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

In ancient society, children were undoubtedly the seeds that brought the most hope to the family. The cry of a new life was the most steadfast promise to the future. Therefore, once this decree was issued, it triggered a huge positive response, making countless people grateful for the grace of the emperor.

Immediately afterwards, the Qin Dynasty officially promulgated the "Prohibition of Selling Children Order," which strictly prohibited parents from selling their children, especially from beating or killing infants and young children. Violators would be punished according to the severity of the circumstances, including tattooing, nose cutting, foot amputation, or even being confiscated as government slaves and exiled to harsh and cold border regions. They would not be pardoned even if they were granted one, and the direct blood relatives of the victims would be held jointly liable.

At the same time, in an effort to appease the people, the court announced the exemption of all household taxes and poll taxes for the year, hoping to alleviate the people's suffering and fundamentally reduce the economic incentives for such tragedies to occur.

Accompanying this was a series of measures to reward merit.

To encourage the widespread practice of spiritual cultivation and strengthen the foundation of the nation, the government issued a decree:

Any child in the family who successfully senses Qi will be rewarded with six shi of rice and two sheep; if a practitioner can teach or assist others in sensing Qi, the military merit for each three people who succeed will be equivalent to "beheading one level"; if someone can help others "communicate with the profound" and formally enter the path of cultivation, the merit for each person who succeeds will be equivalent to "beheading three levels".

By accumulating military merits, one could be promoted to the rank of "Gongcheng" or even "Wudaifu," enjoying generous benefits such as land, property, and exemption from corvée labor.

As soon as the imperial edict was issued, countless poor families in the countryside spread the news, and parents looked at their young children with less sorrow and more hope.

In the towns, some low-level cultivators and military instructors who were trapped in their circumstances also saw a shortcut to advancement. They began to actively seek out intelligent children, either to teach them or to take them as disciples, in order to exchange for real rewards and honors.

Taoist temples and elementary schools in various places were overcrowded, and even some long-abandoned dilapidated temples and ancestral halls were cleared out and hung with simple signs that read "Enlightenment through Qi Induction".

Just as this wave of enthusiasm for cultivation was surging, a strange fluorescent mushroom quietly appeared in the mountains and forests of the border region. It was shaped like an umbrella and emitted a faint blue light, which was especially noticeable at night.

Rumors circulated that consuming it could slightly enhance one's cultivation aptitude or accelerate the Qi refining process. The news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching every corner of the city and earning it the names "Spirit Root Mushroom" and "Breakthrough Mushroom," attracting countless cultivators and even ordinary people to search for it in the mountains.

The government has not yet reached a conclusion on this matter. It has neither publicly refuted the rumors nor explicitly acknowledged them. Instead, it has secretly increased patrols in the mountains and forests and warned the public not to eat anything of unknown origin.

At this juncture, the Qin Dynasty's Zhengwu Division, in conjunction with the Jiantian Division, launched an unprecedented secret operation targeting the increasingly rampant black market for cultivators and the smuggling network of spiritual herbs. The aim was to cut off the flow of illegal resources and strengthen the imperial court's monopoly control over key resources for cultivation—elixirs and magical artifacts.

Their actions were swift and secretive, uprooting several powerful underground forces and creating an atmosphere of fear and unease.

However, the most eye-catching event, and one that even shocked the world, was the attack on the Great Floating Water Prison.

A strange thunderstorm, without warning yet with perfect precision, bombarded the outer and core areas of the water prison in succession. In a short period of time, it caused the protective magic array to be paralyzed and rendered ineffective, and temporarily cut off the connection between the "Starfire Stele" suppressed deep inside and the outside world, preventing Zheng Xiu from descending the Starfire Comet Tail Sword to provide timely support.

During this brief period of chaos, at least two powerful rebels, whose cultivation was unfathomable and who were suspected to have reached the upper level of the seventh realm, forcibly broke through the guards as if they were in an empty place.

Shen Xuan and the Du brothers, who were stationed here, were seriously injured and on the verge of death. Lin Zhujiu, the military strategist of Bashan who had been imprisoned for many years, and several important criminals were successfully rescued and disappeared without a trace.

The news could not be contained and spread throughout the world immediately. All nations and their officials were astonished and suspected that it was the work of the remnants of the Bashan Sword Field. Moreover, the organization and combat power they displayed far exceeded expectations.

The gaze shifted from the turbulent Changling to the northern grasslands. Tens of thousands of elite cavalry of the Wu clan, who had been besieging the ancestral lands of the Wu clan for three days and two nights, suddenly withdrew without warning and launched a blitzkrieg against the neighboring Donghu tribes with lightning speed.

Even more surprisingly, this army not only included top masters who were already famous throughout the grasslands, such as Zhan Mohe, Yelü Canglang, and Ling Shan, but also a strange and powerful figure with a profound aura and overwhelming aura appeared. This person claimed to be Tuoba Wuchou, the Grand Marshal of the Tianliang Empire hundreds of years ago.

