That nameless, un-surnamed youth, picked up by the teacher, who didn't even care about having a name.

He actually acknowledged the name 'Yuan'.

This greatly surprised the senior disciples who were following the Master.

However, this created another rather awkward situation. A senior disciple named Yan You also had a son named Yuan, or rather, named Hui—Yan Hui, styled Ziyuan. The given name didn't matter, but the style name Ziyuan was somewhat problematic.

In Zilu's opinion, the two characters, at a glance, gave a strange feeling.

Ziyuan.

Did you want to acknowledge him as your father, or acknowledge him as someone else's father?

Because that youth stubbornly insisted and even planned to directly reduce Yan You's food allowance.

Adding to this was the strong support of the eldest senior brother, Zilu.

And so, under his father's submission, the youngest junior brother went from Yan Ziyuan back to Yan Yuan.

Basically, the character "Zi" was removed.

He became the person with the strangest style name within Confucius's school. Zilu, Ziyou, Zigong, Ziyu, and then there's Yuan mixed in.

Later, there was a new problem, because the Master realized that he actually had two Yuans among his disciples. Sometimes, wanting to be affectionate, he'd call out "Yuan," and as a result, one, upright as bamboo on South Mountain, and the other, gentle and mellow as a gentleman, would both turn around, sometimes leaving the Master caught off guard, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

For example, if he wanted to call the South Mountain bamboo back to teach, the one who returned would be the gentle, kind, respectful, frugal, and yielding Yuan.

If he wanted Yan Yuan to return, the one who came back would be straight and unmatched, with the potential to pierce through rhinoceros armor, Yuan.

The questions he had prepared to ask would never come out of his mouth.

The Master had to look up to the sky and sigh in vain.

In the end, helplessly, he had to call his most promising disciple by his given name, Hui.

Directly calling the given name, rather than the style name, which would have seemed more intimate.

Generally speaking, teachers, relatives, and even friends would address each other by their style name. The Master addressed Zilu, Zigong, and Zhong You by their style names, but only his most promising disciple, Yan Yuan, was called by his given name.

'Others cannot bear its hardship, but Hui does not change his joy.'

'Hui, for three months his heart does not depart from benevolence.'

'Worthy is Hui!'

In any era, this was basically equivalent to your parents directly calling you by your full name when they praised you harshly, in a tone that suggested they were planning to beat you up, which was very strange.

Why?

After all, one day, the headstrong disciple number one, Zilu, patted the shoulder of the headstrong disciple number two, Yuan, and said with emotion, "The teacher actually said that you have the virtues of gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and yieldingness, really, the old fogey is confused, Junior Brother."

Yuan pondered, "Have I actually achieved what the teacher hoped for?"

Zilu nodded, "So, today, let's eat something good to celebrate."

"You cook, I'll go buy some wine."

The Master: "…………"

Heart attack.

After much deliberation, he decided it was better to differentiate them.

Headstrong was Yuan, gentle was Hui.

……………………

After that, the little girl, along with the Queen Mother of the West and the divine generals, traveled east with the Master's carriage. Of course, the divine general named Qin Zhang had been completely drawn into the ranks of the Master's disciples. His name was not recorded in official books, but only mentioned in the *Family Sayings of Confucius*.

Later, Mencius sighed: "Qin Zhang, Zeng Xi, and Mu Pi were what Confucius called 'the madmen'."

Meaning, even Master Zilu only thought they had courage.

But Qin Zhang, even the Master thought, this kid is crazy enough.

After following the Master, he seemed to have become mad, but without overstepping the bounds. Although he was mad to death, he still conformed to the rules of propriety. Although he conformed to the rules of propriety, he was indeed mad... Later, even Lu Wu felt that this kid had completely changed after going down the mountain and returning. All the close combat, ranged attack, and rapid movement skills were maxed out.

It was obvious that he was too crazy, but he still conformed to the rules of the gods.

During this period, the Master of the human world and the Divine Lord of Kunlun often had the following questions and answers.

"King Wen derived the *Book of Changes*, which is the learning of sages."

"The Master wrote the *Ten Wings*, interpreting the *Book of Changes*, making the learning of sages accessible even to ordinary people."

"Is this also in accordance with propriety?"

