Yefutidaolu

Chapter 305 Pruning
At that moment, they immediately turned to look at Gao Jian and said in unison, "Is this really true?!"

"Would I lie to you about something like this? Aren't our interests aligned? You can't tell the truth just by talking. Patriarch Jin, Elder Huang, let's set off immediately, sparing no effort and making a full-speed run. We should be able to reach Yongning tonight, and then we'll know for sure."

“That’s true. If we act together, we can get there in a day. Then we can see what the situation is like there. If necessary, we can capture a few more people and search their souls. The results will come out naturally then,” Huang Chengshi suggested.

As Gao Jian said, it is indeed possible. It may seem like a fantasy or absurdity to Jin Dafu, but it is not impossible for Huang Chengshi.

It's quite necessary to spend a day going to the Yongning area to confirm this matter.

Jin Dafu knew that this was necessary, so he pondered for a moment and said, "Alright, let's set off now. I'll go prepare the mounts."

"Is your mount as fast as mine?" Huang Chengshi asked.

Jin Dafu said, "I have a blue phoenix that can travel 50,000 li in a day and 50,000 li at night, and 90,000 li in a day and night. It should be able to arrive tonight, so don't worry."

Huang Chengshi, as an elder of the Netherworld, then spoke up: "I have a ghost carriage, but it can't travel long distances. It needs to rest every day it travels. However, if I burn the Yin spirit, it can travel 70,000 li in a day and arrive sooner. I'll go first, and then use your Bluebird for the return trip. How about that?"

“Okay, it’s settled then.” Jin Dafu nodded.

They decided to act immediately, and the three of them finalized the matter. However, Gao Jian took the lead and went out.

As for these things, Gao Jian was obviously talking complete nonsense, but his expression remained unwavering, and his tone was very calm, as if he were stating some established fact.

However, that is indeed an established fact, and everything is true.

The border is indeed under construction, and the Taotie tribe is indeed subordinate to the Jin family. As for whether there was a rebellion, that was just Gao Jian's 'implied meaning'.

A brilliant insight is simply combining two things together, nothing more.

But then Huang Chengshi walked outside, clasped his hands together, and immediately snakes and rats around him were terrified, bald-winged creatures cried out, and many ghosts emerged from the ground, their flesh and blood splattered!
These ghosts were covered in instruments of torture, the five forms of punishment inflicted upon them: shackles, fetters, rods, finger torture, and clamps. With all five forms of torture and poison at their disposal, countless ghosts wailed and cried out in agony, their flesh rotting and writhing in agony, unable to die. Their blood and flesh spilled out, half of them decaying and filthy, a horrifying sight for onlookers.

A massive prison had appeared out of thin air on the ground!
And right above the prison, there was a huge cart, a hundred feet wide, a hundred feet long, and thirty feet high, like a small mountain, pressing down on the many ghosts, preventing them from being reborn and causing them to decay continuously!

Upon seeing this, Jin Dafu couldn't help but exclaim, "Based on vengeful spirits and convicts, this method causes the vengeful to be separated from their families and left to wander without offerings, making them all bear the consequences of their sins. As these ghosts struggle and wail, they can propel the ghost chariot. This method is truly miraculous."

The Jin family patriarch couldn't help but marvel at the unique techniques of the Netherworld, which could devour all the resentment of vengeful spirits and then use it to create something from nothing to torment ordinary souls until their resentment exploded, was exhausted, and their souls scattered, and then new souls would come in to fill the void.

On the other side, Huang Chengshi laughed and said, "Haha, most of these vengeful ghosts have committed evil deeds. They will be punished in hell. It is only natural that they come here to be punished. I will not waste their resentment and will make the best use of them."

Gao Jian couldn't help but frown: "When a major prison is established, more than half of the people are wronged. It's impossible to avoid the wrongdoing. So naturally, the wronged people will feel resentful and complain. This resentment will definitely cause changes in the weather, leading to widespread epidemics, floods, and droughts. This will inevitably cause people to become homeless and unemployed. Once people lose their jobs, they will naturally become fearful and rebellious. It would be better to return everything to their homes, remove the restrictions, and let the dead and the living find their place. Only then can we maintain harmony, make them feel better, and reduce the troubles."

