"That's true, but..." Zhang Liang sighed leisurely and replied in a deep voice, "Senior brother, I'm afraid he may not be willing to submit."
"For Confucian disciples, the burning of books... is really unacceptable."
"But if we offend Ying Zheng at this juncture, wouldn't Fu Nian's previous overtures be meaningless?" Gu Xun asked, "Why did he sacrifice Little Saint Xian Manor and his own reputation before?"
"Brother Gu, if things don't come to an end, who can really be sure of what he will do?" Zhang Liang asked with a wry smile, "At that time, Senior Brother Fu Nian wanted to preserve Little Saint Xian Manor, so bowing to the emperor was a wise move -
—If I had not bowed my head at that time, the little Shengxian Village might not have been able to live in peace to this day."
"At this time, it's hard to say which side Senior Brother Fu Nian will choose... especially with the additional factor of Senior Uncle Xunzi."
Xunzi was an absolute hardliner, and he might be willing to compromise on some things like Fu Nian, but when it came to burning books, Xunzi would never compromise.
Fu Nian had many conceptual conflicts with Xunzi, but this did not mean that he would completely oppose all Xunzi's ideas.
Sometimes, Xunzi's views can still influence Fu Nian's decision-making.
"Well...if Little Saint Xian Village chooses to oppose Ying Zheng head-on, even I will have a hard time providing help." Gu Xun could only remind him with great pity after hearing this.
He has now completely restrained the power of Quicksand, and does not intend to have any further conflicts with Ying Zheng.
In this case, he can save some people in Little Sage Village, but it is impossible to save the entire Little Sage Village.
It can't be said that Gu Xun can't do it at all. He can still be saved if he insists on it, but... it's not worth it.
For Gu Xun, Xiaoshengxian Village was very important, but not so important that he had to keep it at all costs - what really mattered was Confucianism, and Confucianism was difficult to destroy with violence.
Even the destruction of Little Saint Xian Village will have some benefits for Gu Xun.
Of course, there are many disadvantages.
"Brother Gu, what do you think...the emperor will do in this matter?" Zhang Liang didn't mind Gu Xun's reaction and just asked calmly.
"He will be tough to the end and will not allow any doubts!" Gu Xun replied without hesitation.
Ying Zheng has already shown weakness, and he will only show toughness next time and will not allow any opposition - to any degree or in any form.
"Hmm..." Zhang Liang was not surprised by this, he lowered his eyebrows and groaned and stopped talking.
Coincidentally, the food started to be served at this time.
………………
Xiaoshengxian Village, Bamboo Forest in the Back Mountain.
After Fu Nian and Yan Lu separated, they wandered around the villa for a while in confusion, and finally turned here.
Walking into the bamboo forest, Fu Nian's face became more solemn and his steps became heavier. He stepped on the road covered with fallen leaves, making a soft crunching sound.
Soon, Fu Nian walked to the bamboo house where Xunzi Qingxiu lived:
"Master Xun, my disciple Fu Nian is asking for an audience."
"Come in." Xunzi's old voice sounded.
Entering the house, Fu Nian bowed according to the rules and then sat down meticulously.
Xunzi ignored him the whole time and was busy playing with the small teapot to boil water.
After Fu Nian sat down, his eyes really locked on Xunzi's face.
This old man's face was still energetic, but Fu Nian could still clearly see that his uncle was older - even though it had not been a few days since they last met.
After a person gets old, it seems that with each passing day, the sign of decay on his face becomes more and more serious, reminding everyone all the time that he is an old person whose life is not long.
"Uncle Master..."
As soon as Fu Nian started talking, Xunzi interrupted him:
"Judging from the look on your face, it seems that something very important has happened, something big that you can't make up your mind about."
Fu Nian's face became more and more serious, and he continued in a low voice, "The emperor will visit the Little Saint's Manor tomorrow."
Hearing this news, Xunzi suddenly paused in his action of boiling water, and then fell silent. He didn't reply leisurely until he put the kettle on the small stove to boil:
"It looks like you know why the emperor is here?"
"It's just a guess." Fu Nian replied calmly, "I think the emperor may want to take this opportunity to officially issue...a book-burning order."
Fu Nian really didn't think of the burning of books at first, but after thinking deeply, he still thought of it and listed it as the most likely answer.
Fu Nian's answer made Xunzi frown immediately, and he repeated in a cold tone, "Burning books..."
Then he asked bluntly, "Since it's about burning books, why are you acting like this?"
"Uncle Master, what do you think I should do?" Fu Nian sighed in his heart and asked with an emotionless expression on his face.
