The Song Dynasty was the king for thirteen years before he knew that he was Tianlong.

Chapter 369 Famous Scholars of the World
As darkness fell, Zhao Ti let out a soft breath and stood up from behind his desk.

At this time, the soldiers entered the tent to deliver dinner, which consisted of four dishes and a soup: braised mutton, smoked chicken with sesame oil, roasted mushrooms, stewed wild vegetables with bones, and fish soup.

In addition, there was a jar of wine and a plate of mixed flour pancakes.

Zhao Ti sent someone to invite Murong Longcheng over for a meal. Murong Longcheng looked puzzled when he saw the food on the table: "Junior brother, is the food in the army so lavish? There's even wine?"

Zhao Ti smiled and said, "I have made preparations for today, but not tomorrow. As for wine, the army has always had it, but we don't drink it normally; it's mostly used to reward the troops after a victory."

“I see…” Murong Longcheng nodded: “I have no military experience and do not know the rules. Please forgive me, junior brother.”

Zhao Ti raised the corners of his mouth: "Senior brother, let's have a drink together, otherwise we won't get this kind of treatment tomorrow."

Murong Longcheng agreed, and the two sat down at the table, filled their cups with fine wine, and began to toast each other until the hour of Hai (9-11 PM).

Instead of resting, Zhao Ti went around to the back of the tent and began practicing Taoist magic.

In the past few days, he has completed all the spells that Murong Longcheng taught him that he could practice, and he has also pondered the spells that he could not practice, so that he can directly cultivate them when his realm is higher.

As for the method of One Qi Transforms into Three Pure Ones, he is still pondering it. This Taoist technique is extremely profound, and he cannot use it with his current magical power. Moreover, there are some parts that he does not yet understand, and he needs to reach a higher level of spiritual cultivation to fully comprehend them.

This realm refers to the Dao Palace, which cannot be comprehended by simply climbing the twelve-story tower. Therefore, his most urgent task is to improve his Dao cultivation.

At this time, Zhao Ti was on the fourth level of the Twelve-Story Tower, the White Tiger Blade. He had experienced the Tribulation of the Spirit Pill Wind Evil and was already at the peak of the fourth level, ready to break through to the fifth level, the Fire Separation Gate, at any time.

The fifth floor of the twelve-story tower is the Fire Gate, which corresponds to the Tribulation of Returning to the Deluded Mind.

The transformation of deluded thoughts represents the fusion of faith. It is the unification of the six senses and the convergence of thoughts. Regardless of the restless mind or wandering thoughts, it is like a furnace that burns all thoughts together and fuses them into one place. The concept remains unchanged, the faith is unwavering, and one seeks only the Great Way in one's heart.

He had no bottlenecks in his cultivation; as long as he accumulated enough, success would come naturally. He had gained over thirty years of magical power at the Wolf Mountain Temple, but he did not exhaust it all when he ascended to the fourth level.

At that time, his inner demon suddenly appeared and then left in a hurry. He hid the spiritual energy he absorbed in his dantian meridians. Moreover, his absorption of magical power over the past thirty years was different from others. He circulated the Great Freedom Sutra with greed and gluttony, which was more than twice that of Kumārajīva and Aju.

In other words, the spiritual energy he absorbed at that time was several times that of a normal cultivator, amounting to more than sixty years' worth.

At this moment, he continuously converted his spiritual energy into magical power to break through the fifth level of the Twelve-Story Tower, the Fire Barrier. After only about half an hour, he felt as if some shackles within his body had been broken. Suddenly, a feeling of comfort washed over him, and his magical power surged up to the fifth level.

Without cultivation bottlenecks, cultivation is not only smooth and unimpeded, but it also reduces consumption. This is because, regardless of martial arts or Taoist methods, a bottleneck requires a significant loss of true energy and magical power to overcome through painstaking effort or even the immense power of Mount Tai.

And such an impact may not be successful on the first try. If it takes several attempts to achieve the goal, the amount of energy consumed is simply immeasurable.

However, Zhao Ti didn't need to. His magical power directly surged to the next level. Even though he was now standing on the fifth floor, the spiritual energy had not been completely converted. It lingered in his body like mist, as if a celestial mountain existed within him.

Zhao Ti suddenly felt a blur before his eyes, and his body felt light. He knew that his inner demons had descended once again.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw the morning light shining through the window, its golden rays warming his face and making him feel incredibly comfortable.

A new day began, and Zhao Ling'er's voice came from outside the window: "Big Brother is a big lazybones. If you don't get up, you'll be late for school."

Zhao Ti woke up a little late today. He took a breath, quickly got up, washed up, and went to the canteen for dinner.

Uncle Yang Jian sat at the table without even glancing at him, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he had given him the secret manual the night before.

