Confucianism under Heaven

Chapter 1 Confucianism and Taoism Continent

Confucianism under Heaven

Brothers in arms

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Chapter One: The Continent of Confucianism and Taoism

In the Wenxing Private School in Qingyun County, Tianling Prefecture, Yangzhou, Yanhuang Kingdom.

Early in the morning, the sun shone brightly through the window and fell on the face of a handsome young man.

"hiss……"

A sharp pain shot through Ye Ru, causing his eyelids to twitch slightly. He then opened his eyes and looked around blankly.

Ye Ru found himself lying in a small room. He quickly got up, but his weakness caused him to fall back onto the bed.

"Where am I? I clearly remember taking the college entrance exam."

Looking at his clothes, Ye Ru was shocked to find that they were just a coarse cloth short garment.

Moreover, the skin on my arm was exceptionally fair.

"what!"

Suddenly, Ye Ru's vision went black as a flood of memories rushed into his mind, making his brain feel like it was being exploded. His face contorted in pain.

With his hands covering his head, the veins on his arms bulged from the pain. It took Ye Ru an unknown amount of time before he finally calmed down.

However, those dark eyes became unusually complex.

Because this is no longer Earth, but a strange world called the Confucian and Taoist Continent.

Here, power and influence are not the only things that govern.

The true masters are the scholars!

Here, scholars can use their talent to become more powerful, prolong their lives, wield swords to kill, and become omnipotent.

In the early days of the Great Wilderness, after Cangjie created characters, a hundred sages emerged. Scholars were no longer powerless; instead, they could kill with poetry, form battle formations with calligraphy and painting, and even scatter beans to create soldiers and lead armies to destroy enemies.

King Wu Cheng, Jiang Taigong, observed military affairs and wrote "Taigong's Art of War". He went to Xiqi to fight against the tyrannical King Zhou. With each character he wrote, tens of thousands of troops descended from the sky, and a million mighty soldiers came to the city of Chaoge. They killed the fox demon Daji and a million demon soldiers, and assisted King Wu in achieving hegemony.

From then on, the dynasty changed hands, and the century-old Shang Dynasty came to nothing.

Jiang Ziya was also named a demigod in the Investiture of the Gods.

Later generations praised him, saying, "With Taigong here, all the gods must step aside!"

The poet Li Bai was renowned for his exceptional poetry. Legend has it that after writing "The Ballad of the Knight-Errant," he was able to kill one man in ten steps and leave no trace for a thousand miles, turning countless foreign demons who were besieging Chang'an into corpses.

He further created the poem "The Road to Shu is Hard," protecting the capital of Shu, making it as solid as a rock. From then on, Li Bai became a great poet and a sage. He then created a space called the Azure Lotus Sword Domain, which has protected the human race for thousands of years.

Meanwhile, in the distant Eastern Sacred Realm, the Buddha Shakya established the Six Paths of Buddhism, repelling the demons of the East and achieving the path of Buddhism a thousand miles away.

As these events surfaced in his mind, Ye Ru felt as if a turbulent sea was surging within him. He then took a deep breath and involuntarily clenched his fists.

"This is actually a world of scholars, and they can even use their talent to kill enemies?"

Moreover, from this part of his memory, Ye Ru discovered that there was also a hierarchical system here.

Here, only those who become novice scholars can condense the innate book palace and store their talent within it.

The standard for becoming a student of the Imperial Academy is to study. One must acquire knowledge through reading and transform it into talent in order to succeed. If one wants to be known throughout the world for one's literary talent, one must participate in the national imperial examination to obtain a literary rank.

This continent of Confucianism and Taoism has witnessed the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the Three Kingdoms period, and the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The history after the Northern and Southern Dynasties is completely blank.

Throughout history, apart from Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Buddha, who became the most revered teachers, no one else has been able to reach the level of a sage.

At most, he is only at the level of a half-step saint.

Could this be a parallel universe?

The deeper Ye Ru went, the more astonished he became. In the past, he was a useless scholar, but here, it was the best opportunity for a literary figure to display his talents.

"However, the history of this place after the Northern and Southern Dynasties is almost blank, so why is Li Bai still here?"

Li Bai was a poet of the Tang Dynasty, so why was he here? This puzzled Ye Ru.

Suddenly, Ye Ru's expression changed, because he remembered the original identity of this body.

Ye Ru came from a poor family. His parents disappeared long ago, and the only person he depended on was a little girl named Su Tongyao.

In the continent of saints, those who have not awakened their spiritual intelligence are like ants.

Coincidentally, Ye Ru had never been able to develop his intelligence since childhood. As for coming to this academy, it was only because the academy teachers saw his poverty that they allowed him to enter the academy to study.

However, the owner of this body was too stupid and could not develop intelligence for a long time, so he became a recognized waste in the Wenxing Private School.

Later, he offended a young master from a noble family, was framed, and was beaten to death.

"Now that I have been given a second chance at life, it is finally my turn to shine in this new life after five thousand years!"

"However, now that I have been reborn, I'm afraid that aristocratic man will continue to use underhanded tactics. The only way is to awaken my intelligence, become a student of the Imperial Academy, and obtain a literary rank and the Imperial Library to store up my talent."

In the Confucian and Taoist continent, there are five academies and ten kingdoms. Only by obtaining a literary rank can one advance further on the path of Confucianism and Taoism or on the path of officialdom.

