The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

After further in-depth sensing, Zhao Qing also noticed that the other party was carrying several artifacts that contained power above the seventh level. They were like sleeping dragons, and although silent, they emitted heart-pounding fluctuations of vitality. They were obviously the top-level equipment of the Emperor of Chu, and each one was far beyond the imagination of the world.

For thousands of years, most emperors were not the strongest practitioners in their country, but they were usually the ones who mastered the secrets of the practice world in their dynasty and had the most practice resources, such as the current Emperor of Qi, Emperor of Yan, and Emperor of Chu, who are both, and therefore are definitely among the strongest people in the world.

Even the grandmaster Qi Jinshan of Lingxu Sword Sect whom Zhao Qing met before was more than one level lower than Emperor Chu. Even Zhao Qing was not confident that he could defeat him head-on. After all, who knew what desperate means and trump cards were hidden in this long-standing dynasty that had been passed down for hundreds of years?

However, the Emperor of Chu had been on the throne for only thirty-two years and was only in his seventies. However, many of his body functions were completely dependent on the circulation of his true energy and he was already on the verge of death. This made Zhao Qing wonder what kind of injuries he had suffered during this period.

Not far behind the Emperor of Chu stood a master of middle-aged appearance. The two kept a just right distance from each other. There was an indescribable sense of age and sadness in his eyes. His short beard neatly decorated his jaw, adding a bit of the temperament of a scholar.

Ten rings of different colors flickered on the fingertips of the grandmaster, each emitting a unique luster, red like flames, blue like the deep sea, green like emerald. This combination of Yin-Yang and Five Elements talismans seemed to have compressed many miniature worlds, combining lightness and heaviness in one.

The autumn wind blowing by your side can naturally bring out a sense of sadness. People who know something about the famous masters of the Chu Dynasty should be able to quickly think of Chu Qifeng, the head of the "Tiangong Pavilion", the first of the strongest masters of the previous generation of the Chu Dynasty, "Qifengkuyuqingtengluan".

As one of the few "masters" with the best skills in the world who has already entered the seventh realm, Chu Qifeng's status is undoubtedly above all the people who have appeared in the bidding conference so far. It is rumored that he has been in seclusion in recent years due to some disagreements with the political views of the Emperor of Chu.

However, such a legendary figure was traveling quietly with the Emperor of Chu at this moment, standing silently behind each other, and they seemed to have a close relationship and trust each other.

This makes people speculate that Ming Xiao does not have a good reputation outside. It is said that the King of Chu, who is lustful, mediocre, and dislikes state affairs, is actually just low-key and peaceful in his dealings, and his real methods are quite clever.

Considering that Chu Liuyun of Xiajiang Workshop should be the relative of Chu Qifeng of Tiangong Pavilion, and he came here with Emperor Chu, he probably already knew something about the "Grain-Producing Divine Machine" and understood its importance. This was completely within Zhao Qing's expectations and plans.

"Just call me Xiong Qian." The Chu Emperor's voice was gentle but powerful. He nodded slightly and admitted his identity: "Let me make a bold guess. You two should not be practitioners from our dynasty. What are you doing in Yingdu? Maybe I can help you."

"We are just visiting here. We are quite interested in the bidding conference in Chu capital, so we came to take a look." Zhao Qing replied casually, as if he was not concerned about the appearance of the supreme ruler of a country. He said calmly: "Your Majesty has come to visit specially. I am afraid you have something to ask for?"

"There are indeed some things I would like to ask you in detail." The Emperor of Chu slowly approached and gently placed the food box in his hand on a tree stump in front of the two men.

The food box was well-made, with fine wood and intricate and delicate dragon and phoenix patterns carved on it. It contained two layers of heat-preserving and fresh-keeping magic arrays and was decorated with a few roses. It was obviously made by a master.

"Within ten days, the ground in Bashan Mountain cracked and a spring appeared, a meteor suddenly appeared in Yangshan Mountain, and a formation in Wushan Mountain went awry... I'm afraid these strange phenomena are all related to the two of you, right?"

He laughed as he spoke, and sat down on the earthen chair that Chu Qifeng had created by controlling the talisman with his little finger. He looked at Zhao Qing and Xia Mi, and sensed the latter's aura that was similar to that of the blind dragon, but different:
"The great masters who are so rare in the world have come together. As the host of this place, how can I not come to welcome them?"

