Chapter 573: Moral Issues

As soon as Li spoke, Shi Chun knew who the scoundrel was talking about. He wished he could pull out the dagger from his sleeve and stab him, a skill he was particularly adept at.

Halfway through the conversation, the red-clad woman's calm lips twitched slightly. Her gaze shifted from the loquacious Li Hongjiu to Shi Chun, who stood behind him, immediately dismissing the idea that this was Shi Chun's own intention.

The reason was simple: Shi Chun, who now had to sneak out even from his own home in Dongsheng Royal Capital, would never dare to openly come here to teach.

Noticing Shi Chun's fists gradually clenching under his sleeves, she was reminded of the intelligence from the Yanbao Sect, which stated that Shi and Li were not friends.

If they weren't friends, why would one call the other to take a disciple, and the latter then recommend the former? What were these two up to, and what was their game?

She suddenly felt that after being away from the lower strata for so long, she had become a bit out of touch. Many things no longer aligned with her understanding. Perhaps it would be better to delegate this matter to her subordinates; it truly wasn't suitable for her to handle personally.

However, she wanted to see what these two scoundrels were really up to. If they dared to disrupt her plans, neither of them would leave.

The family present gradually showed expressions of dawning realization. Third Miss Dong Liangying blurted out, "Is it Shi Chun?"

She spent a lot of time in the library hall and had heard many related discussions.

Others who recognized the name looked puzzled. They had all heard of this person to varying degrees but had never met him. How could *that* person be the Second Young Master's teacher?

Li Hongjiu lightly clapped his hands and said, "That's right, it's Shi Chun. This person is no simple individual; in terms of ability, he surpasses me."

The Dong family members exchanged bewildered glances.

The red-clad woman lowered her eyes. His open self-deprecation to elevate Shi Chun made her doubt her judgment again.

Shi Chun, secretly clenching his fists, cursed inwardly, "Shameless, utterly shameless!"

This time, he reconfirmed his assessment: as long as it was necessary, that Li fellow truly wouldn't care about his own reputation.

Dong Liangying, however, was somewhat disbelieving, and in defense of her prospective teacher, she said, "How is that possible? Everyone says you, sir, are the foremost prodigy in the world. How could Shi Chun possibly compare to you?"

Li Hongjiu waved his hand slightly. "That's incorrect! The public are not the parties involved; what they say are merely fallacies born from rumors. I am the one involved; how could I not know who is superior and who is inferior?"

Dong Liangying said, "It's rumored that in the Divine Fire Domain, Shi Chun was beaten by you, sir, and fled in a sorry state..."

Li Hongjiu interrupted her resolutely: "Quite the opposite! If I could truly suppress him, how could he have escaped so easily? What outsiders witnessed was not necessarily the truth. In fact, before anyone saw our skirmish, he and I had already fought a life-or-death battle. I was severely wounded by him, and if I hadn't resorted to trickery to escape, I would have died by his hand long ago. What you call him fleeing in a sorry state after being beaten by me—you don't know that he was the one employing deception. Unaware of his trickery, I pursued him relentlessly. As a result, after leaving the assistance of various factions, I was again severely wounded by him, even falling directly into his hands and being captured. *That* was truly pathetic. Who among the public has ever seen or spoken of the humiliation I suffered in private?

This is just the martial aspect; there's also the scholarly side. After the competition in the Divine Fire Domain, a refining disciple from a small, unremarkable sect, an ordinary and unknown individual, under his guidance and cultivation, managed to dominate the entire refining world, triumphantly claiming first place. Even I was pressed to admit defeat unwillingly. Someone he casually mentored for a short period could make me concede. Is such a person not worthy of being a teacher?

At the Heaven's Rain Meteorite Conference, he controlled events with unparalleled strategy and diplomacy, turning situations to his advantage. With seemingly meager resources, he orchestrated various factions as if they were his own limbs, truly stirring up a storm. He cleverly seized first place among countless heroes, becoming unrivaled in his charisma for a time.

