133. Cut Him Down
The dirt road on the official road was filled with the grassy smell of cow dung. There was an endless stream of woodcutters carrying dry firewood into the city, and a constant stream of ox carts selling charcoal.
Wang Daosheng said to Chen Ji and the others, "Come on board, Chen Ji. You helped others when they were distributing porridge just now, so you're being punished in disguise. You don't have to walk anymore."
Chen Ji didn't ask any more questions, just said thank you and found an empty seat on the cart to sit down.
Zhang Xia jumped on his horse and rode Zaozao beside the ox cart. He asked curiously, "Sir, my father always says you're a heretic. Why is that?"
Wang Daosheng, sitting in the carriage, casually asked, "The Analects says that a gentleman is not an instrument. What does this mean?"
Chen Wenzong pondered for a moment. "Zhu Zi commented: 'Each tool is suitable for its own use and cannot be universal.' A virtuous person possesses all the essential qualities, and therefore is able to use them in all ways. They are not limited to a single talent or skill. Zhu Zi said that the sage and teacher meant that a ruler does not need to specialize in a single skill, but must be a generalist."
Wang Daosheng said calmly, "But I think Zhu Xi is wrong. The Great Sage once said that Guan Zhong had a 'small vessel,' meaning he was narrow-minded and small-minded. So I think what the Great Sage said, 'A gentleman is not an instrument,' means that a gentleman should have a broad mind and embrace the world."
Chen Wenzong opened his mouth, thinking about how to refute.
Zhang Xia said from his horse, "Both seem to make sense, but I prefer your statement. I believe a gentleman doesn't need to know astronomy or geography, but he must have a sense of proportion!"
Wang Daosheng smiled and said, "My so-called heresy is simply that my understanding of the ancient sages is different from theirs. What I want to teach you is not to make you completely accept my ideas, but to let you see the world for yourself and have your own ideas."
Prince Jing sat at the front of the oxcart, laughing heartily without turning his head. "This is the meaning of traveling thousands of miles. The civil servants of our Ning Dynasty now like to discuss doctrines behind closed doors. In their endless discussions, they simply seek to find evidence to support their own opinions from the words of the ancient sages."
Chen Wenzong said solemnly, "Your Majesty, please be careful with your words."
Prince Jing laughed heartily: "You look a lot like your father!"
At this moment, Zhang Xia suddenly changed the subject: "Chen Ji, what do you think the saying 'a gentleman is not an instrument' means... Chen Ji?!"
She waited for a long time but Chen Ji still didn't answer. When she turned around, she saw Chen Ji sitting in the ox cart with his head down. He had fallen asleep without her knowing when.
Zhang Xia raised his eyebrows: "Chen Ji, the teacher is teaching, why are you sleeping?"
Bai Li hurriedly stopped him: "Why are you shouting? He must have been so tired because he didn't sleep all night last night. Let him sleep a little longer!"
Zhang Xia curled her lips and sarcastically said, "Let him sleep a little longer."
Bai Li rolled his eyes: "I won't bother with you!"
Chen Wenzong bowed to Wang Daosheng and said, "Please forgive me, sir. My third brother is still young and hasn't been to school in these years, so he doesn't know the rules. I will wake him up right away."
However, Wang Daosheng raised his hand to stop him: "It's okay, let him sleep for a while. I didn't intend to teach him, I just said a few words because Zhang Xia asked."
The prince's face twisted: "Sir, you don't treat me like this!"
Prince Jing chuckled cheerfully and said, "This is a request I specifically made to Mr. Wang. I have no control over other people. You must discipline them strictly, to prevent some people from thinking that they can do whatever they want now that they have reached adulthood!"
Baili: "That's right!"
Prince: “…”
Chen Wenzong stared at Prince Jing, Bai Li, and the Crown Prince in the car. It turned out that a father did not have to always have a stern face in front of his children, and children did not have to always be respectful in front of their father.
