Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

Chapter 266: Mutual Thanks

Twelfth Madam Luo listened very attentively, nodding lightly to signal Ding Songyan to go on.

Ding Songyan took a tactical sip of tea to organize his next words.

"When followers number in the thousands, even over ten thousand, or one even an entire country, how should one rule?

"In terms of ’reality,’ if one is himself a Sage, he can overcome every difficulty alone. If not, relying on the original circle of confidants clearly cannot hold the situation. Then one must start from ideals and interests, seek more allies, reduce the opposition, and make oneself the prevailing tide.

"As for specifics, setting aside power politics, what I can think of is that the best of the best have shared aspirations and unity of heart and virtue, along with benevolent governance that wins the people’s support and good faith that dispels their allies’ misgivings. That gives one a genuine ’reality.’ After a decade of great harvests, for instance, many people are willing to die for the Jianwu Emperor.

"As for ’name,’ after the heaven-earth severance the deities no longer appear, and ritualistic sacrifices can hardly rectify the ’name’ anymore. One can only weave a set of doctrines and rules so that everyone under heaven knows what is legitimate, who is legitimate, as well as who governs under this legitimacy, who follows, who keeps to their place, and who is punished. Finally, one builds trust so that these doctrines and rules take root in people’s hearts.

"This is ritual and law. Law punishes wrongs and corrects grave errors, but if everything were covered by law, every move would invite penalty, people would live in fear, and long-term order would be hard to keep. So ritual governs daily life, separating the elite from the lowly and defining what people of different standings should and shouldn’t do, turning certain ideas and rules into tradition and part of how people think. That way, countless people will uphold it of their own accord."

Speaking of his own views on ritual, Ding Songyan glanced at Twelfth Madam and chose his words quite carefully. At the same time, he refrained from bringing up religious control and pyramid-scheme brainwashing.

Twelfth Madam Luo’s expression did not change at all, only her eyes flickered slightly, as if listening intently and thinking deeply.

Ding Songyan relaxed and took another sip of tea.

"Once the Son of Heaven’s name is widely recognized and believed by the vast majority, anyone who rebels is easily attacked by all under heaven. This is ’name’ turning into ’reality.’

"Once ritual and law have long been established, ’name’ is ’reality.’ So long as one ascends the throne, even with only Dharma Realm strength and no knowledge of warfare, one can still command the Nine Provinces and Four Prefectures and have Supreme Masters work for him.

"But without that ’name,’ the Jianwu Emperor would be just an ordinary Grandmaster.

"As a sage once said, ’ritual vessels and titles must never be handed over to others.’

"The vessels are the ritual bronzes, and the titles are the ranks. Both stand for ’name.’’ Only when honors come down from above does ’name’ stay in order."

"For the Son of Heaven, having ’name’ brings ’reality,’ but losing ’reality’ also loses ’name.’ Take the Jianwu Emperor for example: Hong clan by birth, descendant of the Kitchen King, valuing ritual and virtue, promoting martial arts, welcoming talent, embracing all the Hundred Species. Through these he won the support of the Hong clan, the Kitchen King Order, Confucian sects such as the Five Saints Sect, martial artists and scholars from the imperial examinations, and strong figures of the other races. These are his ’reality.’ Losing one of them wouldn’t matter, but if problems arise in every one of them, his throne would probably not be safe.

"Mm, Heaven-Man are few and connected with each other. If the Son of Heaven lost virtue for extended periods, they might gather to discuss it and jointly replace a tyrant."

When Ding Songyan finished, Twelfth Madam Luo said with shining eyes, in admiration, "It took me many years to work out these principles and understand ’ritual serves name’ and ’ritual rectifies rank.’ You explained them thoroughly in just a few days. A once-in-an-age talent is no more than this."

"I’ve been thinking about this kind of thing for many years too," Ding Songyan said modestly.

In his previous life, everyone had been taught political studies starting in middle school. Many dismissed it as hot air with no practical use and refused to study it seriously, so they never grasped its essence.

Twelfth Madam Luo suddenly understood, but her praise did not lessen, and she teased with a smile, "Is that precocious wisdom, or innate wisdom?"

Ding Songyan found it hard to answer.

Twelfth Madam, having heard two of his stories, had clearly guessed something, but guessing the truth was unlikely, and Ding Songyan naturally wouldn’t volunteer the transmigration mystery. The more he said, the more he’d get wrong.

Twelfth Madam Luo did not expect an answer either, thinking it already quite good that he hadn’t lied.

The shopkeeper took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "You understand the ’name’ and ’reality’ of the Jianwu Emperor so well, so why can’t you see the disorder in your own swordplay?

"Since you want to walk the path of unifying all arts, then before you truly return to the Great Way, you still need to think about what the ’reality’ of your swordplay is, what its ’name’ is, and what ’ritual’ derives from them. Which is the sovereign, which is the minister, which is the assistant?"

Ding Songyan felt as if struck on the head by an apple and sank into thought at once, "The ’reality’ of my Unified Way Sword is naturally Manifesting the Way and its Virtue and the ideas it corresponds to. The ’name’ is... unifying all arts?

"Then in the process of unifying all arts, the moves, essences, and principles merged in from different arts can’t just be piled up at random. They must be divided into sovereign, minister, adjutant, and envoy, each in its place and each fulfilling its role, so they can form a whole, or what I would consider a usable large model. At that point, the Unified Way Sword has reached lesser mastery.

"Then, once I probe the principles deeply and touch the Great Way, and all arts truly unify, no longer distinguishing this from that or sovereign from minister, adjutant, and envoy, the Unified Way Sword reaches greater mastery."

