Immortality: Starting with a grave, I'm invincible when burying corpses.

The course of the world will not be changed by the thoughts of mortals, and the real struggle is not confined to this small space.

The minor details of the Great Harmony Path were of no concern to the several supreme experts.

Even though the chosen one was born, none of them really took him seriously. He was just a piece that the nascent Heaven had thrown onto the chessboard, something anyone could use.

In the realm of cultivating spiritual seeds, the Old Celestial Master is a professional; all beings who could potentially become terrestrial immortals are within his purview.

Such a precious treasure as the Chosen One is not to be missed.

Although the Bodhisattva Xuanling did not plant the seed of enlightenment, he had made plans in advance.

It has received much attention from various parties since its inception.

One can imagine the heavy burden that the chosen one of the future will bear.

……

As far as the Great Qi Dynasty is concerned, the internal strife within the Great Tongdao sect did not cause much of a stir in the short term.

Although the break with Su Xiaoyu inevitably affected Su Xiang, the overall situation in the court would not be halted by his emotions alone.

In the Great Qi Dynasty, the position of Prime Minister was important, but it was not an indispensable one.

More than twenty years have passed, and reform has become an inevitable trend. It will either succeed or be completely destroyed; there is absolutely no possibility of it stopping.

With reform as its core, power struggles unfolded, and compromises and deals were made time and again, which became the daily routine for the officials in the imperial court.

The Reform Bureau, which was once led by the Datong Palace, has long been infiltrated by various forces. Countless forces have become involved, turning the Reform Bureau into a stage for the civil and military officials to fight each other.

Those who follow the path of universal harmony can use reform to cause trouble, and the entire court can do the same under the guise of reform to do what they want.

After being caught off guard in the first year or two, the officials in the court quickly reacted and adjusted their direction of struggle in accordance with the trend.

In power struggles, they are the real professionals!

From Jun Huayang's perspective, balance is the most important thing.

Once upon a time, in order to counter the Wenchang Palace and the power under Jun Cheng'an, Jun Huayang chose to support the Datong Palace, established a cabinet, and transferred his power to them.

Now, more than twenty years have passed, and Meng Yan has disappeared without a trace. Jun Cheng'an rarely shows his face, and the two of them have shrunk their power and have no intention of fighting him as before.

On the contrary, the power of the college students he had personally supported has grown stronger over the years.

Behind his back, he did one unknown thing after another, subtly showing a tendency to resemble the former Wenchang Temple.

From Jun Huayang's own perspective, this was clearly not good; it was detrimental to the stability of the court and even more detrimental to the consolidation of imperial power.

In order to maintain a balance, Jun Huayang tacitly allowed various forces to place their people in the Reform Bureau and also established several new departments to balance the power of the Reform Bureau.

On the grand stage of the palace, no one is truly a fool.

Understanding the emperor's thoughts and skillfully utilizing the rules is an essential skill for every high-ranking official.

Those who are skilled in this art rise to high positions, while those who are not will lose their heads.

The Great Qi Dynasty has its own unique national circumstances!

The entire Qi Dynasty is now bound to the great ship of reform, heading towards an unknown direction.

……

On the other hand, Wan Shu, who had made up her mind, also found herself in a predicament.

Continuing the philosophical ideas of Zhuangzi, Datong Academy did not develop its own power base.

Rather than a powerful force, Datong Academy was more like a place for teaching and nurturing people, and all its actions were aimed at imparting knowledge and enlightening minds.

Suddenly faced with the prospect of rebellion and being drawn into the struggle for power, Wan Shu was bewildered.

Faced with the current complex situation, Wan Shu didn't know what to do.

Half resolute and half confused, Wan Shu planned the details of the famous uprising while thinking about how to change the situation.

After thinking it over for half a year, Wanshu came to Qishan Road alone.

Having lived for over a hundred years, Wan Shu had witnessed far too many things and knew that the true gods and immortals were the ones who shaped the world's destiny.

Wan Shu wasn't sure how much of what Meng Yan said to her was true and how much was false, nor did she know what Meng Yan was really plotting.

But she knew that among these high and mighty immortals and gods, the only one who might be willing to help her was the Five Elements True Lord.

These are thoughts that Wanshu has developed from her past experiences.

Having received a life-saving grace and a protection grace, Wan Shu sincerely believed that the Five Elements True Lord was different from other immortals and gods.

More precisely, the birth of the Great Harmony Path is closely related to the Five Elements True Lords before they attained enlightenment.

Wan Shu felt that if it were the Five Elements True Lord, he would be able to understand the concept of the Great Harmony Path.

Before doing what she wanted to do, Wan Shu wanted to seek some help from the Five Elements True Lord.

To realize our ideals, we must unite all forces that can be united.

……

Autumn of the fifty-seventh year of the Qiming era.

Wan Shu, the leader of the Datong Dao, came to Qing'an Prefecture alone to visit the Five Elements True Lord.

Mu An was not surprised that Wan Shu would come to visit him.

The fact that Datongdao is where it is today is not only due to the efforts of people like Zhuang Sheng and Wan Shu, but also inseparable from Mu An's efforts.

Zhuangzi's initial ideas for the Great Harmony were largely inspired by Mu An.

Zhuangzi always held Mu An in high esteem and never hesitated to praise him. In Zhuangzi's words, Mu An was a sage incarnate who created the pure land of Qishan Road.

Having already been saved by Mu An, and influenced by Zhuang Sheng, Wan Shu naturally felt a greater affinity for Mu An.

Despite knowing that Mu An was also a pawn in manipulating the world's affairs, Wan Shu still came to the Mu residence.

This is the most likely path to success, and we have to give it a try no matter what.

……

The Mu family treated Wan Shu with the highest standards of hospitality, and Mu An also met with her.

The meeting was brief, lasting only about 15 minutes.

During their brief conversation, Wan Shu explained her vision and general plan, hoping that Mu An would support her in creating a new world.

Despite Wan Shu's repeated pleas, Mu An refused all of her requests, only saying that he would not interfere with the actions of the Datongdao.

Despite being rejected once, Wan Shu did not give up. Instead, she stayed in Qing'an Prefecture for a month, visiting Mu An and Mu Ling'er every day to seek their support.

Request after request, rejection after rejection.

After being rejected thirty times in a row, a disappointed Wan Shu finally left Qishan Road in dejection.

……

On the day Wan Shu left, Mu An and Mu Ling'er sat under the osmanthus tree in the courtyard, drinking and playing chess.

Mu Ling'er picked up the wine gourd and gulped it down in one go. Her drinking posture was unusually unrestrained, and the spilled wine flowed down her neck, wetting her clothes.

Although they called it playing chess, it was more like drinking to kill time; nobody really cared about the outcome of the game.

Having played chess with Mu An countless times, Mu Ling'er knew all too well that playing chess with Mu An was utterly pointless.

Even if Mu An doesn't deliberately calculate, just one glance is enough to tell him how the game will develop.

How well the chess game goes has nothing to do with her chess skills; it only depends on whether Mu An wants to tease her.

From initially studying diligently to later drinking and playing games together.

Throughout her long chess career, in order to avoid losing every time, Mu Ling'er only learned one move.

Lift the chessboard.

The reason she was able to learn this trick was because Mu An had told her a story a long time ago.

He's called the Great Han Chess Saint.

Mu Ling'er genuinely felt that this great Han chess master was truly intelligent, having come up with such a brilliant move as "flipping the chessboard".