Longzang

Chapter 1096 A Beautiful New Era

In September of the twelfth year of Hongjing, Qingming once again welcomed its annual Dao Foundation Conference. This conference produced more than 50,000 model Dao Foundations, an unprecedented scale that became commonplace throughout the land.

Within the Azure Netherworld, most template Dao Foundations work in industries such as factories, energy, and mining. Outside the Azure Netherworld, template Dao Foundations are either born out of wedlock and hold low-level official positions, or are direct descendants, who are dedicated to prolonging life and are never considered for high office.

Therefore, even now, most aristocratic families view the Dao Foundation model as a mere ornament, all show and no substance, and do not value it highly. Furthermore, due to limitations in their cultivation, they are unable to climb to high positions. With each passing year of the Dao Foundation Ceremony, even the Ji, Zhao, Cui, and Zhao Li families have treated it as a routine event, no longer taking it seriously.

Only in the Azure Netherworld, because of the Dao Foundation Loan, the Dao Foundation Ceremony became a grand event that attracted the attention of everyone. Countless mortals eagerly awaited it, hoping to leap over the dragon gate at the ceremony and change their destiny.

After the grand ceremony, Wei Yuan, as usual, received a surge of fortune. This fortune came not only from the more than 50,000 templates for his new achievements, but also from the more than ten million people currently undergoing body forging, and even their families, friends, and enemies. Seeing so many template foundations emerging, everyone saw hope. And the satisfaction of mortals is simple: to have enough to eat and wear, and to see hope—that is fortune.

Good fortune was rolling in, but Wei Yuan had already gotten used to it and continued to bury himself in domestic affairs.

The allocation of new template bases is a major event. Yu Zhizhuo's mining industry, Chuhe's earth-moving and flower-growing industry, Sun Yu's medical industry, and Xu Henshui's elixir industry are all large-scale industries, all of which require a huge number of people.

The template cultivators each had their preferred destinations, and due to their sheer number, this two-way selection process became extremely complex. Fortunately, the Prosperous Realms had exceptional processing capabilities, and quickly provided each cultivator with a career planning suggestion based on their individual circumstances and future development.

The advice now provided by Zhujie Fanhua, or Qingming official, is quite authoritative. Countless past cases have proven that following Zhujie Fanhua's advice will, in most cases, lead to smooth sailing. First, one can successfully reach the bottleneck of their own talent, and then apply for a Dharma loan to try to break through the limits of their talent and see if they can take another step forward.

Naturally, some people will accept advice, while others will refuse to accept it no matter what.

Although these people constitute a small percentage, they will always exist. Most of them will choose a thorny and bumpy path according to their own preferences, enduring hardship without seeking it, which they call going against the grain. The advantage of some of them is that they will realize their mistakes after repeated setbacks, but their disadvantage is that they will resolutely refuse to change.

At this time, Wei Yuan's focus was on the few people at the very bottom of society who were struggling to survive due to various accidents, and he paid no attention to those who went against the will of Heaven.

As for the middle class, commonly known as the middle class, Wei Yuan didn't pay much attention to them.

Most of these people have become role models, with stable jobs and families to rely on. Their living standards have improved, but their expenses have also skyrocketed. They are burdened with various loans, and if they don't work for a few months, their whole family will go hungry. Most importantly, if they don't work, they will lose face and dignity. Not only will their boasts not be fulfilled, but they will also be frequently mentioned behind their backs or even to their faces as a laughing stock.

Therefore, these people do not need Wei Yuan's attention or encouragement; they will work hard on their own, and even if their Dao heart is occasionally broken, they can numb themselves and repair themselves.

Only after they have completely fallen to the bottom will they come into Wei Yuan's sight and receive various subsidies and assistance to maintain their basic needs.

Food and clothing are the bottom line that Wei Yuan set for all the common people in Qingming. No matter what the reason, every common person should have basic food and clothing.

As for whether the middle class can move up in social status, according to the statistics of Zhujie Prosperity, the probability is practically zero. However, because the middle class is so numerous, there are always exceptions. Therefore, Wei Yuan repeatedly uses these individual cases for publicity, and everyone loves to see them.

Therefore, overall, in Wei Yuan's current priorities, the middle class is actually quite low down. Their talent has already determined that their limit is here, and only a very few can go further. Their ties and loans also give them a high level of motivation to work hard, so it's best to leave them as they are.

Just three days after the Dao Foundation Ceremony ended, Wei Yuan was still struggling with a mountain of official duties when suddenly an idea struck him. He then activated the Qi Observation Method, which he had only recently mastered, to observe the Qi of the entire Azure Netherworld.

In Wei Yuan's current vision, Qingming resembled a vast sea of ​​clouds, its aura rich, high, and stable. Just then, the sea of ​​clouds suddenly parted, and a red sun leaped out from it, its golden rays cascading down, turning the boundless sea of ​​clouds into raging flames.

Wei Yuan was taken aback; this was extraordinary fortune!
His figure vanished from his original spot in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, he appeared above a residence outside Ding'an City.

The mansion was quite large, clearly belonging to a wealthy family. Everyone inside was holding their breath, not daring to make a sound as they walked. The tribulation clouds in the sky were slowly dissipating; the heavenly tribulation had barely taken shape, only managing a symbolic flash of lightning, the power of which was significantly diminished by the lightning rods built into the house.

At this moment, a wild and surging aura suddenly exploded in the back courtyard, and specks of light appeared, dimming the light throughout the entire courtyard, like dusk.

This is a sign that the Dharma form has been successfully cultivated!
The phenomenon was extremely faint, almost imperceptible; even the commotion when Wei Yuan cultivated his Dao Foundation was many times greater. How could such a weak manifestation affect the entire destiny of Qingming?

