From Evil Sect Leader to Doctor-Chapter 331 - 306: Heir of the Mo Clan

Fortunately, this set of "Tianyong Pian" is inscribed in oracle bone script on the dragon bones. Even an expert in ancient scripts like Bai Mushan couldn’t translate it completely in a short time. It is estimated that it took Bai Mushan over twenty years to decrypt most of "Tianyong Pian."

But decrypting oracle bone script is one thing; practicing according to the decrypted text is another matter. If one is not a martial artist with profound accomplishments in Inner Strength, it is also difficult to understand the true essence of these texts. Could it be that Bai Mushan himself is a Qi Cultivation expert?

Xu Chunliang has met Bai Mushan more than once. Bai Mushan doesn’t seem to be someone who knows martial arts. If Bai Mushan is not versed in martial arts, he must have found a collaborator to study it together. Could it be Luan Yuchuan?

However, Xu Chunliang had once rescued Luan Yuchuan and had checked his pulse twice. Luan Yuchuan has no Inner Strength. Could there be a third person?

Xu Chunliang looked at Xue Anliang. Xue Anliang, frightened by his gaze, said tremblingly, "Don’t look at me like that, I’m driving."

"Am I bothering your driving?"

"I feel uneasy in my heart."

Xu Chunliang laughed, amused by this guy. Xue Anliang didn’t feel like laughing at all. Just thinking about his life being in the hands of the person beside him, he almost wanted to cry.

Xu Chunliang asked, "Who else does Bai Mushan associate with more in his daily life?"

Xue Anliang shook his head and said, "He always holds himself in high regard, really doesn’t have many friends, not even putting Liang Baxian in his eyes."

"Have you compiled the oracle bone script materials that Bai Mushan has decrypted over these years for me?"

Xue Anliang nodded repeatedly and said, "I have. It’s just that Professor Bai has been researching for decades, completing this statistical work requires time, and many of the materials are still at Longgu Culture and haven’t been sorted out. I’ll go over soon to organize them."

Xu Chunliang said, "You only need to compile the text he has decrypted over the past twenty-five years for me."

In Xu Chunliang’s view, the texts decrypted by Bai Mushan over the past twenty-five years are most likely originating from the dragon bones donated by the Xu Family. Gathering information in this area serves two purposes: one is to provide evidence in searching for the truth, and the other is to see how accurate Bai Mushan’s decryption is. Xu Chunliang does not believe that Bai Mushan could decrypt all the characters on the dragon bones donated by his grandfather.

Xue Anliang said, "That’s already compiled." He handed Xu Chunliang a USB drive.

Xu Chunliang took it, smiling and said, "You’re a smart guy."

Xue Anliang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It wasn’t that he was smart; it was out of necessity. He briefly introduced that Bai Mushan is currently the person in China who has decrypted the most oracle bone scripts, a total of three hundred seventy-two characters. This number may not seem surprising at first glance, but there are only a little over a thousand oracle bone characters decrypted in the country. Take the great scholar Guo Moruo, for instance; he only decrypted a little over a hundred oracle bone scripts in his lifetime, and his accuracy rate was only 30 percent.

Decrypting oracle bone scripts has become a hotspot in the study of ancient scripts. In 2016, the Chinese Character Museum issued an announcement "Oracle Bone Script Reading Outstanding Achievements Reward Plan." It promised a reward of 100,000 RMB for deciphering an undeciphered oracle bone character and 50,000 RMB for offering a new interpretation of a disputed oracle bone character.

Relying on his academic achievements in the past few years, Bai Mushan has received over three million in bonuses, meaning he has decrypted more than thirty oracle bone scripts from 2016 to now.

Xu Chunliang asked Xue Anliang to take him to Longgu Culture to see for himself Bai Mushan’s working environment.

Xue Anliang didn’t dare to refuse and had to comply.

Last night’s heavy snow added a touch of elegance to the Nanwan Lake Cultural and Creative Park. The stream in the park, reflecting the white snow, turned into a striking black and blue color.

Xue Anliang drove the car into the underground garage. He first got out to turn off the studio’s surveillance and then invited Xu Chunliang inside.

Xue Anliang was cautious in his actions and very considerate, and this guy was quite skilled. Xu Chunliang knew that he didn’t just apprentice under Bai Mushan solely for learning; he must have also known the secret of the dragon bones.

Entering the basement of Longgu Culture, Xue Anliang had already turned on the lights in advance. Unlike the usual practice of storing wine in a basement, the basement of Longgu Culture was made to resemble a small museum.

Mechanical models were displayed one by one in glass display cases.

There was a Ganche, an assault chariot covered with rawhide that could carry ten people inside. It could be pushed directly to the city walls to dig and destroy the structures—virtually an ancient tank.

There was a Repeating Crossbow Cart, extremely complex in structure, capable of firing dozens of arrows at once, with great recoil requiring ten people to operate.

There was also a Catapult, made entirely of iron, with a portion buried underground and operated by multiple people, capable of launching charges like charcoal or stones. This catapult was the cannon of ancient times—a stone thrower.

His attention was drawn to a calligraphy piece hanging on the wall, which read: "Universal Love, Mutual Benefit."

Xu Chunliang pondered in his heart; this was the benevolence of a Moist. Seeing those intricate models, could it be that Bai Mushan is a devotee of the Mo Family?

