Volume Two, The Wind Rises, Anxi House, Chapter 151, It's Hard to Return
Lu Jiuzhang stopped. He also heard the noisy discussions around him.
"You all have a lot of complaints against me!"
Lu Jiuzhang looked at the crowd and said, "Although Changshui County is remote, it is also under the jurisdiction of Anxi Prefecture. You and I can be said to have the same roots."
"Although the Demon Slayer Division are all warriors, they have also maintained the peace of Daxia!"
"I really don't know which point deserves everyone's ridicule?"
As soon as he said this, the surrounding area became quiet.
Those people looked at Lu Jiuzhang and did not dare to look at him.
"If you don't even have the courage to argue, are you a student from Anxi Academy?" Lu Jiuzhang sneered, "Since you are slandering me, you might as well stand up and argue with me."
"If you only speak ill of people behind their backs, how are you different from the villains in the market? Note, I am talking about the villains in the market, not the shrews in the market. In my opinion, the shrews in the market dare to speak and make trouble, but you don't even dare to stand up and slander them.
Even the courage can’t do it!”
Everyone still said nothing.
Lu Jiuzhang smiled calmly and said it was nothing to worry about.
After a few words, these people lost the courage to speak and became nothing more than frogs in a well.
"Who says it can't be done?"
Suddenly, a voice came from the side.
I saw a man eight feet tall and wearing a crown, walking over surrounded by people around him.
As soon as the man arrived, everyone around him suddenly gained courage.
"It's Senior Brother Zhou! He passed the provincial examination this year and passed the eighth grade of Confucianism and Taoism."
"Senior Brother Zhou is here. How dare this barbarian from a remote place in Changshui County be so rampant?"
"Senior Brother Zhou, please be proud of our Anxi Academy. I can't stand this bully. When Master Xu accepts a disciple, he should also accept Senior Brother Zhou. This bully is too arrogant!"
"..."
Everyone was talking about it, wanting that Senior Brother Zhou to come forward and suppress Lu Jiuzhang.
Surrounded by everyone, Senior Brother Zhou glanced at Lu Jiuzhang, and then said disdainfully, "How valuable is Confucianism and Taoism? If everyone calls himself a Confucian scholar, the world will be in chaos, and Confucianism and Taoism will be despised by others!"
If everyone in the world practices Confucianism and Taoism, and everyone calls himself a Confucian scholar, how unpopular will Confucianism and Taoism be?
This is a mockery of Lu Jiuzhang, who is not worthy of being a Confucian scholar.
"The Master once said - there is no distinction between education and distinction, so why can't everyone in the world be Confucian scholars?" Lu Jiuzhang asked rhetorically.
"Who is the master? And which master said it?" Senior Brother Zhou sneered, "It's really a joke. In all things in the world, there are high officials and nobles, and then there are the common people. If everyone is a high official, the world will be in chaos.
?”
"The same is true for Confucianism and Taoism. If everyone in the world were Confucian scholars, the world would be in chaos!"
"No! Teaching without distinction is an attitude." Lu Jiuzhang said, "The so-called education without distinction means civilizing the people. If the people are civilized, they will respect Confucianism and Taoism. If the people are civilized, then the Great Zhou Dynasty will prosper! If the Great Zhou Dynasty prospers, then
Confucianism and Taoism are more prosperous!"
"The weather is turbulent, but our sun is prosperous!"
"Full of nonsense!" Senior Brother Zhou said angrily, "How dare a martial artist speak such nonsense in Anxi Academy?"
"What about Confucianism? What about martial arts? There are three thousand avenues, can they be divided into high and low?" Lu Jiuzhang asked, "Absorb hundreds of schools of thought and learn from all the strengths! Take the essence and discard the dross. Have you ever heard that there are thousands of avenues, all of which lead to the same goal through different paths?"
"The Demon Slayer Division suppresses the monsters in the world, maintains peace in one place, and is respected by the people. Why do you have the right to look down on him?"
"My elder brother Lu Huaigu died on the way to suppress monsters. Changshui County is a remote place. On the way from Changshui County to Anxi Prefecture, there are many monsters raging, and there are also horse bandits causing trouble!"