Most crucially, those under him were all renegades expelled from various sects, all had been exploited by him at the Heaven's Rain Meteorite Conference, and had hated him to the bone afterward. That was a dead knot, yet he managed to turn hardened steel into soft silk, making them abandon past grievances and willingly serve him. Even I, who had developed a mortal enmity with him during our struggle and desired to kill him quickly, ended up becoming his friend. I ask you all, how many people in this world can achieve such feats? He is skilled in both martial and scholarly arts, with unparalleled wisdom and boundless vigor—a truly charismatic and heroic figure in this world. If Second Miss can become his disciple, there will be no need to worry about her brilliance being obscured."

This torrent of praise left Shi Chun, who stood behind him, utterly stunned. It took him a good while to recover. "Damn it," he thought, "is he talking about me?"

He was almost unwilling to snap out of it, almost truly believing he was that amazing.

If he hadn't known that Li had ulterior motives, he would have been swept away by the flattery.

His teeth were itching, and he wanted to interject and stop him. However, it was clearly inappropriate for him, as a subordinate, to rashly interfere in his master's affairs.

Underneath this barrage of praise, the red-clad woman, who had been listening, couldn't help but repeatedly cast sidelong glances at Shi Chun, who wore a veiled hat. She seemed to have vaguely heard of these matters before, but hadn't thought much of them. Now, hearing them strung together, she suddenly realized that fellow did seem quite extraordinary.

The Dong Wenshu family was also left wide-eyed and stunned. With the facts laid out like that, they realized that Shi Chun was indeed remarkably impressive.

Especially the siblings, their eyes held a hint of longing as they imagined what kind of charisma such a dashing figure must possess.

Second Miss Dong Liangyu suddenly broke the silence, saying, "But my body isn't suitable for cultivation."

The implication was that the person might not accept her.

Li Hongjiu immediately shook his head and said, "You're worrying too much. He can train an ordinary person to become the top individual in the Divine Fire Covenant in a short time, let alone you. You don't need to worry about these things; he has his own ways to solve them. Now it just depends on whether you're willing. As long as you are, with my friendship with him, I guarantee that if I speak, he will definitely agree."

Shi Chun, standing behind him, cursed wildly in his mind upon hearing this: "Li Hongjiu, you bastard!"

Putting everything else aside, where would he get the ability to change Dong Liangyu's physique?

"Well..." Dong Wenshu, the head of the family, suddenly spoke up, hesitatingly asking, "Wasn't that Shi Chun imprisoned in the Land of Exile?"

Sensing the wrong tone, Li Hongjiu immediately clarified: "Curator, you've misunderstood. He didn't *go* to prison; he was *born* in prison. It was inherent, no choice, nothing he could do."

Dong Wenshu still hesitated, saying, "Mr. Li, after all, he's from the Land of Exile. Everyone knows what kind of character people from such backgrounds have; they don't know what morality is, and they're only out for profit. Honestly, even with extraordinary abilities, if one doesn't understand the importance of cultivating oneself to be a proper person, my family truly wouldn't dare to associate with them."

His words silenced his children.

It almost made Shi Chun laugh out loud. It was the first time he'd been so happy after being cursed at.

Having spent so much time with him, he knew all too well why Dong Wenshu, that old stick-in-the-mud, was called an old stick-in-the-mud. When he directly stated his stance like this, even the King of Heaven himself couldn't make him change his mind.

Li Hongjiu, who had just been speaking so eloquently, was also a bit dumbfounded. "I've spent all this time talking to you, and you're bringing up morality?"

Speaking of morality, he racked his brains for a moment. If he wanted to defend Shi Chun's moral character, he truly didn't know where to begin. That scoundrel had such a notorious reputation; could morality even be mentioned in the same breath as him?

But he certainly wouldn't give up easily, so he quickly said, "Curator, people are different. Not everyone from the Land of Exile necessarily lacks morality."

Dong Wenshu, however, turned his head from side to side, asking his children, "If I remember correctly, didn't that Shi Chun, as soon as he came out of the Land of Exile, immediately become infatuated with the beauty of a courtesan from a brothel? Is that true?"

Of his four children, some nodded slightly, and Dong Liangying even named her directly: "Yes, there was. I think her name was Xiang Lan'er."

