Chapter 201: Distinguishing Sounds and Recognizing Characters

Xiao Yu shook her head and said, "Although I am now friends with Sending Dou Gengyan and should call Dou Yilin 'Uncle,' I still have to tell the truth—his qi is slightly vulgar and lowly, and does not deserve to be called vast and upright."

The Black Girl was furious, "Good for you, Heavens Yu Fengxian, you actually insulted me again in a roundabout way! In order to scold me, you even humiliated your friend's parent together."

Xiao Yu wondered, "Because of honesty, because I didn't want to deal with you with empty words, I didn't even cover up for my friend's parent; you don't appreciate my sincerity, but instead say I scolded you. What kind of logic is this?"

The Black Girl said, "You just said you could detect the Chen Haoran Righteousness on me because you had seen Dou Yilin."

"Isn't that saying my Chen Haoran Righteousness is very similar to his?"

"As a result, you turned around and said his Chen Haoran qi doesn't deserve to be called Chen Haoran qi, and even appears vulgar and lowly."

"Isn't this saying in a roundabout way that my Chen Haoran Righteousness is vulgar and lowly?"

Xiao Yu was speechless, "You think too highly of yourself; Dou Yilin's Chen Haoran qi is indeed slightly lowly, but compared to you, you are like the light of a firefly, while he is the bright moon in the sky."

"However, your qi is slightly immature, which may not be a bad thing; at least it is purer than his."

The Black Girl was both suspicious and surprised, and asked, "Why is he like the bright moon, yet slightly vulgar and lowly?"

Xiao Yu asked back, "What kind of qi is Chen Haoran Righteousness?"

The Black Girl said, "It is the qi of human justice inherited from the sages by reading Confucian classics."

Xiao Yu was surprised, "You couldn't be a wild path without inheritance, could you?"

Wen Zhiruo's black face flushed slightly, and she argued, "Which of the sage books I read is not the true inheritance of the Confucian path?"

"My Confucianism takes Confucius and Mencius as teachers and many sages as friends; there is no such thing as a wild path."

—This Black Girl is really a wild path!

Xiao Yu was first surprised by her talent, and then slowly felt relieved.

Perhaps what this Black Girl called "taking sages as teachers" is the true path of Confucianism.

Using Immortal Martial secret manuals to practice Chen Haoran Righteousness is instead a bit of a heretical path.

The Chen Haoran qi born naturally in the process of reading and seeking truth is the true qi of the Confucian path.

However, effort is no match for miraculous power; even if the ideological realm is higher, if it cannot be transformed into Confucian miraculous power using Immortal Martial secret manuals, it is still just a mortal.

Many times, the "Dao and Reason" shouted out by mortals at the top of their lungs are far less effective than a sharp sword that kills without blinking.

A "sharp sword" can not be drawn, but it cannot be absent.

"Perhaps you are right, but cultivating Chen Haoran qi is one thing, and how to use, maintain, and strengthen 'Righteousness' is another principle."

"Dou Yilin has a good relationship with the Kong family in Xilu; his Chen Haoran Righteousness should be the most authentic practice method."

"But he read ten thousand books, yet didn't grasp the essence of Chen Haoran Righteousness."

"Including you, you only got its skin, not its bones."

The Black Girl didn't get excited and angry this time.

She said solemnly, "If what you say makes sense, you are my teacher."

"If you try to use clever words and sophistry to show off your little cleverness, I will deeply despise you."

Xiao Yu smiled, "The essence of Chen Haoran Righteousness is actually very simple: eight words, Justice and Morality, Unity of Knowledge and Action!"

"'Justice and Morality' is the purpose, 'Unity of Knowledge and Action' is the method, which can also be said to be the 'practice method'."

"If I really want to debate Confucian theories with you and Dou Yilin, you can make me blush and feel ashamed."

"But talking without practicing has no meaning."

"I think Dou Yilin's Chen Haoran qi is slightly vulgar and lowly for three reasons."

"First, he has no faith and righteousness."

"In order to break the Three Thousand Fire Crow Formation, he used righteous words to describe the justice of the Eight Immortals assassinating the Lieyang Marquis, and sincerely persuaded the Western soldiers not to help the tyrant."

"We won't evaluate who is right and who is wrong between Great Qin and the Western countries, just talk about the matter itself."

"The way of military formation lies in the belief of 'comrades-in-arms sharing the same heart and fate'."

"The soldiers' belief in the main general and the army is shaken, and the military formation will also collapse."

"The soldiers who can be shaken in belief by Dou Yilin's 'national righteousness' and 'monarch's kindness' all have some true heart of patriotism and loyalty."

"Hehehe, but Dou Yilin wants to kill this kind of person; those who are indifferent to his loyalty and righteousness are protected by the Three Thousand Fire Crow Formation and will not be killed by the Eight Trigrams Heavenly Sword Formation."

