The great rise of the Buddhist sect had become a foregone conclusion; it could no longer be suppressed.
It was said that Confucius opened a forum to lecture, founded the Spring and Autumn Pavilion, and established a sect of his own. Though its foundations were still shallow and far inferior to the great sects, its momentum of flourishing growth surged like a spring tide, unstoppable by anyone.
Not long after, Zengzi, a foremost disciple of the Confucian school, ascended to immortality. He authored The Great Learning and The Classic of Filial Piety; every word was a pearl, every sentence bore the Way. Confucian scholars across the world revered him as the "Sage of the Sect."
The first signs of the Confucian school's rise had emerged, and all the Sages of the Heavens took notice.
Observing this turn of events, Jade Emperor Haotian found the restlessness in his heart difficult to suppress, and the ambition to contend for the mortal world and command its fate arose within him.
Yet at the time, the hundred schools were contending, countless factions were rising, each clinging to its own doctrine and walking its own path.
The Confucians honored the Rites of Zhou, advocating that people keep to their proper stations, respect and love one another, and ultimately attain a realm of Great Harmony. This was called "benevolence"—the very marrow of Confucianism. They sought to set the world right through rites and righteousness, restoring the virtuous governance of the Western Zhou.
During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras, beacon fires burned year after year and the common people were scattered and displaced. Daoism, meanwhile, strongly advocated abandoning cunning and wisdom, returning to simplicity, ending conflict, and governing through non-action. Only then, they believed, could lasting peace be achieved. Their ultimate ideal was in