A Hundred Schools Contend: From Farmer's Son to the Unity of All Laws

Zhang Yuan, a farmer's son, couldn't even eat his fill, so how was he supposed to study? After hearing a traveling peddler boast that everyone in the capital could cultivate, he decided he had to go see what that was all about. Farming taught him the true inheritance of the Farming School. Copying books gave him a mighty righteous aura. Being drafted into the army honed his killing intent... When he went to the capital for an assessment, the examiner slapped the table. “Your foundation is too eclectic. No school will take you!” Zhang Yuan smiled. “Then I'll cultivate them all.” The Confucians thought him uncouth, the Legalists thought him too kind, the Daoists thought he meddled in everything, the Military School thought he was too soft-hearted, and the Yin-Yang School thought he was too hard to kill. Yet somehow He cultivated Confucianism, and his righteous aura drove back a Legalist grandmaster. He cultivated Legalism, and the light of his laws outshone the Military School's battle spirits. He cultivated the Farming School, and a handful of soil yielded ten thousand jin of grain. He cultivated medicine, and a single needle saved an army of a hundred thousand. The nine kingdoms besieged Zhongzhou, and grandmasters from every school joined forces to suppress him. Zhang Yuan yawned. “All of you can come at me together. I'm in a hurry.” The covenant of the Hundred Sages from a thousand years ago was a lie. The truth was that all paths lead to one. From farmer's son to grandmaster of all schools, Zhang Yuan said, “I'm not singling anyone out. Everyone here can be my teacher, but don't forget: a teacher need not be better than their student.”