Chapter 149: Five Virtues United, Perfect Holy Emperor!

Fengxi felt he had undergone a mental storm, being given a baptism by someone.

A mighty powerful being analyzed an era and a people for him.

The Demon Race was not as he imagined.

Relying on a single reincarnation alone is far from enough to secure victory.

Even if reincarnation occurs, Houtu Ancestral Witch can secretly manipulate, mixing sand into the offspring born among future middle-tier peoples...

But the former foundation will not perish.

Moreover, its internal strong assimilative power... still don't expect too much.

"The problems inside the Demon Race are actually this severe?" Fengxi asked, "I've pondered seriously... no matter what, I feel their style is developing in a twisted direction."

"That's not how to say it." The Lesser Yang Emperor laughed, "Actually, you need to understand this——"

"That is the Demon Race's current state; it doesn't mean the whole has completely declined... the entire cultivation civilization is still rising!"

"The proportion of immortals in the Honghuang world is increasing... this is achieving the great feat of everyone being like a dragon in another way—although these dragons vary in size, with greater dragons above lesser ones."

"The further ahead, the more it infinitely approaches everyone becoming an immortal."

"Looking from the most macroscopic standpoint... is there a problem? No!"

"At most the process is a bit winding; it's a spiral rise."

The Lesser Yang Emperor spoke, his expression gradually becoming neither joyful nor sorrowful.

"The Demon Race's development status has few problems... as long as the top-tier heavenly wills plan the road well and fully unleash the value dividends created by the ever‑rising cultivation civilization."

"The reason for the present era's chaos is merely lacking a most precious experience—the mind‑cultivation process of the entire Honghuang world and all humanity."

"Today's humanity lacks cultivation!"

Fengxi glanced sideways.

This emperor... is very blunt.

Pointing at the nose that represents the concept of all sentient beings, he scolds the lack of cultivation.

"Exactly, today's humanity is just a wild child." The Lesser Yang Emperor smirked, "Uneducated by great sages, acting purely on instinct, indulging freely."

"Fortunately, this wild child still has a survival instinct—thanks to Pangu backing it up, it has taken out a layer of insurance called 'qi luck'."

"With this 'qi luck' insurance, humanity can barely tell whether it's better off than before. To put it another way, it's like knowing whether one's stomach is hungry."

"When hungry, it will open its mouth and bite people!"

"If not hungry but still able to eat its fill... with its mind, it won't bother calculating how much hidden loss it has consumed."

"Nor will it dig to the root, working hard to earn gold bricks, exchanging them for food that fills the stomach, to see whether it's truly top‑quality or merely looks refined while barely edible."

"This is the result of lacking spiritual education and training—a deficiency in mind and wisdom."

"The high‑level of the Demon Race and the Wu Clan differ on this point in how they treat humanity."

"One is to train them as laborers—just do what I say."

"The other is to steer toward raising children, giving them an intellectual elevation."

"Once humanity gains cultivation and self‑awareness, many problems cease to be problems."

The Lesser Yang Emperor's tone carried a hint of sigh and a hint of awe.

"You see the upper and lower clans pressing against each other nowadays—seems quite severe?"

"But if we merely change this mutual exploitative relation into spontaneous self‑driven whipping, encouragement, and support... all problems will be readily solved."

"Reincarnation?"

"Facing humanity with such an attitude, it's just a younger brother."

"One slap down, and it explodes on the spot."

"Houtu... what exactly is she?"

"Mastering life‑and‑death authority? Controlling yin virtue blessings?"

"Immediately one must blubber up to the heaven platform, pondering from where to jump down so the injury is lightest, yet appearing most miserable to win sympathy, apply for bankruptcy protection, and leave a sliver of life for one's pitiful little treasury."

The Lesser Yang Emperor's selection of Houtu was a staged arrangement that left Fengxi beside him unable to stay calm, forcing him to adeptly deploy the divine ability called "Selective Deafness," then naturally transition into the "Topic Shift" technique.

"Educating all of humanity... is that really possible?"

"Nothing is absolutely impossible." The Lesser Yang Emperor smiled faintly, "It just requires an extraordinarily huge expenditure of mental energy over a very long time."

Educating a single soul, cultivating a wholesome, beautiful worldview, is already no easy feat—it can be counted as a century‑long project—it is not a one‑time effort, but continues from birth to death, incessantly.

——Ten years to grow a tree, a hundred years to grow a person!

The difficulty of educating a people?

Higher!

Educating a trillion‑strong people?

Those capable of this have a mental state, wisdom and perseverance...

