Chapter 620 — The Sagely Way Handed Down Twenty Thousand Years

The Woodcutter Sage accepted his bow without ceremony and said, "I have taken few disciples. In the past I taught princes and crown princes, and princes and crown princes have no need to bow to me as their master, so my formal disciples number only two: you and your Senior Brother. Set beside your Senior Brother, you seem rather green. You truly must learn diligently. I am not teaching you to be wicked; I am only teaching you not to be taken advantage of. " Shen Mu blinked.

This was hardly what a Sage Master ought to sound like — it was more like the old folk of Yincan Village.

"Sage Master, what is a sage?

" Shen Mu asked.

"A sage is a state of mind. " They came to the foot of this God-Slaying Platform. The Woodcutter Sage surveyed the divine mountain and said, unhurried, "I once told your Senior Brother that there are three establishments to becoming a sage: to establish words, to establish teaching, and to establish merit. Accomplish all three and one becomes a sage. Do these three, and your state of mind rises to a lofty realm; in state of mind alone, none can rival you. A sage has words, and only with words can one establish edification, and edification transforms the multitude — passing on the Way, teaching the craft, resolving doubts, clearing away the brambles, opening the broad road.

" Shen Mu started, and blurted out, "Establish edification?

Not found the Heavenly Sage Sect and spread the Way? " The Woodcutter Sage shook his head. "Not found a sect — establish edification. To found a sect is to start a school, and that is far too shallow. Found a school and you have strife between schools; with strife between schools you have strife of words, and then the establishing of words no longer exists. Would that not rot your own foundation?

So when you told me you were the Sect Master of the Heavenly Sage Sect, I knew your Senior Brother's path was very likely wrong. " Thunder rolled through Shen Mu's mind.

He suddenly thought of the Sect Masters of the Heavenly Sage Sect down the ages, dwelling there in Fengdu, and could not help picturing them, faces streaming with tears. They had taken pride and glory in the title of Heavenly Sage Sect Master, never knowing that in the Woodcutter's eyes it was all wrong.

The Woodcutter Sage walked along the divine mountain, now and again seizing a boulder; the boulder melted at once under his dharma power and became a stone pillar covered in ridged patterns, which he planted at the foot of the mountain in a marvellous formation. "To found a sect is to establish edification. How does one establish edification? Open schools, raise academies, broaden talent, do solid work, study the arts of the Dao and the divine powers, and turn them to the daily use of the common folk.

" He spoke softly, refining the teleportation pillars even as he spoke to Shen Mu. "When the kingdom is weak, reform the law and seek strength, to strengthen the kingdom.

" His refining skill was no finer than the Silent Artisan's, but it was extremely swift. He turned the runes of the teleportation divine power into imprints and branded them onto pillar after pillar.

"When the people are weak, spread the Way for the people's benefit, to strengthen the people. " "When the army is weak, reform the weapons of war, to strengthen the army.

" "When the ruler is muddled, remonstrate once, set out the case clearly, and urge him to mend his ways.

If the ruler will not mend, remonstrate a second time.

If he still will not mend, depose him and enthrone a new ruler. " "When Heaven is without the Way, reform once — change the laws of Heaven to accord with the world.

If Heaven will not change, seek to change the Way through reform. If it still will not change, make war upon Heaven and establish the Way.

" .

.

. He spoke in fine detail, and without his noticing had walked more than half the way around the mountain's foot. Shen Mu listened and engraved it all in his heart. When the Woodcutter Sage finished setting out his ideals, Shen Mu suddenly said, "Sage Master, these requirements for a sage are too high.

Thinking back carefully over everyone I have met and everyone I have heard tell of, not one can meet them.

Can you yourself do all of this?

" The Woodcutter Sage halted. Halfway up in the air, stone melted and was taking shape as a pillar.

The Woodcutter Sage did not move, and the patterns on the pillar stopped evolving too.

Shen Mu's heart quailed, and he somewhat reproached himself for speaking out of turn. He quietly raised his head, and saw that the middle-aged man in woodcutter's garb had, without his noticing, begun weeping, tears running down his face. "I once thought I could. " The Woodcutter Sage's voice was a little hoarse, and bleak. "I thought I could become a sage, and others called me one as well. I thought I could establish edification, reform the law and seek strength, make the Kaihuang Kingdom great, change the weakness of the people, give the people vast divine powers, change the weakness of the army, give the army the might to stand upon the four frontiers and overawe the barbarians. I thought I could keep the ruler from being muddled and Heaven from being without the Way, and I thought I could establish merit and overcome decay.

.

. The last three — I failed. " Thud.

The pillar, not yet fully refined, dropped to the ground and stuck in the soil. The Woodcutter Sage rested his right arm on the pillar and buried his head in the crook of his elbow, tears coursing freely, refusing to let Shen Mu see his loss of composure. "I failed. I could not stop Kaihuang from going to Carefree Land; I let the ruler grow muddled.

I failed. I thought I could reform the law and change the Way, and so change the Way of Heaven, yet Heaven destroyed the Kaihuang Kingdom and buried the Kaihuang era.

I failed.

And in that last battle I could not establish merit either.

. . " "I failed.

. . Shen Mu, I am not the sage you are searching for, and I cannot teach you either. I am only a failure. . . " .

.

.

Shen Mu stared at him, and a kind of shared feeling welled up in his chest. When the Woodcutter's reforms were at their fiercest, a blaze like fire, Kaihuang suddenly drew back and founded Carefree Land, without staking everything on one last battle, and so the Woodcutter's will sank. He had watched Kaihuang retreat; watched the painstakingly built Kaihuang era scattered to ashes; watched his comrades fight and die for one and the same ideal; watched their heads struck from their bodies, hot blood spraying over the land they knew; watched the comrades who had raised their heads in hope, waiting for Kaihuang to return and lead them once more into battle, grow old one by one and die; watched the common folk of that era pass away generation after generation, new faces replacing the familiar ones.

The frustration and pain in his heart were beyond what any other could imagine.

Shen Mu suddenly cried out, "Sage Master, will you pass your Way of the Sage on to me? " The Woodcutter Sage wiped away his old man's tears with the sleeve at his elbow and turned to look at him. Shen Mu said, stirred to the depths, "I want to inherit your mantle and walk on, and keep on changing things — if the ruler is muddled, make war upon the ruler; if Heaven is without the Way, make war upon Heaven!

" The Woodcutter Sage's face was blank. He shook his head. "You cannot. " Shen Mu's hot blood was doused cold. He clenched his fists and said angrily, "Why can't I? Senior Brother's comprehension and understanding are a little poor, and he took 'establishing teaching' to mean founding the Heavenly Sage Sect — I am not that stupid! " The Woodcutter Sage shook his head. "Your Senior Brother is a little dull, a little foolish, but you are not much better.

Your blood runs hot too easily, and you plunge ahead by brute force.

You can be cunning at times, but you have no focus.