txolops Chapter 80 Imperial decrees are as heavy as mountains, human lives are as cheap as grass
Chapter 80 Imperial decrees are as heavy as mountains, human lives are as cheap as grass
Chapter 80 Imperial Decrees Are as Heavy as Mountains, Human Lives Are as Cold as Grass (Seeking First Subscriptions!!!)
Gu Yan walked up to the unfinished paper figure.
That was Afu's work; the frame was crooked, and the paste for pasting the paper was unevenly applied.
He reached out and gently straightened the paper figure's spine.
"Some spines, once broken, can never be straightened."
Gu Yan muttered to himself, referring not only to the paper figure, but also to the state of the world.
He sat behind the dusty counter, took out the account book stained with blood and mud, and began to look through it.
The rustling sound of turning the pages was like the wailing of the vengeful spirits of the people.
"In the 29th year of the Wei calendar, winter. Heavy snow. The Immortal Master Shangzong needed to refine the Nine-Turn Rejuvenation Pill and requisitioned 300 placenta carts. The prefect ordered that all women who were more than seven months pregnant be forced to give birth. The official kiln town was assigned 20 carts. In the end, three pregnant women and twelve children died."
"In the spring of the thirty-first year of the Wei calendar, there was a severe drought. The Lingyan Sect urgently needed the energy of Geng metal to repair the protective array of the mountain. The imperial court ordered the confiscation of ironware from the people, including pots, pans and bowls, and also ordered each household to hand over ten catties of refined iron. Those without iron were to pay off their debts by sending men to the mines. Forty-two able-bodied men were conscripted from Guanyao Town, and none of them survived."
"In the summer of the thirty-third year of the Wei calendar, there was a great flood. The guardian spirit beast of the Beast Taming Sect, the Azure Water Golden-Eyed Beast, gave birth to a cub, which required a large amount of fresh blood to nourish the mother. The imperial court ordered the destruction of the downstream dike of Changning County, ostensibly to release the floodwaters and protect the city, but in reality to divert the floodwaters to densely populated villages, thus creating an accidental drowning of people and livestock. Three villages downstream of Guanyao Town were completely submerged overnight and turned into a hunting ground. Fifty-six people from the town who went to look for their relatives all perished in the fish's belly, and their remains were never found."
"In the autumn of the thirty-ninth year of the Wei calendar, there was a bountiful harvest. An elder of the Hehuan Sect wanted to refine a magical paper fan, which required the entire back of a young girl to be used as paper, and her skin had to be fair and without any blemishes. Under the pretext of a royal selection, the county magistrate conscripted girls aged twelve to fourteen from the entire county. Nine girls were forcibly abducted from Guanyao Town, and half a month later, their bodies were wrapped in straw mats and thrown back into the mass grave. Their corpses had all been skinned and had their tendons pulled out, making them look like vengeful ghosts."
When Gu Yan turned to the last page, his face was terribly gloomy, and his fists clenched involuntarily.
Every instance of embezzlement and every human life recorded on this cannibalistic menu would have been enough to bring down the regime of any small country in my past life.
But on the edge of the cultivation world where absolute power reigns supreme, the anger of mortals is too insignificant, not even as loud as a cultivator's sneeze.
After transmigrating, he always knew that the world of cultivation was cruel, and mortals were like ants.
Despite possessing such a cheat code, he never truly shared the same circumstances as ordinary people.
In the Liuyun Sect, he was a high-ranking immortal master, enjoying spiritual rice and spring water, never thinking about where these resources came from.
Now, this ledger has laid bare the veil of tenderness.
The so-called royal family of Wei is nothing more than sheepdogs supported by various cultivation sects.
The emperor was the foreman, the officials were the supervisors, and the hundreds of millions of ordinary people were like pigs and sheep being raised in pens.
Their flesh, bone marrow, and even their souls after death were completely dismantled and continuously supplied to those high-ranking immortal sects and those cultivators who would stop at nothing to achieve immortality through that invisible conduit.
This naturally includes Gu Yan.
"Clay Buddha, oh clay Buddha—"
Gu Yan closed the ledger, his fingertips tracing the rough cover.
"You want to overthrow the Wei Kingdom? That's a pipe dream. As long as there are cultivators and immortal monsters in this world, even if Wei falls, there will be Zhao and Qian. Can you kill one corrupt official, or all these gods and Buddhas in the heavens?"
This is a vicious cycle that leads to despair.
Unless someone can transcend these rules and reshape the world.
Gu Yan chuckled self-deprecatingly. He was not a saint, nor did he have any grand ambition to save the world.
All he wanted was to survive in this chaotic world, to live a little longer, and to live a little better.
But that doesn't stop him from chopping off the hands of those who eat in a disgusting manner when he has the power to do so.
"Buzz—"
Just then, the City God's Seal, which he had casually placed on the table, suddenly emitted a resounding hum like a great bell.
The seal, which had been dull and lifeless due to excessive consumption, was transformed like a phoenix rising from the ashes, with the rust on its surface peeling away inch by inch, revealing a layer of golden-red halo.