In the late Warring States period, the Mo Family split into two branches: one became the itinerant knights of the Jianghu, and the other focused on epistemology, logic, geometry, optical geometry, statics, and other disciplines, known as the Later Mo School. It inherited much of the early Mo Family’s ethical advocacy and achieved substantial progress in epistemology and logic.

Xu Chunliang asked, "Is Bai Mushan also researching the Mo Family?"

Xue Anliang nodded and said, "Professor Bai highly esteems Moism. He often says that in the pre-Qin period, it was either Confucianism or Moism. The Mo Family and Confucians were equally renowned, and ’Mo Jing’ is the first true scientific text in China. If it weren’t for Emperor Wu of Han who favored Confucianism exclusively, the influence of Moism today would definitely not be inferior to Confucianism, Buddhism, or Taoism."

Xu Chunliang asked, "Did he make all these models?"

Xue Anliang said, "No, they were gifts from a friend of his."

Xu Chunliang stopped in front of the cloud ladder model, noticing that its craftsmanship was exquisite, far more than just a shape. Every detail was accurately reproduced, indicating that the model maker was not only skillful with their hands but also had a deep understanding of mechanical structures.

Following Xue Anliang, they arrived at Bai Mushan’s studio. Since Bai Mushan moved his main work location to the museum, the place had become rather empty, leaving only a few materials on the bookshelf.

On the wall behind the office chair hung a piece of calligraphy — Signifying ancient sage kings’ responsibility to hear and see the people’s real conditions.

Xu Chunliang noticed the inscription, written by Mo Wuya, finished thirty years ago.

Xu Chunliang asked, "Who is Mo Wuya?"

Xue Anliang shook his head, indicating he didn’t know. The calligraphy had been hanging there for a long time, and he had never paid attention to the author, only knowing it came from Mozi’s Three Tests, a standard by which the Mo Family judged recognition. There is actually another line — Emphasizing reliance on governmental and legal practices that benefit the state and the common people. This was the earliest proposition about the standard of truth in Chinese philosophical history, which had an extremely important impact on later generations.

At this point, Xu Chunliang could basically determine that Bai Mushan believed in Moism, and this Mo Wuya was likely a descendant of the Mo Family. He therefore thought of Mo Han again; could Mo Han truly be a descendant of the Mo Family, or perhaps she was related to this Mo Wuya since there aren’t many people with the surname Mo.

This trip was definitely not in vain.

Xue Anliang said, "All the important stuff has been moved." He meant there was nothing worth looking at; he both hated and feared Xu Chunliang, deep down not wanting to be with him. In his heart, this guy was a harbinger of bad luck, and he couldn’t wait to get rid of him.

Unperturbed, Xu Chunliang carefully visited every corner of Longgu Culture, staying for nearly an hour before leaving.

Back at the party school dorm, he opened the computer to review Bai Mushan’s achievements over the years. Xue Anliang had created a comparison table to contrast the original ancient texts with the text deciphered by Bai Mushan.

After examining it, Xu Chunliang found that Bai Mushan’s accuracy was less than half, roughly around thirty percent.

Xu Chunliang secretly sighed; what the hell kind of expert is this? How could someone at this level become a university doctoral advisor? It was simply misleading students. Xu Chunliang was unaware that in the professional field, achieving Bai Mushan’s level was already quite exceptional.

What puzzled him was how someone as mediocre as Bai Mushan managed to decipher the ’Tianyang Chapter’ completely?

Based on Bai Mushan’s achievements, his deciphering of the ’Tianyang Chapter’ must have been full of errors and completely unrecognizable. Yet not only did he decipher it, but he also likely used the ’Tianyang Chapter’ to cure himself and Luan Yuchuan, which was unbelievable.

Xu Chunliang considered two possibilities: one, Bai Mushan did it on purpose. He could make correct interpretations but deliberately lowered the accuracy to confuse others; two, someone else deciphered the ’Tianyang Chapter’.

Luan Yuchuan respectfully presented the rubbings to Mo Han.

Mo Han received the rubbings and after examining them said, "Are you sure there are no omissions?"

Luan Yuchuan replied, "I watched Bai Mushan make the rubbings with my own eyes; the missing part had a hole worn through, which was meant for threading a bookmark, coincidentally destroying the character."

Mo Han sneered, "Quite a coincidence, choosing to punch a hole right where the text is."

Luan Yuchuan said, "Are you suggesting that Xu Chunliang deliberately punched a hole in the dragon bone, compromising its integrity?"

Mo Han said, "With his intellect, he’s surely capable of it." She felt her teeth grinding; if Xu Chunliang were present, she’d love nothing more than to take a bite out of him. Is this what he calls being as good as his word?

"Shall we devise a plan to force him to hand it over?"

Mo Han shook her head, "You may go now!"

Luan Yuchuan bowed his head and stepped back before turning to leave.

Mo Han walked towards the antique shelving, opened a hidden compartment, and pressed her fingers against the fingerprint scanner and performed an iris scan.

The shelving parted from the middle, revealing a hidden glass partition wall behind. Lights illuminated, displaying dragon bone projections with a missing central piece. Mo Han aligned the rubbings with the missing section, her lips curling into a subtly enigmatic smile, whispering to herself, "Do you truly believe I couldn’t deduce this character?"