Chapter 305: These People, Not One May Live

Meng Xiao flattered, "Your wisdom far surpasses that of the ancient sages and virtuous men. If it weren't for you leading us to endure pressure and risk death to offer counsel, we wouldn't have our good days. From now on we will follow your lead without question!"

The others simultaneously clasped their hands, bowed their heads, and expressed loyalty.

Sun Yunzhen stroked his long beard, shook his head and swayed his brain, saying:

"Of course that also depends on your support… Rest assured, when I become Xiao Qidi's king‑teacher and the Prime Minister who stands above ten thousand yet below the sovereign, I will certainly bring you benefits. Once the feudal enfeoffment is restored, I'll have him grant each of you a vast parcel of land so you can, like the ancient feudal lords, dominate a region!"

"Thank you, Lord Sun!" The crowd immediately knelt and kowtowed to him.

The conservative old ministers here, harboring selfish motives, had already begun to fantasize, unaware that after they left, Xiao Qidi directly summoned Lin Sui and the others to the study.

The seven stood by the desk, eyeing each other, all unsure what medicine Xiao Qidi was selling in his gourd.

Xing Lie, the youngest, couldn't hold his temper and blurted, "Uncle Qidi, whether you're angry or not I have to say it: please don't turn Jinli Fairy into some damn witch, otherwise… I'll turn against you!"

Duan Wu and the others broke out in cold sweat, both nervous and admiring him.

Only this kid dared speak to Xiao Qidi that way.

Xiao Qidi raised his hand and patted Xing Lie's head, "You little brat, I was the one who personally delivered you into the world! You still want to turn against me?"

Xing Lie lifted his chin, "I don't care; at worst after we turn against each other, you can shove me back into my mother's womb! I promise I won't fight back."

Puff—

Li He couldn't hold back a laugh, and the other five twitched the corners of their mouths.

Xiao Qidi sat behind the desk, speaking seriously: "You few, do you also think I would truly listen to those scheming old clods' nonsense?"

Duan Wu chuckled, "Not that extreme, not that extreme; we're not fools. We just… uh…"

"Just what?" Xiao Qidi's gaze deepened slightly.

Duan Wu stammered, unable to continue, and nudged Li Yao with his elbow.

Li Yao looked left and right, exchanging glances with Qi Zhan and Mu Cheng.

Qi Zhan furrowed his brows, about to speak, but Mu Cheng cut in first: "Both of us are pure warriors, tongue‑clumsy; perhaps Lin Sui can explain."

"What? Me?" Lin Sui was embarrassed, gave Mu Cheng a secret glare, then said cautiously, "What Sun Yunzhen and his ilk have done is, at root, a delusional grab for their former power and status. Proposing to restore feudal enfeoffment is outright madness; after we finally unify Huaxia with great difficulty, it would split apart again…"

"Enough, you!" Li He crossed his arms, tilted his head and cut in, "Do we still need you to say that? We can all see it, and you're not the only one who has read the history books left by Jinli Fairy."

Lin Sui smiled slyly, having deliberately skirted the obvious point known to everyone present; when Li He spoke up, he immediately tossed the question back, "Then what are your lofty opinions?"

Li He pursed his lips, not that he hadn't seen Lin Sui's little scheme; he didn't mind, and said directly, "Xing Lie just made it clear, yet you're still cowering. I despise you."

Duan Wu and the others looked straight up at the ceiling.

No one knows that Xing Lie and he never experienced the earlier period when he and Xiao Qidi were ruler and minister, so naturally there's no psychological burden.

Li He looked at Xiao Qidi, speaking earnestly: "Brother Qidi, I know you'll definitely deal with those old clods who oppose Xuan Guo's great trend and hide malicious intent, but I want to ask now, what exactly is your attitude toward Jinli Fairy?"

Xiao Qidi lifted an eyebrow, "Does my attitude matter? Do you even know what her attitude is?"

Li He said, "I don't know what exactly happened between you and Jinli Fairy, but I have personally seen you share an extraordinary tacit understanding and affection—"

"Shut up!" Xiao Qidi's face went cold, "I have no feelings for her anymore!"

Li He stepped forward a beat and continued:

"If you truly have no feelings, you wouldn't react as if she's stepped on your tail whenever she's mentioned! What I can't figure out is whether you still love her, or… have come to hate her!"

