Xu Zhengyang lowered his raised right hand, stood with his hands behind his back outside the pavilion, deep in thought.
Throughout human history, good and evil have always coexisted and been at odds, yet neither has ever truly triumphed over the other, nor has either ever completely disappeared. Moreover, it seems that from an absolute perspective, the existence of evil is more prevalent than that of good.
Because selfishness itself is a kind of evil, and selfishness is a common trait, including that of gods.
There's a saying that if a person doesn't look out for themselves, they'll be punished by heaven and earth, and there's some truth to that.
Even Xu Zhengyang, isn't he a selfish person?
After much deliberation, Xu Zhengyang smiled, turned to look at the slightly nervous old man standing by the stone table under the pavilion, and said calmly, "What you said makes a lot of sense... but at the very least, fairness and justice are essential. Gods cannot be inactive. They can have a broad mind and great magnanimity, and they can be unconcerned with trifles, but they must make the world understand what it means to be watched over by the gods..."
"Divine power and divine grace must exist within people's beliefs!"
"The important thing is that, within the broader social context, people's morality and conscience must not be allowed to decline!"
Xu Zhengyang paused for a moment, then said, "It seems you can't stay in the City God's Mansion forever. I'll give you the authority to travel all over the country, but you won't have any other abilities. Go and see what this world has become! When you were alive, you held a high position and had a broad perspective, but you couldn't know many things happening below, and you were even less aware of the mentality of ordinary people. Relying solely on your subordinates' showy reports to you is useless..."
"So your mindset will never change. It seems that to change someone's ingrained ideas, you can't just let them reflect on their mistakes on their own. People are always selfish and self-righteous!"
After saying that, Xu Zhengyang waved his hand and strode away.
The old man stood blankly in the pavilion, slowly lowering his head, a helpless bitter smile creeping across his face. He had clearly said not to ponder the divine will, yet he uttered such ambiguous words, leaving people to guess...
Perhaps it's time to follow Xu Zhengyang's advice and take a serious look at what the mortal world is really like.
Little did he know that Xu Zhengyang was suddenly feeling much more at ease because of his words earlier...
Volume 5, Spirit Official, Chapter 229: The Difference Between Being a God and Being a Human
The proverb "a leaf before the eyes obscures Mount Tai" means that one cannot see the whole mountain.
This description perfectly describes Xu Zhengyang's situation. He was constantly caught in the entanglement and contradiction between divinity and humanity, unable to extricate himself or escape from it.
Before becoming an Imperial Censor, he followed his own nature and simple, pure thoughts, steadily walking the path of doing good deeds to get promoted and make money. Occasionally, he would hold the great and bright thoughts of a saint and imagine how wonderful he could make the world... After becoming an Imperial Censor, he ascended to the Heavenly Court, toured around, and learned about the history of the Heavenly Court and the Divine Realm.
Upon returning, he was further restrained by his divine nature and fueled by his own anger, and swept through the area with unparalleled arrogance, greatly intimidating some powerful figures and even his own family!
Moreover, influenced by the history of the Heavenly Court and the Divine Realm, Xu Zhengyang's considerations became increasingly complex and far-reaching.
To put it bluntly, he's increasingly striving to be a great, radiant, and holy god. This is understandable; having become a god, one is bound to do something, especially since Xu Zhengyang is a true upstart who climbed up from the very bottom of society. Naturally, besides a biased sense of justice, there's also a degree of shortsightedness and shallowness in many situations.
This, however, perfectly suited the divine nature of the Imperial Censor.
That's why he seems to have a clear goal, but in reality he's already entangled in contradictions and conflicts, unable to sort things out, and things are getting more and more chaotic; this is what is meant by being blinded.
Ultimately, he was still young, lacking in education, manners, experience, and foresight...
His temperament is not mature enough.
After his conversation with Elder Li, Xu Zhengyang, amidst a slight sense of confusion and embarrassment, suddenly realized something: in the end, divinity and humanity reside within himself. If humans and gods can coexist, then why can't divinity and humanity coexist?
In short, don't take divinity too seriously. Divinity is just a personality trait; it's merely a facade used by the gods of the past to project their image and conceal their ugliness in the mortal world. In reality, the personalities of the gods in the past, and the things they did, were not much better than those of humans.
Relatively speaking, they are worse off than most people.
For example, ruthless, heartless, selfish, violent, etc.
We know that although people often say "it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature", in fact, more than 99% of people will undergo absolute changes in their nature as they grow older and gain more experience.
Having gained some experience and knowledge, Xu Zhengyang gradually came up with a more common and simpler truth: you cannot be too attached to your personal views and thoughts to restrict human life, otherwise the result will only be the opposite; it will only make this mundane world monotonous, boring, and meaningless.
