"According to what you're saying, if that Contained Object really existed, it had already appeared back in Yan Shi's time, then was passed down for six hundred years until it reached Lu Ban, after which it was given to Mozi, and then disappeared when the Mohist school was completely wiped out under severe persecution—is that right? Why not start with Chiyou? Chiyou had seventy-two 'brothers' who could bite through stone and swallow metal." Mo Qiong asked with a laugh.
Ying Fei said, "That's far too long ago. There's no need to drag everything back that far. At least we have clear records from the Pre-Qin period. Modern people can say that Liezi made up the story of Yan Shi creating a courtesan, but Liezi had thoroughly studied the Zhou royal records. If it was completely fictitious, that would mean he had fabricated a story about the deceased former ruler, King Mu of Zhou. That wasn't a trivial matter."
"The story of The Foolish Old Man Moves Mountains can be called a fable he made up without any problem. After all, it was about an ordinary man living in the mountains, and it was quite philosophical. But the story of King Mu of Zhou hating a wooden puppet for seducing his concubines—if the royal records didn't contain even a single word about it, would Liezi have dared to spread something like that based purely on his imagination? The Zhou royal house still ruled the land at the time, and the State of Zheng was one of the feudal states bearing the Ji surname. Would Liezi really dare to invent it all?"
"Forget whether the royal house would come after him. Just in terms of public opinion, countless gentlemen would have condemned him for mocking King Mu of Zhou with something entirely