Chapter 553: Between Goose and Wood, the Noble Man Conceals His Tools Within Himself—Xie Hong

Xie Yuan rose from his chair, glanced left and right, then lowered his head again, his nose nearly touching the spread-out map, eyes wide open.

The demons in Zehu are numerous; even combined, the military forces of Jiannan Circuit and the Demon-Slaying Bureau cannot resist them.

Demons inherently hold an invincible position; emerging from the five waterways, they plunder like autumn winds, sweeping downstream to ravage other states and circuits.

It is said that after the Second Master, generations of Zehu lords wasted a century, ordering their demons to move mountains as barriers and forge iron walls.

Today, Zehu is impregnable, especially since a transcendent "Demon Master" emerged two centuries ago, far surpassing all predecessors.

Among them are the notorious great demons, seated on the nine thrones of the Dragon Palace, whose power has grown even stronger than a century ago.

Zhang Yunzhi looked at you with keen interest.

"Now, under Zehu's Demon-Slaying Bureau, there are fully nine hundred Captains, all skilled warriors of the middle three realms, one from the upper three realms stationed there, and a Divine Concealment of the Primordial Spirit Eighth Realm."

"Such a force is more than sufficient compared to any state's Demon-Slaying Bureau, yet it remains inadequate against Zehu."

One great demon can match an upper-three-realm warrior; Zehu has more than one great demon.

"But they cannot be mobilized—they answer only to the Military Governor's tent."

Her father serves as the Zehu Commander of the Demon-Slaying Bureau.

Xie Yuan sat back down and sighed deeply.

"It's hopeless! How can we fight? Unless the Second Master makes another journey to Zehu."

But that is impossible—the Second Master is now gravely ill in bed.

There is only one Second Master in the world.

There are heroic swordsmen who slay demons, yet all have perished at demon hands, their corpses sinking to the bottom of Zehu's waters.

You stared at the five waterways on the map, flowing eastward toward Jiannan and Longnan, your eyes filled with thought.

After a moment of contemplation, you finally shook your head, turning to Zhang Yunzhi with an apologetic tone: "I'm sorry—I've thought long and hard, but I still have no strategy to break the demons."

Zhang Yunzhi had expected this, yet she still held a faint, inexplicable hope for this youth who had foreseen the western campaign without leaving his courtyard.

Yes, this is Zehu—a demon nest that has denied peace to hundreds of thousands in Jiannan for a century.

The nine lords of the Dragon Palace are demons whose names strike terror across the land.

My father has spent years in Zehu, originally full of ambition to exterminate all demons, yet in the end, he could only sigh before Zehu.

No matter how hard my father's Demon-Slaying Bureau twists and turns, it remains a case of "a clever housewife cannot cook without rice."

And you—a youth yet to reach adulthood—how could you possibly unravel this tangle?

You were being naive.

Zhang Yunzhi collected her thoughts, her face returning to its usual composure.

You smiled slightly and said: "Actually, Miss Zhi, what you seek is not a total defeat of Zehu's demons, is it?"

Xie Yuan turned his head—he knew well that his cousin's father, his own uncle, was the Zehu Commander of the Demon-Slaying Bureau.

Zhang Yunzhi no longer concealed it; she had never intended to withhold anything from Xie Guan on this matter.

All she wanted was for her father to return to Bianjing and reunite with her mother.

As for her father's burning ambition to crush Zehu and slay every demon, she wished he would avoid such a risk.

Xie Yuan listened to his fourth cousin's words and sighed—her uncle had not spent a New Year's Eve with his family in four or five years.

Her father, Zhang Guangzu, had long advocated pacifying the demon uprisings within the realm and resolving the famines and plagues across thirteen states, prioritizing the people's welfare before considering war with Da Qi—this stance clashed with Su Xiang's, earning him court hostility and his transfer to Zehu as Commander.

You had already decided your course of action regarding this matter.

1. Offer no advice. (Hint: May negatively affect the future.)

2. Advise Zhang Guangzu to ambush demons outside Zehu. (Hint: May cause loss of a noble ally.)

3. Advise Zhang Guangzu to enter Zehu with only one trusted attendant. (Hint: May generate future assistance.)

4. Advise Zhang Guangzu to make no deployment. (Hint: May lose a noble ally.)

5. Participate personally. (0/3)

The great ding's aura grew increasingly ancient and weighty; the pale-blue characters slowly stabilized.

