Chapter 184 This world

In the dream, Zhou Tieyi looked at his fingers that were stained with black ink but could emit a majestic light, and he fell into silence.

Confucianism regards its own way as the right way.

This cannot be considered wrong.

After all, the Confucian philosophy is to save the world and the people, so it is necessary to make its own teachings a universal value and gain the recognition of more people.

However, the only thing I am worried about in this process is that Confucianism will become more and more extreme and radical.

It eventually evolved into Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, which ostensibly advocates benevolence, righteousness, and morality, but in reality is killing people by force of ritual.

It is not to say that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has no excellence at all, it is just that the moral requirements of this Neo-Confucianism on people are really too high.

If everyone were truly a sage, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism could certainly bring peace to the world.

But the problem is that most people will never become sages in their lifetime, and have never even thought about becoming a sage. Then Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism will become a sharp sword to eradicate heresy.

I am morally upright, so I occupy the moral high ground and I will demand of you my morality.

If you can't do it, it would be a great rebellion.

No one wants to do anything unethical, so everyone tries to learn to be a saint.

But if one fails to truly pursue the goal of being a saint, the harm will be greater than not doing it at all.

This is called hypocrisy.

Therefore, in the process of evolution, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism eventually became a deadly sword of feudal etiquette.

Everyone knows that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism went in the wrong direction, but many people don’t know where it went wrong.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Absolute morality leads to absolute hypocrisy.

In recent ancient times, although Confucian saints were born, there were nine ancient gods outside and Taoist Buddha inside, so it was difficult for Confucianism to dominate alone, which led to the scene of a hundred schools of thought contending with each other until today.

But now that the Emperor of Great Xia is practicing Taoism and the situation in the world is changing again, signs of a saint coming to the world are evident. This time, if Confucianism produces a saint first, will Taoism and Buddhism be allowed to produce saints later?
This is a question worth thinking about.

Zhou Tieyi was silent for a while, then looked at his brother who also had a complicated expression and remained silent, and smiled, "I was just talking casually, you don't have to think too much about it."

He couldn't always be with Zhou Tiege, so he needed to teach his elder brother some things in advance. This is called preparing for a rainy day.

Zhou Tiege smiled bitterly, "How can I not let my mother's words make me think wildly? Now I finally understand my mother's worries. She is not afraid that you will become a cruel official, but she is afraid that if you fail to become a cruel official, you will have other ideas and mess up the world."

Zhou Yulong would naturally tell his eldest son about his evaluation of his youngest son that day, and let the eldest son try to guide the younger son.

Zhou Tieyi put down his finger, "Mother follows the path of Laozi and Zhuangzi. She can drag her tail in the mud, but even if I want to, I have to fight now. But there is one thing that I said wrong."

"What?"

"Whether the world is in chaos or not is not up to me to decide, but for the people of the world to decide. At most, I can speed up or delay the process."

······
After returning to Qilin Pavilion, Zhou Tieyi entered the dream again.

This time, he didn't have to think about the general situation in the world, but instead thought about some more practical issues of cultivation.

Turning over Qiao Yongen's copy of "The New Biography of Xue Ren", pieces of white light gathered together, and countless words flowed on it, eventually forming the word "loyalty and righteousness" that kept changing like a dragon seal.

Just like other divine powers, usurping [loyalty and righteousness] will also bring oneself special authority.

The most direct manifestation is that the oaths you make with others are more binding.

But apart from that, Zhou Tieyi did not get any more feedback.

He thought about it and guessed there were two reasons.

The first reason is [loyalty and righteousness] itself. Even though it is like theocracy, Confucianism has not yet truly established its mind for heaven and earth. The rule of [loyalty and righteousness] cannot even be fully implemented among the human race of Daxia, and it itself has huge flaws.

The second reason is "acclimatization".

All along, no matter what kind of authority it is, once we usurp it, we can use it perfectly.

But this authority of loyalty and righteousness is different from his other authorities.

Other powers, such as [Mountain Lord], [Blood God Son], and [Mirage] are all objective forces, but [Loyalty] is very subjective. The only power that is similar to it is [Martial Arts].

I recognize [martial arts] from the bottom of my heart and recognize its role in the advancement of human civilization in this world.

But as modern people, the words "loyalty and righteousness", especially the tradition inherited from the "loyalty and righteousness" school of novelists...

