Chapter 212: The Order of the Three Bonds

Mengjiang Dynasty, Chaotian City.
This was the most prosperous city apart from the Mengjiang Imperial Capital, bustling with endless streams of people.
Jiang Li left the Pure Land of the Mortal World and arrived here.
The Mengjiang Dynasty bordered the Pure Land, and one of the candidates selected by Commander Liu was located here in Chaotian City.
The face-to-face investigation had already been completed by Commander Liu, and even if Jiang Li showed up personally, he wouldn’t find anything new, so he decided to start from the surrounding environment instead.
“Candied hawthorns, all kinds of candied hawthorns!”
“I’ll have a skewer of candied hawthorns—not the hawthorn one, the strawberry one next to it.”
“Here you go, sir.”
“Bring me one of each type… except for the silkworm pupae.” Jiang Li planned to bring back some snacks for the Mortal World Celestial.
“I’m from Great Zhou. I heard there’s a Mr. Dong who teaches in Chaotian City, and I specially came to visit him.”
“Great Zhou? That’s really far.” The candied hawthorn vendor was surprised. The Mengjiang Dynasty was on the western side of the Nine Provinces, while Great Zhou was on the eastern side. This guest must have come through one of the newly established spatial channels to reach Mengjiang.
Mr. Dong’s fame attracted visitors even from other dynasties, and the vendor felt proud.
“Mr. Dong is the pride of our Chaotian City, well-versed in Confucian teachings, incredibly knowledgeable, polite and courteous. He treats all students equally, whether they come from aristocratic families or from poor backgrounds, he teaches them the same. There’s no such thing as teaching more just because someone paid more.”
“Mr. Dong also strictly demands the same from his own descendants, saying they must not act arrogantly because of their status. If anyone dares to behave that way, he kicks them out of the house.”
Jiang Li listened with a smile. Seeing such a wealthy-looking man willing to patiently listen, the vendor chatted even more enthusiastically.
“Mr. Dong is definitely a great cultivator. Some of the clans and gangs in the city thought they had some power and tried to force Mr. Dong to be their private tutor. But the very next day, all those clans and gangs stopped causing trouble and obediently sent their children to study with Mr. Dong, as if the whole ‘forcing’ thing never happened.”
The vendor lowered his voice: “There are rumors that Mr. Dong is a Soul Formation Stage cultivator!”
Jiang Li appropriately showed a surprised expression.
The vendor was very pleased with his reaction and gave him an extra skewer of candied hawthorn.
Jiang Li firmly refused: “I really don’t eat silkworm pupae.”
Jiang Li wandered through other stalls, shopping and asking around, and received mostly the same answers.
Mr. Dong had been teaching for over ten years, known as a strict and upright teacher.
But no one guessed too highly—people only thought he was a hidden Soul Formation Stage cultivator.
Fusion Stage cultivators were too far out of reach for common folk. Although Chaotian City was hailed as the second largest city of the dynasty, it didn’t even have a single Fusion Stage cultivator.
After all, if you could go to the largest city, who would stay in the second largest?
The Mengjiang Dynasty’s Fusion Stage cultivators either worked as officials or joined sects, none remained in Chaotian City.
Of course, Mr. Dong was actually a Fusion Stage cultivator—and the only one in Chaotian City.
“Truly has the heart of a hermit,” Jiang Li thought highly of Mr. Dong. “Commander Liu really did a good job finding a hidden Fusion Stage cultivator.”
“So your son is one of the legendary Mr. Dong’s students?”
Jiang Li looked at the man before him, an ordinary farmer, living in genuine poverty.
It seemed Mr. Dong really didn’t discriminate based on status when accepting students.
“Legendary? Not really,” the old farmer laughed. “Mr. Dong is very approachable, no airs of a cultivator at all.”
“Dad, I’m heading to school,” a boy carrying a cloth bag said, bidding the farmer goodbye.
“Wait a minute, could I sit in on one of Mr. Dong’s classes too?”
The boy hesitated.
Jiang Li looked young, like a youth, but still much older than the usual private school students.
“Learning is never too late to start,” Jiang Li said, thinking nothing wrong about attending a children’s private school.
The boy found his words reasonable and brought him along.
“Mr. Dong, this brother wants to audit a class.”
“Greetings, Mr. Dong. My name is Ding Li, from Great Zhou. Passing through here, I’ve long admired your reputation and hope to sit in on a lesson.”
The private school students stole glances and giggled at Jiang Li’s older appearance.
Mr. Dong frowned, tapping the desk sharply with his iron ruler: “Laughing? What’s so funny! This is the proper attitude toward learning. You should all learn from Ding Li!”
“Your parents sent you here to study, not to slack off. Don’t think you can stop learning just because you come from a good family. As the ancient sages said, ‘My life has limits, but knowledge has no limits. To use the limited to pursue the limitless is perilous.’”
“Even Jiang the Human Sovereign once said, ‘Learning has no end.’”
“Are you stronger than the ancient sages, or mightier than Jiang the Human Sovereign, that you think you don’t need to study?”
The students, intimidated by Mr. Dong’s iron ruler, no longer dared to laugh.
Jiang Li made no comment and sat quietly at the back.
“Today we’re studying the Order of the Three Bonds.”
“The ruler is the bond of the subject, the father is the bond of the son, and the husband is the bond of the wife—these are the Three Bonds.”
“As a subject, if the ruler orders the subject to die, the subject must die. As a son, if the father commands the son’s death, the son must comply. For the husband as the wife’s bond, the wife must obey her father at home, her husband after marriage, and her son after her husband’s death.”
“To give an example: the Mengjiang Emperor is the ruler, and a ninth-grade official is the subject. No matter how powerful the official is, even if he’s a Fusion Stage cultivator, he remains a subject. If the Mengjiang Emperor commands something, the subject must obey.”
“But what if the ruler makes a mistake?” Jiang Li asked.
“Silence! I just finished teaching the Three Bonds Order, and you’re already being disrespectful. How can a student speak before the teacher finishes?” In class, Mr. Dong was completely different from before, sternly scolding Jiang Li.
Seeing Jiang Li obediently put his hand down and say no more, Mr. Dong was satisfied and answered his question.
“How could a ruler make a mistake? The founding emperor of the Mengjiang Dynasty was a wise sovereign. His son inherited his bloodline and naturally also possessed the bearing of a wise ruler. The founding emperor selected his most outstanding son as the second emperor, so the second emperor was certainly wise too. Generation after generation, the current Mengjiang Emperor must also be a wise ruler.”
“I know you might have doubts, thinking the Mengjiang Emperor sometimes makes mistakes. But that is not the fault of the emperor—it’s because some subjects failed their duties, not reporting truthfully, leading the emperor to wrong conclusions, or perhaps there were corrupt ministers intentionally misleading him.”
“If the subjects fulfill their duties properly, how could the ruler ever make mistakes?”
Jiang Li thought back to how the Mengjiang Emperor and the Wei Emperor nearly started a war over the Mortal World Celestial.
That certainly wasn’t the ministers’ fault.
“If you still can’t understand the Mengjiang Emperor’s example, let me give you another classic example: Jiang the Human Sovereign.”
“What is a Human Sovereign? Naturally, it means the ruler of the human race, the ruler of all living beings with intelligence. All life in the Nine Provinces regards the Human Sovereign as supreme.”
“Whether an ordinary cultivator or the emperor of a dynasty, all are subjects before the Human Sovereign.”
“The Human Sovereign is the ruler, and all others are subjects.”
Jiang Li’s brow gradually furrowed.