They've all become top scholars in the imperial examinations, and you're telling me this i

Chapter 69 Taking Action
As the lingering sound of the zither faded away, a graceful figure rose slowly from behind the screen.

Fang Xuanling put down his teacup, clapped his hands, and gave a soft thumbs-up.

"The Prime Minister's daughter's zither skills are indeed well-deserved; the lingering sound is soothing and calming. Guangrui, what do you think?"

He looked at Chen Guangrui with a smile, as if he were an elder testing a younger person.

The moment the music stopped, Chen Guangrui, sitting at the lower end of the table, saw his gentle and humble smile vanish like the receding tide. He took a deep breath, his back suddenly straightened, his shoulders lowered, his head slightly raised, and his eyes glazed over, staring straight ahead into the void.

This appearance was completely different from his usual calm and reserved temperament. He looked somewhat like a shaman in the streets. He tried to adopt the "solemn and dignified" posture recorded in the documents, but he had never seen it before and could not imitate it. He could only recall similar videos of shamanic rituals he had seen in his previous life and force himself to look the part. His imitation was stiff and had an awkwardness to it.

Just as Yin Kaishan stroked his beard and smiled, and Fang Xuanling looked at him with a slightly probing gaze, Chen Guangrui suddenly spoke. His voice was deliberately low, yet it carried a pretentious penetrating power, striking everyone's ears like a thunderclap.

"On the Qiantang River... the tide comes in, and only today do I realize... I am who I am!"

He shouted these two verses with all his might, as if he had truly experienced a sudden enlightenment and rebirth. However, his demeanor and posture were less like those of an enlightened monk and more like... well, an actor possessed by something, whose acting was somewhat exaggerated.

"what?"

Yin Kaishan didn't know why Chen Guangrui would suddenly say this, and the smile on his face instantly froze in his wrinkles.

Fang Xuanling was even more astonished and suspicious. This Scholar Chen was gentle and polite just a moment ago, how could he suddenly go crazy?
Chen Guangrui seemed not to hear what the two were saying; he was already caught up in the moment and didn't care what he was saying. He only knew those two lines, and couldn't remember anything before, so how could he possibly repeat them?

At this moment, he was searching his mind for sentences related to Buddhism or with a Zen-like quality, and he was about to blurt them all out.

Seeing that he had attracted everyone's attention, he seized the opportunity and began to speak at length.
"Form is emptiness, emptiness is form..." He was reciting the Heart Sutra.

"...Bodhi is not a tree, nor is the bright mirror a stand. Originally there is nothing, so where can dust alight?" This is a verse by the Sixth Patriarch Huineng.

"...The world is material, and matter is in motion."

Well, his knowledge is too shallow. He thought for a long time but couldn't come up with anything else. He even mixed in some words from his previous life's materialist philosophy textbook and forcibly put them in the shell of "Buddhist philosophy".

Regardless of what I'm saying, once the atmosphere and emotions are right, just say what you mean, who cares if it's right or wrong.

The more he recited, the louder and louder his voice became, spittle flying everywhere, completely disregarding the occasion. His words were incoherent, but every sentence contained profound truths. Later, his speaking speed increased, a jumble of fragments from philosophy, Buddhist scriptures, and Taoist texts, making it impossible for others to understand the specific content. They only felt that countless profound and difficult words were tumbling and gushing from his mouth with overwhelming force.

Fang Xuanling frowned, completely bewildered.

This top scholar, Chen, behaved arrogantly and spoke incoherently, yet every word he uttered contained elements of "Buddhism," "Zen," and "philosophy"...

Could it be that he truly has a deep affinity with Buddhism and has gone mad with enlightenment at this moment? He forced himself to remain calm as he looked at this bizarre scene.

Yin Kaishan's face grew increasingly gloomy. He stared intently at Chen Guangrui, his eyes no longer showing astonishment, but filled with deep confusion and a hint of barely perceptible anxiety.

This frenzied state...it doesn't seem like it at all.

If that thing were on him, he would right now possess a dignified and solemn appearance, clear and bright wisdom, and profound understanding of the Dharma, making people bow down and worship him.

Despite his apparent madness, he seemed possessed by something, spouting profound truths.

Chen Guangrui's frantic "sermons" have run out of words, and it seems he's just repeating the same few sentences over and over again.

Yin Kaishan's doubts overwhelmed his surprise, and an unbelievable question blurted out, his voice tinged with anxiety.
"You...you're acting so recklessly! You...how come you haven't digested this yet?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Fang Xuanling abruptly turned to look at Yin Kaishan: "??"

Digestion? What to eat? What does this mean? Has Prime Minister Yin been driven mad by Chen Guangrui?

"Digestion?"

These two words, upon reaching Chen Guangrui's ears, were like a spark thrown into dry tinder; the words of Black Impermanence flashed through his mind in an instant:

"My soul has been squeezed out by the cicadas."

It's just an empty shell.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a graceful figure behind the screen, about to turn and leave.

It's now!

Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Chen Guangrui abruptly stopped speaking, his furious sermon abruptly halting. He turned around abruptly, his eyes wide open, staring intently at Yin Wenjiao behind the screen, the feigned solemnity on his face instantly transforming into a stern expression that was almost "compassionate."

In the next instant, without warning, he grabbed his teacup and, with all his might, smashed it towards the screen and towards Yin Wenjiao!

"Bang! Crash!"

The screen shook violently after being smashed. A woman's cry of pain suddenly rang out.

The teacup shattered on the ground, scalding hot tea spilled out, and shards flew everywhere.

"Ah!" Yin Wenjiao cried out in surprise as her arm was cut by flying shards, and blood instantly seeped out, staining her sleeve red.

She was in so much pain that her face turned pale. She clutched her arm and staggered back, looking in horror at Chen Guangrui, who had suddenly attacked her from behind the screen.

"You wretched child! Wake up now!" Chen Guangrui pointed behind the screen, his voice like thunder, filled with a furious disappointment.
"Today, this humble monk will pour this broken cup upon the crown of your head to help you sever your worldly attachments and awaken your true nature. Why don't you wake up quickly!"

His face still bore the strained expression of a monk, his chest heaving with excitement as he stared intently at the blood-splattered sleeve, his heart pounding in his throat.

In that deathly silence, filled with horror and rage, a voice, tinged with immense relief yet stammering, clearly pierced Chen Guangrui's ears.

"Reporting...Reporting to my lord, look...look carefully, the cicada is still inside its shell, dozing off, its soul hasn't...hasn't woken up yet. You...you smashed it well, the blood...the blood is in hand, not a single drop wasted!"

Chen Guangrui's tense nerves suddenly relaxed.

Become!

He turned abruptly, the fierce expression on his face vanishing instantly, replaced by his usual calm. He even clapped his hands, as if dusting off some dirt, and said calmly to Yin Kaishan, who was about to slam his fist on the table, and Fang Xuanling, who was dumbfounded:

"What's wrong with you? Why are you so terrified?"

As if something had been removed from his body, Chen Guangrui's shoulders trembled, and the madness in his eyes vanished, as if nothing had happened and everyone had just had a dream.

He knew nothing, not even that a long time had passed unnoticed.

(End of this chapter)