I really can’t do it…

Thinking of this, Zhou Tieyi laughed at himself, "Every time traveler is a born traitor."

Zhou Tieyi did not feel sorry that he could not fully obtain the power of [Loyalty and Righteousness]. The key to practicing Taoism was to follow one's heart. If one distorted one's heart for the power of [Loyalty and Righteousness], the loss would be far greater than the gain.

Perhaps one day, I will be able to propose my own "theory of loyalty and righteousness" instead of the Confucian "theory of loyalty and righteousness", and make people all over the world agree with it. That will be the moment when I will fully master this authority.

After roughly grasping the basics of "loyalty and righteousness", he also gained another ability, which is the understanding of the Confucian spirit of righteousness.

It's just that I want to use human joys, sorrows, anger and happiness as well as the Taoism to evolve true righteousness. Now I can only achieve it through dreams. I can't do it in reality, so I demonstrated it to my brother in a dream.

Of course, this realization is not useless, it can help me master Che Wenyuan's chessboard faster.

Zhou Tieyi thought for a moment, reached his hand into "The New Biography of Xue Ren", and then pulled it out.

A young general wearing night armor and holding a star spear was pulled out of the book by Zhou Tieyi. It was Xue Ren.

This Xue Ren is very different from the real 'General Tianxing' Xue Ren.

But in order to write "General Xue's Commentary", Qiao Yongen's ancestor spent a lot of money and obtained a part of Xue Ren's martial arts inheritance, which made his book more realistic.

As the successor of the Taoist tradition, Qiao Yongen also inherited the second-grade combat skill [Thousand Stars Falling]. However, he was unable to practice martial arts, so he got the upper hand in vain!
Zhou Tieyi reached out and touched the young general in front of him, and all of a sudden a lot of memories and insights emerged in his mind.

He did not try to integrate these memories by force, but instead followed his own spiritual heritage and watched from the perspective of a bystander.

Although learning this way will slow you down, you will not change yourself by integrating a large amount of other people's memories.

······
In Shantong Mansion, after ten days of training, Li Jianhu's skin and flesh became firmer.

The rising morning light disappeared in the often gloomy clouds in Shantong Prefecture in the blink of an eye. The iron smelting furnace in the military workshop was constantly spewing out gray smoke and dust, which floated into the sky and covered the area for hundreds of miles.

After waking up, according to the agreement, Li Jianhu did not act immediately, but first contacted Zhou Tieyi using the Taixu Illusion Neck.

The next moment, relying on the connection of the Taixu illusory surface, Zhou Tieyi appeared in Li Jianhu's dream.

He still spoke in the old, confident, and somewhat arrogant voice of an old grandfather, "Boy, are you ready? If you regret it now, it's not too late. If you really die in the hands of others, don't blame me for not saving you."

Li Jianhu was touched and nodded seriously, "I'm ready."

Zhou Tieyi looked at the luck above Li Jianhu's head.

The constantly changing colors of the clouds made him unsure of the boy's luck for a moment, but the gray luck representing death had faded, which meant that Li Jianhu was unlikely to die today.

He was still confident on this point, unless the Wu family in Xiaoshi Town had a third-grade strongman in charge who could hide his own luck.

Hearing Li Jianhu's affirmative answer, Zhou Tieyi nodded again, "You swear again that you will not tell anyone about our relationship."

Li Jianhu looked puzzled. He had already sworn that he would not tell anyone about his relationship with Mr. Panda. Why did the old man ask him to swear again?
But this was not a difficult thing, so Li Jianhu took the opportunity to swear an oath.

Zhou Tieyi once again bound Li Jianhu's oath with the authority of [loyalty and righteousness].

Originally, he had already restrained him once with the authority of [Nightmare], but now that he had obtained another authority, he naturally had to add more authority. Anyway, for him, it was just a piece of cake, so it was better to be safe than sorry.

After taking the oath, Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Boy, you have to finish the path you have chosen even if you have to kneel down. Don't blame others."

Go, dragon slayer, you have been strengthened by me!

Li Jianhu suddenly looked up and said, "Mr. Panda, I almost forgot one more thing."

"what's up?"

Zhou Tieyi asked curiously. Logically, this guy should have opened his heart to him by now. He even told him his name. He shouldn't be hiding anything from him. "Old man, don't I still owe you five promises?"

