141: The sage writes an angry attack on the world

“Mandate of Heaven?”

“Scraping bone to heal poison?”

“A Pure Land on Earth?”

High above Xuanwu Gate, Daoist Qingwei’s words were like a clap of thunder, leaving Kong Boyuan and Li Daoxuan’s minds blank.

These words, spoken by this worldly expert, the Sect Master of Shu Mountain, pointed to a madman who had murdered his brother and imprisoned his father, a man covered in blood!

This was utterly preposterous!

“Qing Wei!”

Duke Yansheng Kong Boyuan was struck as if by lightning. His usually unperturbed face was now filled with an intense, incomprehensible absurdity and terror!

He stretched out his withered finger, pointing at Daoist Qingwei in the sky, his body swaying as he stumbled back two steps, nearly falling to the ground.

“You’re mad! All of Shu Mountain has gone mad!”

He murmured hoarsely, “Shu Mountain has always stayed out of the Mortal World, never interfering with Dynastic changes! You… why would you pledge allegiance to such a traitor who murdered his brother and imprisoned his father?!”

Kong Boyuan’s heart bled.

What he believed in was Confucian etiquette, the cardinal ethics of ruler and minister, father and son.

Li Chengqian’s actions today, every single one of them, were trampling upon and crushing this order that had sustained humanity for a thousand years!

And Shu Mountain, which should have been a pure land beyond the mundane, representing a transcendent Righteous Path, had actually become an accomplice to this Devil Head!

This completely overturned his understanding.

“Traitor?”

Daoist Qingwei slowly straightened up. He didn’t explain, nor did he get angry. He merely looked at the two “old fogeys” below, who were still immersed in the old order, with an almost compassionate gaze.

“Duke Yansheng, you are mistaken.”

Daoist Qingwei slowly spoke, his voice ethereal, “The world is not the world of one person; it is the world of all people. The old order has long been rotten beyond repair. Buddhism is like a tumor, and aristocratic families are like maggots clinging to bone, having long caused grievances to fill this Divine Land, which the Heavenly Dao cannot tolerate.”

His gaze turned to Li Chengqian, and in his eyes, there was a reverence he himself had not noticed.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince employs thunderous methods, severing old Karma. What seems like slaughter is, in fact… scraping bone to heal poison for this world!”

“This is an act in accordance with Heaven and man, the inevitable pain of ushering in a new era. Our Shu Mountain is not obeying Your Highness the Crown Prince, but this magnificent Heavenly Dao, and this brand new era that is about to arrive!”

“Nonsense!”

Li Daoxuan, the Old Ancestor of Longxi, finally couldn’t hold back. His face was so dark it could drip water, and he coldly shouted, “Qing Wei, put away your deceptive rhetoric! When did it become your place, an outsider, to dictate the affairs of my Li clan’s Dynasty?”

He stared intently at Li Chengqian, his gaze as if he wanted to devour him alive.

He never dreamed that his own descendant, Li Chengqian, could gain the allegiance of the Shu Mountain Sword Sect, which even past emperors couldn’t command!

This was no longer just a struggle for imperial power!

This was the most thorough and ruthless trampling of old-fashioned people like them, who clung to “orthodoxy” and “rules”!

Li Daoxuan’s gaze turned to Qing Wei, becoming incredibly sharp: “You just mentioned the Demon Lock Tower? You said that if the Crown Prince loses power, the Demon Lock Tower will be destroyed? What a joke! Your Shu Mountain has guarded the Demon Lock Tower for a thousand years; when has it ever had any connection with mortal emperors? Today, to support this evildoer, you even concoct such lies!”

“Do you think we are three-year-olds who would believe your nonsense?”

Li Daoxuan’s Aura was overbearing, “What exactly is Shu Mountain plotting?!”

Above the city wall, Li Shimin, who had already collapsed to the ground, heard Li Daoxuan’s questioning, and a faint spark seemed to reignite in his eyes, which had turned into dead ashes.

That’s right!

The Demon Lock Tower!

As an emperor, he had naturally heard of such secrets.

That was the Foundation of Shu Mountain, a Holy Land that suppressed all demons under Heaven!

