The core of this outline was to open a path for those outside Qingming, allowing anyone who met certain standards and made specific contributions to relocate to Qingming with their families, settling down and becoming citizens of Qingming from that point forward. A minority who possessed high cultivation and made major contributions could even relocate their entire clans.
Here, Wei Yuan deliberately used "minority" rather than "exceptional cases." In official Qingming directives, terminology was strictly defined for subordinates to follow and implement, preventing anyone from paying lip service while acting contrary to policy. In this context, "minority" specifically denoted a range between a minimum of ten percent and a maximum of twenty percent.
The prior Distinguished Cultivators Program had recruited high-level cultivators, whereas this outline primarily targeted ordinary Dao Foundation practitioners, Body Casting cultivators, and even common mortals.
The key to this naturalization outline lay in its exceptionally low threshold. As long as mortals were physically healthy, had their intellects awakened, served Qingming for five years or more, and passed an examination specially instituted by Qingming, they could bring along one wife, one concubine, three sets of parents, and all their children to settle in Qingming and register as households!
Consequently, as soon as this Outline of Naturalization was released, it not only sent shockwaves through the surrounding lands, but stirred immense waves within Qingming itself.
Many template cultivators, original Dao Foundation patriarchs, and even advanced Dharma Idol cultivators and old devils harbored deep misgivings. The Dao Foundation patriarchs in particular felt exceedingly aggrieved; in past days, they had narrowly escaped death, threw themselves into military formations during Qingming's realm-founding wars, and fought tooth and nail before finally earning recognition to become part of Qingming. Now that the barrier to entry had plummeted overnight, they were plunged into bitter disappointment.
The Dharma Idol cultivators and old devils, for their part, had mostly migrated with their entire clans. They had arrived with hopes of securing hereditary titles and sheltering their kinsfolk, fully intending for their clan members to maintain their superior station in Qingming.
Dharma Idol cultivators were still rare, and the treatment Qingming accorded them had never diminished. The trouble was that Qingming's population soared year after year, and the general standard of living rose in lockstep. By contrast, the treatment enjoyed by the kinsfolk of those old devils had stagnated, causing the gap between them and low-level cultivators or common mortals to visibly narrow.
In other words, these descendants of Dharma Idols no longer possessed the immense privileges and opulence they once enjoyed.
The Dharma Idol masters were naturally dissatisfied. They had escalated their grievances upward through various channels several times, only for all of them to be rebuffed by Xu Henshui—with brusque replies that spared not a shred of face.
Though displeased, the high cultivators and old devils were helpless. Not only was Xu Henshui one of the Twelve Celestial Idols, but he was also a pillar of the Xu family and the designated successor to the head of the Palace of Grand Beginning. Any single one of those titles was more than enough to crush them utterly. The very ways those old devils and high cultivators intended to bully lower cultivators and mortals were precisely how Xu Henshui bullied them.
In addition to the outsider cultivators, many of Qingming's own local officials strongly opposed the measure.
To their minds, under extreme circumstances, an adult male who had not even achieved Body Casting could bring over twenty people to register in Qingming—and with no cap placed on the number of children, that number could be even higher! This was practically flinging the gates wide open!
Though these petty officials and clerks had originally been outsiders themselves—some even hailing from refugee stock—it did not stop them from viewing themselves as the true Qingming orthodoxy and vehemently opposing letting more people in.
For a time, criticisms arose from all quarters. Yet because this Outline of Naturalization had been decreed by Wei Yuan himself, it disregarded every dissenting voice, remaining published and remaining enforced.
With this major matter settled, the investigations across Western Jin regarding Buddhist expansion neared completion, and reports began trickling in one after another.
Wei Yuan read through thousands of reports one by one, his mood growing heavier. Afterward, an avatar within his immortal manor rose and flew south, arriving in a certain county.
This county seat had originally possessed abundant resources and thus a large population, making it quite typical of the Lu clan's ancestral territory in Ganzhou.
