The more you believe me, the more real it becomes.

Chapter 183 Heroic Emperor (4k)

"I see."

After nodding, Du Yuan reached out and took the long sword, asking:

"But do you know what this means?"

The man's Adam's apple bobbed, then he lowered his head in utter dejection and said:

"Of course I know. The emperor has condescended to humble himself, and this wretched man's head will roll. I willingly accept it!"

The people around were silent, and the bald man shrank his neck and pretended to be dead, secretly praying: If I kill this guy, then it won't be my turn, right?

Du Yuan chuckled lightly, then raised the long sword, but before it could fall...

A sudden, urgent cry rang out:

"Please, fellow Daoist, spare his life!"

Du Yuan raised an eyebrow, then a thought struck her, and she looked in that direction.

On the embankment, a pool of clear water not only overflowed but was also twisting and taking shape. In just a moment, to everyone's astonishment, the water ball transformed into a long-bearded old man.

Seeing Du Yuan looking at him, the old man with the long beard formed from water hurriedly bowed and said repeatedly:
"Fellow Daoist, please calm down! Fellow Daoist, please calm down! Do not harm him! Do not harm him!"

The voice kept repeating, it seemed that the old man was really afraid that Du Yuan would cut the man down with a knife.

Looking at the long-bearded old man, Du Yuan immediately understood. No wonder the bald man had no one behind him, but this water village gave him a strange feeling.

It turns out I guessed the wrong person from the very beginning.

Du Yuan's gaze shifted back and forth between the two, and she noticed that the man also looked puzzled.

Clearly, he was also unaware of the old man's existence.

The long-bearded old man rushed over.

He hurriedly raised his hand to press down on the long knife in Du Yuan's hand and said quickly:
"Fellow Daoist, please calm down. Although this boy has gone astray, he is by no means a vicious person, and there is no need to take his life!"

The old man was truly anxious. This man in blue robes was known to this group of mortals only as the alchemist immortal from Cold Pine Mountain.

Little did they know, this person was a ruthless individual who dared to kill a righteous god in Confucian territory.

Not only is his cultivation level exceptionally high, but he's also incredibly audacious!
So he was genuinely afraid that if Du Yuan had a murderous intent, he would just hack someone to pieces.

After all, compared to the Three Mountain Lords, a mortal life is really nothing.

Exactly, I've also been through thirty-six days, how come I don't remember any such fierce True Lords from the Taoist lineage?
As he spoke, the long-bearded old man hurriedly pointed to the disaster victims on the embankment who were peeking at them from the side and said:

"If you don't believe me, you can go and ask the disaster victims. Before those bandits came, the disaster victims here praised this child highly!"

Seeing the old man point at him again, the bald, burly man was so frightened that he dared not pretend to be dead any longer and shouted:

"Grandpa Immortal, please calm down! Grandpa Immortal, please calm down! I truly know I was wrong!"

Weren't we supposed to chop that bastard up? How come it ended up being me?
For the first time, the bald man suddenly understood why the immortal grandfather had asked him such a complicated question.

You can't get by in this world without someone backing you up in relationships!

Du Yuan, who had never intended to kill the man, now smiled slightly as she raised the long sword from the long-bearded old man's hand.

asked:

"You know him? Was he a nephew or niece of yours in a past life?"

The long-bearded old man stared intently at the long sword in Du Yuan's hand and said:
"No, no, I have no reincarnated disciple to ask me to find."

"Why is that?"

The long-bearded old man cupped his hands and said:

"I have observed this child for a long time. His heart is sincere and his potential is also excellent. I am just about to take him under my wing! I beg you, fellow Daoist, to show mercy and spare his life! I am willing to do everything in my power to compensate him without hesitation!"

Du Yuan glanced at the long-bearded old man and said:

"Killing him was not my intention. How about this, I'll ask you a few questions as compensation, what do you think?"

The long-bearded old man immediately breathed a sigh of relief; if he was willing to nod, then things would be much easier.

Just as he was about to reply, he suddenly heard the man shout:

"No, I don't think it's good!"

The old man was so anxious he almost jumped up, and he shouted angrily:
"Foolish child! Your life is at stake, don't spout nonsense!"

The man's neck was stiff, his face filled with resentment and determination:

"The court is corrupt and tyrannical. My execution today is for the greater good! If I were to live on in disgrace, wouldn't I be defiling all my learning and failing the teachings of the sages?!"

The old man was speechless, which was the reason he had taken a liking to the man, but he never expected that it would stump him today.

He could only turn to Du Yuan and say:
"Fellow Daoist, please don't take offense. He's too young and doesn't know any better. I'll go back and teach him a thing or two, and he'll naturally know right from wrong."

