If Xiaoyao had been here, he would definitely know that this was the gambler Eldest Princess appearing. Although she didn't like cleaning up much, if others helped organize things for her, she wouldn't go destroy anything. Most importantly, she didn't have time to destroy things - she felt energetic now and going gambling was most important.
After the gambler Eldest Princess came out, she also encountered Xiaoyao. However, she didn't pay much attention, just saying, "Huh, why are you still here, kid? Don't talk to me about books or whatever again. I'm going to go dominate!"
"..." When Xiaoyao heard this, he understood that the Eldest Princess's other personality had appeared. He also knew this was time for him to leave. When the Eldest Princess's other personality appeared, he'd deal with it then.
After saying one sentence, the gambler Eldest Princess hurried away. Currently, going gambling was most important, not talking with a small character like Xiaoyao.
Goodbye, Great Tang Imperial Palace!
"Good morning, Young Prince!"
"??"
When Xiaoyao was leaving the palace, suddenly the guards at the gate saluted him. He looked around and happened to see a young nobleman passing by who looked quite noble and imposing.
Which young prince was this? Whatever, never mind. Better leave quickly!
...
...
So Xiaoyao didn't pay attention to all that and quickly walked away. It would be best not to come to this imperial palace if he could avoid it!
First Academy Under Heaven - this world-famous martial arts academy with over a thousand years of heritage. Its depth and foundation were no weaker than those secretive martial arts sects, and from the perspective of influence, it was even higher than those martial sects.
At least, First Academy Under Heaven was public - public teaching, public recruitment, with academies spread throughout the world. This was where First Academy Under Heaven's strength lay. Even super sects couldn't compare.
Super sects had quite a few super masters, but they couldn't match First Academy Under Heaven's numbers. Moreover, First Academy Under Heaven would often produce several super masters, and the numerical advantage might not be less than those super sects.
This was simple - some talents just needed tempering and opportunities to unleash their abilities. These weren't naturally superior geniuses, but talents who slowly walked toward success through acquired effort.
Sometimes geniuses might not succeed, but talents would definitely succeed, because they had the qualities and conditions that successful people should have.
Some talents relied on diligence to make up for clumsiness, forcibly trampling those peerless geniuses underfoot. Therefore, the doctrine that First Academy Under Heaven had always believed in was - Diligence!
This character was right at the entrance of First Academy Under Heaven, on a huge stone, proclaiming First Academy Under Heaven's belief to everyone. Here, as long as you were diligent, you had opportunity. It didn't matter what your background was or what your talent was.
The academy's dean loved to say one thing, "Talent is just the foundation heaven gives you, but diligence is the condition for your success!"
Xiaoyao now stood in front of this "Diligence." He felt this character was very interesting, definitely the work of a peerless master, and this character seemed to have a kind of artistic conception.
If someone could comprehend this artistic conception, their mental state would rise a level. But for Xiaoyao, it didn't have much effect, because his mental state was already very high. Comprehending this artistic conception wouldn't improve him much.
However, Xiaoyao didn't pass up this opportunity either, because although comprehending this artistic conception was very difficult for others - they might never understand it in their lifetime - for him, it was at most a matter of ten-odd minutes.
So Xiaoyao stared blankly in front for ten-odd minutes...
"Student, what are you doing standing here?"
Just as Xiaoyao was staring blankly, an elderly woman with white hair and a youthful face appeared beside him and asked.
"Looking at the character. Good character!" Xiaoyao answered simply. At this time, he was almost done, but still savoring it, so he didn't pay much attention to the person beside him or his own words. These were all subconscious responses.
"How is it good?" The elderly woman asked somewhat curiously.
"It can only be felt, not expressed in words!" Xiaoyao answered with a very classic phrase, but this phrase could indeed explain the situation. If it could be expressed in words, everyone could comprehend it.
"..."
The elderly woman was silent for a while, looking at Xiaoyao. She felt this young man was very interesting. When she came to the entrance just now, she discovered Xiaoyao's meditative state. She understood that this young man was gaining insights from this character.
She felt that for someone Xiaoyao's age to comprehend the artistic conception of this character, even just a little bit, was already very rare. She thought Xiaoyao had potential and could be cultivated.
Out of love for talent, she came to talk with Xiaoyao, which led to the scene above.