He looked at Chen Ji silently and thought, maybe this is why Chen Ji decided not to go back to the Chen Mansion?
…
…
In a dream.
The black sea of clouds is calm and peaceful.
Chen Ji floated down from the long-lost black sea of clouds, landing on the top of the mountain with black clouds.
The white sea of clouds outside the green mountains is dense.
Like a huge blanket rolled up on the mountainside, it flows violently.
Xuanyuan was sitting cross-legged on a huge rock, wearing a black royal robe. He looked at the sea of clouds silently, but it seemed as if he was not looking at the sea of clouds. No one knew what he was thinking.
Chen Ji coughed to remind the other party, and Xuanyuan slowly stood up, leaning on the royal flag, and turned around to look at Chen Ji: "You are slacking off."
Chen Ji shook his head: "No."
Xuanyuan sneered: "You come here less and less often nowadays. Don't you want to take the Whale away?"
As he spoke, the long sword appeared in front of Chen Ji from the void.
The long blade is like a narrow crescent moon, cool yet domineering.
Chen Ji held the hilt of the knife horizontally in front of him with his right hand, and gently stroked the blade with his left hand: "Of course I want to take it with me, but things have been happening one after another recently, and I haven't had much chance to sleep. But I should have more time later."
Xuanyuan waved his hand in the distance: "Feng Huai, kill him!"
"Wait a minute," Chen Ji said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "I came here today because I have a lot of things I want to ask you."
Xuanyuan raised his chin slightly: "What do you want to ask?"
Chen Ji asked curiously, "I recently discovered a way to cultivate. By reciting a text over and over again, a wisp of purple sword energy can be generated in my meridians. However, every time the purple sword energy is cut off by the sword seed before it can condense. Why is this?"
Xuanyuan sat cross-legged on a huge rock, and said with a haughty look: "Since you have learned my sword style, why do you still practice other sword arts? It's unnecessary."
Chen Ji quickly explained, "Isn't this just a free way to cultivate? I'm just sitting around doing nothing anyway."
Xuanyuan asked, "Since you have learned the sword art from others, why are you asking me?"
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "You must be the most powerful swordsman in the world. If I have any questions about swordsmanship, of course I have to ask you."
Xuanyuan was silent for a moment: "How come you say this so easily and naturally?"
Chen Ji said sincerely: "Tell the truth."
Xuanyuan was silent for a few seconds: "What did you just ask?"
Chen Ji asked, "Why were other sword energies cut off by the sword species?"
Xuanyuan sneered, "The sword is the king of all weapons. Have you ever seen a country with two kings? When the two kings meet, the winner will be the king and the loser will be the bandit. The strong will survive, and the weak will dissipate. Didn't you ask before, how can the invisible sword be made tangible if it is fragile?"
"Yes." Chen Ji was about to ask this question before, which led to his brutal beating by the giant halberd warrior and Feng Huai. Until now, Xuanyuan has not answered this question.
Xuanyuan said calmly, "Seize the sword."
"Seize the sword?"
Xuanyuan said: "The sword path is born to step on other sword paths to ascend to the throne. If you want the sword path to be tangible, you must seize the other party's sword again and again to cultivate your own sword."
"How about it?"
"You'll know once you take it."
When Chen Ji heard this, he immediately gave up the idea of practicing Zhayun. The sword seed and Zhayun could definitely not coexist.
However, Zhayun is a cultivation method from the forty-ninth level of the sky, so it would be a pity to waste it in my hands.
At this moment, Xuanyuan glanced at him sideways: "The way of cultivation requires undivided attention and courageous perseverance. Only the weak need to learn those fancy things. Feng Huai will chop him down and teach him a lesson."
"Wait a minute," Chen Ji said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, raising his hand to stop Feng Huai's steps: "Don't
I'm so anxious to fight and kill, I have so many questions... By the way, have you really never heard of the Forty-Nine Heavens?"
