Chapter 730: Chapter 729: Scholar Wu Zongyi

In the blink of an eye.

More than an hour had passed.

Nalan Mingxue had not returned, and no one else from the Confucian line had come either.

Faced with such a situation, Ye Piaoran’s heart couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

Li Jing’s arrival foreboded trouble, as clear as day.

Nalan Mingxue had been gone for so long and hadn’t returned, could it be that the Confucian Holy Emperor was really too caught up in his affairs to attend?

Even if his hands were indeed too full.

There shouldn’t be anything more important than dealing with Li Jing, who could destroy the Heaven Dragon Temple with the wave of his hand, the "great devil".

All signs indicated.

The Confucian line had no intention of sitting still and waiting for death.

And in fact,

The Confucians weren’t hiding anything either, everything was out in the open.

So much time had passed.

The Confucians couldn’t possibly think that Li Jing was naive, that he wouldn’t notice anything.

However, the Confucian Holy Emperor had not shown up, and no other person of significant status had come to try and confuse the situation or delay time.

On this front.

It can be said as an open maneuver.

Glancing at Li Jing, who was calm, Ye Piaoran remained outwardly composed, but her heart was beating faster.

Whatever she could find in all of this,

Li Jing probably had already anticipated.

Her Brother Li had likely anticipated this, prepared to prevail, ready to dismantle their strategies and force the Confucian line into total submission to obtain what he wants.

Ye Piaoran understood the reasoning.

Given Li Jing’s strength, he didn’t fear anyone.

But isn’t every power in the Nine Heavy Heavens infinitely profound?

The Heaven Dragon Temple.

It was destroyed because Li Jing suddenly struck.

If they were given ample time to prepare, things may not be as easy.

Just as she was contemplating whether or not to intervene, Li Jing looked over at her.

"It’s just a small matter, don’t be nervous about it, are you not tired from scaring yourself?"

He spoke in a calm, but low voice.

"Our Chen Tang City has greatly changed from the past. Even if you don’t consider me as its ruler, the overall strength of our city can claim a place in the Upper Three Realms. We just don’t have the deep-rooted influence that the other major forces in the Upper Three Realms possess. Piaoran, you are in a managerial position in Chen Tang City. How can you accomplish great things in the future if you are upset over this small matter?"

"..."

Ye Piaoran.

Accomplish great things?

She never had such an idea.

Moreover, to be reasonable.

The current overall strength of Chen Tang City is indeed outrageously strong, but excluding Li Jing, only a few individuals are truly powerful.

The rest, even if thrown into the Upper Three Realms altogether, wouldn’t make a difference.

Taking its place in the Upper Three Realms, Chen Tang City today certainly has the potential.

However, to support the sky for a superpower, including Li Jing, a few limited super strong individuals are far from enough. After all, they could not always protect and monitor everyone’s every move in the door.

Individual strength is always limited.

Superpowers in the Upper Three Realms like the Heaven Dragon Temple and Haoran Righteous Qi Palace have been able to stand out from the Buddhist and Confucian systems to occupy the One Heavy Sky. What has been supporting them is never a countable number of strong individuals.

In summary.

Chen Tang City is not that strong....

At least not for now.

Looking back.

Her Ye Piaoran is only just into the Fourteenth Realm...

Faced with a behemoth like the Haoran Righteous Qi Palace, isn’t it normal for her to panic?

Even if she was a former Saintess of Yaochi, with the support of the superpower Yaochi which could influence both the strongest One Heavy Sky and Two Heavy Sky at the same time, she dared not say she would sit here calmly waiting for the Haoran Righteous Qi Palace to make a move.

The reason she was still sitting here.

It was because Li Jing was so reassuring.

The strength of her Brother Li was beyond imagination.

And in the depths of Ye Piaoran’s heart.

She would never forget...

When she had nowhere to go, it was him who pulled her out of the desperate situation.

Ye Piaoran took a deep breath and adjusted her state of mind silently, she raised her eyes.

"Li Jing, be careful when you make a move later, your world’s first beautiful Piaoran sister is only in the Fourteenth Realm. If you face the Confucian strong one, there’s no telling if I will get hurt by the residual waves."

Li Jing was speechless.

World’s first beauty? That’s something...

Looking at Ye Piaoran’s exquisitely infuriating little face with amusement, and then unintentionally glancing at her flat chest, Li Jing didn’t say a word; he looked regretful as he took a cup of turbid wine and drank it all in one gulp.

Seeing this, the corner of Ye Piaoran’s mouth twitched, a few veins bulging on her forehead.

In response to her words, instead of coming with a "I’ll definitely protect you" kind of pickup line, Li Jing was like when they first met, poking at her pain point with his gaze.

