The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Is this raging petition truly just a spontaneous farce by a group of disciples driven by self-interest and resentment? Or is there another unseen hand testing the mettle of this new policy and the court's resolve? Or perhaps... a pawn used by certain figures in the court to test the waters?
They want to use Su Qin to lure me into this conflict, thereby inducing a fierce confrontation in order to obtain in-depth information about Baiyang Cave and to see the stance and attitude of Xue Wangxu and others.

Ding Ning's gaze lingered for a moment on Su Qin's righteous and stern face, which subtly revealed traces of careful acting. Suddenly, he smiled, his thoughts swirling like the wind in the mountain gorge beneath his feet, already understanding the crux of the matter.

He stepped off the suspension bridge with steady movements and walked towards the turbulent stone platform.

"Junior Brother!" Su Qin stepped forward to greet him, elevating Ding Ning even higher in his words. "The imperial court's new policies are so tyrannical and domineering, sacrificing the fundamental interests of us core disciples to curry favor with those common people! Is it reasonable for me, Su Qin, to speak out for my fellow disciples and fight for the foundation of our sect?!"

"Should we raise this compensation claim? Should we fight for it?!"

All eyes were fixed intently on Ding Ning, awaiting his response.

The two instructors looked at him as if they had been granted a pardon, their eyes filled with hope, as if they hoped that this genius, valued by the cave master and elders, could break the deadlock with more skillful words.

However, Ding Ning did not speak immediately.

He simply stood quietly, his gaze not immediately responding to Su Qin's seemingly earnest but actually calculating urging, nor calming the crowd's anxiety, but slowly turning, like a cold, heavy ruler, or a tangible, sharp sword, scrutinizing the entire scene with penetrating insight.

His gaze was as deep and cold as a pool, as if it could peel away all pretense and pierce straight into the most hidden corner of everyone's heart.

An invisible sense of oppression, like ice water poured down, made Su Qin's breath catch in his throat. His upright posture swayed subconsciously—his heels instinctively took a small step back, his momentum faltered, and only a look of stunned surprise remained on his face.

Fairness? What they're shouting about is nothing more than the fear of their vested interests being threatened. Ding Ning remained indifferent.

This new policy forces all sects to open their doors, allowing instructors and students to take turns teaching, serving like soldiers, and even allowing ordinary people to set foot on the important grounds of sects, copy low-level techniques, and forcibly absorb vital energy for infusion...

Isn't this the very scene that person once imagined and depicted by the campfire on a rainy night long ago?
He wanted to break down the powerful clans, reform the old system, and give more people a path to follow, so as to build a stronger foundation for the world and make it possible for ordinary people to wield the sword.

However, the initial concept was still imbued with a warm and idealistic undertone.

What we see today is that Yuanwu and Zhengxiu, these two treacherous enemies who usurped the country and seized lives, are ruthlessly and forcefully pushing this old ship, which has been stranded for many years, back into the raging torrent. Their efficiency is astonishing!
Without any hesitation or buffer!
Integration, coordination, and forceful implementation – an iron fist!

They used the most rigorous centralized system and the power accumulated by the Qin Dynasty's territorial expansion to crush all obstacles and bring this change into reality.

Once it is achieved, the source of power for all cultivators in the world will be reshaped and highly concentrated.

Those mountain gates that still retain some independence, like Baiyangdong, will inevitably be completely integrated into the furnace of the state apparatus, turned into firewood, and lose their independent and transcendent status.

Thousands of potential cultivators will be selected from the Taoist academies established by the imperial court. Everything is under control, truly making it an impregnable empire.

Such methods… A cold sneer rose in Ding Ning’s heart. Just as those two always did.

Ruthless, fast, and beyond question.

The visions that had not yet been implemented in the past have lost their last trace of warmth and tenderness in their hands, leaving only the naked reconstruction of power and the essence of authoritarianism.

Countless cultivation resources will be integrated and allocated. Even if some small environments are sacrificed, and some cultivation sites with shallow foundations lose their ability to naturally regenerate, the overall strength of the combined forces will far exceed the current fragmented situation of each group fighting its own battles.

