Saint Origin Continent, Wu Kingdom.
Elm Town was a small town a hundred li from the capital of Wu Kingdom. With poor transport links and mountains all around, it was far from prosperous despite its proximity to the capital. It was even somewhat run-down.
Yet precisely because it was quiet here, scholars devoted to cultivation would occasionally follow the river to this place for secluded study.
Several days earlier, Zhang Houlu, a Grand Academician of considerable renown in Wu Kingdom, had appeared in a dilapidated house on the outskirts of town.
At first, no one paid him any attention. Everyone continued their secluded study wherever they were staying.
One evening, however, a voice came from the dilapidated house.
Someone curious followed the voice. Through the open, battered door, he saw a tiger skin spread out in the main hall, with a middle-aged man who looked to be in his forties sitting upon it.
The man wore blue robes embroidered with clouds. A thin strip of beard ran along his cheeks and chin, giving him an especially rugged appearance, yet his complexion was delicate, like that of a fair-faced young scholar, in striking contrast to his beard.
The visitor immediately recognized him as Zhang Houlu.
Zhang Houlu was lecturing on the Doctrine of the Mean to an empty hall.
The visitor jumped, thinking he had stumbled upon something sinister. But his instincts as a scholar made him listen carefully to a few sentences. He was instantly engrossed and obediently entered the dilapidated house to listen to Zhang Houlu lecture on the Doctrine of the Mean.
Once word spread, people came to wait outside the house every night. As soon as Zhang Houlu began speaking, they went inside to listen.
Within a few days, all the scholars in Elm Town, and even