Chapter 46: Riding a Horse and Riding a Crane

When Gu Yuandao put away his brush, the handwriting on the scroll gradually faded and vanished into the landscape scenery depicted behind it.

He took a deep breath, his expression complicated as he gazed at the scroll.

The winding, seemingly endless landscape portrayed on it was precisely Mount Yao, the utopian holy land for all scholars under heaven.

The academy standing atop Mount Yao was founded by Xie Qian, the Confucian Sage and currently the only living First-Rank cultivator.

At the same time, he had re-established the path of Confucianism that had ruled the Great Wei for over one thousand and three hundred years.

Following the fall of the ancient Zhou Dynasty, the subsequent three dynasties spanning two thousand years had been deeply mired in the agony of war and the collapse of order; civilization degenerated, bizarre forces wreaked havoc upon the state, and acts that obliterated human nature were too numerous to count.

Nowadays, the Qingman barbarians merely harassed the borders from time to time, but prior to the Great Wei, the Central Plains regime had once been forced to retreat all the way to the Thirteen Prefectures of Jiangnan.

—The present Great Wei was divided into twenty-eight prefectures in total: five in the Southwest, thirteen in Jiangnan, four in the Central Plains, and six in the North.

And the Thirteen Prefectures of Jiangnan constituted the southernmost tip of the entire Great Wei; heading further south led straight to the Sea Realm.

Peeking through a tube to view a leopard, one could easily imagine how perilous those times had been.

It could truly be described as a crisis hanging by a thread.

It was not until thirteen years ago that countless brilliantly talented figures emerged from absolute desperation, pushing back the Qingman battle lines by two hundred thousand miles within a single decade.

Furthermore, Xie Qian established the "Half of the Rivers and Mountains" boundary, permanently restricting the cultivation level of the Qingman people and preventing their elite experts from ever advancing to the First Rank.

Only then could the common people once again proudly refer to themselves as people of the Central Plains.

While there were many cultivators serving as masters within the academy, Xie Qian alone was the one whom everyone in their hearts truly deemed worthy of the title "Master."

He was, in the eyes of all scholars, the undisputed "Sage of the Ages."

A true saint!

On the day of the imperial provincial examination, Gu Yuandao had established his dao solely through an essay on people's livelihood, receiving the true teachings of the Sage. Naturally, he was the center of all attention and in high spirits.

"Clearly, I was just a step away..."

Gu Yuandao's face was expressionless. Unless this breath was exhaled smoothly, he simply could not reconcile himself to this outcome.

Gu Fangchen, a mere bastard, had forcefully usurped his title as the Heir Apparent for so many years, acting tyrannically and committing all sorts of atrocities.

With all that karma involved, shouldn't he pay it back?

Yet this scoundrel still showed no repentance, right-eously attempting to continue occupying the magpie's nest and taking what did not belong to him.

Ridiculous!

Clearly, he was Ning Caiyong's biological child. After enduring years of bitter-cold window studying and grueling cultivation, he had finally waited for the day of family reunion, only to be met with his biological mother's endless defense of a degenerate!

Why?

It was nothing more than Ning Caiyong's overly soft-natured disposition, blinded by the habit of years of pampering, rendering her unable to see Gu Fangchen's true essence.

She foolishly believed this bastard was merely mischievous in character; in reality, had it not been for Ning Caiyong's restraints, this fellow would have long since committed murder and arson countless times over.

If minor vices are not eliminated, they will inevitably become great evils!

Moreover, Gu Fangchen was deeply versed in the principle that "the crying child gets the milk," incessantly increasing Ning Caiyong's sunk costs until the situation became inextricably tangled.

If they did not cut through the chaos with a sharp knife now, Ning Caiyong would likely sink deeper and deeper, acting even more as an accomplice to the evildoer.

This was analyzing it merely on the premise that the current Gu Fangchen was still Gu Fangchen; if the person inside had even been swapped, it went without saying.

Right now, Emperor Yong'an had summoned Gu Fangchen, most likely to endorse him and cement his status as the Heir Apparent.

Once the imperial decree was issued, even if Master Juehui determined that Gu Fangchen was an impostor, it would be of no use.

If Gu Fangchen continued to live in the Prince's Estate with the identity of Heir Apparent, Gu Yuandao would find himself in an awkward position.

The rightful position that he should have easily and justly taken back, along with the dead end he had set up for Gu Fangchen, had somehow been overturned, giving this little beast bargaining chips to sit at the table and play a game against them.

For Gu Yuye's plan, this was nothing short of a devastating blow.

Therefore, the only solution at present was to directly ask the Confucian Sage to judge the matter through the rules of inquiring hearts!

Whether the rules had been broken or not would be known at a single inquiry!

By then, if Gu Fangchen proved to be evil rather than righteous, an impostor colluding with the demonic cults, even Emperor Yong'an would have to abide by the rules that had sustained the Great Wei for one thousand three hundred years and execute Gu Fangchen.

This was an upright and irresistible strategy!

Gu Yuandao sneered, put down the writing brush in his hand, and waited quietly for a moment.

On the scroll, a line of text slowly materialized.

"Once is permissible, twice is not."

This was the reply of the Confucian Sage.

