Quick Wear: Random Cheats

Chapter 206 Soul Scattered, Heaven-Mending Stone (17)

"That's great. I'll definitely be careful. I would never avenge you without being sure of success. In the future, when I have time, I'll also help your original body accumulate more of the Five Elements energy. Even if I don't go all out, I'll definitely be able to replenish the wisp of your original essence that you gave me in two or three years at most."

To be honest, Ding Shui did have a slight covetousness for the Five-Colored Stone, because its uses were indeed numerous and wide-ranging, and its effects on humans were even greater.

A sufficient number of such beings can not only construct blessed lands and grottoes, but also serve as the foundation of smaller worlds and transform the very essence of humanity.

It is impossible to become a primordial god or demon.

But they transformed into innate humans.

The first generation of humans was still fine.

Even ordinary innate humans, with sufficient talent and resources, can smoothly cultivate to the Golden Immortal realm. The first generation of humans, barring any unforeseen circumstances, could very well achieve the Great Luo realm.

There are very few things that can be made up for innate talent, but the five-colored stone is one of them.

Ding Shui was too embarrassed to mention it.

It's even better now that the other party brought it up themselves.

So she took it for granted and readily agreed.

Wu Se Shi trusted Ding Shui to a certain extent, and since it was Wu Se Shi's own idea, he naturally had no objections, so the two quickly finalized the matter.

The next natural step was the division of the origin by the five-colored stones.

And then it fell into a dormant state after being split.

Ding Shui successfully obtained a five-colored stone the size of a sesame seed, and instantly refined it.

At the same time, it is refined and purified with the essence of the sun and moon.

Although the five-colored stone fragments had not yet fully transformed into a divine artifact of human destiny, they had already undergone a partial transformation. Their origins were inevitably tainted with some human destiny, in addition to being entangled in the karma of blood and tears.

Ultimately, some traces of blood, tears, cause and effect remained.

Ding Shui did not refine or purify it because he considered that after it transformed into a divine artifact of human destiny, the human destiny would naturally cleanse away those useless evil auras.

She doesn't need to go through all that trouble.

But that was the original fragment of the five-colored stone; the five-colored stone that already belonged to him was only the size of a sesame seed.

Ding Shui hopes things can be simpler.

Without any negative energy or energy that could affect the origin of the Five-Colored Stone, such as wisps of human fortune, she naturally had to put in a little effort to refine and purify it with the essence of the sun and moon, while also peeling away the wisps of human fortune that were intertwined within and merging them into the Five-Colored Stone fragment itself.

It can also be described as being integrated into the Imperial Seal of the State.

Thanks to her efforts, and most importantly, the five-colored stone was small enough, Ding Shui quickly purified her own five-colored stone, held it in her Yang God's palm, and began to absorb the essence of the sun and moon to accumulate energy for it without any unusual phenomena.

According to Ding Shui's estimate, it will take about ten years.

If one continuously absorbs the essence of the sun and moon for about ten years, the five-colored stone fragment, which is the size of a sesame seed, can be transformed into the size of a pea. In a hundred years, it can be transformed into the size of a small quail egg.

As for reaching the level of transforming into a primordial human race.

It should take about 10,000 years, but it might take a million years to transform into the first human race.

Of course, this is under normal circumstances, based on the premise that her cultivation level will no longer continue to improve, that she is inside the planet, and that she is absorbing the essence of the sun and moon without any unusual phenomena.

Cheating, or rather, methods to improve efficiency.

There are still a lot!!!

First of all, it goes without saying that she will improve her cultivation level. Once she transforms into a Celestial Immortal, she will be able to increase her efficiency by at least a hundred times.

Secondly, when the Yang God flies into the atmosphere, it absorbs everything it has without regard to unusual phenomena, and its efficiency can be increased by ten times.

In addition, high-tech methods are used to assist in creating magical artifacts.

It will definitely have the same effect.

Therefore, although it seems that the first generation of humans will need a million years to achieve Ding Shui's ultimate goal, it is still a promising future and not a distant prospect.

Therefore, Ding Shui quickly regained her composure.

She then separated half of the essence of the sun and moon she had absorbed and channeled it into the Imperial Seal. Her intention was to at least restore the wisp of original essence that had been separated from the original body before focusing solely on herself; otherwise, she would always feel a little guilty.

I always feel like I owe someone something.

……

While Ding Shui was enthusiastically working to increase the source of the five-colored stone he had obtained, Emperor Yonghe was in a rather good mood and began to consolidate his power.

At the same time, there is also a kind of previous targeting and restriction.

It feels like everything has disappeared!
In addition, some new policies that were difficult to implement before are slightly better, except for those that harm the interests of the majority and are still opposed by many people.

