From Joy of Life, the Tian Gang is reversed

Chapter 259 General Principles of Confucianism
"We can't wait any longer."

In Longhu Mountain, Zhao Xituan looked at the six completely withered Golden Lotus of Luck, his tone revealing an undisguised murderous intent, "Although Zhao Xun is hiding in the Fog Island, his disciples travel the world, teaching Confucianism without any scruples. Now, those scholars have more or less mastered some supernatural abilities, which are more effective than those of us in the Taoist sect. If this continues, the incense offerings of various Taoist temples will probably be cut off."

He was originally a quiet and unassuming person who acted steadily, but as the leader of Longhu Mountain, he bore immense responsibility and could not possibly watch Longhu Mountain, which had been passed down for hundreds of years, be destroyed in his generation.

Now that Confucianism has spread throughout the world, Taoist temples everywhere are losing their incense offerings and their fortunes are declining. If nothing is done, they will be waiting to die, which is something he absolutely cannot tolerate.

"The Mist Island Formation is so mysterious and unpredictable that even a descending ancestor could not break it. Otherwise, how could it have waited until now?" Zhao Xuansu said in a deep voice. "Now that the Heavenly Gate is wide open, immortals can descend to the mortal realm at will, but they are still subject to the limitations of the world. Their strength is only at the Vajra Realm or Great Vajra Realm. They do not have enough advantage against experts among mortals. Ancestor Huanglong is a cautionary tale. The best way is to wait until Beiliang marches south and use 300,000 iron cavalry to charge. That is the right path."

You're oversimplifying things.

A young Taoist priest shook his head and said, "How can you be sure that Prince Jing'an and Zhao Xun will definitely resist the Northern Liang army? There is no hatred between them that cannot be resolved. From his point of view, he would be happy if Northern Liang raised an army to make peace, so that Prince Jing'an's mansion could take advantage of the chaos."

"Confucianism teaches loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness. If we were to open up Qingzhou and allow the Northern Liang cavalry to march south, wouldn't that contradict Confucian doctrines?"

“You are all too naive. How can you be certain that the four characters of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness are the general principles of Confucianism? Even if they are general principles, there will always be different interpretations. What if he says that loyalty is to the Li Yang Dynasty, not to a particular royal family? How would you interpret loyalty then? How would you interpret filial piety? And what about benevolence and righteousness?” said an old Taoist priest with white hair and beard. “General principles are one thing, interpretation is another. You are all cultivators, can’t you even understand this?”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, but rather the reaction of Confucianism,” Zhao Xituan sighed, stroking his beard. “I’ve read quite a few Confucian books myself, including many classics. Whether it’s loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, or the principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness, none of them seem to be the root of Confucianism. Confucianism’s supernatural powers are all-encompassing, and its abilities and effects far surpass those of Taoism and Buddhism. Moreover, it’s extremely easy to learn, which is very abnormal. If these two are taken as the general principles, they cannot produce such supernatural powers of Confucianism. Therefore, there must be another source.”

"So what?! We don't practice Confucianism, so what do these Confucian principles have to do with us?"

"But it is related to Confucianism. Without this general outline, it would be almost impossible for Confucian cultivators to cultivate to the realm of terrestrial immortals, let alone transcend. Therefore, before the general outline of Confucianism is passed down, neither Zhang Julu nor any Confucian cultivators in the world would stand by and watch us attack Zhao Xun."

"Isn't that perfect? ​​Confucianism is easy to learn, but it is difficult to reach the sixth rank or above. In today's world, there are only a few Confucian scholars who can reach the sixth rank or above. As long as we block the top few and act quickly, we can solve this problem and at the same time limit the development of Confucianism. It's a win-win situation, isn't it wonderful?"

"Indeed, although Confucianism is widely spread and has absorbed a great deal of fortune in recent years, making it seem incredibly powerful, it has a fatal flaw," Zhao Huangchao suddenly laughed, "They have no one in the Immortal Realm!!"