"You can't make up your mind?"
"I...can't make up my mind." Fu Nian hesitated for a moment, and then explained truthfully, "The emperor is coming in a menacing manner, and I'm afraid he doesn't have good intentions. If Little Saint Xian Manor makes one wrong move, it may be doomed..."
"Uncle Master...I..."
"You are the head of Xiaoshengxian Village, and your decision is the decision of everyone in Xiaoshengxian Village." Xunzi replied bluntly, "So, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know!" Fu Nian's tone finally fluctuated, and he replied excitedly and helplessly.
Xunzi sighed softly, "You are tangled... tangled is actually a choice."
As the leader, Fu Nian has always regarded the rise and fall of Little Saint's Village as the most important thing. For the sake of Little Saint's Village and all the members of Little Saint's Village, Fu Nian has already surrendered once, and he doesn't mind continuing to bow his head.
But this time he still fell into hesitation.
This shows that in his opinion, the resistance to book burning is enough to subtly outweigh the rise and fall of Xiaoshengxian Manor.
Fu Nian remained silent.
From his true heart, of course he must resist the book-burning order at all costs.
But... what about the other people in Little Saint Xian Village?
Mencius said that one should sacrifice one's life in order to gain righteousness, but Mencius did not say that one should also sacrifice the lives of others.
Seeing this, Xunzi continued, "In the past, the Jixia Academy was known as the Hundred Schools of Scholars, and all the talented people from all over the world came and went here. However, in the end, it did not even survive an old man like me. Now it is just a piece of loess."
"Xiaoshengxian Manor is a sacred place for Confucianism, but in the final analysis it is just a college and a mountain villa."
"It will eventually be destroyed, maybe sooner or later. This is a reality that every Confucian disciple and Xiaoshengxianzhuang disciple should understand and accept."
"Confucian disciples should sacrifice their lives for righteousness. If they dare not, they can escape."
Xunzi spoke of life-and-death matters in an understated way, "Even if the little Shengxian Village is going to perish, it won't be so difficult that even a few students can't be sent away or escape."
Xunzi Fu Nian and other senior officials of the Little Saint Xian Village will definitely not be able to escape, but as long as the ordinary disciples escape in advance, even Ying Zheng will not have to kill them all.
Xunzi continued, "Of course, I, an old man, am not saying this to influence your decision. As I said before, you are the one in charge, and you are the helmsman."
"I just want you to understand that as the head of Confucianism, there is no need to be too... compromised."
"It is human nature to live in an ignoble existence, but it is also natural to sacrifice one's life for righteousness."
After listening to Xunzi's words, Fu Nian was speechless for a long time. In the end, he did not say whether he had made a decision. He just thanked Xunzi, got up and left.
He may have to think again.
………………
It's evening.
Outside Songhai City, under the East China Sea, the huge machine Xuanwu swims with its round body, roaming freely on the seabed.
Inside Xuanwu, Gao Jianli and others gathered together.
They have received news that Ying Zheng has come forward and intends to visit Xiaoshengxian Manor.
At the same time, the snow girl who went to contact Master Ben also returned.
Thief Zhi followed her back, but Master Ban was still busy recovering the Qinglong.
Tianming and the others also rushed back, but Shi Lan and Tianming Shaoyu parted ways and went straight back to the city, while the other two contacted the Mo family and returned to Xuanwu.
At this time, they were all in Xuanwu's main control room.
Xue Nu brought back the opinion of Master Ben - he advocated not to restrict Tianming too much and not to let them take risks, but not to interfere too deeply.
In other words, it was a gentle treatment, not much different from Gao Jianli's final response plan.
Of course, it doesn't matter whether Master Ben is radical or gentle, because the matter is over.
Gao Jianli had already told her about the dazzling operation before Tianming, so she just briefly explained what Master Ban meant, so the trip was not in vain.
At the same time, she also briefly described the current situation of Master Ban.
Overall, it's not bad. Qinglong's current location has been locked, and all that's left is the recovery work. If everything goes well, he will be back in five to seven days.
She only briefly mentioned this matter, and it was over if Gao Jianli and others heard about it.
They couldn't help with the matter of recovering the Azure Dragon. It was enough to know that Master Ben was going well, and there was no need to worry about anything else.
Next, is the real business to talk about.
Tianming spoke first, placing his hands on the table in the center of the central control room, calmly stating Yu Ziqi's situation, and then stated the preliminary solution they discussed:
"So Shaoyu and I want to steal a real person pill from the mirage."
Robber Zhi chuckled and raised his arm, "This is easy to handle. I'll touch one for you later when I have time."
