Sitting on the swing in his home, Yun Ye was filled with anxiety. He very much hoped his deduction wouldn’t become reality, but scholarship couldn’t be faked. For beginners, it might not be obvious, but on those old masters and great scholars, it manifested extremely clearly—like a red-hot giant seal leaving an indelible mark upon them.

Since ancient times, the slaughter between academic schools had been no less fierce than fighting with real blades and spears. Those who died due to differences in viewpoints were not few. No matter how well Lishi usually hid it, ultimately there were still traces to follow.

Not discussing fundamentals in all matters, only questioning one’s own heart—what an arrogant, what a selfish school of learning this was! A person’s heart was the most unreliable thing. In a flash, hundreds or thousands of thoughts could appear—how could one determine which was correct, which was wrong, which still had flaws? Too much idealism—I am the center of the universe, all things in the world exist for me, for my use, no need to feel any reluctance.

To spread his teachings, Tian Xiangzi didn’t hesitate to incite chaos throughout the realm. During the Warring States period for hundreds of years, beacon fires rose every year. Tian Heng went to sea, the First Emperor of Qin sought immortality, eliminating those close to the ruler, executing Chao Cuo—calculating it all out was truly shocking. After Emperor Wu of Han obtained the Confucian beauties, he continuously conducted great searches throughout the realm, wanting to find that Tian Xiangzi of who knows how many generations ago. Unexpectedly, he suffered from it instead. The knights-errant’s reckless behavior made high officials of the Great Han live in constant fear. Street killings had become glorious. Unable to eliminate the ideology, they focused on physical elimination.

This was the ancestor of terrorists. Even if Lishi wasn’t a core figure, he must certainly be an important link in Tian Xiangzi’s plan. It was just that Tian Xiangzi had impatiently gone north. How could he contact Lishi? For an over-eighty-year-old man to return from that eternal wasteland—the possibility was really not great. Now the Siberian tigers, bears, and wolf packs all over the mountains of Siberia would be enough to help Yun Ye clean up all loose ends.

Three days had passed, and Lishi still hadn’t awakened from his coma. His several old friends visited daily, waiting for him to wake from his slumber. Every time Yun Ye saw Lishi, he prayed, beseeching Heaven to just let him sleep on like this and never wake up.

Li Gang and the others had strength in numbers, plus with some detestable students from the academy helping, Yun Ye’s prayers fell through. One morning, Lishi still woke up. Seeing him hugging his blanket and laughing heartily in conversation with his old friends, without the slightest sign of dying, Yun Ye felt utterly dejected.

After Lishi woke up, he seemed to have gained some heartiness and lost some softness. He had no sons or daughters, living alone in the world for sixty years. Now he actually proposed to his old friends that he planned to marry, to find a woman in her thirties to carry on his lineage.

He most looked down on this kind of shameless old behavior. An old thing buried up to his neck in yellow earth actually had his lustful nature erupt, going to harm some mature woman. When Li Gang heard of this matter, he clapped his hands and laughed heartily, praising it endlessly. Master Yushan was so moved his eyes filled with tears. He pulled Master Yuanzhang along to visit the two madams, Cheng and Niu, wanting to ask them to act as matchmakers to find a good lady from a noble family for Master Lishi.

Yun Ye really wanted to strangle this dirty old man. Madam Cheng set her sights on the Yun family, saying Yun family’s aunt was the best candidate. Damn it! Seeing his aunt put on a shy appearance, learning from Yiniang to cover her face and run toward the back courtyard, Yun Ye jumped around alone in the room, cursing heaven and earth.

Grandmother clearly knew Master Lishi was problematic, yet she readily agreed with her mouth full of consent, throwing herself into organizing the wedding with a hundred times the enthusiasm. They exchanged betrothal cards, Lishi sent over a half-dead wild goose, and the marriage was set in stone. Everything proceeded at lightning speed. By the time Yun Ye reacted, Lishi was sitting in a chair with that dead-man face, waiting for Yun Ye to come pay respects to his uncle-in-law.