While Zhao Qing was observing Emperor Chu, Emperor Chu was also relying on his profound cultivation and mysterious secret methods to try his best to investigate the details of Zhao Qing and Xia Mi. He saw countless small worlds of birth and death, endless hanging brilliant galaxies, and a vast ocean of billions of sword auras and sword intents.

The deeper you go in your practice, the less time you have left in your life. The more you realize how wonderful practice is, and the more you realize how unattainable the higher realms are.

However, when the Emperor of Chu concentrated his mind, he vaguely sensed some energy that went beyond the scope of the Eight Realms of Awakening as recorded in ancient books, a feeling of detachment from the world, as if he was immortal, the root of all dharmas, and the source of all paths.

Although it was difficult to confirm and distinguish, it was basically certain that the other party had not yet truly entered the eighth realm. However, he was still shocked in his heart and instantly felt sincere respect for her, knowing that this was a person who could quickly become a leader in the cultivation world no matter where she went.

For some reason, after meeting the two people in the intelligence, the King of Chu seemed to be in a good mood to talk, and added: "You two came to Chu from Qin territory, and have never revealed your identities in the Qin Dynasty before, but you are willing to meet and talk with me, which means that you are more concerned about Chu than Qin. Although this is our first meeting, you are already my close friends."

Zhao Qing and Xia Mi smiled at each other. They were not surprised by the direct question and goodwill of the King of Chu. After all, as the ruler of a country, it would be difficult for the King of Chu to keep his throne if he did not have the ability to see through everything.

"Your Majesty, you have a keen eye and ears. We admire you." Zhao Qing smiled slightly, neither admitting nor denying, and asked, "I just don't know, Your Majesty, besides confirming your identity, what other instructions do you have for me?"

Emperor Chu smiled lightly, his eyes deep: "I can't say I'm giving you advice, but I've increasingly felt in recent years that the progress of the cultivation world, and even the prosperity of the entire country, often does not entirely depend on the talents of the practitioners, but more on their vision and ideas."

"Vision determines the pattern, and ideas lead innovation. I watched today's bidding conference, and saw a dazzling array of various talismans, but it was difficult to hide one fact - most craftsmen are still confined to the old framework, and there are few groundbreaking works."

"As outsiders, you two have high cultivation and often comprehend the myriad things in the world. Naturally, your vision is extraordinary. Perhaps you can have a deeper understanding. I wonder if you can share some of your insights? If you gain anything, I will reward you handsomely!"

Zhao Qing smiled slightly when she heard this, and her eyes swept over the craftsmen and spectators who were busy cleaning up the mess and setting up new targets. She had already made up her mind. She spoke slowly, her voice clear and penetrating:

"Your Majesty is right. Vision and ideas are indeed the key to the progress of practitioners and even countries. However, how can these vision and ideas be formed out of thin air? They are rooted in the environment, influenced by education, and achieved through practice."

"The reason why the Qin Dynasty was able to rise so quickly among the other states was because it dealt a heavy blow to the old powerful families with their own agenda through reforms, and established a more advanced mechanism for cultivating and selecting practitioners, allowing talented and ambitious practitioners to stand out without being restricted by their backgrounds."

After hearing this, Emperor Chu nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, the reason why our dynasty cannot produce cultivators as powerful as the Bashan Sword Field in the past is not only because of our over-reliance on artifacts, but also because of the uneven distribution of resources between the powerful and wealthy and the cultivation resources, which has caused various problems."

"Many practitioners with talent and ideas find it difficult to make a name for themselves due to a lack of sufficient resources and support. On the contrary, those practitioners who come from powerful families, even if they have average talent, can obtain a large amount of practice resources and opportunities with the power of their family."

"How can such an environment inspire the potential and creativity of practitioners?"

Isn't your Chu royal family the most powerful family? Isn't the Chu Emperor himself the ultimate embodiment of the unfair distribution of cultivation resources? Xia Mi complained in her heart, but did not speak. She lowered her head, opened the food box, and looked at the food inside.