"Why should I need your instruction? I learn from sages of the past and present! I embrace the truth of the world!"

The man nearly jumped up from the ground, but the long-bearded old man pressed him back down. He then smiled obsequiously at Du Yuan:
"Look, this child has really gone stupid from studying too much!"

Du Yuan did not answer the old man, but instead looked at the man under the old man's terrified gaze.

Seeing his indignant expression, Du Yuan's lips curled up slightly, carrying a faint, almost imperceptible smile:

"The court has indeed made some mistakes in handling the affairs of the southwest. However, the chaos here is beyond human control. Therefore, it is not yet time to utter the earth-shattering words of 'the old dynasty replacing the new.'"

The man, with his neck stiff, said:
"How can it be beyond human capability?! If I were to do it, I wouldn't need to sit on that dragon throne! Just by receiving the seal of the Grand Governor of the Southwest Circuit, I could coordinate the distribution of grain and provisions from all directions and ensure the peace and prosperity of the people in the Southwest!"

Before he could finish speaking, a dull thud was heard, and the long-bearded old man had already flicked his finger hard across his forehead, making his beard tremble with anger.
"Rotten wood! Fool! Can't you see who this person in front of us is?! This southwestern land is no longer governed by the mere laws of the imperial court; it has become a breeding ground for demons, monsters, and monsters! You still want to allocate grain and fodder? I'm afraid you'll die in a stinking ditch before you even show your face!"

The scholar initially tried to argue, but after the old man pointed it out, and seeing the unfathomable Du Yuan and the old man who was formed from water, his indignation immediately deflated like a punctured balloon.

It seems that this is indeed beyond human capability.

After a long pause, he finally mumbled a sentence with his head down:
"Heavens! If the Son of Heaven is a true dragon and the true dragon cannot subdue the four directions of the world, then it is because the Son of Heaven has lost his virtue! Otherwise, how could such strange and bizarre things have ever been heard of in the ancient holy dynasties?"

Du Yuan shook her head and said:

"That statement is somewhat unfair to that poor emperor. As an emperor, he did quite well."

Men truly cannot refute matters of gods and ghosts, but this one point touched upon the core of his lifelong learning and beliefs! Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, he suddenly raised his head and refuted with all his might:

"Not bad?! What's not bad about it?! The powerful clans and aristocratic families still hold sway over the prefectures and counties in the slightest. Whoever controlled the power before is still the same person now! Tell me, what has he done well?"

Du Yuan did not answer immediately, but looked at him and said:

"Given the current situation, you must also come from a prominent family, right?"

In the current situation, those who are able to study and achieve something from their studies are basically only from aristocratic families.

This is not to look down on ordinary people or to believe that there are no poor people who can achieve great things; it is simply the way of the times.

The man lowered his head slightly and said:
"I was born into the Zhang family of Dushan, and we are considered nobles."

He was disgusted by his background, not because he thought it was too bad, but because he thought it was too good, so good that it was stained with the blood of commoners!

Whenever he thinks about it, he feels disgusted, as if he had been fed on the blood and sweat of the people.

"If that's the case, why oppose the powerful clans controlling the world?" He raised his head proudly and spoke loudly:

"I am ashamed that nobles take pride in sucking the blood of the people!"

This amazed Du Yuan, who then turned to the equally pleased long-bearded elder and said:
"You have excellent taste!"

People say what they think, whichever way they sit; it's always been this way throughout history.

But this person defied common sense and went straight to the heart.

That's truly remarkable, truly remarkable!
The long-bearded old man cupped his hands in a very smug manner and said:

"I truly like this child's character, so could you please let him off the hook?"

"No, I cannot let him go! I must die today! As the ancients said, a true man should die for his country!"

The man spoke with great excitement, and the old man listened with equal fervor, so much so that he kicked the man to the ground.

"I've already told you you've gone stupid from reading too much! You've only grasped the surface, you haven't understood the essence!"

The man who had been kicked to the ground continued to shout:

"Nonsense! What did I do wrong? Besides, you haven't even replied to me, how can you say this dog emperor did a good job?"

Seeing that the old man was about to kick him again, Du Yuan quickly persuaded him to stop:

"Fellow Daoist, please calm down! It's just youthful impetuosity."

Suddenly, the situation on both sides reversed.

The old man listened and sighed deeply:

"Fellow Daoist, look at this kid, he's too clueless!"

Du Yuan smiled but didn't answer. Instead, she looked at the man and said:
"Didn't you want me to answer you? Okay, I'll answer you now."

The man immediately perked up and said:
"I'm all ears!"

Du Yuan thought for a moment, then pointed at him and asked:

"Do you know how many years your emperor has held the imperial examinations?"

