Primordial Era: Mistakenly Taking Emperor Xin as Father, Nuwa is Destroyed at the Start

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan nodded, expressing his high approval of Di Xin's series of measures.

"Your Majesty has freed the slaves, abolished human sacrifice, and destroyed the sacred fields. These measures can all be described as those of a wise ruler."

Emperor Xin was already unhappy because of the assassination attempt and Li Xuan's suggestion to defect to Xiqi.

Hearing this made me feel much better.

I even suspect that this guy was deliberately brought in by someone to flatter me.

He was just about to feel smug.

Li Xuan's next words, however, left him somewhat bewildered.

Li Xuan then sighed.

"What a pity, we're going in the wrong direction."

"The more you do, the more mistakes you make."

The smugness on Di Xin's face vanished instantly.

He frowned.

"Are you going in the wrong direction?"

"The more you do, the more mistakes you make?"

"What do you mean?"

He simply couldn't understand how his actions, which were for the benefit of the country and its people, had been considered misguided.

Seeing his blank expression, Li Xuan explained.

"Isn't that obvious?"

"Because these are not things that the sages in heaven would want to see."

The word "sage" popped out of Li Xuan's mouth.

Huang Feihu's face changed instantly.

His first instinct was to open his mouth and scold.

"Insolence! Saint..."

How can a mortal call a saint by his name!

This is utterly disrespectful!

It will trigger divine wrath and invite divine punishment!

He had barely uttered the word "saint" before he hadn't even finished saying "How can one lightly call out his name?"

He was silenced by a stern glare from Di Xin.

Huang Feihu forced the words to stay in his throat, his face turning red.

He nervously looked up at the sky.

He then looked at Li Xuan.

The sky was clear and cloudless.

Nothing's wrong.

Li Xuan himself was completely unharmed and looked at him with a bewildered expression.

Huang Feihu was completely dumbfounded.

This...this doesn't make sense!

Di Xin was also deeply shaken.

When Li Xuan uttered the word "sage" just now, he also felt a chill.

But the expected divine punishment or oppressive force never materialized.

The young man called out the saint's name as if he were calling out to the neighbor, and there was no reaction at all.

Di Xin and Huang Feihu quickly exchanged a glance.

They both saw shock and certainty in each other's eyes.

This child is indeed extraordinary!

He definitely has a big secret!

Li Xuan had no idea that they had so many hidden thoughts in their minds.

He was very unhappy with Huang Feihu's rebuke earlier.

Who is this person?

Always startled.

Li Xuan rolled his eyes at Huang Feihu, clearly annoyed.

"Who are you?"

"What are you shouting for?"

"This isn't a government hall, why are you making such a fuss here?"

Huang Feihu was furious at his retort.

He thought to himself, "I am King Wu Cheng!"

Even Prince Yin Jiao in Chaoge City treated me with great respect!

How dare you, a mere young man, talk to me like that?

But now the king clearly doesn't want to reveal his identity, so he can only swallow his anger.

His face turned even redder.

Di Xin's mind was not on Huang Feihu being mistreated at all.

He no longer felt thirsty.

The young man in front of him, who mistakenly believed himself to be the father and spoke in such an "extraordinary" manner, aroused his great curiosity.

He became increasingly unwilling to reveal his true identity.

He wanted to hear what other surprising things this "son" could say.

Li Xuan asked who Huang Feihu was.

Di Xin quickly came up with a new identity.

"Oh, him."

"He is my subordinate."

"Attendants".

Di Xin said it casually.

Upon hearing this, Li Xuan realized that he was just a lackey.

He was even more annoyed.

"Subordinates?"

"Then why are you still so smug?"

"This isn't a government office, why are you putting on airs?"

He rolled his eyes at Huang Feihu again.

Huang Feihu was so angry he almost fainted, and could only roar in his heart.

He thought to himself, "It's understandable that Di Xin calls him a subordinate."

He admitted it.

You, a mere commoner from outside Chaoge City, dare to call yourself that? Do you really think I, the King of Wucheng, am just a figurehead?

Di Xin ignored this minor friction between the two.

What he cares about most right now is what Li Xuan just said.

What does it mean that "the more you do, the more mistakes you make"?

What does it mean to say "not what the sages in heaven would want to see"?

He continued to press Li Xuan for answers.

"You just said that I... cough, that what Your Majesty has done is not what the sages in heaven would have wanted to see?"

"Why is that?"

Di Xin and Huang Feihu looked completely bewildered.

They looked at Li Xuan with confusion in their eyes.

Li Xuan, on the other hand, acted as if it were perfectly natural, explaining and reminding them.

"Isn't this simple? You all know that His Majesty abolished slavery, right? Didn't you see how those slave owners reacted after it was abolished?"

Upon hearing this, Di Xin and the others trembled.

Looking at Li Xuan again, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Di Xin couldn't help but press, "What do you mean?"

"It means exactly what it says," Li Xuan continued.

