The Sub-Sage and His Wife

Cold wind swept across the mountain peak and through the woods, drawing shrill wails from the withered branches.

On the flagstone path, Xu Qi'an turned to look at Xu Xinnian, whose robes and black hair danced together in the wind. His cousin was so handsome it inspired envy, like an immortal banished to the mortal world.

Xu Xinnian pointed to a waterfall in the distance. "An elder of the academy once comprehended the Dao here. There's a stone stele by the waterfall that records his life."

Water was scarce in winter, and the waterfall was thin and feeble, spilling listlessly into a pool so clear that its bottom was visible.

A stele and a bronze statue of a man sitting cross-legged in meditation stood beside the pool. The inscription recounted the life of a scholar named Qian Zhong, who had been born six hundred years ago and was active in the early years of the Great Feng dynasty.

At the time, the ruler of the preceding dynasty had been muddleheaded, his officials corrupt, and powerful clans had preyed upon the people. Beacon fires of war had risen across the Central Plains, and rebel armies had carved out territories for themselves.

The imperial court of Great Zhou had waged a seesaw war against rebel armies in various regions for more than a decade, while the common people at the bottom of society suffered bitterly.

Qian Zhong, a second-rank Great Confucian, had traveled for three years and witnessed the people's destitution with his own eyes. Brimming with fury and bearing their grievances, he went to Great Zhou's capital and used his body of flesh and blood to shatter what little national fortune the dynasty had left.

Afterward, Great Feng was founded, the wars were quelled, and peace reigned throughout the land.

"Is the Great Confucian Realm really that powerful?" Xu Qi'an looked skeptical. "How come I haven't seen anything 'badass' about those three Great Confucians?"

Xu Xinnian didn't know what "badass" meant, but it was unquestionably a vulgar expression. Remembering that his elder brother had just earned merit by composing poetry, he held back a retort and answered:

"Who told you my teacher and the others were second-rank Great Confucians? They're only fourth-rank, in the Gentleman Realm."

Xu Qi'an could hardly believe it. "And they still have the nerve to call themselves Great Confucians?"

Xu Xinnian squatted by the pool and washed his hands. "Great Confucian has two meanings. One refers to a learned and respected scholar; the other specifically refers to the second rank of the Confucian Dao. The Great Confucians at our academy are the former."

Bearing the people's grievances, he had shattered a nation's fortune. Even if that fortune had weakened at the end of the dynasty, it was still beyond human power. Just how strong was the second rank of the Confucian Dao? And what about the first?

Xu Qi'an fell into deep thought. After a long while, he asked with a hint of respect, "Does Cloud Deer Academy have any second-rank Great Confucians?"

Xu Xinnian shook his head. "In the past two hundred years, the highest anyone has reached is the third rank. The third rank of the Confucian Dao is the Establishing Destiny Realm. I only heard that from my teacher when I saw Layman Ziyang off the other day. Our academy's headmaster is a third-rank Establishing Destiny cultivator."

Xu Qi'an's tone immediately relaxed. "Not bad," he remarked casually.

The three old gentlemen seemed somewhat extravagant and unserious, lacking a little composure and gravity. Xu Qi'an shared his assessment with Xu Erlang.

Erlang pondered for a moment. "They weren't always like that. After the Gentleman Realm comes the third-rank Establishing Destiny Realm. Perhaps it has something to do with that realm."

"Yes, Layman Ziyang used to be the same way. Recently, his temperament suddenly changed, as though he'd become a different person. I heard my teacher say that Layman Ziyang is only half a step away from Establishing Destiny."

The brothers wandered aimlessly around the academy, Xu Xinnian showing him some of its historic sights. With twelve hundred years of history behind the academy, Clear Cloud Mountain would surely have been a tourist attraction teeming with visitors if outsiders were not ordinarily barred from entering and disturbing the students.

"Elder Brother." As they walked, Xu Xinnian suddenly called out to him in a low voice.

Xu Qi'an stopped and looked at him.

Xu Xinnian glanced at him, then turned his face away and pretended to look at the scenery. "I thought about it for a long time yesterday. If it weren't for you, Father would already have been sentenced to beheading, and the women of the family would have been sent to the Imperial Academy of Music."

"If it weren't for you, Sister Lingyue would have been in danger yesterday. She very likely would have been bullied by that man surnamed Zhou."

