Eight Parts Alike

After practicing the art of luck, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he was quite lucky.

Even though he went to the Northern Border alone, he had the great Confucian scholar Gongsun Hong by his side.

Gongsun Hong's character was not as reliable as Dong Zhongshu's, but Zhang Xuezhou felt that the other party was eight-tenths similar to himself.

It is extremely difficult to have such noble character that others find it hard to criticize you; there are many more people like Zhang Xuezhou and Gongsun Hong in this world.

They have some ulterior motives regarding their own interests, and their values will follow the interests they believe in.

However, Zhang Xuezhou and his associates rarely had the intention to harm others; even when they wanted to gain benefits, they did so through relatively legitimate means.

Judging from his own experience, Zhang Xuezhou was happy to travel with Gongsun Hong.

He needs to carry out official missions, which require him to travel on official mounts to meet the review and approval requirements during mission handover.

This was the system and procedure of the Great Han Dynasty. Zhang Xuezhou didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He also knew that this review system was in place to prevent officials from forming cliques and factions.

Of course, there are always ways to circumvent policies, and the system is not perfect. Even a law-abiding person like Dong Zhongshu had previously gone to the Northern Border by changing his name.

"Mr. Gongsun, how is your practice of the Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity' technique progressing?"

The journey from Jiangxia to the Northern Border region by horseback was not short. Zhang Xuezhou and his group had previously traveled for nearly two months by carriage. If the wheels were damaged or the roads were impassable, the delay would be even longer.

The journey on horseback takes about ten days, or seven or eight days if traveling day and night.

Zhang Xuezhou could endure it, but his mount couldn't.

For Zhang Xuezhou, this period of lucidity will be mostly spent traveling.

But the time wasn't too difficult to pass, and he also had Gongsun Hong, his 'classmate,' on his journey, with whom he could have some opportunities to discuss cultivation.

Gongsun Hong's advantage lay in his more than ten days of discussions with Dong Zhongshu, while Zhang Xuezhou's advantage lay in his ability to conduct various tests of Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity in the real world.

"Don't even mention the Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity, even that 'Righteous Qi' chapter is giving me a hard time!" Gongsun Hong exclaimed. "I only managed to activate Righteous Qi once with you in that water palace, and I haven't succeeded since. How do you usually practice?!"

"I recited it, I recited it every day, day after day, during the day, at night, even at midnight, and at dawn, and finally I mastered it!"

"Young people are remarkable; diligence is indeed the best teacher!"

Dong Zhongshu provided formulaic explanations and demonstrated them himself; whether the learner could grasp the concepts was up to them.

Coincidentally, Gongsun Hong's biggest headache was his comprehension. Most of his abilities in this life came from diligent and hard work, plus a bit of coincidence.

He was a cultivator at the Divine Ability Realm, one in ten thousand, but Gongsun Hong believed that he did not belong to the same level of talented cultivators, and he was also helpless about the cultivation that required talent.

Gongsun Hong only needs to cultivate the Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity, which is a technique that allows him to clearly perceive a great skill. It has no threshold for cultivation level, but it also possesses irreplaceable abilities when needed.

When used at the right time, it can bring unparalleled rewards.

With just a gamble, a bicycle could become a motorcycle; the return was so enormous, how could Gongsun Hong refuse?

Moreover, cultivators of his age don't have many opportunities left, and the only fortuitous opportunity Gongsun Hong currently recognizes is this "Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity Manual".

He repeatedly agreed with Zhang Xuezhou, then laughed heartily and recited the "Ode to Righteousness" on horseback.

Lang Lang's loud recitation accompanied Gongsun Hong's extremely tedious cultivation.

While a genius cultivator like Dong Zhongshu is not a suitable reference, Gongsun Hong appreciates the learning experience of his classmate Zhang Xuezhou, and diligent study is extremely suitable for Gongsun Hong.

As long as diligence leads to success, Gongsun Hong will not lack diligence.

