Chapter 1217: Hidden

"Interesting! It seems the secrets of the Zhuge clan are even greater; clearly, they are not just as the outside world claims."

Su Fan swept his gaze over them, finding it increasingly intriguing. The strength of the Zhuge clan was not simple. Beyond the widely rumored 'Qilin Child', their experts were not what they seemed—especially the Golden Core realm cultivators, who were far more numerous than the eight the outside world spoke of.

Eight Golden Cores were already top-tier among the second-rate clans of the Liu Han, and even some first-rate clan powers did not necessarily possess eight.

The more Golden Cores a family has, the deeper its foundation; after all, with more Golden Cores, there are more opportunities to attempt the Primordial Spirit Realm.

The Zhuge clan had a full fourteen Golden Core experts. Furthermore, in the back mountains of their ancestral grounds, there was an old man at the peak of Nascent Soul.

The ancestral grounds of the Zhuge clan were also not simple; a great array had been established surrounding the mountains, possessing the effect of gathering Qi.

The outside world had always rumored that the Zhuge clan's inheritance was not simple, that it was not merely a common Confucian inheritance, but that it seemed to contain even more.

Clearly, this rumor was indeed true.

With just a glance, Su Fan discovered that the Zhuge clan had many secrets; it seemed they even possessed the inheritance of the Mohists.

One must know that during the time of the Great Qin, apart from the branch that joined the Great Qin, the rest of the Mohists had already withdrawn from the Nine Provinces.

There was no choice; the Great Qin did not allow other voices, especially since the Mohist philosophy was somewhat inconsistent with the Great Qin, so they had to leave.

Otherwise, the Great Qin would not have been soft-handed. The First Emperor was also quite overbearing; although he did not kill as many people as Bai Qi,

his words alone could decide the life and death of millions, or even more.

During the Pre-Qin period, the Hundred Schools of Thought were in a golden age, but after the Great Qin unified the world, the Hundred Schools of Thought, unless they submitted to the Great Qin, could only obediently keep a low profile.

As long as you didn't cause trouble, the Great Qin could ignore you. However, the Mohists had never liked keeping a low profile.

Moreover, a portion of the Mohists chose to support the remnants of the Six States. It is easy to imagine that, aside from the branch that joined the Great Qin, the days of the Mohists were quite difficult.

The inheritance they were able to preserve was quite rare, far inferior to the other Hundred Schools of Thought.

Among the Hundred Schools of Thought, Confucianism, due to political needs, could be said to have reached its peak in the Liu Han. Of course, it did not mean Confucianism was the most powerful.

In terms of foundation, Daoism remained the strongest; this was something no one could overturn.

In the Liu Han, if you gave the great clans a choice between Daoist inheritance and Confucian inheritance, their first choice would definitely be Daoist, not Confucianism.

Confucianism, after the guidance of several Confucian grandmasters and some pointers from Su Fan, now had a cultivation method that was not bad either.

However, Confucianism used Haoran Qi to cultivate the Soul Dao, similar to the Ghost Immortal Dao, specifically cultivating the divine soul.

The Daoist Primordial Spirit path is not merely about cultivating the soul; the Daoist school emphasizes the dual cultivation of nature and life, refining the body, essence, and spirit together to cultivate the Great Dao of the Primordial Spirit.

The Primordial Spirit Great Dao was the most orthodox path of immortal cultivation.

As for soul cultivation, the divine soul path, Confucianism used Haoran Qi to cultivate, first cultivating the state of mind, then communicating with the power of heaven and earth.

This cultivation method could be said to be taking a shortcut, especially in terms of power; by borrowing the dynasty's luck, it could unleash even more terrifying power.

However, when the soul makes contact with the power of heaven and earth, if it lasts too long, the physical body cannot bear the burden, and one's lifespan will often be depleted.

This was also the reason why the lifespan of Confucian literary cultivation was even shorter than that of martial cultivation.

Confucian literary cultivation, combined with the dynasty's luck, was indeed very overbearing, but the lifespan was surprisingly short. Every gain and loss could be said to be destined by heaven.

Years ago, when Su Fan proposed such a cultivation path for literary cultivation, he also warned them, but that disciple of Zhang Liang still chose it.

In fact, the current literary cultivation of the Liu Han Dynasty was closely related to Su Fan.

Even the orthodox Confucian literary cultivation today was almost entirely inherited from the Little Sage Virtuous Manor. It could be said that Zhang Liang's disciple was the master of literary cultivation.

It was just a pity that the other party also died in the Great War between Humans and Gods when they were at the Taiyi Golden Immortal stage.

After all, entering the center of the Great Qin meant being a high-ranking official of the Great Qin, and in the Great War between Humans and Gods, they were also the focus of the Heavenly Court.

They were targeted by a Daluo Golden Immortal of the Heavenly Court. Although the other party counterattacked and severely wounded the opponent, nearly killing them, they sacrificed themselves.

For this reason, when Su Fan found out later, he secretly felt it was a pity. That person could be said to have been watched by Su Fan as they grew up.

Back then, following Zhang Liang, they helped Su Fan spread the knowledge of the Agricultural and Medical schools. Su Fan quite liked that little guy.

The previous Confucian cultivation was actually based on Daoist methods at its foundation.

One day, this guy wanted to create a cultivation method unique to their Confucian school, so Su Fan thought of the literary cultivation of a certain world and gave a few general pointers.

And that little guy actually walked this path. But Su Fan and Zhang Liang also saw some flaws in literary cultivation back then.

Literary cultivation relied on the dynasty to quickly improve cultivation and combat power, but the flaws were also like that.

However, regardless of the flaws of literary cultivation, it was indeed because of him that literary cultivation fully developed in the Liu Han.

Even the Liu Han's exclusive respect for Confucianism was not unrelated to this point.

Of course, Su Fan was also somewhat proud of that little guy. Although the other party died, and the literary cultivation they created was also standing on the shoulders of predecessors, it had to be said that their literary cultivation had a great influence on Confucianism today.

Most of the Confucian literary cultivation in the Liu Han today practiced his methods; as for the original Daoist methods, they were fewer.

Of course, this might also be related to the fact that Daoist methods were more precious.

The Zhuge clan were Confucian disciples, but Su Fan saw at a glance that the Zhuge clan's inheritance and cultivation path indeed came from the Daoist school. Clearly, it was not just that Qilin Child of the Zhuge clan; the core disciples of the Zhuge clan all practiced Daoist methods.

Moreover, the ancestor at the peak of Nascent Soul in the back mountain practiced a method that seemed to come from the lineage of Zhuangzi.

It was not the Golden Core Great Dao of Laozi's lineage.

Added to the partial inheritance of the Mohists, this Zhuge clan was definitely not simple. And their strength was clearly very strong, yet they still restrained it. They clearly had the strength of a top-tier, or even the most top-tier clan, yet they disguised themselves as second-rate. If it weren't for that Qilin Child being born with omens, they would probably still be hiding.

Thus, this Zhuge clan must have some secrets.

Of course, this secret might be very big within the Zhuge clan, but in Su Fan's eyes, it naturally could not have much influence.

Regardless of the Zhuge clan hiding their strength, Su Fan still had to make contact, because his target was Zhuge Wuhou.

And he had also discovered Zhuge Wuhou; at this moment, this incarnation of eternal wisdom was very low-key within the Zhuge clan.

"Sure enough, this one is really keeping a low profile and hiding."

Su Fan saw that Zhuge Wuhou's cultivation was not low; it was already at the peak of Golden Core, not yet reaching the Nascent Soul realm, but he sensed that the other party's realm was not as simple as just Golden Core. ===== CHAPTER 1218 =====