Revelation of the Way of Heaven

Chapter 187 History

"Teacher Zhou, have you encountered anything strange lately? For example, have you met anyone who left a deep impression on you, or found anything special?" Guo Shiyi asked.

Zhou Cheng frowned and pondered for a long time before finally shaking his head and saying, "Probably not. My life is fairly regular, and I haven't encountered anything unusual recently."

"Have you done anything recently that has left a deep impression on you?" Han Kexin asked.

"I do have one, but I don't know if it counts," Zhou Cheng replied hesitantly.

"What is it?" Han Kexin and Guo Shiyi asked almost in unison.

"Actually, it's nothing special. I just published a paper on a research website and got a lot of likes, which made me quite excited and happy," Zhou Cheng said somewhat shyly.

"What kind of paper is it? Can I take a look?" Han Kexin asked.

"Actually, it's nothing much. It's just some of my own insights on education, about the importance of arts education in basic education." Zhou Cheng said as he opened his phone, went to the website where he had published his paper, and handed it to Han Kexin.

Guo Shiyi and Qin Xiaochuan went over almost immediately and, together with Han Kexin, carefully read the paper.

However, after Han Kexin read the paper from beginning to end, all three of them were disappointed. It was just a purely argumentative paper, without a single word that could offend anyone or harm any party's interests.

"Is there anything else besides this?" Han Kexin asked Zhou Cheng, who could only shake his head.

"Could you explain the core ideas of this paper?" Han Kexin asked helplessly.

She had only glanced at the article and hadn't seriously tried to understand its ideas. Of course, she didn't expect to find any clues from these ideas either, since this wasn't the old church era anymore, and it was impossible for anyone to kill because of new ideas.

She only brought this up casually, hoping to uncover some other bits and pieces of information.

Zhou Cheng thought for a moment and said, "Suddenly I don't know where to begin. Can I ask you a question? What do you think is the essence of education?"

"It should be about cultivating talent, imparting knowledge and skills," Qin Xiaochuan said.

"That's the goal, not the essence," Zhou Cheng shook his head.

"It's about imparting wisdom to students and helping them realize their personal value," Guo Shiyi said.

"This is actually the biggest misunderstanding about education, because wisdom is not something that is taught; these are things that people inherently possess. The essence of education can be summed up in just four words—understanding one's own mind and nature," Zhou Cheng concluded with an unquestionable tone.

Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Zhou Cheng explained, "Socrates famously said, 'The essence of education is to awaken and develop your inner self.' Wang Yangming also said, 'The mind is principle, and there is nothing outside the mind.' In fact, our minds already contain everything in the universe. That is to say, people are born with knowledge. Some people can possess wisdom beyond ordinary people even without any education. That's why. What we need to do is help students understand themselves and feel their true inner selves. Then they will naturally possess that knowledge and wisdom."

When the topic of education came up, Zhou Cheng became noticeably more talkative. Before anyone else could speak, he continued, "I have nearly ten years of teaching experience and I've noticed a problem: the students with the best grades in a class are usually not the ones who study the hardest. On the contrary, some people are clearly very hardworking, but their grades just don't improve. We usually describe these students with one word: 'unenlightened.' The key to enlightenment lies in understanding one's own mind and nature."

His tone had become somewhat excited at this point. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Observing those enlightened students reveals that they not only excel academically but also surpass others in interpersonal skills. This is because they are able to utilize their inner strength. Artworks are also the creations of those who have attained enlightenment. Through the influence and resonance of such works, students can be guided to feel their own inner selves. This is what I want to illustrate in this paper: the importance of art education in basic education."

The living room suddenly fell silent. The people present were all extremely intelligent, the kind of enlightened students Zhou Cheng had mentioned. So they could almost feel a sense of resonance and agreement without thinking. This resonance made them so immersed that they didn't even realize that Zhou Cheng had already finished speaking.

After a while, Han Kexin gently clapped her hands, and Qin Xiaochuan and Guo Shiyi followed suit.

"Teacher Zhou, your thoughts are indeed unique, and you are a respectable person," Han Kexin said affirmatively. This was the first time she had addressed him as Teacher Zhou, indicating that Zhou Cheng's words had changed her attitude towards him.

"Teacher Zhou, your thoughts are indeed unique, and you are a respectable person," Han Kexin said affirmatively. This was the first time she had addressed him as Teacher Zhou, indicating that Zhou Cheng's words had changed her attitude towards him.

