The Human Emperor c1-2382

by Huangfu Qi (皇甫奇)

  “Master Zhu is of advanced age. Do not take up too much of his time!”

  The Grand Preceptor stopped and aimed a profound glance at Li Junxian. Li Junxian froze, and then he nodded.

  “Understood!”

  The Grand Preceptor did not say anything more, and stepped past Li Junxian. This exchange garnered little attention. At this time, Li Junxian heard a familiar voice.

  “Junxian, come in!”

  The voice was mellow and deep, imbued with a strength that could peer into hearts, making one feel as if one’s secrets were all revealed before one had even said a word.

  Li Junxian took in a deep breath, steadied his mind, tidied his robes, and respectfully walked in.

  While still several paces from Master Zhu, Li Junxian stopped and bowed.

  “Junxian pays respects to Senior Brother!” Li Junxian finally said. The information divulged by his words was enough to startle anyone.

  Master Zhu, the man personally titled as the Leader of All Confucians by Emperor Gaozong, a man of esteemed character and status who was already one hundred and twenty years old, was actually Li Junxian’s senior brother.

  “Sit!”

  Master Zhu’s eyelids drooped as he extended a wrinkled finger at the seat next to him. His face was as placid as an ancient well, devoid of any emotion.

  “It has been around ten years since our last meeting, yes?”

  “Yes!”

  Li Junxian fell silent, a hint of sorrow appearing on his handsome face. Ten years ago, he was only seventeen while Master Zhu was already Master Zhu. There was a time when he would often venture into this plum forest and come to this thatched hall to find his centenarian senior brother.

  But he had not visited ever since that incident.

  The pair of fellow disciples had not talked for a very long time.

  “I have heard everything about what you are doing out there!” Master Zhu calmly said, enclosing his arms in his sleeves, his expression indifferent and aloof. Given how long he had lived and how much he had experienced, there was very little that could shake his mindset.

  Li Junxian fell silent. After a long while, he said, “Junxian’s foolishness has disgraced Senior Brother’s eyes and ears!”

  “Your talent and capabilities are unequalled, and Master personally chose you to be ‘Son of Heaven’s Mandate’. But the Confucian school has its outside and inside. I am outside and you are inside. You should know that I will not interfere in matters of the Confucian Sect!”

  Master Zhu shook his head.

  The common people only knew of the Confucian school, with very few knowing of the Confucian Sect, but even fewer people knew that the Confucian school was divided into an outer and inner.

  The outer school focused only on study and theory, serving as the spiritual leader of the realm, enlightening the minds of the people and guiding them in the right path, pursuing the theories of Confucius and Mencius. The inner school was the Confucian Sect, and while it excelled in both scholarly and martial pursuits, it primarily focused on the martial path. Not one person who entered the Confucian Sect was not a person of vigorous strength and skill in martial arts.

  Pure learning was not enough to implement one’s theories throughout the world or enlighten the minds of the people. Thus, even though Confucius traveled the lands for decades and had audiences with all the sovereigns, he was never placed in a high position. The theories of the Confucian school were never able to be put into practice and were often rejected by the militarists. One could see this as one of the initial reasons the Confucian Sect had begun to practice martial arts. Moreover, the Sage Confucius had seventy-two disciples at his side, and there were those like Zilu4, possessing formidable martial arts, who protected the Sage on his travels.

  In truth, the Confucian Sect contained a set of martial arts passed down from Zilu.

  But later on, for the sake of secrecy, the Confucian Sect gradually began to pull away from the Confucian school. Even so, the two were still inextricably connected. Li Junxian was able to order around the Grand Preceptor and all the other officials of court, even transferring them out of the Imperial Court, due to the influence of Master Zhu.

  “Junxian understands, but the matter this time has nothing to do with the Harmonious World or any other project of the Confucian Sect. Rather, it relates to the ideals that the Confucian school has adhered to for centuries,” Li Junxian sternly said.

