Chapter 71: The Righteous Energy

　　“By the way, how is Kong Renyi?”

　　“I’ve already arranged it. Lord Kong is also very angry with Li Chunyang for his unruly behavior, ignoring the law and killing the ministers!”

　　“Hmph! What’s the use of being very angry? He is just an old man with no strength to even bind a chicken. It is alright to use him to win the hearts of the people, to wave flags, and shout for righteousness. But in this period of regime change, when killing and bleeding is everything, he is less useful than an ordinary soldier!”

　　“After all, we haven’t dispensed with all civilities, and the daggers have not been drawn yet. It would be nice for him to wave the flags of morality and righteousness and give Li Chunyang some trouble while reducing the Li Family’s increasing arrogance. Perhaps, he can bring us an unexpected result. After all, Lord Kong has a great prestige, and he represents all the scholars in the state. Even Li Chunyang would not dare to defy them!”

　　“I agree! If we can take this opportunity to have the Li Family be despised by the world, it will be of great help to me in taking complete control of the Central Army! As long as that old codger Kong is on our side, the people will be on our side!”

　　Qin Yang’s face finally became a little relaxed. He waved Gao Feng off and paced back and forth in the chamber alone. The look in his eyes kept changing, and he finally smiled and muttered to himself, “These are just irrelevant small fights. As long as that matter can succeed, the throne will definitely be mine in the end even if everyone supports you!”

　　…

　　When Yunxiao followed Li Chunyang back to the Li Family’s residence, they could see a large crowd gathering at the front door from a distance. Li Chunyang’s face turned cold as he said in a murderous tone, “Who is so bold as to block my residence’s front door? Come, let’s go and have a look!”

　　They were about to approach when a figure suddenly flashed out from the side. It was Li Xian, who served Li Baifeng. As soon as he appeared, he bowed to Li Chunyang and said hastily, “My lord, something bad has happened! Three disciples of Lord Kong Renyi—Yan Jin, Gongsun Rang, and Yu Zixian—with about one hundred scholars, many of whom are ministers in the court, have listed ten crimes my lord has committed! They are now denouncing my lord!”

　　“What? That old codger Kong Renyi!” Li Chunyang was shocked, but his murderous aura gradually subsided as he got lost in thoughts. A moment later, he turned to Yunxiao and frowned, “Yunxiao, why don’t we retreat for now? When these pedantic scholars have had enough, they will naturally leave.”

　　Yunxiao raised his eyebrows and squinted at the crowd. Each one of the hundred or so scholars was holding a huge banner, on which were written various crimes. Ignoring the content, the writing was indeed fresh and beautiful, emanating an elegant air. There was no doubt that Kong Renyi wrote these banners himself!

　　“Grandpa, you are bold enough to kill even civil and military ministers, so why are you afraid of these scholars?”

　　“You know nothing, Yunxiao! Killing a few ministers is irrelevant to the state or the people. But, this Kong Renyi is different. He is a Confucian descendant, representing righteousness and morality, as well as the five cardinal principles of righteousness. His words and deeds are the models of almost all scholars. Even if the king and Lan Hong saw him, they have to address him as ‘teacher’. Although he is not a minister in the court, he has a great prestige. If we kill these scholars today, I fear the good name of our family will be lost, and we will be reviled by the world.”

　　“They are too many mediocre people in the world. Why should we fear them? Grandpa, you showed no fear when even millions of troops were at our border, so why fear mere condemnation? The fact that this Kong Renyi chose to jump out at this time tells us that he should have received some benefits or been bewitched by Qin Yang. It seems that he is not a good guy either. Since he is going to overreach himself and stand in front of us, then I will remove him as well.”

　　When Yunxiao finished speaking, his eyes suddenly gleamed with a murderous look, and his face grew cold at the same time. The way he looked at the group of scholars was as if he were looking at a group of dead people.

　　Li Chunyang and Li Xian were both startled by the murderous aura emanated from him as they followed him anxiously. After all, the Li Family was a family of martial generals, and there was still some respect for scholars in their bones. It was actually a kind of respect for the knowledge of the saints.

　　The front door of the residence was already tightly shut. Li Baifeng had never seen such a situation before, so he hid in the residence and did not dare to show up. It was unknown how he let Li Xian out to inform Li Chunyang.

　　More than a hundred scholars, all dressed in white mourning clothes, held up the banners with the crimes and sat on a hunger strike at the front door of the Li Family. The foreheads of the three leaders were even tied with cloth strips, on which were written ‘loyalty and courage’, ‘benevolence and righteousness’, and ‘wisdom and faith’. They were none other than Yan Jin, Gongsun Rang, and Yu Zixian, who were known among Kong Renyi’s disciples as the Three Wises.

　　As soon as the crowd saw Yunxiao, Li Chunyang, and Li Xian approaching from a distance, they immediately broke out into an uproar. One by one, they stood up and looked at them angrily. The aura of more than a hundred men joined as one, and there was a faint mass of righteous energy hanging in the sky.

　　The Three Wises exchanged a glance and then began to shout, “Deceiving the monarch, killing ministers, abusing military power, conniving subordinates, being arrogant, disregarding the laws, amassing wealth without permission, killing and ransacking political opponents, being ruthless and unsympathetic! You have committed ten inexcusable crimes!”

　　“You have committed ten inexcusable crimes!”

