"The Dragon-Exterminating Gang?"
Niu Da immediately voiced some doubt from below. "Isn't that too common? Or do you mean to use a common name as a little cover, Third Brother Zhang, to evade that Imperial Uncle Cao's eyes and ears?"
"That is part of it," Zhang Xing answered without thinking. "But it isn't purely common, only pseudo-common... because it's not 'exterminate,' but 'exorcise,' as in casting out..."
"And what does 'exorcising the dragon' mean?"
Everyone present knew how to play the straight man.
"Exorcising the dragon means that the world is in turmoil, smoke and dust are rising everywhere, and Great Wei's decline cannot be reversed, so everyone is striving to rise. With these tremendous changes in Heaven and Earth, Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi is abundant, and the strongest among them might even become Sages and transform into dragons... at such a time, we first establish our foundations, draw heroes to us, and expand our influence. Then, when we hold Heaven and Earth in our hands, even someone bearing the signs of a True Dragon can be cast out with a stroke of the brush... the meaning is to stand above it all, transcend the mundane, and hold everything within our grasp."
Zhang Xing reeled it all off so fluently that Niu Da and the others listened in bewilderment. Someone like Ma Ping'er felt she had learned more today than in her entire life, and could only nod while breathing heavily.
As for Daoist Wei, Li Shu, Xu Dalang, and the others, they were properly educated men. The more they listened, the more it sounded like specious reasoning, even somewhat blatant. They consequently suspected that Master Zhang San probably had another explanation hidden in his heart, one he simply did not wish to share in public.
This was not