Going godlike against the odds

"Smack, smack, smack...!"

Crisp, forceful slaps rang out over the Golden Kylin Gathering, accompanied by piercing, muffled cries.

The venue, which had been buzzing with discussion, fell deathly silent.

Every gaze focused on the raised platform at its center.

The two Imperial Academy students had been beaten until their cheeks swelled, and blood mixed with broken teeth littered the ground.

Meanwhile, inside the pavilion.

Gu Chenfeng lifted a cup of fine wine and gently swirled it, his expression utterly unruffled.

Along with their indignation, everyone present felt a chill crawl down their spines.

To inflict such brutality on two Imperial Academy students before so many scholars and literati.

It was arrogance beyond measure.

Yet Gu Chenfeng had caught the two red-handed, and they could produce no evidence. The others could do nothing to help.

Cowled by the bloody scene, the scholars and cultured gentlemen who had just been busily passing judgment on the Gu father and son.

Now fell silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to utter a word.

Only then did they remember that this young master of the Gu Lineage was no saint, but a notorious wastrel of the Imperial Capital.

And the Gu Lineage stood at the very pinnacle of power in the Great Li Dynasty. It would not tolerate their disparagement.

Neither Imperial Uncle Xiao nor Zhang You had expected Gu Chenfeng to find the men they had planted among the crowd.

Still less had they expected such incisive methods.

He had inflicted punishment in public, before the princess and the Third Prince, intimidating the entire gathering.

Their plans had been thrown into complete disarray.

Both men grew anxious.

But just then, an authoritative rebuke suddenly rang out from the crowd.

"Stop!"

The crowd parted of its own accord as an old man in a scholar's robe strode forward.

He was tall and slender, his hair and beard silver-white. Despite his advanced age, his eyes shone brightly and his voice rang with vigor.

An air of noble righteousness radiated from him!

At the sight of him, the scholars and students present bowed in greeting.

Even the honored guests in the various pavilions rose to pay their respects.

"Greetings, Master Zhong!"

The newcomer was none other than Zhong Yanqi, the former Libationer-the head-of the Imperial Academy.

He was one of the Great Li Dynasty's most renowned Confucian scholars.

When the princes were young, Zhong Yanqi had taught them the classics, establishing a bond of teacher and student.

Thus, he enjoyed immense prestige both in official circles and among the scholarly community.

With his arrival, the scholars and students felt as though they had found their pillar of support and began pleading with him.

"Master Zhong, please save our two fellow students!"

Zhong Yanqi swept his gaze over the two students on the platform, beaten almost beyond recognition, then glared at Gu Chenfeng in the pavilion.

"Insolence!

Gu Chenfeng, how dare you subject Imperial Academy students-pupils of the Son of Heaven-to private punishment in public!"

Seeing Zhong Yanqi suddenly intervene, Imperial Uncle Xiao and Zhang You, who had been growing anxious, immediately brightened.

Elder Zhong was upright and unyielding, a man who would never tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes.

Although he had not sided with the Left Chancellor's faction, regarding the misconduct of Gu Lingxiao, the General Who Guards the North, at the frontier.

He had submitted impeachment memorials more than once and condemned him harshly on numerous occasions.

He was one of the Imperial Capital's few hard bones: a man with both the courage and the standing to challenge the Gu Lineage.

Gu Chenfeng's outrageous behavior today had clearly enraged this great scholar.

This matter would not end peacefully.

Even Ouyang Cai, upon seeing the newcomer, slipped over to Gu Chenfeng and whispered.

"Third Young Master, Elder Zhong isn't someone to mess with. Let's get out of here."

Yet Gu Chenfeng remained firmly seated in the pavilion's place of honor, calmly meeting Zhong Yanqi's gaze.

"Elder Zhong, you are mistaken. This is happening in full public view. How can you call it private punishment?"

"Hmm...?"

Everyone was astonished to hear Gu Chenfeng openly contradict Elder Zhong.

Zhong Yanqi raised a silver eyebrow and said sternly.

"Twisting words to force your case! Even if these two have committed an offense, you should report it to the authorities and let the Ministry of Justice or the Court of Judicial Review hear the case before imposing punishment.

Before that, what is the arbitrary use of punishment if not private punishment?

The Right Chancellor is a veteran of three reigns. As a descendant of the Gu Lineage, you knowingly broke the law, and your offense warrants an aggravated penalty!"

Elder Zhong's words were incisive and well reasoned.

They prompted the surrounding scholars and students who resented Gu Chenfeng to raise their arms in support.

Imperial Uncle Xiao and Zhang You were even more delighted.

Gu Chenfeng truly had no sense. Of all the people he could confront, he had chosen to argue with Elder Zhong.

Yet Gu Chenfeng merely chuckled.

"Elder Zhong, there are two fallacies in what you just said."

Everyone froze at those words, and Zhong Yanqi frowned as well.

"What fallacies?"

"First, I already said in public that I would not pursue criminal charges over these two men's slander.

I ordered my men to slap them. You may say I'm bullying them, or teaching them how to behave, but this certainly isn't judicial punishment!"

"Hmm...?"

Everyone was taken aback by this.

They vaguely recalled that Gu Chenfeng had indeed said something of the sort.

