Shui Wuhen"s shout caused Long Chen to jump. He hadn"t expected the amiable Shui Wuhen to suddenly turn hostile. That made Long Chen a bit puzzled. Was she planning on punishing him?
"Long Chen, I"m asking you a question. Why are you just looking at me?" asked Shui Wuhen icily.
"Uh… just now I was a bit too startled and forgot what you asked. Can monastery head please repeat it?" said Long Chen apologetically. He was unable to guess her intentions.
Seeing Long Chen"s sluggish expression, Shui Wuhen almost laughed. But on the outside, she still acted icily, saying, "I asked, why would you maliciously injure someone in the Xuantian Pavilion? Who gave you such nerve?"
Now Long Chen couldn"t help smirking inside. He finally understood that Shui Wuhen was saying this to help exonerate himself.
For him to have hit someone here had encroached upon her prestige as monastery head. It was no wonder she had to act angry. But unless Long Chen had razed down the entire Xuantian Pavilion, that kind of offense was not worth the death penalty. At worst, she would just have to "severely punish" Long Chen. That was what all these sect leaders wanted to see, as Long Chen was just too fierce, and they needed to suppress him.
The "maliciously injure someone" she said was extremely brilliant. All Long Chen had to say was that it was Sha Tonghai who had provoked him first, and he had only attacked because of his anger.
Like that, the responsibility would be split between the two, and no matter what Sha Tonghai said, it was impossible to dispute that. After all, why would Long Chen only strike him but no one else?
Once that was settled, Long Chen"s punishment would become extremely trivial, and this matter would be over. However, this light punishment would probably require him to be imprisoned for a few days, and Long Chen didn"t want to waste that time.
He shook his head, saying, "Monastery head is wrong. I didn"t maliciously injure anyone. This is all just a misunderstanding."
Seeing Long Chen had instantly understood her intentions, Shui Wuhen relaxed slightly. However, she still acted icy. "Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could allow you to slap someone in the face twice? Do you think I"m so easy to fool?"
Although Shui Wuhen"s expression was icy, Long Chen knew that was just for everyone to see. After all, she was the monastery head, and she couldn"t obviously act biased towards Long Chen. She needed justification to help him.
"Monastery head, this is really just a misunderstanding. Let me explain," said Long Chen.
"Alright, I really want to hear what kind of misunderstanding would be this fierce."
In truth, Shui Wuhen was also a bit bewildered. She had clearly already given Long Chen an escape route. After slapping a sect leader in the face twice, just being imprisoned for a few days couldn"t even count as imprisonment. She wouldn"t actually make it hard on him. At most, he would have to cultivate here for a few days.
But it seemed Long Chen had his own plans. She was truly curious just what method Long Chen had to exonerate himself.
"In truth, it was like this: sect leader Sha Tonghai and myself were having a scientific discussion of whether a human could be crushed to death like an ant.
"Sect leader Sha Tonghai first came up with the grand concept, thinking that humans could be crushed like ants, but I felt great doubt for his theory.
"To sacrifice myself for a grand cultivation discovery is something I would be proud to do, and so I decided to take the risk to test sect leader Sha Tonghai"s theory.
"But although I was brave enough to test it, it seemed sect leader Sha Tonghai began to feel his theory was flawed, and so he didn"t dare try it.
"However, I felt that theories have to be tested, that putting theories into practice is the only way to verify them.
"I didn"t want such an amazing topic of discussion to end just like that. I"d rather see it to the end, and so I proceeded with the discussion with sect leader Sha Tonghai." Up to now, everyone was still completely lost as to what Long Chen was saying.
"What absolute nonsense! You"re just quibbling! It was clearly you who hit me!" raged Sha Tonghai.
"Don"t be so impatient. I"m not finished talking. Since it seems monastery head also doesn"t fully understand, then let me give monastery head a demonstration. Then the misunderstanding will be resolved.
"The first theory was something sect leader Sha Tonghai came up with: a person can be crushed to death like an ant. At that time, I raised my doubts, and even risked my own body as evidence for sect leader Sha Tonghai.
"But when I wanted to prove it, sect leader Sha Tonghai retreated. In my opinion, it seems his theory was flawed, but he didn"t want to admit it.
"And so, I brought up another topic. I asked sect leader Sha Tonghai: what is this?"
After saying that, Long Chen turned to Sha Tonghai, extended a hand with his fingers open. He asked him, "Sect leader Sha Tonghai, what is this?"
Without hesitation, Sha Tonghai snorted, "A cat claw."
Pow.
A large hand ruthlessly slapped across Sha Tonghai"s face with a crisp sound. Sha Tonghai was knocked onto the ground.
"Wrong. This is a slap in the face," said Long Chen.
"Long Chen, you are courting death!" Being slapped again, Sha Tonghai"s hair stood on end. He had already forgotten the monastery head was present, and he charged at Long Chen furiously.
Long Chen once more gave him a slap in the face, one that was extremely ruthless and sent him flying.
"Because sect leader Sha Tonghai refused to accept his error, I could only use this evidence to back up the truth. This truly isn"t a cat claw, but a slap in the face. Monastery head, now you should fully understand that this really was just a misunderstanding." After sending Sha Tonghai flying, Long Chen turned to Shui Wuhen with an aggrieved expression.