Huang Chengshi smiled and said, "Haha, Mr. Gao, why be so sentimental? Ordinary people are like weeds, like rice and wheat. Farmers plant them, sow them on time, and harvest them in time, so that they can have enough to eat. Otherwise, not a single blade of grass can grow. It's the same with flowers. If you don't prune the branches and leaves, the flowers will gradually wither and die. The way to prune is to remove the dense and sparse. These places are all places with overpopulation. Letting them develop is truly a sin. When the population becomes too large, there will inevitably be internal strife, and then even rebellion. The Divine Dynasty is not without precedent. Do you know what an ominous people are?"

Gao Jian nodded; of course he knew that.

The ominous people are a historical anecdote from the Divine Dynasty.

In the Divine Dynasty, there was once a wealthy man who, despite his low cultivation level, was skilled in business. He accumulated hundreds of thousands of gold coins but only reached the third realm. His natural talent could not advance any further, but he donated money and goods to gain favor from all sides.

However, he later died in a disaster, and his property was confiscated by the state treasury. A feng shui master from the divine dynasty commented on him with the words, "The people are richer than the country, which is inauspicious for them. If the people are inauspicious, Heaven will punish them."

This is how the story came about.

If the people are too wealthy, it indicates an ominous sign and may bring disaster.

So how can the people become wealthy? Naturally, it is through the development of commerce, so that they can accumulate vast wealth through sheer numbers without relying on the power of high-level cultivators.

To achieve this, the number of "people" must be so large that their savings and production can reach this level, and they can accumulate enormous wealth through sheer volume and low-end products.

However... at this time, disaster will strike.

This is what Huang Chengshi calls 'pruning,' which involves trimming overly dense branches to ensure the flowers bloom beautifully.

Gao Jian's view on this is that the Divine Dynasty is deliberately limiting the amount of wealth that mortals possess, in order to ensure that only high-level cultivators can control such a large amount of wealth.

The level of wealth is determined by one's cultivation, not by one's ability.

However... this is a brilliant guess, and he himself is not sure, because... is it wrong to have developed productivity?

This mortal shouldn't be too powerful; he should still be under the control of the divine dynasty. A few hundred thousand gold coins shouldn't be the limit of the divine dynasty's tolerance.

Why make it so ugly? Why prevent the number of mortals from gathering too large within a certain range?
I don't understand, but the Divine Dynasty didn't say that they were responsible. They only said, "The people are unlucky, and Heaven will punish them." Perhaps it really was just a calamity sent down by Heaven.

But... Oh God, God, wasn't He already gone long ago?

These thoughts flashed through Gao Jian's mind in an instant, but the conversation had to continue, so he said, "In that case, I have no objection. Let's set off, Elder Huang."

After speaking, Huang Chengshi smiled, then clapped his hands again, and the ghost chariot started moving. Amidst the wailing of countless ghosts, it carried the chariot and suddenly flew into the sky.

Jin Dafu chimed in, "Elder Huang is right. He said that people are like grass and trees in this world. Although there are distinctions of nobility and lowliness in life, we all return to the earth after death. So the happiness we enjoy now is nothing special. What we are enjoying now is no different from those souls below. We are all suffering in this world, struggling in the same sea of ​​suffering. They have their troubles, and we have ours. Alas, who is better than whom?"

Gao Jian saw Jin Dafu's sigh but did not respond.

This topic is like asking, who is happier, a billionaire or a penniless homeless person?
I don't know, but the homeless man is dead, leaving behind a billionaire lamenting his unhappiness, saying that he also has his own troubles, such as losing millions of dollars.

Gao Jian sat on it, cross-legged, closed his eyes, and rested.

With the conversation over, Huang Chengshi began to seriously steer the ghost chariot, constantly accelerating, accompanied by the wailing of ghosts beneath his feet, which was quite noisy. Jin Dafu, on the other hand, marveled at the methods of the Netherworld, admiring the powerful techniques and the fast magic weapons. He thought they were truly amazing, even more so than his own Azure Phoenix.

The ghost chariot rolled through the clouds, leaving a trail of black marks. From here, the terrain of Liangzhou can be seen in its entirety.

There are mountains, but they are all small mountains.

There is water, but it's all small streams.

A vast but barren plain, and many 'potholes'.

Those pits were originally mineral veins.

But after so many years of mining, it has long been empty, so it has revealed a huge, empty pit, in which traces of magic and supernatural powers can be seen.

