239: Fifth Incarnation: Heavenly Physician (Thirty-One)

"Last year's moldy rice, this year's great plague. Is it a natural disaster? Or a man-made calamity?"

Xu Yuan's gaze slowly swept across the crowd. "The moldy rice came from unscrupulous merchants, and the plague arose from filth. Why did those merchants dare to sell poisonous rice? Why is filth spread throughout every street and alley? It is not that Heaven is unkind, but rather a man-made calamity! It is the corrupt officials who exploit us without limit; it is the imperial court that views the people as mere grass!"

A commotion broke out among the crowd. These words were too direct, too bold!

Clerk Zhou's face turned ashen as he listened from a distance. He wanted to order an arrest, but the old bailiff beside him held him back tightly. "Boss, look at this formation... we cannot move against them!"

Xu Yuan continued, "I, Su Yuan, am of humble talent, but I have some knowledge of the nature of herbs and deeply understand the principles of medicine. There are three parts to an illness: the first is in the physical body, which is an illness of the flesh; the second is in the mind and spirit, which is an illness of the heart; and the third is in the state of the world, which is an illness of the era!"

His voice grew louder, carrying a profound compassion and power. "My Dao has three paths, corresponding to these three illnesses!"

"The first is to heal the body! Using herbs, minerals, and metals to treat physical pain and neutralize the toxins of the plague. This is the Lesser Path, which you all have already witnessed!"

"The second is to heal the heart! Through mutual aid and shared encouragement, we break through despair and confusion, establishing a will for self-reliance. Heaven does not help man; man must help himself! Neighbors supporting neighbors, communities helping each other—this is the prescription for healing the heart!"

"The third is to heal the world—" He paused, his voice like the clashing of iron. "To purge the murky and elevate the clear, to rectify the laws of the universe!"

The crowd below was silent. Thousands of pairs of eyes stared intently at him, as if trying to carve every word into their hearts.

"The world today is like a person afflicted with a chronic ailment, sick to the very core!" Xu Yuan pointed accusingly toward the capital, his words like a blade. "The imperial court is like the head—muddled and blind, listening only to slander!"

"Corrupt officials are like abscesses and rotten flesh, parasitic upon it, sucking the marrow and breaking the bones!"

"Exorbitant taxes and endless wars are like a cold evil entering the bones, freezing ten thousand households to death!"

"With such a diseased body, if we do not remove the root cause and only apply plasters, how is that different from trying to stop a pot from boiling by adding more boiling water? Medicinal soup is futile!"

"Well said!"

Someone in the crowd shouted excitedly, followed by a wave of suppressed agreement.

Xu Yuan's gaze was like lightning, as if piercing through layers of palace walls to look directly at the invisible core of the ruling power. His voice suddenly became grand and full of interrogation, like the thunder of the Nine Heavens pouring into the mortal world:

"Heaven bestows all things to nourish man—"

"Bountiful harvests are the grain that nourishes man! Rivers, lakes, and seas are the water that nourishes man! Mountains, forests, and mineral deposits are the resources that nourishes man!"

"However—" His tone shifted sharply, filled with a chilling Killing Intent.

"Man has not a single thing to repay Heaven!"

"The corrupt officials exploit us, draining the pond to catch the fish—have they ever repaid Heaven?"

"The nobles live in luxury, lost in dreams and wine—have they ever repaid Heaven?"

"The imperial court is without the Dao, wars are frequent, and the people have no means of livelihood—has it ever repaid Heaven?!"

The final three interrogations grew louder with each cry, as if carrying a rolling heavenly majesty that shook everyone's Divine Soul.

He suddenly took a step forward, his voice shaking the wilderness:

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

"Do you all... know your guilt?!"

This was no longer the compassion of a healer, but the voice of judgment acting on behalf of Heaven!

"We know our guilt!" Below the stage, core members like A Niu and Xiao Qi were the first to roar out with bloodshot eyes.

"We know our guilt!" Next came the people of Rat Alley.

"WE KNOW OUR GUILT!!" Like ignited explosives, the roars of thousands merged into a rolling wave of sound that surged into the clouds. The dozens of bailiffs were turned pale with fright, retreating repeatedly, while Clerk Zhou's legs went soft, nearly collapsing to the ground.

