Ch 151: Heavenly Merit Descends! Tongues Blooming with Lotuses! Earth-Shattering! The Shocked and Submissive Scholar-Officials

The bustling Bianliang, at this moment, was deathly silent, as if someone had pressed the pause button.

“…What?!” Li Bangyan was practicing calligraphy in his residence when he suddenly sensed something. He walked out of his room, staring in utter horror at the soaring white light.

“Three thousand miles of purple qi… This, this is…”

Li Bangyan almost suffocated, his mind blank. He realized what was happening but couldn’t believe it… How could there be another Sage?!

“How long has it been since the last one became a Sage? There’s never been a case like this, two Sages appearing in such a short time! Even the Cheng brothers had over a decade between their ascensions…”

But Li Bangyan’s daze lasted only a moment because he saw figure after figure, enveloped in vast Confucian qi, speeding towards the distance. His pupils constricted. “Those treacherous villains!”

Cursing under his breath, Li Bangyan soared into the air.

◈◈◈

“Excellent… Silver-white! This is a Sage of my Neo-Confucianism!”

“Heavens, finally a Sage of Neo-Confucianism has emerged! Wonderful… At least now there’s a possibility of debate and contention with the current one.”

“Yes, the current Sage is too tyrannical and capricious…”

In half a year, the scholar-officials had accumulated too much dissatisfaction. Chu Mo simply treated them as clerks handling various matters, not allowing them to freely exercise their authority… He had placed countless locks on their power.

Most importantly, when they were handling affairs, a ghost sent by Chu Mo, incapable of lying, would be there to supervise.

Remembering their comfortable days in the Northern Song Dynasty and comparing them to now… the scholar-officials were filled with rage. If it weren’t for Chu Mo being a Sage with an iron fist, and the fact that he had slaughtered scholar-officials who resisted before…

They would have rebelled long ago! But now, with the emergence of a second Sage… there was a possibility of contention.

And then…

As they went on, they increasingly felt that the route was not quite right.

Finally.

They landed in front of the Imperial Palace, looking at each other in dismay, their eyes twitching. After submitting their tokens and obtaining permission, they entered one by one. Finally… they arrived before a majestic hall.

Li Gang was already standing at the entrance, waiting, with Yang Jian and Fa Hai by his side.

“Lord Li, have you become a Sage?” The Minister of Revenue stepped forward, his voice trembling slightly. He had recognized where this was… and was now extremely panicked.

“Do you think that’s possible?” Li Gang simply retorted expressionlessly.

The Minister of Revenue fell silent, as did everyone else present. They looked at each other, their scalps tingling.

“Who else lives in this palace… besides That Person?”

“Some maids and attendants… That One doesn’t like eunuchs, so he didn’t bother with that… However, I don’t think those maids and attendants could become Sages.”

“No, impossible… He, he, he has already created two Daos! This, doesn’t this mean he has created another Sage position! And it’s of Neo-Confucianism… This can only be something that even the Cheng brothers couldn’t complete.”

They felt a chill down their spines, unwilling to accept it.

Because if everything was as they suspected, their future would only become increasingly dark and hopeless.

“No, besides That One, there is indeed another person who might create a Sage position.” Li Bangyan suddenly spoke, his expression extremely complex.

“Who?” Li Gang turned his head sharply.

As for Fa Hai and Yang Jian, they didn’t even bother to look at this group of officials unwilling to accept reality.

“Xu Shilin… He’s Xu Xian’s son! I just brought him over from the South recently… But I’m only saying it’s possible, because he should only be one or two years old now…” Li Bangyan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

The scholar-officials: “…”

You might as well say that the maids and attendants have heaven-defying comprehension and, after accumulating it for a long time, created a Sage Dao in a single day. They were all cursing inwardly!

Finally, the brilliant silver-white divine light gradually subsided and disappeared.

After a few breaths… the gate finally opened.

These were the longest few breaths of time in the lives of the scholar-officials present.

Chu Mo, wearing a Confucian robe, walked out leisurely, looking at the crowd before him with interest. Behind him, a divine book emitting purple fluorescent light stood, containing extremely surging divine power, possessing a kind of majesty and sacredness—

《Collected Commentaries on the Meanings of the Four Books》

“…That is.” Li Gang stared intently at the book, his heart pounding uncontrollably. He wanted to read that book, but felt that he really spoke too presumptuously. After all, the learning of a Sage has never been widely spread to the world.

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The only one who broke the case was that Confucius! Teaching regardless of background… That’s why he was hailed as the teacher of Confucianism! The ancestor of the Confucian Dao!

A long silence.

Li Bangyan took the lead in bowing, his voice trembling, “Your subject congratulates the Sage on creating another Sage Dao, creating a miracle unprecedented in ancient and modern times.”

This also awakened the rest of the people present, and they also lowered their heads and kowtowed. No matter how unwilling they were, with the facts before their eyes, they could only accept it.