Father Zhao said, "I have to go to the market to sell my goods today; I can't stay at home any longer."

Yang Jian said lazily, "Brother-in-law, if you change your business, how can my sister and nephew live a comfortable life by just renting the ancestral house and making a little money by hawking on the street?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao's father said unhappily, "I earn my living with my own hands, working from sunrise to sunset. I feel at ease and comfortable, which is true comfort, unlike parasites who live aimlessly, like walking corpses."

Yang Jian said nonchalantly, "I'm just thinking about my sister's nephew. It's never wrong to live a better life. I'm not asking you to be like me. It just means to be more quick-witted, expand your business, and have better food, clothing, and living conditions, and a more spacious house. What's wrong with that?"

Father Zhao said, "No need, we are living very well. If you don't believe me, ask your seventh sister."

Mother Zhao smiled and said, "Thirteen, you don't need to worry about these things. Your sister is living a good life. I'm already content that you came all this way to visit her family. You don't need to think about anything else."

Yang Jian sighed softly: "Alright, then I won't say anything more. But back then, Seventh Sister... still has some things left in Huazhou. Now that we've found Seventh Sister, I'll send someone to deliver those things to Yuzhou in a while."

Mother Zhao's eyes flickered, and she smiled, "So there's something left behind?"

"Sigh..." Yang Jian said somewhat awkwardly, "How could I not keep my sister's things? Even my uncle said not to touch them."

After a moment of contemplation, Zhao's mother said, "When I left home, I didn't think about those things. Thirteen, you decide... how to handle it."

Yang Jian said, "How can we do that? Putting aside whether it's valuable or not, those were Seventh Sister's personal belongings back then. How can we just throw them away like that?"

Zhao's mother said, "These are all items that I had forgotten about. If Thirteen feels uncomfortable, you can send them over. It will just be a hassle for you."

Yang Jian shook his head: "Seventh Sister, what are you saying? You took care of me back then, and now I'm just doing some small things for you. How can you call it trouble? Let's not talk about it anymore. After dinner, I'll go take care of my nephew and then go straight back to Huazhou to promote his poetic talent in Huazhou and Qianzhou."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ti hurriedly stood up and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your trouble, Uncle."

Yang Jian laughed and said, "What trouble? Isn't it all my duty? But remember what I said: you can't just study without exercising. You need to exercise more to stay healthy."

Father Zhao frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Yang Jian waved his hand: "I mean, my nephew is too weak. He can't carry heavy loads, and studying is physically demanding. Let him move around more often, so he doesn't ruin his health by just studying." Zhao Ti understood the implication: he was being advised to learn martial arts, but for some reason, he didn't want his father to know. Although he couldn't understand the reason, learning martial arts wasn't a bad thing. To avoid a conflict between the two, he said, "Father, it's like this."

After thinking for a moment, Zhao's father said, "It's time to get some exercise. Tomorrow I'll go to the mountains and find a big rock to make a stone lock for you, so you can work up your strength."

"Find a big rock and make a stone lock?" Yang Jian touched the bright red flower at his temple, his lips twitched, and he said, "Brother-in-law, whatever makes you happy."

After breakfast, Zhao Ti carried his satchel, Zhao's father led Zhao Ling'er by the hand, and Zhao's mother saw Yang Jian off. They parted ways at the entrance of Xinghua Lane.

Zhao Ti walked out of Chunyu Street to the Yujiang River, and walked along the river. Before long, he entered the state school.

The state school was bustling with activity today because a renowned scholar had arrived. This scholar was named Li Meng, who had been the runner-up in the imperial examination of the nineteenth year of the Kaiyuan era.

Kaiyuan is the reign title of Emperor Qianlong, Yang Qiong, who is the fourth emperor of the Great Qian Dynasty.

He ascended the throne at the age of eleven and reigned for forty-nine years without ever changing the era name. Now he is exactly sixty years old, but he is still full of energy, working hard to govern the country, attending court every day without fail, and caring about the affairs of the world and the people's sentiments.

Li Meng passed the imperial examination at the age of twenty and was appointed as a compiler in the Hanlin Academy. During this time, he did not seek promotion and focused on compiling books in the academy. When he was forty years old, he resigned from his official post, traveled the world, and pursued extensive learning. His books, "Tongxue" and "Minglun", spread far and wide and were even adopted as school textbooks in some neighboring small countries.

Li Meng is currently around fifty years old, and he also has a special identity as the cousin of Li Zhen, the current prime minister.

The Li family of Longzhou is one of the eight great families in the land.

Given Li Meng's background, status, and education, it would be extremely easy for him to be promoted. Even if he wanted to ask the central government for advice in the future, it wouldn't be impossible.

However, he was indifferent to fame and fortune and always took it as his duty to promote and study. Especially after resigning from his official post, he wrote books and traveled around. His reputation gradually grew, and he was invited to give lectures by academies in every place he went.

