Longzang

Chapter 1086 With Everyone's Hearts United

Wei Yuan led the cultivators back from the desolate realm, and the cultivators went to rest and recuperate on their own to repair their physical injuries.

Wei Yuan entered the Pure Land Temple, looked at the eight sticks of incense in the incense burner, picked up the Three Realms Wish-Fulfilling Scripture, pondered for a moment, and then left the temple, returning to the Desolate Realm alone once again.

This time, instead of going to the Sharp Edge Fortress, he randomly chose a deserted wilderness, sat down on a flat boulder, and conjured up a writing desk, paper, and pen. Wei Yuan picked up the pen, feeling as if the bamboo pen weighed a thousand pounds.

He pondered for a long time before finally picking up his pen and writing:
"...All who ask will be answered; all who need will receive. The elderly will be cared for, and the young will be educated. The people will live in peace and enjoy the joys of tranquility. May all things find their proper place, and may all beings fulfill their desires..."

After finishing this section, Wei Yuan stopped writing, sensed the world around him, and found that the Heavenly Dao was only slightly disturbed and there were no obvious changes. Only then did he feel relieved.

It seems that writing scriptures in the Desolate Realm is indeed feasible. This place is independent of the world of this realm and has three heavenly pillars. The Great Dao of Heaven and Earth is strongly suppressed, so even a major event like writing scriptures is not affected by cause and effect.

But as the story progressed, another problem arose. If, as Wei Yuan wished, such a prosperous era could be achieved in this world, how should it be accomplished?
After pondering for a long time, Wei Yuan finally wrote down a seemingly random sentence: This is not solely due to great strength, but rather to the concerted efforts of the people.

As Wei Yuan wrote this sentence, he felt that the path ahead seemed a little clearer. The initial thinking and guidance of Wei Yuan played a crucial role in Qingming's development to its current state, but as public awareness grew and template-based foundations emerged in large numbers, many industries began to develop and innovate independently.

In the most basic industries like brocade weaving and cotton spinning, an ordinary Dao Foundation cultivator came up with a method to extract and reweave the fibers of spirit wood bark, and then weave the spirit wood fibers into the fabric in a specific way, thus creating an array integrated into the fabric.

This spiritual fabric possesses inherent magical defense, and upon its invention, it immediately reduced the price of magical artifacts and robes worn by Dao Foundation cultivators to one-tenth of their original price.

Just one year later, Qingming produced more than 100,000 sets of Dao Foundation robes. Two years later, each template Dao Foundation could have a robe. High-level Dao Foundations not only had several sets to change into, but they could also choose the style and color.

Three years later, all the robe-making artisans in the states of Zhao and Western Jin went bankrupt.

Similar inventions are emerging in rapid succession, almost exploding in number. Just as more and more people in the bustling world are questioning, what use is the Creator Immortal Venerable now?

Not only did they question him, but they also constantly tried to persuade the leaders of the Fighting Saint Hall to take over the position of Creator Immortal. However, their efforts were repeatedly rejected by the leaders, who not only ruthlessly refused but also arrested those who instigated the trouble and sent them to the Yellow Springs Cave for reincarnation.

After this happened several times, these people dared not cause too much trouble. As long as they didn't escalate the situation to the museum owners, everyone acted as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, the burdens of prosperity in all realms grew heavier, with the daily tasks increasing. Mortals were mostly busy, and once they got busy, many forgot about the great cause of rebellion.

After ascending from the mundane world to the prosperous realms, the power of the grotto-heavens began to permeate and influence the continent. Mortals were naturally influenced by its attributes, and several new major sects emerged.

While undertaking tasks, ordinary people discovered they could also linger within the system and learn from the vast and boundless knowledge of the world. Thus, countless ordinary people began to learn spontaneously, unaware of the changes this would bring.

Just when life seemed to be going on peacefully, the Creator Immortal finally made a move. Another small island rose from the sea, and the Creator Immortal used his great magic to create many buildings on the island. Overnight, skyscrapers sprang up everywhere.

This miraculous creation of a city overnight instantly extinguished the rebellious thoughts of many. But countless others, with unwavering resolve and steely will, quietly buried the seeds of resistance deep within their hearts, waiting for their chance.

They couldn't really explain why they had to rebel against the Creator Immortal, but the important thing was to rebel; what they were rebelling against wasn't really important.

After the new city in the sea was completed, Wei Yuan randomly selected a group of mortals and cultivators and sent them to the new city.

