A strange aura surged from Ji Zhibai, carrying the Miscellaneous School's spirit of embracing and accommodating all, shielding his Literary Palace and literary guts.
Yet Ji Zhibai's literary guts still teetered on the brink, as thin as celadon porcelain, liable to shatter at any moment.
Yu Bachi watched Ji Zhibai with immense satisfaction. A contest of sacred ways was perilous, but face-to-face debates over the political way between scholars were also fraught with danger. Although Fang Yun's words seemed slightly beyond convention, they had crossed the line by only half a step. Not only did they not violate benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, trustworthiness, loyalty, or courage, they accorded with them perfectly.
Yu Bachi turned to Fang Yun again, admiration welling up in his heart. On careful reflection, Fang Yun's earlier arguments were not shocking enough to overturn the world, yet they possessed a tremendous power to convince. Nor had they completely overturned the established concept of "concealment among kin." Beginning with propriety and ending with law, he had pioneered a philosophy joining the two.
This scene is probably like Ji Zhibai raising a battered shield of hidebound tradition while Void Sage Fang wields an incomparably sharp sword of reform. One stroke falls, and nothing can withstand it, Yu Bachi thought.
Fang Yun ignored Ji Zhibai, glanced at Shopkeeper Gong, then looked toward the crowd outside the doors.
The officials and commoners outside the hall felt as though heavenly might stood before them. Instinctively, they lowered their heads and listened reverently to the sage's teaching.
"Propriety first established the ceremonies of nations, then laid down the rules of the human race. It serves the people, the state, and every individual. To murder one's wife and child is to behave like demons and barbarians. Heaven's laws cannot tolerate it, and such a