This claim was so shocking that many people initially scoffed at it. However, his strength was undeniable; he was clearly a genuine eighth-realm expert, far exceeding the scope of the seventh realm.

Faced with such overwhelming power, the Donghu were utterly unable to mount any effective resistance. The Donghu emperor, Yelü Zhenying, was beheaded on the spot in the palace, the capital city quickly fell, the high-ranking officials were almost completely wiped out, and the slave system practiced within their territory was forcefully abolished.

Under the strong will of Marshal Tuoba, the victorious Wushi and the defeated Donghu began a forced merger process, declaring that they would be reintegrated into the former Tianliang system.

Surprisingly, even Empress Dowager Wu, a former ruler, did not express any opposition to this. Instead, she showed a submissive attitude, which shows that her power and methods were so great that they had reached an unbelievable level.

The newly formed power after the merger did not immediately pose a direct threat to the Qin and Yan dynasties in the south. Instead, it actively promoted and significantly opened up border trade, a behavior that is quite intriguing.

Sima Cuo, a veteran general of the northern frontier, urgently reported to Changling, writing a somber assessment: the unification of the grasslands was already underway, and the master's cultivation was exceptionally high and his supernatural powers unfathomable. Although he was currently showing goodwill and engaging in trade, his ambitions were certainly not small. Given time, he would become a major threat to the Qin Dynasty, and a powerful enemy had already emerged in the north.

Almost simultaneously, a change also occurred in the Yan Dynasty in the east. In the border regions, a large number of private slaves, unable to bear the oppression, fled to the grasslands in groups. In the chaos, they even destroyed a pass of the Great Wall. It is widely believed that this event must have been carefully planned by a mastermind.

Then turn your gaze south.

Fang Xiumu, a Qin Dynasty prodigy known as the "Sword Maniac," volunteered to visit the State of Chu as an envoy, ostensibly to exchange sword skills and promote friendly relations between the cultivation communities of the two countries.

However, both Emperor Yuanwu and Emperor Chu were aware that this move was a show of weakness, a bargain, and a negotiation between the Qin army in the border regions and the Chu air force, which was exhausted and had no other options. It also bought crucial time for the Qin dynasty to build and improve its air defense forces.

Near the ancestral homeland of the Wu clan, which was referred to by Marshal Tuoba as "Tianliang Sacred Mountain," strange phenomena have been occurring frequently. More and more people claim to have witnessed another parallel system of sunrise and sunset, with light and shadow intertwined, as if two worlds were overlapping.

This phenomenon vaguely coincides with the previous rumors of "interdimensional communication" circulating in Chu. The courts of Qin, Qi, and Yan all quickly stepped forward to refute the rumors, denouncing them as "seditious gossip; how could there be an otherworld?"

Emperor Qi Mingzong of the Great Qi Dynasty—a practitioner of Yin Ghost Arts, who established his temple name early on as a custom of witchcraft—publicly declared that the ancestral master of witchcraft had explored every corner of this world in the past, but had never discovered any otherworldly realms, but perhaps there were indeed extraterrestrial life forms.

The Chu Emperor did not respond to this. He was busy quelling the unrest among the powerful clans in the southern prefectures and forcefully promoting reforms to the official system from top to bottom. The fact that they had even killed their own children made them difficult to resist.

It is said that this action against the cumbersome and chaotic official system, in addition to dismissing a group of disgraced officials and their relatives, also aims to achieve flat management by relying on more efficient communication tools and the high perception and mental strength brought about by cultivation. While reducing the number of ranks, it also improves the efficiency of all government orders.

...Tianliang Zushan, a "blessed land" of the Sword Realm.

The magnificent chapters containing countless true meanings of swordsmanship continue to evolve and improve day by day, absorbing various "nutrients" produced by itself or from outside, pushing this light curtain where all things converge to a new peak. The inner barrier operates quietly, spontaneously drooping rainbow ribbons, which are incomparably beautiful.

If one were willing to wait a few more hours in the vicinity and possess exceptional eyesight, one would discover that through the outer layer of the law filter, one could observe a blazing sun and a cold moon, which would occasionally leap out suddenly, carrying a large number of tiny stars, slowly rotating around the center of the valley, seemingly following some kind of pattern.

A pool of milky-white hot spring water flows gently, its mist rising and dispersing, brimming with life force that neither increases nor decreases.

Someone stood quietly by the spring.

It was Zhao Qing, who was in seclusion for cultivation.

Using the Fountain of Youth as the array's core and supplemented by the power of the "Blessed Land," she has captured several passing "Heavenly Veins" in the past few days, absorbing an immense amount of highly active primordial energy. Her breakthrough in cultivation has been further solidified, ensuring the reserve of her magical power and profound light.

According to Zhao Qing's self-assessment, her theoretical strength had increased by about thirty times in the past month, and her normal strength had increased by more than a hundred times—after all, she had only recently broken through to the next realm and had not yet had time to create the most suitable top-level techniques.

This numerical difference is undoubtedly astonishing. Considering that she could fight against ordinary eighth-realm opponents a month ago, she could now easily take on a hundred opponents.