Wei Yuan's avatar assumed the guise of a green-robed cultivator with a longsword on his back, adopting the look of the green-clad swordsman popular in the realm—an attire worn by seven or eight out of every ten young heroes.
He strolled casually through and around the county seat, seeing groups of three to five gathered at street corners, alleyways, and the edges of farm fields everywhere, discussing Buddhist teachings among themselves.
Buddhist masters had previously been few and far between in the town, but now every one of them was preaching scripture and delivering sermons. Hundreds gathered around each master, their faces radiant with joy, appearing replete with bliss as if experiencing supreme delight.
Within the town, several plots of land had already been leveled, bustling with large-scale construction. Wei Yuan made casual inquiries and learned that temples were being erected on all of them. What was more, funds were plentiful, donated entirely by wealthy local households, while most artisans volunteered their labor, eager to contribute to virtuous deeds.
County soldiers and yamen runners were present to maintain order, though order hardly needed maintaining at all. Everyone wore joyful expressions, perfectly well-behaved, behaving closer than blood brothers.
Nor did the bailiffs exhibit their former haughty, overbearing demeanor; they laughed and chatted, and some had even rolled up their sleeves to toil alongside the common folk.
In an academy within the county seat, several hundred people had gathered once more around a master seated at the front. The crowd wept copiously, confessing their sins in this lifetime one after another, expressing a willingness to practice austerities and endure suffering in exchange for rebirth in the Buddhist Pure Land in the next life, ascending to eternal bliss.
The master offered guidance while expounding on the scriptures. Stubble still remained on his scalp and he bore no ordination scars, clearly having tonsured himself quite recently. He would recite a few lines of sutra, explain them, and then recite a few more.
His explanations were crude and simplistic; he clearly possessed little formal education and was barely literate. Yet while his words were unpolished, the Buddhist philosophy within was remarkably profound, and the recited sutras were exceedingly esoteric—containing characters that not even Qingming Higher Academy would ever teach.
Wei Yuan was thoroughly versed in Buddhist learning. One listen told him that the scripture bore traces of the various Agama sutras and resembled the Contemplation of the Mind Ground Sutra, with specific passages dealing with karmic retribution and moral instruction, primarily expounding on the cycle of rebirth and karmic consequences.
Even eminent monks in major monasteries struggled to comprehend scriptures of this caliber, yet this man spoke of them with effortless fluency. The profound scriptures coming from his mouth contrasted starkly with his simplistic explanations. Wei Yuan immediately understood: this man had been converted by some great virtue, having had the true meaning of a sutra forcibly crammed into him.
Such was Wei Yuan's assessment, but in the eyes of orthodox Buddhism, this man possessed innate wisdom from past lives, bestowed with the Dharma by heaven.
Wei Yuan glanced around at the academy's layout and found it strikingly familiar. He could hardly help recognizing it, given that academies founded by Qingming followed fixed standards and generally looked identical, especially primary enlightenment academies.
This academy had originally been established through Qingming funding. Regardless of age or generation, anyone paying a nominal sum could enter and receive enlightenment education spanning three terms of three months each. Completing all three terms enabled one to recognize three thousand characters and master basic reading and writing. Outside Qingming, that was sufficient to serve as an accountant or shopkeeper for an affluent family, barely brushing against the threshold of awakening one's intellect.
Yet now the academy had transformed beyond recognition: the podium had become a Buddhist shrine, the desks had been cleared away, leaving only meditation cushions. The instructor was nowhere to be seen, and out of the hundreds seated below, who knew how many were original students.
Wei Yuan swept his divine sense over the assembly and detected wooden tallies signifying student status on only a few dozen of them. When formulating the academy regulations back then, Wei Yuan had taken common human nature fully into account: those in Qingming were required to attend school and required to pay a modest fee. Naturally, the money they paid did not even amount to ten percent of the actual cost, but only after paying would most people take their studies seriously.
In Western Jin, academies had only just begun rolling out in limited numbers, so the rules varied slightly: attendance was not mandatory, but anyone enrolling was still required to pay a small sum, modest though it was. Outside Qingming, however, the academy regulations were far stricter; no one was permitted entry without paying. Furthermore, since spaces were scarce, admission served as a reward, largely granted to those who served Qingming.