At this time, Sha Tonghai had just stood back up. Hearing Long Chen"s words, he immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Long Chen suddenly gave him a thumbs-up, praising, "What a perfect demonstration of what happened back then! I admit, back then, when I saw sect leader Sha Tonghai c.r.a.p all over the palace hall, I truly was a bit too aggressive and sneered at him too much. Let me apologize for that right now.
"But just because I"m apologizing doesn"t mean I did anything wrong. It"s simply because I feel like we are all members of one sect, and we should all work together peacefully.
"It was just a misunderstanding. Now that it"s been resolved, I hope that since we"re all members of the same sect, we should focus on being harmonious, and not quibble over minor matters all day.
"After all, my Xuantian Supermonastery is a grand sect, an example for the Righteous path. Due to this, I won"t quibble with Sha Tonghai over his rude behaviour to me." Long Chen spread his arms, acting as if he didn"t mind having to suffer a slight loss.
Everyone was stunned. Just now, they had personally witnessed Long Chen repeatedly slap Sha Tonghai"s face in front of the monastery head. Not only was Sha Tonghai dizzy, they were all dizzy as well.
Just as everyone was dumbfounded, Shui Wuhen suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only the a.s.sistant monastery head, who now had an odd expression.
This a.s.sistant monastery head looked from Long Chen to Sha Tonghai, who was on the verge of fainting. He didn"t know what to say.
"a.s.sistant monastery head, do you see? Long Chen is absolutely out of control, and even dares be so brazen in front of you! How could our Xuantian Supermonastery accept such a fierce and malicious disciple?!" Sha Tonghai implored to the a.s.sistant monastery head, weeping tears.
This time, his tears weren"t fake. In all his life, he had never felt such grievance. Furthermore, it was a grievance which didn"t even allow him to strike back. He felt so sullen that he wanted to kill himself.
"Cough, this matter is a bit hard to determine. We should wait for the monastery head to return. Most likely the monastery head merely had something urgent to do, but will quickly return," coughed the a.s.sistant monastery head awkwardly.
Looking at Long Chen, who was acting like this was none of his business, he sighed. He had lived for a long time, but he had never seen someone like Long Chen. That made him sigh with emotion. The world truly was filled with marvels.
Suddenly, s.p.a.ce shook slightly and Shui Wuhen re-appeared in front of them.
She gravely said, "Just now, someone touched upon my supermonastery"s restrictive formations. I went to investigate, but I didn"t find the slightest trace.
"However, I suspect some powerful enemy was trying to stealthily infiltrate the supermonastery. They were too strong for me to even catch them."
"What?!"
Everyone was shocked. Someone dared infiltrate the supermonastery? Could it be an expert from the Corrupt path?
But that kind of possibility was extremely small. In all of history, the battles between the Righteous and Corrupt path were only between disciples. If the higher-ups fought, that would be a real war.
"You don"t need to be nervous. Perhaps I am just too paranoid, or perhaps the formations have become loose after so many years of disrepair. Let"s just continue from our previous subject."
Shui Wuhen shrugged, stopping everyone"s whispering. Looking at Long Chen and Sha Tonghai, she didn"t know what to say.
"Monastery head, it seems you still aren"t clear on what happened. This can"t be blamed on you, as just now, my recount wasn"t clear enough. How about this? Let me demonstrate it again for you from the start. That way you"ll be able to fully understand what happened and be able to make the best judgement." After saying that, Long Chen turned to Sha Tonghai.
"There"s no need to demonstrate… I… I admit that Long Chen didn"t maliciously injure anyone. We were just discussing theories."
Sha Tonghai"s words caused everyone to be dumbfounded. But seeing the veins bulging on his forehead and his eyes that seemed to the spitting flames, everyone was well aware of the truth.
Long Chen"s methods were too vicious. Simply by refusing to admit it was anything but a discussion, Sha Tonghai couldn"t do anything to him. In fact, if he continued to quibble, he would very likely continue to be beaten. So he directly gave up and simply remembered this enmity in his heart.
Shui Wuhen was also dumbfounded. Seeing Long Chen"s disappointed expression, she couldn"t help feeling it was funny. This fellow really did know how to con people.
"No matter what reason it was, to strike someone in the Xuantian Pavilion is still an offense. When this meeting is over, stay behind Long Chen," said Shui Wuhen icily.
Her words made Sha Tonghai incredibly grateful, and he immediately knelt on the ground. "Monastery head is wise!"
Shui Wuhen icily glared at him. "Although Long Chen might have gone too far in this matter, don"t think I"m unaware of the real cause. A compet.i.tion is based on power, and if you want to fight, you should fight openly. If you simply want to use despicable schemes and violate the rules, then don"t blame me for being vicious. Was Sha Qitian"s death not enough?"
That made everyone"s hearts turn cold, and they didn"t dare make another sound. The annual meeting continued just like that.
This meeting was simply a summary of the year"s development, as well as the prospects of the next year. Having to listen to each sect"s summary made Long Chen incredibly drowsy.
Six hours later, the meeting finally concluded. Everyone got up and left, leaving behind only Long Chen. A delighted smile appeared on Sha Tonghai and Zhao Yongchang"s faces.
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