Xuanyuan's expression was dull: "How could I lie to you?"
Chen Ji was puzzled. "But I've confirmed the existence of the Forty-Ninth Heaven. They say many gods live there, and some people are reincarnated into the human world... How could you not know?"
Xuanyuan became interested: "There are many gods living here? Who are they?"
Chen Ji recalled the gods he had heard from the prince: "Twenty-eight constellations, Emperor Wenchang, Five Star Gods, Six Star Gods of the Southern Dipper, Dipankara Buddha..."
Xuanyuan hesitated: "Who are these?"
Chen Ji also hesitated: "You haven't heard of any of them?"
Xuanyuan frowned: "No."
Chen Ji asked again, "Have you ever heard of Mount Taiji, Mount Wuji, Mount Yujing, Mount Xumi, or the city of Kushinagar?"
Xuanyuan shook his head: "I haven't heard of it."
"What places were there in the world you once lived in?"
"Qingqiu, Guixu, Qiwu Mountain, Wangqiu Mountain, Yuyuan, Lutai, Kunlun Mountain..."
This really confused Chen Ji. What kind of existence is this forty-nine heavens? Even a great figure like Xuanyuan had never heard of it?
It is known that Xuanyuan was an ancient figure from 16,000 years ago. Even if his level of cultivation was not as high as the gods in the forty-nine heavens, it was definitely not lower than those gods.
Does a place where even such a person has never been heard of really exist?
Chen Ji gazed into the distance at this dreamlike landscape of green mountains...
etc.
Could it be that the Forty-Nine Heavens were places that appeared after Xuanyuan was sealed in this world? That's why Xuanyuan had never heard of them.
At a certain moment, Chen Ji even felt that the birth of the Forty-Ninth Heaven was related to the sealing of Xuanyuan.
He looked up at Xuanyuan and asked, "Why were you trapped here?"
Xuanyuan looked down at him with a deep gaze: "Feng Huai, kill him."
This time Feng Huai did not hesitate and swung his sword.
"If you don't want to talk, then don't talk. Why are you going to chop me?!" Chen Ji raised the whale knife to block, and sparks flew everywhere, like fireworks bursting out at midnight, brilliant and dazzling.
Feng Huai's sword was extremely powerful, but he could not find Chen Ji's flaw after hundreds of rounds of fierce attacks. In order to die less often, Chen Ji had taken his defense to the extreme.
Xuanyuan sneered at this and said, "You only know how to defend? You can't get your sword back if you only know how to defend."
Chen Ji did not answer.
But then he heard Xuanyuan calling out in a loud voice: "Fenglie, you come and kill him too."
Chen Ji was startled. He turned around and saw a burly axe warrior marching out from the army formation at the foot of the mountain. He muttered, "As you command."
After saying that, Feng Lie strode towards Qingshan with a huge axe in his hand. As he ran, the earth was like a drum.
Chen Ji said anxiously, "Two against one is not a fair victory. I suspect you are taking this opportunity to take revenge!"
Xuanyuan sneered: "You are allowed to run this time."
Chen Ji turned around and ran towards the rugged mountain road to avoid being surrounded and killed by Feng Huai and Feng Lie on the top of the mountain.
However, just before going down the mountain, he suddenly turned around, his knife swung with him, and forced Feng Huai to retreat.
Taking advantage of this moment, he looked at Xuanyuan from afar and asked loudly, "What would happen if the fire in my body ignited completely and burned to white?"
Xuanyuan's fingers suddenly clenched the royal flag, but he did not answer.
Seeing Feng Lie getting closer and closer, and Feng Huai coming at him with a knife, Chen Ji asked anxiously, "What's going to happen?"
Xuanyuan said meaningfully: "Immortality."
Chen Ji got the answer, blocked Feng Huaipu's knife again, turned around and fled towards the rugged mountain road.
(End of this chapter)
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