Chapter 684: Big Rats and Summer Insects

Chapter 684 – The Summer Worm of the Great Rat

From the very start, Zhang Fengyue made no deliberate effort to conceal his whereabouts.

In this contest, his initial chosen role was to serve as bait.

Thus, he cared little that Zhang Xiji was hurrying toward his location.

All of this had been foreseen, yet at this moment his heart held no joy whatsoever.

He had considered that the Zhu family of North Zhili might stir the waters, that Shen Jun’s subordinates might employ a Dream Master’s rule to pinpoint him through millet, and even that those near Li Jun and his own merchants might betray him.

Yet among all the possibilities of betrayal, the sight before him was the one he least desired to witness.

"Jin Xun, why have you come to this pass?"

The elder’s voice carried no anger, only a lingering, solemn grief.

"You should know that even if you refrain today, Zhang Xiji would still appear here; why sacrifice your own life voluntarily?"

Zhang Fengyue furrowed his brow, leaned slightly forward in his chair, and fixed his gaze upon the kneeling Liu Jinxun.

"Even if you suspect my other false disguises, you have clearly discerned my true identity—why do you not depart? Why reveal all you have done? Are you not afraid I will slay you?"

Three successive interrogations, each more bewildering and weightier than the last.

He could not fathom why Liu Jinxun acted thus; if merely for renown, the other should have fled Nanjing long ago after the news spread.

Yet now Liu Jinxun showed no inclination to flee, instead placing his life and death beyond concern.

Zhang Fengyue’s eyes trembled, unwilling to admit the sole possibility.

Could it be solely for that!

"In your heart, does a student’s life count as important?"

Liu Jinxun’s lips curled into a fleeting, satisfied smile.

"But I do not consider it important."

Liu Jinxun asked himself, then turned to Zhang Fengyue: "Teacher, do you recall the first lesson you taught us at the New East Forest Academy?"

Seeing the calm on Liu Jinxun’s face, Zhang Fengyue’s gaze suddenly dimmed.

"You told us that a scholar may hear the Way in the morning and die by evening. I have made your imagined ‘Great Confucian Order’ my lifelong ideal, and I have heard the Way I seek. It is but a single life; what is there to cling to?"

Zhang Fengyue’s lips moved, hesitating to speak. He heavily struck the armrest of his chair and let out a weary sigh.

"Indeed, I have harmed you."

"You are mistaken; you have not harmed me. On the contrary, you have always been the unquestioned exemplar of the Confucian Order in my heart, merely now adrift in brief bewilderment. Thus I offer my life in sacrifice, hoping to awaken you."

Liu Jinxun slowly raised both hands, holding the ritual object, and intoned solemnly: "If you persist in cutting the path of the Confucian Order and driving history back a millennium, I may only walk with you. Should an underworld truly exist, when I reach its depths, even if I labor like an ox or horse, I shall repay the debt of your guidance in this life."

In silent unison, Shang Sigǔ slipped behind Liu Jinxun, gripping a blade-like measuring rod.

Awaiting only Zhang Fengyue’s command, he could instantly behead Liu Jinxun.

Both treason and the murder of one’s teacher are unforgivable capital offenses under the Great Ming Code.

"Liu Jinxun, I ask you, what is the Great Confucian Order?"

Zhang Fengyue closed his eyes, his voice stern beyond any prior utterance.

"By the power of sequence to sift the worthy, by the virtue of teaching to forge harmony, by the mastery of the Six Arts to uphold order, all become dragons, and the world is public!"

Liu Jinxun spoke aloud, his voice echoing like thunder upon the earth.

"Do you think you can achieve it?"

"Yes."

"Yet I can now clearly tell you that it is utterly impossible."

Zhang Fengyue suddenly opened his eyes, as if a cold, icy rain fell from the eaves.

"The emergence of sequence makes this impossible. If one man’s strength could match a host of armies, who would heed your rites, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom, and trust?"

Liu Jinxun answered without hesitation: "By eliminating peripheral schools and honoring only Confucianism, it can be done."

"That is merely violent begetting violent!"

"It is the sacrifice required to realize the harmonious world demanded by the Great Confucian Order!"

"Harmonious world?"

Zhang Fengyue sneered, his mouth twitching as he chewed the two words between his teeth with fierce resolve.

"Do you know where your ‘Harmonious world’ originates? I tell you, it springs from an ancient poem titled ‘The Great Rat’!"

"We are not merely greedy great rats, but also brief-lived summer insects!"

Zhang Fengyue shouted angrily: "The one who wields the sequence possesses superhuman power yet shares the same fleeting lifespan as ordinary folk. Few can face their own mortality calmly; what we foresee is madness and excess before death, a frantic struggle for survival and legacy, reckless slaughter. Even if you annihilate all other sequences, how can you restrain your own kind?"

Zhang Fengyue shook his head: "Such a result would not make all dragons, but would make each person bear the power to slay dragons, vying to become dragons themselves."

"The paths our forebears could not traverse are destined to be thick with brambles, yet I believe a solution exists."

Facing Liu Jinxun’s unshakable fervor, Zhang Fengyue felt a deep, weary resignation.

"Jin Xun, if in the future those within the Confucian Order truly possessed both superhuman power and superhuman lifespan, what would they become? How does that differ from the ‘immortals’ that Zhan Shun and Zhang Xiji aspire to?"

"Teacher"

Liu Jinxun lowered his eyes and slowly said, "If truly the Confucian Order must become divine, why should it not?"

"To govern with divinity, how can you attain a world of universal justice?"

Zhang Fengyue softened his tone, gently asking, "Now do you understand why I relinquish the Great Confucian Order? For it is never for the people, but for myself. It is not a remedy for governance, but a catalyst of chaos."

