When he heard that sentence, Xia Yuan could not help but think that the first sentence was indeed said by a sage. It was said by that sage who founded the Confucian teachings back then and was renown throughout the world. However, the second half of the sentence was not said by that sage, but rather, by a great Confucian of the previous dynasty, Mr. Shen, in his philosophical essay. Now, it was almost universally known among the children who had attended private schools in the Great Liang Dynasty.
Mr. Shen naturally could not be mentioned in the same breath with that Confucian sage. There was naturally no possibility that the two people's famous quotes could be combined too. Even children who were a few years old would not mix them up. But, this young man in black in front of them managed to combine these two sentences together.
If it was pieced together, forget it. Yet, it did not seem... out of place either.
Someone repeated the sentence under their breath, "Friends come from afar, with whips numbering dozens, drive them out of the courtyard."
As he said, he could not help laughing.
Earlier, when He Yi asked if an unwelcome guest counted as a guest, Xie Nandu said that they naturally did. So he used this to ask the girl. But before the young girl could answer, a young man dressed in black came walking in from outside, giving him a dumbfounding answer.
But thinking about this answer carefully, there was a profound meaning to it.
If they were really distinguished guests, then they would naturally be treated according to that saying about friends who came from afar.
But since they were unwelcome guests, it would naturally be that sentence that the youth in black said.
Seeing that everyone was staring at him, the young man in black looked at He Yi a little embarrassedly and said with belated realization, "I didn't study much and don't know if I remember it wrongly. Everyone, please forgive me."
He Yi's expression was ugly as he said woodenly, "Who are you?"
The arrival was naturally Chen Chao. Hearing this, he pretended not to hear it and turned to look at Xie Nandu.
Xie Nandu glanced at him and sat down without speaking. But, anyone could see that smile at the corners of her mouth.
The foreign cultivators at the banquet had ugly expressions. Someone said angrily, "You're that warden? You were absent without reason and now, you actually still dare to talk wildly!"
"What warden?" Chen Chao had a blank look.
That person said with a sneer, "What? You're actually shameless until you don't even dare to admit this?!"
Chen Chao kept a straight face as he said with a frown, "What do you mean shameless? This official is the deputy commander of the Divine Capital's Left Guard. You're looking for a warden, what does that have to do with this official?!"
There were actually not many people who knew about Chen Chao's promotion to the position of deputy commander of the Left Guard. At least, there were barely anyone present who knew about it.
"You!" That person's expression turned ugly. For a moment, he really could not think of anything to say.
All the Great Liang Dynasty cultivators present were aware of the events that had occurred by the South Lake. Seeing how Chen Chao was so unfazed at this moment, none of them were surprised. Even the Ning family's young man wore a solemn expression at this moment. Now that things had developed to the current situation, he would no longer jump out to say anything more.
"You were absent without reason, the Great Liang Dynasty really doesn't understand the rules to use a youth from the borders like you!"
A cultivator spoke indifferently.
They latched onto the facts, making it very difficult for others to argue. Except, his words held a double meaning. He seemed to be talking about Chen Chao, but in reality, they were actually condemning the entire Great Liang Dynasty together with him too.
Chen Chao sneered and retorted, "As the deputy commander of the Left Guard, it's my duty to protect the safety of the Divine Capital as well as the imperial city. You're guests from afar who refuse to be proper guests. But, we can't be impolite hosts. So, this official inconvenienced myself a little to patrol the area for you. After all, you foreign cultivators have many enemies. There may be assassins who sneaked into the imperial city at this moment to kill you cultivators. This official went to take a look for you guys to prevent you all from dying here which would be a tragedy too."
Hearing this, the faces of the foreign cultivators in the room became very ugly. Chen Chao's words were not aimed at a single cultivator, but at all of them. It naturally incurred public wrath.
"Talking nonsense! You're full of rubbish!"
That cultivator turned to the Second Prince. But before he could say anything, Chen Chao smiled and said, "Of course I was bluffing you, how safe is the palace? How could there be such outlaws? It's just that if you guys were to leave the Divine Capital, you'll have to be more careful."