Because many things in this world that seem bad to you, Xu Zhengyang, may actually be good for most people.
In other words, can you do your best to achieve perfection?
Obviously, that's impossible.
So……
Do what God ought to do; be human, and live a human life.
Since divinity and humanity both reside in Xu Zhengyang, they shouldn't be entangled in a head-on contradiction, but rather complement each other, shouldn't they?
How did I say it again?
Hmm. Choose what is good and follow it; correct what is not good.
This is what it means to remove the blind spot and then see Mount Tai!
...
After emerging from his inner turmoil and conflict, Xu Zhengyang planned to travel to the United States in a few days to fulfill his promise and visit Li Bingjie. If he could also bring Li Bingjie back with him, that would be even better.
He misses Li Bingjie more and more now. Well, besides pure love, there are also some pure impulses.
Because Xu Zhengyang, who is about to turn twenty-six, is in a great mood, he occasionally wakes up from a wet dream in the middle of the night and inevitably finds his underwear sticky again, how pitiful...
So, one night in the early hours of the morning, Xu Zhengyang sat in front of the computer typing on the keyboard and said to Li Bingjie:
"Bingjie, let's get married?"
Li Bingjie was stunned for a while before sending a questioning emoji.
Xu Zhengyang, sitting across the computer screen, wasn't shy or embarrassed at all. He chuckled as he typed on the keyboard, "We're both of age now, so it's not considered early marriage."
Even immortals get married?
"Hmm?" Xu Zhengyang sent a question, then gritted his teeth and said, "The immortal is very lonely now, unable to sleep alone!" After sending this message, Xu Zhengyang opened the video window.
The other party accepted, and the video window quickly displayed Li Bingjie's beautiful and refined face. She lowered her eyelids slightly, her long eyelashes framing her face. Her lips were slightly pursed, and a blush graced her cheeks. The slightly ambiguous mention of sleeplessness in Xu Zhengyang's earlier words hadn't led Li Bingjie, a pure and innocent girl, to misinterpret the situation. She accurately judged Xu Zhengyang's current passionate and intense feelings.
The two did not use voice messages, but continued to chat by typing to avoid further awkwardness.
"Zhengyang, when are you planning to come over?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Um."
"Let's not go there next year, okay?"
"Um."
"Let's get married..."
In the video window, Li Bingjie's face flushed red, and she lowered her head, no longer typing.
Xu Zhengyang found it amusing, and a filthy idea quickly surfaced in his mind. Without any hindrance, he typed out a line: "Where do you think I'll stay when I get there?"
"The house my mom bought for me is big enough."
"Oh, is the bed big?"
"Um."
"hey-hey!"
...
A hint of confusion flashed in Li Bingjie's eyes, but then she realized the deeper meaning behind Xu Zhengyang's question from his mischievous smile in the video. She immediately pouted, her cheeks flushed red, and quickly sent back a single word:
"go!"
Xu Zhengyang rubbed his hands together for a long time with great joy.
After chatting for a while, Li Bingjie said she was going to eat, and Xu Zhengyang reluctantly ended the video call.
It was midnight, and Xu Zhengyang lay in bed, feeling unbearably lonely.
If it weren't for geographical limitations and the constraints of some unseen divine law, Xu Zhengyang truly envisioned using his divine sense to immediately cross the ocean to Earth, pull out Li Bingjie's pure and innocent soul, and then stage a passionate love story between gods and ghosts...
Therefore, he became even more determined to set off for the United States the next day.
What's really bothering me is that Li Bingjie has two female bodyguards protecting her every day over there, and she also has a nanny at home, which is very inconvenient!
Besides certain physiological reasons that made Xu Zhengyang somewhat impatient, there was another reason. Xu Zhengyang was thinking that after quickly settling his personal matters, he still needed to expand his network on his path to divine office. As the Imperial Censor of the Eastern Azure Heaven Court, he needed to travel to various places, and only after arriving in a certain city would he have the authority to arrange ghost messengers in that area.
Furthermore, Xu Zhengyang couldn't remotely command them, and the newly appointed ghost messengers would unknowingly draw divine power from him through his City God appointments, providing them with energy. However, this wasn't a problem. He had the authority to select three subordinate officials to patrol various regions on his behalf. If any ghost messengers violated regulations, the officials could report them to Xu Zhengyang, who would then personally go to the location to severely punish the offending ghost messengers. As for the ever-increasing amount of divine power needed by the growing number of ghost messengers, there was no need to be stingy; if one was unwilling to invest, where would the returns come from?