  “Is it the King of Foreign Lands?”

  Master Zhu’s face twitched as he finally opened his eyes.

  “Senior Brother already knows?!”

  Li Junxian was taken aback.

  “That child Zhongmi has already told me,” Master Zhu said, his expression calm.

  Li Junxian was stunned, but he finally understood why the Grand Preceptor had appeared here.

  “Senior Brother, the matters of the Imperial Court are secondary compared to what is happening with the people. ‘Might makes right’, ‘the law of the jungle’, ‘the strong eat the weak’… no person or organization has ever proposed this sort of viewpoint before, nor was there ever a book written explaining these theories, spreading these ideals throughout the realm. At the start, I did not believe that he would succeed, but now, father fights son, brother goes against brother, and even children know of the law of the jungle. If we do not stop this now, and allow these ideas to continue penetrating into the minds of the people, even the thousand-year foundation of the Confucian school will be destabilized.”

  Li Junxian stared at Master Zhu and sternly said, “If these ideals are advanced throughout the realm, man will eat man and all familial affection will cease to be. We will return once more to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, an era where propriety is no more and beasts feast on each other. At that time, all the blood and sweat poured in by the sages and our forebears will have been for nothing!”

  The thatched hall fell silent as Master Zhu closed his eyes in thought, his brow creasing. Li Junxian quietly waited for an answer. The ideological clash between the militarists and Confucians was only intensifying as time went on. If there was one person that could stop the further spread of Wang Chong’s ideas, it could only be Master Zhu.

  ______________

  1. ‘Master’ here refers to the word ‘’, Zi. For example, the Chinese philosophers known as Confucius and Mencius are actually ‘Kongzi’ and ‘Mengzi’, Master Kong and Master Meng.↩

  2. The Four Books are ‘The Great Learning’, ‘The Doctrine of the Mean’, ‘Analects’, and ‘Mencius’. The Five Classics are the ‘Book of Songs’, ‘Book of History’, ‘Classic of Rites’, ‘Book of Changes’, and ‘Spring and Autumn Annals’.↩

  3. This passage is from ‘Gao Zi I’ of the ‘Mencius’.↩

  4. Zilu was one of Confucius’s most well-learned and accomplished disciples, and he was known for being brave and rash.↩

  Chapter 1307 - Inscription, Benevolence and Righteousness!

  Chapter 1307: Inscription, Benevolence and Righteousness!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr

  Master Zhu had many years ago retired to this thatched hall, withdrawing from the secular world. He would even avoid meetings with members of the imperial household.

  Although Li Junxian was the leader of the Confucian Sect, not even he could do anything if Master Zhu refused him.

  The thatched hall was devoid of noise as Li Junxian silently gazed at Master Zhu.

  Master Zhu finally spoke.

  “I understand. Leave this matter to me!”

  Whoosh!

  Li Junxian breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Senior Brother, my deepest gratitude!”

  Li Junxian gave a deep bow and stood up.

  ……

  Two days later, a piece of news shook the empire. The highly revered and only ‘Master’ of Gaozong’s era, and the only Master of the present age, Master Zhu, had finally reemerged.

  This event sent
shockwaves through society, particularly the Confucian school. Across the Nine Provinces, countless renowned and learned Confucians became agitated and impatient at the news, and rushed to make their way to the capital.

  “Honored Father, you are already of advanced age, and this place is extremely far from the capital. In your condition, I worry that you will not be able to tolerate the stresses of traveling by carriage!”

  At a certain place in the empire, a son gripped the carriage of his father, who was more than eighty years old, and urged him to rethink his journey.

  “Bastard thing, do you know who Master Zhu is? Let alone the stresses of the carriage journey, even if I were to die on the road today, this old man would still do so with no regret. On the contrary, by stopping me now, you’ll make me live with eternal regret, and as a father, I will never forgive you!” the white-haired and wrinkled old father on the carriage harshly rebuked, stubbornly overruling his entire family.

