Last night, His Majesty had already explained part of the situation to him.
He found it instinctively absurd at the time. Having studied Taoist scriptures for many years and even invited the Patriarch multiple times, he was not one to readily believe in deities undergoing mortal trials.
Their Taoist Patriarch had stated that the heavenly principles of this realm were incomplete, so how could a great power be summoned to save the world?
Yet, he never imagined that upon their very first meeting, he would receive such a tremendous surprise—the poison afflicting his young disciple Baiyi was finally curable!
Indeed, cause and effect are unfathomable. On a whim, he once went traveling to visit friends and casually treated a young child. Today, that act brought him such a immense reward, truly an unexpected and great joy!
Xuanmingzi habitually reached for the wine gourd hanging at his waist. Upon touching its cool surface, he suddenly remembered he was in the imperial court and could not drink.
Unable to drink, Xuanmingzi gazed longingly at Yue Fuguang, who was eating and drinking heartily. Under his stare, her pace of nibbling pastries slowed, and her large bites unconsciously turned into small ones.
"Little Pearl, is this old man hungry? He's eyeing my pastry with envy."
Xuanmingzi: Every cell in his body screamed a triple denial: I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!
[Perhaps it's his first time at court and he lacks experience, not having eaten breakfast beforehand. Master, will you share with him?]
"No, I don't owe him anything now. That poisoned disciple of his—did you cure the poison?"
[Half a small antidote pill completely neutralized the poison and incidentally repaired the damage the toxins had inflicted on his body. Once the morning court session ends and Xuanmingzi returns, he'll find his disciple alive and kicking.]
"Well done!"
Xuanmingzi: Although he truly didn't want her pastry, he was very curious about her antidote pill.
Half a pill could cure a poison that had left him helpless—was this the power of an immortal?
Xuanmingzi felt inexplicably stirred. Their master-disciple pair had good fortune, encountering this little immortal lord who clearly distinguished gratitude from grievance.
Their Taoist path also emphasized karma and a clear, unimpeded Dao-heart. He had casually saved someone without fully curing them, yet not only did she cure his disciple's poison, she even repaired the bodily damage that would have affected his lifespan. This debt of gratitude was rather significant!
Xuanmingzi stroked his beard, pondering how to repay this great favor, unaware that the other two were also discussing him.
"System, is this really the future Nether Heaven King, Jiao Xuanming? Isn't he currently a revered Taoist master, a guest of honor to the emperor?
How could he also be the bell-ringer for Dayan's death knell, the future leader of a peasant uprising?"
[On the original historical timeline, his young disciple later succumbed to the poison. He returned to Qingtian Temple and entered seclusion. Later, as natural disasters and man-made calamities continued, the world descended into increasing chaos. First, the Crown Prince was poisoned and died, then Emperor Mingxi died suddenly.
The new emperor was both incompetent and unprincipled. As the Dayan ship seemed destined to sink, Xuanmingzi witnessed the suffering of the common people. Perhaps his years of seclusion and meditation had led to an enlightenment.
Thus, he founded the Way of Qingtian's Ultimate Justice. From then on, Xuanmingzi was dead, and the Nether Heaven King Jiao Xuanming was born.
The Way of Qingtian's Ultimate Justice rapidly expanded, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers in less than two years. After Xuanmingzi's death, the Way declined.
With the fall of the Dayan state, an era of chaos began. Some, claiming the Nether Heaven King had risen from the ashes to lead them in restoring Dayan, stirred up trouble for many more years.
They also strayed from the original doctrine of leading the poor to a full meal onto the crooked path of deceiving the poor so they themselves could eat their fill.
Over the following decades, it completely devolved into a cult organization, causing the death and maiming of many.
Host, shall we reveal the full truth to him?]
"No need. The cult organization emerged over a hundred years after Jiao Xuanming's death; what does it have to do with him?
With us here, Xuanmingzi will only ever be Xuanmingzi. Since he's already converted to Taoism, let him properly be a Taoist priest. There's no need to revert to his secular name and meddle in worldly affairs again.
Besides, with our corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, there won't be scenes of people starving en masse, necessitating a reclusive Taoist priest to fight for a mouthful of food for the commoners.
If such scenes do occur, it's because the emperor hasn't killed enough people, and the malignant tumors among the powerful families, high officials, and wealthy households haven't been cleansed thoroughly."
[Master, a thorough cleansing is probably very difficult. Under this sky, there are hardly any clean people.]
"System, 'water that is too clean has no fish.' We don't intend for the waters of Dayan to be perfectly clean—that's impossible anyway. Eliminate one group, pardon another, unite with a third.
Free up ten to twenty percent of the land, combine it with reclaimed wasteland, plant it all with high-yield crops, and weather these few years of disasters. At the very least, many fewer people will die.
Ultimately, Dayan must still expand outward to find new territory. New lands, new land policies—isn't that easier than implementing land reform within Dayan itself?"
[That land isn't uninhabited. Would the people there agree?]
"The poor without land would certainly support it. As for the rich, either turn them into the poor, or eliminate them and distribute the land.
Whoever holds the blade, their words carry weight. Don't you agree?"
[No, Host, aren't you supposed to be a slacker? Since when do slackers have such a heavy killing intent? We are a Virtue System. A little bit of fighting and killing... a tiny bit is acceptable, but your plan would require the deaths of over a hundred or two hundred thousand people to achieve.]
Deaths in war didn't count—that was mission-necessary—but killing wealthy families and powerful clans made its system data tremble slightly.
"Only a hundred or two hundred thousand and that's considered heavy killing intent? Haven't I always told you I'm not a saint, nor am I someone with indiscriminate kindness? You bound the wrong person, and you still don't believe me!
Regretting it now? Too late, my dear System. We are now the closest of partners, the duo of the Little Immortal Lord and the Divine Artifact, ready to carve through this world!"
Yue Fuguang's final remarks, left unsaid, might have been better. Once spoken, they plunged the system into silence. In a place she couldn't see, the programs of the Spectator System were frantically clashing and entangling with those of the Virtue System, locked in a stalemate, evenly matched!
Seeing the system remain silent, Yue Fuguang continued, "System, look. Trading the deaths of a hundred or two hundred thousand people for the survival of ten to twenty million—would you make that trade? Just tell me if that deal is worthwhile or not!
This is called sacrificing the few for the many. Without these people paying the price with their lives, how could more people live happily?
If they must be blamed, blame them for taking more than their share and failing to read the situation. You must understand, all who obstruct us from completing our mission are our enemies."
How should one treat enemies? She didn't need to spell it out!
The system remained silent. Yue Fuguang continued her output, "I'm not really trying to implement modern systems either; that's unrealistic!
I just want to free up a bit more land from the existing foundation, so those who can be of use to us can eat their fill, grow strong, have more children, and plant more trees.
These are the very soldiers who will support us in achieving unification and avoiding a chaotic era. Surely you don't expect to rely on pampered, pot-bellied young masters from wealthy families to fight on the front lines, do you?
But if you truly disagree, it's fine. You know I'm quite the slacker; I'm not dead set on completing the final main mission.
We've already saved enough points to go to the next world. I can leave anytime. Shall we go?"
'Shall we go?' These three words scrolled incessantly through the system's data. Go? Going was impossible!