Xu Zhengyang had already considered it very clearly. Although the three subordinate officials under the three spirit officials should, according to the Heavenly Rules, hold divine positions, he, as the Imperial Censor Spirit Official, did not have the authority to bestow divine titles, but he could have the ghost messengers temporarily act in their place. In other words, even if he had the authority to bestow divine titles, Xu Zhengyang would rather have the ghost messengers temporarily act in their place than perform the bestowal himself.
As for the candidate for the position of the Chief Clerk under the Spirit Official, well, for now there is only one, and that is Elder Li.
Although Li Lao no longer holds the official position of Gongcao, Xu Zhengyang has in fact granted him certain powers, such as the ability to travel around the country and observe the people's conditions.
By the time the new City God Temple was established, Old Master Li must have understood more things.
Yes, this is being a god.
Putting that aside, speaking of people, Xu Zhengyang was thinking about going to Fuhe City tomorrow and having Zheng Ronghua arrange for a secretary to accompany him to the US. Since Xu Zhengyang had never been abroad before, he would be unfamiliar with the place and its people, and wouldn't know anything about it, which would definitely cause many inconveniences. Therefore, having a knowledgeable and experienced secretary with him would be much more convenient.
Of course, there's a condition: the secretary must be male!
Xu Zhengyang originally believed that as an Imperial Censor, he could communicate with others without delving too deeply into their hearts. However, after inquiring about the city's affairs, he received a rather frustrating answer: "I'm sorry, you are an Imperial Censor of the Eastern Heavenly Court. You cannot use your divine power arbitrarily in other territories."
Just like when he was the City God, he could only rely on two ghost messengers when he arrived in the capital.
Xu Zhengyang asked the City Scroll, "What are the countries under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Azure Heaven Court?"
The city scroll quickly provided the answer: forty.
Xu Zhengyang was stunned for a moment. Goodness, forty countries is quite a lot. In other words, he can go to any of these forty countries and act arrogantly.
Well, let's not think about that now. As the saying goes, "Don't let the good stuff go to outsiders." If we're going to do good deeds, we have to make sure our own side benefits first. So, the City God's Temples need to be established one by one within our own territory first. Undeniably, even now as an Imperial Censor, Xu Zhengyang still harbors a strong sense of national pride. Just like how he always favors his own family members—it's his nature, he doesn't care who they are.
Back then, those big shots still divided up their territories, guarding their own little plots and acting selfishly. How much more so Xu Zhengyang?
As I said before, don't try to act all high and mighty. Xu Zhengyang isn't so great as to have boundless love.
Yes, this is a matter of being a good person.
...
As early as when Xu Zhengyang asked for help with his passport and visa application, the shrewd and experienced Zheng Ronghua had already made preparations. Therefore, when Xu Zhengyang mentioned that he needed a male secretary, Zheng Ronghua immediately called Liu Ming.
Liu Ming is 34 years old and has worked at Ronghua Group for ten years.
This man is fluent in four languages. Although he hasn't held any important position within the Ronghua Group, nor is he an assistant to the chairman or manager, he is the person most trusted by Zheng Ronghua and his son Zheng Yaokai. When Zheng Ronghua and Zheng Yaokai go out on business, they always take Liu Ming with them. He can act as a translator, secretary, and assistant. He is loyal, steady, meticulous, and never complains.
Arranging for Liu Ming to accompany Xu Zhengyang was a well-thought-out decision by Zheng Ronghua. He didn't necessarily hope Liu Ming could help him obtain information from Xu Zhengyang—he wouldn't dare. The main reason was that Zheng Ronghua hoped his sincerity and attitude would gradually lessen Xu Zhengyang's resentment towards him. Zheng Ronghua and his son had no other desires now but that Xu Zhengyang could truly allow their family to live a peaceful and stable life.
Liu Ming was a smart man; he was self-aware but never belittled himself. Therefore, when the chairman arranged for him to accompany Xu Zhengyang and instructed him to obey Xu Zhengyang's orders and work as diligently as he would with Zheng Ronghua, Liu Ming immediately understood that Xu Zhengyang was no ordinary person.
Xu Zhengyang was very satisfied with Liu Ming when they first met; he was a steady person who didn't have much scheming.
Without wasting much time, Xu Zhengyang immediately asked Zheng Ronghua to arrange a vehicle to take the two of them to the capital after meeting Liu Ming.
On the way to Beijing, Liu Ming asked Xu Zhengyang where he was going in M country and then booked the plane tickets in the shortest possible time. He also made reasonable arrangements for the arrival time in M country, the transit time, the accommodation and rest place, etc.