Chapter 1361: Defeated!

Upon hearing Zhou Qiucheng’s words, Mr. Da’s expression darkened: “So aside from me, there’s no one who can defeat him?”

“Even if you personally take the field, you may not be able to defeat him. You probably only have a thirty percent chance!” Zhou Qiucheng said.

“Only a thirty percent chance?” Mr. Da’s brows knit tightly. After a moment he said, “I stand for the Academy’s name and dignity. If I’m not absolutely sure, I absolutely cannot make a move. If I lose, the Academy will be finished for good.”

“Then today’s Dao debate…?” Zhou Qiucheng looked at Mr. Da with hesitation on his face. “Are we just going to hand this round to the Demon Race?”

“No! In a best-of-three, every round is crucial. We absolutely cannot give one away! The third round is full of unknowns, so we must win the first round.” Mr. Da said decisively.

“But unless you personally make a move… and yet you can’t…” Confusion was written across Zhou Qiucheng’s face.

Hearing Zhou Qiucheng’s words, Mr. Da turned his head to look at the Human King on the high platform. “If we want to win, we don’t necessarily have to rely on true strength to compete.”

Having said that, Mr. Da turned and walked toward the Human King.

In the Demon Race camp, the various Great Demons all looked at the high-spirited Chen Sanliang, their faces full of joy. Bear Great Saint smiled and said, “Worthy of a Demon Master. Just a slight move from sir is enough to sweep through the Human Race. We’re certain to win the first round.”

Beside him, Hu Li the Immortal also nodded. “Exactly. There’s no one in the Human Race who can defeat Chen Sanliang in learning. Chen Sanliang has received the guidance of the Peacock Ancestor; his learning no longer has any flaws. We’re certain to win the first round, let them have the second, and for the third I will personally take the field as Ancestor and secure it steadily. Taking down the Human Race will be but a flick of the fingers. From now on, the entire Human Race will become a part of the Demon Race, and our Demon Race can divide up the endless Creation of this Divine Land, no longer forced to suffer in those bitter, frozen lands.”

The Demon Race side was filled with absolute confidence. All eyes were fixed on the distant dueling platform. Meanwhile, Mr. Da made his way to the Human King, bowed, and then lowered his voice: “Great King, this is bad! Chen Sanliang’s strength far surpasses our expectations. We likely cannot win this first round.”

“What?” The Human King was utterly stunned, his eyes full of disbelief. “The Academy gathers all of our Human Race’s most elite Great Scholars; all the Literary Dao geniuses under Heaven are within the Academy. How can we be no match for a single Chen Sanliang?”

Mr. Da gave a bitter smile. “You may not believe it if I say it, but that’s simply how it is.”

“The first round is of immense importance. We must not lose it!” Great Victory the Human King said, decisive and firm.

Mr. Da could only give a bitter smile at that. It wasn’t as if he wanted to lose. But in the present situation, was this something he could control?

“I’ve heard that Zhang Chen has some entanglements with Chen Sanliang. Why don’t we have Zhang Chen persuade Chen Sanliang to accept a draw? As long as Chen Sanliang is willing to settle for a draw, we can promise him any condition.” Mr. Da said to Great Victory the Human King.

Great Victory the Human King shook his head in rejection. “That bastard Zhang Chen is a wolf at heart, eager to see us in chaos. How would he help us persuade Chen Sanliang to accept a draw?”

At this point, Great Victory the Human King’s gaze shifted. “Rather than having Zhang Chen go, we might as well have Chen Sanliang’s father persuade him. That old bastard Chen Xuan should still be alive, right?”

“Reporting to Great King, he is indeed still alive!” Mr. Da said.

“Send people to seize every last one of the Chen Family’s elders and juniors. Tell Chen Xuan to find a way to make Chen Sanliang concede defeat. Otherwise, I will exterminate everyone in the Chen Family and cut off their bloodline. I want to see whether in Chen Sanliang’s heart the Chen Family is more important, or the Demon Race weighs heavier.” A mocking glint flashed in Great Victory the Human King’s eyes.

