Chapter 375

Once these words were spoken.

The fourth floor immediately fell into a silence so profound it felt as if the very air had frozen.

The original tranquility vanished, replaced by a deep, hollow stillness.

Yu Ke felt two gazes slowly open from behind the beaded curtain, as if piercing through the screen to land directly upon him.

He took a deep breath, steadied his nerves, and continued: "Xie Guan once had the fortune to glimpse the Immortal Realm."

An aged voice, carrying a hint of urgency and anticipation, asked slowly: "That Immortal Realm... what does it look like?"

"Are there immortals who live forever? Are there ageless immortals who ride swords across the sea of clouds?"

"Within the Moon Palace and the Toad Palace, are there truly fairies dancing gracefully?"

Yu Ke pondered for a moment, then answered calmly: "Xie Guan has never seen such things."

The aged voice suddenly faltered, murmuring to itself: "No... immortals?"

The tone revealed a trace of disappointment.

Yu Ke suddenly chuckled, "Although Xie Guan has never seen those legendary immortals, I have seen the myriad states of all living beings."

The middle-aged man's voice sounded at the right moment, carrying a hint of doubt and curiosity.

"The myriad states of all living beings?"

Yu Ke spoke slowly, his voice clear and firm:

"In this world, I see all living beings selecting the virtuous and the capable, speaking of trust and cultivating harmony. Thus, people do not only love their own kin, nor do they only cherish their own children. The elderly are cared for until the end, the strong are put to use, the young are nurtured, and the widowed, the orphaned, the solitary, and the disabled are all provided for. Men have their roles, and women have their homes."

As he spoke, his voice grew increasingly bright, piercing through the silence of the fourth floor.

"People dislike seeing goods abandoned on the ground, yet they do not necessarily hoard them for themselves; they dislike not exerting their strength, yet they do not necessarily act for their own sake. Therefore, schemes are closed off and do not arise, and theft, rebellion, and villainy do not occur."

"The common people all have their own plans, and all live for themselves."

His words rang out with resonance!

The fourth floor remained silent, as if even breathing had become faint.

The gaze from behind the beaded curtain remained fixed upon him.

Yu Ke bowed slightly, and finally said in a deep voice:

"In this Immortal Realm, the world belongs to the public, and everyone is like a dragon."

As soon as the words fell.

A heartfelt laugh rang out, carrying a hint of emotion and admiration: "Everyone is like a dragon?"

In this human world, the "dragon" is the symbol of the emperor. For everyone to be like a dragon means everyone can be an emperor, and everyone can master their own destiny.

The middle-aged man's voice revealed genuine joy, as if some expectation in his heart had been answered, his tone full of gratification: "Truly, it is an Immortal Realm."

Yu Ke naturally recognized this as the voice of the Third Master, and replied respectfully: "Xie Guan believes so as well."

The middle-aged man's voice sounded again, his tone carrying a hint of appreciation and expectation.

"Xie Guan, you are very good."

"As for the matter of the Sanzhen Sect, the Academy will vouch for you."

After a slight pause, he asked again: "Xie Guan, would you be willing to come to the Academy?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Ke was slightly startled, though in his heart he already knew from the prompt of the "Kunxu Ding" that this time should be without danger.

Yet he had not expected the Academy to invite him to join.

It counted as an unexpected joy!

The Third Master seemed to see through his hesitation, smiled slightly, and said in a gentle and firm tone: "You need not worry; the Daqing imperial court will not make things difficult for you."

"The matter of the Sanzhen Sect will never be mentioned by anyone again from this day forward; let it be put to rest."

"Go down now."

Yu Ke nodded slowly; if the Third Master could say this in front of Su Xiang, there would naturally be no problem.

With a respectful expression, he bowed to the Third Master, not forgetting Su Xiang either.

He then turned and exited the fourth floor.

Xie Guan's back gradually receded, eventually disappearing around the corner of the stairs.

Following Yu Ke's departure, the fourth floor fell back into silence.

A moment later!

The Third Master chuckled, breaking the silence: "Wuxin, you seem not very happy?

"Could it be that you are truly disappointed by this 'Immortal Realm'?"

The old man opposite shook his head slowly, his expression carrying a hint of melancholy.

"I wouldn't call it disappointment, it's just... this is not the Immortal Realm in my heart."

The old man changed the subject, teasing, "You took Xie Guan into the Academy, could it be you also want to take on a disciple on behalf of your master?"

The Third Master sighed softly, his tone carrying a hint of helplessness and heaviness: "The lineage of the Academy has long since rotted in the human world. Xie Guan is a clean and innocent person; I cannot bear to see him tainted by the karma of this lineage. I only want to give him a clean place to read and cultivate, at least... while I am still in this world."

After he finished speaking, his gaze slowly turned toward Su Jing, his eyes seemingly holding deep meaning.

