The spread of Buddhism in Qingming proved exceedingly difficult. The primary reason was that Qingming was rife with unruly folk. Many harbored a profound, chronic lack of reverence, fearing neither ghosts nor gods and honoring only Heaven and Earth. And in Qingming's eyes, anyone who failed to revere even Heaven, Earth, and their own ancestors was considered a rascal as well.
Whenever a monk tried to preach subtle truths and dharmic doctrine, these people loved to interrogate every detail. For instance: "If everyone chants scriptures and contemplates the Buddha, what are you going to eat?"
Or: "Where exactly is this Buddha Kingdom? Have you ever actually been there?"
Or even: "Did you personally witness that eminent monk's great deeds? What does it have to do with you? Are you related to him?"
Such irreverence was endless. At times, it grew irritating enough that even monks with less cultivated forbearance began spouting foul language, after which both sides inevitably traded punches and kicks.
Though traveling masters knew a bit of martial arts, cultivators in Qingming were as plentiful as ox hair. The moment one was struck, a crowd of Dao Foundation cultivators would swarm in with a whoosh. Even the laborers pounding foundations at the neighboring construction site were Dao Foundation cultivators.
In truth, it was not merely Buddhism. All other sects and schools—including the teachings of the Four Sages Academy—ran into brick walls everywhere in Qingming. Throughout the entirety of Qingming, only the philosophy of the Palace of Grand Beginning reigned supreme.
Naturally, this was only to be expected. The realm already regarded Qingming as the fourth mountain gate of the Palace of Grand Beginning. In one's own sect gate, if one did not promote Grand Beginning's ideals, would one promote someone else's?
Yet what the Grand Beginning philosophy actually was, Wei Yuan himself could hardly explain. Each generation of Palace Master had their own philosophy—except the current one.
Broadly speaking, previous Palace Masters shared one common trait: anyone who refused to submit would be crushed.
As for the current Palace Master... Wei Yuan did not even know his name, let alone his deeds. Were it not for Yanshi and Zhu Yan styling themselves as Vice Palace Masters, Wei Yuan would have almost forgotten there was a Palace Master above them.
Ever since the current Palace Master assumed office, the atmosphere of the Palace of Grand Beginning seemed to have shifted completely. It was no longer so domineering, becoming more ethereal and immortal-like, adept at strategic layout and tactical maneuvering.
Regardless of Grand Beginning's philosophy, a trend of rational studies had arisen in Qingming. The so-called rational studies emphasized logic, deduction, empirical verification, and the like, rooted in mathematics yet not confined to it.
High-level cultivators of the Scenery Command realm looked upon this with disdain, yet template Dao Foundation cultivators flocked to it eagerly. Articles and essays sprouted like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, endless in number. Most works at this stage were merely beginning to establish the framework of logic, yet brilliant gems were scattered everywhere.
Wei Yuan observed this trend with both interest and mild dismissiveness. He had read most of the major essays, usually skimming the beginning and the end. Finding them overly simple and obvious, he would note down their conclusions and move on.
In a Qingming like this, it was truly difficult for any religious sect to spread.
In northern Ganzhou, autumn had already arrived—a critical season for harvesting the summer grain. Yet most converts remained immovable as mountains when it came to farming, though they were joyous and tireless when constructing temples or molding golden statues. In short, no matter what, they refused to work the fields. Their message was unmistakable: could Wei Yuan truly stand by and watch tens of millions starve to death?
This was the first challenge posed by the Pure Land.
For such a minor challenge, with fierce talents abundant in Qingming, there was no need for Wei Yuan to handle it in person. Wei Yuan reviewed the pool of candidates and ultimately assigned Sun Yu to handle the northern affairs.
Receiving his orders, Sun Yu took a hundred attractive disciples, several dozen senior physicians, and Wei Yuan's newly drilled force of five thousand thunder-whip troops, then marched north to assume his post.
His first order of business upon taking office was inspecting every commandery. Gathering all the county magistrates at the commandery seat, he announced that Qingming Domain Lord Wei Yuan had realized the northern trend could not be opposed. Therefore, he intended to confer rewards upon Buddhist cultivators and promote Buddhism across the north. Furthermore, in accordance with Qingming precedent, Buddhist Academies would be established in every locality, with eminent monks delivering lectures to advance orthodox Buddhist teachings and prevent unvetted rogue monks from straying.
A Buddhist Academy naturally required instructors. Thus, each county was instructed to submit the names of accomplished masters. All the county magistrates considered this a wonderful turn of events and enthusiastically complied, immediately submitting several hundred names and later adding over a thousand more upon returning home.
Sun Yu gathered them all inside the Buddhist Academy. These so-called Buddhist Academies were merely repurposed Qingming Academies that had long since been converted into Buddhist halls. Sun Yu then stationed troops to secure the Buddhist Academy, and only then did he bare his fangs.
He divided the fields and acreage of each county into zones, assigning one master to oversee each zone and establishing quota targets for the autumn harvest. If the quota was not met on any given day, the master would be publicly lashed fifty times. If the progress failed to reach half by the end of the autumn harvest, the master would be beheaded.
