Madman (continued)

The only people who recognized Si Ming were the eldest son of the Zhou Clan, the steward, and the School of Names from that time. All four of them were currently recuperating at home and had not participated in the pursuit, so no one at the scene recognized Si Ming as the chivalrous hero who had injured the eldest son.

Even if some people had doubts, they didn't care too much, because when people gather together in groups, they always feel a kind of illusory sense of security. After all, humans are social creatures, and ignorance is bliss. They didn't have an accurate understanding of the difference in strength between each other, so they strongly agreed with the statement that "there are only two people on the other side."

Looking at the numerous thugs opposite him, baring their teeth and howling as they lunged at him, clearly only having learned some rudimentary martial arts, Si Ming sighed deeply and said, "I always feel that attacking these people is like stepping on shit. Although I can crush them with one kick, I'm disgusting myself. Making them enemies who 'can't even withstand one move from me' is really giving them too much face."

As they were talking, a burly man wielding a stick pounced on them, bringing a Forceful Cleave of Mount Hua's head. Si Ming neither dodged nor avoided the attack, and didn't even glance at the man.

"Go to hell!"

At a distance of less than thirty centimeters, the air suddenly vibrated violently, producing a tremor like a water chrysalis. The burly man's arms, out of his control, slammed back towards his own forehead, returning all the force he had used when he swung.

With a loud "bang," the burly man's brains splattered, and he was beaten to death on the spot.

Si Ming took the initiative to respond to the enemy, so those who rushed in the first wave did not have time to stop and all suffered the consequences. Those who used weapons were all injured by their weapons, and those who used sharp blades were the most unlucky, with none surviving. Those who used fist and foot martial arts were a little better off, only suffering internal injuries from the backlash of internal energy.

"He who kills will be killed in return. If you think of leaving others a way out, you will be able to leave yourselves a way out right now. Otherwise, you will only bring trouble upon yourselves." The word "benevolence" can be interpreted as "two people," meaning to put yourself in others' shoes. Being kind to others is being kind to yourself.

Wan Ziling, with her extensive family knowledge, immediately grasped the key techniques within and was greatly astonished. She could also do it if it were simply a matter of using the opponent's force against them, but the prerequisite was that she had to make contact. This kind of move, using the opponent's spear to attack their shield, required extremely high control over one's strength. Close contact and defeating an enemy from a distance are completely different concepts. The former is like gliding, while the latter is like flying. They may seem similar, but they are actually quite different.

"Demon, sorcery!"

After a third of the men fell, the rest of the group finally stopped being foolish. Seeing the tragic state of their "predecessors," they all hid their weapons behind their backs, making the attackers hesitant to fight and instead turning and running away.

"Hmph, you think you can run away after offending the alliance leader!"

Si Ming snapped his fingers, and a sound wave rippled out. Everyone felt their legs stiffen, lose control, and fall face-first to the ground.

Such moves were beyond Wan Ziling's comprehension; she couldn't even distinguish whether they were martial arts or Technique Method. However, she was no longer surprised by them. Regardless of his character, at least in terms of martial arts, Si Ming certainly deserved the title of leader of the martial arts world.

Looking at the prisoners lying on the ground, Si Ming pondered, "What should I do with you? Killing you all seems like a crime that doesn't warrant death, but letting you go so easily would be too lenient."

"Hero, spare our lives! We never intended to kill anyone; we were just trying to make a living. We were forced into this situation. If we didn't come out to arrest people, our superiors would kill us."

"We were told to follow the team, so we just followed. We never thought of doing anything bad, and we weren't even accomplices."

"I have an eighty-year-old mother to support and a five-year-old child to raise. There's no other reason for me to do this!"

Si Ming said impatiently, "Is this all you can say? I'm sick of hearing it. Even your pleas for mercy lack sincerity. It seems you don't value your lives much, treating them like a game. In that case, I won't be polite to you anymore."

He raised his hand as if to kill, when suddenly a burly man, eight feet tall, pounced on him like a toad, prostrated himself on the ground, and kowtowed repeatedly, crying like a three-year-old child. In an instant, snot and tears streamed down his face, wetting the ground in front of him.

"Great hero, spare my life! I have an elderly mother, maternal grandparents, great-aunt, nephews, nieces, and twin daughters. I was blind to your greatness. Great hero, please spare me this time! I will surely paint your portrait and worship it in my home every day with candles burning endlessly. Great hero..."

This person's words were undoubtedly more eloquent than the others. Si Ming sneered, "When you do bad things, you never think that others also have elderly parents and young children. But when it's your turn, you immediately drag your family members out to beg for mercy. Family members are not your shield... You may escape the death penalty, but you can't escape punishment. I'm giving you a lesson so that you won't harm others in the future."

