Longevity begins with slaying demons and eliminating demons

Chapter 657: To the King Yao and Shun (Part )

"Your Majesty, the court has followed your order and implemented the 'Qingdu Order' in Heqing, Yongning and other counties in the capital area. It has now been widely used."

"How do the practitioners in Gyeonggi react to this?"

"Many practitioners claim that there are many hidden masters in the 'Discussion Room' and that some of their doubts over the years were quickly answered once they were raised in the 'Discussion Room'.

"There are also some people who have found their favorite skills and martial arts in the 'Qingdu Fantasy'. In order to earn 'Xiahuang Coins', they are actively speaking in the 'Discussion Room' or fighting with others in the 'Discussion Realm' day and night."

"It seems that they have a very good opinion of the 'Qingdu Order'."

"This is a wise decision and good leadership by your majesty."

"How many times have I told you not to keep saying these empty flattering words in front of me?"

"Wanjun knows her fault, please punish me, Your Majesty."

"I have no time to punish you now. I just want to know, has no one ever reported the shortcomings of the 'Qingdu Order' to the government? I have clearly asked the Exorcist Departments of all counties to open up channels for communication and listen to opinions from all sides."

"Indeed, there are. Many practitioners are dissatisfied with the battle matching mechanism of 'The Realm of Taoism', especially the three-on-three and five-on-five team modes."

"Well, what exactly did they say?"

"They said that the Realm of Discussion of Dao always matched strong practitioners to the opponent team and assigned mediocre practitioners to their side, causing them to be beaten up every day. The points they had worked so hard to accumulate were deducted in the blink of an eye."

"Alas, the fundamental reason behind this is that they themselves are not strong enough. A truly strong person, even if he is alone with four useless teammates, can quickly achieve consecutive victories and reach the 'Heaven' level."

"One strong team leads four weak teams and they can win all the way. Can anyone really do this?"

"You can check in the fantasy world. There is a cultivator named 'Su Baiyu'. Go and check out his battle records."

"Su Baiyu? Is he a member of the 'Purple Mansion Army'? I don't think I've ever seen this person before."

"He is from the Purple Mansion Army, but a few months ago, I sent him on a special mission. He will not be in the capital in the near future."

"..."

That morning, after reviewing a pile of memorials, Xiao Wanjun and Gu Xu began to discuss recent events in Daxia as usual.

Under the leadership of Wang Jian, the talisman masters of Longmen Academy have made continuous breakthroughs in their research on the deduction array, making the array's coverage wider and the deductive calculation capabilities increased several times.

Therefore, the scope of use of the "Qingdu Order" is no longer limited to the "Purple Mansion Army", but has begun to serve ordinary practitioners in Luojing City and even more places.

In addition, Gu Xu also opened a "Qingdu School" in the "Qingdu Fantasy".

As the highest-ranking academy for practitioners in Daxia, Longmen Academy has a high entry threshold and a limited number of students. Moreover, the teachers in the academy are more focused on the study of advanced Taoism and martial arts.

It is more like an "institute" than a "basic education school".

As for the low-level practitioners in the Great Wilderness who have just embarked on the path of cultivation, they can often only exchange secret books by themselves, slowly explore according to the books, or rely on their masters to lead them step by step, just like Gu Xu did when he was a minor official in the past.

There is a general lack of systematic guidance.

Sometimes, when you ask them about some common sense in the spiritual world, they may not be able to answer.

Therefore, it is easy for them to take detours and make mistakes in their practice.

This is obviously not conducive to the long-term development of Dahuang.

Under such circumstances, Gu Xu decided to open a school for ordinary practitioners of low levels. Adhering to the principle of "teaching without distinction", no matter one's origin, family background, or talent, as long as one has a heart that thirsts for knowledge and pursues the great way, everyone can enroll.

Of course, if such a school were to be built in the real world, it would undoubtedly be extremely costly, require a lot of resources, and would be difficult to popularize in all prefectures and counties across the country.

Therefore, Gu Xu simply took a shortcut and tried to open the school in the "Qingdu Fantasy" first.

In this way, with the gradual promotion of the "Qingdu Order", practitioners from all corners of Daxia will have the opportunity to listen to lectures from famous teachers in the capital.

"By the way, Your Majesty," Xiao Wanjun spoke again, "You have recently acquired some new 'Primordial Qi'. Do you plan to continue using it to expand the Spiritual Qi Transformation Array and further recruit the 'Purple Mansion Army'?"

