Ming Tianyan froze.
The struggle of paths really did seem to be as he said.
Facing the Great Calamity of Heartlessness, the Confucian Sage, who had founded his place in the world upon benevolence, had overlooked every element in the Four Kingdoms' national war that ran counter to the core tenets of Confucianism.
He had abandoned the matter of holding Lin Mouren accountable—though he had called it a temporary postponement, everyone knew that if the deduction concerning the Great Calamity of Heartlessness proved accurate, this postponement was in truth an ending.
The sages who had once been full of benevolence, righteousness, morality, and virtue had begun seriously weighing the strength of every faction and pondering how to resist. Was that not itself the practice of the military path?
In a struggle of paths, how one argued with one's mouth did not matter at all. What mattered was to watch one's actions!
Ming Tianyan softly let out a breath. "Above the Third Heaven, will every saint truly practice the military path?"
"Every one?" Lin Su slowly shook his head. "This is something I wanted to tell you. When a house is about to collapse, if someone inside does not want to prop it up with a stick, then that person may not be an original resident of that house at all!"
"Not an original resident of the house... He may merely be a thief who snuck in to steal things!"
Lin Su said, "There is someone. I wonder whether you have gathered information on him."
Ming Tianyan's heart abruptly jolted. "Who?"
A name slipped into Ming Tianyan's ear. She froze...
"Why do you suspect him?"
"..."
Ming Tianyan pondered for a long time. "I'll go now and investigate every last detail of his origins!"
"No! Don't rush it. Tonight ought to