"Absurd! Too absurd!"
In Graceful Academy's hall, a white-haired old man dressed like a Confucian scholar flew into a terrible rage.
The elder was surrounded by men both old and young, all dressed in Confucian attire. They were the disciples and teachers of Graceful Academy.
Graceful Academy was supervised by Fang Chaoyun, and almost all its students were his disciples, even the teachers.
In fact, there were no pure teachers in the academy. They were more like senior martial brothers who taught on behalf of their master.
For example, this old man was Hou Songshan. He was the oldest among Fang Chaoyun's disciples, and many people in the academy were brought up by him.
"Senior Martial Brother Hou, please calm down." The person next to him could only try his best to placate him, "Martial Uncle Lin is not a Confucian scholar like us, so he doesn't abstain from marriage…"
The Martial Uncle Lin they were talking about was Fang Chaoyun's junior martial brother. This time he asked Lin Ling, Song Fei's ninth disciple, to help guard his astral world.
Among Song Fei's disciples, Lin Ling was definitely an unusual one.
He cultivated swordsmanship all his life, but he wasn't like many swordsmen who only devoted themselves to the sword. Instead, he was more like a wandering martial artist. He liked to eat and drink lavishly. Whenever he went out, he rode a heavenly dragon mount. His harem was filled with so many beauties that even he himself couldn't keep count of them all.
With the descent of the succubus army, the other disciples in Graceful Academy were still restraining themselves—even if they really were tempted, they still had to worry about the academy's disciplinary system.
But Lin Ling had no such scruples. Not even Fang Chaoyun, his senior martial brother, could interfere in his personal affairs, let alone this group of martial nephews.
More importantly, although Lin Ling was fond of pleasure, he wasn't extremely obsessed and had never been to the World of Gods before.
The group of succubi sent right to his door allowed him to taste something new, causing him to suddenly indulge in pleasure while forgetting about home and duty.
However, not only did Lin Ling take in ten consecutive concubines, but he also flaunted them throughout the academy, as if afraid that others wouldn't know about it. This was detrimental to the academy's reputation.
Nowadays, taking concubines had become common practice in the city. If someone was accused of being immoral over it, they could simply say they were following Graceful Academy's example… 'How absurd!'
Hou Songshan was so furious precisely because he heard these outside rumors and called everyone here to discuss a countermeasure.
"Even so, there's no reason to disturb the academy's peaceful learning environment!" Hou Songshan glared at the person who just spoke. "If Martial Uncle Lin wants to take concubines, just ask him to do it outside!"
"That… is inconsistent with etiquette…" the person next to him responded cautiously.
Confucianism attached great importance to etiquette. When the teacher was away, it was natural to host the martial uncle in their home, not to mention the martial uncle was even here to help them.
Not disturbing the academy's peaceful learning environment was etiquette, but it was also etiquette to not kick their martial uncle out.
Hou Songshan was so furious that his hands were shaking and couldn't even speak, scaring everyone into quickly helping him sit down for fear that he would suffer a stroke.
This old man really was too old. Although he had Void Cutter strength, both his body and his laws had been severely eroded by time.
Unless one became a Star Ruler, it was impossible to exist forever.
"Senior Martial Brother, don't be anxious. We already notified Master. We can wait for him to make a decision."
"Yes! Master will definitely speak up for us… But Martial Uncle Lin has indeed gone a little too far. Those women don't look like anything good. They are probably witches who want to suck people dry."
"Senior Martial Brother, those words are a bit excessive. Why would Martial Uncle Lin fear witches? If these women really did have malicious intentions, he would've dealt with them long ago."
"Sigh… you're right."
After calming Hou Songshan down, everyone started discussing this. The most troublesome problem was that individual succubi held no evil intentions, so they couldn't just kill them indiscriminately.
As for the love between men and women, it was human nature. Could they force everyone not to take concubines?
Just when all the Confucian scholars were grappling with this dilemma, a tall and handsome figure strode swiftly into the hall.
This person was dressed in green. He had a faint smile on his face, but his eyes reflected the vicissitudes of life. He was the type most women found appealing.
"Martial Uncle Lin."
"Martial Uncle Lin."
Someone saw the man in green and quickly greeted him.
Lin Ling nodded back at them but stopped before Hou Songshan. The latter stood up with all his strength and saluted meticulously. "Songshan greets Martial Uncle Lin."
"No need, no need." Lin Ling revealed a helpless look. "Old man, you're probably even older than me. Why are you always obsessing over useless etiquette?"
Without waiting for Hou Songshan to respond, he added, "Your master sent me a letter. I will move out in two days. You guys should also read it."
Lin Ling handed the letter to Hou Songshan, which was Fang Chaoyun's response after receiving the news.
After all, nobody could stop Lin Ling from taking concubines. Letting him move out was the best solution. Of course, it was definitely inappropriate for Hou Songshan to suggest that, but Fang Chaoyun had no such scruples.
Hou Songshan read it at a glance, and his expression finally relaxed a little. He bowed again. "In that case, please forgive us for our inadequacy as your hosts, Martial Uncle."
Lin Ling waved his hand repeatedly. He wasn't willing to stay with these scholars in the first place. Even if no one dared to control him, it still felt annoying to see all these sticklers for the rules.
Someone beside him asked, "Martial Uncle, will Master not come back? These women's origins are unknown. I'm afraid—"
"Like hell their origins are unknown." Lin Ling sneered. "This is clearly Gu Nan's ploy. In terms of inter-plane warfare, ten of him will still be no match for your master. Of course he has to play these trivial tricks."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "Senior Martial Brother is right to not be fooled. If he comes back at this time, then he'll have fallen for the opponent's scheme!"
Only then did the scholars come to a sudden realization. Most of them didn't understand military strategy, or else they wouldn't have stayed in their hometown and would have gone to the battlefield long ago.
Lin Ling understood military strategy very well, but he had no in-depth understanding of both sides of the war and could only judge matters using conventional thinking.
...
Early the next morning, Lin Ling, escorted by a group of succubi, led a grandiose procession out of the gates of Graceful Academy.
In addition to the ten succubi he took as concubines, there were several more succubi this time. They were obviously the harem reserves.
"Lin Ling left." Zhuangxuan stood at the corner of the street, calmly watching Lin Ling's procession leave, and whispered, "Next, we can set up part of the formation directly inside the academy."
As long as Fang Chaoyun didn't return, a situation where "the darkest place is directly under the lamp" would exist; it wouldn't occur to anyone that there would be a problem in the academy.
Zhuangxuan slowly withdrew his gaze with a slight shake of his head. "It's a pity that the level of the succubi is too low. If they could actually influence Lin Ling, then we would have a greater chance of success."