It took several hours before the old man finally realized that he never left the room, or probably he did that on purpose. You can never know.
His leaving gave me a few more moments with Liang Yu but she soon decided it would be best if she were to meditate until morning since Master Rain had said he'll be holding a Dao discussion sermon, and she wanted to be a part of it.
I had to take the hint and chill, meditating till morning in one of the rooms while she went down the cave to stay alone.
I honestly started considering cursing the fact that I was unable to… well, more like that I was poisonous to the touch, but I couldn't help it for now. So I had to calm my little brother down and wait for morning.
A good session of meditation is better than any sleep, and once I was finished I opened my eyes to morning light. I headed out first before Liang Yu just out of respect to her privacy and so that no nosey idiot would talk about a female cultivator having another male cultivator in the same room.
It'll only be judgement where no crime had been committed. So, it wasn't worth the gossip.
As I came out, I was surprised to see dozens of cultivators rushing up ahead as if a fire was lit up their assess, holding their scrolls and their documents in hand and rushing forward like some college students who were late to their finals.
"Hurry up! Or we'll not get a seat at the sermon!" one of the cultivators spoke to another.
'I guess news of his sermon had already spread, might as well go and see what's the deal with all of this.'
I slowly followed the rushing crowd and it seemed that many were still coming.
"Oh look who it is, the aggressive newcomer," someone spoke.
Turning, I saw the douche trio, and one of them still had his arm in a cast. Bruh shouldn't you eat a pill to heal that?
I didn't even bother looking at them as I moved up ahead.
"Let's go, he isn't worth our breath, he is arrogantly walking slow as if he is some big shot, when he's there he'll be so far back in the sermon avenue he'll not be able to hear a word from Master Rain, not like the likes of him should even look in the direction of the great Master Rain, humph!" the older ugliest one of the three-spoke.
'My God, these cultivators, I swear, it's like they're asking for getting their faces slapped.'
"With his walking speed, and the fact that the Heavenly Academy forbids flight and teleportation within it, he'll never arrive there," one of his lackeys said.
There was no need to pay attention to what a frog at the bottom of a well had to say about the reality we live in, so might as well ignore him.
But thinking about what that guy said I guess I was lucky when I flew down from the upper island and didn't get in trouble, even after that man in black robes had come to check up on the one who blew up Master Rain's tower.
But it seems that they don't really want to deal with anything related to Master Rain and I was off the hook.
I continued walking while everyone seemed to be in a huge rush to run up ahead. It was good for me since I didn't know where this Sermon Avenue was, so might as well follow the crowd.
After half an hour's walk, I arrived at an extensively vast open area that held a small stage and was surrounded by cultivators as if they were pilgrims coming to visit a holy place of communion.
Cultivators were sitting around the stage like a massive donut of different colors.
The cultivators were organized by color. And this sounds very, very wrong to say. But they were organized by the colors of their robes. The white robes were seated on the edge of the avenue, and they were the majority of the students. They probably made about seventy percent of the Heavenly Academy population.
They were the yellow robes who sat slightly closer, then came the blue, red and purple.
Finally, there was a very thin line of black-robed cultivators close to the main stage surrounding it like a circle.
I stayed at the back of the circle far away from everyone else. And looking around my eyes crossed to the person who just talked shit earlier, he seemed to have a haughty look on his face as he snorted then turned his head paying me no attention.
Apparently, since he was a few rows closer to the yellow robes he felt superior.
That's just fucked up thinking.
I ignored the crowd and began my meditation to pass the time. I'm pretty sure that Master Rain's sermon will take a while before it starts, especially since he seemed to be too engrossed in what I gave him yesterday. So might as well catch up on more rest.
Some time passed before I got a sound transmission, "Shen Bao, you saved a spot for me, right?" spoke Liang Yu.
"Well, I wouldn't call it saving a spot since we're at the edge of the sermon, but yeah, come sit next to me," I said back.
Soon, Liang Yu arrived in her white robe and sat right next to me.
I was surprised that she was already wearing a white Robe before the newcomers had arrived since we're still a few days before the official start of our year in the Heavenly Academy. It seems that she pulled some strings to get her white robe.
"Not the best place to hear the sermon, but definitely a good place never the less," she said as she cozily sat next to me.