The old man casually replied, "How can it be called the learning of sages if it cannot be used by the people of the world?"

"Is it not because it benefits the world that it is the learning of sages?"

"The sun is called the Great Sun because everyone can see it."

The Queen Mother of the West was silent and asked, "What is the meaning of the *Ten Wings*?"

The old man smiled and replied, "Wings are for clinging."

"Oh? Is that so?"

The dignified woman said with interest, "I thought the Master named them the *Ten Wings* because they were the meaning of wings, so that the people on the ground could also fly up and come into contact with the innate Eight Trigrams of the learning of sages."

The Master vaguely muddled through the matter.

The *Book of Changes* plus the *Ten Wings* is the *Classic* and the *Commentary*.

The Master compiled and wrote it, which is the *Zhou Yi*.

The original Eight Trigrams was a theory high in the sky. After the old man turned fifty and understood the Mandate of Heaven, he felt it was too high and not down-to-earth, so he forcibly pulled it down to the height of a house. After climbing onto the house, there were still higher places waiting to be climbed, but at least it was possible to enter the door.

To this end, the Master even thoughtfully lowered a 'rope ladder' and made good protections.

So that later generations can enter this door.

But even so, Yuan still couldn't learn it.

Couldn't learn it was couldn't learn it.

The Master was also helpless.

But it wasn't just him. Even the divine general Qin Zhang couldn't stand the subject of rites. The *Zhou Li* (Rites of Zhou) was the textbook, but when the Master taught, he didn't just ask you to memorize the rites of the Zhou Dynasty. He would ask about the things hidden behind these rites, including but not limited to people's livelihood, laws, politics, military strategies, and systems.

By the way, he would also ask you to reflect and think about what was lacking in this era.

Because the Master didn't pay so much attention to the surface of rites.

He cared more about the meaning behind the rites, that is, why there should be such rites.

In the Master's theory, there was the saying of 'acting according to the times'—the times would change, and gentlemen must change with the changes of the times. The rites of the past may not be in line with the world now, but the meaning contained in the rites is the same.

There would be a disciple's final exam to write a thesis.

It was probably like this: the Master tells you that this is a pen and this is ink.

You think it's very simple, so you doze off.

You look up.

As a result, the Master has already finished explaining the drawing process of *A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains*.

Divine General Qin Zhang: "…………"

It was outrageous.

Later, scholars collected the exam answers of these Confucian disciples, compiled and sorted them out, and became the *Book of Rites*, involving a series of things such as enfeoffment of states, titles and salaries, official positions, sacrifices, funerals, hunting tours, criminal law, and people's livelihood. In fact, it could probably be named—

*A Collection of Confucian Disciples' Exam Papers*.

A Confucian version of *Five-Year College Entrance Examination, Three-Year Simulation*.

Yan Yuan was often at the top of the list, while Iron Head Yuan was always at the bottom.

Of course, he was at least in front of the divine general Qin Zhang.

It was worth comforting.

The years were not long, as the Master said, time passes like this, never ceasing day and night.

One day, after commenting on the rites and deriving the meaning of its core, the Queen Mother of the West chose to say goodbye.

When she was leaving, she seemed to be quite unconvinced and joked:

"In this era, the Rites of Zhou are followed, and only the royal and noble families of various countries can receive education and instruction. There are not many people in the entire human world with knowledge. Although there are people like you, it is only like the sun illuminating a time."

"However, the sun will set, and the night after the sun sets will be even darker."

"Master, this era is not suitable for you. Since you have already seen the signs of the impending chaos, and you can guess that the monarch who will unify the world will not appear in this era, then why do you still have to run around for the rest of your life?"

The old man answered casually, "Yes, you are right."

"The phoenix does not arrive, and the river does not produce a map. I am finished."

Yes, yes, you are right. If such a sage does not appear, then my life will be like this.

Zilu laughed loudly.

Zigong also didn't care.

They looked at the stunned Queen Mother of the West. These talented young men who followed the Master to travel the world and never became officials despite countless kings offering them olive branches seemed to have other ideas. Ziyou said softly:

"Yes, just like the Great Zhou in the past, the era when the Divine Land was united seems to have ended, but things change, and the future will inevitably reunite."

