Star Observation Tower, Eight Trigrams Platform.
The Chief Astronomer, clad in white robes with matching white hair and beard, sat at his desk, pinching a cup of wine between his fingers as he gazed silently toward the northwest of the capital.
To his left sat another desk, laden with an array of delicious dishes. Before it sat Chu Caiwei, her face as smooth as a goose egg, her eyes large and delicate, her features exquisite with a hint of sweetness hidden beneath. She ate and chattered incessantly, her words tumbling out between bites.
"Master, when will I reach the sixth rank and become an alchemist?" she asked.
The Chief Astronomer replied with a smile, "The moment you stop worrying about food and focus on cultivation, that time will come."
Chu Caiwei looked troubled. "Then it will never happen in my lifetime."
She swallowed her food and continued to chatter. "By the way, that fake silver burns easily and explodes when dropped in water. It can't be stored at all. How am I supposed to report back to the Emperor?"
The Chief Astronomer said softly, "That old fool is just bored. Tell him to get lost."
Chu Caiwei stuck out her small tongue. "I wouldn't dare say that. You go tell him yourself."
The Chief Astronomer's smile remained gentle.
"Master, Fourth Brother is almost obsessed. You should do something. He's always running outside the city, saying the gate to the secrets of alchemy has opened for him."
"....."
"Master, I think Xu Qian, that little thief, is pretty good. Can't we recruit him into the Directorate of Celestials? Oh, you don't know who he is. He's the one who solved the tax silver case..."
"...."
"Master, what is grafting?"
The Chief Astronomer sighed. "Caiwei."
"Yes, Master?"
"Can't you just eat without talking?"
"Oh."
A few seconds later...
"Master, why do you keep looking over there?"
"Caiwei, Master is feeling a bit regretful."
"What do you mean, Master?"
"I just wish I knew the Confucian art of silence."
"Hehe...." The smug expression on Chu Caiwei's face had just appeared when she suddenly noticed the food on her desk had spoiled in an instant, emitting a foul, sour odor.
Her small mouth drooped, tears welling in her eyes, her heart aching as if she couldn't breathe. "Master, I was wrong. Please change it back."
The Chief Astronomer continued to gaze northwest, chuckling. "Master will teach you another principle: in the realm of alchemy, most transformations are irreversible."
Chu Caiwei wiped her tears, crying as she walked away. "I'll never come to keep you company again, you old man."
...
In the elegant pavilion by the bamboo grove, Dean Zhao Shou spoke in a solemn voice. "No one is to approach within thirty zhang of this place."
As he spoke, he waved his sleeve, and a surge of pure energy expanded, enveloping a thirty-zhang radius around the pavilion.
Once finished, he turned to look at the three great scholars who had been summoned.
Li Mubai held a teacup, his expression serious. "I've made inquiries. No students were near the Second Sage's Hall at the time, and we have no way of knowing who entered."
"The inscription on the stone tablet does not belong to any student of the academy. The writing is so ugly, I refuse to believe it came from our institution."
At this, Li Mubai felt a twinge of guilt. If it wasn't a student, and they were in the academy today, who else could it be but that cheap apprentice?
"Knock, knock..."
At that moment, Zhang Shen tapped the table. This great scholar had shed all his playfulness, his face expressionless as he refuted his dear friend.
"Handwriting can be forged. Ugly handwriting even more so."
Chen Tai suddenly asked, "Then what reason would there be for forging it? That tablet has been standing there for over a decade. Every student and teacher in the academy has tried their hand—everyone would be happy to be the hero. There's no reason to disguise one's writing."
"Moreover, Xu Cijiu and Xu Ningyan happened to be touring the mountain at that time."
The three great scholars fell silent for a long while after their discussion.
Li Mubai took a sip of his tea and sighed. "'To establish the heart of Heaven and Earth, to secure the destiny of the living people, to carry on the lost teachings of sages past, and to bring peace to all generations yet to come'..."
"I am ashamed. I gave up my official aspirations years ago, focusing only on leaving a lasting legacy—my name etched in the annals of history."
"Pure Jing, your noble spirit is admirable." Zhang Shen gave a thumbs-up in praise, then added, "Leave the 'Poem of Exhortation to Study' to me for guidance."
Li Mubai immediately changed his tune. "Serving the country and the people does not contradict leaving one's name in history."
Dean Zhao Shou was taken aback, his eyes gleaming with clear light as he stared at Li Mubai. "You are on the verge of fulfilling your destiny?!"