"No."

A resonant, forceful reply turned the elder’s counsel into futile mist.

Liu Jinxun, with resolute countenance, declared each word: "The accomplished become teachers, and the teacher becomes a deity!"

BOOM!

At the distant horizon, night swirled.

Starlight fell from the heavens, its dazzling radiance sketching a colossal phantom mountain.

Crimson and black lightning flashed back and forth, its deafening roar rising and falling.

"Excellent, excellent!"

The elder sighed upward, "Alas, I, Zhang Fengyue, have devoted my life to teaching and nurturing, believing my work was commendable; yet in the end I have merely misled my disciples, harming their pure souls."

"Grant me your favor, Teacher."

Liu Jinxun placed his clasped hands before his forehead and bowed deeply.

CLANG!

The trembling measuring rod struck his shoulder, its edge-less blade carving crimson specks.

"Teacher kills disciple, father kills son. Cluck, cluck, Zhang Fengyue, you have masqueraded as a hypocritical sage for a lifetime, and now your true nature is exposed!"

A pillar of heavenly light crashed into the courtyard, coalescing into the figure of a youthful sage with white hair.

“Liu Xian, you don’t have to worry. Today, the master has agreed with Jenn Shun. Today, you will be fully protected. Your teacher will not harm you.”

“Hah!”

The merchant’s voice was cold, yet he hadn’t moved an inch before a powerful divine thought crashed upon him.

CRASH!

The merchant’s ancient armor swung forward, smashing through the wall nearby, sending shards flying.

“Even the Confucian classics have no authority over you now. Your formalities are nothing but empty gestures.”

Zhang Xi laughed heartily, his face as unreadable as the scene before him. It made him feel a rush of exhilaration.

“Isn’t your face losing its spark? Hahaha. Zhang Xi, if you dare to challenge the sequence, you’ll soon face the wrath of your own kin!”

As soon as the words left his lips, the sky above the courtyard shifted. A massive flying sword hung in the air, its tip glowing with white light.

“You haven’t seen anything in decades, have you? You still stand?!”

Zhang Xi looked down at the old man slumped beneath the eaves, his hand lightly touching the sword. The blade’s energy pulsed, dispelling the darkness.

But then a streak of black-red lightning shot through the air, cutting through the sword’s strength and sending it crashing to the ground.

“Really, he’s a wild one!” Zhang Xi muttered, stepping forward.

A thunderous crack echoed. Flames erupted in the air, engulfing everything in a blaze.

“He’s the student of the old master, isn’t he? And he calls himself ‘rescue’?!”

Li Qing stepped forward, her breath steady. She pulled out a steel bow that shimmered with ancient power.

“Your formalities are nothing but empty words. The law of your conduct has already rendered you irrelevant.”

Zhang Xi’s form flickered, then solidified once more, his eyes blazing with defiance.

“Liu Xian, we haven’t finished yet! What’s your problem?”

In the haze of dust and smoke, Li Qing’s foot tapped the ground, and a bow with a fierce glow appeared, its strings crackling with energy.

“Please, old master. Let me use it.”

The merchant’s chest swelled with a surge of power as the bow was drawn. The air crackled with tension.

“Come on, old man! Show me what you’ve got!”

The merchant’s voice trembled, but the moment he stepped forward, the ground beneath him trembled. Dust rained down, and the house groaned as it collapsed.

Zhang Xi sat down, the weight of the moment pressing down on him. The bricks and stones that had once stood proudly now lay scattered like fallen leaves.

“You’re going to regret this,” Zhang Xi said, his voice steady despite the chaos.

Above, the winds howled, and the sky darkened.

One massive flying sword hung suspended, its blade glowing with an otherworldly light.

“What a spectacle!” Zhang Xi exclaimed, his eyes wide with awe.

Li Qing stepped closer, the bow trembling in his hands. “This is truly remarkable. The master’s power has never been seen before.”

The sword’s light flared, and the air shimmered as it approached the blade. The two men locked eyes—two forces of destiny, about to collide.

“Really, this is wild!” Li Qing whispered, stepping into the presence of the ancient warrior.

The sword’s tip hovered inches from his face, its energy resonating with his very soul.

“Truly, you’re a fascinating figure!” Zhang Xi said, his voice filled with admiration.

But the moment the blade touched his skin, the world seemed to pause.

From the swirling chaos above, a voice echoed—soft yet commanding.

“You have come far, old master. But your journey is far from over.”

And with that, the battle for the future began.

Zhang Fengyue moved slowly toward Liu Jianxun, his gaze fixed on the student he had seen repeatedly toppled by the aftershocks of past events, yet rising and kneeling again with stubborn resolve.

That head, buried deep within, was equally silvered with age. Liu Jianxun had also grown old—his flesh and blood nearly withered, his position on the brink of collapse.

Yet in Zhang Fengyue’s eyes, he remained the same: the New Donglin School’s youth who delighted in greeting friends, who craved the spotlight, who often clashed with Rupei Xingjian and others over differing ideals, their conflicts leaving them with bruised noses and swollen faces.

Though his body was old, his spirit remained unbroken.

“This point, teacher, you’re not even close to me,” Zhang Fengyue murmured, his voice laced with quiet regret as he suddenly kicked Liu Jianxun’s shoulder.

“You little scum! Stand up!”

The familiar tone sent a tremor through Liu Jianxun’s spirit.

He abruptly lifted his head, only to find the old man’s stern gaze hiding a flicker of warmth.

In that moment, Liu Jianxun felt as if he were back in the year of his own mistake, forced to kneel on the schoolyard.

Except now, Rupei Xingjian was absent.

And the teacher scolding him was already old beyond measure.