Chapter 469 Junior Sister's Sage Time

The classics say that one should know before acting, but knowing is easy and doing is difficult.

Even the more advanced ones only emphasize the unity of knowledge and action.

But the junior sister, who had stopped reading books and vowed never to read them again, now says... "Knowledge comes before practice, and practice is easier than knowledge."

Upon hearing this, Ouyang Rong instantly understood why the sixth-rank Confucian scholar mentioned by the little ink spirit was so interesting.

Getting back to the point.

The ninth and eighth ranks are collectively referred to as lower-ranking Qi cultivators.

Those of the seventh and sixth ranks are called intermediate-grade Qi cultivators.

Further up are the high-level Qi cultivators who can ascend into the sky and are known in the martial arts world as grandmasters.

The gap between a high-grade Qi cultivator and a mid-grade Qi cultivator is even greater than the gap between a mid-grade Qi cultivator and a low-grade Qi cultivator.

However, sixth-rank Qi cultivators, as the pinnacle of mid-rank Qi cultivators, are the backbone of various prominent and reclusive sects, as well as powerful clans and aristocratic families.

In some well-known martial arts sects, they are even considered pillars of the sect.

Just like A-Jie, the one-armed swordsman who failed to challenge Taogu Sword, he was also a sixth-rank swordsman. He had worked his way up in the streets of Chang'an and became famous early on. He was one of the most famous swordsmen in the two capitals of Guanzhong, and the gangs in Guanzhong had to treat him with respect.

If they were even younger, like Xie Lingjiang from a Confucian family, Rong Zhen from the Imperial Observatory, or Lu Ya from the Shangqing Sect, they would not only be pillars of the major powers, but would also be regarded as candidates for high-grade Qi cultivators.

However, even among sixth-grade Qi cultivators, there are vast differences, as different lineages follow completely different paths.

Advancing from a mid-grade Qi cultivator to a high-grade Qi cultivator is too difficult. Therefore, among sixth-grade Qi cultivators, a few individuals with exceptional talent and outstanding combat power are recognized as minor grandmasters.

Just like the Great Lady Xue Zhongzhu before she became famous throughout the world last year when she asked about swords in Peach Valley, who in the martial arts world, both on and off the mountain, did not know that her sword aura soared to the sky and her killing power was unparalleled among those of the same level, making her the number one person below the Grandmaster?

Right now, my junior sister is not even twenty years old, yet she has already entered the sixth rank of Confucianism, the realm of a sage.

Inside the quiet and elegant boudoir.

Ouyang Rong caught a scroll that Xie Lingjiang casually tossed to him and exchanged a few words with her.

Miao Si, clutching the inkstone tightly, watched with great interest the graceful figure in red robes who emerged from the room—a figure that seemed to be admired from afar but not to be touched, possessing an air of ethereal purity.

She was about to file a complaint with the emperor, but the next second, Miao Si, who was observing, only felt a dark shadow flash before her eyes, and then the space around her became empty.

Upon closer inspection, Ouyang Rong strode forward, walked to Xie Lingjiang's side, and, smiling, lifted her up in his arms.

Then, with Xie Lingjiang, who was equally surprised and astonished, they spun around a few times as if celebrating.

A young, pure and innocent girl, who had just been promoted to the sixth rank of sage, was still very much in the know. Her red dress twirled and danced in the air, making her look quite beautiful. Combined with her smile that she couldn't help but smile, she was just like a blooming red rose.

Ouyang Rong embraced the warm, voluptuous body without any hesitation, shoved the book back into Xie Lingjiang's hands, and laughed with his head held high:

“You don’t have to flip through the book, but you still have to read it. Flipping through the book and reading it are two different things. You just gave Xiaoxuan a stack of books, but now you’re not going to read them yourself. Isn’t that a bit inappropriate?”

The tone was joking.

The somewhat serious and formal atmosphere in the courtyard immediately became light and relaxed.

"I didn't say I wouldn't read. Well, flipping through a book and reading a book are two different things."

Xie Lingjiang smiled faintly.

Ouyang Rong had just lifted her up by holding her thighs with both hands, raising her entire body vertically off the ground.

Guys who often hug girls should know how intimate and sweet this gesture is, second only to that horizontal princess carry.

Although her face flushed slightly, Xie Lingjiang did not refuse at all. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his long neck.

She lowered her head like a swan, her eyes shining as she looked into his dark eyes.

Ouyang Rong smiled and tentatively asked, "A wise man?"

"No one is still of low rank, right?" Xie Lingjiang tilted her head and blinked.

“That’s one sword, one kill.” He nodded.

"My senior brother can't catch the hem of my clothes."

She tightened her slender arm around Ouyang Rong's neck slightly, narrowed her eyes, and continued:

"On the other hand, I have now captured a certain sword-wielder, which is something that group of female historians in the Imperial Observatory have been dreaming of."

Ouyang Rong sighed: "Our attack power still needs to be improved."

After saying that, he suddenly raised his head and brought his face close to the holy and dignified face that was so close to his.

