Chapter 1616 — The Source of Edification

And it was I who taught you that reasoning. " Long Qilin breathed out and said with a smile: "Since the Cult Master understands this reasoning, you should know that the faster Jingping develops, the more different strata will arise. Some, by their own ability and their own gifts, earn great wealth, rise high and prosper, and hold eminent positions. Some, having fallen a step behind, may still thrive and want for neither food nor clothing nor shelter. And some, because they could not become divine ability users, can only remain in the countryside. Jingping: learning for the sake of use, raising up only the talented, the union of knowledge and action — only the useful may achieve.

Is this not the Cult Master's own ideal?

" Shen Mu nodded: "I understand that too.

And those reasonings were likewise taught you by me. " "Then why does the Cult Master's brow stay knit?

" Long Qilin said, perplexed: "Jingping's development these hundred-odd years has followed your ideals throughout, followed the way of the sages, that the common folk make use of it themselves.

Why then does the Cult Master still carry worry in his heart? " Shen Mu let out a breath of turbid air and said in a low voice: "Everything may run according to the just way of things — everything except education. " Long Qilin was taken aback, and said: "In Jingping's education there is no distinction: whether of a poor and lowly house or a rich and noble one, the peerless divine arts they may learn are the very best peerless divine arts; Jingping keeps nothing back.

Is that not the just way? " Shen Mu added a stick of firewood to the blaze; the flames lit his face, bright and dim by turns. "People differ in natural endowment, high and low; in comprehension, as far apart as cloud and mud; in temperament, too, they differ.

When they grow up, their achievements differ, their strata differ — this is right, this is as it should be. But education must not have strata. The parents are dull-witted and sink into poverty, but the child is not necessarily dull-witted. If a child of surpassing natural gifts is born into a poor house, and because the family is poor cannot receive a good education, and so wastes his talents and is lost among the common herd — that is the greatest injustice.

That he is lost among the common herd because his family is poor is fair, but it is not just! At present all is well in Jingping, but in education it is not just. Education divided, and in the long run the poor grow poorer, with never a chance to turn their fortunes — this is what makes my blood run cold.

That Jingping's reforms should move in this direction is not what I wanted. " Shen Mu mused: "Reform is to give people hope, not to ossify such strata. The Heavenly Sage Cult had three hundred and sixty halls, and among them all there was no hall of learning; after I became Cult Master of the Heavenly Sage Cult, I established the hall of learning. The students in that hall in those days all came from the poor and lowly at the very bottom.

If it could be done then, why can it not be done now? " His brow locked tight: "The voices of the poor are low and their throats small; though they cry their grievances aloud in the wilderness, none in the divine city will hear. But someone must speak for them — not to beg a future for them, but to beg justice for their sons and grandsons. I am Jingping's Imperial Preceptor, the tallest man in the divine city; if I do not speak, heh heh, who else will speak for them? " Long Qilin frowned and pondered a long while, then said: "I have observed that the Cult Master has carried a weight on his mind all these days; I fear a great war is coming.

If education too is to be reformed now, it is bound to touch the interests of many, and will shake the foundations of the upper strata. " Shen Mu stirred the fire and said in a low voice: "The Heavenly Court means to move against the Nether Capital, and then take Wuyou Township, take Jingping, restore the rule of the demigods, and leave men with no power ever to resist again. To reform Jingping's education at such a time will indeed cause some disorder.

But what I seek is not the victory or defeat of a moment, but Jingping's long flourishing, never to decline, ever victorious, never defeated! To reform education now will buy a flourishing prosperity lasting a hundred thousand years to come; otherwise today's upper strata will be tomorrow's Ten Tianzun — this must not go unexamined. " He gave a low laugh: "Now, throughout the myriad heavens and worlds, the demigods devour men, and so Jingping must overthrow the rule of the demigods. But if in the future men devour men, that would be a fine joke indeed! In one's post, one attends to one's duties; I am Jingping's Imperial Preceptor, and I must attend to my duties.

The reform of education must be carried out; I will memorialize the Emperor and have her promote Patriarch Wenyuan to take charge of the matter. Patriarch Wenyuan has always kept his feet on the ground, but he too must walk the countryside for a few years and see clearly how things stand there. " Long Qilin looked at him and suddenly smiled: "The Cult Master is still the Cult Master of old. Since this matter is settled, then perhaps the Cult Master ought to make a journey through the myriad heavens and worlds. " Shen Mu looked at him in surprise.

Long Qilin said with a smile: "The Heavenly Court is pushing the Heaven Coin to control the economy of the world. In those years the Cult Master laid down the grand strategy of founding the nation upon coinage; a hundred years have passed, and the Cult Master ought to go and see how things stand in the myriad heavens and worlds.

" Shen Mu thought it over and said: "Whether Jingping's great cause can succeed depends on which way the people's hearts turn — not only the hearts of Jingping's people, but the hearts of the people throughout the myriad heavens and worlds.

Very well, let us make a journey through the myriad heavens and worlds! " He rose to his feet.

Long Qilin's little monsters were still asleep; Little Earl of Earth made a hushing gesture and gathered the little ones together. Long Qilin opened his ears wide and had him pick the little ones up and tuck them into his ears.

The two set off for the nearest divine city; on the road, Shen Mu finished writing his memorial, and once they reached the divine city he ordered it sent by express post to Shangjing in Jingping. Ling Yuxiu sat up through the night reviewing memorials; when she saw Shen Mu's, she mused a moment, then ordered men to go to the Ancestral Court and summon Wenyuan.

"The cowherd comes back but once in a blue moon, and he does not come to see me, only sends up a memorial.

. .

" She shook her head.

The memorial spoke not only of the reform of education, but also of the matter of the Nether Capital, asking her to send men to seek out Ling Tianzun, Yue Tianzun, Langwan, Kaihuang, and the others.

Ling Yuxiu pressed down the small, private thoughts in her heart and said to herself: "The battle of the Nether Capital admits no failure, or Jingping is in peril! " She at once ordered men to search for the whereabouts of these several Tianzun, and thought: "The cowherd does not come back even once — where has he gone now?

"