"No need," Gu Xu thought for a moment and shook his head. "The Purple Mansion Army is Daxia's elite force. In addition to the spiritual energy conversion formation, more other resources need to be invested in training them. The current size of about a thousand people is just right. If there are more, it will be a bit difficult to support Daxia with its current national strength.

"My next plan is to start from Luojing and gradually lay out the spiritual energy conversion array to the exorcism offices in various prefectures and counties. I will strive to let every practitioner serving the country have the opportunity to experience the taste of practicing with spiritual energy in the next few years."

"Your Majesty, to accomplish this, you will probably have to go to Donghai Guixu many more times in person!"

"Of course."

As soon as Gu Xu finished speaking, Xiao Wanjun suddenly stood up from her seat.

"What are you going to do?" Gu Xu looked at her with surprise.

Xiao Wanjun clasped his hands together, and there was a hint of respect in his tone: "Your Majesty cares about the people of the world. On behalf of all the cultivators in the world, I would like to express my gratitude to Your Majesty."

"Hurry up and sit down," Gu Xu's mind moved, and his true essence turned into an invisible force, gently pressing her shoulders to let her return to the chair. "As the ruler of a country, isn't it my duty to pave a smooth path for the cultivators of Daxia and reduce the risks they may encounter in their practice?"

"Although Your Majesty thinks so, in fact, not every king thinks that these things are their duty!" Xiao Wanjun said.

Hearing her words, Gu Xu shook his head slightly.

Perhaps, it was because the previous emperors were so bad that now he only needed to do some small things casually and he would be regarded as the greatest emperor of all time by his subordinates.

In his opinion, his "wisdom and bravery", "respectful, frugal and loving the people"... were often just the result of being exaggerated by his peers.

"By the way, didn't I ask you and other cabinet ministers to draw up a plan for the spiritual field reform a few days ago? How is your progress now?" Gu Xu asked after pondering for a moment.

Upper decision decided by the economic background.

If Daxia wants to flourish, the supply of cultivation resources is undoubtedly a crucial cornerstone.

Whether it is the planting of spiritual plants, the development of spiritual mines, the refining of elixirs, or the casting of magic weapons, each link is closely linked and cannot be missed, and must be taken with great care.

During the Great Qi Dynasty, the phenomenon of land annexation was particularly serious. Large amounts of land that originally belonged to the common people were gradually occupied by aristocratic families, clans and gangs.

After Gu Xu ascended the throne, he made drastic changes to the redistribution of farmland, which made many ordinary farmers in Daxia extremely supportive of him.

But at the same time, he also encountered a new problem——

That is the low efficiency of spiritual plant cultivation.

The cultivation process of many spiritual plants used to refine elixirs requires relatively harsh conditions and complex operations.

In the past, these spiritual plants were often cultivated on a large scale by large sects and families. After they matured and were harvested, they were sent directly to their own medicine workshops for processing, and the finished medicines were then sold at high prices.

It can be said that they firmly control the entire industrial chain from the source to the market.

However, nowadays, many scattered farmers do not have the ability to cultivate spiritual plants efficiently.

In addition, in the first half of this year, some areas of Daxia suffered from drought, which led to a decrease in the production of spiritual plants, which in turn affected the production of elixirs across the country.

This made Gu Xu deeply worried.

He once considered having the government purchase or lease these spiritual fields from farmers and dispatch knowledgeable practitioners to organize the planting, but he was worried that doing so might affect the interests of civilians in the actual implementation process.

As a monarch who relied purely on force to overthrow the previous emperor and seize the world, Gu Xu might be an expert in spiritual practice, but he is a complete layman in governing the country.

He could only draw on some historical experience from his previous life and then leave the specific matters to the experts under him.

"I am still discussing this with the princes, Liu Cifu and others," Xiao Wanjun replied, "In fact, handling this matter is more complicated than we thought before. Because since your Majesty eliminated those noble families, sects and a large number of corrupt officials, the number of cultivators in the court who are proficient in spiritual field management has become small.

"If we leave this matter entirely to the government to manage the planting, it would probably be unrealistic."

"There's no need to rush this matter," Gu Xu said, "You should do more research, take in more opinions from all sides, and come up with a proper plan. This matter concerns the foundation of the country, so we must be cautious."

"Your Majesty said so."