"He preaches righteousness with his mouth, but his knife specifically stabs those with faith and righteousness."

"Even if he has hidden difficulties and his own strength is insufficient, he must use tricks to kill the Lieyang Marquis."

"But can you say he is a true gentleman who has 'faith and righteousness' and speaks of 'benevolence and righteousness'?"

The Black Girl was silent.

Xiao Yu added, "Secondly, Dou Yilin lacks great wisdom. At the critical moment of assassinating the Lieyang Marquis, he actually allowed his core teammate Kong Zan to leave his post without permission, just for a Bone-Changing Pill..."

"It's not that I'm boasting, the City God status I gave to Old Uncle Duan can at least be exchanged for several Bone-Changing Pills; I know this."

"I didn't exchange it because I understood that some things cannot be exchanged for gold, silver, or precious medicine."

"Dou Yilin read more books than I did; he definitely understood such a simple truth, but he didn't do it."

The Black Girl was still unable to refute, and the gaze she raised to Xiao Yu had more indescribable emotions, as if it were reverence, and as if it were suspicion and confusion.

"Finally, Dou Yilin lacks great courage and great perseverance, and his belief in Chen Haoran Righteousness is insufficient."

Xiao Yu sighed, "That day at Feixian Ferry, seeing him both drawing talismans into dragons and scattering beans into soldiers, majestic and peerless, I even envied his miraculous powers and wonderful methods."

"Now I only feel absurd."

"He raised a thick Chen Haoran Righteousness, but took it all to feed heretical arts."

"Even if he held an iron sword and condensed his whole belief and heart's blood into a 'Chen Haoran Sword', and then like an egg hitting a stone, smashed to pieces on the Three Thousand Fire Crow Formation, I would still respect him as a 'great man'."

Xiao Yu didn't dislike the secret arts of scattering beans into soldiers and drawing talismans to invite gods for being low.

She didn't have the qualifications to dislike this or that now.

But it is normal for heretical people to use heretical arts.

Dou Yilin, a Confucian sage, practiced Chen Haoran Righteousness to the Human Immortal realm, and actually also used heretical arts...

Xiao Yu believed that Dou Yilin must have mastered Confucian secret transmissions.

At the critical moment, he would rather believe in heretical secret arts than believe that justice and morality really possess supreme power; isn't that a problem with belief?

The Confucian sage's definition of Chen Haoran Righteousness is to use the thoughts and behaviors of morality and justice to pull a vast and rigid power that can fill the heaven and earth and change the world.

Sister Shao Yao glanced at the Black Girl, and seeing her look dazed, she said, "Are you really friends with Sending Dou Gengyan?"

Xiao Yu said, "Let's just discuss the matter; I don't deny Dou Yilin's excellence, and I don't avoid his shortcomings."

"If it were in a public place, talking about some unimportant face-saving words, I would definitely try my best to praise Sending Dou Gengyan's late father."

Sister Shao Yao was speechless.

The Black Girl pondered, "Heavens Yu Fengxian, although you are a Sha Man, you have a talent for learning Confucianism; do you want to learn the method of condensing Chen Haoran Righteousness from me?"

—You wild path, still want to teach me, this "direct descendant of Immortal Confucianism"?

Xiao Yu smiled and nodded, "Then thank you, Grandmaster Wen."

It is true that she has the formula for "Chen Haoran Righteousness," but Sending Dou Gengyan told her to read more books on the practice method.

With Wen Zhiruo's talent and experience, she might really be able to help her raise the first mouthful of Chen Haoran Righteousness.

After raising the first mouthful of Chen Haoran, practicing Dou Yilin's heart method formula again will be twice the result with half the effort.

At that time, she would be "practicing both Daoism and Confucianism."

Daoist refining qi, Confucianism cultivating spirit, seems very good.

For the next two days, besides teaching Confucian knowledge, the Black Girl really started to teach Xiao Yu her insights on condensing Chen Haoran Righteousness.

Xiao Yu could understand the practice method of Chen Haoran Righteousness by analogy, and it was easier to understand.

The Confucian knowledge taught by the Black Girl, however, gave her a very big headache.

The Black Girl didn't talk generally about a certain classic or a certain classic sentence.

If she told stories like "Hundred Schools Forum," Xiao Yu would definitely listen with relish and gain a lot... The Black Girl really has a level.

But the Black Girl doesn't do "Hundred Schools Forum."

She is like a doctoral student preparing a graduation thesis, researching and discussing a certain topic in depth.

It's too professional.

Without a certain knowledge accumulation, it is impossible to understand at all.

Even a learned scholar would listen very hard.

Facing Xiao Yu's request to listen to "Hundred Schools Forum," the Black Girl said half-mockingly and half-emotionally: "If I really lectured according to what you said, the scholars of Western Shu wouldn't say they respect me, they would have long beaten me out of the door as a person who deceives the world and steals a name."