Now, not only did the vast majority lack student badges, but they had turned an academy funded and built by Qingming into a hall for expounding Buddhist scriptures!
The vast sums of educational funding Wei Yuan had poured out had ultimately benefited these bald-headed monks, transforming the venue into their sacred arena!
Occupying public property was a serious crime in Qingming.
Wei Yuan was naturally furious, but he did not disturb the gathering. Recording the scene with a shadow stone, he headed straight for the local county yamen and strode directly into the central hall.
When blind runners stepped forward to bar his path, Wei Yuan merely flashed a silver badge before their eyes and continued walking inside.
One particularly foolish guard barked, "Where does this unruly thug think—" before Wei Yuan backhanded him with an airy strike, sending him flying dozens of feet to slam into unconsciousness.
Wei Yuan walked straight into the grand hall, sat down in the magistrate's chair, slapped his badge onto the desk, and said coldly, "Where is the magistrate? Tell him to roll out and see me!"
The gathered runners and clerks felt as if a great mountain weighed upon their crowns, so suffocating that the slightest movement might make their hearts burst from their chests.
All possessed cultivation; the head clerk in particular was a template Dao Foundation cultivator. Sensing Wei Yuan's aura, he was seized with sheer terror: "Could this... could this be a Dharma Idol lord descending from on high...?"
He cast another glance at Wei Yuan's silver waist badge, and his heart turned colder still. Depicted upon the badge was a ram with nine tails and four ears—the botuo, an auspicious beast blessed with the power of eavesdropping.
This badge was the official credential of Qingming's Supervisory Department. A silver medallion denoted the third rank, granting authority to inspect an entire commandery—more than enough to deal with a mere county magistrate.
The clerk hurriedly forced an ingratiating smile and said, "Today is not a day for court sessions, so our county magistrate is currently in his residence, accompanying the Old Matron in listening to scriptures."
Wei Yuan had already scanned the estate with his divine sense and naturally knew the magistrate was listening to scriptures in the rear manor. He feigned ignorance, remarking tonelessly with a blank expression, "Then this officer shall wait right here until the magistrate holds court."
Cold sweat immediately broke out across the clerk's body. He fell to his knees with a thud, repeatedly stammering that he would not dare. Seeing that the runners to his left and right remained frozen, he gritted his teeth and said, "I... I will go invite the magistrate here."
Wei Yuan said indifferently, "This officer speaks, yet not a single soul responds. This county is truly well-governed!"
A fresh wave of cold sweat drenched the clerk. He hurriedly explained, "It is truly because the magistrate issued strict orders beforehand. He said that an eminent monk visits only rarely, so he must accompany the Old Matron in listening to the scripture. Even if the sky falls, it must wait until the sermon concludes."
"Oh..." Wei Yuan's voice softened. "Then indeed he should not be disturbed."
In the blink of an eye, the clerk broke out in a third wave of cold sweat. Having spent considerable time in official circles, how could he fail to grasp the underlying meaning? In his heart, he resented every runner in the hall: each of them was a Buddhist devotee, and not a single one was willing to disturb the magistrate's sermon.
Gritting his teeth, he rose, excused himself, and hurried off like the wind.
Only after a full quarter-hour did the magistrate arrive at a leisurely pace. Appearing in his early forties, with a refined and dignified countenance, he entered the hall with measured square steps. Stiffening his neck as he looked at Wei Yuan, he said, "This subordinate did not know Your Excellency was arriving and failed to welcome you from afar; pray excuse my offense. However, Your Excellency arrived without dispatching an official notice beforehand, which violates proper protocol. Forgive this subordinate for being unable to receive you.
"I must ask Your Excellency to return for now. Once this subordinate receives an official notice, it will not be too late for Your Excellency to come discuss matters. Until that notice arrives, I ask Your Excellency to vacate that seat. Sitting in my place without authorization is a grave offense."
Chapter 1205