"It seems that the higher one's cultivation level, the greater the mental strength required to invoke righteous energy!"

Zhang Xuezhou's ability to cultivate the "Righteous Qi" technique was not due to exceptional talent, nor was Ren Wuyang's ability to master it in one go due to unparalleled genius; rather, it was because they possessed the foundation in this area.

As long as you have a solid foundation, success is just a matter of time.

If your foundation is weak, you're just relying on luck and trying to get a feel for things.

If you remember that feeling, you can concentrate and try to perceive and adjust it to eventually achieve the desired effect.

If you don't remember the feeling, then you succeeded by luck once, and it's extremely difficult to repeat it.

To be honest, Zhang Xuezhou really hoped that Gongsun Hong could succeed.

Zhang Xuezhou felt almost no benefit from the guidance of the Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity by weak cultivators like Ren Wuyang and Song Sijia, but he gained something from the guidance of the Resonance Between Heaven and Humanity by a powerful cultivator like Gongsun Zhang Xuezhou.

As long as Gongsun Hong repeatedly guided him with the concept of righteousness, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he would benefit considerably.

Of course, Zhang Xuezhou could seek out Dong Zhongshu, but Dong Zhongshu possessed extremely abundant Law Power, and getting Dong Zhongshu to Jieyin the righteous energy would be quite difficult.

Asking Dong Zhongshu to demonstrate once would be fine, but requiring him to demonstrate repeatedly would undoubtedly be a terrible request.

However, Gongsun Hong is currently in a learning phase, so it's normal for him to demonstrate it ten or twenty times, let alone once.

"Dongfang Shuo, how long did you chant those words day and night back then?!"

After a long day of running around, it was almost nightfall before Gongsun Hong finally stopped reciting, his voice nearly hoarse.

"For a long time, it was an experience I almost didn't want to recall; it nearly made me give up cultivating my righteous spirit!"

Zhang Xuezhou thought about his own recitation experience over the past two days and decided not to waste that time on criticizing Gongsun Hong.

Since they first met, Gongsun Hong has been studying for more than half a month, and has only triggered the Righteous Qi once so far. The difficulty of learning is almost comparable to that of Ren Yisheng.

Ren Yisheng possesses extremely high spiritual power, and his cultivation level is at the True Spirit Realm. Zhang Xuezhou speculates that the reason for Ren Yisheng's failure in cultivation is most likely related to his physical condition.

As for Gongsun Hong, it was simply because his cultivation level was too high, and the requirement to draw upon the righteous energy was enormous. With insufficient spiritual power, it was difficult for him to successfully draw upon it.

Now that he knew the details, his conversation with Gongsun Hong was unhurried and deliberate.

"I wonder if those with natural talent can quickly achieve mastery of righteous energy," Gongsun Hong lamented. "People like us can only toil away every day!"

"A fine sword is forged through tempering; without the tempering and honing of a thousand hammer blows, how can it possess its chilling edge?" Zhang Xuezhou laughed. "We are not those born divine weapons, so all we have left is tempering."

"A fine sword is forged through tempering and honing!"

Gongsun Hong pondered this several times, and he couldn't help but strongly agree with Dong Zhongshu's assessment of Zhang Xuezhou.

Aside from not having joined any Confucian School school of thought, Zhang Xuezhou could already be considered a great Confucian scholar.

A great Confucian scholar needs not only to understand Confucian School, but also to possess Confucian School knowledge, Confucian School cultivation techniques, and even a certain reputation, as well as close ties with Confucian School scholars. Only by meeting these conditions can one be called a great Confucian scholar.

Zhang Xuezhou undoubtedly meets most of these criteria.

As long as Zhang Xuezhou was willing to be affiliated with the Confucian School, Gongsun Hong believed that Dong Zhongshu would most likely help him become a great Confucian scholar.

Gongsun Hong used to remain neutral on such matters, but the more he interacted with Zhang Xuezhou, the more he felt that Zhang Xuezhou had a similar temperament to him, and that the two even shared many similarities.