In many situations, the Divine Dynasty would not choose the option of 'digging slowly'. Given the super productivity of cultivators, digging slowly is a 'low-cost option' that doesn't cause much trouble.

In urgent situations, the Divine Dynasty would send powerful beings to pull the entire mine from the ground, place it on the shoulders of a giant beast, and carry it back to the capital. Then, a massive furnace would be used to refine the entire mine, turning it into shiny metal ingots in a very short time.

The giant beasts that Gao Jian saw earlier, belonging to the Jin family, included one that was carrying a mine. That's how it came to be.

However, high-level cultivators are not so idle, and the cost of taking action is also very high. No patriarch would move mountains for fun when he has nothing to do. It's very tiring. So, when they have nothing to do, they usually let lower-level cultivators or even mortals dig them up slowly.

Ants moving mountains is indeed a simple task, and mortals don't even need to pay. They grow their own food, work to support themselves, and even cattle and horses need fodder. Mortals can grow their own grain, cultivate spiritual materials, and raise themselves.

Keeping the mines actually increases their value, since the mines support ordinary people, and in the process of supporting ordinary people, they themselves are constantly generating new wealth.

This is also why there are ordinary miners.

These large holes also show that Liangzhou was once wealthy, but after the mineral resources were depleted and there was a lack of vitality, it gradually became like this.

The ghost train was incredibly fast, as if it were chasing the sun. On the ghost train, even the sun's descent was slower. The sun, which should have set long ago, remained above the horizon because of this chase, as if it would never set.

But it could never catch up with the sun, so soon, the sun set.

At this time, they finally arrived at the Yongning area.

The hills and streams before my eyes vanished in an instant; the terrain changed almost overnight, and the view opened up before me, revealing a vast, flat plain stretching out between heaven and earth. The land changed from yellow to pale white, boundless and endless. And the sky, after the sun had set, was a deep blue shimmering with gold, heavy, smooth, and hard like metal, with nothing in between.

But that's just how this place is.

Looking at everything before him, Gao Jian couldn't help but marvel.

It wasn't the scenery that amazed us, but the people who lived here, and even those who lived outside the Divine Dynasty, that we wondered how they managed to survive in such a place.
In any case, just imagining that scene is heartbreaking... After all, living here means accepting all kinds of setbacks and swallowing all kinds of disasters.

The dialect of Liangzhou is rough, probably because they have been swallowing these things for a long time, so it naturally became rough.

Takashi witnessed the scenery, then watched the ghost car stop.

The spirits below were burned to about half their original size. Even though torture can bring resentment, resentment is not endless. Prolonged torture will grind their souls like a millstone, turning them into resentment that flows into the ghost carriage, eventually causing their souls to be scattered.

Gao Jian blinked at the scenery before him, then said, "We've arrived in Yongning."

Huang Chengshi and Jin Dafu remained silent, their expressions both quite unpleasant.

Because right below, above the border, the entire border fortress is already taking shape.

Needless to say.

Your insightful words are true. Now there is only one question left: who established this border post?
"I'm going to grab a prisoner," Jin Dafu said with a gloomy expression, then reached out to grab one from among the many workers below.

However, Gao Jian reached out and grabbed Jin Dafu's hand.

"Master Gao, what do you mean?" Jin Dafu frowned.

"It doesn't mean anything, be careful." Gao Jian pointed to a spot not far away.

Not far away, a swordsman lay down.

He lay on a large rock, next to a gourd of wine. The stopper of the gourd had been removed, and a fragrant aroma of wine could be smelled from it.

The aroma was very peculiar, unlike the grain-based liquor commonly found in the Divine Dynasty. It contained the scent of grass and an indescribable fragrance, as if brewed from a constantly flowing yin energy.

Gao Jian couldn't quite recall what the taste was, since he didn't really like drinking and, in fact, he had virtually no hobbies related to enjoyment; at most, he liked taking baths.

But Huang Chengshi and Jin Dafu could tell that this wine tasted like the wine of the nomadic peoples beyond the Great Wall.

"I never expected that there would be a traitor within the Divine Dynasty. This person is not a barbarian; he looks like he's from the Jiangnan region." Jin Dafu frowned.

“He is a martial artist,” Huang Chengshi concluded.

"Gentlemen, I'll leave first. You two stay and fight him?" Gao Jianze prepared to slip away.

(End of this chapter)