Mr. Da hesitated for a moment at those words, but in the end still turned and left to carry out Great Victory the Human King’s orders.

Back on the high platform, Chen Sanliang and the Second Master had been debating the Dao for a full two hours before Chen Sanliang slowly opened his eyes. The Second Master spat out a mouthful of fresh blood and collapsed onto the arena floor. His bloodshot eyes locked onto Chen Sanliang, his voice filled with disbelief. “What a terrifying Universal Education Dao! How did you comprehend such an impeccable Dao?”

Chen Sanliang did not answer, but lowered his head to look at the Second Master. “To be able to debate the Dao with me for two hours before falling, you can be counted as a main pillar of Confucianism. Now speak your choice: submit to me, or die here and let your Dao be destroyed.”

Chen Sanliang quite admired the Second Master. Most crucially, the latter’s cultivation was strong—he was a Tenth Tier Great Cultivator.

“I would rather die than ever betray the Human Race!” The Second Master straightened his neck, his eyes boring into Chen Sanliang. “My skills are inferior and I willingly accept this calamity. But don’t be too quick to rejoice. Remember, there is always a higher mountain. One day someone will appear who can defeat you. My Human Race occupies boundless mountains and rivers; our talents are as numerous as carp crossing the river, beyond counting. Someone will eventually defeat you.”

Chen Sanliang smiled at that. “After today, there will be no more Human Race. What you speak of will never come to pass.”

With that, Chen Sanliang stepped forward toward the Second Master and brought his palm down. The Second Master was about to die on the spot when a streak of flowing light suddenly flashed, carrying a terrifying Qi Mechanism as it pressed toward Chen Sanliang, forcing him to retreat three steps and avoid the opponent’s edge.

“Chen Sanliang, you’ve gone too far!” Mr. Da shielded the Second Master behind him, his eyes glaring at Chen Sanliang.

Chen Sanliang no longer spared the Second Master a glance, instead turning his gaze to Mr. Da. “Mr. Da, you hid quite deep. Your cultivation has already reached the peak of the Twelfth Tier, not far from breaking through the realm.”

“You’ve ascended the high platform—do you intend to debate the Dao with me?” Chen Sanliang asked.

Through these recent Dao debates, he had actually broken through, stepping past that final threshold. His cultivation had now entered the Twelfth Tier, so he was no longer afraid of Mr. Da.

It was just that compared to Mr. Da’s Qi Mechanism, Chen Sanliang’s seemed rather unstable, because he had only just recently broken through.

“You actually broke through to the Twelfth Tier as well?” Mr. Da looked at the Qi Mechanism flowing around Chen Sanliang’s body with an expression of disbelief. Although the Qi around him was indeed unstable, it was unmistakably at the Twelfth Tier.

Chen Sanliang let out a proud laugh at these words. “Just last night, this old man borrowed the Heaven and Earth Essence Qi spilling out within the imperial city, cleansed my innate foundations, and broke through to the Twelfth Tier.”

“You truly had fine fortune and fine Creation.” Mr. Da said this without sorrow or joy.

“All thanks to Mr. Da expelling me from the sect back then, forcing me to ponder learning alone in the Northern Land, thus allowing me to achieve what I have today.” Chen Sanliang’s eyes were fixed on Mr. Da, his gaze full of complicated and unfathomable colors. “By rights, I am still your student. The grace of you passing on the Dao in those years, this disciple does not dare forget. You should accept a disciple’s salute!”

“I dare not! I only hate that I did not eradicate the roots back then, thus bringing today’s boundless calamity upon the Human Race.”

Mr. Da tossed Second Master off the arena, then locked his eyes firmly on Chen Sanliang. “I will fight you, to see whether your ‘Universal Education’ Great Dao is truly that formidable.”

“I have long yearned for Mr. Da’s learning. To be able to seek instruction from you today is something I have awaited for a long time.” Chen Sanliang’s gaze burned as he looked at Mr. Da. He raised his hand in a “please” gesture, and Mr. Da’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit surged forth in torrents, wrapped in blazing fury, as if to engulf Chen Sanliang entirely.