Xie Lingjiang quickly leaned back to dodge, but turned her head away, her eyes wandering, avoiding Ouyang Rong's gaze, and even patted his forehead.

"Senior Brother, don't move..."

"Hey, hey, hey, there's another spirit here! In broad daylight, in public, no flirting allowed! Can't you two be serious for once? Don't corrupt this fairy."

On the zither stand to the side, a young woman in Confucian robes, who had been covering her face and enduring the pain for a long time, jumped up, waving her hands, trying to attract the attention of a shameless young couple, muttering vehement condemnations.

Ouyang Rong and Xie Lingjiang did not go to see her.

Xie Lingjiang's expression returned to normal and calm, and she gently pinched the flesh of the arm that was wrapped around his waist.

Ouyang Rong calmly put the fragrant beauty down from his arms.

Then he walked over, put away the violin case, placed the disgruntled Miaosi on the ground to the side, and smiled:

“This is a private courtyard, what do you mean by ‘in public’? The clever Mo Jing has long since learned to shut up and walk out, obediently closing the door behind her.”

"It's the Ink Fairy!" Miao Si corrected sternly.

Ouyang Rong rubbed her little head:

"You arrived late, so you might not know, but the last one who claimed to be a female immortal has already been sent down by my junior sister and me."

"..."

A short while later, under Ouyang Rong's "coercion and enticement," Miao Si reluctantly left Jingya Courtyard.

Ouyang Rong turned around and saw that Xie Lingjiang had taken out a zither and placed it on the original zither stand.

She was dressed in flowing red, her expression serene and relaxed. Her slender hands adjusted the guqin. The setting sun fell on half of the instrument, making it half bright and half dark. At that moment, the autumn wind swirled up fallen leaves, and the half-yellow, half-green leaves slowly fell into the misty hot spring next to her.

"It's definitely different now."

Ouyang Rong came back and sat down opposite her.

Xie Lingjiang looked up at him, her expression somewhat lost in thought, and said:

"That moment was like being woken up from a deep sleep by a tap on the chest. Senior Brother, I started cultivating Qi at the age of eight, from a scholar to a gentleman, and then to a book reader. Just now, as I was flipping through the book, I closed it, got up, and walked out of the room. The doorway was slightly cold, but the slanting sunlight greeted me."

She paused in her speech.

Ouyang Rong nodded, and said succinctly: "If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening."

"I won't die, I want to live well, and so will you," Xie Lingjiang suddenly said.

Ouyang Rong glanced at her serious expression and suddenly raised his hand to tap her smooth forehead.

"What nonsense are you talking about?"

Xie Lingjiang tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear, looked away, and muttered to herself:

"I'm a wise man, I'll give you another beating."

Ouyang Rong smiled:

"Judging from this, it seems that the sixth-rank cultivators of your scholar lineage do indeed experience a significant improvement in their intellectual level after enlightenment. Is this true for all of you? This lineage has a grander scope."

Xie Lingjiang gently shook her head: "The six ranks of scholars' lineage are not limited to the path of becoming a virtuous person."

"What do you mean?" Ouyang Rong asked curiously.

"Senior Brother, who said that the lineage of scholars is exclusive to Confucianism? Throughout history, there have been many other scholars in the world besides Confucian scholars. In the past... there were also the various schools of thought in the pre-Qin period."

Ouyang Rong raised an eyebrow, but before he could ask, Xie Lingjiang lowered her eyes and said:

"As far as I know, the sixth rank of scholars, besides the virtuous, also includes... eccentric scholars and scribes."

"A madman? A scribe?"

Xie Lingjiang nodded earnestly:

"Well, different people read books, and even if they read ten thousand books, their experiences and insights will naturally be different. We Confucian scholars have found the path of becoming a sage through reading books, while others have found other paths. The eccentric scholar and the scribe are two other paths."

"Not all literati follow the Confucian path."

Ouyang Rong suddenly asked, "Is the clerk the sixth rank among Legalist scholars?"

"Um."

"And what about the madman?"

"I don't know, it's very rare, I've never seen it before." She shook her head.

Ouyang Rong seemed to be deep in thought.

Xie Lingjiang stopped what she was about to do on the piano, a look of reminiscence on her face:

"In fact, this applies not only to the sixth rank of scholars."

"The nine ranks to the sixth rank of the scholar's lineage, these four realms have had many ancient names since the pre-Qin period. They are similar to the sixth rank of sage, eccentric scholar, and scribe, and can take many different paths."

"But many of them have been lost with the disappearance of the Hundred Schools of Thought, or were burned and destroyed by hostile forces. Even those that remain have become secret family-inherited niche Qi cultivation techniques."

"Our Confucian school, as the supreme sect of manifest world, has gradually become the largest orthodox force to inherit the lineage of scholars. Confucian scholars have also gradually become associated with scholars, and the various academies have the most comprehensive path for scholars to advance their lineage."

"Even some other surviving scholars from the various schools of thought were assimilated and joined the academy, beginning to merge into the mainstream. However, because the sixth rank is the last realm below the upper rank, it is relatively more important, so there are still niche paths such as clerks and eccentric scholars that still exist in the world."