When the wave of sound subsided slightly, Xu Yuan's voice returned to a calm state, but with even greater weight. "Physical illness, I can heal; mental illness requires mutual aid; but the illness of the world—" He looked around at everyone. "It requires our generation to rise up, to wash away the filth, and return clarity to the universe! This is not the task of one person, but the task of all living beings. Therefore, here today, I establish the Way of Great Peace!"

"The principles of the Dao: Self-rescue, mutual aid, and acting when the time is right!"

"The purpose of the Dao: To heal the body, heal the heart, and heal the world!"

"The Foundation of the Dao: It lies in you, and in the thousands like you—the suffering masses who refuse to be resigned to their fate!"

He no longer looked at the deathly pale Clerk Zhou. Facing the thousands of burning gazes below, he announced loudly, "Those who wish to enter my Dao need no gold or silver. You only need to remember eight words: Heaven does not help man, man must help himself! Remember the Three Healings: Heal the body, heal the heart, and heal the world! From this day forward, watch over and help one another, spread the Righteous Path, and quietly wait for the heavenly timing!"

There were no tedious rituals or mysterious slogans, only the most direct truths and the most urgent desire for survival linked together. But it was such simple teachings that, like dry wood meeting a fierce fire, instantly ignited the long-suppressed emotions of everyone present.

"We wish to enter the Way of Great Peace! We follow the Grand Teacher of Great Peace!"

The shouts rose again like a mountain landslide or a tsunami. Many were in tears, as if they had finally found the destination and direction they had been searching for their entire lives.

Clerk Zhou practically crawled and scrambled back to the government office. His official hat was crooked, and cold sweat soaked his inner garments, as if those thousands of burning gazes and earth-shaking roars behind him were still scorching his spine.

He slumped into a grand armchair, his throat dry and his limbs cold.

"Rebellion... it is truly a rebellion!"

His lips trembled as he incoherently cried out to the colleagues and superiors who had come upon hearing the news. "That Su Yuan... no, that demonic daoist! He gathered thousands, publicly slandered the imperial court, and established a heretical cult called the 'Way of Great Peace'! His words were rebellious, deluding the people's hearts. This is gathering a crowd for insurrection! It is a blatant rebellion!"

He deliberately omitted the details of his own public humiliation and how he had been rendered speechless. Instead, he embellished the descriptions of 'Heaven does not help man, man must help himself,' 'washing away the filth and returning clarity to the universe,' and 'healing the world.' Especially the scene of ten thousand people roaring 'We know our guilt' and 'We wish to enter the Way of Great Peace' was portrayed as if a rebel army was at the city gates.

Inside the government office, the officials who had originally ignored the 'small squabbles' in Rat Alley finally changed their expressions.

If it were just poor people helping each other, or even if some lowly commoners died, they wouldn't have even bothered to blink.

But 'gathering crowds,' 'establishing a Dao,' and 'publicly proclaiming rebellious words' touched the most sensitive nerve of their rule—order and the challenge to authority.

"It must be suppressed! Immediately mobilize the City Patrol and the Capital Garrison to extinguish this prairie fire with thunderous means!"

A Registrar said sharply.

"Wait!" Another more experienced official frowned. "The plague is not yet settled, the people's hearts are unstable, and the capital's defenses are already stretched thin. Furthermore, the military situation on the Northern Border is worrying. If we take drastic action now and provoke an even larger civil uprising, or allow the Barbarians to take advantage of the situation, what then? It would be better to pacify them first and proceed slowly..."

"Pacify them? How do we pacify them? That demonic daoist has already shouted 'heal the world' and 'purge the filth'! This is clearly an attempt to overthrow the dynasty!"

The pro-suppression faction slammed the table and stood up.

"But that 'Way of Great Peace' is deeply rooted among the poor. The believers are mixed in; when scattered, they are commoners, and when gathered, they are the 'Dao.' How do we distinguish them? How do we suppress them? Are we going to slaughter the entire Outer City's slums?" The pro-appeasement faction retorted.

The argument continued incessantly.

Ultimately, a sternly worded urgent report, categorizing the Way of Great Peace as 'deluding the masses with demonic words and gathering crowds for rebellion,' was sent to the higher levels, along with a recommendation to 'dispatch elite forces to quickly suppress and pacify' the movement.

At the same time, orders were issued to the relevant government offices and a unit of the nearby Capital Garrison:

Closely monitor the activities of the Way of Great Peace, especially its leader 'Su Yuan,' and prepare for targeted elimination and deterrent suppression.