When it comes to Qinggong, he may be just one of the strongest people in the world, but when it comes to stealing, he is the undoubted king.
He is called the King of Thieves not because he is fast, but because he can steal.
Gao Jianli warned with a serious face, "Xiao Zhi, don't act recklessly, the mirage is no better than other places."
Thief Zhi didn't care much about this. He plucked two locks of yellow hair on his forehead and replied with a smile, "It's just a matter of stealing something. The worst is failure. At worst, I'll run away."
Stealing elixirs is no better than saving people. As soon as he stuffs the items into his arms, he can run away. The Yin and Yang family will never let him go.
"But if it fails, how can we save people?" Gao Jianli also believed that Thief Zhi definitely had the ability to protect himself, but the purpose was to get elixirs, not to dance in the Yin Yang family's minefield.
"Uh... I'm trying to be polite, do you really think I will fail?" Tao Zhi rolled his eyes and replied very confidently.
Gao Jianli ignored him and turned to Tianming, "What are your ideas?"
Shao Yu took the words and replied, "Well, we didn't know that Commander Bandit Zhi was back, so we planned to go there in person."
Tianming interrupted and corrected himself, "To be precise, I am the only one."
"Ah?" Before anyone else could respond, Shao Yu looked sideways at his good brother with wide eyes, "You want to do it alone again?"
Obviously, Tianming and Shaoyu did not discuss this matter well.
Gao Jianli was more calm and asked calmly, "Why? Do you have a reason to go alone?"
"Uh..." Tianming scratched his chin, and after some hesitation he finally told part of the truth, "Because it's safer for me to get on the boat."
"For some reasons that I don't know very well, the people of the Yin and Yang family don't dare to do anything to me now."
"There are many things you do that are dangerous, but I'm completely fine if I do them, such as stealing medicine."
"Why is this?" Robber Zhi plucked the long hair on his forehead and asked curiously.
Tian Ming rolled his eyes, shrugged and said nothing - he already said the reason and he didn't know.
Gao Jianli and Xuenu frowned, and the former spoke first, "From the results, if this is true, your actions on the mirage will indeed be much safer tomorrow."
"However, if we don't figure out the reason, I'm afraid there will be a greater crisis behind it."
There is rarely a free lunch in the world, and the people of the Yin and Yang family are not so kind.
Tianming spread his hands and said, "They must have their own plans, but I just need to pay more attention. You can't stop eating the good meat that comes to your mouth."
"So I'll do it." Zhi Zhi lazily interjected and took over the work for himself.
Tian Ming was right. Since the Yin and Yang family wanted to lavish money on him, they couldn't waste it, but they couldn't waste it too much.
After all, the price behind it is still unclear.
So Tao Zhi thought it would be better to let him, a professional player, do it.
Tianming didn't show off his strength this time. He was the most professional at stealing things.
"Let me tell you about the information on the ship." Tianming simply talked about the information, "Yun Zhongjun's Yunxiao Pavilion has been rebuilt and is no longer as empty as when Xiao Gao and you went last time."
"The detailed structure is still a little different from before and has been simplified a lot, but the location of the elixir room where the elixirs are stored has not changed."
"But when we went there last time, the medicine cabinets were still empty. I don't know whether Yun Zhongjun squandered all his inventory, or whether the items were temporarily stored elsewhere and were not transferred to the medicine cabinets.
.”
"We don't know if it's in stock now."
After hearing this, Thief Zhi immediately asked, "If the elixir is not in the alchemy room, where else could it be?"
Shaoyu answered, "We don't know very well, but when we boarded the ship to investigate the situation before, we didn't find the place where the Yunzhongjun elixir was stored."
"So, the things should have been hidden somewhere we had never been."
"Oh." Thief Zhi continued to ask calmly, "How many places have you not been to?"
For him, even a very vague range is enough.
Tianming grinned and replied with a smile, "That's a huge area. We have never set foot in at least 70% of the area on the mirage."
Robber Zhi's face darkened, and he asked in a choked voice, "Then how can I find it?"
"Don't worry, I'll draw a few key areas for you." Tian Ming waved his hand, telling him to calm down, "First of all, it's Yun Zhongjun's bedroom, which is located deep in Yunxiao Pavilion. We haven't been to the specific location.
I’m not sure, try to find out yourself.”
"Secondly, there is the large pharmacy where medicinal materials are stored. That place is located near the Sakura Garden. We have been there a long time ago, but we have not been there since the Yunxiao Pavilion was destroyed. If the elixirs were temporarily stored there, we would not know.