Upon hearing this, Su Jing smiled slightly, his expression indifferent: "Yu Shixiong, don't think of me as too evil."

"A young man like Xie Guan, even just looking at him now, makes one feel like a clear breeze after rain, bringing joy to the heart. It's just that..."

He paused, his tone growing colder, "As long as he doesn't block my path, we shall be at peace. I walk my single-plank bridge, and the people of the world walk their own grand avenues; we have nothing to do with each other."

The Third Master frowned slightly, his tone carrying a hint of worry: "However, your path... is perhaps too extreme. If you alone attain the Dao, the world will likely fall into a thousand years of chaos once again."

Su Jing, however, did not care at all, a cold smile curling the corner of his mouth as he said indifferently: "After I die, let the floods come."

"I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me."

Su Jing's voice was cold and sharp, "I, Su Jing, am not Lu Chen of Sanzhen. The path to ascension is right beneath my feet; why should I not walk it? For the sake of this so-called world, what good is a thousand years of fame? In the end, it is nothing but a pile of withered bones. I actually hope the people of the world are all such 'righteous' fellows; it would just happen to clear a path for me."

The Third Master sighed long and hard, a look of sorrow appearing on his face, his eyes full of pain: "Wuxin, when did you become like this?"

Su Jing smiled coldly, his eyes showing no fluctuation, his tone carrying a hint of mockery and self-deprecation: "Yu Shixiong, I have been like this since I was a child."

"I am different from you—Second Yu Shixiong was born to cultivate the Dao, and you were born standing on a treasure mountain, surrounded by splendor."

"And what about me? I was nothing but the son of a charcoal seller in a squalid alley."

"Everything I possess today, I fought for with my life. You don't understand, and you never will."

The old man's expression remained unchanged, but his tone grew more agitated.

This was a scene never before seen in the Su family or even in the imperial court.

The dignified Su Xiang of Daqing would actually reveal such an expression.

"I'm sorry, Yu Shixiong."

The fourth floor fell into silence once again.

The Third Master lowered his head to gaze at the paper in his hand, on which was written: "The immortal strokes my crown, I bind my hair to receive eternal life."

The tone revealed between the lines was deep and distant; the more one read it, the more one felt the grandeur of its artistic conception, as if it transcended the mortal world, not like the writing of a human.

He couldn't help but think of the "Immortal Realm" described by the youth just now, his heart lost in thought.

Seeing this, Su Jing chuckled, his tone carrying a hint of understanding:

"I know what Yu Shixiong is thinking. You are wondering why I would let Xie Guan go."

He paused, his gaze slightly cold, and continued:

"The Jingshen Array built by the Master of Bianjing just now attracted the so-called 'Immortal Descending to the Mortal World.' At today's Qunfang Banquet, the most brilliant one is this Xie Guan."

The Third Master remained silent, only frowning slightly, as if deep in thought.

Su Jing did not mind, continuing: "However, hearing Xie Guan talk about the 'Immortal Realm' just now, I knew it wasn't him."

"He was merely influenced by the Master's learning, bound by that principle of 'drawing a circle on the ground as a prison'."

His tone carried a hint of mockery, his voice growing colder: "The Master set up cage after cage for Daqing, binding the people of the world tightly with the shackles of etiquette and morality."

"The people of the world today are like livestock with collars around their necks, having long forgotten what freedom is."

The Third Master's expression was indifferent, seemingly unbothered by Su Jing's words.

He recalled Xie Guan's interpretation of benevolent people and righteous scholars, a ripple stirring in his heart: "Without good or evil, the substance of the heart; with good and evil, the movement of the intent. Knowing good and evil is conscience; doing good and removing evil is the investigation of things."

However!

Su Jing's way of viewing the world was completely different. He examined all things in the world from the perspective of utility, viewing the people of the world as chess pieces on a board, believing that those who achieve great things must know how to make trade-offs. The "Three-Four Dispute" of that year was rooted in the fundamental divergence of their learning.

Back then, when Su Jing was studying at the Academy, he once presented the "Thirteen Strategies for Great Peace" to the Master.

This strategy condensed his thoughts on pacifying the nation, one of which was "supporting war through war," advocating for the division of people into nine ranks through strict rules to maintain order.

However, these claims were too radical and were ultimately rejected by the Master.

Su Jing championed "utilitarian learning," believing that useless things should be discarded.

In his view, all people, things, and events in the world could be used for his purposes.

He pursued results without questioning the process, even believing that arriving at a correct answer through incorrect methods was not unacceptable.

In contrast, the Third Master advocated for education, arguing for benefiting the common people with Confucian etiquette and morality, hoping to change hearts and minds through subtle influence, so that the hearts of the world would move upward.

The learning of the two masters was poles apart, and the debates within the Academy grew increasingly intense because of this.

