Wandering Gods of Day and Night
Chapter 294 - 197: I, Lit the Fire_3

Chapter 294: Chapter 197: I, Lit the Fire_3

Yun Ziliang said: "But now, at the very least, you already have the potential to master two complete Laws—Fate and Nature... uh... thinking about the fact that you’re just at the Two-Incense Level really pisses me off. Such a useless Incense Fire Level, not even qualified to sweep the streets in the Great Hall, yet capable of owning two Laws, even if you can’t fully master them yet."

"Lao Yun, your insults are way too dirty."

"Xiao Zhou, I’m just being brutally honest. This helps you deeply understand the importance of the Laws. Those God-level beings above the Heavenly Dome? At their core, they’re just mortals who are exceptionally adept at wielding the Laws."

...

Inside the Bone Elder Temple, the gathering convened once again,

only this time, the Bone Elder meeting wasn’t held underground, but rather aboveground.

For the Bone Elders, holding a meeting aboveground, under the illumination of the Heavenly God’s Fire, gave them an inexplicable sense of security.

"From now on, our monthly gatherings will all be held aboveground, for the God of Suffering and Calamity to look down upon our devotion."

The Painter rose, introducing Li Chengfeng to the scholars and divine offices in the temple: "Old Li is someone we are all familiar with, yet also estranged from. For so many years, only Old Li has steadfastly believed in the Praying Sect and achieved significant results,

so let’s give him a heartfelt round of applause for his accomplishments."

Clap, clap!

The rounds of enthusiastic applause and praise began to make Old Li lose himself gradually.

"In the Bone Elder Association, there have always been only four divine offices; this has been an established rule for a very long time. But for Old Li’s sake, the Music Master and I have discussed it, and we’ve decided to add a fifth divine office within the Bone Elder Association—the Heavenly God Scholar."

Another round of applause, perfectly on cue, pushed Old Li even deeper into self-delusion.

"In the past, the various research departments of the Bone Elder Society were all managed by the different Ancient Scholars; going forward, all Ancient Scholars will report to the Heavenly God Scholar. Old Li, why don’t you share a few words with everyone?"

The Painter sat down,

and Li Chengfeng stood up, pressing his hands downward to signal for the enthusiastic applause to quiet down a bit. Then he cleared his throat and said,

"The success in seeking the God of Suffering and Calamity cannot be attributed solely to myself; it is closely tied to the progress of this era,

and of course, it is also the result of the collective efforts of all of you colleagues, as well as the lifelong endeavors and sacrifices of generations of scholars. The work I’ve done is, in comparison, unimportant..."

Clap, clap...

The applause lingered on, both for the Heavenly God and for Li Chengfeng’s humility and courtesy.

"Now, I will break down the research on finding the Heavenly God over the past years into twelve aspects to discuss..."

The crowd: "..."

Wait, didn’t you just say your work was unimportant? We just believed you, and here you are, motherfucker, about to launch into twelve aspects?

...

Zhou Xuan couldn’t help but laugh aloud after hearing Li Chengfeng’s speech.

"So, turns out Old Li doesn’t dislike showing off; he just didn’t have the chance before. Listen to this jargon—I’ll bet he was lying in bed fantasizing about what he’d say in an awards speech for finding the Heavenly God!"

The Heavenly God hasn’t even been found yet, but his acceptance speech is detailed and smoothly rehearsed, down to the last word.

"Let’s go, Lao Yun."

Zhou Xuan had no interest in listening further; otherwise, sitting through twelve "mysticism-based academic dissertations" would have made his scalp tingle.

...

It wasn’t just Zhou Xuan whose scalp tingled; the scholars of the Bone Elder Association felt the same.

Across four hours, Li Chengfeng elaborated on twelve aspects with ease, and he didn’t just lecture; he occasionally pointed to specific scholars to ask questions.

The scholars, despite their tingling scalps, had to pay close attention, for fear of being called upon and failing to answer, which would be humiliating.

Throughout the lecture, the most frequently muttered complaint in the scholars’ minds was—Old Li, just stop already, enough is enough.

Finally, when he concluded,

the Painter, yawning, picked up the thread, saying: "Old Li’s speech was brilliant and rich with insight. Let’s give him a round of applause."

The Bone Elder scholars’ scalps tingled even more—Old Hua, you were the one sleeping most soundly during Old Li’s lecture just now.

After the "token claps" concluded, the Bone Elder Association began discussing two major recent events in Mingjiang Prefecture.

The first major event was naturally the fall of the Monument King and the killing of Lu Yusheng,

which had already been settled; no action would be taken against the God Traveling Department of Ping Shui Prefecture.

But times had changed, and Mingjiang Prefecture had ignited the Heavenly God’s Fire.

Thus, a scholar suggested causing trouble for the God Traveling Department in Ping Shui Prefecture—if Zhou Lingyi couldn’t be captured, they could seize Zhou Xuan and use him as a sacrificial offering for the fire.

"Mind your manners as a scholar."

Li Chengfeng immediately shut down the scholar who raised the suggestion: "What’s done is done, let it go. Stop nagging like a foot-binding old granny."

Both the Painter and Gu Ling expressed their unwillingness to cause trouble for Zhou Xuan, stating that the past should not be brought up again, even though that "past" wasn’t so far in the past.

The second major event was, of course, "Hunger."

"Hunger" had recently perpetrated a string of bloody incidents in Mingjiang Prefecture, which were already causing a stir in some areas.

"Suffering Scholar, you’re in charge of coordinating the pursuit of ’Hunger.’ How have the results been so far?"

The Painter queried.

The Suffering Scholar dodged the question with a few perfunctory remarks, clearly failing to deliver satisfactory results.

"Not a single lead?"

The Painter pressed again.

"None." The Suffering Scholar looked miserable from being questioned.

Li Chengfeng sensed it was the right moment and said: "Old Hua, I am willing to take up the task of investigating ’Hunger.’ Of course, relying on my own skills alone, solving the case in a short time would be unlikely, but I know someone who can do it."

"Who?" The Great Suffering Scholar was unconvinced.

"The very Zhou Xuan we just mentioned for the fire sacrifice."

"As expected!"

"As expected!"

The Painter and Gu Ling responded in exactly the same way.

Gu Ling knew Zhou Xuan’s abilities were extraordinary.

The Painter, on the other hand, simply had a favorable impression of Zhou Xuan.

"Zhou Xuan, can he quickly track down ’Hunger’?" the Painter asked, for appearance’s sake.

"He can. However, Zhou Xuan doesn’t solve cases for free; he charges a steep price."