This elderly woman didn't yet know that Xiaoyao wasn't a student here, and that what Xiaoyao had comprehended wasn't just a little, but everything. Of course, these matters probably didn't have much to do with her, because Xiaoyao probably wouldn't meet with her much.
"What's your name?" the elderly woman asked with a smile.
"Xiaoyao, Le Xiaoyao!" Xiaoyao replied casually, then slowly turned his head to look at the elderly woman. "Grandma, did you ask me something just now?"
"..." The elderly woman understood that Xiaoyao's previous answers were all subconscious, but this also proved one point - Xiaoyao had been comprehending at that time.
Of course, it was also possible he was just spacing out, ignoring everything. But the elderly woman felt this was impossible, because if he were just spacing out, Xiaoyao wouldn't have that kind of feeling about him.
"Yes, I saw you having insights here just now, so I came over to ask." The elderly woman replied with a smile, while wondering in her heart: Why does he call me grandma? Doesn't he recognize me?
Come to think of it, although I'm the dean here, not everyone recognizes me. Some people have never even seen me. It seems I need to move around more, so my own students won't fail to recognize me.
"Yes, this character is very good. The person who wrote it also integrated sword dao into it. The fusion of dao with dao - this is a rare stroke of genius." Xiaoyao nodded in reply. His words seemed to suggest he was only looking at the character, studying the calligraphy rather than martial dao.
Xiaoyao's words left the elderly woman somewhat stunned. She hadn't expected this young man to be looking at calligraphy rather than martial dao. Could it be that what he had just comprehended was only the artistic conception of calligraphy?
If that was the case, it would be such a waste!
The elderly woman felt somewhat regretful in her heart. If Xiaoyao knew her thoughts, he would definitely shake his head, feeling that this elderly woman wasn't someone who shared his path, because she only saw martial dao.
"You only comprehended this?" the elderly woman said, her disappointment evident in her tone.
"Yes, only this is useful." Xiaoyao nodded in answer. For him, roughly this much was useful. He had already gained insights into the rest, so naturally they were of no use.
But when the elderly woman heard Xiaoyao's words, they sounded different to her. She felt Xiaoyao had comprehended too little, yet still boasted shamelessly thinking he had comprehended everything, even saying the character before him only had this much use.
"Young man, some things need to be slowly comprehended. Don't think what you see now is everything. Some things aren't absent - you just can't see them." The elderly woman said somewhat coldly. Xiaoyao's performance had cooled the enthusiasm she had previously felt.
"There's more? Then let me continue looking." Xiaoyao thought the elderly woman was advising him, thinking there really were other things inside, so he stared blankly in front again. But after a good while, he still didn't find anything else, so he gave up.
When he finished spacing out, the elderly woman beside him had long since disappeared. He didn't mind and prepared to enter the gates of First Academy Under Heaven like this. But he seemed to have forgotten one thing - he didn't seem to be a student here, and most importantly, he didn't have an access token for this place.
However, Xiaoyao had another way to get in - report Guxing's name, because each student could bring one attendant inside. Since Guxing had no one else, Xiaoyao had this quota.
"Guxing's servant?" The guard looked at Xiaoyao, then said in a strange voice: "You're already the hundredth-something person claiming to be Guxing's servant. I really don't understand what you young masters don't want to play with - why do you insist on pretending to be servants?"
"..." Hearing this, Xiaoyao began to get a headache. He understood that getting into this place might be somewhat troublesome.
It seemed Guxing still had considerable charm here, able to attract so many people to pursue her. This was just those pretending to be servants - there were definitely quite a few others using different methods.
"Brother, all those before were fake. I'm the real deal!" Xiaoyao said. Although the possibility was small, he had to try and see if he could talk his way through.
"I've heard this many times too. Everyone says they're not fake. You should come up with a fresh excuse, or you could have an access token for this place. That's very easy - you just need to be a student here." The guard said quite plainly. Although he didn't say anything nice, there was no disdainful tone either.
Perhaps this was because the guard knew that even if these people weren't students here, they still couldn't be offended.
Xiaoyao was now somewhat puzzled. From the guard's attitude, among Guxing's suitors there were quite a few outsiders. How did Guxing's name spread outside? She was someone who didn't like showing her face and wouldn't interact with the outside world. How would outsiders know about her?
(End of Chapter)