"Ahem!" Elder Yao suddenly cleared his throat loudly, trying to relieve some of his anxiety, but alas, it barely helped him keep calm.
"W-Welcome, disciples. F-For today's lecture… I will be… giving a lecture… on..." Elder Yao spoke in a trembling voice, feeling as though he was a child with stage fright while standing on the stage for the first time, and he could barely complete a full sentence without stuttering.
When the disciples saw this, they silently looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and their gazes full of questions. Why was Elder Yao acting so weird? It seemed like he was on the verge of a breakdown from the disciples' view.
"Are you okay, Elder Yao? You don't look so good." One of the Inner Court disciples there decided to ask him.
"I am fine… Just feeling a little under the weather…" Elder Yao responded a moment later.
'Feeling under the weather?' The disciples became even more puzzled after hearing such words.
Why would a sect elder willingly give a lecture when he's sick? Furthermore, can Cultivators even feel 'under the weather'? Clearly, it was something else that was bothering him, but these disciples didn't dare to probe any further and accepted his lie as the truth, as they didn't dare to offend Elder Yao who was known for being a ruthless sect elder.
The disciples then patiently waited for Elder Yao to get himself together before continuing with the lecture.
A few minutes later, once Elder Yao calmed down enough, he began giving the lecture, and it was about random things that made no sense for a lecture, but the nervousness and uncertainty in his voice did not go away and remained for the rest of the lecture. In fact, his voice only became weirder and harder to listen as the lecture went on.
The disciples participating in the lecture were greatly baffled by the bizarre situation with some of them even thinking that they were being pranked by Elder Yao. After all, no sane sect elder would call this mess a 'lecture', as it was more of a babbling session with the topic constantly changing abruptly.
However, none of the disciples spoke up nor complained regardless of the unusual situation, nor did any of them decide to suddenly leave the lecture abruptly, as they were still afraid of offending Elder Yao.
The 'lecture' by Elder Yao lasted for an entire hour, but for the disciples, it felt like they were being punished for an eternity.
'Fuck! Why am I wasting my time here?! I could've been listening to Fairy Ling's lecture by now!'
'What the heck is Elder Yao doing? Has he lost his mind? I want my precious time back!'
"Damn it! I want to leave now but what if I offend him? I have heard about his reputation and I don't want to be the first one to leave!'
The disciples there cursed inwardly, and most of them silently hoped for another disciple to leave first so they can follow! But alas, because all of them were thinking the same thing and waited for someone else to act, none of them left and stayed for the entire lecture!
"This is the end of my lecture…" Elder Yao said to the disciples at the end of the lecture.
However, he wasn't completely finished there, as he still had one more thing to do.
And just as the disciples there sighed in relief inwardly that the lecture was finally finished and prepared to leave, Elder Yao suddenly removed his shoes and began doing the unthinkable— putting it in his mouth and chewing it as though it was food!
"What the fuck?" One of the disciples there couldn't hold back his voice and spoke in a surprised voice after witnessing Elder Yao eating his own shoes.
In fact, every disciple there was staring at Elder Yao with a gawking expression at this moment, looking like they were witnessing the impossible.
And because Elder Yao was a Cultivator at the Spirit Warrior realm, he was able to bite through the shoe with his raw strength and chew on it.
After chewing on his own shoes for a few seconds with a disgusted expression that he could not hide on his face, Elder Yao swallowed it.
"Urg!"
Elder Yao almost puked after feeling the shoe enter his stomach, but alas, he resisted his urges and continued eating the rest of the shoe.
The disciples that were prepared to leave the place as quickly as possible no longer moved, and they all stood there with dazed faces as they watched Elder Yao eat his shoe with a suffering expression on his face.
A few gruesome minutes later, Elder Yao finished eating his shoe. However, he did not stop there and proceeded to remove his second shoe and began eating that too.
Sometime later, Elder Yao finished eating his other shoe.
Once he swallowed the last bit of his shoe, Elder Yao glared at the disciples there before walking away in silence and quickly disappearing from the scene while barefooted, leaving the disciples in wonder as he'd left without giving any explanation.
When Elder Yao's figure left the Education Peak, all of the disciples there finally spoke again, immediately creating an uproar within the sect, and as one would've expected from such a bizarre situation, news of Elder Yao eating his own shoes after an embarrassing 'lecture' spread throughout the entire sect like wildfire, shocking every disciple and sect elder that heard it.
Meanwhile, at the Disciplinary Hall, Elder Yao stood before Bai Ling once again, but he was barefooted this time since he came straight to this place after leaving the Education Peak.
"I hope you've learned your lesson today, Elder Yao. Just because they are Outer Court disciples doesn't mean you can walk all over them like they're ants, as you'll one day step on the wrong ant and face its wrath like today," Bai Ling said to him with a nonchalant expression on his face.
"Thank you for this lesson, Leader Bai…" Elder Yao bowed to him before leaving the room with a blank look on his face, looking like he had died inside.