To be frank, quite a few of the researching cultivators weren't particularly fond of Wei Yuan's directive. For instance, a faction adhering to minimalism, a faction championing the natural ways of the Dao, and a faction aiming to stake out territory in the nascent field of aesthetics, seize the discourse, and set standards for the masses—all of them felt Wei Yuan's concept was garish, repellent, and utterly vulgar.
Yet they only griped in their hearts, keeping their mouths firmly shut. The reason was singular: intelligent templates numbered in the tens of thousands, but researchers who could work at the Realm Lord's side were exceedingly few. Landing an assignment directly commissioned by the Realm Lord was the highlight of one's resume; wherever one applied in the future, one would be regarded with immense respect.
Furthermore, what the Realm Lord offered was simply far too generous.
Wei Yuan could guess a bit of what these researchers harbored in their minds, but he didn't care. Qingming judged deeds, not hearts; having petty thoughts didn't matter so long as the work was well done. And if the work was shoddy, but one possessed nothing but earnest loyalty... well, that seemed acceptable too.
In this grand battle, Wei Yuan had personally slain countless Vajra mighty warriors and crushed the greater part of a Wisdom King's true body, reaping an immense amount of karmic destiny. Moreover, most of the karmic destiny Tuoba Hong had harvested was taken by Wei Yuan, leaving only twenty percent for the boy as resources to advance his cultivation.
As the first Arhat, Tuoba Hong could also independently absorb a portion of karmic destiny—roughly twenty percent. Combined with what Wei Yuan bestowed, his Arhat golden body was brought to completion, qualifying him to advance to a dharma idol.
The karmic destiny remaining in Wei Yuan's hands was currently enough to bestow three more Arhat fruitions, with a bit left over. Aside from battlefield slaughters, the primary channel for acquiring karmic destiny was contributions from mortal devotees.
This system possessed immense potential and boundless utility. Wei Yuan saw countless ingenious applications for the future at a glance, which meant he had to take the long view and position his pieces now.
Whether mortals, Dao foundations, or even the vast majority of dharma idols, none could truly fathom the subtleties of the Grand Dao. To inspire everyone to yearn for fruition and advance valiantly, one had to pile on the spectacle—it had to be radiant and resplendent, grand in imagery, lofty in conception, and commanding the spiritual high ground.
Thus, in Wei Yuan's plan, the current Arhat fruition, along with the Vajra and mighty warrior fruitions soon to be developed, had to unleash violent storms, towering flames, or universal Buddhist radiance and circling immortal birds with every strike. In any single spell, at least twenty to thirty percent of the magic power had to be devoted to crafting these dazzling spectacles.
When a Qingming Vajra made a move, the momentum had to be grander than that of the opposing Wisdom Kings and Arhats. That was what made it orthodox.
The core of this entire system was the *Three Realms Sutra*, with its foundation anchored in the Sea of Bitterness. By establishing fruitions upon the Sea of Bitterness, he could bestow Buddhist dharmas below and gather aspiration power from above. Those who attained a fruition normally sustained it with their own cultivation and magic power, but in battle, they could petition their superior Buddha Lord—namely, Wei Yuan—for a blessing of Buddhist power, thereby dramatically enhancing their combat strength.
During the clash in the Sea of Bitterness, Tuoba Hong had awakened on his own. The moment Wei Yuan sensed him, he empowered the youth with Buddhist power from the Pure Land Grotto-Heaven, vastly elevating his combat strength from barely edging out a single Vajra to maneuvering against six or seven at once.
At that time, Wei Yuan had acted purely on the instincts of his cultivation, borrowing a sliver of King Buddha's experience with crude and primitive methods. Now, however, under the systematic analysis of thousands upon thousands of Qingming cultivators, this entire structure of gathering aspiration and bestowing dharmas was being disassembled into thousands of components, refined and optimized step by step.
Originally, following the battle in the Sea of Bitterness, King Buddha seemed to have sensed something, and numerous wondrous subtleties had arisen within the *Indestructible Dharma of Emptiness and Form*, including methods for consecrating Arhats, Wisdom Kings, Vajra mighty warriors, and more.
Yet Wei Yuan believed that King Buddha's path had already diverged from his own. If a Vajra were consecrated using King Buddha's methods, would it truly belong to King Buddha, or to himself?
