Even before the Lotus Picking Assembly officially began, the two welcoming Daoists from the Gezao Sect were already sweating buckets trying to mediate a fight. They were truly overwhelmed, managing to placate one only to have the other flare up—it was like pressing down one side of a leaky gourd only to have the water spring up somewhere else.
What's more, Wei Qing, that eternal mischief-maker, was right there fanning the flames and stirring the pot every chance she got. Especially when she spotted Li Yundong; her eyes lit up, her expression clearly communicating: Fight, fight! Hurry up and see who's stronger!
Du Fei, having spent a longer time in the mortal world for his training, was the senior disciple of the Quanzhen Longmen Sect and generally more composed. He rubbed his temples with a troubled thought: This junior sister is too eccentric! One moment she’s trying to stop a fight, the next she’s instigating one?
The plumper welcoming Daoist from Gezao Sect gave a wry smile. “Esteemed Zhenren, today is the great quadrennial gathering for our cultivation world. Starting a brawl here is a minor issue, but drawing the attention and displeasure of the government—that would be a major problem. Even if you win, dragging so much trouble onto yourselves, what honor or celebration would there be in that?”
The thinner Daoist quickly chimed in, “If there are any grievances, can’t they be settled later at the Lotus Picking Assembly?”
Zhang Tianhe was the first to withdraw his gaze. He smiled faintly and said, “The two Daoist brothers speak wisely. We will see who is truly superior at the Assembly!”
With that, he turned and headed toward the cruise ship docked at the pier.
Zhang Cunyi and Yue Sheng exchanged a glance and followed him onto the vessel.
Only Du Fei and Wei Qing remained, as they shared some camaraderie with Li Yundong, watching as he approached.
Wei Qing watched Li Yundong walk over, flanked by a group of young foxes from the Fox Zen Sect, with Ziyuan, Zhou Qin, and Su Chan standing near him like moons orbiting a central star. She couldn't help but laugh. “They all say this True Man Li is quite the romantic Casanova; looking at him now, I see it’s true, his reputation is well-deserved. But it’s hardly surprising; True Man Li is humble and even-tempered, witty and humorous, handsome too, with profound cultivation skills. No wonder so many people admire him.”
A woman’s perspective on a man differs entirely from a man’s, and Du Fei was observing Li Yundong’s bearing and vital essence.
Over a month had passed since they last met. Li Yundong’s reappearance clearly meant he had successfully subdued the Ranzhibo (Finger-Burning Alms Bowl). Du Fei knew how difficult that artifact was to tame, which was why he himself hadn't dared to use it much.
Du Fei examined Li Yundong closely and asked Wei Qing, “Junior Sister, does Li Yundong seem different to you in any way?”
Wei Qing scrutinized him up and down, nodding with a smile. “I noticed!”
Du Fei smiled and nodded in agreement. “Indeed, I noticed it too. Where do you think the difference lies?”
Wei Qing laughed. “He’s gotten even more handsome! More mature!”
Du Fei laughed exasperatedly. “Why are you only focusing on that?”
Wei Qing gave him a puzzled look. “Then what should I be focusing on?”
Du Fei shook his head, saying with exasperation, “Master kindly sent you into the world to gain experience and training. Instead, you spend all day looking at fashion magazines, chasing one celebrity today and another tomorrow. What good is focusing only on a person’s external appearance? We cultivators focus on the inner self, not the outer shell!”
Wei Qing retorted defensively, “I did notice his inner self, thank you very much!”
Du Fei glared at her. “Still talking back! Where did you notice it?”
Wei Qing glared back, showing no signs of backing down. “I noticed he’s more mature. Isn’t maturity part of the inner self?”
Du Fei laughed in anger, about to lecture his junior sister, when he saw Li Yundong and his entourage approaching.
Li Yundong smiled broadly, cupped his hands in greeting. “True Man Du, we meet again!”
Du Fei reluctantly shot Wei Qing a look, signaling he would deal with her later. He turned back, laughing heartily and cupping his hands. “True Man Li, though only half a month has passed, your cultivation has advanced remarkably! As you approached from afar, I could already glimpse the bearing of a Grandmaster in your every gesture. Congratulations!”
Li Yundong smiled modestly. “Not at all; I must thank True Man Du for your generous assistance in the past!”
Du Fei chuckled heartily. “Nonsense, we are peers in the Dao; no need for such formalities!”
As Li Yundong and Du Fei were exchanging pleasantries, a sudden shouting came from not far away. A foreign man with a slightly strange accent called out loudly, “Master! Master!”
Li Yundong paused slightly upon hearing the voice. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it immediately. However, when he turned his head, he was utterly astonished.
Li Yundong watched as John, Chris, and a tall, South American-looking beautiful foreign girl ran toward them. He asked in surprise, “John? Chris? What are you doing here? Are there exchange students again this year?”
John, looking ecstatic, shouted in his heavily accented Chinese, “Master, you said if I could speak Chinese, you would take me as a disciple!”
Li Yundong inwardly let out a bitter laugh: This is bad. I said that casually, but this guy is utterly single-minded and actually took it seriously!
Ignoring John, Li Yundong turned to Chris. “Chris, why are you here?”
Chris tossed her wavy blonde hair and replied in fairly standard Chinese with a smile, “I’m here to ask to be your disciple too!”
Li Yundong shook his head, chuckling. “Didn’t I tell you last time that my martial arts are only taught to men, not women?”
It seemed Chris had anticipated this response. She pointed at John and declared, “Then you must accept him, because you promised him that if he learned Chinese, you would take him as a disciple! As we say in China, ‘One word is worth nine tripods’—for your promise, we traveled thousands of miles from America. You must keep your word!”