"The reason why the saints in heaven are willing to protect the human race is because the prosperity of humanity is the general trend of the primordial world; they are merely following the trend."

"But the prosperity of humanity does not mean that humanity should become completely powerful and overwhelm the way of Heaven."

"Think about it, when do people desperately pray to gods and Buddhas? It's definitely when they are living a particularly miserable and helpless life."

"The gods and bodhisattvas in heaven are supporting the common people on earth, which is no different from people raising pigs and dogs. What do they get out of it? They just want the incense offerings and merits of the common people."

Li Xuan paused, giving the two time to process what he had just learned.

"Looking at what the king did from this perspective—liberating slaves, abolishing human sacrifice, and canceling sacred fields—all of these were ways to loosen the bonds between the people and allow more people to live with their heads held high in this world."

The more capable ordinary people are of relying on themselves, the less likely they are to seek help from gods and deities. Doesn't that mean cutting off the incense offerings to the gods?

"If you were those gods, would you agree to that?"

"So, the better Your Majesty performs, the closer you are to death!"

"Today's trip to the Nuwa Palace to offer incense is a key point!"

"After today, the human race will never again have a human emperor who can stand on equal footing with the gods; from now on, there will only be emperors!"

In the end, Li Xuan's tone carried a hint of emotion and helplessness.

Di Xin was greatly shocked and quickly asked, "Son of Heaven? What is the Son of Heaven?"

Li Xuan curled his lip: "The sons of heaven, huh. From then on, the human race obediently became the fields of leeks and the pools of merit for all the gods and Buddhas, focusing on providing incense and prayers."

"Don't even think about the kind of ancient times where the human emperor could challenge the gods by banging on the table."

Di Xin suddenly remembered Li Xuan's earlier statement about wanting to join Xiqi and immediately asked, "What does this have to do with joining Xiqi? Is Xiqi the new leader they've chosen?"

"That's absolutely right!" Li Xuan nodded affirmatively.

Upon hearing this, Di Xin was stunned, as if struck by lightning, and froze on the spot.

Huang Feihu was also taken aback. Regaining his senses, he immediately pointed at Li Xuan and shouted angrily, "Nonsense! This is pure alarmism!"

He suppressed his shock and retorted, "The rules of Heaven are there; even a sage cannot directly interfere in the succession of dynasties, much less attack the Human Emperor! What you're saying is simply impossible!"

Seeing his expression, Li Xuan rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"We can't take direct action, but they have plenty of underhanded tricks up their sleeves! They have ways to secretly wear down the fortunes of the Shang Dynasty little by little, turning it from a thriving empire into a bankrupt one."

"For example, going to the Nuwa Temple to offer incense today is a perfect opportunity for someone to make their move!"

"What kind of opportunity is this?" Di Xin and Huang Feihu were even more bewildered, asking in unison, "Going to offer incense to the Holy Mother, isn't that a way of showing respect?"

Li Xuan chuckled and directly revealed the plans of the saints in the heavens.

"Want to ruin the reputation of a good king? That's easy. The first step is to destroy his public image."

"For example, if we go to the Nuwa Temple today, we can do a little trick to bewitch the king's mind, make him drool over the statue of the Goddess Nuwa, and then find two treacherous ministers, like Fei Zhong and You Hun, to write a vulgar poem and carve it on the wall. Wouldn't that do the trick?"

"No matter how good his reputation was before, once this gets out, it's a huge disrespect to the Holy Mother of Humanity! How can the people not be in uproar? His reputation will be shattered instantly!"

"Even Nuwa's subsequent indifference towards the Yin Shang dynasty, and her active punishment of the Yin Shang, can be justified by this. Who told you, you old bastard, to do something so disrespectful to Nuwa? You deserve it."

After saying that, Li Xuan couldn't help but complain to himself.

"Honestly, that underhanded trick those people in the sky came up with was so crude! They didn't even bother with any pretense!"

"These days, even the best carving skills only produce stone or wooden statues. How lifelike can they be?"

"Your Majesty, as the emperor, has a harem of three thousand beauties. What kind of peerless beauty haven't you seen or played with?"

"It's not like I haven't gone to burn incense before, and everything was fine. So why is it that this time, just going to burn incense, he suddenly acted like he hadn't seen a woman in eight lifetimes, and became aroused in front of a statue?"

"Is this really innocent? They can't even be bothered to act? Are they just bullying honest people?!"

"They're just fooling those big merchants and ordinary people who don't know anything."

Li Xuan was just making casual remarks and venting.

But when Di Xin and Huang Feihu heard this, cold sweat broke out on their backs, and their clothes were almost soaked.

Huang Feihu's legs went weak, and he screamed inwardly: "My God! How can I possibly hear such words?!"

Di Xin was stunned for a long time before he recovered from the huge shock.

He looked up, staring longingly at Li Xuan, his voice trembling slightly:

"No...it can't be that bad, can it? Goddess Nuwa is the Holy Mother of our human race..."