"You flatter me." Zhou Cheng smiled shyly, but he was clearly happy that someone could understand his thoughts.

"That shouldn't be a reason for an attack, right?" Guo Shiyi said with a wry smile. "This isn't the age of theocracy anymore."

"I hope not, otherwise, the enemy we're facing will be terrifying," Han Kexin said calmly.

Qin Xiaochuan looked at her, puzzled, and asked, "Why do you say that?"

Han Kexin sighed and said, "Perhaps you think that the demon race has always been lurking in the shadows, at most doing some harmful things in some remote places, like those in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. But that's not the case. Their conspiracies are sometimes far more terrifying than we imagine."

Seeing that everyone else was looking at her with confused expressions, Han Kexin continued, "I'll give you two examples and you'll understand. One is Moxi at the end of summer, and the other is the famous Su Daji."

"You mean they're both demons?" Qin Xiaochuan asked in surprise. Before he could answer, he continued, "That doesn't seem impossible, since in later legends, both of them are recognized as fox spirits."

Han Kexin said, "The Xia-Shang War is considered the decisive battle between the human race and the witch race. After this battle, the witch race completely declined, and the human race became the true masters of this land. As the favorites of the gods, the witch race possessed extremely high talent and abilities, but they suffered a crushing defeat in this war. The reason for this, besides their own corruption, was that the demon race secretly allied with the human race. Therefore, this war was not only a battle for the human race to turn the tide, but also a war of revenge by the demon race against the witch race."

"This war is somewhat similar to the Song Dynasty and the Mongol alliance that defeated the Jin Dynasty. When the Jin Dynasty, the number one enemy, was eliminated, the alliance between the Song Dynasty and the Mongol also ceased to exist. The same is true for the human race and the demon race. After the Shang Dynasty was established, the war between the human race and the demon race began."

"So, Su Daji's corruption of King Zhou's government at the end of the Shang Dynasty, leading to widespread suffering, was also a revenge war by the demon race?" Qin Xiaochuan asked, his imagination running wild.

Han Kexin said, "That's true. But at that time, no other race in the world could threaten the status of the human race. Even though the Shang Dynasty was destroyed because of this, the Zhou Dynasty quickly replaced the Shang Dynasty as the new master, and the status of the human race remained stable."

Han Kexin paused for a moment and then continued, "The demon race also realized this, so they used other conspiracies to try to overthrow the human race's position, including natural disasters, frequent wars, and so on. Especially war, in every chaotic period in the past, the demon race has been secretly pushing things behind the scenes, and war is also the most harmful way to harm humanity."

"For example, in the Three Kingdoms period, which we are most familiar with, the Yellow Turban Rebellion, secretly instigated by the demon race, ushered in a century of chaos. After the Battle of Red Cliffs, China's population dropped from over 50 million at its peak during the Eastern Han Dynasty to 1.4 million. It can be said that the demon race was almost about to achieve their goal."

"But I still don't understand, what does the demon race's conspiracy have to do with Teacher Zhou's thoughts?" Guo Shiyi asked, puzzled.

"We cannot underestimate the power of ideas. The demon race is very good at using this weapon to influence humanity. They used populism to cause World War II, and later used Cold War thinking to almost cause World War III. As far as I know, thirty years ago, the demon race plotted a 'trial' plan, but it was stopped by some people."

At this point, Han Kexin glanced at Guo Shiyi and continued, "Although I don't know about the demon race's current conspiracy, if Teacher Zhou's thoughts happen to be in their way, then they will have a reason to attack him."

"Isn't that a bit of a stretch?" Qin Xiaochuan said, scratching his head.

"I was just guessing," Han Kexin said casually. "Actually, there's something you might have overlooked."

"What?" Qin Xiaochuan asked.

"Don't you find it strange? The person who attacked Teacher Zhou was clearly a superhuman; killing Teacher Zhou would have been a piece of cake for him. Why would he go to such lengths to make it an accident?"

"It's probably because they don't want others to notice, or rather, they don't want the demon hunters to notice," Qin Xiaochuan analyzed. "If the demon hunters notice, they will definitely conduct an in-depth investigation, and they might discover a deeper conspiracy."

"In any case, this matter still needs to be investigated. Leave it to me. I will definitely find that Brother Kun," Han Kexin said casually.