This will be an unprecedented heavy hammer, capable of easily shattering the old order... If used well, could it also... become a sharp blade to cut through the very foundations of Yuanwu and Zhengxiu?

Just as Zhao Qing had promised and prophesied.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, everything is on track.

At the same time, the contradictions were also sharply laid out: like the new faces outside the lead window, and the group of sect disciples on the platform.

Su Qin was "clever" in the dramatic adjustment of the power structure. He accurately grasped the core pain point of these disciples—"sense of injustice"—and portrayed their lost privileges as a collective tragedy and sacrifice.

He dared not directly oppose the main national policy of "the court promoting universal conscription," after all, it represented Yuanwu's unquestionable imperial will. However, he was extremely good at "nitpicking" in the gaps between the branches and leaves, and frantically "nitpicking" the details of these implementation levels.

They cleverly used "moral blackmail" and "fraternal affection" as weapons to target the middle-level instructors and deacons of the sect, demanding that they "discretion" and "flexibility" to "compete for benefits" and "give way" to their superiors, and to "seek compensation" for their disciples.

This is both an open conspiracy and an extremely insidious way of transferring pressure.

Essentially, it forces middle managers to take on the risks of navigating the power struggle with the government, while they themselves remain firmly in the position of "rights protection leaders," reaping prestige and popular support.

If he succeeds, he will be the one to take the credit, his position will be secure, and he will have gathered the necessary momentum; if he fails, it will be due to the incompetence of the instructors.

After accumulating power, Su Qin held the initiative no matter which direction he went. Whether he betrayed his fellow disciples to secure his own future or accumulated more capital for other schemes, he had more room to maneuver and more leverage.

Ding Ning's silence seemed to have lasted too long.

A barely perceptible hint of impatience and doubt flashed in Su Qin's eyes, but on the surface he maintained an attitude of "earnest expectation." In his mind, his thoughts raced: This kid has only been a beginner for a few days? How could his cultivation level surpass mine, a mid-stage third realm cultivator, and yet he exudes such an aura?
He took a deep breath to calm himself, and smoothly performed a standard bow. As he cupped his hands in greeting, his gaze quickly swept over a trusted underling in the crowd, giving him a subtle wink.

The hot-tempered student immediately shouted, "Senior Brother Ding! Senior Brother Su is right! Look at those people down there, and look at the land they've fenced off! Can you swallow this insult?"

Ding Ning's eyes flickered, as if she had just emerged from deep thought.

He did not immediately respond to the disciple's question. Instead, he looked at Su Qin, his voice calm and unreadable, yet clearly drowning out all other noises: "Senior Brother Su is righteous and speaks out for his fellow disciples. He is naturally worthy of respect."

A hint of smugness was just about to appear on Su Qin's face.

However, Ding Ning's next words were like a stone thrown into water: "However, Senior Brother Su just now kept saying 'unfair,' accusing the court of 'exploiting' us and causing us disciples to lose many of our 'rightful' rights. Ding Ning has a question and would like to ask Senior Brother Su."

His gaze was calm yet sharp, piercing Su Qin: "If it is 'should have been', then how can it be 'lost'?"

"When we entered the cave, did the rules state: The spiritual energy here is exclusively for our enjoyment, and outsiders are never allowed to enter? Did they state: We disciples have no external affairs, and only need to sit in meditation and cultivate? Did they state: The area within a dozen miles of the mountain gate is the forbidden area of ​​my White Sheep Cave, and no other things may be built there?"

A series of calm rhetorical questions brought the rousing roar on the stone platform to a halt.

Many disciples looked bewildered—they had never thought of it from this perspective before.

Before Su Qin could retort, Ding Ning's voice remained low, yet carried a penetrating calmness as his gaze swept over the crowd:
"When you fellow disciples are heartbroken, have you overlooked something else? The Zhengwu Division implemented this policy to show its benevolence or to appease others. Is there not even a hint of compensation in it?"