  Similar events were taking place all throughout the realm. The news of Master Zhu was like a massive boulder thrown into a lake, making the splash created by the conflict between the militarists and Confucians seem much smaller by comparison.

  At the appointed time, countless venerable Confucians had gathered in front of the temple of learning to silently wait.

  Such a grand display attracted countless onlookers. Many of these people were less than forty and had no idea who Master Zhu was, but when they heard of his background, all of them became solemn and respectful.

  “A living sage, a true living sage!”

  All the common people felt deep veneration, and some people even set up living memorial tablets in their homes to worship Master Zhu. The imperial household even had to send Golden Guards to maintain order and discipline around the temple of learning.

  Even as the sun neared its zenith, there was still no sign of Master Zhu. Despite this, not a single one of the numerous Confucians gathered in front of the simple and solemn temple felt any impatience. Finally, after some time…

  “Look at that!” someone suddenly called out, and the crowd instantly turned to look.

  At this moment, a thin figure dressed in an immaculately white robe had appeared in front of the temple of learning. That person held his hands behind his back, and merely by standing there, he exuded the aura of a lofty and majestic mountain.

  “Master Zhu!”

  “Master Zhu!”

  The sight of that figure galvanized the crowd, all the venerable Confucians getting down on their knees and kowtowing on the ground. Some of the old men in their seventies and eighties were even weeping in joy.

  They appeared to be aged and virtuous luminaries in the eyes of many, but only they understood how insignificant they were in front of Master Zhu. Compared to Master Zhu, they were just ‘youths’.

  When they were still children, Master Zhu was fifty or sixty years old and renowned throughout the world, worshiped as the leader of the Confucian school. By the time each of them had made their names, Master Zhu had long ago retired. For many of these learned Confucians, being able to see Master Zhu in their lifetimes was an incredible honor that could allow them to die without regret.

  Even the Golden Guards were stunned to see all these old scholars weeping. They only knew that they had been sent to guard an important Confucian leader, but they had no idea just how important Master Zhu was. Some of the Golden Guards even put down their weapons and kneeled to Master Zhu.

  Master Zhu said nothing, only calmly gazed at the scene before him and then turned around. Someone had already stepped forward at this point to unroll a large white ream of paper. Master Zhu extended a hand, where someone was already waiting with a brush already dipped in ink.

  “Everyone, look, Master Zhu is about to write!” someone called out, and everyone instantly turned their eyes to see what Master Zhu was going to write.

  Whoosh! Whoosh!

  With great flourish and force, Master Zhu wrote out two words: ‘’!

  ‘Benevolence'()! ‘Righteousness'()!

  Bang!

  The crowd once more began to buzz with chatter upon seeing these two words.

  “Benevolence and righteousness! Is Master Zhu saying that the foundation of learning is benevolence and righteousness?”

  “To be able to see Master Zhu with my own eyes is already an incredible honor, and then to be able to see Master Zhu write characters and impart his teachings on the Confucian path… this old man can truly die without regret! Hahaha…”

  “The two words ‘benevolence’ and ‘righteousness’ are the essence of Confucian culture. Master Zhu must have a deeper meaning in writing these words!”

  The crowd was buzzing with chatter and seemingly intoxicated by the mood. Some people were repeating the two words over and over as if trying to understand the meaning behind Master Zhu’s action.

  Master Zhu made no attempt to explain these two words. Putting the brush into a metal plate held by a waiting attendant, he turned around and left.

  But the sea of people remained outside the temple, unwilling to leave.

  Although Master Zhu had only shown himself for a few moments, the same could not be said for the extent of his influence. A stone cast into a pond could stir one thousand ripples, and Master Zhu’s appearance and the words he had written were like a massive boulder smashing into the lake of the Nine Provinces, stirring enormous waves.

  ‘Master Zhu’!

