second round, why bother troubling Teacher Tao.”

Qing Yuanzi sighed, “Alas, I don’t know if Teacher Tao will take offense at this.”

The one truly watching a certain place, Qing Jingzi, suddenly snorted coldly: “He’s got it easy, that whelp, to actually have the chance to debate with gentlemen. Hmph, when he soon descends to hell, he ought to die content.”

Since he’s not a disciple of the Mountain Master from the Academy, there’s no need to keep him alive any longer.

The gaze of the yellow and purple-clad Daoist reluctantly left a certain little fox demon and turned towards Qing Yuanzi.

“Big Brother, could we ask Teacher Tao to stay a while longer? He is, after all, a distinguished guest who has come from afar. And since we’ve troubled him with this matter, we should extend our hospitality… Moreover, our observatory hasn’t been in contact with the upper sect for many years now. If Teacher Tao could put in a few good words for us…”

Qing Yuanzi looked hesitant, somewhat troubled, “I’m afraid that would be difficult. I’ve visited many important figures of the upper sect at Jixia Academy, and only Teacher Tao agreed to come and see our ancestral land. He was on his way to Taiching Prefecture to teach, and I gleaned from conversation on the road that Teacher Tao likely won’t stay long. As for speaking on our behalf… How about we ask him before he leaves?”

Standing beside the two, Lan Yuqing seemed oblivious to everything, staring slightly downwards at the white jade beneath her feet.

The milky white jade remained unscathed on the surface, despite having just hit the ground.

But she knew that this Beautiful Jade nurtured by Zhongnan Mountain was already shattered on the inside.

All of a sudden, the purple-clad woman moved. Without uttering a word, she stepped over the Beautiful Jade, pushed through the crowd, and strode away, never looking back.

She suddenly had a strong desire to see the Gui Lin.

After the woman left, the scholarly debate on the field continued.

The applause from within the Scripture Platform gradually subsided.

Zhao Rong, who had experienced differential treatment, was not angry; he calmly watched the Daoist gentlemen opposite him, mockingly thinking to himself: I have another identity that I’m afraid would scare you if I revealed it, a son-in-law—scared, aren’t you? That is, after all, the identity of the main character in those trendy storybooks sold in bookstores these days…

Lay Brother Six One spoke with respect, “Please, Teacher Tao, choose the topic.”

By now, it was close to noon; the sunlight was fierce yet quiet.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the old man called Tao Yuanran, wearing the southern Hua cap, turned his head to the right and lifted his right hand, which held prayer beads. He extended one finger and pointed towards a wonder amidst the endless mountains to the south, outside the Scripture Platform.

It was that cliffside carving!

Tao Yuanran smiled and said, “Let’s debate this principle of ‘tranquility and inaction’.”

Zhao Rong’s expression remained calm, as if he had already understood; however, the next words from the elderly man made his eyes narrow.

“I advocate ‘action’, and you advocate ‘inaction’.”

Zhao Rong nodded with narrowed eyes.

Action or inaction has been a long-standing contention between the Confucian and Daoist schools.

However, since the scholarly debate was just that—a debate and not a question of doctrine for both schools—Zhao Rong, as a Confucian Scholar, upholding the concept of ‘inaction,’ and Tao Yuanran, as a Daoist gentleman, holding the concept of ‘action,’ was not entirely infeasible. The goal was simply to out-argue the other side.

This also put to the test both side’s reading and comprehension of the scriptures and texts of their respective schools.

Thus, the audience witnessed this quite theatrical scene.

The Daoist Tao Yuanran took the lead with his viewpoint.

“Heaven’s way is vigorous, and the gentleman strives ceaselessly; Earth’s terrain is receptive, and the gentleman carries all things with a generous virtue. Therefore, the gentleman shall act.”

The Confucian Scholar Zhao Rong countered.

“The Dao is always non-action, yet nothing is left undone. If rulers could hold to it, all things would transform on their own. If transformed but desiring to act, I would quell it with the nameless uncarved block. With the nameless uncarved block, there is no desire. Without desire and thus still, the world would stabilize on its own.”