"However, what after the reunion?"

"Even a country left by wise men like King Wen and the Duke of Zhou will gradually fall apart. I'm afraid the future country will be the same, right? If it falls apart and fights each other like it is now, it will gradually separate, right?"

The Queen Mother of the West was stunned.

Zilu said boldly, "The world is like a carriage running wildly. In the future, there will definitely be a monarch who can rely on himself to control this world, but the monarch will die, and the next generation may not have such capacity. Therefore, the Master's current goal is to add reins to this carriage."

"The real country will fall apart!"

"But the cultural heritage of thought will never be cut off!"

"The era of emperors will disappear, and the country may be scattered, but as long as the people on this vast land in later generations have the same beliefs and culture, then no matter how many times, the Divine Land will reunite, right?"

The country will be scattered.

Then, as long as these people recognize the same things, it will be like an invisible rope.

It will always pull them together.

Zilu stretched out his finger and pointed at the back of the young man next to him, saying, "If a person doesn't have a spine, he can't stand up. What the Master wants to do is to create a spine belonging to my Yan Huang for thousands of generations. In my opinion, it's courage. The future of the Divine Land must have courage!"

Zengzi whispered, "There should be filial piety, brotherly respect, and parental love."

A disciple next to him smiled and said, "There should also be benevolence. A benevolent person loves others, loves the people of the world."

"The future of the Divine Land should have rites and propriety. When calling Yan Huang in the future, it should be the land of rites and propriety!"

"There should be great righteousness. Thousands of years later, the righteousness and benevolence left by the Master will still resonate in the chests of our descendants. What is righteousness? Righteousness is appropriateness. Although one dies a hundred times, one will have no regrets. Where righteousness lies, one will not refuse!"

"It is trust, trust is human words."

"One should fulfill one's promise and keep it for life."

One voice after another spoke of their choices.

The Confucians under the Master were not the same. The seventy-two worthies all understood the Six Arts.

They inherited a certain aspect of talent from the Master and went in completely different directions.

Ziyou said, "Rites, wisdom, trust, benevolence, courage, and righteousness. The Master traveled through the Six Kingdoms, spreading these things, leaving a hope for future generations. This is what the Master sees and what the future needs."

He paused and said gently:

"As for me, it is what the Master said, 'cultivate oneself, regulate one's family, govern one's state, and pacify the world'."

"These nine words are enough."

"In this era, rites are collapsing and music is deteriorating. Talents from various countries are circulating among each other. It is not uncommon for people from one country to fight for another country. You may not see anything now, but you can wait a little longer..."

He stretched out his hand and said with a free and easy smile, "You are gods, immortal for thousands of years."

"If you don't believe it, you can replace us and go see."

"As for me, the nine words that the Master said and did are the spine of Yan Huang."

"Or rather, it should be four words, after a thousand years, after ten thousand years."

"Those four words will still lock the life trajectories of countless heroes of Yan Huang."

He paused and said decisively, "Family, country, and world!"

The Queen Mother of the West looked at these humans gathered around the old man, each exuding confidence and composure. She seemed not to dare to believe why so many idealists would appear at the same time, but when she saw the old man, she understood. It was not gathering, but shaping.

Gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and yielding.

Benevolence, righteousness, rites, wisdom, and trust.

Since the Rites of Zhou were gone, the world was unjust, and the wise master of the future would not appear.

We should forge a spine for the Divine Land.

The benevolent love others, giving grace to others, so that the same things run in everyone's blood. The future of the Divine Land should be benevolent and loving, should be gentle, kind, respectful, and frugal, should be dignified and upright.

One should follow righteousness, walk in rites and propriety, and be a land of rites and propriety.

One should have benevolence in one's heart, be kind to others, and repay evil with uprightness.

One should be brave, should be filial, should value people and despise ghosts and gods.

It is to take people as the main thing. Even if this country still fights on all sides in the future, as long as everyone has the same cultural tone running in their blood, then there is a possibility of integration. After a long time, the Queen Mother of the West slowly nodded and said, "I will be watching... but it may not be as you wish."

Ziyou said, "Ten years should not be enough, but a hundred years should be different."

"After a thousand years, when you come to the land we have walked on again."