It can only be said that the Imperial Seal and the Mandate of Heaven do have a deterrent effect, but it is limited. At most, it can make officials and nobles give up some benefits, but if the benefits are too great...

Then they wouldn't agree.

Even that couldn't intimidate them!
So after probing the results, Emperor Yonghe went to see his father, the retired emperor, hoping that the retired emperor would not cause any more trouble.

Go all out to help implement the new policy!!!

After all, the current situation is very clear. If there is no reform and no new policies, the situation will only get worse and worse. The national treasury will never have any silver left. Without silver and food, and with more natural disasters in a year, even disaster relief will be difficult, let alone having enough money and food to unify the world.

"Gentlemen and gentry pay taxes together, the poll tax is merged into the land tax, a system of performance evaluation for noble titles is implemented, and the crime of possessing huge amounts of assets of unknown origin is committed..."

After hearing about Emperor Yonghe's new policies, the retired emperor was completely stunned. This was going to cause a complete upheaval. He felt that any one of the policies could shake the foundation of the dynasty.

Or, to put officials and nobles on the opposite side.

So after a long while, he said in a somewhat hoarse voice:
"Are you serious? Does the Imperial Seal give you that much confidence? Aren't you afraid of something going wrong and the whole world turning against you? Although I'm starting to believe that you might really have a divine mandate, you can't do things like this. Didn't Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu have a divine mandate? Even when a meteorite fell from the sky, he still had to compromise on many things, including the selection of his empress and crown prince!"

"Is this a new policy? You're courting death!"

Having ruled for so many years, the retired emperor was well aware of many things. He knew very well that if these new policies could be successfully implemented, they would definitely benefit the imperial power, the prosperity of the country, and the increase of national strength.

However, there are many vivid records in history of bold reforms that infringe upon the interests of vested interest groups!
How many of them ended up with a good ending?

Before him was Shang Yang, and after him were Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi.

Their level of reform is undoubtedly far less explosive and daring than that of his son!
So he really didn't want to support it.

"Father, putting everything else aside, how long do you think the country can last if we don't reform and if the reform is successful? In a few decades or a generation or two, it will be difficult to even maintain our current territory, let alone maintain domestic stability, let alone unify the world. That's wishful thinking and a pipe dream. So we really have no choice but to change."

We still have military power.

As long as my faith remains unwavering, as long as you, my elder brother, and my younger brothers don't cause me any trouble, then there is still a very high chance of success.

Some of those new policies were devised by Emperor Yonghe himself, while others were extracted from Ding Shui's words during casual conversations. He found them quite reasonable and adopted them.

For example, the crime of possessing huge amounts of assets of unknown origin.

Emperor Yonghe was well aware that the situation had reached a point where change was imperative. If no changes were made now, it would only become increasingly difficult to implement them, eventually to the point where they could not be changed at all.

Therefore, it was natural for them to do their utmost to persuade the retired emperor.

Even if you can't help, you shouldn't cause him trouble. It's quite troublesome to cause trouble for the retired emperor.

The retired emperor glanced at him again and shook his head, saying, "You missed one point: you cannot die during the reform process, and you certainly cannot die prematurely."

You should understand the principle that when a person dies, their political power disappears.

The reforms during Emperor Renzong's reign failed because Emperor Renzong himself lacked a firm belief in the reforms. But Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Zhezong were different; both were very determined in their reforms, yet they died young. I don't want to speculate too much, but if one day the entire court wanted you dead, are you sure you could survive?

"Even if not all, half, or more than half..."

Throughout history, how many emperors have died peacefully in their sleep?

"It's alright. The Imperial Seal can save my life. As long as the poison belongs to one of the five elements, the Imperial Seal can detect it. So it's impossible for them to poison me. As for assassination, the Imperial Seal can also save my life to a certain extent."

Unless someone can mobilize a large army to besiege me.

Otherwise, even if it were crossbows, ballistae, or cannons.

Even the Imperial Seal of the State could withstand several such attacks.

Ding Shui had given assurances regarding these matters. If Ding Shui had not given assurances, Emperor Yonghe might have implemented some new policies, but he would not have done so many, much less rushed. He would most likely have taken ten years to implement them step by step.

Just in case, he even tested it.

He personally tested swords and had dummies test crossbows and cannons with the Imperial Seal of the State, and nothing went wrong.

After that, he always carried the Imperial Seal with him.

You have to hang it around your neck even when you're taking a shower.

The retired emperor then fell silent and pondered for a long time before saying, "I can promise not to cause trouble, but I can't do my best to help you. After all, if we fail, I don't want to be implicated by you and killed by someone else."

In addition, I will try my best to keep your younger brothers in check.