"You, on one hand, treat the populace's spontaneous commemorations of all her activities with cold indifference, and on the other, often stare blankly toward Lin Xian Cheng! Publicly you never personally visit the hundreds of researchers she sent here years ago, yet privately you repeatedly remind us to take good care of them, to spare no effort in supporting their work, and sometimes you even subtly ask whether those researchers mentioned a certain person!"

"Can't you tell us what actually happened back then? Can't you tell us why she never returned, or why you never went to look for her?"

"Li He! Get out of here!" Xiao Qidi erupted in sudden fury.

Xiao Qidi hadn't erupted like this in a long time.

Duan Wu and the others broke out in cold sweat with fear, and even Xing Lie retracted his neck.

Li He remained motionless, staring at Xiao Qidi's reddened eyes, and said:

"Xiao Qidi! Listen to me!"

"If Jinli Fairy had never appeared, you would inevitably become, like the Xiao Qidi in the secret history of her world, a human pig imprisoned behind the puppet ancestor‑emperor!"

"All the blood‑sweating scheming you did to unify the realm ends up in the hands of the power‑wielding minister who controls the puppet emperor! You'll die never seeing Daxuan's unification, never receiving the glory you deserve!"

"Moreover, years later the Daxuan dynasty will be doomed by Xuan II and treacherous ministers, plunging the world into chaos and misery! You'll still bear a cursed reputation!"

"And then? It would turn into a clash between me and Xing Lie, his tragic death at my hands, me treading on ten thousand corpses to claim the dynasty! Then the feudal era would continue for over two thousand years, countless people fighting for the throne causing Huaxia to repeat endless blood‑soaked turmoil!"

"Can't you see how Jinli Fairy turned countless potential tragedies for our world's Huaxia? If you still keep an ambiguous attitude toward her, don't blame me for turning against you!"

A barrage of rebukes, each word striking the ground with force, pierced the hearts of those present.

Lin Sui couldn't help but marvel in his heart; this kid truly is the super‑talent capable of founding the next dynasty and further consolidating Huaxia.

Daring to confront Xiao Qidi so boldly.

Awesome, truly awesome.

Lin Sui glanced quietly at Duan Wu and the others, seeing the word "admiration" reflected in their eyes.

Boom!

An invisible gust burst from Xiao Qidi's body, and faintly the air seemed to carry a dragon's roar.

The documents on the desk were flung, scattering wildly throughout the room, and Li He was knocked back, stumbling.

Lin Sui and the others, three meters away, almost lost their footing.

Only Xing Lie, standing beside Xiao Qidi, circulated Internal Strength and, with his robust physique, withstood the gust, retreating only a half step.

Li He let out a muffled hum, wiped the thin line of blood at his corner of mouth, and suddenly laughed.

"Hey, look, you're still practicing the Tian Xuan Heart Method Jinli Fairy left you; your power has increased severalfold. If you truly have no feelings for her, why keep training? Just discard your martial arts!"

"It's not that I don't want to find her! She abandoned me!" Xiao Qidi roared suddenly, tears flashing in his eyes, "I miss her, miss her… have always missed her!"

Finally, under Li He's life‑risking extreme pressure, he at last voiced his true feelings.

After saying that, Xiao Qidi seemed as if his soul had been drained.

His tall frame slumped onto the chair, his head drooping in despondence, hands covering his face.

In the slender gaps between his fingers, tears streamed.

The emotions pent up inside for fifteen years poured out at this moment.

A vulnerability never before seen was also exposed before others at this moment.

Lin Sui and the others lowered their gazes, their expressions solemn.

After a long while, Li He spoke softly:

"Qidi ge, I'm sorry…… If I hadn't done this, we would never know what you really think. If you're angry with me, then… hit me. But could you please explain more clearly—what does it mean that she abandoned you?"

Xiao Qidi did not respond to those words, lowered his head to wipe his eyes, turned the chair away, and his tone became devoid of any emotion.

"Sun Yizheng has voluntarily offered the roster of his faction; the Confucian scholars and so‑called alchemists who colluded with him are all listed in the document. You must see to it that not a single one of these people remains alive."

Duan Wu and the others snapped to attention in unison, shouting in one voice: "Yes!"

"Furthermore," Xiao Qidi said, hand on forehead, eyes shadowed by his brows, "including the 'True Dragon Heavenly Emperor Book' they compiled, all documents left by the various states that involve praising and extolling kings, instructing later generations to follow the ruler‑subject bond and the way of ministers and people, shall all be burned."

Lin Sui pondered: "These basically all belong to works of Confucian scholars, accumulated over several hundred years, with deep roots……"

"Then let's dig up all the roots." Xiao Qidi said.

