Liu Xuande would never be a succubus of the Eastern Han Dynasty!

"...The master said you were a fool, and you replied no. The master then said you had good intentions, and you replied no again. Are you deliberately teasing the master?"

"No... Ahem, Master, please listen to me for a moment."

Liu Bei immediately began to brew his emotions, and extremely complex emotions gradually emerged in his peach blossom eyes. His face, which obviously looked very young and handsome, seemed to have changed its style at this moment, appearing vicissitudes and lost.

"There was a man who was originally a relative of the Han Dynasty. His ancestor, King Jing of Zhongshan, was..."

"Snapped."

Unfortunately, before Liu Bei could finish his words, Master Lu hit him on the forehead with a bamboo slip.

Then came an impatient voice: "Since I accepted you as my disciple, I naturally know your background. Why bring up the past now? Besides, I remember that I never taught you to be mysterious..."

"Ahem, I learned it from the Art of War myself."

Liu Bei covered his aching forehead and looked down at the young master who was standing on tiptoe, but he still found it difficult to feel awe in his heart.

I just feel that the other one is small, fragrant, and soft.

It is very suitable for holding in your arms and automatically performing equation activities.

"Since this is what you have learned from the Art of War, then go and copy it ten times and return it to me tomorrow."

"..."

Liu Bei quickly straightened his expression and said, "Master, you must understand that eliminating just one Jian family is just a drop in the bucket compared to the entire world. If the Jian family is gone, there will always be another one. Are we going to kill every one that appears?"

"If everyone in the world is killed during the palace, who will be the officials and who will be the people?"

"Just like a doctor treating an illness, he must achieve 'curing the disease with medicine', treating the root cause rather than the root cause... The only way to solve this sick world is through internal reform and external violence. Many have tried and failed with the former, and the latter..."

"Okay, you don't need to continue."

Master Lu stood on tiptoe again, tapped his forehead with a bamboo slip, and said calmly: "I am the prefect of Jiujiang County, appointed by the court personally. Since I receive the emperor's salary, I should observe the etiquette of a subject."

"If you continue to talk, I will have to sacrifice my own family for the greater good and forcibly imprison you by my side."

There is nothing wrong with this.

Master Lu wanted to observe the etiquette of a minister while also considering the friendship between teacher and student. The best way to deal with the situation was naturally to lock Liu Bei up in his own area and personally watch over and train him.

Doesn’t that mean I have to copy books every day?

Liu Bei was almost sweating coldly, but then he thought, Master, isn't he also aware of these principles?

She had spent the first half of her life rejecting all invitations to serve as an official, and had only spoken Confucianism to the world. This implicitly demonstrated that she was well-informed about the world and didn't want to get involved in this messy situation. Yet, such a person had recently accepted a transfer order...

There must be something hidden behind this.

"Master already knows your aspirations, so you will definitely not consider the remaining two options... In that case, return to where you came from."

This is an order to evict you.

Liu Bei's expression changed slightly. He asked tentatively, "Master, why don't you explain those two choices to me?"

"Nothing good to hear."

Master Lu shook his head, handed the sword in his hand to Liu Bei, and said, "I am tired of beating you. If you say something rude later, you can beat yourself."

"?"

Divine gold.

Liu Bei was too lazy to argue with this young teacher, so he quickly asked him several times, and the latter slowly replied:

"One is to have you return to Zhuo County in three days and swear never to return to Luoyang again; the other is to take you to meet a relative... but now it seems that you will not choose either."

This is true.

The options provided by Master Lu are all strategies for self-preservation, not methods for defeating the enemy.

Yes, she is now considered half a member of the court. Even if she wants to favor her own disciples, she cannot go too far, otherwise the superiors will inevitably force her to "kill her relatives for the sake of justice."

Once you enter the court, you have no control over your own affairs.

But then again, who in this world can really get what they want and live according to their own ideas?

"..."

Liu Bei stood up straight, bowed three times to Master Lu with a serious expression, and said solemnly: "Disciple Liu Bei, I would like to thank you, Master."

"You didn't make any choices. Your teacher didn't help you."

"No, being able to talk with the Master for a while is already very satisfying for me."