In other words, becoming a student of the lowest level is only the first step in building a towering skyscraper.

As Ye Ru stood up, he suddenly discovered that a book had appeared in his mind.

The book radiated golden light, and Ye Ru focused his mind on studying it for a moment.

At this moment, a strange change occurred. The strange book began to turn pages automatically, and whichever book the mind directed at would automatically transform into that book.

This scene brought a look of joy to Ye Ru's face. With this heavenly book, this world of Confucianism and Taoism would probably be the best era for him to make a name for himself.

"This book is so wonderful, let's name it after the Siku Quanshu, which was revised under the supervision of Emperor Qianlong."

creak!

As my mind drifted away from the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries, the outer door suddenly opened, and a little girl walked in.

The girl was about fifteen years old, with a face as smooth as jade, rosy and very endearing.

"Young Master Ye Ru, you're finally awake! I thought I'd never see you again, sob sob sob."

Upon seeing Ye Ru, Su Tongyao collapsed onto his bed and burst into tears. Ye Ru quickly comforted her, gently patting her back.

"Okay, I'm fine now, I'm not crying anymore."

The gentle tone stopped Su Tongyao from crying, and she then sobbed:

“Young Master Ye Ru, the teacher says that because you have repeatedly failed to awaken your spiritual intelligence, and because you fought and broke school rules in the private school, if you are still ranked last in the quiz in five days, Teacher Xu will expel you!”

Upon hearing this, Ye Ru was greatly alarmed and immediately ran towards his own class, the Wilderness Class.

……

Wenxing Private School is divided into four classes: Heaven, Earth, Primordial Chaos, and Wilderness. The Heaven class is the highest, and many prospective students come from the Heaven class.

However, the Huangban class had its glory days. Back then, it produced a peerless genius who surpassed the geniuses of the other three classes and later became the number one in Wenxing Private School.

This genius is named Han Dingsheng. During the competition of the three major private schools, he was moved by the scene and wrote a poem that inspired the world. He left everyone else in the dust and helped Wenxing Private School become the number one among the three schools. He was directly selected as a prospective student and no one has been able to beat him to this day.

In the Confucian and Taoist continent, Confucian scholars are divided into ten ranks: Tong Sheng (童生), Xiu Cai (秀才), Ju Ren (举人), Jin Shi (进士), Hanlin (翰林), Da Xue Shi (大学士), Da Ru (大儒), Ban Sheng (半圣), Ya Sheng (亚圣), and Zhi Sheng Xian Shi (至圣先师).

Ye Ru walked along the winding path, his reading aloud echoing between heaven and earth. The fragrance of books wafted on the wind, refreshing the mind and spirit.

Before class even started, Ye Ru hurriedly headed towards the "Desolate" class. At the corner, he bumped into two dark figures, and he himself was sent flying backward.

"Who's there, you blind fool, disturbing our class!"

As Ye Ru was rubbing his head, an impatient voice came from in front of him, causing him to look up abruptly.

There was a man and a woman in front of me.

The young man was dressed in brocade robes, with a handsome face, and had the air of a noble young master.

When the woman saw Ye Ru, a look of disgust and disdain flashed in her eyes, and she then hid behind the young nobleman.

"Who do we have here? Isn't this the infamous good-for-nothing from our Wenxing Private School?"

The young nobleman gave a mocking smile and continued:

"Ye Ru, is it? I really don't know why the dean would let you into Wenxing Private School. Isn't this bringing shame to the school?"

"Get off."

Upon hearing this, Ye Ru's face darkened, and he wanted to leave.

This man initially took a liking to Su Tongyao's beauty and wanted to take her as a concubine, but Ye Ru stopped him, which is why he harbored resentment towards her.

"You lowly country bumpkin, how dare you defy your superiors! If you kneel down, I might let you go!"

The young nobleman's face darkened, and an aura pressed down on Ye Ru, causing Ye Ru's legs to bend.

In this Confucian and Taoist continent, class rule is very obvious. Above the gentry, one can buy classics, commentaries, annotations, interpretations, collections, etc., and can also go to the best academies.

But children from poor families couldn't do that. They could only pay tuition to attend private schools and participate in the imperial examinations, eventually passing with flying colors and achieving great success.

The overwhelming pressure caused Ye Ru's legs to bend repeatedly, his face contorted, but he still refused to kneel.

"Do you kneel or not!"

The young nobleman looked at Ye Ru with a mocking expression, his arrogant face tilted up, and sneered. The woman, on the other hand, watched with glee, her hands folded in her sleeves.

"Isn't this Ye Ru? I never expected that he would offend Wang Xiaoyang of the Langya Wang Clan. We're really doomed."

"This oppressive aura of the aristocracy can only be dispelled by kneeling down if one cannot utter sacred words."

"That idiot Ye Ru always comes in last place in the school exams, how could he possibly spout the words of a sage?"

Before class started, many people came out of their homes, and soon a large group of students gathered around. When they saw that the one being bullied was Ye Ru, they all started to laugh at him.

His smile was full of disdain.

Surrounded by onlookers and hearing their mocking and humiliating remarks, Ye Ru took a deep breath, then suddenly looked up, his scarlet eyes fixed on the Wang clansmen. His cold, resonant words echoed throughout the land, lingering incessantly!

“I am poor but I am not humble enough to be lowly, let alone a man of my stature. I should stand tall and upright, how can I kneel down like a nobody like you!”