Over two hundred years had passed.

Her body hadn’t seen a "second puberty", Ye Piaoran had completely given up.

Back then, she was only in her twenties, there was still hope.

But now, including her time in the Zhanyuan Tower, she was almost twenty thousand years old.

This, it’s impossible to call it a "second puberty".

Having had such a long time to settle, Ye Piaoran was not only accepting her fate, she had largely come to terms with it.

This life.

This is who she is now.

She’s plain and that’s okay, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.

At least her exceptional beauty was stunning, even among the many beautiful women of the Immortal Music Palace, no one could compare.

Because she had come to terms with this, she had not been obsessed with the Formless Divine Skill in recent years.

But Li Jing...

Really annoying!

Honestly, Ye Piaoran herself didn’t understand.

Others’ sympathetic gazes often fell on her.

However, no one can compare to Li Jing when it comes to making her grit her teeth...

Just as she was grinding her teeth, Ye Piaoran suddenly felt something and looked towards the entrance of the guest room.

"Brother Li."

"Hmm."

Li Jing replied, pouring himself another cup of turbid wine.

"It seems a big fish has arrived."

Before she could finish her words.

The large entrance of the guest room squeaked open as the maid outside opened the door, and then an old man with long whiskers and white eyebrows and a kind face walked in with a four-sided step.

Upon his first sight of Li Jing, the old man paused, a hint of milky light flashing in his eyes, and then he laughed heartily.

"The first monster from the lower world, the Empress Jiu Li truly lives up to her reputation. No wonder the Heaven Dragon Temple which usually values its reputation so highly didn’t dare utter a word when it was destroyed, even when they lost their teeth they could only swallow it."

Li Jing was left speechless at the old man’s words.

Empress Jiu Li, it’s a name that is deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

Even though he hadn’t used that identity for a long time, and was acting with his true identity.

It’s just that no one was willing to recognize him as a human male cultivator...

Perhaps.

He should not have transformed into Empress Jiu Li in the Heaven Dragon Temple to facilitate Boddirecognition and to kill with concentration.

Considering the matter, it wasn’t very fair to Master Jiu...

Through Li Lingyin’s memory before the incident, Li Jing knew that Jiu Li had been widely noticed inside and outside Chen Tang City due to her same name and race as the Empress Jiu Li. Over the past hundreds of years, this had put a lot of unnecessary pressure on her.

After all, Jiu Li was a late riser in Ascension.

She’s just barely entered the Twelfth Realm...

Even though Jiu Li has a carefree spirit, she can’t help but capture the intense interest of those around her because she shares the same name and race as Empress Jiu Li.

But honestly.

Brother Jiu truly lives up to his reputation.

Not only has she managed to survive all these years, but it seems she’s enjoyed every bit of it.

From time to time, she sneaks around under the guise of Empress Jiu Li, using Thousand Faces’ ability to change appearance and completely conceal her cultivation level. She tricked people into feeding and pampering her, deceiving their wealth and affections.

She even took the initiative to learn about Li Jing’s adventures as Master Jiu, serialized them on the Immortal Realm Network as the "Biography of Empress Jiu Li," which became wildly popular. She even planned to personally play the second IP for the Chen Tang City after the Original Corpse Immortal.

With an amused shake of his head, Li Jing looked unperturbed towards the elderly man who had walked in and seated himself.

"And you are...?"

"I am Wu Zongyi."

The elderly man bowed politely.

No sooner had he spoken than the color drained from Ye Piaoran’s face.

"You are... Scholar Wu Zongyi?!"

Wu Zongyi turned and smiled, nodding slightly.

"Being designated a ’scholar’ is nothing more than flattery from the followers of Confucianism."

Speaking thus, he poured himself a cup of liquor and began casually speaking.

"Truthfully, our Confucian doctrine and the so-called path of the saint have never really produced many saints. It is simply that our Confucian lineage was fortunate to once produce the Saint of Human Taoist in the distant past."

Li Jing raised an eyebrow upon hearing these words.

"So Zhu Qing was from Confucian background?"

Caught off-guard by this comment, Wu Zongyi’s unperturbed demeanor stiffened.

Seeing this, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

"Isn’t Zhu Qing who you’re referring to?"

"..."

Wu Zongyi.

Ye Piaoran held back laughter as she watched this scene.

Scholar Wu Zongyi.

He is no ordinary man.

He is the only follower of Confucianism who almost managed to make a name for himself on the path of becoming a saint, and truly competed for the position of the Human Taoist Saint.

His power.