"In addition, at the end of this year, Daxia will conduct its first official examination, and you will also be required to formulate a process and standards. I have heard that many local officials, in order to get promotions and rewards as quickly as possible, often focus too much on short-term benefits and ignore long-term development. You must pay more attention to such situations."

"Yes."

"..."

After Gu Xu finished explaining things, Xiao Wanjun stood up and saluted, then picked up the stack of memorials on the table and turned to leave.

Gu Xu was the only one left in the imperial study.

He waved towards the door, and the eunuch Han Shunxi walked quickly into the room with a food box and a pot of tea, and placed them carefully in front of Gu Xu.

"Your Majesty." Han Shunxi hesitated for a moment and spoke cautiously.

"Just tell me what's going on." Gu Xu said calmly as he opened the lunch box.

"I was outside the house just now, and I saw Lord Xiao looking back every few steps when he left." Han Shunxi regarded himself as the emperor's servant, and subconsciously observing the unusual behavior of civil and military officials had long become his instinct.

"Then why do you think she did this?" Gu Xu did not express his opinion immediately. Instead, he picked up a piece of mapo tofu from the food box with chopsticks and asked back.

"Your Majesty, I think... she should admire you," Han Shunxi thought for a while and replied, "and she has been famous for her good reputation and virtue since the Great Qi Dynasty. People all over the world praise her style. Your Majesty, why don't you consider taking her into the palace to help you solve your problems and continue your family line? I think she shouldn't refuse..."

Gu Xu's chopsticks paused in the air for a moment, and then he slowly said: "It is precisely because she will not refuse that I cannot easily bring up this matter."

"I am stupid and ignorant, please give me some advice, Your Majesty." Hearing what he said, Han Shunxi was quite puzzled and could not help but nodded respectfully.

"Wanjun is an ambitious woman," Gu Xu said with a sigh, "Now she works quietly and does not fight or compete, because she has greater ambitions. She wants to 'make the king as good as Yao and Shun, and make the customs pure', and wants to leave a good name in history books for eternity.

"She admires me because I see her as a virtuous gentleman while others only see her as a 'beautiful woman'.

"Although I am also a vulgar person who likes beautiful women.

"But if we really take her into the palace just for the sake of a momentary sexual pleasure, how will people in the world view her?

  "A mortal like her who has no cultivation can hardly rely on her strength to win the support of others. In the history books, wouldn't she be described as a flatterer who entertained people with her beauty and a concubine who brought disaster to the country, which is far from her original ambition?

"Perhaps, when the great cause is accomplished and the world is at peace, and everyone in the world sees that a mortal woman also has the great power to accomplish great deeds, I will consider this matter again."

Han Shunxi stood there in a daze for a moment, thinking: Your Majesty is worthy of being Your Majesty. He has such unique insights into women's minds.

He was silent for a moment, then could not help but frowning slightly, and asked curiously: "Your Majesty, I am a stupid servant, could you please tell me who the 'Yao and Shun' you just mentioned are?"

Gu Xu smiled and replied: "Just think of them as two wise monarchs from ancient times."

…………

After leaving Changchun Garden, Xiao Wanjun took a carriage to the northern part of Luojing City.

There stands a low stone building, which is heavily guarded and exudes a solemn atmosphere.

Xiao Wanjun knew that this place was the headquarters of Daxia's current "Qingming Inner Guards" - the former secret organization "Qingming" had been responsible for arrests, adjudications, surveillance, etc. since it was reorganized and incorporated into the "Qingming Inner Guards" by the current emperor. It was a place that frightened many people.

She walked through two rows of soldiers standing guard with weapons in hand, entered the yamen, and then found Shangguan Jin in a side room.

Although Shangguan Jin has married into the palace and become a virtuous concubine, as a cultivator with outstanding strength and mastering many sinister and vicious methods, she still holds an important position in the "Qingming" organization.

Xiao Wanjun came to see her today specifically to discuss the plan for official examinations with her.

At this moment, Shangguan Jin was lazily leaning on a rattan rocking chair, holding a document in his hand and flipping through it unsteadily.

Seeing Xiao Wanjun, she immediately smiled politely and said, "Master Xiao, please forgive me for feeling a little unwell today and being unable to get up."

Xiao Wanjun asked with concern: "Is Lord Shangguan in good health?"

In work situations, Xiao Wanjun used her work title and did not call her "Empress Xianfei".

"No problem," Shangguan Jin replied, "I was just a little tired last night. Don't worry about it. Let's get down to business."

(End of this chapter)