It is night.
Zhou Ling’s home.
Looking at Xu Qingnian, who was kneeling on the ground, Zhou Ling did not go to help, but slowly spoke.
“Qingnian, after thinking about it, my master has given you the word Shouren, hoping that you will keep your virtue and be benevolent.”
All of Zhou Ling’s words converged on this word of bestowal.
Shouren?
Xu Qingnian chewed on these two words in his heart, he understood their meaning, but not completely, but he still bowed towards Zhou Ling.
“Thank you, teacher, for giving me the word, I will remember it by heart.”
Xu Qingnian spoke out, thanking him from the bottom of his heart.
“Rest early, these days it is better to go and study more, the rest of the matter is said.”
Zhou Ling nodded and came in front of Xu Qingnian and patted his shoulder.
“Many thanks to the teacher for pointing out the way.”
“Teacher, the student intends to leave in a few days and go to South Yufu.”
Xu Qingnian got up, and he looked at Zhou Ling and said.
“Is it urgent?”
Zhou Ling asked, although he didn’t know why Xu Qingnian wanted to leave early, he didn’t ask much, he just asked if it was urgent.
“En.”
Xu Qingnian responded, not giving a positive answer.
At that moment, Zhou Ling thought for a moment, and then carried the oil lamp and said.
“It’s good to leave earlier in the morning, so we can get familiar with the South Yufu, when will we leave?”
Zhou Ling asked.
“Thirty at the end of the month.”
Xu Qingnian said the time, he had discussed the time with Wu Yan, the earlier the better.
“Okay, I’ll ask your senior mother to prepare your luggage for you.”
“Qingnian, get some rest.”
Zhou Ling didn’t say anything more, the oil lamp in his hand swung and he walked towards the door.
Xu Qingnian looked at Zhou Ling’s back without speaking, and after Zhou Ling had left, he slowly returned to his desk.
All the complicated emotions had also dissipated at this moment.
There were only the six words Zhou Ling said in his head.
The rest of the matter, the rest said.
Taking a deep breath, Xu Qingnian looked at the desk, then replaced it with a piece of white paper, fetched a brush, dabbed some ink and wrote two words on the white paper.
[Shouren].
Practising the words over and over again, thinking about them over and over again until dawn, Xu Qingnian then put away the brush, but did not fall asleep either, but began to practise.
One should read books.
But practising kung fu was also necessary.
The good thing is that the practice of the foreign arts is not the kind of evil and sneaky gong method, and the practice is surrounded by a light golden shimmer, but rather like a pure Yang gong method.
Qi and blood boil, Golden Crow quenches the body, and another Golden Crow Qi and blood coalesces in the body.
Ten grades are for nourishing the body.
The ninth grade condenses the veins.
The Golden Crow Body Tempering Technique, having tempered the physical body once, now condenses the Golden Crow Qi and blood, allowing for an attempt to condense the veins.
Breaking the shackles and condensing the qi veins, in this way one can produce ‘internal qi’ and create a huge change.
After possessing internal qi, one could do things that were almost impossible for ordinary martial artists to do, such as treading water, or condensing sword qi, etc. One rank, one heaven.
However, Xu Qingnian did not intend to condense his veins now, he had only just entered the tenth rank of martial artists, if he broke through to the ninth rank, it would inevitably cause suspicion.
Therefore, Xu Qingnian planned to leave Ping’an County and go to Nan Yu Province before raising his rank, and there was also the question of whether or not he could successfully condense his veins, so he might as well nurture his body and wait until he had enough confidence.
One hour later.
When Xu Qingnian finished his training, his whole body was refreshed and his fatigue from the night’s sleep was swept away.
He waved a few fists experimentally, the wind of his fist was gusty, and his body was much stronger.
Even Xu Qingnian clearly felt that every time he practiced the Golden Crow Body Tempering Technique, his body would improve, so if he continued for a long time, he might one day be able to form the Great Sun Sacred Body.
There was no telling how strong this Great Sun Sacred Body would be.
When he finished practicing, Xu Qingnian briefly washed up, then he took out a book from the bookshelf and began to read it carefully.
During the reading process, the dry heat in his body gradually cooled down, and the Hao Ran Zheng Qi was also running, suppressing the demonic nature on all fronts, which was a very direct feeling.
Another hour pa*sed.
Xu Qingnian put down the book in his hand. He had now reached the Qi Raising Realm, so he could not say that he could never forget anything, but he could still have a superb memory.
He could probably remember a book after reading it once.
However, reading is not a matter of rote memorisation, the focus is on ‘reasoning’ and ‘interpretation’, reasoning is to understand what the words in the book are about.
To interpret is to unlock one’s own mind, to use one’s own ideas to interpret the text so that one can better understand and comprehend.
The book in Xu Qingnian’s hand is called the Treatise on Human Desire.
The book’s content makes Xu Qingnian a little uncomfortable.
The sage also extinguishes human desires while preserving heavenly justice.
The reason why there are so many wars in the world, why there are so many innocent ma*sacres, lies in the inability to control one’s own desires.
The man of learning should restrain such human desires, restrain himself and keep a sense of reason at all times, and refrain from indulging in lust.
If one has no desires, no pursuits, and only knows how to pursue the nebulous and vague Way, would the world not be lost if everyone did so?
This kind of extreme thinking in Confucianism made Xu Qingnian somewhat afraid to agree.
But what made Xu Qingnian curious was that this theory of personal desire was placed first on the top of the bookshelf, which was proof of the importance of this theory of personal desire.
Just as Xu Qingnian was pondering, Chen Xinghe appeared.
He had also come to collect the book.
