Du Chengfeng had long wanted to try and understand the formal ways of cultivation in this world.

Although he had previously acknowledged Ruan Shantao as his teacher, that old man hadn’t taught him anything before he was gone. As a result, the path Du Chengfeng was on was still the most basic one, strengthening his abilities through killing. But after running around for some time now, he had come to realize that in this world, killing wasn’t the only way to get stronger.

Take Ruan Shantao himself, for instance, who had never killed anyone in his life yet was still exceptionally powerful. Or the war drums and horns of the prairie people, which were another way of manipulating Evil Qi. Or Liu Bolun’s self-brewed wine that could suppress the Blade Evil Qi. Or those so-called "Immortals" from Taiyin Mountain who had their own unique methods.

Clearly, aside from this most straightforward and yet most problematic path of killing, everyone seemed to have other roads to take.

And this was the part that fascinated Du Chengfeng the most.

"Consider it a way to have more confidence when facing those experts from the Capital City."

Du Chengfeng sincerely looked at Liu Bolun.

"Please guide me, I implore you, tell me what skills are taught at the great academy in the Capital City of Jiankang."

"This..."

Liu Bolun began to scratch his head.

"Your desire to learn is commendable, but are you really prepared to start from scratch? Fair warning, at your age, it might be hard to cultivate the righteous aura of poetry and books."

"...I’ll give it a try?"

Even though Liu Bolun said this, Du Chengfeng was still somewhat unwilling to give up.

If you don’t try, how will you know you’re incapable?

"Then I’ll help you find a sage book."

Seeing that Du Chengfeng was still persistent, Liu Bolun went out and called someone to bring a sage book.

And for the first time, Du Chengfeng was introduced to something in this world that could legitimately be called a "textbook."

It was said that before the Great Chu conquered the world, there was a period when many nations stood alongside each other. It was during this time that a sage emerged from the edges of a southeastern coastal kingdom, from a place called Lincang.

The true name of this sage has long been lost to time. After all, when the Great Chu conquered the world, they even wiped the homeland of this sage off the map—obviously, the sage books didn’t help much against the sharp weapons of the Chu people, and the heritage of this scholarship was nearly extinguished too.

Yet later, after conquering the world, the Great Chu eventually adopted this textbook.

"Because the classic works of that time were more focused on practical utility, though you could learn all kinds of techniques from them, what you learned were just techniques."

At this point, Liu Bolun pointed at the book in his hand.

"Only this sage book guides people towards goodness, teaching how to be a person."

That said, Liu Bolun, who was drinking wine, sighed, seemingly reminiscing about those ancient days.

"The Great Chu indeed conquered the world, but as a nation founded on military strength, they could only nurture warriors. But you know, if everyone is a warrior, wielding swords and guns, then this world wouldn’t be a pleasant place to live in... You’re from Beiji, you should understand what I’m saying, right?"

Du Chengfeng certainly understood what Liu Bolun meant, though he hadn’t been in Beiji for long, the straightforward cultural ethos of often pulling knives on each other left a deep impression on him.

Even the capturers of Southern Chen found it difficult to enforce law in the northern borders, a testament to the chaos.

So indeed, some rules were needed, even if just the most basic order.

Just like what old man Ruan Shantao did in Yanzhou City.

So, the former Great Chu ultimately did adopt this textbook. But in adopting it, they were still cautious of this text from a former enemy nation—they erased the original name of the land recorded in the book, even removed the recorded name of the sage, leaving just the title "Sage," and even edited out some content, leaving only the doctrines of benevolence and righteousness to guide people towards goodness.

The Chu felt they did a perfect job, acquiring an enlightening body of knowledge while erasing any potential threats. As for the book itself, it was merely a tome teaching people to become noble gentlemen of benevolence and righteousness; it contained just some principles. What use could it possibly have against the Chu warriors with their spears and halberds?

However, what the Chu didn’t anticipate was that the issue lay precisely there.

The Chu erased the recorded original name, leaving only "Sage" as a title, but it was exactly this title "Sage" that sparked infinite musings among these scholars—who is the Sage? What does it mean to be a Sage? What does a Sage look like?

"According to records, they were the first people to cultivate the righteous aura of poetry and books."

Liu Bolun, with drunken eyes, seemed to see those ancient forerunners.

"The brutal Chu erased the Sage’s name, inadvertently granting them greater access to that mysterious realm... and then, through the efforts of generations of scholars, they finally extinguished the cruel Chu and established the subsequent Yu dynasty."

"Hmm..."

Du Chengfeng fell silent for a moment.

Exactly how the scholars exerted their efforts, he wasn’t quite sure, but to what extent scholars could reach, looking at Ruan Shantao was proof enough—if it was a group of old men wielding Rectangular Swords, that would indeed be a formidable force.

"So, what happened later?"

"Later..."

Liu Bolun’s face dimmed.

Like all stories, the ending seemed beautiful—yet clearly, for those scholars, the fall of the Brutal Chu was an end, but also the beginning of something else.

From that moment on, these scholars finally had the opportunity to practice their benevolence and righteousness, to spread the sage principles that they had always aspired to, over the whole world—just like the Sage from their books whom they had admired. This time, it was their turn to educate the masses like the Sage of old.

However, herein lay the problem.

Though they all read the Sage books, each person had their own interpretation of the content.

So, among them, who was truly closer to the Sage?

"That was a more brutal struggle than extinguishing the Brutal Chu... So by the time of the current Great Chen, the schools of thought from back then are no longer in vogue; everyone is just given a Sage book and whatever one understands from it is one’s own business."

Saying so, Liu Bolun handed the scroll to Du Chengfeng.

"Try it, see if you can grasp that enigmatic feeling."

"I..."

Du Chengfeng attempted to read the book he held.

Regarding literacy and reading, he had already sought guidance from Liu Bolun; thus, he faced no obstacles while reading this book. As for the content... he had no trouble reading through it. After all, it wasn’t complex; it was entirely a dialogue between the Sage and his disciples on how one should become a noble gentleman.

Yet, that enigmatic feeling, he had never felt it.

"Could it be because my heart isn’t sincere?"

Du Chengfeng couldn’t help but recall his time on Taiyin Mountain; he remembered that time too, after reading scriptures for several days, he felt nothing at all...

"Wait a minute!"

As if a thought had struck him, Du Chengfeng hurriedly fetched his saddlebag.

Unwrapping it, Du Chengfeng drew out a Brass Magic Sword.

Indeed, his heart wasn’t sincere at the moment.

But at least he could try to learn how to be sincere.

"I’ll read later; let me sharpen my sword first."

Saying so, Du Chengfeng had already produced a Grinding Stone.

And that Brass Magic Sword was already set upon the Grinding Stone.