The five thousand years of knowledge from his previous life gave Huang Yifan immense support.
Even though he had only been an ordinary writer in his past life, at this moment, he spoke and wrote like a grandmaster of literature.
Next, Huang Yifan went on to restate Han Yu's classic prose theories such as "the unity of literature and Dao," "when one's qi is abundant, words naturally follow," "eliminate stale expressions," and "write smoothly and clearly." In essence, all of these emphasized that writing must have substance and avoid unnecessary fluff. If something can be said in one sentence, then use one sentence instead of dragging it out into thousands of words just to express vague emotions.
At the same time, Huang Yifan pointed out that calling prose "beautiful writing" was actually a serious regression.
Prose is not written merely for beauty. If that were the case, it would become nothing more than decoration, an object for entertainment rather than literature. Even if such prose attracted many readers, it would hold no real literary value.
Of course, saying this might also seem like an attack on web literature. But that was a separate issue. These were his words now, and if he later wanted to defend web literature under the pen name Qiushui, he could always argue differently.
After more than an hour, Huang Yifan finished the article. He titled it "Literature as a Vehicle for the Dao" and sent it to Ji Ziping.
When Ji Ziping read it, he was once again deeply shocked.
This article was completely different from the previous rant. The last one was full of sharp attacks and free-flowing rhetoric, where even a few classic lines could emerge naturally. But this time, the response was not about writing skill; it was about true knowledge and depth.
That was why figures like Guo Cheng and Han Jin, despite their bestselling prose works, had no place in such a debate. It wasn't that they didn't want to participate; they simply lacked the ability. Anyone could write empty prose, but analyzing literary theory and proposing new frameworks was a completely different level.
Yet Huang Yifan had done exactly that.
"Heh, 'Guanghui Daily', 'Literary Gazette'… trying to suppress our 'Youth Literature' through this theoretical battle? Sorry, but this time, you've miscalculated."
'Youth Literature' was affiliated with the Youth League and held significant authority. However, it still faced competition from other publications. 'Guanghui Daily' belonged to government media, while 'Literary Gazette' was directly under the Huaguo Writers Association. On the surface, this was a literary debate, but beneath it lay intense institutional rivalry.
At first, Ji Ziping had felt uneasy seeing so many publications targeting them. But after reading this article, he completely relaxed.
"Once this 'Literature as a Vehicle for the Dao' is published, those people will probably fall silent."
Eager to see that outcome, he immediately arranged for the article to be published in the next issue of 'Youth Daily'.
...
"Professor Tao, as expected, your response made a huge impact."
"You brat, always flattering me. By the way, has 'Youth Literature' responded yet?"
"Not yet. They're probably too afraid. That one phrase, 'loose in form, unified in spirit,' offended too many people. Besides you, Li Qi, Qiuhanshi, and others have all joined in. Oh, and Professor Shen Junru also published an article criticizing it."
"In that case, this debate should be coming to an end?"
"Unless something unexpected happens, yes."
"Hmph, ended too quickly. Not satisfying."
"Haha, Professor Tao, are you itching for more debate?"
"You've dragged me into this. It's been a long time since I engaged in theoretical discussion, and I have to admit, it's quite enjoyable. Anyway, I won't chat with you anymore. My newspapers just arrived, I'll go read them."
After hanging up, Tao Yuanbai picked up the newspapers delivered through his door.
'Guanghui Daily', 'Literary Gazette'…
He read through them one by one.
There were still quite a few critics attacking Qiushui today, but none stood out as leaders. Meanwhile, Qiushui himself had not appeared again after proposing "loose in form, unified in spirit." This left Tao Yuanbai somewhat disappointed.
He had been hoping for a proper exchange, maybe even a long back-and-forth debate. But after just a few responses, the man had disappeared.
Qiushui… no wonder he had never heard of this name before.
Perhaps he was only good at writing, but when it came to academic debate, he faltered.
Setting those papers aside, Tao Yuanbai picked up 'Youth Daily'.
It was affiliated with 'Youth Literature', though one was a magazine and the other a newspaper.
While 'Youth Literature' had a stronger academic influence, it was only published weekly, so many readers also subscribed to 'Youth Daily'.
As he began reading, a familiar name caught his eye.
Or rather, a name he had just been thinking about.
Qiushui.
So he had responded after all?
Good. Let's see what he has to say.
Just moments ago, he had been thinking about this very person. Now seeing the name again, Tao Yuanbai felt a surge of excitement.
"Literature as a Vehicle for the Dao."
Hmph, quite an ambitious title. But what of it?
He continued reading.
"Writing flows like drifting clouds and running water, without fixed form, yet always moves where it should and stops where it must. Its logic is natural, its expression vivid…"
Didn't expect his classical Chinese to be this strong. Can he casually produce something like this?
Muttering to himself, Tao Yuanbai tried to interpret the sentence.
And then, he froze.
"Always moves where it should, always stops where it must."
In plain terms: move when it is appropriate, stop when it must.
Prose has no fixed structure. It can be written freely. But no matter how free it is, it must still follow internal logic. Without that, it becomes meaningless rambling.
With just one sentence, Qiushui not only reinforced the idea of "loose in form, unified in spirit," but also completely dismantled Tao Yuanbai's earlier claim that prose requires no central theme.
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