Seeing the Treatise on Human Desire placed in front of Xu Qingnian, he could not help but ask.
“Senior brother has read this book?”
“Just finished reading it.”
Xu Qingnian nodded and replied.
“What are your feelings?”
Chen Xinghe asked in a direct voice.
“It’s a bit harsh, not quite understandable.”
Xu Qingnian did not dare to comment indiscriminately, the ancient readers were very stubborn in their thinking, and set some great scholars or saints as their targets or idols.
“Yes.”
“The Treatise on Human Desire, written by Zhu Sheng, the fifth generation of literary saints, is a bit harsh, but every word is a good one.”
“When I first read it, it is true that I will feel a bit uncomfortable, after all, all people have desires, and restraining one’s desires is an extremely difficult task in itself, but after reading it a few times and understanding it carefully, one will find the subtlety of it.”
As expected, Chen Xinghe esteemed this treatise on human desire.
“Senior brother, desire is human nature, and is it human to restrain oneself from human desire?”
Xu Qingnian could not help but ask.
Desire was fundamental to human nature, if one restrained one’s desires, was one still a human being?
However, Chen Xinghe shook his head.
“Senior brother, you have misunderstood, this theory of human desire is not to say that human desire should be exterminated, its fundamental is not to release desire excessively, for example, marrying a wife and having children is regarded as heavenly justice, but three wives and four concubines are human desire.”
“To eat three meals is regarded as a heavenly principle, but to eat a mountain of food and seafood is regarded as a human desire.”
“In the past and present, there have been fires and bones in the sky, all because of human desires, if we can restrain them, we will stop human disasters.”
Chen Xinghe elaborated on Zhu Sheng’s theory.
Xu Qingnian understood these words, but still continued to ask.
“Dare I ask senior brother, how is the Divine Principle divided? And how are human desires divided?”
Xu Qingnian asked.
“Zhu Sheng has already written in the Heavenly Principle Policy, but I don’t think Teacher has the Heavenly Principle Policy at home, so when we go to South Yufu, Senior Brother will find it for you.”
Chen Xinghe could not fully answer Xu Qingnian’s question, but it was written in the book, so he intended to wait until he went to the South Yufu to find the relevant book for Xu Qingnian to answer.
“I’m sorry for your trouble, senior brother.”
Xu Qingnian gave a polite voice, while at the same time, he could not help but continue to ask.
“Senior brother, is Zhu Sheng’s theory, the mainstream of the current literary world?”
Xu Qingnian asked.
“This is natural, Zhu Sheng is the fifth saint in the world, and it is inevitable that later generations of writers are influenced by him, so the mainstream is inevitable, but it is not just Zhu Sheng’s theory, there are also some other ideas from the last four generations of saints as well as recent generations.”
“And there is no such thing as mainstream in the literary world, as long as the ideas are right, there can be both a hundred schools of thought and a hundred flowers, but Zhu Sheng’s words were extremely prevalent in the Great Wei, half of the court learned from Zhu Sheng’s words.”
Chen Xinghe explained.
Xu Qingnian understood.
The main reason why he asked this was because he was worried that something unpleasant would happen.
Since ancient times, the literati had been lighter than each other, especially when it came to party disputes, and also ideological disputes, which were fine, as they were about interests and were based on the overall situation, and would not tear each other apart directly.
And since his Majesty hates parties the most, he does not dare to be too frank.
If you insult my beliefs, I will try to get rid of you, and it is not uncommon for people to punch and kick each other.
So Xu Qingnian was worried that he didn’t like this kind of talk, and if he said something wrong, wouldn’t he offend someone for no reason? There was even a risk to his life.
Therefore, after understanding this, Xu Qingnian secretly admonished not to get involved in the battle of ideas no matter what, and to follow whoever is powerful anyway, and just bore his head off and study the rest.
Chen Xinghe took the book and left.
After a while, people came at the door, two constables, Cheng Lidong’s men, but this time they came over without being arrogant and domineering, instead they were somewhat polite and explained the purpose of their visit.
They were afraid that Xu Qingnian and Chen Xinghe might encounter some danger on their way to Nan Yu.
The crowd understood Cheng Lidong’s intention, and it was hard to resist this reason, so they agreed to do so.
So it was.
In the blink of an eye, five days had pa*sed.
It was already the end of the month.
Zhou Ling informed Chen Xinghe of Xu Qingnian’s intention to leave early, which was fine with Chen Xinghe, as there were advantages to going early.
It would take almost five days to travel from Ping’an County to Nan Yu Prefecture, even if nothing happened on the way.
April 30.
The carriage was ready, prepared by Cheng Lidong’s men, which was not bad, at least it saved a lot of money on travel expenses.
Outside the courtyard.
Zhou Ling and Wu handed over their things to Xu Qingnian and Chen Xinghe.
The luggage was not much, one part dry food and one part clothes, the dry food was for emergencies.
Zhou Ling didn’t say much, just a few words of diligence.
Although they hadn’t spent much time together, Xu Qingnian’s character and behaviour were so good that they naturally had some affection for each other after a period of time, so it was only natural that they would give many instructions.
It was already the hour.
The golden sun was shining high.
Xu Qingnian and Chen Xinghe bowed respectfully to Zhou Ling and Wu, and then got into the carriage.
Cheng Lidong’s constable men, leading the horses left and right, escorted the two without a word.
Giddy up!
With a shout.
The horses’ hooves broke the dust.
Rolling yellow sand lifted up.
People see things, things think of people, ten years of hard work and high school.
[The Great Wei Scholar]
The Wind Rises in Peace
[End of Volume 1]