Yu Ke stared at the three options, lost in thought.

From the hints, there was no real dilemma.

Only option three promised potential future assistance.

The others all carried warnings of "adverse effects" or "loss of a noble ally"—easily discarded.

Yu Ke's peculiar point was this:

The world he now inhabited differed markedly from his first life before reincarnation.

In the Nine Realms of Martial Cultivation, upper-three-realm warriors could actually battle "great demons"—what manner of beings were these great demons?

Primordial Spirit cultivation was even stranger: even in the lower realms, one could send their Primordial Spirit out of the body—an extraordinary feat rare even in his own world.

In Yu Ke's world, only those who reached the Great True Person realm could live as long as the Master's legendary seven hundred years.

Through generations of the Yu family, only the founding ancestor had attained this realm.

Remember this:

In the Great Zhou Divine Dynasty, families possessing two living Great True Persons—like Wang Yunxi's Langya Wang Clan—were already renowned great houses of the realm.

Only families with a Great True Person among their ancestors were regarded as "humble clans" by the outer disciples of the Shenzhao Sect.

Recalling his first life as Lu Chen, he had cultivated martial arts, where the Heavenly Person realm was the pinnacle of humanity.

Lu Chen's Heavenly Person realm, in Yu Ke's view, was equivalent to the completion of the Second Rung of this world's ladder.

At the moment of his ascension, Lu Chen may have glimpsed the Third Rung.

The "Refining the Heavenly Calamity Palm" he created became the Foundation Establishment method Yu Ke chose after completing the Second Rung.

"Refining the Heavenly Calamity Palm" would become his first "Dao Art."

Yet compared to this!

"Xie Guan" in this life pursued martial and Primordial Spirit cultivation far more profoundly.

Yu Ke realized: the world was still the same, but after spiritual energy's resurgence, cultivation had evolved.

Thus, the realm Xie Guan could reach in this life would far surpass Lu Chen's.

He glanced at the great ding before him, radiating ancient, primordial aura.

"A Ding, evolved again?"

"Now, Kunxu World 2. , activate!"

Yu Ke made his choice.

3. Advise Zhang Guangzu to enter Zehu with only one trusted attendant. (Hint: May generate future assistance.)

Zhang Yunzhi had already rolled up the Zehu terrain map; she would need to carefully compose her letter to her father.

You smiled: "I have a story to tell you, Miss Zhi."

You rose, picked up a brush, and wrote three lines on the paper laid on the stone table.

Xie Yuan stepped closer to read.

"Between goose and wood."

"Transformation of dragon and snake."

"Without entering the dragon's pool, how can one gain its merit?"

Xie Yuan did not understand the meaning, but he thought his brother Guan's running script had grown even more exquisite in just these few days.

In the afternoon, the sky was clear, rare sunshine bathed the courtyard.

Bianjing's winter arrived unusually late this year; last season, several light snowfalls had already bent the branches.

Half a month ago, the wutong trees in the courtyard had shed nearly all their leaves; the gardener had carefully collected a few golden ones to press between books.

Dressed in a clean white robe, you stood before the wutong tree and spoke: "In the Master's Mountain Traveling Chapter, there is a tale."

"The Master once traveled with his disciples and encountered a woodcutter resting beneath a lush, flourishing tree—yet the tree had not been cut down."

"The Master asked why. The woodcutter replied: 'This tree's grain is poor, useless.' The Master told his disciples: 'Precisely because it is useless, it has lived out its full life.'"

"After leaving the mountains, the Master stayed overnight at a friend's home. The host, delighted, ordered a servant to kill a goose to entertain the Master."

"The servant asked: 'One goose is vocal, the other silent—whom should we kill?' The host answered: 'Kill the silent one.'"

"The next day, a disciple asked the Master: 'Yesterday, the great tree survived because it was useless; today, the goose died because it was useless. How should the Master himself conduct himself?'"

Here, you paused slightly, smiling at the two.

The entertainers around them mostly practiced arts of pleasing others, skilled in tricks and frivolities, yet few had truly read books.

Only Xie Houer, Xie Yuan's most trusted attendant, wore a thoughtful expression.