Several cultivators had noticed her arrival and were fuming with jealousy at how close she was to me.
"Woman, you gonna be the end of me," I said jokingly.
"Gotta make you pay for ditching me and going by yourself," she replied jokingly.
It made my heart flutter, but made many of the onlookers even more pissed.
'Seriously, I'm starting to think I'm in some rom-com novel.'
Later on, silence permeated the whole avenue, and looking up ahead Master Rain seemed to have arrived.
And was standing on the stage.
He was however standing on the opposite side of us so his back was against us which will make it even harder for us to hear him.
Suddenly, Master Rain began turning his head all over the place, then a shocking visible wave spread out from his body and was coming our way fast.
Everyone who was touched by that wave seemed like they were doused in cold icy waters as everyone inhaled hard and deep from the pressure of the incoming wave.
Then soon it washed over us, prickling my skin as if it was a sudden drizzle that came out of nowhere.
Master Rain then turned his head towards us and said, "Shen Bao, what are you doing all the way there, I had this whole shtick set up just for you, get your ass over here," he spoke.
The words were aimed at me, and so was his gaze, and the aftermath of Master Rain calling me out like that was something I didn't expect.
Hundreds of thousands of collective divine senses shot towards me from all over the avenue, from people in black robes, purple robes, blue and yellow, and even many of the white robes. They all seemed to want to know the person who Master Rain called by name and made this whole event just for.
What I forgot was to disable my Sky Pearl.
The inscriptions on the Sky pearl immediately lit up sending back the most gruesome tortures and agonizing deaths back to every cultivator who didn't seem to be above the Soul Transformation Realm. Shacking them to the core as mass hysteria began permeating the whole avenue.
Every foolish cultivator who tired to forcefully spy on me with their divine sense got the nastiest of nightmares sent directly back to their minds.
However, it didn't take much time before one of the cultivators in black snickered and spoke "Calm The Heart, Refresh The Soul, Domain of Piety!"
Immediately a wave of golden aura shot up from the person in black and soon the wailing cultivators seemed to calm down, however sweat still trickled down their spines as they realized what just happened.
I on the other hand was feeling pretty annoyed. The sky pearl is a replacement to my eye, and right now since it countered thousands of divine senses it almost burnt its way into my brain. It was damn painful, but still, it served a good purpose, unless you're strong enough you don't have the right to use divine sense on me.
It was also satisfying to see the mortified look on the three dick heads from before. serves your right, dumb frogs.
"Stop playing around and get over here, and bring that lass with you, you two seem to be together everywhere might as well sit here close," Master Rain said.
Just as I was about teleport I remembered that it was actually forbidden to fly or to teleport, not to mention the fact that I'll need to bring Liang Yu with me.
Though no one will say anything since it's Master Rain asking, I had the feeling that if I were to Teleport I'll either put myself or Master Rain in… well, trouble for me, pain in the ass for him, because clearly he wouldn't give a flying fuck.
However, the cultivators were so tightly packed that moving between them was bound to get one of them screaming bloody murder for stepping on his robes or some bullshit like that.
Seeing the attendant next to Master Rain smiling made me understand that this was once again a test.
Many cultivators seemed to realize the predicament I was in, and some began snickering thinking that I was going to make a fool out of myself.
Ah. I think I got it.
I stood up and said to Liang Yu, "Come with me."
She didn't seem to understand how we were going to walk all the way to the stage but didn't hesitate to stand next to me.
I grabbed her by the waist and then took a step forward.
It was only a step but I was already right in front of Master Rain at the foot of the stage.
I could honestly feel Liang Yu's surprise but she did her best to keep herself from showing it.
It was almost comical when I saw the reaction of even the Black Robes as their brows were raised and some even had their eyes bulge for a moment before they regained their nonchalant dignity as if it was normal.
As a matter of fact, this was one of the farthest Ancient Steps I had ever taken and I probably used close to eighty percent of my Qi to make such a massive step, but with a bit of acting, I managed to make it so that it was normal.
"What, are you gonna be standing, sit down and listen, I took a lot of trouble setting this up, so don't you dare yawn or not pay attention," Master Rain said.
And the two of us sat down.
"Anyway, today I gathered all of you here to talk about the Dao… so, what is Dao?"