As the saying goes, how much land one possesses depends on the size of one"s courage.
Fang Zhengzhi had no other escape methods. Ever since the battle in the Flame Capital City, two months had pa.s.sed. He was only left with four months time to live.
In other words...
He would not get to survive if he failed to step into the Saint State within these four months.
So, what else was there for him to consider?
Fang Zhengzhi coughed gently and scanned the contestants" face, before landing his attention onto Qian Wu standing before him.
"Eliminate Qian Wu first?" Fang Zhengzhi had a thought in his mind, but he quickly rejected that thought, as he had recalled the words by the three Heaven Dao Pavilion disciples.
He would care less about the disciples standing around him, but with the Third Elder and Fifth Elder standing behind him.
It was just too tough for him to eliminate Qian Wu publicly.
Forget it.
He had decided to pick a few guinea pigs, and test the "limit" of Third Elder and Fifth Elder. If he did not play his cards well, his plan would fail ultimately.
"Qian Wu!"
"Qian Wu, the prince from the Holy Barbarian Empire, please ask me the questions!" Qian Wu had a change in his tone as he remembered Fang Zhengzhi"s lecture on insincerity.
"Please explain the origin of the Dao." Fang Zhengzhi nodded his head.
"Yes!" Qian Wu heaved a sigh of relief as he pondered for awhile before replying, "Dao, the beginning of all lands and living things, these are Dao...."
It did not take Qian Wu very long to finish explaining the whole explanation of Dao. Although he had felt very nervous, as Third Elder and Fifth Elder was standing behind Fang Zhengzhi.
"Ummm, very accurate, you have pa.s.sed this segment!" Just as Qian Wu was expecting himself to fail, Fang Zhengzhi replied him confidently.
"Pa.s.sed this segment?!"
"Can"t be, really pa.s.sed it?"
Everyone was astonished by Fang Zhengzhi"s reply as they felt incredibly disbelieved, since Qian Wu had been rude to Fang Zhengzhi earlier.
Or so to say…..
If Fang Zhengzhi was not generous enough, or he was keen on intentionally making it difficult for Qian Wu, then the possibility of Qian Wu pa.s.sing this segment would be incredibly slim.
"Indeed, such person like me would never understand Kong Qing"s level of intelligence!"
"He is definitely a disciple of the Heaven Dao Pavilion!"
"How I wish to have a chance to get in too. I shall pick up my skills from senior Kong Qing!"
Everyone was impressed by Fang Zhengzhi, as he seemed to abide by the law. To separate work and personal issues, was indeed the proper mindset of a trainer.
"Alright, next in line!" Fang Zhengzhi waved his hands as he acted indifferently towards Qian Wu who was shocked by the current situation.
He then bowed politely in front of Fang Zhengzhi before withdrawing to the crowd.
The next person came before Fang Zhengzhi.
It was a young man clothed in a royal robe.
Fang Zhengzhi was impatient this time round as he waited for the young man to announce his status. After the young man had carefully answered the questions, Fang Zhengzhi mumbled the word slowly.
"Eliminated!"
"..." The young man froze on the ground immediately as he thought that he had already answered the questions. Little did he know that he would be met with the same ending.
The three disciples continued to stay rooted to the ground.
"Eliminated again?!"
"Didn"t senior Kong Qing mention about eliminating just one more person?"
"Right, Sima Feng had already been eliminated right? Then, what was the reason for him to eliminate another?"
The three disciples were puzzled but they did not dare to suggest anything to Fang Zhengzhi. They merely looked at Third Elder and Fifth Elder cautiously.
Third Elder and Fifth Elder remained at their place smiling when they heard Fang Zhengzhi"s words, and they did not seem surprised by the situation.
"Could it be that the elders had also agreed that Fang Zhengzhi should eliminate him? That"s not right, his answer was so perfect, and he had already eliminated nine of them earlier. That would make it ten for eliminating this one again?" The three disciples were feeling very devastated internally.
Fang Zhengzhi stared indifferently at the dazed young man.
"Are you not aware of your mistake?"
"Yes, please enlighten me, teacher!" The young man nodded his head. To be eliminated, before being enlightened, that seemed like the routine for this year"s Heaven Dao Pavilion selection test.
"I asked you about the "four anchors" right?" Fang Zhengzhi asked calmly.
"Yes." The young man nodded his head.