"All the passing caravans suffered heavy losses!"
"It's the Demon Slayer Division of Changshui County who is suppressing demons, and it's me, a first-term warrior from the Demon Slayer Division, who is slaying the bandits and ensuring passage!"
"This is just Changshui County, what about Anxi Prefecture? The Demon Slayer Division of Anxi Prefecture goes out to slay demons on a large scale every year, and hundreds of servants and warriors have died over the years!"
"What about you? What did you do again?"
"Here you despise the demon-slayer Si Wufu? Here you despise the hero who protects the peace of one place?"
Under questioning one after another, Senior Brother Zhou was speechless.
He stammered, "Is it really that glorious for you to be the Demon Slayer? Isn't there dirt inside? How many shabby things are gathered in the darkness?"
"Where is there no dark place under the sunlight? Is there no dark place in Anxi Academy? You look down on Demon Slayer Si Wufu, isn't it dark?"
Lu Jiuzhang said sharply.
Senior Brother Zhou looked gloomy and did not dare to answer.
…
Kuixing Tower, the highest point.
Dean Bai and Master Xu stood at the window, looking at the scene in front of them.
"Some of your sharp edges have been revealed!" Dean Bai said with enthusiasm, "Confucianism and Taoism are about cultivating one's self, harmonizing one's family, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world. If one cannot cultivate one's self, how can one do anything?"
“What is self-cultivation?”
Master Xu asked rhetorically.
"Cultivation of body and mind, cultivation of virtue, and cultivation of body and mind!" Dean Bai replied.
"Wrong!" Master Xu shook his head, "If the body is nature, and cultivating one's body is cultivating one's nature, how can one's body and nature be right or wrong? Human nature can be tyrannical or ordinary. How can one change from tyrannical to ordinary?"
"It is said that nature is easy to change but difficult to change. What you said is actually suppression, restraining the body. And how to suppress the body? The so-called body, I understand it as principle, and self-cultivation means repairing. Whether it is violent or plain, under the understanding of reason, it is
Slim down!”
"If Lu Shoucheng is reasonable, he will make no mistakes and will not show off his sharp edge."
Master Xu said.
"Master Xu, don't you think Lu Jiuzhang is your disciple, so you protect him?"
Dean Bai smiled.
This sentence was already a bit out of line, and Dean Bai also said it by mistake.
He is only at the seventh level of Confucianism and Taoism, and he is not yet able to be careful in his words and actions.
"You have forgotten that he also studies martial arts, Confucianism, Taoism and martial arts. How can he be strong if he doesn't compete?" Master Xu said, "Lu Shoucheng is not a pure Confucian scholar after all. You cannot ask him for Confucianism and Taoism!"
"Over the years, haven't you discovered that Confucianism and Taoism also have flaws?"
Master Xu looked at the sky, "Since the first generation of saints created Confucianism and Taoism, for countless years, Confucianism and Taoism have remained the same, neither getting stronger nor getting weaker, just like a pool of stagnant water."
"On the other hand, martial arts is gradually rising! Other paths have also had their glory!"
"Over the years, under a pool of stagnant water, Confucian scholars have cultivated up to sub-sages at most. Apart from the first generation of saints, have you ever seen a new saint born?"
"Martial arts has also seen martial saints volleying in the sky many times to suppress the world!"
"Confucianism and Taoism are too peaceful, but they cannot rise."
This is a shortcoming of Confucianism and Taoism. Since ancient times, it has been a consensus in the world that there are no saints in Confucianism and Taoism.
Will Lu Jiuzhang be an exception?
Master Xu didn't think so, he just lamented that Confucianism and Taoism were like this, how could they continue?
"There are no saints in Confucianism and Taoism!"
Dean Bai then sighed with emotion.
The goal of all Confucian scholars is only to be a semi-saint or a sub-sage, or even to be a great Confucian!
The glory of martial arts has existed since ancient times!
"If Master Xu can correct the shortcomings of Confucianism and Taoism, he may be able to enter the rank of sub-sage!" Dean Bai said.
"How difficult it is!" Master Xu exclaimed, "I can't change Confucianism and Taoism alone. The shortcomings have been accumulated for a long time and are difficult to reverse!"