"This place will be called the land of rites and righteousness, and the world will be united."

The Queen Mother of the West did not commit.

The other divine generals did not believe it either.

These were, after all, just some young people.

How could they have an impact on the future of the Divine Land, on the world and on thought?

Even these young people themselves were not sure whether they could do what the Master saw in the future. After Ziyou contradicted the Queen Mother of the West, he lowered his head and introspected.

Is what the teacher is doing really valuable?

Is what we are doing and believing really valuable?

Is it worth it?

Or is it, as those hermits mocked, doing useless work, of no use.

Should we go into seclusion and be free and easy?

This young man who was thinking about these questions later got his answer. He opened up the cultural heritage of the Jiangnan region and became the Master of the South.

The young man who was tidying up his clothes was called Zixia.

Among his disciples and grand-disciples was a guy named Li Kui.

Later generations called him the Legalist Li Kui, not because he studied Legalism.

He studied Confucianism, but his behavior opened up the road ahead for law, so he was revered as a Legalist.

He wrote *The Canon of Law*.

Later, a young man studied the way of Li Kui and studied *The Canon of Law* diligently.

After a long sigh, he carried a volume of *The Canon of Law* and went west to Great Qin.

That young man's surname was Ji, and his clan name was Gongsun.

He was enfeoffed in Shang.

Therefore, later generations called him Shang Yang.

Another grand-disciple of Zixia was called Gongyang Gao.

He carried out Confucius's trust, righteousness, and bravery.

Even a ten-generation feud can be avenged!

More than two hundred years later, there would be a Confucian disciple of later generations, called Xunzi.

His disciples would be the Legalist Han Feizi, and his eldest disciple would be named Li Si.

He had indeed assisted a generation of emperors in completing the great task of unifying the Divine Land.

The one who was wiping his sword was called Zeng Shen. One of his disciples was a rich young man.

Named Wu Qi.

Later, although Zengzi expelled him from his school, he did not hide the things he had taught him.

Wu Qi used Dao, righteousness, and rites to govern the army and reform the law.

This was the standard style of the direct disciples of Confucius.

Later,

He pacified Baiyue in the south, annexed Chen and Cai in the north, resisted the Three Jins, attacked Qin in the west, and watered his horses in the Yellow River.

One of the Ten Philosophers of the Military Temple.

He was revered as a representative of the military strategists.

Later, a child from a poor peasant family joined their school.

He studied Confucianism, saw more things, and derived his own views.

Unfortunately, the Master who could teach students according to their aptitude had passed away for twenty years. Laozi died freely outside the world, and the only two people who could guide the boy left one after another. The boy's confusion could not be answered, and he finally betrayed his school.

This child from a humble background who was taught to read and study rites and righteousness by the Confucians was called Di.

Mo Di abandoned rites...

And carried out righteousness.

And decades ago.

The old man who was ridiculed by the world never stopped walking.

He traveled through the Six Kingdoms, playing the zither along the way, compiling and preserving the *Poems* of various countries to teach his disciples.

The *Classic of Poetry* was left to the world.

So later there would be poetry immortals and poetry saints, and Cao Mengde would whisper verses from the *Classic of Poetry* thousands of years later.

Two thousand years later, people would sing the Qin Wind.

He wrote the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, which was the world's first chronicle history book, opening the door to historians.

He arranged the months and days in order and listed the years and ages in succession.

A man named Zuo Qiuming wrote the *Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals*, called the *Zuo Zhuan*, to analyze this book. Later, he wrote the *Discourses of the States*. He was called the ancestor of historians.

The old man, who was always lonely but not lonely, interpreted the mysterious *Book of Changes* and wrote the *Zhou Yi* and the *Shang Shu*, which were the earliest works in the Divine Land to discuss yin and yang.

More than a hundred years later, a man named Zou Yan derived the Five Elements method from the discussion of yin and yang in the *Zhou Yi* and the *Shang Shu*, but still called it the Yin-Yang School.

He was the ancestor of the Yin-Yang School.

A gentleman loves wealth and earns it in a proper way, being fair and trustworthy, which was the legacy of Duangmu Ci.

In the era before Guiguzi, two hundred years before the emergence of the strategists.