"If it weren't for you, the Xu Household might still be feeling lucky to have survived the calamity, only to be wiped out one day without warning."

With that, he strode ahead. After walking more than ten meters, he mouthed a word: "Thanks!"

The Sub-Sage Academy.

Xu Qi'an followed his cousin up the steps, past the incense burner, and into the hall. Seven-meter-tall red-lacquered pillars supported the domed ceiling. The Sub-Sage enshrined there was the founder of Cloud Deer Academy.

In the slender candle flames, the Sub-Sage wore a blue-green Confucian robe fastened down the front and a tall scholar's cap. One hand was behind his back, the other rested at his waist, and his gaze was directed into the distance.

At the Sub-Sage's side stood a lively, graceful white deer, cloud patterns faintly visible in her white fur.

Xu Xinnian pointed at the deer. "She's where Cloud Deer Academy got its name."

"Scholars really do have refined tastes," Xu Qi'an said. "A white deer for a mount."

Xu Xinnian glanced at his cousin and corrected him. "Not a mount. His wife."

"!!!" Xu Qi'an took another look at the Sub-Sage and murmured, "Scholars really do have refined tastes."

He didn't dare say those words aloud.

As if he knew what his cousin was thinking, Xu Xinnian said, "The academy's Cloud Deer Chronicles records that this white deer was a yao who listened to the classics at the Sage's feet. After she took human form, she remained at the Sub-Sage's side. The human and the yao had been together since childhood and were deeply attached to each other, so they became husband and wife."

"Love between humans and yao was unacceptable to the world then, just as it is now. But when the Sage learned of it, he didn't beat the mandarin ducks apart. Instead, he approved of their marriage. The Sage said, 'Great love knows no bounds.' It shows that as long as there is love, humans and yao can stay together for life."

Since ancient times, romances between humans and yao had all had nicknames, such as "unity of heaven and man." So what was this Sub-Sage's nickname?

Calling a deer a horse-the horse in "horse-chick"? Xu Qi'an cupped his hands toward the Sub-Sage's statue.

As Xu Xinnian respectfully performed a disciple's salute to the Sub-Sage, Xu Qi'an looked around the hall and discovered a stone stele as tall as a person on either side.

One was blank; the other bore an inscription.

He walked over and read, "Die for righteousness, give one's life in loyalty to repay the sovereign's grace; leave a fragrant legacy for a hundred generations, a name for all ages-Cheng Hui."

The writing was neat, neither flamboyant, careless, nor ostentatious. It conveyed a grand and majestic sense of a gentleman's uprightness.

"The Sub-Sage of the Imperial Academy left this here." Xu Xinnian came over and stood shoulder to shoulder with his cousin before the stele.

"The Imperial Academy's Sub-Sage. That's right, I've never really understood the details of the grudge between the Imperial Academy and Cloud Deer Academy." Xu Qi'an was intensely interested, the words "eating melon" written all over his eyes.

Xu Xinnian looked around and, seeing no one nearby, finally spoke in a low voice. "It began two hundred years ago, with the dispute over the nation's foundation."

"The dispute over the nation's foundation?" Though Xu Qi'an was a complete novice at history, he still knew what the phrase meant.

The crown prince was the foundation of the nation!

A dispute over the nation's foundation was a struggle for the position of crown prince.

"Renzong was on the throne then, and the position of crown prince had been vacant for more than ten years. Two princes were strong contenders. One was the eldest son of the principal wife, and the other was a son born to a Noble Lady. That Noble Lady was exceptionally alluring and beautiful, and Renzong doted on her.

"Renzong intended to make the prince born to the Noble Lady crown prince, but all the civil and military officials opposed him. Renzong issued edicts repeatedly, but the Grand Secretariat sealed and rejected them each time. The scholars of Cloud Deer Academy were the ones leading the officials.

"'Appoint the elder, not the younger; appoint the son of the principal wife, not the son of a concubine.' Those rules have existed since ancient times, and even the emperor cannot defy them. Elder Brother, you were quite right: the rites are the dragon-slaying technique scholars habitually use.

"Neither side was willing to concede in this dispute over the nation's foundation. They struggled back and forth for six whole years. During that time, the Grand Secretary was replaced four times, and batch after batch of officials left the court. More than two hundred officials in the capital and the provinces were involved.

P.S. Updates may be late, but they won't be absent.