Sun Yu deliberately had countless notices written and plastered throughout the surrounding townships. The notices were largely identical, boiling down to one simple message: whoever failed to harvest grain was the murderer who caused the master's death, and they would plunge eternally into Avici Hell!
Naturally, the vast multitude of converts refused to accept such reasoning. Sun Yu had intentionally established a channel for public discourse, proclaiming that anyone dissatisfied was welcome to debate. However, given Sun Yu's exalted status, only an eminent master of late-stage dharma idol cultivation was qualified to stand before him.
If ordinary converts attempted to debate, it was deemed insubordination against their superiors; they were driven off with cudgels, and those who refused to leave were knocked unconscious and thrown into prison. If mobs gathered to cause trouble, they were treated to brine and thunder whips.
Since the converts could not debate, only the masters could. Yet every master blessed with virtue and eloquence had already been locked up by Sun Yu.
Thus, after opening the channel for debate, not a single person came to argue. Sun Yu was delighted and promptly enacted the policy.
Three days into the implementation, more than eighty masters were stripped bare and punished in the open fields, reducing the converts to tears and wailing. By the fourth day, countless people were toiling in the fields, their diligence matching the zeal they had displayed when building temples.
When Wei Yuan saw Sun Yu's methods, he covered his face, but he had to admit Sun Yu had resolved the pressing crisis and vented a breath of stifled anger on his behalf. Still, it treated only the symptoms and not the root cause, doing nothing to resolve the crisis of faith.
When the autumn harvest concluded and Sun Yu returned, he brought back over five hundred masters and more than three thousand converts. The converts all bore solid criminal charges and were sentenced to execution according to the law.
The charges against the masters were somewhat contrived. The primary offense was insulting the Domain Lord; the secondary offense was speaking of the Domain Lord in sarcastic, ambivalent tones... And where neither charge could be pinned on them, Sun Yu invented a brand-new offense: harboring resentment toward the Domain Lord.
Wei Yuan felt somewhat puzzled upon reading the report and sent an avatar directly to seek out Sun Yu. Seeing Wei Yuan's avatar arrive, Sun Yu finally presented him with a confidential dossier.
In this dossier, all the masters were categorized with various labels. The simplest were identity, age, and gender; the next tier detailed cultivation realm, divine abilities, and sectarian lineages; and the final labels recorded background and life experiences, some marked with specific karmic ties, while most remained unclear.
Every one of these masters bore distinct labels and karma. The converts' labels were far simpler, yet according to physical condition, whether they had attained intellectual lucidity, and other factors, they were likewise divided into several hundred subcategories, each containing two to three individuals.
The moment Wei Yuan looked at the dossier, he understood: Sun Yu was preparing to conduct experiments again. He sighed and said, "Doing this... the karmic burden and resentment will be quite heavy."
Sun Yu remained unmoved, smiling faintly. "It doesn't matter. If we don't study and understand these thoroughly, we will never figure out the mechanics of conversion, and we will have no way to guard against it. Someone has to do this sort of work. I don't have a complicated background, and it falls right within my field of expertise, so it's only fitting that I handle it. Besides, my dharma idol can dissipate resentment."
Sun Yu did not possess a great clan background like Bao Yun or Cui Yu. Digging out the roots of the Pure Land was a line of work that scions of prominent families simply could not afford to touch. Feng Tingyu, Wang Hu, and the others were ignorant of the medical arts, leaving Sun Yu as the most suitable candidate.
Seeing Wei Yuan's lingering worry, Sun Yu chuckled. "Don't worry, I prepared myself long ago, which is why I've indulged heavily in pleasure over the years. A person like me has no hope of ascending to immortality anyway; I might as well do more for everyone else. Go on back. The experimental base is already built. Don't come to visit, lest you taint yourself with karma."
***
At the border of Qingming, a caravan wound its way forward, arriving before a checkpoint.
The guard officer stepped forward to inspect the caravan's identification documents and jade transit pass. His demeanor instantly became somewhat more respectful as he said, "So it is a dharma idol senior arriving upon summons. Why didn't you travel by flying boat? If you had no means, there is a county seat a hundred and twenty li ahead offering flying boat rentals. Flying boats are fine things—just a bit pricey."
The representative who stepped out to negotiate was a middle-aged cultivator who also possessed a Dao Foundation. He replied, "Our ancestor has brought a secret art, intending to carry it forward in Qingming. As a result, we carry many formation disks and artifacts, and there are many clan members and disciples. An ordinary flying boat could not accommodate us, so we simply traveled by land."
The officer said, "I must ask the senior to present himself to complete the formalities..."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than an elderly man with the bearing of an immortal appeared before him. His eyes shone with a peculiar gold, and he asked placidly, "Have you seen clearly?"
The officer was startled, yet facing a grand cultivator of the late-stage dharma idol realm, he still examined the man carefully. Confirming that the aura and appearance matched the records on the jade pass, he finally granted passage, without showing the slightest hint of cutting corners.
