All that happened was his face slowly turned purple, and he became increasingly hazy, though he remained suspended in mid-air, still swinging the little demon on the swing. His eyelids grew heavier and heavier.,However, this was also an era of serious social problems. In the south, there was the threat of Japanese pirates, in the north, the Mongol invasion, and natural and man-made disasters plagued the land. Although Emperor Jiajing was a wise ruler, he squandered the national treasury on Taoist practices, leaving the country in a precarious state.,As for Qu's thoughts, they were purer than ever. His mind was almost filled with the scriptures of saints and sages; even now, he could "recite from memory" hundreds of brilliant articles and flawlessly recite the Four Books and Five Classics backward.。