Zhong Yanqi, too, briefly faltered.

Gu Chenfeng immediately continued, "You just said I inflicted unlawful private punishment, knowingly broke the law, and deserved an aggravated penalty.

You publicly slapped quite a grand accusation on my head. Truly imposing.

But didn't you say that determining guilt requires reporting the matter to the authorities and having the relevant offices hear the case before a conviction can be made?

Or do you believe your seniority and age entitle you to pronounce someone guilty with a single word?"

"That..."

Faced with these two counterattacks from such unexpected angles, Zhong Yanqi's expression shifted.

He clearly had not expected Gu Chenfeng to be so adept at sophistry.

He gave a soft snort.

"Enough of your willful quibbling. I merely saw you unjustly beating Imperial Academy students and acted as the urgency demanded to stop you from doing wrong."

Gu Chenfeng's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"So that's how it is.

Since you were here at the gathering all along, when those two students and some ignorant fools were presumptuously discussing court officials and slandering my Gu Lineage.

Where were you? Why didn't you step forward to stop their wrongdoing?

Yet the moment I personally punished the wrongdoers, you appeared to uphold justice.

You truly are upright and incorruptible, old master. How admirable!"

A stir swept through the crowd.

At those words, the expressions of everyone present became quite a spectacle.

Zhong Yanqi's expression changed again, and his brows drew still tighter.

The scholars and students gathered around him, hoping Elder Zhong would stand up for them.

Were now speechless as well.

By contrast, Ouyang Cai, Su Wanyue, and the others in the pavilion who had been worried about Gu Chenfeng.

Suddenly looked at him in an entirely different light.

It was like discovering a teammate going godlike in a losing match.

Even Shangguan Bingxin and Princess Yaoyin looked astonished.

"When did this fellow become so eloquent?" Princess Yaoyin could not help muttering.

An uncanny silence settled over the gathering.

A moment later.

After several changes of expression, Zhong Yanqi finally regained his composure.

"Lately, I have often heard the Imperial Capital praise your astonishing poetic talent, Third Young Master. I never imagined your eloquence would be equally remarkable.

I am old, and my thoughts no longer flow freely. In the art of sophistry, I am no match for you."

Unexpectedly, Zhong Yanqi publicly conceded ground.

But then his eyes flashed, and his expression turned firm and resolute.

"Just now, you asked why I did not step forward to stop the students from discussing the Gu Lineage.

I can answer you directly. It was not that I could not, but that I would not!"

"It was not that I could not, but that I would not!"

Those few simple words told everyone present that Elder Zhong was about to unleash his trump card.

Sure enough, Zhong Yanqi drew a deep breath and spoke sharply.

"Our Great Li Dynasty flourishes in martial might and stands supreme in southern Yan Province. Yet the Late Emperor and His Majesty have vigorously promoted civil governance. Why?

Because martial might can establish a nation, but civil learning can govern it!"

Zhong Yanqi suddenly fixed Gu Chenfeng with a piercing stare.

"Old Chancellor Gu, a veteran of three reigns, followed the Founding Emperor and the Late Emperor in their conquest of the realm. He is a founding hero.

Now he has laid aside his armor for civil office, serving as the nation's Right Chancellor and administering the court for His Majesty.

He has truly bent his back to the task, sparing nothing until death. I admire him deeply.

However, merit cannot cancel wrongdoing!"

Zhong Yanqi changed tack once more.

"No matter how great Old Chancellor Gu's personal achievements, or how much he has sacrificed for the empire.

Does that give his descendants the right to run rampant, bring calamity upon the nation and its people, and deceive all under heaven?"

Hearing Elder Zhong drag the Gu Lineage's affairs into the open and lash them in public.

The scholars and students present, along with Imperial Uncle Xiao and Zhang You, who had been watching the tigers fight from their mountain perch, began to feel excited.

In the pavilion, however, Gu Chenfeng's gaze turned cold and sharp for the first time.

The many sordid rumors about the Gu Lineage, true or false, had never been openly aired.

But now, this great scholar of the age, whose influence extended through both scholarly circles and the imperial court.

Was publicly condemning the Gu Lineage's failings and delivering a final verdict at the Golden Kylin Gathering, where scholars and literati congregated.

With this man's influence and the subtle, judgment-laden brushwork of the scholars present.

After today, whether or not any solid evidence existed.

The Gu Lineage's reputation for loyalty and virtue would likely collapse completely.

This was a direct attempt to strangle the Gu Lineage through public opinion!

And it was killing without spilling blood.

Everyone in the pavilion realized this too, and the atmosphere abruptly grew tense.

Gu Chenfeng drew a deep breath, yet maintained an air of indifference.

He said quietly, "The moment you opened your mouth, Elder Zhong, you struck my Gu Lineage from the rolls of merit and nailed us to the pillar of shame.

Truly, your golden words and jade pronouncements decide a man's life or death in a single breath.

But my question remains: where is the evidence? How has my Gu Lineage brought calamity upon the nation and its people? How have we deceived the masses?

Or do you believe that, compared with the Founding Emperor, the Late Emperor, and His Majesty.

You are wiser still, and better able to distinguish right from wrong?"