Of course, we need to solve the limitations on the stability of heaven and earth first.

If measured by the system of the Sword Dynasty world, Zhao Qing's natal object has become a "god" in the inner universe. It can be said that she has completely refined her natal microcosm. Therefore, she has directly risen to the upper level of the eighth realm. After a slight fusion with the Dao pattern domain, she will reach the peak of Qitian and have the minimum capital to break through to the ninth realm of longevity.

Based on Zhao Qing's in-depth research and deduction, she certainly couldn't play the "self-destruction" game in the conventional way, explosively casting out the net of laws. Such a self-destructive act of the inner universe is putting the cart before the horse, and it is also inefficient. It would almost destroy both body and soul, and it would take too long to regroup the power and rebuild from the ashes.

Therefore, she initially conceived of another path.

Just as she created several methods for breaking through the Eight Realms through unorthodox means.

"That concludes today's lecture... The method of multitasking and using two techniques simultaneously is a prerequisite for learning the 'Severing Thoughts and Transferring Treasures Technique.' You must make good use of it and strive to develop the multiple states of your divine thoughts as soon as possible."

Zhao Qing sat by the spring and said calmly, "A hundred years is but a dream, ten thousand years is but an empty void."

"Next, those who wish to participate can go to the Dream Pod to select the talisman discs they like, connect to the 'Selfless and Formless Qian Yuan Sword Pill Grand Array,' transform into 'Sword Spirits,' and experience the withering, flourishing, and death of plants, and their repeated cycles..."

Upon hearing this, Tang Xin, Qi Jinshan, Han Chendi, Song Chaosheng, and Zhan Mohe, the five contemporary grandmasters who had humbly sought guidance, also bowed and left, heading towards the dense area where rainbow ribbons hung down. Immersed in the undulating waves of the void's primordial energy, they naturally pushed open the hidden portals within.

As they stepped through the "door" that suddenly appeared like a crystal mirror, they vanished completely, as if they had crossed the boundary between reality and illusion, dissipating into pure primordial energy.

In reality, these people could not possibly possess such special supernatural powers, nor were they the manifestation of "supreme spiritual emptiness." Rather, they had entered a series of recently created miniature grotto-heavens.

This is naturally a spatial technique that can contain Mount Sumeru within a mustard seed.

Unlike the creation of the fictional Nibelungen space, after Zhao Qing's reproduction, if such a "grotto-heaven" is to exist stably and accommodate living beings, it needs materials corresponding to the seventh realm level, or extremely rare natural spiritual materials, or the natal object of a grandmaster, and to inscribe magic arrays to support and bind the adjusted spatial lines.

Such grottoes are not large, usually only a few dozen feet square, and from the outside they appear to be only a few feet or even smaller.

It's like a small bubble suspended in the outer void, subject to the attraction and repulsion of certain laws in the inner world. It can be dragged, moved, and its position adjusted. The faster it goes, the heavier it feels, because the friction between the laws creates enormous resistance.

It can split off from the "membrane of heaven and earth" of the great world, like the endosome of transporting small vesicles, carrying primordial energy, laws, Dao rhythm, and even physical entities and living things, and then merge back into a new world, such as Zhao Qing's newly born inner universe.

However, as things stand, her little world, which is "ending at midnight and approaching 1 AM," is far from being a safe place for outsiders to enter. The conflict of laws alone is a difficult problem to solve, and the difference in the flow of time is also extremely dangerous.

Only when Heaven, Earth, and Man are all present can one even attempt it.

Therefore, taking the main Dao seed layer of the inner universe as the "real world," many mirrored temporary Nibelungen are projected, which then briefly merge with the mirror space of the outer world or the drifting cave bubble, thereby achieving communication and resonance, and completing the "empowerment" style teaching for deep understanding of cultivation.

This method is exquisite and is also an important practice of her concept of "all dharmas returning to the same source and all realms jointly witnessing" on her path of cultivation.

"The multiplicity of divine will is far more than a simple matter of multitasking, like drawing a circle with the left hand and a square with the right. It is akin to splitting off another mirror image of an independent personality, much like having a computer run two different operating systems simultaneously, running in parallel without conflict, yet both originating from a single core, deep will..."

Zhao Qing's mind stirred slightly as he commented on the recent sermons: "Once this method is mastered, not only will one be able to freely control numerous sword techniques, increasing the variations a hundredfold, but most importantly, there may be a way to temporarily sever one's obsessions and entrust them to one's natal object or 'innate spiritual object,' and then reclaim them after 'emptying' the mind..."

"This is of no use to me at all. I can do it with a million dollars without any trouble. But it's different for you."

"Yiguang, how is the digestion of 'Zhushan Dan' going?"

She smiled slightly, shook the sachet filled with colorful pollen in her hand, and greeted the girl on the other side of the screen.

Against the backdrop of the opposite side is a dazzling starry sky, a colossal space station resembling a city, a peanut-shaped asteroid that has only been partially melted and modified and is connected to it by hundreds of dark ice chains, and groups of construction ships.

...(End of chapter)