“Everyone.” Chu Mo spoke gently, “In recent days, I have integrated all the books I have read in the past half year and made some minor contributions… condensing this new Dao! However, this Dao is not important in my eyes…”

More than one scholar-official’s eyes twitched. That was a Confucian Dao Sage position symbolizing the pinnacle of the world! However, no matter how they cursed inwardly, they could only admit that it was indeed the case for Chu Mo.

After all, this one already possessed two Sage positions!

“What makes me happy is that I have finally created something… that I have always wanted to create.” Chu Mo paused for a moment and said, word by word, “Please remember this, everyone!”

Afterward, Chu Mo began to recite the Confucian Dao Cultivation Method seriously.

With just a few sentences, brilliant light bloomed above the firmament, and lotus flowers bloomed at Chu Mo’s feet.

The words he uttered actually resonated with the world, turning into Great Dao brands, reflecting in the void, lingering for a long time, possessing a kind of indescribable terrifying divine charm.

“?” Chu Mo himself was startled, but he still recited it seriously.

“What?!”

“This is!!”

“A natural phenomenon?!”

“What… what exactly has he created?!”

Shock, bewilderment, and fear. Some scholar-officials initially thought that Chu Mo was creating another Sage Dao and were shocked into numbness… feeling that since he had already created three, creating another one seemed normal? But soon, they discovered that what Chu Mo was talking about was just a method.

How could a mere cultivation method cause such a huge change in the world?!

Although changes in the world had occurred in ancient times… it became increasingly difficult as time went on! For example, when Suiren took fire and Cangjie created characters, they had triggered such huge changes… But.

What exactly did this Sage have to do to trigger such a huge commotion in this era… comparable to Suiren taking fire and Cangjie creating characters? No one could understand…

Because, with their worldview, they couldn’t imagine what could happen in this era that could be compared to Suiren taking fire and Cangjie creating characters.

However, as Chu Mo said more and more, their expressions became increasingly dull, their scalps tingling, and a monstrous wave rose in their hearts.

And after Chu Mo uttered the last word, Chu Mo looked in the direction of the sky with a strange expression. Then, surging merit poured down from the firmament, crashing onto his body, casting a huge halo of merit behind him.

Sacred, majestic…

Chu Mo’s pupils constricted, feeling that his cultivation was about to break through uncontrollably. Fortunately, he was smart and wasted his cultivation once again. Then, he used point allocation to absorb and digest the merit, re-cultivating back to his peak… After repeating this cycle nine times, the feeling of uncontrollable improvement slowly dissipated.

“Good heavens!” Chu Mo was shocked inwardly. Could it be that in the Song Dynasty, doing something like this could cause such a big commotion?

Chu Mo didn’t think that the significance of the Qi Cultivation Method and Basic Training Method that he created for the era was much different from the Confucian Dao Cultivation Method—they were all national cultivation methods sufficient to change an era.

Those two eras didn’t cause such a commotion… He repeatedly pondered and felt that it should be because of the heavens!

From this, it seemed that the Demonic Race’s entry into the Central Plains had indeed destroyed many things. It had permanently degraded the heavens and earth and caused a part of them to be missing…

“However… I seemed to have merit from the beginning?” Chu Mo’s expression became strange, as if it came with the Teacher of Ten Thousand Generations skill. But then again, apart from possessing the skill… he didn’t enjoy today’s treatment in the Ming Dynasty, with heavenly merit pouring down.

“Congratulations, Sage.” Li Bangyan bowed again, his face without flattery, only solemnity and respect. It was because he had listened to this method from beginning to end, understood what kind of meaning and use this method had… that he knew what Chu Mo had done.

“Your merit surpasses all Sages! Your virtue far exceeds your predecessors! Your gift is destined to illuminate the people of the Great Song for endless years.” Li Gang also spoke with unprecedented respect. His words were extremely laudatory…

Since meeting Chu Mo, this was the first time he had shown such an attitude.

However, Chu Mo deserved it!

The numerous scholar-officials prostrated themselves on the ground, sincerely and willingly repeating what Li Gang had said. Although they also coveted benefits, they also admired and valued cultural education. And Chu Mo’s method could be said to have completely flattened the threshold for entering the Confucian Dao…

After all, originally, breaking through the first realm of the Confucian Dao would eliminate ninety percent of the people. It should be known that those who could start breaking through were all people who had read books… Not everyone in the Great Song could read!

When calculated carefully, each Confucian Dao cultivator could be called one in a hundred.

But now, everyone could cultivate, everyone should be like a dragon!

Some scholar-officials used to have opinions on Chu Mo, not only because Chu Mo controlled them too strictly, but also because they felt that Chu Mo was too biased towards military generals. But now… they realized that they were wrong!

It could only be said that this Sage was worthy of being the natural leader of the scholar-officials!