In the back garden, Yun Ye and Lishi strolled. Perhaps because he was about to become an old bridegroom, his face bore an uncommon smile. With his hands behind his back, he pointed here and there in the Yun family garden, as relaxed and comfortable as if it were his own home.

The Yun family garden was naturally full of flowers. This was something Grandmother had specifically asked the gardener to plant. Chinese redbud and winter jasmine bloomed most brilliantly and were most lively, occupying a corner of the courtyard to the fullest, blooming everywhere. Maids were taking scissors to pick flowers—these were all raw materials for perfume making. Lindera, red plum, crabapple, and magnolia were the garden’s main attractions. These plants with rich fragrances were the Yun family’s guarantee of rolling wealth.

Lishi continuously admired the flowers, from time to time bending down to sniff them, not afraid of bees troubling him. He picked a red plum blossom and tucked it behind his ear. White hair and red plum complemented each other interestingly, naturally possessing a carefree temperament.

Yun Ye didn’t like wearing flowers, feeling that men wearing flowers looked stupid. But the Great Tang had a custom of wearing flowers. Seeing the new son-in-law wearing flowers, those tactless maids even scattered petals on the old man, not knowing at all how to cherish raw materials. They’d have to be punished when they returned.

Lishi smiled like a child. His wrinkled face actually had a child-like innocence. This old fellow was about to become a monster. His eyes shone brilliantly—it looked like even if Yun Ye died, this guy wouldn’t.

Men in flower gardens always develop strange thoughts. Whether it’s an actual flower garden or a pile of women, there’s an impulse to show off. Lishi was like this now. Poetry and rhymes were as easy for him as picking flowers from the garden. Opening his mouth, he recited: “Luxuriant plums and abundant peaches dazzle the eyes, the east wind first enters the ninefold city. Yellow flowers and green vines no one desires, vainly gaining the name of welcoming spring in this world.” After reciting, he even beat time himself, singing along with the rhythm in ancient tones. After finishing one song, seeing no one responding, he felt a bit disappointed and turned his gaze to Yun Ye.

Gloomy qi rushed from his heels straight to the top of his head. Poetry? He could spout it off the top of his head: “A twenty-eight beauty with a seventy-nine gentleman, white hair accompanying rouge beauty. Laughing they enter the mandarin duck curtains, one tree of pear blossoms pressing down on crabapple.”

Hearing this poem, veins bulged on Lishi’s face. For the first time, Yun Ye discovered this old fellow actually knew martial arts. With one claw, he tore off a piece of bark from the old locust tree by the wall, grinning menacingly at Yun Ye.

As an exemplar of a good man not suffering immediate losses, Yun Ye took to his heels. After running only two steps, someone grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up. Lishi asked Yun Ye face to face: “Boy, ever since this old man woke up, you seem unhappy, looking like you hate that this old man didn’t die. Now you even compose poetry to satirize this old man. Don’t you have anything to say to this old man?”

The old fellow now seemed extremely sensitive to his surroundings. Yun Ye thought he’d disguised himself well, but who knew he’d still be seen through. So be it—this matter would have to be clarified sooner or later. Better sooner than later.

“If Master can explain clearly the origins of your mind learning, this boy will definitely happily give blessings to you and my aunt.” Yun Ye gritted his teeth and spoke what was in his heart. In any case, they hadn’t torn off the mask with Tian Xiangzi. He didn’t believe Lishi would do anything to him.

Lishi’s expression didn’t change, as if Yun Ye’s questioning had nothing to do with him. He put Yun Ye on the ground and asked him: “So what if this old man came from the mind learning school? It’s all scholarship, just different paths to the same destination. You yourself are the greatest heretic, yet you have the face to come question this old man with such pompous righteousness.”