  These two words seemed to have wings as they swiftly flew to every corner of the realm. Even children as young as three knew to put aside their naughty natures when speaking this name.

  ……

  “Master Zhu? Who is this person?!”

  Meanwhile, in the Wang Family Residence, Wang Chong looked at the person across from him in shock. Everything had happened so abruptly that even he had been caught by surprise.

  “It’s very normal for you to not know. Let alone you, not even many people of my generation like your father know who he is.”

  On the other side, King Song put down his tea cup and gave a thorough explanation of everything he had gathered about Master Zhu.

  “It’s not just you. Even I was incredibly shocked. In the reign of the previous Emperor, I occasionally heard a little about Master Zhu, but they were only brief mentions, and there were rumors back then that he had already died. Who could have imagined that he was still alive?”

  King Song gave an emotional sigh.

  Wang Chong sat dazed in his seat, his mind in turmoil. Yet another important figure had floated to the surface because of him. There was no doubt that if he had not interfered, Master Zhu would have lived out a quiet retirement until his death. At the very least, he had never heard of this man or this event in his last life.

  “The situation is bad!”

  Wang Chong frowned, his mind uneasy. If King Song had not told him himself, he would have found it very difficult to believe that there was a living legend like Master Zhu in this world. Moreover, Master Zhu happened to appear exactly at this moment, and he was none other than the spiritual leader of the Confucian school. Wang Chong’s thoughts immediately went to the Confucian Sect.

  Both had the word ‘Confucian’, and this was a moment where ‘Might Makes Right’ was in fierce conflict with ‘Benevolence and Righteousness’. Wang Chong would never believe that all this was a coincidence.

  “Wang Chong, Master Zhu’s influence and status exceed those of the imperial household or any other secular power. The ‘Might Makes Right’ that you published is completely against the Confucian ideals of benevolence and righteousness. Master Zhu’s appearance does not bode well for you. You must be careful. I came here specifically to warn you about this,” King Song firmly said.

  King Song’s conjecture and Wang Chong’s ill foreboding received confirmation just two days later. On this day, Wang Chong learned that Master Zhu, in his capacity as spiritual leader of the Confucian school, had personally criticized Wang Chong’s ‘Might Makes Right’.


  “Benevolence and righteousness cannot be discarded. These theories cannot be allowed to prevail!”

  These were Master Zhu’s actual words!

  This news swept through the capital like a hurricane and continued onward to spread throughout the realm. This was different from the two books Li Junxian had written, as no one could match Master Zhu’s status in the Confucian school. One could say that any literate person in the empire was a student of Master Zhu!

  This was a symbol of Master Zhu’s status.

  Master Zhu’s appearance at the temple of learning had already drawn all the Confucians of the empire to the capital, and now, his words swiftly made their way into the ears of these Confucians and into all the schools of the empire. And thus, another storm began.

  The Confucian school had been spreading its teachings throughout the Central Plains for more than one thousand years, and its imperceptible influence had long ago melded into various aspects of daily life. Even the totally illiterate knew a little about the ideas of the Confucian school and were deeply influenced by them. The moment Master Zhu gave the call, declaring Wang Chong’s ‘Might Makes Right’ to be heresy, the influence the Confucian school had built up over the centuries began to display its immense power.

  In the space of a single day, countless illustrious Confucians answered Master Zhu’s call and wrote books criticizing and refuting Wang Chong’s ‘Might Makes Right’, printing books on an unprecedented scale. The effects quickly reached all the students with their schools.

  Within one day, several hundred students were expelled from their schools and banned from joining any other school.

  Respect for the teacher was a cornerstone of the Confucian school. Anyone who dared to espouse heretical teachings in the schoolroom would be defying Master Zhu, a treasonous action.

  With this thunderous move, the voices supporting ‘Might Makes Right’ became much smaller.

  Chapter 1308 - Impeachment!

  Chapter 1308: Impeachment!

  Translated by: Hypersheep325

  Edited by: Michyrr