What You Do Not Desire, Do Not Impose Upon Others

"The whip cracked like thunder—this scholar actually possesses Hidden Force cultivation! I misjudged him!"

Xie was in midair, but he did not panic. His gaze sharpened, catching the whip's trajectory. He brushed his right hand across his waist, and with a clang, cold light flashed as his long saber left its sheath, slashing forward with the motion!

"Even if he has strength, that whip strike is utterly without form, relying on nothing but brute force! What use can it be?"

Even as Xie thought this, a flash of azure light flickered before his eyes and vanished, so quickly it seemed an illusion. Then came a sharp crack. His long saber broke in two, and pain stabbed through his chest as his insides churned. He spat out a mouthful of blood and crashed to the ground.

"What happened? Was that an illusion?"

Before the thought had even settled, another whip lashed down, striking him squarely across the face and tearing his flesh open!

Qiu Yan's strength was immense now. Setting aside the power gained from Blood Essence alone, the explosive force produced by the resonance of Bright and Hidden Force was more than an ordinary person could bear. Xie clutched his face and howled miserably.

"It hurts? You practice martial arts, yet even you cannot endure a whip on your body. My uncle and aunt are no longer young, and there are women among them. They have not a trace of martial skill, yet you had your men whip them! Did you never think of their pain? Remember: what you do not desire, do not impose upon others!" Qiu Yan's gaze was icy. With a flick of his arm, the whip snapped and cracked as it lashed out again.

"Young sir, please stop!" The man surnamed Yan by the roadside spoke again, this time on Xie's behalf. His figure flashed, and he appeared before Xie. Raising a hand, he seized the whipping lash in his grasp.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The whip had been packed with force, yet once he caught it, it merely bounced twice in his hand, swaying up and down while pulled taut.

Qiu Yan said nothing. He simply released the whip, which he had picked up at random in the first place, then turned and walked toward one of the burly men who had fallen to the ground.

After landing, the burly man had first rolled about in pain. He had only just calmed somewhat when he saw Qiu Yan approach and tried to rise. But Qiu Yan was swift. One step brought him to the man's side, and then he lifted his foot and stomped hard onto the man's chest.

Crack!

A bone-splitting sound that made one's scalp crawl rang out. The burly man screamed and curled up like a shrimp, while the faces of those around him changed drastically.

"Since we have already come to blows, there is no need for restraint." With that thought, Qiu Yan strode toward another fallen burly man.

"Stop!" The man surnamed Yan flung aside the whip and strode forward in great steps. In two or three strides, he stood in Qiu Yan's path. Looking at Qiu Yan with grave eyes, he said, "Little brother, you appear to be a learned man. Why are your hands so ruthless? Do not the Sages advocate being lenient with oneself and treating others kindly?"

Qiu Yan halted without growing angry. Shaking his head, he said, "Being lenient with oneself and treating others kindly? That is for friends, relatives, and those who treat others well. One cannot show mercy to enemies. The Sages taught principles for conducting oneself, not how to become lambs waiting for slaughter. The Book of Rites says, 'One cannot live beneath the same sky as one's father's enemy; one does not turn back for weapons when avenging a brother; one does not dwell in the same state as the enemy of a friend.' If one does not avenge a grievance, even living beneath the same sky feels unbearable. It advocates vengeance!"

"What immense Sha Qi this scholar has!" The man surnamed Yan watched Qiu Yan, his gaze shifting. He sensed something unusual about the man before him, but the righteousness in his heart made it difficult for him to retreat. He still said, "Spare someone whenever you can. If you injure them like this, you will completely offend the forces behind them, and trouble will follow. Better to turn a great matter into a small one."

"I am only afraid the matter will not grow large enough!" Qiu Yan sneered. "You stepped in to help and spoke up for justice. I respect you as a true man, so I will not beat around the bush. My uncle's family has no master-servant contract with the Pan Household. They neither steal nor rob; they are an innocent household. The Pan Household's guards came here to commit violence—this is bullying others through power, a failing of private virtue. Then they wished to whip them—this is intent to injure. Neither morality nor law can tolerate it! He intended to harm others first, as everyone here witnessed. I am merely defending myself now."