Xie Yuan laughed: "Brother Guan, I know well—the Master told his disciples he would stand between usefulness and uselessness."

"That is the origin of the 'goose and wood' anecdote."

You nodded gently, looking at Zhang Yunzhi as if not speaking to her directly.

"A tree towering above the forest invites the wind's destruction; a man above the crowd invites criticism. Wood survives because it is useless; the goose dies because it is useless."

"Before the time comes, one must be like a fallen snake, crouching in the grass, mingling with ants, dwelling in muddy holes, eating filth, merely to survive."

"But when the time arrives, one ascends to become a dragon, soaring ten thousand miles, summoning wind and rain, swallowing clouds and exhaling mist, pouring down sweet dew, displaying one's full talent."

"Thus, the noble man must conceal his tools within himself, dwelling between goose and wood, awaiting the moment to transform into dragon or snake."

Xie Houer stood quietly beside, bowing slightly, his face expressionless, yet his heart remained unsettled. He thought silently: being born humble is no shame; the true man knows when to bend and when to rise—wasn't this precisely why he, Xie Houer, sold into servitude as a performer, yet refused to accept his fate?

Xie Yuan, meanwhile, listened with head nodding, finding the words intriguing. Born into wealth, raised in silk and jade, he had never known the bitterness of unfulfilled ambition, and thus could not truly feel it.

"Master Zhang has served in Zehu for years—he must know: can one man truly move Zehu?"

You gazed toward the courtyard's sky and smiled: "The winds of the world do not blow beyond Da Qi—in Bianjing, within this court."

Zhang Yunzhi slowly raised her head, a glimmer of light in her eyes. She understood: if her father wished to fulfill his ambition, he must return to Bianjing. Otherwise, all was mere talk.

She looked down at the two lines of text on the paper, and the final line: "Who does not enter the dragon's lair shall never gain its merit," and her heart stirred with ripples. She turned to you and asked:

"How do you interpret this final line, Master Guan?"

"Master Zhang, to return to Bianjing, one must earn merit. Who does not enter the tiger's den shall never catch its cub; who does not enter the dragon's lair shall never gain its merit."

"All you need is one personal guard, walking openly into Ze Lake, and you win a merit worthy of returning to the capital."

Zhang Yunzhi frowned, her face filled with concern: "Enter Ze Lake alone?"

You smiled and said: "Master Zhang, you are caught between the goose and the wood—Ze Lake is no different."

"Ze Lake lies between Da Qi and Da Sui. Neither side dares offend it, nor wishes to. Ze Lake cannot be too weak, or it becomes useless as a pawn; nor can it be too strong, or it invites the cleaver."

Who weighs more: a Chief of the Sword South Dao's Demon-Slaying Bureau, or the entirety of Ze Lake?

Zhang Yunzhi pondered the plan, torn inside—she simply could not let her father risk himself.

She was about to speak.

At that moment!

You turned toward the courtyard gate, where a group stood outside, seemingly reluctant to enter.

A young servant in blue robes called from outside: "Master Guan, are you in?"

Followed by a delighted woman's voice.

"Sister Yunzhi, why are you here with Xie Yuan?"

Inside the courtyard, Xie Yuan and all the entertainers and servants turned to look.

There stood a girl at the gate.

She appeared thirteen or fourteen, dressed in a red embroidered jacket, her frame slight, shorter than Zhang Yunzhi. On her wrist glowed a consecrated green jade bracelet, highlighting her fingers, white as fine fat.

Two braids tied atop her head, her features lovely and sweet—but now her eyes held surprise.

The visitor was Xie Qi Yue, the youngest daughter of Xie Hong from the Second Courtyard.

Xie Yuan was puzzled: why had she come here today?

Xie Qi Yue had not intended to enter the small courtyard, but seeing two friends, she hurried over joyfully, followed by four or five maids.

Zhang Yunzhi, curious, asked: "Qi Yue, what brings you here?"

Xie Qi Yue stepped in and said: "Father asked me to invite… him."

She realized she couldn't bring herself to say "cousin," so she pointed at you with her finger.

She refused to acknowledge Xie Guan as her cousin.

Xie Yuan, upon hearing this, gasped: "Uncle Mingshan wants to see Master Guan!"

(End of Chapter)