Starting with ten elixirs of immortality, I led the First Emperor to rebel against the Qin Dynasty.

Li Si surveyed the crowd, his eyes gleaming.

"Should a sage be treated like a helpless woman, allowing herself to be bullied? No! Absolutely not!"

"Therefore, I believe that a sage must be proficient in both literature and martial arts! When reasoning fails, one must use another method to calm the other party down and get them to listen to your reasoning!"

"This method is the physical equivalent of 'winning people over with virtue'!"

These shocking remarks made Chunyu Yue and others so angry that they trembled with rage. They pointed at Li Si and kept saying "You, you, you" for a long time. It was this kind of twisted logic again!

Kong Fu's face turned ashen, and he shouted angrily, "Nonsense! This is utter sophistry! The Sage is the epitome of virtue and culture; how can you slander him like this!"

"Slander?" Li Si reassured Kong Fu, "Mr. Kong Fu, please don't be so quick to anger. Whether I have committed slander or not, you will know once you see this painting!"

With that, Li Si suddenly turned around, faced the easel, and shouted loudly:

"Please, Confucius, manifest your divine power!"

He suddenly reached out and ripped off the black cloth.

A huge portrait was displayed before everyone.

"hiss--!"

A collective gasp filled the entire Qilin Hall.

Everyone who saw the painting, whether civil or military, was dumbfounded, their eyes wide open.

The painting depicts a giant man who is nine feet tall!

The giant had an ancient face, but his eyes were extremely domineering. He was shirtless, and his muscles were bulging and angular, like granite.

Most shockingly, on his chest, two enormous pectoral muscles bulged high, and between the muscle textures, a very clear "仁" (ren, meaning benevolence) character was actually formed!

And his back is even more exaggerated!

On his broad back, the crisscrossing muscle lines formed two menacing characters: "Virtue" and "Talent"!

The giant held a bamboo-slip copy of the Analects in his left hand, but a long sword that was still dripping blood in his right!

At his feet were seven or eight vassal kings, their faces bruised and swollen, kneeling and begging for mercy.

The background of the scene features three thousand equally muscular men, each wielding a weapon, looking fierce and menacing, exuding an overwhelming aura!

At the very top of the scroll, four large characters are written in a vigorous and elegant style: "Win people over with virtue!"

"puff--"

Someone couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Followed by.

"Hahahaha!"

Thunderous laughter erupted inside the hall.

The first to laugh were the military officers.

Wang Jian, Meng Tian, ​​Wang Ben, Meng Yi... these iron-willed generals were all laughing so hard they were doubled over.

"My God! This...this is Confucius?"

"A man of great talent and virtue! Hahaha! Prime Minister Li, you truly are a man of exceptional ability!"

"This painting is wonderful! It captures the spirit of the subject! I always said that if all scholars were this reasonable, the world would be at peace long ago!"

"If anyone ever tells me again that 'a gentleman uses words, not fists,' I'll throw this painting in their face!"

The rough laughter of the military officers quickly spread throughout the entire hall.

The young civil officials initially tried to hold back, but when they saw the domineering "Confucius" in the painting and recalled Li Si's shocking explanation, they couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Only the ranks of Confucian scholars and doctors were lifeless; even "ugly" wouldn't be an adequate description of their faces.

"Li Si—!"

A mournful roar.

Kong Fu pointed at Li Si, his lips trembling and his whole body shaking.

"You...you traitor! Traitor to the nation! How dare you...how dare you humiliate our ancestors like this! I...I will never forgive you!"

Chunyu Yue and Shusun Tong also felt dizzy and were on the verge of collapse.

Remembering the fear of being dominated by Li Si last time, how dare that scoundrel Li Si!

"Mr. Kong Fu, please calm down!" Li Si bowed to Kong Fu with a "sincere" expression. "My reverence for the sage is as clear as heaven and earth! This painting was created after I studied the classics day and night, and it was something I saw in a dream. It was an expression of my feelings and was absolutely not intended to be disrespectful!"

"You're talking nonsense!" Kong Fu completely disregarded any semblance of Confucian refinement and cursed, "You saw this in your dream? Why don't you dream of dying?!"

"Alas, sir, you are mistaken." Li Si shook his head, looking at him with pity. "The Analects says, 'The Master did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits.' Do you know the meaning of this saying, sir?"

Kong Fu felt a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat, unwilling to answer. He had a premonition that Li Si would not utter anything worthwhile.

Li Si didn't wait for his reply and began to explain on his own:

"It means that the Master (Confucius) didn't want to talk to you, so he used 'supernatural strength' to beat you into a state of 'spiritual disorder,' that is, a loss of mental clarity!"

"puff!"

Kong Fu could no longer hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood, staining his scholar's robe red. Chunyu Yue and Shusun Tong also collapsed and fainted.

"Mr. Kong Fu!"

"Lord Chunyu!"

"Master Shusun!"

The scholars nearby gasped in surprise and rushed to help him up.

"See that!" Li Si pointed at Kong Fu, who was spitting blood, and shouted to the crowd, "This is the consequence of not heeding the sage's words! The sage taught us to be calm and composed, but Mr. Kong Fu insisted on getting angry, and now his blood has attacked his heart! It's clear that his self-cultivation is still lacking!"

"Li Si! You treacherous villain! You've gone too far! I'll fight you to the death!"

With bloodshot eyes, Fu Sheng charged out of the Confucian scholar's ranks as if he were insane.

He swung his fist and smashed it towards Li Si's face.

He couldn't take it anymore! A scholar can be killed, but not humiliated!

"Be careful!"

"Protect Prime Minister Lee!"

The courtiers gasped in surprise.

No one expected that a scholar who was powerless would dare to attack the prime minister in the Qilin Hall, right in front of His Majesty!

However, Li Si remained standing in the same spot, without moving an inch.

Just as Fu Sheng's fist was about to hit his face, he easily dodged it by turning to the side and grabbed Fu Sheng's wrist with his other hand.

Fu Sheng felt that he had no strength left in his body.

"Hmm, not bad." Li Si nodded approvingly, looking at Fu Sheng, whose face was flushed.

"You're better than them; at least you know how to fight back physically, instead of just talking."

"This shows that you have at least a little bit grasped the essence of the sage's 'strong and powerful' qualities."

As he spoke, Li Si flicked his wrist slightly.

"what!"

Fu Sheng screamed as he was thrown out and fell to the ground, clutching his wrist and groaning in pain.

Li Si clapped his hands, as if he had only done a trivial thing.

Looking around at the silent scholars, he slowly said, "Although I am a civil official, I am also somewhat skilled in martial arts. If any of you wish to 'discuss the Way' with me, I am always ready to do so."

The entire hall was completely silent.

The military officers' smiles vanished; their gazes towards Li Si changed.

This guy is not only quick-witted, but also incredibly skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

The civil officials were so frightened that their faces turned pale, and they all retreated, fearing that this "Confucianist" left prime minister would "win them over with virtue".