The Cold and Aloof Palace Master's Daily Demon-Slaying Life

Chapter 102 The Fairy's Wondrous Ideas

"If everyone in this world had food to eat, books to read, and knew and upheld etiquette, and everyone could pursue the life they wanted through their own efforts—then perhaps that would be true peace and tranquility."

This statement is not fancy; in fact, it is rather simple.

But to Jiang Shaoling at this moment, it sounded like a great bell, shaking his soul!

Everyone has food to eat, everyone has books to read, everyone knows and observes etiquette, and everyone can pursue their desires.

What a realm of understanding! What a magnanimous heart!

As the leader of the Taihua Sect, he possessed millions of miles of territory and controlled the lives of trillions of mortals. His daily concerns were nothing more than balancing the interests of all parties, maintaining the stability of the sect, and securing more resources for the prosperity of his family and clan.

Have you ever truly considered "peace and tranquility" from the perspective of "everyone"?

Compared to the True Lord's concern for the common people and his focus on fundamental improvement, my own family's petty calculations are like fireflies compared to the bright moon, utterly filthy!

A surge of intense shame and self-reflection welled up within him, instantly washing away all his previous hesitation and calculations.

The words that were originally on the tip of my tongue, which I wanted to "casually" mention about Jiang Shuiyin's talent and to seek a chance for the family, could no longer be uttered at this moment.

Why bring up petty, self-serving matters in front of such a magnanimous ruler?

Jiang Shaoling can't afford to lose face like that!

The Jiang family can't afford to lose face like this!

The heart that was originally burning with desire for profit was completely cleansed by these words, becoming cold and clear-headed.

He stood silently, his face burning, even though the True Lord neither looked at him nor reprimanded him for anything.

After a long while, he slowly bowed again, this time bowing even deeper, his voice filled with unprecedented sincerity and a barely perceptible tremor: "Your Highness's teachings will be etched in my heart and never forgotten."

Zuo Qingqiu gave a faint "hmm" and made no further comment.

Jiang Shaoling knew it was time to take his leave.

He gave a final bow, put away the jade slip that weighed as much as a thousand pounds, turned around, and left the hall and the cave dwelling on Zixu Peak with slightly heavy steps.

They came with curiosity and fervent hope, and left with shock and shame.

That "test" concerning the family's future ultimately failed, and they had no face to mention it again.

After Jiang Shaoling left, the hall returned to silence.

Xiao Bai blinked, glanced at the doorway, then at Zuo Qingqiu who was still sitting quietly, and couldn't help but ask, "Sister, Uncle Master seems quite shaken? What did you write in the jade slip you gave him? It seems very powerful?"

Zuo Qingqiu did not answer immediately, her gaze falling on the chair where Jiang Shaoling had just sat, as if she could still see his complex expression.

She picked up the slightly cooled spiritual tea and took a small sip.

"Just some ideas about how to make more people live better lives," she said softly, her tone still flat, revealing little emotion.

Xiao Bai nodded as if she understood, but she wasn't really interested in governing the territory. Her attention quickly shifted elsewhere, and she went off to play.

Zuo Qingqiu sat alone, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the warm, smooth surface of the teacup.

The suggestions that had just been imprinted on the jade slip, as well as—those deeper thoughts that had not been imprinted—slowly flowed through her heart.

In fact, her initial ideas about governing the newly acquired territory were not limited to those three points.

She also considered a more radical and subversive path—bureaucratic rule and the imperial examination system.

That is, to abandon or significantly reduce the traditional model of governance that relies on cultivation families for indirect governance.

Establish a hierarchical bureaucratic administrative system directly controlled by the sect within the newly acquired territory (and even consider gradually extending it to the entire sect).

Managers are no longer hereditary family heads, but ordinary people with a certain level of cultural literacy and management ability, selected through open and unified examinations.

This system can draw on the division of provinces, prefectures, states, and counties from the Ming and Qing dynasties, and be equipped with corresponding official systems, assessment systems, and supervision systems.

She had considered the benefits of doing so:

First, it can break down the deeply entrenched family forces within the sect to the greatest extent, weaken factional cliques, truly centralize power within the sect, ensure strict control over local areas, and improve governance efficiency and resource mobilization capabilities.

Secondly, it opens up a relatively fair path for upward mobility for countless people from poor families and even ordinary people with no background.

