My Master Knows It All

388: Chapter 161 Discussing the Way, No Need to be Too Serious_6 388: Chapter 161 Discussing the Way, No Need to be Too Serious_6 As she spoke, she paused herself, then added, “Liao Luoxia will certainly commit this to memory.”

Cao Zhen was annoyed, thinking you just changed one word, but there’s still nothing substantial.

No, this won’t do.

If I let one or two of you have an enlightenment, that’s manageable, but I’ve facilitated an enlightenment for so many from Thousand Caves Door; it would be unreasonable not to get anything tangible in return.

Besides, when I made people from the Hundred Peaks Sect achieve enlightenment, I received benefits.

Now at Thousand Caves Door, if I help you achieve enlightenment and don’t receive any rewards, wouldn’t that be betraying my own sect?

I am not your son-in-law; these benefits are a must for me.

Just wait, when the time comes for me to leave, I’ll definitely make a hefty demand.

To the side, all the grotto masters from the Poetry Grotto were staring straight at Cao Zhen.

Watching Cao Zhen remain silent for a long while, they eagerly asked, “Peak Master Cao, what about the rest of it?”

Such beautiful poetry, how can there only be one line?

By now, they had forgotten all about philosophical debates; they just wanted to hear the rest of the poem.

“The rest of it…” Cao Zhen said with a rogue’s air under the expectant gazes around him: “I’ve forgotten.”

“Forgotten?” Everyone was dumbfounded.

“Yes, just forgotten,” Cao Zhen readily admitted.

He had genuinely forgotten.

He had memorized “Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng” back in school, but after so many years, he could only remember a small part at the beginning and the very last line “The setting sun with solitary ducks in flight; autumn waters merge with the sky in one color.” He had truly forgotten the rest of the content.

Liao Luoxia felt a pang of guilt upon hearing what Cao Zhen said, and in a low voice, she said, “It is my fault.

It must have been my enlightenment that disturbed Peak Master Cao and broke his train of thought.

Such magnificent work was interrupted because of me…”

Although she did not practice the Path of Poetry, she could feel the beauty of its ambiance.

She couldn’t even imagine how much more beautiful it would be if Peak Master Cao composed the entire poem.

Around them, the others heard this and also nodded in regret.

Poetry was like that, sometimes inspiration would just come and brilliant lines would flow naturally.

But once the train of thought was broken, that special feeling was gone, and it was impossible to produce such lines again.

Hearing the others’ comments, Cao Zhen himself was dumbfounded.

I really did forget the rest, and you all can spin a story around that?

The truth is, I just blurted out that line upon seeing the scene before me.

Forget it, I should change the line again.

Luckily, there’s a waterfall here.

Cao Zhen turned his head, looking towards the nearby waterfall, raised his hand, and pointed as he declared: “Sunlight upon the incense burner produces a purplish smoke…”

As he said this, he paused himself.

Sunlight?

That seems to imply daytime, but it’s already evening, with the afterglow, it doesn’t seem to fit, does it?

Forget it, these people can interpret it on their own, I’ll just continue to recite.

With that in mind, he took another step forward and continued: “From afar, I watch the waterfall hang before the river.

A flight of rapid currents falling three thousand feet, it seems like the Milky Way cascading from the heavens.”

The work of the great poet should certainly overawe them.

As his words settled, silence fell once again, and the attention of everyone was drawn to the waterfall nearby.

“A flight of rapid currents falling three thousand feet, it seems like the Milky Way cascading from the heavens.

What a line, truly a wonderful line, every word powerful and resonant…”

“So imaginative…”

“But where is this incense burner?”

Among the group, someone voiced their puzzlement.

Cao Zhen suddenly realized, it seems the incense burner wasn’t what I imagined as a pill furnace…

rather, Li Bai was looking at Incense Burner Peak at that time…

This…

It seems I’ve been in this world for too long, influenced by its ways, and took for granted that the incense burner referred to a pill furnace.

What am I going to do?

How am I going to explain this later?

As he suffered from a headache, someone had already begun to explain: “Look at the waterfall, from a distance, doesn’t the mountain behind it resemble a pill furnace?”

“So that’s it, it makes sense.”

“However, it’s evening now, so ‘sunlight upon the incense burner’…”

“Evening also has its light, besides, haven’t you noticed?

The ‘sunlight’ part, doesn’t it correspond with the ‘setting sun’ that Peak Master Cao mentioned earlier?

And since we are at Sunset Clouds Cave, this ‘sunlight’ must bear a deeper significance…”

“Right, I also feel it holds a profound meaning.”

“Didn’t you notice?

Master Liao is wearing a purple dress, this ‘purplish smoke’…”

Cao Zhen listened to these disciples’ interpretations, completely bewildered.

You all are really stretching it.

I think even Li Bai’s coffin lid can’t hold him down now.

Otherwise I give you the brush, how about you write the continuation?

Yes, let them do it.

Reacting to this, Cao Zhen addressed the crowd: “The poem, I have composed.

Now, isn’t it time for you to take over?”

As he finished speaking, the crowd exchanged looks, you eyeing me and I eyeing you, with no one stepping up to compose.

They were all masters from the Poetry Grotto, they could certainly compose poetry, making poems in nine steps without any issue.

Yet with such an exquisite piece preceding them, none dared or had the face to compose their own.

Eventually, the crowd looked at each other helplessly and sighed, then they all turned to Cao Zhen with cupped fists saying, “Peak Master Cao, your talent outshines us all, we humbly concede and won’t embarrass ourselves further.”