Chapter Twenty-Three: The First Lesson in the Lecture Hall

Aside from the fact that dozens of senior disciples in the Qi Condensation stage crowded around to watch during mealtime, the rules of the dining hall remained unchanged: each person received two millet rice balls and a bowl of vegetable and meat soup, which could still be packed to go or eaten in the main hall. If dining in the hall, after finishing the meal, one still had to queue up to wash the dishes in the courtyard and then return the bowls and chopsticks to the cupboard as usual.

Feng Ke'er and Bodhi had not brought their own utensils and had to grit their teeth and eat in the hall. Clearly, everyone found it uncomfortable to be watched while eating, so they ate quickly, efficiently, and in utter silence.

In less than an hour, the last new disciple had finished eating, and the hall was orderly, with nothing strange occurring.

“Dismissed!” The steward uncle of the dining hall emerged with a grave expression and waved his hand.

The Qi Condensation disciples breathed a collective sigh of relief, saluted with their swords, and left in formation. Though they were curious about the mysterious events that had just occurred, their lives were more precious. Thus, the glorious task of catching monsters was left to Squad Two.

Once they had all departed, dozens of flying swords swept across the sky above the dining hall. The steward uncle quickly straightened his attire and greeted the newcomers with cupped hands, “Disciple greets the esteemed elders and uncles.”

At their head was a tall, thin woman with high cheekbones and a square face, clad in a green silk robe and bearing twin swords on her back. She descended, folded her sleeves, and asked coldly, “What happened here? The Grand Elder sent us to investigate.”

The others landed their flying swords in quick succession.

The steward uncle respectfully led them into the scene of the incident and reported truthfully, “Honored uncles and elders, something very strange just happened here…”

Meanwhile, the doors and windows of the dining hall closed once more.

Feng Ke'er pricked up her ears but could no longer hear a single word.

“Ke'er!” Bodhi, seated behind her, discreetly jabbed her in the back and whispered a warning.

Feng Ke'er snapped back to attention. She glanced up, her gaze passing through her thick bangs, and met the stern eyes of the teaching elder on the dais. She quickly lowered her eyes, adopting the posture of a well-behaved child.

Ah, she had been daydreaming just now.

In truth, she could hardly be blamed.

As the saying goes, old trees have deep roots, and old men have many words. The teaching elder today, surnamed Huang, had hair and beard mostly white; if not a hundred years old, he was at least ninety-nine. He had been rambling for nearly half an hour without finishing his self-introduction.

In the past, faced with such a talkative professor, Feng Ke'er would have long since walked out. But today, she had unfortunately "snatched" a seat at the front and had resolved to keep a low profile, so she dared not leave early and had to sit obediently and endure.

After letting her mind wander, she discovered by accident that she could hear the commotion from the dining hall, and was delighted, straining her ears to eavesdrop.

But before she could make sense of anything, the protective array activated again, and all sounds were cut off.

Then came Bodhi's warning and the stern glance from Elder Chen on the dais.

Fortunately, he did not make a scene but merely coughed with a warning tone and continued the lesson: “Now, let me teach you some basic knowledge.”

Feng Ke'er let out a long, silent sigh of relief. Thank goodness, finally the main topic!

As soon as Elder Chen began talking about cultivation, he seemed to become a different person. From spiritual roots to dantian, from cultivation realms to the three worlds, from heavenly treasures to pills, alchemy, spirit pets, artifact forging, talisman making, and the various grades of treasures, his words were concise and incisive, wasting not a single syllable, touching on every point. He spoke for less than forty minutes.

He raised his cloudy, lifeless eyes and swept his gaze over the disciples below, then summarized and moved to the next topic: “In general, you will encounter these matters in detail later; I will not elaborate here. Now, for the final subject: the history and rules of our Azure Cloud Sect.”

Feng Ke'er sat cross-legged on her cushion, head lowered and back straight, looking no different from the other disciples, but inside she was in turmoil. First, from Elder Chen’s explanation, she finally understood that only cultivators in the Core Formation stage or higher could discern the spiritual root attributes of others by sight. The highest cultivation among outer disciples was the peak Foundation Establishment stage. Therefore, as long as she kept a low profile and did not stand out, she was relatively safe in the outer sect. As for how the High Priest saw through her lack of spiritual roots, perhaps he had secretly used a specialized testing device.

Second, Elder Chen had just stated that artifacts were classified by rank as magical tools, spiritual tools, immortal tools, and divine tools, each divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Moreover, they had no emotions, no soul, and were merely dead objects.

Which meant her rice pot was just a “dead object” and could not possibly have a need to eat!

Thus, the wild chicken soup, rabbit meat soup, and nine wild chicken eggs could not have been consumed by her rice pot!

Ah! That meant she had wrongly accused her rice pot!

So, who had eaten all that food?

This was the most important matter at present!

Feng Ke’er recalled the strange sensation on her right shoulder when leaving the cave, and the inexplicable pat on her shoulder at the dining hall entrance, then connected it to the bizarre incident in the dining hall.

The more she pondered, the more similar the methods seemed… A serial food theft case?

At this thought, her back tingled, and she shivered violently.

“This concludes today's lesson.” Elder Chen noticed her reaction, his aged brows furrowing. “You may all disperse.”

The thirty-odd disciples in blue robes rose in unison, bowed, and saluted: “Thank you for your teachings, Elder.” Then prepared to leave.

