"What a good idea to not do evil! That's the truth." Meng Jingye said.
Yan Ningxiao coughed lightly and said, "Fang Xusheng, you are invited by our Yan family, you can't ruin my show!"
No one expected that such a great scholar would reveal such a resentful look. They smiled, and the atmosphere of dispute due to different positions just disappeared.
The fox flicked its tail gently, a cunning look flashed in its eyes, and said, "Your Highness the Moon Emperor, you raised the avalanche problem, but you didn't say how you would choose if you were among the hundred people."
All the great scholars and university officials looked at Fang Yun with smiles on their faces.
"This time I support this fox barbarian. Now it's our turn to ask you, what would you choose if you were among a hundred people!" Meng Jingye said.
Xun Pingyang smiled and said, "Fang Xusheng seemed to remain neutral just now, not helping either side. Unfortunately, he has to leave now."
Fang Yun glanced at the crowd and found that they were all staring at him. He smiled and said, "From my personal point of view, I support the views of Zeng Daxueshi. He is a human being, and so are we. Whoever kills him without his consent is committing a crime, there is no doubt about that. If I kill an innocent person, I will also be unable to sleep and eat, and my literary courage will be tarnished, so I will wait and see and wait for others to take action. As Zeng Daxueshi said, if no one really stands up to take action, we will all be killed by the demon saint. I think it is acceptable. At least I did not kill innocent people to save myself, and I did not do evil. As Zeng Daxueshi said, I may have a lot of thoughts in my mind, but I really can't do it. The law does not allow it, and the good side of my heart does not allow it. The key is that if I kill him today in the name of the majority, then someone will definitely kill me in the name of the majority in the future, and things will become extremely terrible. Under no circumstances can we individuals deprive the rights of innocent minorities."
Xun Pingyang smiled and said, "It seems that Fang Xusheng already has the answer."
"That may not be the case." Yan Ningxiao said with a smile, and the other three great scholars also stared at Fang Yun without saying a word.
After hearing Yan Ningxiao's words, all the university scholars immediately understood that some of Fang Yun's words were different from those of others, and several great scholars had already noticed it.
Fang Yun continued, "The problem is that we don't live in a truly perfect world. Those few disadvantaged people are often ignored or even discriminated against. We often say some high-sounding words to help them, and we also say that we should do this and that and not discriminate against them, but many people still have a sense of superiority when treating them. In essence, we cannot guarantee their rights, because most of the time we ourselves cannot do whatever we want, and we may even be discriminated against. For example, my identity as a child from a poor family has always been ridiculed by a group of ignorant disciples from aristocratic families. Therefore, except for saints who can 'follow their heart's desire without going beyond the rules', our 'not doing evil' is itself a lie that deceives ourselves. It's not that we want to 'do evil', but that our strength and realm are not enough to achieve 'not doing evil'."
Some people were confused and had no idea what Fang Yun was trying to express, while others listened with great interest. Regardless of whether they agreed with Fang Yun or not, they all liked to hear this unique opinion.
"The purer and simpler it is, the closer it is to the state of 'not doing evil'. If there is only one person in Shengyuan Continent, and he only survives in his world, and has no chance to curse, hurt, or kill people, then he can basically be considered infinitely close to 'not doing evil'. A little more complicated, in a school with dozens of classmates, there will always be conflicts and frictions, and there will inevitably be an evil person who makes us disgusted or even hate. For our own sake, even if we don't want to do evil, we will still do some wrong things intentionally or unintentionally, such as saying hurtful words or misunderstanding some people. This is not our intention, unlike those real evil people. In the school, we can generally be close to not doing evil."
"However, there are not only schools around us. We live in cities, towns, counties, prefectures, states, and even countries. In such a huge relationship, the more people we are related to, the harder it is for us to guarantee that we will not do evil. Take a governor as an example. As long as he does not violate clear laws, such as embezzlement, treason, and rebellion, we can seem to say that he is not evil. But in fact, even if a governor does not violate the law, because his orders often affect tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people, there will always be some people whose interests are harmed. To these people, this governor is a big villain!"
Everyone listened quietly and vaguely understood what Fang Yun meant.
"If the governor wants to get better evaluations on farming, he will certainly lower the price of seeds and raise the price of grain to benefit farmers, but those who eat the grain will think that the governor is harming them; if the governor wants to strengthen the defense of the state and spend more money from the state treasury on the state army, then the students of the Academy of Literature will think that the governor is warmongering and harming the country and the people because of the poor food. There are countless such cases."
Fang Yun continued, "If a governor of a state really does 'not do evil', then he must be really incompetent. If a governor says that he does not do evil and wants to change a certain decree, it must be because the decree affects his promotion, which may involve his political achievements, or it may involve a more important person above him. A general was originally attacking a city of an enemy country. If he said that he did not do evil and wanted to leave, it must be because attacking the city would affect his future, or he knew that it could not be conquered, or the power of his own country hindered him. This is true not only for governors and generals, but also for the big shopkeepers of large trading companies, and anyone who is in charge of others. The higher the position and the more people he affects, the harder it is to 'not do evil'."
Fang Yun glanced at everyone and said slowly: "If King Wen of Zhou and his father had not done evil to the surrounding tribes, the Zhou Kingdom would not have been strong, let alone defeat the Shang Dynasty controlled by the demon saints; if Confucius had not done evil to the four seas and the demon world, the human race would not have been able to prosper for a thousand years; if Qin Shihuang had not done evil to the six kingdoms, the human race would not have the same writing system, the same wheel gauge, the same customs, and the same weights and measures!"
The room was quiet, even the four demon kings were staring at Fang Yun intently.
After a moment, Fang Yun's voice sounded again.
"As a scholar, I must strive not to do evil, but as a virtual saint, I must throw off the shackles of 'not doing evil'! Under the avalanche, if a hundred people are against a demon, I will kill that demon; if one person is against a hundred demons, I will still kill them; if a hundred people are against one person, I will be the first to pick up the knife and kill that person."
After pausing for a moment, Fang Yun looked at everyone again.
"I will go forward even if there are tens of thousands of people against me, even if I have committed the sins of a hundred people and done the evil of one person!"
Meng Jingye was shocked. He didn't expect that an outsider's utterance of Mencius' famous saying would be more shocking than when it was spoken by himself, Mencius' descendant.
Fang Yun looked at Hu Li and said slowly: "Go back and tell the Seventh Cold Lord that if you refuse the previous conditions, when the Blood Demon Barbarians attack the Seventh Cold City, it will be the day when our human race will arrive outside Wanxing Pass. I will use the sword on my tongue to cut a path through the snow!"
.(To be continued)