Seeing that Xia Mi didn't say anything, Zhao Qing knew what she was thinking, but he didn't point it out. He just took over the words of the Emperor of Chu and continued to analyze in depth: "Your Majesty, what you said is exactly the crux of the problem. If you want to solve the problems of the cultivation world of the Chu Dynasty, you must start with the most fundamental system."

"Those powerful families who have long been enfeoffed in local counties have intertwined interests with each other and control the promotion of officials. They are like a spider web, impenetrable. They even have a large number of practitioners and private armies, constantly accumulating wealth and power. Although it is called Chu, it is no different from other countries."

"This situation not only hinders the emergence of talented practitioners, but also causes a large loss of national tax revenue, leaving the treasury empty and unable to support large-scale wars and construction. In the long run, the prosperity of Chu is only superficial, but in fact it is plagued by internal and external troubles and crises." Upon hearing this, the King of Chu looked solemn. After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke: "The road to reform is full of thorns. If we are not careful, it may cause turmoil and even endanger the foundation of the country. Our dynasty has gone through hundreds of years and has a solid foundation, but at the same time, it also has deep-rooted problems. How easy is it to implement reforms?"

"However, I also understand that if we do not change, our dynasty will only be eliminated by the times. Therefore, I have been looking for a suitable time, an opportunity to implement changes."

Zhao Qing smiled slightly when he heard this, and asked, "Your Majesty, the opportunity you mentioned is this military talisman bidding conference?"

The Chu Emperor admitted frankly: "The bidding conference is just the beginning. My real purpose is to use this conference to catch those Qin spies hiding in the dark and trying to steal the secrets of our dynasty's talismans. At the same time, I also want to take this opportunity to see the true level of our dynasty's cultivation world."

“Of course, if possible, I also hope to find some talented practitioners who are loyal to the Chu Dynasty through this conference to reserve talents for future changes.”

From his words, it seemed that he completely trusted Zhao Qing and the other two, and did not harbor any doubts about them because they came from Qin territory. Instead, he seemed to tacitly acknowledge their hostility towards the Qin Dynasty. He even started discussing important national affairs from the beginning and regarded them as reliable allies.

Zhao Qing nodded slightly, with a hint of appreciation in her eyes. The honesty and foresight of the Emperor of Chu gave her a deeper understanding of the Emperor.

She knew very well that the Emperor of Chu naturally did not really believe in her and Xia Mi, but was impressed by their abilities and insights, and hoped to use external forces to promote changes in the State of Chu. This would be the best way for her to create a fake identity and "personality" and participate in many affairs of the Chu Dynasty.

"However, what kind of soil grows what kind of crops, and destroying the spy network set up by the Qin Dynasty requires more than just a bidding conference."

Zhao Qing looked at the Emperor of Chu and spoke slowly: "As I said before, it is better to treat the root cause than to treat the symptoms. We need to start from the environment, otherwise we will just be like weeds that cannot be eradicated."

Upon hearing this, the King of Chu frowned slightly, and seemed quite interested in what Zhao Qing said: "I would like to hear the details."

Zhao Qing continued, "The reason why the Qin Dynasty was able to set up such a huge spy network in various countries is not only because of their own strength, but also because of the transfer of interests between the powerful families in various countries. For their own interests, these powerful families often do not hesitate to collude with the enemy and sell out the interests of their own country."

"The exchange of interests between the powerful families and the Qin Dynasty is the soil for the existence of the spy network. Only by cutting off this chain of interests can the spy network have nowhere to hide." She added: "But this is by no means a simple matter of eradicating the spies and the families behind them, but starting from the economic foundation of production relations."

"Production relations? Economic foundation? What does this mean?" The King of Chu asked, "Is it to establish a strict circulation control system for cultivation resources like the You Dynasty in the past? Or is it..."

"Let's talk about another issue first."

Knowing that the other party could not understand these concepts all at once, Zhao Qing changed the subject: "How much tax does the Chu Dynasty's treasury receive every year? Are these taxes sufficient? Have they been strictly counted and confirmed? I'm afraid even Your Majesty doesn't have a definite answer to these questions, right?"