“I don’t care about mind learning or lung learning. I’m just uneasy about Tian Xiangzi. This person is too dangerous. I’m worried you have connections with him that will harm the Yun family and the academy in the future.” Although Yun Ye didn’t like mind learning, in later generations he’d seen all kinds of ideological currents. Nietzsche’s arrogance, Schopenhauer’s pessimism—he’d long since become accustomed to such things. If he told Lishi about natural selection and survival of the fittest, such great words, Lishi would certainly be dumbstruck.

“Boy, this old man has already broken through the knowledge barrier and formed his own heaven and earth. In this world, there is no longer anyone who can make this old man bow and submit. From now on, heaven is me, earth is me, the clear wind is me, I am the green mountain, free and at ease. Even if Teacher Tian came here, he and I would be peers. You’re not very old, but you have quite a few strange problems. If you always harbor dark thoughts, how can your learning advance? Didn’t that heavenly being-like teacher of yours tell you that only with righteousness can there be brightness?”

Yun Ye didn’t know that after scholars reached the grandmaster realm, they no longer had any restraints. Old Sun knew, but deliberately hid in a corner watching the joke, using those strange words to advise Yun Ye. When he said those words, he probably laughed himself silly inside.

A grandmaster-level spy—what kind of brain damage would it take to think up such a situation? Yun Ye now really wanted to find a crack to crawl into.

To cover shame, one could only rage. So Yun Ye flew into a fury, his face red and ears burning, shouting at Lishi: “You all knew, yet you didn’t tell me! You all hid in the shadows watching my joke! Watching my joke is very funny, is it? Today I’ll let you laugh to your heart’s content!”

Lishi had torn off tree bark, hadn’t he? I’ll just kick this tree down. Flying up with one foot, he kicked at the locust tree. The bare locust tree didn’t even drop a withered twig, but a strange sound came from his foot.

Yun Ye hugged his foot as beads of sweat poured down. He pinched his own bone—bad, it was dislocated. Lishi had never seen someone who injured themselves by getting angry. Even though he was a grandmaster, he’d never seen such a thing. With a strange expression, he pulled and tugged Yun Ye’s foot, setting it back in the socket. His technique was crude, his method brutal, without the slightest aesthetic sense. Like carrying a hemp sack, he threw Yun Ye on his back and returned to the front courtyard.

He didn’t dare see anyone, especially Li Gang and the other four masters. He shut himself in a dark room, calling it recuperating from injury. Afraid of wind, afraid of light, afraid of water—treating himself as if he had rabies.

Sun Simiao came to the house to check on Yun Ye’s injury. Yun Ye forgot the ancient teaching that doctors must not be offended. He rambled on criticizing Sun Simiao from beginning to end, from the righteousness of old friends to living and dying together, then condemning his great crime of ignoring these bonds of friendship and standing aside watching the fun.

“You petty, narrow-minded fellow still blame this old Daoist! You have a black heart. When you do something wrong, you push it onto others. You have no gentleman’s bearing, nor any pure heart. You’re garbage between heaven and earth, a source of poison in the human world.”

After Old Sun finished scolding, he still wasn’t satisfied. Using the excuse that Lishi hadn’t set the bone properly, he dislocated the bone again and reset it once more. His technique was even more unbearable than Lishi’s, without a trace of divine physician bearing. As for Yun Ye’s miserable screams, he treated them as singing.

Aunt came to see Yun Ye wearing her wedding dress. The gold on the dress weighed two jin. Other families used gold thread to weigh down hems, but Yun family people were grand—a giant peony on the chest shone brilliantly. In the sunlight, those who didn’t know would think she wore bright armor. Aunt sat at the bedside, cupping Yun Ye’s face and pressing her face against his, crying incessantly, washing Yun Ye’s face with her tears.

Women could cry all they wanted, but what was a man crying for? Yun Ye said in a hoarse voice to his aunt: “If that old thing dares bully you, tell your nephew. I’ll definitely break his legs.” The words sounded imposing on all sides—he just forgot that his own ankle was swollen like a pig’s trotter.