"!!!" Chen Tai and Zhang Shen were shaken.
Li Mubai stroked his beard with a smile. "A sudden epiphany—the path is clear."
The other two great scholars instantly felt a pang of envy.
After Dean Zhao Shou's insight, they both sensed the subtle change in Li Mubai's aura.
The third rank, Destiny Fulfillment, was a realm of finding one's purpose. Some studied for fame, some for profit, some for the benefit of future generations... each person had their own path.
Dean Zhao Shou's path was to create a new school of Confucianism, to break the intellectual bondage for countless scholars across the world, and to forge a new way forward.
Thus, as long as he did not achieve this goal, he could not break through to the second rank.
The others did not ask Li Mubai about his life's purpose, for at this moment, he himself was still in a hazy state.
Zhang Shen and Chen Tai exchanged a glance, silently vowing that from today they would meditate in the Second Sage's Hall until they found their own enlightenment, and not come out.
"From this day forward, the Second Sage's Hall is off-limits to students." Dean Zhao Shou's eyes, radiating inner brilliance, swept over the assembled scholars. "This matter is not to be shared. I will bind you three with a solemn oath."
The three great scholars looked at one another and nodded slightly.
Dean Zhao Shou gathered his qi into his dantian, focusing his power at the tip of his tongue. "A gentleman must keep his counsel threefold."
...
Two riders galloped swiftly. As they neared the capital, the brothers slowed their horses to a trot.
They had rented inferior mounts, only slightly better than old nags. The advantage was their low price; the disadvantage was their poor stamina.
They couldn't maintain high speed for long.
If the horses died, they'd have to pay more than ten taels of silver. Both brothers were well aware of the state of their wallets.
Xu Xinnian let out a breath of stale air and finally asked the question that had been bothering him. "Shouldn't Big Brother explain himself?"
He was referring to that earth-shattering maxim.
"What do you want me to explain?" Xu Qian countered.
"Big Brother is only educated at the primary level. How could he utter words that shake the earth and make ghosts weep?" Xu Xinnian raised his chin with pride. "Those are words only a true scholar can speak."
Look how smug you are... All learning is low, only the scholar's art is high, right?... Well, I've got nine years of compulsory education plus police academy under my belt... And I'm a veteran keyboard warrior, steeped in keyboard culture, knowing a little about everything... If we're really comparing knowledge reserves, you scholars are just little brothers in front of me!
Xu Qian desperately wanted to spit out that retort.
He pondered for a moment and rephrased. "Cijiu also feels that the current Confucian philosophy has some problems. But when I ask you what a scholar should do, your answer still conforms to the standards of the times."
This sentence plunged Xu Xinnian into deep thought.
"This is intellectual bondage. You scholars are nurtured by a certain way of thinking, and over time, you become its shape. Even if you realize something is wrong, it's hard to break free." Xu Qian spoke eloquently. "We can put it another way: imprisonment of thought."
"Imprisonment of thought..." Xu Cijiu murmured, repeating the four words.
"The Dean of White Deer Academy is also trapped in intellectual bondage, influenced by Cheng Hui's teachings. He wants to break through, to find a new school of thought, but he's inside the vortex himself. How can he lead the world's scholars out of it?"
"The only ones who can truly do that are those outside the vortex."
"Perhaps it's precisely because I, your big brother, haven't read many books that I can take an unconventional path, think outside the box, and remain unaffected by the bondage of Cheng Hui's Neo-Confucianism."
Of course, I have my own intellectual bondage—the bondage of the 21st century. It's just that no one has given me a wake-up call yet... Xu Qian said to himself.
Intellectual bondage, in plain terms, was one's worldview. And worldviews were shaped by the era you lived in. Within that era, influenced by it, you wouldn't see anything wrong. Only with the distance of time could you gain a high vantage point and spot the problems.
Xu Cijiu was silent for a long time, lost in thought, beginning his investigation into the nature of things. After the time it takes an incense stick to burn, he looked at Xu Qian, his eyes bright with spirit.
"Big Brother's words have opened my eyes."
Big Brother is truly amazing.
His comprehension is remarkable... Xu Qian made this assessment internally, but on the surface he remained nonchalant, even showing a mocking expression.
"Too bad you didn't inherit the superior genes of the Xu family. You got the Li genes instead."
Big Brother is so annoying... Xu Cijiu suddenly didn't want to talk to him anymore.
If Mother heard this, she would slam the table in anger and curse: That little brat is destined to clash with me!