There's one more thing I need to make clear to you: if you fail, I will immediately set things right, abolish those policies, and appease the officials and nobles. After all, if it really comes to that, you and the officials and nobles will inevitably be irreconcilable enemies, and they will not allow someone who has inherited your ideas and is determined to implement your new policies to come to power.

Therefore, even if you have already chosen a suitable successor, I will inevitably depose him and choose an successor that the officials and nobles can accept more. After all, if the throne is lost, then there is truly nothing left.”

The retired emperor's feelings at this moment were actually quite complicated.

He certainly hoped his son would succeed, because just by looking at those policies, he could imagine that if successful, they would greatly enhance the country's national strength.

However, he also knew very well that it would be difficult to truly implement and carry out the policy. Even if no one outwardly objected, the fact that his son was secretly disobeying him would be enough to cause him trouble. If any problems arose during implementation, even the best policy could be ruined.

Even worse, some secretly murdered the emperor.

Let's get a new emperor who's more obedient and doesn't cause trouble.

So he said this to both persuade his son again, remind him how dangerous the matter was, and to give him a heads-up.

If he was really murdered.

It's highly unlikely that the retired emperor would avenge him, as maintaining public morale and upholding imperial power are more important.

Everything was done out of necessity.

"I understand, I get it..."

Emperor Yonghe's statement naturally meant that he had not changed his mind and still insisted on reform.

The retired emperor was at a loss, sighed, and said again:

"In that case, I will hand over all the military power in my hands to you later, and then move to the royal Taoist temple to cultivate in seclusion. At the same time, remember to guard the royal Taoist temple well. I don't want it to be kidnapped one day and taken to the palace to attack the palace. You understand what I mean, right?"

Although you might be safer if I die, I don't want to die yet, so remember to guard the royal Taoist temple.

I must not be allowed to be kidnapped.

Do not allow anyone with ulterior motives to approach me.

Also, before implementing your new policies, remember to find an excuse to imprison all your younger brothers. If that doesn't work, temporarily demote them to the status of useless people and send them to guard the late emperor's tomb. In short, never let the officials and nobles have any opportunity to contact them.

Otherwise, even if they didn't covet the throne, they would probably be dragged into it.

However, if one day your new policy is completely successful...

He's the most well-behaved of your brothers.

You still need to take care of her!

Imperial power, or rather, power struggles, are not always something you can escape unscathed from. Even a prince with no ambition might suddenly find all the officials secretly sending him letters saying that the current emperor is outrageous.

We want to enthrone you as the new emperor.

Who wouldn't be tempted? Even a sage would be shaken!

After all, it would be somewhat illegitimate and contrary to Confucian ethics for all the officials and nobles to directly oppose the emperor, so a leader had to be found to make it legitimate.

Therefore, there are often internal struggles within the royal family.

In reality, it was a struggle between the emperor and powerful noble families.

The struggle with the civil service.

It is the vested interest group that feels that the current emperor's actions have harmed their interests, so they want a replacement. If the emperor wins, it will be a revival, but if the vested interest group wins, it will be a continuation of the dynasty's decline, with multiple puppet emperors.

It was precisely because he understood these things that he neither wanted to be killed nor wanted his sons to fight each other.

The retired emperor was forced to resort to this desperate measure.

Even if he were imprisoned or demoted to a commoner, it would still be better than being killed for participating in the struggle for the throne. After all, it's better to live a miserable life than to die a good death, and he wouldn't be imprisoned indefinitely.

If Emperor Yonghe had succeeded, and the new policies had been fully implemented in ten or twenty years, all the officials would have been tamed.

Then naturally, his younger brothers could be reinstated.

When Emperor Yonghe was defeated and a new emperor came to power, in order to implement benevolent and virtuous policies, they had to give them some benefits.

This temporary injustice is a form of dormancy.

It was a desperate measure to save his life.

Regardless, the Emperor Emeritus's words still moved Emperor Yonghe quite a bit, because this was the first time he felt that the Emperor Emeritus was thinking of him, although not entirely. So, he immediately made a promise:

"Father, rest assured, as long as they don't cause trouble, I will not touch them. Even if they cause chaos, I will try my best to protect their lives. If the new policies are successful in the future, and we accumulate enough money and grain, and conquer enough territory overseas, we might be able to enfeoff them overseas. However, I also hope that Father can keep them in check."

To prevent them from having inappropriate thoughts.

He lost his life for no reason.

Also, if possible, could you please give them a heads-up to prevent any more individuals from becoming resentful and being demoted to commoners or imprisoned, and then engaging in self-immolation or something similar?

"Don't worry, I'll host a family banquet in a while and invite them all over to talk to them. But while they're under house arrest, don't mistreat them. People in the palace are used to looking down on the weak and flattering the strong, so you'll have to be careful."

The retired emperor continued to give instructions.

And the two quickly reached an agreement on the matter.