He paused slightly, then presented an even more impactful fact:
"As far as I know, the Imperial Workshops have recently published and sold in various prefectures detailed explanations of basic methods, such as 'The First Sense of the Hundredfold Qi Refining,' 'Comprehensive Explanation of Meridian Annotations,' and 'Records of Strange Talks on the Threefold Barriers of Qi Refining.' Every word is precious, the analysis is profound yet easy to understand, and it also incorporates many previously secret experiences and tips that were not passed down within sects. Even we can gain something from reading them. And these can be easily purchased in bookstores throughout Changling for just a few copper coins. Moreover, I have heard that the Imperial Court is contacting many masters and famous experts to compile a more advanced 'Collection of Insights on Breaking Through Realms,' which will be available for exchange by core disciples in various cultivation sites."

"And what can we exchange for the 'contribution points' we earn from our rotating teaching and service duties?"

Ding Ning turned his gaze to the two instructors, as if seeking confirmation, "I've heard of the 'Sea-Nourishing Spirit Powder,' traditionally reserved for royalty, nobles, and powerful clans, which slowly nourishes the Qi Sea and strengthens the foundation; the 'Meridian-Clearing Pill,' a modified formula, is currently being tested on a small scale by the Imperial Physicians, its effect being to slightly widen the meridians; there are even rumors of a 'Marrow-Changing Soup' formula available for a large amount of points, which can slightly improve acquired physical constitution and aptitude... and there are also exquisite talismanic artifacts such as the 'Primordial Talisman Gathering Qi Plate' leaked from the Crafts Bureau, which can assist in Qi refining..."

These words were like throwing ice into a boiling pot of oil, and the crowd instantly erupted in chaos!

It was even more intense than when they responded to Su Qin before!
"What?! A meridian-clearing pill? Senior Brother Ding, are you serious?"

"Can 'contribution points' be exchanged for those good things?"

"The Essentials of Breaking Through Realms? A Grandmaster's Insights?!" A disciple's voice trembled. "That's a true treasure!"

"I...I thought those points were just useless tokens I earned through hard work! Turns out they're actually very useful?"

The disciples' eyes changed instantly. Their previous dissatisfaction and anxiety were suddenly mixed with shock, disbelief, and a strong, restless anticipation!

People tend to focus more on what they have lost, while often overlooking the new things that quietly arrive.

Ding Ning simply brushed away the dust that was covering them.

In an instant, most of the indignation that had been stirred up and manipulated dissipated.

The tangible benefits and the visible prospects of compensation immediately extinguished much of the impulsive anger. Many disciples who were initially swayed and blushed began to look away, no longer closely following Su Qin, their "leader."

Su Qin's facial muscles twitched almost imperceptibly, and a hint of resentment flashed deep in his eyes. What Ding Ning said were all "benefits" that he had deliberately avoided mentioning and suppressed from everyone's view.

He suppressed the surging anger and shock in his heart, knowing that retreating now would mean defeat. He let out a low, almost cold laugh, his tone carrying undisguised sharpness and urgent aggression: "Junior Brother Ding, you are mistaken! Utterly wrong!"

Su Qin's voice suddenly rose, almost a shout, stirring up the disciples' thoughts that had just settled down.

He stepped forward, his gaze fixed intently on Ding Ning, as if he wanted to tear a hole in the other man: "A meager profit, nothing more than bait thrown out by the imperial court! The wool comes from the sheep's back!"

"Those secret techniques and elixirs exchanged for contribution points are still being siphoned off from the disciples of my sect! In the end, this new policy is undermining the very foundation of our sects! If this continues, all the paths of cultivation in the world will fall into the hands of the imperial court, leaving no place for us to cultivate in peace?"

"The sect will cease to exist! If the skin is gone, where will the hair attach? This is putting the cart before the horse! Being blinded by petty gains is what makes us fall for the slow, insidious trap set by some people!"

If the skin is gone, where will the hair attach?
These eight words, like icy needles dipped in deadly poison, pierced the hearts of every beneficiary of the "old world" present.

