Gu Hai was stuck. He did not know how to continue. Then, he looked up at the sky.
Perhaps Gu Hai had made too deep an impression on the sages. All the sages shivered and immediately rushed to give their recommendation talismans to the other participants.
“Sages, their compositions are not done yet!” Gongyang Sheng said as he glared at the sky.
“Humph! So what if they are not done? Has anyone finished yet? Even Gu Hai has not finished. I felt that his composition was good, so I recommended him. What does it have to do with you?” a calligraphy Dao sage retorted coldly.
“That’s right. Gu Hai wrote pretty well, but he is not finished, either. What can you do about it?”
“Gu Hai, just give up. Hahaha!”
The sages guffawed. They finally prevented Gu Hai from getting his way.
The surrounding spectators insulted the sages, but the sages did not care. So what if they are insulting us? Bunch of rowdy people! How many of them will still be around to see us one thousand years later?
The sages ignored the spectators’ insults, looking coldly at Gu Hai.
However, Gu Hai did not care. He did not feel angry at all. The sages had helped him in their anxiety. He could stop writing at this point where he could not continue the poem.
Looking at the sages, Gu Hai revealed a faint smile.
“Master, what should we do now?” Ensnaring Performance asked anxiously.
“Mister Gu, these sages are shameless!” Longevity said with an unsightly expression.
“Mister Gu, your composition is very incredible, almost as good as mine. These sages are blind. What should we do now? Should we continue writing?” Purple Subtlety frowned as he looked at Gu Hai.
“We’ll stop writing. This is enough.” Gu Hai smiled.
The Supreme Genesis and the Grand Mohist looked at Gu Hai coldly with murderous intent in their eyes.
The Future Buddha held his palms together. He did not say anything, appearing extremely dignified.
Beside the Azure Emperor, Dan Wang said, “Imperial Lord, Gu Hai is already out of tricks, right?”
The Azure Emperor shook his head. He looked at the Qian Heavenly Emperor and said, “Do you think that the Qian Nation will not do anything?”
“Huh?”
Just as Dan Wang felt puzzled, Gongyang Sheng asked, “Sages, have you determined who you want to recommend?”
“That’s right!” the five hundred calligraphy Dao sages shouted.
“Those who did not receive a recommendation, please leave first,” Gongyang Sheng said.
The participants who did not receive recommendations nodded and left. These people’s calligraphy Dao were incredible, but none dared to say that they could surpass Gu Hai’s composition.
How incredible was Gu Hai’s composition? Not to mention the incomplete poem, just the question-and-answer introduction surpassed what they could do. At the very least, they had no way of surpassing it in such a short time.
These people left, feeling fully convinced.
Of course, there were some unconvinced ones, like Yehua.
The sages had picked only five hundred people out of the tens of thousands of calligraphy Dao cultivators. Naturally, they could not pick everyone. Yehua had not gotten chosen.
After Yehua left, only the people with recommendations remained.
“It’s impossible that all of these five hundred participants would be like Wu Yazi, right?”
“This humble one acknowledges that my calligraphy Dao is not comparable to Mister Gu’s. I am willing to transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu to uphold the righteousness of the cultural Dao,” a participant suddenly called out.
“Excellent!” a spectator immediately called out.
The spectators had clearly seen whose calligraphy Dao was stronger from the earlier scene. Naturally, they understood that no one could compare to Gu Hai. These sages were only heavenly souls. Perhaps they had already lost their moral integrity, but most of the participants still cared about it. This was especially so after Gu Hai’s earlier Questions and Answers. That had deeply touched many people.
“Mister Gu’s composition greatly touched me today. Many thanks for Mister Gu’s lesson. This humble one is willing to transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu as well.” A second person immediately expressed willingness to transfer his recommendation talisman to Gu Hai.
The spectators cheered.
“Mister Gu is indeed incredible! He made those calligraphy Dao cultivators submit to him!”
“Those calligraphy Dao cultivators have even more moral integrity than the sages above!”
“Great example! Zhang Shanzhang, we respect you!”
A group of people from the Huang Heavenly Dynasty stood among the crowd.
Emperor Kong smiled as he looked at the scene.
“Imperial Lord, are those people really that generous?” a subordinate asked with a frown.
Emperor Kong shook his head and said, “It is just a show put up by the Qian Nation.”
“Ah? Imperial Lord, are you saying that those people are from the Qian Nation and that they are doing this on purpose? However…what is the point?” that subordinate asked in shock.
Gongyang Sheng said, “Gongyang Sheng is in awe with the various cultural Dao participants’ moral integrity. Although everyone cannot enter the Cultural Dao Sage Palace, the library of my nation’s imperial academy will be open to you for a year. The holy Dao scriptures stored there will be open to everyone to read for three days.”
“Ah? Many thanks, Host Gongyang!” the calligraphy Dao cultivators who had transferred their recommendation talismans earlier immediately said.
Someone else called out and said, “Host Gongyang, I am willing to transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu too. Is it too late for that?”
“It is never too late to do the right thing. Everyone, the imperial academy’s library will be open to you!” Gongyang Sheng said again.
“I transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu!”
“Me too! Transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu!”
Most of the calligraphy Dao cultivators who obtained recommendations immediately transferred their recommendation talismans to Gu Hai.
