Martial Dao: Starting from the Village Fungus God

Chapter 254: Chapter 253: Divination! True Meaning of Confucianism

Cao Zhi faded into the sky to provide his Protective Dao, and the carriage continued onward.

In the process of teaching Cao Zhi, Zhu Ge also came to a realization of his own.

The entire Book of Changes seemed to be about one thing—fate!

Legend has it that the work, also known as the Zhou Yi, originated with the Eight Trigrams drawn by Fu Xi. During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, King Wen of Zhou evolved the Eight Trigrams into sixty-four hexagrams, and later, Confucius compiled and organized the work, authoring the Yizhuan commentary to explain the classic texts.

This classic, from beginning to end, is filled with hexagrams, warnings, admonitions, and principles.

In short, it is a classic of fortune-telling!

In fact, Zhu Ge could feel that he was now able to use the Literary Energy within his body to tell fortunes.

He even felt he could extend this ability into the realms of feng shui, face reading, astrology, and birth-chart analysis.

After reading through the Book of Changes once more while teaching Cao Zhi, Zhu Ge felt that he had been wrong again.

The entire Book of Changes seemed to be telling him that all fates are predetermined.

Everything was set in stone, fixed from the very moment the universe was born.

That was why a simple divination could reveal everything from astronomy to geography, encompassing all of history from antiquity to the present.

This reminded Zhu Ge of what the elders in his past life meant when they spoke of "fate."

But upon reading the Book of Changes once more, its opening line struck him with the force of a thunderclap.

As heaven’s movement is ever vigorous, so must a gentleman ceaselessly strive to strengthen himself.

A single, simple sentence, yet it seemed to shatter the very purpose of the Book of Changes.

So, is fate ultimately decreed by heaven, or is it determined by "ceaseless striving"?

Reading it yet again, Zhu Ge came to a new conclusion: fate is determined by oneself.

Fate is the excuse of the weak.

Luck is the modest claim of the strong.

Every being and every thing must take responsibility for its own choices.

There is no fate, no luck.

There are only choices, only one’s own will.

"As heaven’s movement is ever vigorous..."

At this thought, Zhu Ge slowly closed his eyes.

Seeing this, True Monarch Minmian, who was behind him, stared with wide eyes.

He looked over at Liu Jianjian, who was on horseback, and beckoned her over.

Liu Jianjian, not knowing what was wrong, quickly came over and leaned in close.

"Is your master always like this?" True Monarch Minmian whispered, glancing at Zhu Ge, who sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

"Like what?" Liu Jianjian didn’t understand. She glanced at Zhu Ge but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "Sleeping? Master doesn’t really sleep much. He used to enjoy lying in a coffin, but now he seems to like taking long baths. Let me tell you..."

"No," True Monarch Minmian said with a sigh of exasperation.

’This little hedgehog really is a gossip,’ True Monarch Minmian thought. ’She never shuts up.’

"Haven’t you noticed? Your master is having an epiphany," True Monarch Minmian sighed. "I was a prodigy in my day, you know. Is it just because I’m more handsome that the heavens feel the need to compensate your master?"

"Huh? An epiphany?" Liu Jianjian almost shouted, but she quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. "But didn’t Master just have an epiphany a month ago?" she asked, astonished.

’Just had one??’

’A month ago??’

True Monarch Minmian stiffened.

His fists clenched hard.

"The heavens are truly jealous of geniuses," True Monarch Minmian snorted. "Then again, a genius such as myself is far too handsome and talented. It’s only natural for the heavens to be jealous."

With that, he took a sip of wine, then promptly fell backward, letting out a few coughs.

He had a cold, though it was almost gone.

He had to use the alcohol to mask his sickly complexion and hide the fact that he had no Cultivation.

"It wasn’t as long as that last epiphany, though."

To everyone’s surprise, Zhu Ge slowly opened his eyes, looked at Liu Jianjian and True Monarch Minmian, and smiled. "I only grasped a True Meaning, that’s all."

’Only grasped a True Meaning...’

True Monarch Minmian fell silent.