Before, Ding Songyan had had no sufficiently clear understanding of the division into lesser and greater mastery of the Unified Way Sword, only a rough idea that tied them to realms. Now he gradually saw the outline of a road, the possible boundaries, direction, and obstacles of the first stretch.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Words of thanks alone didn’t feel like enough, so he decided to share some of his other insights into the Way of Name and Reality with Twelfth Madam. They were humble ideas, but an outsider’s view might help sharpen his own.

He said to Twelfth Madam Luo with a smile, "Only as I finished speaking did I realize that the Five Saints Sect’s virtue, righteousness, benevolence, ritual, and trust have a very close connection with the Way of Name and Reality. The Five Virtues can be elevated through name and reality."

Twelfth Madam Luo looked at Ding Songyan with a half smile and did not respond.

"But I think that’s not enough," Ding Songyan went on. "Chaos divides into yin and yang. The Way gives birth to one, and one gives birth to two, so the opposition and transformation of yin and yang exist in all things, just like the contradiction of one’s resolve.

"Seen this way, the Way of Name and Reality in governance can’t have only the five virtues. If the five virtues are yang, there must be a corresponding yin. I think it is the ’law’ of ritual and law, the ’might’ of mercy and might, and the ’warfare’ of ritual worship and warfare.

"Without law there is no order, without might it is hard to cow people’s hearts, and without warfare, foreign enemies invade easily."

Twelfth Madam Luo’s expression gradually settled, her eyes shifting from bright to deep.

She began to think as well.

After a moment, she looked at Ding Songyan and said as if to herself, "The opposition and transformation of yin and yang exist in all things...

"That is a very interesting way to put it..."

Ding Songyan seized the chance to recount all he remembered of the theory of contradiction.

Some of it was what Twelfth Madam Luo had learned or worked out already, some was what she had agonized over without an answer, and some seemed to light a path she had never seen before.

She listened with eyes full of shifting brilliance, her pupils turning crystalline, which seemed to draw in Ding Songyan’s gaze and mind so that he almost forgot what he was saying.

Twelfth Madam Luo noticed and reined herself in, then urged Ding Songyan to continue.

Just showing a little of her true self and her Heaven-Man difference has this effect? That’s cheating... Ding Songyan sighed silently.

For the rest of the time, Twelfth Madam Luo asked, discussed, and exchanged views with focus and care, and Ding Songyan, answering her questions, slowly sorted out his own understanding and ideas.

By the time they came back to their senses, it was already dark.

Ding Songyan stood up and bowed solemnly to Twelfth Madam.

Today’s guidance was worth that of a half-master!

At the same moment, Twelfth Madam Luo rose and gave the same deep bow.

Her gains today were no less than Ding Songyan’s, and at times she even felt an enlightening jolt.

They only discovered the other was bowing as they bowed, and couldn’t help smiling at each other.

Twelfth Madam Luo said with a light smile, "After I leave the Flame Capital, I plan to look into the Way of the Military School and the Legalists, and to see the Queen Mother of the West’s ’Command of the Five Destructions.’"

The "Five Destructions" were the "Five Punishments."

"Then I have even more to see," Ding Songyan replied with a laugh.

Twelfth Madam Luo set the Seven Methods of Spitting Sand and the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter of the Progenitor Yu Scripture, which Ge Heng had delivered, on the tea table and went to the wine shop to busy herself with the dinner crowd.

Ding Songyan sat back down, drinking the now-cooled tea, and casually leafed through the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter.

He quickly entered a state of full concentration, and every diagram he saw was reflected in his sea of consciousness.

Using this, Ding Songyan began visualization.

After a good while, his head grew slightly pointed, his eyes shrank, and he took on something of a turtle’s look, blending into the evening gloom in the unlit main building.

"So it really can partly replace the Celestial Heart imprint’s ability to split the mind in two...

"And I’ve truly memorized it this time. Afterward I won’t need to consult the manual to reconstruct the whole visualization diagram and qi route in my sea of consciousness...

"But only the mind remembers, not the body yet. From focusing for visualization to the apertures completing their transformation and the art being fully manifested takes nearly the time to finish two cups of tea, more for complex arts and less for simple ones...

"And condensing apertures must be done one at a time. However many ways the mind can split, that many can be condensed at once, two or three days each...

"Without burning lifespan to make the body remember, it still can’t be used in real combat, but for certain auxiliary arts, a preparation time for two cups of tea is acceptable..."

Ding Songyan didn’t know whether he could say he had learned the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter. He couldn’t use it in a fight with others, but if he spent two cups of tea’s time, he really could use the dimness to hide and infiltrate.

For Ding Songyan, the biggest benefit was in fact being able to quickly fake an art without using the Celestial Heart imprint and feel the actual aperture circulation and qi routes, which helped more with unifying all arts.

After finishing the manifestation of the Dimmed Heaven and Earth Chapter, Ding Songyan memorized the Seven Methods of Spitting Sand and practiced them once, considering merging part of it into the Unifying Finger and part into the Unified Way Sword.

To his regret, neither art yet had a Dharma Realm Chapter.

The next afternoon.

Ding Songyan came to the back courtyard of the Cheap Wine Shop again, showing his new understanding of the Unified Way Sword and his ideas for improving it while receiving Twelfth Madam Luo’s guidance.

Suddenly, Twelfth Madam Luo, one hand propping her cheek, closed her mouth, and Ding Songyan sensed something too.

Before long, Ge Heng, in a black short coarse jacket, emerged from the shadows at the corner of the wall, glanced at Twelfth Madam Luo, and said in a low voice to Ding Songyan, "I have news."