The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

Afterwards, the complete text of the Mingdao Five Paths Method was sent to the side hall where Zhou Xing was located through a secret channel.

Zhou Xing sat by the window, turning the pages of the Dharma manuscript compiled by five masters by candlelight.

From general principles to detailed rules, from mental techniques and formulas to meridian circulation routes.

The arguments are well-organized and rigorous, with each key point supported by multiple perspectives of verification and analysis.

After reading it, he gently placed the manuscript on the table, leaned back in his chair, and suddenly chuckled.

It wasn't joy, it was helplessness.

In his previous life, he was a programmer whose greatest skill was building system architecture, but this architecture was just too solid.

Hu Yuan's "understanding the essence and applying it" is a framework.

Ma Rong's commentaries on the classics form the foundation.

Huang Gan's philosophical reasoning is the core algorithm.

Zhen Dexiu's practical application is an interface specification.

Ouyang Shoudao's village school mnemonic is a user manual.

Five people painstakingly accumulated wealth over two lifetimes.

A complete, replicable system of literary cultivation methods was built from scratch, independent of any family lineage.

With a mix of helpless admiration, he divided the thick stack of manuscripts into several parts.

He wrote a secret letter to each of Xu Jie, Lu Zhi, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wang Anshi, Yao Guangxiao, and Su Shi.

They were packaged together with a copy of the Dharma teachings and sent to various places by Grey Sparrow.

After the gray sparrow flapped its wings and flew into the night, he reopened the general outline of the Dharma under the lamp.

My gaze lingered on the preface written by Hu Yuan herself.

"This method is not the private possession of one family or school, but a public learning jointly created by five families."

"All disciples of Mingdao Academy may study this course, and all those who aspire to learn may be taught it."

He murmured the sentence over and over again, and suddenly felt that these gentlemen had done something even more remarkable than he had expected.

They didn't just create a new method; they broke down an invisible barrier that had lasted for three hundred years.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, Buddhism was never a subject that could be openly taught.

It is a power, a privilege that is firmly held in the hands of a few and never shared with outsiders.

The imperial court never explicitly prohibited the circulation of Buddhist teachings.

However, through an unwritten tacit understanding, generations of families and lineages have kept the Dharma firmly locked within their own secluded mansions.

There are only three ways to obtain the Dharma.

To become a disciple or son-in-law of a prominent family.

Or perform a great service that would make powerful families take the initiative to show goodwill.

Or perhaps, by some stroke of luck, one receives a dying instruction from a senior.

Besides, no matter how many books a poor scholar reads or how much integrity he cultivates, it won't change anything.

They can only remain forever stuck at the invisible ceiling of the peak of the third rank, unable to step into the fourth rank in their entire lives.

This has created an extremely cruel reality.

The civil service positions of the fourth rank and above were almost entirely monopolized by powerful families and sectarian factions.

Scholars from poor families could only linger at the third rank or below, serving as low-level officials and instructors, with no hope of advancement.

Even more cruelly, for those who, like Su Shi, became disciples of the Grand Tutor, and Wang Anshi, studied under Pei Du and received the teachings, the teachings they received came with an invisible shackle.

The method of literary cultivation that the Grand Tutor passed on to Su Shi was a closely guarded secret of the Confucius lineage. Su Shi could cultivate and break through it on his own, but he must never pass it on to others without permission.

Neither his closest friend Wang Anshi nor his most valued junior students were acceptable.

If this information is leaked to outsiders without authorization, it is considered an act of betrayal against one's master and ancestors. At best, one will be expelled from the school; at worst, one will be blacklisted by the entire Confucian school.

The same applies to the methods Wang Anshi obtained from Pei Du, the methods Fang Xuanling obtained from the Chen family of Yingchuan, and the methods Du Ruhui obtained from the Zheng family of Xingyang.

They can break through on their own, but they can never use this method to cultivate their own power.

The family used this method to firmly control two things.

The first is the career advancement opportunities for talent, and the second is the loyalty of talent.

Every official who breaks through the barriers of aristocratic families will owe that family an immense favor.

This favor will be written into their resumes, affect their promotion, and determine their stance in the court.

They may not publicly support aristocratic families, but in crucial moments, they would never turn against their own sect.

This is the power network that aristocratic families have woven over hundreds of years.

He doesn't vie for a position in the court, yet he controls everyone who sits in that position.

The emergence of the Mingdao Five Paths Dharma Gate broke this monopoly at its root.

It is not the private collection of any one school of thought, but a public body of learning jointly established by five teachers from different eras.

It doesn't require you to become anyone's disciple, swear allegiance to anyone, or owe anyone a debt of gratitude after you've achieved success.

Any aspiring scholar from a humble background can learn it at Mingdao Academy. After learning it, they can freely pass it on to their students, who in turn pass it on to the next generation of students.

It's like a riverbed that's been blocked for three hundred years finally having its first shovel of silt dug out. Although it's only a trickle right now, the source is already alive.

This method is indeed meant to be used to build one's own team.

Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui established themselves firmly in the Six Ministries.

Xu Jie and Lu Zhi proceeded cautiously and steadily in the local areas.

What they lack most is not power, but capable people—the poor scholars struggling at the bottom who cannot break through because they have no way to do so.

With this method, he no longer needed to undermine the powerful families.

All he needs to do is pick up those talents who have been forgotten, rejected, or suppressed by the aristocratic families, one by one.

Use your own methods to help them break through, use your own system to help them grow, and use your own philosophy to help them unite.

Ten years later, these people will become his first core group.

Rooted in the six ministries and local prefectures, it became a network covering the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.