Each batch seemed worse than the last; today, more than half the disciples had let their minds wander during the lesson. Elder Chen sat cross-legged on the dais, eyes half-closed, sighing inwardly: Too old, too old. Unable to form a core after so long, his life nearing its end, even these newly inducted greenhorns no longer respected him. Especially that troublesome girl—never once had she listened attentively!

With this thought, he suddenly opened his eyes and pointed his bony finger at Feng Ke’er: “You, girl, stay behind.” Even a dying tiger is still a tiger! Its tail is not to be touched!

Feng Ke’er was about to leave with the others when she saw the finger pointed at herself and jumped in fright, pointing at her own nose: “Me…?”

“Exactly!” Not wanting to harm the other new disciples, Elder Chen took a deep breath, suppressed his anger, and slowly closed his eyes again.

This was blatant post-lesson reckoning!

Ke’er, seeing the situation, sensibly knelt on her cushion, not arguing or protesting, remaining silent. Having lived in this fantastical world for so long, she had learned a crucial truth: a higher cultivation crushes all! Here, the weak have no right to speak.

Bodhi saw this and thought, “Not good,” biting his lip, wanting to plead for her, but was quickly pulled back by a senior from their courtyard.

He looked up; the senior mouthed, “Go quickly.” Glancing at the other seniors, all had their heads lowered and slipped away in a flash. He hesitated, unsure what to do.

At that moment, the old teacher on the dais opened his eyes and asked coldly, “What, do you wish to stay as well?”

“Disciple…” Bodhi felt as if a huge stone pressed on his chest, sweating profusely. “Disciple… takes his leave.” He shot a quick glance at Feng Ke’er, kneeling on her cushion, then had no choice but to bow and leave.

In the courtyard, the senior waited for him. Upon seeing him, he dragged him several hundred meters away before panting, “Were you out of your mind just now? Anyone left behind by Elder Chen never fares well.”

Bodhi worriedly looked back toward the lecture hall, his thick brows knotting at the center. He asked softly, “Brother Qin, will my sister be alright?” According to the priest’s instructions, he and Feng Ke’er had to appear as siblings from the same family in front of outsiders.

Brother Qin patted his shoulder and sighed, “Even if you’re close, you can’t even channel Qi yet. Before an elder at the Foundation Establishment stage, you wouldn’t even get a chance to plead, and you’d likely get yourself into trouble. In the sect, strength is everything. Even pleading depends on strength.”

Bodhi lowered his head and murmured, “Thank you, Brother.” He had thought that possessing spiritual roots and being clever would enable him to keep his promise to care for her. Now he realized that against absolute power, a bit of wit was far from enough.

Now, he was as powerless as she was. He simply could not protect her.

Grow stronger—become the strongest! A voice blazed in Bodhi’s heart.

“Let’s go. If you want to help her, it’s better to ask the dining hall’s senior sister to let you collect her two rice balls for her later.” Brother Qin pursed his lips, slung his arm around Bodhi’s shoulder, and walked toward the dining hall. “Your sister’s surname is Feng; are you from the Feng clan of Great Green Mountain?”

“Feng clan of Great Green Mountain?” Bodhi tensed, recalling the priest’s instructions, and feigned ignorance, shaking his head. “Never heard of it. Brother Qin, you treat me like your own brother, so I can’t hide from you. My sister wasn’t originally named Feng…”

In truth, they had worried too much.

Seeing Feng Ke’er’s sincere attitude, Elder Chen’s anger faded by half; he asked, “What is your name?”

“Reporting to Elder Chen, disciple is called Feng Ke’er.” She remained kneeling.

Elder Chen made a slight sound of surprise, leaning forward and asking, “Surname Feng? Feng Ke’er, raise your head and let me take another look.” He thought to himself, “So she’s the third batch from the Feng clan of Great Green Mountain. Likely another prodigy—no wonder she’s so arrogant!”

Feng Ke’er dared not refuse, straightened up, and lifted her face, keeping her eyes lowered, avoiding direct gaze.

“Not quite.” Elder Chen squinted, studying her, stroking his beard and sighing, “But your bearing is indeed like the Feng clan. Feng Ke’er, let me ask you: are you familiar with the Feng clan at the foot of Great Green Mountain?”

Feng Ke’er had heard from Feng Sparrow Mountain that the back mountain was called Great Green Mountain. Sensing a chance, she looked up in delight at the elder and nodded repeatedly: “Reporting, Elder, I am indeed a member of the Feng clan.” She was quick to climb any ladder offered, so she quietly switched her address from “Elder Chen” to “Elder.”

Sure enough, Elder Chen’s expression softened, and he looked her up and down, sighing, “In the blink of an eye, over a hundred years have passed. The third batch of Feng clan disciples has entered the sect.”

Feng Ke’er, however, discerned another message. She quickly calculated her seniority and deliberately asked, “Elder, do you know my grand-uncle from the Feng clan?” Goodness, here they practice early marriage and childbirth; over a hundred years could produce seven or eight generations, so I shouldn’t be wrong about the title?

Unexpectedly, Elder Chen’s face changed abruptly and he replied in a low voice, “What nonsense. Young one, having the surname Feng is no blessing. Take care of yourself!” With that, he vanished in a flash.

In Feng Ke’er’s titanium-dog eyes, he was clearly fleeing in panic!

Could her clan’s “grand-uncle” be a taboo in the sect? And what’s wrong with the surname Feng? Who does it offend? She didn’t dwell on it, only frowned and hurried back to her small courtyard.

Outrageous! Whoever tries to make me the scapegoat—never!

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The Celestial Tome, Chapter 23: The First Lesson at the Lecture Hall, has been updated!