In an instant, the warmth brought by Ding Ning's earlier "compensation" was completely dispelled!
A deeper, more fundamental fear, concerning the very foundation of existence, was laid bare by Su Qin—not only the loss of benefits, but also the ultimate stripping away of power! The complete demise of the sect's independence!

The brief glimmer of hope for the future that had just appeared on the disciples' faces was immediately covered by an even darker cloud.

The commotion resumed, and a chilling unease filled the air.

"Really? Putting the cart before the horse?"

Ding Ning's voice was not loud, but it carried a calm and composed strength: "Senior Brother Su! Since you know that the building is about to collapse, why not find a place to stand instead of standing under a crumbling wall and shouting about the fear of collapse?"

“You…” Su Qin was speechless, his face turning pale and then flushed.

This casual rhetorical question was like a soft sword, dissipating the immense momentum he had built up over half a day!

Ding Ning stopped looking at him and turned to his disciple, who was still in a state of confusion and unease. His voice pierced through the rumble of the lead chamber and the howling of the mountain wind:

“As I said, this is not a dead end. New ‘wool’ will grow on new ‘sheep’. A pool of water may dry up, but a mighty river is changing its course.”

"The imperial court intends to use the newly established academies as tentacles to spread outwards like a spider web to the surrounding villages and towns of various cultivation sects. Although this decree may disrupt our current peace, in the long run, our Great Qin is truly integrating the power of all sects in the world to expand and develop outwards!"

“These newly accepted disciples received their initial training at the Dao Academy and were placed under the command of the Zhengwu Division. When they achieve mastery in their studies, will they still nominally belong to the original sect? Isn’t this a way to expand and strengthen our sect?”

"Tell me, would any general or veteran soldier in the army think that the imperial court's order to recruit new soldiers, thus expanding their own ranks, is a harmful and unprofitable move? And would they think that those new soldiers are all there to steal their spoils and take their credit?"

"This is absurd!" Ding Ning's words grew sharper. "The more new recruits there are, the more diligent the training, the stronger the battle-hardened army, and the greater its ability to attack fortified positions! When they are tempered and honed to perfection, the merits they gain from fighting bloody battles beneath the walls, will they be recorded as the property of someone else's army?"

Why act this way today, forcing yourself to stand against those ignorant new sprouts and create an irreconcilable conflict?

He looked at Su Qin, his tone calm but meaningful: "Instead of gathering a crowd to pressure the senior instructors and engaging in this internal strife, why not ask Senior Brother Su to work with all the instructors to have a frank discussion with the imperial envoy and set out the details of 'compensation' and 'boundaries', so that we can truly fight for the benefits we 'deserve'?"

"Wouldn't it be better to turn the dispute over 'injustice' into a win-win situation than to engage in a fight of emotions at this moment?"

"So...is it really necessary to escalate to such a tense and sharp point, turning people into enemies?"

Ding Ning concluded, "Gentlemen, do not let temporary convenience cause you to miss out on the possibilities offered by the overall trend."

"When others only see the 'lead coffin' cast in lead and iron, we should see even more the torrent of power that flows through the conduit connecting heaven and earth behind it. As one thing diminishes, another grows. To cling to a trickle of water while rejecting the mighty river is not the way of the wise!"

"The current state of cultivation in the world is no longer what it was yesterday."

"How can we find our own and Baiyangdong's long-term place in this big picture, instead of just clinging to the slightly 'thin' spiritual energy caused by the diversion and feeling that 'fairness' has been lost...?"

"This is the vision and mindset that we cultivators should have."

After he finished speaking, the stone platform fell silent.

Su Qin's body froze completely on the spot.

All the passion, indignation, worry, and eloquence on his face vanished instantly. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down with difficulty, as if he had swallowed an indigestible block of iron. In the end, he couldn't squeeze out a single word and had no power to refute.

Fairness? Ding Ning silently repeated in his heart.