This allows ordinary people who lack the spiritual energy to cultivate immortality to have the opportunity to enter the management of a sect through studying and taking exams, thus changing their own and their family's destiny.

This will greatly stimulate the enthusiasm of the grassroots people and their sense of identity with the sect, and will also help the sect discover and recruit a wider range of talents, avoiding the stagnation caused by the homogenization of cultivator sources.

However, after further analysis, she rejected this seemingly wonderful idea.

"What exists is reasonable."

She silently recited it in her heart.

The world has been ruled by cultivation sects and families for hundreds of millions of years, and has never developed a feudal unified dynasty like in the previous world. There must be a profound internal logic to this.

First, there are bottlenecks in productivity, especially in communications and transportation.

The territory of the cultivation world is too vast. The territory of a slightly larger cultivation family is comparable to a medium-sized country in my previous life.

At its peak, the territory of Taihua Gate was far beyond the imagination of ordinary people. To effectively manage, transmit information, transport supplies, and mobilize troops across such a vast territory using only human foot traffic, horses, and carrier pigeons was an almost impossible task.

Perhaps advanced communication devices or teleportation arrays could solve some of the problems.

The problem is that all these magical artifacts and formations require spiritual energy to operate, and spiritual energy comes from the cultivator's own cultivation.

There are no spirit stones in this world. The cultivation technology tree is highly bound to cultivators and cannot be popularized in mortal society. This is a fundamental limitation.

If we can find a way to make magical artifacts usable even for mortals, perhaps we can build a cultivation-themed version of the "Super Galaxy Empire".

Unfortunately, so far, no method has been discovered that allows ordinary people to use magical artifacts.

Second, the dilemma of loyalty versus control.

Dividing the territory into dozens of independent mortal dynasties for indirect rule might solve some of the management radius problem.

But that would mean giving up the sect's direct control over the local area, greatly increasing the risk of dynastic change, rebellion, and independence.

Mortal emperors have short lifespans, with several generations changing every few hundred years. How long can their loyalty to the distant immortal sects last?

In contrast, cultivation families have long-lived elders to oversee them, and the interests of the family and the sect are deeply bound together through fiefdoms, marriage alliances, and the transfer of disciples. Loyalty is relatively more controllable, and the rule is more stable.

Third, there is a fundamental conflict between the goals pursued by cultivators and the very concept of "governing a country".

If a celestial dynasty ruled by cultivators were established, the problem of territorial management might be solved.

The problem is that the core pursuit of cultivators is individual power, immortality, and the Great Dao. Not to mention that a lot of time is spent on their own cultivation and studying spells, supernatural powers, and the various arts of cultivation, just considering seclusion alone, high-level cultivators often spend decades or even centuries in seclusion.

The officials of the Immortal Dynasty spend all their time on administration; where would they find the time to cultivate? If this continues, won't the strength of the sects weaken? The high-ranking officials of the Immortal Dynasty are all high-level cultivators in the Purple Mansion stage. If they go into seclusion for hundreds of years, won't the Immortal Dynasty be paralyzed?

Moreover, setting aside the conflict between immortals and management, the sheer number of cultivators is far from sufficient. Cultivators are extremely rare. They may seem numerous when gathered within a sect, but once spread across vast territories, the supply cannot meet the demand.

This is why most sects "outsource" some of their territory—they simply don't have enough manpower.

Fourth, the balance between the scale and efficiency of governance.

A family's fiefdom is usually only tens of thousands of miles in circumference, with a population of around several million.

Its ruling structure is relatively simple, relying on blood ties and clan rules to maintain basic operations. Positions do not require high specialization or examinations, and the division of power can be very vague. Cultivators within the clan take turns serving as managers, taking turns to balance cultivation and governance.

While there may be some conflicts of interest in this process, since everyone is related and sees each other frequently, the problems are not significant. At least, it's less of a conflict of interest than the rotation of highly specialized positions in feudal dynasties.

This "small but complete" family model seems to be one of the "optimal solutions" for adapting to the vast territory of this world and the characteristics of cultivators.

Having figured all this out, Zuo Qingqiu realized that the path of "direct governance by bureaucrats and selection of officials through the imperial examination" was practically a castle in the air under the current conditions.

Forcing its implementation will only lead to chaos and collapse.

Therefore, she ultimately only gave those three suggestions.

These three points represent a gradual improvement and stimulation based on acknowledging and utilizing the existing family-clan structure.