This group of people had only practiced the most rudimentary martial arts, and some of them were just relying on their physical strength. The punishment of crippling their Cultivation Body was meaningless to them. So Si Ming spread his five fingers and shot out energy from them, shattering everyone's knees.

In this way, even if they encounter a skilled doctor who can heal their injuries, they will inevitably become lame in the future. And someone who can't even walk steadily will not be able to do anything bad.

"You're really ruthless, aren't you? You're quite observant when it comes to the strange. Many people I know, when faced with this situation, would just yell 'Get lost!' and tell these guys to get lost, not bothering to lay a hand on them."

Wan Ziling looked at the wounded men rolling on the ground, clutching their bloodied knees. Even as they wept and begged for mercy, hoping Si Ming would show them compassion and spare their lives, even swearing oaths in desperation, Si Ming remained deaf to their pleas and offered no response until he had completed his punishment of everyone.

"Let them go and let them continue to do evil? They're all adults; they need to be responsible for their actions. Don't say it's all God's fault. If all else fails, they can always commit suicide. At worst, they'll be heroes again in eighteen years."

"What if someone really does change their ways?"

"You've misunderstood something. I'm punishing them to make them take responsibility for their past actions. As for what they will do in the future, that's not my concern. So even if they swear to be good people in the future, that's a matter for the future and has nothing to do with the past. You can't deny that they did bad things just because they become good people in the future. That kind of thinking isn't dialectical enough."

Wan Ziling didn't understand what "not dialectical enough" meant, but she could understand Si Ming's meaning. In short, it meant focusing on the issue, not the person. This harsh Legalist School ideology made her frown.

Regardless of their understanding of dialectics, the vast majority of people dislike dialectics, and even less so materialist dialectics, because materialist dialectics is against human nature.

Human physiology conforms to dialectical materialism. For example, it is constantly changing in the midst of contradictions and oppositions. The series of processes of birth, aging, illness, and death is normal from the perspective of dialectical materialism. However, because humans are afraid of death, they expect immutability and yearn for eternity. Thus, the resulting human nature will oppose dialectical materialism.

This is what is known as "saying one thing but doing another."

In terms of morality, people hope that good people are always good, so everything they do is good, and everything bad people do is bad. This leads to the conclusion that good people can punish bad people in any way they want. This is the origin of the so-called "acting on behalf of Heaven." "Heaven" is, of course, always good. If I act on behalf of Heaven, I can do whatever I want.

However, from the perspective of dialectical materialism, "heaven" is not an object that can be defined as good or bad. A good person has nothing to do with whether he or she obeys the law or whether he or she does wrong. It is not that a person who does wrong is a bad person, nor is it that a good person will never do wrong.

This value system is in great conflict with traditional morality. Even if Wan Ziling can't say what's wrong with this concept, she instinctively dislikes it. To change this instinct, she would have to deny her life over the past few decades.

Si Ming noticed this, but said nothing, because in this world, he was the outcast, the one who didn't fit in. It was just that his power was strong enough that he could be unconventional, maintain his individuality, and not be bound by tradition and the mainstream. However, if he wanted to change other people's thoughts, he had to change the world first.

That's incredibly difficult; even with invincible power, the chances of achieving it are extremely slim.

Lu Xun once said: It's a pity that China is too difficult to change. Even moving a table or modifying a stove almost always requires bloodshed; and even with bloodshed, it's not guaranteed that it can be moved or modified.

There's a specific order to how a table is placed. Even if you have the strength to move the table, countless people will jump out to stop you and accuse you of breaking the rules. At that point, you either put the table back or smash those people's heads in.

Si Ming had no intention of becoming a headshot maniac, so he only set up a table in his own home, and he couldn't care less how other people set up theirs.

After dealing with the pursuers, Si Ming approached the grandfather and grandson who were performing for money and said, "I apologize. I took it upon myself to use you two as bait, and I'm sorry to have startled you."

The old man hurriedly shook his head and said it was alright. Seeing Si Ming's feat of taking down one knee with one finger, even his resentment was completely gone. He still needed to rely on these old legs to travel all over the country.

The little girl, on the other hand, was filled with excitement and exhilaration. The wails of the villains sounded particularly pleasant to her, and she felt no sympathy whatsoever, just as a child admires heroes and enjoys seeing justice defeat evil.

Si Ming glanced at it, then took out a martial arts manual from his robes and handed it to the other party, saying, "Consider this an apology."

Just as the old man was about to decline, the little girl hugged the manual tightly to her chest and asked, "After I practice this, will I become as powerful as you, my benefactor?"

"That depends on your talent and how hard you work."

Si Ming patted the other person's head, smiled, and left.

Wan Ziling glanced at it, then followed and said, "Leaving aside the saying 'the poor study literature, the rich study martial arts,' it's very difficult to achieve anything significant with just a martial arts manual without the guidance of a renowned master."