Mythical Three Kingdoms

”It’s not that she can’t reach this level herself. So she can surpass the limits set by the authors, though it’s more troublesome. For Cai, reaching the level of the authors in most fields is already impressive,” Huang Yueying said with a smile.

”But she can’t reach the peak of this era,” Ji Xiang retorted stubbornly.

”That’s true. As for the second limitation, it’s her practical skills. She can achieve anything theoretical, but she’s greatly lacking in practical skills. What you know now, Cai also knows. But what I know, Cai knowing them is meaningless,” Huang Yueying said calmly.

Ji Xiang pursed her lips, a little unhappy, glanced at the note in her hand, realizing it was scheduled for the next day, feeling somewhat disheartened. Then she suddenly realized and asked with curiosity, ”Has Yimei awakened her Spiritual Talent?”

”Not yet awakened, but she can already sense it, though she’s a bit shaken by Cai Zhenji’s plan,” Huang Yueying replied with a smile.

”Second Miss Cai, honestly,” Ji Xiang thought of Cai Zhenji and couldn’t help but twitch her lips. She then realized she shouldn’t waste any more time and quickly rushed into Huang Yueying’s mechanical research room, clutching her book box securely. The room was immensely safe and absolutely undisturbed.

As Ji Xiang entered, Huang Yueying thought she might need to wait until Cai Yan personally looked for her to return the book. To her surprise, Ji Xiang emerged the next morning with dark circles under her eyes.

”I thought you wouldn’t return the book until Great Scholar Cai personally came to find you. Did it not suit you, so you came out so early?” Huang Yueying asked, ordering toiletries to be prepared for Ji Xiang and instructing the maid to prepare meat porridge and snacks.

”The book wasn’t finished!” Ji Xiang said with a sobbing tone. She was enjoying it, but it ran out of content.

”Uh, nothing can be done if that’s the case. Is the book an ancient one?” Huang Yueying inquired.

”It should be from a certain school during the Spring and Autumn Period. The author had already passed away,” Ji Xiang responded helplessly.

”Nothing can be done then. If it’s from Dai Yu, I could help you find it. But if it’s an ancient, incomplete manuscript, then there’s nothing we can do,” Huang Yueying shook her head. When such an author’s work ends unfinished, you can only accept it.

”Despite keeping an eye on both volumes, the author of the second volume didn’t finish it before passing away. I’ve mentioned before, with Ultimate Knowledge, you should leave some behind sooner. When it’s exclusive, it means it will disappear when lost,” Ji Xiang said with resentment.

”What book were you reading to be so upset? Among these restricted books, there are indeed some that aren’t suitable for us,” Huang Yueying remarked while smoothing her hair.

”Yesterday at Sister Zhaoji’s place, I read about Marketing Psychology. The book I brought back was about the Core Mind Control of Marketing Psychology,” Ji Xiang said, her face troubled, as she had secretly taken it.

”Marketing Psychology?” Huang Yueying frowned. ”I can roughly guess the meaning of the first two words, but the last three are related to your field. If you took the wrong book, there wouldn’t be any point in reading it to such an extent. But what is mind control? It sounds so evil.”

”It’s another ultimate application of psychology. If mastered, it can turn enemies into die-hard supporters. The core of marketing is this, but I always feel using such advanced techniques in business must be very lonely,” Ji Xiang replied nonchalantly, adding a casual comment.

”Is it really that powerful?” Huang Yueying frowned.

”It should be. I’ll test it later to find out,” Ji Xiang thought and said, ”The volume I brought back details how to perform mind control, specifically on a large scale. But just as it was explaining the methods and discussing processes like de-individualization, role-playing, and rituals, suddenly it ended with the author’s abrupt stop!”

Chen Xi could say that when he wrote this stuff, he had a lot on his mind, but didn’t remember all the methods. Had he not been interested in marketing and psychology back then, he might not have remembered even this much.

Truth be told, Chen Xi thought these things were enough to entertain people of this era. For any normal person of this time without related knowledge, what he wrote was enough to foster an evil organization if it fell into the wrong hands.

So later, he didn’t bother thinking more about it, just marked it as ’author’s tearful end’, indicating the psychology textbook would remain as is. By this point, Chen Xi probably forgot he ever wrote such a thing.

”Forget it, I’ll return it to Sister Zhaoji after breakfast, then find some people to experiment with. I wonder if it’ll work,” Ji Xiang pondered slightly, showing genuine interest in mind control.

Watching Ji Xiang elegantly yet speedily finish her breakfast, Huang Yueying couldn’t help but shake her head. Ji Xiang, being older than her and a researcher of divination and psychology, sometimes seemed clearly childish.

[Hopefully, nothing goes wrong.] Huang Yueying thought quietly after seeing Ji Xiang leave. She had a feeling Ji Xiang might get into trouble.

Meanwhile, after cleaning up the books, Ji Xiang headed to Cai Yan’s house while thinking about who she could test it on.

[Come to think of it, applying such advanced techniques in business shows the foresight of those predecessors. For people of that era, the Divination Psychology we now have might just be scratching the surface. Hmph, in the end, all such things became lost.]

Feeling somewhat dissatisfied, Ji Xiang thought as she gained more classic books from Cai Yan, her construction of the Divination Psychology system became clearer. However, because she progressively constructed the system, Ji Xiang felt discontent with those earlier sages who caused such secret techniques to be lost.

Those sages capable of creating a whole discipline system certainly deserve the admiration of later generations. But not only being capable of creating a complete system, but also to let such a fully fledged discipline vanish — the abilities of those predecessors are truly astonishing.

It’s only natural for Ji Xiang to feel displeasure; the Great Aristocratic Families hoard many things, likely thinking if they can’t use it themselves, they won’t let others use it these things aren’t shared or revealed.

In fact, as Ji Xiang thought this, the Great Aristocratic Families had pondered similarly. Especially when Chen Xi occasionally feigned the sages, and Cai Yan could expertly imitate so lifelike that it reached the level of being indistinguishable from the real thing.

Among them, Chen Xi purportedly attributed three books related to the Legalist school, official positions, and sociology to Xunzi. Even the Xun Family couldn’t prove these three books were inauthentic because aside from the Legalist school and inheriting the Confucian School, Xunzi’s remaining thoughts, although a theory of original sin, essentially involved social order and the distribution of official roles, and realism-based sociology.

Chen Xi’s three counterfeit books seemed as if Xunzi had attained enlightenment of worldly truths before his death, recording all his ultimate thoughts. The Xun Family couldn’t find any loopholes. As to why they didn’t have these works, it was simple: Xunzi didn’t die in the Xun Family, so not encountering the final version wasn’t impossible.

Thus, a lot of counterfeit books initially irked the Great Aristocratic Families, but later they mentally filled the gaps about why such things hadn’t circulated for so many years — it’s not suitable for us, then it’s better left unpresented than let others take advantage of it.

With this kind of mindset, everything clicked. While being displeased with others, the Great Aristocratic Families were also being displeased by other families. As for making a rebuttal, ha, even if you claim not to have private collections, do you think other families believe that?

So gradually, the Great Aristocratic Families developed a tacit understanding, starting to bring out their classic books. Chen Xi also breathed a sigh of relief, as constantly writing by himself wasn’t feasible.

Though reviewing past learning for new insights brought fresh understanding with each writing, continuing to write wasn’t something Chen Xi could do extensively. He could produce many high-level works, but truthfully, Chen Xi didn’t have a clear memory of many mid-to-low-level things. This had to rely on the Great Aristocratic Families piecing together information. Now that they were finally forced by Chen Xi to have a tacit understanding, it worked out.