Transforming into a stunningly beautiful fox spirit, leaving a scar on the heart of a prodigy.

Su Qing closed the folding fan in her hand and tapped it against her palm, making a crisp sound.

Ershan had just gotten up and hadn't even stood up properly when the seemingly fragile folding fan was right in front of him.

"Snapped!"

A crisp sound.

Ershan felt a numbness on half of his face, and then he flew sideways, crashing heavily into the counter and smashing the row of aged liquors to pieces.

The aroma of wine mingled with the stench of blood, instantly filling the air.

The people in the teahouse were dumbfounded.

This is hardly the image of a scholar.

Su Qing walked over slowly and deliberately, and kicked Er Shan's arm, which was thicker than her thigh, with her toe.

"It's already fallen?" Su Qing turned to look at Gu Xiang. "Watch closely, this is the first lesson."

Gu Xiang was still holding the worn-out pen in his hand, nodding subconsciously like an obedient primary school student.

Confucius said: "Since you have come, make the best of it."

As Su Qing spoke, she stepped on Ershan's chest.

Just as Ershan tried to struggle, the foot felt like a mountain rooted to the ground, pressing down on him so hard that his ribs cracked and he almost couldn't catch his breath.

"What does this mean...?" Su Qing smiled as she looked at the terrified bandits at her feet, "Since you're here, let's bury you here."

Gu Xiang was stunned.

This...this is the Analects?

He has studied the classics for over a decade, how come he has never heard this explanation before?

"No! This is a misinterpretation of the Emperor's will!" Gu Xiang's face flushed red, and he instinctively wanted to refute.

Su Qing ignored him and slightly increased the pressure on her feet.

"Ah—!" Ershan let out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.

"This is called 'benevolence'," Su Qing said to Gu Xiang, pointing to Ershan's twisted and deformed limbs. "The 'benevolence' of the Five Constant Virtues of Confucianism is the technique of splitting a person in two. You see, I can break him in two with just a little force."

Gu Xiang opened his mouth wide, the word "absurd" stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say it no matter what.

Because he saw that the bandit leader who had been so arrogant just moments before, threatening to kill his entire family, was now like a weak chicken waiting to be slaughtered at Su Qing's feet.

Is this... benevolence?

Ershan was in so much pain that tears and snot streamed down his face. With his other hand, he fumbled around and grabbed a shard of porcelain, then stabbed it into Su Qing's leg.

"You brat! I'll kill you!"

Su Qing didn't even glance at it. With a flick of her wrist, the folding fan, like a knife, sliced ​​directly onto Ershan's wrist.

"Click."

His wrist snapped instantly.

"This is what we call 'righteousness'." Su Qing flicked non-existent dust off his folding fan. "Righteousness is appropriateness. Whether it's cutting off your head or cutting off your hand, as long as it's appropriate, it's called righteousness."

Ershan clutched his severed hand and rolled on the ground, his screams sending chills down one's spine.

The customers in the teahouse huddled in a corner, not daring to breathe.

That scholar is too ruthless.

They're more like bandits than bandits themselves.

Su Qing turned to look at Gu Xiang, raising an eyebrow: "Have you learned it?"

Gu Xiang swallowed hard.

His mind was a complete mess.

The principles in the classics collided violently with the scene before my eyes.

But he had to admit that Su Qing's words actually made a damn good point.

To deal with such evil people, reasoning with them is useless; the only way is to make them feel pain and fear.

"And 'etiquette'."

Su Qing walked up to Ershan and squatted down.

Ershan was in so much pain that he was about to faint. When he saw Su Qing approaching, he shrank back in fright.

"No...don't come any closer..."

Su Qing pulled out a chopstick that she had just grabbed from her sleeve.

"Propriety means that it is impolite not to reciprocate."

Su Qing raised her chopsticks and put them down.

With a soft "pfft".

The chopstick pierced through Ershan's thigh and pinned him to the floor.

"ah!!!"

Ershan was in so much pain that his whole body was convulsing, and his eyes rolled back as he was about to faint.

Su Qing reached out and patted his face to wake him up.

"Don't fall asleep, we haven't talked about 'wisdom' and 'faith' yet."