Is this "public" the same "public" that Su Qin, a student of Baiyangdong, spoke of? Is it the "public" that the sons of powerful families lost their exclusive privileges? Or is it the "public" that the laborers at the foot of the mountain believed they could gain a little power by sacrificing their labor and lives?
Is it the "public" of the Zhengwu Division, where cold labor points and military merit points are the only hard currency for circulation? Is it the "public" in the eyes of Emperor Yuanwu, where all resources, all power, and all rules must unconditionally obey and serve his supreme throne?
Or perhaps... the undying obsession deep within the ruins of the sword and the fallen flowers—the scattered remnants of the Bashan Sword Field, trying to find a breath of air, a spark of resurgence in the cracks of these cold, ironclad rules... that distant "gong" as faint as embers in the wind.
The dark green broken sword at his waist remained silent.

The cold, heavy blade pressed against his body heat, like a heavy seal from a bygone era.

But now, faced with this overwhelming force of iron, both the righteousness of the past, which burned like fire, and the reasoning of today's heated debates, seem so pale, fragile, and easily broken.

Like withered yellow bamboo leaves that dance wildly in the wind, about to be crushed into dust in the next moment.

The wind in the canyon suddenly picked up, and a deeper, clearer rumble came from inside the lead chamber, like a giant beast drawing water from the ground. The invisible primordial energy of heaven and earth was being forcibly pressurized and gathered through layers of lead and iron pipes, preparing to burst forth.

Just as Ding Ning's all-seeing gaze shifted from Su Qin's already distraught figure and returned to the bustling area at the entrance of the mountain gate—a hunched and familiar figure mingling among the crowd watching the lead chamber turned slightly to the side, revealing a face roughened by the passage of time.

The coffin shop in the south of the city, where the silent old Wu spends his days with rotten wood! One of the hidden spies of the remnants of the Bashan Sword Field, buried deep in Changling, who has only recently made contact with Ye Celing!

He actually... managed to get a spot to "advanced study" at Baiyangdong? What's he coming in for? To contact me? Something important that can't be explained online?
Ding Ning felt a slight unease, his mind racing with a multitude of thoughts.

Almost at the same instant!

As if by some mysterious force, the shifting of his gaze created a profound resonance—atop the sheer, gray-black boulder above the canyon, a clump of resilient black bamboo, as deep as ink, swayed violently in the wind-swept cliffs! The scene flashed by in an instant! Swift as a ghost!

Miss Shang from the fish market? She's here too?

……

Among the newly arrived merchants from the foot of the mountain, a slightly plump middle-aged man dressed in an inconspicuous ochre silk robe and fiddling with a string of shiny yellow jade beads "happened" to stand in the noisy area on the side of the lead room.

His squinting eyelids concealed his sharp, eagle-like gaze, and only his ears twitched slightly beneath his hair.

It was Zheng Bainiao, the grandmaster of the Zheng family clan.

Ding Ning's impeccable response reached his ears clearly, word by word.

Zheng Bainiao sneered inwardly: What a quick-witted brat! He avoids the important issues and focuses on the trivial, leaving no room for error, not giving away the slightest clue, and leaving no loophole for anyone to take the bait...

It seems that the plan to pry out the young man from the wine shop about disrespectful words about the new policies of the court, frame him as the ringleader of a riot, and use this as a pretext to directly attack and force out Baiyang Cave's trump card is not going to work. As for ordinary talents like Su Qin, the sect will not go out of its way to protect him.

“…However,” a sinister glint flashed in Zheng Bainiao’s eyes as he thought to himself, “the remnants of the Bashan bandits are like rats in a sewer; they must have lairs and hideouts in Changling. That’s a foregone conclusion! Better to kill ten thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free! And Baiyangdong is barely in the top ten suspects, plus Liang Lian’s promise…”

"Hehe, the former General Liang, in his misfortune and demotion, just happened to intend to vent his anger on this small sect. The cause... was just a trivial 'two-story building,' and he chose this target. In order to cooperate with his plan of 'making meritorious contributions and restoring his power, and catering to the emperor's wishes, I also have to put in some effort."

"Since words are insufficient, let's fabricate some irrefutable 'evidence'! Let the chaos speak for itself!"

"For example, let the dust and pollutants in the mountains turn a little red, and let a few insignificant 'mountain vagrants' die..."

...(End of chapter)