Nine Star Hegemon Body Art

“Junior apprentice-sister Yuhuang says that brother Long is skilled in music, so I sincerely wish brother Long would give me some pointers. I have been at a bottleneck for several months without the slightest progress. Please help me, brother Long.” The yellow-robed woman respectfully bowed to Long Chen.

Her words shocked the experts present, and they stared at Long Chen in disbelief. This person was skilled in music?

“Fairy is joking. My skill in music is only superficial. How could I dare to be so arrogant as to give you pointers? I would make a fool of myself, and in the worst case, it would even cause you to go on the wrong path,” said Long Chen with a bitter smile.

Although he had read some books on music theory and had some understanding of music, which was enough to con amateurs, his skill was just on that level. Moreover, this yellow-robed woman came from the Zither Sect, the highest institute of learning for the Music Dao. For Long Chen to give musical pointers to such an existence was a joke.

“Hmph, a martial fighter only knows how to swing their blade, and their hands are soaked in blood. What do they know about the profundity of music?” At this moment, a pale-faced scholar in the front row snorted rudely.

Long Chen looked over and saw a man in his twenties. The man had a fair, smooth complexion, devoid of facial hair, and his cheeks carried a slight plumpness. However, what stood out the most was the unmistakable aura of arrogance emanating from him. When Long Chen looked at him, he didn’t even look back at Long Chen. Instead, he casually took a sip of his tea, seemingly disdaining to even look at Long Chen.

“A martial fighter? Without fighters, you would have no soldiers guarding and protecting the people. Then could you still eat until your cheeks became so fat?” asked Long Chen disdainfully.

Countless people almost laughed at that description. It was truly apt.

“Hmph, what a joke. If there was love in this world, there would be no borders. If there was righteousness, there would be no boundaries. If everyone could give up fighting and focus on learning, discussing things with reason, etiquette, and laws, everything would follow the natural Dao. Then why would we need soldiers to fight? Without the calamity that soldiers and blades bring, why establish territories? With no territories, there would be no fighting. People would not die to senseless violence. You say soldiers guard the people, but are they not really there to invade other nations, an excuse to constantly expand one’s territory?” sneered the scholar.

“Brother, listen to my advice. Don’t bother with people like him. Those people don’t have any skills other than talking. In that regard, we aren’t a match for them,” warned the imperial disciple beside Long Chen kindly.

He was profoundly aware of just how sharp these scholars’ tongues were. Furthermore, the Vermilion Bird Empire’s ancestral teachings had explicit rules that the Vermilion Bird Empire had to maintain a thriving culture of both learning and martial power. As a result, even though these scholars weren’t powerful, their statuses were very high. Even imperial disciples didn’t dare to be rude to them.

They couldn’t hit the scholars and were incapable of beating them verbally. Thus, all the Vermilion Bird Empire’s cultivators detested these scholars, but there was nothing that they could do. They did not dare to break the laws of the Vermilion Bird Empire.

Surprisingly, this young man was quite kind to advise Long Chen to ignore them. He didn’t want Long Chen to embarrass himself.

These scholars would take a bite out of people if they were ignored, but if they weren’t ignored, they would not let their opponents off. After all, ‘talking reason’ was their strong suit. They often crossed verbal swords amongst themselves, training themselves in this regard.

In this case, arguing with them was like using one’s weak point against someone’s strong point. In fact, throughout history, who knew just how many cultivators had been enraged to death by their quibbling?

“A bunch of brainless trolls. Why would I be afraid of them? I refuse to believe that just with their mouths, they can erase all the merit and contributions that the soldiers on the border of the Vermilion Bird Empire have done. They are brave warriors who are not afraid of sacrificing themselves in order to protect their families and the commoners. They are the iron wall that protects the people of the Vermilion Bird Empire from the storm. While you sit here enjoying music and drinking tea, being so bored that you have nothing better to do than curse others, they are hanging heads on their belts, prepared to enter a bloody battle against enemies at any moment, and ready to spill their own blood for their beloved. Such fearless heroes, the protectors of the empire, are turned into worthless brutes by your mouth? It seems that I do not have enough learning. Please clear up this confusion for me,” said Long Chen disdainfully at those arrogant scholars.

Although his words were that of someone asking for advice, his expression was clearly telling them that if they wanted a debate, he would give them one.

Long Chen’s words received a thunderous cheer as he was speaking up for all the cultivators in the Vermillion Bird Empire. On the other hand, the scholars were frosty-faced.

Even so, that slightly pudgy-faced scholar wasn’t bothered by all the clapping. He fearlessly sneered, “You only know how to use fists, not reason. In the end, martial power is unable to solve problems. Violence only brings about more violence and even more hatred in a never-ending cycle. Is history not clear enough? Only by resolving the hatred between both sides can a war end. Without war, people will not need to bleed and sacrifice themselves. But cultivators are all fond of war, delighting in stripping away other people’s lives for personal gain. The Heavenly Daos dislike such things, but you aren’t even aware of it yourselves. It is the pinnacle of foolishness.”

“The pinnacle of foolishness? Are you talking about yourself? You might be able to talk reason with a person, but what about a wild beast? If there was a tiger in front of you, would you talk reason with it? Would it talk reason with you?” asked Long Chen disdainfully.

“Why would a person talk reason with an animal? I naturally have my own ways to deal with wild animals,” said the scholar coldly, but he didn’t say what those methods were. All the experts here could tell that he had no better argument against Long Chen’s point.

For Long Chen to be able to make one of the sharp-tongued scholars powerless to counterattack, this achievement startled the experts present. This man did have some skill in this regard.

“You have ways? What ways could you possibly have? Wouldn’t you just directly kneel and cry out daddy?” asked Long Chen.

The scholar furiously retorted, “You are making personal attacks. Debate should be about the actual subject matter. To resort to personal attacks is the lowest kind of conduct.”

Long Chen shook his head. “No, we are talking reason here. This isn’t a personal attack. Have you not heard of the expression, ‘Even a tiger doesn’t eat their own cub?’”

“You…!”

The scholar was enraged. While Long Chen’s words were a bit vulgar, they were somewhat reasonable, causing the scholar to not be able to grasp a point to counterattack.

However, after thinking about it, the scholar suddenly felt that something was wrong. If he knelt and called out daddy, wouldn’t he be saying that he was a wild beast? Long Chen was clearly cursing him in a roundabout manner. Wasn’t that precisely a personal attack?

Quite a few smart cultivators had long since heard the other meaning in Long Chen’s words. The Zither Sect’s disciples in particular were hiding their smiles.

“Who do you think you are to dare to challenge me, a Hanlin degree-holder, to a debate?!”

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