Gu Yuandao's expression turned solemn as he bowed deeply toward the scroll:

"Many thanks for the Master's grace!"

He straightened up and let out a long breath.

Now, only a single opportunity remained...

Gu Yuandao raised his head, his gaze falling upon a red-and-gold invitation card on the table.

After placing top in the palace examination as the top scholar, he was entitled to two glories.

First, riding a horse through the long streets and touring the Imperial Heaven City, radiating boundless splendor.

Second, the Qionglin Banquet hosted by the emperor to celebrate; this banquet was also a grand literary gathering following the imperial examinations.

The father and son's reunion was supposed to take place right after his grand horse-riding tour.

However, because of this interlude, the Qionglin Banquet, which should have been held already, was postponed until tomorrow.

Originally in his plan, he should have attended the Qionglin Banquet as the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Zhenbei, while the city's young prodigies, literary luminaries, and high-ranking officials would all come to congratulate him on setting things right and enjoying a double blessing...

As a result, due to the variables stirred up by Gu Fangchen, he was now stuck in an awkward and ambiguous limbo.

"Tomorrow is not too late, either."

Gu Yuandao picked up the invitation card, examined it under the candlelight for a moment, and sneered.

Amidst the gaze of the multitudes, the heart-inquiring judgment of the rules.

Gu Fangchen, how will you take this?

I will watch as your true colors are exposed and you are utterly damned beyond redemption!

...

"Well then, Your Majesty, since you've had a look, have you reached any conclusions?"

Gu Fangchen had not forgotten his most crucial identity issue at the moment.

Emperor Yong'an laughed and said:

"I am merely a mortal with flesh and eyes, what good would my observation do? We still have to wait for the Grand Preceptor to examine you."

"The Grand Preceptor is not here..."

"Flutter, flutter—"

Before Gu Fangchen could finish speaking, he heard the sound of wings flapping from outside.

He raised his head to look into the distance, narrowing his eyes as he saw a white crane emanating five-colored auspicious light riding the wind toward them, holding a scroll in its slender beak.

This white crane flew from the Canyao Pillar, traversing half of the Imperial Heaven City and prompting countless people along the way to stop, raise their heads, and discuss animatedly with wide eyes.

Down below, two young cultivators dressed in white Confucian robes caught sight of this scene and began chatting casually.

"Isn't that white crane the Grand Preceptor's mount?"

"Judging by the direction, it seems to be heading toward the Purple Polarity Palace... Strange, no major events concerning the nation's fortune seem to have occurred recently."

"I reckon it might have something to do with the true and false heirs of the Prince of Zhenbei's estate. I heard the Grand Preceptor bestowed his Grand Preceptor's token upon Gu Fangchen..."

"Hahaha, you actually believe such rumors? That's utterly absurd beyond belief! If that were true, I'd hand my congratulatory gift directly to Gu Fangchen tomorrow at the Qionglin Banquet!"

Inside the Purple Polarity Palace.

Gu Fangchen reached out and took the scroll from the white crane's beak.

He unrolled it, and five characters were written upon it—

"Is tearing things up fun to play with?"

"..."

Uhm...

Gu Fangchen felt a blush of shame, and immediately put on a solemn expression as he rolled the scroll back up, pretending he had never seen it.

To be fair, it actually was quite fun.

But remembering that he had not only torn apart the scriptures personally copied by the Grand Preceptor, but also washed them in water, and furthermore washed away the greater part of them in the process...

Well, it was better to play dead.

Gu Fangchen put away the scroll and said to Emperor Yong'an:

"Your Majesty, I'll take my leave now."

A thought suddenly struck him. He looked at the white crane beside him, paused in his steps, and asked:

"Your Majesty, is flying prohibited within the Imperial Heaven City?"

Emperor Yong'an: "?"

...

Down below, the two Confucian scholars watched the white crane fly past and then fly back. Just as they had retracted their gazes, they suddenly froze in astonishment.

One of them stared blankly, raising a finger to point at the figure on the back of the white crane:

"Did I see that right?! Th-that seems to be... Gu Fangchen?!"

The other opened his mouth wide and rubbed his eyes, making sure he wasn't seeing things.

"It... really seems to be him."

The two of them watched as the white crane, wreathed in five-colored auspicious light, flew toward the Grand Preceptor's Estate and landed. They looked at each other, their hearts unable to calm down for a long time.

Cries of exclamation rose and fell all around, mostly from the cultivators within the Imperial Heaven City. This level of attention was practically livelier than the day Gu Yuandao toured the streets.

That white crane was the Grand Preceptor's personal mount, after all!

"Could it be that this profligate snatched it?"

The other person's tone of doubt grew weaker and weaker, until he finally swallowed hard.

Aside from the Grand Preceptor's permission, who would dare to snatch the Grand Preceptor's mount...

Could the rumors actually be true?

Another person nearby couldn't help asking:

"Then are you still giving your congratulatory gift? I remember you're delivering it on behalf of the academy's 'Poet Immortal'..."

With a dark face, the man gritted his teeth and said:

"A gentleman's word is worth a thousand taels of gold. I'm delivering it!"

————

PS: I feel terribly groggy and nauseous, but I pushed myself to the limit to write this chapter. I'll post it first and try to write a bit more tonight, orz.