Zigong had already done the work of strategists.

With one appearance by Zigong, Lu was preserved, Qi was thrown into chaos, Wu was broken, Jin was strengthened, and Yue became a hegemon. With one mission by Zigong, the powers destroyed each other. Within ten years, the five countries had their own changes. Zigong escaped and traveled as a merchant throughout the world, becoming rich with a thousand gold. Later generations of strategists learned from his deeds, but only Su Qin's chaos in Qi could compare to his achievements, but without his freedom.

And among the monarchs he played with in the palm of his hand.

There was the prosperous King Fuchai of Wu and the overlord King Goujian of Yue.

Farming and warfare to establish a country, farming and gardening, the ideas of the agricultural school originated from Fan Xu of the Confucian school.

There were hermits who sang wildly, mocking the solitary Master.

Phoenix, oh phoenix, what is the decline of virtue!

The past cannot be admonished, but the future can still be pursued.

It is over, it is over! The politicians of today are in danger!

Why are you so stupid?

You, a sage like you, should quickly go into seclusion in this chaotic world.

Everything you do is in vain.

It's all useless.

Only another wise man who could understand him was disappointed in the world and lived in seclusion in the capital, not asking about world affairs.

So the old man had to walk alone throughout the Divine Land, almost never stopping for the rest of his life, living in hardship, suffering humiliation, being besieged and rejected countless times, but also spreading his wisdom when traveling through the Six Kingdoms.

Finally, he taught three thousand disciples. For these children, the teacher was the Great Sun.

But the sun will always set. After the sun sets, the world is dark.

When their teacher left, they, gathered together, would rush in all directions like stars. They would take in disciples, teach without discrimination, and teach according to their aptitude. Not only nobles, but even children on the roadside could enter this school.

Then what?

One hundred and seventy years later, the Jixia Academy was established.

Looking up, it was a sky full of stars.

The monopoly of culture was broken.

They broke the cage of the era, and they were about to open a brilliant era with their own hands.

Countless schools of thought rose to fame by criticizing the Master.

The various schools of thought, either Confucian or Mohist.

The Mohist school came from the Confucian school.

But they didn't know.

Now they are just young people with their arms around each other's shoulders, full of youthful spirit, pointing out the faults of the times, complaining about the young man's preserved meat, looking forward to the future, uneasy about the future, and then looking at each other and laughing loudly.

We Confucians should all have lofty aspirations and not live up to this life!

The gentle old man never said anything.

But perhaps, in the fragmentary words later, he also saw the heroic spirit and youthful spirit of the young Master when he was young.

*Book of Rites*: To gain the people with the Dao, the world needs Confucianism.

Be a gentlemanly Confucian, not a petty Confucian.

The Master muttered to himself in the ox cart: "If there is beautiful jade here, should I keep it hidden in a box? Or should I seek a good merchant to sell it?"

This was a reply to the madman of Chu.

You have such jade-like virtue and talent, are you going to hide it, or are you going to find a way to sell it?

The Master whispered: "Sell it! Sell it! I am waiting for a buyer."

Of course I want to sell it.

Who to sell this jade to?

Heaven, earth, and all living beings.

The picture ended here instantly.

It seemed that the true spiritual aura of the Crouching Tiger Token was gone.

Wei Yuan supported his forehead.

But he always felt like he had forgotten something.

……………………

Zhou Dynasty Capital.

Bookkeeper.

The Master, who was called the Celestial Sage of his time, had passed away.

But the old man who directly locked the turbid human world outside was still looking through the files.

There was a knock on the door outside.

Once, the old man ignored it.

Twice, the old man ignored it.

The third time, the person directly kicked the door open, startling the old man. A piece of wood fell out of his hand and landed on the ground. The white-haired old man turned around and saw a young man. He barely recognized that this was the Master's driver he had seen before.

However, compared to the first time he saw him, the young man was calm and steady.

He already had the extraordinary and sharp demeanor of a gentleman.

The old man felt a little pity, as if he had seen what the young man had experienced over the years.

"Yuan, your teacher has passed away, why have you come here?"

"The Master sent me here."

"Oh? To do what?"