Li Jianhu didn't wait for Zhou Tieyi to answer and continued, "I thought about it. People can't go back on their words. If I die, let my brother pay it back. Old sir, come to Shantong Mansion, Xiaoshi Town, Lijiapo to find my brother Li Hongyi and tell him about our agreement. Let him pay the debt!"

After saying this, without waiting for Zhou Tieyi to answer, Li Jianhu walked out of the dream.

In Qilin Pavilion.

Zhou Tieyi leaned against the desk, opened his eyes, looked at the fruit-bearing apricot tree outside the window, and said with a smile, "Good boy, you are capable of great things. You even dare to plot against a dragon like me."

On the other side, Li Jianhu woke up from his dream, sat on the bed for a while, and rolled up the long white cloth with words written on it in his hands.

The reason why he let his younger brother Li Hongyi inherit the "Five Agreements" was that if he was really unlucky and failed to pass this level, he could still leave a way out for his younger brother.

Although I haven't had much contact with Mr. Panda, but besides being kind-hearted, he must also want to find an apprentice to train me.

Since he likes me, there is a chance that he will like my younger brother as well.

If I die, even if there is a one in ten thousand chance that Mr. Panda will come to Shantong Mansion, then I will make a profit by taking over the promise on behalf of my brother.

After figuring this out, Li Jianhu felt a lot more relaxed. He stood up, still wearing the mourning clothes that had turned gray. He first told his mother that he was going to take his brother out for a trip, and then found his eight-year-old brother.

Children from poor families grow up early. Although the Li family is not poor in the mining area, there are children from poor families living here, so the two sons of the Li family are considered to be precocious.

Li Jianhu first went to get a piece of fresh meat, and then took his brother to the grove.

After calling for a while, Xiaobai jumped out like white lightning, and looked at Li Hongyi beside him with puzzled eyes.

The little fellow Li Hongyi also looked straight at Li Jianhu and said softly, "Brother, if we catch this thing and go to the town, we should be able to..."

Before Li Hongyi could even utter the word "sell", Li Jianhu immediately blocked his mouth.

Xiaobai can understand what people say.

He smiled at Xiao Bai and said, "This is my brother. He doesn't know the rules."

Xiaobai glanced at Li Hongyi, then jumped onto Li Jianhu's head and scratched Li Jianhu's hair with his front paws, declaring who was the master.

Li Jianhu handed the fresh meat to his younger brother and asked him to feed Xiaobai.

Xiaobai originally refused to take the meat that Li Hongyi fed him, but after Li Jianhu begged him, he ate it slowly.

While Xiaobai was eating meat, Li Jianhu held Xiaobai in his arms, stroked his fur carefully, and said softly, "I may have to go on a long journey. If I can't come back quickly, my brother will feed you meat, okay?"

Li Jianhu's emotional change affected Xiaobai. It looked at Li Jianhu in confusion, and then ate the meat seriously again.

Li Jianhu laughed and scolded, "In your mind, meat is more important!"

After playing with his younger brother and Xiaobai for a while, Li Jianhu took his younger brother away only after his younger brother and Xiaobai had established a basic trust.

This was the second opportunity he could leave for his younger brother. As for whether these two things could be accomplished, it was not something he could decide.

It was already late, so Li Jianhu took his brother to Xiaoshi Town.

The mountain road was rugged and by the time we arrived at Xiaoshi Town, it was almost noon, which was also the time when there were the most people.

In Xiaoshi Town, Li Jianhu first took his younger brother to visit an uncle with the same surname in the town.

Then he quietly pulled Li Hongyi aside and gave him instructions.

On his youthful face, which had not yet lost its immaturity, he showed an unprecedented bright smile, just like the sun that had just risen in the morning. "Wait for me here. I'll buy you some candied haws later."

Li Hongyi looked at his brother's smiling face and always felt that his brother was a little strange today, but he couldn't tell what was wrong for a moment.

Xiaoshi Town, Wu Mansion.

This is the largest building complex in the entire town. It is even more magnificent than the Mo Academy and Wu Academy in the town, and is even not inferior to some small families in Shantong Mansion.

In the courtyard, the second young master of the Wu family was reading "The World Affairs" leisurely.

When he saw Zhou Tieyi's deeds again, he couldn't help but feel a little more passionate in his eyes.

He certainly wouldn't think that he was as good as the second son of the Zhou family. As the second son of a small family, he was more aware of his position than others.

