005. After putting on the act, she fled at once—what a thrill!

To tell the truth, Wang Yu still felt some trepidation about climbing the Heavenly Ladder. Damn it, one misstep and he’d end up a lunatic. But a man must know what he ought to do and what he ought not. Dean Tao had treated him with utmost sincerity—he couldn’t let his benefactor suffer on his account. So, though his fate was uncertain and life or death hung in the balance, Wang Yu resolved to set forth upon the Heavenly Ladder without hesitation.

At this moment, Tao Yuan approached, fixing his gaze upon Wang Yu with deep emotion and solemnity. “Hongjian, when you return, would you be willing to become my disciple?” The words sent a stir through the crowd. Who was Tao Yuan? The Dean of the Outer Academy, a renowned Confucian scholar, famous throughout the order. The students who wished to study under him were as numerous as the stars across the river. Yet he was now offering to accept Wang Yu as his disciple—Wang Yu must truly have found his fortune.

Wang Yu was deeply moved. He knew that his chances of failure were ninety-nine in a hundred; if he failed, he would either die or become an imbecile. Tao Yuan could not have been unaware of this. To offer to take him as a disciple under such circumstances was, clearly, an act meant to protect him. Here was the very model of a sincere and upright gentleman!

But this would only increase the pressure on Dean Tao. Was Wang Yu the kind of man to allow that? Still, to refuse outright would be too hurtful and ungrateful. Thus, Wang Yu bowed deeply to Tao Yuan and said, “Thank you, Dean, for holding me in such esteem. I am grateful beyond measure. But let us leave such matters until I have returned alive—would you agree, sir?”

Tao Yuan understood that Wang Yu must not be distracted at this time, and did not press the issue. He nodded. “You need have no worries. I shall take full responsibility for all matters concerning your family.”

Wang Yu’s elderly mother was still at home, which was why Tao Yuan made this assurance. Wang Yu was profoundly grateful, but now was not the time for further conversation. Bowing three times to Tao Yuan, he rose.

Then he laughed heartily at the old man, “Confident in life for two hundred years, I shall strike the waters for three thousand miles!” His words brimmed with heroic spirit, bold and unrestrained. Not waiting for the old man’s startled reaction nor giving him a chance to reply, Wang Yu strode decisively onto the Heavenly Ladder.

To make a dramatic exit right after such bravado—how exhilarating!

The Heavenly Ladder soared into the clouds, winding through eighteen bends, carved from the most treacherous stretch of Mount Tai by the founding Confucian patriarch. The order’s eighteen most powerful sages had each engraved their teachings upon it, forming the most perilous of the Confucian trials—the Heavenly Ladder.

Eighteen bends, each with one hundred stone steps, totaling one thousand eight hundred. Upon each step was inscribed a question; only by answering it with one’s own understanding, and earning the sage’s approval, could one ascend to the next step.

It was a challenge fraught with obstacles. To answer one thousand eight hundred questions—just the thought was terrifying!

Wang Yu felt some panic, but as a man, however anxious he might be, he must outwardly appear calm. After all, panic was useless.

Steeling himself, he stepped onto the first stair.

The first bend bore the mark of Master Zilu, one of the Ten Philosophers of Confucianism. Zilu was a man of great courage and strength; though he studied under the patriarch, he never truly became a refined gentleman. The patriarch once said, “You have entered the hall, but not the inner chamber.” Yet in courage and battle, none but the patriarch surpassed him. Thus, his teachings inscribed here all concerned the nature of courage.

As soon as Wang Yu set foot on the first step, three blood-red characters appeared before him: “What is courage?”

Those fierce characters hung in the air, emitting a sharp, overwhelming pressure, as if at any moment they might come crashing down upon him.

Wang Yu steadied himself and began to ponder: what is courage?

The patriarch had said:

“If one sacrifices to the wrong spirits, it is flattery. To see what is right and not do it, that is lack of courage.”

“He who is respectful without propriety becomes strained; cautious without propriety becomes timid; brave without propriety becomes unruly; upright without propriety becomes harsh. If a gentleman is devoted to family, the people rise in benevolence; if he does not abandon old friends, the people do not become untrustworthy.”

“The wise are not perplexed; the benevolent are not anxious; the courageous are not afraid.”

“Those with virtue will have things to say; those who have things to say may not have virtue. The benevolent will have courage; the courageous may not have benevolence.”

“The gentleman’s way is threefold, and I am not up to it: the benevolent are not anxious, the wise are not perplexed, the courageous are not afraid.” Zigong said, “Master, you describe yourself.”

The patriarch also said, “Zilu, have you heard of the six positives and their six defects?” Zilu replied, “Not yet.” “Sit, I will tell you. Loving benevolence without loving learning leads to foolishness; loving knowledge without loving learning leads to aimlessness; loving trustworthiness without loving learning leads to harm; loving uprightness without loving learning leads to inflexibility; loving courage without loving learning leads to unruliness; loving firmness without loving learning leads to recklessness.”

Zilu asked, “Should a gentleman value courage?” The patriarch replied, “A gentleman regards righteousness as paramount. To have courage without righteousness is to foment disorder; for a petty man to have courage without righteousness is to become a thief.”

Zigong asked, “Are there things a gentleman detests?” “Indeed. He detests those who expose the faults of others, who dwell among the base and slander their superiors, who are brave without propriety, who are rash and reckless.” “And do you detest anything, Master?” “I detest those who claim knowledge by cheating, those who claim courage by being insolent, those who claim uprightness by making trouble.”

These, then, were the patriarch’s views on courage: on the one hand, he praised it—“the courageous are not afraid”; a person should be benevolent, wise, and courageous. On the other hand, he warned that blind worship of courage, unrestrained by propriety or guided by righteousness, leads to chaos. Hatred of the unbenevolent is natural, but to hate excessively and disregard the law brings disaster. The patriarch favored a society governed by rituals and music, ordered and harmonious.

Wang Yu reviewed all this in his mind, combining it with later generations’ understanding of courage, and spoke his answer:

“A true hero is not defined by the might of his arms, but by a fearless heart, one that dares to face blood and carnage, and to confront the bleakness of life head-on.

To wield force against others is not courage, but weakness; to use force to intimidate or to cower is the mark of a coward!”

Let’s see if the words of Master Lu Xun can shake you!

And if not—so be it. After all, what does Lu Xun’s opinion have to do with me, Zhou Shuren? It’s not embarrassing!

As soon as Wang Yu spoke, the three blood-red characters trembled. In a haze, Wang Yu seemed to see a burly, powerful man sigh deeply, and then the characters vanished.

Strangely, Wang Yu passed the next ninety-nine steps of the first bend in a single bound, facing no further tests.

This aroused his suspicion. Could it be that the sages who engraved their teachings upon the ladder yet live, and can sense what takes place here?

If so, the foundation of the Confucian order is truly terrifying—no wonder it is the foremost sect in the world.