※※※

"A first-rank quasi-sage, communicating with the power of heaven and earth, with a single horizontal slash, he repelled Zhang Julu's attempt to overthrow the world. Xu Fengnian truly deserves to be the protagonist of this era. With his fortune surging, even a BOSS like Zhang Julu has to give way!"

The events that occurred in Tai'an City spread throughout the land at an extremely rapid pace. In particular, the battle between Xu Fengnian and Zhang Julu at the east gate of Tai'an City stirred up the power of heaven and earth, with miraculous celestial phenomena stretching for hundreds of miles, which was astonishing.

On the misty island, Zhao Xun put down the intelligence report in his hand, a strange smile flashing across his face. "Unfortunately, a first-grade Quasi-Saint is the limit of Confucianism in the world today. Whether it's Zhang Julu or Xu Fengnian, if they want to advance further, they must come to me to become my disciples." Almost every cultivation system in the world needs a general outline. This outline could be a sentence, an object, or even a pattern. Based on this outline, numerous cultivation methods are derived.

At the beginning of cultivation, it is easy to cultivate with the help of various cultivation methods. However, the higher you go, the higher the requirements for your mind and character become. You need to be in harmony with the general principles of the system. Otherwise, it is impossible to reach the highest realm or even surpass the highest realm.

The difference between Confucianism and Taoism and Buddhism is that Taoism and Buddhism have been passed down for thousands of years and have no secrets. Even the most core secrets have been passed down with countless scriptures. Those who practice Buddhism all know that the general principles of Buddhism and Taoism are the Four Noble Truths and the four words "dependent origination and emptiness". Those who practice Taoism also know that the general principles of Taoism are the four words "Tao follows nature".

The same applies to martial arts. Every martial art has its own general principles, which are secrets kept within the school. But even if they are not passed down, they still need to be passed down for the sake of inheritance.

But Confucianism is different.

Confucianism is a power system that Zhao Xun created himself. It is too new. Its core principles are known only to him, the creator. Apart from him, even his twelve disciples do not know them.

He claimed that his Confucianism was a summary of thousands of Confucian and Taoist classics, but the Confucian classics are vast and the schools of thought are chaotic. Who knows which books he read or what he summarized?
no one knows.

This general outline is in the hands of its founder, so no matter how powerful Zhang Julu is, how talented those scholars who cultivate Confucianism are, how prosperous Xu Fengnian's fortune is, or how strong the protagonist's halo is, if they want to improve or even surpass in Confucianism, they need to know what the general outline is.

Would you believe me if I told you that the general outline is just five words?
Yes, the general principles of Confucianism can be summarized in just five characters.

Serve the people!
However, in order to fulfill these five requirements, Confucianism must be all-encompassing, because the needs of the people are multifaceted.

In a large forest, you'll find all sorts of birds, all sorts of eccentric people, and all sorts of bizarre demands.

Therefore, by evolving from these five characters, it is natural that Confucianism can evolve into the current system that is as vast and complex as the universe.

The reason this is possible is that the Confucianism in this world is different from the Confucianism in his previous life. The Confucianism in this world is more like a combination of the various schools of thought in his previous life, forming an academic school that is collectively referred to as Confucianism.

This also gave him an opportunity. In order to take into account various schools of thought, Zhao Xun divided Confucianism into eleven schools, including mathematical Confucianism, dialectical Confucianism, legalistic Confucianism, dialectical Confucianism, Mohist Confucianism, fate Confucianism, military Confucianism, art Confucianism, agricultural Confucianism, medical Confucianism, and cynical Confucianism. He then categorized and taught these eleven schools to his eleven disciples in Xiangfan City according to their aptitude. As for Gu Nanwei, she was going to give birth to a little sage for the Confucian sage, so she was naturally not included.

"The atmosphere has been built up to this point; if we don't act now, it'll be a complete rout!!"

(End of this chapter)