Emperor Wenchang spoke gently, "You ask me whether I value exquisite writing more, or pure and virtuous merit more?"
"Have you not heard that Cangjie created writing, awakening the intelligence of all living beings? Brush and ink, literature and composition, are the outward expression of one's nature.
A scholar spending ten years by the cold window upholds the virtue of diligence; every word like a pearl beneath his brush reveals a crystal-clear heart.
Literary fortune is judged through writing, while blessings are bestowed for painstaking effort.
This is the principle of Heaven rewarding diligence, and also the path by which the literary way and merit merge."
Lu Chen nodded at this. "What Your Majesty says is most true. This junior deeply agrees."
He then cited a line from the Scripture of Great Peace. "Yet, 'Burden and recompense follow one another; good and evil are repaid in kind.'
Consider two kinds of people in this world. One writes prose as splendid as brocade, with a brush guided as if by the gods, yet uses ink and words for selfish gain, deceiving the world and stealing fame;
the other possesses only ordinary skill with brush and ink, unable to enter the halls of elegance, yet carries a benevolent heart to save the world and amasses vast merit.
Compared to the former, though the latter has no brocade-like compositions, he may still be called one who 'benefits without harming.'
How does Star Lord believe the blessings of these two people should be measured?"
"Oh~"
Within the sea of consciousness, Emperor Wenchang's divine form paused slightly, and a flicker of surprise crossed his eyes.
This boy has quite the glib tongue. He even has the bearing of one who debates the Dao.
When his divine voice rang out in the hall again, it carried