The man shook his head repeatedly:

"For more than a decade, I've seen what he's trying to do, but it's all useless. As long as the Ninth-Rank Official doesn't go, all the official positions in the court will forever belong to the powerful clans!"

Before the imperial examination system, powerful families could obtain any official position they desired. After the system was implemented, powerful families could still easily gain high positions upon entering officialdom. So what was the point of having the imperial examination system?

Du Yuan nodded and said:

"Yes, that's not enough. So let me ask you again, how many years has your emperor's cabinet been established?"

"Five or six years, that was just something he used to consolidate power. How could that be?"

The man, realizing what was happening, froze for a moment before looking up at Du Yuan.

Du Yuan then slowly said:

“Use the imperial examination to influence the Nine-Rank System, promote poor scholars to serve, and then use this power to build a cabinet, bypassing the Three Departments and Six Ministries that are firmly held by powerful families.”

The man was increasingly astonished, while Du Yuan chuckled softly:

"The emperor is the master of the dragon throne, but not the master of the court. So he needs power to support him. In particular, this emperor, I remember he ascended the throne as a child, right?"

"Yes, when Your Majesty ascended the throne as a young man, the world was in turmoil, and the country was in doubt due to the young ruler." The man answered subconsciously, his voice already trembling slightly.

"With a young ruler and a suspicious state, and no capable people at his disposal, he first used the imperial clan to counterbalance the powerful families, then opened the imperial examinations to bring in commoners, and finally used the cabinet to divide the power of the three provinces and six ministries." Du Yuan gently tapped his long sword. "Step by step, from having no foundation, he put a knife to the necks of all the powerful families in the world. Tell me, wouldn't you say that's 'not bad'?"

Recalling the events surrounding the Prince of Anqing in Qingzhou, Du Yuan slowly revealed the core of what this emperor had done after ascending the throne.

Let alone the fact that they are still sharing power with powerful clans and aristocratic families, even if the emperors of Du Yuan's hometown were to come here, I'm afraid few could achieve what he has.

The title of "Heroic Emperor" is indeed well-deserved.

The man opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. All the anger and roars from before were now stuck on the tip of his tongue.

Du Yuan looked down at him and smiled:
"Admittedly, he could have done better, but no one is perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. So, let's not be too demanding!"

He paused, his gaze fixed on the distant, dim light, a hint of melancholy creeping into his voice:

"If there were truly a holy emperor at this moment who could sweep away all obstacles and protect the peace of the world, establish an everlasting dynasty, and make the mountains and rivers clear and the four seas peaceful in an instant—then this one is nothing, and it would be fine to throw him into a stinking ditch."

"But the problem is, we don't have them right now."

The last sentence landed lightly on the man's heart.

Looking at the man with his mouth wide open, Du Yuan glanced at the bald, burly man who kept pretending to be dead, and then said to him:

"Furthermore, your reading of this book is indeed a bit superficial. After all, you only think about what the emperor can do, but you never think that many things are not something you can do just because you want to."

Du Yuan pointed at the terrified bald man and said:

"For example, before this guy came, you could have made a name for yourself in this water village, everything was thriving, and the surrounding disaster victims would have praised you highly. But after he comes, do you think you can still be the same as before?"

The man lowered his head more and more dejectedly, and finally bowed to Du Yuan with sincere reverence:

"Indeed, I was ignorant!"

Du Yuan waved her hand and laughed:

"Don't be discouraged. You're right in all your thoughts. It's just that you're too young, which is why you can't grasp the essentials."

Upon hearing this, the man's throat bobbed even more as he looked at Du Yuan.

This prompted Du Yuan to ask curiously:

"Is there anything else?"

The man said:

"But aren't you also very young?"

Du Yuan chuckled instantly, and was about to speak when she suddenly heard a familiar 'thud' sound.

The long-bearded old man tapped him again and said:

"You idiot! You were too ignorant before to see how powerful he was, so it's no wonder you couldn't. But why are you still so stupid now? You're calling him an immortal, how could he be as powerful as you think?"

As he spoke, he wanted to point at himself and say something, but he didn't even know how old that was, let alone this fellow Daoist whose cultivation was so much higher than his own.

"You will be cultivating with me in the future. You must remember that physical appearance is the least reliable indicator of a deity's level!"

These words made Du Yuan a little embarrassed, because he really was as young as he looked.
But given the current situation, it's clear that I can't offer any explanation.

I could only chuckle twice to indicate that I understood.

She then glanced at the man with a hint of envy.

Normally, he should be competing against someone from the 'younger generation' like the other side.

How did it turn into a battle against the old things and monsters hidden in various places?
(End of this chapter)