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

With the tacit approval of various forces, the original land in Zhuangjia Town naturally became the property of Marquis Longyue.

Although nominally only acting as a custodian, the land and wealth of Zhuangjia Town still belonged to the surviving child.

But it's clear to everyone that the land belonging to Zhuangjia Town has no chance of being returned.

A small spiritual vein, a mountain rich in spiritual wood, and fertile fields that could support tens of thousands of people—these all became the assets of Marquis Longyue.

After swallowing Zhuangjia Town, Marquis Longyue's power expanded significantly, making him one of the wealthiest lords in the western part of Yinji Domain.

Resources and provisions were converted into soldiers and weapons, further strengthening the power in the hands of Marquis Longyue.

One has two.

The actions of Marquis Longyue completely unveiled the last veil of pretense covering the Great Ling Empire.

For the first time, the lords and warlords far from the core of the Great Spirit Empire realized this.

After His Majesty Mu Yong, who was at the height of his power, abdicated, the last sun of the empire had already set.

The empire's glory cannot reach every piece of land. In the distant Yin Realm, in places beyond the emperor's sight, no one will punish their evil deeds.

They no longer needed to be as cautious as before; they could simply disguise their atrocities to deceive the emperor in the palace and the officials in the court.

The empire's greatness comes from the gods, and its glory comes from its founding emperor, not from the current rulers.

Even Her Majesty the Mysterious Maiden high above the Nine Heavens would not cast her gaze upon the distant Yin Yin Domain.

In other words, as long as they package themselves well enough, no one will discover their problems, and no one will cut off their heads.

……

The slogans shouted in the past are now trampled underfoot, and the trampling of ordinary people and the weak no longer requires paying a huge price as before.

The feudal lords only need to cultivate a few black gloves to easily obtain what they want.

Land and wealth came so easily that more and more people joined the frenzy.

The Mu family members of the royal family lost their gentle and refined manners from when they were in Qing'an Prefecture. In Qing'an Prefecture, there were too many people who could control them, forcing them to suppress their true selves and pretend to be humble.

Now, in the Yin-Yang Domain, they no longer need to suppress themselves and can fully unleash their desires.

The Mu clan princes took the lead in dividing the spoils, and other princes followed suit, forcibly seizing the land and wealth they desired.

They had their men impersonate bandits, plundering villages and towns, forcing the powerless people to turn to them and contribute the savings of generations of their families in order to seek refuge.

There are also ruthless people like Marquis Longyue, who leave no way out for the people and slaughter everyone in the places they set their sights on.

This brutal merger was far more ferocious and disorderly than ever before.

In just ten years, mountain bandits rose up everywhere in the Yin Yin region, and river bandits increased in number, and the peace of the past was gone forever.

One village after another was ravaged by bandits, fertile fields were lost, and people were forced to leave their homes, with nowhere left to live in peace.

As the forces involved in this plundering grew, these feudal lords and warlords became increasingly unscrupulous.

They formed cliques and colluded with countless local power brokers, getting them involved in this "feast."

These people are well aware that the law does not punish the masses.

When everyone is involved in the matter, even if the imperial court discovers the truth, it is difficult to hold them accountable.

The laws that were once used to protect the weak have lost their effectiveness, and the entire Great Spirit Empire is sliding into an era of the survival of the fittest at an incredible speed.

The strong remain strong, and the weak remain weak.

Even knowing the sordid nature of it all, and knowing who brought the suffering upon them, the people had no choice but to seek refuge with the perpetrators of their suffering, eking out a living in a world devoid of light.

The feudal lords sent out to weaken the local territories became new warlords, colluding with local bureaucratic families.

What's even more terrifying is that, because the distance is too great and the territory is too vast, the entire court of the Great Ling Empire has only a superficial understanding of the situation in the Yin Yin Domain.

Emperor Mu Zhaoyang was completely unaware of this, only believing that the imperial clan members he had sent out had achieved initial success in their struggle against local warlords.

In Mu Zhaoyang's eyes, these vanished villages and towns were either the direct forces of warlords or farces orchestrated by the warlords themselves.

Those mountain bandits and river bandits were all disguised warlord forces.

As for the current chaos and the flood of official documents, they are merely growing pains in the process of development.

The more memorials submitted, the more serious the chaos, and the more it demonstrated that the court's policies were effective.

Everything that is happening now is a counterattack by local warlords.

The proud Mu Zhaoyang had unwavering confidence in himself, and he regarded all opposition in the court as a sign of weakness.

With the encouragement of those who had already benefited, Mu Zhaoyang was completely blinded and firmly believed in it.

The reason why these local warlords committed one tragedy after another was to cause unrest among the people, shake the imperial court, and use public opinion to force the court to abandon the policy of reducing the power of the warlords.

Only by persevering with unwavering determination, overcoming all difficulties, sending members of the Mu clan to various parts of the world, and carrying out the policy of weakening the feudal lords to the end, can we lead the Great Ling Empire to a more glorious future.

……

280th year of the Gregorian calendar.

In the western part of the Yin-Yang Domain, at the Longyue Marquis's residence.

"Young Master Zhuang, I have found all the books you mentioned yesterday. There are twelve volumes in total."

Among them are "On the Great Peace of the World" (one volume), "New Principles of Literature" (three volumes), "Essential Techniques of Great Harmony" (three volumes), and "On Governing the Country in Practice" (five volumes).

Of the books you requested, "On the Great Peace of the Empire" was the most widely circulated in the empire and was a classic that every official had to study.

This book was written by Wang Pingshan, the first prime minister of the empire and the head of the Imperial Confucian Temple.

The book details Prime Minister Wang's governing philosophy, which is of great value to every scholar.

The book "Da Tong Yao Shu" is a literary classic published by Da Tong Dao. The book consists of three volumes and is a masterpiece of Da Tong Dao.

The book originated from the Datong Daoist classic, "Datong Shu," but as the empire developed, much of the content in "Datong Shu" became outdated and no longer met the needs of the times.

In order to keep pace with the times and make the ideals of the Great Harmony Way more acceptable to students, Qin Ge, the contemporary leader of the Great Harmony Way, gathered the elites of the sect thirty years ago to compile the book "The Essentials of Great Harmony".

Under the promotion of Qin scholars, the book "The Essentials of Great Harmony" became widely circulated and enjoyed high recognition within the empire.

The book "New Literary Way" was published by the Wenhua Palace, a sacred site for literary and moral education, but due to some political reasons...

The New Literary Way was not widely circulated within the empire. The book consisted of five volumes, but the Marquis's residence only had three volumes in its possession. The remaining two volumes would require more time to collect.

However, Young Master Zhuang, you need not worry. The Marquis has already ordered the purchase of this book for you. You will receive the remaining two copies in seven days at most.

As for these five volumes of "On Practical Governance," they were written by Master Bai Ling, the head of the Five Spirits Academy, but...