John, standing beside her, puffed out his chest and sucked in his stomach, looking like a Boy Scout awaiting inspection, his face tense with excitement. He frequently glanced at Li Yundong, and the hand resting by his pant leg was sweating profusely, which he kept wiping on his trousers.
Li Yundong managed a strained smile. He hadn't expected Chris to corner him so effectively right there, leaving him with no way to argue back. He sighed. “Chris, if you want to learn martial arts techniques, I can teach you; that’s no problem…”
John quickly exclaimed loudly, “No! Master, I want to learn your superhuman martial arts—the kind where you can send someone flying with one punch, the kind that can dodge bullets! If I wanted boxing and kicking, I could learn that in America. Why travel all this way?”
Li Yundong shook his head. “That won't do, John…”
John grew anxious and suddenly reverted to English, “Good heavens, why not? Didn’t I learn Chinese?”
Olga, who had been listening to their Chinese chatter with a completely bewildered expression, finally heard a sentence she understood. She immediately rushed toward Li Yundong and spoke up. “Hey, you! Are you still living in the outdated past? How can someone so young have such antiquated ideas? Please, it’s the twenty-first century! Look around you; your compatriots are so open-minded! They are no different from us Americans in many ways. Why are your thoughts so old-fashioned? Why can’t John be your disciple? And why not Chris? Just because she’s a woman? What’s wrong with women? What can’t women do?”
Olga spoke quickly and rapidly, like a light machine gun sputtering out a barrage of words. Li Yundong’s eyes glazed over. After a moment, he turned to look at Su Chan, Ziyuan, and Zhou Qin. “Did anyone understand what she just said?”
Zhou Qin had good English, but she still differed from a native speaker. At Olga’s rapid pace, even a slower American might not have caught every word. She grimaced. “I only caught two phrases…”
Ziyuan shook her head and laughed lightly. “I understood even less.”
Su Chan blinked and asked, “She’s just a barbarian; why bother paying attention to her?”
Li Yundong laughed and tapped Su Chan’s nose. “You’re even more isolationist than I am!”
Chris offered, “How about I translate?”
Before Li Yundong could reply, he heard Wei Qing stifling a giggle beside him. He turned to her with a smile. “True Man Wei, did you understand her?”
Wei Qing quickly waved her hand. “I dare not accept the title of Zhenren. I understood a little bit. If True Man Li doesn't mind, shall I translate for you?”
Li Yundong chuckled. “That would be excellent; please do.”
Wei Qing happily translated Olga’s speech. Li Yundong listened attentively, his head tilted. Once she finished, he said to Wei Qing, “I have a few things to say; could you translate for me?”
Chris huffed indignantly from the side. “Why can’t I translate?”
Li Yundong smiled faintly. “Chris, I know you have a deep appreciation for Chinese culture, but that perspective is geared toward Americans. You are still quite far from truly understanding Chinese culture. There are many things that you might not translate as accurately as True Man Wei!”
Wei Qing cheekily made a face at Chris, who angrily turned her head away.
Li Yundong turned politely to Olga. “This beautiful American young lady, I greatly appreciate your kind reminder. But if you had read the Tao Te Ching by our ancestor Laozi, you would know this saying: ‘A fish cannot leave the deep water; the sharp weapons of a state should not be shown to outsiders.’ What does that mean? It means the most vital things of a nation must absolutely not be shown to foreigners! Tell me, if I were to ask to see your country’s classified information, would your people show it to me?”
Wei Qing glanced at Li Yundong with admiration, secretly giving him a thumbs-up and whispering, “Eloquent!”
After translating Li Yundong’s words, Wei Qing turned sympathetically to John. “Stop dreaming, hurry back to America. If you wish to follow the Dao, we welcome you, but learning our cultivation arts is strictly impossible!”
Li Yundong then began to laugh. “It’s not entirely impossible.”
Wei Qing and Du Fei both started in surprise. Du Fei blurted out, “True Man Li, absolutely not! In our cultivation world, for nearly two thousand years, no one has ever dared to take barbarians or foreigners as disciples. If you accept them, you will become a target for the entire cultivation community!”
Li Yundong waved his hand dismissively. “True Man Du, that statement might be slightly inaccurate. As I see it, the Sect Master of Gezao Sect, Wan Zhenyuan, is of mixed heritage!”
The plumper welcoming Daoist from Gezao Sect, who had been silent until then, looked displeased. “True Man Li, our Sect Master merely resembles one; he is from Xinjiang, which is why he appears foreign.”
Li Yundong laughed heartily. “That is correct. People from Xinjiang are children of China. But have you considered what they were hundreds, even a thousand years ago? Before Xinjiang became part of our Chinese territory, were they not what we call the so-called ‘barbarians’ or ‘foreign tribes’?”
Li Yundong’s words stunned everyone into silence, their eyes reflecting deep thought.
Li Yundong continued, “Furthermore, our China has always regarded itself as the Central Kingdom. Over millennia, countless foreign peoples we labeled as barbarians invaded and occupied the Central Plains, only to eventually be assimilated and become part of the Chinese nation. In the end, we recognized them as such. What does this signify? It signifies one thing: anyone who speaks my Chinese language, studies my Chinese culture, believes in my Chinese faith, and accepts my Chinese nationality is part of our Chinese people, and I can teach them the arts of cultivation!”
Du Fei listened intently, especially when he heard the phrase about establishing Chinese nationality. He couldn't help cheering silently in his mind, thinking: True Man Li is truly cunning. He didn't want to refuse them directly to their faces, so he set up an impossible hurdle for these foreign devils!
Would these foreign devils really be willing to change their nationality for the sake of cultivation?
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