"Your Highness, this man is spouting unruly and insane words! If you don't apprehend him at this time, when are you waiting for?!"
"That's right. This person missed the banquet without reason. Now, he came here and he actually doesn't feel sorry at all. Presumably, his absence must have been deliberate too."
"We should chase this person out immediately with a flurry of sticks! As for his punishment, we shall leave it to His Majesty to decide!"
More and more cultivators spoke up. The situation in the hall quickly spiraled out of control.
No one could have anticipated that things would develop in this direction.
Previously, Xie Nandu speaking up was already enough to surprise them. Now, the main character had finally arrived. But after he came, not only did he not show any fear, he stirred up such a commotion the moment he opened his mouth. Now, he did not even flinch when standing in sharp opposition to these foreign cultivators.
The Second Prince furrowed his brows and pressed both hands down to quiet the room. He asked solemnly, "Commander Chen, why were you absent from the banquet?"
The people quietened down when they heard this. They were latching onto Chen Chao's unexcused absence in the first place. Now, if Chen Chao did not have an appropriate explanation, he would be the loser tonight no matter what he said earlier.
It was not just Chen Chao himself who did not believe what he said earlier, the others present naturally did not believe him either.
The great hall suddenly became quiet. Everyone was waiting for Chen Chao's explanation.
Chen Chao clasped his hands and said sincerely, "Tonight's banquet is held by His Majesty. This subject naturally dare not be negligent. Hence, I took the Left Guard's horse carriage to the palace early. At that time, none of you had arrived yet. It's just that when I arrived at the palace, Eunuch Li Heng said that Her Majesty the Empress wanted to see me. Since that was the case, how could this subject decline?"
He spoke very sincerely. Furthermore, he had already explained everything very clearly in a short sentence. Even the stupidest person could not find any problems with what he said to refute him. He did not leave any leeway for anyone to challenge him.
He arrived early and was the first to reach. If nothing unexpected happened, he would likely have been the first to appear in the Virtuous Sun Palace. It was just that the Empress summoned him, he naturally went to her. There was nothing to blame him for.
You all wanted to use my late arrival to the banquet to pressure me? But have you thought about the reason behind it?
The Second Prince raised his head and looked at Li Heng who was standing outside the palace. Actually, even if it was him, he had to treat this eunuch with respect too. He was the chief eunuch in the palace and his imperial father's most trusted servant.
Li Heng nodded slightly, confirming that there was no problem with what Chen Chao said.
The Second Prince looked deeply at Chen Chao and said with a slight smile, "Since it was the Empress who summoned you, then Commander Chen naturally did nothing wrong. Turns out that this was just a misunderstanding. Everyone, please don't take it to heart anymore."
He spoke with a smile, then raised his glass, trying to ease the awkward situation. The Great Liang Dynasty's youngsters raised their glasses one by one, but the foreign cultivators did not respond.
The atmosphere was still a little awkward.
If previously, they only wanted to probe the Great Liang Dynasty's thoughts through Chen Chao's incident, then ever since Chen Chao walked in, they truly started to dislike this young man in black.
He Yi smiled slightly and said, "Since it's a misunderstanding, let's just drop the matter. I'll apologize to Commander Chen here."
He raised a cup of wine and downed it at once, appearing very magnanimous.
The foreign cultivators felt very perplexed. But out of fear of He Yi's identity, they could only remain silent.
Chen Chao laughed, "Immortal Master is so open-minded, no wonder you can achieve the Great Dao! It's only natural!"
He Yi smiled slightly, put down his cup, and then immediately said, "Since tonight is for exchanging and sparring, I believe that many fellow daoists would like to spar with Commander Chen."
Upon hearing this, the people finally understood. It was not appropriate for them to make a move against Xie Nandu earlier because Xie Nandu was only at Initial Realm. It would naturally be a dishonorable victory to defeat her. However, since Chen Chao was not at Initial Realm, there was no reason not to spar with him.
He Yi appeared to be nonchalant about the previous incident. But in reality, He Yi wanted to defeat Chen Chao at the imperial banquet and ruin his reputation.