"Yeah."

Master Lu shrugged in agreement, raised three jade-like fingers, and said softly, "Since that's the case, I'll give you three more questions. I'll answer everything I know."

"Is there such a good thing?"

Liu Bei immediately thanked him again: "Master, your kindness will always be remembered in my heart."

"Okay, ask your questions quickly..."

Master Lu covered his mouth and yawned, then said sleepily, "I am tired... I need to sleep..."

Benevolence: Chapter 33: Three Questions (Part 1)

As soon as the Master said this, Liu Bei's eyes immediately became strange.

Seeing his disrespectful look, Master Lu immediately put his hands on his hips and glared at him, "I am quite old, so naturally I am not as energetic as you, a young tiger. Are you trying to stop me from sleeping?"

"How dare I be so disrespectful to my teacher."

Liu Bei withdrew his gaze. Although he had some thoughts in his mind, he still maintained a respectful look on his face.

Before coming, he had imagined that the teacher might be a stiff and strict middle-aged man, like the bald principal in his previous life, or a kind old man who loved to laugh.

But I never expected it to be a little girl with silver hair and red eyes.

Not to mention the embarrassing look this guy had on tiptoe just now, he felt tired after just a few sentences and was grumbling about wanting to go to sleep... It was really embarrassing.

"So you're asking?"

Master Lu found a stone to sit on, and following the moonlight, his red eyes fell on Liu Bei.

"Of course, the disciple will ask."

Liu Bei followed him to the side of the stone, but even though the little teacher sat on the stone, he still had to look up because of his height.

Although it was a great sense of accomplishment to have the Master looking up to him like this, what if she got angry and hit him...

Forget it, we should respect our teachers and elders, and respect the elderly and love the young.

In desperation, Liu Bei had to squat down on the spot, and only then was he able to look the Master in the eye.

He asked, "I heard about your journey when I came here. I would like to ask if you would give those righteous men to..."

"Master has let them go."

Master Lu raised Bai Jie's chin and interrupted his disciple without any regard for etiquette, saying:

"After the two incidents, these party members either fled or died. They have completely lost their power, and Your Majesty has no intention of eradicating them."

"After all, for those in high positions, there are no permanent enemies, nor are there permanent friends. Both can be transformed according to the actual situation."

"Your Majesty can listen to the treacherous and imprison all the 'Partisans' today. Later, when the time is right, you can also listen to the loyal and grant amnesty to the people and restore their reputation, isn't that right?"

"This operation was mainly due to Zhang Jian being too rigid and old-fashioned. He had been away from Luoyang for many years, and he was completely unaware of the attack and defense of Luoyang, yet he still calmly entered through the main gate. This is how he fell into the trap."

You who always ask your disciples to copy books... How dare you call others rigid and old-fashioned?

Liu Bei narrowed his eyes.

As Master Lu was speaking, he opened the bamboo slips in his hand and said calmly:

"But as Master said before, the people above are only interested in enjoying themselves, so naturally they have no intention of paying attention to them. If it's just for show, a few heads will be enough... In extreme cases, they don't even need to be the heads of these heroes."

"But do you know why so many bigwigs got involved in this incident?"

'So many big names'.

Liu Bei frowned tightly. Just now he thought that this incident was at most a fight between Jian Shuo and Shang Shu Ling behind the scenes, while the others were just watching from the sidelines.

However, according to what the Master said, this does not seem to be entirely true.

As expected, his status was too low. Many of the news from high-ranking officials were considered breaking news to him, which he had no way of knowing.

Liu Bei unconsciously clenched his fist, but soon a cold little hand came up and forcibly pried his fist open.

Then he looked up and saw those red eyes were close to him again.

The breath is like orchid, and the fragrance is like a dream.

Master Lu looked at him for two seconds before continuing, "Don't worry about who's behind this. Just know why they're doing it... It's because Zhang Jian is carrying the 'fragment.'"

"Shards?"

Liu Bei was a little confused. These two words always felt incompatible with reality.