This is indeed the truth.

Xiao Yu was originally a blank sheet of paper; learning Confucianism now is a process from nothing to something.

It is equivalent to laying a layer of sand on flat ground, not too deep, but wide, to cover the ground.

The scholars of Shu Kingdom don't lack breadth, but instead have to find a certain piece of ground and chisel hard; whoever chisels deeper is a great Confucian, a grandmaster.

For example, the first day the Black Girl discussed the development of "Etiquette of Zhou Yi."

The second day, the Black Girl used "Mao Shi" as an example to explain "recognizing characters and distinguishing sounds."

Just for the single character "Dun," she actually talked about seventeen kinds of pronunciations!

Xiao Yu felt her head was about to split, and deeply felt that the several pronunciations of "Dun" were just like the several ways to write the character "Hui" in "Fennel Beans," completely meaningless.

The Black Girl said solemnly, "The first major difficulty in reading is recognizing characters, and the difficulty of recognizing characters is distinguishing sounds."

"If the sound is not distinguished, the meaning is not clear. For example, 'Dun' in 'Mao Shi'..."

She had a black mouth and black teeth, and talked a lot.

What is pronounced as "Dui" in the gray rhyme sound, "Tun" in the yuan rhyme sound, "Tuan" in the han rhyme sound, "Diao" in the xiao rhyme sound, "Zhun" in the zhen rhyme sound, "Dun" in the ruan rhyme sound, "Dui" in the dui rhyme sound, "Dun" in the yuan rhyme sound...

The Black Girl is not Kong Yiji.

She directly gave the sentences in "Mao Shi" for each pronunciation.

Such as "Dun Bi Du Su" in "Mao Shi", "Dun Bi Xing Wei", "Dun Gong Ji Jian"...

If they were all read as "Dun," not only would the rhythm be lost, but the meaning would also be completely wrong.

Xiao Yu was convinced by her as a novice who "looked down on the several ways to write fennel beans."

She was convinced to the point of throwing herself on the ground and being unable to refute.

She couldn't argue even if she wanted to.

Because according to the Black Girl's sounds, "Mao Shi" was indeed rhythmic and melodious.

Whether reading poetry or listening to poetry, it became a top-level enjoyment.

"Mao Shi" is the Book of Songs.

Every Chinese person says the Book of Songs is good, but not many Chinese people listen to and read the Book of Songs every day.

When really reading and listening, it feels very strange and very awkward, not as catchy as the poems of Li Bai and Du Fu.

And "ancients" like the Black Girl and Sister Shao Yao like to read "Mao Shi."

Just like modern people like to hum songs, they like it from the heart, the more they read, the more flavorful it becomes, and the longer the time, the more they love to read.

It's not a problem with the Book of Songs, nor have the habits of ancient and modern people changed; it's that modern people have misread the sounds and misinterpreted the meanings.

The Black Girl said, "As the saying goes, different tones in three miles, different sounds in ten miles, different customs in a hundred miles."

"'Mao Shi' is not the work of one person in one place."

"It is a treasure of the culture of the Great China; just a single 'Dun' character has one pronunciation on the sunny side of the mountain and another on the shady side."

"Different sounds, different meanings."

"If you use the 'Dun' on the sunny side of the mountain to interpret the poems written by literary masters on the shady side of the mountain, how can you understand the true meaning of the poems?"

"That's why I said, reading requires recognizing characters first, and recognizing characters requires distinguishing sounds first."

"Fortunately, the Great Qin Emperor unified the world, unified the script, unified the tracks, and unified the ethics, greatly reducing the difficulty of recognizing characters and reading, otherwise how many people in the world would be illiterate," Xiao Yu sighed.

Although she said so, she still learned to distinguish sounds and recognize characters from the Black Girl very seriously.

Not only to read "Book of Songs" better... In just a few days, Xiao Yu also fell in love with reading and listening to poetry.

It is far more flavorful than listening to songs in the previous life, and it is a book fragrance that becomes more mellow the more familiar it is.

After reading "Mao Shi" for a few days, even the Chen Haoran Righteousness became a little restless.

Almost entering the "fetal" state, it will be conceived and born soon.

In addition, Xiao Yu found that "Taiji Golden Book" is somewhat similar to "Book of Songs." If you misread the sound, it is easy to misinterpret the meaning.

"Mao Shi" is still a work of the last tens of thousands of years; the words and sentences in "Taiji Golden Book" are far more ancient and obscure than "Mao Shi."

Besides "Taiji Golden Book," Xiao Yu felt that she also had new insights into Daoist classics such as "Dao De Jing" and "Huang Ting Jing."

Before, she might have misread the sounds and misinterpreted the meanings, and her thoughts and ideas were completely different from what the author wanted to express. ===== CHAPTER 202 =====