With He Yi's reminder at this moment, there were already many foreign cultivators who were itching to teach Chen Chao a lesson.
But Chen Chao remained unfazed. He just smiled at the foreign cultivators present and said. "I'm a little scared to spar with immortal masters."
Hearing this, there were immediately more than one person present who sneered coldly. They looked at Chen Chao and thought: You're scared now? I'm afraid it's too late for that.
What happened to your arrogance from before? Where did it go?
He Yi smiled and said, "It's just a friendly spar. We won't harm Commander Chen's life. Why decline?"
Chen Chao's expression was ugly and he turned to the Second Prince.
The Second Prince felt his gaze and was somewhat helpless too. There were such rules tonight to begin with, even it was him, he could not do anything about it either.
He Yi sighed and said, "If Commander Chen really doesn't want to, you can back out too. After all, these things have to be mutually consensual. Could it be that we can force Commander Chen?"
Everyone in the hall knew that at this moment, if Chen Chao said that he was scared and refused the challenge, he would go from being a hero in the eyes of the people of the Divine Capital to a complete coward after tonight. This kind of reversal of reputation would make it difficult for him to move around in the capital.
If he accepted the challenge and still lost, the Myriad Willow Convention would be taking place right away. How could he still have the face to participate in the Myriad Willow Convention?
This was the choice that He Yi gave Chen Chao, avenging the grudge of his selected words earlier.
Ridiculing laughter did not cease in the hall, everyone looked at Chen Chao like they were watching a show.
The youngsters from the Great Liang Dynasty did not speak. Even if they had grievances with Chen Chao, they did not want to add insult to injury at this moment. Because at this moment, Chen Chao represented the Great Liang Dynasty. If they still lacked a sense of propriety, their days would not be easy after tonight.
Chen Chao listened to the ridicules in the room and looked at everyone's reaction. He was silent for a long time before he slowly said, "I think immortal masters are mistaken."
His voice was not loud, but it just happened to drown out the ridiculing. The hall became quiet again and everyone looked at him with some doubt and some uncertainty.
He Yi asked patiently, "What misunderstanding?"
Chen Chao slowly said, "I come from the border and served as a warden in Tianqing County, protecting the border and ensuring the safety of the people of Great Liang. I spent my days in and out of the deep mountains, killing many demons. My skills are all focused on the word 'kill'. Whether is it killing people or killing demons, I'm good at them. However, when it comes to sparring, I'm really not very familiar with it. I am afraid that if we start fighting, I'll lack a sense of propriety and end up killing everyone!"
End up killing everyone...
Chen Chao said the last few words of this sentence very slowly and earnestly too, The result of this was that everyone heard him clearly.
Earlier, there was a cultivator who had said the same thing to Xie Nandu. But at that time, Chen Chao was not in the hall and should not have known about that incident. But now that he spoke like this, it was somewhat similar to what had happened before.
It even made them suspect that this young man was standing up for that girl.
"I am really afraid. After all, in Tianqing County, I've already accidentally killed a few qi refiners." Chen Chao's face was full of sincerity and his tone was sincere. He was just like Xie Nandu before. Of the duo, one could make lies sound like the truth, while the other person divulged no emotions even when mocking.
From this perspective, the two of them were really a match made in heaven.
The expression on He Yi's face had already become ugly to the extreme. The rest of the cultivators were boiling with anger, unable to contain themselves any longer.
However, Chen Chao did not pay attention to all of that. Instead, he looked at Xie Nandu and raised his eyebrows.
Xie Nandu smiled slightly and nodded her head.
Their actions only further infuriated the cultivators present.
After a moment, a cultivator spoke up, "Li Ying from Wanqing Mountain, please offer me guidance, Commander Chen!"
After being provoked repeatedly tonight, these young people could not bear it any longer. At this moment, they were already resorting to the final, and also the simplest way of regaining face.
However, Chen Chao did not look at him. Instead, he turned to He Yi and said, "Why make things so complicated? Let's just have a match between the two of us."
Looking at this young cultivator, Chen Chao smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'll try my best to restrain myself."
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