After passing the checkpoint, the caravan continued deeper into Qingming. Inside the carriage cabin, the old man murmured slowly, "Qingming's atmosphere is indeed extraordinary. Even a petty officer guarding a road checkpoint possesses Dao Foundation cultivation."
A youth sneered disdainfully. "Can a template like that even be called a Dao Foundation? I could take several of them at once!"
The old man sighed. "You forget your origins and ignore theirs. Even if you could fight ten, could you fight twenty or thirty? Yet in Qingming, even checkpoint guards are templates—one can only imagine how many templates exist! If you were to strike, what awaited you would likely be more than a hundred."
Beside them, another youth chimed in, "A hundred pieces of trash, each wielding a dharma sword, could still pierce you into a hedgehog."
Finally, the middle-aged cultivator in charge of the caravan spoke as well. "I have heard that Qingming cultivators possess formation-linking methods, so they always operate in groups rather than scattering like loose sand. Moreover, Qingming's formation Dao is quite renowned and cannot be underestimated."
The youth remained unconvinced, muttering, "All they know is swarming together. What's so glorious about that..."
Laughter immediately rippled through the cabin. For this arrogant youth, softening his stance even this much was rare.
After traveling for nearly half a month, the caravan finally reached its destination: a mid-sized city of roughly a hundred thousand residents, bustling and prosperous. The caravan entered the city and concluded the registration formalities.
The arrival of a late-stage dharma idol cultivator was a major event in its own right, and since he had come with his clan under the Outstanding Cultivator Program, the city lord personally appeared to arrange a grand manor, several independent courtyards, and a cultivation arena, which together occupied an entire city block.
Once everything was settled, notices were posted on bulletin boards throughout the city: *Perfected Master Xiaoyu has opened a cultivation arena to transmit the Great Dao, teaching all without discrimination. Anyone meeting the following criteria may register...*
When the public read the criteria, they were thoroughly astonished. The requirements were rock-bottom: anyone sound of body, in the prime of life, and capable of Body Casting could apply!
Three days later, the cultivation arena opened, and over a thousand people surged inside with a roar, packing the grounds to the brim!
Having donned his Daoist robes, Perfected Master Xiaoyu truly looked the part of an immortal sage. Flanking him on either side were three Dao Foundation disciples lined up in a row!
Such a display... was somewhat modest. Qingming had an abundance of Dao Foundation cultivators; when wealthy households flaunted their riches, they routinely lined their front gates with two rows of black-robed Dao Foundation guards stretching all the way to the main hall...
Fortunately, Xiaoyu was a grand perfected master of the late-stage dharma idol realm, so the people of Qingming did not dare behave insolently. Seeing that the prospective disciples had all assembled, Perfected Master Xiaoyu rose, and two young female disciples brought forward a volume of Daoist scripture.
Perfected Master Xiaoyu declared, "This is our sect's secret transmission, the *South Li Heaven White Gardenia Worship Method*. Cultivated to its depths, it leads straight to Scenery Command! Though your aptitudes may be mediocre, as long as you cultivate diligently, half of you should be able to achieve the Dao Foundation in due time."
An uproar immediately broke out below!
Those who had come to sign up were inevitably crooked melons and split dates in terms of talent. Promising saplings were picked clean by the academies and immortal cultivation colleges at five or six years old; when would an unvetted local arena ever get a chance at them?
The odds this old Daoist quoted were even higher than those of template methods. Naturally, no one believed it outright, yet even if there were only a ten percent chance, they felt it was well worth trying.
The crowd sat cross-legged at once, and the old Daoist began transmitting the method.
This *South Li Heaven White Gardenia Worship Method* was essentially a visualization and worship technique drawn from the divine way of incense. Its main premise was selecting a primary deity of worship, using a secret art to cultivate three sticks of pure incense within the sea of consciousness, and offering worship with that incense. As the object of worship absorbed incense aspiration power, it would grow stronger by the day; and the stronger the worshipped deity grew, the more divine abilities and cultivation it fed back, making the believers stronger in turn.
In this secret method, the chosen object of worship was the critical element. Not only did it require a lofty status, but it also demanded immense karmic luck capable of bearing the burden of divine abilities and aspiration power.
The scripture was as thick as a brick. As the old Daoist lectured, countless pale azure talismans swirled around him, each containing hundreds to thousands of words of dharmic doctrine. Yet the old Daoist explained profound principles in simple terms; in just half a day, he finished expounding the introductory portion, and more than half the listeners surprisingly understood.
Just as the crowd began fretting over what object of worship to choose, the old Daoist seemed to anticipate their thoughts. Stroking his beard with a faint smile, he said, "There is no need for you to worry. I have already selected the orthodox deity for you to worship; as for the three auxiliary deities, you may select them slowly on your own in the future. Men, bring forth the orthodox deity!"
Four disciples immediately carried out a divine statue. Standing as tall as a man, it was forged entirely from turbid jade, its affected, contrived expression rendered with lifelike precision. It was none other than Wei Yuan.
Chapter 1209