　　Hundreds of men shouted in unison, their voices immediately shaking the sky. Each of these scholars shouted so hard that their faces turned red as they glared furiously at the three from the Li Family. They felt that the righteous cause was in their hands, and they were about to subdue demons and get rid of fiends. Over at the Li Family’s residence, the righteous energy condensed and did not disperse, with faint signs of taking a corporeal shape.

　　Yunxiao picked his nose with a middle finger and soon dug out a large lump of boogers. Then, he rolled it into a ball and flicked his finger to throw it out.

　　A gust of strong wind cut through the air and flew straight to Yan Jin’s face.

　　These men were all scholars. Even if some of them practiced martial arts, they just wanted to stay healthy, so they had no ability to resist Yunxiao’s gust of wind. After rushing into the mass of righteous energy, the booger seemed to be hindered by some kind of obstacle and began to wobble, before finally falling onto Yan Jin’s lip.

　　“Pooh! Pooh! Pooh! Pooh…”

　　Yan Jin kept spitting in disgust, but he still felt nauseous after doing that for more than a dozen times in a row and wanted to throw up.

　　“Li Yunxiao, how dare you insult a scholar! It seems that you are guilty of the same crimes as Li Chunyang! You have committed a heinous crime!” Gongsun Rang roared as he directly pinned a label on Yunxiao.

　　“You are guilty of the same crimes! You have committed a heinous crime!” The crowd roared after him.

　　Yunxiao did not pay attention to them, but looked up doubtfully at the righteous energy in the sky. He folded his arms over his chest and supported his chin with a fist as he muttered to himself, “This righteous Confucian energy is indeed somewhat special! It seems that I had some prejudice against it in the past.”

　　He put down his arms and picked his ear, then stuck two fingers together.

　　The faces of the Three Wises fell. They were on high alert as they stepped back at the same time. “What are you…What are you doing?!” Yu Zixian said angrily.

　　Yunxiao sneered as he looked at the trio sarcastically and said, “Even saints can’t control when men have to shit or fart. Why, don’t tell me that as Kong Renyi’s Three Wises, you have the right to stop me from digging my ear?”

　　Gongsun Rang frowned and said angrily, “Vulgar!”

　　A faint whistle rang out as Yunxiao lightly flicked his finger. A lump of earwax pierced through the air and flew directly into Gongsun Rang’s mouth. In a fit of rage and shock, the latter belched and swallowed the earwax.

　　“Blargh!”

　　Feeling a tumble in his stomach, he immediately bent down and vomited on the spot! Yan Jin just got the booger stuck to his lip, but he ate that earwax! After vomiting for a while, he even began to vomit bile.

　　“Haha!” Li Chunyang, who had been very worried up until now, could not help but laugh.

　　Smelling the stench of vomit, the scholars standing around Gongsun Rang frowned and subconsciously moved away from him. Even Yan Jin and Yu Zixian were frowning and keeping a distance from him. The whole crowd suddenly became a little sparse.

　　Yunxiao looked up at the sky. The mass of righteous energy, which was condensed and gradually taking the shape of a saint, began to show signs of dispersing.

　　“This righteous energy is indeed composed of the Confucian divine thought of these scholars and natural Primordial Qi, and it seems to be a great tonic. How can I let it go to waste?”

　　All of a sudden, he gently kicked his foot to the ground, pushing himself into the air and then rushing into the mass of righteous energy. Then, he unleashed all of his divine sense and began to rotate the One Qi of Destiny. Immediately, the righteous energy all over the sky frantically poured into his body.

　　With that, he immediately felt refreshed and inexpressibly pleased. He performed a strange incantation gesture with both hands while laughing, which expanded several times to form an invisible force field and wrap his whole body.

　　Yunxiao was suspended over the Li Family’s residence with his arms and legs spread out, and there was a spherical bubble on his head, palms, and foot. He hovered motionlessly in mid-air, but his divine sense was rotating inside at a high speed, and the One Qi of Destiny was frantically absorbing the righteous energy!

　　“What is happening? Why can he be suspended in midair?”

　　“I thought only the legendary Martial Grandmasters can fly!”

　　“He seems to be absorbing out righteous energy!”

　　Yan Jin was also stunned, but he soon calmed down. “Don’t panic, everyone! This kid indeed knows witchcraft! However, the righteous energy we, the Confucian scholars, have cultivated is the most righteous energy between the heaven and earth. As someone who practices witchcraft, he is inviting death by absorbing this energy into his body!”

　　Yu Zixian showed a look of sudden enlightenment and cried out, “Brother Yan is right. Don’t panic, everyone! Calm down and concentrate your mind, and recite the knowledge of saints in silence, so that the righteous energy can grow stronger. Let us destroy this evil man together!”

　　More than a hundred men immediately sat down and calmed their minds as they began to recite the knowledge of saints in silence. In just a flash, the faint aura of scholars began to emanate from their bodies and rise into the sky with the inaudible recitation.

　　Li Xian opened his mouth wide and asked in astonishment, “My lord, is Young Master Yun alright?”

　　Li Chunyang was also extremely shocked. It was true that only Martial Grandmasters of the Six Directions realm could fly in the sky, but Yunxiao obviously had used some kind of secret technique. He said in a low voice, “This boy should know how far to go and when to stop!”

　　At the moment, Yunxiao was suspended in mid-air and relaxing. After being absorbed into his body, the righteous energy was not only directly converted into Primordial Qi and converged in his dantian, but also continued to nourish his soul. It made him feel extremely comfortable. Meanwhile, his cultivation base, which had not improved for a long time even though he had taken many Thousand Birds pills, began to loosen and was gradually moving toward the peak-level of the six-stars.