One was the leader of the Academy, the other a Demon Master of the Demon Race. What they contended for was not merely whose orthodoxy was higher, but also the future fortune of the world’s Literary Dao.

The two men’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit crashed together in an instant like Celestial Thunder and Earth Fire, twisting even the void itself, with countless characters and scrolls evolving in the emptiness.

Within Kyoto

Zhang Chen suddenly flipped up and stood, his eyes looking toward the outside of Kyoto, a trace of shock showing in his gaze. “Chen Sanliang has broken through to the Twelfth Tier? Did I not warn him last time we met not to break through realms?”

“Chen Sanliang is done for. Once the concentration of Essence Qi between Heaven and Earth drops, I fear all of his strength will turn to running water.” Zhang Chen stared, dumbstruck, at Chen Sanliang’s aura soaring skyward outside the city, his eyes full of astonishment.

As Chen Sanliang and Mr. Da debated the Dao, time flowed slowly by. They actually argued from daylight until nightfall. This debate lasted a full eight hours. The two of them opened their eyes in unison, standing on the arena in silence.

The onlookers stared at the pair on the arena, not knowing which of them had won or lost. At this moment, Chen Sanliang spoke. “Worthy indeed of being the foremost man of the Human Race’s Literary Dao, and the Mr. Da who holds the Academy in his hand.”

“Unfortunately, I am still inferior to you. Your learning is too vast, without any flaw. I am the one who lost!” After Mr. Da finished speaking, the Essence, Qi, and Spirit around him began to collapse. His Twelfth Tier cultivation kept dropping, his entire cultivation flowing away like the eastern river.

“Will you choose submission, or set off on your final road? If you submit to me, for the sake of our past bond of master and disciple, I will by no means make things hard for you. I will even permit you to establish a separate Confucian Daoist Lineage among the Human and Demon races, to repay the grace of you not utterly exterminating me back then!” Chen Sanliang looked quietly at Mr. Da.

Mr. Da shook his head at these words, his expression unchanged. “I am the final backbone of the world’s men of letters, the last obsession of the world’s men of letters.”

After saying this, while his final cultivation had yet to disperse, Mr. Da raised his hand and slapped his own forehead. In the next instant, he simply stopped breathing and fell to the ground, lifeless.

He was Chen Sanliang’s master—how could he bow to stand beneath Chen Sanliang?

“Why go so far?” Chen Sanliang let out a faint sigh, his voice full of helplessness.

To fail in debating the Dao—once one’s Great Dao showed a flaw—meant the fate of the Dao scattering.

This is the Confucian Great Dao: cultivation can soar to the heavens in a single step, yet it is incomparably perilous.

At this moment, everyone in the Academy wore expressions of grief, their eyes fixed deathly on the scene in the arena, their gaze brimming with hatred, yet utterly helpless.

“Mr. Da has lost!”

“Mr. Da is a supreme existence—how could he lose?”

“How could Mr. Da have failed?”

“What virtue and ability does Chen Sanliang have, what skill, to defeat Mr. Da?”

“Has that beast’s learning truly reached such heights, invincible under Heaven?”

…

The hearts of the Academy’s people were filled with despair. Even Mr. Da had been defeated—what of the others in the Academy? Who could still fight a battle with Chen Sanliang?

The Human King of Great Victory stared blankly at the high platform, his eyes filled with disbelief. He had never imagined that Mr. Da, who had presided over the Academy for decades, this foremost man of the Literary Dao, would truly see a day of defeat.

“Hahaha, Human Race, you have lost this first round!” At this moment, Hu Li the Immortal rose from his seat, shouting toward Great Victory’s direction with smugness, his words full of exhilaration.

Securing victory in the first round was not much in Hu Li the Immortal’s eyes. All of this had been within his expectations. Since he dared propose a wagered battle, he naturally had full confidence and thorough preparation.

But the Human King of Great Victory turned his head at these words, a strange smile appearing on his face, sending a jolt through Hu Li the Immortal’s heart. “Lost? Not necessarily.”