Dong Zhongshu's Crushing Defeat

If one does not cultivate one's own land, money is an indispensable resource for survival in social life.

Zhang Xuezhou's ideas have changed, but the realities of life have forced him to confront his basic needs.

Only when his life becomes stable can he carry out the research he envisions.

Ultimately, he was just a mortal.

Switching from a comfortable state of sleep, Zhang Xuezhou became fully awake and quickly prepared for the tasks he needed to do soon.

"Cousin!"

Zhang Xuezhou experienced some numbness due to lack of blood circulation in his body as usual. He paused for a moment before sitting up.

The sunlight outside the window was intense; it was noon, and Rong Tianding was probably out eating.

Zhang Xuezhou stretched his limbs and waited until his blood circulation improved before finding a pot of water in the room to drink and calm himself down.

This time, he only Grain Avoidance twelve days, unlike before when Grain Avoidance for thirty days and then traveled thousands of miles. Zhang Xuezhou felt that his physical condition was good and he was not like a starving ghost.

However, he is currently able to eat a certain amount.

Zhang Xuezhou patted his pockets, just about to go downstairs for a meal, when the door opened and Rong Tianding entered the room carrying a large plate of chicken.

"Cousin, come and eat! I knew you'd wake up today, so I had someone prepare the ingredients!"

Rong Tianding had a rosy complexion and a steady, powerful gait, indicating that he had recovered quite well during this period and had not caused any trouble.

"How are you feeling?"

Zhang Xuezhou took the food, and while chewing it carefully, he also asked about Rong Tianding's health.

"I helped someone catch pigs in the West Market yesterday, guess what?" Rong Tianding said happily.

"Could it be that you've become the butcher in the West Market?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"No, no, it's just that when I was carrying the pig's tail and leg, it felt no different than carrying a dog," Rong Tianding said. "My strength has increased a lot recently!"

"Now that you have more Demon Power, this should be a side effect!"

If Zhang Xuezhou could fly by borrowing the Demon Power, it's normal for Rong Tianding to use the dragon blood Demon Power to increase his strength.

If Rong Tianding's Demon Power could bring some other minor benefits, Zhang Xuezhou wouldn't find it strange.

As long as Rong Tianding can withstand this Demon Power Demon Power, he will inevitably enjoy the convenience it brings.

This convenience will only become a possible obstacle when one reaches the Divine Ability Realm, but very few cultivators can reach the Divine Ability Realm. Zhang Xuezhou was too lazy to think about these future possibilities, since even he himself found it extremely difficult to reach the Divine Ability Realm.

When his abdomen was swollen, Zhang Xuezhou took a deep breath. With the flow of magical Law Power through his acupoints, his yang spirit did not leave his body.

This left Zhang Xuezhou slightly disappointed.

Even with the help of X432 repair technology, he still couldn't complete the fifth chapter of his Mental Strengthening Chapter, clearly unable to achieve the ability to separate his Yang Soul from his body.

This made Zhang Xuezhou miss Jiuzhen Wine.

But Zhang Xuezhou quickly put those thoughts out of his mind.

"What? Master Dong says he's seriously ill and might die?"

"Yes, he told you to get him treated as soon as you regain consciousness!"

Rong Tianding brought Zhang Xuezhou a piece of news, which made Zhang Xuezhou feel that Dong Zhongshu was really unlucky.

Everything was fine in Shu County City, but then the Bashe (a mythical creature) came.

While traveling downstream by boat, they encountered the unfortunate Soviet Union.

When he entered Fuping County to offer bribes, he was caught by a minor official and imprisoned.

Entering Shanggu County was not an easy journey either, as there were many confrontations with Li Guang.

When he returned to Chang'an City, Emperor Jing had died. Dong Zhongshu not only worked despite being ill, but also received a visit from Shen Peigong after returning home.

This consultation rendered the effect of Dong Zhongshu's previous request for Li Guang to use the Jade Purity True Technique to suppress the rebellion completely ineffective.

After nearly two years of twists and turns, Dong Zhongshu finally reverted to the state of forcibly pushing towards the realm of the Sole Self Realm.

"That's how it is," Rong Tianding said, shrugging.

"If Master Dong continues like this, he'll easily ruin himself," Zhang Xuezhou sighed.

"He probably didn't want this to happen!"

Rong Tianding couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly.

The more he understood Dong Zhongshu, the more balanced he felt.