But Master Lu did not feel that way. He simply spoke the secret with a relaxed expression:

"There's one thing none of the current history books mentions—before Emperor Gaozu, the fate of all people was in the hands of 'Heaven's Way.' Although all living things could absorb spiritual energy for cultivation, or rely on ancient creations for transformation, they all had their own destiny and could not escape the control of Heaven's Way.

After founding the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu was deeply distressed by this, so he and Zhang Zifang, Marquis of Liu, imitated the ancient sage kings' "Jie Di Tian Tong" (the connection between heaven and earth), and together they combined yin and yang, successfully shattering the Way of Heaven.

"...?"

Aura? Ancient Creation Series?

In this era, these two words are really niche... No, where are you coming from? Are you still a Han Chinese?

Could it be that this place is really a "mythical" era, or a certain month... But no matter whether it is the former or the latter, it makes sense, and it can also explain why even Master Lu is a woman.

After all, it is unofficial history, so anything that happens is normal. Maybe Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty's daughter Xiuzi was also an older sister.

"Since the time of the Great Ancestor, there has been no spiritual energy or ancient artifacts in the world. Although there have been conflicts in the world, there has been no catastrophic disaster... However, after the Great Ancestor's battle with the Heavenly Dao, his sword, Chixiao, and the Heavenly Dao were shattered into pieces and scattered across the world."

"If these fragments are not dealt with, then sooner or later, the laws of nature will return, and the world will be swept by even greater chaos... Just imagine, if a vicious and weak villain obtained an ancient artifact, they could kill loyal and honest people from thousands of miles away. How terrifying would that be?"

Master Lu's worries are by no means groundless. If the Han Dynasty was at its peak, the world would naturally not be afraid of the return of the Heavenly Dao, but the Han Dynasty today... can only say: Come on, Han Dynasty.

"Fortunately, before his death, our great-grandfather ordered all the royal family members to search for the fragments of Scarlet Sky to fight against the Heavenly Dao, which would eventually return."

"After more than a hundred years of searching by the Liu family, we've finally gathered most of the pieces, but one-third are still missing."

Master Lu held up the bamboo slips in his hand, and Liu Bei discovered that there were many names recorded on it, with a number drawn behind each one.

"And that Zhang Jian, under someone's instructions, secretly brought the 'Red Sky' fragment to the capital..."

"You also know what happened afterwards."

After listening to this series of explanations, Liu Bei was not completely cleared up, but he was still confused.

What the hell is going on here... fragments of Tiandao and Chixiao?

What's going on? Could it be that if I gather all these things, I can summon my great-grandfather and grant any wish? Or is it the legendary all-powerful wishing holy grail?

Perhaps Master Lu saw what Liu Bei was thinking. She put away the bamboo slips and explained:

"Anyone with royal blood can absorb the Scarlet Sky fragments and use them to enhance their abilities across all aspects... It's said that if someone absorbs all the fragments, they will achieve immortality and live forever."

Well, I finally understand why the current emperor is so intelligent but not enterprising. One reason is that he is greedy for pleasure, and the other is probably because he is greedy for the four words "live as long as the world".

"As for the fragments of the Heavenly Dao... even this Master doesn't quite understand them."

Master Lu noticed the look on Liu Bei's face and asked in surprise, "Why, are you not interested in this?"

Benevolence: Chapter 34: Three Questions (Part 2)

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei first shook his head, then nodded. This shaking action naturally made Master Lu curl up his hand and flick him on the forehead.

"A true man walks in the world, and he will determine right and wrong. It is all right to have ambitions or aspirations, but he who is timid and wavering and dares not admit them is inferior."

"Disciple will remember the Master's teachings."

Liu Bei nodded respectfully and replied, "I am also a human being, and who can refuse 'live as long as the world'? But I also know that these four words are a curse bestowed upon humanity by the world."

"Even if the superior is originally kind, as long as these four words are used to seduce them, even if they are unwilling at the moment, after experiencing life, old age, sickness and death, they will inevitably change their mind."

"And whatever the superiors do, the inferiors will certainly imitate, so the world will inevitably usher in great chaos."

If such news spreads outside, those heroes who are concerned about the remaining glory of the empire will completely reveal their hidden faces and pursue fame and fortune with greed.