Pan Long thought it over carefully, drew up a detailed chart, then came out.
"Teacher," he asked, "do you know about elements?"
Bi Lingkong nodded. "Of course I know what elements are. They're the fundamental things that make up everything in the world. The Confucian School stresses the unity of knowledge and action. How could a scholar not study the foundations of the world?"
Pan Long smiled with satisfaction. "Then do you know how many elements there are?"
"That's harder to say," Bi Lingkong replied. "Before the Warring States era, the theories of the Four Forms and the Five Phases were always at odds. Some held that the world was made of earth, water, wind, and fire; others said metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Later, Zhao Sheng and Wen Chao did some research and established that there were many elements. A great many."
"Not that many," Lanling Kuang said. "The Martial Emperor put the number at a hundred and ten, while Chancellor Wen put it at ninety-four. But they never came close to finding that many."
Bi Lingkong laughed. "I remember them working at it every day. They racked their brains, soaking things, burning things, trying every way they could to break them down. They kept at it for months. In the end, they found only thirty-three and listed another sixteen based on speculation. That was it."
"They brought out all sorts of things and swore those things contained some particular element, though they didn't know how to extract it... They even argued over it," Lie Yukou said.
Bi Lingkong burst out laughing. "Zhao Sheng called Wen Chao a disgrace to his prestigious university. Wen Chao shot back, 'What's wrong with a Chinese literature major not knowing this? You studied science and can't even extract a basic element—that's the