Killing Monks

They've seen too many tricks, too many scams, and too many people who say nice things but do completely different things.

They didn't believe it. But the "old man" wouldn't reason with them.

The old man does things. He does them, you see them, you believe them; if you don't believe them, that's okay, he keeps doing them. He keeps doing them until you believe them.

Make it so that you have no choice but to believe. Make it so that when you are pulled out of the darkness, standing in the moonlight, and hear those three words, tears will flow down your own lips.

You believed it then.

It's not that others made you believe it; it's that you believed it yourself.

What you believe is the truth.

They became part of the "old men".

He was neither a person from the Tang Dynasty nor a person from the Northern Zhou Dynasty; he was an old man.

There are no national boundaries, races, genders, or ages when it comes to being an old man. As long as you are willing to stand up for others, you are an old man.

One old man's strength is small, a hundred old men's strength is a little greater, and ten thousand old men's strength is so great that no one can stop them.

If you can't stop it, then don't bother. If you don't bother stopping it, then there's no need for war. If there's no war, then no one will die. If no one dies, can those who did die finally rest in peace?

Old Xu stood on the city wall, looking at the lights, pondering this question.

He couldn't figure out the answer. But he felt that perhaps the answer was "yes." Not because it actually could, but because you hoped it could.

Hope is the only thing the living can do for the dead.

You can't do anything else for me. This is the only thing you can do. If you do it, then it counts.

It only took half a year. In half a year, more than 180 days, Guangyuan reorganized the entire Tang Kingdom.

It's not just patching things up, it's tearing everything down and starting over.

Like an old house, the walls are crooked, the beams are cracked, and the foundation has sunk. You fix here, and there it leaks; you fix there, and here it collapses.

You can't keep patching it up forever. It's better to tear it down completely, dig up the old foundation, lay a new one, and rebuild from scratch. Building is slow, tiring, and painful.

Once it's covered, it's brand new.

The "old man" is too powerful.

Only a Heaven and Earth Society with an "old man" is a Heaven and Earth Society that reigns supreme.

The Heaven and Earth Society used to be able to fight because they had "Old Man"; later, the Heaven and Earth Society could no longer fight because they no longer had "Old Man".

Now the Heaven and Earth Society can fight again, not against people, but against those who oppress the people, such as corrupt officials, scoundrels, local bullies, those who abuse their power to bully men and women, those who sit in government offices and only know how to collect money but not how to do their jobs, and those who think they will never fall and that no one will ever dare to touch them.

The "old man" didn't beat them with a knife, he beat them with people. He beat them with those whom they had bullied.

Those who have been bullied know best how to fight back. Not just know how to fight, they dare to fight. They didn't dare before because no one guided them; now that someone is guiding them, they dare.

If you dared, you fought. If you fought, you won. If you won, you stood up. Once you stood up, you never wanted to sit down again.

Guangyuan reinstated the administrative structure of Surian. Surian was a country from many years ago, long dead, but its legacy remains.

That thing is a frame, like the beams and pillars of a house. You can't see it, but it supports the entire roof.

Without it, the roof would collapse; with it, the roof can withstand wind, rain, snow, and anything that falls from the sky.

Guangyuan dug the shelf out of the pile of old papers, dusted it off, repaired it, and put it back up.

It wasn't a direct copy; it was modified. Modified to suit the Tang Dynasty, to suit the people of today, and to suit the local climate and customs.

After the changes were completed, a completely new administrative structure, unlike anything anyone had ever seen before, began to operate in the Tang Kingdom.

In the past, when the Twelve Earthly Fiends still existed, they would have resisted.

It's not that they don't want to change, it's that they dare not change. If they change, their positions may be in jeopardy; if they change, their power may diminish; if they change, the empire they built over the years may no longer be theirs.

Humans are inherently selfish. Selfishness isn't inherently bad; it's fear.

I'm afraid of losing what I've gained with my life.

He only has one life, and he doesn't get much in return. If you ask him to give it up again, he won't be willing to part with it.

If you can't bear to part with it, you'll resist it. And if you resist it, you can't change it.

If you can't change it, you can only walk the old path. You can't go far on the old path; you'll turn back, and you'll be back in the same old place. The old place is still the same; nothing has changed.

But things are different now.

The people of Tang are now experiencing suffering a second time. The first suffering was inflicted by the Buddha; the second suffering is inflicted by their own people.

The suffering inflicted by your own people is more painful than the suffering inflicted by Buddha. You can still hate the suffering inflicted by Buddha; but the suffering inflicted by your own people, you don't even know who to hate.

He hated himself. He hated that he was blind, that he trusted the wrong person, and that he gave his life only to receive a knife in return.

When a knife stabs you, it's not the wound that hurts, it's your heart. Once your heart is pierced, you'll never dare to trust anyone again. And if you can't trust anyone, you'll be alone forever.

A person can do nothing. Unable to do anything, they can only endure. Enduring is waiting to die. Waiting to die is worse than death itself.

Then Guangyuan arrived. He brought "Old Man" with him. He came not to be a king, not to be an emperor, not to sit in that chair and have the people below kneel and shout "Long live the Emperor!"

He came; he's here to do something.

He did things that no one else was willing to do, no one else dared to do, and no one else could do. He removed the burdens weighing on the people one by one. With each one removed, the light brightened a little; with each two removed, the light brightened a little more; and as he continued removing them, dawn broke.

Once it's bright, you'll be able to see the road. Once you can see it, you'll be able to walk. Once you can walk, you won't need anyone's help. Once you don't need help, you'll be able to stand on your own.

Once you're standing, you'll realize—this is what it feels like to stand. So good that you'll regret not standing up sooner. Regret is useless. What's useful is that you're standing now. Standing is better than kneeling. A million times better.

They supported Guangyuan. Not because he was a good fighter, not because he was smart, not because he was reasonable. It was because he brought light.

He did not create the light; the light has always been there.

It was just blocked. Blocked by all that was weighing down on the people. He moved those things away, and then the light shone through.

It leaked down, shining on my face, warm and comforting. The warmth wasn't from the light, but from my heart. When the heart is warm, a person lives. And when you're alive, you don't want to die.

I don't want to die, I just want to live well. To live well, I need light.

With light, they have nothing to fear; with light, they know where to go; with light, they know who their friends are and who their enemies are.

When friends come, we have fine wine; when enemies come, we have swords and spears. The wine is hot, the swords are cold.

The heat warms you, the cold chills you to the bone. You fear things that threaten your life; yet you are not afraid of the person holding the knife. You know that he holds the knife not to kill you, but to kill those who bully you, oppress you, and force you to your knees, unable to rise again.

Their lives are gone, but yours will be safe.

The next chapter is even more exciting: Chapter 189 Su Lian, we look forward to your visit.