The young man, whose appearance had not changed over the years, bowed slightly and said frankly:

"The Master sensed that your life is coming to an end. One is that he couldn't bear to see the Great Dao not being passed on, and the other is that he couldn't bear to see you trapped here for the rest of your life, not entering the human world. Therefore, he sent me here to take you away from this capital and take a turn around the Divine Land."

The old man, who had been trapped here for decades, refused decisively.

But he found that the young man took out a rope from his back.

"The Master guessed right."

"But he told me that you are very wise, but your strength is average."

"If you don't want to go out, your disciple will tie you up and take you out."

"You have been sitting here for decades, you should see the outside. You should leave a text once in your life."

The old man was dumbfounded.

In the end, helplessly, when he saw that the young man was obviously serious, and extremely serious, he had to sigh bitterly: "Qiu, you are really... Fine, fine, benevolent and loving, so he can't bear to see later generations not see the Great Dao; he makes friends with sincerity, so he can't bear to see the old man trapped here for the rest of his life."

He looked at the young man again.

And sighed:

"He is also a good teacher."

"For the sake of all beings, for the sake of friends, for the sake of disciples, there is nothing wrong with what you have done."

"I do have the idea of going out."

"If you hadn't sent your disciple here, I would have chosen to die here."

The young man, whose face was as deep as the sea, reached out and invited him out.

The old man got up, thought for a while, and then bent down to pick up the counting chip.

The Master wrote on it about the perfected *Book of Changes*, a trigram among them.

First nine of the upper scripture: A lurking dragon should not be employed. Ninth four: leaping in the deep, no blame.

The old man was stunned, and then surprised.

The young man said: "The Master passed away... entrusted his ox cart here. I have already driven the green ox. Old sir, please get in the cart." Outside was the green ox that could kick Zilu over with one foot, pulling the ox cart that the Master had once sat in. The old man got in the cart, and the young man sat in the driver's seat, with vicissitudes in his eyes.

"May I ask, where are we going?"

The old man said a place, "Hangu Pass."

The young man was surprised: "Why... that is already Qin territory."

The old man looked at the driver, who still looked like a young man, with pity and sighed:

"Your life is almost coming to an end."

"So you should go there and wait for your destiny."

The young man did not understand.

The old man played the qin and sang loudly:

"Go back, go back, a swan traveling with the phoenix."

"That gentleman, studying, returning, and traveling together."

"The phoenix has left."

"The dragon will come out."

"Why is Yuan not here? Why is Yuan not returning!"

Go, go, bird following the phoenix.

Your teacher has left.

What are you still doing here? What are you still doing here!

The dragon of Qin is about to show signs of appearing.

Since there is a trigram of a lurking dragon coming out of the abyss and rising in the four seas.

The dragon has appeared, how can Yuan not be here?

The chaotic world is coming, the dragon is about to show its claws.

You are a part of the trigram, how can you not be there?

He sang this repeatedly, with profound meaning. The young man did not understand. In terms of Yi, his talent was limited to being able to barely understand the general meaning of these people's words, but it was difficult to understand suddenly and difficult to comprehend. But he knew that the old man in front of him was the only one who could truly understand the Master. The Master could deduce the future with Yi, and the old man in front of him could do the same.

Their achievements in these principles far surpassed his own.

He only needed to drive the ox cart.

Therefore, he drove the green ox and went west to Hangu Pass.

ps: A big chapter combined into one, with many words, mainly because this plot is difficult to separate, so I had to do this.

Please subscribe, ah ah ah ah ah, crying cat head.

When I sorted out the Master's age and his influence on later generations, I suddenly understood the reason for that sentence "Eternity is like a long night". He directly broke the cultural monopoly. The land of rites and propriety did come from someone writing the wrong word, and then it was passed down like that. A big shot's wrong word is either a loan word or a classic, and my wrong word is just deducting two points. jpg

The original saying was rites and righteousness, which was broader than rites and propriety, and had a greater intention.

The Divine Land is a land of rites and righteousness, externally following rites and propriety, and internally abiding by great righteousness. The name was called wrong, but our hearts are still consciously thinking according to this explanation, almost turning into our thinking instinct. Therefore, we describe a certain island country as 'knowing small rites but having no great righteousness.' This is where it comes from.