"Looking back on the past, suddenly realizing the error of his ways, he understood that no one was wiser than the Crown Prince. And Xu Fang, lacking virtue, caused the state to lose its worthy heir."
"Begging heaven for forgiveness, he laid bare his liver and gall!"
Outside the Greenstone Palace, Xu Fang did not know how quickly this matter was spreading.
After uttering those final eight words, he shifted from a prone position to kneeling.
Then he drew a dagger, tears streaming down his face, and sliced open his own body, exposing his liver, gall, and heart!
He cut open his liver and gall to prove the sincerity of his heart.
...
The once-a-year spectacle of Maple Blaze and Evening Glow was in full bloom.
Seated in the Villa at Xiashan were all the influential figures of Linzi.
Among them, Qing Xi, the head of the Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce, and Li Zhengshu, the great Confucian scholar of the Li family from Shimen, were particularly perceptive.
The beautiful scenery was like a painting, and the banquet was joyful.
But as servants from various families continuously entered to whisper in their ears, the atmosphere gradually changed.
Li Zhengshu, a man of immense self-control, actually lost his composure for a moment.
Qing Xi's cloudy old eyes suddenly blazed with a sharp light, so bright that no one could meet his gaze.
As the highest-ranking figures in the entire hall, their loss of composure was immediately noticed by everyone.
Only Chongxuan Sheng himself remained as composed as ever, talking and laughing as usual.
Xu Fang was repenting outside the Greenstone Palace.
Many could not understand the significance of this matter.
In the twenty-eighth year of Yuanfeng, which was the year 3892 of the Dao Calendar.
Xu Fang had harshly criticized Jiang Wuliang, the Crown Prince of Qi at the time, with the most malicious words being: "Holding the weight of the state, yet shoulders unable to bear a single feather. Occupying a key position in the world, yet heart unable to tolerate a single thing. If you are so devout to Buddhism, why not spend your life under a green lamp?"
Jiang Wuliang was close to Buddhism and had long been devoted to it. This was also a point that deeply displeased the Emperor of Qi.
Xu Fang's criticism was seen as the rising tide, stirring up a massive campaign of condemnation against Jiang Wuliang from both the court and the public.
After this criticism, impeachment memorials rained down from all regions.
Jiang Wuliang only managed to hold on for another year before being deposed in the twenty-ninth year of Yuanfeng.
However, today Xu Fang claimed that his words back then were all nonsense, "using twisted and shameless words to smear the noble body of a benevolent man."
He cursed himself, saying he was spouting filth.
Even when his entire family was killed, he only said, "Lightning punished my enemies, tormenting their wicked hearts," treating it as his own karmic retribution, what he deserved.
What was he trying to do?
At least on the surface, it was clear.
He wanted to use his remaining body and life to clear the name of the deposed Crown Prince!
But was that name so easy to correct?
What was the background of Jiang Wuliang's deposition?
Five years before he was deposed, a major event in the Eastern Domain had captured the world's attention.
In the twenty-fourth year of Yuanfeng of the Qi Calendar, which was the year 3888 of the Dao Calendar, a decisive battle for hegemony in the Eastern Domain broke out between Qi and Xia.
The final victor of this battle was the State of Qi, and the State of Xia was driven back to the Southern Domain, not looking northeast again for the next thirty years.
Chongxuan Chuliang also made his name in this battle, establishing his fearsome reputation as the "Bloody Slaughterer."
However, before this war began, Jiang Wuliang had been the most steadfast advocate for peace. He had taken the lead in negotiations with Xia, proposing to divide the Eastern Domain equally. His political stance was based on the internal instability of Qi at the time, advocating for recuperation and virtue before conquest. Of course, this was no longer relevant.
The current Emperor of Qi was a monarch who compared himself to Emperor Wu of Qi, determined to fight, and no one could dissuade him. Crown Prince Jiang Wuliang was the first to try to stop him, so the Emperor directly placed him under house arrest, forbidding him from speaking out. This incident at the time signaled the complete failure of the peace faction.
After the war between Qi and Xia, Qi achieved a great victory, establishing its dominance in the Eastern Domain.
The Emperor of Qi proved his martial prowess, and correspondingly, Crown Prince Jiang Wuliang proved his cowardice and incompetence.
After the war, Jiang Wuliang endured five more years as Crown Prince, until the scholar Xu Fang's scathing criticism led to widespread attacks, and then the Eastern Palace was deposed.
...
Xu Fang said he had been wrong in his criticism, that he had been deceived, which was equivalent to saying that Jiang Wuliang had been right back then. Jiang Wuliang had been ruined by conspiracy and political struggle, not by lack of talent or virtue.
Then who was wrong?
And how significant was this matter?
It could be big, and it could be small.
It was small because a mere Xu Fang could not change Jiang Wuliang's situation. It posed no threat to Jiang Wuhua's position as Crown Prince and had almost no impact on Qi's political landscape—even with Xu Fang's tragic gesture.
It was big because it indicated that perhaps a force was trying to turn the tide for Jiang Wuliang. Clearing the old accusations was likely just the first step of a test.
And Xu Fang, who had disappeared for many years, was the pawn sent to test the reactions of all parties.
To put it broadly, this could very well enrage the Emperor of Qi.
In the twenty-ninth year of Yuanfeng, Jiang Wuliang was deposed. At the same time, the Kurong Monastery, a Buddhist sect that had once been second only to the Suspended Temple in the Eastern Domain, was ordered by the Emperor to be razed to the ground.
In the thirty-fifth year of Yuanfeng, Jiang Wuliang's private resentful words against his father were revealed, and the Emperor executed seventeen officials who had pleaded on Jiang Wuliang's behalf in one breath, imprisoning Jiang Wuliang in the Greenstone Palace to live out his days there.
The Emperor's disappointment and disgust toward his eldest son were known to almost everyone.
Then where did this force trying to turn the tide for Jiang Wuliang come from?
If one looked into Xu Fang's background, with careful digging, the fact that his entire family had been driven to death eighteen years ago would naturally become clear.
For old rivals like the Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce, they naturally knew how the Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce had forced Xu Fang's entire family to their deaths back then.
In fact, Xu Fang had come to despise the Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce only after he obtained the evidence gathered by someone.
Qing Xi knew a particular detail: back then, the Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce had some dealings with Jiang Wuliang. Su She, with his extremely keen insight, had completed the break just in time before Jiang Wuliang's downfall, thus avoiding the subsequent purge.
The Treasure Gathering Chamber of Commerce taking revenge and forcing Xu Fang's entire family to their deaths could be seen as either a small or a large matter.
How small could this matter be?
Xu Fang's entire family was killed, the once-famous Xu Fang had his Dao heart shattered, his cultivation completely destroyed, and he was left destitute on the streets, living a life worse than death for eighteen years... and no one cared!
And how big could this matter be?
Xu Fang, as the vanguard in attacking Jiang Wuliang, suffered retaliation a year after Jiang Wuliang was imprisoned in the Greenstone Palace—was there any connection?
Especially since Xu Fang had disappeared for many years, and upon reappearing, he cut open his liver and gall to prove his sincerity.
If one connected all these dots, it was easy to feel as if an invisible hand was forcing Xu Fang to bow his head, using extremely cruel means to cut open his liver, gall, and heart, wanting to prove to the world—that every word Xu Fang had said back then was a lie!