Upon seeing such a person, just walk around them.

Not embarrassing.

Because, it is absolutely not inferior to Pangu's supreme undertaking of opening heaven and earth.

Pangu opening heaven and earth is the material opening of heaven and earth, pointing to a bright world.

And such a person walking the world is the spiritual opening of heaven and earth, pointing to an eternal path!

Such a supreme being—saying he hopes to wrestle with Pangu—Fengxi has not the slightest doubt.

At the same time, he gains some insight.

Why, in all these sayings, in the Honghuang universe, a Saint establishing a great teaching is for great merit?

Because, education itself is great merit!

Aimed at raising the public's moral standard—its importance, who dares deny it? Who can deny it?

"Morality... morality..."

Fengxi repeatedly pondered these two words in his heart; as his thoughts turned, he also recalled some related "virtue".

"Virtue has five virtues... merit, sage virtue, morality, hidden virtue, blessing virtue."

"The Way of these five virtues, mutually complementing... perhaps, the most perfect bearing of a sage emperor will be born thus?"

Rule heaven and earth and all beings with sage virtue.

Elevate the authority of immortals and gods with merit.

Elevate universal values with morality.

Eliminate future worries with hidden virtue.

Guide people's hearts toward good and evil with blessing virtue.

The five virtues united—I am the sage emperor!

If even one is missing, it is incomplete, it is flawed.

If one merely practices sage virtue, merit, and morality, ascending to heaven as the highest Heavenly Emperor and governing Honghuang would pose no problem.

But it cannot perfectly represent the human way.

If one is lacking, one might misstep and turn against each other.

One also needs hidden virtue to support and blessing virtue to respond.

And likewise.

Only hidden virtue and blessing virtue... are still insufficient.

The path easily goes astray, hard to grasp the big picture.

"Put plainly."

"The human way is just a brat."

"To train it, one needs both soft and hard methods."

"One needs a strict teacher's guidance, and also some sweetness... but there must be measure."

"If too strict, it breeds rebelliousness—even if meant for his good; if too many benefits are given, the heart runs wild, deviates from the right path, and diverges from the educational goal—aimed at cultivating a pillar of talent with enlightened intellect and flawless character."

"This is tough!"

"This ultimate sage emperor's Great Dao is to forge for the vast Honghuang and the myriad peoples of the human way a brilliant, pure, unblemished heart of the Dao... and also, amidst the endless passage of time, to occasionally maintain it, lest it grow crooked as it grows."

"Isn't this just a fate of toil?"

"..."

Fengxi comprehended the Dao.

In silence, unbeknownst to others, due to an ancient emperor's lecture, he drew analogies and organized a partial outline of the practice of the sage emperor's Great Dao.

Of course, having an outline does not mean much.

Just like the Dao De Jing, the Morality Heavenly Venerable does not care about this scripture's external transmission; it entrusts a Heavenly Venerable's great principle, theoretically a priceless treasure.

Yet who, relying solely on this scripture, has attained the supreme fruition of the Dao?

Knowing is easy, practicing the Dao is hard!

Having an outline in hand merely points out a clear direction to proceed.

The rest still requires cutting through thorns and brambles to forge a smooth path.

However, with the outline, Fengxi also vaguely understood how to exert and develop the concept of hidden virtue, so that the defects of the reincarnation system are no longer fatal.

Um, rounding off and substituting equivalently, it's just that the ancestor witch Houtu has been strengthened again.

The Emperor of Lesser Yang does not know how stimulating the events have been in this short time.

He is still enthusiastically pointing out the land, criticizing the situation, and thoroughly analyzing the fundamentals of the Wu and Demon clans.

"Need to admit."

"A cultivated, spiritually wise and enlightened humanity can create more fortune value than if it were developed merely as pure labor."

"On this point, the high-level Demon Race knows, and the high-level Wu Clan also knows."

"Then why... does the high-level Demon Race not allow humanity to develop toward the ideal model?" Fengxi asked.

"Of course it's because of the distribution of interests!" The corner of Lesser Yang's mouth curled into a mocking smile, "A laborer, a capable laborer, when it gains a mind—not too much, able to see through whether others are cooking the books to deceive it... many heads would explode."

"By then, how could many heavenly intentions still meddle in it? They'd all have to be supervised by humanity!"

"Thus, a batch of administrators began to settle accounts."

"Compare—under the premise of overall human improvement and clear accounts, is more fortune allocated to administrators? Or is it simply to treat humanity as labor, bully its confused mind, and scoop up more fortune?"