While they were discussing serious matters, the red-clad woman, listening in, suddenly became expressionless. Inside, she suddenly felt as if she'd been fed a pile of dung, utterly disgusted.

Someone had once told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world, embracing, hugging, and kissing her. Now, she felt she was on the same level as *that* person. What exactly was being plotted with the secrets of the Big Dipper Spirit-Repelling Formation's entrances and exits? Demonic practitioners acted secretively; would rash action startle the snake and break the clues? Considering these things, she once again suppressed the urge to simply overturn the table.

Li Hongjiu was speechless. He had just said that people were different, only to be slapped in the face by the mention of the courtesan from the brothel. He also cursed Shi Chun inwardly, "Rushing to a brothel the moment you leave the Land of Exile—what kind of person is that?"

He wanted to offer further defense, but Dong Wenshu, seeing his intention, directly interrupted him: "It seems there is indeed truth to it. And it seems that the character of people from the Land of Exile is indeed not very good. Our Dong family's ancestral teachings and family traditions are paramount, and our descendants dare not violate them. If this were to jeopardize my daughter's future, then such a future is not worth having."

This was tantamount to directly shutting down the discussion, leaving no room for negotiation.

Defeated, Li Hongjiu froze, stunned. He had calculated everything, but hadn't foreseen this outcome. His painstaking efforts were ruined by Shi Chun's unsavory background. Looking at the attitude of the children, it was clear that the head of the family made the decisions.

Shi Chun, behind his veiled hat, was secretly beaming. His origins were fated, and he had clawed his way through life and death. Why should he care about such things now? He'd have to be sick to.

As for morality, from the moment he walked out of the Land of Exile in ragged clothes, he was met with countless disdainful gazes from passersby. He had no grudges or enmities with them; did he owe morality something?

He also admitted that he truly didn't know what morality was. As far as he could see, it was just something people used when it suited their needs.

Li's attempt thus concluded, and next came the formal apprenticeship ceremony.

Since Li Hongjiu wasn't particular about specific times or auspicious dates—believing it's better to act immediately than choose a day—Dong Wenshu personally wrote out an apprenticeship invitation for his youngest daughter under the lamp and presented it, complete with her birth details.

Under the bright lanterns, the teacher sat upright. Dong Liangying knelt, kowtowed, and offered tea. With heaven and earth as witnesses, and those present looking on, the ceremony was completed, establishing their teacher-disciple relationship for this lifetime.

Li Hongjiu had never taken a disciple before; this was his first.

The festivities couldn't last forever; eventually, night deepened and calm settled.

After staying in the library for so long, this was Shi Chun's first time enjoying the treatment of a guest room, thanks to Li Hongjiu.

However, before he could settle down, he received a message from the red-clad woman via a parent-child talisman. She actively invited him to her room.

Well, with his desires stirred, he quietly slipped into the red-clad woman's room again.

As soon as they met, he tried to embrace and kiss her, but the red-clad woman blocked him with her hands and feet.

Unable to get his way, Shi Chun grumbled, "Didn't you already agree to be my woman?"

The red-clad woman had her reasons. "Things are only half done. Once Situ Gu also arrives, I will naturally surrender to you. But I must say, it's quite surprising; I didn't expect you genuinely had the ability to invite Li Hongjiu here."

As she spoke, she reached out and playfully lifted Shi Chun's chin. "When are you two leaving?"

Shi Chun caught her hand and stroked it, saying, "I won't be staying long; I still have your matters to attend to. Li Hongjiu might be staying here for a while; he has some interest in the library's collection."

Touching her hand was fine; the red-clad woman allowed it. With her other hand, she traced circles on Shi Chun's chest, "Since I'm already your woman, don't you even have a token of our affection?"

Then, she flipped her hand, grasped Shi Chun's, and revealed a black ring with intricate patterns, slipping it onto his index finger. "This is from me to you. Keep it with you; you're not allowed to discard it."

Shi Chun took the opportunity to put his arm around her waist, attempting a kiss which she deftly avoided, letting him only peck her cheek. "How could I possibly discard a token of affection given by you?" he said. "I'll cherish it for this entire life."

As he spoke, he took out a hair ornament and personally placed it in her bun.