Zhang Chen glanced at the Young Master, then lowered his head and silently began eating the lamb offal soup, because these were the words spoken by a certain Saint in later generations.
Watching Zhang Chen eat the lamb offal, the Young Master leaned over and whispered, "You are able to speak such words of wisdom to enlighten Mr. Wu, doesn't our relationship compare favorably to Mr. Wu's? Why don't you say a few wise words for me as well? If I were to attain the Dao and become a Yang God, I could shield you!"
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chen paused his eating, looked up at the Young Master, and indeed, he found the Young Master quite pleasing to the eye. Although this fellow never suffers losses and is rather indomitable, he does get things done when needed.
"I have a complete Heart Learning, do you want to learn it?" Zhang Chen said, with a full smile, seemingly joking.
"What is Heart Learning?" the Young Master asked curiously.
"It's the knowledge system created by Chen Sanliang, which I have named Heart Learning. If you kneel and bow to me as your teacher, offering tea, I will teach you the essence of Heart Learning. Chen Sanliang has only grasped the superficial aspect of Heart Learning and has not attained its essence. I, however, not only have the complete essence of Heart Learning, but I've also compiled the classics." Zhang Chen said with a smile.
He spoke these words half-truthfully, only to tease the Young Master, for who would believe he had grasped the essence of Heart Learning? Anyone with a normal brain would never believe Zhang Chen had mastered Heart Learning's essence.
However, Zhang Chen happened to meet someone who wasn't normal, as the Young Master Zhu Xun immediately knelt on the ground without a word, kowtowing: "Disciple Zhu Xun pays respects to the teacher, and asks the teacher to impart the Dao to me. I promise to serve the teacher wholeheartedly in the future, without any disloyalty. Since there is no tea here, I offer lamb offal soup as tea, and ask the teacher to graciously accept it."
Zhang Chen looked at Zhu Xun who knelt on the ground, holding a bowl of lamb offal soup in offering, and was somewhat dumbfounded. Where did this blockhead come from?
"How did you come to believe what I said?" Zhang Chen asked, staring dumbfounded at Zhu Xun.
"It's just a few kowtows, calling you teacher. How can I lose anything?" Zhu Xun confidently replied, "If you teach me the knowledge, you are naturally my teacher, and it's only right to kowtow to you. If you deceive me, I'll just make you kowtow back to me, then we'll be even."
Listening to Zhu Xun's words, Zhang Chen was at a loss for words; this guy truly is an oddball.
However, as he was cultivating the Immortal Dao and not following the Confucian path, keeping Heart Learning would be of no use to him, so he might as well pass it on.
If Zhu Xun were really able to promote Heart Learning in the future, he, as the Scripture Transmitter, would surely benefit as well by receiving subtle support, nourishing him with Confucian Dao's fortune.
If he were to pass down the essence of Heart Learning, his future rewards might not be less than Zhu Xun's.
He just had one worry: in case Zhu Xun seized the essence, and resorted to killing him to silence witnesses, that would be an unforgivable trap.
"Swear on the Great Freedom Celestial Demon that if I pass on the Heart Learning essence to you, you will not harm me by any means, otherwise, you shall be possessed by the Great Freedom Celestial Demon." Zhang Chen said.
"No problem, I'll swear right away." Zhu Xun hurriedly made an oath to the void, and as he swore, the lotus petal in Zhang Chen's palm slightly fluctuated, following the oath into Zhu Xun's Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
As the oath was completed, Zhu Xun looked expectantly at Zhang Chen, who, after some contemplation, dipped into Zhu Xun's bowl of lamb offal soup and wrote out a line on the table: "Unity of Knowledge and Action."
"Unity of Knowledge and Action?" Zhu Xun was puzzled.
Zhang Chen, seeing Zhu Xun, began to expound on the essence of Wang Yangming's Heart Learning.
Looking from afar, in the small alley, in front of the lamb offal stall, a young man quietly sat at the table, and a middle-aged man knelt in front of the young man, seemingly lost in some state, listening quietly to what was being said.
Today the flow of people in the alley was very sparse, so no one interrupted their scripture transmission.
As Zhang Chen expounded on the essence of Heart Learning, mysterious Qi mechanisms began to gather from the void, converging around Zhang Chen.
That was considered fortune!
The most mysterious fortune between Heaven and Earth!
Just as the fortune began to gather, Zhang Chen's eyes glimmered with golden light, detecting the presence of this fortune.
"Oh, there's actually such a reaction?" Zhang Chen was curious in his heart, as the mysterious fortune directly passed through his body, descending into his Divine Soul, merging with his magical power, and forming a milky white Qi within Cyan Lotus.
The Qi was initially very thin, probably only the size of a grain of rice, appearing as a faint mist, but as Zhang Chen expounded on the Dao, that mysterious Qi thickened, began to expand, and grew to the size of a ping-pong ball.
Why did Zhang Chen understand the essence of Heart Learning?
Back when Heart Learning was all the rage, it set off a wave of interest, so Zhang Chen naturally studied it for a while.
Though he didn't fully understand it, he did grasp many profound meanings.
As for Zhu Xun, at the beginning of Zhang Chen's expounding, he only listened casually, but as Zhang Chen spoke more and more, his entire demeanor became serious, listening intently, not daring to make a move, fearing he might miss a word.
Zhu Xun even resorted to casting Divine Techniques, forming an Illusionary Barrier, enveloping the two of them.
Though Zhang Chen's words were random and disconnected, each sentence was the essence, directly pointing to the unseen great Dao.