Wei Yuan focused his gaze and saw a radiant pill above the cultivator's head, emitting a cool moonlight and rotating on its own. This was the Myriad-Bloom Golden Core, the first Golden Core Dharma Form in the entire Azure Netherworld!
Wei Yuan seemed to be deep in thought. The Golden Core Dharma Form was so important that it disturbed the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth, even causing anomalies in the fortune of the Azure Netherworld? Wei Yuan didn't reveal himself, but instead casually blessed the newly formed Dharma Form with fortune to help it stabilize its realm, before quietly departing. The Azure Netherworld now had corresponding regulations for the Dao Foundation and Dharma Form; reaching the appropriate realm would bring corresponding benefits, so there was no need for Wei Yuan to interfere.

With the birth of the first Golden Core Dharma Form, it was as if the window paper had been broken, and more Golden Core Dharma Forms appeared one after another. The Myriad Flower Golden Core and the Myriad Life Golden Core appeared alternately, and by the end of the year, more than fifty Golden Core Dharma Forms had appeared.

The surge of numerous Golden Core Dharma Forms brought about significant changes throughout the entire Azure Netherworld. Firstly, Ji Liuli, in collaboration with Yu Zhizhuo, urgently designed and constructed Dharma Form-level energy stations to help the newly promoted Golden Core Dharma Forms consolidate their Dharma Forms.

Then the Azure Nether Army began to put the research on new equipment specifically for use by Golden Core Dharma Forms on the agenda.

The Golden Elixir Dharma Form is still a Dharma Form, incomparable to ordinary Dao Foundations. In the near future, Golden Elixir Dharma Forms will inevitably appear in large numbers, and it will be necessary to develop specialized equipment and tactics, just like template Dao Foundations.

However, many voices of discontent have also emerged among the public, mostly from veteran Dharma Masters. They argue that welfare and benefits should be determined by rank, and that Dharma Masters should not be treated the same as everyone else. The implication is that Golden Elixir Dharma Masters are not worthy of being compared to them.

A similar situation occurred when template-based foundations emerged in large numbers, so Wei Yuan had already devised a solution: to revise the merit-based welfare ranking system.

The various realms were so prosperous that they could easily accomplish such things and quickly came up with new rules. After reviewing them, Wei Yuan found them feasible and, after soliciting opinions from the cultivators, began to promote them throughout the entire Qingming realm.

Under the new system, the first two classes, criminals and military slaves, will remain unchanged. Neither of these classes will be considered official citizens of Qingming; they will still be in the stage of redeeming their sins through meritorious service. Various criminals and prisoners of war will be included in this category.

Then, the entire system for those above the commoner level was completely overhauled, and uniformly changed to major stages based on cultivation level. Both Dao Foundation and Dharma Aspect levels have corresponding basic welfare benefits, and a new Imperial Realm level has been added, currently only available to the Old Daoist Chuhe.

Within both the Dao Foundation and the Dharma Aspect, there are nine levels. Accumulating enough merit points allows for level upgrades, with each upgrade bringing corresponding improvements in benefits. Clearly, accumulating merit points in the Immortal Foundation is countless times faster than in the Human Foundation, which in turn is much faster than in the template.

If a celestial being works hard, their level will soon far surpass those of other celestial beings, and they will gain status, prestige, and recognition.

The ranks are not static. Each rank has a minimum number of merits required to maintain the rank. The rank is evaluated every three years. Only by meeting the minimum merit requirements can the current rank be maintained; otherwise, the rank will be downgraded.

The new system immediately sparked a new wave of upgrades throughout Qingming! Everyone was working hard to earn merit points in order to level up as soon as possible and gain prestige and recognition.

Starting from January of the thirteenth year of Hongjing, when Qingming cultivators met on the left and right, the way they greeted each other changed accordingly, and they all added a level to their greetings, such as "This senior is the Fourth Dao Ancestor Han Yichen," or "I am Dong Wuming of the Seventh Dharma Master, please give me your guidance."

In the same January of that year, Cangwu finally saw Wei Yuan out for a stroll.

He glanced at Wei Yuan's aura, then silently pretended he wasn't there.

Wei Yuan went for a stroll but didn't see Cangwu, which was quite a disappointment. He had been busy managing internal affairs for a year, and his luck was overflowing, but he couldn't find anyone to scare or boast to, which immediately halved his happiness.

With the implementation of the new system, the enthusiasm for cultivation in Qingming continued to rise. One by one, those who had originally been lying low and preparing to spend their old age, middle age, or youth in peace all came out of the mountains again, working hard and striving to move forward.

There are countless reasons to strive, but if your enemy is fourth-rate while you are only third-rate, then you absolutely cannot tolerate it and must strive.

The young and beautiful female cultivators of Qingming are also secretly competing to see who has a suitor who is a young and talented person between the fifth and thirty-five levels of Dao. Every now and then there are also sad stories of young couples who have been childhood sweethearts and cultivated together to the first level of Dao, only to have the girl run off with someone at the fifth or sixth level of Dao just as they advance.

Wei Yuan's attention wasn't solely focused on cultivators; he was more concerned with mortals who couldn't cultivate, as these were the majority. For those destined to live ordinary lives, food, clothing, shelter, and transportation were their lifelong pursuits, with shelter being of paramount importance.

Currently, the construction speed of residential buildings in Qingming and Yizhou cannot keep up with the demand. In order to appease people, Wei Yuan, after repeated deliberations, launched another important measure after mortgage loans: houses can be sold before they are built, which is called pre-sale housing.

(End of this chapter)