Liu Jianjian didn’t feel like speaking either.

Zhu Ge chuckled, and three copper coins appeared in his hand. "Want me to teach you?"

’A True Meaning technique created by the founder of the New Confucian Dao himself, and he’s offering to teach it personally?’

"Come, come, Elder Brother, have a drink!" True Monarch Minmian scrambled up and offered his wine gourd. "Teaching while drinking—what could be better?"

Liu Jianjian simply sat down behind Zhu Ge and began to massage his shoulders, while even Mazhu, at the front of the carriage, turned around to listen.

Even the Great Powers hidden in the sky pricked up their ears.

When Zhu Ge was previously expounding on his Dao and spoke of "equivalent exchange," they had purposefully not listened to avoid any suspicion of eavesdropping.

However, they were extremely interested in this technique he was now offering.

They wouldn’t go so far as to secretly learn it, but they were curious to see what this technique could do.

Then, Zhu Ge began.

"From the version of the Book of Changes I created, I have grasped a True Meaning. I call it... Hexagram Divination!"

Hexagram Divination!

Or, in other words, augury, fortune-telling, scrying, and the like.

Broadly speaking, it is the art of using profound, mysterious principles to reveal information about a subject of inquiry.

For instance, reading the cracks in a turtle shell to predict the outcome of a war.

Or observing the movements of the stars to foretell good or bad fortune.

Before now, no such Dao had ever existed in the world.

But Zhu Ge had brought the Book of Changes into this world.

And with it, he discovered this method of deduction and calculation.

CLATTER—

He silently recited the question in his mind, cupped the copper coins in his palm, shook them gently three times, then cast all three at once, observing which sides faced up.

Then, Zhu Ge recorded the result, ordering the lines from bottom to top.

The result of the first throw formed the bottom line, and the sixth formed the top. Six throws completed one hexagram.

As he performed these actions, the Literary Energy within his body began to slowly circulate.

In the sky above, a phantom image appeared: a hexagram of six lines, a combination of yin and yang, solid like ? and broken like ?.

The True Meaning Manifested—Six Lines Forming a Hexagram!

Previously, the True Meanings Zhu Ge had manifested were all related to the True Meaning of Martial Arts.

But now, he had finally attained his first True Meaning of Confucianism.

"You just taught someone from a book you wrote, and from that, you grasped the True Meaning of Confucianism?" True Monarch Minmian said, looking up at the phantom image in the sky with a sense of wonder.

For a True Meaning to manifest externally as a phantom image was the mark of a prodigy.

Within the Third Realm, it was already considered impressive to form a True Meaning at all.

Someone like the Raincoat Fisherman, who had manifested his True Meaning as a phantom image while in the Third Realm, was considered a genius.

But Zhu Ge... not only had he manifested the True Meaning of Martial Arts while in the Second Realm, but he had now also manifested a True Meaning of Confucianism with incredible speed.

This simply left True Monarch Minmian at a loss for words.

He himself had once been a prodigy, which was precisely why he knew how difficult this was.

Of course, as amazed as he was, the figures in the sky above were even more flabbergasted.

"A manifestation of True Meaning??"

"Cao Zhi, what... what in the world did you learn?"

"Sigh. Zhu Ge casually guided Cao Zhi for a little while, and Cao Zhi broke through. Then Zhu Ge uses that to manifest his own True Meaning. I’m so envious."

"There’s no use being envious. You and I were sent by our True Monarchs to ’escort’ him. Don’t you dare go down there and ask for teachings, or you’ll be punished!"

"Zhu Ge’s New Confucian Dao has produced a manifested True Meaning. I have to report this news back immediately."

"Indeed. It seems this New Confucian Dao is developing much faster than the other Daos."

The great beings buzzed with discussion, and many took out their sound-transmission artifacts to report the situation back to their Sects.

Meanwhile, down below, Zhu Ge had finished his divination and found the answer to his question.

He had just asked whether True Monarch Minmian’s Cultivation could be restored.

The answer he received, however, left him uncertain.

’Recovery is possible, but the destination... it’s actually...’

’Shengjing?’