"Yes, you did manage to answer the questions on the four anchors. And mentioned about the values of politeness, righteousness, integrity and humility. Without these qualities, a nation would be extinguished. This shows that you have a certain level of understanding towards the four anchors. Just that...." Fang Zhengzhi paused.
"Please enlighten me, teacher!"
"It wasn"t wrong of you to mention about the destruction of a country without these four anchors, but you have seemed to emphasise too much on that point. Judging by your tone, it is almost like you were using your resentment to express your feelings for the country. If I"m not wrong, I"m guessing that your training level had reached its bottle neck, where you can no longer improve despite all the hard work. Correct me if I"m wrong?" Fang Zhengzhi began explaining.
"Teacher, you... How do you know that?!" The young man was flabbergasted.
"Not only am I aware of your training has reached a bottleneck, but I am also confident that your training only consists of three types of Dao!" Fang Zhengzhi"s mouth moved up as he flashed a smile.
"Please…. Please teach me all you have!" The young man kneeled down as soon as he had heard that, and his eyes were filled with tears, "To be very honest, teacher, I had only mastered two kinds of Dao, and I have been using them since young. I claim to be the "highest among everyone", but lately, I have been thinking why…."
"Are you very similar to the other strong elites around me, right?"
"Yes, you"re very right, that"s why I have been feeling very perplexed. Teacher, are you thinking about my lack of skills or lack of knowledge on the two Dao?
"No, you"re very talented. But do you understand that even though the four anchors are righteous in nature, how many people in a country are actually humble, and actually incorrupt? There are always many ways in viewing something, if you only speak and emphasis from a certain point of view, won"t that ruin other perspectives?"
"Emphasising one side of it? Ruining the other? I don"t quite understand your words, teacher..." The young man did not quite understand Fang Zhengzhi.
"Self-training and ruling a country are similar. But if you were to place all your efforts on just one big Dao, and neglect the others. Or focusing on the essence of only two of them, then you will never understand the meaning of the rest. Are you aware that everything is linked together? Great Dao and Small Dao all have a unique difference between them, you need the support from Small Dao to achieve the goal of a Big Dao. As the saying goes, the water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up. The thing you need now is water!"
"Water? Lack of water…...I….. I think I have finally understood it. Understand, I am aware of how to breakthrough now. Thank you so much, teacher. I will put there everything I have in mind to search solely on the meaning of Dao!" The young man thought carefully before saying. He was clearly feeling very excited and overjoyed with tears.
"Okay, you may leave!" Fang Zhengzhi made a hand gesture to signal him to leave.
"Yes, I will leave right now!" The young man listened and bowed in front of Fang Zhengzhi before turning away and left quickly.
"..."
The contestants standing around were all making eye contacts with each other as they stared at the young man leaving happily.
That was just too amazing?
Just by answering the meaning of four anchors, he could figure out that the young man"s training had met a bottleneck. Besides, he even knew about the young man"s desire of only understanding the Great Dao?
The most intriguing part was the proverb, "the water that bears the boat is the same that swallows it up."
The proverb was obviously referring to the skills of the Emperor, but he used it to explain in this situation. It made their hearts felt deep with knowledge.
"I have to enter the Heaven Dao Pavilion, I want to be the same as senior Kong Qing!"
"You"re so naive, do you think that you can actually be as good as senior Kong Qing and the rest of the Heaven Dao Pavilion disciples? I only have one wish, and that would be to getting tips from senior Kong Qing."
"Precisely, if there are more knowledge when we enter the Heaven Dao Pavilion. I might be able to have a breakthrough in my training!"
The rest of the contestants were envious of Xun Fei breaking through, as well as the young man who had managed to find a purpose in chasing after the Dao. They were all feeling very excited.
At this point of time, they felt that being eliminated was not of importance anymore. They were more interested in understanding Fang Zhengzhi"s teaching, and hoped to break through their own training"s bottleneck.
The young man had left...
Third elder and Fifth Elder did not speak about anything since the beginning. Not a single word of reprimanding, and they merely had eye contact with each other, as they had felt even more impressed.
Since they had remained silent since the start, Fang Zhengzhi a.s.sumed that he was able to continue the test.
So he continued....
He managed to eliminate four more contestants.
The most interesting phenomenon was that all the eliminated contestants leaving the place felt accomplished, as though they had found treasures on the ground.
Till now, only Qian Wu of the 32 contestants managed to pa.s.s the first segment, and the eliminated numbers had already increased to 14.
That was nearly half of the group.
Third Elder and Fifth Elder could no longer tolerate the situation anymore.