Chapter 907 — Severing the Root

In the imperial palace, Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu had summoned Yuchenzi, Daoist Master Lin Xuan, Wang Muran, Si Yunxiang, and others. Many of them had once belonged to the Heavenly Alliance, and all were young; they had gathered to discuss how Jingping should govern itself after this great upheaval. When the Heavenly Alliance was first founded, it had only four members: Shen Mu, Lin Xuan, Wang Muran, and Xu Shenghua. Later, when Shen Mu and the others were roasting fish at the Grand Academy, Ling Yuxiu, Si Yunxiang, Xue Hu'er, Monk Chenghuai, Mu Qingdai, Long Yu, and others joined as well.

Shen Mu afterward dragged in Zhankong, the Xuanliao Demon Ape.

As for Xue Hu'er, she loved a clamor, and had joined the Heavenly Alliance merely to make up the numbers; she never took it to heart, nor did Shen Mu and the rest. Xing'an and Emperor Yanfeng had been present at the time, yet they regarded the Heavenly Alliance founded by Shen Mu and the others with considerable disdain and did not join. This gathering in the imperial palace was missing Xu Shenghua; Xue Hu'er, Chenghuai, and the Xuanliao Demon Ape had not come either, but Yuchenzi was an addition.

Yuchenzi said, "The New Heavenly Chart is vast beyond measure, and refining it is exceedingly difficult. Even with the Heavenly Court Dao Sect doing the refining, it would take thirty to fifty years to complete.

Moreover, my Qingyun Heaven is the designer of the New Heavenly Chart, so we can naturally leave certain tricks hidden within it. The New Heavenly Chart is indeed perilous, but it is not without a chance of survival.

What is most difficult now are the eight articles in the Heavenly Court's imperial edict. " Ling Yuxiu said, "There are in fact only seven.

My father and Imperial Preceptor Jiang Jingping are imprisoned in the great dungeon; for now we need not consider them, and should focus only on the first seven and devise countermeasures. Going forward, should Jingping halt its reforms altogether, or continue? If we continue, how are we to break through those seven? " Yuchenzi looked at Shen Mu, who said, "Naturally, we keep going. If we do not, the emperor's annual sacrifices alone would be enough to destroy the very cornerstone of Jingping's existence. " The others were baffled.

Yuchenzi explained, "The powerful demigods of the Heavenly Court feed on blood sacrifice. Each year when the emperor sacrifices to Heaven, he offers up young boys and girls to the Heavenly Court. Offering boys and girls to the Heavenly Court as blood sacrifice is enough to sever the people's faith; they would not dare resent Heaven, and would only turn their anger upon Jingping. " "Too vicious.

" Wang Muran frowned. "That single article alone is enough to ruin Jingping. " Ling Yuxiu said, "That is why we must devise countermeasures.

The Heavenly Court seeks to take away Jingping's minting rights.

How would the Fragrance Holy Maiden deal with that? " Si Yunxiang thought for a moment, then smiled. "So then—is the Heavenly Court's currency to circulate only within Jingping's borders, or throughout the entire Yuan Realm? " Shen Mu said, "The Heavenly Court will not mint a special currency just for Jingping.

Now that the Heavenly Court has unified the Yuan Realm, naturally every power uses the same currency.

" Si Yunxiang clapped her hands and laughed.

"If they designed a special currency for Jingping alone, with the Heavenly Court controlling the minting rights, then the economy would be lost and Jingping would be beyond saving. But if every power throughout the Yuan Realm uses the same currency, this is actually not a bad thing!

" The others knew little of such matters and pressed her with questions. "With the entire Yuan Realm using a single currency, the Heavenly Court drains the Yuan Realm like a leech—it need only mint currency to plunder the Yuan Realm's wealth.

But the Heavenly Court must also guarantee that the currency can actually buy goods. " Si Yunxiang smiled.

"The people of Jingping excel above all at commerce; through trade they can earn more money from other parts of the Yuan Realm and secure their own livelihood. The Heavenly Court drains the entire Yuan Realm, plundering its resources, while we draw resources from other powers of the Yuan Realm through commerce. Emperor Yanfeng once said that the Great Feng currency should be used in every nation, and he struggled for that for many years. The unification of the Yuan Realm's currency has actually realized his dream—only now there is an extra Heavenly Lord above our heads.

" Shen Mu said, "Trade and commerce—leave that to you.

" Si Yunxiang said, "I will need your fox spirit to assist me. " Shen Mu nodded. "Minting rights is the third article; leave the planning and resolution of this to Si Yunxiang, to stabilize the people's livelihood.

The first article is to burn all books on reform and forbid reform—we have backups of every text, so this need not concern us. The second is to restore the ancestral system: rule by sects, the common folk revering the gods, the sects revering the gods, and through both sect and commoner to control Jingping. This is a policy to keep the people ignorant and weary. How do we break it? " Wang Muran said, "Among these seven articles, is there any that forbids the founding of primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy? " Ling Yuxiu said, "There is no such article, but the primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy everywhere have all been smashed by those heavenly gods, and the books burned. " Wang Muran laughed. "Then we build them again!

Do not use the names primary school, academy, or Grand Academy—change them to something else, such as Yujing Sect, Tiansheng Sect, or Daoist Branch Academy, giving them sect-like titles.

Primary schools, academies, and the Grand Academy are in essence no different from sects to begin with.

" Shen Mu said, "Then that is what we shall do. The fourth article forbids the manufacture of heavy divine artifacts—we simply will not make them for now, and need not concern ourselves with it. The fifth forbids unauthorized alteration of divine abilities and Daoist arts—only a few are capable of altering such things, so this article need not concern us either. The sixth is the sacrifice to Heaven. This one strikes at the heart; how do we break it? " Yuchenzi pondered.

"I have some connections within the Heavenly Court Dao Sect.

Perhaps I can ask persons of standing there to intervene and change what is offered in sacrifice—at the very least, the emperor must not sacrifice humans like livestock. " Shen Mu said, "I thank you, Senior Brother Yuchenzi.

The seventh article is to destroy all clever contrivances and ingenious devices. This one is not so great a matter; after this catastrophe, the people have lost nearly all their fine things. " He looked around at them all and smiled. "Then let us begin to think about how to counterattack.

" Everyone was startled. Counterattack? What kind of grand talk was this? How could there be a counterattack? Shen Mu said, "These past few days I have had a raw idea.

I have wandered about the capital and found that many heavenly soldiers and generals of the Heavenly Court have been breaking into the great households of the capital and seizing all those so-called clever contrivances. The gods of the Heavenly Court seem to be very fond of such things. In that case, we shall manufacture them for free, taking only Heavenly Court coin, and the cheaper the better.

Jingping has no shortage of skilled craftsmen; making everyday goods for the people can preserve the skills of these craftsmen. " The others still did not quite understand. Shen Mu continued, "Senior Brother Yuchenzi, could you use your connections in the Heavenly Court Dao Sect to have some of the Heavenly Court's divine artifacts manufactured by Jingping?

" Yuchenzi frowned.

"You want Jingping to manufacture the New Heavenly Chart?

Impossible!