During his breaks from resting and searching for food, Gongsun Hong also put aside the pressure of his cultivation and had many conversations with Zhang Xuezhou.

"Did our Great Han Dynasty's army truly crumble at the first clash with the Xiong State?"

Gongsun Hong recounted how pigs were raised at sea, fed various seafood to fatten them up—a rather unappealing story. However, when the conversation turned to things beyond the Great Wall, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but become more interested.

"Our Great Han is strong in its schools of thought," Gongsun Hongdao said. "Have you ever heard a folk saying?"

What proverb?

"A novice can defeat a master with a flurry of punches!"

Although Gongsun Hong returned shortly after leaving the pass, he was not unaware of the Xiong State's army.

The Xiong State's legion tactics emphasize coordinated team battles and hunting, while the various legions of the Great Han Dynasty each have their own unique characteristics, much like different types of ferocious beasts.

Each of these ferocious beasts possesses formidable strength, but they are extremely difficult to coordinate, and forcibly separating and combining them will only lead to disarray.

However, a single ferocious beast is no match for the Xiong State.

If the legions dispatched by the Great Han Dynasty were to fight against the Xiong State's legions, Gongsun Hong would certainly suffer a crushing defeat.

"Only through unity and concerted efforts can we unleash our full potential," Gongsun Hong said. "Unfortunately, this is precisely what our Great Han Dynasty finds most difficult to achieve."

"I recall Master Dong mentioning that only after unification is it possible for everyone to be of one mind?"

"He's an idealist, but in reality, achieving that is extremely difficult," Gongsun Hongdao said. "You're rich and I'm poor, why should a poor person like me risk my life to fight for the rich? Not to mention those who are impoverished, look at the feudal lords and schools of thought..."

Gongsun Hong's words sounded like those of a radical youth, but he was actually quite rational.

He was simply stating a social phenomenon.

No matter what Emperor Jing and the new emperor did, they were all fighting to consolidate their rule and for their own benefit.

Once this essence is understood, it becomes easier to comprehend the dissent among various schools of thought.

Changing this situation is not something that can be achieved simply by saying a few words.

Dong Zhongshu's idealism was admirable; the previous person to do something similar was the Emperor Qin.

The method adopted by the Emperor Qin was to eliminate dissidents in order to seek harmony throughout the world. Those who disobeyed were all killed, and those who remained were obedient.

However, before Emperor Qin could accomplish this, he died before him.

Dong Zhongshu Dong Zhongshu not have the status or power of Emperor Qin Emperor Qin. Gongsun Hong believed that Dong Zhongshu could not possibly accomplish what the Emperor Qin had failed to do. This "unification" was destined to be an ideal product, something that could be seen but not touched.

"If we don't resort to killing, what do you think is needed to bring about change?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Unless Your Majesty is willing to share the spoils of the realm with the people!"

"To divide the world?"

"Only when everyone benefits will everyone support him, but there's a problem with that, isn't there?"

"What's the trouble?"

"Human desires are limitless. If those at the bottom can benefit, those at the top will inevitably benefit even more, thus gaining the ability to overthrow His Majesty!"

"So what?"

"Therefore, the imperial court needs to constantly promote a new batch of people and constantly kill off the old ones; only in this cycle can it continue to function normally!"

Gongsun Hong spoke in a low voice about his suggestions on 'unification', and also put forward more practical and usable solutions.

This approach is cold-blooded, but also very practical.

Although it was just the two of them discussing it at the moment, if Gongsun Hong were to one day hold power in the court, the other party would certainly act according to his ideas.

Zhang Xuezhou smiled awkwardly, feeling that he needed to be careful about the boundaries of his relationship with Gongsun Hong, and that he would need to be mindful of his actions in the future.

There is more than one Gongsun Hong in the world, and there are more than just Gongsun Hongs who have this idea.

It was Gongsun Hong who spoke at this moment, but Gongsun Hong was definitely not the only one carrying out the task.