Ershan collapsed.

He had been involved in the underworld for so many years and had never seen such a perverted person.

If you're going to hit someone, you're going to hit someone; if you're going to kill someone, you're going to kill someone. Why do you have to torture someone while they're reciting a text?

What the hell is this?

"Sir...no, Grandpa! Ancestor! Spare me!"

Ignoring the excruciating pain from his broken hands and legs, Ershan kowtowed desperately, his forehead slamming against the ground covered in shards of broken porcelain until it was a bloody mess.

"I was wrong! I was blind to your greatness! Please just ignore me!"

Su Qing stood up, looking down at him with that harmless smile on her face.

"You're already begging for mercy? I haven't even finished my lesson yet."

"I'm not going anymore! I'm not going anymore! I've learned it! I really have learned it!" Ershan cried, tears streaming down his face.

Su Qing turned to look at Gu Xiang.

"You see, this is 'trust'. Once you've beaten him into submission, he'll believe whatever you say."

Gu Xiang looked up at the muddy Ershan Mountain, then at Su Qing, who had a calm and collected expression.

He suddenly felt that he had really wasted his twenty years of schooling.

So this is the wisdom of the sages?

Is this... persuading people with reason?

[Ding! Detected that the target character Gu Xiang's worldview has been impacted and is currently being reshaped...]

[Ding! Gu Xiang's favorability towards the host has increased to 15%.]

Su Qing chuckled inwardly.

This fool is indeed a promising talent.

If you swing your hoe well, no corner is too big to dig down.

What Confucianism and Taoism? They'll just become Su Qing's number one henchmen from now on.

"Alright, get lost." Su Qing waved her hand, as if shooing away a fly.

As if granted a pardon, Ershan struggled to get up.

But with his leg nailed to the ground and one of his arms broken, he was completely unable to move.

Just then, Ershan suddenly remembered something, and a hint of resentment flashed in his eyes.

He lay on the ground, gritting his teeth as he said, "You...you just wait! My boss is a cultivator! A true immortal master!"

These words instantly froze the slightly relaxed atmosphere in the teahouse.

Cultivators.

For ordinary people, these three words represent heaven.

That was a being high above, wielding the power of life and death.

The innkeeper, clutching his wound and pale-faced, cried out, "Young master! Run! The leader of Black Wind Stronghold is indeed powerful; he can kill people by breathing fire. I've heard he's also a disgraced outer disciple of the Supreme Forgetfulness Sect. We can't afford to offend him!"

Seeing that everyone was afraid, Ershan regained some of his confidence.

"That's right! My boss is nearby! If you dare touch me, he'll skin you alive and turn you into a corpse puppet!"

Ershan grinned maliciously, as if he could already see Su Qing kneeling and begging for mercy.

Gu Xiang's expression changed, and he hurriedly stepped forward to grab Su Qing's sleeve.

"Brother Su, what... what should we do? Cultivators are beyond the capabilities of mortals like us. Perhaps we should avoid their attacks for now..."

Su Qing looked down at Ershan.

Those eyes, which had been smiling, were now as calm as a stagnant pool.

There was no disturbance.

There was no fear whatsoever.

"Cultivators?" Su Qing repeated softly.

Ershan, thinking she was scared, smugly shouted, "Scared now? If you're scared, hurry up and kowtow three times to Grandpa. Maybe if Grandpa's in a good mood, he'll leave you with a whole corpse..."

Before he could finish speaking...

The folding fan in Su Qing's hand suddenly unfolded.

A barely perceptible golden-red light flashed along the edge of the fan.

"brush!"

A flash of cold light.

Ershan's shouting came to an abrupt halt.

A head with a face full of scars rolled out and rolled all the way to Gu Xiang's feet.

Those copper bell-like eyes were still wide open, as if they couldn't believe they were dead.

The cut on her neck was as smooth as a mirror, and fresh blood gushed out, staining Su Qing's blue robe red.

The teahouse was deathly silent.

You can't even hear them breathing.

Su Qing closed her folding fan, flicked off the bloodstains on it, and spoke in a calm tone as if she were saying that the weather was nice today.

"Since they have powerful backers, they can't be allowed to stay."

