No one in this room was stupid, they knew what the Elders and Head Deacon’s intentions were, so they placed getting Li Shen in trouble to get more resources aside for now.
Well, everyone except Lin Dong. He was seeing this differently.
If this turns out to be the best-case scenario. The Elders would punish Li Shen for using coercion methods to trick disciples into becoming loyal to him, this could be considered a form of brainwashing.
Lin Dong would get what he wanted as he would argue since his cultivation can’t be abolished he should be stripped of his title as Faction Leader, have his Faction disband, and then be kicked out of the Academy.
However, if the worst possible outcome occurred, the Elders might even put Li Shen on a pedestal for being able resorting disciples' talents. Completely ignoring if he’s guilty of coercion disciples or not.
‘How could they do that? Wouldn’t that be swapping out the lion to let the fox in?’
The overbearing lion being the Ming Clan and Li Shen being the cunning fox.
Lin Dong refused to allow the latter from happening.
Turning to look at the others, Lin Dong saw they were more occupied with finding out Li Shen’s method than making him guilty.
‘A bunch of bastards the lot of you! And where’s that Ling Tian, how come he didn’t show up? Is he really not concerned about this Second Prince? Rather than the Vice Headmaster being responsible for his lack of action, why do I feel like he’s avoiding him because of the battle with the Crown Prince? What coward!’
Lin Dong was fuming on the inside, while Li Shen was twirling the flute between his fingers.
Seeing the ordinary flute, the Elders and Head Deacon had furrowed brows, but Suhai suddenly shouted.
“That’s it! That’s the flute that he’s using to brainwash us! Make him use it to reveal his sinister methods to everyone!”
Everyone turned to glance at him, seeing this Suhai shrunk back in his seat.
“Child your acting is horrendous. Your testimony is all we need and we have it, goodbye.”
The Head Deacon said as he waved his hand towards Suhai.
“No wait-”
Suhai wanted to say something but was cut off by being teleported away.
At this point, it was a common consensus in the hall that Li Shen wasn’t brainwashing disciples using Soul Arts.
That Suhai had only said those words to have Li Shen play it and receive some benefits by improving his cultivation.
He shoot his shot but unfortunately for him, it didn’t go as he had planned.
“I suppose you want me to show you my method of how I restore those disciples' talents?”
Li Shen let slip what was really going on in this hall.
The Head Deacon coughed in his fist and was about to refute that, but an Elder suddenly spoke up.
“Disciple Shen, we know you aren’t lacking in intelligence so we won’t beat around the bush anymore.”
The Head Deacon clamped his mouth shut at that.
Lin Dong hearing those words got a bad feeling that this wasn’t going to go in his favor.
Li Shen turned to the Elder who spoke and saw that it was the old man who was inside the Techniques Library Pavilion.
“Go ahead and play your flute.”
Li Shen nodded casually at his words before he place his fan on his lap and held the flute to his lips with both hands.
The hall went silent as Li Shen began to play it.
The sound was like any ordinary flute being played, however, what happened next wasn’t.
All the Elders had their eyes narrowed into pin-sized needles while their hearts shudder.
From between Li Shen’s brows, his Divine Soul he no longer disguised spread out into the hall.
No one reacted to it enveloping them and instead focused on what was happening in the hall.
The Spiritual Qi suddenly became thin, as if it was being stripped away to its bare bone structure.
“This-”
An Elder couldn't contain his shock and involuntarily stood up eyes wide open.
The Faction Leaders as well had on frozen expressions, their brains being slow to process what was happening in front of them.
After a certain point, the Spiritual Qi stopped thinning.
Seeing this the Elder who stood quickly shouted.
“No! Continue, just a little more and the Laws-”
However, he paused as another Elder nudged him and pointed at Li Shen.
That Elder turned in that direction and saw that Li Shen's face was deathly pale while being covered in perspiration.
“Disciple Shen you can stop.”
The Head Deacon hurriedly said.
Li Shen stopped blowing the flute and everyone saw his body shake and was about to fall off the chair. But the Head Deacon suddenly moved and appeared by his side to prop him up.
Li Shen fixed his position on the chair before he said.
“I’m fine Head Deacon.”
He then took out a pea-sized medicinal pill and plopped it into his mouth. His pale face regained a bit of color after that.
The Head Deacon nodded and took a step back.
The Elder stood up and looked at Li Shen deeply before he sighed and slumped back in his chair.
The Elder that told Li Shen to play the flute let out a breath trying to regain his emotions.
That Elder wasn’t the only one who reacted like that when the Qi thinning stopped.
‘Just a little more and even the Laws would have been revealed. If I could have seen it just once, maybe I could have seen the Wind Elemental Laws and gained an epiphany of my Dao.’
Everyone had regrets in their cultivation.
His own was that he rushed to comprehend the Wind Element before moving into the Soul Transformation Realm.
One must have a rudimentary understanding of the six basic elemental laws in the Nascent Soul Realm before they can move on to seek out their own Dao in the Soul Transformation Realm.
This was the case because those six elements are what this universe's foundations are built upon. Qi cultivation could be said to be replicating the structure of the universe, or even the Heavens themselves.
One must first build their own foundation by understanding those six basic elements, only after can one seek out their path to the Great Dao, their own unique path.
But what happens if one’s foundation is unstable?
That path to seeking the Dao would become muddled and unclear.
These Elders had numerous regrets, not listening to the stern warning of their teachers or Masters in the past. They wanted to seek glory and fight for superfluous titles like a Top Chosen or a genius among geniuses. So they rush their cultivations when they didn’t have to.
Now look at them.
In their old age far into their cultivations, they have to suffer for their past mistakes. Unable to make any huge leaps in their cultivation, just tiny steps that barely take them anywhere.
However, what Li Shen did, what hope he brought to them by revealing such ability, was beyond anything they could describe.
They have been across the Continent, searching for treasures or some form of natural cultivation grounds to see if they could spark an epiphany. That’s why rumors of old monsters being in random locations on the continent came about.
However, those treasures and those natural cultivation grounds that could make anyone below their level shit themselves with excitement weren't useful to them.
No cultivation grounds existed that allowed them to view the six natural elements in their most basic form. There were some yes hidden away in the crevices of the Continent, but none of them had been able to present the laws so bare as how Li Shen could have done moments ago.
Could have.
All of them were sighing internally, all bemoaning the fact that just a hair’s breadth away their cultivations could have shown progress.
However, those regretful sighs quickly vanished and they all turned to look at Li Shen with shining eyes.
Seeing these old men staring at him so intensely, Li Shen felt his skin crawl.
**
//Tseth: Hey guys, remember to show some love by voting with golden tickets and power stones!//
Th𝗲 most uptodate novels are published on free(w)ebnov(e)l.𝒄𝒐𝙢