Perhaps the risk was slight, but Wei Yuan felt there was no reason to take chances now. Furthermore, given Qingming's current pace of research, in time, the arts they pioneered would not necessarily fall short of King Buddha's.
Aside from outward presentation, this entire system had another seemingly useless yet critically important component: naming.
This naming encompassed all titles, dharma names, and everything associated with them. Its importance could be summed up in a single adage: an army must have a righteous banner. Thus, Wei Yuan personally took up the brush and renamed the Sea of Bitterness karmic destiny obtained from crushing Vajras and mighty warriors into "merit." Slaying an opponent earned "merit"—that was what it meant to eliminate demons and uphold the Dao.
In truth, these were merely minor details, no more than patching around the edges of the Pure Land and King Buddha's systems, with the Heaven of Joy and Bliss remaining the central nexus. Wei Yuan was merely blazing a Buddhist cultivation path apart from the Baohua Pure Land and Joy King Buddha, one that was far from complete, with the dissemination of teachings in the mortal world having only just begun. Wei Yuan had thought so himself—until the swelling ranks of researching cultivators crossed some unseen threshold, and all manner of bizarre, whimsical ideas suddenly sprang up.
The most crucial variable of all was that several researchers demonstrated this method could be applied to their native mortal realm!
The basic principle was that the Sea of Bitterness was not a sea, nor did it exist in the mortal realm; one had to use the Heaven of Joy and Bliss as an anchor to remain within the dimension of the Sea of Bitterness. Since the two realms did not exist in the same dimension, physical distance lost all meaning. Devotees in the northern frontier of Western Jin could perceive the Sea of Bitterness, and devotees in the southern wastes of the State of Ji could do so just the same.
The Heaven of Joy and Bliss was inherently situated within the Sea of Bitterness. Thus, Wei Yuan's devotees, whether in the north or south, could theoretically sense the Heaven of Joy and Bliss and receive the bestowal of Buddhist power. Such was the basic principle; exhaustive mechanisms existed as well, but being as vast as an ocean, Wei Yuan had not bothered to read them.
Once this mechanism was established, endless possibilities unfolded.
As a former Buddhist realm, perceiving the Heaven of Joy and Bliss had originally required profound cultivation in Buddhist dharma, as well as an immaculate Zen heart devoid of extraneous thoughts. Yet that had merely been an artificial constraint Shanle imposed to regulate the number of devotees admitted.
And this restriction could be removed. Doing so drastically lowered the threshold for cultivators of this realm to perceive the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, allowing Wei Yuan to bestow Buddhist dharmas through it.
Buddhist dharmas were not confined to combat. Even within the heritage of the Great Baohua Pure Land alone, the dharmas contained everything: subduing monsters and vanquishing demons, enhancing spiritual comprehension, enlightening heretics, and even shining Buddhist radiance to clean up the environment.
Once this mechanism was unlocked, countless researching cultivators shifted their focus in an instant, throwing themselves into this brand-new field. Its utility for the Buddhist path was one thing, but its application to the mortal world was truly monumental. This new system could be called:
Fruition-based official ranks.
The Buddhist lands had only developed a few broad tiers such as Bodhisattvas, Arhats, and Vajra mighty warriors. Qingming, however, dusted off its original meritorious service ranking system and redesigned it into an entirely new hierarchy: four tiers of Dao foundation, four tiers of dharma idol, and five tiers of Scenery Command.
Previously, this system had merely served to record meritorious deeds and distribute benefits. But now, so long as one mastered the *Explication of the Four Sections*, acquired rudimentary faith, possessed Dao foundation cultivation, and could sense the Heaven of Joy and Bliss, one could receive effects identical to a fruition blessing!
Upon receiving the blessing, not only could they unleash devastatingly powerful bestowed arts in combat, but their daily comprehension was heightened, and their cultivation speed increased. Even a template Dao foundation, under this blessing, could rival an ordinary Dao foundation, or even reach the strength of the middle or late Dao foundation stages.
Although the strength obtained through blessings was not truly their own, in a certain sense, it extended their Daoist path.
Looking upon this brand-new system, Wei Yuan felt a stirring in his heart. A Qingming such as this might one day be worthy of being called a Daoist Court.
Chapter 1261