As Yu Song walked out, he thought once again of his foundation.
Although he was severely lacking in true knowledge, nothing stopped him from guessing based on his understanding, and he had plenty of understanding. After only a few things, he already formed a maxim in his heart: Comprehension of All with an eternal Pure Heart.
As long as he was true to himself, Yu Song didn't believe there was no progress on his path. He might not know how other cultivators, especially the orthodox path, practiced, but his path was different from them. If he had to guess, rather than cultivating spiritual power, he was comprehending the laws of the world, but rather than comprehending, his own path is to shape the laws of the world to be conform with his own laws.
With a pure heart, even when he comprehends everything, he will stay true to his intention no matter where his path takes him.
After fleshing out the maxim, it seemed as if the undefined thing deep in his heart became solid, as if it was a sentence carved in jade.
"The tao that is spoken isn't the true tao, but if the tao isn't spoken about, then there won't be a tao. Indefinability is mysteriousness, human nature is curious, and enlightenment seeks truth, only through defining the undefined and anchoring it in our heart can we shape the non-existent into existence."
Yu Song smiled as he walked, the aura around him solidified from his sudden enlightenment. He believed that rather than saying one shouldn't talk about the tao because that would make it the 'false tao', it means one shouldn't tell others about your own tao, thereby risking infecting their tao.
If he only learned Taoism, that might be enough to stop him from doing such a radical thing as anchoring his tao and defining it directly, but Confucianism is the teaching that shaped human society since ancient times. It can be said to be its own tao that was solidified by spreading it.
Naturally Yu Song didn't think of becoming a state teacher such as Confucius, else he would've taken the imperial examination. He is more like a wandering monk that comprehends his own tao and becomes a bodhisattva by helping others comprehend their tao.
The length of the floor didn't allow Yu Song to think any longer. He had already arrived in the main courtyard, where his parents were sitting together with his younger brothers.
Everyone knew his rituals at this point and they wouldn't disturb him, which makes him very happy.
He approached his parents and smiled "Mother, Father, I wish you a great morning!"
The parents looked at him and just sighed – once again, he didn't follow the true etiquette, but they couldn't do anything about it. Though they also felt happy their child could be so open with them, because they had seen how he acted outside, where his manners were flawless.
His father, Yu Liang, smiled "Song'er, how come you're here so early? I-" he was just about to talk more when he felt something and looked at his son once again. His mother didn't understand, but she just smiled, admiring once again how tall her son had became and how he would be able to get married to any beauty he wanted.
In fact, if Yu Song could, he'd rather not guess his mother's thoughts, but who made the people in this era forget their own rights and be so obsessed with an old way of thought?
Well, they didn't know it was old so he didn't fault them for that. He just smiled at his father "Why don't we let Li'er and Ling'er go into my room? They should study their own books there from now on, at least for the next month."
There was another reason he wanted to keep the room free besides to help his brothers – it would spread the positive aura all around the house and clean any evil spirits that accumulated. Once again, if he did it by hand, it would take much longer and be more ineffective.
He had a general understanding of his power – it was simply weak in its initial stage. Chanting was a matter of accumulation to bring grand change, as for how it was later, he wasn't sure. He couldn't even guess that far. Anyways, since there was an easier way, there is no need to make it more difficult for him by chanting along the whole huge courtyard.
Yu Li and Yu Ling heard him and their eyes sparkled – they didn't have their own proper study room and their older brother's study was very clean and always made them play as if they were already scholars and officials taking care of important matters.
Yu Laing then came back and looked deeply in his son's eyes, before he sent away his wive and asked him "Did you enter the path of cultivation? But your roots are too low?"
In this world, everyone is born with roots and everyone has a chance to cultivate. It's just that some people's roots are so low, even if they cultivated, they would never achieve anything, and as mortals, they at least enjoyed the privilege of being secure from persecution of cultivators.
The father, as an official, was naturally a cultivator in the late stage of qi refining. All mortal kingdoms were led by at least foundation building royal families, with many lesser but few higher. There is no other reason for this – the spiritual veins in places were such countries exist are very low and scarce, so they are given to subordinate forces by larger forces to become a 'breeding pool' to accumulate talents for the larger power.
Naturally there are also truly strong countries, but they are much fewer, meanwhile, a country such as the one Yu Song lives in can be found in wilderness regions all around.
Yu Song smiled "I don't follow the orthodox path of cultivation. I cultivate sagehood."
It was easy for Yu Song to understand his path. Although he was unique in many things, it's impossible for no one to have taken a similar path, or rather, he was just a niche branch of the path of a sage.
He saw his father's confusion and explained "The path of a sage doesn't cultivate spiritual power directly, it cultivates the wisdom and comprehends the laws of the world, through which he influences spiritual power to do as he pleases."
In fact, at later stages of the orthodox path, it would also achieve similar things. At least that was his online novel knowledge, how it was in truth, he didn't know.
Anyways, comprehending the laws directly is always better, but the risk is higher and the talent required is also much higher. Yu Song knew that if he wasn't a traveller, he wouldn't have had the talent to start in this path.
Every traveller would have this ability as long as they had set values, a good understanding of their own previous world and a unique interpretation of it. If one is so weak as to adapt to the world, then the path of sagehood is wrong. If one doesn't find problems in the system, no matter whether they actually exist or are made up, then one is not meant to become a sage.
Yu Song's own 'problem' is in fact one he 'made up' – after all, the system of the country works, and is perfectly fine for a cultivation world. He just didn't believe it is the best and refused to bow to it at heart, so naturally he had some qualifications.
His father heard this, was a bit confused, but still smiled "If you enter the court now, with your specialty, it… You aren't planning to enter the court, are you?"