How could Qing Wei, as the Sect Master of Shu Mountain, gamble with the safety of the Demon Lock Tower for a mortal Crown Prince?

There must be a trick involved!

Perhaps… perhaps Shu Mountain was merely bribed by Li Chengqian with some benefit, and this was just a bluff!

As long as Duke Yansheng and Imperial Uncle could hold on, as long as they could expose this lie, he still had a chance!

Facing Li Daoxuan’s sharp questioning, Daoist Qingwei merely smiled faintly, a smile imbued with world- look down on othersing confidence.

“Demonic Path! Your Shu Mountain has fallen into the Demonic Path!”

Kong Boyuan trembled with rage. He slammed his staff heavily on the ground, and an even grander, vast Righteous Qi surged into the sky.

“This Old Man doesn’t care about your Heavenly Dao or your new era! This Old Man only knows that human ethics and the Righteous Path of Heaven and Earth must not be desecrated! Li Chengqian’s perverse actions make him a fiend! Your Shu Mountain aiding the wicked makes you an enemy of the world!”

His voice, amplified by the vast Righteous Qi, resounded through the clouds.

“All Confucian scholars under Heaven, heed my command!”

With his loud shout, inside Chang’an City, within the Imperial Academy, the Confucian Temple, and countless academies, the sound of fervent reading abruptly ceased.

Immediately following, surges of Righteous Qi, some strong, some weak, but all supremely Yang and unyielding, rose from various parts of the city, transforming into golden specks, like a hundred rivers flowing into the sea, furiously converging towards Kong Boyuan outside Xuanwu Gate!

“The Saint says: The Heavenly Dao is not benevolent; it treats all things as straw dogs!”

The chanting resumed, more than ten times grander than before!

The golden light around Kong Boyuan surged, almost dyeing half the sky gold.

The long river of words, formed from countless Confucian classics, became even more solidified, as if transforming into a golden cage, intending to thoroughly purify all “heretics” inside and outside Xuanwu Gate!

“Qing Wei! Li Chengqian! Today, this Old Man shall act on behalf of Heaven, to execute you two fiends who shake the Foundation of the Dynasty!”

Kong Boyuan’s hair stood on end, like an enraged Vajra. He raised the staff in his hand, and the endless Righteous Qi gathered at its head, forming a magnificent golden sun, about to smash down fiercely upon the sword formation in the sky and Li Chengqian on the city wall!

Kong Boyuan was enraged.

This leader of Confucianism, who had spent his life advocating “benevolence” and “propriety,” was now thoroughly provoked by Li Chengqian and Daoist Qingwei’s “heretical theories.”

In his view, this was no longer a change of imperial power, nor a father-son conflict.

This was a struggle for the Dao!

It was the ultimate showdown between the Righteous Path of human ethics and the crooked Demonic Path!

He could not retreat, nor could he afford to.

Behind him stood the Confucian Dao Legacy, passed down for a thousand years, the unshakeable truth in the hearts of all scholars under Heaven!

“The Saint says: Among three people, there must be one who can be my teacher!”

The grand chanting resounded through Heaven and Earth. Within Chang’an City, the minds of every scholar were connected to Duke Yansheng outside Xuanwu Gate.

They might not know what was happening, but they could feel Duke Yansheng’s towering rage to uphold the nation and slay evil fiends!

This was their leader, their spiritual symbol!

Thus, they unreservedly offered their lifelong Righteous Qi!

“Om—!”

Above Kong Boyuan’s raised staff, the golden sun condensed from Righteous Qi shone with extreme brilliance!

That light, harmless to people and objects, yet carried a supreme majesty that purified all defilement in the world and established the order of Heaven and Earth!

Under this golden light, the incomparably sharp Sword Intent of Shu Mountain’s Three Thousand Sword Immortals actually emitted “sizzling” sounds, like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun, constantly being melted and suppressed!

The light of the sword formation in the sky dimmed somewhat, and some Shu Mountain Disciples with weaker cultivation even grunted, a trace of blood spilling from the corners of their mouths.

“What a Duke Yansheng! What a Confucian orthodoxy!”