This scene made the sages in the sky goggle.
“Gongyang Sheng, how dare you?! How dare you bribe the participants?!” a sage immediately cried out.
The five hundred sages split their recommendations among the participants lest what happened before repeated with Gongyang Sheng. However, who could have expected Gongyang Sheng would be this shameless, openly cheating to help Gu Hai?
“Gongyang Sheng, I will report this to heaven. As the host, you cheated and bribed the participants!” a sage roared in fury.
“Bribed? Sages, you are joking, right? How am I bribing? I am only in awe of their decision. I invited them to engage in a cultural Dao discourse in my imperial academy’s library after they had made their decisions,” Gongyang Sheng said indifferently.
“Twisting the facts!” the sages roared while glaring.
Gongyang Sheng smiled coldly, ignoring the sages.
Now, the participants in the plaza looked at each other. Then, many people started shouting.
“This humble one was conceited. Seeing Mister Gu’s composition today, I feel too embarrassed. I dare not keep this recommendation talisman!”
“This humble one is willing to transfer my recommendation talisman to Mister Gu!”
“This humble one is willing as well!”
Many calligraphy Dao cultivators immediately transferred their recommendation talismans.
When the participants did so, the spectators cheered.
“Chancellor Zhang, great example!”
“Li Shanzhang, you are filled with righteousness, a true gentleman!”
More than two hundred recommendation talismans were transferred to Gu Hai in the blink of an eye.
Two hundred-odd people remained, feeling conflicted. As they hesitated, they heard some complaints from the crowd.
“I thought too highly of that Chancellor Chen! I used to think that he was very pure and even wanted to go to his academy for a discourse. Unexpectedly, he is such a shameless person!”
“An embarrassment!”
“It is not yours in the first place, but you hold on to it tightly. The world will mock him for this!”
“Ptooey! What is this?!”
Insults came from all directions. Although these insults were not loud, they reached the ears of these two hundred-odd people. It felt like the world was insulting them, putting pressure on them.
“I only obtained a recommendation talisman. Even if I have it, I can’t enter the Cultural Dao Sage Palace. Never mind, I’ll not continue to embarrass myself. Mister Gu, this humble one is too embarrassed to keep this recommendation talisman. I hope you will not think it beneath you!” someone called out.
The Azure Emperor stared at that person and showed a sarcastic smile. “Another plant!”
“Huh? Imperial Lord, what plant?” Dan Wang asked.
“Can you not tell? The respect and disdain from the surrounding spectators started because someone took the lead and incited them. The first person to give his recommendation talisman to Gu Hai was also the Qian Nation’s man.”
“This too?” Dan Wang felt slightly startled.
The Azure Emperor breathed deeply, not saying anything more.
Indeed, with that first person as an example, more people transferred their recommendation talismans to Gu Hai.
Now, only one hundred people with recommendation talismans remained in the blink of an eye.
Of these one hundred people, there were thirty from each of the three holy lands. Then, there were still ten who were unwilling to transfer their recommendation talismans to Gu Hai. No matter how spectators criticized them, their opinions did not change.
There was no way these one hundred would hand over their recommendation talismans. Hence, Gongyang Sheng looked up at the sky.
“Reporting to heaven, I, the calligraphy Dao host, report that four hundred participants who obtained recommendations in the first round feel that they are not comparable to Gu Hai and are willing to transfer their recommendation talismans to Gu Hai. Will heaven approve this?!” Gongyang Sheng shouted to the sky.
Rumble…!
The noble spirit sea immediately churned. Four hundred of the five hundred calligraphy Dao recommendation talismans shifted shining pillars of light to Gu Hai in an instant.
Buzz!
Gu Hai’s body gave off a bright light.
“Your Holy Eminence, Gu Hai obtained one thousand nine hundred recommendation talismans!” Long Shenwu said excitedly.
“Your Holy Eminence is wise!” the Qian Nation officials immediately said respectfully.
When the Qian Heavenly Emperor chose Gu Hai, the officials had objected strongly in their hearts, although they did not say it. No one thought that Gu Hai had the capability.
This was especially so when Longevity’s egg made one hundred sages pregnant. The officials had cursed and insulted Gu Hai, thinking that it was over for him, that he could not get even a single recommendation talisman.
Unexpectedly, Gu Hai ended up getting more recommendation talismans than Old Mister Guan Qi had in the first round. Now, the officials viewed him in a different light.
“Not bad!” The Qian Heavenly Emperor gave an indifferent statement of praise.
The spectators cheered for Gu Hai. Mo Yike, Bing Ji, and Mu Chenfeng smiled.
Only the sages in the sky were speechless. After they shamelessly did all that, Gu Hai still ended up with one thousand nine hundred recommendation talismans. This was not just a simple face slap. The two thousand sages felt entirely out of sorts.
“An embarrassment!” A cold snort suddenly came from behind the two thousand sages.
It was the eight thousand sages from the three holy lands. They criticized the two thousand sages in disdain.
The eight thousand sages from the three holy lands had not participated in the two thousand sages’ interference in the competition. They had waited coldly, only showing disdain when it all ended.
“If we are embarrassments, what would you do then?!” the two thousand sages retorted, glaring.
“Move aside!” one of the eight thousand sages said coldly.