Among the Upper Three Realms’ old foggies who remained hidden from the world, he might not be the strongest, but merely having competed for the position of the Human Taoist Saint is enough to flaunt for a lifetime.

In the Nine Heavy Heavens of the Upper Three Realms, no one dares to disregard him.

Ye Piaoran wasn’t certain about Wu Zongyi’s specific relationship with Zhu Qing.

Even to her, who was once the Saintess of Yaochi, Wu Zongyi is not just an elder among elders, he is a legendary figure from mythology.

She only knew him by name.

The same went for the Human Taoist Saint Zhu Qing.

In fact, Ye Piaoran didn’t even know her real name until Zhu Qing herself woke up.

However, these are not the main points.

The main point is.

Wu Zongyi had competed for the position of the Human Taoist Saint in the past, but he failed because Zhu Qing firmly surpassed him. He might even have been crushed and scraped across the ground.

Li Jing’s casual comment was like a knife piercing directly into Scholar Wu Zongyi’s heart.

What he was referring to wasn’t Zhu Qing.

But the Human Taoist Saint of Confucianism who had passed away years ago.

Now, let’s take a step back.

It’s known throughout the world that Scholar Wu Zongyi has extensive knowledge.

His lifelong studies include, but are not limited to Confucian techniques, and he especially excels at the "Gaze at Breath" skill.

He has the direct ability to discern others’ cultivation levels, even when those individuals are of higher cultivation level than him.

It is clear that he was invited here because Confucianism still had some room for negotiation. They wanted to see how strong Li Jing truly is before deciding whether to confront him.

As expected.

Immediately upon entering the room, Wu Zongyi discerned that Li Jing was not a human. Without a second thought, he dismissed the idea of being his enemy. However, he was not willing to just simply put his head down on Confucianism’s behalf.

And so.

He brought up the Confucianism School’s past Human Taoist Saint.

A saint.

Is not someone whose existence can be measured by a realm.

Moreover, having produced a Human Taoist Saint is something the followers of Confucianism could boast about.

Even though their saint didn’t live long and has long since been washed away by the river of history.

Bearing witness to the sky above and the earth below, who dares to blaspheme the name of a saint?

Unfortunately.

Wu Zongyi picked the wrong opponent.

Any other person, when faced with him bringing up the name of a saint, would likely show some restraint.

But who is Li Jing?

Not only has he come into direct contact with a saint, but he was also intimately connected with one. He once "kept" a saint in his Little Universe and eventually healed her of her dao injury.

This connection.

How can it be compared to the fact that the Confucian lineage once produced a saint?

You have to understand.

Zhu Qing is a living, bubble-bursting beautiful saint...

Seeing Wu Zongyi’s look of utter disbelief as he stared at Li Jing, Ye Piaoran barely managed to suppress her laughter.

In the path of cultivation, the most powerful are respected.

The man in front of her, inadequate as he may be, is still an elder who once competed for the position of the Human Taoist Saint.

Not to mention Li Jing.

She’s nothing more than a junior in front of him, too, so she should show some manners.

Meanwhile.

Wu Zongyi choked for a good while before finally managing to speak in disbelief.

"Saint Zhu led an extremely low-profile life, and her whereabouts were mystical; only a few old immortals from her time knew her real name, and very few people from later generations know about it. If you know her real name, could it be... that you acquainted Saint Zhu?"

Before Li Jing could respond, Ye Piaoran’s eyes flickered a few times before casually speaking up.

"Scholar, it’s understandable that you, living in the Upper Three Realms, might not know, but my Brother Li had a connection with Sister Qing a hundred years ago."

A past connection?!

Wu Zongyi inhaled sharply, his face a picture of disbelief.

"..."

Li Jing.

This girl... why was she making things up?

Looking at it from one perspective, he did indeed have a "past connection" with Zhu Qing.

But essentially, he only found Zhu Qing when she was already half-dead. Then, owing a favor, he put in a lot of effort to cure her. That was all.

What was the meaning behind these misleading words?

Worst of all.

Wu Zongyi didn’t even bat an eye before believing it.

Li Jing didn’t know.

The name of a saint, should not be slandered.

In the vast universe, no one is qualified to fabricate stories about a saint.

Blatant fabrication.

The saint would be the first to know about it, and if it went too far, the Heavenly Path would even grant punishment.

Yet what Ye Piaoran did wasn’t simply fibbing.

Firstly, she is a member of the Human Race.

There can’t be any false rumors about her own Human Taoist Saint — if falsehoods were spread, they were not basing them off reality, the Heavenly Path would inevitably punish her.

Secondly, Zhu Qing is a woman.

A woman’s reputation is not to be insulted.

Especially not a saint’s...