Fang Yun couldn't help but think of the battle between Chen Guanhai's incarnation and the clone of the Demon Saint Langlu outside Ning'an City. Although he didn't understand it at the time, now thinking about it carefully, the holy power used by the two in the battle was far more vast and condensed than his own decaying power.
At present, his new power of decay is not as good as the clones of the two semi-saints, but it has made great progress and is transforming in that direction.
In Fang Yun's divine consciousness "eyes", there were countless light golden withered forces in the country and the world that were entangled and growing with each other, and finally all grew into new withered forces. And the withered forces that were born afterwards were all new withered forces, completely replacing the previous weak old withered forces.
As the power of decay rose, the aura of the entire country and the world also became different, becoming heavier, more steady, and more majestic, as if a boy had grown into a young man.
When the new withered power fills the country and the world again, it will only increase in quantity, without improving in quality like before.
Fang Yun knew that this had reached a certain limit. Only when he became stronger could the power of decay continue to grow.
Looking at the power of withering and decay, feeling the breath of life and death contained in the power of withering and decay, Fang Yun had a feeling that the Demon King must have discovered the special feature of the power of withering and decay, so he took the risk to enter the tree world to obtain this power, but unfortunately he got it by accident.
"Generally speaking, before the saints are canonized, they will condense their power to the extreme, achieving the so-called purity. When I was comprehending it before, I was ready to give it up at any time in the future, but now I think that the Demon King should not spend so much energy for a short period of power. However, the foundation of the saintly way is too far for me now. My main goal now is to forge the destiny."
"Forging Destiny..."
After Fang Yun was promoted to the fourth realm, he began to think about forging his destiny.
All great scholars in the world basically have the ability to forge destiny, but the process of forging destiny is different, the results are different, and in the end there are differences in superiority and inferiority.
If self-cultivation, social harmony, and peace in the four realms is the path of "The Great Learning", then forging one's destiny comes from "The Doctrine of the Mean".
The opening line of The Doctrine of the Mean is “Nature is what is given by Heaven, following nature is the Way, and cultivating the Way is education.”
This sentence is the general outline of the entire "The Doctrine of the Mean", and scholars of different generations have had different understandings of it.
The "heavenly mandate" in The Doctrine of the Mean is not a noun but a phrase, which means destiny given by heaven. Its literal meaning is that things given to man by heaven are called nature. However, this sentence cannot be literally understood as meaning that heaven has given man nature.
The correct understanding is that human nature is formed naturally.
In the Confucian concept, Heaven, Haotian, Shangcan, Creator, Emperor of Heaven, etc. are not personified beings. There is no such person or god as Heaven, but these words are used for the convenience of understanding and description.
Heaven is the whole that includes all matter in the universe, the laws governing the operation of the universe, the power of the universe, and so on.
Confucianism places the greatest emphasis on nature, and many saints and great scholars throughout the ages have discussed this.
To forge destiny refers to to temper one's nature. Only by adhering to one's own nature can one lay the foundation for the holy path.
The eight items of investigating things, seeking knowledge, sincerity, upright mind, cultivating oneself, regulating the family, governing the country and bringing peace to the world actually all involve tempering one's nature. It can even be said that this is a shortcut to forging one's destiny discovered by the ancient sages.
The naturally formed nature of human beings is pure, but people cannot perceive it directly because nature is invisible. Only through constant practice can scholars gradually understand nature.
In Shengyuan Continent, there are many discussions about "knowledge" and "action", and the understanding of "knowledge" or "action" itself is also different. However, what Fang Yun supports most is not the unity of knowledge and action, nor the mainstream knowledge first and action later, but action first and action later.
From the perspective of heaven, there is no problem with the unity of knowledge and action or knowing first and then doing, but from the perspective of man, knowing first and then doing is the right thing to do.
People are not born with knowledge. Since there are things they don’t know, they must seek to know, and seeking to know is action.
From a human perspective, unity of knowledge and action does not exist; only saints and sages can achieve unity of knowledge and action.
People can only know after they act.
As for how to act, it is extremely important. The eight items from studying things to pacifying the world are a kind of "action" aimed at forging destiny.
As for the details of this "Forging Destiny", Fang Yun does not fully understand it now, he only has a vague concept and direction.
The reason why Wengong Fire is needed to forge Destiny is to refine those bad things that have been contaminated in the process of "walking", and those bad things are too difficult to refine and take a long time, so all the magical objects that can enhance Wengong Fire become the most urgently needed treasures for the great scholars in the four realms of the human race.
It is necessary to strengthen the Wengong Fire while ensuring that it does not become a new pollution. This kind of magical object is extremely difficult to find.
Fang Yun found that the three great scholars had gradually woken up, so he withdrew his mind.
Just now, the three great scholars were discussing Volcano Brewing like those old men on the street who watch a chess game while talking about the world. They were extremely excited and only now have they calmed down.
"You three, we've almost finished drinking, it's time to get down to business. I entered the Ancient God's Treasure Pavilion mainly to look for things that can help forge my destiny." Fang Yun said.
Tian Songshi said in a relaxed manner, "I have accumulated a lot of experience and encountered many adventures in the Burial Valley. I am only in the third realm now. I don't know how long it will take to reach the fourth realm, so I have no interest in things that can forge destiny."
He Mingyuan smiled and said, "I am nearing the end of my Heavenly Fate Refining, so I don't need much."
Yun Yangzhao showed a look of regret and said, "I came to the Burial Valley not to forge my destiny, but to leave a blessing for my descendants. If there is such a thing, I will not take it."
"There's no need to do this, three of you." Fang Yun knew that these three people were more or less giving in to him. If they encountered such a divine object themselves, they would definitely use it themselves.
Tian Songshi smiled and said, "Before entering the God-given Mountains and Seas, I had already stored my experiences in the valley in multiple copies of my divine thoughts, near the God-given Mountains and Seas. Any great scholar passing by would definitely sense it. If that divine thought can be brought back to Shengyuan Continent, I will have completed the mission of the Holy Academy. Now that I can enter the Ancient God Treasure Pavilion, I have no regrets in my life. If I can return to Shengyuan Continent, it would be great. If I can't go back, helping Fang Xusheng is what the human race should do."
He Mingyuan and Yun Yangzhao nodded slightly but didn't say anything. They were different from Tian Songshi.
Tian Songshi is very old and may die at any time, but He Mingyuan is a scholar with a bright future, and Yun Yangzhao is a great scholar of the Yun Kingdom with a prominent family background. Both of them are much more eager to return to Shengyuan Continent than Tian Songshi.
The four of them continued to move forward, and Fang Yun suddenly said, "Have you noticed that there are fewer treasure pavilions here? We haven't found any so far. According to the map we inferred, this is close to the core of the Ancient God Labyrinth, and there should be many treasure pavilions."
"Did we go astray?" Tian Songshi asked.
The four of them walked along the predetermined route while discussing, but to no avail.
The corridor ahead came to an end and there was a right turn. The four of them slowed down slightly, but then their eyes moved slightly.
"careful!"
Because at that bend, there was occasionally a very faint flash of light, and Fang Yun was the first to see it.
"The new road at the bend seems to be wider than all the previous roads. Everyone please be careful!" Fang Yun said, and actually opened the Si Hai Tian Xia directly.
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