Chapter 37: Twenty-Four True Words
The scoundrels in society always liked to disguise themselves as the weak in order to rouse sympathy for their own benefit.
It was very obvious that Madam Dong was one of them.
There were plenty of ways to deal with her.
Given Wang Ling's current cultivation realm, he could send the old woman into the atmosphere with one foot in the blink of an eye!
Past outer space!
And then into the galaxy!
To live side by side with the sun for the rest of her life!
Or, more simply, he could just directly open his Heavenly Eye and summon the inner flame of a star to scatter bone ash on the spot.
But Wang Ling didn't want to make trouble.
Apart from the several Shadow Stream killers who had treated human life as dirt, Wang Ling had never personally killed anyone. From a young age, he had been taught by his parents that a student should behave as a student, focused on his studies, and nothing more; most important of all, he should adhere to the core values of cultivation.
This was the Spirit Energy Information era — in an age of scientific cultivation, killing couldn't solve everything!
...
...
In the end, Madam Dong flicked her sleeves; she didn't take a wisp of cloud away with her 1 , but a suitcase, and her heart was full of satisfaction as she left.
"Who knew young people nowadays would be so extravagant!" she exclaimed loudly in her heart, wild with joy. A whole five million yuan! She had been a pengci racketeer on this street for over ten years, and had never reaped a more fruitful harvest.
Wang Ling watched her leave with an indifferent expression. The pengci group might seem hard to deal with, but in the end, had been no match for his Great Illusion Spell.
Madam Dong thought she was carrying a suitcase full of cash, when it contained nothing more than a heavy, broken chunk of stone.
Keep a low profile, deal with it carefully...
Since this was a problem that could be solved using magical powers.
Wang Ling's rule had always been to avoid a fight whenever he could.
Otherwise, if he really raised a hand against her, the city would collapse at the very least, and at the very worst the earth would be destroyed... he didn't want that to happen.
This time, he had utilized two magical spells.
The first was the "Great Illusion Spell" which he cast on Madam Dong.
The second one was used on the chunk of stone which she was holding.
This spell was called the "Great True-Word Spell," which had an extremely powerful brainwashing ability.
Once Madam Dong took the stone back to the Pengci Gang, the core cultivation values which Wang Ling had carved into the stone would start to take effect immediately.
Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity, friendship... when the time came, the whole pengci group would be completely purified by the Twenty-Four True Words 2 !
Watching Madam Dong disappear at the end of the road, Wang Ling couldn't help sighing in his heart: For the sake of all living things, it really isn't f**king easy for me!
...
"Ehh? Why did this old lady walk away carrying a chunk of stone?"
The rest of the bunch were all somewhat confused by this scene.
"Maybe because of the ban on dancing in public squares, plus her children being unfilial and her being unhappy in her old age... she must have suffered some mental trauma." Feather Lin analyzed the situation seriously.
"If the elderly were mentally healthy and contented, who would deliberately commit pengci in search of thrills?" Lotus Sun also shook her head.
After a spirited discussion, they came to a conclusion — ultimately, it was the system's fault, it was the world's fault!
...
It was eight o'clock in the morning on Wednesday of the third week of school.
Liang Wei returned to the Student Union Office with a swollen face, after being beaten up by the old men and women from the Pengci Gang.
The lumps on his head looked like a few Want Want Crunchy Rice Balls 3 piled up together.
Even when Tang Jingze saw him, he was struck dumb for quite a while. "Classmate, who are you looking for?"
Liang Wei: "..."
Fang Huaqing pushed up his glasses. Despite Liang Wei's current wretched appearance, with a bunch of Want Want Crunchy Rice Balls on his head, Fang Huaqing could still recognize Liang Wei from his distinctive big lips. "What happened to you?"
Liang Wei covered his face. He wanted to cry, but had no tears left, and instead wailed with indignation, "I was beaten up."
"What the hell happened?" asked Tang Jingze.
Liang Wei took out a local morning paper and slapped it on top of the table. Amidst the newspaper's small print, Tang Jingze saw a large, eye-grabbing headline for today's top story in local news — the Peiyuan district branch of the Pengci Gang had revolted last night, with old men and women turning in their ill-gotten gains one after another and surrendering themselves to the local police while extolling the core values of cultivation...
"..." Tang Jingze's lips twitched.
No one knew what kind of madness had seized this bunch of old men and women... under the leadership of Madam Dong, there had been a large-scale defection overnight.
Turning in their booty and giving themselves up under the leadership of Madam Dong, the entire Peiyuan district branch of the Pengci Gang was now proclaiming that they were breaking away from the main Pengci Gang and changing their name to the General Administration of Harmony...
Thinking back on what had happened last night, Liang Wei's eyes couldn't help turning red with grievance, despite the fact that he was a grown man.
As the employer, he had arranged to meet with Madam Dong this morning when he had hired her yesterday, to personally assess the results of the assignment.
However, he had completely never imagined that on his way to the meeting venue, he would be cornered by a group of muscular old men led by Madam Dong.
At this time, Madam Dong's temperament was already completely different from last night. With a red band that had the word "harmony" on it wrapped around her arm, she had glared sternly at Liang Wei as she recited the Twenty-Four True Words.
Liang Wei already couldn't recall what she had said at the time.