Xie Lingjiang explained slowly, and Ouyang Rong listened attentively. After listening, he couldn't help but ask:

"What about after the sixth rank? Aren't the fifth, fourth, and other higher ranks important? Or is it that too few people are pursuing these paths, and the avenues for scholars from other schools of thought are lost?"

"No, there are no ranks beyond the sixth grade."

Xie Lingjiang shook her head.

"That's all? What do you mean?"

She looked at Ouyang Rong, whose expression showed some surprise, and said earnestly:

“I’ve asked my father and the teachers at the academy about this before, and they said… the path after the sixth rank is the same for all schools of thought, different paths leading to the same goal.”

Xie Lingjiang paused, then lowered her eyelashes:

"As for why, they said that you would understand once you knew the real name of a fifth-rank scholar."

"What is the true name of the fifth rank?"

"Not yet known."

Xie Lingjiang shook her head:

"My father didn't say, probably because he didn't expect me to break through to the level of a sage so quickly."

"Moreover, the transition from the middle grade to the upper grade is a major realm, an insurmountable chasm, incomparable to the previous bottlenecks. No amount of grinding and enduring will help; countless people have already wasted their lives trying to achieve it..."

Xie Lingjiang added with a sigh:

"I will send two letters tomorrow to my father in Luoyang and the headmaster of Bailudong Academy to inform him of my promotion to the sixth rank."

"good."

Ouyang Rong smiled and said, "If the teacher knows, he will be very happy and will have a few drinks in private."

"He wouldn't dare?" Xie Lingjiang snorted. "Someone's watching. If he sneaks a drink again, I'll write it down in my little notebook and see if I don't deal with him later."

Ouyang Rong covered his mouth and coughed, pretending not to hear that his teacher was a doting father.

He then asked:

"What is the difference between a virtuous person, a clerk, and a madman?"

"Different Qi Refining Techniques naturally have different focuses in terms of strength."

Xie Lingjiang countered, "Does Senior Brother know the Six Arts of Confucian Scholars?"

"I know, the Six Arts are rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics."

"The lineage of Confucian scholars is built around these six arts and their unique skills."

Ouyang Rong realized: "Junior Sister's archery skills seem to be very good. I remember when I first met her in Longcheng, she made a deep impression on me."

Xie Lingjiang nodded:

"Yes, because archery is the primary skill of an eighth-rank gentleman."

She extended her palm, gradually clenching it into a fist, resembling the starting stance of a simple and unadorned boxing routine, and said softly:

"Practicing archery is the same as practicing boxing."

"There is a reason why sages listed archery as one of the six arts of a gentleman."

"When shooting an arrow, a person's posture is upright, utilizing all the muscles of the body. Only with a steady fist can the arrow be accurate. Throughout history, in the army, those who can become horse archers or draw the strongest bow in the army are all the most skilled soldiers, possessing a set of killing skills..."

"And the way of archery also embodies the way of the gentleman."

Ouyang Rong asked softly, "Does one rank correspond to one art?"

Xie Lingjiang nodded:

"The ninth-rank scholar is skilled in mathematics; the eighth-rank gentleman is skilled in archery; the seventh-rank book reader is skilled in calligraphy; the sixth-rank sage..."

She paused, and the sudden silence made Ouyang Rong turn his head to look.

Xie Lingjiang, who had been stroking the body of the zither, suddenly plucked a string.

Clang—!

After a few strings were played.

Not far from the two people sitting by the zither platform, the misty fog above the hot spring that had been obscuring their view shattered, along with the fallen leaves brought by the autumn wind, which were cut into neat fragments by some invisible blade.

Thus, in Ouyang Rong's view, the flower bushes and courtyard wall behind, which had been obscured by the mist, were revealed.

Ouyang Rong suddenly laughed:

"So, Junior Sister's new skill is music?"

Xie Lingjiang nodded slightly.

He asked with great interest, "Then won't you have to carry a zither with you at all times?"

"Who says only the sound of a piano can be music?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

Before Ouyang Rong could speak, Xie Lingjiang abruptly stopped playing the zither.

She sat at the front of the piano table, one hand clenched into a fist and placed flat in front of her lower abdomen.

The sudden stop of the music plunged the courtyard into silence.

But in the next instant...

Ouyang Rong didn't know if his ears had adjusted to the sudden calm, or if all the sounds around him had been amplified tenfold.

The originally subtle and unpleasant sounds of rustling leaves, turning pages of books, and gurgling spring water suddenly came over us, overwhelming us!

In the boudoir.

A fierce wind swept through the area.

A sense of desolation and impending doom.

The ever-flowing, rising steam from the hot springs completely dissipated, leaving not a trace.

Ouyang Rong listened attentively for a moment, then glanced at the scroll that his junior sister had casually tossed to him not long ago.

The wind is turning the pages of a book.

He nodded.

"What a sharp, swift wind!"

He sighed softly.

(End of this chapter)