Good and evil.
Or rather, innate goodness versus innate evil. Since Lord Ming of Luo had written those two treatises together, the debate had continued for a thousand years, with countless sages of the past building their own philosophies within it.
The Daoist School held that there was neither good nor evil. Mainstream Confucianism inherited innate goodness from Mengzi, while the Legalist School and Xun Confucianism inherited innate evil.
Evil without good.
What was there to explain? This was how the other schools had always criticized the Legalist School.
All Under Heaven was evil; only the law was good!
This was the Legalist School's creed and faith, so its students had never cared about such criticism. If they shook the foundations of their philosophy and accepted innate goodness, it would be like starting their training all over again from scratch. Who could accept that?
"All Under Heaven is evil; only the law is good. You regard everyone in the world as people with evil and no goodness, then use laws woven as tightly as a net to prove your theory correct, making everyone guilty to proclaim the correctness of your claim that all people are evil, and ultimately establishing a nation of convicts.
"Evil without good indeed!"
Liu Xiang's few effortless words broke through everyone's defenses. They protested, "Aren't those convicted under the law convicted because they harbor evil intentions? However tightly the net is woven, as long as they carefully avoid it, how could they be convicted?"
In the end, Lord Chen, the Legalist leader, stopped the anxious crowd. Looking earnestly at Liu Xiang, he said, "Zizheng, surely you didn't come here merely to refute us until we're left without a shred of dignity.
"You once belonged to the Legalist School. Though I don't know whose disciple you are