His greatest opportunity was that his ancestors had followed the Zhou family to the battlefield, so under the same conditions, he was more likely to be selected by the Huwei Martial Arts School, then become a direct descendant, and then be chosen as a personal guard of the Zhou Mansion.

That would be a great joy for myself and my family, and the family's resources would shift from my eldest brother to me.

However, to achieve this, hard work alone is not enough.

He thought about it and told the maid to find Manager Wu from the Baizhi Mining Area.

After a while, Manager Wu came over respectfully. He was a branch of the Wu family, so he was assigned the task of Bai Zhishan by the Wu family.

"This month I want to advance another 200 taels of silver to buy an eighth-grade blood-nourishing pill."

Manager Wu had anticipated this, but he still looked troubled. "Second Young Master, I'm afraid this account will be difficult to settle. Others in the mining area have already complained."

The 'others' he mentioned certainly did not refer to ordinary miners, they were not considered human beings. The others referred to the managers of the various mines in the mining area, Baizhishan and the surrounding mines. Although their Wu family accounted for the lion's share, they also had to share a share with other local people.

Wu Sheng looked at Manager Wu and said nonchalantly, "Didn't I teach you how to do this account?"

He raised the book "World Affairs" in his hand and said, "Tell them one thing: if one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit!"

Just as Manager Wu was about to lower his head to answer, a servant suddenly ran in from outside.

"Second Young Master, Steward, there's a young man outside, wearing mourning clothes, shouting at the door!"

Wu Sheng looked as if he had eaten a fly. "Let me see who is so bold as to cause trouble in front of my house!"

After saying that, he stood up angrily and arrived at the door. At this time, the door of the Wu family was already crowded with people watching the excitement. He saw a young man wearing dirty mourning clothes, holding a huge white cloth in his hand. On the cloth were written in large ink characters, "Please ask the Wu family to return the money for my father's burial!"

This was naturally the countermeasure agreed upon by Zhou Tieyi and Li Jianhu.

When Wu Sheng saw these words, he guessed the young man's origins without the need for Manager Wu and the servants to explain.

He shouted angrily at the Wu family thugs who had also been notified and ran to the door, "You bunch of idiots, what are you still standing there for? Others are bullying my Wu family!"

After hearing the order, the thugs immediately took action.

A ninth-rank warrior tore off the letter held by Li Jianhu, and the other three surrounded him and sneered, "Boy, you are asking for trouble!"

After that, several people started fighting.

Li Jianhu followed Zhou Tieyi's instructions and did not resist directly even when he was beaten. Instead, he held his head to protect his vital parts.

The pain from the punches was as dense as raindrops, making Li Jianhu unable to tell up from down, left from right for a moment. But when he thought of his father's funeral money, he felt no pain from the punches anymore. He gritted his teeth and said nothing.

Wu Sheng watched Li Jianhu being surrounded and beaten by the thugs. Seeing that Li Jianhu dared not resist and could only hold his head, he snorted coldly, "Are you scared now?"

At this time, the anger in his heart subsided a little and he thought of more practical things.

It's fine to kill this unlucky boy, but there are too many unsolved cases in this mine, who can investigate them clearly?

But the only thing he can’t do is die in front of the gate of the Wu Mansion now!

He looked at Manager Wu standing aside.

Manager Wu stepped forward and bowed to the spectators around him, saying, "This kid's father died in the mining area. It was God's will. No one is to blame. Our Wu family also compensated as usual. It's just that this kid was greedy, so he came to cause trouble. This time our young master is kind and will let you live, but next time he won't be so kind."

After saying that, he glanced at the thugs, who immediately understood what he meant and dispersed to both sides. But it was not known whether it was intentional or not, but they finally kicked Li Jianhu's legs twice, making a cracking sound and making him unable to stand up. He could only lie on the ground and look at Wu Sheng on the steps.

"Bastard!" Wu Sheng thought to himself.

Li Jianhu wiped the bitten corner of his mouth, and the fishy and sweet smell rushed into his throat without uttering a word.

The onlookers around probably guessed what had happened, and the news that the mining area's compensation was reduced by four-fifths naturally spread throughout the small town of Xiaoshi.

But seeing the Wu family's fierce thugs and thinking of the Huwei General's Mansion that was rumored to be related to the Wu family, they could only lament in their hearts, "This world is like this."

(End of this chapter)