"Although the latter option cannot fully unleash humanity's subjective initiative, by compensating with the wisdom of the Great Luo, the created fortune value would not be too low."

"After this account is settled, the camp splits."

Lesser Yang spread his hands.

"No... after settling the accounts, shouldn't opinions be unified?" Fengxi was a bit confused.

"Fool! This also includes hedging, profiting from the dead, and competing for higher achievements; each Great Luo weighs pros and cons and makes a choice fitting their status and beliefs." Lesser Yang sneered, "Fortune is important, but it is not the only important thing."

Fengxi understood.

Not every Great Luo is necessarily obsessed with contending for fortune... perhaps someone is just doing it for an ideal?

The high-level Wu and Demon clans clashed over the issue of humanity's education.

One side believed that humanity only needed to master basic skills and become qualified workers.

As for those account-checking, future-planning, grand ambitions... what's the point of thinking so much? Just follow my orders!

The other side believed that humanity's subjective initiative should still be strengthened, enabling it to create greater wealth.

Although saying that, once humanity becomes clever and united, cooking the books later would be difficult... but one could, while rallying humanity to pick a side, wipe out the opposition in one fell swoop for a big gain!

If during this process there could be a transcendent breakthrough—like standing shoulder to shoulder with Pangu, wouldn't that be a huge profit?

"According to what you say..." Fengxi let out a light sigh, "The top experts of the Demon Race want to shape the human Dao into a maid's form; and our Wu Clan cultivates the human Dao toward a dao companion, toward a wife's direction?"

"Exactly exactly exactly..." Shao Yang slammed the table laughing, "The words are rough but the principle isn't... pretty much that's the reasoning."

Maid, obeying the master's orders.

And dao companion, wife... that's something called communal property between spouses, eh!

If you want to hide private savings, how much bitter scheming must you go through?

Likewise, different positions yield different functions and created value; that's only natural.

After such a substitution, everything becomes clear.

Of course, for this Fengxi expended considerable mental energy, before suppressing the colorful, florid articles that kept popping up in his mind—those were all envy of the Demon Race's high-handed exploitation of billions of people... cough, cough, it's criticism.

As an excellent young Wu with sound values, Fengxi declared he is a good Wu who respects every being's human rights, a wholeheartedly good man—any thought of maids... does not exist!

Exactly!

Does not exist!

Will never be envious!

"The Demon Race's high-level... really are detestable!" Fengxi filled with righteous indignation, an upright face, "Then may I ask... Shao Yang Emperor Lord, what can you do to save the human Dao from water and fire, to lead them out of the wrong path, and under our Wu Clan's leadership look forward to eternity and light?"

Shao Yang glanced at him, that half-smile gaze seemingly able to pierce all surface pretense and delve into the innermost heart.

Fengxi's gaze, after a moment of eye contact, couldn't hold and began to wander.

"The method... naturally there is one." Shao Yang didn't continue scrutinizing, but instead spoke of his solution to the problem: "To today's Demon Race, drive a nail into their thoughts... using concept dissociation to separate the clan's cognition, borrowing false cultivation to forge a clan—the Immortal Clan!"

"This... feasible? Feels a bit fantastical." Fengxi frowned.

"Of course feasible... I can be certain, I can guarantee the operation will be proper." Shao Yang smiled, "But if you truly want success, the conditions are also rather strict."

"I need to personally take a neutral stance to stand on the stage and direct... this is to avoid the Demon Race's direct hostility, so I cannot openly ally with the Wu Clan, lest everyone know."

"Besides that, we also need the Wu Clan's peak power to exert both overt and covert forces in this process, to operate and control."

"The overt power restrains part of the Demon Race's high-level; the covert undercover, letting the work of undermining this seat go easy, lets me successfully hollow out the Demon Race's mid-level."

Shao Yang said, hitting the nail on the head: "When the time comes, when the great calamity erupts, I and the noble clan's Ancestral Wu will coordinate inside and out!"

"The Demon Race's faction... will surely collapse!"

Fengxi's gaze stared blankly.

There's still such an operation?

But soon he found some inappropriate aspects.

"You want inside-and-out coordination... but to truly reach the point where it can take effect, no matter how, you'd have to enter the Demon Race's high-level's field of vision, right?"

"That's natural." Shao Yang nodded, "So I will feign joining the Demon Race, continuing to expand my influence."

"By then, we'll also need the Wu Clan's Ancestral Wu's secret agent within the Demon Race to lend a hand, help speak a few words."

Fengxi's gaze turned strange.

This...

Isn't this just the work of an undercover?

Only, this undercover... doesn't follow the usual path?

(End of chapter)