"If you don't cut the weeds at the root, they will grow back in the spring breeze. This is also a principle taught by the sages."

Su Qing turned around and looked at Gu Xiang, who was completely terrified.

She had expected the idiot to be so frightened he'd wet his pants, or to accuse her of being cruel and indiscriminately killing innocent people.

After all, scholars believe in being forgiving when possible.

Su Qing had even prepared a set of arguments to retort to him.

however.

Gu Xiang stared intently at the human head on the ground.

His body was still trembling, and his face remained pale.

But he slowly raised his head, and in his eyes as he looked at Su Qing, there was no fear, no disgust.

Instead, it possesses a strange radiance.

"Brother Su..." Gu Xiang's voice was a little hoarse.

"You think I'm cruel?" Su Qing raised an eyebrow.

Gu Xiang took a deep breath and shook his head.

He pointed to the shopkeeper's hand on the ground, which had almost been crushed, and then to the tea drinkers around him who were trembling with fear.

The sage said: If you repay evil with good, how will you repay good? Repay evil with justice, and repay good with good.

Although Gu Xiang's voice was still trembling, his tone was unusually firm.

"This thief has committed numerous evils and heinous crimes. If we release him back into the mountains, many more innocent people will suffer."

"Brother Su is decisive in killing and eliminates evil completely."

Gu Xiang bowed deeply to Su Qing, bending at a ninety-degree angle.

"This is truly virtuous! This is truly righteous!"

Su Qing was taken aback.

She looked at the scholar bowing before her, and couldn't help but smile.

interesting.

This fool is more interesting than she imagined.

He wasn't the kind of bookish, pedantic scholar; he actually possessed a ruthless streak.

It seems the person chosen by the system is indeed quite capable.

"Alright, stop bowing." Su Qing used her folding fan to lift Gu Xiang's arm. "If you keep bowing, this bandit will come back to life."

Gu Xiang straightened up, looking at the mess on the ground, and said with some worry, "Brother Su, now that we've killed this second-in-command, the leader of the immortal cultivators will definitely not let this go. We..."

"What's there to be afraid of?"

Su Qing strode out, casually tossing a silver ingot onto the counter.

"Shopkeeper, pay for your tables and chairs."

She walked to the door, stopped, and turned back to look at Gu Xiang, who was still standing there in a daze.

The sunlight shone on her, gilding her with a golden edge. Her blood-stained blue robe did not appear ferocious at all; instead, it exuded an indescribable elegance.

"Hey, you idiot."

"Weren't you going to the capital to file a complaint with the emperor?"

"I'm going that way anyway, want to come along?"

Gu Xiang stared at that retreating figure, and her heart skipped a beat.

He gripped the worn-out brush tightly and shouted, "Yes! Brother Su, wait for me!"

He stepped over the corpses on the ground and chased after them.

Outside the teahouse, the sun was shining brightly.

Su Qing walked ahead, fanning herself with a folding fan.

"By the way, Brother Su, could you teach me that 'Benevolence' move from earlier?"

"Want to learn? First, pay the two taels of silver for the meal."

"Oh? But all my money is in my bag..."

"Then repay with your body."

"Brother Su... this... this is not proper etiquette, is it?"

"Enough with the nonsense, this is also part of 'Random Talk'."

……

The two gradually drifted apart.

Inside the teahouse, the manager held the silver ingot, looked at the headless corpse on the ground, then at the direction the two had left, and muttered to himself.

"Are all scholars this fierce in this world?"

at the same time.

Inside the Hall of Righteous Gathering at Heifeng Village, thirty miles away from Qingniu Town.

A middle-aged man dressed in a Taoist robe suddenly opened his eyes.

The life tablet he was holding shattered into powder with a "crack".

"Ershan is dead?"

A fierce glint flashed in the middle-aged man's eyes, and his aura surged, instantly turning the tiger-skin chair beneath him into dust.

"Anyone who dares to kill me... no matter who you are, will pay the price!"

He stood up, his gaze fixed on the direction of Qingniu Town, a cruel smile playing on his lips.

"Perfect timing, my 'Blood Fiend Technique' only needs a few more living souls to break through."

"Since they've come to us, don't blame me for being impolite."