Zhao Qing's words hit the nail on the head, and the Chu Emperor's expression became more solemn. He was silent for a moment, as if weighing the truth and weight of Zhao Qing's words, and finally slowly said:

"Yes, taxation has always been a major concern for the court. The powerful and wealthy often evade taxes through various means, and local officials are either afraid of their power or collude with them, resulting in a large amount of tax revenue being lost. The actual revenue of the national treasury each year is far lower than it should be."

The Chu Emperor's tone revealed a bit of helplessness: "Although our dynasty has a vast territory and population, the tax revenue that can be used for national construction and war is far from enough. During the decades I have been in office, at least a dozen counties have been completely perfunctory and tantamount to separatist regimes."

"In fact, the lack of basic grain collection alone has made our army unable to fight a long-distance war, not to mention dealing with a possible large-scale famine. In order not to show weakness in front of the outside court, several large granaries in Yingdu that were not open on the surface have long been empty, and all of them have been used to make up for the losses in the war."

"With the treasury empty, the large number of garrison troops heavily rely on supplies from other counties and are unable to sustain themselves. As a result, they are constrained by the local clans and it is difficult to send out a large army to eliminate these tumors. This is a vicious cycle." Zhao Qing added:

"The powerful and wealthy families further weakened the authority and strength of the central government by controlling local resources. As a result, the power of local counties and prefectures expanded further, causing the entire Chu Dynasty to fall into a deeper and deeper quagmire. The only way to solve this dilemma is to adopt the method of centralized large-scale production..."

At this point, Zhao Qing switched to another topic: "However, in my opinion, the biggest problem of the Chu Dynasty at present is probably the issue of appointing a crown prince. Your Majesty's delay in appointing a crown prince not only affects the future of the Chu Dynasty, but is also one of the root causes of the current turmoil."

"As your majesty's life is drawing to a close, many forces in the court are ready to make a move. The supporters of the various princes will only become more divided and opposed, and may even have the idea of ​​colluding with the outside court and plotting something ill. This is undoubtedly a serious hidden danger, and we must not delay the appointment of an heir because it will cause turmoil."

Chu Qifeng, who was standing nearby, was also shocked when he heard people from other courts making comments about the ownership of their country's throne. Many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and then he waved his fingers quickly, setting up several layers of wind barriers covered with talisman lines to block the sight and hearing of others.

Some nearby wood flew up into the air, and the wind blades carried by the talisman lines in mid-air accurately cut, spliced, and placed in the area where the four people were. In a blink of an eye, a pavilion with gorgeous carvings was built, and many prohibitions were set up in the pavilion.

Is this something that can be put on the table? Xia Mi also raised her head and looked around for routes suitable for tactical retreat. Suddenly, a wisp of the blind dragon's life energy appeared in her hand, which could be used to call the other party to quickly enter the city for support.

"I understand the reason, but the position of Crown Prince has been vacant for a long time because my sons are too disappointing. Now there is not even one who has cultivated to the seventh level of Grandmaster. The one with the highest level is actually the hostage 'Li Lingjun' in Qin Changling, who is completely incapable of taking on important tasks."

The Emperor of Chu had obviously thought about this before, and immediately replied: "In ancient times, if the emperors' cultivation was far inferior to that of the important officials in the court, their actions in all aspects would be strictly restricted, and most of them became puppet kings, which was the source of the country's destruction. How can I repeat the same mistake?"

"In recent years, I have been practicing secret techniques internally and searching for elixirs externally to forcibly prolong my life, hoping for the final miracle to happen."

"So that's how it is." Zhao Qing pondered secretly in his mind, thinking about the seventeen princes and twenty-three princesses of the Great Chu Dynasty, none of whom could enter the seventh realm. There were also rumors that many of them were insane, stupid, and physically deformed. He roughly guessed the reason.

She thought for a moment and asked, "Among the Chu's heavy weapons, are there any that can emit invisible rays that can kill people, causing their bodies to fester and be difficult to recover? It's similar to the killing effect of Zheng Xiu's Starfire Comet Tail Sword, but it doesn't necessarily contain star energy."

"There is indeed such a thing, it is called 'Erosion Bead'."

Emperor Chu was slightly stunned, then replied: "This talisman was made by several saints in my dynasty over the past hundred years. It is the essence obtained from the smelting of a bright yellow glowing rock. It is brittle and quite heavy, and has the characteristics of extinction similar to the vitality of stars."

...(End of chapter)