The disciples of both sides held their own views, arguing endlessly, and the chasm between the Third Master and the Fourth Master deepened day by day.

The four masters of the Academy were originally close friends.

But!

The dispute over the path of learning ultimately stood between them.

The Second Master supported the Third Master, and the First Master acted as a mediator.

Finally!

The First Master left Daqing in a fit of pique, and the Second Master was bedridden with a serious illness.

The Third and Fourth Masters parted ways, one trapped in the Academy, the other entering the imperial court.

Of course, this was merely speculation from outside the Academy.

The old man suddenly mentioned something, his tone carrying a hint of heaviness:

"How is Second Yu Shixiong doing lately? The Master's corpse... if a person lives too long, they become like a god or demon, which is truly terrifying."

"Two hundred years ago, the four of us joined forces to kill the Master, but we were almost wiped out."

Once these words were spoken, Su Jing revealed a secret that could shock the world—the four masters of the Academy had once joined forces to kill the Master.

Two hundred years ago, the Master did not go to the East Sea to seek immortality, but was killed by the four of them joining forces.

The reason the four masters of the Academy ended up like this was ultimately because of that turmoil.

The Third Master nodded, his expression solemn: "If you have time, go see Second Yu Shixiong. His days... are numbered."

He paused, his voice low, "The Master's corpse is truly bizarre. If Second Yu Shixiong were not suppressing it with his life, every Mid-Autumn Festival, the corpse would actually revive on its own, regrowing limbs. Second Yu Shixiong has become nearly insane from suppressing the Master's physical body; I fear... he cannot last a few more years."

The Third Master looked at Su Jing and said, "Wuxin, and don't you dare set your sights on the Master's corpse."

Su Jing said helplessly, "Yu Shixiong, why are you guarding against me?"

"The Master didn't die back then; he just shed his skin like a cicada, his soul traveling far away."

"Leaving behind only a physical body, the Master may have already cultivated to a realm above the Ninth Grade of Martial Arts."

He paused, his voice growing colder, carrying a hint of solemnity: "This physical body cannot be destroyed by fire, does not rot with time, and even if destroyed, it will regrow, and can even spontaneously generate spiritual sense. Such an existence is almost no different from a god or demon. The four of us joined forces back then, but we couldn't truly kill the Master. He will return sooner or later, and his methods... you know them. When that time comes, I fear we will wish we were dead. Yu Shixiong, why not join forces with me and plot a way to survive?"

The Third Master shook his head, his expression calm, "A disciple killing their master is a great sin to begin with. If that day truly comes, dying as I should is fine. I have no regrets."

Su Jing shook his head and laughed, his tone carrying a hint of mockery and helplessness: "No regrets? I, Su Jing, cannot do that."

"The Master taught the four of us, seemingly selflessly, but in reality, he harbored selfish motives."

"He always thought the four of us were people of destiny, wanting to steal our fortune to ascend."

"If we talk about who in this world is most eager to ascend, the Master is number one."

"He is like a wandering ghost, drifting in the world for over a thousand years. The so-called immortality, for him, is nothing but a prison."

He paused, his voice growing colder: "Besides, immortality is not about not dying, but about not aging. But how could an immortal not age?"

"The Master is a 'corpse-shedding immortal' and has already shed his shell five times. According to our calculations, he only has one last chance. If he fails to ascend this time, he will never be able to escape, forever trapped here."

The Third Master remained silent.

He had long known that primordial spirit cultivators who reach the Yang Spirit realm can live for two hundred years, but face a tribulation every ten years, and only by shedding their corpse can they extend their lives.

Su Jing asked leisurely: "Yu Shixiong, back then the four of us joined forces to kill the Master; First Yu Shixiong gained freedom, Second Yu Shixiong gained that sword, and I gained the Master's corpse-shedding method."

As he spoke, he looked directly at the Third Master, his gaze like a torch, "But even now, I still don't know, Yu Shixiong, what... exactly did you gain?"

On the fourth floor, the air instantly froze.

This was also the reason why Su Jing had long harbored wariness toward the Third Master.

The Third Master remained silent, his face hidden in the shadows where the lamplight was dim.

"What I gained, you will naturally know on the day you pass away, Junior Brother."

Upon hearing this, Su Jing merely smiled.

"The four of us agreed that the Master's corpse energy has already affected Daqing for over a thousand years; First Yu Shixiong went far away to Great Sui to prevent the Master from resurrecting in Great Sui."

"Second Yu Shixiong guards the Master's physical body."

"Yu Shixiong, you suppress the Academy, and I guard Daqing."

The Master's corpse-shedding is about to disperse the corpse energy into his descendants and those connected to his karma.

All things in the world have their price; there is no gain without cause.

Every drink and every peck is predestined; the karma of the world all has its retribution, without the slightest error.

(End of chapter)