After she had finished reciting the Twenty-Four True Words, she had taken out a little red book 4 and started to read aloud from it. "In view of the fact that Student Liang Wei hired pengci racketeers with the malicious intent of disrupting social order, the following is the trial verdict!" Then, with a wave of her hand, Madam Dong directly and mercilessly laid down the charge —"The crime of cultivation disharmony!"
Immediately after that, a few muscular old men encircled him...
Although Madam Dong was an ordinary person, that didn't mean that there weren't any cultivators in the Pengci Gang.
If it had just been Madam Dong, Liang Wei could have dealt with her. Unfortunately... the eight old men in front of him were all at the Foundation Establishment stage!
After that... there was nothing after that.
Liang Wei didn't even have time to yell "yamete" 5 before the eight old men took turns ruthlessly beating him up, after which he returned to school badly battered.
Tang Jingze: "..."
Fang Huaqing: "..."
Now Tang Jingze and Fang Huaqing really felt it was a bit creepy.
From the moment the group from No. 60 High School had arrived yesterday, it had been crisis after crisis.
Now, even the stubborn old people in the Pengci Gang were f**king setting things right after just one night!
— What the f**k kind of game were they playing at?!
Tang Jingze's current feelings were very complicated.
Their plans to humiliate their opponents had been countered every step of the way; even their plan for revenge had disintegrated under some mysterious power... it was clearly their No. 59 High School's home turf, but in the end, the people of No. 60 High School hadn't just entered confidently, they had also planted a red flag in their territory!
There was no way they would tolerate that!
Tang Jingze glared out the window, and sighed darkly. "Since it has come to this, it looks like the only thing we can do is invite that senior to make an appearance..."
"...Him?"
Speaking of "that senior," Fang Huaqing and Liang Wei instantly understood.
Given the current situation, they could only ask that senior to help; this was probably now the only way for No. 59 High School to win for once.
...
Every school would have a couple of delinquents; No. 60 High School did, and No. 59 High School of course wasn't an exception.
There were two days left before the end of the exchange meet, and Tang Jingze's plans to humiliate the students from No. 60 High School not only hadn't been successful, it had had the opposite effect; they had been hoisted by their own petard.
Whatever the case, there were still two days to go, and he still felt it was necessary for them to regain face.
In the morning, No. 59 High School's Student Union, led by Tang Jingze, found the notorious Senior Buliang, He Bufeng.
The wind blows on school grounds except where there are no storm clouds... this was the meaning of this Senior He's name 6 .
Well...
On the whole, this name really suited this delinquent's style 7 . After all, just from his name, one could tell that this senior was someone who liked to create headlines, and was extremely restless in nature.
Tang Jingze actually didn't know very much about this Senior He's history; he only knew that Senior He Bufeng had a codename, the number "8823."
These numbers weren't his student number, nor did it refer to any specific item in particular. Instead, it referred to the total overall marks which this Senior He had scored across all his subjects since entering school three years ago — 8823, a record low in the history of No. 59 High School, which had not been broken until now.
Exams for each subject had now been consolidated to make up a total of a thousand marks. Since the beginning of school, with the weekly exams, monthly exams and so on, to not be able to even break ten thousand marks across all class subjects in total really sounded like an exaggeration.
This year happened to be the third year that this Senior He Bufeng was repeating Senior Grade Three of high school...
In short, this was a sticky issue that gave even Director Xie a headache. If it wasn't because Tang Jingze was at his wits' end this time, there was no way he would ask this "grand master" to help the student union.
In the morning, Tang Jingze used the student union's student records to find this Senior Buliang's phone number, and arranged to meet him.
The male toilets on the second floor of the teaching building was Senior Buliang's territory, and students who knew the rules usually wouldn't enter here. Otherwise, it was very likely this delinquent would force them to wash their faces in the toilet bowl.
As President of the Student Union, Tang Jingze naturally had received plenty of complaints, but like most of the teachers, he had chosen to turn a blind eye to them.
This was mainly because of this delinquent's background: He Bufeng's grandfather was currently that circumcision director of No. 59 High School's school board.
It was because of this connection that No. 59 High School hadn't expelled this delinquent.
"Are you the ones who want to meet with Senior He?" As soon as Tang Jingze and the others stepped onto the second floor, they were immediately stopped by a youth wearing a graffiti vest.
Tang Jingze swept a look over this person's fashion style: he was roughly one hundred and seventy centimeters tall, and wasn't wearing his uniform jacket properly — instead, it was tied around his waist. The most eye-catching thing about him was his hair, sticking straight up ten centimeters, and perfectly making up the height difference with Tang Jingze. Such a hairstyle, even among all the "shamate," 8 was a rare and terrifying existence.
"..." Tang Jingze, Fang Huaqing, and Liang Wei all gasped in unison — this style was really an eyesore!
"Is senior... free now?" Tang Jingze said softly. He normally thought of himself as bad, and had bullied a lot of people before. But in the face of this delinquent senior, he completely did not dare act arrogant.
The "shamate" youth snorted, and pointed at the male toilets nearby, smiling. "Senior has been waiting inside for you for quite a while, go on in."
At this arrogant attitude, Tang Jingze and the others couldn't help the corners of their mouths pulling down. They gave the tightly sealed-off male toilets a deep look, feeling like they were about to enter a new world through Pandora's portal 9 .