This aura was neither as cold and domineering as spiritual energy, nor as pungent and acrid as malevolent energy.
It exudes an indescribable warmth and depth, like the warm sun breaking through the clouds in winter, or like the wisp of smoke rising from the stove when a traveler returns home.
Gu Yan's heart stirred, and he reached out and grasped the hand seal.
In an instant, the narrow and dimly lit paper-making shop in front of Gu Yan vanished into thin air.
He felt as if he were in a vast galaxy, where countless noisy yet sincere prayers turned into fireflies, converging from all directions and gently lifting him up.
"Thank you, City God, for your divine intervention—saving my entire family's lives—"
"Your Excellency has mercy and sent my poor child to the afterlife."
"This devout woman is willing to dedicate her life to vegetarianism and chanting Buddhist prayers, in order to rebuild the golden statue of the City God—"
These sounds are no longer simple words and phrases, but countless delicate yet resilient golden threads of cause and effect.
They pierced through the barrier between immortals and mortals, carrying the scalding heat of hope, and poured into Gu Yan's body without reservation.
Gu Yan subconsciously closed his eyes and involuntarily assumed a five-heart-facing-heaven cultivation posture.
These incense offerings and prayers come from the survivors of Guanyao Town.
Unlike the mixed incense offerings he obtained through deception at the City God Temple, this time the power of his vow was pure and without any impurities.
Because this is heartfelt gratitude, the joy of surviving a catastrophe, and the purest form of faith.
This pure and powerful will did not violently wash over the meridians like spiritual energy.
Instead, it transformed into a golden drizzle, silently seeping into his limbs, bones, and internal organs.
Upon introspection, Gu Yan was deeply shaken.
Originally, the foundation, which had been somewhat unstable due to the forced enhancement at the Dragon Transformation Pool, gradually became incredibly solid under the influence of this incense power.
Even the instability of the soul caused by the rapid pace of cultivation, which was always present, disappeared.
Gu Yan suddenly opened his eyes. In his dark eyes, which were originally of ordinary appearance, it seemed as if golden lotuses were blooming, flowing with a kind of majesty and compassion that made people dare not look directly at him.
"I see!"
Gu Yan raised his hand, looking at the wisp of pale golden aura swirling around his fingertips, and murmured to himself.
"In ancient times, great cultivators built temples in the mortal world to receive incense offerings from all people, not for the sake of coveting those offerings, but to use the illusory to cultivate the true."
The so-called foundation building refers to the hundred-day foundation building process, which is to forge the platform for the Great Way.
Ordinary cultivators establish their foundation by using themselves as a furnace and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as charcoal to forcibly liquefy gaseous spiritual power.
Just as building a tall tower with sand and gravel requires a binding agent like the Foundation Building Pill, which is full of poison, to prevent it from collapsing.
Even if it manages to take shape, it will be impure and disorderly, cutting off the path to the heavens in the future.
This incense and vow power transcends the mortal world, yet is rooted in the secular world; it is the most perfect adhesive for cultivators to build their foundation!
It can fill the innate deficiencies in spiritual root aptitude, heal the countless holes in the Dao heart, and even melt the scattered sand and gravel into a unified crystal golden body!
With this foundation, there is no need for elixirs or worries about bottlenecks.
If the Heavenly Dao Foundation Building is borrowing the power of Heaven and Earth, then the Incense and Divine Dao Foundation Building is gathering the power of all people to perform an act against Heaven.
"If we don't rely on Foundation Establishment Pills, but instead use a massive amount of pure incense as a catalyst, combined with my near-perfect four spiritual roots and the ever-renewing nature of the 'Evergreen and Withering Technique'—"
Gu Yan's heart began to pound violently.
He seemed to see a majestic golden platform slowly rising in his dantian.
That altar was pure white and spotless, untouched by dust, enough to bear the cultivation of ten thousand years and point directly to the path of immortality.
This is not just a shortcut, but a smooth road that surpasses all others throughout history, leading to the highest divine throne.
When the foundation of the Dao is laid, look up and see that the gods and Buddhas in the sky are all reflections of myself!
"Guanyao Town is just the beginning."
Gu Yan looked at the hand seal in his hand, his eyes gradually becoming fervent.
"Changning County has a population of 300,000. If I could get all 300,000 people to sincerely worship me, the combined power of their offerings would be immense—"
This is enough for him to forge the most perfect foundation for his Dao!
But that's difficult.
To gain genuine worship, deception alone is insufficient; one must possess substantial merit.
"To save people, you have to kill them first."
Gu Yan tucked the account book into his robes, his fingers lightly tapping the table. "Since the Wei Kingdom's oppressive rule is like a tiger, then I'll be the tiger-slaying Wu Song. It allows me to follow my heart and reap the rewards of goodwill—why not?"
Outside the window, the rooster crowed three times, and the sky was bright.
Sunlight pierced through the dark clouds and shone on the wet bluestone road in Changning County.
Gu Yan stood up, dusted off his Taoist robe, put the cannibalistic cookbook back into his pocket, and went out to open the door.
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