Lin Sui added: "If so, should we completely erase everything related to the Confucian scholars, a hundred percent?"

Xiao Qidi shook his head slightly: "You, too, have read the histories of another world; although later emperors dismissed the hundred schools and exalted Confucianism alone, using its ruler‑subject disciplinary system, it became a powerful ideological tool for two thousand years of feudal rule, yet it is not without merit—such as loyalty, filial piety, propriety, and righteousness—as long as it is not blind loyalty, blind filial piety, blind propriety, blind righteousness, it remains a good moral education."

"Hmm, then let's do that," Lin Sui proposed, "first eliminate everything related to it, but I will extract its essence and incorporate it into Xuan Guo's regulations and books, severing any link to Confucianism, so that later generations cannot twist Confucianism to harm society."

Xiao Qidi slowly exhaled a turbid breath and said softly: "Go ahead and do it."

"Yes."

Lin Sui and the others turned and left.

Xing Lie wanted to keep Xiao Qidi company in the study, but Li He secretly pulled him away.

Starting that afternoon, within the borders of Xuan Guo, a large‑scale search was launched.

In the following half month, Sun Yizheng‑led Confucian scholars and alchemists, a total of 1,355 people, were arrested without omission.

After issuing a nationwide notice listing their crimes and evidence, they were all executed.

A large number of related books were also gathered together, publicly burned, to demonstrate Xuan Guo's resolve to unify Huaxia.

Next, the Unification Ceremony proceeded as scheduled.

At the ceremony, Xiao Qidi announced that henceforth the Daxuan State, including himself, everyone would be children of Huaxia, with no more distinctions of rank or status; all institutions would continue to be promoted according to the new system, completely abolishing the old pre‑unification order.

Besides all the members of the various departments and agencies and the countless ordinary people who came of their own accord, the Unification Ceremony naturally also included several hundred scientific researchers.

They were all honored guests.

After the ceremony, Xiao Qidi met with them alone, talking from afternoon until deep into the night.

Only after midnight did Xiao Qidi, still unwilling to part, send people to escort them back.

However, before parting, he detained a few experts engaged in physics.

"May I ask, have you found a way to cross time and space?" Xiao Qidi asked eagerly.

They all shook their heads.

The leading top‑tier physicist said:

"Mr. Xiao, even in our original world, technology has not advanced to the point of being able to traverse time and space; the cause and manner of our transmigration remain an unsolved mystery—perhaps many theories can explain it, but… we can only explain it, lacking the ability to actually enact it."

Xiao Qidi said: "I have also read the research papers you have written over these years; according to your theory, since it has been proven in fact that time‑space travel and parallel worlds exist, it follows that we will inevitably master the relevant technology, right?"

"Yes, that is certain, but we also do not know exactly when. However, what we can basically be sure of is that we will surely grasp it earlier than our own world did."

"Huh? What does that mean?" Xiao Qidi's eyes lit up.

"Mr. Xiao, consider that the appearance of time‑space travel has granted your era the ideas and technology of over two thousand years later, which amounts to cutting short two thousand years of gradual progress and exploration; perhaps in two thousand years' time people will already be able to freely shuttle between times and spaces, or to have opened up the entire solar system—of course this is speculation, depending on circumstances, because technological development does not advance uniformly in all fields, with many unforeseen situations, and it also involves various applicable material substances……"

Xiao Qidi listened, entranced, and then asked: "What kinds of unexpected situations might there be?"

The other person laughed and said: "Whatever can be called an unexpected situation is something we cannot fully anticipate; for a simple example, among myriad worlds, such a situation might arise—say, one already possesses the ability to shuttle through time and space yet cannot reach other planets at the same temporal point; or, on this very planet, technology may have reached its utmost limit and still be unable to traverse time and space."

"Why would that be?" Xiao Qidi did not understand.

The other person, patiently, gave another example: "Take real‑world cases: some civilizations, lacking metal ores in their locality, never developed iron‑smelting technology even to their demise, no matter how far they pushed stone‑use techniques to the pinnacle; this shows that a technology's advancement may not be hindered by difficulty but by material constraints."

"If our world happens to lack a certain crucial material, does that not mean time‑space travel could never be achieved? Then you would never be able to return?" Xiao Qidi's eyes gradually dimmed, his heart seeming to stop beating.

This not only means these researchers can never go home again,

but also that he himself will never again see Ning Jinli……