He never refused any request, whether it was a prestigious institution like the Four Great Academies, a local school like a prefecture or county school, or even a small, unknown school. He was always responsive and never put on airs, explaining things earnestly to everyone.

Li Meng had not originally planned to go to Yuzhou this time, but instead stopped in Linzhou, which was nearby. However, the Yuzhou education commissioner learned of this and personally went to invite him over.

The officials of the Daqian Academy were divided into four levels: the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, the Doctor of the Imperial Academy, the Provincial Education Commissioner, and the County Education Instructor.

Although Li Meng did not intend to come to Yuzhou on this trip, and wanted to travel directly from Linzhou across the Taijiang River to Jiangnan, he temporarily changed his itinerary after meeting the Yuzhou Education Commissioner.

He accompanied the education commissioner to Yuzhou, promising to lecture there for three days before crossing the river to leave.

The students at the state school received the news yesterday after school and were very excited. Almost everyone arrived early today, except for Zhao Ti, who was a little late.

I did get up late, but I wasn't late at all; I was just the last one to arrive at Mingzhi Hall, the largest lecture hall in the school.

Logically speaking, the teacher should not enter the classroom too early before the appointed time, but Li Meng himself has a habit of entering a quarter of an hour early. Originally, knowing that he was invited to give a lecture, students from the four major academies and local schools in various states would arrive first, so even if he entered a quarter of an hour early, no other students would enter.

Zhao Ti was unaware of his habit. Although he had gotten up late, he figured he still had time and didn't arrive too early. It was only when he reached the door that he sensed something was wrong.

The doors of Mingzhi Hall were open at the moment. Because it was late spring, the windows were also open, and one could see the dense crowd of students inside, as well as a row of state school officials sitting in front, and Li Meng behind the lectern in the middle.

Even if Zhao Ti was slow to react, he realized that Li Meng must be acting unconventionally, unlike normal professors who strictly adhere to the rules and arrive at the lecture hall on time, but instead arrives much earlier than expected.

But there was no other way at the moment, so I had to bite the bullet and go in, since I wasn't really late anyway.

As soon as Zhao Ti stepped across the threshold, he saw all eyes inside turn to him.

Although gazes are intangible, the sight of hundreds of people watching at the same time still made Zhao Ti feel a sense of pressure.

In particular, the eyes of the state school administrators and professors contained a lot of emotions, mostly displeasure, a few anger, and some regret for their lack of progress.

Zhao Ti felt a pang of guilt, but then he realized he hadn't done anything wrong. He hadn't broken any laws or regulations, nor had he violated any of the state school's rules, and he hadn't actually been late. What was there to be ashamed of?
Upon realizing this, his slightly embarrassed expression immediately became calm, and he straightened up. After stepping into the school, he bowed to the front and then went to find a seat.

The student recorder from the prefectural school suddenly spoke up coldly, "Who told you to go over there?"

Zhao Ti paused upon hearing this, then turned to look at the Academic Registrar. The Academic Registrar was a position that mainly assisted the Academic Administrator in handling disciplinary matters at the state school, such as attendance, checking students' appearance and behavior, and recording violations. He was essentially a discipline administrator.

The registrar of Yuzhou State Academy was a middle-aged man in his forties with a jet-black beard. He was known among the students as a cold and ruthless figure. He would reprimand them for the smallest things, even trivial matters, even if they did not fall under the school rules. He was not well-liked by the students.

"I wonder why the registrar summoned the student?" Zhao Ti asked.

"What do you want?" Xue Lu's face was as cold as ice: "You're late and didn't even greet me at the door, just barged in like that. Don't you have any manners at all?"

Zhao Ti paused for a moment upon hearing this: "The student... is not late."

"Not late?" Xue Lu snorted. "All the students are here except you. You still dare to say you're not late? Go stand aside and reflect on your mistake!"

Zhao Ti glanced at the water clock in the corner and said, "School starts at two quarters past the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), and it's still a little short. The students are indeed not late."

"You... how dare you talk back? Don't you know how to respect your teachers? I think you've completely forgotten the rules of the state school. It seems I'll have to give you a demerit and deduct your credits," the registrar said angrily.

State schools have a credit system. If too many credits are deducted, students must either buy them back with money or work within the state school to offset them. If a student cannot afford to buy back the credits and is unwilling to work to offset them, they will be expelled. A letter will be sent to schools in various regions, and most schools will take this into consideration and will no longer admit that student.

Moreover, even if this student later hires a tutor at home or becomes self-taught and takes the imperial examination to become an official, this incident will still be a stain on his record and will be detrimental to his career.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Ti frowned and said, "I always keep the rules in mind and dare not forget to respect my teacher. But I was indeed not late."

(End of this chapter)