Sole Self Realm are having a hard time, so what's so bad about his turbulent fate as a minor cultivator at the Meridian Circulation Realm? He has adjusted his mindset to the Rong Tianding very well.

The two talked in hushed tones. Zhang Xuezhou finally decided not to set up a stall in the West Market. Instead, he would go and see Dong Zhongshu first. If Dong Zhongshu took a liking to his Supreme Purity True Technique, Zhang Xuezhou would be willing to do manual labor.

"Master Dong also said he had no money to buy medicine, so I lent him three hundred and a half taels of silver!"

"He has no habit of saving money, so when he really needs it, he can't even get it out!"

"It seems we can't be like Master Dong!"

"Absolutely!"

The two walked and talked. Lacking money, they did not travel by carriage. Zhang Xuezhou simply considered it as needing to move around after lying down for twelve days to fully revitalize his body.

It took Zhang Xuezhou and Rong Tianding more than an hour to walk from the West Market to the Dong Mansion on the official street.

When I saw the Dong Mansion again, the collapsed mansion had been completely restored.

However, compared to the usual crowds of students, the mansion was rather deserted at this time, with few students gathered outside.

Zhang Xuezhou knocked on the door, which wasn't latched, and he opened it directly.

In the courtyard, Dong Zhongshu sat on a rattan chair, basking in the sun on a hot day.

As if oblivious to the heat or cold, Dong Zhongshu did not go inside to seek shade even when he was drenched in sweat.

Upon seeing them push open the door and enter the mansion, Dong Zhongshu waved and gave them a forced smile.

"Is it alright for you to be exposed to such intense sunlight?" Zhang Xuezhou asked.

"Right now... right now all I can do is sunbathe to recover!"

Dong Zhongshu sighed deeply.

Although it was just a matter of using the Jade Purity True Technique, Dong Zhongshu was helpless because Li Guang refused to help.

Dong Zhongshu not only lacked people to help him perform the surgery, but he also lacked money to buy expensive medicinal herbs.

After spending all his salary from the imperial court and the money he had borrowed, Dong Zhongshu was left with only the option of lying down and sunbathing to treat his illness.

If it weren't for the desperate situation of seeking any treatment, Dong Zhongshu would have considered methods like strengthening the body's foundation and nourishing its vital energy, rather than relying on Zhang Xuezhou's hemostatic Technique Method that only treat the symptoms and not the root cause.

He coughed several times, and after spitting out a mouthful of bloody phlegm, Dong Zhongshu had no other thoughts in his mind and told Zhang Xuezhou to hurry up and help.

"Thank goodness this wasn't just a few days ago!"

After hearing Dong Zhongshu's explanation, Zhang Xuezhou felt that if Dong Zhongshu had sought his treatment earlier, things might have gotten worse, and he might have ended up like Wei Shao'er.

However, his luck is currently stable, and it is unlikely that he will bring any benefit to Dong Zhongshu, let alone harm Dong Zhongshu.

As the Supreme Purity True Technique descended, Dong Zhongshu took several heavy breaths before struggling to sit up.

The Supreme Purity True Technique is highly effective in treating both internal and external injuries, at least stopping his current coughing up of blood.

"You're not feeling well, so don't try to fight with people," Zhang Xuezhou said.

"It's not that I want to fight," Dong Zhongshu said with a grim expression. "It's like you don't want to fight, but some madman just comes at you with a knife. You can't beat him, and you can't escape. In the end, you have no choice but to fight to the death to save your life. Anyone in this situation would be no different from me!"

"Is he that crazy?"

Zhang Xuezhou, of course, very clear about who the 'madman' Dong Zhongshu was referring to was.

No matter how virtuous and respected they are, or how courteous they are, when it comes to the debate over the merits of different ideologies, even the most accomplished Confucian scholar will not hold back and will argue until the final outcome is reached.

Dong Zhongshu's defeat proves that Dong Zhongshu philosophy and path of self-cultivation were a joke.

Shen Peigong lost, which proved that Confucianism needed reform, and from then on, the cultivation methods of Dong Zhongshu became the main approach.

Shen Peigong didn't mind losing, but he wanted to see where Dong Zhongshu had won.

It was a rare occasion that he came to Chang'an in his later years and met with Dong Zhongshu to seek his help, but the result of his verification disappointed Shen Peigong.

Dong Zhongshu suffered a crushing defeat, clearly demonstrating that he was not a suitable leader for the Confucian school.