The new city has everything; everyone is provided with an extremely luxurious residence, and it's equipped with numerous entertainment facilities, all exceeding the limits, modeled after an outer world. The theme of this new island is hedonism and decadence. Cultivators from all walks of life have been sent here, even Dugu Cangqiong, who has been placed on the top floor of a large building.

Now that everyone in Qingming is wealthy, all sorts of strange and wonderful entertainment have developed rapidly, and many merchant guilds have set their sights on brothels, an industry that has existed since ancient times. In the blink of an eye, brothels of all sizes have sprung up all over cities and towns.

Some chambers of commerce even began attempting to smuggle banned drugs, transporting various potent substances that even those at the peak of Body Forging could hardly resist into Qingming. These drugs were similar in function to Five-Stone Powder, both capable of inducing extreme hallucinations, but their potency was far greater, making them extremely difficult to quit once ingested.

These banned drugs first entered Ding'an City, and by the time City Lord Bao Yun noticed them, they had already spread to surrounding cities. There were already thousands of Body Forging cultivators addicted to the drugs, while not many ordinary people were harmed, mainly because they couldn't afford them.

Bao Yun immediately took action, apprehending all members of the chamber of commerce and arresting everyone involved in distributing and selling banned drugs.

When Wei Yuan learned of this, he personally examined the bodies of the cultivators who had taken the medicine to forge their bodies, and then discovered that many of them had suffered permanent damage to their sea of ​​consciousness. He was immediately furious!
However, Wei Yuan did not immediately punish these members of the chamber of commerce. Instead, he spread the word that the ringleader would be executed a month later. As a result, one of the behind-the-scenes bosses of the chamber of commerce rushed over to try to get a pardon and redeem the men, but was detained by Wei Yuan as soon as he arrived.

The guild's behind-the-scenes boss was the youngest son of a marquis in the State of Zhao. Upon hearing the news, the marquis rushed to Qingming to plead for mercy, but unexpectedly, upon arriving in Qingming, he himself was captured.

Seeing that he had caught the mastermind, Wei Yuan no longer held back and ignored all pleas for mercy. He directly beheaded the marquis and his son, along with more than a hundred high-ranking members of the Chamber of Commerce, without any hesitation.

As for the thousands of lower and middle-class members of the Chamber of Commerce, even the rickshaw pullers and laborers, they were all labeled as criminals and sent to the mines to serve thirty years of hard labor.

Wei Yuan's handling of this matter was unprecedented in the world. He even executed the Marquis of Zhao without hesitation, killing him after luring him in. This immediately deterred all forces that wanted to take advantage of the banned drugs.

After this incident, Wei Yuan noticed that many people in Qingming developed other needs after becoming wealthy, as the saying goes, "when you're full and warm, you start thinking about other things."

Based on the experience of the outer world, the entertainment industry can be infinitely large. However, in the history books of this world, there is a saying about the collapse of social order and music, and the consequences are described as extremely serious.

Wei Yuan hadn't read about the severity of the consequences in the book, so he didn't understand why the people's entertainment had to be restricted. It was as if the sages couldn't bear to see the people happy.

For drugs like banned substances that permanently damage one's consciousness and ruin one's path to enlightenment, Wei Yuan has resolved to kill them all. Currently, he's only targeting those within Qingming territory; if the mastermind hides abroad in the future, Wei Yuan wouldn't mind sending troops to capture them.

However, Wei Yuan largely turned a blind eye to other industries, such as storytelling and brothels. The poor read storytelling, while the rich went to brothels; this was one of the few forms of entertainment available to Qingming at present.

Most people haven't even had a few years of good life, while Body Forging cultivators have already exhausted most of their energy with daily work and cultivation, so their need for entertainment is only just beginning to emerge.

But small signs can reveal big things; once they start to emerge, a surge is bound to follow.

Therefore, Wei Yuan made two preparations. On the one hand, he increased the subsidies for body forging to encourage mortals to forge their bodies. Once they started forging their bodies, they wouldn't have much energy left for anything else.

On the other hand, Wei Yuan built the Island of 'Drunken Dreams' amidst the prosperity of the various realms, just to see to what extent morality and social order could collapse in an environment of pleasure to the point of death.

While Wei Yuan was busy making mortals happy, he was unaware that the spiritual mountain deep within the Great Treasure Flower Pure Land was shaking, and the lotus thrones of the fruit positions were collapsing one after another, like an avalanche!

(End of this chapter)