In the Great Rui Dynasty, Confucianism held sway. It stressed virtue as primary and punishment as secondary, but it also valued killing one to warn a hundred. It showed no mercy toward such exemplary offenders.

His gaze swept over the several burly men on the ground as he said, each word distinct, "What they have done would earn them two years of penal servitude if reported to the authorities. If they do not come seeking revenge afterward, so be it. But if they do, their crimes will be compounded. The young master of the Pan Household may not fear that, but the fate of these guard-dogs may be another matter."

As he spoke, he walked around the man surnamed Yan.

"This matter has nothing to do with you. You should leave quickly. Otherwise, given the temperament of that young master of the Pan Household, you too will be implicated."

The matter before him was not complicated. After only a brief consideration, Qiu Yan understood its cause. After Pan Yuanwai's death, power in the Pan Household had likely fallen into Third Young Master Pan's hands. Along with other factors at play, the Liu Household had been dragged into this, meant to be taken back as scapegoats.

"Though the Liu Household and I have neither power nor influence, we are not soft persimmons for others to squeeze as they please!"

With that thought settled, he stomped on another fallen burly man. The man gave a muffled groan and fainted.

That stomp was not merely to vent his anger. It directly scattered the breath in the man's chest, dispersing the strength he had cultivated through tempering his sinews and bones. It was equivalent to crippling his martial arts.

"These men are martial artists recruited by the Pan Household. They possess martial strength, and though they are all only at the Foundation Establishment level, two fists cannot defeat four hands. Weakening them somewhat will mean less trouble."

This world had spoken of martial arts masters among the common folk since ancient times. But in terms of cultivation, they were all limited to the Life Cultivation path, and these so-called masters possessed no more than Foundation Establishment Realm cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, Qiu Yan arrived before Xie.

The leader had recovered his senses from the searing pain. Fear filled his eyes as he looked at Qiu Yan. He had never imagined that this seemingly ordinary scholar possessed such skill—or that he would strike with such ruthless cruelty, directly crippling the other six!

"Do not act rashly! The Pan Household..." He tried to use borrowed power to intimidate him.

Qiu Yan did not even listen, cutting him off directly. "You guards are nothing but lackeys. Even if I treated you well, the masters behind you would not remember me kindly. Either way, I will offend them, so what is there to fear? Unless I am willing to surrender without resistance, I will inevitably offend the Pan Household."

Before his words had faded, Xie suddenly sprang up. Force surged throughout his body as he lunged at Qiu Yan, but before he had fully straightened, Qiu Yan's foot had already landed on his chest. With a crack, Xie fell back down, blood pouring from his mouth.

The man surnamed Yan watched quietly without speaking, but he muttered inwardly, Let us see how you deal with this. From the sound of it, the Pan Household is a wealthy family within Yuanning Prefecture. Offending such a family cannot be settled with a few words. The trouble afterward will be endless. He did not intervene. Xie and the others were no good people, and this was a martial grudge between them and Qiu Yan. Since his attempt at mediation had failed, there was no need to involve himself further.

With a ripping sound, Qiu Yan tore open the clothes of several burly men and rolled them into ropes, binding the seven together. Then he lifted them one in each hand and, after several trips, placed them all onto the carriage.

By then, the surrounding onlookers were all staring dumbfounded. A trace of fear for Qiu Yan had arisen in their hearts, and they watched him from afar.

At that moment, Qiu Yan took out brush and ink from the carriage, ground the ink on the spot, and wrote out a piece with his wrist suspended. Then he raised his eyes and swept his gaze across the surrounding crowd, making everyone's scalps tingle. Quite a few people quickly retreated.

"Everyone, is anyone willing to help me? Qiu will reward you generously."

Seeing their reactions, Qiu Yan suddenly spoke and took a silver ingot from his robe.

P.S. Thanks to reader "Blue Requiem" for the reward!